ã€ŠIn the Shadow of Heaven [ORIGINAL VERSION]ã€‹


 Chapter One - Midnights Shining Stars

    <h2 style="text-align: center">Midnight''s Shining Stars</h2>

    <blockquote>

    ¡°God keeps our ship safe when we¡¯re out of the port, but when we get back we¡¯re in the hands of the law. So keep yourself clean, work hard for your pay, and we¡¯ll live to see the stars again.¡±

    -from ¡®Pirate¡¯s Brother¡¯, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    "Blessed is the Lord of the bountiful harvest, who provides for all our needs," Yan murmured as she bowed in front of the small shrine. She waited for her friend Sylva to finish her own prayer. Sylva turned and bounded up the stairs two at a time, with Yan following at a more sedate pace.

    They were in one of the Academy¡¯s dining halls for dinner. Students of all ages swarmed around them, crowding the massive room. Yan scanned for anyone that they knew, but in a sea of black uniform cassocks it was difficult to pick out anyone in particular.

    "Anyone eating dinner right now, you think?" Sylva asked over the noise in the cafeteria, both of them lurking in the doorway as other students flowed around them.

    "Yeah, definitely, there''s gotta be somebody else fed up with working on their final. Let me check." Yan moved slightly out of the way of the passers by and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she stretched her awareness gently over the room.

    The bright, familiar, and comforting flare of Sylva''s presence was next to her, and the room was crowded with similar lights- the light of life within all the students. Yan looked for any that she was intimately familiar with, found many students she recognized, but none of her friends were around. How unfortunate. Yan dropped her search.

    ¡°Any luck?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Nobody here.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯re all working even more last minute than we are.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d hate to think that we¡¯re the most responsible ones,¡± Yan said. Sylva laughed.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s eat.¡± They got in line for food, which turned out to be a spicy chicken dish, and then sat down at a tiny free table near the windows. The sun was going down outside.

    The two made an odd silhouette against the orange sky. Though they were both twenty, they were almost complete opposites of each other in terms of looks. Yan was absurdly tall. Having grown up on a commercial space freighter, the lessened exposure to gravity had allowed her to stretch out to heights that her groundbound best friend could never hope to match. Her skin was brown and her curly hair was cut close to her scalp.

    Sylva was short, round, and incredibly freckled. Her auburn hair was coiled and braided around her head, more elaborate than strictly necessary.

    ¡°You feeling confident about your project?¡± Sylva asked, fiddling with the chicken and rice on her plate.

    ¡°I feel confident that I¡¯m trying to feel confident,¡± Yan said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll ever get to peak confidence levels.¡±

    ¡°Not even after you¡¯ve turned it in?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the instant I put my project in the hall and submit my paper for real, I¡¯ll be hit with the sudden desire to change everything about it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d just have to sneak into the hall in the middle of the night, and re-do your project right then before anyone comes in for the selection.¡±

    ¡°You make me out to be a criminal,¡± Yan said. ¡°What do you take me for?¡±

    ¡°Is it better to be a criminal or to get a bad apprenticeship?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°Answer me that one.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine,¡± Yan reassured.

    ¡°How would you know?¡± Sylva speared a piece of chicken so aggressively with her fork that it caused her plate to tip and send other pieces flying. Yan, quick on her feet, caught them in the air with the power and returned them to Sylva¡¯s plate, slightly the worse for wear. Years of practice had honed her skills to where using the power like that was second nature. Yan was more agile with the power than Sylva was, so it was good that she grabbed it rather than letting it fall onto the floor. ¡°Thanks,¡± Sylva said, stabbing the chicken again, more gently this time.

    ¡°I know because I know you,¡± Yan said. ¡°You always try your best.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t always mean I succeed,¡± Sylva grumbled.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of anyone hating their apprenticeship,¡± Yan said. ¡°Or of somebody not even getting picked for one.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s easy for you to say. You said you tailored your project specifically to get picked by the xenobio people.¡±

    ¡°Obviously,¡± Yan said. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to risk getting something else.¡±

    ¡°See, and if you do end up with something else you¡¯ll be sad about it!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to think about that,¡± Yan said. ¡°I¡¯ve been putting that possibility out of my head for years.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re deluding yourself is what you¡¯re doing,¡± Sylva moped.

    They ate companionably for the rest of the meal, trying to avoid discussing their final projects as much as they could. Unfortunately, it was the only topic of conversation that felt worthwhile, so they sidled up to it again and again until Yan could take it no more. She said goodbye to Sylva, and left the dining hall, heading back to their shared apartment. Sylva had some errand to run, possibly involving delivering her paper to advisor; Yan hadn¡¯t really been paying attention when Sylva described it. Either way, it meant that Yan got to enjoy the silence of the night as she walked home alone.

    She trudged up the dim stairway towards her third floor suite that she shared with Sylva. The solid wooden door was painted with an elaborate pattern of curved lines in various colors. Sylva had decorated it several years before. This door had more security than the outer door to the building. Yan laid her palm flat on the door and stretched her power gently through it and into the locking mechanism. Keys and locks, even common electronic ones, could be easily manipulated by Academy students. The common story was that new technological solutions had to be invented to cope with the mischief caused by hordes of powerful teenagers gathered in one place.

    Yan entered her suite and turned on the lights. The main room was a living room, with the usual couches and television. One wall of it had a large window, showing the darkened courtyard below. There was a tiny kitchen that took up the left wall. Despite Yan and Sylva eating mostly in the dining hall, the counter was scattered with various snacks and beverages.

    Yan sighed, relieved to strip off her black cassock. She didn''t mind the uniform, it was fairly comfortable, but after a whole day of wearing it she was glad to be free. Underneath she was wearing a wrinkled and unbuttoned white shirt, which she also pulled to reveal a coffee stained undershirt. Her pants were standard black slacks. She tossed her discarded clothing and backpack onto one of the couches, then plopped down herself. She kicked off her dress shoes, still tied, and they landed somewhere on the other side of the living room.

    For just a minute, Yan leaned back, closed her eyes, and let the quiet of the room flow gently in and out of her brain. It was almost meditation, but Yan didn''t want to formulate a prayer at that moment. She just rested quietly for several minutes, clearing her mind of all the worries about her project. She cleared her mind a bit too successfully, falling asleep.

    <hr>

    Yan woke suddenly, skipping the usual bleariness and falling directly out of her dream with a sense of urgency. Her heart was pounding. She had forgotten to do something extremely important, but it took her a moment to remember what it was. The living room was nearly pitch black, with only the single light from the courtyard outside shining in through the window. Yan rubbed her eyes. The time on the microwave clock read 23:42.

    Thinking back to what she had been doing before she fell asleep, Yan remembered that she had meant to send her final paper to her mentor before the end of the day. She groaned quietly in frustration, not wanting to risk waking Sylva, who was asleep, judging from the lack of light coming through the crack under the door.

    Yan disentangled herself from the couch. At least the situation wasn''t completely lost, she could get the paper to Master Farber; he attended midnight prayer almost every night. She could catch him there. Maybe this was God telling her to go to midnight prayer more often anyway.

    Yan pulled her computer out of her bag and opened it to print her paper. The printer in her room wheezed to life and started spitting out page after page. She slapped her computer shut and shuffled around the room, trying to collect various articles of clothing.

    Now with her hands full, Yan nudged the door to her room open with the power and slipped inside. She bumped the light on with her shoulder and winced as it momentarily blinded her.

    Her bed and desk took up most of the small room. The bed was covered with wrinkled sheets and a towel still damp from her shower in the morning. A few things were scattered on the floor, mostly discarded clothes and garbage that had made its way out of the can. The desk had a normal scattering of writing implements, old papers, and books. Most of its surface, however, was taken up by Yan''s final project, which was covered by a towel and had a note pinned to it that read "Sylva- DO NOT TOUCH". This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Yan''s printer finished and Yan absentmindedly floated the sheaf of papers towards herself. The papers remained obediently in the air behind her as she looked in the mirror hanging on the front of her closet door. The undershirt she was wearing was stained with coffee, and her eyes were slightly bloodshot and surrounded by dark circles. Nothing to be done about the eyes, but she could at least change into clean clothing. After struggling to locate some clean clothes in the minor mess of her room, Yan judged herself to now be, if not presentable, at least in uniform. She grabbed her papers out of the air and stapled them together more forcefully than necessary.

    Not wanting to haul her backpack to midnight prayer, Yan tucked her final paper inside the front of her cassock, pinning it snugly against her chest. She headed out of her room. Her shoes were neatly placed by the door, probably thanks to Sylva. She jammed them onto her feet, stumbling around for a moment in the dark.

    She could make it to midnight prayer if she ran.

    Yan took the stairs out of her building three at a time, her abnormally long legs serving her well. She used walls and any solid object to change her speed and direction which helped her to keep momentum as she sprinted. One of the benefits of growing up a spacer was a fearlessness about flinging herself full speed at any wall and utilizing the rebound to gain a positional advantage.

    Yan banged out of the building and headed full tilt towards the massive temple looming at the other end of campus. Walking would take fifteen minutes along the approved paths, but by sprinting through the grass Yan could cut it down to seven.

    More and more of of the temple came into view past the trees and other buildings as she ran. The stained glass windows were lit from the inside, giving the building a sense that it had eyes and was peering down on the rest of the Academy.

    By time she reached the massive doors, the midnight bell was tolling. Yan was out of breath and her shoes were soggy from dashing through the damp grass. She edged her way inside just before the service began and found an inconspicuous place in the back.

    For a midnight prayer, the temple was reasonably well populated. There were a surprising number of students from her year. Maybe that wasn''t so surprising. Everyone could use an extra prayer for the success of their project.

    Everyone in the temple was from the Academy; there wasn¡¯t a single person not adorned in the standard black coat. There were plenty of Masters with their cassocks trimmed in different colors, but there were no outsiders. The services were open to the public, but most people from the surrounding area attended service in one of the many, less imposing, temples in the city proper. It was a shame, but most normal people were a little unnerved by sensitives. It didn¡¯t help that while the normal population of sensitives was less than one in a million, many of them gathered at the Academy to train. Yan had often had the unpleasant experience of walking in the city and having people avoid her when they saw her long uniform cassock.

    Yan was abandoned her train of thought and stood as the cantor started chanting from the back of the temple. He processed towards the front, ringing his small handbell. The change that swallowed the room as those first few notes began was immediate; every participant was at attention and every voice was raised in the familiar response to the cantor''s call.

    "Blessed are you, God of all creation,¡± the cantor sang.

    "Blessed oh Lord, our God," came the response.

    The service proceeded. One of the nice things about being at the Academy was that all the participants in the service had a chance to join in the active meditative. Yan was a big believer in meditation, both alone and with others, so she jumped at the chance to participate. The feeling of the mass mind of the group had a different tenor depending on who the participants were.

    Any sensitive could join in the active meditation. The only requirement was that everyone focused on the same thing. In the case of the prayer services, the focus was on singing the standardized chants. The cantor kept the group moving along, and anyone who chose to could slip into the group mind. The feeling of the people around gathering into synchronization was alluring for any sensitive.

    Following along with the chanting, Yan closed her eyes, listened, and sang. She could feel the group mind collecting around her. There was always the slightly narcissistic thought that it was just waiting to let her in, the last piece of the puzzle. The sensation of being around the group mind but not joining in always felt odd. It was a hovering presence that was at once hungry, eager to welcome, and completely indifferent anything outside itself.

    For her, joining into meditation was easier than falling asleep. Maybe it was the spirit of God within her calling her strongly to that side of the art, but it made work at the Academy significantly easier for her. Some of her friends, Sylva especially, struggled to reach the trance state.

    Yan let herself join in.

    Distantly, Yan was aware of her own consciousness and her own body, but only in as much as she was aware of the bodies and minds of everyone else. By joining the active meditation, she relinquished control of herself, but gained a fraction of control over the group. With the entire mind focused on singing the midnight worship, her voice snapped into a perfect synchronization. They sang as one voice.

    They felt tired, but excited and resolute and creative. They decided that they were not going to think about their final project because that would ruin the surprise and tradition, despite that project (a cloudy rush of indistinguishable images) being the reason they were there. They were happy to be here together as one voice. They were glad to be able to sing praise.

    They really were. There was no note of their song that rang hollow or wrong, no intention to worship that was not genuine. They were buoyed by absolute confidence in the power of God in the world, and they raised each other up in their own tide.

    The prayer service lasted about a half hour. If midnight prayer lasted longer, participants would start falling asleep. As the standard chant reached its conclusion, the group mind began to fall away. Before she abandoned it completely, Yan sought out the thread that was Master Farber, her advisor, and sent it a thought. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision after having her eyes shut for so long, Yan glanced around the temple. Most people were streaming out the door, eager to either go back to work or go back to bed. Yan¡¯s advisor was waiting for her.

    "Good morning, Yan," Master Farber said as she joined him by the door. ¡°What brings you here tonight?¡±

    "I came to give you my final paper. I didn''t get the chance to send it earlier so I figured I might as well give it in person." She reached into the front of her cassock and fished out the (now slightly wrinkled) paper.

    "Thank you very much," Farber said as he accepted them from her, clearly doing his best to ignore her pulling it out of her coat. "Is everything going well?"

    "Yeah, I think so. Everybody''s just nervous about the selection."

    "Things work out as they work out, you know. Very, very few students are ever disappointed or unhappy with their eventual position,¡± Farber said calmly.

    "That''s fine for you to say, but nobody wants to be one of those few." Yan knew she was being hypocritical; she had given the exact same advice to Sylva earlier.

    ¡°There¡¯s no point in worrying about it. Trust in God that you will be given the apprenticeship that is right for you.¡±

    "I guess. You can tell me what you really think about my chances once you¡¯ve read my final draft."

    "Don¡¯t doubt yourself so much. I''ll send you my thoughts on it tomorrow, but I''m sure I won¡¯t have much to say."

    "Thanks." The two walked out of the temple and down a path towards the academic portion of campus.

    "I''ll miss having you as a student and advisee, Yan. You''re definitely one of the shining stars of your year," Farber said. Yan felt the blood rushing to her face at this pronouncement.

    "Uh, thanks, I''ll miss having you too."

    As they reached a branch in the path, Farber stopped and stuck out his hand. Awkwardly, Yan shook it.

    ¡°Goodnight, Yan.¡± He released her hand and started turning down the branch of the path that would lead off campus. She nodded goodbye and headed home.

    The night was chilly, and a stiff breeze had kicked up through the trees. Their new leaves rattled in the wind. Through the shifting gaps, the large moon shone brightly, a bit past full. A thin scattering of clouds obscured the stars.

    She reached her building, slowly climbed the stairs to her suite, unlocked her door, and went inside. As soon as she was in the privacy and comfort of her own room she changed into pajamas: a bright blue tunic length shirt. On a shorter person it might have been much longer, but being so tall it was the best she could get.

    She lifted up the towel that was "guarding" her final project. Seeing that it was still looking just as it should, she smiled and put the towel back down.

    On her desk her phone was flashing with a notification. She opened it with some trepidation. The message in her inbox made her groan and flop, scowling, onto her bed.

    Dear Yan, it started.

    It''s been a long time since I''ve been able to check in with you, eh? We''ve been doing some long hauls recently so I haven''t been in port for weeks. The captain was wondering if you''re joining us for the summer? We''ve been missing you all year long. Let me know- we''re going to be swinging close enough to you that we could pick you up if you hitch a ride out of system on the Sun''s Gold. Cap. Pellon can write a letter of transit for you if you want.

    I want to catch up with you, it''s been a long time since we''ve gotten to be together face to face and I miss you, favorite niece.

    How''s your final project going? Can you tell me about it? I know you said there was some sort of confidentiality thing and you can''t show me. Did you already pick your apprenticeship? I''m dying to know.

    I know you''re doing the best you can and that all your Masters love you ; )Make sure you get a good apprenticeship, it''s good for the family that you''re doing so great.

    Hope the rest of your school year goes well.

    Love,

    Uncle Maxes

    Yan didn''t exactly hate her uncle, but every interaction she had had with him since the death of her mother had been painfully awkward. It was like they approached life from opposite perspectives, and he wanted things from her that were... confusing. All Yan wanted was to have a nice, simple life with a nice, simple job. Maybe someday she could be the head of a xenobiology research team on a new colony somewhere- that was the extent of her life¡¯s ambitions. Her uncle, on the other hand, was constantly pushing for more. He was always negotiating new shipping contracts for her family¡¯s ship, always making political connections, always telling Yan just how much he expected from her once she graduated from the Academy.

    Even back before her mom had died, he had been weird. Not like hurtful, but pushing her further, making her work harder than any of her cousins on the ship. Yan guessed that this was at least partially responsible for her good work at the Academy, but it didn''t make her feel any less... whatever she felt about him.

    She would respond to him later. Since he probably wouldn''t be back into port for a while, it wouldn''t matter if she didn''t reply right away. She halfheartedly tossed her phone back towards her desk, minorly nudging it with the power when her toss went wide. Maybe it was silly to use the sacred power to throw her phone around, but why wouldn¡¯t she make the best use of the gifts that God gave?

    It was late. She didn¡¯t want to think about the future: not the upcoming selection and not the summer that she would probably spend with her uncle. Yan pulled herself under the covers and used the power to turn off the light.

    Chapter Art

    Yan and Sylva

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    Yan running to the temple

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 Chapter Two - Images and their Meanings

    Images and their Meanings

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And God said to Terae, ¡®Why do you cry? For I have made you in my own image, and I have placed my spirit within your spirit, so that you may know me as you know yourself.¡¯ But Terae continued to weep.¡±

    -from ¡®Second Song: Terae¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Aymon Sandreas was considered by most people to be the second most powerful man in the populated universe. He was standing in a dim antechamber at the Academy. By his side was the head of the Academy, a diminutive woman in a long black robe edged with dark blue.

    "I''m shocked you''re finally exercising your right to choose apprentices. I''ve been asking if you wanted to for years,¡± the woman said.

    "I know you have, Marca, since you ordered every graduate who works near me to bug me about giving you a call," Aymon responded.

    She laughed loudly. "I wouldn''t call it ordering, so much as strongly suggesting."

    "The effect of bothering me at work is largely the same."

    "So what made you change your mind, Aymon?"

    "God told me," he responded simply. "I got the message that this was the right time." This was an answer that no one, specifically no one at the Academy, could argue with.

    Marca hummed in agreement. "I figured the time would come at some point, though I am a little disappointed that I can¡¯t take credit for your change of heart. Do you want to go in now? Everything is set up."

    Aymon sighed. "Might as well get this process over with."

    "Don''t make getting apprentices sound so much like a death sentence. Everyone else seems to enjoy the experience."

    "Being saddled with a bunch of kids for five years?" Aymon asked.

    "They''re twenty, hardly children."

    "Yes, but they know absolutely nothing."

    "They''ve been in school for the past ten years. We certainly wouldn''t graduate anyone who isn''t competent. Anyway, you get to pick the most competent of the bunch."

    Aymon sighed but said nothing further in protest. It was true that he was not exactly looking forward to the process of taking over the educations of several students, but it was also something that he felt that he needed to do, want or no.

    "Here are your tags. Just put them in front of the projects of the students you are claiming. The names of the students will, of course, only be revealed after everyone has made their selection." The tags in question had a string of numbers written on them, presumably to keep the claimant just as secret as the student until later.

    "How many should I claim?" Aymon asked.

    "What is the maximum number of students you are prepared to take?"

    "Five, but I would take fewer."

    "Then I recommend that you only claim five. Your number can only shrink after the interview process, and it isn''t in anyone''s best interest to select many students based on the project and then only narrow down that number in the interview. We try to keep the interviews more for the students to reject the posting than for you to reject the student,¡± Marca explained. Aymon nodded.

    "How long do I have to pick?"

    "Take as long as you need- everyone else isn''t coming until morning. You''re lucky we could give you the exception of coming in the middle of the night."

    "Luck had very little to do with it, I''m sure,¡± Aymon said. His dry comment also made Marca laugh.

    "The projects are just in here."

    She pushed open a heavy wooden door, leading into a massive hall. The room was dimly lit, with strips of ceiling lights turned down to the lowest setting, but the large moon shining in brightly through large panels of skylight. The hall was filled with row after row of tables holding student projects, some large, some small, all shining in Aymon''s inner sight with a glow of the power used to create them.

    "Shall I stay here or do you want to be alone?" Marca asked.

    "Alone, please. You don''t need to wait for me to finish, I know my own way out."

    "Very well. I look forward to seeing your selection, Aymon." The small woman turned and strode out the door, quietly shutting it behind her.

    Finally alone in the moonlit room, Aymon folded his legs underneath himself and sat down on the cold stone floor. The room was completely silent, which made his task slightly easier. Closing his eyes, Aymon reached out mentally to examine the projects.

    Some people on the selection committee might choose projects by virtue of what they actually were, especially since students tailored their projects to match the type of career they wanted their apprenticeship to lead to. A student interested in engineering would usually create a proof of concept device of some sort, where a student interested in theological art would create something... less useful in Aymon''s opinion. So those students with clear direction would easily be selected by one of those large teams, with plenty of jobs for apprentices, and plenty of people willing to train them.

    People who came to pick apprentices for smaller, less well known, disciplines often had to judge projects (and therefore pick apprentices) by some other metric. Aymon had not walked into the room with a clear idea for what type of judgement he should use, but as soon as he began looking he found what he needed.

    Projects shone like stars in his sight, some brighter than others, some larger, some swirling with more complexity. If he gently prodded at them, he could mentally interrogate what each one¡¯s purpose was, or at least discover the spirit that its creator had worked on it in. But he was drawn to a few projects in particular, even without stretching his power fully, there was a feeling of being pulled across the room. This was how, he supposed, most people were able to make a confident selection of a few students out of hundreds.

    He stood up, still with his eyes closed, and let the project that he felt most drawn to guide him over. His fine shoes made a soft sound on the stone floor as he walked towards it. He could tell that the project was of medium size, about a foot and a half in all dimensions, took a person an unbelievable amount of power to create, and was brimming with complexity. Feeling oddly excited to see what this masterwork was, he opened his eyes.

    Aymon was shocked to find that the project in question was a fishbowl, with a single goldfish swimming peacefully among some aquatic plants. It was a fully closed glass sphere resting on a base, so more a contained environment than a bowl. Thinking that perhaps it was some sort of illusion, Aymon reached out to touch the glass of the bowl. It was indeed glass, and the fish inside reacted to his finger, shying away from the sight of it.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    One of the primary rules that governed the use of the sacred power was that it was impossible to create life. Yet from what he could see, here was life, swimming along right in front of him. Aymon reached out mentally and began to explore the threads of power that went into creating the project.

    It was indeed created with the sacred power, that was clearly visible. And it wasn''t, as he had first thought, alive. However, it wasn''t an illusion as had been his second assumption. The entire bowl was more like a computer program than anything else. The inner and outer workings of a fish had been faithfully recreated, but instead of each of its cells moving under its own impetus, each of the neurons in its fish brain firing on its own, each molecular interaction happening naturally, all of that was guided by careful lines of power invisibly inscribed on the inside of the glass bowl. In reaction to outside stimuli, and as part of its general routine, every part of the fish was controlled by a set of pre-created responses. It was no more alive than any computer, but it would have fooled anyone who didn''t have the power to examine it.

    It was a clever and masterful creation, which clearly had immense amount of work, talent, and dedication poured into it. Aymon could also feel a sort of joke coming from it, the spirit in which the work had been created. It seemed to be saying "I am not God, but..." and there were a million things that could have finished the end of that sentence. It was irreverent, and silly, but almost kindhearted. Even just taking the premise of imitating life: what life had this student chosen to imitate? A goldfish swimming peacefully around and around, forever.

    Aymon placed one of his tags in front of the goldfish bowl. He still had at least a few more projects to select, so he closed his eyes and let another project call him over.

    This next project was massive, about nine feet tall, and had to be placed on the floor next to the display table rather than on it. It was a statue, made entirely of various metals. The statue depicted a larger than life human figure holding a sword above its head, about to strike. The figure lacked visible markings of gender, and its face, wrought in gold as opposed to the heavy iron making up the rest of its body, was tilted heavenwards.

    An unusual thrill of fear passed through Aymon as he considered the statue. Looking at it, there was a definite sense that the sword holding arms could spring into motion at any second and strike down the person standing before it. Carefully reaching out with his mind, Aymon studied the project.

    He wasn''t wrong to feel afraid. That was the prime component of the project; the statue was actively transmitting that feeling. He also wasn''t wrong that the arms were movable. The figure had clearly been designed to swing its sword, and there was a thread of power that held that command. The only thing that was missing from that line of power was a trigger; Aymon felt a deliberately empty space where a condition for moving should have been. The intent from the student was clear, but it was an interesting choice.

    Aymon debated with himself for a moment about placing his tag. Certainly this student had some good ideas about fear (and had a decent artistic and theological stance), but seemed to lack the follow through that may be necessary to actually work with Aymon.

    The deciding factor for placing his tag at the base of the statue was that Aymon could not decide what he would have preferred the triggering mechanism to be, so maybe the student had the right idea.

    Tag deposited, Aymon started walking down the rows of tables, towards the last project that he felt any calling towards. The call from the third project felt oddly muted, and he didn¡¯t hold out much hope that he would like it enough to select the student. It wasn¡¯t screaming out with intentions as the first two projects were.

    He took his time, examining plenty of other projects on his way. Statues seemed to be the trend this year, for whatever reason, a full five percent of the projects seemed to be statues of some sort. Thinking back to his graduating class, the most popular project type back then had been music related. It was strange how these trends could come and go between graduating classes, especially considering that everyone (in theory) was working independently and keeping their projects as secret as possible. Presumably the cohort of masters in charge of the class throughout the years had a big influence on what the students saw as worth pursuing.

    Aymon would have to live with statues, because he saw as he continued his approach that the project that was pulling him in was another statue. More like a wax figurine, he noted. It was life sized, translucent and white, a perfectly smooth humanoid figure, nude except for a generous amount of cloth wrapped around its waist. The cloth, Aymon observed idly, was not power made, it was just what looked like a long red tablecloth that had been snagged from one of the campus dining halls. The statue was holding out its hand, palm up.

    Taped to the floor in front of the waxy figurine was a note, written on a sheet of paper clearly torn out of a student''s notebook.

    "INSTRUCTIONS: PLACE HAND ON STATUE''S HAND TO TRANSFER ENERGY. WITHDRAW ENERGY AT ANY TIME TO CANCEL."

    These instructions were as enigmatic as anything, but Aymon didn''t feel any harmful intent coming from the figure at all. In fact, aside from the instinct that he wanted to approach it, he felt absolutely nothing coming from the creation. So, following the instructions, he placed his hand on the statue''s and sent a tiny trickle of power flowing into it. Immediately, the statue''s form began to warp and shift, changing color to a flesh tone, the face assuming Aymon''s likeness.

    Aymon withdrew his hand, and to his surprise, the statue did as well, taking up the same bodily stance that he stood in. It was a mirror, apparently. The statue was exact, down to the long scar that vertically crossed Aymon''s chest. He understood now that the stolen tablecloth was for modesty.

    Experimenting, Aymon leaned forward. The statue leaned forward as well. The two motions happened at the same instant, with no lag between Aymon''s movement and the statue''s. Aymon took a couple steps forward. The statue''s legs moved as if it was walking, but it did not move forward. Looking more closely, Aymon noticed that the statue was actually floating slightly off the ground, giving it freedom to move without running rampant around the building.

    "Hello," Aymon said, and the statue copied his voice at the same instant that he said it. It was odd, hearing a perfect recreation of his own voice coming from right in front of himself.

    Having enough of the the mirror, Aymon pulled back the piece of power that he had loaned to the statue. Immediately it lost any semblance of life, and returned to being a completely smooth, blank white figure, holding out its hand.

    Oddly enough, Aymon found it impossible to determine what the student who made the project''s thought process was. The entire apparatus was so mirror-like that it resisted investigation, and only seemed to bounce back Aymon''s intentions for investigating. Even the threads of power were cleverly hidden. This was more interesting to Aymon than the original mirroring concept, though that had been moderately impressive to begin with.

    It was strange that this level of detail and thought had gone into the project, yet the student had resorted to covering up genitals with a stolen tablecloth and writing instructions on notebook paper with the fringe still on it. It was a strange combination. Still, the talent of the student was clear. He placed his tag in front of the statue.

    He had been thinking that he would choose five students, but none of the others were calling out to him as these three had been. It was better, Aymon thought, to take three that he felt confident in and connected to, rather than three good ones and two with less promise.

    He closed his eyes one last time and reached out for the bright spirit wandering campus who was Marca. He prodded her gently and sent along a vague feeling of completion.

    He received a mental smile in return and a sense of approval from the older woman.

    Satisfied that he had communicated his message to Marca, he closed the line of communication. He returned fully to his body and swept out of the long room, barely glancing at the rest of the projects that he passed. He had gotten what he came for.

    As he re-entered the foyer past the large wooden doors, he found his bodyguard, general assistant, and closest confidant, Halen, waiting for him. Halen was a massive man, a full six and a half feet tall, and wide as well. He was extremely pale but with a permanent flush on his face that made him look constantly upset. He was wearing all black, but not the standard cassock or cloak that Aymon preferred- just a simple but neat shirt and pants. Halen was a sensitive, and quite a powerful one, but not an Academy graduate, and Aymon knew that he tended to eye the Academy with suspicion.

    "All set? " Halen asked.

    "Yeah, I picked three."

    "Any potential in there?"

    "I hope so. Let''s head out. What time is it?" Aymon asked.

    "Two twenty six."

    "I have that meeting with Admiral Vaalks at seven, don''t I?"

    "Yes." The pair started walking out of the foyer of the building and into the night. It was cold out, but they only had a short walk to get to their vehicle. The entire time they were walking, Halen kept his power out and alert, scanning the area for any danger. Aymon could feel it around him, since he was so used to Halen and his power, just as he could feel the comforting presence of the large man at his shoulder.

    The vehicle they were headed to was a small electric car, with only two seats. It was inconspicuous for when Aymon wanted to travel without an entourage, since it looked exactly like every other black car on the roads. On one hand, Aymon saw the practicality of being under guard, but on the other hand, he could very well defend himself, especially with Halen''s help.

    Halen got in the driver''s seat as Aymon sat in the passenger''s side. The two buckled themselves in before Halen drove the speeder out of the lot and into the road, almost recklessly fast through the nearly deserted streets of the city, the Imperial Center.

 Chapter Three - The Interview

    The Interview

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And when this life of ours is done, we¡¯ll meet at heaven¡¯s door. There we¡¯ll embrace, your soul in mine, then and forevermore.¡±

    -from ¡®Spirit Move Me¡¯, Lonn folk song

    </blockquote>

    Interview day had come to the Academy. It was the most nerve wracking day of any student''s tenure there. To say that Yan felt nervous would have been a massive understatement. She had received her interview times and locations the night before, and was shocked to find that one of her interviews would be taking place in a building that she had never been to before: the Staden building, where all of the Academy''s top officials, including Marca Windreshon, the head of the Academy, had their offices. It was a place where students were rarely invited.

    Yan was trying and failing to convince herself that the summons to this place simply meant that since several hundred students were being interviewed all at once, they needed to use any room they could find to conduct these interviews. This line of reasoning wasn''t holding water for a variety of reasons. For one thing, she had messaged her friends and all of them had said that they had never heard of anybody getting an interview in the Staden building. Furthermore, as she walked closer and closer to the building, the warm spring sun beating down on her, there was no steady trickle of students in and out like there was at every other campus building.

    With a growing sense of trepidation, Yan climbed the marble steps to the building''s front door. Surprisingly, the door opened with just a push, and she walked inside. In the foyer, there was a large desk with a security guard, several potted plants, an elevator door, and several other doors leading to parts unknown. The security guard gave her a bored look.

    "Uh, hi, I''m here for my interview?" Yan said.

    "Let me see your invitation." Yan obligingly pulled the heavy card from her pocket and handed it over. The card was quite fancy, with scarlet text embossed on cream paper showing her name and the time and place of the interview.

    "Yan BarCarran?" The guard asked, and Yan nodded in confirmation. "Take the elevator to the fifth floor, someone else will let you know where to go from there." The guard pressed a button on his desk and the elevator doors opened with a bell chime. He handed her back her invitation. "Good luck," he said as Yan headed towards the elevator.

    "Thanks." She stepped inside and the doors closed behind her.

    The guard must have had control of the elevator from his desk because without her pressing any buttons the elevator began to travel smoothly upward. It chimed again when it opened its doors to the fifth floor. Yan exited the elevator.

    She found herself in a hallway, with several closed doors leading away. Two other students sat in chairs in the hallway, and Yan vaguely recognized them from around campus, but didn''t think that she had ever talked to either of them. Standing in front of one of the doors was a very large man with a blotchy red complexion. He stared at her blankly for a second, but Yan could feel his power searching her out, checking for hidden weapons or bad intentions. After a second, she was apparently judged to be harmless.

    "Yan BarCarran?" He asked, and she nodded. "Your interview is third. Please wait here until you are called in." The large man gestured to an empty chair positioned near the other two students. Yan hastily sat.

    She and the other students exchanged looked eachother over for an awkwardly silent moment. She couldn''t place either of their names, but they were definitely students in her year.

    The student in the furthest chair from her was a young man, a little shorter than Yan''s height, with bright blue eyes and a completely shaved head. He had a long nose and had massive glasses that Yan suspected were fashion as much as anything.

    The middle student was a girl, short, with two long black braids hanging down by her ears. She had a tanned complexion and was using the power to weave a thick piece of string between her fingers. Her face looked calm as she studied Yan, but the restless motions of the string betrayed otherwise.

    "I''m Yan," she said, finally breaking the silence.

    "Kino," the girl said, extending a hand free of cord. "Kino Meija."

    Yan shook Kino''s hand, then looked at the third student. He stared at her for a second more, then began to move his hands in Imperial Sign.

    "I''m deaf," he signed.

    Clumsily, having not used Sign in more than a year, Yan replied "I''m a spacer." Then fingerspelled her name. This caused him to smile brightly.

    "Sid," he fingerspelled, "but my friends call me-" he made the sign for egg against the side of his shiny bald head. This was clearly some sort of inside joke because his smile became much sharper.

    "How come you know sign?" Kino asked curiously.

    "I was a spacer kid before coming to the academy. Everyone on a ship has to know at least a little," Yan replied.

    "Why?"

    "So you can be cert for walks outside even if there''s a radio-out, and since most spacers know it it''s a good language for trade deals, even if two ships families are speaking different languages." As she explained this to Kino, she felt the large man''s eyes on her. It was more of a curious and evaluating look than anything, but she still felt it and twitched a little.

    Suddenly, the man spoke. "Kino, he is ready for your interview." The large man opened the door he was standing in front of as Kino stood. Yan gave her a thumbs up and she smiled stiffly back before heading into the open doorway. The tall man shut the door behind her.

    Sid and Yan sat in anxious silence for what felt like an eternity but was more like a half hour. Eventually, the man opened the door to let Kino out. She gave a shaky thumbs up back to Yan and Sid as she headed towards the elevator and left.

    "You go," the man signed at Sid, which was a surprise to both of the students. Sid stood.

    "Good luck." Yan signed clumsily. He nodded back before heading into the room.

    Another painful half hour passed with just Yan waiting in the room with the man, trying to decide if it was better to openly look at him, sneak glances at him, or resolutely ignore him. She ended up going with the second option, mainly because she got bored of the third. After an excruciatingly long time, the man opened the door and Sid came out.

    Sid glanced at Yan, then knocked on the underside of his chin twice with a smirk. Chin up. Sid headed towards the elevator and left. Already anticipating what the man was going to say, Yan stood.

    The man nodded at her and held open the door. Yan stepped inside and the door closed behind her.

    The third and final student was coming in for her interview. Aymon had reviewed her profile the night before, as soon as the students names, profiles, and interview times had been released to him by the Academy. One Yan BarCarran, born a spacer, became an orphan in childhood, twenty years old, among the top of her class, surprising talent in most disciplines, enjoys meditation, good theological practices, no known political affiliations. She was the creator of the fish bowl. He had saved her interview for last, mainly because he found her project to be the most intriguing.

    Aymon heard the door open, and looked up from the borrowed desk he was using at the girl. She was tall and lanky, the familiar figure of any born spacer, with dark skin and close cropped hair. She wore the standard cassock of all the students, and aside from her unusual height and stride there was nothing that made her stand out visually. Mentally, however, looking at her and gauging her power sent a shiver down his spine. Just as the other two students had, something in her called out to him. He imagined his own predecessor must have felt this way when she interviewed him and the other apprentices who had been in his cohort. It was a strange thought.

    She stood just past the doorway as the two regarded each other silently for a moment. He could tell that she was extremely nervous, and he could see her count her breaths, a meditation technique that children used.

    "Sit." He gestured to the chair placed on the opposite side of the desk. Obediently but cautiously, Yan sat down in the chair. "Do you know who I am?"

    "First Sandreas, Voice of the Empire," she answered.

    "That is correct. And you know why I am here, and why you are here?"

    "This is an apprentice interview." The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Also correct. Recently, I have heard the voice of God whispering in my ear that the time has come for me to choose apprentices. Your project appealed to me. Tell me, what did you intend to be the punchline of your joke?"

    "What joke are you talking about?" Yan asked nervously.

    "When I looked at your project, I could see the spirit in which it was created. What is the punchline to that joke?" Aymon stared her down and watched her squirm for a second.

    "Was it theologically unsound?" Yan asked.

    "Is that why you don''t tell me the punchline? Don''t worry about that. I''m just curious to know the answer." Yan was silent for a moment more, and Aymon regarded her steadily.

    "The idea was either..." She paused. "I could never decide between ''That which is not living can never die'' and ''It''s not alive but nobody can tell the difference''."

    "Neither are strictly true, though." Aymon said.

    "Of course not, that''s why it''s a joke." Yan said, as if that explained everything, but then continued in a rush. "The idea is striving to do what only God can do, even saying ''it can never die'', as though the heat death of the universe won''t take care of it, or saying ''nobody can tell the difference'' when clearly it''s easy to tell." Yan took a breath. "It''s impossible to be what God is, it''s impossible to do what God does, but the importance of it is the striving. That''s why we are the way we are-"

    Aymon held up his hand to cut her off. "I don''t need the theological lecture. I liked your project, that is sufficient." Yan nodded and took a deep breath.

    "I have been informed that the purpose of this interview is to allow students to reject any apprenticeships that they would find unsuitable, for whatever reason. Is that correct?" Aymon asked.

    "Yes."

    "Did you receive any other interview requests?"

    "Yes. The Academics team and the Biological Research division, Xenobiology team both asked for me."

    "I''m glad to hear you have other offers." Aymon was surprised to find as he said this that he truly was. Though the part of him that had been clamoring for him to find an apprentice was insisting that this was a student that he had come to find, there was a tiny part of him that hoped Yan would walk away.

    "This apprenticeship will most likely shape the course of your entire life. To be an apprentice to me will mean I take you into my inner circle. You will be granted access to high level information and be able to influence or make decisions that affect entire planets full of people. As such, there can be no backing out. Once you know certain information, once you are privy to certain things, there is no un-knowing. Do you understand this?"

    "Yes."

    "There are a great many things that you could gain from working with me. You will have the opportunity to travel over the populated universe, learn and do new things, and participate in the highest levels of the Empire.

    "But there are many things that you will also lose. Knowing high level information means, as just one example, you will no longer be able to participate in active meditation with people who do not share that information. You must be able to guard the things that you know, even with your life. You will no longer be able to live your life as a free and average citizen. You will probably be in grave danger at least some of the time because you will be seen as an easy target.

    "Above all, this work will be challenging, time consuming, and often unpleasant. Think about this before you make any final decisions." Aymon paused in his speech for a second. "Do you have any questions for me?"

    Yan looked nervous. She had moved to tuck her hands in her pockets, but Aymon could see by the way the fabric was drawn tight that she was fiddling with it and bunching her hands up. Despite the clear tension in her body, her face seemed merely contemplative and her voice was clear.

    "You can''t really tell me anything about what this apprenticeship would involve, can you?" Yan asked.

    "I can say that you would be working closely with me. There may be times when I would send you to perform some sort of task in my stead, or to go work on some political or military matter as my liaison to other departments. At some point in your apprenticeship, you will probably be tasked with making important decisions and performing operations independently, or with a task force under your command. At this moment I cannot tell you specifically what information or duties that would entail, obviously."

    "Why don''t you just pull people who are already in your chain of command for this position?" Yan asked.

    "Multiple reasons. For one thing, it has always been expected that I choose an apprentice at some point, as is tradition. That was how I myself came into this position. I also don''t completely trust many of the people who serve under me, and I need people with certain skill sets who I can also trust completely. Academy graduates who are fresh out of school will fill that role. As for why now, I felt the call to it."

    "And why did you pick me- or us?" Yan asked.

    "When I went into the project hall, your project called out to something inside of me, as did the other two students, Kino''s and Sid''s. That is the true purpose of the project, from what I can tell, to distill the complete sense of a student into one experience, so that anyone who walks into that hall can find the person they would work best with. This is why the entire apprenticeship system works so well, and why it''s important that projects be worked on completely individually. I don''t recommend it, but you could examine the projects yourself to see whose calls to you."

    "Why don''t you recommend it?" Yan had nothing but questions, which Aymon considered to be a good thing, since it showed she was thinking about what he was saying, but it also gave him little room to judge how she was really feeling about the whole thing.

    "Because I''m sure that you would find a project by someone you''ve never talked to before, but if you talked to them, you would work well together. So you might regret not knowing them for the past ten years." Aymon shrugged. "But do what you want, you''re an adult."

    "If I were to take this apprenticeship, where would it mostly be?"

    "My primary place of residence is in the Imperial Center, but I spend some of my time travelling. You would have rooms in the Center as well, but I''m certain that much of your time will be spent away."

    "What''s the salary?" Yan asked. This question made Aymon laugh out loud.

    "What a pragmatic question. Two hundred thousand charges for your first year, but more in later years probably. All travel and operational expenses will be covered by the Empire, of course."

    Aymon saw Yan blanch slightly at the number. It was more than four times the yearly salary for an average spacer, which was probably her reference point. The money was inconsequential to Aymon. Anyone sufficiently high in the Imperial government had no reason to worry about money. Aymon himself certainly did not.

    "What is the work schedule like?"

    "This is not a nine-to-seventeen job- you will be on call all the time. Certainly there will be days off, and you will be able to go home most nights and sleep, but this apprenticeship will become your life. I''m not going to pretend that it won''t."

    "How long do I have to make a decision?"

    "One week, I believe. And it''s traditional for students to have a month off before their apprenticeship starts, after graduation."

    "Do you know if Kino and Sid are going to accept the position?"

    "Even if I knew I would not be at liberty to comment on it." Aymon replied. "Do you know them?"

    "No, we just met. I was just wondering,¡± Yan said. She paused for a moment. "Do you think I should take this apprenticeship?" Yan asked, surprising Aymon.

    "If I didn''t think you had serious potential, I wouldn''t have picked you. I also think this is not a job for everybody, certainly not for those who lack dedication. Only you can decide if you have the type and amount of dedication required."

    "And you are sure we will work well together, if I took this position?"

    "There are no sureties in life," Aymon said. "But I believe so. Do you need or want proof?"

    "What proof could you give me?"

    Aymon considered this question for a second.

    "The profile I was given on you said you enjoy meditation much more than the average student, is that correct?"

    "Yes." Yan raised her eyebrows at the seeming non sequitur, or perhaps at the idea that he had been given such a detailed profile.

    Aymon pulled his phone out of his pocket and set it on the desk in front of him.

    "Then let''s take a moment together, and you can see what I am like." He swiped through his phone until he found the simplest active meditation recording he had. It was just recording of a completely neutral voice counting slowly upward. Before he began to play it he asked, "Is this an acceptable idea?"

    Yan nodded and Aymon started the recording. Both of them closed their eyes and listened to the voice count up, focusing all their attention on just that. By time the voice had reached thirty, they were both in the trance state together, their consciousnesses linked.

    Aymon strengthened his mental barriers and directed his thoughts away from all important information, but opened the doors of his mind to let Yan poke around at his personality. It felt like someone rifling through drawers in his head, but Yan was quite gentle and cautious. In his mind''s eye he watched her do this.

    One interesting thing that she did that he had never experienced anyone else try before was that she presented small snippets of scenes to him, perhaps out of her own memory, to see his instinctive reaction to them. This served the dual purpose of allowing him a small window into her life.

    Most of these memory moments were innocuous, like a tedious moment of class time (which provoked instant boredom), or sparring with a classmate (excitement, and a strong desire for victory), watching rain drip down a window (a peaceful distraction), a memory from far in her childhood of a tall man menacing over her (anger), and a half finished test with math that had been worked in a circle (frustration, determination).

    The last memory, however, was something else. In it, a young Yan (and Aymon inhabiting the body of this memory self) was floating in microgravity, looking out the window of her/his ship, watching the hustle of all the adults on the ship loading and unloading cargo from a station. One of the suited adults outside the ship fired their suit''s jets to slowly pass the window where Yan/Aymon was. The adult waved in through the window and signed "Go to bed" at the young Yan/Aymon who stuck out her/his tongue. The adult engaged the jets again and zoomed away towards the working mass of people directing massive cargo containers. The memory seemed to stretch out and slow down as one of the cargo containers jets misfired. The massive, thousand ton box broke loose from its moorings and started spinning wildly out of control. Most people scattered out of the way of the oncoming projectile, but the adult who had signed to Yan/Aymon was not so lucky. One side of the wildly spinning container hit the adult and----

    The memory abruptly cut off and Yan''s presence withdrew from Aymon''s mind. Back out of the meditation, his phone was still counting up and up. He shut it off and looked up at Yan.

    "Sorry," she said, looking extremely shaken. "I didn''t mean to do that."

    "And that is the reason why active meditation can be extremely dangerous to those who do not know what they are doing, especially when it comes to things that they would rather keep hidden." Aymon said, attempting to gather his own wits about him. "An interesting technique, to be sure, but not one that I would recommend trying again without more practice."

    Yan just stared at him blankly.

    "Did you find what you were hoping to learn in there?" He asked, trying to be somewhat less abrasive.

    "I''ll let you know by the end of the week," Yan said, standing abruptly. Aymon stood as well. He pulled a card from his pocket and held it out to her.

    "Message me at this number when you have your decision, or if you have any other questions." Yan practically snatched the card out of his hand and walked out the door.

    Well. That certainly had been something, Aymon thought.

 Chapter Four - Summer Plans

    Summer Plans

    <blockquote>

    ¡°But there¡¯s no true freedom when your mother¡¯s around, she¡¯ll nag you and hound you drag your heart down. So that¡¯s why I say I¡¯ll get my own ship. I¡¯ll name her and load her and go on my trip. [...] But my mother did follow me right onboard, she said ¡®I¡¯ll journey with you and keep you safe. By her son¡¯s right side is a mother¡¯s true place.¡¯¡±

    -from ¡°The Captain¡¯s Mother¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan was practically in tears by time she reached the dining hall where she had previously agreed to meet her friends. She choked out a quick prayer at the shrine before heading up into the dining hall proper. It was nearly deserted, since it was past lunchtime. Most younger students were busy studying for finals, and Yan''s class were all busy interviewing.

    It was easy for Yan to locate the table where Sylva and Harbin were sitting, the only two who did not have an interview during that time slot. The two were deep in conversation as Yan approached, but Harbin waved her over.

    "I do think that my interviewer had a little bit of a problem with depicting the face of God as a living person, but he seemed to like the project anyway," Harbin was saying to Sylva.

    "So it wasn''t as bad as Master Hein implied it was?" Sylva asked this while nibbling on a cookie.

    "Hey, Yan!" Harbin said, kicking out a chair for Yan to sit on, which she gratefully accepted.

    Sylva noted the look on Yan''s face. "Interview not go well?"

    Yan put her head down on the table, and folded her long arms over it. "The worst," came the muffled reply.

    "What happened?" Sylva asked.

    "Who was it even with?" questioned Harbin.

    In response to both of their questions, Yan held up the card that First Sandreas had handed to her. She covered up the phone number, thinking that it might be private information, but the name on the top of the card was clear to read.

    "Haha, holy shit," Harbin said.

    "No wonder you had your interview in the admin building," Sylva said. "What was he like?"

    Yan chose to keep her head on the table and just groaned loudly. Harbin slid a cookie under her arm towards her face. This at least caused her to pick up her head because he was getting cookie crumbs in her eyelashes.

    "I don''t know, it was weird." She finally said before jamming the offered food into her mouth.

    "Weird how?" Sylva asked.

    "Like I was in the hallway for like an hour waiting for two other people to finish their interviews, and his ugly bodyguard or whatever was there the whole time,¡± Yan mumbled through her cookie filled mouth.

    "Well duh he''s going to have a bodyguard- you know how many assassination attempts there''s been on him this year alone? That we know of?" Harbin''s voice was rising in volume as he said this, but Yan waved her hand at him to pipe down.

    "Yeah. And once I got in there he asked me weird questions about my project, and told me that God told him to find me, and that I shouldn''t take the apprenticeship because it will suck, but that I should because I''ll have a ton of power, but I shouldn''t because I won''t get to have a life, but I should because I''ll get paid two hundred thousand charges a year, and then he just, like, let me root around in his brain for a little bit to make me trust him." All of this came out in a rush.

    "Why would he ever do that?" Harbin asked.

    "He must really actually think that God told him to find you, otherwise he wouldn''t let you do that, that''s for sure." Sylva said.

    "But that really doesn''t sound so bad," Harbin said. "Unless you saw something really horrible when you were going fishing in his brain."

    Mouth full of another cookie, Yan groaned again. She took a moment to steal some of Sylva''s juice and clear her mouth so she could talk.

    "I, ughhhhh, when I was in his brain, I, uh, God..." Yan took a deep breath, "Accidentally showed him the memory of when my mom died."

    Sylva sucked in her breath through her teeth and cringed. "Yikes."

    Harbin also looked somewhat pained. "So what did he do when that happened?"

    "He was just ''don''t do mind tricks when you don''t know what you''re doing, it''s dangerous''. And then he gave me his card and told me to call him and I kinda ran out and came here."

    "Well it doesn''t sound like he''s revoking your apprenticeship offer, anyway." Sylva said pragmatically. "Are you going to accept?"

    "I don''t know! Like, it''s so weird and just... Why me?"

    "Because God told him, I guess." Harbin said. "You''ve just gotta take him on that, it doesn''t seem like something anybody would lie about."

    "It''s definitely not theologically sound to say you''re getting a message from God when you''re not." Sylva added jokingly.

    "So who were the other students interviewing with him? Anyone we know?" Harbin asked.

    "Uh, Sid- didn''t catch his last name. White, glasses, big shiny bald head, he''s deaf. You''ve probably seen him around. And Kino Meija- long black hair, kinda brown, fidgety. I''ve never had a conversation with either of them before today."

    "I think I''ve talked to Kino before- she was in my economics class three semesters ago. She''s smart but kinda weird," Harbin offered.

    "We''re all ¡®kinda weird¡¯, that''s nothing to hold against anybody." Sylva said. "But you and those two, seems like a random grouping if you ask me."

    "There could have been more that I didn''t see," Yan said.

    "Seems unlikely- three apprentices is already a lot for one person," Sylva said.

    "It didn''t really seem like he wanted us as apprentices more like as his agents to help him out," Yan said.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Everybody runs their apprenticeship differently," Harbin said. "My cousin told me that a his boss''s boss at the engineering firm where he works took an apprentice from one of the smaller schools but never interacts with him at all. It was more like a regular job than apprentice-ing."

    "That doesn''t sound quite like what this is," Sylva said. "Is he looking for a successor or something?"

    "I don''t know," Yan moaned. "I don''t know what to do."

    "I think you should take it," Harbin said. "You''ll never get another chance like this."

    "I think you should take the Xenobio position," Sylva countered. "Still exciting, less weird."

    "I have to think about it, ok?" Yan said, feeling pathetic. "I don''t know how I feel about the whole thing. I know my uncle would want me to take it."

    "The weird one? Why would you want to listen to him?" Sylva asked.

    "He did take care of me after my mom died. And it would be really really good for the family to get somebody high up in the government." Even though the Trade Guild and the Imperial government were not always the friendliest, Yan thought.

    "Don''t think of your family, think about what''s best for you," Harbin said.

    "What''s best for my family is best for me, you idiot. If they find out I didn''t take the best possible apprenticeship someone will murder me next time I set foot on the ship."

    "It''s not like they ever have to know," Sylva said. "You aren''t obligated to tell them, and certainly the school doesn''t send out notices to families."

    "They''d find out because I''d look too guilty whenever anybody asked me about how my selection process went. You know how bad I am at keeping a straight face in that type of situation," Yan said.

    "Excuses, excuses." Sylva waved her hand as though swatting flies. "It is your decision and don''t let me or Harbin or anyone else tell you otherwise."

    "Do let me tell you otherwise, because I''m always right, and never, in fact, heretical," Harbin joked. "But seriously, are you leaning towards one or the other?"

    "There''s a big part of me that just wants to pick the Academics team and be done with it. I think that would be a good life," Yan said.

    "I can just picture you being a stodgy old master," Sylva said. "The thought makes me gag."

    "You can''t go wrong with any of the choices," Harbin said.

    "Well I definitely can. All of them have some major downsides, in case you hadn''t noticed."

    "Yeah if you go with Academics you''ll become the most boring person on the planet,¡± Sylva said.

    "That''s not true, some masters are quite nice people," Harbin tried to say.

    "It''s a joke." Sylva rolled her eyes.

    "Sure, Academics would be the most boring, I''m not disagreeing with you, exactly," Yan said. "But sometimes it''s good to have a bit of stability and familiarity, and I already know a lot of the masters and how we get along, that would make it easier."

    "Do whatever you want," Sylva said. "But think about it before you go making any wild and crazy life altering choices."

    "I''m not dumb. I probably won''t even be able to force myself to make a choice until the last possible second," Yan said.

    "Won''t being unable to make a decision and then making a panic choice at the very end of the week be the same as not thinking it over and just making a choice right now?" Harbin asked.

    "No it''s totally different." Yan refused to elaborate. "Besides, I don''t want to think about it right this instant." There was a moment of silence.

    "Sooooo, what are you planning to do on your month off?" Sylva awkwardly asked.

    "You know, you manage to jump from the worst topic to the second-worst topic, it''s amazing the talent you have," Yan said.

    "I need to find a place to live," Harbin said. "The architect I''m almost-definitely apprenticing with doesn''t live on this continent."

    "What continent does he live on?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know, I forgot to ask. He said he would send me the details of the arrangement after I formally accept at graduation."

    "At least you can stay in your campus apartment until the end of the month," Sylva said.

    "Yeah, but I have five years worth of garbage piled up in it that I need to get rid of."

    "Well we''re all in that boat," Yan said. "Sylva keeps our living room neat enough but her bedroom is-" Sylva mock slapped her hand over Yan''s mouth. "Mmmmph."

    "The secrets of my bedroom must never be revealed," Sylva said.

    Yan licked the hand that was covering her mouth.

    "You''re nasty, you know that?" Sylva wiped her licked hand on her cassock.

    "Just another charming piece of my personality," Yan said.

    "Again, not sure how that makes you ''universe leadership'' type material, but who am I to know," Sylva said. This made Yan laugh.

    "So, Sylva, what are you doing over your month break?"

    "No idea. I was hoping one of you was going to be doing something interesting so you would invite me along," Sylva said. ¡°The less time I have to spend with my family, the better off I am.¡±

    "You''re welcome to spend the month househunting with me," Harbin offered.

    "I said ''interesting,'' not ''mind-numbingly boring''," Sylva said.

    "I''m probably just going to work a month on my family''s ship- my uncle said they would be in this piece of space for a while. I can get you a letter of transport if you want."

    "What''s working on a trade ship like?" Sylva asked. "It''s a little embarrassing, but you know I''ve never been off planet."

    "If I''m being completely honest with you," Yan said, "The work that you would probably be able to do is minimal, since you have absolutely no idea how a ship operates."

    "Sure, but I''m sure somebody could find me something to do."

    "Unless you enjoy cooking, cleaning, or running errands, I doubt it," Yan said. "Nobody would let you touch anything important."

    "I love cooking, and I could even learn to handle running errands," Sylva saied.

    "I notice the sly omission of cleaning from that list," Harbin said. "How interesting."

    "I mean you can come if you want. It''d probably be more exciting for you than for me," Yan said with a shrug.

    "Obviously, since you''ve been on ships your entire life," Sylva said dryly.

    "Yeah. That and spacers are like, how do I put this politely?" Yan started, and Harbin laughed, knowing what was coming. "Spacers are just incredibly horny all the time because there¡¯s nowhere for them to go, and any guest on the ship gets their choice of who to sleep with. To put it as bluntly as possible."

    "Wow, space sex paradise, I''m definitely in,¡± Sylva said.

    Yan rolled her eyes.

    "If you really do want to come, I''ll ask the captain for a note of transport for you, but it really isn''t that fun. I''m only going to see my family, and because I don''t have anything better to do that month."

    "I really do want to come, I''m not joking" Sylva said earnestly. "Not to be sappy or anything, but I don''t know how life is going to be when we''re both in our apprenticeships and, yeah. I just want to spend some time with you." Sylva''s face did look almost pitifully earnest, and Yan had to smile at that.

    "That is pretty sappy. But I''ll message my uncle and see about getting you aboard." Yan stretched her arms out above her head. "Oh, one other thing- we don''t speak New Imperial on board, so that might kinda suck since you don''t speak Terlin, or Imperial Sign... Most of us at least speak a little bit of Old Imperial, so you should be fine..."

    "It''ll be ok, I''m sure," Sylva said brightly. "Besides, you can translate for me."

    ¡°Ugh, no thanks.¡± Yan stood up. "I think I''m gonna go chill out for a little. Think about what I''m gonna do. And I''ll write to my uncle about you."

    "Ok, I''ll text you if any of us get up to anything later," Harbin said. "We probably won''t, but you never know."

    Yan waved goodbye as she headed out of the dining hall.

    <hr>

    > Hi Mr. Sandreas. This is Yan BarCarran.

    > Sorry about what happened earlier.

    > I want to be your apprentice.

    > Let me know what I have to do.

    <hr>

    Dear Uncle Maxes,

    I have a month free before I start my apprenticeship. I''d rather tell you about it in person, so I am coming back home for at least a little bit.

    Can you have the Captain write me and my friend Sylva letters of transit for the Sun''s Gold out of system? She wants to see what working on a ship is like and spend the month with me.

    My final project went well. I can bring it with me so you can see it if you want.

    Love,

    Yan

 Chapter Five - A Home Among the Stars

    A Home Among the Stars

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me take the watch, Little Allie, Little Allie. Don¡¯t make me take the watch tonight. There¡¯s ghosts at the windows and ghosts in the walls, and my grandfather¡¯s spirit is running through the halls, don¡¯t make me take the watch tonight.¡±

    -from ¡°Ghost Ship¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The Sun''s Gold docked at Byforest Station with a thump that could be heard through the whole ship. Yan and Sylva were looking out the window and Yan was pointing out her family''s ship in the distance.

    "It just looks like a big chunk of rock to me, if I''m being completely honest," Sylva said.

    "It''s a big chunk of rock with a stardrive attached to it. That''s what makes it special," Yan said. "It''s not economical to build a long haul ship out of metal, so what people do is take a hollowed out asteroid and build all around it. The things are just laying around as mining remnants anyway. As long as you don''t have to land it anywhere, it works just great."

    "Yeah, but it ends up just looking like a big rock."

    "Are you gonna spend a whole month complaining about the aesthetics of my family''s ship?" Yan asked.

    "Yes."

    "Well at least keep doing it in your fanciest New Imperial so that you don''t accidentally pick a fight with anybody,¡± Yan said. Sylva laughed.

    "Let''s get going- I can see the shuttle coming over now." As Yan said, there was a tiny ship lifting off the large asteroid in the distance and coming toward Byforest Station.

    The two women were floating in microgravity, Yan as natural and graceful as a fish in water, Sylva much less so. Their luggage of a large suitcase each was drifting next to them.

    Yan was wearing the work uniform of her family''s spacer, happy to be done with the black cassock of the Academy. The uniform in question was an olive green jumpsuit, made of a lightweight but warm fabric, with plenty of zip pockets, a belt to attach things to, and extremely grippy boots and gloves.

    Sylva, in contrast, was still wearing a black cassock, but accented with a bright blue cape, proudly showing off her apprenticeship. The blue color signified that she was in a theological apprenticeship, specifically one relating to arts. This was all despite the fact that she had not had a single day of apprenticeship yet, and wouldn''t for another month.

    "Do you have your transit letter?" Yan asked Sylva, patting down her own pocket to make sure she had hers.

    "Of course,¡± Sylva said.

    "Good, we''ll need it in order to be let on station." Yan grabbed the handle of her suitcase and kicked herself off the wall the pair had been drifting near. Sylva attempted to follow, but ended up headed in a slightly wrong direction, and with a spin.

    "Do I need to tie you to my waist like a baby? Get with the program, Sylva," Yan said.

    Sylva obligingly pushed off a new wall, more carefully this time, and drifted towards Yan.

    "Catch yourself on the wall with your hand, or you''ll crash with your face," Yan warned.

    The two successfully made it to the door of the small viewing room they had been standing in, and Yan led them through some of the narrow corridors of the Sun''s Gold. Yan was quite familiar with the ship, having hitched a ride on it out of system several times over the years. It also helped that everything was well labeled.

    At the end of the corridors, they came to the area where most of the passengers and some of the crew were disembarking onto the station. Yan pulled out her letter of transport and her identification. Sylva did the same.

    The station agent smiled at them as they handed over their documentation.

    "Headed for the Iron Dreams?" The agent, an older man wearing a pale blue jumpsuit, asked them.

    Yan nodded. "It''s my family''s ship."

    "Their shuttle should be docking in just a few minutes, from what I''ve heard on the radio. That just to pick the two of you up?"

    "I think so," Yan said.

    "Well then enjoy your very brief stay on the station." The man smiled at them and waved them forward into the station proper.

    The area they were in was quite a large, empty space, since it alternately served to receive passengers and large cargoes for the station. There were magnets of moderate strength built into the floor, which Yan was able to use to simply walk across the floor, since her uniform shoes had magnets embedded in the soles. Sylva had a much more significant problem. In the large room there was nothing for her to bounce off of, and her shoes lacked such a helpful feature as magnets. Yan was forced to take her by the hand and pull her along through the bay.

    "The first thing we do when we get on board Iron Dreams is get you a proper outfit. This isn''t going to fly."

    "I seem to be flying a bit too much, actually,¡± Sylva said.

    "Just for that bad joke you can get your own self to the door. I''ll be waiting over there." Yan let go of Sylva and walked herself to the door of the bay, leaving Sylva drifting only very slowly towards the door.

    Sylva looked at her petulantly for a moment, then simply used the power on her suitcase to propel it the remainder of the way across the room, pulling herself along with it. Yan laughed at the sight.

    "Let''s hurry up so we can meet the shuttle. I''m sure the whole crew is waiting for us so they can ship out," Yan said.

    "That''s sweet of them," Sylva said, following Yan into more narrow passages that led to other docking bays.

    "According to my uncle, they were going to be parked here for a week anyway, just to deliver a shipment to this area, and get some downtime, but now they''ve picked up any new cargo and passengers and are just waiting for us. It''s because I''m the most helpful member of the crew, they can''t leave without me," Yan said.

    "Sure, sure."

    The pair made it to the docking bay that had flashing red lights above it, indicating that a shuttle was coming in to land. They waited for the whole cycle of depressurizing the bay, opening the outside doors, letting the shuttle in, re-pressurizing the bay to complete before they could enter.

    There was another station agent already waiting with them for the shuttle, so that she could register the comings and goings of every person on the station. They made small talk about where Yan and Sylva were coming from and going to while the tedious landing process finished. The whole thing was slightly annoying to Yan: if she had been alone, she could have suited up and used an airlock to board the shuttle instead of forcing the station to go through the entire landing sequence. Unfortunately, Sylva had no suit training, so that was not an option. Finally, the doors opened, and the two women said goodbye to the station attendant.

    The shuttle itself was a squat green craft that looked rather like if a bus had had a baby with a lobster. It had large claws coming off its front end that were capable of both moving large loads and fine maneuvering, a simple propulsion drive on its back for relatively short distances, and a universal dock for attaching to other ships. It sat on the floor of the bay, but only due to the magnetic skids that held it down.

    As Yan and Sylva entered the bay, a door on the side of the craft opened and a tall man climbed out. He was dressed in a similar green jumpsuit to the one Yan was wearing, and there was definitely some family resemblance between them, though the man was much darker than Yan''s brown skin tone. His hair was braided in rows all down his head, and the beaded ends of the braids floated loose in the microgravity of the station. He had a broad smile on his face as he waved them over.

    Sylva was still struggling with the lack of magnets in her shoes, so Yan had to pull her over to where the man was waiting. It made for an awkward journey.

    "Looks like someone has no idea what proper spacer attire is," said the man as they came within speaking distance.

    "Don''t be too mean, Uncle. This is her first time off planet," Yan said, letting go of Sylva and giving her uncle a hug. "Uncle Maxes, this is my friend Sylva. Sylva, Uncle Maxes."

    Sylva awkwardly shook Maxes hand, though this was difficult from her floating position.

    "I''m glad that you both could join us for your break. Your last one, eh?" Maxes asked.

    "Yeah, no more gallivanting around in the Iron Dreams over my summers," Yan said. "Speaking of- how did you get permission to pick me up? I was under the impression that you were banned from flying the shuttle?" Yan started clambering inside the shuttle as her uncle loaded in their luggage.

    "Banned is quite a strong word. You crash it into a cargo container ONE time and everybody''s on your case about it for the next five years. Besides, who else was going to come pick up my favorite niece?"

    "Aren''t I your only niece?" Yan pulled Sylva into the shuttle and helped her get strapped in to a chair in the cockpit zone.

    "No, but you are my only favorite." Luggage secured, Maxes climbed into the shuttle himself. He started to go towards the pilot''s seat, but Yan made a pleading face at him.

    "Can I fly it? Please?" Her expression was neither particularly pleasant nor particularly convincing, but Maxes laughed at it anyway.

    "You promise you won''t crash?" Maxes asked.

    "I was the best pilot at the Academy," Yan said confidently.

    "As far as I know you were the only pilot at the Academy," Sylva muttered under her breath.

    "Maybe. But I have stayed up to date on my cert in the simulator." Her puppy dog eyes remained in full force.

    "As long as you are actually certified, than I don''t see why not, I suppose," Maxes agreed.

    "Excellent." Yan immediately shoved herself into the pilot''s seat and strapped in. Maxes slid much more calmly into the copilot''s chair.

    "You better know what you''re doing," Sylva said nervously as Yan started flipping switches.

    "Everything all set?" Yan asked, running down the preflight checklist. "Hatches closed, passengers secure, freight secure, bay clear, engine check, fuel check, systems check..." The list went on, Yan checking off each item as she went down the list that was taped to the dashboard. Finally, she was satisfied with the safety of the shuttle, and radioed the station control.

    "This is Iron Dreams shuttle two requesting depressurization and outside access in bay A3 for passage to the Iron Dreams. Are we clear for exit?" Yan asked the Byforest Station control.

    A moment later a reply came through staticy speakers. "Iron Dreams shuttle two, you are authorized for exit. Depressurization will begin in 60 seconds. Please stand by for route information."

    Outside the shuttle, they could hear the depressurization alarm begin to sound and see the warning lights flash, signaling that the bay needed to be cleared. Since the bay was already clear, they simply had to wait out this period. After a minute, the alarm fell silent and the pressure in the bay began to drop as the atmosphere was pumped out into holding tanks. This process was quite tedious, and Yan spent the time showing various controls on the dashboard to Sylva, who had never been in the cockpit of a shuttle before.

    "Unfortunately, this thing is really not built for high speed maneuvers, but back on the Dreams we do have a couple dogfighters that we sometimes need to use to chase away raiding parties-" Yan was interrupted by the radio crackling to life and the bay doors opening to space.

    "Iron Dreams shuttle two, you are cleared for exit. Up to date navigational information for local space has been sent to your onboard computer. As construction work is proceeding in the northwestern part of the station, please stay at a distance of at least seven thousand meters from that quadrant after exit." Though they were on a space station, which had no magnetic field to speak of, and thus no north and south, it was convention to assign navigational beacons to different directions.

    "Wilco Byforest Station, we''re clear for exit and are staying at a distance of seven kilometers from the northwestern quadrant," Yan repeated back at the station controller. As she said this she flipped more switches and pressed more buttons, and the engine on the shuttle roared to life.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    Yan effortlessly guided the shuttle out of the bay.

    "Byforest Station, we are clear of bay A3 and are proceeding on the marked course to the Iron Dreams." The shuttle¡¯s navigation system was communicating with the station control, showing the path that Yan was going to take.

    "Thank you, Iron Dreams shuttle two, your course is clear. Safe travels."

    Yan took the shuttle on a smooth ride until they were quite far away from the station. Flying the shuttle was not difficult for her. She had learned how to do it over one summer when she was fourteen, and had kept herself in practice on the simulator while at the Academy.

    "Want me to do some tricks?" Yan asked.

    "Absolutely not," Sylva said.

    "No," said Maxes. "Not that I don''t trust you, particularly-"

    "I don''t," said Sylva.

    "-But the captain would not want you messing around with one of his precious shuttles. Especially since Shuttle One is out of service for repairs," Maxes continued despite the interruption from Sylva.

    Reluctantly, Yan continued their smooth transit to the station. As they came within approach distance, Yan radioed out again.

    "Iron Dreams, this is Shuttle Two requesting a landing vector. We are currently about one hundred kilometers away from the station with a lead time of ten minutes, please advise on bay availability."

    "Welcome back Shuttle Two, you''re scheduled to use bay B3. There is no other traffic, so you should have a clear shot in. Wait for the all clear to approach," Iron Dreams control sent out vocally. Yan recognized the voice of her first cousin, Rumon.

    The shuttle also received a text only message over a private channel.

    < yan PLEASE tell me you''re up to date on your shuttle cert. capt will kill u if u aren''t

    "Wilco, Iron Dreams, we are waiting for the all clear for bay B3."

    "Can you respond to that?" Yan asked Maxes as she fiddled with the shuttle controls for the landing. "Like I''ve been saying, I am up to date."

    Maxes typed out a response as requested.

    > yan claims she''s fine- Maxes

    It took several minutes for the reply to come, presumably due to the amount of time it takes for the landing bay to be cleared.

    "The bay doors on B3 are open, you are clear to come in for a landing." This time, Rumon sounded slightly relieved.

    "Understood, Iron Dreams. We''re on our way in to B3." Yan used the navigational controls to plot the smoothest course to the bay. By design, Iron Dreams and Byforest station held constant positions relative to each other, which made plotting a course between them quite easy. Yan could have come in even if Iron Dreams was spinning or traveling at some sort of relative velocity, but it was much easier for everyone this way.

    Yan brought the shuttle closer and closer to the rocky face of the ship, then slipped the shuttle into a small set of open doors. Behind her, she heard Sophia let out a deep breath. The shuttle bumped into the floor of the landing bay, perhaps a little harder than strictly necessary, and the magnets that would hold it to the floor engaged.

    "Iron Dreams, this is Shuttle Two, we are inside bay B3 and are safely on the floor," Yan said.

    "Acknowledged, Shuttle Two. Please wait for re-pressurization to exit."

    Yan went through the shuttle post flight checklist as they waited for the bay doors to shut and the whole area to be filled with breathable air. The process of refilling the bay with air was much faster than the process of pumping it out into storage tanks. At first they could only see the warning lights flash and the bay doors close, but eventually the rush of air pounding against the side of the shuttle became clearly audible. When the rush subsided, Yan still made them wait for the all clear from control to open the doors.

    "Bay B3 is fully secure, welcome aboard."

    "Thank you, control," Yan said, flipping the switch that would open the side door of the shuttle. She was about to turn off the shuttle''s power completely when the radio crackled to life once more.

    "Yan, the captain requests the presence of you and your guest at dinner tonight in his stateroom at 1930. My mother says that you should please remember to dress accordingly." Yan rolled her eyes.

    "Thank you, control. I''ll do my best." Before any more embarrassing personal chitchat could come over the radio, Yan killed the shuttle''s power, unstrapped herself, and shoved out into the large and empty landing bay.

    Maxes had already taken Yan''s luggage out of the shuttle and was trying to help Sylva get to the other end of the bay. Unfortunately, his main method of ''helping'' seemed to be giving her completely impractical advice.

    "Here, the shuttle is anchored to the floor, you can push off it now, just pretend like you''re jumping. And once you''re in the air, you need to turn yourself around so that you can hit the wall with your legs," Maxes said.

    "How do I turn myself around?" Sylva asked, struggling to even orient herself against the side of the shuttle.

    "Sylva, this is not the best place to learn how to do this. Ignore what he''s saying," Yan said absentmindedly as she closed the door of the shuttle. "Either pull yourself around like you did before or wait for me to help you."

    "What if I want to try to scoot around right now?" Sylva said, testing the waters by very lightly kicking off the side of the shuttle.

    "We''ve been invited to dinner with the captain later, and if you smash your face on the wall it won''t be a good look." Yan gathered her luggage and began the trek towards the door of the bay. The landing bays were so large so that they could accommodate even moderately sized ships and cargo containers. This particular bay did not connect to the cargo area of the Iron Dreams, but many of the other bays did. However, in an emergency, this bay, along with many of the others, could be used as storage for cargo or multiple small ships.

    Sylva chose to grab onto Yan as she walked and was dragged along. Yan was grateful to exit the wide open space of the bay and head into the more confined spaces of the corridors. Inside she saw one of her aunts, a tall black woman named Eman, who had been clearly standing around waiting for the group of them.

    "Yan! We''ve missed you so much," Eman reached over and gave a quick squeeze to Yan''s shoulder. Behind her, Sylva sighed, encountering for the first time that casual conversation aboard the Iron Dreams took place in Terlin, the language of the planet where Yan''s family ship had originated, many decades ago.

    "It''s good to see you too, Aunt Eman. This is my friend, Sylva from the Academy. Sylva, Aunt Eman." Yan, attempting to be polite for Sylva''s sake, replied in Old Imperial- a common language among most spacers. Old Imperial was at least mutually intelligible with Sylva''s native New Imperial.

    Getting the hint, Eman switched to Old Imperial. "Pleasure to meet you, Sylva." Eman raised her eyebrows at Yan and in Terlin said, "She doesn''t look much like a spacer. What''s she going to do on the ship?"

    Yan rolled her eyes and continued speaking in Old Imperial. "Sylva''s come to see what life on a spacer is like. She''s excited to help out with odd jobs. Maybe work in the kitchen."

    Maxes butted in on the conversation in Terlin. "She''s probably not as useless as she looks... You know." Maxes wiggled his fingers in a joking impression of using the power.

    Sylva looked a little frustrated with everyone at this point.

    "I suppose you''ll do fine, once we get some proper clothes on you," Eman said, finally using the common language.

    "Thanks," Sylva said, sounding to Yan like she was trying her best to be ungrudging. "It''s nice to meet you."

    "So, do you have any plans for the day?" Eman asked.

    "I was just planning to get back into my room, maybe give Sylva the tour, and then the captain invited us to dinner later," Yan answered.

    "How exciting. I''ll have to see about getting you back on the duty roster. Can''t have you lazing about for a month," Eman said somewhat abruptly.

    "I wouldn''t want to, anyway. Can you put me on patrol duty?" These words were accompanied by a pleading expression from Yan.

    "Only if you can show me actual proof of your flight certifications. It''s more likely we''ll need you in cargo, though. We''ve been doing massive restructuring of the bays to improve loading efficiency."

    "That''s fine too, I guess." Yan was a little disappointed, but everyone knew that patrol duty was the most hotly requested duty in the rotation, since taking the dogfighters out to check the area for evidence of raiding parties was easy, fun, and an excuse to get off the ship for a while. "When are we jumping away from Byforest?"

    "At sixteen hundred, barring any delays. The stardrive is having routine cleaning done right now," Eman answered.

    "Sounds good. I should take Sylva and get her set up in my room," Yan said, attempting to end the conversation.

    "Alright. Have a good dinner with the captain," Eman said. "I''ll probably see you tomorrow for duty."

    With that, Eman headed down the hallway, deftly navigating the corridor using the handholds built into all of the walls. Once she was out of sight, Yan switched back to New Imperial and told Sylva to follow her.

    "I have to get back to my duties," Maxes said. "I have a shift in the farms starting in an hour and I need to get changed."

    "Have fun with that," Yan said. "I''ll see you later."

    "Yeah, enjoy your dinner, I''m sure it will be exciting," Maxes called back as he started to pull himself away through the hallway.

    "So. Which way is it to your room?" Sylva asked.

    "It''s right near cargo bay 16, which isn''t too far from here. I got moved into the no-grav section after I went to the Academy, since I wasn''t going to be here most of the year. I hope you don''t mind."

    "No, that''s fine. I''m honestly shocked you have a room to yourself at all." The pair navigated themselves through the corridors, with Yan in front. Yan''s suitcase was held against her stomach with one arm, and with her other she pulled her way along the handholds in the corridor. It was the safest way to travel in front of Sylva, she didn''t want to trail her luggage behind and risk hitting her, or push her luggage ahead and risk losing control of it.

    "Well there''s plenty of room on a ship like this, we''ve only got a couple hundred crew, and the asteroid Iron Dreams is built of is massive- kilometers long. A lot of it is taken up with cargo bays, but there are plenty of empty spaces."

    "You can just pressurize any area of the ship you want?" Sylva asked. Yan didn''t reply for a moment.

    The pair were traveling through the corridors at, in Yan''s opinion, was a slow speed, but Yan tried to slow down even more as they turned a corner. Sylva still ended up hitting the wall with a bit of force, probably enough to bruise.

    "I do not think I''m going to get used to this," Sylva complained, righting herself and following Yan again.

    "It''s easier without a load. Do you want me to take your suitcase?"

    "No, I''ve got it," Sylva said. The main problem that Sylva was having was controlling her speed. She would grab the handholds on the walls to course correct, but then would end up pushing off and gaining unintended speed.

    "Anyway, like I was saying, most areas of the ship can be pressurized, but it''s not economical to pressurize the bays most of the time. The only time that I can remember that we did was we had a whole shipment of live cargo- farm animals for a new colony. That was a miserable delivery. But all the living quarters and the hallways and stuff, they''re modular, so you can close them off or build new ones really easily and just connect them up."

    "Why was shipping animals miserable?"

    "God... So many reasons. For one thing, getting enough air to pressurize the cargo bays is expensive, so we cut pressure over the entire ship to minimum levels. The animals had to all be sedated and strapped down the entire time, of course. And animals smell so, so bad."

    Sylva managed to make the rest of the journey without crashing, even when Yan had to stop them and key in her entry code to open various fire doors. After about a ten minute journey, they had arrived at Yan''s room.

    Yan pressed her security code into the lock on the door and it slid open. Immediately, the pair were assaulted by various pieces of floating clothing that swirled out the door in the slight breeze from the ship''s ventilation.

    "Whoops." Yan said, momentarily abandoning her suitcase to try to collect the wayward garments. "Must have forgotten to secure my drawers when I left last time."

    "Want any help?" Sylva asked.

    "Sure, just get the suitcases in the room so I can shut the door."

    Obligingly, Sylva wrangled the suitcases into the room. It was fairly spacious inside, a testament to the fact that the Iron Dreams had room to spare for its crew. There were no windows, since this was a completely interior room, but the lighting was gentle and not unpleasant. In terms of furniture, the room was sparse. There was one large television embedded into a wall, chests of drawers ''beneath'' it, a mirror, some cupboards. A skinny door led to a bathroom. Much of the wall space was covered with pictures: drawings, photos, and posters. Sylva smiled when she saw that a good number of the photos were of Sylva, Anni, Genna, and Harbin, along with various other Academy friends and acquaintances. Other places on the walls were covered with velcro and bags, presumably to store random items.

    Yan finished collecting all of her floating clothes, mostly a collection of undergarments and green jumpsuits like the one she was wearing, and shoved them into a drawer, which she firmly latched.

    "I know it''s not that much to look at, but here''s the room," Yan said. "Grand tour: tv, toilet, storage."

    "Where do you sleep?," Sylva asked.

    "Free floating in the rest of the room," Yan said. ¡°I have a sleeping bag that I use.¡±Sylva made a face.

    "Space travel kinda sucks," Sylva said jokingly.

    "You''re the one who practically begged to come," Yan said.

    "Where should I put my stuff?" Sylva asked, returning to her suitcase.

    "Good question. I think I have some more velcro strips around here somewhere." Yan started fishing around in her drawers and eventually held up a pack of sticky back velcro. "You''ll probably want to put one of these on your computer, phone, anything else you want to have out." She sent the pack sailing towards Sylva, who caught it.

    "What about my clothes?"

    "Either keep them in your suitcase and strap that to the wall or I have some drawer space free. But to be honest, we''re going to have to get you a real uniform because that," Yan gestured to Sylva''s outfit, "Really isn''t suitable for work."

    "They can stay in the suitcase, I guess."

    Yan took her own suitcase and began opening it, putting the clothes into her drawers. The suitcase itself was quite a clever design, and when she had finished she was able to fold it down into a flat sheet, which was then wedged in a small space between the drawers and the wall. Sylva was busily attaching velcro to all of her possessions and hanging them on the walls.

    "What size shoes do you wear?" Yan asked abruptly, as she lounged in the air and looked at her phone.

    "Nine and a half?" Sylva said.

    "I''m gonna bump that up to a ten because your feet are probably going to swell. I''m putting in a clothing requisition for you."

    "Oh, thanks." Sylva finished putting away her things and sprawled in the air.

    "Give me your phone, I''ll hook it up to our system so it''s not completely useless for you," Yan said.

    Sylva batted her phone towards Yan, who snatched it out of the air. Yan spent a moment navigating to the settings, then entered the commands to connect to the Iron Dreams'' internal communication network. Yan tossed the phone back.

    "Obviously there''s only ship wide communications, but you can contact me and access the ship''s message board and whatever. If you look at the message board hub the duty roster should be right in front- you''ll need to keep an eye on that," Yan explained.

    Sylva took the phone and looked at the message board for a second. "Look, you''ve already got duty assigned to you," she said.

    Yan groaned. "What and when?"

    "Says ''Cargo coordination'', eight hundred hours, tomorrow. Whatever that means." Sylva tucked the phone into her pocket.

    "Eman did warn me that she was putting me on rearranging the cargo bays."

    "Who was she?" Sylva aksed.

    "One of my aunts. My mother''s oldest sister. She''s mostly in charge of arranging shipments with customers, but when we''re en route she can''t do that, so she helps out in cargo a lot."

    "She seemed... interesting," Sylva said.

    "That''s one way of putting it." Yan checked the time on her phone. "We''ve got a while before our dinner with the captain. You want to take the grand tour?"

    "Sure. The sooner I start learning my way around this place the better," Sylva said.

    Yan swooped towards the door. "We''ll have to come back here before dinner so I can change into better clothes, but we can stop by the dispensary and pick up a uniform for you."

    Yan opened the door and pulled herself out into the hallway. "And hey, the more we move around in here the faster you''ll get your space legs."

 Chapter Six - Our Father, Who Art Thou?

    Our Father, Who Art Thou?

    <blockquote>

    ¡°You¡¯ll never be alone when you make that journey home, you¡¯ll find your brother, find your cousin, find your wife. They¡¯ll be waiting here for you, no more troubles in your crew, to keep you for the rest of your life.¡±

    -from ¡°Run Away, Starman¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Later, after the tour had been given, Yan and Sylva waited in the corridor outside the captain''s stateroom.

    They were in one of the two giant rotating rings that made up the majority of the inhabited spaces aboard the Iron Dreams. This ring had the distinction of rotating along the outside of the asteroid that made up the bulk of the ship, which allowed for windows to be set into its sides. There weren''t any in this particular hallway, but there were in other parts of the ring. The view out of them could be particularly disconcerting: the bulk of the asteroid appeared at the top of the window while stars slowly slid past along the bottom.

    Sylva remained dressed in her uniform, the black cassock with blue cape, but with much more practical shoes- the grippy and magnetic ones preferred by every worker aboard a ship.

    Yan had changed into her own best clothes: a variation on her school uniform made in a heavy, rich fabric that had appeared in her mailbox on the day of graduation. This was accented with a short cape like Sylva''s, but in scarlet. This had been rather awkward to receive in her mail, since First Sandreas had not said anything about sending it, but Yan could only assume it was from him, or from one of his subordinates on his orders.

    Yan rang the doorbell on the side of the door, above the keypad for the security code.

    After a moment, the captain''s voice sounded through the tinny speaker. "Welcome back, Yan, come on in."

    The door slid open to reveal the living room of the captain''s quarters, but not the captain at the moment. Yan and Sylva stepped inside and the door shut behind them.

    Yan had been here several times before, and she recognized the simple but expensive furnishings that had been there on her previous visits. As everything on a ship had to be, every object was subtly secured in position in case the ring had to be stopped.

    Along one wall was a large window, showing the expected (and somewhat bland) view. Doors led to other rooms, presumably the captain''s private office and bedroom. The living room was on a lower level, but there was a small set of stairs that led up into a dining area, separated from the living room with a banister. The living room had a few couches, a large screen on the opposite wall from the window, a coffee table, and a few cabinets containing trinkets and books.

    After a moment, the captain opened one of the doors and stepped out of his office. Yan caught a quick glimpse of a desk covered in paraphernalia: holographic maps of space, a display showing the status of the ship, and many other things that she could not make out.

    The captain himself was a tall black man with a trimmed beard and glasses. His head was completely shaved. The captain was distantly related to Yan. If she remembered correctly, he was her mother''s paternal uncle''s son. His name was Pellon BarCarran, but the crew addressed him as Captain Pellon, since most people on the Iron Dreams shared the same surname.

    Pellon smiled brightly as he walked towards the two girls. He held out his hand to shake theirs. "It''s good to see you again, Yan. And a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sylva¡ª sorry, I don''t believe I know your family name?" Pellon asked in slightly accented New Imperial.

    "Sylva Calor, but I just go by Sylva. And the pleasure is all mine. Thank you for having me on your ship." She smiled up at him as they shook hands.

    "You are most welcome. Any friend of Yan''s is a friend of ours. After all, she''s my first cousin once removed." There was the name of the relationship that Yan could never remember.

    "Not to be rude, but isn''t basically everyone on this ship related?" Sylva asked.

    Pellon laughed and gestured for them to follow him into the dining room area. "It''s true that for the most part we are all extended family, but Yan''s mother and I were quite close when we were children."

    Yan tried to contain a wince at the mention of her mother.

    "Would either of you care for some wine?" Pellon asked. He had walked over to a section of the wood paneled wall of the dining room and pressed a cleverly hidden button, which slid a panel of the wall open to reveal a rack of wine bottles in a fridge.

    "Sure, thank you." Yan said.

    "I''ll also take some, thanks." Sylva said.

    "Excellent," Pellon replied cheerfully. The dining room table was already set with plates and glasses. Pellon selected a bottle of wine, and deftly opened it with a bottle opener, and poured some into the three glasses on the table.

    "So," Pellon said, handing out the glasses, "How has life been for you at school this year?"

    "Pretty good. It''s nice to finally be ready to start an apprenticeship and be done with daily classes," Yan said. "I''ll probably miss it a bit once I start working for real, though."

    Pellon laughed at this. "Yan, you''ve been working since you were tiny. I find it hard to believe that a cushy apprenticeship could be harder than working a ship''s cargo bay, or flying a shuttle around."

    "You never know until you start," Yan said. "I''m pretty nervous about it, regardless."

    "Maxes never did mention what your apprenticeship was going to be, now that we''re talking about it. Did you end up joining the xenobio team like you were hoping for?"

    Sylva, who had been politely sipping her wine and listening to the conversation, stifled a snort and tried to disguise it as choking on her wine.

    "I got an offer from xenobio, but I turned them down. I also turned down an academics team offer."Yan rubbed the back of her head as she felt the anxiety of having to tell her family (more specifically, her captain) about her apprenticeship. Her hair wasn''t much longer than Pellon''s, but she got some comfort from the sensation. "I never did tell Maxes what my apprenticeship was, I said I wanted to say in person."

    "You mustn''t keep me in such suspense! What could have made you turn down xenobio?" Pellon asked.

    Yan avoided answering by taking a sip of her wine. Since she wasn''t much of a drinker, she had no reference frame with which to appreciate any of its qualities other than the ones that would allow her to take a moment to think before she spoke.

    "First Sandreas finally decided it was time to take apprentices," Yan finally said. "And for some reason, he liked my project enough to pick me."

    The room was dead silent for a moment, with only the quiet hum of the ship''s ventilation and internal mechanisms rumbling in the background. Pellon put his glass of wine down on the table.

    "Usually I''m not one for profanities, but holy shit, Yan. I''m not sure if I should congratulate you or yell at you," Pellon said.

    "That''s about how I''ve been feeling since I accepted his offer," Yan said. "I''ve only talked to him once, during interview day, and it was..." She trailed off, unsure of the word to use. Intense? Alarming? Exciting?

    "Any idea what the job is going to entail?" Pellon asked after a moment.

    "No idea. First Sandreas has his hands in basically every corner of the empire''s operations, and he suggested that, I don''t know, he was pretty vague? Um. Definitely high level stuff."

    "And I''m going into theological arts," Sylva said unceremoniously. Yan gave her a light shove on the shoulder.

    Abruptly, Pellon switched into Terlin and gave Yan a questioning look. "Yan, how much are you comfortable talking about in front of your friend?"

    Yan was surprised by this question and looked at Pellon sharply. Sylva, beside her, sighed.

    "Everything." Yan made her reply in New Imperial, reinforcing that Sylva could hear whatever needed to be said.

    Pellon looked as though he were about to say something, but a buzzer sounded, alerting the three that there was someone at the door.

    "That must be the food. Have a seat at the table, I''ll bring it in." Pellon headed down out of the dining area towards the door to the rest of the ship. It opened at the touch of a button and revealed the form of a knee high wheeled robot bearing a large, covered tray. Pellon removed the tray and the robot wheeled itself away back down the hall.

    The food on the tray turned out to be a large bowl of curry and rice. "That smells delicious," Yan said.

    "You''ll have to thank the cook for that, not me." Pellon smiled as he sat down at the table, across from Yan and Sylva. "Do you, uh, want to say a blessing?"

    "Sure," Yan said. She had grown unaccustomed to eating anywhere other than a communal dining hall, where the blessing was said on the way in.

    Yan was about to start speaking when she felt Sylva''s hand grab hers under the table. Yan gave it a quick squeeze of acknowledgement. When she did start speaking, Sylva joined in, the prayer intimate and familiar.

    "Blessed are you, Lord of all creation, whose untold works provide sustenance and beauty. May you bless this work of our human hands, and remind us that all the good things of this world come from and return to you, forever." Yan and Sylva recited together.

    After a moment of silence, Sylva released Yan''s hand.

    "Well, let''s eat," Pellon said, slightly awkwardly. He passed the bowl of rice to Yan, who served some on her plate and then passed it to Sylva. The curry and bread was likewise passed around.

    "I was wondering," Pellon said after a moment, "Sylva, would you mind being the cantor in our chapel while you''re visiting? Yan mentioned to me at one point that you have a lovely singing voice."

    Before Sylva could answer the question, Yan butted in. "What happened to Bellero? She leave the ship?"

    "She''s been visiting her father for the past month or so, and we won''t be picking her up again until we swing back near the Thesios region," Pellon explained. "And it is tough to get a cantor who''s also willing to work a shift on a ship, especially as just a fill in for a couple months."

    Yan looked at Sylva expectantly.

    "I guess I''m fine with doing that. Yan could too, though," Sylva said.

    "Familiarity breeds contempt," Yan said. "Or is it, ''no man is a prophet on his own ship''?"

    "Either way, it will be nice to have some fresh blood doing our worship. Thank you for taking on the task," Pellon said.

    "I guess it makes up for the fact that I''m completely useless on a ship in every other respect," Sylva said with a laugh. "How many services will you want me to do?"

    "Probably just three every Sevensday, one per shift. I wouldn''t expect attendance to be particularly massive, but it will be nice to have," Pellon said. "I''ll put up a message on the ship''s board that we have a cantor again, at least for a little while."

    "Everyone will come to gawk at you," Yan helpfully added.

    "At least that will drive up attendance. I can''t believe I''m out here preaching to a ship full of heathens," Sylva joked.

    "Better heathens than heretics," Yan said.

    "You both wound me," Pellon said mildly. "My ship and crew is as God fearing as they come."

    "I''ll believe that when I see it," Yan replied with a smile. It was well established that Yan''s religious convictions had appeared only after she was taken to the Academy, as life on board the Iron Dreams was not particularly devout, especially for a child who would squirm out of going to worship at any opportunity.

    The conversation died down for a minute as the three ate.

    "So, how''s life been aboard the Dreams? Anything exciting been happening?" Yan asked after a while.

    "Nothing in particular. Oh, your cousin Emil got married, he and his wife are having their honeymoon on Veralli right now."

    "And I wasn''t invited to the wedding? What a shame," Yan said.

    "We had one pirate size us up, while we were loading ore from the mining zone in Devali, but we didn''t lose anything."

    "That''s good I guess," Yan said.

    "In general it''s been a pretty quiet year since you were last here. As they say, it''s a blessing to live in boring times," Pellon said.

    "Who exactly says that?" Sylva asked.

    "Presumably people who have hated living in interesting times," Yan supplied. "You been by the outer colonies much this year?"

    "Only twice, our mining route had some extra supply they asked us to unload there." Pellon said, "Why do you ask?"

    "Just wondering how things are going out there. Obviously hearing about the political situation is different when you live nextdoor to the Imperial Center than if you are actually visiting the outer colonies."

    "Nothing much has been happening, there''s just the usual rumblings of discontent, typical pirate attacks, same old criminal activity, and military personnel from the planets assigned to stand around and look important in the ports. Completely normal, or at least as normal as things get out there."

    "That''s good to hear," Yan said.

    "What were you expecting to hear?" Pellon asked.

    "I had no idea. There''s been a lot of talk on the news about discontent on Jenjin and various other places, but you know how it is with the media when it comes to what gets reported at ho-- on Emerri."

    Both Sylva and Pellon noticed Yan''s verbal mistake and correction. Pellon gave her a considering look, and Sylva nudged her foot with her own. Yan looked somewhat miserably down at her plate for a moment and took a sip of wine.

    "Yan," Pellon said after a long moment. "I know the Iron Dreams isn''t... It probably hasn''t felt like much of a home to you since your mother died, and especially since you went to school. But I want you to know, everyone here is your family and loves you, and there will always be a place here for you."

    "Thanks," Yan said and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.

    This was clearly a heartfelt sentiment from Pellon. Hearing him say that, like she could go back to her room and rejoin the crew for the rest of her life, Yan felt like there was nothing in the world she could have wanted more. There would be only the routine of ship life, and undoubtedly the promise of command in her future, and the friendliness and comfort of the extended family she had grown up with. There would be no uncertainty there. She wanted to leap into her distant cousin''s arms and cry with relief.

    But of course, that was not a viable path. Like Pellon had said, that door had closed once, after the death of her mother, and a second time, after the Academy recruiter noticed her trailing after her uncle on a bustling port station. There could be no going back to the times before then.

    Yan cleared her throat and awkwardly tried to shift the conversation topic. "So, what was it you wanted to tell me earlier?"

    Pellon sighed. "Maybe this isn''t the best time to discuss it."

    "Well at this point I''m dying to know," Yan said, fully recovered now that the conversation was away from less touchy subjects.

    Sylva looked between the two of them curiously. "I can, uh, leave if it''s too personal," she offered.

    Yan looked at her and rolled her eyes. "You know I''d just tell you anyway, right?"

    "Yan, it''s about your father," Pellon said.

    "Oh, well, in that case, I''m very much all ears," Yan said. "And I might be about to be fifteen charges richer."

    "What?" Pellon asked flatly. Sylva started laughing.

    "Oh, sorry, who my father is is a running joke among me and a couple of my friends- we put money down on who he turns out to be."

    "A joke?" Pellon seemed to be slightly in shock.

    "Yeah... I guess, maybe it does seem a little callous, like if he is actually dead or something and I never was able to meet him, or if it was a tragic romance between him and my mom, or whatever. Nobody ever mentioned him, though, not even in a gossipy way. So I figured it couldn''t be that bad, and I started speculating, and maybe it did get a little out of hand."This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "Oh," Pellon said flatly.

    "I have five credits on him being a whirlwind romance. There one day and gone the next," Sylva said.

    "I guess I''m glad to hear you aren''t going to be upset by whatever I say then," Pellon muttered.

    "I''m on the edge of my seat with anticipation," Yan said.

    "God, there''s no good way to put this. It was your uncle Maxes idea, and your mom went along with it," Pellon said.

    "This sounds extremely gross already, but continue," Yan said.

    Sylva leaned in, looking all too thrilled to be witnessing this revelation.

    "Not like that! Maxes thought it would be... advantageous... to have a sensitive family member, so he convinced your mother to let him buy some genetic material on the black market, and, uh, that''s the story."

    "Pay up," Yan said brightly to Sylva, who sighed in disappointment.

    "You guessed that?" Pellon asked.

    "Not that it was Uncle Maxes idea, but all the rest was fairly obvious in my opinion. No mention of a father by anyone ever, no one else in the family has any sensitivity whatsoever, going back as many generations as I can find, and certainly the family has enough money to purchase something like that. Plus I only look half related to everybody else on the ship, so I¡¯m not like the product of a school romance on Terlin. So donor baby of some type seemed pretty likely."

    "Maybe I should have told you earlier," Pellon said. "I was hoping that Maxes would own up to it at some point but clearly that wasn''t the case."

    "Maxes has his own agenda. Telling me things rarely factors into it," Yan said dryly. "I''m not torn up about it, if you''re worried. It''s honestly a relief to know."

    "I''m glad you feel that way," Pellon said. "I''d... I''d appreciate if you didn''t tell Maxes that I told you. I''m sure he was going to get around to it eventually, but I felt bad still keeping the secret, especially now that you''re an adult."

    "Aren''t you Maxes¡¯s boss? Why do you have to tiptoe around his feelings?" Sylva asked.

    "I am the head of our family, yes," Pellon said, deigning to answer Sylva''s rather rude question. "But part of being a leader is knowing who to keep in your good graces. Maxes has connections that are valuable to the family, and betraying his trust is a good way to lose those connections."

    Yan sighed. "Yeah, I won''t tell him, don''t worry about it."

    "I appreciate it," Pellon said.

    "Do you know why he wanted to have a sensitive in the family?" Yan asked. "You said it was basically his idea."

    "Political connections, mostly. Free stardrive repair would be a bonus," Pellon said.

    "You know I would have to be licensed in stardrive operations in order to touch that, right? I didn''t take the certification course," Yan said. She had been thoroughly warned against meddling with stardrives in her courses at the Academy. The potential for disastrous mistakes was just too high.

    "I know that now. At the time this was being proposed, I don''t think Maxes had a clue what he was doing. I''m just telling you what I think his justifications were."

    "Makes sense, I guess," Yan said.

    "Especially around the outer colonies at that time, there was a lot of talk about one in a million babies, and a lot of people understanding that a disproportionate number of Imperial positions were being filled by sensitives. It was a craze at the time, to try to elevate your family''s status."

    "At the time?" Sylva asked.

    "I think these things come and go as fads," Pellon said. "No matter how high quality of a genetic sample you get, there''s still only a very slim chance that all the money you paid will get you any return. And even if you do end up with a sensitive child, it''ll take twenty years for that kid to get anywhere in life. Political machinations tend to move at least a little bit faster than children growing into capable adults do."

    Yan nodded. "I guess my only question is still just... who did my genetics come from, and how were they acquired?"

    "No idea," Pellon admitted. "Like I said, it was a black market operation. I think they operate with very little regard for providing accurate information about provenance, or for ethical acquisitions of things."

    "Gross," Yan said. "The more I think about it the worse it gets."

    "You don''t bear any responsibility in this," Pellon said.

    "Of course not, I was a bunch of ''genetic material'' in a test tube at the time. Something can be gross without me having anything to do with it." Despite saying this, Yan still felt somewhat as though she could go for a long shower to try to get rid of the unclean feeling that some part of her had probably been stolen from someone else.

    Pellon was quiet for a moment. "Care for any dessert?" He asked.

    "Sure," Sylva said.

    "As long as it isn''t accompanied by any other bombshells about my personal life," Yan said tiredly. "I''ve been having a lot of things to adjust to recently."

    "We can always go back to talking about your upcoming apprenticeship," Pellon said, half joking.

    "Literally any other subject would be preferable. I''ve already told you basically everything I know. There''s no point grinding out those details over and over," Yan said.

    Pellon stood up and began collecting all the used dishes and piling them back onto the tray their food had come in on.

    "Some part of me thinks that having a kitchen in here would be useful," he said, "but I know that just means I would have to spend my own time cooking."

    "Why don''t you have a kitchen here?" Sylva asked. "It seems like you have all the other parts of a full house."

    "Safety, mostly. One of the first things that anyone discovered about space travel is that fire is very, very bad. In a house, the kitchen is where most fires take place, so eliminating that entire danger zone from everyone''s cabins makes the ship a whole lot safer," Pellon very patiently explained to Sylva.

    "It''s just one of those things that seems natural if you grow up on a ship," Yan said.

    Pellon finished clearing the dishes away. He pressed another cleverly hidden button on the wall to reveal a small freezer. He pulled out a couple popsicles.

    "I pick these up whenever we''re in port. Mena doesn''t like to stock the ship with ''individual serving frivolities'' as he calls them, so these are my personal stash." Pellon handed one to each of the two girls.

    "Thanks for sparing some of your cherished ice cream," Yan said, unwrapping the treat.

    "Do they serve dessert at the Academy, or is the whole place as acetic as those uniforms they make you wear?" Pellon asked as the three of them ate.

    "The food''s about the same as you get on the Iron Dreams, in terms of quality. Industrial kitchen and all. They serve way different stuff though."

    "Oh really?"

    "The Academy pulls from basically every colonized planet, so they try to have a wide range of cuisines, to keep everybody happy," Sylva said.

    "Yeah, not just mostly Terlin stuff like we have on the Dreams," Yan agreed. "So coming back to the ship is like getting a whole dose of childhood comfort food."

    "Everything around Imperial Center is a massive cultural hodgepodge, to be honest. I don''t really think about it that much since I grew up on Emerri, but yeah. This is my first time off planet, actually," Sylva said.

    "Well I''m glad that we could provide you with your first off planet experience. Unfortunately you won''t be able to have any experiences on other planets while you''re with us," Pellon said.

    "Oh, don''t worry, I know. It''s just cool to get to travel in general," Sylva said blithely.

    "Do you think you''ll be doing a lot of travel in your apprenticeship?" Pellon asked Sylva.

    "Oh, pretty unlikely that I''ll do a ton. It depends. Uh, how much do you know about, well, the Standardization Doctrine?" Sylva asked.

    "I know of it," Pellon said. "But religion was never my strong suit."

    "Well this is more of a history thing than a religious thing," Sylva said. "Basically, what my apprenticeship is, I¡¯ll be working with a team that keeps all, hm, theological work somewhat standardized across planets. Basically an approval and review board situation for the doctrine."

    "What do you mean by theological work? Like paintings?" Pellon asked.

    "So there are different teams for lots of different things, like for example there are teams that translate the worship cantos into the language of various planets, or review translations anyway, and any major theological writings meant for publication need to be approved. Individual art pieces or smaller works, usually that''s not worth reviewing unless it makes itself an issue. We''re focused on the big stuff. I guess I say we as though I''ve done any of it before, which I haven''t," Sylva laughed.

    "That makes sense," Pellon said. "Are you looking forward to it?"

    "Oh, yeah, absolutely," Sylva said. "I think it''ll be a great way to learn about how different people in the Empire react to the same teachings, and just get fresh perspectives on theology. And it''ll be nice to work on stuff that will be seen by millions of people for years and years."

    "Sounds exciting," Pellon said, though he didn''t sound like it was the most thrilling thing he had heard.

    "It is if you''re a nerd like me," Sylva said with a smile.

    "You are a nerd," Yan agreed, finishing her popsicle.

    "Thanks, you too," Sylva said.

    "Thank you for dinner and the popsicle," Yan said to Pellon.

    "You''re very welcome. Will I be seeing you around for bridge shifts?" Pellon asked.

    "You''d let me take a bridge shift?" Yan asked, careful to keep her excitement under control.

    "Sure, since your cousin has been on her vacation I''ve been short one navigator. I trust you," Pellon said. "You could hardly be worse than making Aureius and Thome pull a shift and a half each. I did have Aureius train you last time you visited, right?"

    "Yeah, and I took that net course you wanted me to take," Yan said.

    "Then you should be fine. Come during second shift," Pellon said.

    "You''ll need to tell Eman that I can''t do cargo reorganization for her, then," Yan said.

    Pellon laughed. "I''ll tell her it was my idea. I don''t want to leave you on her bad side. And you can still help her out when we''re docked."

    "What does she need me for, anyway? It''s not like I''m more familiar with the bays than anything else, and like you said, I did actually train in flight stuff."

    "Isn''t it obvious, Yan?" Sylva asked.

    "Isn''t what obvious?"

    "She wants you on hand to do all the heavy lifting. You know, with the power," Sylva said.

    Pellon laughed. "You''re probably right, I''m sure that''s exactly what she wants. That and just any warm body she can rope into her reorg scheme. The bays have been her pet project for months now, and she''s always complaining that she''s short staffed."

    "I''m sure she¡¯s short staffed. You keep mentioning people who have gone off on vacation," Yan said to Pellon.

    "She has the same crew available she always has, the issue is that since this is her pet project, nobody else is particularly invested in it," Pellon admitted. "So everyone feels free to pull staff from the cargo section whenever they need to. There''s a general consensus that the only time the cargo bays should be touched is when we''re loading and unloading freight, and they should be left well enough alone at all other times."

    "Can''t say I disagree with that," Yan admitted. "So thanks for trying to get me off that particular team."

    "Thank you for being willing to pick up a bridge shift," Pellon said. "Though we''ll all have to spend our fair share of time loading and unloading in port."

    "That''s the natural way of things," Yan said.

    "Sorry, this is going to be an ignorant question," Sylva started.

    "It''s fine, go ahead," Pellon said.

    "Why is Yan the most qualified person to pick up a navigation shift? She isn''t even here most of the time."

    "Ah, well. Navigation in particular requires a lot of math and systems knowledge- we have to send our kids away to university to get that base of knowledge anyway, it''s not something that anyone can just pick up. Yan took the required math at the Academy, as well as a navigation specific course I asked her to take on the net. I don''t have any backup navigators trained up yet¡ªit''s not like I need a wealth of them¡ªthere''s one in school now, and there''s a couple promising kids in the pipe, but Yan was my backup option for a while."

    "Did you suggest that I get trained so that I would have a reason to come back here and work for you when I graduated from the Academy?" Yan asked.

    "No, but it was a good backup plan," Pellon said with a smile. "Does that explain it, Sylva?"

    "Yeah, thanks. It just seems kinda crazy to me that Yan could just pick up a command position on her summer break," Sylva said.

    "Maybe so. Here''s the thing about trade guild ships, though: there''s very little oversight that happens on them. We can have whoever we want, in whatever position we want, so long as we''re a certain distance away from all other ships and people. Out in deep space, there''s basically no enforcement of anything."

    "Isn''t that extremely dangerous?" Sylva asked, looking nervous.

    "Oh, absolutely. The system relies on no captain being willing to let someone totally unskilled put the lives of their crew, and more importantly, their extremely valuable ship and cargo, at risk. And you do have to have a licensed crew to fly through inhabited space, so that you don''t hurt anybody else either."

    "That''s still crazy," Sylva said.

    "There''s a lot of stuff that happens on ships that probably seems unimaginable to people who live on planets, I guess. But it''s like, every ship is an island, basically," Yan tried to explain, "And we all have our own ways of doing things, and no one ever comes to check if we''re doing them the way that someone thinks they should be done."

    "It''s one of the best things about being a spacer, some of the only real freedoms in the Empire, as long as your ship keeps to its own business," Pellon said.

    "I guess." Sylva turned to Yan. "Please don''t run us into a black hole when you''re navigating the ship, ok? I don''t trust you at all."

    "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Yan said wryly.

    "It will be fine, I''m sure," Pellon reiterated. "Yan, you can consider getting a bridge shift your graduation present."

    "Aw, you''re so kind," Yan said, laughing. "Until you mentioned that you probably should''ve gotten me something, I had forgotten that was something people get."

    "Were you expecting me to get you something?" Pellon asked.

    "Not in particular," Yan said.

    "That''s good then." Pellon stretched. "Thank you for coming back to visit this break, Yan. I know you must be busy."

    "I won''t be busy until I go back. Thank you for letting me bring Sylva along for the ride."

    "Yeah, I really appreciate it," Sylva added.

    "Not a problem at all. We have plenty of room and it''s always nice to get some new faces aboard. Prevents the space life from becoming too tedious," Pellon said with a smile. "It''s getting late."

    Yan took that as her and Sylva''s cue to leave and the pair stood up.

    "See you second shift?" Pellon asked.

    "You know I''ll be there," Yan said.

    "Excellent." Pellon stood up to escort them to the door. "Have a nice night, ladies."

    "You too," Yan said.

    The group parted at the doorway, Yan and Sylva walking off back down the hallway as the door to Pellon''s quarters slid shut behind them. The pair walked in silence for a few minutes.

    It was late on the ship''s time, so the hallway lights were half power and they passed very few other people as they went on their way.

    "So, what did you think of Pellon?" Yan asked after a few minutes of walking through the grav section.

    "He seemed nice. I don''t know if I''ll ever get used to ship life, though. The way everyone seems to go about their business seems... chaotic?"

    "Yeah, maybe. Pellon runs a pretty tight ship, though. It might just seem crazy because you''re not used to ships in general."

    "Probably," Sylva said.

    "It''s hard to explain how life is without growing up part of it. I don''t know. Everyone on the ship is family, for the most part, and that''s more important than anything else. So you get the most capable person to do whatever job they can, and you trust that everybody else knows what they''re doing. It''s, uh, very different from being part of a whole planet, or even the Academy."

    "Was it hard, when you came to the Academy? To adjust?" Sylva asked.

    The two had made it to a set of the elevators that joined the rotating sections of the ship to the non rotating areas. They weren''t really elevators, per se, but they were sections adjoined to the ring that were able to move independently. Yan and Sylva entered the elevator.

    "Yeah, it wasn''t the easiest transition. But like, it would have been hard for anybody. And I think it was a bit easier for me than for the average spacer kid who gets snagged for the Academy. I was already pretty used to being independent, because of, yeah..."

    "Oh."

    The doors of the elevator closed behind them, and there was the odd feeling of slowly becoming lighter and lighter on the floor. Eventually, they reached the normal microgravity of the ship''s interior, a chime sounded, and the ''ceiling'' of the elevator slid open. They were able to push off the floor and exit into the ship proper.

    "Sorry I''m not much for conversation right now, I''m sorta wiped out," Sylva said as she followed Yan clumsily through the corridors. "It''s been a long day."

    "You''re not wrong about that."

    It had been about twenty hours since either of them had slept. Now that the excitement of travel and new faces had ended, both girls felt tiredness crashing down on them.

    They continued travelling in near silence until they reached Yan''s cabin.

    "Bunk sweet bunk," Yan muttered as she keyed open the door. "You got a sleeping bag when we picked up supplies for you, right?"

    "Yeah," Sylva said.

    "I''m going to set an alarm. If you want, I can wake you up and show you how to get to the showers and dining hall."

    "Sounds good," Sylva yawned.

    Yan opened one of her drawers and fished around for her pajamas. Sylva began searching around in her belongings for her own pajamas, but gave up and just ended up stripping to her underclothes.

    "Please don''t leave those floating around. The hamper is over there." Yan pointed out an empty mesh bag attached to one of the walls. Obediently, Sylva gathered her clothes and tucked them away. Yan followed suit after she finished changing.

    The sleeping bag that Yan was using had to be unfurled from where it had been tucked into her bottom drawer and attached to one wall, to prevent nighttime drifting. Once it had been set up, Yan ducked into the bathroom area to brush her teeth, a process made somewhat more difficult due to the lack of gravity and proper sinks, but slightly easier due to the fact that Yan could move any stray water around with her mind, without having to chase it down with the vacuum.

    Their nighttime routine was familiar, after having lived together at the Academy for several years, and only slightly complicated by the new surroundings. After a while, both Yan and Sylva were in their sleeping arrangements, both securely tucked into sleeping bags.

    "Can I turn out the light?" Yan asked.

    "Go for it," Sylva replied.

    Yan reached a hand out and prodded the panel that controlled the lights, plunging the room into darkness but for a few dim lights marking the workings of various electronics and exits.

    "Goodnight," Yan said with a yawn.

    "Night," Sylva agreed, rolling over her sleeping bag to face the wall.

    Despite the fact that Sylva was still there, Yan felt lonely, drifting in the dark. She tried to tighten her sleeping bag around herself, but it wasn''t particularly effective. There was something about being back here, in the room she had inhabited by herself every summer since she was ten, that brought out the reclusive side of her. Yan could act a certain way when she was around people, she could have a personality that her family saw, she could have a personality that her friends or acquaintances at the Academy saw, but this was a place where almost no one else came.

    After her mother had died, she had lived with her uncle Maxes, his wife Jalena, and their kids, her younger cousins. She couldn''t very well live alone as a six year old. But when she went off to school, the room she had inhabited in her uncle''s cabin became taken up by a new baby. The room she had shared with her mother, before her mother had died, had been given to a distant family member who wanted to have a cabin of her own. Yan still needed a space for when she came back on her breaks, and so an out of the way, unused room in the no grav section had been found for her. It didn''t seem as though it was unreasonable to expect a ten or eleven year old to have a room by herself, away from the more inhabited parts of the ship. After all, it wasn''t like she would have to cook or keep house, or really do much other than sleep there, since meals were communal, and she would be spending most of her days either working or relaxing with her cousins. Yan accepted it as a perfectly equitable living arrangement. It even made some of her cousins jealous, that she got so much freedom.

    But it was lonely.

    Any person that Yan wanted to hang out with would invite her over to their room, since most people lived in the rotating rings. Although the novelty of microgravity is fun for non spacers and children, the comfort of sitting on real furniture and the convenience of most things in the gravity section won out.

    In fact, Sylva was the first person who had ever stayed the night. Even a couple years ago, when Yan had had a summer romance with a visiting repair tech, Yan had stayed in her guest room most of the time. It seemed like her life took place outside of this place, where she was alone, but this place represented the entirety of her life on the Iron Dreams.

    But now Sylva was here, and this was probably the last time Yan would ever come back to the Dreams. She would never have a summer break from the Academy again, she would never have nothing to do with herself other than to come visit her family. There would be the apprenticeship, and then after that there would be work. That future was set out, and it had its claws in her. Yan couldn''t see a path that would lead her back to the Iron Dreams, at least one not filled with disaster.

    Beneath the lighting panel, Yan¡¯s finger traced deep but thin scratches where she had carved her name, years ago. I was here, she thought.

    Maybe her ten year old, twelve year old, fourteen year old self would have a ghost wandering the ship forever: in the places where she''d carved her name, in the places where she''d sat and looked at the stars, in the places where she''d worked and eaten and slept. It was hard to think that this period of her life was over, that she could never go back, but that was how it was.

    Yan whispered a prayer into the dark, quiet enough that Sylva wouldn''t hear.

    "Lord, all creation comes from you and returns to its source at the determined time. Let the days flow like an untroubled river to the sea, so that from the rising of the stars to their setting we can know the beauty of your creation and the abundance of life."

 Chapter Seven - Breakfast of Champions

    Breakfast of Champions

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The miners there were hard worn folk: steady, strong, and spry. They rubbed their nose in the rock and coal and pulled what they could find. Beneath the glare of two hot stars they mined the asteroids, but one fine day they rose to find Fleet ships there in the skies¡­¡±

    -from ¡°Malstaire¡±, spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The next morning, Yan and Sylva ate breakfast in the communal dining hall of the ship. The room was spacious, filled with several long tables capable of comfortably seating the entire ship''s crew. It was mostly empty, as usual, since everyone ate at their own time, but it was a useful space for whenever the entire crew needed to be addressed. The crew of the Iron Dreams was only about two hundred people. With a few people coming on and off, plus hired hands and passengers hitching a ride to various places, the meeting spaces on the ship didn¡¯t need to be massive.

    Because the crew were all on varying schedules, depending on the shift they worked, the dining hall had a very relaxed policy towards what was considered appropriate food to serve at various times of day. When Yan and Sylva arrived, there was a choice between a dish with fish and rice, or egg salad sandwiches and chips. Sylva chose the sandwiches and chips, Yan chose the fish.

    "That''s space life for you, I guess," Sylva said as they took and poured drinks out of the large industrial fridge.

    "You could have always had cereal or toast- there''s dry goods and stuff like that over there." Yan pointed to an area in the back of the room where there were some neglected looking cereal dispensers and toasters, near where the condiments were kept.

    "Eh. This is fine," Sylva said.

    As they were headed to sit down, Yan saw her uncle Maxes enter the dining hall. He waved at them in greeting. Yan, balancing her tray in one hand, waved back. She didn¡¯t really want to talk to him, but he was her uncle, so it was her obligation. She was still feeling strange about the fact that Maxes had apparently convinced her mother to even have her in the first place.

    The two girls found seats, and eventually Maxes came over to join them, having also chosen to take a sandwich.

    "Good to see you up and about," Maxes said as he sat down across from Yan and Sylva. Yan did her best to put on a real smile for him. "Wasn''t sure if you''d make it out of bed before second shift, considering the long day you both had yesterday."

    "Well, I did set an alarm," Yan said petulantly.

    "How''s ship life treating you, Sylva? I''ve heard you''re going to be our replacement cantor for a while?" Yan rolled her eyes as Maxes said this, apparently the gossip spread as fast as ever on the Dreams.

    "It''s different," Sylva said, mouth full of sandwich. "I''ll get used to it eventually, I think. And you''ll get used to my bee-you-tee-ful voice."

    "I''m sure you''ll be a welcome addition. Ever since our normal cantor went on leave, we haven''t had anyone to do services," Maxes said.

    "How well attended are the services, when you did have someone?" Sylva asked, curious.

    "Pretty small, but we have a small crew here, and everybody works different shifts. How many will you do a week?"

    "Just three on sevensday, and I''ll have to do them in Old Imperial, obviously,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the whole crew will really appreciate that,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to learn a whole new language in a month,¡± Sylva said grumpily.

    Yan nudged her with her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m just joking, it¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    "Getting back to your original question, you''ll probably have a crowd of maybe forty at each, at least the first week. People love to meet any new faces around here, so that curiosity will be a major draw."

    "Always happy to be gawped at. I¡¯m content to be a caged animal in a zoo," Sylva said. "How about the high holiday? I assume I''ll do that service, too.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Very good. Most people at least come for the high holidays. Actually, since there''s only one service for that, it''s held in here instead of the chapel, so more people can fit," Maxes said. ¡°I know the dining hall is a little dingy for a worship service, but¡­¡±

    "I love midyear," Yan said, interrupting Maxes before Sylva could accidentally say something insulting. "Definitely the best holiday."

    "Well I look forward to becoming a spectacle this sevensday," Sylva said.

    "You already are a spectacle," Yan said. Yan had been happy to keep the focus of the conversation on Sylva and her cantoring, because it avoided talking about her own life with her uncle. "The fish is good, you both are missing out." Underneath the table, Yan was jiggling her legs, an uncharacteristic nervous tic. She wished her uncle was not here having breakfast with them.

    Had he waited until they had come to eat to show up himself? That wouldn¡¯t surprise Yan, but it also seemed like a paranoid thought.

    "We''ve had a glut of fish recently, I''m personally getting a little tired of it," Maxes said. "There was something that went wrong with a couple of the biovats, and a few of the fish were the only ones that survived. The other ones have only gotten fixed recently. It''s been a pain."

    Yan nodded. "Well, I guess I was spared that fun food adventure."

    "You''re lucky," Maxes said. His face became more serious and he looked directly at Yan. "So. Yan. Pellon said that you had something to tell me about your apprenticeship?"

    Yan tensed up, more than she already was. "What is it you want to know?"

    "Well, what you''re going to be doing would be a good start," Maxes said. "Pellon didn''t specify what you had to tell me, only that you had some information to divulge."

    "Oh, I see, he''s giving me the privilege of spilling the beans myself. I see,¡± Yan said, awkwardly repeating herself from nervousness.

    "Did you not get the xenobio position you were hoping for?" Maxes asked. "I''m very proud of you just for graduating, even if you didn''t get your first choice team."

    "No, xenobio offered me a spot, but I turned them down," Yan said. She took a quick glance around the room, seeing who would be likely to overhear their conversation. "Ugh. I guess this is going to become public information sooner rather than later. First Sandreas decided to take apprentices this year, and I was offered a place on his team."

    Maxes was stunned into silence.

    "Yeah, I probably should have told you sooner but, uh, it''s pretty crazy." Yan laughed nervously.

    "Wow. That''s amazing, Yan. You''re turning out to be a real asset to the family!" Ordinarily, Yan would have taken these words as normal strange exuberance from her uncle, but given the information she had learned the night before from Pellon, Maxes¡¯s words took on a somewhat ominous feeling.

    "Like, I don''t know what I''m going to be doing, and I''m certainly not going to be indulging in any nepotism or granting personal favors to family," Yan started to caution.

    Maxes just laughed. "I''m sure you''ll find out what you''re willing and able to do once you''ve started the job. But this will definitely lend us some increased bargaining power in the Guild."

    "You''re going to use my name and connection to First Sandreas to strongarm the Guild into better trade deals? You really are shameless," Yan said, frowning.

    "Oh, I''m not going to do anything!" Maxes said happily. "They''ll do it themselves. These Guild types, they fall over themselves trying to get in the good graces of the Empire, so if they see the name BarCarran starting to be associated with the most powerful man in the Empire..."

    "Disgusting," Yan said shortly. "You''re lucky I love you all enough to not change my name."

    "It''s the way of the world, Yan." Maxes said. "People are greedy and corrupt, and I''m sure you''ll find that out pretty intimately the more you work with them."

    "Until proven otherwise I am going to try to hope for the best in people," Yan said. "And that does include hoping you don''t use my name for nefarious ends."

    "You know what he''s going to start doing?" Sylva asked, jokingly.

    "What?" Yan took the bait.

    "He''s going to start holding your little cousins hostage so that you do what he wants," Sylva said, then continued in a growly imitation of Maxes'' voice, "Let the Empire negotiate a better deal with the Guild, or your baby cousin gets it."

    "That''s a good idea, now that you mention it," Maxes said with a smile. "I''ll just have to keep that tactic in mind if I really need you to do me a political favor."

    "You''re both the absolute worst," Yan muttered unhappily, pushing the remains of her fish and rice around on her plate. "Besides, I don''t even know what I''m going to be doing on this job. For all I know I could have been brought on to polish his boots or be a simple message runner."

    "I''m sure whatever you do, it''s going to be big and great," Maxes said. "Definitely you''re my best niece."

    "Aren''t I your only niece?"

    "No," Maxes said with a smile. "Aren''t you tired of using that joke every time I say something nice to you?"

    "It never gets old," Yan said. "And you set yourself up for it so nicely."

    The three of them finished up their meals while chatting about other, less serious subjects. Yan mostly focused on her excitement for her upcoming stint as a bridge crew member and her relief to get out of cargo bay reorganization. It was almost a normal conversation, but everything that Pellon had told her was weighing heavily on Yan''s mind. She couldn''t help but feel that despite Maxes'' joking tone, he was being deadly serious that he would use her name to get some sort of financial advantage in the Trade Guild.

    Yan thought about this all the way up until the start of her first bridge shift, which, while completely uneventful, was exciting enough as a concept to distract her from pretty much anything.

 Chapter Eight - Claddagh

    Claddagh

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The space is wide, there between the stars. And I have no way, with no wings to fly. But give me a ship that can carry two, and I will go, my love to find.¡±

    - from ¡°All Space is Wide¡±, traditional song

    </blockquote>

    The days flew by. The daily and weekly routines set into place as the Iron Dreams worked a month long route between Emerri and one of the relatively "nearby" mining colonies around an otherwise deserted star. Hauling metals and other resources from mining operations was one of the most tedious jobs a ship could land a contract for, but it was also one of the most stable routes. Interplanetary commerce was relatively unstable, new colony setup was too infrequent to be a reliable source of income, and the Iron Dreams wasn''t equipped very well for passenger travel, so the Dreams ended up being a mining hauler most of the time.

    It was midyear, the high holiday of the summer, according to the Emerri calendar, and it was marking the last week of Yan and Sylva''s stay on the Dreams, before they were to head back to start their apprenticeships. Yan and Sylva were sitting on the front pew in the Dreams'' small shrine. It was a room capable of seating about fifty people, if they squeezed.

    Sylva was dressed in one of the borrowed robes that she had been using all summer while she acted as cantor for worship on the Dreams. There were different robes for different occasions, but the ship had a full set. If she took up a permanent cantor position somewhere else Sylva would probably end up with her own set, but since she hadn''t come on the ship expecting to be leading worship, she was making do with the too long borrowed ones. They were nothing overly fancy, but they were voluminous and white with embroidered red trim. These were the robes for the midyear holiday; there were different colors for every season and high holiday.

    Sylva had the music book on her lap, and was humming out the songs for the upcoming worship. Yan was leaning her head on Sylva''s shoulder and looking at the book halfheartedly.

    "You''ll do great," Yan said. "There''s only like, two cantos that are different from the regular worship, and you''ve been doing fine at those."

    "Three," Sylva said. "And that means three places for it to go wrong."

    "Even if you mess up, no one will notice. It''s not like anybody else knows all the songs for all the high holidays," Yan said.

    "That is really a small comfort. I¡¯ll still care that I messed up. It¡¯s important." Sylva returned to her humming.

    Yan looked at her phone to check the time. She was dressed in her long cassock and short red cape; it was the nicest outfit she had, and since it was the holiday she might as well dress nicely.

    "We should probably get going soon, the dining hall is a little ways from here."

    "I know where the dining hall is," Sylva muttered. "I''d prefer to just hold three smaller services here rather than one big one there."

    "It''s a community bonding thing, and even three services probably wouldn''t fit everyone in here, since everyone likes to come to the holidays."

    "Yeah. I guess." Sylva slapped the book shut. Yan removed her head from Sylva''s shoulder.

    "Ready to head out?" Yan asked.

    "Yeah. Still nervous, but I don''t want to make everyone wait." The pair stood up, with Sylva tucking the book under her arm. They began walking out of the chapel and down the eerily deserted hallways.

    "Is there a stand in there for you to use, or will I have to hold this the whole time?" Sylva asked.

    "I have no idea," Yan admitted. "There isn''t usually one over near the windows, which is where you''ll be standing, but maybe there''s one that they bring out for special occasions?"

    "What does your regular cantor do when you have service in there?" Sylva asked.

    "Memorize it, I think."

    "That''s just great."

    "Look, worst comes to worst, just-" Yan used the power to slip the book out from underneath Sylva''s arm and levitate it in front of her.

    "That feels like cheating," Sylva said. Yan rolled her eyes.

    "No it isn''t. If we were in the no grav section, you''d just float it- this isn''t any different."

    "I still just feel awkward using the power outside of the Academy. It feels... I don''t know, rude?" Sylva said.

    "I do party tricks all the time, the kids love it," Yan said.

    "No they don''t, they just laugh at how silly you are."

    "You''re right that kids raised on a ship probably don''t think that floating objects are that impressive, come to think of it. But I do other tricks too,¡± Yan said.

    "If you find doing party tricks fun or not is beside the point," Sylva said. She was nervously running her hand over the back of her neck. Luckily her mass of reddish curls was tightly braided on top of her head, so she wasn''t tangling it up any.

    "It will be ok," Yan said again.

    The pair reached the entrance to the dining hall. They found Pellon standing outside. He was dressed in his best clothes, appropriate for the holiday, and he was holding two small lights, with another sitting at his feet. They looked like the moveable lights that were used to illuminate areas in the ship where no standard lighting had been set up, like empty cargo bays, or areas under construction.

    "Glad you made it on time," Pellon said. "Thank you again for being the cantor for our services, Sylva, the whole ship really appreciates it."

    "You''re welcome. I''ve had a good time, and I''ll be sad to be done at the end of this week," Sylva said. "Hopefully I don''t wreck midyear, though."

    "You''ll do fine," Yan and Pellon managed to say at the exact same moment. They both laughed.

    "Here''s some lamps for you," Pellon said, handing them each one of the lights he was holding. He picked up his own from off the floor. "You ready to go in?"

    "Yeah," Sylva said, lighting the lamp.

    "Hold on, let me slide in there before you process in," Yan said. She nudged Sylva''s shoulder in a friendly gesture, then quickly dashed into the dining hall, shutting the door behind her.

    The lights in the room were dimmed, and the room was full. Aside from the barest of skeleton crews in essential positions aboard the ship, the entire ship''s complement was in the dining hall. The tables had been stored against the walls and everyone was standing. Yan jostled through the crowd to find a space near the front, where she had a decent view of the big bay windows where Sylva would stand. The crowd was quiet¡ª a few people were whispering to each other, some children were giggling and playing quietly in the back, but there was the usual hush of anticipation that accompanied the high holidays.

    Suddenly, the dimmed lights completely shut off. Aside from the standard set of emergency lighting and the glow from the stars outside, the room was dark. A few of the kids let out quiet laughs or shrieks of surprise, but all the whispering stopped.

    A long moment later, Pellon''s voice rang out from the back of the crowd. It was traditional for the leader of the community, in this case the captain, to introduce the ceremony on the high holidays.

    "It is midyear. The night has come. The long night is coming. We are here: strangers and friends, kin and kind. Together we bring our lights into the coming darkness," Pellon called out.

    Sylva began to sing.

    "Glory to God, creator of the light. Glory to God, who brought forth the darkness. All good things come from the Lord."

    She processed in. As she walked in, holding up her light, everyone she passed lit the lamps that they were holding, and the light flowed out in chains between people''s hands. Yan noted with a slight smile that Sylva, finding it too hard to juggle lamps and book, had decided to take her advice on how to hold the text.

    The service was beautiful. Sylva did lose her place on one line in the third canto, but quickly recovered from the mistake and continued on.

    There were conflicting feelings battling in Yan as she sang along with the rest of her extended family in the response sections. The feeling of unity and closeness that came from being there, everyone participating, with no judgement towards the individuals in the group, just the warmth of the community, was wonderful. It was rare that Yan''s family life felt so close to the rest of her life: her time spent at the Academy and her future. The sound of Sylva''s voice and the feeling of her presence could have almost made Yan believe that her family life was somehow compatible with her life off of the Iron Dreams. It wasn''t, or it didn''t feel like it was most of the time.

    And yet. The missing feeling of the group presence at the Academy weighed on Yan. With so many sensitives gathered in one place, one could think and sing in such close concert with other people in the group meditation. That feeling of utter completeness and devotion was gone. First Sandreas''s warning from more than a month ago began to haunt her. Yan thought she might never be able to have that again; as soon as she learned anything important, the group mind could overwhelm her and let pieces of knowledge escape. Maybe this feeling, around her family, and around Sylva, was the best that she was going to get from here on.

    Yan tried to put all of that out of her mind as she focused on the important message of the holiday. Midyear was a holiday fundamentally about change, which didn''t help Yan avoid the thoughts. If they had been on a planet, the year would have started shifting from the warm summer months and the lengthening days to the shorter, more turbulent, darker, and colder months ahead. The holiday was to thank God for the good things that had come during the first half of the year, and to accept and persevere through the things that would be coming in the future. On most planets, it was a holiday that was loosely harvest related, but that wasn''t so much of a thing on ships.

    As a child, growing up on a ship where the weather (really, climate controls) were the same every day and there were no external markers to mark the seasons, the messages about longer nights and changing seasons had confused Yan, or bored her. Midyear merely meant that she would get to eat a lot, and worship would be in the dining hall with everyone, instead of just in the chapel whenever her mother (and later uncle) felt like going. When she began attending the Academy, midyear marked the point where her summers aboard the Iron Dreams were partly over.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The worship began to come to its end. The last canto was not a midyear specific one, and it was one that had no call and response like most of the others. It was a song that was sung at the end of every worship, so it was very practiced and familiar. Everyone raised their voices together.

    "God of all creation

    we praise and worship your name.

    Keep us safe in your protection

    and bless us through our days.

    The joy of your works sustains us.

    The joys of our faith sustains us.

    Let us come to know

    Your power and mercy,

    Your empire and glory,

    in this life and the life eternal."

    As the worship ended on the last few swelling notes, Sylva processed out. She was followed by Pellon, and the rest of the crowd trailed out in a stream behind him. Pressing through the crowd, Yan made her way towards where Sylva was standing against the wall. She and Pellon were greeting people as they headed out, but she waved Yan over to stand next to her as the crowd of people flowed by.

    After the crowd had mostly thinned, Yan was finally able to talk to Sylva.

    "You did a good job," Yan said. "Best midyear I''ve had all year."

    Sylva rolled her eyes. "Thanks. I messed up the third canto a little bit, though."

    "Nobody noticed," Yan said.

    "I certainly didn''t hear anything amiss," Pellon agreed. "I think you did a wonderful job. More than paid for your travel this summer."

    "Thanks," Sylva said. Though Sylva had been doing shifts in the greenhouse and kitchen, it was true that her singing the worship had been her largest contribution on the ship.

    "I know you''re heading out as soon as we make it back to Byforest Station, so if I don''t see you again Sylva, I did want to give you this token of our appreciation for singing midyear for us. It would have been a shame not to have anyone." Pellon reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden box, which he handed to Sylva. "This is from the crew and I, though I''ll admit I consulted Yan about what you would like."

    Sylva accepted the box. "Thank you!"

    Yan smiled as she opened it. Though she hadn''t put anything into the gift other than a suggestion of what Sylva would like, it was still quite exciting to watch her open it.

    Sylva opened the box. Inside was a medium sized cloak pin, a bright gold, with an elaborate motif of clasped hands on the ring. Sylva immediately took it out to inspect it.

    "The metal came out of the shipment we''re hauling, and I had Juahin make it in our parts forge. I''m told that these are all the rage among Academy grads," Pellon said.

    "It''s really beautiful, thank you so much!" Sylva unexpectedly reached out and hugged Pellon, who awkwardly patted her head.

    "You''re welcome. If you''re ever travelling somewhere the Iron Dreams will be, Sylva, you''re always welcome to stop by. Any friend of Yan''s is a friend of ours." Pellon extracted himself from Sylva''s grip.

    "I hope to get the chance to take you up on that offer, someday," Sylva said.

    "Please do," Pellon said, then ran a hand over his head. "Well, I''m off to bed. See you for your shift tomorrow, Yan?"

    "Absolutely. Goodnight," Yan said.

    "Goodnight Yan, Sylva." Pellon nodded at the both of them before heading off down the corridor.

    Sylva examined the pin closely. "It is really beautiful, thank you for helping pick it out."

    "Of course. I know what you want better than you do," Yan said.

    "You wish," Sylva replied. "Every time I tell you to bring me a snack from the dining hall you bring me the grossest choice."

    "Ah, but I do that on purpose to stop you from being lazy," Yan said, and Sylva shoved her shoulder a little harder than was strictly necessary. "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s working, though."

    "Are we stopping back at the shrine so you can change, or are we just heading back to my room?" Yan asked.

    "Let''s get these robes back to the shrine. I really don''t want to accidentally bring them home with me, or forget them in your room when we leave."

    "Good plan." The two girls headed out back towards the shrine, where Sylva deposited book and robes and changed back into her normal clothes. At least, they were the normal clothes that most wore on the ship: a borrowed uniform.

    They made their way back to Yan''s room in companionable silence. Once they arrived, they kicked off their shoes and just relaxed in the microgravity, with the lights on low.

    "So, what do you want to do with the rest of the night? We''ve got a little while before we absolutely have to go to bed," Yan said.

    "I don''t know, got any movies we should watch?" Sylva asked.

    "You know I always have a movie to watch. What are you in the mood for?" Yan was something of a movie buff, having spent a significant amount of childhood with unfettered access to the Iron Dreams'' media library and excessive free time due to having no family obligations.

    Eventually, they settled on a Terlin romantic comedy, where a hapless restaurant owner kept accidentally intercepting love notes intended for one of her employees, which caused a predictable slew of comedy and light tension as the owner tried ever more desperate attempts to deliver the notes to their intended recipient without seeming like she was the one placing them. Sylva, from constantly practicing with anyone who would talk with her, had picked up enough basic Terlin that she only relied on the subtitles a medium amount.

    It was a good movie, and as its ninety minutes wrapped up, Yan and Sylva floated in the dark and watched the credits scroll past.

    "Hey Yan?" Sylva asked after a minute.

    "Yeah?"

    "You know I love you, right?"

    "I love you too," Yan said. She rolled over to look at Sylva. "You''re the best friend I''ve ever had."

    "No, like," Sylva laughed in a choked kind of way, "Love, love."

    "Oh." Yan had no real response to that. "I didn''t know."

    "Sorry," Sylva said. She was staring up away from Yan.

    "God, don''t apologize," Yan said hurriedly. She tried to sound casual, but this was a somewhat shocking revelation. "It''s ok, I''m just an idiot."

    "You¡¯re not,¡± Sylva started. ¡°I didn¡¯t...I sound like a fourteen year old," Sylva muttered unhappily. Yan chose not to respond to that comment, not because it wasn¡¯t weird, but because she didn¡¯t have anything productive to say.

    "Why didn''t you tell me before?" Yan asked. Buried in that question was ''how long have you felt this way?'', but Yan couldn''t quite get those words out.

    "I thought it would be too much of a mess," Sylva said. "I liked things too much, just, the way we were? Are?¡±

    ¡°Did you think I would be mad or something?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°No!¡± Sylva said defensively. ¡°I just¡­ didn¡¯t want to wreck everything. I don¡¯t want to wreck everything.¡±

    "Then why are you telling me now?"

    "Because everything''s changing, and we''re both going to go away, and maybe we''ll never even see eachother again! And I couldn''t live with not..." Sylva began in a frantic tone, then trailed off.

    "You idiot. Of course we''re going to see each other." Yan paused, then exclaimed, "Fuck, Sylva, if you had told me this two months ago I would have never taken my stupid apprenticeship!"

    There was silence for a moment, then Sylva let out another one of those strangled half laugh half sob sounds.

    "Sorry, sorry," Yan said. She reached out one long leg to gently push off the wall and float herself closer to Sylva. They bumped together gently, and Yan awkwardly wrapped her arms around the shorter girl. The hug was friendly and comforting. It was the same gesture that Yan had done to Sylva uncounted times in the past, but what was it now?

    "I wasn''t trying to yell at you, I''m not mad, it''s just a lot to take in." Yan said.

    Sylva turned and buried her face in Yan''s shoulder, leaving a bit of a damp spot. "This sucks," she said, voice muffled.

    "No it doesn''t." Yan said.

    Sylva laughed, a real laugh, this time. "Yeah it kinda does."

    "It''s ok anyway," Yan said. "It''s fine."

    Despite saying this, Yan was somewhat dazed. There was not a single thing in her life that she could point to as stable, aside from God, she guessed. This was... a nice change, maybe, but it was still more than she could really take in.

    The question remained, though, what would happen next. This was unlike so many other things, where Yan felt more like she was carried along by the mechanisms that governed how people behave. She went to school because that was what people did; she took an apprenticeship because that is the next stage after graduating. Regardless of her feelings toward it, Yan would show up for the first days of her apprenticeship, because that was what was expected of her. Here, though, with Sylva, this was personal.

    It was as if she had lost the comforting old rules of the relationship they had. The old framework: ''Sylva and I are friends because we find each other interesting and nice to be around. Friends behave in these ways towards each other. If we behave in these ways we will stay friends'' was all gone. Now Sylva had disrupted the foundation that Yan stood on, and apparently she had been wanting to do that for a long time. If the old thing is broken, will the new thing be better?

    Sylva was here, asking Yan to make a choice about how to behave, and it felt like the first choice Yan had ever really made.

    The pair were drifting in silence in the dark, with Yan still loosely hugging Sylva. The credits of the movie had ended, and the illumination from the screen and electronics cast dim colors and heavy shadows on everything.

    "Sylva," Yan started, "I don''t... I don''t really know what to say or how to feel right now. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe, I don''t know... I don''t want to do anything that would hurt you, and maybe it''s too late for that-"

    "You wouldn''t do anything to hurt me," Sylva protested.

    "No, I just mean, like, maybe the damage was already done by me not noticing, or me not loving you first, I don''t know¡ª that probably hurt, and it probably hurt that I didn''t see that you were hurting."

    "Yan, that''s not... It''s not important," Sylva said.

    "I know it''s not. I''m just saying, or trying to say¡ª I don''t know how to behave. I don''t know what you want to hear from me right now, and I don''t know what you want me to do this week, next week, the future, any of it."

    Sylva gave a halfhearted laugh. "That''s probably made more difficult considering your conception of time is ''right this second'', ''two weeks from now'', and ''the entire future''. You don''t always have to have your whole life right there."

    "I know," Yan said. "I guess what I''m trying to say is that I do¡ª I do love you. You''re the person I like to spend all my time with, and I want to do things that will make you happy, and you make me happy just to be around you¡ª and maybe that''s not what love is because it''s how I''ve felt for a long time? Or maybe it is and I''m just dumb and oblivious or whatever, but-"

    Sylva wormed her hand up out between Yan''s arms and put it gently over Yan''s mouth.

    "Stop talking, you''re making yourself sound sappier than me," Sylva said.

    Yan licked Sylva''s hand. The tension in the room was broken immediately.

    "You are so nasty," Sylva complained. She squirmed away from Yan, an action which sent both of them drifting towards opposite walls of the room. "I''m going to wash my hands and go to bed."

    "But, Sylva," Yan called after her jokingly, "Didn''t you just get finished saying how much you wanted to kiss me?"

    "Yeah, and I''m beginning to regret it." Yan heard the faucet go off in the bathroom. "Spit belongs in one place, and that place is not on my hands, thank you very much."

    Yan cackled. "Maybe someday you''ll learn your lesson about putting your hands over my mouth."

    "Maybe someday you''ll learn your lesson about not saying ridiculous things," Sylva called back.

    "Hey, I''m not the one suffering here. If you want me to learn a lesson you''ll have to find a better way of teaching it."

    Yan could hear that Sylva was brushing her teeth in the bathroom and generally getting ready for bed. Yan decided that was an excellent course of action and changed into her pajamas. When Sylva exited the bathroom, Yan went in and did her usual nightly routine.

    When she came back out, she found Sylva already ready for bed and tucked in her sleeping bag. Yan''s sleeping bag was set up near the door and Sylva''s was attached to the opposite wall.

    "Goodnight," Yan said with a yawn as she drifted towards her own sleeping bag.

    "Night," Sylva agreed, already having closed her eyes.

    The room was already dark, so Yan didn''t even have to turn off the lights. She struggled for a minute with the fastener of her sleeping bag, but then slid inside. It was warm, and comfortable, and she could hear Sylva breathing. It was nice.

    As quietly as possible, barely breathing the words, Yan whispered her nighttime prayer.

    "Lord, all creation comes from you and returns to its source at the determined time. Let the days flow like an untroubled river to the sea, so that from the rising of the stars to their setting we can know the beauty of your creation and the abundance of life."

 Chapter Nine - Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

    Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Roll river roll, carry me home, home to the land where the long shadows grow. Deep in the mountains, under wine red skies. I¡¯ll be there with my love, just my love and I.¡±

    -from ¡°Madelle¡±, Terlin folk song

    </blockquote>

    The last few days aboard the Iron Dreams passed in a frenzy. For Yan, it was spent working her bridge shifts, getting in a last bit of hangout time with her cousins and other family, and cleaning out her room. Sylva continued to work in the greenhouses and tag along after Yan when they weren''t both working. Yan felt a little bad that she was spending relatively little time with just Sylva, but she wasn''t sure when she would be seeing her family again.

    Her room was another obstacle. She wasn''t sure if she should leave it as it was or clean it entirely, since she probably wouldn''t ever be spending extended time in it again. Eventually she settled on leaving relatively unimportant things behind: most of her ship''s uniforms, some old school notebooks, all her photos off the walls, sleeping bag, et cetera. She packed them all into labeled boxes and left them in the room. If for some reason somebody needed the space, they could have it, but Yan somewhat doubted that anyone would need it. The Iron Dreams was big, after all, and her housing was in a relatively undesirable spot.

    Finally, the day did come when the Iron Dreams returned to Byforest Station. The whole ship was a hive of activity. Cargo containers were being unloaded and transferred to various buyers, shuttles were coming and going from the Iron Dreams to let crew have some shore time on the station, and various passengers who had hitched or paid for rides were coming and going. On top of that, there was the standard contingent of people negotiating new contracts for the Dreams, both on the ship and on the station.

    Yan and Sylva, as they hauled their luggage around with them on the large station shuttle, did nothing to stand out from this crowd. The station shuttle brought them to Byforest, and from there they were able to use their notes of transport and a bit of money to get a ride on a freighter bound for Emerri that would take them the rest of the way.

    Their journey from the Iron Dreams back to Emerri took over a day, from the Dreams to Byforest to the freighter to Emerri, but the time felt like nothing to Yan. She was accustomed to making this journey, so even negotiating to hitch a ride was familiar for her. Sylva, however, was incredibly stressed about the whole thing, and had to let Yan do most of the talking. Yan didn''t particularly mind, and she suspected the stress was not so much from the travel as it was from the prospect of them both beginning their apprenticeships as soon as they got back on planet. She didn''t bring it up, though.

    The elevator ride that would take them from the freighter down to the surface of the planet was generally unremarkable, aside from the elevator''s cargo section taking a long time to load, and the passenger section being a bit emptier than Yan had usually seen it. The best thing about the elevator ride was always looking out the window at the planet below and watching it come slowly into clearer and clearer detail.

    There was a part of Yan that was more than a little bit jealous of the elevator operators: it seemed like they would get to experience the best of both space life and planet life. When she expressed as much to Sylva, Sylva pointed out how tedious it must be to just monitor one big thing that just goes up and down on the same track, all day every day. Yan pointed out that there was at least a great view.

    The elevator ride ended in the mountains on the other side of the continent from Imperial Center. From the elevator, the pair had to take a bus to the nearest airport, which was about thirty kilometers away.

    Flying to their respective destinations would be the last leg of their journey, and also where Yan and Sylva would part ways. Sylva was going south, to Dexal, which was where her family lived. She would then have to take all of her belongings and move into the housing provided for her apprenticeship, which would be in the city of Landis, much further east. Yan would be flying northwest, to Yora, Imperial Center.

    The airport was a shiny glass building, about two stories tall, but quite imposing and wide, with large arches above all of the doorways. Yan and Sylva entered, dragging their luggage behind them. As she always did after spending extended time on the Iron Dreams, Yan found the constant gravity to be quite the inconvenience. Yan and Sylva both could have levitated their luggage, but they knew it was polite not to do so, and really not to call attention to themselves as sensitives more than they already were by wearing their uniforms.

    They were able to pass through security, though not without some event. Sylva went through without a hitch, but as Yan''s passport was scanned, the security officer had to usher his manager over to confirm something. Yan suspected that her passport suddenly had some extra privileges associated with it due to her upcoming apprenticeship, because she was quickly ushered through security without even a cursory search. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    The whole affair put a seed of unpleasantness in her stomach. For one, it was scary to think that high ranking officials could just slip through security without being, well, secured. She also was intimidated by the thought that First Sandreas would have put this privilege on her so immediately, and trustingly. It only added to the sense of dread that she was feeling about the entire apprenticeship.

    Sylva watched the whole thing with curiosity, and Yan was grateful when she chose not to comment and instead asked if she wanted to get lunch before her flight. Yan agreed, and they both purchased some expensive airport fast food (Yan chose a sandwich, Sylva chose a salad), and sat down on some benches to eat it. Sylva''s flight would be boarding in about an hour and a half, Yan''s wouldn''t start for another two after that, so she was in for a long wait. They ate and chatted about mindless things for most of the time, both of them trying desperately to avoid the subject at hand.

    Finally, it came time for Sylva to head to her departure gate. Yan trailed behind her, not wanting to part ways until the last possible moment. The pair stood in front of the boarding area. There were about twenty other people sitting down or milling about as the plane was prepared for flight. Sylva''s plane would be a small one.

    Yan looked down at Sylva, and Sylva looked up at Yan.

    "This really is the end of an era, isn''t it?" Yan asked. She was trying to keep her cool, but her voice was cracking in her throat.

    "You say that every time something moderately dramatic happens," Sylva said. "It''ll be fine. We''ll still get to see each other." Sylva, likewise, was putting on as best of an illusion of calmness as she could.

    "I know, but it won''t be the same," Yan said. At this, she scrunched up her face, and tried not to cry. "I''m going to miss you!"

    Yan started crying.

    "Oh, God," Sylva said. "Please don''t cry, Yan." Sylva dropped her luggage on the ground and wrapped herself around Yan''s midsection. Since Yan was significantly taller, Sylva only came up to Yan''s chin height. "And here I thought I''d be the one crying. You big softie."

    This loving action only served to make Yan cry harder.

    Sylva reached up with one hand and put it on Yan''s cheek, gently stroking her face with her thumb.

    "Everything''s going to be ok, I promise promise promise," Sylva said. They stood like that for a moment, awkwardly in the middle of the airport. Most people seemed to be ignoring them, and the part of Yan¡¯s brain that was capable of registering such things was grateful for that.

    Yan grabbed Sylva''s other hand. "Sylva..." Yan said. Her tears had slowed down a little bit, but her face was burning hot and she still had the lump in her throat that made it hard to talk.

    Sylva looked up into Yan''s eyes, and stood on her tiptoes. The hand that was on Yan''s face snaked around to the back of her neck to try to pull the taller woman''s head down. "Give me a kiss for the road?" Sylva whispered.

    Yan sniffled but leaned down willingly. It was an awkward first kiss for the two of them, since Yan was still crying a little, and they were in the middle an airport, and Sylva was wobbly on her tiptoes, but it was sweet regardless. They broke apart a moment later when the flight attendant on the loudspeaker announced that boarding was beginning.

    "Didn''t know if you would actually go for that," Sylva said, her face red now. "I love you, Yan."

    Yan responded by hugging Sylva tightly, again.

    "You will keep me updated with how your apprenticeship is going, right?" Sylva asked, hugging back. "I don''t want to have to worry about you."

    "I will, I promise," Yan said, still sniffling. "I don''t want you to go."

    "Yeah. Me neither." Sylva put on a stiff face and extracted herself from Yan''s vicelike grip. "I''ll come visit you first vacation I get."

    "Ok." Yan let go, however unwillingly.

    "I''ve gotta go get on my plane," Sylva said reluctantly.

    Yan nodded and sniffled. "We can call each other, right?"

    "Of course," Sylva sounded choked up. "I''ll message you tomorrow, or as soon as we''re both off airplanes and awake."

    "Go get on the plane," Yan said, watching the line of passengers head out the door to the plane.

    Sylva nodded. "Bye, Yan."

    "Have a good flight," Yan responded.

    "You too." Sylva retrieved her luggage from the floor where it had been dropped. She turned to go, dragging it behind her, but looking back over her shoulder every few steps as she headed towards the door. Yan waved at her. Sylva waved back with her free hand, then vanished out the door.

    Yan wiped at her face with her sleeve, coming away with plenty of tears and more than a little snot. How undignified. She did her best to regulate her breathing, then gathered her luggage and went to find a spot to watch Sylva''s plane take off. It would be a while before her own flight, so she had at least that luxury of time.

    After a long time stationed watching in front of one large window, Yan saw the small aircraft carrying Sylva travel faster and faster down the runway and into the sky. She felt, rather than saw, Sylva''s presence, her near constant companion, fade into the distance. Fresh tears welled up in Yan''s eyes, but she did her best to keep them at bay.

    Yan watched planes take off until she had to go to her own flight, alternating between praying, meditating, and feeling generally distressed about the future. Whenever one of those activities became too overwhelming, she switched to the next. Meditation failed to soothe her as it normally did, prayer only made her sad, and thinking about the future brought on too many questions that prayer and meditation had no easy answers for.

    Eventually, she boarded her own flight, and, feeling secure in the sky, fell asleep for almost the entirety of her own long journey.

 Chapter Ten - Deafman Glance

    Deafman Glance

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Nothing in life is free, nothing in life is free. Not a home, not a friend, not a joy in the end comes without a price for me¡­¡±

    -from ¡°Poor Traveler¡¯s Burden¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan''s arrival back in Yora, the Imperial Center, was completely mundane, if lonely. She was quite familiar with the city, since the Academy was positioned right outside the city lines, but it brought her a weird feeling of homesickness to be hauling her luggage to a new apartment rather than to her old Academy quarters. Before she had left for the Iron Dreams, Yan had all her belongings packed and shipped to the new address provided to her by one of First Sandreas''s assistants, an official residence near government buildings in the Imperial Center. Yan now made her way there, dressed in her short red cape and black cassock.

    She took a hired car from the airport, rather than wanting to deal with her luggage on the bus, which brought her directly to her new apartment. She had never seen it before, and she was fairly unimpressed by the sight. It was a standard brick building that looked to be less than thirty or so years old, as many buildings in Imperial Center were. Its plain appearance belied the amount of security that it contained. As Yan walked in, she could see cameras, and an armed guard at a security desk inside the clean and brightly lit front lobby. Elevators lined the back walls, and they seemed to only be accessible with security keys, which Yan did not possess. Yan had been given the message that the person at the desk would have her keys.

    "Hello," Yan said to the security guard, "I''m Yan BarCarran- I''m moving in to suite 501. I was told that you were holding my keys?"

    The man nodded at her. "Identification?" He asked.

    Obediently, Yan pulled out her ID and handed it over, which the guard checked against both her face and his computer.

    "Everything appears to be in order." He handed her ID back, and unlocked a drawer behind the desk. From the drawer, he pulled out a fob, which he handed to Yan.

    "This will get you into the elevator and up to your apartment. Your door has been outfitted with a security lock. This will allow you to set its entry conditions when you open it the first time. Are you familiar with how to do that?"

    Yan assumed he meant it was locks like the Academy had, so she nodded.

    "All the packages that were mailed to your rooms should be inside. If you have any concerns about their security, please don''t hesitate to contact the front desk- just press the star button on the intercom three times."

    Yan nodded again. "Can I let guests in?"

    "If you have guests who arrive on their own, they will need to report to the front desk, and we will com you to allow them up. Any guests that personally accompany you will be let in, of course."

    "Thank you," Yan said, then asked "What''s your name, by the way?"

    "Jeff Denson," the man said. "I''m here most weekdays. Don''t hesitate to call if you need anything."

    "Thank you, Mr. Denson," Yan said.

    "Not a problem, Miss BarCarran."

    Yan picked up her luggage and trundled over to the elevators. She slapped the fob against the card reader, and the elevator door opened smoothly. She entered. Yan noticed that there were no buttons other than the emergency call, stop, and door open/close buttons. She supposed that the elevators would only take people to the floor their apartment was on. There was also a camera embedded into the wall above the elevator door. Yan had no doubt that every public area of this building was under constant surveillance. It was a little unnerving.

    The elevator traveled swiftly upwards to the fifth floor, and deposited Yan in a carpeted hallway. There were only three doors in the hallway, marked 501, 502, and 503. Yan was surprised. Since the building was not particularly small, Yan had figured that there would be plenty of rooms on every floor. Maybe suddenly being a top government official meant spacious living conditions. Yan swiped her fob against the security reader on the wall next to her door. A light on it lit up green, and the small screen on it scrolled past text that read "Submit power for future authentication." Yan put her hand on the reader and let a trickle of her power flow out into it. The screen changed to text that read "ACCEPTED."

    The lock on her door unlocked with an audible click, and Yan turned the handle to open it. She stepped into the dark room and fumbled around on the wall for the lightswitch, finally finding it and turning it on.

    Her suite was spacious. She had stepped into the living room area, and there were two large couches surrounding a coffee table and facing a screen on one wall to her right, and an open kitchen on her left. There were doors heading off into what Yan presumed to be a bedroom and bathroom off of the living room, and a large, curtained window on the opposite wall from the door. A stack of boxes containing all of Yan''s things from her Academy residence were neatly piled in the middle of the living area.

    The walls of the rooms were painted a pleasant light blue, and the floor was carpeted. The kitchen, which Yan walked over to, had a tiled floor and a large table with several chairs. There were cupboards, which Yan found to be full of dishes, pots, and pans when she opened them. The stove, fridge, dishwasher, and other appliances were all gleaming and new. A door at the end of the kitchen, which Yan had assumed to just be a closet, opened to reveal a long pantry, with a washer and dryer at the end.

    It was a much larger living situation than Yan had ever had, and she felt somewhat weird about taking out a glass and getting herself a drink of water from the sink. It was hard to believe that this, even if it wasn''t one hundred percent "hers", was at least the place that she would be living. No matter how comfortable her Academy housing had been, this was so much more... Yan couldn''t quite find the right word to express it. Adult? Impressive? Expensive? Just plain large? Maybe it was normal for other people, but Yan had only the tight family quarters of the Iron Dreams and student housing to compare it to. Having a kitchen and all its amenities to herself had been a luxury that Yan had never even considered before.

    Yan finished drinking her glass of water, and set the cup down in the sink. She ran her fingers over the countertops as she walked out of the kitchen area to investigate the rest of the apartment. She had correctly identified the door that led to the bathroom, and found it to be a moderately sized room with a gleaming shower and tub. Yan had never lived in a place with a tub, since her bathing arrangement on the Iron Dreams was a communal shower in the grav section of the ship, and Academy housing only provided the tiniest stall for showering. It was a tempting thought to just take a bath right then, but Yan decided that she should at the very least unpack her clothes and toiletries first, so she wouldn''t have to do that dripping wet and naked at the end of her bath.

    She took a moment to glance at herself in the mirror. Her face still had a bit of the puffy look that a month in space and then prolonged and tiring travel would give a person, but aside from that she decided she looked almost fine. Her hair had grown out too much; she would have to cut it. Yan sighed, and filed that thought away as an issue for future Yan to deal with. She could stand to have too long hair for a little bit longer.

    The next room in the apartment was the bedroom, which Yan was grateful to find contained a bed, complete with bare mattress. Unfortunately, the bed was much larger than the bedsheets that she had from her bed at the Academy. She made a mental note to order some new bedsheets, but she would survive with a sleeping bag until they arrived.

    The bed was the main feature of the room, but there was a large, wall mounted mirror, and an equally large window that faced the same direction as the one in the living room. It was also curtained with thick fabric drapes like the one in the other room had been. A closet and chest of drawers made up the other wall.

    Yan thought for a minute about the floor plan of the apartment. The size of the bathroom compared to the bedroom didn''t quite match up. Though the bathroom was fairly large, it was nowhere near the width of the entire bedroom. Though there could have been just internal mechanisms of the building in the empty space, Yan had a hunch that there was something else going on. She opened the door of the closet and felt around on the back wall. It seemed like perfectly normal wood paneling to the touch. Still, figuring she''d try one more thing, Yan stretched out a tendril of her power to investigate the composition of the closet, or at least to get a mental picture of what was in the "missing" space.

    Surprisingly, as soon as her power drifted past the wooden panels on the back of the closet, the whole back wall of the closet moved back and to the side, revealing a hidden room. Yan couldn''t contain a grin. Despite the alarming implications of having a hidden room in her apartment, such as the apparent necessity of one, it still felt as though she had stepped directly into an exciting children''s novel, where every wall or door could be hiding a secret behind it.

    The room was a little bit larger than the bathroom, and did seem to take up the entirety of the "missing" space in the apartment. There was a desk at the far end of the room, several screens on the walls, and plenty of storage spaces for important items or documents. Yan made a mental note of the fact that the room seemed to have no ventilation, unlike the rest of the apartment. She supposed this probably doubled as a panic room, though she desperately hoped that wouldn''t be necessary.

    Though the room was interesting in concept, it was mostly empty. Yan stepped out, back through her closet into her bedroom. To close the room back up, she tried pushing her power through the door again. It closed smoothly, leaving no trace that there was any sort of door there. Slick.

    Yan wandered back out into the living room area. Unfortunately, the time had come that she should unpack all of her belongings. She halfheartedly kicked a box with her foot, trying to remember if she had packed using any particular system. Knowing herself, she decided she probably hadn''t. Just as she was kneeling down to open the first box, she heard a knocking at the door.

    Yan jumped, completely startled by the sound. She had no idea who was knocking. Cautiously, she stretched out a line of power towards the other side of the door. There was a somewhat familiar presence there: someone she didn''t recognize immediately by feel, but who she felt like she had seen before. Noticing her probing, the other person reached out a bit of their own power, in a slow and deliberately non-threatening way. This was enough to get Yan to walk over to the door and look out the peephole.

    Sid, one of the other Academy students who had interviewed with First Sandreas, was on the other side of the door.

    "Let me in," he signed at the peephole.

    Obligingly, Yan opened the door. He immediately came in, practically bouncing past her and grinning.

    Sid looked much the same as he had when Yan had last seen him at the Academy. He was still bald, wearing massive glasses that Yan still thought weren''t actually necessary to see, still with the same long nose, bright blue eyes, and vicious smile.

    "You don''t know how bored I''ve been this week," he signed at her, going almost too quickly for Yan to follow. "No one here, nothing to do."

    "Nice to see you," Yan signed back. Despite practicing sign whenever she could aboard the Iron Dreams in anticipation of working with Sid, her conversational skills remained somewhat rusty. Sign aboard ships was mainly used for technical or trade vocabulary, and only the bare minimum of conversation. She had picked up some real vocabulary through extensive watching of practice videos the Iron Dreams had, but that was no substitute for a real person.

    "Have a good summer?" Yan asked.

    "It was ok. Visited family, boring," Sid closed his eyes as he signed and mimed falling asleep. "You?"

    "Same," Yan started, then signed the next part confidently, since it involved fairly common ship vocabulary, "Worked bridge navigation shift on the Iron Dreams, my family''s ship."

    "Cool." Sid flopped down onto one of Yan''s couches and leaned over the back of it to look at her.

    "How did you know I was here?" Yan asked.

    "Saw you on the cameras. You found your room, right?"

    Yan nodded at his question. She didn''t immediately recognize the sign for camera, but figured it out from the little context there was, and the fact that the sign involved holding the first letter of the word up to the eye. "Cameras in here?" She asked nervously, pointing in a quick circle around the room.

    "No, downstairs. You can see on the screens in the room," Sid explained.

    "This is a guarded place," Yan remarked.

    "You surprised?" Sid raised one eyebrow.

    Yan shrugged in response. "I don''t know."

    "Welcome to the club of not knowing," Sid signed.

    "Is the other girl," Yan fingerspelled her name, "Kino, here?"

    "Tomorrow, I think," Sid said. He shrugged, indicating his disdain for her whereabouts.

    "You don''t like her?" Yan asked.

    "She doesn''t sign, so talking with her is boring." He shrugged again.

    "Sorry if this is rude," Yan started, "But how did you go to class at the..." She had to fingerspell the next word, "Academy?"

    "The sign is this," He steepled his hands together and then opened them like a book. Sid grinned again and took off his glasses. He tossed them at her, and Yan easily caught them out of the air.

    "Wear them," Sid signed.

    Yan obliged, slipping the glasses onto her face. They were somewhat heavier than she expected, but she had never worn glasses before, so she really had no frame of reference. It did confirm her suspicion that the glasses were not actually for seeing- since the world looked no different with them on as off.

    Out loud, Sid spoke, in a deeper voice than Yan had expected. "See, I can speak and understand, but it''s a pain." He had an odd, monotone sound to him, but his pronunciation was fine.

    As Sid said this, his words appeared as text along the bottom of Yan''s vision, subtitles projected onto the glasses lens. It was an odd feeling, and Yan could imagine it would get unpleasant if more than one person was talking at once.

    "Interesting," Yan signed, then took off the glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose where they had been sitting. "Do they hear other languages? Or just New Imperial?" Yan didn''t know the word for ''translate'' so she used the word for ''hear'' and hoped it would suffice. She walked over and handed the glasses to Sid, who slid them on his face.

    "New and Old Imperial, but it doesn¡¯t matter if they did more since I can''t speak any other than New," Sid signed back. "Sign is easier." He shrugged once more.

    "Did you come here because you were bored, or did you want to do something?"

    "Bored, but we can do something," Sid replied.

    "What do you want to do?" Yan asked.

    Sid shrugged, which seemed to be his reply to most things. "I don''t know anything about you, you need to give a thing to do." Yan signed, purposely rolling her eyes at him.

    "We''re friends now. What do you do with friends?" Sid asked.

    "We''re friends now?" Yan raised her eyebrows as high as they could go. "This is our second talk."

    "If we''re not friends, we need to get to be friends quickly. I think we will have a lot of time together."

    "If you say so." Yan nudged a box that was sitting at her feet. "I don''t have any things to do.¡± She paused, considered how to simplify the sentence she wanted to communicate in sign. ¡°I was going to move my things."

    "Cool," Sid signed, watching her with interest. "Fun."

    "Not fun. Are you just going to watch?" Yan made a skeptical face.

    "Sure." Sid had the same grin that Yan was sure she would soon come to find infuriating.

    "Ugh." Yan said out loud. "Fine," she signed. "If I do all the work, this is the plan." She hit her wrists together exaggeratedly hard on ''work'', but it wasn''t malicious. "I put on a movie, I work, then we eat dinner?"

    "Good plan." Sid said, still smiling. "What movie?"

    "You are the worst." Yan walked over to her backpack that she had deposited near her other luggage. She fished around in the smallest pocket for a small media drive, which she tossed at Sid. Her throw went wide, but he used the power to summon it back over to himself.

    "There''s movies on there. Pick one you want, they''re all good," Yan signed.

    Obligingly, Sid got up and plugged the drive into the wall screen. As Yan got started unpacking her belongings from boxes, Sid scrolled through the files on the drive to find a movie that he wanted to watch. Eventually, he settled on an animated fantasy film about a race of people living underground waging war against giant evil bugs. It was a good movie with an impressive art style that Yan had been scared of as a kid, but liked as an adult.

    Sid half watched the movie and its subtitles and half watched Yan as she sorted her belongings into piles. She had one pile for the living room, one pile for the kitchen, one pile for the bedroom, et cetera. Once all her boxes had been sorted, she started on actually putting things away. Posters and pictures were attached to the bare walls, kincknacks found their way to the shelves underneath the windows, clothes were folded or hung and put away, and toiletries were placed in their rightful spots in the bathroom. Yan wasn''t sure if she had surprisingly much or surprisingly little stuff to put away. After all, she had been living mainly out of a small dorm room that could only fit so much, but distributing her possessions around her new home made the place feel more lived in already.

    One of the last things to come out of storage was her final project from the Academy. She had "turned it off", so to speak, while it was in storage, suspending all the programming that kept the fish moving around. Now that she had a permanent residence, she could revive it.

    She plopped down next to Sid on the couch and summoned the large sphere over to her lap. The surface of the sphere was an opaque white, and the whole thing was quite heavy and large. Sid looked at it curiously, but didn''t ask her anything about it. She reached over for the remote for the screen and muted the movie, not that it would matter to Sid.

    Yan closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a minute, placing her hands on the sides of the glass sphere. It was cool to the touch. She send out her power through her hands into the bowl. It had been a while since she had last worked on it, and looking back at the threads of power that wound and wove through the work, she noticed things that were messy and haphazard, careless work from when she was in a rush to finish it. Surrounding the whole thing was the few lines that kept it frozen in stasis. Yan brushed those lightly away, and she could feel, rather than see, the surface of the sphere becoming clear and the fish and plants inside stir to "life". That was easy enough, but since she was here, she might as well fix some of the more egregious tangled bits of power.

    For a while, Yan worked. She redirected commands through the right parts of the power system. The whole thing was designed to be modular and easily changed, with different main components that handled very low level functions, and branching smaller ones with higher level properties. When she had been working on it the first time, though, Yan had hard coded in a few things that were meant to be more adaptable, mainly because of time constraints. If anyone looked too closely, there would be parts of the power structure that appeared completely tacked on and inelegant. She didn''t have the time or patience to fix it all tonight, but she could at least take care of a little bit of it.

    As she worked, Yan could feel Sid watching her. His attention was split between the movie and what she was doing, but after a while, his whole attention focused on her. Yan assumed this was because the movie had ended. Sid reached out a tiny bit of his own power to touch the sphere and investigate it. Yan could feel a curiosity towards it, but he didn''t make any attempt to alter the sphere, for which Yan was grateful. This was hers, and he was welcome to observe, but not to change. He didn''t seem that interested in its inner workings, anyway. Maybe he wasn''t as into biology as Yan was.

    After a while, she decided she had had enough, and withdrew her focus from the sphere. When she opened her eyes, it was its familiar, shiny and clear self, with the fish swimming about inside of it as peacefully as ever. She floated the heavy object to sit on the coffee table.

    "Nice," Sid signed. "Your project?"

    Yan nodded. "It was for the..." she gave up searching for the word and fingerspelled, "xenobio team, but I got First Sandreas instead."

    "Xenobiology," Sid fingerspelled, then made the signs for space and life up near his forehead, to indicate knowledge.

    "Thanks." Yan tried to commit the word to memory. "What was your project?

    Sid''s now familiar grin made an appearance once again. "Can I show you?" Sid asked, then reached out to tap her on the head. Yan blinked in surprise as he did that, but shrugged and nodded her assent.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    "How do you..." She started, realized she didn''t know the word for meditate, the sighed. Usually two people would sync up by listening to the same thing, and that was why worship was sung, but since Sid was deaf that obviously wasn''t what he did.

    "Like this," he signed. He held up his hands in front of himself, then started clapping out a children''s rhythm game. Clap once, left hand reaches right, clap again, right hand reaches left. Yan got the gist almost immediately and joined in, clapping their hands together. After a few seconds of the mindless rhythm, they both closed their eyes and sank down into the trance.

    This was obviously the first time Yan had ever been with Sid like this, and it was a fairly rare occasion that she meditated alone with anyone who wasn''t one of her close friends at the Academy. As always, it was a weirdly intimate feeling, being directly connected to another person''s mind, but in such a connection, at least between relative strangers, it was beneficial to keep the shared mind space as sterile as possible.

    Yan "heard" Sid speak in her mind, using her own mental voice, sending her a complete, formed thought. "The sign for this is..." And then there was a picture in her mind of the sign for meditate and the ghost sensation of what making the sign would feel like.

    She signaled her gratitude to him. "Show me your project?" She asked. Though she asked this thought in her own mental voice, she knew that he would receive it as his own, which luckily meant that for the rest of the time they were meditating, she at least didn''t have to worry about remembering a ton of signs she didn''t know. This feeling of relief accidentally carried along with her intentional thought, and she caught an echo of Sid''s amusement.

    But then he sent her the mental diagram he had of his own project. In his mind it was towering, and though it was missing the physicality of the real thing, Sid''s image and feeling of it was so clear it made Yan shiver. A statue lifted a sword up above its head, and Yan imagined how it would feel both to swing the sword and have the sword come down upon her. Since this was essentially Sid''s feelings and thoughts about his project, she couldn''t quite decide which feeling was more important to him, but she could definitely tell which one the audience of the project was meant to feel. She supposed she was grateful that she was getting this, not less intense, but slightly different perspective on it, rather than seeing the project in person.

    After the first wave of feelings had had a moment to settle in, Yan was able to gently poke around and inspect how the thing was made. The actual construction of it was fairly simple. Base metals sourced from somewhere and just manipulated to be in the correct form, a shining face of gold, wrought in the same fashion. She knew that the whole thing could move, the power written into it and shaping it clearly said that it could, but it didn''t. The whole thing lacked any sort of Reason, or Motivation, to move and swing the sword. This was interesting. She made a mental note to ask Sid about it after she finished investigating.

    The sensation that the statue was producing was the more interesting part. It actively projected a feeling of fear, though Yan was avoiding the brunt of it based on the fact that the statue was not currently real. She had never seen anything quite like it before, an object that actively reached out to impact someone''s mental state. How common or easy to make was this? What other applications could this have? How did Sid do it? The questions tumbled around in her head for a moment.

    As far as how it worked, Yan could see at least a little bit. She noticed that the statue was designed in such a way that most people would process the image of it in the same way. The eyes would travel up the statue because it was so tall, notice the sword, and be drawn in by the gleaming gold face. All the lines of the statue traveled in the same direction. It was an impressive visual, and well composed. This allowed the viewer of the statue to be at least a little bit "aligned" mentally with Sid''s expectations. It was a weird twisting of the meditation mechanic, where focusing on the same thing would allow two sensitive people to fall into a shared space. Sid was able to capture a person''s attention, and with that captured, feed back an emotional response. Yan guessed that because of their practice with meditation and falling into a shared thought space, sensitive people would be more affected by the feeling of fear. The effect of drawing a person in wasn''t strong enough to plant an actual thought, just magnify an emotional response that was already brought about by the vision of the statue itself.

    Still, the project had some troubling implications. Could this be used to subtly manipulate people? Yan wondered about a block of text written on a wall, with these same lines of power behind it. Most people read text instinctively, without conscious thought, and there is only one way to read text, not like looking at a piece of art where the artist has only some control. Would this effect become more powerful then?

    Yan could feel Sid listening in on these thoughts, since she wasn''t doing much to hide them. He sent back the knowledge that he had tried this with text, as a smaller scale experiment, but there was no other feeling attached to that knowledge, it was just a statement of facts.

    "Dangerous?" Yan asked.

    She felt, rather than saw, Sid''s mental shrug. A few thoughts trickled over to her, primarily that he felt that the effect was too nonspecific and obvious to be useful or effective. A generalized sense of fear or any other emotion could be created much more easily than wasting the limited resources of sensitives on this. Besides, at least in the case of the statue, it was obvious where the feeling was coming from, and it would be fairly easy to destroy any such ''projector''.

    Yan was grateful to Sid''s frank practicality. Still, she couldn''t help the nagging fear that...She felt Sid laugh and withdraw the diagram from her mind. The feeling subsided, and Yan mentally laughed a little too.

    "Maybe it''s not as obvious as you hope," Yan mentally commented. "Thanks for showing me."

    Yan made clear her intentions of withdrawing from the shared meditation space, and then did so, blinking as she opened her eyes. They were still clapping, but as she came back into full awareness of her body, she felt her arms get a little tired. She dropped them. Sid smiled at her when he opened his eyes.

    "Like it?" He signed.

    Now it was Yan''s turn to shrug. "Very interesting, scary. Who did you make it for?"

    "I don''t know. Military I guess." He waved his hands noncommittally. "Wasn''t important, I''d be happy anywhere."

    "Happy to be with First Sandreas?" Yan asked.

    Sid nodded. "You?"

    "Don''t know. Feels like something I had to do."

    Sid stared at her expressionless for a second, as if looking to see if she was telling the truth, then changed the subject. "What should we get for dinner?"

    "Delivery?" Yan asked.

    "Yeah, unless you want to go out," Sid said. "What type?"

    "Pizza?" Yan asked.

    Sid nodded his assent. "I like..." Yan, being unfamiliar with the words for pizza toppings, waved her hands to stop him.

    "Spell it, please."

    "You have the worst sign. P-e-p-p-e-r, m-u-s-h-r-o-o-m." He made the signs for the words again, and Yan made a mental note of more words to try to remember.

    "Split a big?" Yan asked. Sid nodded.

    "You call." Sid signed. Yan rolled her eyes at that, obviously she would be the one calling, but pulled out her phone anyway. She looked up the nearest pizza place that would deliver and made the call, ordering one large pizza with peppers and mushrooms. It would be about twenty minutes before the pizza could be delivered, so they continued to chat as they waited.

    "Kino''s coming tomorrow, and work is the next day, right?" Yan asked.

    Sid nodded. "Exciting things."

    "No idea what is going to happen," Yan said. If she knew the word for ''apprehensive'', she probably would have used it instead of Sid''s more enthusiastic ''exciting''.

    "That''s where the fun is," Sid said. "In the unknown."

    Yan shook her head. "If you think that, things stop being fun when you know what you are doing."

    "Yeah. That''s why I''m happy to do new things," Sid said.

    "We could have only small jobs," Yan cautioned.

    "Don¡¯t think so," Sid replied. "Sandreas doesn¡¯t look mean."

    "I do not understand Sandreas," Yan admitted. "He is strange."

    "He has to be. A person with that much power has to have a real spirit."

    "Do you have a real spirit?" Yan asked.

    "Isn''t it obvious?" Sid''s grin was back in full force. He seemed to be a man who never stopped smiling, and Yan wasn''t sure if it was going to end up being endearing or infuriating.

    Yan rolled her eyes at him in response. "I don''t know you or your real spirit."

    "What do you want to know?" Sid asked.

    "I have many questions," Yan signed.

    "Ask away."

    "First, why do you have no hair on your head?" Yan asked.

    "I could ask you almost the same question," Sid replied, with an amused expression.

    "Long hair is bad in space, so it is very short. Easy," Yan signed.

    This was not completely the truth, but it was too much, both in terms of vocabulary and emotion, to go into the sad story of how when she became an orphan no one braided her hair like her mother once did, and it was more convenient to just cut it all off. Yan decided that if Sid asked about her mother she would tell, and then he could make his own deductions from there.

    "Fair. I keep it down because my mother hates it, and I want to get..." Another word that Yan didn''t recognize. Her blank look clued Sid in. "T-a-t-t-o-o." He graciously spelled it out for her.

    "Why tattoos?" Yan used the new word.

    "I want to look more powerful. It will be cool." Sid signed this with a look of utmost sincerity, and Yan laughed out loud.

    "Good luck," she signed, entirely genuine.

    "Any other questions?" Sid asked.

    "Why do you do what your mother hates?" Yan asked.

    "She likes to control me. I don''t like to be controlled." Sid accompanied this with a shrug.

    "What is your family like?" Yan asked.

    "Lonely. Boring."

    "Lonely?" Yan asked.

    Sid mistook her question for her not understanding the sign. "L-o-n-e-l-y."

    "Why lonely?"

    "Not many other deaf people around. My parents don''t go out a lot."

    Yan nodded in understanding. "Any siblings?"

    Sid nodded. "Two. My older brother is..." He made the sign for dirt with one hand and the sign for foot with the other, tapping his hands together above his heart. "And my younger sister is..." He made the sign for apple and circled it around his face.

    "And you are..." Yan remembered the sign he had showed her the day they had originally met, making the sign for egg, the first letter of the word but with fingers opening rapidly outward when struck on something. In this case the thing was against his own head. Sid''s grin showed teeth.

    "That''s me."

    "Where are you from?" Yan asked.

    "Next door. Galena." He fingerspelled the name of the planet for Yan, then gave the sign. Galena was, in a galactic sense, next door. One of the oldest colonized worlds, a core world that for a while was considered the seat of the Empire. Yan had never been on the planet, but the Iron Dreams had run a few mining cargoes to that region of space.

    "What''s it like?"

    "It''s a whole planet, lots of different pieces. I lived in a normal area. Farmland. Far away from other people."

    "They speak New Imperial?"

    "Some new, some old, but I didn''t until I came to the Academy."

    "Me too. My family is from Terlin, we still speak it on the ship." She fingerspelled the name of the planet.

    "How many languages do you know?" Sid asked, curious.

    "New Imperial, Old Imperial, my bad sign, and Terlin. Not many," Yan signed. "It was hard at the Academy, not knowing New Imperial. Had to learn fast."

    Sid nodded. "I could read, and I had this," he gestured to his glasses. "But I had never learned to talk. My whole family is deaf, so." He shrugged. "Wasn¡¯t important to teach me until I was stolen for the Academy."

    "Stolen?" Yan asked.

    "My family didn''t have a choice. Yeah. Stolen. You don''t feel that way?"

    "My family was happy to have something to do with me," Yan laughed a little ruefully. "And it was good to have a powerful person come off the ship."

    "Your family wanted you to leave? Were you a ..." Sid signed something that Yan didn''t follow.

    "Was I what?" Yan asked.

    Sid made the signs again, more slowly. She saw the sign for animal, but still didn''t understand the other one. Still, she figured it out from context.

    "I wasn''t bad. No one wanted to do work to keep me. My mother died when I was six, so I didn''t have close family to live with."

    "I''m sorry," Sid signed.

    "Long time ago, not important now," Yan responded, then anxiously ran a hand over the back of her head.

    "Still," Sid signed. Neither of them said anything for a moment.

    "Do you have anything you like to do?" Yan asked abruptly, now slightly desperate to change the subject.

    "I like to fix things, machines from my family''s farm. Got started drawing by making diagrams of of machines. Read a lot," Sid said. "What about you?"

    "Kids on a ship want to pilot the dogfighters and shuttles. I like flying. Watch movies. Studied biology and math. I learned meditation and I liked it." She was glad to have remembered the sign that Sid had taught her. "I''m boring." Yan laughed at herself.

    "No," Sid signed emphatically, shaking his head. "You seem interesting."

    "Why do you think that?" Yan asked.

    "I''ve never met a spacer before. You''re well traveled. You seem really smart. You''re nice."

    Yan raised an eyebrow at the last point.

    "Really. You talk to me in sign even when you know I can speak and understand New Imperial. I come to your house and you entertain me. You will be my friend."

    "That is silly. We know sign and you like it, so I try. We work together, it''s good to know each other."

    "The same could be said for you. You prefer to speak New Imperial, right?"

    "I like to speak Terlin," Yan signed, again spelling out the name of her native language. "New Imperial is useful." She tried to make an expression of disdain on useful, so that Sid would know that he wasn¡¯t imposing on her. It was true that New Imperial would be easier for Yan than sign, but she was trying to be polite.

    Sid shrugged, but it was clear that he had not actually changed his mind about Yan''s niceness.

    "It''s nice of you to be slow with me," Yan countered.

    "If I was mean to people learning sign, I''d be sad and lonely," Sid said, looking as though he would like nothing better than to be mean to people who made no attempt to learn sign.

    Yan briefly abandoned the conversation as she heard a doorbell sound chime.

    "Pizza''s here," she signed to Sid, who nodded.

    Yan got up off the couch and walked over to the intercom to answer the call.

    "Hello?" She asked.

    "Hello, Ms. BarCarran, there is a delivery in the lobby, should I let it up for you?"

    "Yes, thank you, Mr. Denson, I am expecting a pizza delivery."

    "Enjoy your pizza, I''ll send it right up."

    Yan heard the click of the intercom turning off. While she waited for the elevator to bring the delivery up, Yan searched through her backpack for her charge card to pay. She found it just as the doorbell rang again. She peered through the peephole and saw the expected delivery robot waiting patiently outside the door. She opened the door and swiped her card on the robot''s provided payment system, which caused a door on the front of the robot to open, revealing the expected boxed pizza. She pulled the pizza out and shut the robot''s door, giving it a pat before it rolled away back towards the elevators.

    Sid had walked over to the kitchen and was setting the table with plates from the cupboard. Yan set the pizza down on the table.

    "I didn''t buy anything to drink, I forgot," Yan signed, seeing that he was putting out glasses as well.

    "Let me get something from my room." Sid put down the glass he was holding and practically bounced towards the door of Yan''s apartment. Turning back around he signed, "Be right back!"

    Yan sat down in one of the chairs around the table to wait for Sid to come back. To kill time, she investigated the pizza. It was just as expected, covered in peppers and mushrooms. Good stuff. She closed the box as she heard Sid pounding on her door. She went over to the door and let him in.

    "You will break the door down," she signed. Sid was holding a bottle of wine in his hand, so didn''t respond. He held it out to her and she took it.

    "Housewarming gift," he signed.

    Yan walked over to the table and put the bottle down. "Pizza and..." She gestured to the bottle, not knowing the word for wine. "Really?"

    "I''m nothing if I''m not c-l-a-s-s-y," Sid replied, now anticipating at least some of the gaps in Yan''s vocabulary.

    "I thought you''d bring something else," Yan replied.

    "I want to celebrate our new friendship." The word for celebrate was unfamiliar to Yan, but she mirrored it anyway.

    "Let''s celebrate then." Yan opened up a few of the drawers to look to see if there was a bottle opener. She couldn''t find one, gave up, and simply used the power to pull the cork out of the bottle. She poured two glasses of wine. "Thanks," she signed when she had finished. "I didn''t mean to be not thankful, I was just surprised."

    Sid just smiled at her and took some pizza.

    "You want to say the prayer? I don''t know the signs," Yan said, then grabbed her own slices of pizza. Sid nodded.

    Yan watched him intently as he signed the prayer. She recognized it as one of the standard food blessings, and from that recognition she tried to remember the specific signs for words she didn''t know. It was getting to the point of information overload, and Yan didn''t doubt that she would have to be told many of the words that she was learning again, but she had a good mind for languages, so it was interesting and worthwhile for her regardless.

    "Blessed are you, Lord of all creation, whose untold works provide sustenance and beauty. May you bless this work of our human hands, and remind us that all the good things of this world come from and return to you, forever," Sid prayed.

    Yan smiled as he finished. "Eat up," she signed. They both dug into the pizza. It was a decent pizza, nothing special, but pretty good anyway. They both had several slices, but there were several left over after they had finished, since it was quite a large pizza. They drank a good portion of the wine bottle, as well.

    "You want the rest? For tomorrow?" Yan asked Sid, gesturing to the few leftover slices.

    "No, you keep it. I have food in my apartment."

    "I need to go buy food," Yan signed with a frown. "I don''t know how."

    "Really?"

    "Always lived somewhere with a dining hall." Yan had no idea how to cook or grocery shop for anything more than snack food, and this was an unexpected problem. A sudden fear crossed her mind, that she would spend the rest of her life ordering takeout and never figuring out how to feed herself. Sid saw the look on her face and smiled broadly, but not maliciously.

    "If you want, we can go buy food tomorrow. I''ll show you what to buy."

    "Thank you," Yan said sincerely. "That is good."

    "Don''t want you to be helpless as a baby," Sid said.

    "I am, sadly."

    Sid yawned, disrupting his usual crooked grin. Yan yawned back.

    "Tired?" She asked. Sid nodded.

    "I will see you in the morning," Sid said. "And we will go out and buy you some food."

    "Good plan." The two stood up, and Yan walked him over to the door. "See you tomorrow," she said.

    "Thank you for dinner," Sid said, stepping out into the hallway.

    "Thank you for coming," Yan replied. Sid smiled and waved, walking back towards his own apartment. Yan closed the door.

    She breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone. It wasn''t as though he was an unpleasant person, in fact, Yan thought that he was quite interesting, but Sid certainly was intense, and Yan was tired. She walked back into the kitchen and started cleaning up the pizza. The remaining slices went into the fridge, along with the remaining wine. The dishes went into the dishwasher, but she couldn''t run it because she didn''t have any soap. Just another thing to buy at the grocery store tomorrow, she guessed.

    Yan wandered over to the couch and flopped down onto it. She pulled out her phone and idly browsed the net for a while. She saw Harbin''s pictures he posted of his new apartment, which she commented on.

    > little boring for an architect, isn''t it? :p

    She didn''t expect a response, since it was early in the morning in Harbin''s part of the world.

    Scrolling a little farther down, she saw that Genna had cross posted images of herself in a large group of people standing next to giant farming equipment. The caption was "Anthus colony team welcomes our newest member, Academy graduate Genna Zal!" Zooming in on the picture, Yan saw that Genna had a nauseous look on her face, and her artificial hand was jammed deeply into her pocket.

    Yan sent her a message about the picture.

    > you ok? farming stuff still rough?

    A minute later Genna sent a response.

    < hey glad you''re back from space

    < it''s fine

    < big farm machines just make me nervous

    < how''s your apprenticeship?

    Yan responded

    > haven''t started yet, just got back

    > coworker seems nice though

    > did you have a good summer?

    < yeah, it was fine

    < I''m headed to bed, got work early tomorrow

    > see ya

    Yan closed the conversation with Genna, and then opened one with Sylva.

    > hey

    Yan waited with her eyes closed and her phone resting on her chest. After a few minutes, Sylva responded.

    < hey yourself

    < make it to Imperial Cntr ok?

    > yeah

    > ate pizza and drank wine

    > feels weird to not be at the academyu

    > hows home?

    < fine. family''s pissed I didn''t stay there for break

    < whatever. dont care

    < miss you mostly

    > miss u too

    > you driving to landis tomorrow?

    < yeah. long drive

    < cross country trip with my dad.

    < can''t think of anything more fun

    > at least you don''t have to take a train with all your stuff

    < I guess.

    < just nervous or whatever about my apprenticeship

    > same

    > I get to grocery shop like a real adult tomorrow

    > not just someone who buys junk food for fun

    < lol

    < good luck with that

    < please dont'' get scurvy and die because you don''t buy enough vegetables

    > I lvoe vegtables

    > I will buy so many

    < on the other hand, please don''t buy so many vegetables that you get vegetable overload

    < keep your eyes the same size as yopur stomach

    > ok

    > I''ll do my best

    > I''ve gotta go to sleep soon

    > ooh. gotta buy bedsheets at the store. almost forgot

    < you can''t buy bedsheets at the grocery, but good luck on your bed quest

    > lol

    > thanks for the bedsheet advice

    > though I do know where that thype of thing is sold

    > I''m just telling you my to do list

    > because I''m a little buzzed and v tired

    < haha

    < go to bed

    > I will go to bed now

    > goodnight Sylva

    < gud night

    < <3333

    Yan shut off her phone and reluctantly clambered off the couch. She wandered into the bathroom. She saw the bathtub, and remembered that her original plan for the evening had been to take her first bath, possibly ever. Then she decided that she would probably prefer not to fall asleep in the tub, so it would have to wait for some other time. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, lamented her too long hair in the mirror, and cleaned herself up for bed.

    In her room, she laid her sleeping bag out on the bed and changed out of her uniform and into her pajamas. She tossed her dirty clothes over into the corner, and made a mental note to buy a laundry basket when she bought bedsheets. Yan turned off the light.

    In the dark, she walked over to the window and pulled the blinds back. The lights of the city were bright outside, keeping the sky lit despite the late hour. She couldn''t see much of the skyline of the city, she wasn''t high up enough, but she could see that there was a city, and a world outside of the room. It was a feeling she had missed while she was on the Iron Dreams. It was strange, the things that she only realized she missed when she had them again. Probably, part of it was because it was too stressful to truly contemplate the true realities of life on a ship all the time, and it was best to let all the knowledge of what was outside the walls and windows fade into a distant recognition, rather than a pressing thought.

    Yan knelt down at the window to say her nightly prayer. She lingered there for a minute after she was finished, just breathing evenly and staring out into the distance. Eventually, she stood up and crawled into her sleeping bag.

    She fell asleep right away, but her dreams were turbulent.

 Chapter Eleven - Meeting the Tamed Bear

    Meeting the Tamed Bear

    <blockquote>

    ¡°God is the shield of mercy, and God is the sword of justice.¡±

    -from the First Canto, regular worship

    </blockquote>

    Aymon''s office, at least the relatively public one that he kept for business in Stonecourt, was immaculate. His large, wooden desk faced away from windows behind him. The desk was clear of any papers, since nearly all his important work and correspondence was done digitally, and securely. In front of the desk, there were two couches around a coffee table.

    Aymon himself sat at his desk, waiting for his three young apprentices to arrive, and reading a memo from his intelligence team while he waited. It would be the first time he would see the three of them together.

    His personal bodyguard, Halen, a ruddy faced giant of a man, stood at his right hand shoulder. Though Aymon was perfectly capable of defending himself, he recognized the helpfulness of an extra pair of eyes, or several. Halen was not a member of either Stonecourt''s security force or the Imperial Fleet; he was employed specifically by Aymon and answered to no one else. They had known each other for many years, and Aymon trusted Halen completely.

    "They''re on their way," Halen said.

    Without looking up from his dossier, Aymon nodded.

    "ETA?" Aymon asked.

    "Three minutes to get through security," Halen said.

    "Anything unusual coming from that direction?"

    Halen responded by placing a heavy hand on Aymon''s shoulder and ''broadcasting'' to Aymon what he had been listening to through the power. In this case that was the shining presence and unguarded emotions of the apprentices being led through security checkpoints in Stonecourt.

    Two of the presences had clear emotional signals coming off of them. That, Aymon knew, would be Yan and Sid. Yan seemed tense and fearful, but determined. Sid was excited and jittery. The third apprentice, Kino, had up the strongest mental barrier Halen had ever encountered. All of Halen''s attempts to discreetly measure her status slid off her like drops of water from the back of a duck. Still, this wasn''t anything new. It had been the same way when Aymon had met her for the interview.

    "What do you think of this group, Halen?"Aymon asked. Halen''s hand had not come off of Aymon''s shoulder, but he didn''t mind its presence.

    "They don''t know anything. Other than that, I don''t have much of an opinion."

    "Do they remind you anything of what I was like as an apprentice?" Aymon asked.

    "You were older and more experienced when I met you. And if you remember it was under quite different circumstances than picking out a couple of sterile Academy graduates."

    Aymon barked out a laugh. "It was nothing if not a clean operation."

    "Are you sure you can spare me? There are other people who can teach them the basics." Halen asked, changing the topic.

    "And there are others who can watch my back, at least briefly. I don''t really trust anyone else to instill the necessary knowledge into their young, impressionable minds." Aymon reached up his hand to put on Halens warm hand that was still resting heavily on his shoulder. "And it will only be for a few hours a day, and you will be with me the rest of the time."

    "You''re getting sentimental in your old age," Halen said, extracting his hand. "They''re right outside the door."

    "I suppose we should let them in, then." Aymon reached under his desk and slid his finger over the button that would open the door.

    At the other end of the room, the heavy door swung open. Aymon''s personal secretary, Melina Rosario, a high energy woman with braided grey hair, led the three young apprentices in.

    "Do you need anything else, sir?" Rosario asked.

    "Not at the moment, Ms. Rosario. Though if you could keep Admiral Vaalks off my tail for the next half hour, that would be extremely appreciated."

    "Certainly, sir." She bobbed her head and slipped out the door, which swung shut behind her, leaving the three apprentices standing and looking around the room. Sid, the bald one, was standing in the front, radiating nervous energy. Behind him, Kino and Yan stood together, though Yan towered over both her compatriots. Kino''s black braids were twined up around her head, rather than hanging by her ears as they had been last time he had seen her. All three were wearing the black cassock and short red cape that Aymon had given to them. It was a variation on the uniform that Academy graduates who entered the military wore, and similar to Aymon''s own dress, though he had scarlet trim on his cassock rather than the short cape.

    Aymon stood up from his seat and walked around to the front of his desk. Halen remained where he was, looking dispassionately at the group.

    "Welcome to Stonecourt," Aymon said, holding out his hand. "Sid, Yan, Kino."

    Aymon saw a look of annoyance cross Sid''s face, and felt, rather than saw, Halen tense up behind him and the tension in the room rise a few degrees. He didn''t miss the swift kick Yan gave to the back of Sid''s leg, though Yan was clearly doing her best to keep it under wraps. Sid''s face briefly twisted, but he got himself under control. Halen relaxed slightly. Aymon knew Halen''s original posturing behind him had been all for show, but it was effective.

    "Hello, First Sandreas," Kino said in an even voice. "It''s an honor to be here."

    "Please, come take a seat," Aymon said, gesturing to the couches. He sat down on one and waited for the three apprentices to arrange themselves on the opposite couch. They sat down with Yan in the middle.

    "So," Aymon said, "We have much to discuss and relatively little time to do it in, as my schedule today is rather full. Have you all made your acquaintances with each other?"

    The three looked at each other and nodded.

    "Is Kino the only one among you who has a voice?" Aymon asked.

    "No, sir." Yan spoke up, this time. "We all met yesterday."

    "Good. Please call me Aymon or Sandreas, at least in private conversation. There is little that bogs down speaking more than unnecessary formality. We will be working together closely enough and long enough that it is best to dispense with it immediately. Is your housing all right? I had my secretary arrange it for you. It should be relatively secure."

    "It''s good," Yan said. "Thank you. Though-" She stopped, cutting herself off.

    "Yes?" Aymon asked.

    "Is it all really necessary?" She finished. "The security, anyway?"

    "I have no doubt it will become necessary soon," Aymon said. "That brings me very neatly to my next point, actually. You all are completely untrained, and, to be completely honest, that makes you a danger to both yourselves and to me. For the next five years at least, you will be going where I go, doing what I do, and acting with and for me. That means that you will be under constant threat of blackmail, kidnapping, and assassination, among other things. When you are around me, without having been trained to defend yourselves, Halen, myself, and my other security staff, may be forced to make choices in the heat of the moment that could lead to one or more of us being injured or killed. So, it is imperative that you all are trained as quickly as possible."

    "Trained in what, specifically?" Kino asked. "We all had self defense courses at the Academy."

    Aymon felt a silent wave of amusement wash off of Halen, though the feeling was directed specifically at him, not being broadcast out into the world.

    "Self defense is barely scratching the surface of what you will need to be able to do to survive in this line of work. I say that speaking from experience," Aymon said. "Though I will leave that to Halen to explain in detail. You will be spending several hours a day training with him for the foreseeable future. The rest of your time you will be spending either with me or on duties which I assign you. Is that understood?"

    "Yes." It was Kino who spoke this time, though the other two nodded.

    "Good. I expect that you will put in your best efforts during your training. For the moment, I may not be the most reachable at unscheduled times. Your main point of contact with me should be through my personal secretary, Ms. Rosario, whom you have met. You should report to her, as she will be handling all of your scheduling. Through her, you will also receive daily need-to-know briefings." Aymon looked at the three, who were all listening to him intently. Seeing his look, they nodded.

    "Though it should go without saying it bears reiterating: everything you do from here on out is completely confidential. Unless what you are doing is literally being attended by the press, you are not to discuss it with anyone aside from yourselves, myself, Halen, and Ms. Rosario. If you have any questions about this policy, please bring it up with Halen or Ms. Rosario." Aymon stopped as he saw Yan raise her hand.

    "You''re not in school, just spit it out."

    "In terms of security, do you have any specific instructions on physical or digital confidential documents?"

    "You will need to ask Ms. Rosario about that on a per document basis. But your personal communication devices cannot and should not be regarded as secure. You will be receiving secure devices soon, as well as training on how to use them. Err on the side of caution."

    "Okay," Yan said.

    "Could you tell us more about what we are going to specifically be doing?" Kino asked.

    "As of right now, nothing. You will be training with Halen, observing, and learning as much as you can. The better you are at all of this, the faster that real responsibilities will be given to you. At least in these early stages, you will be attending typical government functions with me, acting as my aides and go betweens, and developing your own skills and interests to decide in what capacity you will be working further along in the apprenticeship. Does that answer the question?"

    "Yes," Kino said.

    "Later today will be your first real outing. At eighteen hundred tonight, we will be attending a dinner with members of the Trade Guild. I expect you all to not make fools of yourselves. Remember that from this moment forward, you do not merely represent yourselves, your families, or the Academy: you are representatives of the entire Empire." He stared at them for a moment to impress upon them the severity of what he was saying, but none of them seemed particularly affected by his words. This was almost certainly due to the fact that the three of them were already unbearably nervous. Though Aymon predicted the private dinner to be low stakes, it was still a bit of a baptism by fire, seeing as it was their first day on the job.

    "On a lighter note, after the dinner, I believe we will have some time to sit down and actually learn some more about each other in a more relaxed setting. This morning I am in a rush, since I have a meeting with Admiral Vaalks later, who I am sure you will become acquainted with in due time." He smiled as he said this, showing teeth. "Before I release you into the tender clutches of Halen, are there any other questions?"

    "What should we be prepared for in the Trade Guild dinner?" Yan asked. Aymon knew that she was a spacer, so it was no surprise that she was asking.

    "On your end, polite conversation. On my end, attempting not to throttle Ungarti Vaneik. Someone will brief you before you arrive on who the key players are and who you should be watching for." Aymon said all of this quite dryly, then glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Unfortunately, I don''t have the time to explain everything at the moment."

    "You don''t like Guildmaster Vaneik?" Yan asked.

    "I thought our, hm, personality conflict was well known," Aymon said. "We have a working professional relationship, because we must, but neither of us finds it pleasant. I don''t really have time to expound upon the details at this moment, since I need to meet with the Admiral." Aymon stood up, and the three apprentices quickly followed.

    "Halen, I do trust you not to scar my new apprentices unduly, at least on their first day with you."

    "Of course not," Halen said, leaving his place behind Aymon''s desk and walking towards the door. "Come on." He gestured for the three apprentices to join him.

    "See you tonight," Aymon said to the group, returning to his desk. Halen opened the door and walked out, taking the three apprentices with him. As they left, Rosario entered.

    "I''ll see the Admiral now, Ms. Rosario," Aymon said.

    "I''ll let him in." Rosario stepped out again. Though Aymon should have been focused on the Admiral, who was entering the room with a constipated expression on his face, with his mind''s eye he was watching Halen lead his apprentices away down the corridors of Stonecourt towards their training.

    "The first thing you should probably know about me," Halen said, as he led the trio down the corridors of Stonecourt, "Is that my number one priority is protecting Aymon. Everything else is inconsequential. And if you get in the way of that priority, I will do what I need to do."

    Though Halen was saying all of this in a pleasant voice, Yan had no doubts about his truthfulness. She made a mental note to never cross him, though the thought that she would hadn''t crossed her mind until she firmly decided not to. The splotchy faced man was one of the few people outside of her own family who were taller than she was, and he was most certainly stronger.

    "The second thing that you should know about me is that I did not graduate from the Academy, or any of the other schools for that matter, and I don''t find that the Academy produces graduates with very much good, common sense."

    This statement brought Sid up short and he almost stopped walking, as he spoke aloud for the first time that day. "How did you not get taken? You''re clearly sensitive."

    Halen laughed loudly. "Take a guess."

    "You''re from a remote colony, and no representative ever came looking for sensitives," Sid guessed.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    "No," Halen said. "Kino, you guess."

    Kino took a moment to think. "Powerful parents, probably dissidents, who hid you from the inspections."

    "Nope. Yan, you guess."

    Yan considered him for a moment, thinking about what she knew of him. He was giant, taller than any person raised on planetary gravity had any right to be. He hadn''t attended the Academy, but was far from low powered enough to evade the inspectors just by being unnoticeable. He had somehow come to a high position in the Imperial Court, but not through any traditional Academy route, and his primary motivation seemed to be his loyalty to Sandreas.

    None of this narrowed down very much. Yan knew that all ships and ports were inspected by Academy searchers, that was how she had been discovered, after all. He could have avoided this maybe by being a child of miners, which would also account for his general stature. But that didn''t explain why he would have such a high up position. Yan didn''t consider it feasible that Sandreas was searching for ultra loyal bodyguards among common miners, or even uncommon miners.

    How could someone powerful go undetected for so long in childhood, but rise to prominence as an adult? Suddenly, it struck her, the one group of spacers who was never inspected but were quite powerful.

    "You were a pirate," Yan said.

    "You got it." Halen clapped a heavy hand onto Yan''s back, causing her to stumble a little. "And don''t you forget it."

    "How did you..." Yan wasn''t sure how to actually ask the question. "How did you get here?"

    "Oh, that''s a long story. But we have a long walk to get to the gym. It''s not a secret. How much do you know about pirates?" Halen asked, directing the question to Kino and Sid.

    "Only that they exist," Kino said.

    "When I was in third year, pirates bothered the transport I was taking between Galena and Emerri. Nothing really happened, though," Sid said.

    "Isn''t that one of the most well defended routes in the entire Empire?" Kino asked.

    "Yeah, and that''s probably why nothing happened," Yan said. "Pirates aren''t stupid enough to do anything serious in an area full of Guild ships."

    "I think they just wanted to scare the captain a little," Sid said.

    "Regardless, the answer for the two of you seems to be ''not very much''," Halen said. "Yan, I''m certain, has intimate knowledge of pirates."

    Yan scowled. "If you weren''t working for Sandreas it sure would sound as though you had some sympathy for them." She was being unnecessarily flippant, but only because Halen was as well.

    "Sympathy is one thing and duty is another," Halen said cryptically. "There were many things that I loved about being a pirate, and many more that I hated. Regardless of my feelings towards that life, I serve a greater master now."

    Yan frowned, but she saw Kino half smile. Halen was citing one of the first precepts, but clearly was not actually referring to serving the true purposes of God. For all the Empire may be serving God''s purposes, Halen had made it clear that he was loyal to one man, Sandreas. In Yan''s eyes, to call Sandreas God was a bit of an overstep, despite the precept of divinity in all sentient beings.

    "What do we need to know in order to understand the story?" Kino asked, trying to edge the conversation away from the dangerous territory.

    "Some of it is spacer lifestyle in general, which is hard to understand to outsiders. The main thing is that pirates have a nearly unbreakable code of loyalty towards their ship and mates, that''s a big part of how Aymon got me."

    "Why? Aren''t pirates, you know, bad?" Sid asked. Halen laughed.

    "God, they''re all just people," Halen said. "No worse or no better than people here. But what they do have in common is that, every person who does become a pirate is marked for death by the rest of the universe."

    "So you have to be loyal to each other or risk dying?" Kino asked.

    "The empire executes any pirates they catch, with very few exceptions, though most are killed during the capturing process. Other pirates want what you have, and the Trade Guild and miners will fight you off. It''s a rough living, and unless you''re very, very good at it, and also very lucky, you won''t last long."

    The group came to a heavy set of doors which Halen unlocked. "I need to get you all security access," he commented as they walked through the doors into a deep stairwell. Inside the echoey stairway, he continued his story.

    "I was born a pirate," Halen said. "As you might be able to tell, pirates have few qualms about genetically modifying their offspring to be stronger and better."

    Sid opened his mouth to say something, but jammed his hands in his pockets instead.

    "It doesn''t really matter what my childhood was like, it''s not really relevant to the story, but I grew up entirely in space. I didn''t set foot on a planet until I was your age, actually. My whole life was on my family¡¯s ship and the occasional black station."

    "How did you discover that you were a sensitive?" Kino asked.

    "Ha. Well. That''s a digression, but I''ll answer your question. Most kids are picked up by inspectors before their sensitivity becomes full blown, but obviously it didn''t happen with me. And it''s hard to notice something like that, especially on a ship. The normal things that kids do, as a kid on a ship you are... Instructed... very carefully that some doors should not be opened, because there could be something deadly on the other side. Specifically, there could be a hard vacuum on the other side. So the instinct when discovering a locked door that you want to go through is not ''why won''t you open?'' it''s ''who can I ask to check what''s going on behind there?''. And the other usual things, like summoning objects and such, that''s hard to notice in microgravity too."

    "So what sign did you see?" Kino asked.

    "It took me until I was, oh, fifteen or so before I really noticed something was going on. I started getting these massive headaches whenever I was around other people, which was all the time, on a spaceship. I was developing a real affinity for picking up other people''s emotions, it was one of my talents, and it was starting to ruin my life a little bit. Between that and appearing amazingly lucky all the time, I managed to piece it together and get my life a bit more under control."

    "What did you do when you found out?" Yan asked, curious despite herself.

    "Do you mean what I did to stop myself from going insane or what I used the power for?" Halen asked.

    The group was in a long hallway which seemed to be underground. Luckily, it was a fairly well lit place, and looked to be used fairly often, given the scuff marks on the linoleum floor, so Yan didn''t feel too apprehensive about where they were going.

    "Both, I guess," Yan said.

    "Learning to control the power is, honestly, it''s probably all the same things you do at the Academy. Learn to meditate and use it consciously rather than unconsciously, figure out what it can and can''t do, all that stuff. Boring, really. I kept it secret for a long time, just researching it on my own, but once I had the basics down I did eventually tell my family and the rest of the crew of my ship. It was called the Bluebeetle, by the way. And then a lot of family drama happened, but in the end, what we decided was that the crew of the Bluebeetle was going to split in half, and I would create a stardrive for the new ship that we were going to get."

    "You, uh, created a stardrive?" Yan said.

    "Oh, yeah, I''ve actually made several," Halen said, completely nonchalant. He lead them further through the tunnel. "How do you think most pirates get capable ships?" Halen asked.

    "By capturing Trade Guild ships," Yan said.

    "Oh, that''s some of them, sure. But you have to have a stardrive in order to catch a ship with a stardrive. As far as I know I''m the only person who was born a pirate who then created a stardrive, but usually people just get paid off very, very handsomely. It''s fairly lucrative, I''m led to believe."

    "I guess nothing ever went wrong when you did it." Yan said, which made Halen laugh.

    "We always did take the appropriate precautions. Bring the ship to a totally empty region of space, dump me by myself on a shuttle, fly a safe distance away, don''t come back for a week. It''s both incredibly dull and incredibly dangerous, which I guess is the worst kind of job. You know how to make a stardrive, right?"

    "A little. Everyone is taught the principle of it at the Academy, mainly as a warning to never, ever do it. I think that''s because for a bunch of years they had people try to make ''improved drives'' as their final projects and dying because of it," Yan said. "Between that and the fear of accidentally making a defective one and killing everyone on a ship in the process, I was never really tempted to try."

    "They like to put the fear of death in you," Sid poked Yan and signed to her. Yan smiled a little. Halen missed the exchange as he was walking in front.

    "So you made a stardrive, and you went off with a new crew?" Yan asked, wanting to know the rest of the story.

    The group had finally come to a set of doors that opened into a gym and training area. They seemed especially secure, since Halen didn''t use his normal security key, instead using the power to unlock the door. They stepped inside.

    "Yes. I wasn''t the captain, I was just an extremely valuable kid, at the time. The problem with splitting up the crew of the ship is that all of the young and ambitious people want to go out and make a name for themselves, and all the experienced older people stay behind. Combine reckless ambition, relative inexperience, and valuable cargo, and you''ve got a recipe for disaster."

    "What happened?" Kino asked.

    "Since I was able to manufacture stardrives on a fairly regular basis, the bulk of our business was in selling them. Which mean that we immediately jumped up the priority list for Imperial intervention. Selling stardrives to pirates is pretty much the biggest bad idea you can have in the Empire." Halen said this as he led them into a side room where a bunch of targets were set up. He walked over to a closet and again used his power to unlock it.

    "So you got caught?" Yan asked.

    "Me? Not personally. I wasn''t on the ship at the time. Like I said, I was pumping out stardrives as fast as the captain could collect payment for them, so I was off in the middle of fucking nowhere making a stardrive while all the shit went down."

    Yan sucked in a breath. A true nightmare scenario was being stranded in deep space with no one knowing where you were and no way to get out.

    "After a week with no contact I started to get pretty worried. After all my food ran out I got really worried."

    "What did you do?" Yan asked.

    "About the only thing that I could do. I strapped my newly minted stardrive onto my shuttle and tried to find my ship."

    Yan laughed nervously. Shuttles were not meant to handle stardrives. Shuttles did not have the computational power to run a stardrive. Shuttles did not have the structural stability to house a working stardrive. Shuttles should not be capable of interstellar travel.

    "I was a dumb kid at the time and it was a choice between a certain death of starvation and a probable death of fucking around with a stardrive. I did the best thing I could think of at the time."

    "I guess it worked out," Kino said.

    "Well I managed to get myself out of the middle of nowhere, that''s true. But when I came limping into the first port I found out that being an unaccompanied shuttle off a pirate ship, desperate for supplies, that sent a lot of people chasing after me, specifically. I won''t bore you with the details, but eventually, well. Aymon hunted me down."

    "You were that high of a priority?" Sid asked, incredulous.

    "He was an apprentice at the time, and yeah, I was. Indiscriminately supplying stardrives to anyone who would pay, is a really, really big deal." In the closet that Halen had unlocked, there were several handguns. He took three out and handed one each to the apprentices.

    "Why didn''t he just kill you on sight?" Yan asked.

    "Oh, he came into our encounter thinking that he would," Halen said. "At the time, you gotta realize, I was a loose fucking cannon." He retrieved ammunition from a drawer inside the closet and started handing it out. "I knew my entire family and ship was dead, so I had no one to hold me back, I was powerful, smart, and could make a lot of money really quickly."

    As Halen spoke, he was demonstrating how to load the ammunition into the handguns, doing it slowly so the three could follow along.

    "All of that sounds like reasons to kill you," Yan said, loading her gun.

    "Oh it absolutely is. I don''t really understand why he changed his mind. If I had been him, I would have killed me without a second thought. I certainly tried to kill him. In the end, he figured that I was desperate and impressionable enough that I could become a valuable asset given the right manipulation."

    "And so, what, he captured you instead of killing you outright?" Sid asked.

    "Oh, no, if I hadn''t wanted to be captured, there would have been no way to take me alive. That''s not really how ships work. I surrendered."

    "Why?" Yan asked.

    "I could feel his intentions. I have no particular talent in making stardrives, my actual power specialty is in reading feelings. That and getting lucky every time, but that''s not a talent."

    "And you thought someone thinking ''this person is manipulable'' is good enough for you?" Sid asked aloud.

    "Again, I cannot stress this enough, if you''re faced with a choice between death and not-death, pick the choice where you don''t die. That''s rule zero of living. Also I was dumb enough to think that if I knew someone was trying to manipulate me I could wiggle out of it."

    Sid rolled his eyes, expressing what he thought of Halen escaping Sandreas¡¯s brainwashing.

    "I could have, probably, but I didn''t want to, which is maybe more insidious. At this point I am here out of a genuine desire to be here, regardless of anything that happened in the past." Halen shrugged, a motion that moved his entire broad body. "Maybe someday you all can say the same."

    "What are the guns for?" Kino asked, testing the feel of the now loaded weapon in her hand.

    "First of all, not for doing that. Stop swinging it around." Halen said. Kino had the decency to look somewhat chagrined and stopped her nervous fiddling with the weapon. "What we are here for is to teach you the very first lesson about self defense."

    "When you''re defending yourself," Halen said, holding the gun up to point at one of the targets, "You need to be lucky every time." Halen fired at three of the targets and hit all of them dead center.

    "If you ever get unlucky, you will die. So, to be lucky every time, you need to stack the odds in your favor as much as physically possible," Halen said. "Quick question, if you were in a room and someone was trying to kill you, and you didn''t have a weapon on you, what would your first instinct be to do?"

    "Get behind something," Yan said.

    "Incapacitate him," Kino said.

    "Use the power to try to kill him. Crush his skull." Sid said.

    "Bad answers," Halen said. "Yan, taking cover is not necessarily a bad idea, but in a dangerous situation, you''re just as likely to pick bad cover as good cover. Even if you shelter behind something that will protect you, that could mean you''ve just entrenched yourself and will be unable to escape."

    Halen looked at Kino, who was clearly struggling to not mess with the weapon she was holding. "Kino, you haven''t given any specifics of how to do that. In an emergency, you won''t have time to devise any good strategies. You need to have a practiced plan that you can use."

    "Sid. Not necessarily a bad idea, but it is bad PR. Aside from dying, making yourself look like the bad guy in any situation is a poor choice. If the person attacking you is a sensitive, they''ll be able to protect themselves from that type of attack, and if they''re not... It looks bad. It''s also, and I speak from experience here, more difficult to put into practice than you might hope."

    "And guns are glamorous?" Yan asked. Careful to avoid the reprimand that Kino had received, she gestured to the gun in her hand without waving it around.

    "No, but they are fair, or at least they appear that way." Halen said that sounding like he intended guns to be the opposite of fair.

    "So what are we supposed to do?" Sid asked, scowling.

    "Simple. From now on, you are never, ever, ever going to be unarmed. You are going to carry a weapon on you at all times, and you are going to know how to use it. You are also going to cheat, as hard as you can."

    "What do you mean cheat?" Kino asked.

    "Let''s have a little demonstration," Halen said. "Yan, could you fire at that target, please."

    Yan had no marksmanship training. She could use the guns on the Iron Dreams'' dogfighters, and she had training in grappling, in case the Iron Dreams was ever boarded by pirates, but guns were not typically worth the risk of having and using aboard a ship. She had never fired one before, but she gave it a try. She raised up the handgun and shot at the target directly across the room. The bullet went far wide and hit the padded wall to the left of the target, the recoil startled her, and she almost dropped the gun.

    "Thank you, Yan," Halen said. "Kino, you- no, don''t fire-" Kino was already lifting the gun. "Actually, Kino, you are making me nervous, can you put that over here." He pointed back to the closet where the guns had come from. Kino shrugged and laid the gun down there.

    "What I actually wanted you to do, Kino, was take just this," Halen pulled a small rock out of his pocket and handed it to Kino, "Try accelerating this at the target, get it as close to a bullet speed as possible."

    "Ok," Kino said, holding up the rock for a second. She tossed it up into the air, and then, faster than the eye could follow, it sped towards the target. It hit it dead center, but didn''t penetrate at all, merely bouncing off and falling to the floor.

    "So," Halen started, "Here are the two problems you have right now. Both of these problems could be solved with time, training, and practice, but we don''t have that luxury. You''re all terrible shots because you''ve had absolutely no practice. Kino, you are downright dangerous to have around a weapon because you have no sense of how to safely handle it. The second problem is that you don''t actually have the ability to use the power as a substitute for a weapon. Sure, you can accurately throw rocks all day long, but you have no intuition for how fast a bullet travels, or what it does upon impact with a target. When you''re controlling something with the power directly, you are much, much more likely to pull your punches."

    Halen summoned the rock back from the area near the targets. He sent it sailing, again faster than eyes could follow, but this time it crashed through the target, destroying a big chunk of it.

    "With a lot of practice, you could fix this, just like you could fix your aim. But we do not have the luxury of time because you need to be able to defend yourselves immediately. So, what we''re going to do is try to combine your two assets to cancel out two of your weaknesses. You can''t shoot for shit, but you can aim with the power. You lack the intuition of how to be truly dangerous with the power, but guns don''t have that issue."

    "Sid, your turn, come here." Halen gestured for Sid to stand next to him.

    "What do you want me to do?" Sid asked.

    "I want you to fire at the target, but while you fire it, imagine a tunnel that connects the tip of the gun to the target. Set up the conditions in your mind so that if the bullet touches the wall of that tunnel, it''s redirected back on the right course. Set up that power structure before you fire, because that bullet travels faster than you can react."

    Sid obeyed, thinking for a second about how he exactly he should reach out with the power, then firing the gun. He struck the target dead on, just below the place where Halen''s rock had ripped out a chunk.

    "Excellent," Halen said. "Now you just need to be able to do that every single time, very, very quickly."

    "Easy every time," Sid said, though in his voice the saying felt flat rather than assured.

    "Doesn''t have to be easy," Halen said. "You just gotta stay lucky. And that is what we are going to be practicing all day today."

 Chapter Twelve - The Refugee

    The Refugee

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Twenty thousand people on a barren planet, dead. Twenty thousand souls who begged and cried and pled. Twenty thousand people the Empire did ignore, so all of you with ships and hearts let¡¯s even up the score¡­¡±

    -from ¡°The Marksman¡¯s Rescue¡±, spacer song

    </blockquote>

    True to his word, Halen did make Yan, Kino, and Sid practice that specific skill for several hours. Though Yan felt like she was getting pretty good at redirecting bullets, she knew that Halen would keep drilling them on it, possibly for the rest of all time. He also emphasized that this was a cheap trick meant to keep them safe quickly, but that they would eventually be fixing the problems (aim and willpower) that made it necessary in the first place. There was just only so much one could learn and accomplish in one afternoon.

    Yan just considered it a blessing that none of them had died due to Kino''s twitchy trigger finger. By the end of practice, it seemed as though Halen was ready to throttle the girl. She kept her finger on the trigger at the wrong times, she fiddled with the gun when she wasn''t supposed to, and her actual aiming and handling of the weapon was beyond atrocious. Kino''s horrible habits made Halen irritable which made Yan vacillate between annoyed and scared.

    Despite the level of trust that Sandreas had in Halen, Yan didn''t trust pirates, even former ones. If such a thing as a ¡®former pirate¡¯ was even really possible. Yan had her doubts about it.

    Finally, Halen released them from training. Before they returned to their apartments to change, they briefly talked to Ms. Rosario, who gave them all the promised communication devices, security keys, and briefing on where they would be expected to be and when for the rest of the day.

    The time they had to get ready before the meeting they were set to attend was fairly limited. Yan had enough time to shower, change into one of the truly fancy sets of uniforms she had been provided, and figure out how to holster her new firearm so that it was accessible through her cassock. Previously, Yan had been confused about an odd construction in the way that her uniform was put together. The pockets of the cassock only filled part of the hole where her hand could go inside; when reaching in, the entire underside of the garment and her body were accessible. Yan realized now that this was so that she could carry and access a weapon on a holster underneath the long coat. After she was fully dressed, she unloaded the weapon and practiced drawing it quickly a few times.

    Maybe Halen''s paranoia about being attacked was getting to her.

    Yan also sent out a quick message to Sylva.

    > Apprenticeship''s weird so far.

    > learned to fire a gun, sorta

    > not allowed to talk about it tho

    > gonna go to dinner with an important guy?

    > not a date lol just a political thing

    > sorry for like the octo text haha

    > love ya

    There was no response, but that was predictable, since Sylva was probably busy. Yan was sure she would have a response when she got back from dinner.

    Once she was dressed and ready, Yan exited her apartment. She considered for a moment whether she should walk to Stonecourt alone, but decided against it. Instead, she walked down the hallway of her apartment building and walked on one of the other doors. She knew one was Sid''s and one was Kino''s but she didn''t know which was which. Yan supposed she would find out if Kino came to the door. Sid wouldn¡¯t be able to hear her knock, so if no one answered then it was probably his apartment.

    It turned out to be Kino''s apartment. Kino opened the door to Yan, but she was wrapped in a towel, with her hair damp and unbraided, hanging around her shoulders.

    "Hey," Kino said. "Do you want to come in?"

    "I was really wondering if you were ready to walk to Stonecourt, but I can see the answer is no," Yan said. "Sure, I''ll come in."

    "Didn''t you get the message?" Kino asked, stepping aside so that Yan could enter.

    "What message?" Yan asked. She shut the door behind her.

    "Ms. Rosario said that we''re getting a car sent to us instead. The location of the dinner got changed, so we have a half hour before the car gets here."

    "Oh, ok. Guess I''m glad I didn''t start walking," Yan said.

    Kino''s apartment was similar in layout to Yan''s, but amazingly, despite the fact that Kino had only lived there for about a day and a half, was much messier. Boxes and papers were scattered around, and Kino''s discarded clothes were just on the floor. There were already dirty dishes piling up on the coffee table.

    "There but for the grace of God go you," Kino said, referring to the fact that Yan hadn''t decided to walk to Stonecourt, but unintentionally echoing Yan''s thoughts about the state of this apartment.

    Yan hadn''t had a chance to actually really talk to Kino before. She had moved into her apartment the day before while Yan and Sid were out shopping. And then today had been entirely taken up by training with Halen, which didn''t really give them a chance to get to know each other.

    Kino walked into the bathroom, still clad in a towel, but left the door open a crack.

    "I''m just getting dressed, we can talk," Kino called back to the living room.

    Yan was trying to find the least disruptive place to sit on the couch. She eventually settled for squeezing into one corner that seemed miraculously clear of stuff.

    "Did you find your secret room?" Yan called back.

    "The closet? Yeah," Kino said.

    "Part of me is hoping that I won''t ever have to use it," Yan said.

    "You''ve picked the wrong apprenticeship, then. It was made pretty clear that we''re in deep." Kino emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, wearing her dress uniform, though she was still barefoot and her hair was still wet and loose. Yan suspected that their dress uniforms would be seeing quite a lot of wear.

    Kino came over to the other couch and scooted over a large box so that she could sit. She put her feet up on the coffee table, then started running her fingers through her hair. Yan felt that she was using the power, though it felt slippery and odd, quieter than usual, which was interesting.

    "What are you doing?" Yan asked.

    "Taking the water out out of my hair," Kino said. "I want it to be just a little bit damp so I can braid it."

    "Where are you putting the water?" Yan asked.

    "Just into the air. Keeping it humid in here," Kino said.

    "You want it to be humid in here?" Yan asked.

    "Don''t care, and it''s easier to just disperse it into the air than it is to collect it," Kino said. It was true that handling a mass of water outside of some container with the power was a trickier task than one might hope, especially when not in microgravity where surface tension reigned supreme.

    "Did you figure out how to wear the holster?" Yan asked. She remained somewhat nervous of Kino''s handling of the gun.

    "Yeah, it''s in the pocket area." Kino started to reach into the pocket and Yan half flinched.

    "Please don''t take it out." Yan said.

    "I''m not as careless as you think I am," Kino protested, but she didn''t take the gun out. Her hands returned to their task of braiding her hair.

    "Ok," Yan said. "I''m not trying to say you''re careless but, I mean, Halen seemed pretty nervous and he''s, you know."

    "He wasn''t nervous," Kino said absently. "He''s good at putting on a performance to influence your behavior."

    "What?" Yan asked.

    "You don''t think he could stop any bullet I fired? Even one that was aimed point blank at his head? Of course he could. He wants me to be afraid so that I act more safely, he wanted Sid to be afraid so he would act more deferentially, he wants you to be afraid so that you don''t trust him to take care of you. He''s good at manipulating, but I don''t think he likes me," Kino said, the words coming out in a tumble.

    "How do you know?" Yan asked, curious as to where this insight had come from. Now that she was thinking about it, Halen definitely could stop a bullet, but that didn¡¯t seem like quite enough to base this whole set of assumptions on.

    "He wasn''t lying about his life, I don''t think. He really is very, very strong. He couldn''t have kept Sandreas alive for this long without being very good and very dedicated to his job."

    "I didn''t mean how did you know he could stop a bullet, I meant how did you know he was trying to manipulate us?" Yan pressed.

    "If he has no reason to act concerned about me mishandling a gun, then he must be doing that as a show. If he has no need to act angry about Sid getting angry, when we first came to see Sandreas and you had to kick him, he''s acting. Sid couldn''t do anything to him, not right now anyway,¡± Kino said, continuing to braid.

    "And what about me?" Yan asked.

    "You," Kino said, "Unlike the rest of us, have grown up inside a chain of command your entire life. I don''t know for sure, but I think that Halen wants to break you of some of those instincts."

    "How do you know about that?" Yan asked.

    "I know you grew up on a ship. I can only assume that on a ship the ultimate authority is the captain, and that everyone below that follows orders to keep life going smoothly. And if that''s trained into you since birth..." Kino shrugged and tied the end of one her braids off, moving her hands to the other side of her head to braid the second one.

    ¡°True, I guess, but we¡¯ve all been attending the Academy, and that¡¯s pretty structured,¡± Yan said. There weren¡¯t many things in life that weren¡¯t structured like that, as far as she could tell.

    "I think it¡¯s more on ships. It might be important of him to cure you of that, since he had a similar upbringing," Kino said.

    "No he didn''t!" Yan said. ¡°He¡¯s a pirate!¡±

    "See, it''s already working," Kino said. "If you came onto this job thinking, ''here is a man whose one job is to protect'', you might delegate the task of protection from yourself onto him. By making it clear to you that you cannot trust him, he''s teaching you to protect yourself. You''re going to be more on guard around him, and not just watching him for cues of what to do, like how you were already watching him when you kicked Sid."

    Yan processed this for a moment. Kino probably wasn¡¯t wrong.

    "God," Yan said flatly. "I mean. I guess. What should I do about it?"

    "Nothing," Kino said. Kino was calm, for all that she was saying things that made Yan have to frantically rearrange her worldview. "Keep letting him do it. If Halen was you he would let him keep doing it, he said so himself."

    This comment seemed odd to Yan, but Kino was right. Halen had said that he would let people manipulate him, if¡­ And that was the big question.

    "And what about you? Why don''t you think he likes you?" Yan asked, changing the subject a little. "Actually, I know nothing about you. Why am I taking your word as authority now?"

    "You have a respect for authority streak about a mile wide and visible from orbit," Kino said. "I say something rational and you put me in the box of ''knows what she''s talking about, listen''. I can just keep talking and you''ll keep doing it. But to answer your original question, he doesn''t like me because he can''t get a read on me. I don''t project emotions with the power."

    Yan hadn¡¯t noticed Kino¡¯s emotions through the power one way or another, but then again, Yan had never tried to read them. Experimentally, Yan sent out a line of power towards Kino. Curiously, when Yan did that, she didn¡¯t feel anything there. It was as though Kino was just part of the couch she was sitting on, for all the signature she had in the power. Well, maybe, if she focused hard, there was some feeling there that Yan could learn to identify as Kino, but it was a far cry from the ease with which Yan could usually find people in the power. Odd that Yan could feel Kino using the power to pull the water from her hair, but not feel Kino herself as easily.

    "Why don''t you? I thought that was something that everyone subconsciously did," Yan asked. Kino shrugged in response. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    "You can train yourself out of it, but I think it''s just one of those things that I''m naturally attuned to in the power. Halen''s opposite, kinda, since his affinity is picking up on emotions and feelings."

    "Weird," Yan said. "I don''t feel like I have anything like that."

    "Oh, you probably do, but it might be unnoticeable, or just something you''re a bit better at. I think most people have a special talent, it''s just only obvious when it¡¯s really extraordinary."

    "How did you discover yours?" Yan asked.

    "Oh, it''s a funny story," Kino said, but didn''t elaborate.

    "So tell it," Yan said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

    "I discovered I was a sensitive before the inspectors came, but then when they did come they didn''t notice me. I had to get their attention myself," Kino said. It seemed like there should have been more to this story.

    "Wait, so where do you come from?" Yan asked. "Not trying to pry into your life, just thought we should get to know each other."

    "Falmar," Kino said. "That''s where I was born, anyway. But we had to leave, so we went to Hanathue."

    "Oh," Yan said. Falmar was the most recent failed colony. Really, it was the only one in living memory. Yan had been aboutsix when the disaster on Falmar started, but the repercussions of it were still being felt throughout the Empire. "I''m sorry," Yan said.

    "It is what it is," Kino said. "You''re from a spacer family, did you work the evacuation?"

    "No," Yan said. "We were doing mining runs at the time."

    "Makes sense. Not many ships were there," Kino said. "We were a small colony in the first place." Kino wrapped a tie around her second braid. Casually, she used the power to summon a pair of socks and her shoes over to her. It was amazing that she seemed to know exactly where all of her belongings were, despite the mess.

    "Even though you were on Falmar, you decided to work for Sandreas?" Yan asked. "He was the one who ordered the quarantine, right?"

    "Yes. I understand why he made that choice. I don''t hold that against him," Kino said. "He wasn''t the one that caused the plague."

    "But he..." Yan said.

    "It''s better for about twenty thousand to die than an entire planet. I understand what could have happened if I brought the disease with me to Hanathue," Kino said dryly. "Luckily, I don''t have to carry the burden of condemning an entire planet to death."

    Yan couldn''t decide if she was talking about the fact that she hadn''t been a transmitter of the disease or if she wasn''t responsible for Sandreas''s decisions in condemning her home planet.

    "And I decided to work with Sandreas because I didn''t have any other offers, and I have no prospects on Hanathue, or anywhere else." Kino stood up, now that she was fully dressed. "I''m not even sure why Sandreas picked my project. An unfortunate side effect of its design is that it doesn''t call out like every other project does. Maybe God really was leading him to me, as he said. Or me to him."

    "That seems to be a running trend with you," Yan said.

    "Of course," Kino said. Now that she was done braiding and getting dressed, her hands were back fiddling with the edges of her sleeves. "Are you ready to go? We should get Sid."

    "Oh. Yeah. Do you just want to wait for the car in the lobby?"

    "That would be best. I don''t want Sid to walk away," Kino said.

    Yan stood up and the pair walked to the door. Yan led Kino to the door that she now knew was Sid''s. Yan thought for a moment about the fact that knocking on the door would probably do nothing to alert Sid, so she reached out for him in the power instead, alerting him to their presence outside his door.

    A moment later, Sid opened the door. Yan waved at him.

    "We''re going to take a car to dinner," Yan signed. She didn''t know the sign for car, since there weren''t very many of those aboard the Iron Dreams, so she replaced it for the sign for ''shuttle'' and hoped it would still make sense.

    "I thought we were going back to Stonecourt?" Sid signed back.

    "Place changed," Yan replied with a shrug. "Kino told me."

    "Ok," Sid signed. "I''m ready to go. Is the car here?"

    Now that he had used the real sign for car, Yan did her best to remember it. Kino was standing next to her with a blank expression.

    "No, we''re going to wait downstairs," Yan signed. "Don''t want to make anyone wait."

    "Fine. Let''s go." Sid stepped out of his doorway and closed his apartment door behind him. Yan briefly caught a glimpse of a living room that was the polar opposite of Kino''s: a very clean space.

    "Hey," Yan signed as the trio headed down the hallway and got in the elevator. "You ok?"

    "Why wouldn''t I be?" Sid asked.

    "I kicked you, I''m sorry," Yan signed.

    "Oh, that. It''s ok, sometimes I need a reason to think about my anger," Sid signed.

    "Kino said that Halen," she fingerspelled both names, "was just trying to make us act the way he wants."

    "Of course. It''s his job." Sid shrugged. "Hope he doesn''t think that taking care of me is your job."

    "I don''t think so," Yan signed.

    "What are you talking about?" Kino asked.

    "You need to learn sign," Sid signed at Kino.

    "Just what you told me about Halen earlier, how you think he''s trying to manipulate us," Yan explained. Privately, Yan thought that if she was going to have to be the go-between for Sid and Kino, this would be a long five years.

    "Are you going to use sign at the Trade Guild meeting?" Kino asked Sid. "They''re all spacers."

    Sid grinned brightly.

    Yan shook her head. "It will make Sandreas mad," she signed.

    Sid didn''t discontinue his grinning. Yan rolled her eyes.

    They exited the elevator and stepped out into the lobby. Yan nodded and smiled at the man at the desk. He wasn''t Denson, it was another man Yan hadn''t met yet, but it didn''t hurt to be polite.

    The three loitered near the door, waiting for their ride to pull up. Eventually, it did. It was a large, black car, with tinted windows. The passenger side window rolled down, and Halen stuck his head out, waving the group over.

    "Glad you all got the message that a ride was coming. Get in the back," Halen said as the group exited the apartment.

    Yan pulled open the car door and clambered inside. It was a strange car, where the seats were arranged along the walls of the vehicle rather than in rows. She was shocked to find Sandreas already in the back. Yan quickly took a seat along the opposite side from Sandreas and moved as far along as possible to let Sid and Kino in. They all made it inside and Kino closed the door behind herself.

    "We''re trying to be as incognito as possible, hence the unmarked car," Halen said once the door was closed. "This is not a public meeting."

    The car pulled away from the curb, its engine nearly silent, and began heading down the street.

    "Can I ask what this meeting is actually about, or are we going into this blind?" Yan asked.

    "Ah. Bit of a touchy subject," Sandreas said. "This meeting is to politely, and informally, ask the Trade Guild to consider lessening their routes with planets and that are known to be pirate harbors."

    "Aren''t we, sorry, the Trade Guild already staying away from pirate dens? Doesn''t make sense to run a ship into dangerous territory," Yan said, feeling her face heat up at the slip of her tongue. She wasn''t a spacer anymore, she supposed.

    "Oh, Yan, that''s sweet of you to think," Halen said jauntily from the front seat. Yan scowled at him.

    "Unfortunately, there is more overlap between the sanctioned trading of the Guild and the black market than anyone would like to admit. Tightening the belt on systems that are known to have thriving black markets will both incentivize the planetary governments to take a harsher stance on illegal trade, as well as hopefully convince Trade Guild ships that are smuggling around illicit material that it''s better to stay away from that side of the business," Aymon explained.

    "Why does this have to be private?" Kino asked.

    "Guildmaster Vaneik does not want anyone to think that his reputation, and the reputation of all of the ships aligned under his banner, is anything less than spotless. He knows better, I know better, but it''s better that the public does not know better," Aymon said. "As I am sure you will come to understand, maintaining our image is a good thirty percent of what we do."

    "What are you going to offer him to make him go along with this? I mean, not that I personally know, but people wouldn''t deal in black market goods if it wasn''t sufficiently lucrative," Yan said. "Why would he give up that source of income? Or even just the regular income from trading with those planets?"

    "I am prepared to make this a less bitter pill to swallow with the offer of putting up a few extra stardrives for sale for commercial use this year. But in this matter, at least, I hold more of a stick than a carrot," Sandreas said.

    "I suppose you don''t have much of a personal relationship left with Guildmaster Vaneik left to jeopardy by threatening him," Yan said. At least, that was what Sandreas had implied earlier. "What would you do if he refused?"

    "First step would probably be to pick an example system and station a Fleet ship at it. Say that all cargoes must be inspected before entering or leaving the planet. This would be sufficiently frustrating to sway him, probably. I think he''s more willing to accept an uninspected but smaller flow than he is to accept a heavily observed regular trade."

    "Having a Fleet ship there would probably make pirates less likely to hang around on planet, too," Yan said.

    "Still, it''s better to try asking politely first. Despite the fact that it would be beneficial, I don''t actually have the ships to spare for stationing at every planet that is a piracy magnet. Besides, it would be a major breach of the goodwill between both the Trade Guild and the outer planets governments, and there''s little enough of that to go around as is."

    "How many planets are we actually talking about?" Yan asked.

    "Top priority is six, but there''s a network of twenty or so that are areas of concern. Of course the black market has fingers in basically every port of call. But people have been growing far too bold."

    "You don''t have six ships to spare?" Yan asked, going back to Sandreas¡¯s previous comment. "What are all the Fleet ships doing?"

    "More important things than babysitting pirates. We can discuss this later. For the moment, all you need to know is that I want Vaneik to do my dirty work for me, and do it quietly. So your job at dinner is going to be to chat up Vaneik''s apprentices and put on a polite, unified front. This shouldn''t be too challenging."

    "Vaneik has apprentices?" Kino asked.

    "I don''t know much about them," Sandreas said said, with a tone in his voice that made it clear he did not care one whit about other people''s apprentices.

    "Two," Halen said from the front seat. "Nomar Thule and Yuuni Olms. They''re both in their last year of their apprenticeship, and they hate each other. The main dynamic there is that they''re vying to be Vaneik''s second in command when they finish their apprenticeship, but they''re both fairly sure he''s actually grooming his son for the position. Yuuni is much more talented than Nomar, but Nomar is slipperier."

    "And what about the son?" Kino asked.

    "Won''t be there," Halen said. "Which is for the best."

    "Why?" Kino asked.

    "He''s a lout," Halen said. "God only knows why, but Vaneik thinks the universe of him. He''s spoiled and lazy and doesn''t have a shred of sense."

    "If he''s just going to have his son become the head of the Trade Guild when he retires, why did he bother getting apprentices?" Yan asked.

    "He was, how shall I say this, convinced to give them a try. It is not in the Empire''s best interest to have the Trade Guild be run by a man with about as much brains and impulse control as a two year old, so we tried to make Vaneik see reason with regards to his successor." Sandreas said.

    "Is Vaneik a sensitive?" Kino asked.

    "No. Life would be a lot easier if he was. His father was," Sandreas said. "Since he''s not a sensitive he distrusts his own apprentices."

    "Did he pick them himself?" Yan asked.

    "He was presented with a field of candidates that were chosen by the Academy''s selection committee," Halen said.

    So, that explained why Vaneik wanted to promote his own son instead of one of the apprentices he had theoretically spent the past five years training, Yan thought. They were Empire through and through, and there was nothing Vaneik valued more than the Guild''s independence from the Empire. Any spacer would make the same decision, especially when considering their families.

    "Isn''t talking with his apprentices going to be useless then?" Sid spoke up. "Since he''s going to just make his own son his successor?"

    "They''re probably not going to become the head of the Trade Guild, that''s true, but that doesn''t mean that they don''t know things or have any influence. Both of them have spent the last five years getting as close to power as they can," Halen said.

    "What will they do when their apprenticeship is over?" Yan asked, curious.

    "I believe Yuuni will probably take on a ship of her own. Her father, Banmei Olms, is the captain of the Neutron Star, which is a very successful ship. He isn''t going to retire any time soon, but through her family and apprenticeship Yuuni has the connections, power, and money to buy a ship of her own. It''s a waste of her talent, but I''m not in charge of her," Halen said with a shrug.

    "Nomar is probably going to continue working for Vaneik, probably in the hopes that his son will keel over and leave a position open. Right now he handles a lot of Guild finances, and it would be a massive disruption to the status quo if he walked out," Halen said. "If he does what I think he''s going to do, he does stand a pretty good chance of heading the Guild in the end. It just might take him longer than he really wants."

    "Are you saying he''s going to have Vaneik''s son assassinated?" Yan asked, scandalized.

    Halen laughed. "Nomar? God, no. But I do think that he could very easily handle manipulating Wil Vaneik into doing exactly what he wants, especially if he holds the Guild''s purse strings."

    Privately, Yan considered that while Halen said that Nomar wouldn''t try to assassinate the younger Vaneik, he never said that the Empire wouldn''t try.

    The car pulled to a stop outside an expensive looking restaurant. Kino put her hand on the door to open it, but Sandreas held up a hand to stop her.

    "Hold on a second," Halen said from the front seat. "I need to make sure everything is okay."

    Halen closed his eyes and Yan felt the briefest touch of his power as he sent it out to investigate the building''s inhabitants. Yan suspected that Halen''s natural talent for feeling out other people had some limitations on it, like distance or specificity.

    When it came to most things done using the power, the limits usually came down to knowledge and concentration. Most sensitives could use some forms of farsight, using the power to get an understanding of what was happening behind a door, for example. Yan often used this to locate her friends in a crowded room. But looking around with the power was much different than looking with a set of eyes or hearing with a set of ears: being able to make sense of the sheer amount of information in the world could be overwhelming when the sensory organs weren''t there to do the job for you. Yan found it fairly easy to identify people when reaching out with the power: seeing the light of God within them and feeling their specific "signature" was a relatively simple task. Or, if it wasn''t simple, it was at least only as difficult as learning to interpret that information, since it wasn''t the transition from interpreting sound through ears to interpreting it as the flow of air through a room. That was much harder, in Yan''s opinion.

    Halen probably was employing a similar learned skill, though with the added complexity of sensing how people were feeling. Yan could usually only read a room like that if she knew the people very well. Halen must have had a fairly good intuition about people in general.

    After a moment, Halen opened his eyes.

    "Nothing unusual in there. Before we go out, Aymon." Halen leaned around the back of his seat and Sandreas slid along his bench seat towards Halen. Halen held out his hand and almost, but not quite, touched Sandreas''s face. Yan could feel the power move, and she saw the air shimmer in front of Sandreas''s face for a moment. When Halen removed his hand, Sandreas''s face was unrecognizable.

    Where before Sandreas had been a pale faced, older man with hazel eyes and a strong nose, he now looked like a much younger man with bright brown eyes and absolutely massive cheekbones.

    "Do you three know how to do this?" Halen asked. "You''ll need to learn if you don''t."

    "Is it just an illusion?" Kino asked.

    "Depends on how you call an illusion. It''s air. Well, the eyes are contacts and coloring, told to look a certain way. Cheap trick, but it will do the job of getting us between the car and the door. I had people take out the building cameras earlier," Halen said. "Well. Right now you don''t need it, you''re nobodies."

    Yan chose to not take offense at Halen¡¯s comment.

    "Are we just going in then?" Kino asked.

    Halen didn''t respond. Instead, he leaned forward towards Sandreas, who reached out to perform the same trick that Halen had. Yan didn''t think it would have much effect, since Halen was almost absurdly large, and that was certainly hard to disguise. Sandreas, rather than hovering his hand over Halen''s face, actually placed it on his cheek. It seemed intimate. Yan looked away.

    When she looked back, Halen¡¯s face had lost its normal blotchiness, and he had what looked like the shadow of a beard on his chin. Since nothing could be done about the size of him, it wasn¡¯t a very convincing illusion. Yan didn¡¯t really know why they bothered.

    "Now let''s go," Halen said. They all exited the car.

 Chapter Thirteen - Dinner Date

    Dinner Date

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The air on my ship is clean and pure, I can feel the engines sing their song. Heat! Pressure! Flow! On! There on the ground there¡¯s a different tone, rising up through the mud. Oil! Sweat! Water! Blood!¡±

    -from ¡°Grounded¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The restaurant was two stories tall, and looked fairly upscale. The second floor had a balcony with tables, but no one was sitting there. Yan made note of the fact that there were several unmarked but somewhat suspicious looking cars parked outside the building. There clearly was security here, just some that she couldn''t see. Yan looked up across the street. She thought she saw a figure shift on the roof of a building. Not dwelling on it, she followed Halen and Sandreas into the building.

    The interior of the restaurant was classy and dimly lit. Yan was rather unfamiliar with actually dining in restaurants. As she watched Halen exchange a few hushed words with the host at the desk, she tried to count how many times she had actually been to a sit down meal in a formal restaurant. Her uncle had taken her to a few when they were in port, and when she was at the Academy her friends sometimes wanted to go out for a birthday dinner, but primarily they ate at the dining hall or ordered takeout. This was certainly the fanciest place she had ever been in her life.

    The host led the group towards a stairway, and they climbed to the second floor. Yan glanced longingly at the balcony, but they passed right by it and headed to a back room. Though the first floor of the restaurant had a few diners sitting around, the second floor was empty.

    The back room had a guard stationed outside it. Halen spoke a few more quiet words to him, and he moved aside and unlocked the door with a pass card. Halen opened the door and stepped inside, letting Sandreas, Yan, Kino, and Sid inside. He shut the door behind them.

    Inside the room, there was a rectangular table set with dishes. Four people were already seated along the left side of the table. Yan recognized one of them as Ungarti Vaneik, the head of the Trade Guild. Vaneik was a tall, stiff looking man with braided black hair that fell behind his abnormally large ears. The other three people were also clearly spacers, with the same overly tall builds that Yan, and to some extent, Halen, had. The man sitting on Vaneik''s left side was probably his personal bodyguard, and Yan supposed that the young woman on his side was Yuuni Olms, and the similarly aged man at the end of the group was Nomar Thule.

    The whole seated group stood up as Sandreas entered the room. Halen and Sandreas briefly ran their hands over their faces to cancel the images that were hanging there. Sandreas walked towards the table and reached across to shake hands with Vaneik. Halen followed to stand silently behind him, and Yan, Kino, and Sid all took their cues from Vaneik''s apprentices and stood in a line to Sandreas''s side.

    "Ungarti, it''s been a minute," Sandreas said, giving a strong handshake. Despite his professed hatred of the man, Sandreas had a perfectly pleasant expression on his face. Vaneik was the same.

    "It''s good to see you again, Aymon. I was worried you had stood me up," Vaneik said, extracting his hand from Sandreas''s grip. "New apprentices?" He asked, nodding at the trio.

    "Yes," Sandreas said, pulling out a chair across from where Vaneik had been sitting. After Sandreas sat down, the rest of the group followed. Yan ended up sitting across from Yuuni. Halen was across from Vaneik''s bodyguard, Sid was across from Nomar, and Kino was left partnerless at the end of the table.

    "Isn''t three a bit much?" Vaneik asked.

    "Well, it''s as they say, an heir and a spare," Sandreas said rather callously. "When I was an apprentice, two of my cohort didn''t make it the full five years."

    Yan didn''t know whether to be grateful or not that he didn''t say specifically if Sandreas''s apprentices had died or simply left. Considering how hard it was to quit an apprenticeship, Yan didn''t really like the sound of those odds. She swallowed nervously.

    "I''m sure these ones will all do fine. The Academy did alright with mine, I suppose," Vaneik said.

    "I''m glad to hear that," Sandreas said, a thin smile on his face.

    "I see for once I''m in a meeting with you where the spacers have you outnumbered," Vaneik said cheerily. "You''ve loaded the group against yourself." He pointed at Yan. "What ship are you from?" He asked.

    Yan glanced nervously at Sandreas, looking for permission to speak, but he gave her an impassive look and so she squeaked out an answer. "The Iron Dreams, Guildmaster."

    "Oh, BarCarran''s ship. He''s a good man," Vaneik said, and then moved on. It was odd for Yan to hear her captain and cousin referred to by his last name, when everyone aboard the Iron Dreams called him by his first, but she wasn''t completely surprised that Vaneik was familiar with her family. After all, the Trade Guild was small and dynastic.

    "How have you been recently, Ungarti?" Sandreas asked.

    "It''s been business as usual. Yourself?" Vaneik responded.

    "Busy as always. You know how it is," Sandreas said.

    "Do I?" Vaneik asked. "I''m often so out of the loop."

    "You bring that upon yourself, you know. If you stayed on planet like any reasonable person you wouldn''t ever miss the news updates," Sandreas said.

    "And how would that look to the rest of the Guild?" Vaneik asked with a smile. "Not all of us can bear to be planetbound. I stay as up to date as I can."

    Yan suspected that this was not simply referring to the public news that was passed around between all planets via their ansibles.

    "I''m glad to hear you''re not completely dead to the goings on of the universe," Sandreas said. "How''s Marne doing?"

    "Oh, she''s doing wonderfully. I don''t know if you know this, but she''s been advising our son on how to run the family ship. It''s nice to not have to worry about that while I''m away on Guild business," Vaneik said with a smile. "And you''re still the confirmed bachelor, I see."

    Down at the foot of the table, Kino stifled a cough that sounded an awful lot like an unintentional laugh. Clearly she had not missed the tender moment that Halen and Sandreas had shared in the car. Everyone at the table ignored her.

    "I have slightly more important things to attend to than finding a wife," Sandreas said flatly. "But I''m glad to hear that your son is turning out to be an asset to your family." Though the words were perfectly pleasant sounding, they were delivered in the same dry tone that indicated that Sandreas thought the son was anything but.

    "Well. Shall we eat?" Vaneik asked. "You''re a busy man, I don''t want this meeting to drag on too long."

    "Of course. When are you leaving the system?" Sandreas asked.

    "Next week. Yuuni and I will be taking the Neutron Star out to Calbrais to oversee the opening of their new mining route," Vaneik said.

    Vaneik''s bodyguard stood up and went behind the table to a small door embedded in the wall. It was a dumbwaiter filled with food and drinks. Clearly the food had been ordered in advance, because there were exactly enough meals for everyone, stacked up in covered metal dishes. Vaneik''s bodyguard passed them out on the table.

    "That sounds thrilling," Sandreas said. "Which families do you predict will win the bidding on the route?"

    "Oh, I couldn''t possibly say," Vaneik said.

    Yan knew that the bidding on new trade routes was less of an actual bidding war for who could work with the least expensive contract, but actually a careful process of currying favor within the Guild. The actual bidding was a formality at best. This was basically an open secret within the Guild, though it really wasn''t polite to point it out as Sandreas had done.

    "Thank you, Tybee," Vaneik said when his bodyguard passed him his meal. After all the meals had been distributed, Tybee retrieved two bottles of wine from the dumbwaiter. Vaneik made a motion to remove the lid from his dish, but stopped when Sandreas looked up at him. "I suppose you don''t want to say the blessing, do you," Vaneik said.

    "As a matter of fact, I do," Sandreas said. He raised his hands palm up above the table. Halen, Yan, Sid, Kino, Yuuni, and Nomar all followed suit. This was the signal to start quite a long blessing, which all the Academy graduates, and apparently Halen, knew. It seemed to be yet another passive aggressive jab at Vaneik. Yan personally felt slightly offended at the idea of a prayer being used for pettiness and politics, but still. A prayer was a prayer.

    Sandreas said the first line of the prayer, then the rest joined in.

    "Blessed are you, Lord of all creation. We came into this world at Your bidding, and it is through Your grace that we remain. You provide us with sustenance and strength to do Your will throughout the world. In our waking and our sleeping, keep us in Your presence. In our rising and our setting, lead us to Your truth. From the beginning of this world to its ending, You adorn the darkness with Your light. Bless this work of our hands, and bring us ever closer to Your presence, we pray."

    At the end of the prayer there was a moment where everyone was silent, then the silence was broken by Vaneik finally taking the lid off his dish.

    "I love this place, always try to stop here when I''m in Imperial Center," Vaneik said. "Absolutely the best pasta I''ve ever had." Vaneik''s dish was indeed a massive plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

    Yan had noticed during the prayer that Halen had taken that time to subtly send his power out through Sandreas''s dish and examine it. She figured that he must be checking for poison. Presumably he had found nothing and communicated that in some way to Sandreas, because he opened his own dish, which was also pasta.

    "Since you''re a guest on the planet I figured I''d let you pick the restaurant for our meeting," Sandreas said. "Pasta is as pasta does, as far as I can tell."

    Whatever that meant.

    Vaneik and Sandreas began eating, and continued trading petty remarks with each other, but Yan tuned it out for a moment.

    She took a look at her own dish. For a moment, she contemplated investigating it with her own power for poison, but after seeing the apprentices across the table from her dig in without going through that exercise, she figured it was Halen''s job to be paranoid.

    Next to her, she saw Sid initiate a signed conversation with Nomar, who responded about as clumsily as Yan would have, had she not spent her entire summer practicing sign.

    Across the table, Yuuni Olms gave her an inquisitive look. "So, new graduates, hunh? How''s the Academy been since Nomar and I graduated?"

    "The past four years?" Yan asked. "It''s been fine. Same as ever, I think." She swirled her spaghetti around on her fork and tried some of it. It was decent, but, as Sandreas said, pasta is as pasta does. "What''s it like being almost done with your apprenticeship?"

    "Pretty exciting. I''ve liked working with Guildmaster Vaneik, but it''s exciting to get to spread my own wings," Yuuni said.

    "Are you going to stick with the Trade Guild?" Yan asked.

    "In a sense. I..." Yuuni struggled to find something diplomatic to say. "I think I want to take a step back from high level affairs, at least for a while."

    "Is it boring working on Guild politics?" Yan asked.

    "Oh, absolutely not! I just want to get some practical experience. If you''re worried about politics being boring in your apprenticeship, God, it''s anything but." Yuuni seemed sweet.

    "I''ll take your word for it. This is actually," Yan laughed a little, "My first day on the job."

    "Oh, wow. You''ve got a lot to look forward to! Do you think you''re going to miss being a spacer?" Yuuni asked.

    "I haven''t really felt like a real spacer since I went to Academy, to be honest. Spending most of the year off a ship really takes you out of it," Yan admitted. "But I will miss spending my summers there. I got to navigate, this past summer, which was excellent."

    "Was that your first bridge shift?" Yuuni asked.

    "Yeah, it was really exciting. I mean if I wasn''t doing this..." Yan waved her hand, "I feel like I would have wanted to just stay there and do that forever."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    "Like everything on a ship, even your bridge shifts get routine after you''ve done them enough," Yuuni said. "I think your apprenticeship will be significantly more exciting than living on your family''s ship forever."

    "You think being on your family ship is boring?" Yan asked.

    "Oh, absolutely not. I''m going to get a ship of my own, I''m sure. I just think that... How best can I say this... If there''s something unusual happening on a ship, something is going wrong. It''s such a contained environment where everything has to be regulated the exact same way every time for the whole system to function. If you''re out doing things other than shipping runs, something unusual can happen at any second of any day, and it isn''t immediately a crisis one hundred percent of the time." Yuuni explained.

    "I guess I see that. The first time I ever went on a planet I was completely overwhelmed by just how much was happening everywhere," Yan admitted. "Maybe I''ve gotten spoiled by living planetside for so long, I''m used to it."

    "In terms of excitement, I''m sure you haven''t seen anything yet," Yuuni said. This sounded more ominous than Yuuni probably intended. Yan took a bite of her pasta so she wouldn''t immediately have to respond.

    Around her, Sid, Kino, and Nomar were having an awkward three way conversation where Kino seemed half left out. On her other side, Halen was silently eating and listening to Sandreas talk to Vaneik, nobody really bringing up the topic that they were supposed to be discussing. Maybe that would wait until after dinner. Everyone involved seemed to be doing their best to keep the conversations civil and away from any sensitive discussions, but there was a strange tension in the air that came mainly from Vaneik and Sandreas¡¯s faked politeness.

    The slightly strained atmosphere continued throughout the dinner, with everyone making pleasant small talk until they had all finished eating. Tybee, Vaneik''s bodyguard, cleared the dishes away and replaced them with cups of coffee for everyone. This was apparently the signal for the discussion to begin in earnest.

    "So," Vaneik started, "What was the favor you wanted to ask of me?" After having spent the past hour dodging the topic, this was an abrupt transition.

    "Do you have any guesses?" Sandreas asked.

    "Oh, I have a few. But I''m going to let you say your piece before I reject whatever proposal you have," Vaneik said.

    Sandreas smiled thinly. "Colmorn, Vos, Mikolon, Ampola, Olar, and Kelsale. What do all those planets have in common?"

    "Outer edge planets, mostly new colonies? Nothing special about them as a group." This was Vaneik playing dumb.

    "And how many Guild ships make runs out from those planets, do you think?" Sandreas asked.

    "If we''re talking regularly scheduled runs..." Vaneik stopped for a second. "There''s the Circle run- the Blue Sky, the Mother''s Love, and the Fantastic are doing that run, but they visit more planets than just those. As for regular routes to the trading center out of each of those planets... I don''t remember off hand which ships are doing that, but there should be one for each planet. I could look it up for you. Of course, there''s special chartered ships, too, but those don''t run on any particular schedule."

    "I see. So you''d say that each of these planets should have... let''s be generous here, about five or six different ships visiting them? Not numbers of visits, but in terms of unique ships."

    "Sure. That''s being fairly low on chartered ships, but that sounds reasonable in terms of traffic for any outer colony," Vaneik agreed.

    "That''s about how many Lonn gets," Sandreas agreed. "My home planet, you know. I like to keep a special eye on it."

    "Lovely planet, that one," Vaneik said. "Massive trees."

    "Yes, it''s about the only thing it''s got going for itself," Sandreas said. "So, tell me, why is it that all of those planets that I mentioned are getting upwards of twenty unique ship visits a year?"

    "Well, there''s the chartered ships," Vaneik said.

    "Yes, and that will usually account for maybe two or three a year, maximum. It''s expensive to hire a ship, and outer colonies don''t typically have the funds or reason to be chartering ships constantly."

    "What my captains are paid to work for is not particularly my business. If they can''t get a stable run and they want to fight for the scraps of charters, some of them will take whatever they can get," Vaneik said callously.

    "Bad answer," Sandreas said. "It is, in fact, your business to know how much your ships are being paid, what they''re carrying, and where they''re going."

    Sandreas looked down the table to where Vaneik''s apprentice Nomar was sitting. "Nomar, is it?" Sandreas asked and the man nodded. "I hear you have a head for finances. How much would it cost if someone wanted to charter a ship to carry, oh, timber, let''s say, from Lonn to Galena? They don''t have many trees there, maybe there''s a sudden surge in popularity of imported wood furniture."

    Everyone watched as Nomar did the calculations in his head. "That''s about a month''s worth of work for the ship, so... Twenty million charges? Plus typically a two percent cut from the sale of the wood. Sorry, I don''t know what the going price for timber is since it''s usually not shipped in mass quantities."

    "It would be quite hard for a planet to pull together an entire shipload of timber. But the point isn''t the timber, specifically. It''s hard for any planet to amass that amount of resources outside of a typical trading run, and it''s not pocket change to charter a ship, especially for an outer colony, which are typically strapped for cash to begin with. So why is it that these colonies specifically are chartering so many ships?"

    "Again, what my captains choose to work for is not something that the Guild chooses to regulate," Vaneik said.

    "Oh, but if everyone were willing to work for these low rates that you feel are happening, why don''t we see massive shipping out of every outer colony?" Sandreas asked.

    "Perhaps the other colonies don¡¯t have as much interest in trade," Vaneik said.

    "You can drop your pretense of not knowing what''s happening here. This information is not leaving this room, so you don''t have to worry about the Guild''s good name being sullied in the press," Sandreas said.

    "I want you to tell me what you think is going on," Vaneik said. "Stop leading me around the issue."

    "Fine. Your Guild ships are supplying a black market that''s operating heavily out of those planets. Chartered ships don''t come and go like that unless they''re carrying valuable, illegal, cargo stashed among their reputable but less profitable wares. There''s no way all of those chartered ships would be willing to work for the pittance that import and export to outer colonies would bring."

    "You''re accusing my Guild of selling to pirates?" Vaneik asked.

    "And buying from them, yes," Sandreas said coldly.

    "You''re out of your mind," Vaneik said.

    "I don''t care how much you want to pretend like you don''t know about this, or if you want to bury your head in the sand. You don''t have to like what I''m telling you, or believe it, or even stop pretending like you don''t already know. All you have to do is exactly what I say," Sandreas said.

    "And what do you think you want me to do about it?" Vaneik said. "I''d have a revolt on my hands if I started ordering my captains around."

    "What I need you to do is to carefully and quietly reduce those chartered ships coming in to those planets specifically," Sandreas said.

    "Why would I want to cut off a valuable income source for my ships? And how would you expect I do that, anyway?" Vaneik sounded angry.

    "I don''t care how you do it. And I''m prepared to make you an offer to sweeten the deal," Sandreas said. "If it helps keep your captains happy, I can put an extra... three... stardrives up for sale this year."

    Across from her, Yan saw Yuuni''s face light up. So she hadn''t quite secured a stardrive for her hypothetical ship yet. Yuuni noticed Yan and quickly replaced her interested face with the impassive one she had been watching the whole conversation with.

    "That''s not going to help the people who will actually be losing business from this," Vaneik said.

    "A business that is, as we''ve established, unprofitable if it''s legal, and only makes sense if it''s black market goods, yes," Sandreas said. "I feel so bad for all your captains trading in drugs and other, less pleasant things." Yan wondered what the other goods could be referring to. She made a mental note to ask later. There were just too many possibilities, most of them fairly bad.

    "Oh you don''t have a heart to feel anything," Vaneik snapped. Halen looked at him blankly and Vaneik leaned back in his seat.

    "Here''s my other offer," Sandreas started. "You can let all your chartered ships keep on moving exactly as they had been before, and I take six of my Fleet ships, and I station them in orbit right there. Then every time one of your shipping runs comes through, I send my people on board to inspect every piece of cargo that passes in and out of that planet''s gravity well."

    "What do you expect that to accomplish?"

    "I expect that it will cause enough of your people to reconsider their shipping practices to accomplish my goals of throttling the black markets," Aymon said. "But the choice is up to you, in the end. If you want to embarrass yourself in front of your own captains by having Imperial ships inspecting your cargo, that''s your prerogative."

    Vaneik understood better than anyone the tenuous position he held as the head of the Trade Guild. Not only was he there only because all the ships under his command collectively tolerated it, but the military force of the Empire also meant that he basically was beholden to Sandreas, no matter how much he would like to think otherwise.

    "And how do you feel the governors will like me diverting trade away from those planets?" Vaneik asked, sounding incredibly resigned.

    Sandreas took a sip of his coffee. "That''s for me to worry about, and not you. But if I end up having to place a ship in their orbit, well, I doubt they''ll find they have much ability to complain."

    "I see, two birds with one stone," Vaneik said.

    "Well, I would prefer to take care of this whole mess without the fuss of doing that," Sandreas said casually. "Though the blame for allowing black markets to flourish on these planets can be shared, I think the solution is fairly simple."

    Saying that the Imperial government had some hand, or lack thereof, in this problem was a concession that Sandreas seemed willing to make.

    "I see. Are you going to do anything about the governors?" Vaneik asked.

    "We''ll see. If there are further problems, I will take more decisive action. But cutting off all the financial incentives on these particular worlds will at least move the problem somewhere else, and that will take time."

    "And you will be on the lookout for any more of these black markets popping up?" Vaneik asked. "So that my law abiding ships don''t get implicated in this?"

    "That is an interesting way of describing your captains," Sandreas remarked. "Yes. We will be keeping an eye."

    Yan suspected that Vaneik was going to covertly spread the word to be less blatant about congregating around certain planets. It still seemed shocking that this problem could be so easily noticed. How was it not obvious that ships constantly going in and out of outer colonies was unusual? But then again, who actually was watching what ships were doing? Certainly no civilians were. The Trade Guild knew where all their ships were, but even then, captains weren''t really beholden to anyone except their contractors and the Guild leadership. Upper level Empire officials and Guild coordinators might be the only ones who were actually looking at the movements of ships as a whole. If it took several years for a pattern to establish itself, that was enough time for a black market to start to flourish and get careless. Yan could see it: if someone thought no one was actually watching, since there seemed to be no oversight from the Trade Guild, which was supposed to be self policing, they might start to do whatever they wanted.

    And maybe there was an incentive to make it look like no one was watching? After all, then it was easy to catch and track the black market. Not that that seemed to be a high priority?

    Yan thought about this as she watched the conversation unfold. There was a lot about this that seemed ever so slightly off. But it was literally her first day on the job. Yan figured that there was just no way she could grasp the whole scale of Imperial politics in less than one day.

    She was coming up with a rather extensive list of questions to ask Sandreas, or, if she had to, Halen, when she got a chance. Halen, she noticed, was keeping quite quiet during this dinner. For all that both sets of apprentices had had a pleasant conversation while they were eating, Halen hadn''t said a word. She wasn''t sure why that was. Maybe Vaneik was as distrustful of Halen''s origins as Yan was.

    "So," Sandreas started. "What is it going to be, Ungarti?"

    Vaneik sighed, but he didn''t have a lot of options.

    "I''ll do my best to redirect some ships, but I can''t guarantee that the whole thing is going to go away just like that," he said reluctantly.

    "An excellent choice. I''m not expecting miracles, I''m just expecting an honest effort from your corner," Sandreas said.

    "About those extra stardrives, same price as always?" Vaneik asked.

    "Of course," Sandreas said. He waved his hand. "Do what you like with them."

    "What should be the official reason for the increased offering?" Vaneik asked.

    "They''re being put up in anticipation of the beginning of the Anthus colony," Sandreas shrugged. "That would be the line that I suggest."

    "Plausible enough," Vaneik said. "When is that colony launching?"

    "If the schedule is correct, two years from now, which should give you enough time to construct the ships for those stardrives," Sandreas said.

    "So you do expect those ships to actually support the new colony?" Vaneik asked.

    "I expect that the Trade Guild will support it in some way, and if having extra ships makes that easier, then I expect that colony to get as much Guild attention as it needs to thrive," Sandreas said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Enough and no more," he said after a moment.

    "Yes. Exactly the right amount of ships," Vaneik said.

    "I''m glad we can agree on that point," Sandreas said. "While we''re here, having this friendly conversation, is there anything you need from me?"

    Now this, Yan thought, was an unexpected gesture of goodwill. She took a sip of her own coffee.

    "About the Malstaire mining colony..." Vaneik started.

    "Absolutely not, it''s too dangerous," Sandreaas said with finality. "Was there any more reasonable request you had?"

    "We''ve been having a lot of trouble with pirates in the Zhani region. Would it kill you to post an imperial ship around there?" Vaneik asked reluctantly.

    "Consider it done, but a temporary posting. Send along the specifics of what you need and where."

    "Thank you," Vaneik said, putting down his coffee cup. "That should make at least a few of my captains happier."

    "Glad to hear the Empire can be of service to them," Sandreas said, somewhat sarcastically. It was as though he couldn''t resist being mean to the man, even though they had both agreed to help each other not two minutes ago. "We couldn''t possibly continue to have the outer colonies suffer at the hands of pirates."

    Vaneik sighed. "I''ll send along the information. Was there anything else you needed from me?"

    "Not at this moment, though I''d appreciate it if you could stay within contact range," Sandreas said.

    "And stay planetbound? Not a chance," Vaneik said. "You''re missing out on the joys of space."

    "I''ve been on plenty of ships in my time, and I don''t see the appeal," Sandreas said.

    "Leadfeet just don''t understand," Vaneik said, looking down the table towards the other spacers, Yan, Halen, Yuuni, Nomar, and his own bodyguard.

    Yuuni rolled her eyes. "Maybe they don''t, but they''re the ones missing out," she said jokingly. Vaneik smiled at her.

    "Well, if we don''t have anything else to discuss..." Vaneik said.

    "You leave first," Sandreas said. "If you''re finished with your coffee, that is."

    "Alright." Vaneik looked at his apprentices and stood up. That whole side of the table followed him. Sandreas, and, following his example, his entourage, stayed seated. Yan thought this was a little rude, but his relationship with Vaneik wasn''t something that she was really ready to interfere in.

    "Keep me updated on how your rearranging of the outer colony routes goes," Sandreas said, holding out his hand for Vaneik to shake.

    "Wilco," Vaneik said. "And you let me know when you''re sending that ship and those stardrives."

    "I''ll have my secretary contact you, when you''re near enough to a planet to catch the ansible," Sandreas said. They shook hands. "Send your wife my regards."

    "I will. Till we meet again, Aymon," Vaneik said.

    "May God hold and keep you," Sandreas said.

    Vaneik, his bodyguard, and apprentices all left the room, with the apprentices giving respectful nods in Sandreas''s direction.

 Chapter Fourteen - Far Away Secrets Are Easy to Keep

    Far Away Secrets Are Easy to Keep

    <blockquote>

    ¡°My mother said to me, don¡¯t take a military wife. None of them know the first thing about our home-ship life. But my lover has a smile more precious than gold, and it¡¯s with her that I want to grow old.¡±

    -from ¡°Lovers Quarrel¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    After Vaneik and his entourage left the restaurant, the tension in the room was noticeably lessened.

    "Glad that''s over with," Sandreas said with what seemed like unusual candor.

    "Didn''t go nearly as badly as it could have," Halen said.

    "No, it went well," Sandreas said. "Every time I have a borderline pleasant interaction with that man, he goes and does something to make me hate him again, though, so don''t take this success too much to heart."

    "Why don''t you like him?" Kino asked from the end of the table.

    Sandreas laughed. "When we were younger men, first coming into our positions, we were both much more hotheaded. We spent a lot of our earlier careers butting heads rather spectacularly. It was bad publicity for both of us, and didn''t do the Empire any good. I can admit that, now. Even though we''ve both come out of that time, I don''t trust the man."

    "He''s still too slimy," Halen said. "He knows exactly what all his captains are doing, and he lets it slide to keep his position."

    "Oh, of course. But my dislike for him is strictly personal, at this point," Sandreas said. "Anyone else in his position would probably do the same."

    "What did you fight over originally?" Yan asked, curious.

    "It''s all a matter of public record. Stardrive allocation, how much Imperial resources should be devoted to combating piracy, taxation on shipments, free passage laws, colonization," Sandreas said. "Anything that involved the Guild even remotely was a place for contention. My predecessor, Caron Herrault, she got along splendidly with Vaneik''s father. Part of it, years and years ago, was we both wanted to make names for ourselves separate from the legacy we were inheriting."

    "You sound like you regret what you did when you first became Voice," Kino said, twiddling a braid around her fingers.

    "Regret? No. I did what I needed to do, but I''ve certainly done a lot of growing as a politician and a person since then. Someday, one of you will take my place, and I''m sure you will learn your own types of lessons on that front."

    This was the first time, Yan thought, that Sandreas had directly mentioned that the point of the apprenticeship was to train up his successor. It had been obliquely mentioned earlier, when he talked about his own cohort not surviving, but Yan hadn''t really processed that as ''one of you will someday have my job'' and more as, ''you might not survive this apprenticeship''. She couldn''t bring herself to decide which was a more terrifying thought. There seemed to be two roads ahead of her. At the end of one road, she ended up dead. At the other, she would find herself as basically the highest authority in the populated universe. The coffee that she had been drinking churned in her stomach.

    "How long are we going to wait here before we leave?" Sid asked, clearly not caring quite as much about the personality discussion.

    Halen looked at his watch. "I give it five more minutes."

    "While we wait, can you show how to do that disguise you did earlier?" Sid asked.

    Halen glanced at Sandreas, who shrugged.

    "I guess we have time. It''s not hard," Halen said. "As with everything, it helps to be able to feel your way through it. Do you know basically how light works?"

    All three of the group had a solid understanding of physics, since it was an important part of the Academy curriculum, so they nodded.

    "At the most basic level, you can manipulate the density of air, to make things look larger or smaller. It''s like the mirages that will happen over a road on a hot day, making the road look wet or wobbly. It''s absolutely not perfect, and it can look pretty messed up, but it will fool a casual glance or a computer facial recognition program. The way eye color is changed is different," Halen said, anticipating the question that Sid had opened his mouth to ask. "Contacts with a coating that can change color."

    "There''s really nothing more to it than that?" Kino asked.

    "Oh, well, you can get fancier with it if you want. You can spend your time designing a power structure that will bend light to look a certain way, and literally change the wavelengths of light for color changes, but then we get out of quick and easy and into a much more complicated situation," Halen said. "It all has its uses, but a walk from the car up into a private room, this is more than enough."

    "It''s easier to do on someone else, or in a mirror," Sandreas added. "And if you want to do it quickly and easily, you will need to practice it."

    "And before you practice on a person''s face, which is fairly complicated, practice on something else, like warping text on a paper," Halen said.

    "Doesn''t sound that bad," Sid said.

    "It''s not," Halen said. "Just practice it, some time."

    "I will," Sid said.

    "Do you also..." Kino thought for a moment. "Couldn''t you also alter the density of air to change the sound of your voice?"

    "Sure, you could do that. Same effect as breathing in helium to make your voice higher, or xenon to make it lower, so long as you don''t overdo it and make it implausible. It''s not really the most useful thing to do." Halen said. ¡°In a situation where you¡¯re using this type of trick, you¡¯re not likely to be talking much.¡±

    "That''s true, I guess," Kino said. "I guess also it''s not as safe to be altering things inside your body, rather than just over it."

    "That is also a consideration you should have, but really, that''s not so dangerous." Halen looked down the table. "Actually, that''s going to be one thing that we''ll have to work on."

    "What?" Sid asked.

    "Learning to modify your own body with the power," he said.

    "But that''s-" Yan started.

    "Dangerous, against the rules, I''m aware," Halen waved his hand. "But if you know what you''re doing, it could save your life. I''m lucky in that I didn''t have the Academy''s rules ground into me from the day I started learning how to use the power. I had to figure out most things on my own, and so I don''t have any qualms about using the power on myself or other people. You''re going to have to get over that problem too."

    "What do you mean?" Yan asked.

    "If someone tries to kill you, and you end up hurt and bleeding out, you need to be able to fix that and get yourself to safety. You need to be able to stop yourself from feeling pain so you can work through it. You need to be able to mend broken bones and keep all your vital organs functioning. That kind of thing."

    "Do you really think that we''ll need to be able to do that?" Sid asked.

    "Has it not been made perfectly fucking clear to you? This is a dangerous job." Halen looked at Sid harshly as he said this.

    "You need to be prepared for any eventuality. I trust Halen to teach you," Sandreas said. "It''s in your best interests to listen to him."

    "Okay, okay," Sid said, backing down.

    "We can head out now," Halen said. "It''s been long enough since Vaneik left. You all, if you want to learn how to do this, watch what I do."

    Halen reached towards Sandreas''s face again and repeated the trick he had done earlier in the car, changing the look of his face enough that he was unrecognizable. It was far from perfect, and Yan thought the large cheekbones were quite cartoonish, but it was enough, as Halen said, to fool facial recognition programs. For a moment, Yan wondered why it was necessary, since Halen had said all the cameras in the area had been taken out, but again, she figured it was his job to be paranoid.

    After Halen finished altering Sandreas''s face, Sandreas reached out and did Halen''s, this time only lightly brushing his cheek with his hand. The three apprentices, since they''d come in without disguise, could leave without one as well.

    Aymon stood up and led the way out of the room. When they left, the guard at the door was still there. Outside, it was night, and the small moon was making its way across the sky. There was too much light pollution from the city to see the stars very clearly. The air was humid and warm, with a light breeze. It smelled somewhat like the ocean. Overall, it was a pleasant night out. The group walked to the car, which was parked in the back lot. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Everyone climbed inside of the car, and Halen and Sandreas dismissed their disguises. Halen started the car and they began moving back towards Stonecourt. Yan recognized the route they were taking.

    The car ride was quiet, though Halen put on some music over the car speakers. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, for the most part. Yan was looking out the windows, Sid was practicing changing the density of air above his hand, Kino was fiddling with a hair tie that she had pulled out of her pocket. Sandreas was alternating between looking at something on his phone and glancing at the other occupants of the car.

    As she looked out the window, Yan noticed several other cars carefully following them. They were unobtrusive and unmarked, but they were clearly a tail. Based on Halen''s ignoring them, Yan decided that they must be Imperial cars with security people in them.

    After a drive of about ten minutes, they arrived back at Stonecourt. They drove directly through the security entrance. Yan felt Halen send out his power as authorization, similarly to how various secure doors in her apartment and in the Academy worked. There was a long driveway that led around the back of the building to an underground garage. Halen opened several security gates in the same way he had the first one in order to get them there. The car finally parked and everyone climbed out.

    "I promised earlier that we could spend some informal time getting to know eachother," Sandreas said. "So unless there are objections, that''s where we''re going."

    No one said anything, so they followed Sandreas. Halen walked at his side, and the three apprentices followed behind him like a train of black and red ducklings. They passed guards at doorways who gave Sandreas a military salute. To perform the salute, the person brought their right hand up to their forehead, palm facing the left shoulder, then down over their face, tracing down the middle with the thumb of their hand. The salute would end with a clenched fist in the center of the chest.

    They all walked deep into Stonecourt. When they finally stopped, it was in front of a set of heavy wooden doors that had a pair of guards posted outside of them. Both guards saluted to Sandreas, who nodded at them and opened the door. Inside, it was Sandreas''s private quarters. Sandreas closed the door behind everyone.

    The lights were off as they walked inside, but Halen turned them on, revealing the interior of the room. The furniture was opulent, but it was quite clearly a lived in room, with personal memorabilia littered around. Pictures were on the walls, a few that Yan recognized as Sandreas and Halen in front of various landmarks on Emerri, or standing with other politicians or famous figures. At the other end of the room was a large window that was currently covered with curtains. The center of the room held two couches surrounding a coffee table. There were bookshelves covered with books and knicknacks on the walls, and closed doors that led to other rooms, presumably an office, bathroom, dining room, and bedroom.

    Sandreas and Halen kicked their shoes off at the doorway.

    "Don''t track dirt in here, take your shoes off," Sandreas said. The three apprentices obliged, lining up their shoes neatly near the door. Sandreas wandered over to one of the doors and opened it, revealing a dining room.

    "Anyone want anything to drink?" Sandreas asked, disappearing into the other room.

    "I''m good," Halen called back.

    "Just water, thanks," Yan asked.

    "Nothing for me," Kino said.

    "I''ll take a water," Sid requested.

    A moment later, Sandreas returned holding three bottled waters. He tossed one to Yan and one to Sid, keeping one for himself.

    "Please, take a seat," Sandreas said, gesturing to the couches. Halen was already sitting on one, and Sandreas went to sit down next to him. The three apprentices awkwardly sat next to each other on the opposite couch.

    "So, how did you all feel about the meeting with Vaneik?" Sandreas asked. "You can be honest."

    "Was the point of having us there just to get a taste of politics?" Kino asked, picking at her nails.

    "For the most part. You''re going to be doing an awful lot of politicking, and this was as close to an informal setting with no audience as it gets. Rather fortuitous that something like that came up on the first day of your apprenticeships," Sandreas said.

    "Nomar was nice," Sid signed. Sandreas rolled his eyes.

    "If you want to talk in sign, it''s your job to teach Kino," Sandreas said.

    "Ok," Sid said aloud, then grinned at Kino, showing teeth. Kino looked like she was considering the idea if Sid bit her, would she be allowed to bite him back.

    "I feel like it went ok," Yan said. "Hopefully that solves the black market problem."

    "It won''t, not completely, but it will at least make those particular planets and traffickers sweat a little. All that money is going to have to spread itself out over different planets, now. It''s a little bit of a shame that it''s going to become a little harder to track, but I don''t think there''s any way to kill a market like that entirely," Sandreas said. "Some of my governors have been complaining that the amount of drugs and other illicit things flowing mysteriously into their systems is too much, so this will hopefully slow it down."

    Yan narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean by ''other illicit things''?" She asked.

    "What do you think a black market runs? Drugs, weapons, human traffic, anything that anyone is willing to pay for. There''s quite a storied underworld in the galaxy, I''m shocked you haven''t encountered any of it, being a spacer," Sandreas said casually.

    The notion of human trafficking made Yan feel nauseous. She took a sip of her water before responding.

    "Why do people do it?" She asked.

    "Are you asking about the nature of evil, or are you asking about the specific economic forces that drive it?" Sandreas asked.

    Yan didn''t really have a response to this, so she picked the one that was less embarrassing. "The economics," she said.

    "Fairly simple. Certain drugs come from certain planets. People want drugs for a variety of reasons. Drugs are illegal because they are dangerous to the public health, but people want them very dearly, so people are willing to pay for them. That isn''t so complicated," Sandreas said. He explained it patiently, but there was a tone in his voice that made it clear that this should have been well known information.

    "Weapons are another story: if you are running illegal things, you''re going to need to protect yourself from other people who would take them from you. That could be law enforcement or other criminals. It doesn''t particularly matter. So weapons will get manufactured in secret, or stolen from legitimate sources, and sold to pirate ships and people on the ground who need to protect their people and product. Plus there are agitators on almost every planet who threaten armed revolution every once in a while, that isn''t unusual."

    So far none of this was particularly new information. Yan could have pieced this all together herself if she had ever really had a reason to think about it.

    "As for the flow of people, there are too many reasons. Some people just want to move from one planet to another, to get away from debt or avoid prison, or just to escape things they don¡¯t particularly like. That''s the best reason one could have to be moved from place to place illegally. Other reasons are much less pleasant. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay to enslave someone, particularly women. I''m sure you can imagine why. And," Aymon said, "It is a lucrative business to kidnap and sell sensitive children."

    "As for everything else, from exotic animals to precious gems to stolen art, there''s a reason for almost everything to be bought and sold illegally."

    Yan didn''t really want to think about it. She was sorry she had asked. "That''s disgusting," she said finally.

    Kino and Sid both seemed fairly impassive towards the whole thing, Sid looking at her with an expression that indicated that Yan should have put the pieces together earlier, and Kino blankly playing with her sleeve.

    "Yes, and I would like to quash as much of it as possible, hence cracking down on the Trade Guild," Sandreas said.

    "That''s good," Yan said. "But why couldn''t you do like you threatened, just send ships to all those planets? It seems like a pretty high priority to stop all of that."

    Sandreas sighed and leaned back into the couch.

    "That''s the million charge question, isn''t it," Halen said, clearly already knowing the answer.

    "How many ships would you estimate the Imperial Fleet has?" Sandreas asked the apprentices.

    "Stardrive ships or in system ships?" Sid asked.

    "Stardrive ships," Aymon said.

    "Uh, the Trade Guild has about two hundred ships, so maybe four or five hundred?" Yan said.

    "If you can''t spare even six, I''m going to guess low. Fifty," Sid said.

    "Six thousand nine hundred seventy two," Kino said.

    Yan looked at her. "Where did that number come from?" Yan asked.

    "Oh I just made it up," Kino said. "You already picked a reasonable number, and Sid guessed low, so I had to guess high."

    Aymon raised his eyebrows at them. "And how many people do you think it takes to crew each vessel?" He asked.

    "If you''re talking about ship operations, specifically, I think you could probably get by on a crew of..." Yan thought for a second. "Thirty, minimum. At least that''s what a Trade Guild ship would absolutely have to have in order to run a really small route."

    "There has to be more than that, like, we''re talking a military ship, here. There has to be, you know, actual soldiers, not just a bridge crew. Six hundred each ship?" Sid guessed.

    "Eight thousand each," Kino said. Yan presumed this was another random guess. Yan couldn''t imagine that many people on a ship, it would have to be unbelievably massive. Well, she supposed it wouldn''t have to be bigger physically, just that all the cargo space that the Iron Dreams had would have to be used for personnel. She actually didn''t have a real sense of the scale of these sorts of things. It would truly be insane to have such a large crew aboard a ship.

    "And how many people," Aymon asked, "do you think we recruit to the Imperial Fleet from every planet?"

    This made Yan stop and think for a moment. She certainly saw plenty of recruitment posters around whenever she took a trip down into the city from the Academy, and a good chunk of Academy graduates always went into the Fleet, but she hadn''t really connected that with solid numbers.

    "I''m not talking about planetary civil defenses, I''m specifically talking about the Imperial Fleet," Aymon clarified.

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "I don''t have any sense of that."

    "Hundred thousand people from central worlds?" Sid guessed. "There''s always active recruitment going on."

    "You''re not far off," Sandreas said. "Call it a hundred fifty thousand each."

    "That''s a lot of people," Kino remarked. "There''s, what, thirty central planets?"

    "About. So call the Fleet about four and a half million people strong," Sandreas said. "Now, take out, hmm, seven hundred thousand for planetary forces around the Empire, and take out another three hundred thousand for being stationed on space stations that the Guild doesn''t own, ship construction facilities, things like that. That leaves still three million people, in active duty, somewhere out there."

    "And how big are military ships?" Yan asked.

    "Each one has about ten thousand people on it," Sandreas said. "Some are smaller, some are larger, but that''s an average."

    Yan grimaced. She couldn''t imagine such a massive and crowded ship.

    "So, three hundred ships?" Kino asked.

    "Approximately." Sandreas cracked the top off his water bottle and took a sip.

    "I''ve... never seen one?" Yan said. "Like maybe the Iron Dreams just never was anywhere near a station where Fleet ships stop, but I''ve never even thought about where they all are."

    "They actually exist, if that''s what you''re wondering. We do have a Fleet, and some of them do spend time in inhabited space," Sandreas clarified.

    "So, what are they doing?" Sid asked.

    "Fighting a war, obviously," Sandreas said.

 Chapter Fifteen - A Simple Prayer of Delicate Design

    ASimple Prayer of Delicate Design

    <blockquote>

    ¡°In the beginning of all things, there was only light. And the light was without form, without name, without comprehension. God¡¯s hand moved through the light and formed within it the darkness, so that the light might have a form, a name, and an understanding.¡±

    -from ¡®First Song: Creation¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Aymon''s day had improved immensely since the afternoon. He had spent most of the day feeling vaguely off center, but he was more relaxed now. He knew exactly why he had been feeling off, and what the solution was. It had been... disconcerting, not having Halen by his side during the work day. Of course, Halen wasn''t with him one hundred percent of every day, but he was there most days, most of the time. And now, thinking about the plan to let Halen teach his apprentices self defense skills, Aymon wasn''t thrilled about his right hand man being gone for so long.

    But he was here now, and Aymon was sitting on the couch next to him. Close, but not too close. Comfortable, but not too comfortable.

    His apprentices were looking at him with various degrees of discomfort. Yan, sitting directly across from him, looked like the information that he had just provided had gone in one ear, crashed through several major brain centers, and left out the other side. Sid looked, well, he had that infuriating grin on his face, but he looked as though he wanted nothing more to jump out of his seat and investigate for himself. Kino looked resigned.

    Yan took a sip of water, and then started choking on it. Aymon raised his eyebrows at her.

    "I''m good," she managed.

    "Are you going to give us any more information than that?" Kino asked.

    "What do you want to know?" Aymon asked. Aymon couldn''t really remember what his own reaction had been like when he first learned about the war. He had vaguely considered the Fleet as an exploratory force: responsible for finding new planets and terraforming them for human habitation. That was partially true, but he had learned the truth from his own mentor, Caron Herrault in a conversation not too dissimilar from this one. That had been a long time ago, back when he was an apprentice. There were so many things, Aymon thought, that were shocking to learn about, but later became embedded so deeply into day to day work that they hardly seemed out of the ordinary at all.

    All three of the apprentices blurted out their questions at once.

    "Who is the war against?" Yan asked.

    "How come I''ve never heard of this before?" That was Sid.

    "Since when?" Kino asked

    "One at a time," Halen grumbled, picking up Aymon''s water bottle from the table and taking a sip from it. "You were going to find out all of this eventually."

    "Shouldn''t this have been, maybe, the first thing you told us?" Sid asked.

    "If we had told you before dinner, I guarantee you would have spent all dinner thinking about it, instead of what you were supposed to be doing," Halen said. "As it is, I''m sure you''ll all be completely useless tomorrow."

    "To answer your questions, we''re fighting what I would describe as the remnants of the force that shaped the Empire as you know it. As for why you don''t know about it, it''s clearly a secret, because knowledge of it has the potential to cause mass instability. And it''s been going on, oh, on and off since before the Empire was founded."

    "Oh," Yan said.

    "How in God''s name do you keep a hundreds of years long war being fought by millions of soldiers a secret?" Sid asked.

    "Don''t ask questions you aren''t ready to learn the answers to," Halen said.

    "Don''t scare the children, Halen," Aymon said lightly. "Most of it is a carefully organized disinformation campaign, combined with close watching of all communications. We also employ various other techniques."

    To their credit, it looked like his apprentices were going to take Halen''s advice and not ask about things that they didn''t want to hear. They would find out eventually, but maybe there had already been enough of that tonight.

    "Halen can tell you more about it tomorrow. The whole subject is too complicated to get into right now." Aymon leaned back into the couch, waving his hand to dismiss the topic. "Was there anything else you had a pressing question on?"

    "Actually," Yan started, but was interrupted by Kino.

    "What did the other apprentices you worked with die from?" Kino asked.

    "They''re both long and sad stories," Aymon said. "But to sum it up, one of them was killed in a military operation they were spearheading, and the other was caught up in an assassination attempt aimed at Caron Herrault, my predecessor. I myself had many close calls. This is a dangerous job."

    "If you had to guess, right now," Sid said, "Which one of us is the most likely to survive?"

    Halen snorted and Aymon rolled his eyes.

    "Not you if you say things like that," Aymon said. "You really don''t want to make an enemy out of your peers."

    "We were born to be enemies," Sid said with a smile.

    "Even if you feel that way, you need to cooperate while you''re working for me," Aymon said.

    "Oh, don''t worry," Sid said.

    "That wasn''t a worry, that was a warning," Aymon said.

    "How scary," Sid said. Yan was looking at Sid with the same vaguely nauseated expression she had had for the whole conversation. Aymon thought it was pretty funny, but he didn''t laugh at it.

    Personality clashes between the three of them would make them more effective in the end, if he could give each one a job that suited them best. Less going directly at each other''s throats and more learning to delegate and play off each others strengths and weaknesses. That was the semblance of his plan for the three of them, anyway. There was no way to know how it would really work out over the next five years.

    It was going to take him a while to figure out what exactly their personalities were, Aymon knew. Sid was clearly aggressive and stubborn, but that wasn''t a surprise to anyone who spent more than half a minute with him. Yan seemed curious and levelheaded, but unlikely to act on her own. Kino was twitchy and observant. Aymon saw her looking around and taking in every detail of what was going on in a room.

    Of course, those were just the surface level traits that he was seeing. He really knew nothing about them other than a writeup that he had been given from the Academy, and what he had observed of them thus far. To be fair, that was more than the couple hours he had actually been with them: he had them followed discretely all summer long, to see what they were like. And he had bugged their apartments, of course.

    Aymon didn''t spend all his time watching them, that would be absurd. But he did have people who did, giving him written reports. He knew about Yan''s relationship, and Sid''s arguments with his mother, and Kino''s unfortunate habits. This spying was justified because as a matter of Imperial security, he did need to know, and if his apprentices weren''t good enough at security to keep their rooms clear of bugs, well, that was one more thing that they would have to learn along the way. Sooner, rather than later, Aymon hoped.

    "If you don''t mind me asking," Kino said, "Why did Vaneik make a comment about you being a bachelor?"

    This did make Aymon laugh, and Yan jumped a little at the sound of it.

    "He''s only been trying to set me up with up and comers from the Trade Guild for the past twenty years. I think there''s still a tiny part of him that hasn''t given up hope that I''ll fall madly in love with a beautiful young spacer and give her the literal keys to the kingdom," Aymon said.

    "Does he not realize...?" Kino looked between Aymon and Halen, implicating the unsaid with the raise of her eyebrows. Sid looked only mildly interested in this abrupt turn into discussing the personal life of his boss, and Yan looked mortified, despite not even being the one bringing it up.

    "Not exactly public information, and I''ll thank you to keep it that way," Halen said after letting the awkwardness stew for a moment.

    "It''s... shall we say, politically advantageous to not let people know," Aymon said. "I expect you understand why."

    There were multiple reasons, really, but Aymon would let his students come to their own conclusions. The biggest one, the most important, was the danger. Not that Halen couldn''t handle it, but it would be distracting. Anyone who was important to Aymon was at risk of being used against him. That was clear enough, and enough of a justification.

    Most of the other reasons were purely political. It was a better image to remain single and look aloof than to be tied down to a person with such a questionable background. It was a better image to look single and thus available to interested parties, however little interest he actually paid them. And it was better to be single than play into the image that people had of Academy graduates, and, as evidenced by Halen, sensitives in general.

    "Okay," Kino said, having gotten the answer she was apparently looking for.

    "Are we here to interrogate each other about our personal lives?" Sid asked with a smile.

    "We''re here to have a relaxing evening, what we talk about is up to you," Aymon said. "If we want to get to know each other, you can feel free to start divulging your own life story."

    Yan jumped back into the conversation, trying vainly to steer it out of uncomfortable waters. "Earlier, at dinner, Vaneik asked about Malstaire, what''s that?"

    "It''s a mining colony that had to be abandoned because of dangerous stellar activity in the area. It had a massive pool of extremely expensive materials there, so the Guild keeps begging to reopen it," Aymon said. "It had a highly profitable route going for a few years before it had to close."

    "What about the star was so dangerous?" Yan asked. "Was everyone on the colony ok?"Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Stars plural. It''s a binary system with a dangerously short orbital period."

    "Ah," Yan said. "Why was a colony allowed to open in the first place?"

    "Technically, they were not allowed," Aymon said. "It was one of the many things that Vaneik and I butted heads about years ago. The Trade Guild was stretching the limits of the Empire''s goodwill by using their resources to set up a colony there."

    "Makes sense," Yan said.

    "The Trade Guild can just... Do that?" Sid asked. "Like, set up a colony wherever they want?"

    "Oh, absolutely not," Aymon said. "They were testing the waters with Malstaire, and they got burned pretty badly. They have the resources, obviously. Really all it takes to set up a colony is a ship, money, people, and time. The Trade Guild has all of that, but they have to walk a very fine line of Imperial cooperation, if they want to keep their nice little monopoly on all civilian trade and travel."

    "If dealing with the Trade Guild is annoying-" Sid started.

    "It''s not annoying, it just requires some careful navigation," Aymon interrupted.

    "Regardless, if it''s difficult, why are they allowed to exist with so much freedom?" Sid continued.

    "They have much less freedom than they want to believe. The reason the Trade Guild has flourished is because everyone in charge of the Empire has decided, in one way or another, that it is easier to outsource the work of trade to the Guild than it would be to devote Imperial resources to it directly," Aymon explained.

    "Finance is fun," Sid said cryptically. Maybe he was intending it to be comedic, but no one laughed.

    Aymon resisted the temptation to sigh. Having a sit down conversation with his apprentices to get to know them had sounded like an alright idea, but in practice it had just ended up being him telling them random tidbits of information. It wasn''t as though he could have expected them to know most of it, since access to information about the actual workings of the Empire was kept strictly under wraps.

    There had to be some sort of manual, somewhere, that he could just give to his apprentices that would tell them all the classified information they would need to know. What did the Fleet give to their new apprentices, the ones who were apprenticing under Admirals and the like?

    "Halen, do we have some sort of... I can''t believe I didn''t think of this earlier, but a manual? Full of classified information that apprentices will need to know? The Fleet must have something like that. They train up so many of them."

    "You''re going to give us a book full of secrets?" Sid asked.

    "That would be helpful," Yan said.

    "You should have asked Admiral Vaalks about it this morning," Halen said. "He''s had an apprentice before."

    "Rosario will know. I''ll message her, and she''ll have it for you by tomorrow morning," Aymon said. He pulled out his phone and did type a message to Rosario, who, as usual, was saving him time and energy by keeping his professional life on track.

    It sometimes frustrated Aymon that, although he was the head of the great machine that was the Empire, or as close to the head of it as one could get, he relied so heavily on others to manage his own affairs. He felt somewhat useless when confronted with the minor details of training his apprentices. Questions like ''what classified information should they be getting, when should they get it, and how should it be delivered to them'', had all been relegated to a shelf in his mind that labeled ''I''ll deal with that when it comes up''. Trying to have a conversation where every question should really involve a lecture on economics attached to it was really not feasible. For tonight, it was fine. Tomorrow, even. Next week? When his apprentices followed him to a meeting and it turned out they knew nothing about what was going on? That would be a mistake.

    He just didn''t have the brainpower to dedicate to managing things like that. That was what he had assistants for.

    "Sounds good," Yan said. She looked over his head at the clock on the wall behind him. Though Yan had tried to make it a subtle look, it was fairly obvious to Aymon what she was doing. Aymon knew what time it was: late.

    "Did you want to leave?" Aymon asked. "I know it''s late."

    Yan looked embarrassed. "No, I just wanted to know what time it was. "

    That girl was too little of her own agent. It was becoming increasingly clear to Aymon that she would do what she was told. On one hand, that was a valuable trait to have in a subordinate. But on the other hand, if it was just the two of them in the room, and if Aymon didn''t want to stop talking, Yan would end up staying up all night just to fulfill whatever expectation she thought there was.

    "I''m pretty tired," Kino said, freeing Yan from having to make some sort of statement on the matter. "There''s been a lot to process."

    "If we get a whole book of secrets tomorrow, I''m sure there will be a lot more processing incoming," Sid said to Kino.

    "Almost certainly," Aymon said. "I have to apologize. I''ve spent so long knowing everything that is needed to know, I didn''t have the most solid grasp on the information you would be lacking."

    "It''s ok," Kino said, "We would have gotten it eventually anyway."

    "It''s not a matter of eventually," Halen said. "It''s a matter of as quickly as possible. Knowledge is what you need to survive."

    "Physically survive?" Sid asked.

    "Politically survive, but the difference between the two becomes blurred at some point," Aymon said.

    "You both sound like you''re ready to drag us through this apprenticeship kicking and screaming," Sid remarked.

    "I certainly am," Halen said. "You''re not even mine, so I feel no real obligation to treat you nicely."

    This comment from Halen was enough to cause a crack in Yan''s obedient facade. She glared at him.

    "Still don''t like ex pirates, do you?" Aymon asked her.

    "I''m sure I''ll get over it eventually," Yan said, echoing Kino''s earlier statement.

    Halen laughed. "Don''t worry, Yan, I''m sure we''ll come to like each other just fine. And luckily, liking each other isn''t a prerequisite for survival."

    "If it was, our entire civilization would have been out in space without a stardrive thousands of years ago," Aymon added.

    Yan pursed her lips but didn''t say anything.

    "I know it''s late, and I won''t hold you here much longer, but I did want to say, well, thank you for taking on the task of being my apprentices," Aymon said. "I really do feel like God led me to you all, specifically, and I hope that great things are going to come out of our working together."

    All three of the apprentices looked at him seriously, though Sid still had a semblance of a smirk on his face. Aymon wondered if that was just a mutation of his facial muscles that caused that. Or maybe, as mothers said, he made that face so much that it stuck.

    "So, before you go, I would like to pray together for a moment," Aymon said.

    Yan nodded, Kino didn''t make any real change in the way she was twisting off one of the buttons on her sleeve, and Sid looked as though he were scraping through his memory to figure out exactly which prayer Aymon was going to have them do.

    Aymon stood up from the couch, Halen following him up immediately. The apprentices scrambled up a moment after. He walked across the room to one of the closed doors. He opened it, revealing a small room that was entirely made up as a shrine. Halen gestured for the apprentices to follow and come in.

    The room was about the size of a large bathroom, so close quarters for five people, but they could have fit a few more if they had any need to. The front of the room had a small shrine, with a statue of one of the faces of God. There were unlit candles in front of it, and a small pile of rocks between the candles and the statue. The floor of the room had a dark, patterned, red rug on it. Behind the statue was a stained glass window, but the design couldn''t be seen because it was dark outside.

    Aymon touched the tip of each candle and lit them with the power. There was something very satisfying about doing simple things like that. As the apprentices filed in, Halen shut the door behind them. The room was lit only dimly by the flickering candles.

    When everyone had arranged themselves inside the room, Aymon knelt down to the right of the shrine. Across from him, Halen did the same. The three apprentices also knelt on the floor. Sid ended up next to Aymon, with Yan in the middle, and Kino on the other end next to Halen. After a moment for everyone to settle themselves, Aymon started up his chant.

    "Blessed are you, God of all creation," Aymon said. For Sid¡¯s benefit, he tapped out the rhythm of the words on the floor as he spoke.

    "Blessed are you, Lord, our God," the standard response came from the rest of the group. Halen''s voice was strong and rough, Yan''s was confident in this at least, Kino was quiet, and Sid was droning.

    "God who moves the darkness and light,"

    "The Lord who created the land and the sky,"

    "You brought us forth to serve Your great purpose."

    "You bring us here to be Your true servants."

    The whole prayer was a call and response, with Aymon sounding the call, and setting the tone and pace. Everyone else knew the responses to each line.

    "In the beginning, before there was darkness,"

    "You moved Your hand over the ether."

    "In the beginning, when there was nothing,"

    "You sent the light, cast down from heaven."

    "You set the first stars to burn in the sky."

    "You let the stars dance the passage of time."

    "And into the world, you sent out new life."

    "Into the waters and onto the dry."

    "All new life proceeds on its course."

    "Singing in praise of the works of the Lord."

    Aymon chose to abridge the creation song. There were versions where it proceeded through quite a few verses. The full song detailed not only the creation of the universe, the start of life, the evolution of plants and animals, the struggles of humanity''s early days, but eventually reached the discovery of interstellar travel and described the goal of humanity to spread out through the universe. It was quite a long song, which didn''t need to be recounted in full. Typically the full song was done on the third Sevensday of the month, during the worship.

    "You give us gifts to serve Your great purpose."

    "Your spirit within, to save and to guide us."

    "So, give us now Your truth and Your grace."

    "Your words in my mouth, I work in Your place."

    "Lead us to safety, lead us past fear."

    "Our shield and our sword, be with us here."

    "And, at the end of all things,"

    "And, at the end of all things,"

    "And, in the heart of all things,"

    "And in the heart of all things,"

    "And, at the start of all things,

    "And, at the start of all things,"

    "Bring us home, Lord."

    "Bring us to You, Lord."

    "Blessed are You, God of creation,"

    "Blessed are You, God of truth,"

    "Blessed are you, God of justice,"

    "Blessed are You, God of promise."

    "Blessed are You, Lord, our God.

    "Blessed are You, Lord."

    That was the end of the short version of the prayer. They sat in silence for a minute longer. Yan had her eyes closed. Kino had a hair tie knotted thoroughly around her left hand. Sid looked as calm as Aymon had ever seen him. Halen was looking at him from across their half circle. Aymon made eye contact and smiled at him ever so slightly.

    After a minute, Aymon stood up, stretching his legs out after kneeling for a while. The silence broken, everyone took a moment to collect themselves and stand in the darkened room. Halen cracked the door open, letting in a flood of electric light, and Aymon snuffed out the candles with his fingers. Everyone shuffled out of the room, blinking a little in the light.

    "Well, as I said, I won''t hold you any longer," Aymon said. "I''ll see you at... eight hours tomorrow. Meet me in my public office."

    "Ok," Yan said. "We''ll be there." She looked as though she were going to say something else, then changed her mind.

    "Do you know the way out?" Halen asked.

    "Yes," Kino said. "I remember."

    "Good. Then you can show yourselves out," Halen said.

    "Have a nice night," Aymon said.

    "You too," Yan replied. The three apprentices slipped their shoes back on and filed out the door, Kino leading and Sid trailing in the back. He gave a jaunty wave to Aymon and Halen as he passed.

    After the three were gone, Aymon breathed a sigh of relief. He sat back down on the couch. Halen came to sit next to him.

    "Long day?" Halen asked, wrapping his massive arm around Aymon''s shoulder. Aymon leaned into the touch.

    "Same length as usual," Aymon said. "How were they during training?"

    "About what you''d expect," Halen said. "Kino is a menace, she''s so twitchy. Yan and Sid are both fine students, but Yan really does hate me."

    "She''ll get over it, I''m not worried about that," Aymon said.

    "Oh, I''m sure she''ll find we have more in common than she would like," Halen said. "She''s a lot like me when I was younger."

    "Really?" Aymon asked. "I can''t picture it."

    "Before you knew me, obviously," Halen said, absentmindedly stroking Aymon''s arm. "Life on a pirate ship is only marginally more interesting than life on a Guild ship, I''ve come to understand."

    "She seems so... docile isn''t really the right word. Eager to please?" Aymon said.

    "And I''m not?" Halen said with a laugh. "Name one thing I haven''t done for you."

    "That''s because you love me," Aymon said, looking up at him.

    "Maybe so, maybe so."

 Chapter Sixteen - All Of Us Pirates Would Have Been Martyrs, Part I

    All Of Us Pirates Would Have Been Martyrs, Part I

    <blockquote>

    ¡°On a lonely, empty starship, all just waiting for to die, was the daughter, youngest daughter, of the captain, Alereye.¡±

    -from ¡°The Day the Pirates Came¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The next day, Yan woke up feeling off. She still wasn''t used to her too large bed, and she was finding her own apartment too empty for her liking.

    She had tried to call Sylva after getting back from Aymon''s home, but she hadn''t picked up. As such, Yan was feeling ever so slightly off kilter as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.

    She ate it dry, picking the pieces out of the bowl with her fingers, and watching the sun begin to peek over the tops of the buildings outside her window. It was six hours, which was a little earlier than the three apprentices were supposed to meet Sandreas at his office.

    Yan finished her cereal and went to her bedroom to get dressed. She pulled her daily wear cassock over her head, not bothering with unbuttoning the whole thing. Though it was of higher quality than all of her student uniforms, and better tailored to fit her, it was visually similar. Before she put on her short red cloak, she looked indistinguishable from any other Academy student wandering around the city.

    Looking at herself in the mirror, Yan sighed at the state of her hair. She didn''t know when she was going to be able to find a barber. Well, she knew where a barber was, since she had been living at the Academy on the hill looming over the city for the past ten years, but when she was going to have a free moment to go get her hair fixed up, that was another question. Maybe it would be better to just get a pair of clippers and do her hair herself. Or, better yet...

    Yan halted that train of thought as soon as it started. There was no way she was going to use the power to give herself a haircut. That was the kind of foolishness that would almost certainly result in an embarrassing hairstyle. Maybe she should just shave it all off, be totally bald. She had tried that a few years ago, but hadn''t really liked it. Better to just find somebody else to cut it for her. That, really, was the only sensible option.

    Or, and this was the off kilter she was feeling talking, she could...

    What would be the easiest way to do it? She couldn''t imagine the annoyance it would be to trim every individual strand, but she could create, maybe, an incredibly sharp knife that would just pass through the hairs...

    No.

    Yan shook herself out of it. Sid kept his head shaved, she could just have him cut it for her.

    She fastened her cape around her shoulders and went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face and brush her teeth. She had already showered, but the humidity was too much in her apartment and she felt clammy and overly warm. The last dregs of summer had their grip on the city.

    It was still early, a bit after six hours, but Yan didn''t want to stay in her apartment any longer. She typed a quick message on her phone to Sid and Kino, indicating that she had gone out and that she would meet them at Stonecourt later. Whether they checked the message or not was going to be up to them. Sid and Kino were both perfectly capable of walking to Stonecourt without her.

    Yan put on her shoes and left her apartment. She headed out into the city with no particular direction in mind, but found herself taking a circuitous route to Stonecourt. The morning was bright, and the light reflecting off the windows of the buildings was almost blinding if looked at in the wrong way.

    After a while of walking, Yan noticed that there was someone following her. Under ordinary circumstances, whatever those were, she wouldn''t have ever noticed. Today, though, she was using her walk as a chance to practice the skill Halen had used yesterday. She was trying to open up her awareness to catch more of the feelings of people around her. Since she was taking a walk early in the morning, there were way fewer people out than usual, so it was a good time to practice without getting overwhelmed.

    So she was practicing casting out the power in a wide net and gently touching on what other people were feeling. She wasn''t very successful at picking up actual emotions, though. As usual, she was fine at identifying what sensation in the power constituted a person. After Yan had repeated this process several times, she noticed that there was one blip in particular that gave her the same sort of feeling several times.

    Yan continued her walk, and continued casting out her power to investigate. Now, however, she was more focused on tracking that one presence than trying to identify what people were feeling. This was a significantly easier task, and Yan became more and more confident that someone was following her, especially after she took various random detours that led her in a circle.

    Although this was weird, Yan wasn''t sure if she should be concerned or not, or generally, what she should do about it. As it stood, the person following her didn''t seemed to be actually doing anything other than just keeping pace with her at a fair distance.

    It seemed like she had a few choices for how to respond. She could try to evade her tracker, which she suspected would be quite difficult. It wasn''t as though she had any expertise in stealth. Yan could confront the person, which would be easier to do physically, but could be dangerous. She could just give up on her walk and go back to her apartment, but then what? She could also just continue her walk and head to Stonecourt, and then see what happened. She also supposed she could text Halen for advice, but that involved texting Halen.

    Or she could ignore it. That was always an option.

    Yan was uncomfortably aware of the gun she had resting on her hip, underneath her cassock.

    She took out her phone. Instead of texting Halen, she texted Sid and Kino.

    > ok so this sounds weird

    > but I''m being followed?

    > sorry if you''re still asleep and I''m waking you up

    > lmao

    Yan continued to walk around aimlessly, still casting out her awareness to check to see if her shadow was still there. He (or she, Yan supposed) was.

    Sid texted back.

    < dude.

    < what do you think i can do about it???

    > idk tell me what to do

    < ask halen he''s the expert

    > but I don''t like halen

    < which do you like better? getting stalked and murdered or talking to your boss''s bf

    > i hate u

    < lol

    Yan had almost crashed into several walls and pedestrians, and had definitely jaywalked a little bit while carrying out this conversation with Sid.

    Reluctantly, she did text Halen.

    >Sorry to bother you, but I''m being followed?

    Halen''s reply was immediate.

    < Don''t worry about it.

    Oh, so that explained it. Her stalker was sent by Halen, or by Sandreas. This didn''t exactly make her feel better, but it did explain why the stalker had made no moves on her.

    Yan wondered exactly how much of her life was under surveillance. Probably more than she cared to think about, and for longer than she cared to imagine. On the upside, at least she knew about it now. On the downside, she had no real ability to stop it. Even if she could, if Sandreas had her under watch, wouldn''t that be for a reason? Would it reflect well or badly on her if she tried to evade his watching eyes? Even if she did try to evade some of it, she could never be sure she had gotten rid of all of it.

    Yan sighed loudly, still walking down the street, passing under small green trees planted in holes in the sidewalk. Birds were chirping, somewhere around. It was still a beautiful morning, for all that she now had to be forever paranoid.

    Maybe she should have put the pieces together yesterday when she saw people on the roof of the building across from the restaurant. That was for safety, and maybe this was too. But either way, it was an uncomfortable feeling, being watched, and watching someone watch her.

    She made a turn that would lead her on a more direct path to Stonecourt. She was done wandering, and she was done practicing with the power. She didn''t have a natural talent for feeling emotions like Halen did, and the amount of work it would take to develop such a skill seemed rather unreasonable, especially if she had so many other things to learn. If she got to Stonecourt early, maybe she could get a head start on reading that book of secrets that they were all supposed to be getting. That might be exciting.

    Stonecourt itself was a massive building. As the name implied, it had a stone facade, and it was surrounded on all sides by high fences and monitored by very obvious security. There was an official entrance in the front, as well as a guest entrance, but there was a staff entrance in the back. Yan walked all the way around to that door in the gates. She presented her identification in several different checkpoints along the way before she was really let in the main building.

    Curiously, as soon as she started going through security, her pursuer vanished. Maybe their job was done as soon as Yan was inside a more secure area. Either way, it was almost a relief. Yan wondered who the person following her actually was. Not just in terms of who had hired them, but who the person was.

    For a brief moment, while waiting for a guard to check her security card, Yan fantasized about the same shadow following her for years, and her being aware the whole time, but the two never meeting. Yan wondered what that person would think of her, and how two people could become intimate without ever meeting each other in person or ever exchanging any words. Certainly it was intimate to have someone following her, and an even stranger type of intimacy in the feeling of watching someone watch her. She shook herself out of her weird daydream as the guard handed back her ID and let her proceed.

    She was finally let all the way through security and was loose in the halls of Stonecourt. Now that she was in, she didn''t exactly know where she would go. It was still early to meet Sandreas, but his public office was really the only place she knew she was supposed to be. She could go to the training area that Halen had brought them to yesterday, and she could go to Sandreas''s private quarters, but both of those sounded like fairly silly ideas. Maybe Ms. Rosario, Sandreas''s secretary, was around and holding onto that book of secrets for her.

    Yan decided to head to Sandreas''s office anyway. She had only just turned in that direction when, down the hallway, she saw Halen coming towards her. Instinctively, Yan tried to duck away down a different hallway, but Halen continued his approach. Resigned, Yan stopped and waited for him.

    "Good morning, Yan," Halen said. "Sleep well?"

    "Not in particular," Yan said, sounding more grumpy than she probably would have liked to come off as.

    "I''m sorry to hear that. Walk with me," Halen directed, starting out down the hallway in a direction that Yan hadn''t been before.

    Halen was a bit taller than Yan, despite Yan''s unusual height, and he walked quickly, so Yan had to walk much faster than usual to keep up with him.

    "So, tell me, how did you notice that you were being watched on your walk this morning?" Halen asked.

    "Uh," Yan said, "Don''t expect me to be able to repeat the feat, I was doing something weird just for fun."

    "Really?" Halen asked. "What were you doing?"

    Yan didn''t really want to admit that she was trying to copy him, it seemed embarrassing to her, but she didn''t have much of a choice. She could either admit it or lie, and lying seemed like a bad choice around someone who could identify her private emotions if he tried. She didn¡¯t even think about the fact that Halen was probably listening in on the wave of feelings she was putting out as she considered her options.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    "I was trying to learn how to do what you do, the knowing what people are feeling trick," Yan said, looking down at the white tiled floor of the hallway.

    "And how was that working out for you?" Halen asked.

    "I don''t think I can do it," Yan admitted. "I can find people pretty easily, but the things the power tells me about them are too jumbled to pick out their feelings like you do."

    "So how did you use that to know that someone was following you?" Halen asked. "And don''t worry about not getting it, that''s a trick that''s pretty difficult to master, even with a lot of study. I''m not going to expect you to be able to do it."

    "I don''t know, I was just casting the power out every once in a while, and examining the people in it, and the same person kept turning up over and over," Yan explained.

    "So, you do know how you did it, and you could do it again if you wanted to," Halen said. "Don''t sell yourself short."

    "Yeah, I''m plenty tall," Yan said before she could help herself. Selling oneself short was a joke she and her uncle Maxes had, and that was her standard response.

    Halen chuckled at the joke. Yan was embarrased.

    "That aside, you should always be using all the tools at your disposal to keep yourself safe. I''ll admit that casting out the power like that isn''t the most efficient method of identifying a shadow, but it is effective, and you seem to be fairly good at it. I suggest that you incorporate that into your daily life."

    "Did you send that person to watch me?" Yan asked.

    "Of course," Halen said. "I need to know what type of trouble Aymon''s students are getting up to in their free time."

    "You don''t think that''s an invasion of privacy?" Yan asked, intending to come off a bit snippy.

    "Oh, Yan, privacy isn''t a thing you can reasonably expect anymore!" Halen said brightly. "Not until you can learn to ensure it yourself."

    Yan scowled. "You''re saying I''m being watched all the time?"

    "I may have implied that, but I didn''t say it, no," Halen said. "You''ll need to either get used to it or find a way around it."

    "Is this some sort of test?" Yan asked.

    "It''s a way of making sure you are safe until you can be responsible for your own safety." By safe Yan assumed that Halen meant more than just preventing other people from hurting Yan, but also preventing Yan from hurting Sandreas. Not like Yan was likely to do such a thing, but she supposed on this point at least, she couldn¡¯t fault Halen for covering all his bases.

    "So, you''re saying that if I know someone is following me, you''re going to stop having people follow me around?" Yan asked.

    "I wouldn''t say that, or maybe I wouldn''t say it so definitively," Halen said.

    The pair approached a large set of doors, and Halen swiped his security card to let them through. The doors led out into the courtyard that they Yan had glimpsed through Sandreas''s window the night before. It was a beautiful space, full of carefully tended garden beds, leafy trees, paths, benches, and a central fountain. Halen walked towards a bench underneath one of the trees and sat down. Reluctantly, Yan sat down next to him, but as far to the other side of the bench as space would allow. Unfortunately for Yan, Halen''s massive body made this distance less than she would have liked.

    "Was that the only thing you wanted to talk to me about? How I found that I had someone following me?" Yan asked.

    "No," said Halen. "I just wanted to get to know you a little bit better. We''re going to spend a lot of time together over the next few years, God willing. And it will make my job easier if you hated me a little less."

    A part of Yan wanted to protest ''but I don''t hate you'' just out of politeness'' sake, but there was a stronger part that kinda did, so she stayed silent and just scuffed at the gravel path with her feet. She knew she was acting like a petulant toddler, and she hated that she was, but she didn''t want to make things too easy on Halen. He was a pirate, after all. Her natural born enemy. Well, unnatural born, since he had even said that his parents had genetically modified him.

    "Tell me about yourself," Halen prompted.

    "What do you want to know?" Yan asked, but it came out snippy.

    "What''s your family like?"

    "I don''t know." Yan didn''t know what he wanted from her. "My mother died when I was a kid, I don''t have a father, I guess I''m closest to my uncle. Big extended family, you know, spacers."

    "Who raised you when your mother died?" Halen asked, sounding genuinely curious.

    "My uncle Maxes and his family, for a while. Then I went to the Academy, and I was pretty much on my own," Yan said.

    "So you were really young, then," Halen said.

    "Eight isn''t that young. I took care of myself."

    "If you saw an eight year old right there, you''d say they were a baby," Halen said.

    "I was a mature eight year old, then." Yan said.

    "Maybe your life experiences forced you to become mature," Halen replied.

    "Maybe," Yan really didn''t want to give him anything.

    "What''s your uncle like?" Halen asked.

    "Weird, he''s kinda..." Yan didn''t know how to explain how Maxes behaved. "Like he wants me to be the best I can be, for the family. He''s ok."

    "For saying that he took care of you when your mom died you seem to have a pretty low opinion of him," Halen said.

    "No, he''s good, I just... He... Like, here''s the thing, he was the one who convinced my mom to have me. Like I said, don''t have a dad. My uncle Maxes set up the whole transaction. That''s weird, that sums him up."

    "You''re a test tube baby too?" Halen asked with a laugh. "We have something in common, then."

    "Eugh," Yan said. "That''s not the same thing at all."

    "It isn''t?" Halen asked.

    "I''m natural-ish. You''re only natural adjacent," Yan said.

    Halen snorted in amusement. "You''re pretty funny, you know? I think we''ll get along just fine."

    "I doubt it," Yan said. "I don''t make a habit of getting chummy with pirates."

    "I haven''t been a pirate for a long time. I walk the straight and narrow now," Halen said.

    "The straight and narrow, really?" Yan asked, once again unable to stop herself from making a joke. "You seem to be neither."

    Halen grinned. "I''m the most reformed ex-pirate you''ll ever meet."

    "How in God''s name did you ever get Sandreas to trust you?" Yan asked.

    "See, leadfeet don''t have the same animosity towards pirates as you do," Halen said, "And besides, how could he not trust someone as brilliant and handsome as myself?"

    Handsome was not the word Yan would have chosen to describe Halen''s blotchy face. She rolled her eyes.

    "So, what were your favorite things to do on your family''s ship?"

    "Like in terms of jobs or free time?" Yan asked.

    "Either one," Halen said.

    "I don''t know. I liked when I got to work the navigation bridge shift. I liked flying the shuttle a lot. I didn''t mind having greenhouse duty, either. In my free time I watched a lot of movies. Hung around with some of my cousins, the usual."

    "Did you ever get in trouble or were you always a goody two shoes?" Halen asked.

    "One time when I was nine I got locked in a maintenance closet while playing hide and seek and no one found me for twelve hours. Does that count?"

    "No, but that sounds terrible," Halen said. "What did you do while you were stuck in there?"

    "Uh. I slid notes into the ventilation shaft and hoped someone would find them and let me out."

    "Did that work?" Halen asked.

    "No, my cousins eventually admitted that they couldn''t find me and the whole ship was put on a search," Yan said.

    "How much trouble were you in when they found you?" Halen asked.

    "None, really. I mean Pellon, he''s the captain, he gave me a talking to, but like... I wasn''t really anybody''s real responsibility. My uncle was pretty busy back then," Yan said.

    "Probably they were just glad to have found you still alive," Halen said.

    "I wasn''t in any zone that would have ever been depressurized. I wasn''t stupid," Yan protested.

    "Many children make stupid mistakes. That''s just a fact about life," Halen said. "I''m glad you weren''t trapped in that closet forever."

    "It wasn''t that bad. There are worse places to be trapped," Yan said with a shrug. To be honest, being trapped by herself in a closet had felt kind of relieving at the time, since she didn''t have to worry about dealing with other people for a while. "It was kinda funny at the time. They treated it like this whole big crisis."

    Halen had an odd look on his face as Yan described the incident. Though Yan equated her twelve hours trapped in a maintenance closet as a welcome relief from her overbearing relatives in the wake of her mother''s death, Yan realized that Halen must have a completely different idea of what it was like to be in a small, enclosed space with no food or water, waiting for someone to come rescue you.

    "Sorry," Yan said after a second. "I thought it was funny but I guess it really wasn''t."

    "You''re allowed to think it''s funny," Halen said with a shrug. "I can see the humor in it, since there wasn''t any real danger at all."

    "No, I just mean, like, I know you got trapped on that shuttle like you told us about yesterday. Sorry for bringing something like that up," Yan said.

    "Are you actually feeling sorry for me? What a shock," Halen said with a grin. "Don''t worry about it." He looked about to say something else, then changed his mind.

    "I''m not feeling sorry for you, I just didn''t want to be completely rude," Yan protested. The man was infuriating. "Common human decency, politeness, not bringing up painful things from other people''s pasts, you know."

    Halen reached down and picked up a stray fallen green leaf from the path. He twirled it around in his fingers.

    "Did you like going to the Academy?" Halen asked, changing the subject. The early morning sunlight was warm on Yan''s face, peeking down through the branches of the tree above them.

    "It was alright. I liked my friends, and I liked my classes, but when I came I didn''t know the language at all, and I had never been on a planet for more than a day or two at a time. It was really overwhelming at first." The off kilter part of Yan wanted to keep talking, to tell Halen all about how when she stopped feeling overwhelmed by it all, she also stopped really feeling like a spacer, and how her feeling of otherness was really the only thing that kept her connected to the Iron Dreams, but she wasn''t quite ready for that level of truthfulness with a man she could barely tolerate.

    "I know the feeling," Halen sympathized. "You go from a place where the most exciting and natural thing is the ship''s gardens, and all of a sudden you have to deal with... Everything. People you''ve never met, weather, animals all over the place, weird foods... God."

    Yan couldn''t tell if he meant that he had to deal with God after leaving his family''s ship or if he was just using the word as an emphasis on the previous statement.

    "Spacer life is so much simpler," Yan said.

    "True. I wouldn''t want to go back to it," Halen said, continuing to fiddle with his leaf.

    "Why, just because of Sandreas?" Yan asked.

    "Mostly. But some of it is that spacer life is inherently too insulating. No matter who you are or how wide of a route your family runs, you''re always in the same ship, doing the same things with the same people," Halen said. Yan nodded.

    "What did your family trade in?" Yan asked. "If you don''t mind me asking."

    "Drugs, mostly. Well, before we started selling stardrives, anyway," Halen said. "We had a route between Lekke and Barsoth Station."

    "What''s Barsoth Station?" Yan asked.

    "Abandoned mining colony, it used to be a black market trading hub, but it''s been destroyed now," Halen said. "Bit of a nasty place, if I''m being honest with you."

    "Well, obviously," Yan said with disdain.

    "Lekke isn''t bad," Halen said, somewhat wistfully. "Beautiful tropics on that planet."

    "Ugh," Yan said. She had never been to Lekke, but she knew that its primary export was Vena, a potent drug. Obviously it wasn''t its official primary export, but that was what it was famous for, regardless.

    "You''re familiar with the place?" Halen asked.

    "Only by reputation," Yan said.

    To his credit, Halen didn''t ask if Yan had ever tried Vena, and Yan didn''t ask him the same question, though she was somewhat curious. She didn''t know if his answer would make her like him more or less. Probably, since she was assuming the worst of him already, her opinion wouldn''t change much.

    Yan felt Halen reach out with his power, not directed at her, but inside the building.

    "What are you doing?" Yan asked.

    "What do you mean, what am I doing?" Halen was continuing to twirl his leaf as though he wasn''t doing anything.

    "You used the power just now, you sent it inside the building," Yan said.

    "Oh, I was just checking on Aymon. You noticed I was doing that?" Halen asked.

    "Other people wouldn''t?" Yan asked. "I can always tell when someone is using the power near me, it''s not hard."

    Halen laughed. "Maybe that''s your special talent, then. Most other sensitives don''t notice me doing that, and God knows I do it often enough."

    "What a lousy talent," Yan said. "I liked it better when I didn''t know it was unusual."

    "You never know, it could come in handy one day," Halen said cheerfully. "Besides, most of these ''talents'' that people have, they''re things that anyone can learn anyway, just that might be more difficult for some people than others."

    "Even Kino''s skill?" Yan asked.

    "The thing where I can''t sense her feelings? Yeah, absolutely. I''d demonstrate how to do it, except that you don''t know how to sense feelings, so it would be a pretty meaningless demonstration," Halen said.

    "Kino told me that she wasn''t even picked up as being a sensitive at first, because she''s so well hidden. So people can hide their entire power signature?" Yan asked.

    "That''s a question I''m not so sure of the answer. I think, though I have a relatively small data set, that there are different levels of hiding yourself. Shielding your emotions from me when I''m nearby is not particularly difficult. Learning to disguise your power signature so that you don''t even appear to be alive, that would be very difficult. And it would take someone skilled in the opposite direction to see through that disguise."

    "None of it seems very practical," Yan said. "Since there are so few sensitives anyway, comparatively speaking."

    "What is the actual number, one in one and a half million people is a sensitive of some stripe?" Halen asked. "Those aren''t such bad odds. Besides, most people at the top are sensitives, so we all tend to meet each other more than is statistically likely."

    "That''s honestly kinda crazy to me," Yan said. "It''s not like... We don''t even really use the power in day to day life for the most part. It''s a weird system we have going on here." Maybe it wasn''t such a good idea to criticize the very social structure that had led her to get this apprenticeship in the first place, so she didn''t say anything else.

    "Well," Halen said, "Sensitives are closer to God."

    "That''s not the doctrine," Yan grumbled. It may not have been the doctrine, but it certainly was a common belief among Academy students. Halen laughed at her.

    "That was a joke, Yan," Halen said.

    "Not a very good one," Yan said.

    "We should go inside," Halen said. "Aymon''s waiting for us." Halen stood up off the couch, and tossed the leaf he had been fiddling with up into the air. The light wind caught it and sent it sailing away. Yan stood up and followed Halen inside. Though she still wasn''t prepared to like the man, it hadn''t been the worst conversation she had ever had.

 Chapter Seventeen - A Tamed Bear Still Has Claws

    A Tamed Bear Still Has Claws

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The only thing you can trust is your control of the knife. Remember, what you hold in your hands is your life.¡±

    -from ¡°What You Know¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Though they were close to Sandreas''s private quarters, that wasn¡¯t where Halen took her. They walked through Stonecourt until they came to his public office. In front of his office, in the outer room, his secretary, Ms. Rosario, smiled at Yan and Halen.

    "Good morning, Halen, Ms. BarCarran," Rosario said. "I have something for you." She reached into one of her desk drawers and pulled out a memory stick. It was bright red and labeled "Top Secret" in large, black lettering. Yan took the offered stick.

    "This is the book of secrets?" Yan asked with a smile.

    "I don''t know what you''ve been calling it, but it''s the onboarding handbook for Fleet apprentices. Presumably you will find some of that information useful," Rosario explained.

    "Well thank you," Yan said, tucking it into her pocket.

    "Don''t lose it," Rosario said. "And if you do, let someone know right away so that we can remotely wipe the drive. Don''t access it on any non secure machines. We don''t want any of this information ending up on the net or traveling over the ansible."

    "Got it," Yan said. She supposed this would be the first thing that would get to live inside the safe room in her apartment, though the idea of a whole room dedicated to the security of one tiny memory stick was pretty funny to her.

    Halen silently watched the whole exchange, then led Yan into Sandreas''s office. Sandreas was sitting at his desk, typing something into a computer. He closed the computer when Halen and Yan came in.

    "Good morning," Sandreas said brightly. "Have a nice walk?"

    Yan sighed. "Apparently you know exactly how nice it was. Are Kino and Sid on the way?"

    "They''ll be here in about five minutes," Halen said, looking at his phone.

    "So have you two reconciled your irreconcilable differences?" Sandreas asked Yan.

    "No," Yan said. "But I''m not going to be rude about it."

    "That''s good to hear," Sandreas said.

    Halen sat down on one of the couches, but Yan remained standing, feeling antsy and looking at some of the pictures on the walls.

    "What are we doing today?" Yan asked.

    "Are you asking me?" Halen asked her.

    "I''m asking anybody who knows the answer," Yan said. That was maybe a little snippier than she intended, considering that she just said that she wasn''t going to be rude.

    "I have surprisingly little on the docket today," Sandreas said. "Tomorrow is the Governors Dinner, which will be big, and most of what I''m doing today is preparation for that. I have private meetings with several of the governors beforehand, but I don''t think that you need to be there."

    "So we''ll be with you all day?" Yan asked Halen.

    "You''ll be with me in the morning, and then you''ll have the afternoon off," Halen clarified.

    "Halen will coming with me in the afternoon," Sandreas said.

    "What will you be teaching us today?" Yan asked.

    "Haven''t decided yet," Halen said. ¡°What do you want to learn?"

    "I have no idea what I even need to know," Yan said, thinking about the memory stick tucked into her pocket. It felt like it was burning there, and she wanted to do nothing more than curl up on her couch in her apartment and read it. She had no idea what was waiting there for her.

    "Sid and Kino are in the building and on their way up," Halen said.

    "Right on time," Sandreas said. "I''m glad at least that you all are punctual."

    "This one was an hour early," Halen said, pointing his thumb at Yan. "What were you even doing out, anyway?"

    "I was feeling restless, I don''t know," Yan said. Restless, lonely, unable to sleep through the night in her new fancy apartment, there were a bunch of reasons she hadn''t wanted to stay cooped up that morning. "It was nice out, I wanted to enjoy the weather before the winter comes in."

    "Have you ever spent summer on a planet before?" Halen asked.

    "No," Yan said. "I always spent the summers on the Iron Dreams."

    "How are you liking the weather?" Halen asked.

    "It isn''t really any different than what it''s like in a couple weeks when the Academy''s term starts," Yan shrugged. "I think I missed the biggest heat."

    "Midsummer is always fun on the ground," Halen said. "That''s one thing that''s nicer about being groundbound, the high holidays actually have some meaning."

    "I know," Yan said. "I''ve been to Midwinter at the Academy."

    "You didn''t spend Midwinter with your family?" Sandreas asked.

    "Not really practical," Yan said. "The Academy only gets a week off, and the Iron Dreams never comes in system, so I wouldn''t physically be able to get there and back."

    "Hunh," Sandreas said, but didn''t comment on it further. He returned to his typing.

    "Are we," Yan started, referring to Kino and Sid, "Going to the Governors Dinner?"

    "Yes," Aymon said. "It will be your first public appearance. There really isn''t a better time to show that I''ve taken apprentices, and it can''t just go completely unannounced."

    "What''s it like?" Yan asked. "The dinner, I mean."

    "Big boring party. Only happens once every three years, so it''s a big event," Halen said. "It''s the one chance most governors get to leave their own planets, and it''s a chance for major shifts in alliances between planets."

    "Not officially," Sandreas said.

    Yan nodded. There were tensions between planets and within the Empire that were not really acknowledged by the Imperial government. As a spacer, Yan had seen the fallout of those tensions, when trade routes were suddenly reorganized or removed altogether. Despite the physical and cultural distance planets in the Empire had from each other, and the commonalities of sharing the same government, there was apparently still a lot to squabble over.

    "Personally, I think it''s one of the highlights of the year," Sandreas said.

    "The rest of your children are here," Halen said to Sandreas, walking over to open the door of Sandreas''s office. Yan hadn''t noticed how he knew this. Since she hadn''t felt him use the power, she assumed he had looked at his phone and however he was tracking them there.

    "Children?" Yan asked, affronted.

    Halen merely laughed at her and let Sid and Kino in. They were both holding similar data sticks to the one that Yan had been given.

    "Morning," Yan said, greeting the two of them. Sid waved at her.

    "Good morning, Sandreas, Halen, Yan," Kino said, greeting the three of them in turn.

    Aymon stood up from behind his desk. "Welcome to day two on the job," he said to Kino and Sid. "Thank you for being punctual." He gestured for the couch and for them all to take a seat.

    Though Yan would have preferred to remain standing in the back of the room, still feeling weird, she sat down next to Sid.

    "As I would hope you are aware, tomorrow night is the Governor''s Dinner. You three will be in attendance, and it will be your first public appearance as my apprentices. I don''t expect you to do anything, aside from make polite small talk with people, but I do need you to be at least slightly more prepared for it by the end of the day. Several of the governors have some rather unfortunate tensions on their home planets that I am hopeful have not followed them here, but we do have to be prepared for anything."

    "We''re going with Halen all day today?" Kino asked.

    "Half the day. You''ll have the afternoon off so I can accompany Aymon to some important meetings with governors."

    "Any questions?" Aymon asked. "I don''t have very much for you today, but tomorrow will be much more exciting."

    Sid gave a thumbs up. Yan shook her head.

    "Well, if that really was all we had to discuss, you three come with me, and I''ll see you at lunch," Halen said. He smiled at Sandreas, who smiled back.

    "See you all tomorrow morning," Sandreas said to the three.

    Everyone stood up. Yan, Kino, and Sid followed Halen to the door. Yan stayed in the back of the line of the three apprentices, bouncing on the balls of her feet as they waited for Halen to open the door and let them out. Sid turned and gave her a look with one raised eyebrow.

    "What''s going on?" He signed, "You''re as wiggly as Kino." He pointed his thumb rudely at the other girl, who sighed and ignored him.

    "Just feel bad today. Don''t know why," Yan signed back.

    They had to suspend their conversation as Halen led them down the hallways. It was the same route they had walked the previous day, except at the very end, they went to a different training room that was down one more set of stairs than the shooting range that they had been in before.

    Halen opened the door to the new training room and led the three inside.

    The room that they were in was massive, and empty. Yan looked around in confusion. The only thing on one wall was a computer terminal.

    "How do you like it?" Halen asked. His voice echoed around the huge space.

    "It sure is big and empty," Sid said aloud, gesturing to the whole of the room.

    "What are we doing here? Cartwheels?" Kino asked. She did look ready to spring into a cartwheel at that moment.

    "If you can believe it, this place is state of the art. There''s only a couple of these rooms in existence. There''s only one Academy graduate who builds them, as far as I know," Halen said. "Look at this."

    He walked over towards the computer terminal and fiddled around with some menus that Yan couldn''t see clearly. When he was finished, Halen pointed towards the middle of the room. Yan turned around to look, and, where there had been nothing before, a long table stood in the center of the room.

    All three of the apprentices walked over to it. Yan, with her long legs, arrived first. She knocked on it experimentally. It felt and behaved just as a table would, the sound of her knock echoing in the otherwise empty room.

    "How did this get here?" Yan asked. "What is this place?"

    Halen laughed. "It''s pretty crazy, isn''t it? I don''t know the exact workings of it, but it''s a very complicated system. It uses the same powers as stardrives or ansibles, but to harden and move the air and create illusions. That''s at least how I believe it works. I''ll admit that I didn''t pay much attention to the briefing that explained how it was constructed, since I was more concerned with how to use it."

    Yan could feel the familiar thrum in the power that she associated with being aboard the Iron Dreams. She had thought that feeling was the feeling of space, but she supposed it must be the feeling of one of these power structures. Machines that could themselves use the power could be made, but they required massive investments of space and energy. That was why their only practical uses seemed to be as things that absolutely could not be done without invoking the power: stardrives and ansibles, and this thing apparently.

    Yan made up her mind, someday, to actually ask Halen how a stardrive was made. There had been a class on the theory behind it that everyone had to attend, but the meat of the course was a dire warning to never, ever, ever, ever try to actually make one. Especially not while standing on a populated planet, because it was more than possible to accidentally create a hole in space that swallowed everything within a good radius. That was what she remembered from the course, anyway. It was a long time ago that she had had it. It had apparently served its purpose, since she had been sufficiently scared away from attempting to build one. Halen, though, had managed to miss that memo by a mile, and, astoundingly, hadn''t died.

    "What are we going to do here?" Kino asked, hopping up to sit on the table. Halen raised his eyebrows at her, and she got the message and scooted off, just as he pressed a button to cancel the illusion. The table vanished.

    "We''re going to be playing through mock scenarios of things that could go wrong at the Governor''s Dinner," Halen said. "So that you''ll at least know what to do in the very worst case situation."

    "I thought you said you didn''t have a plan?" Yan asked, somewhat put out.

    "I lied," Halen said. "I wanted to surprise you with the room. Isn''t it fun?"

    Sid gave another thumbs up. Yan had to admit that it was pretty impressive.

    "Random question," Kino said. "Completely unrelated to everything else, but do you have a last name?"

    Halen blinked in surprise. "That is an unrelated question. I have a last name, but I don''t use it. It''s my family name, obviously." He shrugged. "When I lived on my family''s ship, we didn''t use it, and when I left my family''s ship I couldn''t keep a pirate''s name."

    Him saying that made something stir in Yan''s chest. She couldn''t really imagine giving up her family name like that. Even if her whole ship was destroyed and her family cast from grace, would she be able to give up being a BarCarran? She wondered what Halen''s name was. He didn''t offer that information, and she didn''t ask.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "Anyway, come over here and I''ll show you how to set the room up," Halen gestured them over to the computer console and led them through the menus to select a scenario. The feature he eventually navigated to produced a simulation of the massive hall that the Governor''s dinner would be held in.

    "This is a bit smaller than the real thing," Halen said. "But we''ll make the best of it."

    Yan supposed the party would take place over two main segments, a dinner where food would be served and speeches would be given, and then a less structured time for mingling, where there would be music and maybe dancing. The room was certainly set up to accommodate that, with a stage up front, then many round and nicely set tables, and further behind that, a wide open floor space. Around the edges of the room were set up long tables with small refreshments on them.

    Halen pointed out the emergency exits. "That''s the main entrance, where all the guests will be coming in. The two staff entrances are over there, where all the food will be coming in and out. You can exit the building out of any of these doors, as long as you follow the signage. There is also one trap door under the stage. If you need to use it, don''t hesitate to just blast it open with the power," Halen said. He walked them up onto the stage to demonstrate where it was.

    "Do you expect us to need to use that?" Yan asked.

    "I expect that it''s better to know than to not know," Halen said. "If we aren''t prepared for the worst, then we''ll be royally screwed when it happens."

    "What type of situation..." Kino stopped, seeming unsure of how to phrase her question. "What different things do you think could go wrong?"

    "What a good question, let''s brainstorm that," Halen said. "Sid, what is one avenue for attack at this party?"

    "Poison in the food," Sid responded immediately.

    "Excellent thought," Halen said. "Always be on the lookout for that."

    "I don''t know how," Yan said.

    "Yes, that is an issue. Unfortunately, we won''t have time to correct that today. I will check for you, on this occasion," Halen said.

    "Thanks," Yan said.

    "Kino, what''s another way something could go wrong in this fine establishment?" Halen asked.

    "The wait staff could have been infiltrated by attackers," Kino said.

    "Quite possible," Halen said. "We do screen everyone, but there''s no infallible system of hiring trusted staff. Yan?"

    "Uh, someone could have set up some sort of delayed action event, like a bomb planted beforehand under the floor or something," Yan scrambled to answer.

    "Plausible, if somewhat unlikely. Sneaking such a thing in in the first place would be quite difficult, and we do regular searches, especially before big events. But again, there''s no perfect security, only the best we can do," Halen said.

    "What do you think is the most likely thing to happen?" Kino asked.

    "Unfortunately, we can''t screen the governors'' entourages as well as we might like to. I think the most likely attack would come from an invited guest and be aimed at another invited guest," Halen said. "No weapons are allowed, but that has never once stopped anyone with enough of a grudge."

    Yan raised her eyebrows. "You really think governors are going to start shooting at each other?"

    "They themselves? No," Halen said. "But some of them have less common sense than would be hoped, and have, in the past, invited some truly unpleasant people."

    "Has there been trouble in the past?" Kino asked.

    "For some definition of trouble. There have been attempted attacks that we''ve stopped, and last time, three years ago, two drunk men got into a fistfight in the bathroom, but other than that, it''s been relatively peaceful," Halen said.

    "What type of attacks are we talking about?" Sid asked.

    "We''ve had several different parties attempt to sneak in weapons of various types. Twelve years ago the governor of Mikolon almost got stabbed, but that''s all old news."

    Sid reached around and mimed stabbing Yan''s back, but Halen held up his hand. Yan felt him use the power quickly, and then Sid''s arm was frozen still in the air.

    "Yes, basically exactly like that," Halen said calmly.

    "This hurts," Sid said, trying to yank his hand free from the hold Halen had on him in the power. Halen smiled at him and let him suffer for a moment. Yan felt a brief power struggle as Sid tried in vain to use his own power to free his arm. Halen eventually let him go, and he stumbled back, rubbing his arm.

    "No fair," Sid said. "I need my arms."

    "Don''t stab people and you''ll get to keep them," Halen said.

    "How''d you do that?" Kino asked. She had been watching the whole thing with interest, hands in her pockets.

    "If you''re practiced enough, you can treat pieces of people just like you would any other object. If you can hold, for example," Halen fished in his pocket for a second and pulled out a rock. Why he carried rocks around in his pocket, Yan couldn''t fathom. He held it up in the air and left it suspended there. "If you can keep a regular object held in place, no matter how much someone pulls on it, then you can do that with somebody''s body."

    "You''re not..." Yan started to protest the use of the power to control another person''s body, then stopped as Kino walked in front of her. Clearly Halen didn''t care about what the power was supposed to be used for. Not only was it not allowed, it was also much more difficult to invade someone else¡¯s body like that. The power simply didn¡¯t want to be used that way.

    Kino jumped up to grab the rock, since Halen''s natural placement of it was above her head, and she held onto it with one hand. Lithely, she lifted up her knees and dangled off the rock. Yan laughed at her antics.

    "What?" Kino asked. "It''s steady as a rock."

    Unlike the forewarning he had given her when he dissolved the table, Halen released his power holding up the rock, and Kino fell to the ground. She didn''t end up completely fallen over; she was able to kick her legs out and only stumble a bit as she hit the ground.

    "You''re mean today," Sid said to Halen.

    "No, I''m just in a good mood," Halen said.

    "Would hate to see you in a bad one," Sid said.

    "You will soon if you keep distracting me. We''re going to practice a couple emergency situations now, so listen up." The three apprentices did obligingly turn their full attention to Halen, though Kino rocked back and forth on her heels as she listened.

    "I''m going to fill this room with simulated people. You''re going to be seated at that table there," Halen pointed to a table near the front of the room. ¡°Obviously, something is going to happen. You need to try to respond to it."

    "You''re not going to tell us what actually is going to happen?" Yan asked.

    "You think life is going to tell you want''s about to happen? No, I''m not going to tell you. Go sit at the table," Halen said roughly.

    Yan headed to the appointed spot, then sat down in between Kino and Sid. The chairs at the table were fairly comfortable. Certainly quite nice for being made of power manipulated air, or whatever the mysterious mechanism that controlled the room was.

    While Halen had his back turned fiddling with the computer controls on the other end of the room, Sid turned to Yan.

    "Ready?" Sid signed.

    Yan shook her head no. "For this? Maybe. For real? No," she signed.

    Sid grinned at her. "It''s exciting."

    "Didn''t somebody say you were responsible for teaching me sign if you wanted to use it?" Kino complained.

    "I''m trying to think of a way to avoid it," Sid said aloud. "I''m a bad teacher."

    "You and some others," Yan muttered under her breath. As she said this, bodies flickered into appearance around the room, and the sound of music and lively chatter filled up the space.

    "What are we supposed to be looking for?" Yan asked.

    "Anything bad," Kino said. "I just don''t know how long it''s supposed to take."

    "Should we get up?" Yan said, directing this question at Sid, who was standing up from the table.

    Sid shrugged and walked away anyway.

    Yan looked around at the group of computer generated people. Weirdly enough, there was a computer generated version of Sandreas talking to someone, with a computer generated version of Halen standing at his shoulder. The real Halen was still over by the door and the computer terminal, watching the proceedings. Yan watched as Sid meandered through the groups of people standing around and talking or dancing. For the most part they ignored him. He disappeared from view as he walked further into the crowd.

    All of a sudden, though it wasn''t completely unexpected, the sound of gunfire rang out. Yan couldn''t tell exactly where it was coming from, but it sounded muffled, as though it was coming from the next room over. The people in the room stopped their conversation. Some of them turned towards the doors to exit, others seemed frozen in confusion.

    "That''s our cue," Yan said to Kino, and stood up. She started pushing through the people looking for Sid, but the lights went out. That was when the screaming and running started in earnest.

    Yan looked behind her, but in the dark couldn''t see Kino, who she had thought was behind her. "Kino?" Yan yelled out.

    The gunfire sounded again, but much louder this time, as though it was in the room with them. Despite knowing that it was only a simulation, Yan was genuinely scared. A hand landed on Yan''s arm. She jerked around but it was just Kino, holding up the flashlight on her phone to illuminate the area around them.

    "We need to find Sid," Yan tried to push through the crowd of people pressing towards the exit, looking for Sid.

    "Stop, Yan, you won''t find him like that," Kino said. "If he''s looking for us he''ll come back to the table."

    Yan pulled Kino over to the side, where the press of people was less intense. There was screaming and shouting all around them. "Look out for me for a second, I can''t see anything in here," Yan said. Kino held her arm and Yan closed her eyes.

    She needed to do something that would let her see what was going on. There was no way, right now, that she could use her regular trick of examining people with the power, since these weren''t real people, but she could, at the very least, make it so she could see. Yan held out her hands, and in between them used the power to form a hot ball of light. It was blindingly bright: Yan could see it even through her closed eyes, and scorching her hands. Yan didn''t know of a faster way to produce light other than heating up the air until it burned. She cast it up into the air, and it illuminated the room brightly, casting crazy moving shadows along the walls. At least now they could see what they were doing.

    Through the crowd, Yan saw Sid''s face, the light glinting off his glasses and sharp teeth. He came to them, pressing sideways through the crowd. By now it was obvious that the doors were not opening, and people were getting crushed in the mad pushing against them. Sid pointed at the stage at the front of the room.

    Yan turned and looked. There was a man standing there, holding a large gun, aiming at the crowd of people. Several other armed men flanked him, wearing facemasks. The first man was yelling something unintelligible above the screams of the crowd. He fired several shots up in the air, but that only made people yell louder. Yan still couldn''t hear him over the noise in the hall, but she realized one thing: by his standing on the stage, all the exits were blocked.

    She had to only assume that no help was coming, and that there was no way out. Not just because this was a simulation that Halen must have chosen on purpose, but because the doors were blocked and there was no security force rushing in to take back control of the hall. Considering that they were within one of the most secure buildings on the planet, something must have gone very, very wrong in this situation.

    Up on the stage, one of the armed men was pointing at the light sphere that Yan had cast up into the sky and then gesturing to the man standing next to him. Maybe, Yan thought, setting such a thing up had been a mistake, because as much visibility as it allowed her, it also allowed their attackers the same. And it let them know that there were more sensitives in the hall, making them high priority targets. Wearing their uniforms, Yan, Kino, and Sid were all quite recognizable as sensitives.

    The man who had been pointing at the light scanned the room. Yan''s heart leaped into her throat when his gaze settled on them, the only three people not frantically trying to pound down the doors, hide, or otherwise escape. They were also the only three people wearing the classic apprentice''s uniform. He aimed his gun at them.

    "Look out!" Yan yelled. She grabbed Kino''s arm and hauled her down to the floor. The sound of gunfire came from the stage, but Yan didn''t process it. She and Kino crawled under a nearby table. Sid ended up underneath a different one, with a better vantage point of the stage.

    "Turn that light out, Yan!" Sid yelled across to her. "Why''d you do that?"

    "So I could find you, you idiot!" Yan yelled back. Kino punched her arm.

    "Don''t argue, just do it," Kino hissed into her ear.

    Yan focused her power for a second, then destroyed her light sphere in the air above them. The room was again plunged into darkness.

    "Now what?" Yan said to Kino.

    "We get out from under these tables before they send somebody to find us. Then we need to find a way to stop this," Kino said.

    Sid''s glasses glowed eerily underneath the adjacent table. "Should we split up?" He asked.

    "No," Yan said emphatically. "We stick together." She crawled out slightly from underneath the table and tried to look at what was happening.

    Several of the armed men had left the stage and were walking around the room. Some were separating out groups of the scared party goers by the door, forcing them to sit down. She watched as a woman tried to yank the gun out of one attacker''s hands, but was shot down by another. Bile rose in her throat.

    Yan reached into the pocket of her cassock, and pulled out the gun that was holstered there. She flicked the safety off and put her finger on the trigger. Kino saw what she was doing and put her hand on Yan''s shoulder, then pointed to a different place in the room. One of the groups of armed men was knocking over tables, checking for people hiding underneath.

    Yan changed where she was aiming. Set up the power structure, think about where the bullet should go, she commanded herself. Make it a straight line connecting the tip of the gun to his head. Yan breathed in, held up the gun, and fired. She felt it ring down the line of power, pushing and pulling as her original shot went far wide, but was guided into place. One of the men collapsed.

    Kino, ready beside her, did the same a half second later. A second man fell down. The other three men in the group immediately took cover, as soon as they realized what was happening.

    "Let''s get out of these tables," Yan said. She crawled backwards towards the eastern wall of the room. Kino and Sid followed.

    "Should we try to pick off more of them?" Kino asked.

    "Yeah, but they know where we are, we have to find a different position," Yan said. She heard more gunfire somewhere else in the room, but she couldn''t see what was going on from underneath the confusion of tables and chairs. "Let''s get towards the snack tables."

    "Are we trying to escape or are we trying to stop this?" Kino asked.

    "I don''t know," Yan said. They reached the edge of the dinner tables that had been covering them, and there was a wide gap between that and the snack tables at the edges of the room. Yan looked at what was going on. There were fewer people trying to escape, now that the attackers had gone down into the crowd and were sectioning people off. There was less screaming, too, but occasionally gunfire would sound and cause new panic to set in. Bodies, some with obvious gunshot wounds, some who looked as though they had been trampled, lay on the floor.

    "In three seconds, let''s make a run for those tables," Kino said.

    She held up three fingers. Two fingers. One. Zero. The trio scrambled up and dashed towards the long tables near the wall.

    The movement attracted the attention of some of the gunmen in the dim room, and they shouted and fired at them. Kino screamed, a horrible sound, and dove under one of the tables, clutching her arm. Yan slid under the table, and with Sid, knocked it forward to form at least a semblance of a shield. She ducked behind it.

    "They shot me, they fucking shot me," Kino whispered.

    She was clutching her arm. Yan couldn''t see any blood, at first, since Kino''s cassock was black, but then she noticed a trail of it running down over Kino''s limp fingers.

    Yan held her gun tightly in her hand. She peeked up above the edge of the table. A bullet whizzed over her head and several others slammed into the table. She ducked back behind and saw Sid, with his eyes closed, pressing his hands against the underside surface of the table. In all the confusion and in the weird thrum of the simulation room she hadn''t noticed that he was using the power.

    Kino was incapacitated, and Sid was using the power to reinforce the table and protect them, so it was up to Yan to take care of the rest. She peeked out from behind the table again, held up the gun, and fired on one of the masked attackers. He fell. More people started shooting at her, and she ducked back down.

    She didn''t want to get shot. Yan knew she could hold two power structures in place at once. She imagined a larger one. A big triangle of power, with one hole in the very tip. Just like the power structure that would redirect her own bullets if they were off course, she made this one to redirect incoming bullets along its sides, away from the group. Specifically, she made it to redirect anything moving within a certain range of speeds, since she figured the bullets the attackers were firing were made of air or, she didn''t really know what. Either way, she knew they would hurt. Yan didn''t have the time to think of how to make it allow bullets to pass through in one direction, hence the hole that she would just have to shoot through. Unfortunately, this would mean that Sid, who had no way of knowing where the hole was, couldn''t help her. But it would free him up to help Kino.

    Since his eyes were closed, she nudged him with her elbow. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

    "I''ve got this," Yan said. "You help Kino." Sid nodded and turned to Kino, who was looking extremely pale and shaking.

    Yan focused on holding the gun steady, keeping her power lines up, and getting this simulation over with. Now that Kino was wounded, there was an actual imperative to finish this. She was burning up with anger that Halen hadn''t stopped the program as soon as Kino was hurt, or better yet, made it safer in the first place, but she tried to push all that aside.

    Aim, power, shoot. Make sure the target went down. Find the next target. She felt sick watching the bullets hit their targets, but the two things that kept her going was knowing that it was a simulation, and knowing that she needed to get out to get Kino help.

    As she fought back against the armed attackers, several of them started coming towards her. But her unerring aim, thanks to the power, and their inability to hit her made them easy targets. Even when a few tried using some of the hapless dinner guests as human shields, Yan just altered her power structure to curve the bullets around.

    She was numb, methodical, and ruthless. When she ran out of bullets in her own gun, she traded out for Kino''s, and then Sid''s. When Sid''s gun clicked emptily in her hand, Yan summoned a gun from one of the fallen attackers. It flew into her hands and she continued shooting, though she had to modify the way she was using the power to account for the not-quite-real bullets the attackers guns had.

    One of the attackers, seeing that bullets weren''t getting through to the group sheltering behind the table, pulled out what looked to Yan an awful lot like a grenade and threw it in her general direction. Yan used the power to redirect its path into one of the least populated parts of the room, and did her best to surround it with the same power that kept the bullets away from her group. She was only partly successful, and the grenade went off with a bang that scattered debris everywhere, but none of it went anywhere near her.

    Though she had to be constantly mindful of that sort of intrusion, it got easier and easier as fewer and fewer assailants remained, and most of them concentrated at getting as protected from her as possible. If Yan saw where they went, she curved her shots in the best approximation she could, and sometimes saw them hit bodies.

    After some amount of time, Yan lost track, a silence fell over the room. Everything seemed to freeze in place, and then dissolve into nothingness. The gun Yan was holding in her hand faded away. The lights came back on.

    Yan was left kneeling in the center of the training room, Kino and Sid next to her. Kino was unconscious. Sid had taken off his cassock and was using it to staunch the blood coming out of Kino''s arm. His white button down had a bloody handprint on it. The three empty handguns that Yan had used were laying discarded on the ground. The real bullets that Yan had shot were scattered around.

    Across the room, Yan met Halen''s eyes.

 Chapter Eighteen - Debrief and Disrobe

    Debrief and Disrobe

    <blockquote>

    ¡°In my mind there is a thought that comes creeping every night. Take the water, take the pill, this will make you feel alright. Save me from myself, Oh God! Save me from my own delights. But save me from the pain as well, it drives me, drives me, drives me...¡±

    -from ¡°My Venom¡±, spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan scrambled to her feet.

    "What the FUCK?" She yelled. "You could have killed us!"

    Halen didn''t respond, and instead walked slowly towards the group. Yan''s fists were clenched. She stood stiffly. The only thing that stopped her from running and punching Halen in his face was the fact that Kino needed medical attention. That was more important than Yan taking out the anger that was now able to be released.

    As Halen came closer, Yan walked away. She stalked across the room, watching what Halen did from the corner of her eye. He knelt down, exchanged quiet words with Sid, took a knife from his pocket, and cut away the sleeve of Kino''s uniform and button down. Halen''s bulk shielded Yan from the sight of Kino''s mangled arm. Yan felt the power respond to Halen as he placed his hands on Kino.

    She was grateful that he was healing Kino, but she was unbearably angry that she had been wounded in the first place. That wasn''t... She didn''t think that was supposed to happen.

    After a long time, Halen stood up. His face was shining with sweat. Having the concentration to perform delicate work wasn''t easy, and the power was hard to control when using it on living things, people in particular. Yan had come up against the edge of that herself when she had worked on her final project, the fishbowl, which seemed so long ago. The complexity and the lifelike nature of it made it difficult to control. Kino was an actual living person. The light of the divine in her probably fought against Halen''s intrusion, even if he was healing her.

    Yan had been pacing in the corner of the room.

    "Come over here, Yan," Halen said. "It''s ok." His voice, though low, echoed in the empty room.

    Yan had no desire to do anything of the sort, but she couldn''t disobey a direct command. She stalked over. Sid was still sitting on the ground, holding Kino''s head in his lap. Yan could see the glint of something gold clutched in one of Kino''s hands.

    The sleeve that had been cut off from Kino''s uniform was discarded on the ground, along with Sid''s bloody cassock. Kino''s bare arm was healed, though the place where the bullet had passed through was an ugly red. Yan suspected it would scar up. She was still unconscious for some reason. Maybe Sid had knocked her out earlier.

    "Kino''s fine," Halen said again. "Are you?"

    "Am I fine?" Yan asked, her voice feeling detached to begin with, made even worse by the sound of it echoing back to her. "You could have killed her."

    "I wouldn''t have let it go that far," Halen said.

    "I don''t believe you," Yan said dully. "You let it go too far already."

    "Kino is fine, Yan." His face twisted up in an expression that Yan couldn''t understand. "The situation was programmed so that all shots would be non lethal. It was all controlled: even if you jumped in the path of a bullet the computer would alter its trajectory in real time," Halen said. "It was a fairly minor wound."

    "But it still happened," Yan said. "And you made us keep going."

    "In a real situation-" Halen started.

    "This wasn''t a real situation!" Yan shouted. Her own words jumped out, surprising her. "This was fake, and you let her get hurt anyway!"

    "Yan," Sid said from the floor. "Take a deep breath." He was absently petting Kino''s head, his hands still covered in drying blood. He sounded as shaken as he could sound, but Yan didn''t want to hear it from him. Their usual, or as usual as they could be, for having known each other for less than a week, roles were reversed. The defiant Sid was sitting quietly, and the obedient Yan was yelling at her boss. The usually twitchy Kino was unnaturally still, still unconscious on the floor.

    Yan started to cry. She felt totally numb inside, but tears poured out of her eyes and she was choking on the lump in her throat. She just stood there and sobbed. Halen and Sid watched her. Halen looked distinctly uncomfortable. Sid couldn''t move, as he was still holding Kino''s head, but he reached out a tendril of his power as a comforting and wordless gesture to Yan. This only made her cry harder.

    She felt like a little girl again, feeling herself trapped in two dark rooms: one on a spaceship watching cargo be loaded in and out of bays, one here in the simulation room hearing the sounds of gunfire and seeing Kino bleeding out beside her.

    "I''m sorry, Yan," Halen said finally. "I should have warned you that it was dangerous."

    "I couldn''t," Yan hiccoughed, "I didn''t stop her from getting hurt."

    "You did ok, Yan. You did ok," Halen said. He reached out awkwardly to pat her shoulder, but Yan yanked herself away from him.

    On the floor, Kino made a groaning noise. Sid looked down at her in surprise and took his hand off her head. She blinked up at him owlishly.

    "Are we done training?" Kino asked, sounding hoarse. "God, I''m thirsty. Heh, my arm''s naked." Kino strung these statements together without pause, sounding strange.

    Yan stared at her blankly. Kino struggled to extract herself from Sid''s lap and sat up.

    "Kino," Halen said, "would you mind telling me what''s in your hand?"

    Kino looked at both her hands, then held them up. "My locket," she said. A golden chain with a dangling open locket was in her uninjured one.

    "And what was in the locket?" Halen asked.

    Kino giggled hysterically. "That''s for me to know," she said.

    Yan was still quietly choking back tears. Now that Kino was awake and off his lap, Sid stood up and stretched.

    "What''s going on with her?" Sid asked Halen.

    "Did you see her do something with that locket, during the simulation?" Halen asked. Sid shook his head no.

    "She''s high," Halen said. "There must have been a dose of Vena in that locket. Pretty bold move to carry it around with her, I''ll admit."

    "Noooooooo," Kino said dreamily.

    "She''s coming out of it now that she''s awake," Halen said. "I wiped most of it from her system when I healed her."

    "What?" Yan rubbed her face on her sleeve, making an ugly mess of it. "This is too much."

    "She had a right idea, honestly," Halen said. "Vena is a massive painkiller. If it didn''t also make her pass out it might have been good."

    "How much longer will it take for this to wear off?" Sid asked.

    "Ten minutes? I got rid of most of it." Halen guessed. "Look, there''s a bathroom two doors down the hallway that way. Yan, Sid, go get yourselves cleaned up. I''ll stay with her."

    Yan gave Halen a look that clearly said that she didn''t trust him with Kino for a single second, but she trudged after Sid anyway. The promised bathroom was a unisex affair, with just a single stall. Yan held the door open for Sid and they went in together. It wasn''t as though either of them actually had to pee, they just had to get some of the blood off of Sid and the tears off Yan''s face.

    "I think this shirt is a lost cause," Sid said aloud, untucking his white button down from his pants. There was still a red handprint on it.

    Yan sniffled and splashed some water on her face in the sink. Looking in the mirror her eyes were bright red and her face appeared haggard. Yan stepped away from the sink and pulled her cassock off over her head, short cape and all. Wordlessly she handed it to Sid.

    "So you don''t go around scaring people," she signed. Her own white button down was still clean, even if the armpits were soaked with nervous sweat. At least it didn''t have bloodstains all over it.

    Sid put on the offered garment. It was comically large on him, the bottom of it pooling up around his feet. Still, it was better than what he had.

    "Thanks," he signed. He shuffled awkwardly over to the sink and started to wash himself up. The water pouring down into the drain turned a dark red. He wasn''t looking directly at Yan, but he could see her in the mirror.

    "Sorry for before," Yan signed. "I didn''t mean to..." She still didn''t know what she was feeling, let alone the sign to express it, so she just waved her hands somewhat frantically, gesturing at her whole self.

    Sid gave her a look with raised eyebrows in the mirror. He was still washing his hands so he didn''t respond. He shut off the water and turned around.

    "It''s ok," he signed. "You probably had a normal reaction. I don''t know what normal is supposed to be."

    Yan choked out a laugh and nodded.

    "Thank you for doing all the shooting," Sid signed. "You did most of the work."

    "I had no idea what I was doing," Yan signed. "I don''t think I did a good job."

    "You did better than I did," Sid replied.

    "I knew I had to keep going so that Halen would stop," Yan signed. Sid nodded.

    "You must have done enough," Sid signed. "You ready to go back out?"

    Yan glanced at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were still red, but there was nothing she could do about that. She was feeling slightly calmer, now that she wasn''t in the same room as Halen, and she felt slightly more prepared to go back. She nodded.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Sid smiled at her and held open the bathroom door. Her too long sleeves flopped over his hands.

    "You''re so little," Yan signed.

    Sid had to push the sleeves back up to respond. "You''re too tall."

    Yan stuck her tongue out at him. The pair shuffled back down the hallway. Yelling at Halen, crying, and then talking to Sid had made Yan feel a little bit better. They reentered the simulation room.

    Halen and Kino were sitting on the floor, not very close to each other. Kino seemed much more lucid than she had before, and the two were having a conversation. They looked up when Sid and Yan entered the room.

    Kino was twisting the chain of her empty locket around her fingers.

    "Are you feeling better, Kino?" Yan asked as they approached.

    "I''m fine," Kino said. "Are you ok?"

    Yan frowned. "I''m ok."

    Halen looked at her. "I''m sorry for earlier, Yan."

    Yan was feeling better enough that she wasn''t going to start yelling at him again, but she wasn''t happy. She scowled and scuffed her foot on the ground. "Whatever," she muttered under her breath.

    "Take a seat for a minute," Halen said. "I know you want to get out of here, but I do want to debrief this before I let you go."

    Reluctantly, Yan slid down onto the floor to sit next to Kino. Sid sat next to her on the other side. Sid knocked her elbow with his, a simple and reassuring gesture.

    "I took some notes while I watched you," Halen said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. "Before I talk about that, though, I want you to tell me what you thought of your own performance, and what you could do to improve. In general terms. We won''t do this particular scenario again, so try to think of things that are widely applicable."

    Halen looked at Sid, who was in the best state of the three of them, by about a mile.

    "Me?" Sid asked. "I could have communicated better. I walked off without telling Yan and Kino where I was going," Sid shrugged. "Yan did most of the work. I could have started shooting, too."

    Halen nodded. "Kino?"

    "Don''t get shot, next time. I should have been more proactive with defending myself," Kino said.

    "Yan?"

    "Just what Kino said, be more aware of defense," Yan muttered, looking down at the ground.

    "None of you are wrong," Halen started. "Sid, communication is a major issue with you, and I don''t doubt that it will continue to be in the future. Kino and Yan, I agree that you should have started defending yourselves as soon as things started going wrong. But let''s go into more specifics." Halen consulted the piece of paper he was holding. Yan caught a glimpse of extremely messy handwriting, or possibly code.

    "First of all, I''d say if you three are in a situation together, unless you discuss it beforehand and make some sort of real plan, you should stick together. You''re stronger together than on your own. Sid, your curiosity is great, but you need to be practical. Obviously, at the real party, or in most situations, you don''t need to be glued to each other at all times. But here you were explicitly told that something would be happening. If you know it''s going to be dangerous, you should stick together. Got it?" Halen asked.

    "Yeah, I get it," Sid said. He vainly tried to roll Yan''s too long sleeves up his arms and keep them cuffed there.

    "That goes for the both of you, too. You could have tried harder to get Sid to stick with you. Don''t be afraid to speak up," Halen said. Yan was still looking down at the ground, so she wasn''t entirely sure if he was addressing her or Kino.

    "Ok," Yan muttered.

    Why were they doing this? Talking it over seemed useless. She wanted to do nothing more than go back to her apartment and curl up in bed. Well, really what she wanted was to go back up the hill to the Academy, let herself into her shared dorm with Sylva, and watch a mind-numbing movie with her best friend. But that was impossible. Her dorm was empty and no longer hers, and Sylva was on the other side of the continent. That thought alone made Yan''s throat close up with impending tears.

    "Kino and Yan, you both spent a lot of time standing around looking worried before you got to doing anything. Being proactive is a key takeaway for you both," Halen said. Yan nodded mutely and could only assume Kino was doing the same next to her.

    "Yan, making a light wasn''t a bad idea completely, but it did have some major drawbacks. Anything that affects an area like that is just as much of a benefit to your enemies as it is to you. It drew attention to you, which wasn''t ideal. And if you had cast it wrong, which you didn''t, you cast it fine, but you could have set the room on fire, which we do want to try to avoid. I highly recommend you spend some time thinking of different ways you could accomplish the same goals, without providing advantages to your opponents," Halen said.

    Sure, Yan would think about it. Not right now, though. She nodded again, picking some grime off her shoes, looking at the ground with the quiet desperation that continued to build up in her.

    "All three of you: your first instinct was to dodge bullets instead of using the power. You may be used to using the power in everyday situations, but you need to get better of thinking of it as a tool that you should be using in every situation. It is an extension of you, one that will keep you alive when everything else fails," Halen said. "Dodging bullets is only good if the person shooting at you misses. Protecting yourself with the power will work much better."

    "Got it," Sid said.

    "Yan, you did good taking charge of the group when you were behind the long tables. Your offense and defense were both pretty good, though you could do with more variety in the things that you''re able to do. We''ll work on that later, though. For now, though, you did a good job," Halen said.

    "Do any of you have any first aid training?" Halen asked.

    "I do," Sid said.

    Yan nodded. She had been trained aboard the Iron Dreams. Everybody had to be, in case of emergencies.

    "We''re going to get all three of you trained, or re-trained, in basic first aid, and then I''m going to teach you to use the power to supplement that. Keep that in mind as something we will work on going forward," Halen said. "Sid, your first aid was... acceptable. But I would have preferred if you noticed that Kino had taken a highly potent drug."

    "Kino, from this moment on, consider yourself cut off from Vena," Halen said. "You being sober only conditionally is not something that I want to have to worry about." Yan noticed that he didn''t mention at all that it was illegal or dangerous to take Vena. But at this point, Halen''s piratical tendencies were the least of her concerns about the man. Considering they were the reason Yan had disliked him in the first place, it was amazing how much he had just done to earn her distrust.

    "Fine." Kino made a bit of a strangled sound next to her, but she managed to agree to Halen''s demand. Maybe because Halen''s tone brooked no disagreement.

    Yan hadn''t even really processed the fact that Kino was taking Vena in general. She was hearing the words, but the impact of them wasn¡¯t there. There was just too much going on. She was inside her own head, in a bubble that was both numb and dreadfully upset. The temporary relief she had felt from talking with Sid in the bathroom was gone, now that Halen wanted to talk things over with the group.

    "There''s only one other thing that I really wanted to bring up: Yan, you did really well in the simulation, but the moment you got out of it, you totally collapsed. Sometimes, in life, you''re not going to have that luxury. Try to think about what you can do to keep yourself functioning even after the immediate danger has passed. If you don''t know what that is right now, that''s ok."

    Yan looked up at Halen finally. He was looking at her with what seemed like a kind expression, and his words were calm, but Yan wasn''t ready to accept any of that at face value. She just stared at him.

    "That''s all I have," Halen said, finally. "You three are free to go. Take the afternoon off, and we''ll see you in Aymon''s office at eight hours tomorrow."

    "Sounds good," Sid said, clambering up and comically tripping on the too long cassock he was borrowing from Yan. "Come on, Yan." He held out a hand and hauled Yan to her feet. Kino got up behind her.

    "Maybe Yan should have loaned her cassock to you," Sid remarked to Kino dryly, "You''re in much worse of a state than I am."

    Kino just shrugged and pulled off her cassock, then took off her button down, revealing a white tank top underneath. This, at least was unstained and unripped. Although it was severely unprofessional of her to go wandering through Stonecourt wearing just that, it was probably better than the alternative of bloodstained and amputated cassock and button down.

    Halen stayed seated on the floor as the three of them left. That was for the best, as Yan couldn''t bear to be around him any longer. Maybe she would feel better tomorrow.

    The trio walked out of Stonecourt in silence, passing through checkpoints and handing over identification as required. They were all the way out of the building and in the hot summer air, walking down city streets, before any of them said anything else to each other.

    "Does your arm hurt, Kino?" Yan asked, breaking the somewhat uncomfortable silence.

    "No, it doesn''t feel like anything," Kino said. "It''s a little itchy."

    It seemed like Kino was the most comfortable in the weather. Wearing only a tank top, she wasn''t being suffocated by a cassock like Sid or somewhat strangled by a button down like Yan was.

    "Halen did a good job fixing it, I think," Kino said. "I''m sorry that me getting hurt upset you. It was my fault."

    "No, it wasn''t," Yan said. "He should have warned us."

    Kino shrugged. Yan kicked a rock down the sidewalk as the three walked. It rolled in front of Sid and he kicked it further.

    "I''m sorry I freaked out on everyone," Yan said. "I don''t know what''s going on with me today."

    "I''m glad you did," Sid said. "You saved me from having to do it."

    Yan laughed a little. "I would have loved to see you yell at Halen."

    "Oh, Yan, I don''t yell. I talk with my fists," Sid said. Kino cackled and Yan did crack a smile.

    "What are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Kino asked.

    "We should probably look at the memory sticks that Rosario gave us," Sid said.

    "Oh, yeah. I totally forgot about that," Yan said. "Which is amazing, since it was the number one thing on my mind when I woke up this morning."

    "Want to place a bet?" Kino asked.

    "On what?" Yan asked, wary.

    "If, when we get back to the apartment, my stash will be gone," Kino said sadly.

    "There''s no use betting on that, that''s gone for good," Sid said. "I cannot believe you''ve been using Vena, where do you even get that?"

    "There''s plenty of dealers in the city," Kino said. "It was nice while it lasted.¡±

    "Why would you ever take that stuff?" Yan asked, wrinkling her nose. "It''s dangerous, illegal, and a waste of money."

    "It makes me feel calmer," Kino said. "It''s good. But I guess I took too much today."

    "Or it just reacts badly with being shot," Sid said. "I can''t believe you were just bringing it back and forth through every security checkpoint. You''re bolder than I was giving you credit for. No offense," Sid said.

    "It''s not like they were sniffing me out," Kino said. "And Halen knew before, I think."

    "He probably didn''t care because he does the stuff himself," Yan said darkly.

    "I don''t think so," Kino said. "He wouldn''t do anything risky like that."

    "If there''s one thing we do know about him, it''s that he''s dedicated to what he does," Sid said. "For better or for worse."

    "Ugh," Yan said.

    "You''re pretty calm about me having it," Kino said. "Why do you hate Halen so much?"

    "Before today or after today?" Yan asked.

    "Before," Kino clarified. "I don''t understand why you got so upset today, either, since I was the one who actually got shot, but, you know. Before."

    "Spacers hate pirates. That''s just how it is," Yan said, sighed, and elaborated. "A few years before I was born, the Iron Dreams, my family''s ship, was boarded by pirates. A lot of my family died. It was how our captain, Pellon, became the captain: the one before him was killed in the fighting and he was elected in the aftermath. That''s how my grandmother died. A family doesn''t forget things like that."

    "I''m sorry," Kino said.

    "Like I said, it happened before I was born. It happens on spacer ships all the time. We were one of the lucky ones: we were able to save our ship," Yan said. "Pirates are bloodthirsty and dangerous. Nothing Halen has done has convinced me that isn''t true." Yan kicked the pebble further down the sidewalk.

    They were approaching their apartment building. They let themselves in the front door. Yan waved at the man at the desk, who let the ragtag looking group up into the elevator. Standing in the hallway outside their apartments, Sid stripped off the cassock that Yan had loaned him.

    "You are just too tall," he signed after handing it over. Yan, hands now full, just shrugged.

    "Are we doing anything later?" Kino asked.

    "I''m going to look at my book of secrets, then take a nap. After that, if you guys wanted to do dinner, we could do that," Yan said. "Oh, Sid, you keep your head shaved, do you do it yourself or do you go to a barber?" Yan asked this out loud.

    "I do it myself," Sid signed back. "Do you want to be bald too?"

    Yan shook her head. "No, just want it to get cut a little. I''ll have to find a barber today. Maybe that''s what I''ll do with my afternoon, instead of sleeping."

    "Well, text me if you want to hang out," Kino said, walking over to her door and unlocking it. "I''ll be here."

    Sid nodded. "I have things to work on," he signed to Yan. "I''ll let you know," he said aloud to Kino, who smiled at his acknowledgement.

    The three apprentices went their own ways, each into their own apartments, to spend the afternoon in their own way. Yan chose to learn the secrets of the universe.

 Interlude: The Book of Secrets

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Blessed Lord of the universe, who created the living and who cares for the dead, illuminate our own history and guide us on Your path.¡±

    -from ¡°Fleet Apprentice Onboarding Manual¡±, version 4.1.3.0, IKRB

    </blockquote>

    Exerpt from Yan BarCarran''s private notes

    BOOK of SECRETS!

    (am I even allowed to write this out? I¡¯ll keep it safe lol)

    ORIGINS OF HUMANITY

    (in the beginning there was light, and God¡¯s hand moved over the light¡­ ETC)

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">We don¡¯t come from Edden?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Where do we come from then?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Why bother telling people that life came from Edden if we just come from yet another destroyed planet¡­ Could have just said that in the first place</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">How did it get destroyed? How do we know it got destroyed?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">I guess because if it wasn¡¯t destroyed we would have found it again?</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Did we save /all/ the animals and plants from it?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Have they changed since leaving this ancestral home?</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Directly contradicts the doctrine that God scattered us to the stars @ the beginning of time but that was always one of the metaphorical ones anyway</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">God scattering ppl to stars still happened, just not a literal physical thing</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Makes sense. </li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">We have to extrapolate what the planet was like based on what we are like / what conditions we are best suited to</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Understand day/night cycle</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">¡®Mild¡¯ can mean anything in terms of climate?</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Basically means we couldn¡¯t have terraformed our own planet before we had that capability, so look at planets we didn¡¯t have to terraform to compare what conditions we could have lived under</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">God sheltered ancestral home from disaster to allow life to develop</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">No evidence of sentient life anywhere else in universe</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">We must actively protect our own colonies from disaster</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">God gave us time to allow sentience to develop, formed slowly from the dirt/clay of that old home</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Kinda want more info on this? But I¡¯m not a xenobio person anymore so it¡¯s not super relevant :/ </li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Crazy to think of people travelling through space without stardrives. Horrible. </li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">So people from the ancestral home settled all these other planets and they didn¡¯t know eachother, and none of them had stardrives or ansibles, so they all just created their own societies</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">How much of the cultures on those planets are carry overs from different groups on the ancestral home? Or did everybody diverge from one common point?</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Galena, terlin!!!, minglian, almanzil, keppar are all pretty different places</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Cool to think that my family comes from one of these ¡®original¡¯ colonies</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">It says ¡®surviving colonial worlds¡¯ were there others that aren¡¯t surviving?</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Seems like a pretty small amount of colonies tbh</li>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">How DID stardrives develop? </li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Everyone developed them simultaneously without contact? Or maybe one person developed it then was able to spread the idea </li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Population explosion led to discovery of the power makes sense</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">We literally don¡¯t know so many things from back then. This whole document is like ¡°from the archaeological evidence we can posit¡± uuuuuuuugh</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Why do we have so many gaps in what we know when there are a bunch of these planets that still exist? What happened that we have to rely on digging up old farming equipment to figure out what is going on</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Of course as soon as stardrives get invented everybody starts making their own colonies lol. Everybody loves to make colonies ig. Really the running theme of this whole document is like ¡°and then everybody started making colonies on other planets¡±</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">So when all of those isolated colonies discovered eachother it was a big mess?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">I guess if you¡¯re that close to eachother (in space terms¡­) then it¡¯s easy to accidentally try to colonize the same planets. Whoops.</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">There¡¯s really not that many desirable planets out there, compared to the number of planets there /are/</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Edden probably told everybody ¡®hey we originally colonized you now you must obey us¡¯ even if that was a lie</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">We Just Don¡¯t Know Though Because Something Bad Happened</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Anyway Edden ended up on top and that¡¯s why we have such a unified empire today, sorta</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Even though the Edden empire is gone it¡¯s like¡­ we benefited from them spreading their ideas and language to all those other planets, and colonizing a ton of worlds.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Lot of this is common knowledge with new flavor (ie before we were told that edden was the original colony, now we know that they were not [how do we know that, actually?] slightly more information about how edden molded the other colonies to its will)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">A ton of stuff was lost from the ancient past until now but it¡¯s cool that we do have this ability to trace back our lineage at least a bit</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Edden must have had a strong military to be able to take over like that. Good on them for making infrastructure too lol. Can¡¯t run a govt without ansibles and mines and ships</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Was old imperial invented during this time or was it edden¡¯s native language?</li>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Colonies that didn¡¯t fall to the edden empire? This is new info...</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">:O</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Mutiny!!!!!!!!!! The Edden Star ship!!!!!</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Found group of people on newly discovered planet and warned them of the edden empire</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Don¡¯t know if that¡¯s brave or stupid</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Hey if anyone (whoever Halen sent to spy on me) is reading this I change my mind I think it¡¯s stupid ; )</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">I mean they did all literally get killed when they came home and told everybody what they did sooooo</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">(why did they do that? That actually is dumb)</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">That planet got to defend itself against the edden empire when edden came looking for them, banded together with other!!! Undiscovered colonies and fought </li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Edden empire couldn¡¯t back down even tho those other colonies were stronger so in that fighting edden was destroyed </li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">God stardrives are scary shit</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">But why did entire empire collapse?</li>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">God that¡¯s just like Sid¡¯s stupid fear statue thing. Fuck. </li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">They sent people to each planet and messed with everybody¡¯s mind</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Must have been awful like.</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">I can just imagine that one sensitive created this big lightning storm over the whole planet to draw everyone¡¯s attention</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Make it rhythmic for good measure</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">And then the other sends out the commands</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Was the command just to destroy everything related to the edden empire? Or maybe it had to be more general than that</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Like they could have just made everybody distrust eachother and that would lead to total societal collapse</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Like everybody just started destroying shit. Glad i wasn¡¯t there for it. </li>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">You wouldn¡¯t even have to land on the planet in order to mess it up so bad. You really only need to be a good sensitive in orbit. yikes.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Is there a way to avoid this ever happening again?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">There are things you can do to prevent yourself from joining the group meditation, maybe we should be teaching people how to survive something like this?</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Do we not do it because we don¡¯t want to scare them or?</li>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">How did we get to where we are after all that?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">All the sensitives were off planet manufacturing stardrives and ansibles. Truly classic. </li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">So they survived the mass attacks even tho they would have been more!!! Susceptible than avg</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Anyone in a ship also survived unscathed also</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Charges Rule Everything Around Me</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Of course the trade guild came out on top of this lol</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">If you have ships and infrastructure to pull things together after everybody else has gone crazy, that¡¯s great, that¡¯s a lot of power.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Still took a long time for things to get reestablished tho. Kinda a dark age</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Trade guild establishes home for sensitives to train them to build stardrives (classic)</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">But of course somebody was eventually going to say ¡®you know that doing nothing but making stardrives all the time sucks right¡¯ and start to form independent entities from what the tg wants.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Like how could you not predict that</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">When you have like¡­ a ton of powerful people all gathered together and you¡¯re basically just like paying them a living wage to give you the tools to rule the galaxy</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Like¡­ what did you think would happen</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">I mean i love(d?) being in the trade guild but that¡¯s¡­ just. How did the edden empire not have this problem lol</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">And that¡¯s how the modern empire was founded lol</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">It really makes sense why we have the trade guild there, because i mean they were the ones who actually brought some semblance of stability during those long dark times before the empire really established itself</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Like it took generations for sensitives to get together, found schools, get themselves out from under the trade guild¡¯s watch, build public systems (ie ansibles controlled by sensitives rather than the guild), work their way into govvt on all the planets, then come together to form the actual governing body we have</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">No wonder so much was forgotten / lost about the old times like. Not only did it get intentionally destroyed it also was just a long time!</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Plus some info did get deliberately buried like. The exact specifics of why the edden empire collapsed: no one knows about those other colonies that are still out there, no one knows that in order to completely destabilize a whole planet all you need is a few sensitives</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">I can understand why we don¡¯t talk about some of that lol. It¡¯s gonna give me nightmares</li>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Anyway it makes sense that the empire is structured like it is</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Trade guild is basically independent</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Planets have their own govts but send reps to the imperial council</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Emperor rules the empire</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">(tho like. Weirdly secretly. Anyway mostly symbolic ig b/c Sandreas is def in charge)</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Line of succession for voice is based on practices that were based in the academy tradition</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">There is back and forth possible btwn imperial council and voice but yk who really is more powerful, councilhead or voice </li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Plus all judiciary stuff falls to the fleet courts for anything that¡¯s not govrnd by planetary law, and the voice directs the fleet idk</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Like this whole system obvs evolved directly from what happened aftr the destruction of the edden empire</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">But the war?</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">God I do not want to read all this stuff about battles¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Whatever we¡¯re fighting those other colonies who are still out there!!! And they destroyed the edden empire so we can¡¯t let that happen again to us</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Plus if they¡¯re sitting on planets that don¡¯t need 50 yrs of terraforming that doesn¡¯t hurt to take those</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Ig i kinda understand why it¡¯s secret like. You don¡¯t want that knowledge to be floating around.</li>

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">People would panic if they thought that smbody could come and just destroy their whole society with a thought. Imean i¡¯m not really happy about it tbh</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">And the fleet does actually do terraforming n exploring and stuff so it¡¯s not technically a lie that that¡¯s what everybody thinks they do</li>

    </ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">GOD I DON¡¯T want to read about 600 yrs of battles or whatever like. If that becomes relevant Ill come back to this at some point. But i think i got the jist.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400"></li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400"></li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400"></li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Also Halen if you''re reading this: I hate you.</li>

    </ul>

 Chapter Nineteen - A Return to the City

    A Return to the City

    <blockquote>

    ¡°If Jenne plays the music and Jon sings along then we¡¯ll dance through the watch with a laugh and a song. We¡¯ll drink and be merry for all that we¡¯re worth, for it is the day of our good friend¡¯s birth.¡±

    - from ¡°Happy Birthday¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan stopped reading. There was still more to the document, but it looked as though it was going to go into significant detail about past battles and operations, and she didn''t have the heart to go through that at the moment. She had a pen and paper in front of her, and had been taking increasingly distressed notes through the entire time she had been reading, mainly writing down her thoughts on the information that she had been given.

    All of that would have to be kept locked up in the secret room where she was sitting, curled up on the carpeted floor, having abandoned the desk chair for the ability to sprawl out at will as she pored over the document she had been trusted with. She pulled the data stick out of the tablet she had been reading it on, and stood up off the floor, stretching. She was wearing only her undershirt and pajama pants, having discarded her sweaty and dirty laundry immediately after returning to her apartment from that awful "training session" with Halen.

    She was still mad about it, or still feeling something, at least. She couldn''t stop thinking about the chaos of the darkened room, and what she had done inside of it. Though Kino seemed all right, or as all right as Kino had ever seemed in the short time that Yan had known her, Yan thought that getting shot should have maybe gotten a stronger reaction out of the girl.

    And what did she even think about the fact that Kino had been using vena? It seemed abstractly repulsive to her. One of her much older cousins had become addicted to the stuff and eventually been told to kick the habit or leave the Iron Dreams, and he had chosen to leave. Still, though Yan found the thought of the stuff distasteful, the idea of Kino using it just felt empty? Like there were no real consequences associated with it.

    If Halen, on the other hand...

    But that must just be because she felt sympathy for Kino, and hatred towards Halen. Kino had the chance to be her friend, at least for the next five years, and Halen seemed determined to remain in troubled emotional territory.

    Yan knew that, having decided to take this apprenticeship, there was nothing she wanted more than the approval of Sandreas, and gaining that approval would be impossible without getting in Halen''s good graces, since the two seemed joined at the hip. But Halen, for every step that he had taken forward in Yan''s eyes (being important to Sandreas, being competent and somewhat scary, abandoning his previous life, trying to talk to her), he had taken about seven steps back (being a pirate in the first place, thinking that he and Yan were anything alike, letting Kino get shot), and Yan hated it.

    She tried to distance herself from the too many thoughts circulating in her head as she tucked the tablet into the drawer of the desk, and locked the data stick into one of the cabinets. Yan clambered out of the secret room hidden in the back of her closet and wandered back into her living room. On the coffee table her phone was blinking, so she checked her notifications.

    Sylva had tried calling her just a few minutes ago, but Yan hadn''t heard the ringing. Yan considered if the time gap between Sylva calling and now was short enough to allow Yan to call back without it being awkward.

    It was Sylva, of course it wouldn''t be awkward. Yan flopped down onto the couch and called Sylva back.

    She picked up immediately.

    "Yan!" Sylva sounded unreasonably excited, but that was probably due to her not having had nearly as troubling of a past few days as Yan had had.

    "Hey," Yan replied, "What''s up?"

    "Nothing, I just wanted to talk," Sylva said. "Are you ok?"

    Sylva''s voice was crackling on the phone.

    "I''ve had a pretty messed up day," Yan said. "What time is it where you are?"

    "Late. Twenty-three hours," Sylva said. "What happened?"

    "Hard to explain. I''m not even sure what I''m allowed to tell you," Yan said.

    "You don''t have to say anything that you can''t. I won''t pry," Sylva said. But there was still an unspoken offer for Sylva to listen to whatever Yan had to say.

    "We have to do this, uh, self defense training," Yan offered, "And while we were doing it Kino, one of the other apprentices, she got shot. She''s ok now, but it was pretty bad."

    "That''s horrible," Sylva said. "How can someone get shot on like the second day of their apprenticeship? I mean, they really should have said that in the job description, like ''Hey, you''re going to be in mortal danger from day one.¡¯"

    "They kinda did," Yan said. "I had an intellectual understanding of what I was signing up for, at least. And it wasn''t mortal danger, no one could have died, really."

    "An intellectual understanding of ''I could get shot doing this job'' and a physical understanding of ''this is what it feels like to get shot'' are two completely different things," Sylva said.

    "Well I still don''t have that," Yan said.

    "Good! Quit while you''re ahead, then!" Sylva said, with much more force than Yan had expected.

    "You want me to quit my apprenticeship?" Yan asked.

    "I take back everything I said about you making a boring old Academy master, you should have gone into safe academics. Nobody ever tries to shoot anybody there!" Sylva said.

    "It''s a little late for that now, I guess." Yan got up off the couch and started to pace around her apartment. The sun was going down outside the window. "I''m going to make the best of this."

    "This is day two of five years, Yan," Sylva said. "That''s... I don''t want to have to be scared for you."

    "It''s day two of the rest of my life," Yan admitted. "One of us three, either me or Sid or Kino, we''re going to take Sandreas''s job someday." She said this in a flat tone, but Sylva responded as if it were a death sentence, which maybe it was.

    "If this is what it''s like then you''re never going to be safe again. How can you live like that?"

    "I''m good at things. You don''t have to worry about me, really. I promise," Yan said. "How is your apprenticeship going?" She tried to change the subject.

    "I might not have to worry about you, but God knows that I will," Sylva said. "My apprenticeship is ok. I have to learn a new language, though, before I can really get into doing the work¡ªI''m on a team that''s checking theological texts coming out of Ampola, so I''m in these intensive language classes to get me up to speed."

    "Sounds exciting," Yan said. "How long is that going to take?"

    "No idea," Sylva said. "A while. It''s not like you can just instantly make somebody learn a language, even if you have another sensitive feeding you knowledge. Kinda. My brain feels like melted cheese at the end of the day. Apparently there¡¯s a bunch of different ways to go about it, but I asked my mentor for the one that involved the least, uh, meditation."

    "You''re getting the language through shared meditation?" Yan asked.

    "Partially?" Sylva said. "That''s part of the goal, anyway, but I''m so bad at meditation, so it really has to be supplemented with other lessons. It would be, anyway, but I think I get more out of the lessons than I do out of the groupthink, you know?"

    "I always liked meditation," Yan said.

    "Yeah, I know, you showoff," Sylva laughed. "It''s ok, I don''t mind, and maybe I''ll get better at it with a lot of intense practice. It just sucks to still be like, even at work where there¡¯s only my mentor and me, to still know that I¡¯m the least good at all the power stuff." Sylva¡¯s lack of confidence in her own skills in the power was well trod ground between them, and Yan didn¡¯t want to dig into that can of worms any more than Sylva already had.

    "Is the goal to be able to get you to think in the language?" Yan asked. "Would the putting it in with meditation make that happen?"

    "I think only practice and constant, daily use makes you think in a language." Sylva said. "But since we''re going to be focusing on theological texts, I don''t know if I''m going to get really, like, the daily language stuff that would let me think in it day in and out. Or even get to be a fluent speaker. Maybe every time I need to say a prayer then Ampolon will pop out, I don''t know."

    "Sounds intense," Yan said. "I remember when I had to get fluent in New Imperial, that wasn''t the easiest."

    "When you came to the Academy? At least you were in good company with pretty much everyone else," Sylva said.

    "You were lucky since you grew up on Emerri you didn''t have to go through that," Yan said.

    "Yeah, but that just means my life has always been incredibly boring. Not all of us have always lived lives of danger and excitement," Sylva said. "I feel like Emerri is the most boring planet in the Empire if you''re not a politician."

    "Probably it is," Yan said. "But it''s the only planet I''ve ever lived on."

    "Heh, yeah. I guess for that it''s not so bad. At least I''m not from an outer colony where it feels like everyone a farmer."

    "Don''t knock farming," Yan said, "It''s a valuable profession."

    "Valuable is one thing, interesting is another," Sylva said.

    "Well then I have interest in no short supply, and you have no right to be mad at me about it," Yan said.

    "I''m not mad. I just... Sorry if I sounded mad," Sylva said. "You''re allowed to stay in your apprenticeship if you want."

    "Allowed?" Yan asked.

    "You know what I mean," Sylva said. "I couldn''t stop you if I tried, but I''m not going to really try."

    "Maybe you could stop me," Yan said.

    "Besides, what would you do if you dropped out of the apprenticeship? You wouldn''t be able to get a new one, I don''t think," Sylva said.

    "I''d just go work on the Iron Dreams," Yan said. "My family would be mad but they''d take me back. I think."

    "And if they didn''t, you could always just go sell your genetic material on the black market," Sylva said. Yan laughed.

    "I could do that," Yan said. "I''d make a fortune and hardly have to do any work."

    "Honestly, why don''t I do that, then I won''t have to do any of this tedious meditating, and language learning, and translating, and all that garbage." Sylva yawned loudly over the phone. "I just woke up from a nap and now I''m tired again. Why am I cursed like this?"

    "It is pretty late where you are. Probably you only woke up from your ''nap'' because you''re hungry or have to pee or something," Yan said pragmatically.

    "You are so right. I''m eating an instant pizza right now," Sylva said.

    "Healthy diet choices, I see."

    "You see nothing," Sylva said with a laugh. "And anyway, who are you to judge, miss ''I''ve never grocery shopped in my life?''"

    "I can judge all I like, safe in the knowledge that I only eat the choicest of delivery pizza, rather than instant microwave meals," Yan said, putting a false haughty tone in her voice. Joking with Sylva was actually managing to lift her mood, which was a great blessing. Now that they were talking, Yan realized just how hungry she was. She hadn''t had lunch, and since the sun was going down, it meant she hadn''t eaten in about eleven hours. The whole day had been so full of things that it hadn''t really entered fully into her consciousness that she needed to have a meal.

    "Tomorrow''s Sixday, do you get that off?" Yan asked, somewhat abruptly.

    "No, I get Foursday and Sevensday off, and I have a half day on Twosday," Sylva said. "But other than that I''m full time. I feel so legitimate."

    "You''ve become a regular old adult, how boring," Yan joked.

    "I know, it''s so, so sad," Sylva said. "What about you?"

    "My schedule is really random, I think. It''s more of a ''whenever I''m needed'' type basis. Since we''re basically following around First Sandreas it''s a real mystery. A lot of important political stuff seems to happen at dinners, so we only get nights off sometimes."

    "I guess that makes sense. Let me know if you are going to get a vacation, though, so you can come visit meeee," Sylva said.

    "I just started the job two days ago, I don''t think I can start planning any vacations yet."

    "Well, I know, I''m just saying. I miss you."

    "I miss you, too." Yan said. "I promise I''ll come visit when I do get a week off. Four days, even."

    "Good." There was relative silence over the phone for a second as Yan heard Sylva take a bite of her pizza. "I''ll do the same thing."

    "You should probably go back to bed," Yan said. "If you''re as tired as you say you are."

    "Let me finish my pizza first," Sylva said. "I''m thinking you''re trying to get rid of me or something."

    "No!" Yan said. "Well, I do have to go find some dinner for myself. But that can wait until we''re done talking."

    "Is this going to be a good time for us to talk in the future?" Sylva asked. "I can try to be slightly more awake if we want to make this our time."

    Yan thought for a minute. "Uh, maybe? I''m probably going to be busy a lot of nights, but on nights that I''m not busy then probably. It''s pretty inconvenient to not have a real schedule. I can try to call earlier."

    "Well that''s fine, just let me know," Sylva said. "What are you going to get for dinner?"

    "Dunno. I''ll see if Sid and Kino want to go out and get anything, or if they''re busy with their own stuff."

    "Do you like them? Kino and Sid?" Sylva asked, an odd tone in her voice.

    "They''re ok, I guess. They''ll definitely take some getting used to. Sandreas managed to pick some pretty weird people to be his apprentices."

    "Are you the most normal one of the bunch?" Sylva asked. Yan laughed.

    "Maybe? I don''t know. Like I just don''t know enough about Kino and Sid to tell. Maybe I''m less surface level odd than they are, but we''re probably the same level of weird deep down."

    "You''re the most normal person I know," Sylva said.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "That''s a funny joke," Yan said. "I only do my best to pretend to be normal." Despite the light tone that Yan put on those words, she was unfortunately telling the complete truth, which Sylva knew.

    "Fake it till you make it," Sylva said.

    "Shake it till you break it," Yan responded.

    "Now you''re just saying nonsense," Sylva grumbled.

    "A service I am only too happy to provide," Yan said.

    "I''m going back to bed."

    "Goodnight," Sylva said. "Let me know when you can talk again."

    "I''ll be busy tomorrow, but maybe Sevensday?" Yan said.

    "Sure. Love you," Sylva said, yawning again.

    "Love you right back," Yan said. "Have a good time at work tomorrow."

    "You too. Stay safe," Sylva said.

    "I will. Bye, Sylva." Yan said. They were stretching out the end of the conversation, both reluctant to hang up on the other.

    "Byeeeeeeeee," Sylva said. Sylva was the one who eventually decided to end the call, stretching out her last word until she hit the hang up button, and Yan was left with just silence on the line.

    Talking to Sylva had been good, but it was only a temporary cure for the massive confusion Yan was feeling. It actually left her feeling even more empty, as though she had temporarily been filled up with brightness, and then all of it had poured out again as the conversation ended.

    And she was still hungry. Yan texted Sid and Kino.

    > want to get dinner?

    Sid''s reply was immediate.

    < sure

    > k let me get dressed

    Yan wandered into her room and fished through her closet to find a clean uniform to wear. She changed into the pants and wiggled the cassock down over her head, tossing her discarded pajama pants on her bed. With some reluctance, Yan unbuttoned the middle of her cassock to put on the gun and her holster that she was supposed to keep on at all times. Now looking reasonably presentable, Yan headed out of her apartment.

    She saw Sid standing in the hallway and she waved at him in greeting. He gave her one of his trademark grins. Yan walked towards Kino''s door and knocked on it. A muffled sound of something heavy dropping to the floor issued from inside the apartment, and a few seconds later an extremely disheveled looking Kino appeared at the door.

    "Hi," Kino said. Her usually neatly braided hair was coming apart, the strands escaping the fraying braids to stand up on end. Kino''s face was shiny with sweat.

    "You okay?" Yan asked, looking Kino up and down. She was wearing only her undershirt and a pair of shorts.

    "Yeah. Just restless," Kino said, as if that explained everything.

    "We were going to go get dinner, do you want to come?" Yan asked, gesturing at Sid who was leaning against one of the walls of the hallway.

    "Okay, give me half a minute," Kino said, disappearing back into her apartment.

    Yan turned back to Sid.

    "What have you been doing?" She signed. "Read the book we got?"

    Sid shook his head no. "Working on a personal project," he signed back. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slim black case, which he tossed to Yan. She opened it.

    Inside the case was a pair of glasses, quite similar to the ones that Sid himself was wearing, but these ones had a strong sense of the power about them. She picked up the glasses and put them on. Nothing seemed to happen.

    "What do they do?" Yan signed.

    "Look," Sid signed back. Then she saw it. When she looked at Sid and saw him sign something, after a fractional delay, text appeared on the bottom edge of the glasses, just as they did in Sid''s regular pair, but this time they were watching for Imperial Sign. Yan laughed and took the glasses off, putting them back in the case and tossing them to Sid. It was a fairly odd experience; sign didn¡¯t translate directly into text, it was its own language with specific grammar, so the text the glasses provided only a literal translation of all the signs, and it would still require effort on the wearer¡¯s part to interpret facial expressions and context to ¡®translate¡¯ the words into something meaningful.

    "You did all that in half a day?" Yan asked, raising her eyebrows to indicate how impressed she was.

    "No, it was something I played with years ago. Resurrected an old project. It took a bit to just remember how I put it together," Sid explained. "Never had a use for it before now."

    Kino chose that moment to make her reappearance, now fully clothed and looking a little neater.

    "What are you talking about?" Kino asked, shutting her apartment door behind her.

    "Think fast," Sid said aloud and tossed the glasses case at Kino. She snatched it out of the air as it whizzed past her head. Kino opened the case.

    "I don''t need a prescription," Kino said. "My eyes are fine."

    "Put them on," Yan said. Kino complied and slid the glasses onto her face. Seeing her and Sid wearing such similar glasses was fairly comical. With the glasses off the two looked nothing alike, but with the glasses on, one could have almost thought that Kino and Sid were half related. Though Kino had a darker skin tone and generally different features, the glasses gave them both an owlish look. Sid was the trickster bird from fairy tales and Kino was the wise nightbird.

    "I feel left out from the eye party," Yan signed.

    "Hey, that''s cool," Kino said. "Thanks."

    "Now we all can understand each other equally badly," Sid signed. "And maybe someday you''ll learn sign."

    "Do I have to be looking at you for it to work?" Kino asked. Sid nodded.

    "What do you want for dinner?" Yan signed. "I''m pretty hungry."

    "Sandwiches and ice cream," Kino replied immediately. Yan gave her a look.

    "At the same time?" Yan asked.

    "We''d have to get sandwiches first. But you were asking for suggestions, and that''s my suggestion," Kino said.

    "I don''t have any better ideas," Sid signed. "Do you know a good place to get sandwiches?"

    "Banco''s Deli, on fifteenth street," Kino said. "I used to go there a lot, when we were at the Academy."

    "It is pretty convenient that we basically didn''t have to move," Yan signed. "Well, I have no problems with that. Lead the way."

    They paused their conversation as Kino led them out of the apartment building and down the straight streets of the city. The sun going down had removed some of the heat from the air, and a light breeze ruffled the hems of their cassocks as they walked.

    The sandwich shop was a cute little place, taking up part of the bottom floor of a well maintained looking building a good distance away from their apartment. It had been a bit of a walk, but Yan was grateful for the exercise, as it gave her a chance to stretch out. Wandering the city streets took her mind off the chaos of the day. The deli was brightly lit and cast its radiance out onto the darkening street, an extra pool of light in between the streetlights further down the road. There were tables set up outside, and after ordering their sandwiches from the counter, the three sat out there. They unwrapped their food and got settled in to eat it. Yan said a silent prayer before she began to eat.

    Yan ate her sandwich in silence for the most part, tilting back her chair to occasionally glance up at the sky and the light gray clouds scuttling across the large moon. Kino was eating her sandwich with one hand and rhythmically hitting her knee with the other. Sid spent the meal staring off into space. It wasn''t as though they had nothing to talk about, it was just that eating was consuming all of Yan''s brainpower at the moment, which may have been for the best.

    When she finished her sandwich, she sipped her soda contemplatively.

    "Today has been strange," Yan finally signed.

    "Yeah," Kino said, but didn''t offer anything else.

    "You okay?" Yan asked Kino out loud.

    "I''m fine, I think," Kino said. She was still hitting her leg with her hand. "My arm is okay, if that''s what you''re asking."

    "I just meant in general," Yan said. "Like Halen taking away your... stuff." Yan thought that it would be best if she didn''t discuss highly illegal drugs right out in public.

    "I can live without it," Kino said. "It just helps me calm down."

    "If you say so," Sid signed with a shrug. "That is a lot to risk for just calming down."

    Kino didn''t respond to that. If it was meant to be provocation on Sid''s part then Kino remained unprovoked.

    "Are you going to be twitchier without it?" Yan asked. "No offense but you are the most fidgety person I''ve ever met."

    "No, maybe. I''ve always been doing this. I just have a lot of bad dreams and bad thoughts, it kept those down."

    "Oh," Yan said. She remembered what Kino had told her about her past, and though the details had been few, it wasn''t as though Yan''s imagination couldn''t fill in what Kino meant by bad dreams and bad thoughts. "I''m sorry."

    Kino shrugged.

    "You read the documents we were given, right?" Sid asked Yan and Kino.

    Yan nodded. "Most of it, I didn''t get through the whole thing," she signed.

    Kino just nodded.

    "Was there anything interesting in there?" Sid asked.

    Yan frowned and pointedly looked around at the street and the diner. Sid just grinned back, his usual response.

    "You could be less lazy and read them yourself," Yan signed.

    "I have better things to be doing with my time," Sid replied.

    "No, you don''t," Kino said. Her totally flat tone of voice made Yan laugh. "What?"

    "Oh, you''re just right," Yan said aloud.

    "I know, I will read it, I just didn''t want to," Sid said. "I''m preserving my... for as long as possible." He made a sign that Yan didn''t know.

    "Sorry, keeping your what?" She probably should have guessed from context what the double entendre was, as the sign that Sid repeated looked rather rude.

    "I-n-n-o-c-e-n-c-e," he fingerspelled.

    Kino laughed and Yan rolled her eyes.

    "I don¡¯t think you have any of that left," Yan signed back. Privately, she thought that if Sid had wanted to remain innocent then he picked the wrong career. She had probably picked the wrong career as well, as she was coming to understand.

    "You think the boys find this irresistible?" Sid pointed at his own bald head. Yan rolled her eyes.

    "I think you should hurry and get those tattoos if you don''t want to spend the rest of your life looking like an egg," Yan signed.

    "I''m working on it, I''m working on it," Sid signed. "I''ll tell you about my idea for it: I want to put in little pieces of ... that I can move with the power, so I can change what it looks like every day." Yan didn¡¯t know what Sid intended to tattoo on his head, but she forgot to ask as Kino interrupted.

    "Coward," Kino said abruptly. "The point of a tattoo is that it''s permanent."

    "Hard words from Kino''s corner," Sid signed. "But maybe you''re right. Doesn¡¯t matter. It''s what I want."

    "How long have you wanted that for?" Yan asked.

    "Since about when Halen told us that we were allowed to use the power on our own bodies," Sid waved his hand to indicate that this lack of time passing between realizing what he truly wanted was no concern.

    "Are you really so," Yan tried to think of the word, "Changeable?"

    "Oh I''m flexible in all senses of the word," Sid signed, and Kino choked on her drink briefly.

    "You''re going to kill Kino with your rudeness," Yan said.

    "What do you mean? I''m killing Kino with kindness," Sid said.

    "Thank you for the glasses," Kino said, after she recovered from her choking. "They do make talking much easier."

    "Easier than trying to teach you," Sid admitted aloud. "But you still should try to learn sign."

    "I''ll try," Kino said, and she sounded earnest. "It might take a long time."

    Sid shrugged. "At least we''re on even ground while you try."

    "What you said before, I don''t know, is Halen ''allowing'' us to use the power on our own selves, or is he..." Yan couldn''t think of the contrasting word to finish the thought.

    "Encouraging?" Kino supplied.

    "Could be. But... we always had the ability, he wants to get rid of the rules," Yan had trouble putting that thought into signs for some reason. There was a very distinct feeling that she was getting that she wanted to express, but she had no idea how to communicate it. She hoped that the other two were getting it.

    Yan tried to abandon the thought as she gathered up all their trash from the table and put it into the bag that they had received their sandwiches in.

    "Do you still want to get ice cream?" Sid asked. "It''s a beautiful night."

    Kino nodded. "There''s a place I like not too far away."

    "This place is pretty far from our apartment," Yan said aloud. "So I hope you mean it''s close going towards that direction."

    "These places are nearer to the Academy," Kino explained. It was true, the looming hill of the Academy was close, and Yan knew that there was a shuttle stop that carried students from the Academy into the city not far from here.

    "It''s weird to be close to the Academy and not go back," Sid signed, giving expression the the feeling that Yan had been holding since she and Sylva had parted ways at the airport.

    "Do you miss your Academy friends?" Yan asked.

    Sid nodded. "I wasn''t really close with anyone, but I do miss people. You?"

    "Yeah. My girlfriend, and my friends. They were my life for a long time. Hard to think of not seeing them anymore," Yan signed.

    "They''re not dead," Kino said flatly, which Yan tried to interpret as Kino trying to be comforting rather than deliberate rudeness.

    "No, just far away. Don''t know when I''ll see them again." Yan looked up at the sky briefly, sighing slightly. She really did miss Sylva. And Genna, and Harbin, and Anni, and really the whole life she had left behind. It was like a piece of herself that she had known forever had been cut off, and everyone just expected that to happen as part of life. Like losing baby teeth, the feeling of wrongness and the pervasive sense of loss haunted her.

    Maybe baby teeth was too strong of a comparison, considering... Yan shook her head to clear her thoughts. As Kino had said: they weren''t dead.

    "Do you miss anyone from the Academy, Kino?" Yan asked aloud, focusing her attention back onto the other people at the table.

    "Yeah," Kino said. "I had a few good friends."

    "Want to go?" Sid asked after the conversation stalled out for a few seconds.

    "Ok," Yan signed, standing up. She gathered all their garbage and tossed it into a nearby trash can. "Lead the way to dessert, Kino," Yan said aloud.

    Kino did lead the way, and Sid and Yan followed her down the wide and straight streets of the city, heading further away from the looming hill of the Academy and into a section of the city where a rather subdued version of nightlife existed. It was subdued mainly because of the conspicuous police presence on what felt like every street, but there had to be a place in a city for people to go out at night and drink and dance.

    In Yan¡¯s life, it seemed as though everywhere she went there was a different idea of what was acceptable fun. On the Iron Dreams, and most ships, people held parties for any conceivable occasion, just to break up the monotony of space travel. It was a community activity, and therefore usually fairly tame. At the Academy, partying was generally looked down upon by the masters, especially considering the trouble that Academy students had the ability to get into. That never stopped Yan¡¯s classmates from doing it anyway. She didn¡¯t have a good idea of how much, well, normal people liked to party.

    The ice cream shop was busy and well lit, serving people from a window counter. It was next to a dance hall where gaudily dressed people waited in line for the chance to enter; much of the ice cream place''s foot traffic came from those people who got an ice cream before they entered the line. Yan, Kino, and Sid stood out like sore thumbs, dressed in their long apprentice coats and short red capes. This didn''t deter them, however, and they got in line and ordered ice cream, then sat on a nearby bench to eat, watching the party goers stream past and half hearing, half feeling the throb of the music coming out of the nearby building. It was as close to a party as Yan had ever really gotten. Her friends hadn''t been much of party people when she was at the Academy.

    "You come here a lot?" Yan asked Kino.

    Kino nodded. "My dealer used to meet me in that club," she pointed at the dance hall.

    "Wow," Yan said shortly. She didn''t really want to think too hard on Kino''s drug habit, but that was about as blunt of an answer to an innocuous question as Kino could have given.

    "I''m not much of a dancer," Kino continued.

    "Neither am I," Yan said. "The ice cream is good, though." She spooned it out of the cup slowly, savoring the fruit flavor she had chosen.

    "Ready for tomorrow''s party?" Sid asked, balancing his ice cream on his knees.

    "No," Yan signed. "Anything but."

    "You don''t live for the drama? The excitement?" Sid asked aloud.

    "Drama and excitement are too much, thanks," Yan replied.

    "The intrigue? The danger? The thrill?" Sid continued his list of words.

    "The machinations, the schemes, the crowd..." Kino muttered.

    "Not you, too," Yan said with a sigh. "No, I''m not happy or excited about it. Halen trying to prepare us makes me feel less prepared than ever before."

    "He said nothing bad ever happened, you don''t need to worry," Sid signed, looking more serious this time. "And if you are worried, you were the best in training, you would be the most likely to come out on top." Sid paused for a second, then smiled cheerfully. "Of the three of us."

    "I don''t want to be the only one left," Yan signed.

    "It will be fine," Kino said. "I''m not worried."

    Yan leaned back on the bench and kicked her long legs out in front of her. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. The light from a streetlamp directly overhead filtered down through her eyelids, making yellow spots on her vision. Maybe it was rude to not keep her eyes on the conversation, if Sid wanted to talk, but she really didn''t want to think of the upcoming day.

    "I need to get a haircut," Yan said abruptly. "I usually just got my hair cut at the Academy barber, but I''m not a student, so where should I go?"

    Sid poked her arm, and Yan reluctantly pulled her head back and opened her eyes.

    "Pick a place. But your hair looks ok anyway," Sid signed.

    "It''s longer than I like to keep it," Yan said. Sid shrugged in response.

    "Are you done with your ice cream?" He asked. Yan looked at the remnants of fruity mush in her cup, and stirred it around with her spoon until it was smooth. She scooped the last bits of it and ate it.

    "Now I am," Yan signed when she had finished.

    "Did no one tell you not to play with your food like that? No ice cream soup," Sid signed.

    "Actually, no," Yan signed with a shrug.

    "If you''re done..." Sid took the now empty container, as well as his garbage and some crumpled napkins that Kino had been slowly destroying and threw it all away.

    It was well and truly night, and the pulsing music of the club next door was sounding uncomfortably in Yan''s ears. As Sid threw away their garbage, Yan briefly wondered what it would be like to be one of the dancers in the club. Everyone moving in tandem to the beat, the words melting away, just to be one in a crush of bodies swirling around together: to lose oneself in the crowd, in a way that was completely different to the group mind one would join in worship. She had heard some of what happened at forbidden, or perhaps just secret, parties that were held by Academy students that took place in rented rooms in the city, far enough from Academy grounds...

    She had received an invitation to one party, once, but had decided not to go. Still, Yan wondered what they were like. Her imagination was overactive.

    "I just don''t want to think about tomorrow right now," Yan finally signed when Sid returned. "There''s too much going on."

    "Isn''t it irresponsible to not think about things?" Sid asked.

    "It would be if I could actually avoid thinking about them," Yan signed. "I''m thinking too much, forever."

    Sid put his hand on Yan''s shoulder and gave her a little shake. She looked at his face and he smiled just as broadly as ever.

    "If you don''t want to think I can give you my dealer''s number," Kino said flatly. Yan laughed loudly in response.

    "Thanks for the offer, Kino, but if Halen doesn''t want you doing that then I''m sure he wouldn''t want me doing it either," Yan said.

    "He probably thinks you''re more responsible than I am," Kino said.

    "I still think that''s really funny," Yan said. "Halen is a mystery."

    Kino shrugged. "He''s pretty predictable."

    "If you say so," Yan said. "Let''s get going back, I want to get some rest before tomorrow starts."

    They walked home together, underneath the glowing streetlights.

 Chapter Twenty - The Weapon Concealed in Silk

    The Weapon Concealed in Silk

    <blockquote>

    ¡°I went out down into the woods so cold and dark and deep, and there I saw a red, red bird rise from the tallest tree. She sang to me a sweet, sweet song that I could barely hear. She sang of smoke and sang of fire and sang of her love dear¡­¡±

    -from ¡°Ring of Fire¡±, Lonn folk song

    </blockquote>

    Yan felt uncomfortably well dressed. She had woken in the morning to the sound of her apartment doorbell ringing, and she had been handed a package by a courier. The package had contained a truly ornate version of her usual uniform, which was for the the Governor''s Dinner later that day. It had come with a note instructing her to be dressed and to meet Sandreas and Halen in Stonecourt at seventeen hours. Their morning meeting had been cancelled and they had the day off until just before the dinner. She had taken the morning to get her long anticipated haircut.

    Now she was standing in Sandreas''s office, with Kino and Sid lounging on the couch. Sandreas was sitting at his desk, and Halen had not yet appeared, though Yan knew it was only a matter of time before he did. Sandreas had let them into the office, but hadn''t said anything to them other than a simple greeting, he seemed deeply invested in some sort of work. The three apprentices tried their best to not distract him, which meant keeping their conversation, including overly enthusiastic signs on Sid''s part, to a minimum.

    Yan inspected her reflection in the window. Her shoes were shined, her cassock was made of a heavy and thick fabric that still somehow managed to be smooth and cool. She had briefly inspected it with the power and discovered that it was a very strange mixed material, made of several layers, with the middle layer tightly woven enough that a knife would be unable to pierce it. Yan was grateful to the thought that had been put into it, but it still made her incredibly nervous. The fabric was black, but with crimson embroidery along the collar and sleeves. All the buttons were also a burnished red. The short cape that they usually wore was replaced with a much longer cape, one that went down the same length as the cassock, which was a matching red, with black embroidery along the bottom edge. Yan had looked closely at the embroidery before she put it on, and she had discovered that it had the text of a hymn hidden among a rich design of flowers.

    "The universe is filled with the wonder of the Lord. The Lord fills us with the joy of creation," read the hem of Yan''s cape. She wondered if Sid and Kino''s capes had the same hymn, but she didn''t ask to inspect them.

    Kino and Yan had also been given a golden circlet to wear in their hair. Yan''s was just tucked on top of her freshly shortened curls, but Kino had managed to braid her hair elaborately around hers. Thinking about it, Yan considered that Sid may have been offered one as well, but declined seeing as it would be uncomfortable on his bald head.

    Regardless of how nice the outfit was, it was still so much more than she was used to wearing, even compared to the nice outfit that she had worn to the meeting with Guildmaster Vaneik. That had been a quiet, private affair. This was their first public presentation to the masses, which was a scary thought, even without the lurking danger.

    Yan preferred to pace and stand rather than sit like her two partners, even though it was Kino who was the most fidgety of the three of them. Kino was just sitting on the couch, twirling the glasses Sid had given her around. Sid was watching her with a mild look of frustration. Yan preferred to pace because much of daily life on a ship involved being in the micrograv sections, where chairs were useless. Just another quirk of growing up a spacer.

    Finally, Sandreas looked up from his work. Unfortunately for Yan, this was because Halen opened the door and walked into the office. She did her best to keep a flat look on her face, trying to acknowledge the man as little as possible. That proved impossible, as he insisted on making a comment as soon as he walked in the door.

    "You all dressed up," Halen said to the apprentices, though he was walking towards Sandreas.

    "That was the instruction they were given," Sandreas said flatly. "It''s gratifying to see they can follow directions."

    Halen laughed. Yan closed her eyes so that no one would see them rolling.

    "How''s security?" Sandreas asked Halen, who had come around behind him to look at the computer he was typing on.

    "All set," Halen said. "No need to worry."

    "So Marquis''s cohort has been vetted?" Sandreas said, pointing at something on the screen. Halen frowned.

    "Unless they switch someone out at the very last second, yes," Halen said. "No one seems ready to cause any particular trouble tonight."

    "That''s good," Sandreas said, rather absently.

    "When will we be going to the dinner?" Kino asked, interrupting the conversation.

    Halen looked at his watch. "An hour and twelve minutes," Halen said. Halen was dressed in his normal black suit, maybe a slightly nicer version than usual, but he wasn¡¯t calling attention to himself the way the three apprentices'' outfits were.

    "Ok," Kino said, apparently satisfied with that answer. She continued to twirl her glasses.

    "Who is Marquis?" Sid asked aloud, an uncharacteristic move.

    "One of the governors who I warned to be on his best behavior yesterday. Governor of Olar. You most likely don''t need to be concerned about it at the moment," Sandreas said.

    "Isn''t Olar one of the planets that you wanted the Trade Guild to cut off?" Yan asked.

    "Precisely. The black market is not the only problem we have been having with them recently, simply one of many," Sandreas said. "He has a tenuous control of his population, to put it politely."

    "We recently received some intelligence that suggested that he was being blackmailed into bringing some unsavory characters with him as guests to this event. So far that looks like it isn''t the case, but he could be pulling a switch last minute," Halen said.

    "Why don''t you just require people to sign up in advance?" Yan asked. "This seems like a pretty major security flaw."

    Halen laughed. "You''re not wrong. Simply put, the governors take themselves far too seriously. Tickets to the event are often sold to the highest bidder, since it''s seen as a chance to make political connections. In the past, there have been attempts to limit attendance, but governors threatened to boycott, which would not be a good public image. It¡¯s a power play on our part to force them to come to it, so we have to give them a little in exchange. This is the most public event in years, and so being able to invite anyone is seen as a requirement. Every governor wants to reserve the right to bring their own personal security, as well."

    "Still seems ridiculous," Yan said.

    "It''s traditional, Yan," Sandreas said. "The whole thing is a big party, most smaller events are more closely vetted, and any serious attacks would be more easily carried out before or after the event, while everyone is still on planet, but outside of the most intense security in the galaxy. I was really more worried about his political dealings than about violence."

    Halen put his hand on Sandreas''s shoulder, and Yan noticed silent communication pulse between them as they shared information through the power. Halen looked directly at her, seeing her eyes and attention. She looked away and walked toward the couch where Kino and Sid were sitting.

    After a moment, Sandreas spoke. "Nothing is going to go wrong. You don''t even have to do anything other than be introduced and then make polite conversation. Don''t let fear paralyze you."

    Yan was tempted to say that she wasn''t afraid, but she refrained. She didn''t actually want to snap at her boss. She didn''t want him to think she was afraid, either, but she didn''t want to say something that would only make her look worse. Obviously Halen had told him what happened the day before. She had no reasonable expectation of privacy. There had probably been a video of her little fit. Even if there wasn''t, Yan was sure that Halen could have shown Sandreas what had happened through his own eyes. Yan made a conscious effort to relax the muscles in her jaw.

    "Halen is going to go over the flow of the event with you," Sandreas said after a moment of awkward silence. "I am going to go get changed." He stood up from his desk and walked towards the door. As Sandreas headed out the door, Halen sat down in his abandoned desk chair, the much larger man''s weight causing it to creak slightly.

    "So, Kino, tell me what is going to happen at the Governor''s dinner," Halen demanded. If this was a pop quiz, Yan was glad she hadn''t been asked.

    "We will come in during the entrance, go past the press, do not talk to the press. There has already been a statement made to the press about us. Ms. Rosario said that the embargo on that information would be lifted after the official announcement during the event, but we''re processing in ahead of time with Sandreas so that they can get pictures..." Kino seemed to be getting slightly off topic.

    "Sid, what''s happening after you process in?" Halen asked as Kino trailed off.

    Sid started to sign, and Kino hurriedly slapped her glasses onto her face so she could understand what he was saying. Being unused to wearing glasses, she literally hit herself in the face and jumped, apparently startling herself. Halen gave an audible sigh.

    Sid raised an eyebrow, waiting for the minor commotion to stop before he started again. "We go backstage and wait for the speeches. Sandreas talks and he will introduce us. We come out on stage and stand behind him until the speech ends. Then we go sit at the table and wait for the rest of the speech to be done. Then dinner, politely talk," Sid used the sign for talking aloud, "to the other people at the table. Then dancing. Only dance with other apprentices or young people."

    "And at the end of the night what happens?" Halen asked, looking directly at Yan.

    "We leave when we''re signaled. We won''t be the first to leave, but we won''t be staying all night. We probably will leave when Sandreas does. Someone will drive us back to our apartment," Yan said.

    "Good. I see Ms. Rosario briefed you on the basics well enough," Halen said. "During the speech you need to keep pleasant expressions on your face. Sid, that means looking professional. Kino, that means trying to smile."

    "And you''re not going to tell Yan what to do? Not fair," Sid signed.

    "Yan has a normal face," Halen said in response. Sid stuck out his tongue. "That''s what I mean by that," Halen said, pointing at Sid. "When Aymon introduces you individually, you should step forward and smile for a second, then step back. I don''t want any grand gestures from any of you, there will be plenty of time for that later. Just forward, smile for a second, then back. Got it?"

    The three apprentices nodded.

    "He''s going to introduce you in alphabetical order by last name, so it will be Yan BarCarran, then Kino Mejia, then Sid Welslak. Aymon will say your name, then where you''re from. This is really the barest of introductions. The media package that we released earlier has more details, but nothing private or revealing. It''s all just standard copy about who your families are and where you grew up, what you studied at the Academy, things like that."

    Halen explained all this as though it was no big deal, but Yan was thinking that between the three of them, Sid was the only one who had an immediate family to speak of. And was it really such a good idea to remind the public of the massive failure of the Falmar colony, and did Yan really want it broadcast to the whole universe that she was an orphan who was walking away from her family''s ship?

    There were so many ramifications to all this that Halen was just glossing over, but apparently this information was already out there. She supposed there really was nothing that could be done about it; it was going to all become public knowledge as soon as they entered the public eye, anyway, even if they made the press dig for it rather than handing it out. How much would the press dig if they didn¡¯t give out this information? Yan didn''t have any dark secrets that she was hiding, but she wondered how much would be allowed to become public if she did.

    "You all understand that you are to be on your best behavior tonight, correct?" Halen asked.

    Sid rolled his eyes.

    "Yes, we understand," Yan said. "Don''t get involved in anything, just make friendly conversation that has as little to do with politics as we can manage. We can do that."

    "Good," Halen said. "Until you become forces in your own right, your main job at these types of events is to smile and look pretty. As long as you keep that in mind, you should be able to avoid getting tangled up in any messes."

    "What would happen if we did get caught up in something?" Sid asked.

    "It would unfortunately become the Imperial Government''s job to disentangle you, and that is not something that anyone wants to waste time and resources on," Halen said. "You don''t have the authority to make official Imperial stances right now, but by your association with Aymon, people will believe that they can use you to influence him. Don''t let that happen."

    Yan thought back to the awkward conversation she had had with her uncle when she was aboard the Iron Dreams. He had said almost the same thing. Yan could see how this could quickly become a problem if she, or Sid, or Kino, started making promises that they had no real authority to keep. The intriguing thing that Halen was saying was the "right now". How soon would it be before they had that authority? Yan wasn''t sure if she wanted that time to be sooner or later. She felt like a fish out of water, right now, with no real desire to form Imperial policy with her words or actions. But in the future... The possibilities felt dark and endless. What would that kind of power be like?

    "Is there anything else we need to know before we go to the dinner?" Kino asked.

    "Be aware that there will be both regular security and undercover security people among the crowd. You probably won''t be able to recognize them, but if you start looking like you''re in trouble, one of them may approach you," Halen said. "Obviously, I''m not expecting you to get in trouble, but if you need to be extracted from a dangerous conversation, we can provide that exit for you."

    "So you''ll be watching us," Kino said, which wasn''t so much of a question as it was a statement.

    "Me? No. But the security team will be. If it hasn''t been made clear to you yet, my responsibilities for you only extend as far as my responsibilities to Aymon. I will teach you, but I will not be babysitting you," Halen said.

    "You could just say out that you don''t like us," Sid signed with a smile.

    "Like has very little to do with it, I assure you," Halen said. "It''s best you all understand perfectly where each of our responsibilities lies."

    "How long are we expecting to stay at the dinner?" Yan asked, changing the topic.

    "Probably four hours or so. Maybe a bit more. These things run long. The speeches take up a good hour at the beginning, then the food is served, then there is plenty of time for socializing, which is the main appeal," Halen said. "Have you ever watched the coverage of one of these events?"

    "I read about them online, I think," Sid signed. "They don''t happen very often so I don''t remember the last one well."

    "They''re big. The footage of the event is usually published afterwards," Halen said. "I''d say, you really should have kept up more with politics as Academy students, considering the careers you all tend to end up in."

    "I wanted to go into xenobiology," Yan said, a meek defense. At least she had one: Kino didn''t seem to have had any life plan, and Sid claimed he would have taken any apprenticeship. They really were an oddball group.

    "Science and politics are inextricably linked, my friend," Halen said. "Things have a way of worming their way together."

    Yan chose not to respond to that. "Are we just waiting here for Sandreas to come back?"

    "Why, do you want to be doing something more exciting?" Halen asked.

    Aymon''s personal stylist had provided him with an outfit for the occasion, and had made sure that he was looking presentable. It was always an occasion, wasn''t it? He was wearing a color reversal of his usual outfit. His cassock was a rich crimson, and he had a flowing black cape over a cropped black jacket with a high collar. The cape was embroidered with a hymn that came from the same chapter as the hymns on his apprentices¡¯ capes. On his chest was a heavy gold medallion with the symbol of his office as First, Voice of the Empire. On his head was a circlet. It was important to put on a unified front with his apprentices, so their outfits were matching.

    He was waiting in a room in Stonecourt proper. Halen would be bringing the three apprentices along momentarily; if he focused he could sense Halen''s familiar presence coming through the halls. The great hall of Stonecourt, where the Governor''s dinner would be held, was not attached to the main building, where they currently were. It wasn''t far, of course, but all the attendees, including Aymon and his apprentices, had to walk along the path that was surrounded by press. He could have entered through the back, but it was traditional, and they needed pictures of his apprentices, so along the path they would go.

    He was reading a dossier that an aide had handed to him as he waited for Halen and the apprentices to arrive. It was an update on the status of one of the military missions on the front; a landing force had been sent down to a new planet to make sure that all locals had been destroyed. Pleasant reading, he supposed. When the door in the antechamber opened and Halen and the apprentices walked in, Aymon handed the dossier back to the aide who had originally given it to him. The document went into a briefcase the aide was carrying. Aymon gave it no more thought. He smiled when the four came in. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    The apprentices looked him up and down, but didn''t comment on his outfit. Halen nodded at it. "Matching today, I see."

    "You can thank the wardrobe department for that," Aymon said. "God knows the less time I spend concerning myself with fashion, the better."

    "And yet you still manage to look the part of the handsome devil," Halen said.

    Behind Halen''s back, Sid signed "Stop flirting." Aymon laughed.

    "Are you ready to go?" Halen asked. "The guests are almost done arriving."

    "Of course. Sid, Yan, Kino, with me," Aymon said. He nodded goodbye to Halen, who would be taking the back entrance into the event. As ''merely'' security, he did not need or want to walk through the press corridor. The press had seen more than enough of Aymon and Halen together, since Halen was his personal bodyguard. More than that, of course, but that was all that anyone else needed to know.

    Aymon walked out of the antechamber, and towards the nearest exit onto the many outdoor paths that surrounded Stonecourt. The whole place was a strange refuge in the center of the city, with buildings, gardens, and paths that were deliberately designed to seem separate from the city that had been built around them. It was a cool twilight, with the sun low in the sky, not quite set yet. The days were starting to get shorter, but not short enough for the sun to be down at eighteen hours. It was the \past the golden hours of the day, which would have been perfect for the press to get some pleasing photos of the guests as they streamed in, but they had lights set up all along the path to provide good illumination for photos. Aymon, Sid, Yan, and Kino were followed at a respectful distance by security personnel as they walked across the paths towards the area where the press were gathered.

    There was a wide, flower covered archway that they passed under to reach the path that lead into the great hall. A gathering of media figures holding cameras and microphones gathered around, eagerly looking for a perfect photo or quote. Aymon ignored these various spectators, declined the offered microphones for comment, and walked past them as serenely as possible. The three apprentices followed behind, looking slightly more shaken at the public attention and clicking of camera shutters than Aymon did. Still, they avoided the temptation of stopping and talking, or of running away. That was a good sign.

    They processed in to the hall, which was lavishly decorated and well lit. Many guests were already there. It was easy to pick out which guests held what positions in society. Sensitives, of which there were a few scattered throughout, were mainly dressed in variants of the cassock and cloak that many preferred. Governors tended to be dressed in neat formal wear, often going in the traditional clothes of their planet, whether they were sensitives or not. For all other guests, however, it was an opportunity to show off their wealth through clothing, and many took it as an opportunity to be over the top. Though Aymon''s outfit was more dressed up than usual, it was mild in comparison to most of the others¡¯.

    Halen had made his way in through the back door, and was lurking on the side of the room near the stage. Aymon saw him as he glanced around the room, quickly taking in the state of all the guests and the overall mood of the party. Most people were milling around, not yet seated at the tables for the speeches and the formal dinner. Politeness kept many of the guests from immediately accosting Aymon, but it was only a matter of time before someone would approach him.

    Aymon reached out with the power, knowing that Yan would notice. Halen had informed him of Yan''s ability to tell when someone else was using the power, so this was an easy way for him to pass a message to her quietly. He simply used the power to nudge a flower arrangement on the table that their party would be seated at. Trusting that Yan would understand that she was intended to take the other two apprentices in that direction, Aymon left the three apprentices to their own devices.

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Trade Guild representative approaching. It was Nomar... Aymon couldn''t remember the man''s last name, but he was Vaneik''s apprentice. Though the Trade Guild was not precisely a governor, and this was the Governor''s dinner, it was polite to extend an invitation to them. Since Aymon could see the full delegation, he presumed Nomar was here as Vaneik''s representative. It was strange that Vaneik himself did not seem to be in attendance. It was for the best, since Aymon didn''t particularly want to deal with him.

    "Good evening, First Sandreas," Nomar said as he came up, reaching out to shake hands.

    "Good evening, Nomar. Has your master abandoned you planetbound?" Aymon asked with a faint smile.

    "No, but he did send me here to deliver his regrets of not being able to attend," Nomar said, with a genuine smile at being remembered.

    "Did he have personal business to attend to?" Aymon asked.

    In a voice that made it clear that he was attempting to be diplomatic, Nomar said, "I believe he is trying to avoid bringing his personal business into your party."

    "How considerate of him," Aymon said dryly. "Though I hope he knows that no harm would come to him or anyone in his party while under my protection."

    "I think he simply would prefer not to cause a scene," Nomar said. "Not everyone is holding him in the highest regard at this moment, even within the Guild."

    "I''m sorry to hear that," Aymon said. "I appreciate your candor about this."

    "Not a problem at all. We always strive to have good relationships with the Imperial government," Nomar said. Aymon laughed.

    "Well, enjoy the party, Nomar, and tell Ungarti that I missed having him."

    "Of course, thank you sir." The tall apprentice walked off, headed back to the Trade Guild''s delegation.

    Before he could be approached by any other guests of the party, though there were several who looked ready to talk to him, a member of the security team came up beside him and informed him that to start the speeches soon, he should go to the area behind the stage. Aymon headed towards the back of the room where the stage was surrounded by cameras. To the side of the stage was a small door that led to a hallway behind the stage. A security officer saluted and opened the door for him.

    In the hallway, Halen was waiting for him, along with Josa Runwest, the governor of Emerri, and the master of ceremonies, a man that Josa had selected but who Aymon didn''t know personally. A few aides and security personnel were also in the hallway, attending to business that was beneath Aymon''s notice.

    "Hello, Governor Runwest," Aymon said. "Enjoying the party?"

    "My friend, the party has not even started," Runwest said. She was a broad shouldered woman of about Aymon''s height. She wasn''t a sensitive, but she had managed to claw her way into political power regardless. Despite her languid tone, Runwest was a strong-handed and practically minded politician.

    "That is true," Aymon said. "How have you been recently?"

    "Oh, I''m perfectly content," Runwest said.

    "Not at all nervous about the election?" Aymon asked. The election for Emerri''s governor was approaching in a few months, and there were two other candidates running against Runwest.

    "Not at all. Are you planning to vote against me?" Runwest flashed Aymon a smile.

    "You know it would be bad manners for the Imperial Government to get involved in planetary matters," Aymon said. Personally, he did think that Runwest would win reelection. She had a significant amount of money behind her, as well as having generally high public approval ratings. She made working off of Emerri easy, and was quite cooperative with the Imperial Government, which was always a good thing. It would be a shame if she lost.

    "Well I must thank the Imperial Government for giving me a nice big stage to speak on today," Runwest said. "How nice of a coincidence that the biggest Imperial event in three years falls in our election year."

    Aymon smiled at her. She was mainly joking. There would be no overt campaigning at today''s dinner; there were other stages and other times for that.

    "How is your daughter doing at school?" Aymon asked, turning the conversation to more personal matters.

    "Elena makes me proud every day," Runwest said, sounding more genuine than she had before. "She''ll be graduating this year."

    "Does she have a job lined up?" Aymon asked.

    "She''s planning to enter the Fleet," Runwest said. "Though I dread the thought of her being off planet for years, I think it will be a good environment for her."

    "The Fleet will be glad to have her, I''m sure." Aymon knew that Runwest had contacts in the Fleet who were sure to get her daughter into a good position for advancement. He would have to have someone keep an eye on that.

    The door to the hallway opened and a staff member directed Aymon''s three apprentices inside. They stood quietly to the side of the hallway, looking as though they didn''t want to interrupt any conversation that Aymon was having. Halen looked them over briefly.

    "Are these your new apprentices? I had heard a rumor that you were getting some, but I had no idea it was true," Runwest said.

    "Yes, though you shouldn''t believe everything you hear," Aymon said. "People have been saying that I need to take apprentices for years."

    "It''s almost as though they''re worried you''ll die without a successor," Runwest said dryly.

    "I wish the rumors could all decide I''m immortal and impervious to harm instead," Aymon said flatly.

    "If only all talk could be so flattering. Is having apprentices living up to your expectations?" Runwest asked.

    "I had none to start, so I suppose they are meeting them completely. I''ve had them for less than a week, after all." This was not completely honest. Aymon had some expectations about his apprentices, from when he first looked at their projects, but those gave little real information about what the future would hold. In person, Yan, Sid, and Kino were all much more... human. But they were less annoying than he had feared.

    "Your system of apprentices makes me jealous, in a way," Runwest said. "I almost wish I could pass down my position as you do."

    "Ah, but that would destroy the fair and open elections that we hold so dear on Emerri," Aymon said. Runwest laughed.

    "When I retire from real politics, I''ll start a colony where leadership is passed down like that. I''m sure it will be a roaring success," Runwest said.

    "I''ll put in a notice to the colonization board right away for you," Aymon said. "I don''t understand why you like it so much, considering you''re not a sensitive."

    "There but for the grace of God go I," Runwest said. "I have no desire to be mystical and cultish as you all are. But I do like the idea of personally training a successor, that''s all. Just a way of ensuring things continue the way I want them to."

    "There are no guarantees in life like the one you are looking for. God knows that I''ve made many decisions Caron would have hated," Aymon said.

    "But you always have her voice in your head, telling you what she would have wanted," Runwest said. "That''s all I want."

    That was a little close to the mark. "You always have your daughter," Aymon said.

    Runwest waved her hand. "I spoil her too much, she would never want my job anyway."

    Aymon laughed.

    As they were talking, the technicians and staff who were setting up the event and consulted with the master of ceremonies. Eventually, they got the attention of Aymon and Runwest, asking if they were ready for the event to start properly. Runwest would be introduced by the master of ceremonies and speak first, then Aymon would speak afterwards. There would be relatively few speeches. Although this was a political event, it was first and foremost a time for people to gather and talk on their own, not for the Empire to make political policy.

    The master of ceremonies went out, up a small set of stairs and through a door onto the stage. He made the introductions, then the staff waved Runwest, Aymon, and the three apprentices out the same door and onto the stage where they were greeted with polite applause and the flashing of cameras. The lights in the hall were slightly dimmed, and there was a focused lighting on the stage. Aymon and the three apprentices sat down on chairs directly behind the lectern where Runwest would be speaking from, and the master of ceremonies disappeared out the door that they had entered. Runwest stood at the lectern, looking earnestly out into the audience, with microphones directly in her face.

    "Thank you all for coming here today, I know that for most of you the journey was much more than a quick train ride, which is why we only make you do it once every three years." There was the obligatory audience laughter.

    Runwest''s speech was nothing remarkable, but to her credit she avoided any overt campaigning that Aymon had been worried about. She spoke generally about the state of the planet Emerri and the successes and importance of interplanetary relations within the Empire. She successfully portrayed Emerri as merely one planet among many, despite the Imperial Government making its home there. That was a rather divisive political issue, both on the planet and off, so it was relevant to Runwest''s reelection campaign to reiterate the balance that her government was trying to strike. It was important to address at this dinner, in particular, though, so Aymon couldn''t fault her. In general, she was a gracious hostess to the Imperial Government, though it was not as though she had much choice. She spoke for about a half hour, which was an average amount of time for the remarks by speakers in previous years. Aymon didn¡¯t intend to take quite that much time, but he wasn¡¯t going to rush through his planned statements either.

    Then the master of ceremonies returned, and introduced Aymon. He stood up from his seat and approached the lectern. As always, the flashing of cameras was distracting, but he tuned it out as much as possible. There was polite applause upon his approach, but it stopped as soon as Aymon looked as though he were about to speak.

    Aymon saw Halen standing at the bottom corner of the stage. Their eyes met briefly.. Though he smiled at the crowd, he tried to communicate his feelings towards Halen. Maybe the other emotions in the room were overwhelming, because Halen turned away and continued scanning the room.

    Aymon had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn''t any fear of speaking to a crowd; if he had any such thing he would never have survived his position, but there was a particular buildup of forces in the room, and a warning he had received that something would be happening today. He tried to ignore it as he began his speech.

    "Good evening, Governors, guests, friends. It is a great honor to have you all here once again. As Governor Runwest said, all of you have traveled quite far, and left your own homes in the capable hands of others to join us here, and for that, I am truly grateful.

    "Being here today is more than just a gathering of politicians. It is a sign of our unity as an Empire. Though all of your planets are unique and beautiful, many with their own languages and all with their own cultures and people, we are all one Empire. We thrive and grow together.

    ¡°I did not grow up here on Emerri. I was born on Lonn, which you may think of only as that planet with all those trees. If you¡¯ve ever seen a picture of the forests there then you understand just how large and thick the trees grow there. As on any planet with dense forests, fire is an ever-present danger. Living among the trees gives you a great respect for their ability to survive and come back after disaster. The native trees survive fire in an interesting way: only their core is made of living material. The outside may be damaged or destroyed, but the inner living tissue will continue to grow. Within just a few months of a major fire, the forest will look almost the same as before. The trees still stand, even if they¡¯re skinnier for having been burned. And even if some trees don¡¯t survive the fire, the forest always does. It is not each tree individually that makes Lonn look the way it does, it is all of them together. But it is not the fact that it is in a forest that makes each tree special, it is the unique way that it has been grown, shaped, and, yes, even damaged.

    ¡°There is no planet represented here who could survive on their own. Physically, we share and trade resources with each other. Culturally, we share our knowledge and works of art over the ansibles on a daily basis and each one of us is richer for it. Spiritually, every one of us recognizes the light of God within each other, and our unity prevents us from turning our backs on our fellows.

    "I know that the past three years, since we last gathered here, have not been easy for some of you. Several of you have had to weather major difficulties in your homes, from natural disasters to criminal uprisings. Some of you are new leaders, while some of you have been heading your planets for over a decade. Regardless of the specific challenges that you are facing, know that we are here for you. I say that as a member of the Imperial Government and as a citizen of a planet in the Empire. Regardless of what planet you represent today, regardless of the difficulties you are facing, and regardless of your past, there is not a person here would would not come to your aid in times of need.

    "It has been a common topic in history classrooms for centuries: why, as an Empire, do we have an official language and standards, but not enforce them on the planets under our care? The answer is simple, and I should hope that you remember it from your tenth year history class when you last heard your teacher say it. It is our differences that allow us to recognize ourselves. If we were all identical, we could not understand the different faces of God within each other. If we all spoke and acted the same, we would have no reason to expand beyond our own homes. If we all knew everything, we would have no need to learn new things to share with others. All our differences are only surface level ways of expressing our shared humanity. We all have the desire to understand ourselves, to grow, to learn, and to live.

    "Our unity gives us each the strength to overcome challenges, our differences give us the reason to do so. We can overcome any individual adversity, and we will come out stronger for it. That is the most important reason you are here today, to gather with a common goal, so that you can bring our shared strength home to your own planets in the days ahead.

    Aymon paused for a second before he moved on.

    ¡°And now, my friends, allow me to introduce my new apprentices; one of whom will someday take my place,¡± Aymon said. ¡°I could not have three more capable students.¡± He smiled at the crowd.

    "Yan BarCarran, of the Trade Guild ship the Iron Dreams."

    Yan stepped forward and smiled briefly at the cameras. Glancing at her, Aymon saw her look briefly at Halen and then away. There was something odd there, he made a mental note to have a talk with Yan about it later.

    "Kino Mejia, originally from the Falmar colony," Aymon said. Perhaps his speech about unity was in bad taste with this announcement, since most people considered it the Imperial Government''s mistake to abandon the Falmar colony. Only the Trade Guild had stepped in to rescue the uninfected citizens there. Aymon intended this to be a show that the Imperial Government was taking steps to move past the disasters of years ago and toward better future. Of course, the reasons Aymon had for acting the way he did at that time were more complicated than any lay citizen of a planet could understand.

    Kino stepped forward as she was announced. She looked tense and nervous, and her smile looked more forced than Aymon would have liked. She would have to develop a better camera presence, but at least she wasn''t running away or crying or anything truly embarrassing. An awkward smile could be fixed; a media disaster could leave a bad taste in people''s mouths for a long time.

    "And Sid Welslak, from Galena," Aymon finally said. Sid stepped forward jauntily and flashed his widest grin at the cameras, his glasses glinting in the light. At least Galena was the most average and unassuming planet possible.

    In terms of politically minded choices, he couldn''t have picked a stranger group if he had tried. If he had been able to choose apprentices based on their affiliations, rather than on the inscrutable whims of God, Aymon would have picked one apprentice from a mining colony (unassuming, and would send a message that the small outposts weren''t being forgotten, would also work as a liaison to the Trade Guild), one from a new outer colony as a gesture of goodwill towards them, and one from an average central world (preferably the child of a higher up in the Fleet). He certainly wouldn''t have outright picked a Trade Guild child, someone who was bound to remind the whole Empire of his greatest perceived failings as a leader, and a complete nobody from a farm on an average world.

    He was doing his best to spin this as well as he could. God clearly had no cares for the delicate politics of the situation.

    ¡°Although they are young, they are all experienced and talented in their own right. It is my pleasure to train them to be the future leaders of our great Empire. It is the youth who will lead tomorrow, and it is our responsibility to bring those youth to greatness today.

    ¡°Rest assured, that though I am taking on apprentices now, I have many years yet to lead you. BarCarran, Mejia, and Welslak are young yet, and do not have the authority that only time and learning can provide. They have my blessing, and through their hard work and dedication to the Empire I can only hope that they will gain yours as well.

    ¡°Before we conclude, let us pray for the safety and prosperity of our Empire, and of each of the planets and colonies under our care.¡±

    Instinctively, most people in the room closed their eyes. Out of the corner of his own eye, Aymon saw Halen jolt into action, making a hand signal to the security agents in the room. Immediately, Aymon put up a personal shield around himself: a simple power structure to redirect any incoming objects. It was an instinctual and instant use of the power, it barely required any thought. The next action would require a bit more.

    Aymon looked out into the crowd. There was nothing happening, yet. He began speaking his prayer, putting a compulsion behind the words. Remain calm, don''t pay attention to anything else. Focus on the words. Focus on the prayer. Don''t be disturbed.

    "God who created the stars..."

    A scuffle broke out at the table where the delegation from Olar was sitting. One man was raising some sort of weapon towards the Trade Guild delegation.

    "You guard us in our work and lead us ever closer to the right path of the universe..." Don''t pay attention to anything other than these words. Keep your eyes closed.

    Aymon felt a gentle, questioning presence on the corner of his awareness. He almost laughed out loud at Yan trying to figure out why he seemed to be calling everyone into the shared meditation. Aymon shut her out and focused on the task at hand.

    "Keep us secure on every road that we walk..."

    The security team had already taken the man down and were bringing him out of the hall. Aymon kept everyone in his thrall until they were well and truly gone. Only then did he feel comfortable ending the prayer and releasing the thoughts of his captive audience.

    He had almost forgotten how easy this was to do, with such a relatively small number of people, with such a rote text that they were all sure to know. It was like being back in his apprenticeship again, where he had learned of the technique for influencing people for the first time.

    "So that we might know Your power and glory, Your truth and mercy, for the rest of our days," Aymon finished.

    There was a polite amount of applause as he stepped away. He exited the stage and his apprentices followed him out. He would have to talk to Halen afterward to find out what had happened, but that could wait. The atmosphere in the room was calm, now. When he had exercised his power, he hadn''t felt any of the guests actively resisting it. That was a good thing.

    He would have to put all these worries aside, as it was time for the dinner to be served.

 Chapter Twenty-One - Just Two Slow Dancers

    Just Two Slow Dancers

    <blockquote>

    ¡°I dug my hands into the dirt and what there did I find? A root, a worm, a churning bug, all brown and long and fine. I¡¯ll dump it all into a pot and stir it round and round, and then I¡¯ll eat my supper hot, cooked from what I found¡­¡±

    -from ¡°Eating Worms¡±, Lonn children¡¯s song

    </blockquote>

    After the speeches had been given, Yan found herself sitting at one large round table sandwiched between Kino and Sid. Sandreas was beside them, though Halen was nowhere to be seen. Their table also held a few other people. From their uniforms, Yan could tell they were from the Fleet, but she didn''t recognize any of them. It wasn''t as though Fleet leadership was a profession that came with a lot of publicity, probably because most Fleet operations were completely secret.

    The food served at the dinner was lavish, with several courses brought out by black suited waiters. Everyone was able to order drinks by filling out a card that the waiters collected, though Yan chose only a soda. She wanted to pay attention to the dinner conversation and stay alert after dinner.

    Unfortunately, the dinner conversation was mind-numbingly bland. The highest ranking Fleet member turned out to be Admiral Vaalks, who Yan had heard mentioned before. Vaalks, however, kept the conversation on only the most mundane subjects possible. He spent most of the dinner describing his son''s recent elaborate wedding on Lekke. Hearing the name of the planet most usually associated with drug running made Yan wonder if Vaalk''s incredibly boring story was some type of code, but by the way that Sandreas seemed to be responding to Vallk in extremely polite monosyllables, she supposed it was just a real story about the wedding of two people who Yan would probably never meet.

    The other people at the table were a few apprentices who Yan vaguely recognized from the Academy several years prior, as well as other Fleet officials further away from her. The table was large enough that Yan could only pay attention to the conversations of those within a few seats of her. Yan, Sid, and Kino were close enough to the Fleet apprentices that they could have their own conversation, which mainly amounted to asking if they got to travel a lot. The answer turned out to be a mixed bag: one of the apprentices, a woman by the name of Sama, was primarily planet bound, as she worked as part of a liaison team between the Fleet and the Imperial Council. The other two apprentices worked for different higher ups in the Fleet: one of them was Vaalk''s apprentice, who looked about as bored of the wedding story as a person could possibly look.

    After what seemed like an almost interminable amount of time, the formal dinner was over, and the dishes were cleared away. This left everyone free to socialize. As soon as Aymon stood up from the table, he was immediately accosted by several politicians that Yan didn''t recognize, and he followed them away to talk. Admiral Vaalks took his leave as well, going to talk to Trade Guild representatives, with his apprentice trailing dolefully behind him. The other Fleet officials and apprentices dispersed through the room, and Yan, Kino, and Sid were left alone at their table.

    "I''m going," Sid signed. He stood up and gave a jaunty wave to Yan and Kino as he headed out into the crush of people gathering on the dance floor. This gave Yan an unpleasant flashback to their little training session with Halen, where Sid had abandoned them. Yan couldn''t shake the feeling of unpleasantness that it left her with.

    Kino was next to her, staring blankly at the dancing and socializing, pulling on the embroidered sleeves of her cassock.

    "Should we, uh, go mingle?" Yan asked her.

    "You can," Kino said, once more offering no elaboration.

    "Are you just going to sit here?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "Maybe."

    "This will be one exciting party for you, then," Yan said. Kino apparently had no response to that. On one hand, Yan didn''t want to abandon Kino at the table, but on the other, Yan didn''t want to be trapped there with her all night long.

    She settled on first deciding what she actually wanted to do with her night. Maybe she could talk to the Trade Guild delegation? Or maybe the party from Terlin, her family''s ancestral home planet. Or she could just find other apprentices to hang out with, they would probably have the most in common with her, regardless of what their actual job was. That wasn''t a bad idea. Yan closed her eyes briefly and stretched out with the power, lightly touching all the guests in the hall, seeing which ones were sensitives. She couldn''t tell which ones were apprentices and which ones were actual... important people. Either way, if there was a large group of them gathered in one place, Yan would put money on it being the apprentices gathering together.

    As she stretched out her awareness, she noticed one oddly familiar sensation. Not a sensitive, just a person that she had encountered before, recently. Yan was quite confused. Who was this person, so recognizable, but not a sensitive? It couldn''t have been anyone off the Iron Dreams, and everyone she knew from the Academy was a sensitive¡ªit wasn''t as though she had a very large social circle.

    "I''m gonna go," Yan said to Kino, determined to investigate.

    "Have fun," Kino said.

    "Will do," Yan said as she walked away. She fixed the person in her mind, feeling that they were standing over by the massive windows on one side of the hall. As she got closer, Yan could see the person was a fashionably dressed woman standing by herself. She looked to be in her mid twenties, taller than average, and she had her hair done up above her head, with a single flower tucked in it. She was wearing a green dress, flats, and had a bag on a silver chain hanging at her hip. The woman was holding a glass in her hand and watching the room like a hawk. As Yan approached, their eyes met.

    "Hi," Yan said, coming up to her. "Sorry, but do we know each other from somewhere?"

    The woman laughed, she had a rich and cheerful sounding voice.

    "You''ve never met me, no," she said. "I have you at a disadvantage, Yan BarCarran."

    Yan frowned slightly. It was perfectly reasonable for the woman to know her name, since Sandreas had announced it to the entire gathering, but Yan felt that she was being a little too forward.

    "Oh, I just thought I recognized you from somewhere," Yan said. "My mistake." She tried to edge away, but the woman put her hand out and touched Yan''s arm. Yan was shocked at the woman''s forwardness and froze in place.

    "Well then why don''t you stay and let me have the pleasure of your acquaintance," the woman said. "I''m Iri Maedes."

    Cautiously, Yan asked, "What delegation are you with?"

    "Oh," she laughed, "I''m not with a delegation."

    "You''re a party crasher?" Yan asked with a raised eyebrow.

    "I work here," Iri said with a smile. Her eyes matched her dress. There was something about her that Yan found compelling. But as Iri said this, the pieces clicked into place.

    "You''re the one who was following me," Yan said, shocked.

    "I can neither confirm nor deny," Iri said. "Care to dance? It looks bad for us to just be standing here and not enjoying the wonderful music."

    Before Yan could protest, Iri had discarded her glass, grabbed Yan''s arm and was pulling her out onto the dance floor. The music, from a live band on the other side of the hall, felt like it was crashing in Yan''s ears, but that might have just been the beating of her heart.

    Iri had her hand on Yan''s arm and another hand on her shoulder. Yan wasn''t sure what to do with her body. She was uncomfortably close to this complete stranger, but not a stranger. The thoughts she had had before, about the strange intimacy of the person following her came flooding back into her mind, and her face became hot and she sweat under her cassock.

    "Hey, relax," Iri said, grabbing Yan''s other hand. "I''m not gonna hurt you."

    Yan felt like there was an unspoken tone of ''If I wanted to, I would have already''.

    "I have a girlfriend, you know," Yan said awkwardly, since it was the only thing she could think of to say.

    Iri laughed again. "I am being quite forward, aren''t I?" But she made no move to release Yan''s hands aside from swaying gently to the music.

    "I don''t even know you," Yan said.

    "What is there to know?" Iri asked. "I come to work, I do my job, I go home to my dog. Sometimes I get to wear nice clothing at parties that are too fancy for my blood. Sometimes I get to dance with friendly girls." Her smile was dazzling, but Yan was too caught off guard to really appreciate it.

    "What do you want from me?" Yan asked, feeling vaguely trapped. She knew she could escape if she actually tried, but she didn''t have the willpower to break free.

    "Nothing at all," Iri said. "You don''t have to dance with me." To illustrate her point, her hands loosened on Yan''s, until they were barely touching, but Yan didn''t back away.

    "No, it''s, uh..." Yan''s tongue was tripping over itself. "It''s fine." She finally felt like she had control back over her body and raised her hands to properly hold Iri''s in the dancing position.

    "Oh, wonderful," Iri said happily. They moved in time to the music for a minute or so, with Yan''s face burning and Iri smiling brightly.

    "Are you going to get in trouble for talking to me?" Yan managed to ask after a while.

    "No, why would I?" Iri asked. "You were the one who found me, you passed the test."

    "It was a test?" Yan asked.

    "Not of my design," Iri said.

    "Oh, it''s another of Halen''s clever ideas," Yan said bitterly.

    "Don''t badmouth my boss," Iri said as she leaned in close for the dancing step. "He has his reasons for doing things the way he does."

    "I don''t doubt that," Yan said, with the same amount of bitterness as before.

    Following the music, they dropped their hands and both spun around individually. The dance floor was a whirl of gaudy costumes as everyone circled their partners. They linked their hands back up, holding them above their heads.

    "Do a lot of dancing at the Academy?" Iri asked.

    Yan had to laugh at that one. "Me? No. But when I was on my family''s ship, we''d have parties on any occasion that we could."

    "Ah, I forgot, the Academy doesn''t like such regressive things as fun," Iri said.

    "Halen''s corrupted you with that line of thinking," Yan said. Her tongue was looser now. "It''s not that the Academy hated fun, it''s that-"

    They had to break apart again and step around each other as the next phase in the dance.

    "I know, I know," Iri said when they linked back up. "I''m joking."

    "Oh," Yan said, unsure of how to continue.

    "I''m not a sensitive, but I''ve worked with plenty of them," Iri said.

    "Are you like," Yan wasn''t sure how to phrase her next question, "Assigned to my case?"

    "My dear, you''re lucky to have me," Iri said. The music swelled as the song approached its ending. "I''ll see you around, Yan."

    "Uh," Yan started, but Iri broke their hands apart for the last time, then swirled away into the crowd of the dance floor, leaving Yan slightly dazed and very much alone.

    Yan made her way out of the press of bodies and back to the relative safety of the table where Kino was still sitting, alone.

    "Who was that you were dancing with?" Kino asked as Yan sat down.

    "Uh," Yan said, "I''m not sure if I''m supposed to tell you?"

    "Ok," Kino accepted this without further question.

    "Were you watching me this whole time?" Yan asked.

    Kino shrugged. "I''m just looking."

    "Okaaayy..." Yan said. "Are you really planning to sit here all night?"

    Kino shrugged again. The embroidery on the left sleeve of her cassock was looking rather frayed. Apparently she had been picking at it with some dedication.

    "Come dance with me," Yan said after a minute, feeling bad about leaving Kino alone.

    "Sounds dangerous," Kino said.

    "I''ll recite prime numbers and you can quote poetry, it''ll be fine," Yan said. She tugged Kino''s sleeve gently. "I don''t want you to sit here sadly by yourself all night."

    "I''m not sad," Kino said, but stood up as Yan did.

    "Do you know how to dance?" Yan asked as Kino followed her over to the dance floor.

    "No," Kino said.

    "Just copy what everybody else is doing, and you''ll be fine," Yan said. "It''s not very difficult."

    "How long do we have to do this for?" Kino asked as they joined hands and began to go through the steps of the dance.

    "You don''t have to do it at all, if you''re not having fun you can stop," Yan said. But Kino didn''t protest anymore, and though she lagged a little on executing the moves, she was fine at copying all the other people in the hall. Yan, obedient to her own assurances before, recited all the prime numbers she could remember. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally start meditating with Kino. The room was chaotic enough that that was unlikely to happen anyway, but it didn''t hurt to be safe.

    They walked together to the side of the room near the massive windows, and Sid pointed to a lit garden where a few people were walking in groups of two or three, looking absorbed in conversations.

    "If we went there, we could listen to people," Sid signed.

    Kino fished around in the pocket of her cassock for the glasses that Sid had given her.

    Yan shook her head no emphatically. "I won''t be..." She didn''t know the sign for spy. "I won''t."

    She was tempted to take that back when she saw Sandreas walk past the window, deep in conversation with a rather plainly dressed woman. She must be a governor of a planet, as they were the only ones who didn''t feel the need to dress wildly, only well. After all, governorship of a planet was the highest position most people could dream of achieving.

    Yan wanted to send out a tendril of power to investigate, but she chose not to. If Sandreas wanted her to know about what he was talking to the governor about, then he would tell her later.

    "Has Halen come back yet?" Sid signed, looking around the room.

    "Halen left?" Yan asked. She had figured that he was only lurking out of sight. It was strange that he would leave the party, when it was a place filled with important people, intrigue, and most importantly, Sandreas.

    "Didn''t you see what happened when Sandreas was talking?" Sid asked Yan, looking incredulous.

    "No, what?"

    Kino was looking out the window, ignoring the conversation, even though she had Sid''s glasses on.

    "I''ll tell you later," Sid signed. "You should keep your eyes open when you pray."

    Yan frowned. She had noticed Sandreas do... something with the power while he was saying the closing prayer, and she had tried to investigate, but he had closed her out. That hadn''t seemed too unusual to her at the time, and she had ignored it.

    Yan was finding this party to be quite the strange event. Maybe she would try to look for Halen.

    "Let me see if Halen came back," Yan signed. She leaned back against the window and closed her eyes for a moment. She cast her power out in an ever expanding bubble, searching for Halen. It passed Sid and the odd hole that was Kino, brushed Sandreas on the other side of the window, she passed gently over and through all the partygoers, recognized once again Iri''s lurking presence, and pushed outward into the expanse of Stonecourt proper. There were people all over the place, but it took her expanding her bubble quite far, almost to the maximum reaches of her concentration, before she found Halen. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    "He''s way under Stonecourt," Yan signed to Sid. "Down far."

    Sid''s face twisted in an odd expression that Yan couldn''t interpret.

    "What?" She asked him.

    "Tell you later," he signed again. Yan was getting tired of that particular response.

    "Why can''t you say now?" Yan signed. She was keeping an eye on the rest of the room, but most people seemed to be ignoring their little group, as everyone was wrapped up in their own business.

    "It''s not polite," Sid signed, but with a curling of his lips and quick jerk of his head towards the party that indicated that he meant that it wasn''t fit for public discussion. Yan didn''t like this explanation, and didn''t want to accept it, but she had no choice, unless she wanted to try to pry the information out from Kino.

    Asking Kino would be a last resort, as she continued to just stare out the window at Sandreas, who either didn''t notice or was ignoring his three apprentices.

    Aloud, Yan changed the topic, hoping to include Kino more in the conversation. "I guess I''m glad that no one has actually tried to talk politics to me," Yan said.

    "That''s only because you didn''t try to visit the Trade Guild," Sid said. "Nomar tried to talk my eyes off about how rerouting supplies to the outer colonies was going. It may have been a coded message, but I didn''t understand any of it."

    "He should have tried to find me, instead," Yan said.

    "He did," Sid said, "But you were too busy dancing with your mystery woman."

    "Yan won''t tell me who that was," Kino said, finally rejoining the conversation.

    "Ah, a secret lover," Sid said. "Don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone."

    Yan rolled her eyes. "Only as much of a lover as Kino is," Yan said.

    "What?" Kino asked.

    "Nothing," Yan said. "I''m just saying that I''m allowed to dance with people without it being weird."

    "Nothing weird about it at all," Sid said.

    "I''m sure I''ll be able to tell you at some point, just not now," Yan said.

    "Oh, it''s one of those things," Sid smiled brightly. "I''m patient."

    "You''d already have it figured out if you were more observant," Yan said.

    Sid stuck out his tongue and switched back to sign. "I can''t see anything with these glasses on."

    "And I can''t know what you have to say because my eyes were closed, so we''re even," Yan signed back.

    "Let''s just enjoy the party?" Kino said after a moment of awkward pause in the conversation. Since Kino looked like she was enjoying the party the least, that was an odd thing for her to say.

    <hr>

    Despite how heavily discussed the Governor''s dinner had been, Yan thought the whole thing was rather underwhelming. Sure, something weird had happened during Sandreas''s speech, and she had met her secret pursuer, and she had spent a while trying to dodge conversations where people tried to engage her in politics, but none of that seemed more extraordinary than she had been prepared for.

    She kept a mental eye on Halen''s whereabouts for the rest of the night. He spent most of the time during the party down underneath Stonecourt, doing... something. Yan couldn''t tell what. She wasn''t good enough at the various pieces of farsight to investigate a totally unknown place, while also being distracted at a party. Halen returned to the event near the end, wearing a slightly different suit than he had been before and with a pensive look on his face. He had been wearing a quite nice all black ensemble at the beginning of the party, but now he had changed into a suit more like what he wore on a daily basis, with a white button down underneath. Yan saw him across the hall, but had no desire to go talk to him. Even if she did like him, which she didn''t, he didn''t look like he was in a good mood.

    Sandreas slipped out of the party before it was properly over. Yan didn''t see him go, but when she did a mental check of the room, he had gone, along with Halen. Perhaps he had gone to have a private meeting with some of the party guests, but Yan couldn''t know. Not very long after that, one of the uniformed security personnel alerted the three apprentices that a car was waiting for them to take them back to their apartment.

    The three escaped the party together, bidding a few polite goodbyes to people on their way out. The ride back to their apartment was quiet, but before the three went into their own rooms, Sid pulled them both into his apartment to tell them what he had seen during the prayer.

    Sid''s apartment was almost clinically neat, the only signs in the living room that showed that it was lived in was a sketchbook left on the coffee table, and a pair of shoes set neatly by the door. As they entered, Sid shut the door behind them. Yan sat on the couch and started paging through the sketchbook as Sid took off his shoes and lined them up next to the other pair. Kino perched like a bird on the arm of the couch, periodically readjusting the glasses Sid had given her.

    Sid''s sketchbook was full of complicated pencil drawings of machinery. Some of the machines looked like the real engines of cars or appliances, but some of it just looked like a mass of twisted gears and wires, like a puzzle that Sid had created out of filling up the space.

    "Like it?" Sid signed as he went to sit on the other couch.

    Yan nodded, closing the book. Maybe it had been rude of her to touch it in the first place, but there didn''t seem to be anything too personal in there, and he had left it out.

    "What did you see at the party?" Yan signed.

    "When Sandreas was praying, a man at one table stood up and pointed a weapon at the Trade Guild table. Security took him away quickly," Sid explained.

    "And no one else saw?" Yan looked incredulous.

    "Sandreas was using the power," Sid signed.

    "Yeah?" Yan asked.

    "Like my project," Sid tried to explain, "And in the secret book, he can make people think things if they focus on the same thing."

    It clicked into place for Yan. The prayer had been what had tied everyone''s attention together, made easier by the fact that almost everyone had their eyes closed. Sandreas had used that capturing of attention to influence people to not pay attention, to stay calm, to forget.

    "How did it not get you?" Yan asked.

    "Hearing something said is stronger than reading words, I think. And I had my eyes open," he tapped his glasses, "I saw it happen right in front of me. Hard to forget that."

    "Did you see it happen, Kino?" Yan asked out loud.

    Kino nodded. "It was under control." Like she would have been able to do anything about it if it wasn''t.

    Yan sighed audibly. "How could this have happened in the first place?" She asked aloud.

    "Are guests searched when they come in?" Sid signed. Yan shrugged.

    "We weren''t. But they wouldn''t search the Voice..."

    "Everyone should have been when they came into the grounds of Stonecourt. But it''s not foolproof," Kino said. "The man probably assembled the weapon on site, with pieces he brought in hidden."

    "Who even was it?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know," Sid signed. "We''ll have to ask Halen tomorrow."

    "Ugh," Yan said aloud.

    "Yeah," Sid agreed. His face looked like he was struggling with whether to say something or not. "I think..."

    "What about Halen?" Yan signed, a questioning look on her face.

    "Nothing," Sid shook his head.

    "Really, what?" Yan asked.

    "Bad thing happened at the party, Halen disappears for hours deep under Stonecourt, he comes back wearing different clothes and in a bad mood, what do you think he was doing?"

    Yan frowned. "I don''t want to defend Halen, but we don''t know what he was doing. Could be anything."

    "You''re fooling yourself," Sid signed.

    Yan didn''t have a response to that.

    "Thank you for telling me," Yan signed finally, after a long pause in the conversation.

    "Now you can tell me about the woman you danced with," Sid signed with an evil looking smirk.

    "Do you really want me to?" Yan asked.

    Sid nodded emphatically.

    "Remember when I said I was being followed?" Yan asked.

    "That was her?" Sid looked incredulous.

    "She works for Halen? I think," Yan signed, though she tried to put a look of uncertainty on her face that matched how she was feeling.

    "What was she like?" Sid asked.

    "Pushy. But not mean," Yan said. Yan still didn''t know exactly how to feel about her.

    "Does she just follow you or does she follow all of us?" Sid asked.

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "But we are being watched."

    "I want my own follower," Sid signed with a smug looking grin. "You don''t deserve to have all the fun."

    "Less fun than it looks," Yan signed back. "Back to the party¡ªGuildmaster Vaneik didn''t come. Did he know what was going to happen?"

    Sid shrugged. "I think people knew there would be trouble, somehow. Halen was prepared, Vaneik was prepared, Sandreas was prepared. Somebody must have known."

    "If they knew, why didn''t they stop it?" Yan asked.

    "They did stop it," Sid signed. "No one got hurt, and no one knows it happened, I think."

    "What about the cameras?" Yan asked.

    "Every second of video from every event is looked at by the media team before it gets out. Nobody will see any of it," Kino added flatly.

    "I guess," Yan responded out loud. "I just don''t understand... A lot about this doesn''t make sense."

    "If things don''t make sense, it''s because we don''t have all the information. We don''t know why someone wanted to go after the Trade Guild, or even who they were. Was this planned? Was this a random coincidence? We don''t know. We might never know," Kino''s words tumbled out. She sounded both frantic and frustrated.

    "Are you ok?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t like parties," Kino said.

    "Does anyone?" Sid signed. Kino blinked at him.

    "I want to get out of these clothes and go to bed," Yan signed after a moment. "I''ll see you in the morning. Maybe things will make more sense then."

    "Doubt it." Sid signed.

    Yan got up off the couch anyway.

    "Goodnight," Kino said. Sid waved goodbye to her, and she headed out back to her own apartment, leaving Kino and Sid to their own devices.

    Yan was momentarily put off from her goal of getting undressed and into bed by the gentle blinking of her personal phone on the kitchen table. She had left it there before the party, since she had to keep her personal phone away from her work life. She picked it up and read her messages. There were a few normal chatty ones from Gemma and Anni, which Yan responded to mindlessly, but there was a more excited looking one from Sylva.

    < Yan!! you''re on tv!!

    Sylva had attached a video clip. It was indeed of Yan, walking up into the Governor''s Dinner behind Sandreas. It was really strange watching a video of herself. Yan thought she had too much of a scared look on her face, but it was too late to fix that now. She had been trying to have a pleasant expression. Maybe she was just reading too much into it.

    < u look so good! love your outfit

    These messages had been sent about an hour ago. Yan had no idea if Sylva was still awake. Probably not, since it was late even in her own time zone.

    > thanks. i think i''ll get to dress up fro lots of fancy parties

    > perks f the position i think

    > im goin to bed tho now

    > hope i look flattering in all my publicity photos lol

    > is yr apprenticeship going ok? let me know in the morning ig

    > love u and miss u <3

    Yan tossed her phone back on the table, then went to go get ready for bed. She wasn''t expecting any reply from Sylva and she didn''t get one. Once she was finally out of her heavy dress clothes and in in her pyjamas, Yan knelt by her window to say her nightly prayers.

    She gazed out the window at the small moon passing by overhead and twisted her hands together. The words got caught on her lips and for a moment Yan felt like she couldn''t remember the prayer. But then she did, and it was only a momentary lapse in ability, probably just tiredness.

    After the fitful prayer, Yan climbed into bed and tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep.

    "Who was he?" Aymon asked Halen, when they were both back in the private confines of Aymon''s quarters.

    Halen sighed and leaned back onto the couch. He closed his eyes and tilted his head up to the ceiling.

    "Vinet Morche, son of an industrialist on Olar, his father paid for his ticket to the party. Unfortunately, Vinet had more connections than his father, or Governor Marquis was aware of, and he was looking to convince the Trade Guild to take back their trade restrictions on Olar. It was a poorly conceived plan, since it was baked up in about half an afternoon," Halen explained wearily.

    "Did you get any names out of him?" Aymon asked. He was still in business mode, not quite ready to relax.

    "The dealer who sold him the concealed weapon, and one contact back on Olar, but he didn''t know very much else. He''s one on the very end of the web, he''s not in the middle of anything," Halen said.

    "Unfortunate. I trust you sent someone after the two names," Aymon asked.

    "The ICID are discreetly on it," Halen said.

    "Good, good," Aymon said. "And Vinet?"

    "Dead," Halen said. "It''s being arranged to look like a speeder crash."

    "Thank you," Aymon said, running a hand through his hair. "What distasteful business."

    "Yeah," Halen said.

    "And there was no one else involved? No second attack elsewhere?" Aymon asked.

    "Not that we know of. We have people watching both Vaneik and all guild offices on planet. People are also trailing the entire Olar party," Halen said.

    "Was Vinet''s father aware of what he was doing?"

    "Unknown. I sent word over the ansible for him to be discreetly investigated."

    "The more important question is, was anyone else in the Olar delegation aware of what he was up to?"

    "Almost certainly not. Governor Marquis is a fool who surrounds himself with fools. This seems more like the tantrum of a few rich young men who are going to be losing out on drug running money than it does a major conspiracy. We''re keeping an eye on it, but..."

    "I don''t need to concern myself about it, I know, I know." Aymon said. He leaned against Halen''s chest. Aymon could hear the beating of his heart. "I''m sorry that you had to deal with this."

    "Don''t worry about it," Halen said. "I do what needs to be done." Halen''s voice was rough and sad. Aymon hated... Halen would know how he felt, and that was the trouble, wasn''t it?

    "Did the rest of the party go smoothly?" Halen asked, attempting to change the subject. "Were you able to survive without me?"

    "Clearly," Aymon said. "It was fine. The major drama of the day, well, aside from that, was the separatist movement on Jenjin is planning to petition to start a colony."

    "And where''s that money coming from?"

    "If it comes down to it, I''d rather fund a colony on the Empire''s dollar rather than have to waste resources beating down an armed rebellion, which is what they vaguely mentioned was the alternative. They have connections in the Guild that will loan a ship, at least."

    "Are they really willing to wait the years it takes to set up a colony?" Halen asked.

    "I hope so. I think if one is promised to them with a reasonable timeline then it will prevent disaster, but there probably is a contingent there that''s hoping for a miracle cure."

    "Don''t you mean that there''s a contingent who wants there to be no colony so they have an excuse to burn their capital to the ground?"

    "Yeah, that''s what I mean," Aymon said with a sigh. "There''s always a few of those.¡±

    "People wouldn''t be people if there weren''t," Halen said. "Is there a planet that''s even an option?"

    "Depends on how the operations on the front are going. If they can clear Tyx III without turning it into more of a wasteland than it already is, then that''s an option."

    "There''s no other place?" Halen asked.

    "Not that I know of, but I''m not in the business of remembering every colonizable planet in the universe."

    Halen laughed. "Sure you aren''t."

    "I never had the patience for colonization minutiae," Aymon said.

    "You have patience for most other things," Halen replied.

    "I''d hate to see the people you''ve met that make you think I''m patient," Aymon said.

    "Were the kids okay at the party?" Halen asked.

    "The kids, like we''re some old married couple, how domestic of you," Aymon said.

    "I know, I''m just an old sap," Halen said with a laugh.

    "I didn''t pay much attention to them, to be honest. Their minders will have reports if you want them, but since I wasn''t contacted I shall assume that nothing went horribly wrong," Aymon said. "I had bigger fish to fry at the time."

    "I''m sure they felt so abandoned," Halen said.

    "They were probably just having fun. I saw them dancing at one point," Aymon said.

    "If you ask me, they all move while walking like they have four left feet, so I''m not sure I would have liked to see them dance," Halen said.

    "That''s not fair to say about people who aren''t here to defend themselves," Aymon said. Halen wrapped his arm around Aymon.

    "Don''t you defend them, you know it''s true," Halen said. "You picked an awkward bunch. Ugly ducklings the lot."

    "Diamonds in the rough," Aymon countered. "I wasn''t much as a kid either."

    "You sure you weren''t always perfect?" Halen asked.

    "You''re ridiculous," Aymon said, and they sat in silence for a moment, just Aymon listening to Halen''s strong beating heart and quiet breathing.

    He loved Halen, and he loved that Halen loved him. He knew in his heart that Halen would do anything that he asked him to, but it was Aymon''s love for Halen that made him hate to ask for too much.

    Sometimes, Halen took it upon himself to do too much anyway. Aymon looked at Halen''s big hand, his arm wrapped loosely around Aymon''s shoulders, and saw that there was still blood underneath his fingernails. Aymon took Halen''s hand in his.

    "Thank you," Aymon said.

    "Don''t mention it," Halen said. "Please." His voice cracked.

    Aymon kissed the knuckles of Halen''s hand. How had he been so lucky to find Halen? Out of all the people in the universe, how had God been kind enough to grant him this?

    The moment of peace lasted only as long as Aymon could keep his thoughts off work, but that part of his brain was unable to turn off. "I need to find a way to make them useful," Aymon muttered.

    "The kids?" Halen asked, sounding grateful for the new topic.

    "Yeah. They need a political education, fast. Then I can start deploying them strategically. The faster they can become agents of their own, the better," Aymon said.

    "Where do you want to send them?" Halen asked.

    "If anything gets worse with Olar or Jenjin, I want to be able to send one or more of them to negotiate. I''d also like to get personal eyes on the ground in the Fleet, to oversee new colony development."

    "Who do you think you''d send where?" Halen asked.

    "Yan is by far the most qualified to talk trade. Kino would probably understand the gravity of colonial development the most, but Sid would be the best to interface with the Fleet, I think. It depends on what falls out when. Right now, I''d be hesitant to say any of them should do anything alone, but in a few months? We''ll have to see."

    "Yan and Sid work well together," Halen said. "But she''s also not bad with Kino. Yan''s a good middle ground between the other two."

    "You have a soft spot for her," Aymon said.

    "Maybe. I can''t understand Kino, and Sid is purposely antagonistic. Yan''s just Yan. I understand her. All spacers are practical in a way that the rest of the universe isn''t." Halen said. "I hope..." He stopped for a second.

    "What?" Aymon asked. "You hope she stops hating you?"

    "No, that doesn''t matter," Halen laughed. "She can hate me all she wants. I just hope this job doesn''t destroy her. Or any of them."

    "You know it probably will," Aymon said.

    "I know," Halen said.

 Chapter Twenty-Two - An Assignment and a Social Visit

    An Assignment and a Social Visit

    <blockquote>

    ¡°If I had the courage, I¡¯d leave her in the morning, I¡¯d leave her in the evening, as soon as I can stand. I¡¯m in danger! I¡¯m in mourning! I¡¯m in love with the girl holding my hand.¡±

    -from ¡°Courage, Voice, and Heart¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    After the Governor''s dinner, things became serious for the three apprentices. They trained with Halen on an almost daily basis, they studied political theory and military strategy, and they were dragged along to every possible event that Aymon attended, sometimes as a group, sometimes as individuals. They were in the public spotlight. The first time a person stopped Yan in the streets to ask her a question, Yan froze in shock. But then she became accustomed to being photographed, talking to reporters, being recognized. It was a rapid change, but the changes piled up so quickly one after another that individually they all seemed insignificant.

    Yan, Kino, and Sid all found themselves in Sandreas''s office, a now familiar place for them. Yan was swiping through a document on her tablet that described the latest Fleet operations on Tyx III, which was turning into a real mess. Sid was drinking a bottle of juice and relaxing on the couch, and Kino was typing out some sort of message on her phone. The three of them were waiting for Sandreas and Halen to arrive. They had all been instructed to meet, but had not been given a reason why.

    It was a sunny day, still warm, despite the oncoming fall. It was a twosday like any other, just after lunchtime. Light was streaming in through the windows of the office. Sandreas and Halen came in together, and the three apprentices sat up straighter on the couch. Yan put down the tablet, Sid capped his juice, Kino put her phone away.

    "Good afternoon, Kino, Sid, Yan," Sandreas said,

    "Afternoon," Yan said in greeting.

    Sandreas sat down on the couch across from the three. Halen sat down at Sandreas''s desk and took out his phone, apparently planning to work and ignore the conversation that Sandreas and the apprentices would be having. Sid looked at Halen with a brief, questioning expression, but he turned back to face Sandreas when he started talking.

    "So," Sandreas began, "How are you all feeling about your work thus far?"

    "Fine," Kino said, tugging on one of her braids.

    "It''s been keeping me busy," Sid said. "You''ve been giving us the real run around."

    Sandreas looked at Sid with an expression that made it clear that Sid wasn¡¯t as hilarious as he thought he was.

    "Well, I have some good news for you. I''m sending you out," Sandreas said.

    "Off planet?" Yan asked.

    "Yes. Two of you will be heading to Olar, to deal with the ongoing disputes there. The third will be accompanying me to the front, and then to Jenjin. On Jenjin I will be replacing Vaspar with an interim governor, which will hopefully allow the farmworkers¡¯ strike to end," Sandreas said.

    "Who''s going where?" Sid asked.

    "You can decide that for yourselves," Sandreas said. "I have suggestions, if you would like to hear them, but you are all capable of making your own decisions."

    "How long will we be off planet for?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t expect this to take more than a month," Sandreas said.

    "When will we be leaving?" Kino asked.

    "Whoever is coming with me will be leaving in a week aboard the Fleet transport Telescope. The group going to Olar will be taking the Sun''s Gold out of system in five days, at Byforest Station transfer to the Sky Boat to Zhani, and from there take the Fantastic to Olar."

    "Will we be alone?" Kino asked.

    "God, no. You will have a full Fleet escort, whichever team you are on. The Olar mission is comparatively easier, in my opinion, which is why I am entrusting it to you," Sandreas said.

    "What if something goes wrong?" Yan asked.

    "Then I''ll be extremely angry. Endeavor to make it so that nothing goes wrong." Sandreas sounded completely serious.

    "Why would you trust us with it?" Sid asked.

    "You need to experience decision making firsthand. I can''t hold your hand forever, and the faster you become actually useful to me, the better," Sandreas said. "There isn''t a better time than the present."

    From the back of the room, Halen spoke up. "You''ll have the time until you leave off to put your affairs in order. Your transportation has already been arranged."

    Though putting her affairs in order sounded ominous, Yan was grateful to the time off. She was already thinking that if she had five, or seven, days to get ready, she was going to book a plane ticket this afternoon to go see Sylva. As she had promised, the first vacation she was getting, she would go see her. This was the first vacation, even though it was sudden, and right before a major outing.

    "So. Pick your teams," Aymon said.

    The three were awkwardly silent, and looked at each other. One thing that was clear to all of them was that Sid and Kino couldn''t go together, they would drive each other insane before they even got to the planet. Sid was exuberant where Kino was phlegmatic, and they were both uniquely bad at people skills. Sid made things unnecessarily difficult for people to prove a point, and Kino was, well, Kino. Yan knew that whether or not she would have preferred to accompany Sandreas, she would be heading to Olar.

    "I''ll go to Olar," Yan said after a moment. Now it was up to Kino or Sid to decide if they preferred to work with Sandreas or Yan.

    Kino, predictably, let Sid choose, staying quiet until he had made his decision.

    "I''ll go with Yan," Sid said.

    "And that leaves Kino with me. Fine," Sandreas said with a wave of his hand. "Glad to have that settled. Yan and Sid, you''ll have a consultant on hand who is an expert on the situation, but your primary purpose will be to interface between the Trade Guild and Olar government. You need to make it clear that the Empire is dedicated to stopping piracy, but cares about the people of Olar. It''s a publicity thing. You should not need to make any policy or sweeping changes. If you think that you do, you need to get in contact with me immediately. I will be reachable at all times unless I''m in transit."

    "What if you are in transit?" Sid asked.

    "Then do your best to wait. I cannot stress enough that I don''t want you to make a worse mess of this than it already is. If it''s a true emergency, get in contact with Fleet leadership on Emerri; they can send a ship to back you up. I don''t anticipate that happening, and you shouldn''t either."

    "Just making sure we know all our options," Sid said with a shrug. It was probably for the best that he was coming with Yan, since he was constantly doing the most to push the limits of Sandreas''s rules and patience.

    Yan hoped that no one expected her to force Sid to toe the line. Maybe she should take back what she said and trade places with Kino. On the other hand, traveling with Sandreas would mean traveling with Halen, who she had been doing her best to engage with on only the most surface level for the past month. Maybe some time away from Halen would be good for her.

    Though the whole mission had only just been proposed, Yan was already feeling apprehensive about it.

    "What are we even going to be doing?" Sid asked, broaching the real question.

    "You know about the situation on Olar. They were originally one of the planets implicated in the black market business that the Guild was wrapped up in. They were told to clean up their act, and the Trade Guild restricted the number of their ships that would be traveling there. Now, unfortunately, it has become clear that rather than crack down on their black market, someone on the planet had the bright idea of having pirate ships trade with them directly. The Trade Guild, since their ships are now in danger whenever they visit the planet, has called for a total blockade. Two of their heaviest armed ships, the Skyfish and the Imei, are parked in local space and are taking potshots at any carriers headed on or off the planet. Apparently, there have been plenty of in system ships, without stardrives, that have been ferrying goods between pirates parked in local space and the planet. Some of those ships are legitimate mining operations and the like, but the Skyfish and Imei have been firing on them regardless. The Guild has said that until all black market activity on the planet is stopped, they won''t be trading with Olar at all, and they¡¯ll be keeping their ships in orbit to stop piracy. The whole thing is a major mess within the Guild, as well. Half the Guild was angry about the original restrictions, and now the ships that do have authorized runs to Olar are unable to complete them. Vaneik has taken it upon himself to make this a major anti-piracy push by making an example out of Olar."

    "Sounds like a disaster," Yan said. "So we need to get the Olar government to keep pirates away, and the Trade Guild to let normal operations resume?"

    "Yes. And if you can avoid having Vaneik ousted from his leadership position because of this fiasco, that would be advantageous," Sandreas said.

    "I thought you didn''t like him?" Sid asked.

    "I hate the man, but he''s competent, and anyone who would try to step up and fill his place would be a loose cannon. I always prefer the troublesome Guildmaster that I know to the one I don''t," Sandreas said.

    "I don''t know why he''d be pushed out, pirates are a threat to all Guild ships," Yan said.

    "Some people are more concerned with their money than their safety," Halen piped up from the back. Yan frowned.

    "Regardless, the most you will realistically be able to do is put some pressure on the Olar government and the Guild to stop acting so idiotically. You''re really just a reminder that the Empire doesn''t forget about what happens in the outer colonies," Sandreas said.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "Great," Sid said. "I love being merely symbolic."

    "Get used to it," Sandreas said with a small smile.

    <hr>

    The next morning, Yan stepped off a plane into the Landis airport, with only a backpack on her back containing a few days worth of clothing and the bare minimum of supplies required for her to work. She had already packed all the materials she would be taking to Olar in a larger suitcase and she had handed it off to Sid for safekeeping for a few days. Yan would be flying to the Emerri spaceport directly from Landis, while Sid would be flying there from Yora, the Imperial Center.

    Yan didn''t want to worry about any of that now, though, because she was here for one purpose and one purpose only: to visit Sylva, whom she had been missing. Yan was dressed in her simplest cassock and cape, and though she didn''t blend in exactly, her status as a government official was certainly less obvious than it could have been..

    The airport was busy. People were rushing in every direction, and though Yan was taller than most, it wasn''t easy for her to pick out anyone in the crowd. Yan was quite surprised, then, when someone crashed into her from behind and wrapped their arms around her. Yan jumped and almost yelled in surprise, but she twisted herself enough to see that it was Sylva, who had done a better job at finding Yan than Yan had done at finding her.

    "You could have given me some warning before you jumped on me," Yan said happily, turning so that she could reciprocate the hug.

    "And ruin the only surprise I could give you?" Sylva asked. "Not on your life."

    "I''ve missed you so much," Yan said. Carefully, she raised her hand to stroke Sylva''s cheek. Sylva shivered and smiled.

    "You''ve changed," Sylva said. "You''ve let power get to your head." She joked.

    "Is that a bad thing?" Yan asked.

    "Not in the least," Sylva said. "But do you want to get out of this airport?"

    "Yeah, I do," Yan said.

    They linked arms and headed outside the airport. The air was muggy beyond belief, and Yan began to sweat immediately. Landis place was much closer to the equator than Yora, where Yan lived.

    "How do you stand this weather?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know," Sylva laughed. "It''s pretty miserable, I guess, but some parts of it are nice. Really good fruit grows here."

    The sun was about a third of the way up the sky, and birds were singing in the ornamental trees planted in the parking lot. Sylva led Yan confidently down through the rows of parked cars, until they got to a slick, two wheeled yellow speeder.

    "You bought a speeder?" Yan asked, incredulous.

    "I have a job, and my apartment is far away from it that I need something to commute on. So I figured I might as well get something fun," Sylva said.

    "Wow," Yan said. "Good thing I didn''t bring any luggage."

    Sylva laughed. "I would have made you take the bus by yourself."

    "You''re downright cruel," Yan said. "Do you have a helmet?"

    In response, Sylva popped open a small trunk on the back of the speeder and pulled out a helmet. She tossed it to Yan.

    "Safety first," Sylva said as Yan put on the helmet.

    "What about you?" Yan asked. Sylva shrugged.

    "You need it more. After all, the taller they are, the harder they fall," Sylva said.

    "I don''t think that''s really something that applies when it comes to speeder crashes," Yan said.

    "Well, I just won''t crash," Sylva said calmly. "Hop on."

    Sylva clambered on the speeder, and Yan got on behind her in a somewhat more sedate manner.

    "You need to hold on, you know," Sylva said.

    Hastily, Yan wrapped her long arms around Sylva''s waist, and Sylva started the speeder up. The engine was quiet, and so Yan was startled when they began moving, sliding out of the parking space, into the lot and then out onto the street.

    The wind whipped past them as Sylva drove. The edges of Yan and Sylva''s cassocks flapped wildly, and Yan held onto Sylva so tightly she worried that she might be strangling her. Yan had never been on a speeder before, or anything like it, and though she knew logically that they would stay up, she still buried her face in Sylva''s braided hair whenever a turn approached.

    They were driving away from the sun, out of the massive city proper and towards the suburbs that nestled up to the feet of the mountains in the distance. Yan felt free; free of obligations for at least a minute, and free of the oppressive atmosphere of Stonecourt and the expectations of Sandreas and Halen. For just a moment, holding Sylva in her arms, it felt like God wasn''t even paying attention to them. Driving down the roads, quiet and fast, Yan felt like they had slipped out of time. She could just stay here forever, clinging onto Sylva as they sped away from the sun.

    Eventually, though, the ride came to an end, and they pulled up in front of a two story house. There were no other vehicles in the driveway. The yard was well kept, with a small fruit tree out front, and taller trees peeking out over the top. Yan and Sylva disentangled themselves from each other and from the speeder, Yan handed the helmet back over and Sylva returned it to its compartment on the back of the speeder.

    "Home sweet home," Sylva said, gesturing to the house. "Come on up."

    Yan followed Sylva up a rickety set of wooden stairs to Sylva¡¯s apartment on the second floor of the house. The interior of the apartment was warm and cozy, with fanciful tapestries hung on the walls and scattered mismatched furniture. The kitchen was down a small hallway, and was spacious and brightly lit.

    Yan deposited her backpack on the floor and took off her shoes. Sylva pulled her own cassock off over her head and draped it on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. In what seemed to Yan like a shocking twist, Sylva was wearing a brightly colored floral button up shirt instead of the usual white.

    "Wow, I love the shirt," Yan said.

    "It''s nice to not be a student, I can wear whatever I want. Within reason," Sylva said with a smile.

    "But you still wear the cassock?" Yan asked.

    "Well, we have to keep some modicum of discipline," Sylva said with a lighthearted shrug.

    Yan knew there was more to it than Sylva''s joking reply. Above all the cassock signified Academy training, which gave status of some sort. It wasn''t fair, maybe, but it was important. In Yan''s case, the only time she didn''t wear the cassock, unless she was truly trying to be discreet, was when she was on the Iron Dreams. There, among family, wearing her family''s clothes meant more than wearing the Academy''s uniform. Such things were important to understanding everyone''s position in the world. If you didn''t have a group that you belonged to, who were you, really?

    Maybe Yan was reading too much into it. The bright button-down was a nice touch, though.

    "Want anything to eat or drink?" Sylva asked, getting herself a glass of water from the sink before hopping up to sit on her counter.

    "Nah, I ate on the plane," Yan said.

    "Why would you do such a thing?" Sylva asked.

    "It wasn''t that bad, I got to fly first class, and the food breaks up the monotony of the flight," Yan said. "I don''t mind planes, but I do mind being stuck in one seat for hours and hours."

    "Well, yeah. It''s not really the most fun thing to do," Sylva agreed. "Beats driving, though."

    "Even if I wanted to drive I wouldn''t have had time. Train, I maybe could have gotten away with, but plane was the most direct route," Yan said. "I don''t get a lot of time off." She laughed awkwardly.

    "Why were you able to come now?" Sylva asked. "I got the time off because I knew you were coming, but I wouldn''t have used my time if I hadn''t known."

    "I''m going off planet for a while," Yan admitted sheepishly. "Sorry for not telling you before, I just wanted to break the news in person."

    Sylva frowned. "How long is a while?"

    "A month, maybe? I''m going to Olar to resolve a really ridiculous trade dispute they''re having."

    "With First Sandreas?" Sylva asked.

    "No, he''s going on a separate trip to Jenjin," Yan said. "I''m going with my coworker Sid and a diplomatic team. It''s kinda just a public relations thing, though. Pretty low stakes."

    "But I won''t be able to talk to you if you''re off planet," Sylva said, sounding truly sad.

    "Oh! No, I got you an ansible card!" Yan fished around in her pockets and pulled out a thick plastic card, which she handed to Sylva. "It''s not real time, obviously, so no video calls, but we can still email and stuff."

    Sylva looked the card over. It had a chip embedded into it, and a long identification code on the back.

    "You''ll have to bring this to, uh, the communications office and they can give you net access to the ansible," Yan explained. "I had one back when I was at the Academy, so I could send messages to my family, so it''s not super hard to use."

    "Guess it''s pretty weird that I didn''t have one," Sylva said. "Not that many Academy students actually came from Emerri. Thank you, Yan," Sylva said, turning the card over in her hands. ¡°You know what still sucks, though?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss your birthday. You¡¯ll be off planet.¡±

    Yan laughed. ¡°We can celebrate it when I get back. I¡¯ll just say I¡¯m on a different planet¡¯s date system for a while.¡±

    ¡°Sure, you do that. I guess that gives me extra time to find a gift for you.¡±

    There was an awkward pause in the conversation.

    "So. How''s your apprenticeship been going?" Yan asked, changing the topic.

    "Better. I don''t know. It''s good now that I''ve been force fed the language enough that I can actually get work done. Had the world''s worst headache for about a month straight while they tried to drill it into me, though."

    "That sucks," Yan said. "Couldn''t they just let you learn it the long way?"

    Sylva shrugged. "It would take too long, and it''s mostly over now."

    "Do you like your coworkers at least?" Yan asked.

    "Yeah, they''re all pretty great. That reminds me: you need to come in to work with me to meet them," Sylva said brightly.

    "Why?" Yan asked, sounding wary.

    "They don''t think that you and I are actually, you know..." Sylva said.

    "They think you''re just some sort of obsessed weirdo?" Yan asked.

    "Yeah, they do," Sylva said. "At first I was a little mad about it, but, well..."

    "Please don''t tell me you''ve been playing some sort of long con on your coworkers."

    "You know that''s exactly what I''ve been doing," Sylva said with a laugh.

    "Exactly how embarrassed am I going to be when I go in for this?" Yan asked.

    "Don''t worry, I''ve been keeping it subtle," Sylva said. "No collages of your face, just like, one tasteful picture."

    "I''m glad to hear it," Yan said dryly. "I can''t really complain about that, I have a picture of you on my desk at home, too." The fact that the desk in question was in her own apartment was not mentioned. Yan hadn''t quite achieved the status of having a permanent office in Stonecourt.

    "Aww, that''s so sweet of you," Sylva said. "There''s just an inherent hilarity in it. You know how Academy students will say, like, ''oh, I''ve got a girlfriend on my home planet'', and that girlfriend does not exist on this plane of reality? It''s the next step up to say ''I have a girlfriend that doesn''t live around here, AND she''s the apprentice to the top politician in the universe.''"

    "I get the joke," Yan said, "But the fact that I''m real does put a little bit of a damper on the hilarity, doesn''t it?"

    "Not at all," Sylva said. "It''s just the cherry on the top of my long con. On one hand, it would be funny to keep it going, but on the other hand, I do want to see the looks on their faces."

    "You''re using me," Yan said. "You''re abusing my status to get ahead in office politics."

    "On the contrary," Sylva started, then laughed. "Actually, I have no defense, that''s exactly what I''m doing."

    Yan laughed. It was so good to be back with Sylva, even if just for a few days. There was still an awkward feeling in the air, but Yan was pretty sure that would go away after a while of being back together. The sad thing was that she was already anticipating having to leave again. Maybe that was what was spoiling the atmosphere.

    "Yan," Sylva said.

    "What?" Yan asked, looking up at her, perched on the counter next to the sink.

    "You''ve got a leaf in your hair," Sylva said.

    "Well it must have been a leaf that was in your helmet," Yan said.

    Sylva beckoned Yan over to pick the leaf out. Yan leaned over so that Sylva could extract the leaf, and Sylva did, but then she put her hands on Yan''s cheeks and planted a kiss on Yan''s forehead.

    Yan looked up at Sylva.

    "Finally we''re the same height," Sylva said with a pleased smile.

    "You wish," Yan said.

    Yan leaned forward again and bumped her nose on Sylva''s, coming in to kiss. Sylva''s legs wrapped around her hips and her arms draped around Yan''s shoulders. Sylva giggled into Yan''s mouth.

    They were like that for a while.

 Chapter Twenty-Three - A Song in the Dark

    A Song in the Dark

    <blockquote>

    ¡°[...] in the bays and down below. They all battled through the deep haze that came when death was on the prowl.¡±

    -from ¡°Bravehearts¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Several happy days later, Yan left Sylva and made the short plane flight to the space elevator. She met the entire group in a private meeting room at the base of the elevator, which ended up being quite crowded with everyone and their luggage.

    Yan didn''t recognize everyone there. There were the usual suspects: Sid and the Olar expert, Chaten Howe, who Yan had briefly met. There was also Iri Maedes, Yan''s mysterious ''minder'', who Yan had only talked to in person a few times. Iri was holding the leash of a massive black dog; the dog was laying on the floor and drooling happily, thumping his tail occasionally. Yan didn''t know enough to identify the type of dog it was. Iri was talking to a man who looked to be in his mid thirties. Yan suspected that he was Sid''s minder, and possibly Iri''s supervisor. The rest of the group was made up of Fleet soldiers, led by Lieutenant Harber, a stiff necked man who Yan considered to be nervous but thorough.

    Lieutenant Harber was the man in charge of their mission logistics. Yan and Sid were the heads of it diplomatically, but Harber was the one who kept the whole group together and in line. Harber called the group to attention to explain the journey, which would consist of several shorter trips with stops at various stations for transfers between ships. Because they were hitching a ride, they had to take a meandering route between Emerri and their ultimate destination; there was no one ship that would take them all the way to Olar. The entire journey would take the group more than a week.

    "Does anyone have any questions?" Harber asked.

    Everyone in the room shook their head no. Most of the Fleet contingent looked fairly bored, as if this presentation had been only for the non Fleet members of their party. Yan wondered how different life was like aboard a Fleet ship than a Guild ship. It must be pretty different, since there were so many more people on the Fleet ships. Thousands more. Yan couldn''t even imagine it.

    Yan was planning to spend most of the trip as incognito as possible. She had packed her uniform from the Iron Dreams. If she spent the trip looking like a fellow spacer hitching a ride between ships she would probably have a much better time aboard all of these places than if she looked like, well, a fancy apprentice. She would put it on once they were aboard the elevator.

    The Fleet group started to all grab their belongings. Aside from one small personal bag each, all the Fleet group had were a couple of large trunks full of... Yan didn''t know what they were full of precisely, but it was probably security equipment.

    "Ready to go, Yan?" Iri asked, coming over to stand next to her. The big dog was now standing up and drooling.

    "Of course," Yan said. "Is, uh, your dog ok with microgravity?"

    "In small doses," Iri said. "He''s very, very well trained."

    "What''s his name?" Yan asked.

    "Bebop," Iri said in complete seriousness.

    "What a name," Yan said dryly.

    "My little brother named him," Iri said. "Dogs don''t care what they''re named, they just like being called. Isn''t that right, Bebop?"

    Bebop made a soft chuffing noise and looked up at Iri.

    Yan was glad that being around Iri was no longer overwhelming. Though the woman still had quite a presence in any room, Yan was slightly more used to her now. In normal daily life Iri didn''t insist on trying to dance with her at every opportunity. That was at least an improvement in their relationship, even if it was still an extremely one sided one.

    On that thought, Yan changed the subject. "Well, I guess I''ll have plenty of time to get to know you better, now that we''re going to be on this trip together for so long."

    "I thought you were planning to skive off and beg all the ships captains to let you fly their shuttles. Did you change your mind on that one?" Iri asked innocently.

    "Ugh, I have absolutely no privacy, I forgot," Yan muttered, frustrated.

    "I saw you packed that flight suit," Iri laughed. "Don''t worry, I''m sure we will still have plenty of time to spend together. And if you do get to fly a shuttle, I will insist you take me with you."

    "I''ll do tight rolls and make you sick," Yan threatened.

    "Oh, Yan, how could you be so cruel to me," Iri said. She batted her lashes and looked up into Yan''s eyes. Yan sighed. "I''m only here to keep you safe, after all," Iri continued.

    "Your definition of safe does seem to involve spying on me constantly," Yan said.

    "Well that is my job, you know," Iri said. "If you don''t like it, you probably could yell at enough people to make me stop."

    Yan considered this, then decided that yelling at Halen to get him to call off his, in this case literal, watchdogs was not on top of the list of enjoyable tasks. If she had put up with it thus far, it wasn''t as though having Iri''s eyes on her would kill her.

    "Is that your counterpart, but for Sid?" Yan asked, nodding across the room at the solidly built man who was standing near the door.

    "Yes, that''s Miles Hernan. He''s Sid''s case manager," Iri said.

    "You friends?" Yan asked.

    "Coworkers," Iri said. "But he is a real dreamboat."

    Yan didn''t see very much attractive about him, but then again, that was because she was Yan.

    "Isn''t he like, ten years older than you?" Yan asked.

    "How old do you think I am, exactly?" Iri asked.

    "I don''t know, twenty-four?"

    "I''m twenty-five, and he''s thirty-two," Iri said. "Hardly cradle robbing, if you ask me."

    Yan rolled her eyes. "You''re like a flirtation machine that does not stop, I don''t know how you get any work done."

    "What can I say? I''m good at multitasking," Iri said, flipping some of her long brown hair casually back over her shoulders.

    Yan felt fairly comfortable talking to Iri casually, as opposed to formally. It was partly because Yan and Iri had met under such strange circumstances, partly because Yan knew that she herself was actually the one in control of the situation, and partly because Iri just was a friendly person. And it wasn''t as though Iri didn''t already know everything about her.

    One of the Fleet team approached the pair. He saluted Yan.

    "Apprentice BarCarran, Agent Maedes, are you ready to board the elevator?"

    "Yes, thank you," Yan said politely. She picked up her suitcase and adjusted her backpack on her back.

    "Follow me," the Fleet soldier said. He led them down the hallway to the boarding station. It wasn''t as though Yan hadn''t taken the elevator many, many times, but she willingly followed the soldier out.

    They boarded the elevator and got settled in for the long, slow climb. They did have a private section, but since the elevator was not particularly crowded that day, Yan chose a seat in the general seating area, near a window, so she could watch the planet as they traveled higher and higher.

    Yan spent most of the elevator ride reading a briefing that had been compiled for her about the actual state of the Olar dispute, and some of the history behind it. It was a little bit crazy to Yan that she could just ask someone to write her an essay on a subject, like the dispute between Olar and the Guild, or Olar''s history, and someone somewhere would just do that and get it to her. Like, someone was out there whose job it was to just provide that information to Yan. She didn''t even have to ask for it most of the time. Ms. Rosario, one of Sandreas''s many assistants, would just hand her packets of information. Or if she did need it, she could also ask Ms. Rosario for it, and it would be provided as quickly as possible.

    Yan appreciated the effort that people went to to help her do her job effectively. It was a little scary. She tried to at least skim through all the information she was provided all the time, though she couldn''t say that Sid always did the same. Kino, being the mysterious person that she was, didn''t give any indication whether she had done the readings or not. Yan just hoped that the effort she was putting in to her apprenticeship was worth both the writing of these dossiers and the reading of them.

    A little time into the elevator ride, Yan changed into her Iron Dreams uniform. She could feel the force of Emerri''s gravity slowly but noticeably lessening as they climbed. It was a familiar and comforting feeling, but what was more comforting was the feeling of slipping on shoes with magnets, so that she didn''t have to worry about accidentally drifting away. Not that she would, since the gravity wouldn''t be truly unnoticeable until they got to near the top, but it was a comfort thing. In space she wore one thing, and on Emerri she wore another; that was just how Yan had always lived her life.

    The journey up was tedious and long. Whenever they changed speed they all had to strap in, and that was less than enjoyable. Finally, though, it ended, and they all disembarked at Emerri Station.

    Emerri Station was the massive asteroid that held the elevator in place. It had the usual station amenities, but, being so close to the planet, it had few permanent residents. The only people who lived there full time were those who actively ran the station: the stationmaster and a few maintenance employees. Most of the coordination work, such as traffic control, was handled on the planet. Though massive amounts of cargo passed up and down the elevator, most of the loading and unloading was done by the staff of the ships who were bringing and taking material, along with the specialized robotic shuttles and arms owned by the station.

    Since their little party was immediately transferring to the Sun''s Gold, they had little time for sightseeing at the top of the elevator. They all got a quick look out the windows at both the anchoring asteroid and the massive globe of Emerri at the bottom before they were shuffled into the long tube that allowed easy human passage between the Sun''s Gold and the station.

    Outside the windows, Yan could see massive cargo containers being transferred from the Sun¡¯s Gold to the station and fastened onto the elevator for transport to the surface. Yan always had a morbid fascination with the process. It was a vital part of life in space, and she couldn''t escape it, but she was always hyper aware of anything that could be going wrong. Whenever their group passed by a window she found it impossible to take her eyes off the moving cargo.

    As expected, Yan was the most nimble navigating the microgravity environment as they traversed the station. The Fleet crew were all fine, but none of them were born spacers. The rest of their group had all at least been in space before, and weren''t completely disoriented while trying to move. Even Bebop the dog seemed fine, paddling along on the short leash that Iri held. How Iri had managed to sweet talk people into allowing her to bring her pet to planets unknown, Yan had no idea.

    When they finally made it off the Emerri station and onto the Sun''s Gold, they were greeted personally by the captain, a tall blonde woman by the name of Bowen Lyle. Yan had seen her before, as she had hitched a ride on the Sun''s Gold many times, but they had never talked. Now that Yan and the rest of her party were important Imperial officials, rather than freeloading apprentices, they couldn''t avoid making small talk with the captain and getting a quick tour of her ship.

    Yan was a little bit relieved when Captain Bowen eventually left them to return to the bridge. Although Yan was now an honored guest, there was still something extremely intimidating about captains of all types. And this one wasn''t even her cousin!

    Yan thought, privately, sometimes, that if she hadn''t been born with the power, she might have ended up as a captain herself. Not that she begrudged whichever of her cousins who would eventually take up the position as head of the Iron Dreams, but that was a road that she would have, in a different life, wanted to have walked.

    Yan spent the trip aboard the Sun''s Gold wandering the halls of the ship, visiting the greenhouse and the cafeteria, and talking to various crew members that she knew from previous trips. The Sun''s Gold was a popular ship for Academy students to hitch a ride on, since it travelled between Emerri and Byforest station as one of the legs of its typical route. As Byforest station served as a connector to many other planets, it was a good ship for Academy students to take when they went home over breaks. There were other popular ones, but the Sun''s Gold had always been most convenient for Yan. As such, she knew plenty of the crew casually. Most Academy students who hitched rides on ships stayed in the guest areas and didn''t talk to the crews much, but Yan, being a spacer, had no problem wandering a ship and blending in.

    Even though the uniform she was wearing was the olive green of the Iron Dreams, while the Sun''s Gold crew had a goldenrod yellow uniform, she looked the part enough to blend in. Yan had no doubt that even as she wandered, Iri was somehow keeping eyes on her. She didn¡¯t know if Iri did it by wandering herself, or by some other, inscrutable tracking mechanism. Yan understood that she had no hope of privacy or escape from the watching eyes of her minders.

    They eventually transferred to Byforest station, where they were finally given private rooms. The Sky Boat had not yet arrived, so Yan and the rest of the group were allowed to settle in until it came. No one knew exactly how long it would take for the Sky Boat to arrive, so it was just a matter of patiently waiting.

    Byforest station was bustling, as stations went. It was a primary hub that connected the inner and outer planets, though those designations were almost more political rather than physical. It had a large permanent population, and a constant stream of ships coming and going.

    Unlike ships, stations were not typically made up of single families. Since stations were created and run by colonies, they tended to attract a wide variety of people to live on them. Certain services, such as repair shops for vital equipment aboard ships, or markets selling exotic goods, flourished aboard stations. Local law enforcement had a permanent presence, as did planetary tax collectors and ship cargo inspectors. To keep stations financially viable, every ship who came into their port had to pay a docking fee, and further fees on any goods they traded or any people who entered the station doors. These fees were just part and parcel of existing in the Trade Guild. Though Guild ships hated them, the Guild had no authority to build their own stations, so they had no choice but to pay.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    It was all just part of the economy that the Empire and the Trade Guild built together. The result of it all was that Byforest Station was not an unpleasant place to spend a few days while waiting for a connecting ship.

    The prime feature of Byforest station was the forest that gave it its name. In the center of the massive asteroid that had been mined out and converted into a space station, there was a large and carefully maintained forest. It was difficult to grow plants in microgravity, but the effort was worth it. Drifting through the forest, surrounded on all sides by tall trees, was a surreal experience. Yan was always glad whenever she got the chance to visit it. In the center of the forest, held in place by an array of strong wires, was a bright artificial light. One could push off a tree and fly in front of it, and cast crazy shadows on the trees ''below''. In the two days that their group waited in Byforest Station for the Sky Boat to arrive, Yan spent as much time there as she could. Sometimes, Sid or Iri joined her. Iri had a good time getting her dog to not dig up the roots of the trees and send dirt flying everywhere.

    But then the Sky Boat did come, and it was time for the longest leg of their journey. Somewhat reluctant to leave the idylls of Byforest, everyone boarded the Sky Boat and greeted the captain and ship leadership. The captain of the Sky Boat was a slender old woman, short for a spacer, with braided red hair named Lida Migollen. Her second was a stout man with a wild red beard and a toothy smile named Joun.

    Captain Lida greeted the group stiffly. She apparently had little patience for passengers, Fleet personnel, or Imperial staff. As Yan came in through the airlock doors into the ship proper, she shook hands with the captain, who looked her up and down.

    "You''re First Sandreas''s apprentice?" Captain Lida asked skeptically.

    Yan, who was dressed in her Iron Dreams jumpsuit, didn''t look the part as well as Sid did, who was wearing his customary cassock.

    "I am. It''s a pleasure to meet you, Captain Lida," Yan said.

    "Indeed," Lida said.

    Yan pushed herself out of the way to let Sid come through.

    As Captain Lida gave Sid even less of a friendly greeting to Sid, Joun Migollen, the second, leaned over to whisper in Yan''s ear.

    "Don''t pay the captain any mind, she''s friendlier than she sounds," Joun said.

    Yan smiled at him thinly. She wondered what type of working relationship the two had that he could feel comfortable talking to Yan about his captain directly behind her back. He was her second, after all. It didn''t seem right, but then again, it wasn''t her business.

    "Do you want a tour of the bridge?" Joun asked as the Fleet group came through and were also coldly greeted by the captain.

    Yan nodded. She would love to have a bridge tour. Though it was most likely that all ships¡¯ bridges were alike, even getting to step on one was a privilege that she had only been afforded for the first time this summer, and she wasn''t going to let any opportunities to assuage her childhood wonders about them go to waste.

    "Come find me during second shift tomorrow, I''ll be up there," Joun said finally. Yan gave him a quick thumbs up, and he pushed off the wall and gave her her personal space back. He had been a little close whispering in her ear the whole time.

    The group of guests were escorted to their loaned quarters in the grav section of the ship. Sleeping in the grav section was a luxury that Yan wasn''t even afforded on the Iron Dreams, so she was pleasantly surprised that they were all able to bunk there. The Sky Boat seemed to have an unusual amount of empty guest space, especially considering that Captain Lida apparently hated ferrying passengers. Yan figured that if she hated it that much, she would have converted the area into storage or crew space. Maybe it was kept for emergencies.

    After getting herself situated in her tiny room, Yan wandered out to explore the ship. She had never been on the Sky Boat before, but it was easy to navigate. Like the no nonsense captain, there were no unlabeled doors or meandering passages; the whole ship was laid out square and true. Despite the ship being made up, as most ships were, primarily of a mined out asteroid, great care had been taken on the Sky Boat to ensure that new rooms were not carved out randomly, and old mining chambers were finished cleanly.

    The first place Yan explored was the dining hall, which was vital to locate on any ship. Then she looked for the communal baths, since her guest room didn''t have its own attached shower, despite being in the grav section of the ship. Both were fairly empty, being the middle of third shift. Most people were either asleep or on duty at that time.

    Though ships had artificial lighting nearly constant at all hours of the day, it was still convenient for most ships operations to run on the same schedule; third shift was the time that most people were sleeping.

    Once Yan had located the essentials of living, she was free to explore a little more widely. She passed by the bridge, but had no intention of intruding on it, so she didn¡¯t go inside. She then made her way down into the no grav sections of the ship, where the holds were. Usually, there was very little interesting happening there, but Yan was a little curious about what the Sky Boat was hauling between Byforest and Zhani. Since Byforest and Zhani were both trading hubs in their own right, it was likely that the Sky Boat would have some more interesting cargo than the mined metals that the Iron Dreams usually carried. Though most of the holds were kept in vacuum during transit to save on the energy needed to heat the air and the air itself, the manifests for each bay were displayed on small screens near the doors.

    The Sky Boat seemed to be hauling a wide variety of both raw materials and luxury goods. There were specific cargo containers containing things like furniture, or cloth, or marble, being shipped to individual customers on planets along the circle run. There was also one hold entirely filled with copper ore, presumably a mining load being sold to a factory on some colony. Reading the manifests would have been more interesting to Yan if she had actually been able to open the doors to the bays and then the smaller cargo containers and investigate closely. She continued to wander down the hallways that linked the cargo holds.

    As Yan drifted through the ship, she heard an odd noise off in the distance. Sounds were distorted in the long, winding hallways as they bounced off of heavy metal doors and walls. As she got closer, Yan determined that the sound was a group of people alternately singing and banging around loud objects. There was one bay that had an open door and was fully pressurized, though not very well lit.

    It wasn''t economical to install lights to fully illuminate the bays. When they were being actively worked in, temporary lighting would be strung up or personal lights were carried. It wasn¡¯t surprising that the bay was dark, but it was surprising that it was open, pressurized, and occupied by singers.

    Yan definitely wanted to investigate the interior of this bay, since it was open, and there were people inside doing... something. She looked around the hallway for a maintenance closet where lights would be kept, found one relatively quickly, and returned with the lamp. One of the nice things about the family culture aboard ships was that doors containing useful supplies were rarely locked. No one would be stealing or messing with cargo hold lamps unless they needed them. Yan knew she would return the light, so she had no problem with borrowing it.

    Yan entered the cargo bay, pushing off from the wall and drifting towards one of the massive cargo containers that were locked down in firm stacks in the bay. Off in the distance, she could still hear the echoing song and see the wavering lights held by the singers.

    "Oh the captain was mistaken

    when he turned the ship around.

    The pirates'' grip had not been shaken

    and the doors they did break down

    "Dearest bravehearts, sons and daughters

    will you stand your ground with me?

    Or we all are to be slaughtered"

    Cried the captain to the company

    "They fought then in the hallways

    in the bays and -"

    "Hey, who''s there?"

    There was a clattering of metal against metal as it sounded like someone pushing through a floating cloud of metal instruments. Yan held her lantern up to show the singers where she was. She didn''t know if they had heard or seen her approach, but they had clearly noticed her. As she came closer, it was apparent that the singers were a group of four boys, she couldn''t tell their ages, but their voices sounded like they were teenagers at the oldest.

    "Hi," Yan called out, her voice echoing as theirs had. "What are you doing here?"

    She pushed off another cargo container to cross the final distance to the group, and finally came fully into the circle of light cast by their own lanterns, which they had left floating around them in the air.

    They were all tall and pale; two of them were redheaded and the other two had brown hair. The group were probably cousins, given the resemblance and the fact that they were young and on a ship. The four looked her over as she approached.

    "What are you doing here?" The oldest looking one, one of the redheaded pair, asked.

    "Just looking around. I was wondering what your ship was carrying," Yan explained.

    "Who are you?" One of the brown haired boys spoke up this time. He looked to be about fourteen. "What ship you headed to?"

    "I''m Yan BarCarran. My family''s ship is the Iron Dreams." Yan said. She didn''t hold out her hand to shake, because she would have had to navigate her way through what seemed to be an array of metal pipes that were scattered throughout the nearby space. Between her lantern light and the boys'', the pipes cast crazy moving shadows across nearby cargo containers.

    "Oh, we''ve seen them before," the youngest, maybe twelve, said. "They dock at Byforest, too."

    "So do half the ships in the Guild," the oldest said, rolling his eyes. "I saw the passenger manifest. You''re one of the Imperials."

    Yan laughed. "Caught me, I guess."

    "I''m Endo, this is my brother Patt, and my cousins Zevin and Lief," the oldest, Endo, said. Patt was the younger redhead, Zevin was the fourteen year old brunett, and Lief was the other brown haired one, who looked like he was somewhere between Patt and Zevet in age.

    "Nice to meet you," Yan said. "What are you doing here, though?"

    "Cleaning up," Endo said.

    "That what all these pipes are?" Yan asked.

    "We were trying to get the pipes into one of the maintenance storage boxes, but we had a bit of an accident earlier," Patt said.

    "Accident is not really the right term for it," Zevin spoke up. "More like a certain someone''s foolishness that got us all in trouble." He glared at Lief.

    "It wasn''t entirely his fault," Endo said. "Anyway, the piping and paint got everywhere in the bay, and we were cleaning it up. We''re almost done."

    "Paint?" Yan asked.

    "Look," Zevin said, pointing to one of the nearby cargo containers. There was indeed a long splash of red paint across it. If someone had come across it accidentally, it could have been confused for a murder scene. The only reason Yan hadn''t noticed it was because it was so dark in the bays.

    "Wow," Yan said. "And it''s all through the bay?"

    "We got most of the pipes," Patt said. "It will be harder to find all the paint, though."

    "I heard you singing, you were pretty good," Yan said, switching the topic.

    "We were just taking a break," Lief said defensively, the first time he had spoken up.

    "No, you really are good. Do you perform?" Yan asked.

    "No way," Lief said.

    "Ok then," Yan said.

    On the Iron Dreams, when the crew got together to have a party, which was often, and usually for frivolous reasons, there would always be someone who would go fetch their instrument and start singing a song. Yan had never been particularly proficient at any instrument, since she had gone off to the Academy before she really had a chance to learn. Yan did like singing along at any opportunity, which suited her well at Academy. Most prayer cycles were sung, after all.

    "So if you''re from the Imperial group, what do you do?" Endo asked. "They just taking people from the Guild into the Fleet?"

    "I''m not with the Fleet, I''m an apprentice," Yan said.

    "To who? The big one?" Patt asked.

    Yan took a moment to consider who he was thinking of. Patt must mean Hernan, Sid''s assigned guard.

    "Hernan? No, he actually works for my friend Sid. I''m not an apprentice to anyone who''s here," Yan said.

    "You''re one of the diplomats?" Endo asked. "Boys, we''ve got royalty in our midst."

    Zevin laughed. "Did you study at the Academy?"

    "Yeah, I did," Yan admitted.

    "I don''t believe you," Lief said. "What if you''re just trying to trick us all?"

    "Trick you into what? Thinking that a spacer who''s hitching a ride from Byforest is actually an important politician? I think you came to that conclusion all on your own," Yan said.

    "Show us a trick," Patt said. "I''ve never seen an Academy student before."

    "What do you want me to do?" Yan asked.

    This stumped the boy. "I don''t know, what do you usually do?" Patt asked.

    "Nothing very visually impressive," Yan said. Usually all she did with her power was participate in Halen¡¯s self defense classes, and check if Iri happened to be personally stalking her at any particular moment. That and occasionally communing with one of her fellow apprentices or Sandreas. She hadn''t used the power for anything entertaining since... She didn''t really remember when.

    "Think of something, I want to see your magic," Patt said. "Since you''re here bothering us."

    "It''s not magic, it''s a tool given by God," Yan said. "And if I''m really bothering you, I can leave."

    "Don''t let him scare you," Zevin said. "But could you show us a trick, please?"

    "Since you''re asking nicely," Yan said. "Can I use one of these pipes?"

    "If you promise not to beat us with it," Endo said.

    "Do I really come off as that mean?" Yan asked, pulling a pipe from the air and settling it in front of her. She let go of her lantern and it floated by her side.

    What Yan wanted to do was a simple thing: to heat up and reshape the metal of the pipe into something more interesting. Technically, she didn''t have to heat up the metal, she could just forcibly rearrange it and smooth out the imperfections in the structure afterwards, but since she was going for a visually impressive trick, heating the pipe to glowing hot and then reforming it would be a lot flashier. Especially in the darkness of their cargo bay, Yan thought it would be cool looking to a twelve year old.

    "Don''t touch this while I''m working on it," Yan cautioned. "I''ll let you know when I''m done." She gave the boys a look that brooked no disagreement, and they all nodded.

    She took a few breaths and closed her eyes, setting her hands above and below the pipe. Slipping into a trance was easier to Yan than falling asleep, and it made concentrating on work like this faster.

    Yan started by heating the pipe slowly and evenly. She saw its entire structure in her mind, the way it had been formed, first by a centrifuge full of iron, then as it was forced down through smaller and smaller dies, annealed again and again, then cut to length. It was sturdy, seamless tubing. It had probably been intended for repairing pieces of the Sky Boat''s plumbing, were any of it to break or need extension. The pipe had a mass of over a kilogram, as it was over a meter long and had a larger circumference than her hand.

    Once it was up to a suitable temperature, Yan began to work it. She could feel the heat radiating off of it into her hands, though she kept her mind firmly fixed on what she was doing. First, she crushed the pipe flat, then began to fold it in onto itself until it was a solid lump of iron. At times, she did have to move her hands out of the way to avoid burning herself, but that barely impacted her focus.

    It was so easy to slip back into the pure act of creating something. In a way, despite how hectic the end of her last year at the Academy had been, Yan missed the feeling of working on her project. It really was one of the best things that she had ever created. Certainly, the form of a goldfish was seared in her mind forever. That came in handy now, because she would need to make something from this superheated chunk of iron.

    This was the fun part, to stretch and pull the iron into a shape. It took concentration, effort, and time. Yan finally stopped fiddling with the shape and rapidly reduced its temperature to harden it. She realized that it had probably taken a little bit too long, after she came out of the trance. While working, she had a nasty tendency to lose track of time completely. Yan opened her eyes and saw that the youngest boy, Patt, had fallen asleep. His cousin Lief was holding his hand. It was pretty sweet.

    Yan blinked in the dim light.

    "Are you done now?" Endo asked. "That was pretty cool."

    "Yeah." Yan yawned. "Here, it''s yours." She batted the goldfish over to Endo and he grabbed it out of the air. It was still warm to the touch, but nowhere near the heat that she had been working it at. Her hands were feeling a little dry and scorched from being near it that long. She licked the tips of her fingers while the boys examined her little sculpture.

    "Thanks," Zevin said.

    "Sorry I distracted you all from cleaning the bay," Yan said.

    "It''s ok, we were probably going to call it quits for the night soon anyway," Endo said. "No one else needs this place, so we have plenty of time to scrub paint before the cargo boxes get delivered."

    Yan gave a wry smile. "As long as no one will miss a pipe," she said.

    "Nah, it''s fine," Endo said. "Lief, wake up Patt so we can get out of here."

    "I''ll see you around, ok?" Yan said.

    "Yeah, see ya," Zevin said.

    Yan grabbed her lamp and stretched to reach the closest cargo container. She grabbed onto its corrugated surface and hoisted herself towards the door of the bay. When she left, she put the lamp back where it had come from, and made her way through the ship to her own tiny guest cabin.

 Chapter Twenty-Four - The Flame Which Casts a Long Shadow

    The Flame Which Casts a Long Shadow

    <blockquote>

    ¡°On every journey, put your faith in the God who made the stars. No one can be lost in the sight of God, and no one shall be lost with the stars in their sight.¡±

    -from ''Eighth Song: Wisdom''

    </blockquote>

    The Telescope was a Fleet ship through and through. Unlike the trade vessels that Aymon had occasionally visited, the Telescope had little in the way of decoration, and even less in the way of comfort. The Telescope was a transport ship, not one of the massive warships that were on the front lines, but it was still quite large and heavily populated when compared to Guild ships. It was bringing supplies and new troops to the front, which allowed Aymon and his entourage to hitch a ride.

    On an ordinary diplomatic mission, Aymon would have taken the ship designated for the Voice to use, but since he was travelling to the front, a Fleet transport was the more practical choice. Though he had been provided with quite large quarters aboard the Telescope, the softer part of him missed the privacy and familiarity of the First Star, which was the ship he normally traveled in. At least the journey to the front was almost over, and the real work could begin.

    Aymon hung on the rail that crossed the viewing lounge, in front of the massive window looking out into space. The Telescope was stopped, waiting for the stardrive to cool and recharge enough to make another run. In order for the view to be still, the viewing lounge was in the non spinning section of the ship. Not having gravity was an inconvenience, so it was not ever very crowded, unless there was something in particular to look at. The only other attractive feature of the room was the small snack bar that would dispense a selection of foods and a very limited selection of drinks for a few credits. Still, the annoyance of eating in microgravity rarely made it a better choice than the lounge areas in the rotating portions of the ship. So, Aymon was alone.

    At least he was until he heard the door open behind him. Expecting the person interrupting his quiet thoughts to be Halen, Aymon turned around.

    It wasn''t Halen. It was Kino, which was a surprise. He hadn''t seen much of her during the trip, aside from briefings and formal dinners with the captain of the Telescope. It seemed as though Kino had been content to spend her unassigned travel time alone. The captain had mentioned to Aymon that she had asked one of the lieutenants to show her the stardrive. She must have been curious about how it looked up close. Aymon turned back to looking out the window and Kino drifted over to rest beside him.

    She was stiller in the microgravity than she ever was on the regular gravity of a planet or in the rotating sections of the ship. It was as though she had to be extra careful not to send herself spinning with wild movements. Her two long braids drifted behind her head like snakes as she looked out the window beside him. Neither said anything for a long moment.

    "Halen told me that you wanted to talk to me," Kino finally said. Aymon turned his head to look at her, but she was looking steadily out the window, both hands fixed firmly on the rail.

    "You know," Aymon said after another second of silence, "You''ve been my apprentice for a while, and I really don''t know you at all, Kino."

    "What don''t you know?" Kino asked, which Aymon thought was a fairly odd question.

    "Everything," Aymon said. "What you like, what you dislike, what your goals are, what you feel, anything."

    "Is this because Halen thinks I''m creepy?" Kino asked. "I know he doesn''t like not being able to read me."

    "Halen doesn''t think you''re creepy," Aymon said. "Please don''t think that he does."

    Kino laughed, an odd and dull sound that didn''t echo at all in the viewing lounge. "I may be many things, but I''m not stupid."

    "Are you doing ok, Kino?" Aymon asked.

    "I''m fine," Kino said.

    "Are you sleeping well?" Aymon asked.

    "No worse than usual," Kino said.

    "I was just wondering, since you..." Aymon didn''t want to say Vena out loud, since they were still in a public place, and it wouldn''t do to have someone overhear the de facto leader of the Empire asking about his apprentice''s drug habit. Kino knew what he was talking about.

    "I''m fine," Kino said shortly. "It was going to have to happen eventually."

    "I''m glad you recognize that," Aymon said. "For what it''s worth, though, I am sorry."

    "For what?" Kino asked.

    Aymon considered what he wanted to say for a moment. There was more than one thing that he could be apologizing for.

    "There are many things that you probably blame me for. At the very least, everything that has happened recently. Even going back to Falmar, you could blame me for that."

    "I don''t blame you for that," Kino said.

    "Maybe that''s for the best," Aymon said. The rail pressed into his stomach as he peered out the window, looking at the stars.

    "I was lucky," Kino said. "Or God wanted me to serve a higher purpose."

    "I''m sure of that," Aymon said. "I never did get a chance to ask you, why did you make your project the way you did?"

    "Oh," Kino said. "That was a long time ago."

    "Only a few months," Aymon said.

    Kino was quiet for a second.

    "I don''t want to see or be seen. I didn''t want to make a project that has myself in it. But there had to be someone in it. I just thought, the piece of God that''s in you or anybody is the same as in me, so it doesn''t matter, really," Kino trailed off.

    "I think you''re in the wrong line of work," Aymon said.

    "I know," Kino said. "But I am not free to desist from it."

    "True," Aymon said. "Would you rather have a different apprenticeship?"

    "No," Kino said, but as was usual for her, she didn''t elaborate.

    "Do you like Yan and Sid?" Aymon asked.

    "Yes," Kino said.

    "Would you have preferred to go on the other trip with one of them?"

    "This is the best arrangement of us," Kino said, thought that didn''t answer Aymon''s question in the least. When Aymon didn''t respond, she did continue. "Sid and Yan make a good team. I want to see the front."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "Fortunately, I doubt that the front will be very exciting," Aymon said.

    "Oh," Kino said.

    "I¡¯m hoping that it¡¯s all just a cleanup operation at this point. I wanted to get the chance to have a talk with the everyone running the planet in full, in person, about how much longer it¡¯s going to take. It was convenient to do this before heading to Jenjin." Aymon paused for a second. "It''s been a long time since I walked into an active warzone. You understand that for the security of the Empire, I can''t do that sort of thing. We¡¯re going to be staying on a part of the planet that¡¯s already been completely cleared out."

    "Yes," Kino said. "I understand."

    "What do you want to see there?" Aymon asked.

    "The world, and I thought, before we put our mark on it, but we already did. Before we put people who live there," Kino said.

    "It''s true that we do try to clean things up as best as possible before we let settlers come in. The world will be as pristine as we can make it," Aymon said. "It''s a real science to clean up all traces of human habitation, just to let humans inhabit it again."

    "Why do we go through all the trouble?" Kino asked.

    "At this point, the strongest form of habit. If I had been my predecessors, I would have made different choices, but as you know, our whole society is built upon going through these motions the same ways we have for hundreds of years," Aymon said. "When one of you takes my place, I''m hopeful that you will consider the impact your choices will have on the entire future of the Empire, not just what is convenient for you."

    "I will," Kino said.

    Aymon laughed at her serious and assured delivery. "And do you want to have my position?"

    "I want to do what is good and right and necessary," Kino said.

    "Don''t we all?" Aymon asked. "But you''re being very diplomatic."

    "I''m trying," Kino said. "It''s important to say the right thing."

    "You''ll need to be a little more fluent about it," Aymon said. "Small word of caution that you sound very stiff most of the time."

    "I know," Kino said, and she scrunched up her nose. "I know."

    "A big part of this job is getting people to like and trust you," Aymon said.

    "I''ll get better at it," Kino said.

    "I know you will," Aymon said. "You know, the apprenticeship process, choosing your apprentices, you''re guaranteed to choose people who work well with you. There was something within you that called out to something within me, same with Sid, same with Yan."

    "What part of you?" Kino asked.

    "It''s hard to describe. I think you and I, we''re similar in some ways." Aymon stopped for a second. "Is it ok if I tell you a story?"

    Kino nodded.

    "When I was a child, I come from Lonn, it''s a wonderful planet, mostly forest. There was one hot, dry summer. I was about eight, eight and a half. And that summer we had this absolutely massive, devastating fire in my area.

    ¡°We went to bed one night thinking that the fire was going to go the other direction, pass us by, but the wind changed while we were asleep, and we didn''t... We didn''t have time to evacuate. The fire circled us in.

    ¡°So my mother got us all- God, we had this pond way behind our house. Couldn''t have been more than ten feet deep, we''d go swimming in it sometimes. My mother got the whole family to go stand in the pond, we wrapped wet towels over our faces to stop breathing in the smoke, but it didn''t really help. And we had to stand there in the water for hours.

    ¡°We couldn''t even tell when the sun came up, the sky was so full of smoke, and everything was just burning around us. It was so hot, your face would be scorched whenever you came up out of the water.¡± Aymon paused for a second.

    "Not to get too metaphorical, but I felt like I was being swallowed by some giant with fiery teeth a hundred feet tall, trapped in its wet mouth. I remember thinking that I would rather die than stay there for a second longer.

    "It was probably the worst day of my life, to have to stay there and watch our house burn. We lost everything. When the fire was out, we had to walk into town, it was about ten kilometers away, and it was like walking on an asteroid. Everything was dead and destroyed. And when we got to town, that was burned too, but at least... There were people who came looking for survivors and they took us to a shelter. We were lucky, at the time, to survive. But my family wasn''t ever the same."

    Aymon stopped talking and just stared out the window again. He could have gone on, detailing the aftermath, but talking about the ripple effects through the rest of his life would have involved recounting his life story to the present day.

    "You have a talent for finding other people who have lost things, then," Kino said.

    "Don''t I?" Aymon said flatly. "What can they say, misery loves company."

    "I''m sorry," Kino said.

    "I think I''ve had plenty of time to recover," Aymon said. "A good fifty years."

    "Still," Kino said. It was clear that Aymon''s story had affected her. It seemed odd to Aymon, since she had lost much more, her entire family, her entire planet. But Aymon knew, or thought he knew, that both of them shared a horrible, formative moment in their childhood. Telling Kino was a way to link them together in his mind.

    "Between me, and you, and Halen, and Yan, who in our little group doesn''t have a tragic past after all?" Aymon said with a tone that was a little too jaunty.

    "Sid," Kino said simply.

    "Ah, well, I saw something different in him, I suppose," Aymon said.

    "What?" Kino asked.

    "The angry young man that I used to be," Aymon said.

    "That''s just admitting you don''t relate to women," Kino said. She must have been feeling particularly bold.

    "Kino, I have never related to a woman in my life," Aymon said. "But that''s not what I meant."

    Kino smiled a little bit, the gloom that had fallen over them broken.

    It was a shame, Aymon thought, that Halen couldn''t read Kino at all. Maybe it was for the best that Kino was here, so that they could get to know each other better, without the more intense Sid and adept Yan to overshadow Kino. She wouldn''t be able to stay in her shell forever. If she was going to really succeed, in this apprenticeship and later, she would have to work for it.

    "How long is it until we get to the front?" Kino asked.

    "Two more days, barring any delays," Aymon said. "Did you enjoy your tour of the stardrive?"

    "Yes. Halen told us that he used to make them, I wanted to feel what they were like up close," Kino said. "We had a class about them, but we didn''t ever get to see one working."

    "Don''t get any ideas," Aymon warned.

    "I won''t," Kino said. "I know they''re dangerous."

    "God, the last thing I would want is the disastrous press that would result from one of my apprentices destroying a stardrive," Aymon said.

    "You''re more likely to have to worry about Sid for that, he likes to build things," Kino said.

    "And I let him go on a trip where he and Yan are the highest authority? I clearly have made a grave error," Aymon said lightly. "I don''t think he would be that stupid, Kino."

    She shrugged, which bobbed her up and down in the air, hands still clinging to the rail.

    "Halen told me to tell you that you''re invited to lunch in the Officer''s hall, at twelve hours, right before the jump tomorrow," Kino said.

    "And Halen couldn''t deliver this message himself because?" Aymon asked.

    "He said ''There''s your pretense for going to talk to him. Try to be natural, less awkward''. Then he told me where you were," Kino''s impression of Halen''s voice was shockingly accurate.

    Aymon laughed. "Of course. Kino, you know you were supposed to open with telling me that, right?"

    "I didn''t want a pretense," Kino said.

    "I see. Well if you see Halen before I do, tell him thank you for the invitation,"

    "Ok," Kino said. "Are you just going to look out the window all night?"

    "I''ll go to bed eventually," Aymon said. "I like looking out the window."

    "Why?" Kino asked.

    "Many reasons. It''s a good place to pray," Aymon said.

    "Oh," Kino said. She stared out the window with intent, and in the long moment of silence that passed between them, Aymon saw her lips move as she mouthed a prayer.

    When she had finished, she relaxed her face and shoulders. Her knuckles were white around the rail that the two held.

    "I didn''t mean that you had to pray," Aymon clarified.

    "No, you just reminded me that I should," Kino said. She yawned.

    "Are you invited to the Officers lunch?" Aymon asked.

    "Am I?" Kino asked. "Halen didn''t tell me."

    "Assume that you are, then," Aymon said. "Go to bed so that you can be awake in time for it."

    "Ships time doesn''t make any sense," Kino said. "Goodnight."

    "Goodnight, Kino," Aymon said.

    Kino pushed off the rail and drifted back through the room towards the door. When she reached it, she turned around for a moment and to look at Aymon, who was still leaning on the rail and staring intently out the window. He was a dark shadow against the stars. Kino turned away and headed out the door.

    Aymon stayed. These quiet moments where he could pray and think were more valuable than sleep, just now.

 Chapter Twenty-Five - Abandon Ship / Abandon Hope

    Abandon Ship / Abandon Hope

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Those who flee are cursed to die, away, away, Maddie. They will die alone and lost, away away, Maddie. Don¡¯t forget to beware the cost, my darling, darling Maddie.¡±

    -from ¡°The Coward¡¯s Lament¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan, despite having worked on the bridge of the Iron Dreams for about a month earlier in the summer, was still thrilled to be getting a tour of the Sky Boat''s bridge. The second, Joun Migollen, was leading her around and showing her all the different stations.

    "Did you ever work on the bridge on your own ship?" Joun asked as they finished their tour and sat down in the Captain''s seat. Yan took the guest position.

    Joun''s voice was friendly and warm, and he seemed to have a good relationship with the rest of the bridge crew. Yan still thought his interactions with Captain Lida had been strange. Since the Captain was not on the bridge at the moment, Yan could try to forget about them and just appreciate Joun for what he appeared to be: a personable man who was eager to show off his family''s ship.

    "Yeah, I got to fill in for one of my cousins on navigation this past summer," Yan said.

    "How exciting. There''s nothing better than getting to steer," Joun said.

    "When are we jumping again?" Yan asked, leaning over to look at the navigational charts.

    "Six hours," Joun said. "You missed it when we jumped before."

    "I felt it," Yan said. "In the power, I mean."

    "Really?" Joun asked. "What does it feel like? Can your, um, partner, feel it too?"

    "Sid? No, I don''t think so. Some people are extra, well, sensitive, to different parts of the power. I can usually tell when it''s being used near me, is all," Yan said.

    "And the stardrive is actually using the power?" Joun asked.

    "Oh, yeah. Did you not know that?" Yan asked.

    "I just assumed that it only had to be created with the power, and that after that it was just a piece of technology," Joun said. "I never really studied the things, since I knew I''d never have a reason to work on it directly."

    "Makes sense. The stardrives, they have a core of power that is put into them when they''re created, and they use that to gather energy to make jumps." Yan shrugged.

    "If you can put that core of power into a stardrive, why can''t you put it into people to make more sensitives?" Joun asked.

    Yan laughed. "Oh, God, I can''t imagine how miserable that would be. No, I mean, stardrives are made to be able to contain that power, but a person? It would rip them apart," And then everything around them for a massive radius, Yan thought.

    "Then how come sensitives are able to exist at all?" Joun asked, leaning towards Yan.

    "You''re really asking some hard hitting questions," Yan said with a small smile. "But the type and amount of power in a stardrive is completely different than the type and amount that sensitives have. As an example, right now, I could not jump this ship, no matter how much force I used, no matter how much I concentrated. I wouldn''t have the concentration to be able to gather and hold that much power at once. I think it''s a bit of a limiting factor to stop sensitives from totally going crazy- the more you try to influence outside your own immediate knowledge and senses, the more concentration it takes, the less likely you''ll be able to do it."

    "Then how come stardrives can exist?" Joun asked.

    "They''re just like computers," Yan said. "We make them so that they can do one task. They''re unbound by the limits of human concentration since they don''t have human thinking and creativity to worry about." She shrugged.

    "Strange," Joun said. "Sorry, hold on." He was looking down at the screen in front of the captain''s station, where a light was blinking, signalling an incoming transmission over the local radio. Since they were in the middle of nowhere, several jumps away from any habitation, it must be from one of the dogfighters that the Sky Boat sent out to check for pirates.

    "What''s the status, Midge?" Joun asked.

    The voice over the radio was crackly and faint, probably due to the distances involved. The dogfighters, despite being tiny ships that didn''t have any sort of stardrive, could move remarkably fast.

    "There''s something out here, I just got lit up," Midge said a few seconds later. They were what, a whole light second apart? Yan thought, listening to the delay. That dogfighter had gone out pretty far.

    "Friendlies?" Joun asked, but not over the radio. One of the other people on the bridge consulted a chart.

    "The schedule we got from Byforest doesn''t put anyone near this location," the bridge crew member said. "Could be a Fleet ship, but I''m sure we''re not so lucky."

    "Unlikely to be friendly, Midge," Joun said back over the radio. "Did you scramble?"

    "Not yet. I''m drifting cold right now," Midge replied. "As soon as they flashed me I cut the engines."

    "You''re far out, start coming back. I''ll call the other dogs home too," Joun said.

    "And if they follow me?" Midge asked.

    "Well what the fuck do you think, Midge? That you''re gonna just stay out there forever instead?"

    The silence over the radio was painful.

    "Wilco. I''m on my way," Midge said, sounding grudging.

    "Keep us updated," Joun said. "Henns, call the other dogs back."

    The man who had been consulting the charts earlier nodded and began signalling over the radio to the other dogfighters who were out patrolling areas around the ship.

    Yan had been quiet in the guest chair through the whole exchange. From the serious look on Joun''s face, and the way that a deathly quiet had descended over the bridge, Yan knew that this was real. Pirate attacks were something that no one would ever joke about. Yan had never been anywhere near the bridge of the Iron Dreams on the rare occasion that they were hassled. She had no idea what the command center looked like when a ship knew they were about to be trailed.

    "I''m putting the ship on general alert," Joun said. "Brija, go wake up my mother and get her in here."

    A woman who looked to be the same age as Joun curtly nodded and left, headed for another part of the ship. Was the captain Joun''s mother? That would make sense.

    Joun leaned back in his seat, though clearly stiff and on edge. He turned to Yan, who was watching the proceedings nervously. Her own fingers were curled up and her nails were digging white semi circles into her palms.

    "Yan, you should alert the rest of your party. You can take them to the saferoom. There should be... time... before anything gets here," Joun said.

    "Joun... I know this is your ship, but if there''s anything I can do to help, let me know," Yan said.

    Joun nodded once. Yan stood up.

    She was heading out the door when Captain Lida came in, trailed by the woman who had been sent to fetch Joun''s mother. Yan guessed that particular mystery was solved. Captain Lida barely spared her a glance as she hurried off the bridge.

    Yan stood in the hallway for a minute, feeling extremely lost. She needed to... She needed to contact her group. She fished in her pocket for her phone, and saw that she already had messages from Iri. Interestingly, the text was from before Joun sent off the general alarm.

    < meet us in shuttle bay 4. trouble incoming

    Did Iri already know about the pirates? Or was she talking about some different problem? Why would Iri want to meet in the shuttle bay? Was ''us'' all the other members of their party? There were just too many questions that Iri''s message brought up. Combined with the looming threat, Yan''s hands were shaking as she looked at her phone.

    Yan collected herself, taking deep breaths, and reorienting herself in the ship. Shuttle Bay 4 was something she could navigate to. She had seen it before. She could get there.

    Though this was directly contradicting what Joun had told her to do, Yan needed to find out what Iri was doing, if just to yell at her and bring the whole group to the saferoom. Yan started jogging down the hallways, ignoring the flashing warning lights that had come on, and dodging around people who were heading to either their stations or the saferoom. The shuttle bays were all in the nograv section of the ship, so Yan made the transition between the rotating ring and the main body of the ship. She was able to catch her breath somewhat as she glided through the passages of the ship. Despite her speed, it took Yan quite a while to reach Bay 4, as it was far away from the rotating ring that Yan had been on.

    Shuttle Bay 4 was a mess when Yan arrived. The leader of their expedition, Lieutenant Harber, was engaged in a heated argument with a crew woman from the Sky Boat. The woman was pleading with Harber to take his group to the saferoom. Harber''s men loaded onto the shuttle that was occupying the center of the bay. Yan saw Iri helping her dog into the shuttle. Sid didn''t appear to be anywhere around.

    Yan headed over to Iri, since she seemed to have the most information.

    "What''s going on?" Yan asked. "Why aren''t we headed to the saferoom?"

    "Pirates," Iri said. "Harber says we''re taking our chances off ship."

    "Yeah, I know there''s pirates," Yan said, frustrated. "This makes no sense."

    "Why? I don''t want to be on board when shit hits the fan," Iri said.

    "If pirates come here, they''re going to shoot down any dogfighter or shuttle they see," Yan said.

    "I''m sure Harber will have us drift cold," Iri said. "They won''t be able to see us."

    "Yes they will," Yan said. "They don''t just passively watch, they have radar. I''d rather be in the saferoom than on that shuttle."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "Argue with Harber about it, then. He''s in charge," Iri said.

    Exasperated, Yan turned around and headed towards Harber to do just that. He was still engaged in his argument with the crew woman.

    "Excuse me," Yan said, and the two turned to look at her.

    "Apprentice BarCarran," the woman started, looking at Yan with a pleading expression. "Please order Lieutenant Harber to take his crew to the saferoom."

    Yan was torn. On one hand, that was exactly what she wanted to do, but on the other hand, she wasn''t exactly sure that she had that authority over Lieutenant Harber. She didn''t say anything for a second.

    "Where''s Sid?" She asked abruptly.

    "His room. Hernan is getting him," Harber said. Yan nodded. She was trying to approach this tactfully, but they had a little time for tact. It would probably take at least a few hours for the pirates to arrive, but if Harber really did want to go through with this crazy shuttle plan, they would all have to be on board the shuttle quickly. Especially if they wanted to put any significant distance between themselves and the oncoming pirates.

    "Lieutenant, what is your plan?" Yan asked as evenly as possible. The woman''s face fell.

    "As you know, my duty is to keep you and Sid safe, and that involves evacuating under dangerous circumstances. Part of our contract with the Sky Boat is that we are allowed use of this shuttle while we are travelling. As such, I am making the decision that we will be evacuating the Sky Boat aboard Shuttle 4 and awaiting rescue," Harber said. "Iri has already retrieved your belongings from your quarters, so we can be underway as soon as Sid arrives."

    Yan bristled a bit at this information.

    "We have a good few days of travel before we''re even expected at Zhani. When we don''t arrive on time, I assume the Fleet will be contacted?" Yan asked.

    Harber nodded.

    "So a Fleet ship will be sent to find us. How long of a trip would it be for a Fleet ship to arrive at Byforest Station?"

    "Ten days," Harber said.

    "And then they would need to search everywhere along our jump route. And since the routes can vary..." Yan thought about this for a moment. "If the pirates did capture or destroy the Sky Boat, we''d want to stay drifting cold so that they couldn''t find us. That would make us even harder to find for our rescuers. It could be weeks, trapped in a shuttle that''s meant to last hours, with all ten of us. I don''t like those odds."

    "Yan," Harber started. "If the Sky Boat is overtaken, it''s the only hope. If it isn''t overtaken, then we can easily come back on board. It''s the only option that makes sense. This isn''t your family''s ship. You have an obligation to the First Sandreas and to the Empire to stay safe."

    He was right, and Yan didn''t want to admit it. It was deeply ingrained in Yan that abandoning ship was more dangerous than staying aboard. The thought of never being rescued, of being trapped in a shuttle forever... Halen''s story flashed back into Yan''s mind and she shivered involuntarily.

    "If the choice is to be stranded or come crawling back as cowards, why don''t we stay and fight?" Sid said behind her, in his loud, flat voice. He had managed to come in without her noticing, and if Yan had been capable of jumping in the microgavity of the bay, she would have. She spun herself around.

    "Don''t scare me like that," Yan signed to Sid. "I''m already..."

    "I need you both to cooperate," Harber said. "For all our sakes."

    The crew woman was still standing there, and she spoke up. "I can''t stop you, if you''re intent on leaving." She looked resigned to the punishment she was sure to receive from the captain. But really, there wasn''t anything that the woman could do to stop Harber from taking Yan and Sid and the rest of their group off the ship.

    Sid, still floating in the air behind Yan, discretely reached out a hand and touched the back of Yan''s neck. Aside from her hands, it was the only part of her not covered by her worksuit from the Iron Dreams. Yan didn''t acknowledge the touch visibly, but sent a tendril of her power out to Sid''s hand. He sent one back, with a question.

    "Trust who?" Sid was asking, silently through the power.

    The better sensitives knew each other, the easier they could send information between each other without meditating together. Yan and Sid were close, but not close enough for them to be able to communicate anything more than fragments while touching, unless they both concentrated quite hard. It was rarely useful, but it was enough here.

    "Harber," Yan sent back, but with it went an involuntary feeling of resignation. She hated the fact that Harber was right. Yan was gratified that Sid trusted her opinion, but she hoped she wasn''t leading him astray. Sid withdrew his hand.

    "If we are leaving, let''s leave," Sid said aloud. He clumsily used Yan''s shoulder as a push off point, and drifted over her towards the shuttle. Iri helped him inside.

    Yan gave a sad glance to the woman crew member, who shook her head and walked away. Yan followed Sid inside the shuttle and found a seat. The other members of their party finished loading on to the shuttle. It was quite crowded, in the end. Though the shuttle had seats to ferry passengers, they were at maximum capacity. Yan hated to think that if worst came to worst, they would all be stuck in the shuttle for... Yan didn''t want to consider the realistic numbers of how long it could be.

    From her seat squished between Sid and Iri, Yan could hear the pilot, one of the Fleet soldiers under Lieutenant Harber''s command, go through the flight checklist and request that the bay doors be opened. It was a long process, made worse by the bitter tones over the radio from the Sky Boat crew. This felt like desertion. Yan hated it.

    Eventually, they were cleared, and the shuttle flew out of the bay and away from the Sky Boat. All the passengers were pressed into their seats with the acceleration, the pilot clearly pushing the bounds of what the passengers and shuttle could handle. Iri''s dog, Bebop, whined and growled from his crate on the floor, suffering the most from the acceleration. Bebop was the only one making noise. Aside from the occasional radio message, the whole shuttle was tense and silent, everyone trying to cope with the discomfort on their own.

    With some effort, Yan pried up her head from where it was jammed into the headrest and looked at Iri next to her. Iri was already looking in Yan''s direction, and when their eyes met, Iri slid her hand across to where Yan''s hand was trapped in the folds of her cassock. Iri smiled as she grabbed Yan''s hand, but under the acceleration it looked more like a grimace. Yan entangled her fingers in Iri''s and Iri gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

    Yan turned again to look at Sid on her other side. He had his eyes squeezed shut, his heavy glasses pressed hard against his face. Yan reached out and grabbed Sid''s hand, trying to give him the same sort of comfort that Iri was offering her. It must be even harder for Sid, this heavy acceleration. With his glasses inching themselves up and away from his eyes, he wouldn''t be able to understand if anyone did speak, and it would be near impossible for him to sign anything with the pressure they were under. Sid''s hand wrapped around hers.

    Touching, now, he sent her a thought through the power. It was just a short feeling of gratitude and comfort, but Yan squeezed his hand tighter.

    To Yan, it felt as though the whole shuttle was wrapped in a haze of fear, but it may have just been the choking feeling of acceleration. Yan spent her time thinking about how far they may have made it. The force they were under felt like maybe three times the gravity in the ringed section of the ship, but it was impossible to make an accurate measurement. She just felt trapped in her own body, pressed back against her chair. And just as the force was impossible to measure, without any clocks within view the time stretched out further and further. Had they been travelling for half an hour? Two hours? Yan was sure that they hadn''t managed to travel as far as the dogfighters had, since they were equipped specifically to deal with massive forces. Yan wished it would end, or at least for something to break up the monotony.

    Unfortunately for Yan, her wish was granted in the worst possible way. As the shuttle continued to speed away from the Sky Boat, Yan felt a horrible wrenching in the power. It was a twisted, backwards version of the feeling she had known all her life: being in a ship when it made a jump. Yan was forcibly reminded of the reason why stardrives were made and tested well away from inhabited space. The entire constitution of the space around the ship had to be ripped apart and reformed in a new place.

    Yan worked up the strength to call out to the pilot in the front of the shuttle.

    "Did the Sky Boat just jump away?" Yan asked.

    "What?" The pilot called back to Yan.

    "I felt a ship jump, did the Sky Boat jump away?"

    "Kill the engine," Lieutenant Harber said. The pilot complied and there was immediate, blessed relief as the painful acceleration ceased.

    There was a momentary breathless silence as the pilot consulted his instruments in the front of the shuttle. Iri was looking at Yan.

    "How long does it take between jumps?" Iri asked Yan quietly.

    "Joun said six hours before we left," Yan said.

    Everyone''s voice sounded strained. The prolonged forces on their bodies had taken their toll.

    Yan knew it was unlikely, to the point of being impossible, that the Sky Boat had jumped away. Still, she asked because it was the better alternative.

    "The Sky Boat is in the same position," the pilot reported back. "Are you sure you-"

    "We have to turn around," Yan said, voice catching in her throat. "The pirates jumped in."

    "We''re not going back," Lieutenant Harber said.

    "The Sky Boat, their dogfighters can''t be back yet," Yan said. "They''re totally undefended, we need to-"

    "This is the reason we are escaping and waiting for rescue," Harber said. "This shuttle has no guns, there''s nothing we could do."

    "We need to-"

    "Apprentice BarCarran, we are not putting everyone''s lives at risk here," Harber said, sounding forceful. "If the pirates are in the area, we are going to wait out whatever happens."

    Yan was squeezing Sid and Iri''s hands hard enough to crush them. Sid''s glasses, in the sudden shift to no gravity, had floated off his face. He grabbed them with his free hand and put them back on.

    Through their clasped hands, Sid sent Yan a questioning feeling. Yan loosened her grip somewhat.

    "The pirates came. The Sky Boat is undefended. We are the only ones who can help them," Yan sent to Sid in a silent blast. Since they were both focusing on only that, she was able to manage the more coherent information dump.

    Sid considered this for a long, silent moment.

    "Lieutenant Harber, turn this ship around," Sid finally said aloud. His eyes were closed.

    Yan didn''t know, specifically, whether Lieutenant Harber''s orders were to rely on his own judgement in emergencies, or to follow Yan and Sid. She supposed this was the moment when they would all find out.

    Harber didn''t say anything, and the pilot looked uncomfortable, caught between his commander and Yan''s desire to turn back.

    Sid sent Yan a thought. "You''re lucky you have me as a friend." He let go of Yan''s hand, opened his eyes, and unstrapped himself from his seat.

    "Lieutenant Harber," Sid started, pushing himself up from his chair. "You know that Yan is perfectly capable of flying this shuttle herself, and I am most certainly capable of incapacitating everyone else in it."

    Sid drifted close to Harber, grabbing on to the back of his seat in the front of the shuttle. Everyone else was watching this play out with different levels of fear and frustration.

    "Sid, sit down," Hernan, Sid''s minder, said, sounding exasperated.

    "No," Sid said. "We are going back to the Sky Boat. Lieutenant Harber, give the order, or I will relieve you of your command."

    Sid''s voice was the same calm, flat tone that he always had when he spoke aloud, but his intentions were clear on his face.

    "First Sandreas will not be pleased with your behavior," Lieutenant Harber said. "There is more than just your life and ours at stake, here."

    "There are hundreds of people on the Sky Boat," Yan said quietly. And what were the ten people aboard the shuttle in comparison to that? "They''re at stake, too."

    Unbidden, the song of the boys she had met the previous night came to the forefront of her brain. Dearest bravehearts, sons and daughters, will you stand your ground with me?

    "What is your plan, then?" Harber asked, reluctantly.

    Though the attack was already deviating from what had been described as the ''usual'' method employed by pirates, Yan had been thinking of a plan. Pirates usually saved their jump to escape an engagement, rather than to initiate it, so the pirates were at a disadvantage if the Sky Boat and Yan''s party could stay alive long enough for the Sky Boat to jump out.

    "The pirates will want to board the Sky Boat. If we get there in time, we can knock them away from the surface of the ship and redirect any projectiles until the Sky Boat''s dogfighters get back."

    "That''s your plan?" Harber asked.

    "The only advantage we have is the power," Yan said. "We have no guns, no suits, no stardrive. We can''t easily touch either of the ships or any of the people directly, but Sid and I can maneuver anything else. That''s better than what the Sky Boat has. We have an obligation to them."

    "Get back in your seat, Apprentice Welslak," Harber said.

    "I want you to get us going, first," Sid said.

    "Get back in your seat, or you risk getting your neck broken when we accelerate, Apprentice," Harber said, then turned slightly to look at Yan. "How close do we need to be in order for you to do what you''re going to do?"

    "I need to be able to see what I''m doing. Does this shuttle have visual scopes or just the window?" Yan asked.

    "We have one scope," the pilot said, checking his instruments. "It has 200x magnification."

    "I just need to get close enough to see individual people on the scope," Yan said. "The difference between being one kilometer out and half a kilometer out isn''t enough to matter if we''re going into the engagement."

    Sid strapped himself back in, and the pilot engaged the engines again. This time, the crushing force was even worse. The ship did turn around, so the force they were feeling was still ''eyeballs in'', but the pilot was pushing past the acceleration they had before, and everyone was already sore from their outward journey.

    Yan had a sick feeling in her stomach. It wasn''t just the pressure on her body, and it wasn''t just the fear of pirates, either. Sid, with her encouragement, had threatened to mutiny. They were halfway to piracy themselves, now. But what she was really thinking of was the upcoming engagement, and the plan that she had explained.

    ''We can knock them away from the surface of the ship,'' she had said. If Yan could take a piece of debris, maybe something that had been fired from the pirates'' guns, or some rock that had been knocked off the Sky Boat... Any piece of matter with enough mass, she could get it moving with the power, and it would be enough...

    All Yan could think about, when she pictured it, was herself, small, watching out the window as a thousand ton, runaway shipping container crushed every bone in her mother''s body.

 Chapter Twenty-Six - That Which Will Never Be Forgiven

    That Which Will Never Be Forgiven

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Oh, my dear mother, what have you done? It¡¯s his blood on your hands and your hands on the gun. [...] My precious daughter, I did this for you. You don¡¯t need to forgive him, I punished his sins.¡±

    -from ¡°Ema¡¯s Mother¡¯s Revenge¡±, popular song from Terlin

    </blockquote>

    Because they had accelerated just slightly more on the return journey, their point of relative zero velocity with the Sky Boat was a fair distance off from the actual fight. The pilot disengaged the engines, and everyone was able to assess the situation before them. Yan and Sid climbed out of their seats and moved towards the front of the shuttle where Harber and the pilot were sitting.

    Through the window, the ships were visible as general shapes, onboard lights illuminating the action. The scope had a clearer picture, superimposing the infrared and visible spectrum to build a more complete image of the action.

    Over the scope, they could see the two large ships, both created from mined out asteroids. The Sky Boat, though larger and originally better maintained, was looking the worse for wear. A hole had been ripped in her side, seemingly out of one of the cargo bays. A trail of debris extended out from that major, though not fatal, wound. Smaller ships, shuttles and dogfighters, were making their way from the pirate ship to the Sky Boat, passing the mangled remains of what Yan suspected was one of the dogfighters that had not flown when the Sky Boat had originally entered the zone.

    Several of the Sky Boat''s defensive guns still seemed able to fire, but were not in the ideal position. Clearly, the more maneuverable firepower of the pirate''s dogfighers had won this part of the engagement. Was the Sky Boat not adjusting her position because she was too wounded, or because she wanted to protect her other side from the big guns carried by the pirates? Yan couldn''t tell.

    The pilot fired the thrusters to give the shuttle a small forward velocity, that edged them closer to the engagement.

    One of the pirate shuttles had made it close to the hole blasted in the side of the Sky Boat. It had launched a tether to secure the small ship to the side of the Sky Boat. On the scope, Yan could just make out tiny figures exiting the shuttle and flying towards the hole. She pointed it out to the rest of the crew of their own shuttle.

    "They''re trying to board there," Yan said.

    "Should we signal the Sky Boat?" Iri asked, coming up behind Yan.

    "No, we don''t want to draw attention to ourselves," Harber said.

    "Too late for that," Yan said, pointing again at one of the smaller ships that was making its way from the pirate vessel to the Sky Boat. That shuttle turned to face them, and shone a light in their direction. That group of pirates must have observed the heat from their thrusters and engine as Yan''s group came in hot.

    "Can we take evasive action?" Harber asked.

    "If we aren''t strapped in, we can''t pull more than half-grav," Yan said. "Sid, can you shield us?"

    Sid nodded, and Yan felt his power structure spring into place around them, a sphere that extended half a meter around the whole shuttle. As she felt it come up, Yan wished she had actually taken the defense, because Sid holding the barrier meant that she would be responsible for the offense.

    Peering into the scope''s screen, Yan mentally sorted through the rubble that had been strewn about the battlefield. She was unwilling to take a chunk of a torn apart cargo container, and she disregarded the crushed looking dogfighter in the middle of the fracas, just in case there were still people alive on there. There did seem to be a fair amount of ore spilled out of the hole in the side of the Sky Boat, so Yan selected a sizable piece.

    There was an odd feeling of disconnect as she tethered it with the power. Yan could feel it move in her mind, but the image on the scope was ever so slightly delayed, and it gave her experimental nudges to the large piece of ore a rubbery feeling that she didn''t appreciate. Still, it would have to do. Despite Sid''s protection of the shuttle, Yan didn''t want to get any closer to the scene of the fighting than she had to.

    Yan tried to convince herself that she felt numb as she began to fling her rock chunk around. The first thing she targeted with it was the ship that was shining its light on them. Though she could have used the power directly on the shuttle, Yan thought it was a good idea to get used to the feeling of the massive rock. Also, Yan didn''t want to yet face the reality of hitting a person. A shuttle was a large, easy target.

    In space it was comically easy to use the power at great distances. There wasn''t anything there to distract her. There was no feeling of air around what you were manipulating, no objects or horizon blocking the line of sight, no heavy interference of gravity, or the feeling of life all around. It was always just a straight shot. Empty distances melted away, and Yan brought her rock careening forward.

    She smashed the rock directly into the front of the pirate shuttle, where it looked like its guns were. The shuttle was sent careening backwards, and Yan''s ore chunk shattered in the collision.

    It was impossible to tell if the pirate shuttle was permanently disabled, but at least it had stopped lighting them up.

    "Sid, can you just nudge us a little? We need to get to a new position without heating up," Yan said. She felt vaguely guilty for not talking to him in sign, but speed was of the essence and she had her eyes locked on the scope. It was funny that in such a tense situation Yan couldn¡¯t stop thinking about how to best talk to Sid. There were a lot of confusing feelings and thoughts flying through her head, faster than she could really process. Almost none of those thoughts were useful.

    "Hold on," Sid said. Everyone not strapped to their seats grabbed the nearest piece of furniture, and Sid yanked the shuttle violently to the left. It was a miserable feeling of impact, even though the ship hadn''t been touched by anything, but it did give them a velocity that would move them invisibly away from their previous course.

    Yan realized that she could have just used the power on the shuttle she had attacked directly, but she still felt better about using the rock, at least on that target. As for the boarding party, she wouldn¡¯t have the focus required to manipulate another person with the power. That was above her level, and it felt much more horrible than the thought of hitting them.

    "Thanks," Yan said. Her shoulders ached from the jolt. She focused again on the scope, gathering up another chunk of ore.

    God forgive me. Mother forgive me. Yan thought.

    She swung the ore up out of the debris around the bay and then towards the figures latching on to the sides of the Sky Boat. As the rock she was manipulating gathered speed, she barely had any time to think about what the ideal path for the rock would be. She zigzagged it haphazardly. Yan did her best to keep it from colliding with anything unnecessary and losing speed.

    She knocked away the shuttle that was unloading them first, severing its tether. Luckily, her ore didn''t shatter this time. She brought the rock hurtling forward.

    Yan did her best to aim for the legs of the boarding party rather than any vital organs, but the figures on the scope were tiny, and her ore chunk was large and heavy. In the end, Yan didn''t think it made much difference.

    Some of the people were sent spinning off into space. Others vanished from the scope, torn apart or smashed into the sides of the Sky Boat. The images on the scope were grainy and small, but Yan¡¯s imagination filled in plenty of detail where the actual image lacked. She worked through it all, though. Every boarder that she saw was targeted and destroyed.

    Bile rose in Yan''s throat. She gagged and coughed, breaking her eyes away from the scope as her rock sent the last of the tiny figures flying off into space. Behind her, Iri retrieved a first aid kit from the wall and pulled a vomit bag from it, handing it to Yan. Iri patted her on the back as she choked into the bag, but it wasn''t much relief. Yan wiped at her face with her sleeve and found she was not only sweaty, but also crying.

    "Sid, can you- the dogs-" Yan managed to say between her choking coughs. Iri was still rubbing her back.

    Sid nodded, and Yan felt the power he was holding around their shuttle fall as he turned his attention to the several pirate dogfighters that had spread out from the battle. Yan didn''t know if the dogfighters understood that their shuttle was the one destroying the boarding party. Everyone on Shuttle 4 knew that they didn''t want to get caught by the pirates'' dogfighters, regardless. And if the dogfighters were spreading out from their original task of blasting the Sky Boat''s vulnerable or important parts, then it stood to reason that they might be searching for them.

    Yan, even through her sick feeling, made her own shield around their shuttle. If the dogfighters did spot them and fire, Yan''s power structure would deflect anything with enough momentum to hurt their shuttle. Because holding this power structure didn''t require any visual attention, Yan closed her eyes and tried to ignore the tense gasps of the people around her as they watched Sid tear through the dogfighters on the scope. Yan didn''t want to see it happen.

    Maybe she should have taken them out first, rather than trying to stop the boarders. She could have tried to disable them without... It didn''t matter. Whatever Sid was doing, Yan had to trust that he was making the decision that would keep them and the Sky Boat safe until the Sky Boat''s own dogs returned.

    After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Harber spoke up. Yan had kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see what was happening. Iri was still rubbing her back awkwardly.

    "Is it safe enough to signal the Sky Boat?" Harber asked.

    "Their main ship is moving away. I don''t think they have anything left to come after us," Sid said in a halting way, as though he had forgotten how his own body operated. Yan opened her eyes to look at him, and he was pale, sweaty, and shivering slightly. Their eyes met, and he offered her a shaky smile, knocking on the underside of his chin. Chin up.

    Yan looked at him blankly, but that was better than looking at whatever he had done on the scope.

    "Sky Boat, this is Shuttle 4, are you receiving?" Harber asked over the radio.

    The message that came back was crackly, as though the Sky Boat''s main transmitter had been knocked out, and they were sending out a lower powered message from their backup.

    "Sky Boat here. What''s your status Shuttle 4?" Although it was hard to tell any tone over the weak radio, the voice over the radio registered somewhere in Yan''s mind as sounding wary.

    "We are uninjured. We request permission to come aboard," Harber said. For all that Shuttle 4 technically belonged to the Sky Boat in the first place, it seemed that their status was in question.

    There was a moment of silence over the radio before the Sky Boat responded. A generous explanation was that they were checking to see if they had any empty and undamaged bays in which the shuttle could land. The ungenerous explanation would be that they hesitated because they were afraid.

    "Bay 3 is undamaged. Be wary of debris on your approach," Sky Boat sent.

    "Understood," Harber said over the radio, consulting the navigational chart the pilot had opened. "We are heading towards Bay 3. Lead time of... ten minutes."

    "Let''s get back in our seats, ok?" Iri said gently, tugging on Yan''s jumpsuit and sending Yan slowly drifting back towards her seat in the back of the shuttle. She was still clutching her bag that she had spit up into, and she stared at it blankly for a second as she tried to figure out how to hold it and buckle herself in at the same time. Iri took it from her after a moment. Numbly, Yan buckled herself back in between Sid and Iri, who disposed of the vomit bag in a nearby trash bin.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Yan didn''t have the ability to process any of it right that second. Not the fact that she had probably just killed a whole bunch of people, and that Sid had probably killed more. Not the fact that the pirates and the Sky Boat were just sitting there within spitting distance of each other, since they had reached an uncomfortable semi stalemate until the Sky Boat could jump away. Not the fact that the people on the Sky Boat would feel... Yan didn''t even know what they were going to feel when the shuttle came back. And certainly not the fact that they were all still alive and relatively unharmed.

    Relatively. Physically, anyway.

    Yan was pressed back against the seat as the shuttle accelerated towards the Sky Boat, but it was nothing like the crushing feeling from before. Yan was still holding up the power structure that kept projectiles away from their shuttle, and it came in handy as she felt several chunks of rock from the blasted part of the Sky Boat hit her shield and bounce away.

    Next to her, Sid stretched out his hand and grabbed hers. They both had such sweaty hands that in any other situation Yan might have withdrawn hers and wiped it on her clothes. But this was extenuating circumstances. Sid didn''t try to send her any message in the power, just held her sweaty hand comfortingly.

    From her seat, Yan could only see out the front window if she craned her neck, which she didn''t feel inclined to do. She only knew they were finally within the Sky Boat when the shuttle bumped into the deck of the bay. Everyone unbuckled and waited for the bay to fully pressurize so that they could finally climb out of the shuttle.

    Aside from the pilot talking softly over the ship''s coms, everyone was tense and silent as they exited. The atmosphere was thick with something unpleasant. For the Fleet group that had been sent to guard Yan and Sid, Yan could imagine that they felt a mixture of powerlessness and relief that they were alive. Harber was probably mad at them. Iri and Hernan, Yan didn''t know what they were thinking or feeling.

    The bay was large and the air was cool. Unbidden, relief washed over Yan that she wasn''t going to have to spend the next several weeks trapped in the crowded shuttle. If they hadn''t turned around, with the state the Sky Boat had been in, they would have been resigned to that, in the best case scenario.

    Sid took off his cassock and draped it over his arm, revealing his sweat soaked shirt. Had it really been so hot in the shuttle, or was this just the tension they were feeling?

    "Come on," Harber said, coming up behind Yan and Sid. "We need to leave the bay so they can depressurize it. One of the dogs is coming in."

    The group gathered themselves as the pilot locked down the shuttle and headed out into the halls of the Sky Boat proper. In the hall, Harber gave a signal dismissing his group. Only Yan, Sid, Iri, and Hernan remained in the hallway. Hernan and Sid had an exchange in sign that was too fast for Yan to follow, and Hernan shrugged and headed away.

    "Do you want me to come with you?" Iri asked Yan softly.

    "Where are we going?" Yan asked flatly.

    "We''re wanted on the bridge," Harber said.

    "Oh. You can come," Yan said. She didn''t really have a strong feeling about it, but Iri looked like she wanted to come, so Yan didn''t send her away.

    The group followed Harber through the empty halls towards the bridge. Because the Sky Boat had made preparations to be boarded, at every intersection they had to stop for Harber to key in a security code to the heavy doors that had slammed shut around the ship. They were still physically quite near the pirate''s ship, so nonessential crew were all still in the safe room and essential crew were manning their posts. Though ships usually were quite large and relatively empty, their journey was eerier than usual. It didn''t help that the rotation of the rings was shut down, so they floated through areas that usually had an orientation and gravity.

    They reached the bridge and were let in. The whole place was a hive of activity, with each station coordinating operations around the ship: damage control, tracking the returning dogs, keeping the crew on alert. Yan''s little group floated awkwardly in the back. Everyone else on the bridge was buckled into their seats unless they were getting up to go somewhere. Yan saw Joun, dressed in a heavy combat suit, sitting at one of the posts.

    After a few moments, Captain Lida got up to acknowledge them. She was still the same stiff older woman, and she looked them over before she said anything. It was a long second of silence.

    "So," Captain Lida said, "You abandoned ship, then came back because you were feeling guilty?"

    "Captain Lida-" Harber started, but she held up a hand and cut him off.

    "I''m not interested in what you have to say for yourself," she said to Harber. "But you-" Lida pointed at Yan, her accusing finger directly underneath Yan''s chin. "I expected much better of you."

    And there it was, the last straw. Yan, who had been keeping it mostly together up until this point, started to cry. Huge wracking sobs shook her body, and in the gravity free environment her tears pooled in her eyes until she blinked them away.

    "Captain," Joun spoke up from his seat. "It''s not her fault."

    Sid seemed to puff up and wedged himself in between Yan and Captain Lida, pushing Yan back a little bit.

    "She saved your lives you ungrateful-" Sid signed.

    "Sid, don''t," Yan managed to get out.

    Several of the crew around the bridge looked ready to tackle Sid if he made a threatening move towards the captain. Yan put her arm on his and nudged him back a little. He glared at her, but Yan knew he was just trying to protect her. Nice of him, if ill advised.

    This was a supremely awkward situation in almost every respect. The only person whom Lida seemed willing to talk to was Yan, and that just to accuse her. Everyone else was frozen in a kind of stasis, unable to speak up without being shut down or ignored by the other parties. Yan was still crying, but was taking deep breaths to try to steady herself.

    "What do you have to say for yourself?" Lida asked. "I have dead crew, and millions of charges of damage to my ship, and after all that, there''s still a pirate ship right outside my windows."

    "I''m sorry," Yan said, the words coming out as stutters between her breaths.

    "With all due respect, Captain Lida," Harber interjected. "Apprentice BarCarran is not responsible for your ship, or even a member of the Trade Guild, and she was acting under my orders to leave the Sky Boat."

    "She certainly looks like she is, wearing that uniform instead of yours," Lida said. It was true that Yan was wearing her Iron Dreams uniform rather than her apprentice cassock.

    "What would your captain think of this?" Lida asked accusingly, ignoring any further protest from Harber.

    "Leave her alone, it''s because of her we came back to help at all," Sid said aloud. "If she hadn''t insisted, you''d all be dead."

    "Such great charity from the Empire''s servants," Lida said. "Why couldn''t you have at least destroyed the pirate''s ship? Leaving it will just let them go after someone else."

    "I didn''t want to kill anyone else," Yan said quietly, rubbing her sleeve over her eyes. "I couldn''t do it." She had barely been able to knock off the boarding party and shuttles, it was Sid who had gone after most of the active dogfighters.

    "Kill them? They''re not human- they''re animals, it''s a service to the universe to destroy them," Lida said.

    "Captain Lida, our attentions are better focused on moving forward, rather than dwelling on the past. What''s done is done," Harber said.

    Lida ignored him. "You can rest assured, Apprentice BarCarran, that your family will be hearing of this as soon as we are in port."

    Yan hadn''t really expected anything different. Of course her family would find out.

    "Are you returning to Byforest station or are we proceeding to Zhani?" Harber asked, sounding impatient at this point.

    "We''re continuing to Zhani, since we still have about half of our cargo left," Lida said darkly.

    "And when will we be jumping out?" Harber asked.

    "It''s another hour before the drive is ready," Joun said from his seat. "The second it is, we''ll be jumping."

    "If you''ll excuse me," Lida said stiffly. "I need to go address my crew in the saferoom. Joun, you have the bridge."

    She pushed her way past Yan without a second glance and floated out into the hallway. As the door closed behind her, the tension in the room noticeably lessened. Although it was less tense, it was still an uncomfortable environment. Yan was still crying a little and the rest of the bridge crew was still looking at them suspiciously. What were they still doing there?

    Joun got up from his seat and came over.

    "I''m sorry," he said. "I didn''t bring you here just for my mother to yell at you."

    This wasn''t the best apology Yan had ever received, but she sniffled and nodded anyway.

    "What did you bring us here for, then?" Sid asked aloud. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

    "And again, I must apologize, because I need to ask a favor of you. I know you''ve already done so much to help us, but..." Joun trailed off helplessly. Sid was glaring daggers at him.

    "What do you need?" Yan asked. "I''ll do it."

    Iri poked her warningly in the back, but Yan wasn''t too worried about making promises she couldn''t keep. In truth, she was much more concerned with making up their abandonment to the crew of the Sky Boat, whatever it took.

    "One of our dogfighters, the one we had in reserve on the ship when we were jumped, it was hit pretty badly. We don''t think Bec, the pilot, is still alive, but..."

    "You want the body?" Harber asked, rather callously.

    "I would prefer the whole ship," Joun said. "In a bay, as gently and quickly as possible. Can you do that?"

    Yan nodded, rubbing her eyes on her sleeve. "I need to be able to see the shuttle and the bay at the same time," she said. Having a task to focus on let her think more clearly. "Do you have any camera drones? Or do I have to suit up and go out?"

    "We can send out a drone. Is there anything else you need?" Joun asked, gesturing for one of his subordinates to get one of the tiny robotic drones camera feeds going.

    "You need to open the bay," Yan said.

    Sid and Harber were wearing identical looks of disbelief that Yan was going along with Joun and helping him out, but at least they weren''t interfering.

    "Do you need to control the drone or just have it in a fixed position?" Joun asked.

    "Keeping it still relative to the Sky Boat is best, as long as the bay and the dog and the bay are in full view the entire time," Yan said haltingly.

    "Carnen, can you put that up on the big screen?" Joun asked.

    A few seconds later, the big screen at the front of the bridge showed the point of view of the drone that was being sent out. The drones were usually used to inspect the outside of the ship. It released from its tiny dock and flew off the ship towards the bay that they wanted Yan to bring the destroyed dogfighter to.

    Yan didn''t know what the number of the bay was. It probably didn''t matter.

    The camera swung into position, and an onboard floodlight from the Sky Boat lit up the mangled dogfighter. Everything was in frame and ready for Yan. She felt like she was the director of the worst movie ever made. Lights, camera, and here she was, bringing the action.

    It took a moment for her to orient herself with regards to the image she was seeing. Yan was focused on the task at hand, despite the tears she blinked from her eyes. She spread out her power past the bounds of the Sky Boat, searching out the piece of debris that was the destroyed dogfighter.

    It was easy, in space, to search out large objects like that. In an atmosphere, learning to differentiate in the power between one type of molecule and another was a tricky thing. Yan was fairly good at it. In space it was a different story; there was no mass of air to contend with, and there were relatively few large, metal objects floating around.

    Interestingly, the dogfighter, despite clearly having been hit with some massive projectile, had relatively little velocity compared to the Sky Boat. It must have had an almost head on collision with whatever had been fired at it, to stop it dead in its tracks like that.

    Yan found the dogfighter in the power, and gave it a nudge. When the image on the screen wiggled correspondingly, Yan knew she had the right thing. Slowly, gently, just in case there was someone still alive, Yan gave the dogfighter a tiny push and began directing it towards the open bay.

    "Sorry, I''m being slow just in case," Yan said. She felt everyone watching her.

    A minute later, Yan had to speak up again.

    "Could you move the camera so I can see the inside of the bay?" The person controlling the camera complied, and the view swung around dizzyingly. "Thanks," Yan said.

    Eventually, she slid the dogfigher into the bay and stopped it on the floor as gently as possible, hoping the magnets that would hold it there hadn''t been dislodged in the fighting. She could have checked to be sure, but didn¡¯t.

    She could have checked if the pilot was alive as well, but she didn''t want that information to be weighing on her conscience as she worked.

    "Okay. It''s in," Yan said. There was a palpable feeling of relief in the room, and Yan let go of the power holding the dogfighter.

    "Thank you, Yan," Joun said. "For everything."

    Yan, still feeling exceptionally bad about everything, didn''t really know what to say. Now that she wasn''t focused on a task, the awful feeling in the pit of her stomach was threatening to return in full force. She just nodded at Joun.

    "Was there anything else you needed?" Harber asked.

    "No," Joun said. "Not that I know of right now. I, well, I highly advise you all go back to your quarters and lay low for the next few days."

    Sid frowned, narrowing his eyes.

    "Not that I''m not appreciative of everything you''ve done, and I''m sure everyone here is as well, but the captain is a hard woman to cross," Joun said.

    "Is this house arrest or quarantine?" Sid asked.

    "It''s a friendly suggestion from someone who owes you a debt, and who will be trying their best to make the rest of your journey as... unburdened... as possible," Joun said. "I don''t have the authority to prevent you from wandering the ship, but I do have the good sense to say it would be ill advised."

    "We''ll take that under consideration," Harber said. "By the grace of God may the rest of this trip go more smoothly."

    "Indeed," Joun said.

    The whole group turned, a slightly difficult proposition in the gravity free bridge, and began to file out the door.

    "Oh, and Yan," Joun said.

    Yan turned around to look at him, leaving Iri watching with a slightly concerned expression. Sid and Harber looked on with frustration.

    "I think you''d look better in your apprentice outfit than that one. It''s more authentic," Joun said.

    Yan shrugged mutely, helplessly, and followed her group out the door.

 Chapter Twenty-Seven - Scrubbing the Walls of Chauvet Cave

    Scrubbing the Walls of Chauvet Cave

    <blockquote>

    ¡°It was in those days that the people made war upon each other, sister against sister, father against son. They fought for grain, for land, for promises made and broken. [...] Samel was the fiercest warrior amongst them, and he crushed those before him with the strength of his fist and the iron of his will.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: The Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    The ground-to-space transport settled like an ungainly bird on a hardened dirt airfield on the surface of Tyx III. As the engine quieted, a group of Fleet officials, dressed in their finest uniforms, approached and stood waiting for the transport''s doors to open. The ramp of the little ship lowered to the ground, and Aymon Sandreas, Voice of the Empire, stepped out into the hot air of the planet.

    All the Fleet soldiers saluted as he walked down the ramp towards them. Aymon was followed by Kino directly behind him, and then at a more respectful distance, the rest of passengers of the transport. Halen was at the back of the group, casting a wary eye over everything.

    "General Lang," Aymon greeted the woman at the front of the column of Fleet soldiers. "It''s good to see you again."

    He stuck out his hand to shake hers. She pulled him in and their shoulders bumped conspiratorially.

    "I''ve missed seeing you, Aymon," Lang said.

    Loan Lang was a sturdy woman with short black hair streaked with grey framing her broad, flat face. Her skin was browned and rough, but that was due to the omnipresent heat and blistering winds on Tyx III as much as anything. She was the same age as Aymon, in her mid fifties, but was as lively and strong as she had been when they were Academy students together.

    "Is that you asking me to put you back on desk duty on Emerri? I could have that arranged," Aymon said.

    "Not a chance," Lang said with a smile. "Is this your new apprentice?"

    "One of them," Aymon said, and gestured for Kino to step forward. "This is Kino Mejia."

    Lang shook Kino''s hand as well. "Pleasure to meet you, Apprentice Mejia."

    "The pleasure is mine, General Lang," Kino said, sounding rehearsed. She had managed to approximate a pleasant smile, which Aymon counted as a victory.

    "Let''s get out of this heat," Lang said. "I''m used to it, but I''m sure the two of you aren''t."

    "We''re here on your hospitality," Aymon said. He swept his arm forward. "Lead the way."

    Aymon followed Lang as she walked down the airfield towards an open air cart. One of the Fleet soldiers got in the driver¡¯s seat, and Lang and Aymon got in the middle row, leaving Kino and Halen in the back. The soldiers who had accompanied Aymon to the planet were given duties and quarters by the soldiers who had been in Lang''s party; they all dispersed to their own tasks as Lang and Aymon''s cart drove across the airfield.

    The place was dry, but not sandy, and the sun was massive in the sky, casting a horrible red glow over everything. Aymon considered the place barely hospitable.

    "Is the weather like this all the time?" Kino asked from the back seat of the cart, her braids flapping in the wind as they drove.

    "For about two thirds of the year," Lang said, talking loudly over the wind. "The rest of the time it''s a torrential downpour. I prefer this weather."

    "I find it hard to believe that this planet can sustain life," Aymon said. "It seems to be a miserable place."

    "Oh, you get used to it quickly," Lang said. "And there''s plenty of life. See those plants?"

    She pointed out the cart to the opposite side of the airfield, which, being quite far away, didn''t give much of a sense of scale for the plants she was indicating. They were tall enough to block the horizon in that direction, but none of the visitors had any sense of the scale of the planet¡¯s horizon. The plants looked wider than they were tall, with a blueish canopy that bent all the way back to the ground in the direction of the prevailing wind.

    "Weird," Kino said.

    "They fill that wide part up with water when it rains, and store it for the rest of the year. Amazing adaptation. There''s even more life underground," Lang explained.

    "I do remember you mentioning something about underground caverns..." Aymon said with a smile.

    "Polite of you to not call it ''rambling on and on'' in my personal letters to you," Lang said.

    "I''d rather have a personal letter from you than a hundred dry reports about the state of the front," Aymon said.

    "Is that so? You''ve gotten sentimental in your old age," Lang said.

    The cart bumped along, off the relatively smooth airfield and onto a well traversed dirt road leading toward a cluster of buildings. They were standard quick military construction, concrete walls half set into the ground, with sloping metal roofs to protect from the wind.

    "Maybe I am sentimental," Aymon said. "But at least I''m not prone to writing long letters when I have better things to do."

    "You wound me," Lang said.

    Aymon could practically feel Halen rolling his eyes in the back seat.

    "Well, here we are, home sweet home," Lang said, hopping out of the cart before it came to a complete stop. The rest of the group climbed out more sedately. Kino stumbled a bit upon exit; the gravity on this planet was more than what it was on Emerri.

    The soldier at the door saluted their group and let them in to the front building. The entrance went down a few stairs, and the shelter provided a blessed relief from the whipping wind and hot, dry air outside. The light inside was much less harsh and red. As their group came through the door, various people who were working at desks caught sight of them, stood, and saluted. Lang waved them back down as she led Aymon, Kino, and Halen towards a door in the back.

    From the main room aboveground, they walked down a well lit staircase into a long tunnel that was mostly formed out of the natural rock. The walls were slick and didn''t look to be carved by blasting. A faint breeze brushed through the hall, ruffling Lang''s hair and causing Aymon to shiver. The floors were poured concrete, rather than bare stone, presumably because walking on uneven floors would be quite annoying.

    "You should have brought Yan here," Kino said, breaking their silence. "It''s just like a ship."

    "Yan?" Lang asked.

    "One of my other apprentices, she''s from a Guild family," Aymon explained.

    "Where are you from, Apprentice Mejia?" Lang asked.

    "Falmar," Kino said.

    "Hm," Lang said noncommittally. Had she been on Falmar? Aymon didn''t remember.

    They passed the occasional soldier who scooted out of the way and saluted the group. Lang and Aymon gave nods back, Kino and Halen awkwardly trailed them. Kino was more awkward than Halen, who was used to this sort of thing.

    "Is it secure to have your base built right into the tunnels?" Aymon asked. "Not that I''m doubting your judgement, of course."

    "This area of the planet is well and truly cleared out," Lang said. "This whole place is separate from the main cave system in the area anyway."

    "What''s the breeze, then?" Halen asked, speaking up for the first time.

    "Since we are cut off from the main caves, we have to ventilate this area ourselves," Lang said. "If you follow the breeze down, you''ll find a big surface fan."

    They eventually came to a door which Lang opened with a fingerprint scan. She held the door open for the group, and everyone entered her private office.

    "Sorry that I don''t have very much in the way of comfortable furniture, but pull up a chair," Lang said.

    The office was fairly sparse, with a large, neatly organized desk taking up the bulk of the space. Along the oddly shaped walls of the room were wedged some filing cabinets, and screens monitoring various activities around the planet took up another good chunk of the wall real estate. There was another door on the other side of the room, but there were no hints as to where it led. The room was pleasantly lit, despite being underground.

    Aymon and Kino took seats in the chairs in front of the desk. Halen stood in the back of the room.

    "Care for anything to drink?" Lang asked.

    "No, thank you," Aymon said. Kino shook her head no, following Aymon''s lead.

    "Your loss," Lang said, but she made no move to get anything to drink herself.

    "So. How have things been on the front?" Aymon asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

    "Permission to speak honestly?" Lang asked with a smile.

    "Always granted," Aymon said. "In private, at least."

    "It''s more of a clusterfuck than anyone would like to admit. The surface has been completely cleared, but the damn caves have been a problem since day one, and it''s only getting worse the further in we go."

    "The seismic mapping hasn''t been helping?" Aymon asked.

    "The maps are not the problem. We know the whole terrain under there. The issue is one of logistics. It''s impossible to send a field army through caves to fight people who are used to crawling through tiny holes like worms," Lang said.

    "And chemical weapons haven''t been useful because¡­?" Aymon asked, trailing off.

    "You still have to get the damn things close enough to the people you''re going to use ¡®em on, and we can''t do that. Not with drones, not with people. We can''t block off the tunnel system and just flood in mass amounts because the whole planet is connected. Biological weapons would work, but..." Lang gave Kino a pointed glance.

    "Absolutely not," Aymon said. "And you can''t collapse the tunnels?"

    "Like it or not, the tunnels are the best place to live on this planet, and it''s hardly even worth settling if we bomb them into oblivion," Lang said.

    "So it''s a total standstill?" Aymon asked.

    "We''re making incremental progress, but at this rate it''s going to be years of slow going before we''re done."

    "That''s not really what I wanted to hear," Aymon said.

    "In some sort of rush?" Lang asked.

    "There''s always demand for new planets," Aymon said. "And this one, for all its quirks, is habitable without a fifty year terraforming effort. That makes it a highly desired commodity."

    "We''ll get through it eventually," Lang said with a sigh. "Though I do worry that it will take the rest of my mortal life."

    "The offer to get you reassigned to Emerri still stands," Aymon said.

    "No, no..." Lang said. "There is something beautiful about this place that I would miss if I was back among the civilized."

    Aymon raised his eyebrows.

    "Did you know, every organism on this planet not brought by people is a clonal species? They never developed sexual reproduction. It''s amazing, the way it''s managed to diversify without that fundamental aspect of life."

    "That''s interesting in a theological sense, but not a practical one," Aymon said.

    "Theology doesn''t have much use when you''re down on the ground," Lang said.

    "Or in the tunnels," Aymon said.

    "No, it has more use there," Lang said, sounding wistful.

    "Regardless of the theological implications," Aymon said, "can you just describe to me the way you''re going about this? Boots on the ground, how are you finding these people, how are you dealing with them?"

    "Well, that''s a long process, and every time it tends to go a little differently, but I''ll tell you the way we try to plan things to go. We start out with assigning our sensitives to one per squad, obviously there aren''t enough for every squad to have one, but we try to get them out to as many different areas of the planet as possible. They''re the ones who can most effectively locate human life. So the sensitives scan as wide of an area as possible, and if there''s a settlement located, that''s when we send down drones to investigate. We have these ones that look just like some of the wildlife, so they''re pretty stealthy, but they have a hard maximum on how much rock they can transmit through, so we have to inch them closer and deposit relay stations for the signal along the route."

    "Sounds fairly typical so far," Aymon said. "Continue."

    "Once we''ve confirmed the settlement, and know its precise location, the general population, and their habits, then we start to try to close the tunnels to prevent escape. That''s usually where things get dicey," Lang said.

    "How so?" Aymon asked.

    "There are as many different ways for this to go wrong as there are settlements on this planet. The worst is when the group has their own sensitive- they can tell we''re coming, obviously, and make life a real mess for us."

    "Does that happen often?" Aymon asked.

    "Well, groups with a sensitive are more likely to survive, so as we are able to destroy settlements without one, we concentrate down the survivors into the fittest groups. It''s becoming more common."

    "Makes sense," Aymon said.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Regardless, if we are able to collapse the tunnels enough to concentrate the whole group into one place, then, depending on the geometry of the problem, we send in our forces or attempt some alternate strategy."

    "Geometry of the problem?" Aymon asked.

    "Is it actually feasible to squeeze a fighting force through the remaining tunnels, will we have to bring boring equipment, those types of problems."

    "And what are some of the alternate strategies?"

    "If we think the tunnels are sealed off enough, we can try chemical weapons. They rarely are that sealed, though. If the population is concentrated enough, we can try to collapse the caverns on them. If we can get weaponized drones close enough, that''s often the simplest and best solution."

    "I''m not really seeing what the problem you''re having is," Aymon said. "This all seems fairly effective. Certainly not anything that would require you to spend years and years more on this project."

    "The population isn''t just lying down and taking it, you know," Lang said, frustrated. "This campaign has been a war on a thousand fronts, and death by a thousand cuts. It''s borderline impossible to pin them down, and meanwhile they''re destroying tunnels that we use, killing any of our people that they find wandering, poisoning our water supplies, destroying our machinery... Anything and everything that a population under siege can do, they have done."

    "And the entire power of the Fleet can''t manage to take down a backwards group of tunnel dwelling primitives?" Aymon asked.

    "I know, I know," Lang said. "It''s a mess. And I''m telling you this to be honest with you, because I know it''s going to take time."

    "It''s already taken too long. This is possibly the worst operation I''ve overseen in my tenure as Voice," Aymon said, frustrated.

    Lang raised her eyebrows and gave a pointed glance at Kino.

    Aymon sighed.

    "Being unable to meet the demands for new planets is bad for the Empire, that''s all I''m saying," Aymon said.

    "And all I''m saying is that we are doing the best we can, and we''re guaranteed to get the job done, it just will take some time. This planet is twice the size of Emerri, and we''re fishing out rats from tunnels miles deep in the ground. If you think about the scale of the task, well, it''s going about as well as anyone has any right to expect," Lang said.

    "I have the right to expect that things will be done on schedule, so that I can make decisions for the future of the entire Empire," Aymon said.

    There was a moment of intensely awkward silence. Lang looked frustrated, but held her tongue. Kino was sitting unusually still, but that was only because she was sitting on her hands. Halen sent Aymon a brief feeling of... something. The message was clear. Tone it down.

    "I''m sorry, Loan," Aymon said. "I know that you''re all working as hard on this as humanly possible."

    "No, you''re right, we underestimated the scale of the task. This is different than the typical land operation," Lang said.

    "That it is," Aymon said. "I hate to ask, but internally, I know you and your team have your own estimates of how long this is going to take, can you give me the honest numbers?"

    "Best case scenario for the actual fighting? Another three years. That''s best case. But even after we get rid of the population, we''re still going to have to go through every tunnel and scrub out every trace of people being here before us. Even with the best drones, the best image processing algorithms, that''s a monumentally laborious task," Lang said.

    "Aside from the caves, how is it any harder than any other cleanup operation?" Aymon asked.

    "The caves are a big part of it, it''s true. Hundreds of kilometers of honeycombed tunnels is already a daunting task. But the rest of it, well. You really have to see it to believe it."

    Aymon raised an eyebrow. "I''ve seen some pictures."

    "No, you have to SEE it," Lang said. "Want to do some spelunking?"

    "Uh." Aymon hesitated. "Aren''t we already?"

    Lang laughed. "You should at least see where you''re going to address the troops."

    "We''re not just doing that outside? Or in the hangar?"

    "Oh, no. Can you imagine trying to talk over that wind? Miserable," Lang said.

    "Well if you insist, then," Aymon said. "Now?"

    "Sure, let''s get you the official tour," Lang said, standing. Aymon and Kino also stood, their chairs scraping on the bare floor.

    Lang headed out the door, and Aymon and Kino followed. As Aymon passed Halen, Halen raised an eyebrow. Aymon shrugged back, and Halen followed them out, behind Kino.

    "Do you like caves, Apprentice Mejia?" Lang asked as they walked.

    "I''ve never been in one," Kino said. "I don''t know."

    "You''re in for a real treat, then," Lang said.

    "I think you have caves on the brain," Aymon said.

    "You''re damn right I do," Lang said.

    They followed Lang down a multitude of twisting corridors, some thin enough that they had to walk single file. Occasionally, they encountered a Fleet soldier going about their own tasks, who would have to back out of the tunnel to let their group pass.

    "I imagine that it''s quite annoying, if you''re of lower rank and trying to navigate some of these passages," Aymon said, after they were out of hearing distance of the first soldier this happened to.

    "I haven''t personally experienced it, but I think that most of my subordinates are willing to suffer a little bit of indignity, and either squeeze past or climb over each other, if they''re in a hurry," Lang said.

    "Do you ever get people stuck in these?" Kino spoke up, tracing her fingers along the smooth walls.

    "There will be mishaps in any operation, but most people have been here long enough that they become both good judges of what holes they can slip through, and also very adept at scrambling through tunnels. In the areas we use regularly it''s almost never a problem, but when we send people out into the wider world, it can get dicey," Lang said.

    "We''re headed to some sort of auditorium space, you said? This doesn''t exactly seem fire safe," Aymon said. "Evacuation wise, I mean."

    "This isn''t the main entrance to the auditorium, which is a bit wider. Still, you''re not entirely wrong. If you''ve noticed, we do have fire doors all along every route, to stop it from spreading. The stone is not particularly flammable, so it hasn''t been a major concern."

    Aymon had to accept that. It still seemed like unsafe building practices to him, but since they were already going all in with using the natural tunnels of this planet as a base, there wasn''t much that could be done to improve the safety of it at this point. Halen sent him a vaguely amused feeling, though that turned to frustration as he scraped his head on a particularly low outcropping in the ceiling.

    The temperature dropped further as they headed down deeper into the caverns, but due to the humidity, Aymon developed a cold sweat. It was altogether unpleasant, and he was glad that he didn''t have to stay on this miserable planet for more than a few days.

    "We''re almost there. We''ve actually been going underneath the main living quarters for most of the people stationed here. Just a little bit above us is our dining hall area..."

    Aymon was forced to not focus on what Lang was saying for a little while. Her giving a tour of an area that they couldn''t see and weren''t going to visit was unenlightening at best. He directed his attention more on the tunnels barely wider or taller than his body, the increasingly uneven footing, and the limited visibility from artificial lights only strung up every few meters. Lang navigated with confidence, but Aymon struggled. He couldn''t tell what Kino and Halen were doing behind him, but he assumed they were having just as bad of a time as he was. Halen was probably having a worse one, considering how large he was.

    Thankfully, the tunnel widened out and brightened after a while. The lights weren''t any closer together, but there was a strange glow on the walls that only became more pronounced as they walked.

    "What is this?" Aymon asked.

    "One of the native plants, it''s quite handy. Really makes being down here much more pleasant," Lang said.

    "And it glows because?" Aymon prompted.

    "Obviously I''m not an expert, and even my experts haven''t had enough time to study this planet''s biology beyond a surface examination, but we hypothesize that it''s because it attracts creatures to walk through and nest in the tunnels where it''s growing. We know that it reproduces by spores, so if it can glow to attract them, they can carry the spores to other places in the caverns."

    "What does it feed off of?" Aymon asked.

    "At least partially it feeds off of minerals in the rocks and the moisture all around, but there''s possibly a symbiotic component with the other creatures in here. We rarely find any, uh, droppings or corpses, so we suspect that the plants absorb them somehow. Like I said, I''m not an expert."

    This was a wormhole that Aymon couldn''t stop himself from going down. He was glad that he hadn''t brought Yan, who was well versed in xenobiology, as she would probably be showing him up. Well, she probably wouldn''t, but Aymon didn''t enjoy feeling ignorant and wasn''t feeling particularly charitable towards his absent apprentice. He couldn''t help continuing to ask questions.

    "If they do that, why are there plants growing on the walls and ceiling, wouldn''t they only grow on the floor?" Aymon asked.

    "If you look at it closely, there''s tiny, tiny roots connecting all the plants. These walls are one big, connected organism. It probably even extends into adjacent caverns through cracks in the rock," Lang said.

    "Hmm. And what do the animals eat?" Aymon asked.

    "At this depth, most of the animals are at least partially surface dwelling. There''s a lot of plants and things that grow up there. The deeper we get, the stranger the territory is. There''s a whole food chain down deep that''s got its roots in thermophilic little creatures that live in the hot water. It''s... It''s hard to describe theses things. We call them plants and animals, but they aren''t, really, not in any traditional sense."

    "And how deep are we going?" Aymon asked.

    "Not much farther now."

    They came to a final set of fire doors, and Lang leaned against them, facing the small group.

    "You ready to see the cathedral?" She asked.

    "Do we really need to be prepared?" Aymon asked, skeptical.

    "I think it''s pretty impressive," Lang said. She pushed open the doors and led them into the cavern.

    It took a moment for Aymon''s eyes to adjust to the sheer scale of the room. It was massive: several stories tall and wider than a city block. It was curved on all sides, including the bottom, and it was rather like standing on the inside of a balloon, the way it was shaped.

    The size wasn''t the impressive thing about the room, however. Carved into the walls and ceiling, though there wasn''t much of a separation between the two, were channels in which the glowing plants had been cultivated. There were massive human figures depicted, dancing, or moving in some way, their hands held in the air, with swirling lines and stars coming up from them. They didn''t look happy, exactly, but something deeper than that.

    "Takes my breath away every time I come in here," Lang whispered.

    Aymon had to agree. The room really was something to behold. It stirred something within him. Regret, maybe. He had taken up his duty as the Voice of the Empire, and it was his responsibility to see the wars of his predecessors through. He performed his duties with honor and conviction. But here, looking at this, it brought back feelings that he had long buried. There would always be a part of him that said ''if only, if only...''

    "And all the caverns are like this?" He asked.

    "Not all," Lang said. "But many."

    Kino sat down on the steps that were carved into the floor, leading down to the bottom of the bowl. She rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, looking up at the vast figures above and around them.

    "What does it mean?" Kino asked.

    "I don''t know," Lang said. "It might not mean anything."

    Halen reached out and touched the carving closest to them, the leg of one of the dancing figures. Little flecks of the glowing plants came away in his hand. He looked at them for a second.

    "And this all has to be destroyed?" Kino asked.

    "Yes," Lang said with a sigh. "At least we get to appreciate it, for a little while longer."

    <hr>

    Aymon had more important business to attend to than admiring forbidden art, so the rest of his day was spent in meetings with the board overseeing the whole operation, of which General Lang was only one member. The board comprised of Vice Admiral Kolruss, whose role in the operation was mainly to coordinate all the ships in orbit and was feeling rather put out about having such an unimportant position; General Lang, who was responsible for all on ground troop deployments; Commander Vale, who was the coordinator of all the scientific, technological, and terraforming operations on the planet; and Cantor Xu, who was the cultural leader, though it would be more accurate to call him an enforcer. They all had their own issues to address with Aymon, and they all brought their subordinates who had their own issues, and there were intergroup politics that showed the fraying patience everyone had for the whole operation. By the time that they broke for the night, Aymon had a raging headache, and realized that he hadn''t eaten all day.

    One of the Fleet soldiers directed him to where his temporary residence was, and Kino to hers, a little further down the hall. It was a small room, with a bed, a desk, a chair, a closet with drawers, and an adjoining bathroom, but that was about it. Though it was a far cry from the accommodations Aymon usually had, he supposed it was about as good of a residence as anyone else on the base had. Halen, though he had his own room, was with him.

    Now in private, Aymon felt free to release some of his frustrations. He sat down on the bed, changed his mind, stood back up, took off his cassock and shoes, tossed them in the general direction of the chair, then flopped back down on the bed.

    "Are you done?" Halen asked, picking up the cassock and draping it over the back of the chair.

    "God, my head hurts," Aymon said. He used the power to flip off the light switch, plunging the room into a semi darkness. "Damn this glowing stuff."

    The glowing stuff was indeed growing in patches over the ceiling of the room. It wasn''t overly bright, but it wasn''t the darkness that he had hoped for.

    Halen shoved Aymon''s legs towards the back of the bed and sat down on the edge.

    "Don''t be such a baby," Halen said.

    "I don''t like this place," Aymon said.

    "Why should you? It has all the ingredients for a miserable nightmare." Halen ticked off the reasons on his fingers. "Tight, dark, enclosed spaces; people lurking somewhere in the dark desperately trying to kill you; creepy glowing organisms; weird cave art; complicated relationships from your childhood; long, boring meetings with people who want to complain to you about problems you don''t have any direct control over; endless delays to a schedule. It''s a perfect mess of a place."

    Aymon laughed, then winced. His head really did hurt.

    "Someone''s bringing dinner in a few minutes," Halen said. "I did you the favor of glaring at General Lang when she thought too hard about inviting you to dinner with her."

    "Thanks," Aymon said. "How could you tell she was going to do that?"

    "I was standing behind her when she texted her aide during a break in the meeting. She was asking the chef to make something nice," Halen said. "And she had this awful feeling of anticipation."

    "God, of course she did," Aymon said.

    "What is the deal with her, anyway?" Halen asked.

    "You jealous?" Aymon asked, teasing.

    "No, you idiot," Halen said, swatting at Aymon''s leg that was kneeing him in the back. "Why, is she...?"

    "We used to be friends at the Academy, sort of. I don''t really know what we were to each other. For the last few years we had this... thing... where we would dare each other to do crazier and crazier things. Looking back on it, it was pretty destructive, but we had a good time, I guess. We competed to outdo each other at almost everything. And after I got my apprenticeship she was pretty mad at me. I don''t know. She''s changed a lot since then," Aymon said, rambling.

    "You have, too, I''m sure," Halen said.

    "Yeah. I have." Aymon didn''t say anything else.

    Halen laid a cool hand on Aymon''s forehead.

    "May I?" Halen asked.

    Aymon reached up to touch Halen''s hand. Aymon couldn''t quite see Halen''s face in the darkness.

    "Of course," Aymon said.

    Aymon felt the moment that Halen''s power passed into his body, forcing his muscles to relax, and dulling the pain behind his eyes. It was a violation of the self to use the power on another person''s body, which made it much more difficult, but Halen had plenty of practice. Halen was good at it.

    "You''re dehydrated," Halen said.

    "Tell me something I don''t know."

    Halen stroked Aymon''s hair for a moment before withdrawing his hand. "Dinner''s here," Halen said. "Close your eyes so I can turn on the lights."

    Aymon obeyed. As he lay there with his eyes closed, he felt Halen get up from the bed, and heard the knock on the door, the door open, and a brief exchange as Halen accepted the food. For the millionth time, Aymon was so grateful to Halen for the seemingly effortless way he took care of him.

    "Here, drink up," Halen said, passing Aymon a bottle of water that had apparently come in with their dinner.

    Aymon sat up and opened his eyes slowly, trying not to wince as the light hit his residual headache. He obediently drank the water.

    "What''s for dinner?" Aymon asked.

    Halen examined the trays. "Uh, looks like roasted vegetables and vat meat."

    "Guess that''s what we get for not having a fancy dinner with the General," Aymon said.

    "Hey, beggars can''t be choosers," Halen said, passing a meal to Aymon.

    Halen sat on the chair backwards, balancing the tray on the back of it as he ate. They were both quiet for a few minutes.

    "Thank you for being so patient with this," Aymon said after he had eaten a decent portion of his meal and was feeling almost fully human again.

    "With what?" Halen asked.

    "This trip specifically, but everything in general. I put you through a lot," Aymon said. "Just. Thank you."

    "You know I do it because I love you," Halen said.

    "You don''t have a lot of choice."

    "I have more than you think," Halen said. "And I choose, every day, to be with you."

    "I just... I worry that I don''t give you everything that you give me," Aymon said.

    "Is that what this is about? God, Aymon," Halen smiled at him. "You''ve given me the universe."

    "Is that the same thing as care and love?" Aymon asked.

    "Are you saying you don''t think you love me enough?"

    "I don''t know what I''m saying, at this point. Ignore me," Aymon said, shaking his head as if to clear it.

    Halen just looked at him with his soft eyes. Aymon couldn''t help but love him. Despite everything, Halen loved him, and cared for him, and was kind and gentle and patient and... It was despite everything, and in spite of everything, and because of everything that had happened in the thirty years they had known each other.

    "I do love you, Halen," Aymon said. "I just-"

    "I know," Halen said. "I know."

    Halen put his tray down on the desk and stood up, coming to sit next to Aymon on the bed. Aymon put his own tray down on the floor and wrapped his arms around Halen''s shoulders.

    "I''ve known you loved me before you figured that out yourself," Halen whispered. "And I know how much you love me now, and how much you love me every day. You don''t need to tell me."

    Halen leaned into his touch, and Aymon felt Halen''s heavy hands at his waist. By mutual agreement, they brought their faces together and kissed.

    And maybe it was alright, if Aymon was only there to take, and take, and take. Because Halen was so willing to give, and give, and give.

 Chapter Twenty-Eight - The Cool Darkness Underground

    The Cool Darkness Underground

    <blockquote>

    ¡°All those who live shall be tested. Some will be iron, tested by fire. Some will be flesh, tested by metal. Some will be earth, or stone, or ice, or wind. All will be tried, and all will be changed.¡±

    -from ¡°Tenth Song: Final Days¡±

    </blockquote>

    The next morning, thankfully the only morning they would be spending on the planet, was spent giving a speech to the assembled Fleet troops in the giant cavern that Lang called the cathedral. Aymon barely had time to marvel at the massive glowing figures or the strange acoustics of the room as he talked. As soon as he was finished, he was whisked away for a formal lunch with the overseeing board. For all the time that they had spent journeying to the planet, their actual stay was quite short, so they needed to get as much work done as possible.

    Halen spent the day with him, quietly lurking in the background, but Kino had managed to vanish. Between the speech and the luncheon, Aymon pulled Halen to the side.

    "Where''s Kino?" Aymon asked.

    "One of the Fleet staff reported that she had asked for a tour of some of the caves," Halen said.

    "Lucky her, getting to escape this," Aymon said, quietly enough that only Halen could hear. Halen smiled.

    Aymon did get to experience one of the "dining halls" that the facility boasted. Aall of the dining facilities were served by one kitchen. Because of the nature of the caves, the kitchen was in the center, and branching out from it like the spokes on a wheel were smaller dining halls for the soldiers. One of the smallest but best appointed of these was the Officers'' Hall, where the formal lunch took place.

    It dragged on. Even after everyone had finished eating, every time Aymon thought he might be able to escape, there was some other person there, wanting to shake his hand and show him a map, or discuss Fleet operations off of Tyx III, or put in a polite request for this and that. This was the price of only rarely making trips out to the front. Every communication that reached him normally was passed through aides and assistants who would deal with issues before they reached his desk, or decide they weren''t important enough to need Aymon''s stamp of approval. Here, with a minimal team of assistants, and right in the thick of people who needed things, it was difficult to avoid getting caught up in long conversations about the timeline, or the Fleet budget, or whatever every person''s pet issue was.

    He was free from the larger group only when Vice Admiral Kolruss informed him that the starship God''s Engine was on orbit and waiting for him. The God¡¯s Engine was the ship they were taking to Jenjin. In truth, while going to the Front would have been a necessary journey at some point, he had only undertaken it now specifically to meet up with the fully staffed warship, just in case there was trouble on Jenjin.

    Did the thought of bringing a massive threat of force onto Jenjin make him happy? No. But was having the backup of the God''s Engine necessary for a smooth transition of power on the planet? Unfortunately, yes.

    Aymon and Halen followed Vice Admiral Kolruss back up to the surface, where they would board the ground-to-space shuttle heading for the God''s Engine. It was a pain that the planet simply did not have the ground structure required to anchor an elevator. That''s what an entire crust honeycombed miles deep with caves and tunnels would do to a planet, Aymon supposed. It would be several years before any colonization planners would have to wrestle with that issue; Aymon did not envy them that nightmare.

    As soon as he was out under the baking sun and whipping wind of the surface, Aymon wished he was back in the caves. The shuttle was sitting on the packed dirt of the airfield, not far away from the cluster of buildings they had emerged from

    "Where''s Kino?" Aymon asked Halen. "Does she know we''re waiting on her?"

    "I asked General Lang''s aide to bring her up here about an hour ago," Halen said.

    "And?" Aymon asked.

    "He said he''d get in contact with the group that was giving her the tour. I haven''t heard anything since," Halen said.

    "Was Deboan with her on the tour?" Aymon asked. Deboan was Kino''s assigned minder.

    "Yes, but we have no way of getting in contact with her directly, due to the limitations of radio in the caves."

    "Ask the aide again. If he could give us a status update I''d be... grateful. I don''t want to wait on Kino."

    Aymon was frustrated. She should know better than this, and her escorts into the caves shouldn''t have brought her so deep or far that she couldn¡¯t be recalled at a moment¡¯s notice. Kino had been told repeatedly that they would be leaving as soon as the God¡¯s Engine was ready for them, so she should have directed the tour not to stray.

    Vice Admiral Kolruss approached the group. Kolruss was a short, dark skinned man with a voice that cut over the wind with authority.

    "Is there something delaying you, First Sandreas?" He asked.

    "My apprentice, Kino Mejia, hasn''t made her way to the surface yet," Aymon said.

    "The quiet one I met yesterday? Where''s she hiding?" Kolruss asked.

    "She was taking a tour of some of the local caverns this morning, but her group hasn''t returned," Aymon said.

    Kolruss looked skeptical. "You don''t think there''s any danger, do you?"

    "Vice Admiral, you know the dangers of this planet better than I do," Aymon said.

    "Around here I wouldn''t say it''s very dangerous. How far did they go?" Kolruss asked.

    Aymon looked at Halen for that information.

    "They took a car to the Redriver Complex," Halen said.

    "Not very far from here then. Perhaps she''s been relaxing in the hot springs there," Kolruss said.

    "Doesn''t most of this planet have hot springs?" Aymon asked.

    "Yes, well, the ones directly beneath us have all been redirected into pipes to provide drinking water for the infrastructure here," Kolruss asked. "It''s not technically an approved recreational activity, but I have heard rumors that soldiers will take jaunts into the nearby cave complexes for recreation. Bit dangerous, if they don''t know where they''re going, or if they''re drinking at the same time."

    Aymon looked at Kolruss sidelong. "And have you ever taken a trip to one of these recreational hot springs?"

    "God, no. I hate these caves. That''s the one thing I prefer about having no action up on my ships: no caves." Kolruss said this with a genuine shudder, despite the fact that a cave and a ship were similar, in Aymon''s eyes. They were both closed spaces with little or no access to the outside world, though Aymon supposed in a ship there was rarely any corridor that required a person to contort or crawl to pass through.

    "Thank you for letting me borrow the God''s Engine," Aymon said.

    "Not an issue at all. We''re glad to be of service," Kolruss said. "Even if nothing happens I''m sure everyone on the God''s Engine will be glad for the chance to have ground time on a better planet than this one."

    "Was the captain planning on letting them have leave, rather than just on-planet duty?"

    "I would assume so," Kolruss said. "Why, do you object to it?"

    "What''s the makeup of the crew?" Aymon asked.

    "There''s the permanent staff, of course. The ship recently returned for maintenance from the exploratory side, so that''s their history. As for the rest, half of them have been with the God''s Engine on their latest exploratory push, and the other half they just traded with General Lang, to give her some rotation."

    "The ones who have been out exploring, they ever hit combat?" Aymon asked.

    "No, and nothing useful, either," Kolruss said. "Bit of a shame, really. The God''s Engine is a top notch ship."

    "Maybe next time," Aymon said. "This should go without asking, but the whole crew is set for a trip to one of our own planets, right?"

    "Oh, of course. They''ve had the correct messaging."

    "That''s good. I can''t help but be slightly paranoid about that sort of thing."

    "Completely understandable. But I guarantee that there won''t be any trouble from my people," Kolruss said.

    "Glad to hear it."

    They fell silent for a moment as they waited for Kino to make her appearance. The silence between them grew more awkward by the second, especially as the hot wind blew around them.

    "Would you be offended if I waited in the shuttle?" Kolruss asked finally, the sweat on his forehead being pushed sideways by the wind instead of dripping down.

    "Oh, please, don''t make me keep you out here," Aymon said. "If Kino doesn''t come back soon I''ll have to go in after her."

    Kolruss laughed, but Aymon was only half kidding.

    "You could go in and try to raise them on the radio, give them a good talking to," Kolruss said.

    "I''ll give it another few minutes before I do that. Enjoying the weather and all."

    Kolruss looked like he wasn''t sure if he should laugh at that or not, so he just nodded and half smiled and made his way towards the waiting shuttle.

    "Any word?" Aymon asked Halen.

    "Nothing," Halen said.

    "You know what makes this more annoying?" Aymon asked.

    "Her damn invisibility?" Halen asked.

    "How did you know I was going to say that?"

    "You''ve only heard me mutter it about five thousand times," Halen said.

    Despite how good at feeling emotions Halen was, Aymon knew he still found it difficult to see Kino in the power at all, let alone read what she was feeling. Aymon could feel her if he knew exactly where she was, and Halen could do better and find her in a crowd, but he doubted that any of the sensitives the Fleet had on hand would be able to even know if she entered a room. She was frustratingly invisible.

    Aymon had asked her about it, at one point, and she had told the story of her original recruitment to the Academy, where she had to actually demonstrate the power to the recruiter. She showed him how she could drop the invisibility somewhat, but it took her actual effort. She had to actively project herself in the power. Aymon found that projected feeling possibly more disconcerting than the original invisibility.

    It was as if Kino didn''t have any piece of God inside of her, giving her life. But that was nonsense. Of course she did. She was as human as anyone else, just weirdly quiet about it.

    They waited a few more minutes. Though the group waiting with Aymon was made up of consummate professionals who would never complain, it was clear that everyone out in the heat and the wind was suffering.

    "Let''s see what''s going on inside," Aymon finally admitted. It felt somewhat beneath him to have to chase after his apprentice, but since General Lang''s aide had no response for them, it was what he had to do.

    Aymon and his trailing group made their way back into the upper offices off the side of the airfield. They were buzzing with activity, but stopped when everyone realized who had come in. Aymon waved them back down, but in the back, he saw General Lang''s aide, and he went over to talk to him.

    "First Sandreas, what can I do for you?" The aide, a nervous looking man with his long brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail, met Aymon halfway across the room. Though everyone in the office pretended to be working, it was clear that eyes were on them.

    "Do you have any updates on the whereabouts of my apprentice? The God''s Engine is waiting on us," Aymon said, keeping his tone even.

    Halen sent him a warning thought. Something was very, very wrong here.

    "There''s been a bit of a problem," the aide said.

    "What kind of problem?" Aymon asked, trying to remain calm.

    "One section of the Redriver complex has had a cave-in, and we''ve been unable to contact the party that-"

    Aymon stepped forward, directly in the man''s face. Though he desperately wanted to grab him by the throat, or punch him in the face, it had been years since Aymon had physically attacked anyone, and he wasn''t ready to start now.

    "And why is this the first time that I''m hearing of this?" Aymon asked.

    The aide wasn''t a sensitive, and wasn''t even particularly high ranking, he just happened to be in Aymon''s line of fire.

    "I''m sorry, sir, I-"

    "Get General Lang in here or on the phone this instant," Aymon said.

    It seemed as though someone had already done that, because General Lang emerged from the back door and took stock of the situation. Aymon was threatening her aide, Halen was looking menacingly around, and the entire room was gawking at the proceedings.

    "Ah, First Sandreas, how about we have this conversation in my office," Lang suggested, wedging herself in between Aymon and her aide.

    "No, I don''t think so," Aymon said. He knew she was trying to deflate the situation, for everyone''s sake, but Aymon was more concerned with getting information. If being angry got him results faster, then so be it. "Where is my apprentice?"This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "Still in the Redriver complex, which is about six kilometers from here," Lang said calmly.

    "Is my apprentice trapped in a cave, General Lang? Because this man said that there was a cave-in that I am only just hearing about," Aymon said, pointing a finger over Lang''s shoulder at her aide.

    "First Sandreas, we have only just now confirmed that there was a cave-in, within the past few minutes. When we were unable to raise the group accompanying Apprentice Mejia on the lines we sent a group down into the Redriver complex and they sent back the new of the cave-in."

    "Why was I not informed immediately that you had lost contact with the group?" Aymon asked.

    "Due to the nature of the communication setup within the caves, it was possible that they had simply gone out of range of the radio relays. This happens fairly often and isn''t usually cause for concern. Because of your schedule, we sent down one of our response teams to contact them, and they were the ones to discover the cave-in after retracing the group''s steps," Lang said.

    "Where is my apprentice? Right now, that is the only thing I want you to tell me," Aymon said.

    "We don''t know. We have been trying to raise them on the radio, but they may have continued further out of range seeking an alternate exit to the cave," Lang said.

    Halen sent Aymon another feeling of warning. There was something that Lang was not telling him. Despite her straight face, there was something that was making her afraid.

    "What aren''t you telling me, Loan?" Aymon asked. "I need you to be honest with me."

    "One of the members of the response team that we sent down was a sensitive. He was unable to locate any of the people from Apprentice Mejia''s group. That could simply mean they are in a different position than expected-"

    "Or they could be dead," Aymon said.

    "We don''t want to jump to that conclusion," Lang said. "If Apprentice Mejia has a good head on her shoulders she should be fine."

    Halen hadn''t let up his warning that something was still wrong with what Lang was saying. Aymon took a wild guess.

    "How common are cave ins?" He asked.

    And there it was. Lang''s face fell.

    "They''re... rare," Lang said.

    That figured. If they weren''t rare, the whole planet''s surface would be riddled with collapsed cave sections. The planet had no moon to speak of, at least now, so tectonic activity was almost nonexistent, allowing the caves that were formed from combinations of ancient rock flows and erosion to stay untouched for millions of years.

    "So why now?" Aymon asked.

    "To know the cause, we will have to do an investigation of the area," Lang said.

    "I don''t care about an investigation, I want to know what the possibilities are," Aymon asked.

    "It could have been caused by an accident by one of the people in the group. They could have disrupted loose or already unstable rock. Or," Lang sighed. "Or it could have been an attack."

    "Okay. Okay." Aymon ran a hand through his hair. "You said you had cleared this area?"

    "Yes, but you have to understand- this whole planet is a warzone. And this base is a well guarded target."

    "They weren''t on the base, though."

    "We''ve had problems in nearby complexes before," Lang said.

    "What are we going to do? I-" Aymon stopped, felt slightly choked. "I need my apprentice back."

    He was angry at Lang for keeping secrets, and he was angry at everyone (including himself) for letting Kino out of his sight, but he put that aside for the moment. A deep fear was eating at his stomach. He remembered how he felt when his friend... The more than thirty years that separated the death of his friend and fellow apprentice melted away. He knew now how Carron, his predecessor and their mentor, must have felt when she first heard the news.

    He was surprised at the depth of the fear that he was feeling. He had barely worked with Kino for more than a month! But he felt responsible for her, in a way that he felt for almost no one else.

    "The response team I sent out is already clearing the path that was blocked by the cave in to check the extent of the damage," Lang said.

    Aymon noted that she didn''t say that they were also looking for bodies.

    "I''ve also sent out other teams to check alternate routes into the Redriver complex; it has several other entrances, but it''s a big space. We''re also having our sensitives conduct a search for any other humans in the caves. If it was an attack, the perpetrators may still be in the area."

    "Could it have been a booby trap?" Aymon asked.

    "That''s fairly likely, but it doesn''t hurt to search for any living presences in the caverns."

    If they did catch the person responsible...

    "Is there anything..." He wanted to ask if there was anything he could do, but the answer to that question was clearly no. He wasn''t any more skilled than the sensitives that General Lang had under her command, and he had no caving experience to speak of.

    Like everything else on this planet, he was coming up against the fact that they were not fighting a traditional ground war, they were fighting a war in a forsaken labyrinth underground. The normal rules of combat did not apply, and the normal usefulness of sensitives to absolutely dominate a battlefield was limited, because there were no battlefields.

    "We will do the best that we can to find your apprentice, First Sandreas," Lang said. "You have my word on that."

    From behind him, Halen spoke up, a truly uncharacteristic intrusion.

    "General Lang, we are both capable sensitives. We could cover more distance if we could join in the search, above ground."

    Aymon''s gratitude for Halen was immense, in that moment. Halen didn''t have any responsibility toward Kino, not really, but he was able to think more clearly than Aymon was.

    Lang looked at Aymon, a questioning look on her face.

    "That is an excellent idea, thank you, Halen. Would it be possible for us to join search teams?" Aymon asked.

    "Of course, I''ll have that arranged right away," Lang said. She beckoned over two Fleet soldiers who were sitting at desks watching this exchange and instructed them to make teams to take Aymon and Halen out to search.

    <hr>

    It was a long, hot, grueling, miserable day. Aside from General Lang, who remained in the base, there were two other Fleet sensitives who were able to help with the search operation. Being familiar with working on the planet and inside the caves, those two were sent beneath to help search in common areas and clear out collapsed tunnels. Aymon and Halen were given teams to search the caves from above.

    Aymon''s team was made up with some of the people who had accompanied him on the journey: his personal staff and guards who were not Halen. The rest of the small group was filled out by Fleet soldiers. Halen had his own group, on the opposite side of the search area.

    The way the search was carried out was tedious and frustrating, but there wasn''t an easier way to go about it. The area to be covered was gridded off into tiny sections. His team would go to the center of each section, then Aymon would send his power down through the ground to check if there were any living people.

    Since identifying the light of God within a person was one of the easiest types of sensing that a person could do, Aymon had a good amount of range with this, despite sending his power straight down through rock. There was a limit, though. Eventually, the "noise" of the sensation of the rock would make Aymon be unable to pick out one feeling from another in the power, and he would be forced to stop.

    The searching wasn''t the time consuming part. Aymon could send the power down to his maximum depth in less than a minute. The difficult part was the journey to the next grid space on the map. At first, they had been able to ride over flat, flat land on one of the open-top trucks that were used in a variety of ways around the base. The truck could go no further as they came to a long, dense stretch of the tree-like things that Aymon had glimpsed at the edge of the airfield earlier.

    The ''trunks'' of the trees were more like arches. They had a solid base reaching out from the ground at one end, impossibly wide and thick, that travelled up, then back down towards the ground in wiry, branching strands. All these arches were bent and aligned in the direction of the prevailing wind, so that the thick trunk protected the skinnier, more strand-like side from being blown around in gusts. What had appeared from a distance to be a canopy of leaves was actually a long, thick web of hairlike strands that reached between the different trees in the area. It undulated in the wind in a horrible facsimile of a rolling sea.

    It was impossible to drive the truck through that area, so the only option was to proceed on foot, occasionally cutting through roots and tree hair to allow the group to pass. Though the trees provided some of both shade and protection from the wind, the relative stillness of the air made the weather just as oppressive. Progress was slow going, and for the most part, it seemed as though they weren''t making any.

    There was one breakthrough moment, when Aymon did feel a group of people underground. As soon as he did, the whole tenor of the operation changed. They frantically contacted the rescue teams below with the location of the people so they could approach, but it was difficult without knowing the exact depth. The caverns held many layers, stacked on top of each other, and it was necessary to know the depth of the people in order to route the rescuers correctly.

    In order to figure out the depth, Aymon had to triangulate it by moving into different, further places, and checking where he could feel them. His ultimate range was the same, regardless if he was approaching diagonally or directly down, so they could use that information to get a more precise idea of where the people were. Aymon knew from previous experience what his range was in a situation like this: it was a bit less than a kilometer if he sent his power out in a straight line, but he was significantly reduced in depth if he used it to cover a wider area.

    It was annoying that Aymon had no real ability to measure the exact distance of something that was part way through his range, but using the power in this was was like attempting to locate someone in a pitch black room using only the echoes from his voice. It was more than possible, and with the years of practice using the power that Aymon had, the locating was almost trivial. He just couldn''t then turn around and say "They''re exactly four hundred and twelve meters down." The power was constrained by feeling, and a feeling, no matter how useful, was not a measurement.

    Aymon''s group returned to the closest entrance to the Redriver complex to await the group being brought out. They had been quite far from their original destination, but according to the maps of the caverns, it looked as though the people that Aymon had felt were Kino''s group. Their position indicated that after the cave in, the group had been forced to take a circuitous route towards an alternate exit, but they were moving very, very slowly, possibly because they were wounded.

    Aymon waited with a horrible feeling in his stomach for the rescue team to radio back that they found the group.

    "We''re approaching the area now-" There was static and muffled shouting over the radio. "It''s them!"

    "Who''s there? What''s the status?" Aymon asked over the radio.

    "McKinnon, Bale, Howarth, and Deboan," the voice over the radio said. "There are some injuries, nothing life threatening."

    Deboan was Kino''s assigned minder.

    "Kino Mejia? Is she there?" Aymon asked.

    There was more static and confusion over the radio.

    "Mejia was trapped in a different part of the cave when the roof collapsed, they don''t know what her status is."

    More odd sounds over the radio.

    "McKinnon says that Kino pushed them out of the way of the collapse, that''s how she ended up in a different area of the cave."

    "Did they try to get through? Do they know where she is?" Aymon asked.

    "This group decided it would be impossible to clear a path through the collapsed cave section, and they weren''t able to contact Mejia at all. She might be on the other end of the collapse, or she may have tried to find an alternate route to the surface. She had a map of the whole cave system on her, so she could be trying to navigate out on her own."

    One of the other people in Aymon''s group spoke up.

    "They''ve uncovered one of the tunnels that led out of the collapsed section. Apprentice Mejia may have traveled through there."

    "Is everyone else accounted for?" Aymon asked, sounding resigned. There would be no point in him or Halen looking anymore if everyone else was accounted for. Trying to find Kino with her peculiar invisibility would be next to impossible.

    "Yes. McKinnon and Bale are both injured. Bale has a broken leg and McKinnon has a fractured collarbone. We''ll be bringing them to the surface as quickly as possible."

    None of the tension that Aymon was feeling was abated at all by this news. It may have even made it worse, because now there was nothing that he could do.

    He texted Halen. There were plenty of satellites that had been put into orbit to facilitate planetary communications

    > They found the rest of Kino''s party. She''s not with them.

    < I''m going to keep looking.

    Aymon didn''t know how to respond to that. It seemed pointless, and he couldn''t justify himself continuing. Would it look better or worse for the Voice of the Empire to continue searching himself, when there was no way he would be able to contribute anything useful?

    The days in this part of the year on this part of the planet were brutally long. Night fell eventually, bringing some blessed coolness to the air. The winds did not stop.

    Aymon waited by the entrance where they were bringing out the other members of Kino''s group. He spent his time praying, desperately hoping that Kino was out there, and that she would be found quickly.

    The one thing that gave him solace was that the group that was clearing out the collapsed cave sections had not (yet) found a body. If there was no body, then Kino was fine. If there was no body, then she was alive, and out there, and it would only be a matter of time before she was found.

    She had pushed the rest of her group out of the way of the collapse when it happened. Was she able to rescue herself? Aymon knew that there were pictures of the cave that he could look at, but he didn''t want to see them.

    He prayed, and waited.

    <hr>

    In the end, it was Halen who found Kino.

    Aymon''s phone buzzed, a text from Halen coming in. A simple message, along with his coordinates.

    < I found her.

    When Aymon got Halen''s understated text message, he partially panicked. Halen hadn''t said if she was alive, but of course she was alive. If she had been dead, her body would have been found by someone else, underground.

    Halen had contacted him first, but a second later, the general radio crackled to life as Halen''s team checked in with the base, reporting their find so that the search teams still in the caves could stop and coordinate. As it turned out, however, Kino was on the surface, and no search team would need to go after her any longer.

    As quickly as possible, Aymon got his own team into their open truck, and they drove almost recklessly fast across the packed dirt ground towards the given coordinates. It was a strange scene when they arrived.

    First, the coordinates were outside the expected search grid by about half a kilometer. Then there was a fire that someone had lit, casting ghoulish shadows of Halen''s team far down the dirt plain.

    The truck approached, stopped a safe distance away from the circle of people gathered around the fire, and Aymon jumped out.

    Halen was sitting on the ground, cross legged, sideways to the fire. His eyes were closed, and his hands were on Kino''s shoulders.

    Kino was laying partially across his lap. She was almost unrecognizably filthy, her clothes were torn, and the side of her face that was visible in the firelight was a swollen, purple mess. But she was alive. Her hand, flopped on the ground at her side, curled and uncurled in twitchy spasms.

    The other people in Halen''s search party were either sitting silently around the fire, watching Halen, or performing their own tasks: talking softly over the radio a little distance away, examining something on the ground just outside the circle of firelight, or opening up an emergency ration that was in the truck.

    Aymon knelt down next to Halen, and put his arm on Halen''s shoulder.

    "I''m here," Aymon said.

    Halen shook himself, opened his eyes, and looked at Aymon. Halen looked exhausted.

    "How is she?" Aymon asked.

    "Better now," Halen said. "I know she doesn''t look it, but..."

    "When will she wake up?" Aymon asked.

    "She was awake earlier. I put her to sleep so that I could fix some of the damage," Halen said. "She probably has a concussion, but she told me not to touch her brain, so I didn''t."

    "Will she wake up on her own, or will you have to wake her?" Aymon asked. "Is she safe to be moved?"

    "I could wake her up, but I think it''s better to let her sleep. When we found her, it was better to work on her here, but now..." Halen yawned, an uncharacteristic break in his stoicism. "We could go back."

    "How did you find her?" Aymon asked after a second, looking down at Kino''s still face in Halen''s lap.

    "Go look over there," Halen said, jerking his head behind him. "Careful."

    Aymon stood up from his crouch and walked toward where Halen had indicated. Just a few meters away from the fire, a neat hole was drilled directly into the ground. It was a circle of blackness that completely swallowed any light from the stars or fire that fell into it. It was a little less than an arm span in diameter. If there had been loose rocks on the packed dirt ground, Aymon would have dropped one in to see how deep it was. He stared down into the empty mouth of the hole for a long time, then returned back to Halen''s side.

    "Kino did that?" Aymon asked.

    "She made it, and she climbed up out of it, even with a concussion and broken ribs," Halen said.

    "Why? How?" Aymon asked, sitting on the ground and taking Kino''s twitching hand in his.

    "How? You know how. Using the power to break the rock and move it to the side. Forming rock into stairs when she needed to climb from one cave level to another. Why? I can''t really explain it. I can make guesses, but we''d have to ask her."

    "What are your guesses?" Aymon asked.

    "I think that she couldn''t think clearly, because of pain and concussion. I think she didn''t want to disrupt the rock slide, just in case it would cause another one, so she couldn''t go back the way she came. I think she tried to go through the caves to find an exit, but she either got lost or decided she couldn''t continue. Then I think that she decided to risk causing a collapse on herself just to get out."

    "She''s stronger than I gave her credit for," Aymon said after a long moment. He stroked Kino''s hand with his thumb. It was covered with dirt, and the palm was ragged with scratches and cuts. It twitched a little under his touch.

    "There was some part of you that knew she would be strong. You were the one who picked her," Halen said.

    "I didn''t know," Aymon said. "I was so afraid, Halen." He whispered that second part, still aware of the eyes and ears of the other team members around the fire.

    "Everyone will be put to the test," Halen said. "The dross will be pulled from metal, the meat will be cut from bone..."

    "The clay will be baked from mud, I know," Aymon said.

    "She survived. That''s what matters," Halen said. "If she wasn''t strong, she wouldn''t have."

    "I know."

    In a way, Aymon''s relief felt worse than his fear. It all still sat heavily inside him, like a physical weight. She had survived, but this... This was only the first test of the rest of her life. How would he be able to survive the terror of sending her out again? How could he bear the guilt if the worst was to happen?

 Chapter Twenty-Nine - The Dead on Cullodens Field

    The Dead on Culloden''s Field

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Did you want to say something, Yan? It¡¯s your turn. Go ahead. Oh, no, shhh, don¡¯t, it¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay. Can someone get me some tissues? Take her out? But it¡¯s her mother. Fine. Come here, Yan, that¡¯s right...¡±

    -from the Iron Dreams video archive, Maxes BarCarran, at the funeral of Sinnah BarCarran

    </blockquote>

    Yan was alone in her little loaned room on the Sky Boat, laying face down on her bed, dressed only in her undershirt and boxer shorts.

    For once she was glad to be laying down on something, rather than floating in the microgravity environment. Her guest room was in the spinning portion of the ship, but the rotation had been stopped during the fight, and had only resumed a while after the ship jumped. Being in a room designed for gravity while not having any was a novelty under the best of circumstances, but Yan was not feeling particularly in the mood for novelty.

    When she was feeling lost and untethered, the last thing that she wanted was to be physically floating around her room. Now that she could stay put on the bed, she did.

    Earlier, Iri had come knocking on her door, but Yan had yelled at her to go away. Maybe Iri would have been good company, but Yan was wallowing in her own inner turmoil.

    She had killed people. She had crushed them with a giant piece of rock. They were dead.

    She didn''t know who they were, but she knew what life was like aboard ships. Every person that she had killed, they were all somebody''s mother, sister, cousin, brother, teacher, daughter, lover, friend.

    She could imagine it was just like when her own mother had died. Every death on a starship would set the entire community off balance. It was such a closed environment. Everyone knew each other¡¯s name and felt each other¡¯s pain. Sometimes, if the pain was deep enough, the family might not ever really recover.

    Were there enough people left aboard the pirate ship to say the funeral rite? Did pirates even say the funeral prayer at all? Should she say it for them? Not as though she knew any of these people aside from their one fatal encounter.

    Yan tried to keep her thoughts off of it, but she found that absolutely impossible. When she tried to meditate, they would creep back in and she would wind up with tears crawling out of her eyes. When she tried to pray, the feeling of guilt overwhelmed her and she had to stop. She didn¡¯t feel her normal peace from praying. Was she lost, torn away from God? Could God not forgive her for doing this?

    And even when she could turn her thoughts away from the pirates and towards the Sky Boat, she felt an almost even more confusing mixture of guilt and anger. What did they want from her? To turn back time? To kill every pirate in a blaze of anger? If she had completely destroyed the pirate ship, she would have been beyond redemption. Her stomach churned thinking of it. After all, wasn''t that what the pirates themselves did?

    It wasn''t fair of them to ask that of her.

    She didn''t even know if she had the strength to do it. Ships were like living beings, in a way. The power was resistant to being used directly on anything with a stardrive, just as it resisted being used directly on another person.

    She couldn¡¯t stop ruminating on what she would have had to do, if she had tried to destroy the pirate ship. It might have been too big to break up with rocks. The shuttles were easy targets, but a whole ship was orders of magnitude larger. Thoughts of the worse things Yan might have done, and the horrible things she had, kept spiraling around and around in her mind.

    She hadn''t really considered it as a fact before, but Halen, and maybe even Sandreas, had probably killed before. How did they cope with it? Did they secretly spend all their time thinking about everything they could have done differently? Did they feel guilty? Would this feeling pass?

    A deep horror lurked at the bottom of her thoughts. Yan had killed other people. Should there be a life taken for a life? Did she do what was right? Did she do what was necessary? Was there any other way this could have been solved?

    The more rational and detatched part of her screamed that she was being melodramatic, but that part of her was drowned out by the louder part.

    Yan couldn¡¯t do anything other than dry sob onto her pillow and occasionally choke on bile that rose in her throat.

    There was a knock on the door.

    "Go away!" Yan yelled.

    Whoever it was knocked again.

    "I said go away!" Yan yelled. She picked up one of her shoes from the side of her bed and threw it full force at the door. It hit with a weak thud.

    Yan heard the lock of her door click and the door slid open. She buried her face in her pillow, not wanting to look at Sid as he came in. It had to be Sid. Iri wouldn¡¯t be coming back to bother her, and Sid would be able to open her door easily enough.

    If she didn''t look at him, he probably wouldn''t talk to her.

    Sid closed the door behind him and sat down on Yan''s bed. He unceremoniously lifted up her feet so that he could squeeze himself into the space between the wall and Yan¡¯s long body. Yan twitched her leg as though to kick him, but he let her legs go and they just flopped back onto the sheets.

    There was a long minute of silence where neither of them said or did anything. Yan took even breaths into her pillow and tried not start crying again. After a while of being aware that Sid was there and waiting for her, Yan relented and flipped over onto her back, half sitting up to look over at him. Her face was puffy and she felt like a wreck, but Sid looked just as bad.

    Yan''s room was small enough that her bed stretched its entire width, so Sid leaned into one corner, with his knees folded up to his chest. He was as pale as Yan had ever seen him and he wasn''t wearing his glasses. He looked different without them. Vulnerable.

    "Hey," Sid signed. "You ok?"

    "What do I look like?" Yan signed back, sitting up fully. "Are you ok?"

    Sid shook his head no.

    Neither of them made any move for a long moment. Seeing how pathetic he looked was almost enough to yank Yan out of her own emotions and give him a hug, but she wasn''t quite there. Sid probably wouldn''t have wanted that, anyway.

    "The worst thing," Yan signed, "Is admitting it to myself."

    "I don''t want to think about it," Sid signed. "It''s all-" He knocked his head with his knuckles, not gently.

    "You were better, before." Yan signed, a questioning look on her face.

    "It''s easy to work when I''m angry," Sid signed. "I was very angry." His face curled up in a half snarl.

    "Not anymore?" Yan asked.

    "No one left to be angry at," Sid signed. "Except myself."

    "Angry at yourself for what?" Yan asked.

    "Thinking about what I could have done, more, better."

    "I understand. I don''t feel angry. Just," Yan didn''t quite know just what she was feeling. She clenched her fist and pressed it into her stomach.

    "Bad," Sid confirmed. "Yeah."

    "How do other people live with this?"

    "How many other people have killed a person? More than one person? Other people don''t have to live with this."

    "Halen has, I think," Yan signed.

    "Sandreas is responsible for a lot of people. I know that," Sid signed. Sandreas was responsible for keeping people alive, and for killing them, in some abstract way as the head of the Empire.

    "That''s not the same as doing it yourself," Yan felt ill again.

    "Isn''t it?" Sid signed. "Better, or worse?"

    "I don''t know. Less real feeling, maybe."

    "If you make it to the end of the apprenticeship..." Sid signed.

    "More people on my head." Yan stacked her fists. "Same for you."

    "If I make it." Sid looked exhausted. How long of a day had it been? When had they last eaten?

    "I don''t want to be like Halen," Yan signed.

    "You''re not." Sid had the faintest smile Yan had ever seen from him.

    "We''re both killers, maybe. We almost did a m-u-t-i-n-y. We''re halfway to pirates," Yan signed. She had to fingerspell mutiny since she didn¡¯t know the sign. "What''s the difference?"

    "Don''t take all the credit for mutinous behavior," Sid signed, giving her the sign she was looking for. "I deserve that one."

    Yan shook her head. "That''s not what I mean. I-"

    "Even if you were like Halen, there are worse people to be."

    "What do you mean?" Yan asked.

    "I like Halen. I like you." Sid started to sign something else, then waved his hands to clear the air, changing his mind.

    "I like you, too," Yan signed, looking him in the eye. "I wouldn''t be able to... keep going if you weren''t here to help."

    "Yes you would," Sid signed. "You just can''t admit it."

    "You can''t say that," Yan said. "That''s not fair."

    "You want to blame what you did on me?" Sid asked. "You could have done it all yourself."

    Yan felt horrible. Her face twisted up, and she couldn''t tell if she was angry or about to cry again. She grabbed the pillow from behind her and threw it at Sid. It hit him, but he took it and tucked it in between his legs and his chest.

    "I didn''t want to do it at all!" Yan wasn''t used to arguing in sign. She didn''t know how to make it seem like she was yelling, but maybe her expression was doing the trick.

    "But you did, and you could have done it by yourself, and you could have done it again, if you had to," Sid signed. "That''s a good thing."

    "It''s a good thing to kill people?" Yan scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand after she finished signing.

    "It''s good to know that you can do what you have to to stay alive, and to get the job done, and to protect the people you care about. For all the thanks that these people have for it, anyway."

    Yan put her forehead on her knees and covered her head with her hands, long arms crossed clumsily over the back of her neck. She didn''t want to see what Sid had to say to her. She didn''t want to think that Sid was right, and she had the capacity to do it all alone.

    She heard and felt the creaking of the bed as Sid came over next to her. He wrapped his arms around her. They were a bony jumble of limbs. He rested his head on her back, near her shoulders.

    Sid opened himself up in the power, and Yan felt the tumble of emotions that came from him. He was hurting just as deeply as she was, but he was trying to help her anyway. Yan sent an apology back through their connection, and received understanding in turn.

    "I think," Sid said aloud, "We''re the only people who can ever understand this."

    Yan could feel the rumble of his voice as he spoke, but she was unable to respond. He couldn''t understand her if she spoke aloud because he wasn''t wearing his glasses, and they weren''t in position to sign to each other.

    "Maybe somebody else can feel something similar. Or people who were on the shuttle with us can understand what it felt like to be there. But nobody else will ever know the whole story."

    Sid just continued to talk, pouring out his feelings.

    "I think... You''re better than I am at this. I didn''t know what to do until you told me. Same as what happened that day we were training and Kino got hurt. If you weren''t here..." Sid squeezed his arms around her, holding on like a drowning man.

    Yan shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut.

    "I don''t know how we''re going to face the Guild people. I''m not good at anything like this. I- I probably shouldn''t be here at all."

    She didn''t know what to do as Sid continued to talk. She curled her toes in the sheets of the bed and her fingers yanked at her short hair.

    "I wish it could all go back to feeling like it was a game. God!" Sid yelled. "What can I do? This is all horrible. I never asked for this. I never wanted-"

    He was crying onto Yan''s back. She couldn''t move or say anything to help him, he was holding her too tightly. Yan tried to send him a feeling of comfort through the power, but it was drowned out in Sid''s overwhelming torrent of feelings. Any comfort Yan could give felt hollow and insinccere; she felt just as bad, so how could she offer anything to him? Yan couldn''t fault him for letting it out, but he wasn''t even really talking to her, he was just yelling out into the void.

    There was no comfort in that for either of them.

    They sat there together, Yan trying to breathe slowly in and out as Sid calmed down. Eventually, his shuddering breaths turned quiet, synced with hers. They slipped, first accidentally, then willingly, down into meditation together. Breathing together, touching, and feeling that same pain was enough to bring them there.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    In their shared mental space, their thoughts blended together, and they could talk to each other more fluidly. Yan could feel Sid''s body and her own, and by mutual agreement, they loosened Sid''s constrictor-like grip on Yan''s torso.

    Yan could see the part of the fight that she had missed, playing out in Sid''s mind''s eye, where he had simply ripped apart the remaining shuttles and dogfighters. The movements were probably exaggerated, since it was a memory that Sid was rethinking over and over, but the feeling was real. It churned both of their stomachs.

    Yan gently tried to shove that memory aside, and Sid let her. She could feel his desperation to think of something, anything else. Unfortunately, the only thing that came to mind was the sad mantra that she had been playing in her own head.

    "Can we..." Yan tried to ask, then tried to stop asking, but Sid had already grasped the full thought that was floating there in front of her.

    Yan wanted to say the funeral rite for those people. Pirates. People. She and Sid had killed them, and there was no way to make that right, but it felt like the only thing that they could do.

    She felt Sid agree to it. She presented the text of the prayer from her memory. Though Yan had always been good at remembering the prayers, this was one that she had memorized purposely, many years ago. Sid, in their shared mind space, was distantly amused at her remembrance of what a morbid child she had been. It wasn''t that funny.

    They both started saying the prayer that Yan provided, mouths moving in sync. Their voices came out as the strange mixture that group meditation always gave, just on a smaller scale. Sid''s perception of hearing with Yan¡¯s ears colored the experience. In any other situation, Yan might have wanted to explore that feeling, but here she only wanted to say the prayer.

    The first part of the funeral rite was the invocation, calling upon God.

    "Lord God of all creation, who created the living and embraces the dead, we come before You with the soul of-"

    They had to stop for a second. They didn''t know what the names of the pirates were.

    "We come before You with the souls of those who we... we have wronged. We ask that You bring them into Your gentle care."

    Yan still didn''t think it was appropriate to say that they had killed them, but they had to say something in place of the name.

    The next part of the rite was the description of life, and how the universe had come about. It was fitting to describe the beginning of things before describing the end.

    "In the beginning, there was light. And You moved Your hand and split the light from the light to give it form, and meaning, and understanding. In the place between, there was darkness."

    Traditionally, this was done with candles, but they didn''t have any. Both Yan and Sid had their eyes closed. Yan''s voice was muffled because her head was still on her knees, tucked under her hands. It didn''t really matter. Sid''s voice, or, rather, both their voices coming out of Sid''s mouth, was clear.

    "In the beginning, there was God. You formed the darkness to make the sky, and the light to make the stars within the it. You set the planets in motion around the stars, and on the planets, you breathed life into the water, and the ground, and the air."

    "In the beginning, You made us a creation with Your spirit, and scattered us across the planets, so that we might have form, and purpose, and understanding of ourselves and Your glory."

    "Now, we are here together, with the souls of those we have wronged. These were people that we knew. We saw them and we knew them. They saw us and they knew us. To know others is to know ourselves. Let all who knew these souls speak."

    This was the part of the funeral rite where everyone who actually knew the dead would say their piece. In a normal case, this could last for a while as everyone attending said their own words or prayers. Yan and Sid came to it and fell silent for a moment.

    "We only knew these people for a little while. We don''t know their names, or what they look like, or who they are. But we saw them, and we knew them. Because we knew them, we learned what we are capable of. We did not understand before that we could..." And then they had to admit it. "Kill another person. We did not understand before how much that would hurt."

    They paused for a second, considering what they should say next.

    "It wasn''t worth their lives, the understanding that they gave us. But it was the price that they paid anyway. We have no way to repay that debt that we owe them."

    Yan¡¯s brain snatched control away from Sid for a second. It was unintentional, but she was overcome by emotion.

    "Was it good? Was it right? Was it necessary? We''re sorry. We''re so sorry, we''re so sorry. We''re so- We couldn''t see another way."

    Sid exerted his own control and forced Yan to stop talking.

    When thinking and speaking in the shared mind space, every word either required deliberation and cooperation or it all spilled out in an uncontrollable stream. It was a slow process to compose their short message and a relief for both of them to go back to the less personal framing of the formal text of the funeral rite. This was the last part, the return.

    "In the end, there will be God. All things will return to that from which they came. We will return to the ground, the planets will return to the stars, the stars will return to darkness, the darkness will return to light, and the light will return to God."

    "It will all come to pass like this. At the end of our lives we will be there with you, in the place beyond places, in the time beyond time. We will know each other there. All injury will be forgiven, all fears will be forgotten, and all sadness will fall away like rain."

    "So until we meet again, there and then, we come before God to implore that your souls be brought to that final place. There, you shall come to know God as you know yourselves."

    "We thank you for the gifts you have given us, we give you love for your journey home, and we release you from your bonds."

    And that was it. The text of the funeral rite was mercifully short, in order to give the usual mourners space to say their piece. Here, with no one except Yan and Sid, it was over quickly, and that brought with it some modicum of relief. At least that duty, however small, had been fulfilled.

    Yan and Sid lurked in the shared meditative space for a little longer, each doing their best not to think of anything. Whenever Yan had a stray thought, Sid nudged it away, and Yan did the same for him. Eventually, the odd position they were both sitting in began to hurt and intrude on their shared thinking. Trying to coordinate both of their movements to get into a more comfortable position was too much effort, so they released each other mentally.

    Sid pulled his head off of Yan''s back and let her go from his hug. Now free, Yan uncurled from the cramped position she had been holding, stretching out her long limbs to their fullest extent. Her joints crackled unhappily and her legs tingled painfully from having fallen asleep.

    The feeling of being alone in her own head was uncomfortable, and Yan half wished she could link back up with Sid, but the moment had passed.

    Sid scooted back to the other side of the bed where he had been before.

    "Feel any better?" He asked.

    "I don''t know," Yan signed. "I think I just have to ignore it as much as possible."

    Sid nodded.

    "Can I ask a question?" Yan asked. Sid shrugged. "Before, why did you talk out loud?"

    Sid looked embarrassed; his ears turned red.

    "I just wanted to get the thoughts out. It was like... I could admit them but not hear it at the same time. When I talk, it isn''t me. And since you couldn''t say anything, I-"

    "I get it," Yan signed. They both paused for a moment and stared into space.

    "This sucks," Sid signed, using the rudest version of that sign.

    "Yeah." Yan didn''t have the wherewithal to make a joke about it.

    There was a knock on the door. Yan sat up straighter, feeling alarmed.

    "What?" Sid asked.

    "Somebody at the door," Yan signed. "Any guesses who?"

    "Your minder?"

    "I told Iri to go away earlier, don''t think she''d come back," Yan signed.

    "Go see who it is," Sid said.

    "But I don''t-"

    Whoever was at the door knocked again, and Yan reluctantly got up, trying to make her undershirt look slightly more presentable. She hoped it wasn''t anyone important. She was wearing only underwear.

    Yan opened the door a crack and peeked out. It was one of the boys she had met the previous night. What was his name? Zebin? Zevan? Zevin, that was it. He was the older brunette boy.

    "Uh, hi," Yan said.

    "Hi. Um." He held out a bag to her. It was cloth, rather large, and zipped across the opening. In all respects it was classic tote bag spacers used to carry tools. "My parents said to give this to you."

    "Thanks?" Yan said, taking the bag. "Uh, what is it?"

    The boy shrugged. "Food and stuff. Since you probably weren''t going to go back to the dining hall."

    "Oh, yeah. Thank you." That was really considerate of the family. Yan was surprised that they had thought of it at all.

    "You''re welcome. Uh, my mom said thank you for helping us." The teen rubbed the back of his neck. "I know people are mad about it or something, but, like, you saved me from having to scrub red paint for the rest of all time so..."

    "That was the bay that got destroyed?" Yan managed a smile.

    "Yeah, ha, I mean it''s bad, but..." He smiled a bit back.

    "Well I can''t really take credit for wrecking the bay," Yan said.

    "Oh, I thought that was why Captain Lida was mad at you?"

    "No, that''s... It''s complicated. Don''t worry about it."

    "Ok, but you know I''m just going to ask somebody why later," he said.

    "If you must," Yan said. "You should probably go, though. If people see you hanging out here they might get mad at you, too."

    "Who''s that?" He asked, peeking around Yan to see Sid in the room.

    "Sid, he''s my partner," Yan said.

    Zevin raised his eyebrows. "I thought all people like you were, you know..."

    "God, not like that. I meant we work together."

    "Oh," Zevin looked mildly disappointed. "I was going to go gossip about you."

    "Please don''t," Yan said, feeling distressed.

    "I''m kidding, really."

    "Thank you again for the food," Yan said, rather anxious to get Zevin to leave.

    "Yeah, no problem. Can I come see you again?"

    Yan shrugged. She was practically under house arrest, but she didn''t know how much Zevin''s family would like him coming to see her, and she didn''t know how much teen boy she could handle over the few days she would be on the ship. Her experience with him and his cousins had been a good one before, but the situation was different now. Her non answer seemed to satisfy him.

    "Ok. Well, bye then," Zevin said.

    "Bye," Yan said, watching him walk away down the hallway.

    She shut the door and returned to the bed. She plopped the bag down in between her and Sid.

    "Who was that?" Sid asked, watching Yan go through the bag. She abandoned her investigation to respond to him.

    "One of the boys I met last night," Yan signed. "He brought us food from his family since we can''t go out to eat."

    "That''s nice of him," Sid signed.

    "He thought we were a couple. It was almost funny."

    "We did spend like... two hours embracing, and I''m on your bed and you''re only wearing underwear."

    "That''s not couple behavior," Yan signed. "The thought of being with you is revolting to me."

    "How could you say such a thing?" Sid signed, fake scandalized. "You''re the only one who could ever love me, after what we''ve done."

    "Fuck off," Yan signed.

    Sid smiled. "I''m kidding."

    "I know, but it''s not funny."

    Yan investigated the contents of the bag. There was a half a loaf of bread, bottles of juice, a bag of cereal, a box with cold chicken in it, and some chocolate bars. It wasn''t the greatest assortment of food, but it was food, so she couldn''t complain. She handed the bag to Sid to examine, then leaned off the bed to grab her discarded Iron Dreams uniform off the floor. She fished around in the pocket for her utility knife, which most spacers carried all the time.

    Sid looked alarmed as Yan came back up holding the knife.

    "Look at this," he signed, then held up a small plastic bag, filled with a few pills. "What is it?"

    Yan took the bag, opened it, and took out one of the pills. She laid it on her palm and turned it over. A small, ornate V was imprinted on one side.

    "V-e-n-a." Yan signed. She didn''t know the word for the drug in sign.

    "That''s generous of them. The sign is this." Sid crooked his index and middle finger, while his other fingers made a fist, and he snapped the crooked fingers onto his forehead, rather like a snake bite.

    Yan made a disgusted face and put the pill back in the bag. "I don''t want to be responsible for owning this."

    "I''ll take it off your hands," Sid signed.

    "You''re going to use this stuff?" The thought made Yan want to puke.

    "I''ve heard it works wonders for keeping your mind off unpleasant things. There''s a reason it was given to us."

    "Yeah, but Kino-"

    "Halen only said Kino wasn''t allowed to use it, he didn''t say anything about us."

    "But-"

    "And Halen isn''t here." Sid held his hand out for the bag. Yan considered for a second whether she should hand it over or not. In the end, she didn''t want to be responsible for it, and she trusted Sid enough not to immediately start taking the pills. She tossed it to him with a scowl.

    "It''s not a good idea," Yan signed.

    "Let''s eat and worry about it later," Sid said. Yan realized again just how hungry she actually was and nodded.

    Yan distributed the food, carving up the bread and the chicken with her knife, making crude sandwiches. They didn''t have any plates or utensils but they made do, even if Yan''s bed got covered in crumbs. Because of the nature of the food, they had to eat without signing to each other, which let Yan stew uncomfortably in her own thoughts until they had both finished their sandwiches.

    "Can we compromise?" Sid asked.

    "On the Vena?"

    "Yeah."

    "Why? What do you want to compromise on?" Yan asked.

    Sid''s face looked even more exhausted than he had been when he first came into Yan''s room, and he had already looked quite tired then.

    "I don''t think I''ll be able to sleep," Sid signed. "I''m tired, but I think that I''ll wake up screaming or crying or messing things up. I''m really feeling-"

    Yan nodded, and he stopped. She knew how he felt. She was feeling better than she had, but that was only because Sid was there. Eating a good meal had helped a little, and being able to pray had helped a little, and being able to talk things out had helped a little, but Yan knew that the instant she was alone in the dark at night, the terror would return.

    "I know that will happen," Sid signed. "I just want to make it easier."

    "So what is the compromise?" There was a part of Yan that understood exactly what Sid was saying, and where his desire to take the drug came from. The more off kilter part of herself could even imagine, if she was alone, trying it. But her fear of the drug, and her fear of what people would think were stronger than that desire. Yan was vulnerable enough to convincing, though, and Sid would probably get his way.

    "Can I take half of one, and stay here tonight? I don''t want to be alone."

    Yan looked down at her hands for a second, then at Sid''s pathetic face.

    "That''s not much of a compromise. But you can stay," Yan signed.

    "I''ll sleep on the floor."

    "Don''t be an idiot," Yan signed.

    Without further conversation, the two cleaned up the dinner mess, shaking the crumbs out of Yan''s bedsheets and putting the leftover food back in the bag. They each got ready for bed, taking care of business in the tiny adjoining bathroom.

    Sid had stripped down to his own undershirt and underwear, leaving his apprentice cassock onto the floor, right next to Yan''s own discarded jumpsuit. He was standing at Yan''s little desk, her knife in one hand and holding one of the vena pills still with the other.

    "Are you really going to do this?" Yan signed.

    Sid nodded. He cut the pill in half, holding out one half to Yan. She actually considered it for a second, then shook her head. She would see after tonight if it was worth the risk. Sid put the half pill back into the bag, which he closed and considered.

    "Where should I hide this?" He asked.

    "Under the bathroom sink, maybe?"

    Sid took the bag into the bathroom and spent a minute fiddling with it. He came back without it, so he must have felt like he was successful in hiding it.

    "Well, here goes nothing," Sid signed. He took the half pill that was left on Yan''s desk and dry swallowed it, cringing a bit at the taste. "Now what?"

    "Get into bed, you idiot." Yan shook her head at him and turned off the lights. He climbed into bed, and Yan got in behind, pulling the covers up over both of them.

    "How long does it take to work?" Sid asked aloud. Yan had no way of responding to that, since he couldn''t see her in the dark and he wasn''t wearing his glasses.

    Yan closed her eyes, trying to breathe evenly and fall asleep. Sid was still as a corpse beside her. She tried not to think about anything aside from her overwhelming tiredness. Eventually, Yan did fall asleep.

    She woke an indeterminate amount of time later, soaked in a cold sweat and gasping for air, choking on her own tongue. The moment she jolted awake she forgot what her dream was about, which was a small mercy. Somehow while she was asleep, her arms had wormed their way around Sid, one draped over his shoulder and one trapped underneath his neck.

    Yan first steadied her breathing, trying not to wake him, and then investigated to confirm that Sid was still alive. He was, breathing shallowly in and out.

    It was a minor invasion of privacy, but through their physical connection, Yan extended a tendril of power to see what Sid''s status was. She couldn''t read his emotions or anything, but she could use the power to compare what he normally felt like in her mind''s eye to what he was experiencing now.

    His presence felt unnaturally blank. It was as though his body was perfectly there and alright, but his soul had gone elsewhere. He was muted. There wasn''t even a sense about him that he was a sensitive. It was disconcerting.

    There was one thing that proved Sid was in there, somewhere. As Yan breathed in and out, feeling him in the power, she matched her breaths to his. It wasn''t exactly that they were linked in the group mind again, but Yan caught glimpses of the beautiful blankness that Sid was experiencing as he slept.

    Yan tried to keep her focus on that, hoping for a dreamless sleep.

 Chapter Thirty - Shock and Awe

    Shock and Awe

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The main objective of the Unknown Colonies was to completely destabilize the Edden Empire, not to control it. They put surprisingly little effort into ground forces, preferring to use a small and mobile strike force in a planet''s orbit that was capable of reaching an entire population at once. Though it may seem impossible for a few people to destroy an entire way of life , we know that the power''s true limits are those of the concentration and knowledge of the sensitive wielding it.¡±

    -from ¡°Fleet Apprentice Onboarding Manual¡±, version 4.1.3.0, IKRB

    </blockquote>

    The journey to Jenjin aboard the God''s Engine was a subdued one. Aymon spent much of the time going over and over the plan for the removal of Governor Vaspar. He hoped that the new interim governor he had chosen was still alive, holed up somewhere safe. He didn''t really expect that Halia Xu, a former elected council member, would have been killed, but the situation on Jenjin had been deteriorating as Aymon lingered at the front, and it was sure to have gotten worse as the God''s Engine made its journey there. It was a long trip. Even pushing the stardrive to its maximum, it was about five days of travel. That was a long time for him to be out of contact with his agents on the ground.

    Kino spent the entire time holed up in her room, the lights off, trying to rest off her concussion. The few times Aymon had seen her, visiting her during meals, she looked sick and sad. Half of her face had a massive, fading, bruise that continued down the entire left side of her body. She had no interest in talking about her experience in the cave or anything else, and she had even less interest in letting Halen heal her concussion. Aymon and Halen left her alone, for the most part.

    On one hand, Aymon desperately wanted to ''debrief'' the experience she had had, but on the other, that brush with danger had left him feeling overly protective in a way that he resented. Maybe some time to think about things alone would be good for the both of them.

    Halen was quiet and reflective on the journey as well. His presence was a balm to Aymon''s jangled nerves, but the inherently insular nature of space travel gave them nothing to talk about but the past. Neither of them were particularly in the mood for that, though, and they spent the journey for the most part in silent companionship. At least, they did when Aymon wasn¡¯t stalking the corridors of the God¡¯s engine and taking out his pent up nervous energy on his subordinates. Aymon knew that Halen was feeling as rattled as he was about the whole Kino situation, but that may have been partially due to Halen picking up on Aymon''s feelings.

    When the God''s Engine finally arrived outside the Jenjin system, the real work began. The plan to bring the planet back into line had a few basic stages. All of those stages needed to go smoothly in order to ensure as painless of a transition of power as possible. First and foremost, there needed to be a bloodless removal of the current governor, Vaspar.

    The planning team had gone back and forth on how it ideally would play out. Aymon had been a small part of the planning, but he was much more of a grand scale figure than anyone to involve in the details. Whenever consulted, he had to crush the temptation to ask to indulge his flair for the dramatic, which he rarely got to let out. Although deposing a governor by sitting at his own desk and delivering a dramatic monologue was a more than appealing daydream, it was neither practical nor safe. Aymon did have to keep in mind the well being of the populace, not just his own sense of satisfaction.

    In the end, Aymon wasn''t even going to set foot on Jenjin until the governor was ousted and some order was imposed. It was an unfortunate reality that there would be martial law for a little while during the transition of power. His replacement for governor, Halia Xu, would be serving out the remainder of Vaspar''s term without an election. Not that it was much different from when Vaspar himself was in power, since Vaspar was standing accused of fraudulent elections in the first place.

    What remained to be seen was just how loyal the Jenjin Defense Force was to Vaspar. They were at least willing to follow his orders while he remained governor, but there was always the chance of a counter coup when Vaspar was ousted, which was part of the reason why the God''s Engine, with its full complement of Fleet soldiers, was on hand. If necessary, the God''s Engine would be stationed there until all the next election. Aymon sincerely hoped that would not be the case.

    There was base of operations for the coordinating team in the boardroom of the God''s Engine. There were many hands and pieces involved in the operation: the military coordination, the negotiating with the leaders of the striking farm workers, shipping aid to the cities who were slowly being starved out. Everyone had their own corner of the room, laying out their computers on the tables, and projecting maps on the walls. In the front of the room, right behind where Aymon sat at his own table, was a massive timetable, listing out the order of operations, their status, and the parties responsible for them. Though Aymon was not the one directly coordinating the operation, being there in the room still felt like trying to direct a hurricane.

    Halen lurked at his own table in the back of the room, Kino was next to him. She was finally feeling well enough to participate in human society, but her face was still bruised and she was wearing sunglasses and headphones to shield her from the chaotic ambiance of the room. Still, since gaining political experience on this mission to Jenjin was the reason she had come in the first place, it was gratifying to see that she made an effort to appear. Aymon sent a smile her way every time he glanced over to that end of the room. Kino looked to be dutifully following the progress of the operation and making notes on the goings on.

    This operation had been in the works for a long time, primarily organized by agents on the ground. That group had been put together almost a year before, upon the Emperor''s warning to keep an eye on Jenjin. It was comprised of a network of trusted individuals already working within the Jenjin government as well as operatives scattered across the planet. That clandestine web had the difficult job of making sure the transition of power went smoothly during this coup. They needed to keep the population calm: the lights on, the net working, the radio playing. They also needed to keep an eye to make sure that nobody else would attempt to violently size power during a vulnerable moment.

    It wasn''t possible to ensure that things would go well, but they had to hope for the best. They did have a backup plan in case things went completely south, but it was that middle ground, where some things went well and some went horribly, that was hardest to predict and plan for. A puzzle with all the pieces missing is a blank slate; a puzzle with half the pieces missing is a disaster.

    Several shuttles of Fleet soldiers had left the God''s Engine hours previously, and everyone in the boardroom tracked their progress as they approached the planet. Theoretically, one of the members of the operation on the planet was going to allow the shuttle to land on the airfield nearest to the capitol city, Veruit, without alerting anyone to its presence.

    The shuttle landed without being fired upon, which was a success, and the Fleet soldiers made their way into the capitol. It was still night, about two hours before sunrise in that part of the world, so the Fleet soldiers, riding in cars procured for them by the network on the planet, didn''t have to contend with much traffic as they drove towards the governor''s residence.

    Though Aymon knew he was never again going to lead a charge like the one happening on the ground, the familiar excitement built in him as they watched over the video feed. The Fleet soldiers surrounded the house, disarmed the guards from the Jenjin Defense Force (aided by the one sensitive on the team), and entered the residence. They had good intel that Vaspar was there, and he was, asleep in his bed. The idea was to pin Vaspar down, get him on a call with Aymon, and have a peaceful transition of power. That would have been the simplest way to go about things.

    The first snag in their plans came as Vaspar woke up early. He must have noticed something was amiss before the Fleet team arrived in his room. An encrypted transmission was sent out from the house, and Vaspar made his escape.

    Of course, he couldn''t make leave before setting his own house on fire. Aymon swore aloud when the Fleet soldiers had to scramble to retreat from the burning building. Fucking sensitives.

    That was the real problem with this phase of the operation: Vaspar was a sensitive, just as talented as he was slimy. It was fairly rare for an Academy trained leader to be as far gone as Vaspar was, but it happened on occasion, and it was always a mess when it did.

    The team on the ground did their best to track Vaspar, but he had some sort of underground tunnel that he had escaped into, and between the fire and their unfamiliarity with Vaspar''s power signature, the sensitive on the team couldn''t track him.

    Then it was on to plan B, because there was a flurry of activity from the Jenjin Defense Force, as every unit went on high alert. Someone, most likely on Vaspar''s failsafe orders that he had activated as he ran, ordered all the cities to go into complete lockdown and forbid civilian traffic. Nothing on that grand of a scale could go into effect immediately, but since the goal was to have minimal civilian impact, it was important that they stop this wave of military panic in its tracks.

    Aboard the God''s Engine, there was a new and more desperate energy, as the communications officer attempted to open up a line between the ship and the JDF''s headquarters, so that Aymon could address them directly.

    The God''s Engine was currently quite far out, on the edges of the star system. They had wanted to be undetectable as they came in, but it looked as though all subtlety was being abandoned. It was inconvenient that they had jumped in so far from the planet, as it meant that any reinforcments sent on shuttles would take a while to arrive. There were still a few hours before the God¡¯s Engine could jump to a new position in orbit around Jenjin.

    "Are we in contact with the JDF yet?" Aymon asked one of the communication staff.

    "We''re still trying to get through. It may be that part of the failsafe command that Vaspar sent out was to lock down communications except through approved channels," the staff member said. "We''re continuing to try."

    Aymon motioned Halen and Kino to come over and sit with him.

    "Do you really think we''ll need to get close for shock and awe?" Halen asked.

    "I hope not, but it doesn''t hurt to be prepared," Aymon said.

    "It does we¡¯ll have to get put on a shuttle," Halen grumbled. "I hope we can wait the eight hours for us to jump in, so we don¡¯t have to deal with the acceleration."

    "You''re getting soft in your old age," Aymon said.

    Kino spoke up. "Why is the JDF not responding to communications from outside? Were they warned that we were coming?"

    "We can only hope that they didn''t know ahead of time, and that the lockdown procedure that Vaspar set out involves following a strict set of instructions without any outside interference. They might even be under the impression that this is a coup by people on the planet, and their communications are being spoofed in some sort of trick. Of course, Vaspar may have also prepared for this specifically, simply on the assumption that he was pushing too many buttons to be allowed to continue without Imperial intervention. That make sense?" Aymon said.

    "Is there any hope of getting in contact with them?" Kino asked.

    "Yes. We have a few people in our ground network that are in the JDF who may be able to open a line of communication with their leader." Aymon consulted the file on his tablet that contained all the relevant information for the operation. "Unfortunately, the leader of the JDF, General Hamark, is a long time friend of Vaspar, so it remains to be seen if he will accept the higher Imperial authority or fall back on whatever Vaspar ordered him to do."

    Getting in contact with General Hamark of the JDF was not the only thing that the team aboard the God''s Engine was trying to coordinate. Along with the contingent of soldiers, the God''s Engine carried a massive relief cargo for the population of the cities, which was vital to distribute as soon as possible, because most of the cities'' populations had been surviving on an increasingly diminished food supply. There were also the other shuttles sent down to the planet as stealthily as possible to try to capture the leaders of the farmworker''s rebellion, who, even if they had been initially wronged, were contributing to the starving out of more than half the planet''s population.

    "How did this all get started?" Kino asked. "I don''t understand how things got to this point."

    Aymon sighed. "To put a long story very short, the problems on Jenjin began during the founding of the colony, years and years ago. This planet was one of the ones that needed significant terraforming."

    "Why is it even worthwhile to colonize that type of planet?" Kino asked.

    "For Jenjin, it was because the planet had already been in use as a mining center. It''s naturally rich in all sorts of materials that aren''t easy to farm from asteroids," Aymon said. Kino looked like she was going to interrupt and ask another question, but Aymon held up his hand.

    "Don''t ask me what, I''m not a mining expert. If you really want to know the details you can ask somebody else later."

    "Okay," Kino said. "Why did it expand from being a mining center into something that could be terraformed?"

    "Heh. Well, part of the reason, if I''m remembering correctly, was that during the manufacturing processes they were using, they were pumping a lot of greenhouse gasses into the air anyway, so they were making a good start on the terraforming. Then it was just convenient to build up and build up a community around something that already existed, especially a community that already had a trade route established to it. The Trade Guild was highly supportive of expanding the manufacturing there into a real colony, since it would bring them more business."

    "Then what happened?"

    "Once terraforming began, then we the internal process of getting proposals for the rest of the colony. The issue was that the typical group that wants to start a new colony has radically different lifestyles than a group of people who have been living in a mining zone for years. The colony group whose proposal was approved by the Colonization Board was, hm, an especially poor fit to get along with the existing miners and manufacturing already on the planet."

    "Why?"

    "Well, part of it is that while colonies are all politically separate from their home planets, mining operations are not. So the miners all still considered themselves to be citizens of Galena, and it was a major disruption to their established way of life when they were given the choice to leave or become citizens of the new Jenjin colony. It is understandably upsetting to have this whole group of people you don''t know descend onto your planet with their own different ways of doing things. Both groups believed in their hearts that they should be the ones in charge of this new colony, if it was to be one. The miners and manufacturers had been living there for years, many for their entire lives. They had thriving cities. Well, as much as cities can thrive when they have to be built in sealed domes around mineshafts and factories."

    "Hm," Kino, for the little piece of her face that Aymon could see beneath the sunglasses she was wearing, seemed thoughtful. "So there was tension, but what led to this?"

    "It slowly built up over time. The colonists were resentful that they were treated as second class citizens while still being expected to provide food for the cities- as colonists are primarily farmers. The political leaders in the cities, Vaspar being the latest incarnation of this type, quickly realized that with their higher population they could pass laws and vote into local and Imperial office those who would benefit them most. Of course, the population of the colonists grew fairly quickly, so that didn''t last as long as those in the cities would have liked. I completely believe the allegations of fraudulent elections that the farmers have."

    "I thought the farmers wanted their own colony, which was why we went to Tyx III?"

    "Heh, yes. It''s a classic situation of getting something you want and immediately hating it. They were lucky to get a colony in the first place. They think that they can bully their way into a new colony of their own, and they might have gotten it if Tyx III wasn''t so bogged down, but..." Aymon trailed off. "As a government, the Empire can¡¯t allow the farmworkers to continue to deny food to the cities, and I also can''t allow the current leadership to rig elections to get their way. It''s gone too far, which is why we''re stepping in."

    "Makes sense, I guess," Kino said. "I remember... Nevermind." She shook her head.

    "What?" Aymon asked, surprised that Kino was tempted to volunteer something.

    "When I was a kid, when we had to leave Falmar, and we all went to Hanathue, there was... People hated it. Us. They didn''t want us there."

    "One failed colony after another, I suppose," Aymon said, but the moment it left his lips he realized it was the wrong thing to say. Kino turned her head to the side, not looking at him.

    Halen glared at Aymon in a classic ''look what you just did'' expression. Aymon raised an eyebrow, purposely glancing around the room. Halen shook his head slightly and then looked away.

    Aymon checked the status of the ground teams on his tablet. No one had managed to locate Vaspar yet, and they still hadn''t managed to get into contact with anyone in the JDF, but there was promising news that one of the leaders of the paramilitary group formed by the farmworkers had been taken into custody. There were still several others on different parts of the planet, but that was at least one thing that was going well.

    "When are we going to call it and make the announcement?" Aymon asked one of the people coordinating the operation, a white haired woman with thick glasses by the name of Eda Sath.

    "The original timetable had us making the announcement after we took Vaspar into custody. Since that''s looking unlikely to happen soon, we would like to make it after we discuss the transition of power with the JDF."

    "And if we''re not able to make contact with them?" Aymon asked.

    "That would be a worst case scenario. If the situation begins to deteriorate further, we would need to make the call before sending down a full force."

    "Is that even possible from out here?"

    "We don''t have enough shuttles to send the entire force down at once, no. But it would be a truly worst case scenario to have to send in the Fleet against the JDF."

    "It shouldn''t come to that," Aymon said. "If we need shock and awe then we can employ it."

    "Ideally we wouldn''t need that either," Eda said. "And shock and awe is more effective against civilian problems than it is against specific military actions, anyway."

    "That''s true. Keep me updated, ok?" Aymon said. He didn''t really need to ask; of course he was going to be kept in the loop. It just felt uncomfortable to be sitting at the helm of this operation, but not be involved in it as anything other than a figurehead or last resort. He should be used to that feeling by now, but even after years of learning to delegate, there was something about being in the room where the action was happening that made him only want to dive in deeper. It was a wonder that he had survived his apprenticeship, when he was out in the field on a regular basis and always wanting to jump in, but maybe that was because he was very careful about the actions he did take.

    The time dragged on. Every once in a while there was some exciting new update from the surface teams, but only the ones capturing the leaders of the farmworkers rebellion seemed to be having much success. As night turned into day in the capitol city, and the whole place remained under lockdown, and with the governor''s residence burned to a smoldering ruin, agents on the ground reported that the situation in the already somewhat besieged city was becoming tense. What tense meant exactly was unclear to Aymon.

    It was unfortunately only when the JDF trucks all suddenly started moving out of their barracks, carrying convoys out into the country, that they were able to finally, finally make contact with General Hamark of the JDF. Aymon stood in front of a camera to talk to General Hamark as the communications lead passed the call on to him.

    "General Hamark," Aymon said, looking at the remarkably un-frazzled face of the general. "I am very glad to finally reach you."

    "First Sandreas, I must say, it''s a surprise to find you all the way out here at our distant doorstep. I was under the impression that you were taking a tour of some newly discovered planets," Hamark said. He was being remarkably conversational for a man who was, by all accounts, under siege.

    "There are important matters to attend to in all corners of the Empire, not least of all here. General Hamark, I am placing Jenjin under Fleet authority from this moment forward. Governor Vaspar is unfit for leadership," Aymon said. "I order the troops of the JDF to stand down from their alert and return to their normal postings."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    "I''m afraid that isn''t possible," Hamark said. Aymon barely resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. Of course this was how it was going to be, he didn''t know why he had expected any different.

    "General Hamark, be advised that if you do not follow these direct orders you will be charged with crimes against the Empire and brought into immediate custody," Aymon said. He kept his voice as neutral as possible. "Again, Jenjin is being placed under Fleet authority from this moment forward. Recall your troops."

    "That''s all well and good, First Sandreas, but someone has gone and murdered Governor Vaspar, and burned down his official residence. It''s of the utmost importance that we catch the criminals responsible for this heinous act. You''re backing the wrong ship in this race," Hamark said.

    "I''m not backing any ship but my own," Aymon said, "And the God''s Engine, with her full complement, is within spitting distance of Jenjin. Order your troops back now."

    It wasn''t really true that the God''s Engine was within spitting distance of Jenjin. The ship was still beyond the orbit of the fifth planet, and Jenjin was the third. To get the God''s Engine actually into orbit around Jenjin would take another jump with the stardrive, whenever that was ready.

    "I''m sorry, First Sandreas, but this is more important you could possibly realize. The people of Jenjin are grieving the loss of Governor Vaspar, and we must find and punish those responsible."

    "General Hamark, if you continue to send your troops out against your own people, I will have no choice but to counter them with the Fleet."

    On the other side of the camera, Halen was giving Aymon the ''are you kidding me right now'' stare. Again, Aymon resisted rolling his eyes, still on the video call with Hamark.

    "As soon as we have destroyed the leaders of this little rebellion, we will be more than happy to stand down, First Sandreas. And then you may do with me what you must, but I know that I am doing the right thing for the citizens of Jenjin."

    Below the field of view of the camera, Aymon gave the hand signal to cut off the transmission. Only then did he allow himself to make the disgusted face that he had been holding in.

    "The man''s clearly a lunatic," Aymon said, turning to the director of the operation. "What''s our next step?"

    "We have a few choices at this juncture," Eda Sath said. "We can make the broadcast to the planet, we can deploy Fleet troops to the ground to halt the JDF, or both."

    "What do you suggest?" Aymon asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

    "It''s clear that General Hamark is using this as an opportunity to take his revenge. He knows that Vaspar is still alive, but he also knows that he''s about to be stripped of his power and connections, so he may believe that this is his last chance to make an impact. Of course, he could still be operating completely under Vaspar''s orders, we''re not sure of that, but in any event, we don''t believe he is going to hold back. In my opinion, I think that the Fleet should be sent in to prevent civilian casualties as much as possible."

    "And the call?" Aymon asked.

    "It will be important to let everyone on the planet know who is actually in charge, leaving them in a directionless panic is not ideal. However, it may cause General Hamark to accelerate his movements. He may be acting restrained right now only because he wants to avoid panicking his own base."

    "This is what you consider restrained?" Aymon asked.

    "Consider that he could be sending out planes to bomb settlements, and he is sending out foot soldiers to search for scapegoats instead. That''s fairly restrained."

    "Isn''t the damage going to be equivalent?" He waved his hand. "Nevermind, no, of course not. Alright, we''ll hold off on the call for now. How long would it take for us to get soldiers on the ground?"

    Sath looked at her tablet and typed in a few parameters into a program. "The maximum acceleration for the shuttles is about four gravities. They''ll need to decelerate for half the trip... It would take them about two hours to get there, but they''d be able to land before we can jump."

    "And how long until we can jump again?"

    "Four hours," Eda said.

    "Alright, alright," Aymon sighed. "So we''re sending out the shuttles, that''s definite, and we''re waiting on making the call for now. I do think we should make it right before we land the Fleet. There''s going to be panic when that happens regardless, and I''d like to make sure people are panicking in the right direction."

    "The situation could look completely different by then," Sath warned. "But I understand what you''re saying."

    "Obviously this is all subject to change. Sending the Fleet out is a commitment action," Aymon said. "But we need them on the ground to stop any massacres that Hamark is thinking of trying."

    "And we¡¯ll keep trying to find Vaspar and anyone else on the ground with who we¡¯ve got,¡± Sath reminded him.

    "Let¡¯s not risk people¡¯s lives needlessly. If Vaspar is as loose of a canon as he seems to be, I don¡¯t think he¡¯d blink an eye at killing Fleet soldiers," Aymon said. "That''s a last resort, or if they have an easy shot they should take it, but I don''t think it will come to either of those things. When all the shuttles are on the ground, it will be a totally different picture. What''s our status on the farm groups?"

    "Levelers. That''s what the armed farmers group is calling themselves," Sath said. "We have all of the known leaders in custody, but we don''t have the manpower at the moment to stop them from doing anything insane, or to protect them from whatever Hamark is sending."

    "So it comes back to getting feet on the ground. Fine. The sooner that happens the better. Is the message that we prerecorded still good, or does that need to be updated to fit the current situation?"

    "We specifically made all of the different versions fairly generic, so yes, we still have one that will work. You won''t need to broadcast live," Sath said.

    "Good. I have the nagging feeling that we will need shock and awe, so I want to get on a shuttle. If things start to go wrong in a more major way, I want to be in position without having to wait to jump the God''s Engine in."

    "Are you sure? The JDF may be willing to use their orbital defenses. Not to overstep my bounds, First Sandreas, but I would prefer if you did not put yourself in the line of fire."

    "I appreciate your concern," Aymon said. He knew that she was at least partially right, it was almost beyond stupid of him to fly a shuttle into what was effectively an active war zone, but there wasn''t anyone else around who had quite the touch with shock and awe as he did. And there was a part, a little part, of Aymon that wanted the danger and the thrill. "I think the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks."

    Sath frowned, but didn''t protest. "Then you should get to a shuttle now. The sooner you leave, the faster you''ll arrive."

    "Of course," Aymon said. "I leave this operation in your capable hands, then."

    "We won''t disappoint, First Sandreas." Sath saluted him as he turned away.

    "Kino, how much acceleration are you feeling up to?" Aymon asked.

    "I can survive it," Kino said, sounding weary.

    "Four gravities?" Aymon asked.

    "If it''s dark and quiet," Kino said.

    Aymon looked over her at Halen, who shrugged. Neither of them had any idea what the health consequences of sustained acceleration on a healing concussion were. Perhaps they should have asked a doctor, but Aymon wanted to get going. If Kino was willing to come then they were going to go. It was important that, if they were to need shock and awe, that Kino get a chance to experience it firsthand. It was a shame that Yan and Sid weren''t around to get the experience, too, but they were on the other side of the galaxy.

    "Let''s go, then," Aymon said. They made their way to one of the massive shuttle bays of the God''s Engine, where they were assigned a shuttle with a small crew to bring them into a close orbit around Jenjin. They had to be prepared for all eventualities; it could be that they would need shock and awe only on small areas, or it might be necessary planetwide. They might avoid having to do it at all. Being mobile and ready was the key to the plan.

    Leaving the God''s Engine was a relief. Being in the center of the coordinating chaos was interesting, but it made Aymon feel unusually helpless. Their small teams on the planet were the only ones capable of taking action in the moment, and Aymon wore himself out trying not to micromanage the operation. Aymon wasn''t bad at delegating, per se, he simply hated to acknowledge the fact that he was doing so.

    The relief of leaving the God''s Engine was quickly destroyed by the misery of sustained acceleration. Their little shuttle was pushed to the limits of human withstanding, and everyone was unable to do little more than survive the grueling ride. Kino looked like she fell asleep at one point, but Aymon couldn''t really tell. Her classic invisibility in the power was in full force, so her closed eyes and shallow breathing could have meant anything in the context of the journey.

    Even when they arrived in orbit around Jenjin, there was nothing that they could do. They were forced to wait and listen to the news that the God''s Engine sent them about the goings on on the planet. The Fleet soldiers in the other shuttles landed. If they had been a little earlier, they may have been able to interpose themselves between the JDF soldiers and the front line of settlements that were being raided, but they were unfortunately too late for that and had to choose to protect more distant targets.

    It was amazing how quickly the chaos could travel. The JDF was well armed and well positioned, specifically in case it ever needed to orchestrate this attack on its own citizenry. It had always been a better organized planetary defense than most because it had grown out of the need to protect the planet''s mines from pirates, and it stayed as an active military even when the planet grew into more of a colony than an easy target. In the years leading up to Vaspar''s reign, it had only grown larger and with a greater capacity to wreak havoc. Now, as it drove and marched out into the countryside in all directions, on both the night and day sides of the planet, the JDF ransacked houses of people they thought were leaders, searched barns and silos for weapons, confiscated hoarded food, destroyed equipment, and caused terror everywhere their convoys stopped.

    Everyone in Aymon''s shuttle watched the broadcast that was simultaneously flashed to the net on Jenjin, as well as showing over the television and radio. It began with a solid red screen, superimposed with black text: "PLEASE STAND BY FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM FIRST SANDREAS, VOICE OF THE EMPIRE." Then it cut to the prerecorded segment Aymon had filmed days before, sitting calmly at a desk aboard the God''s Engine.

    "Citizens of Jenjin," the recording of Aymon said. "It brings me no joy to interfere with the local governing of planets within the Empire. Self governance, with fair and open planetary elections, is one of the values that we hold most dear. Unfortunately, it has come to the Emperor''s attention that Jenjin is suffering a crisis of almost unprecedented magnitude. Not only have your elections been unlawfully tampered with, but your leaders are on the brink of waging war upon their own citizens. This, the Empire cannot allow to continue. Effective immediately, Governor Vaspar is stripped of his position, and Jenjin is placed under Fleet authority.

    "Additionally, the Empire has in system the Fleet ship God''s Engine, who is carrying relief for all those impacted by the rationing. As soon as order has been restored, this food relief will be distributed on a basis of need.

    "You may see Fleet personnel carrying out their orders to restore stability on Jenjin. You will not be required to provide them with any material assistance, but it is imperative that they be allowed to carry out their duties. All Fleet personnel have been specifically instructed not to impede in the lives of the citizens of Jenjin, but some disruptions to normal routine may be necessary. We appreciate your cooperation during this time.

    "In the near future, a new governor of Jenjin will be appointed to serve out the remainder of former governor Vaspar''s term. News updates will be delivered to you regularly over the net, television, and radio. Please stay informed of all developments by..."

    The recording went on and on, discussing safety measures and delivering trite lines about planetary security and the utmost concern the Empire had for its citizens. Aymon tuned it out. In the best case scenario, this announcement would cause the JDF to step down. In the worst case scenario, it would ramp up their activities. It was much more likely that individual groups of JDF troops would come to different conclusions of who they were supposed to be fighting.

    With more Fleet troops on the ground, a subset of them focused on getting the capitol under control and arresting General Hamark. They first broke through the blockade that had been set up, and then they made their way down the city streets towards the JDF command, which was situated several blocks away from the main government building.

    The Fleet troops were met with heavy resistance from the JDF, but the Fleet was full of soldiers who had actual combat experience in much more harrowing situations than taking a half defended city piece by piece. The tone of the talk on the radio, coming from the capitol, at least, was one of relief that they weren''t fighting in a maze of tunnels deep underground. It was still a chaotic environment, and as the morning turned into afternoon, it was clear that the JDF was unwilling to relinquish control of their planet without putting up serious resistance.

    This was true across the planet, with skirmishes breaking out between JDF and Fleet troops wherever they encountered one another. It was a truly unfortunate situation, almost the worst case scenario. There were a few instances of JDF surrendering when they came into contact with the Fleet, but they were rare, and on the whole, the planet was becoming chaotic. Even civilians were starting to panic. In cities, looting was rampant as people took the lack of law enforcement as an opportunity to make off with any food they could find.

    "Are we going to do anything about this?" Kino asked, hearing yet another report come over the radio. "Or are we just going to let the Fleet fight it out."

    "We came here to prevent a civil war, not make more of one," Aymon said. "We''re waiting on the analysis from the coordinators on the God''s Engine if we are going to make our move."

    "Shock and awe is... That''s the thing that they talked about in the Fleet apprentice manual, right?" Kino asked.

    "Yes, the tool that brought down the Edden Empire. Still, a tool is only as dangerous as the master who wields it. Iif we do decide to go through with it today, I''m confident that it will be helpful."

    "Have you ever done it before?"

    "Many times. Rarely on an entire planet, though. It''s... It comes naturally to me," Aymon said. "And again, it''s a shame that Sid isn''t here, because I suspect that it would come naturally to him as well."

    "Why do you think so?"

    "Did you ever get to see his final project from the Academy?" Halen asked. Kino shook her head no. "His project involved the principle, on a much smaller scale. It''s funny, my own predecessor, Caron Herrault, she was fairly good at it as well, but I don''t know if I would have considered it her main talent."

    "Does that mean you think that Sid will be your successor?" Kino asked.

    "Not at all, I''m just pointing out an interesting trend."

    Kino lapsed back into silence as they waited for the updates from the God''s Engine or the planet. They had been lucky; the JDF had apparently decided that trying to shoot down shuttles from orbit was not at the top of their priority list, so they hadn''t needed to dodge or divert any projectiles during the entire time. Maybe the people in the JDF orbit control had decided that they weren''t going to shoot down Fleet vehicles. Whatever the reason, Aymon was glad that they weren¡¯t being attacked.

    They all ate lunch while they waited for the analysis to be made. It was just simple rations that had been tossed in a crate in the back of the shuttle, but it was food, and none of them had eaten for a while, so it was a good distraction from the monotony of the waiting. Eventually, the decision was made. They would go through with shock and awe.

    "The main focus is on the capitol," Sath said over the radio. "We believe that if we''re able to calm the fighting there, and get the message out through to the troops in other areas, then we should be able to stop them without having to use this technique elsewhere."

    "Understood. We''ll do the capitol and see how things shake out from there," Aymon said. He turned to the pilot. "Can you move us directly over the capitol?"

    They were pressed into their seats as the shuttle accelerated to a new orbit. It wasn''t a true geostationary orbit, as they were nowhere near the equator, but with careful constant adjustments, the shuttle pilot kept them in position. They could see out the large front window the bent grid of the city''s lights below them, as it curved around a massive former mine that was larger than the city itself.

    "Kino, are you feeling up to joining us?" Aymon asked. She was still recovering from her concussion, and from the way she had been adamant about Halen not healing it, Aymon wasn''t holding out much hope that she would be interested in joining the complicated dance of the operation.

    "I need to learn how to do it," Kino said, which said nothing about her health, but it was the answer that Aymon wanted to hear.

    Aymon was surprised but glad that she was so willing. He had to give Kino more credit than she was getting; she was much more resilient than she looked.

    "Perfect. Halen, can you come here? Great." There was an awkward rearranging of seats as Aymon, Halen, and Kino tried to form a rough triangle, with Kino facing the back of the shuttle and Halen and Aymon facing the front. "Give me your hand."

    The three of them joined hands and Aymon addressed Kino. "You won''t have to use the power, just watch what we do once we''re in the group meditation, ok?" Aymon said. Kino nodded. Aymon felt her hand, still covered in healing scratches from her time climbing up out of the caves on Tyx III. He gave it a comforting squeeze.

    Aymon took a deep breath and closed his eyes. In the weightlessness of the shuttle, their joined hands floated loosely in the spaces between their bodies.

    "Kino, since you won''t be doing anything, can you lead the chant please?"

    There was a moment of silence before Kino started. She picked the simplest song cycle, the one that was sung by children when first learning about their faith. For any Academy student who hadn''t had a particularly devout home life, it was the first chant that they would memorize. It was a good one to use, as it could be mindlessly repeated as many times as necessary.

    "We gather here in solemn joy, all creation ''neath the sky. We raise our voices with one accord and sing praise to You our sovereign Lord."

    Aymon and Halen joined in, eyes closed.

    "Every mind and every heart, Your love formed them in the dark. All people now in history understand Your mystery."

    If Aymon thought about the lyrics too hard they started to make less and less sense, but the explicit intent was not to think about them, and instead use them to channel thought into the group meditation. The feeling of saying the words together, and the intention behind them, those were the things that brought people together, rather than the meaning.

    Aymon slipped easily downward into the group mind with Halen and Kino. It was an odd dynamic; Halen had meditated with him more times than he could count, but he had never meditated with Kino before, either in a group or on their own. In fact, it was only Yan who he had ever shared in meditation with, and only then because she had a natural affinity for it. In the group mind, now, Aymon couldn''t waste time thinking about the past.

    The three of them took a moment to settle in to this new and slightly uncomfortable mode of operating. It wasn¡¯t only uncomfortable because of the newness; the lingering headache of Kino''s concussion bled into the shared consciousness as well. By mutual agreement, they stopped their three bodies from continuing on with the song, and breathed in unison. The lessened sound helped with the pain a little bit.

    Aymon sent a feeling of comfort to Kino, thanking her for continuing with everything despite the pain. Kino''s usual blankness was a feature of the mental landscape, but Aymon had come to understand that feeling as the feeling of Kino, so it wasn''t as disturbing as it might have felt months earlier. She simply absorbed the thoughts sent to her, and didn''t have any strays of her own floating around.

    Halen and Aymon laid out a plan of attack. They were a well practiced machine, moving smoothly, but leaving their thoughts plain for Kino to see, if she chose. The first step was Halen''s: to create the distraction that captured the attention of the people below. It was important, in this case, since they were targeting a limited area of their own citizens, to make it not too obvious what was happening. Weather events were often useful: big, roaring thunderstorms with hail that tapped the ground in time to the flashes of lighting and the claps of thunder. Unfortunately it was a clear day over the capitol city, and they didn''t have the time to build up a weather event and bring it together over the city in a natural way.

    They didn''t need to hold people''s attention for long, or influence them to do things that were wildly different. All they needed to do was spread a sense of calm over the city, to disorient the JDF enough that they would stop fighting. Something more subtle than flashing lights in the sky would suffice.

    Halen chose the easy route. If he vibrated the air over the city just slightly, just enough everywhere, and at the right frequency, everyone would hear the faintest, slightest whine in their ears. It would be barely noticeable, nothing people couldn''t chalk up to a buzzing electronic device, or the drone of an airplane far overhead. Halen could pull a similar trick with the light. Dim it, tint it just enough to cause people to think an odd cloud had passed over the sun, and that would capture their attention enough for Aymon to do his work. If both those effects were combined, and modified ever so slightly, every so often (changing pitch, flashing the lights), it would link attention even more firmly to Aymon''s commands.

    Those commands would first start with a subtle mental push to pay attention to the changes in the atmosphere, thus continuing to reinforce the cycle of attention and command.

    Halen pressed his will onto the atmosphere of the planet over the city, Aymon pressed his will onto the people who lived there. In that shared mental space, there was a blurring of whose will was whose, whose power was whose, and whose mind was whose, but it didn''t matter.

    Pay attention.

    Stay calm.

    Stop.

    Don''t move.

    The commands were short and simple. There were more people in the city than just JDF soldiers, so the commands couldn''t be specifics to the situation. It almost never hurt to tell people to stay calm.

    In the shared mind space, Aymon let loose a thought.

    "Kino, listen to the radio, tell us when the Sun''s Gold tells us to stop."

    Their three attentions were diverted three ways, then, but it was still better to stay together than to separate. It helped with the timing, with the rhythm, with staying on task.

    The three held the pattern for what felt like an eternity, but was most likely only a few minutes. They let it go only when Kino gave them the signal that they could stop. It was exhausting work, and as soon as they could let it go, they did. All of them fell out of the meditation immediately, returning to their own single bodies. A ghost of Kino''s headache remained in Aymon''s head, but that may have been more due to the strain of holding out the commands for so long. Such operations increased in difficulty and decreased in effectiveness the longer they went on; it was much easier to capture an entire city''s attention for a single instant than it was to sustain that attention for minutes at a time. But it was over, they were done.

    All three of them were still holding hands; Aymon''s were feeling particularly sweaty. He released his grip on Kino and Halen and wiped his forehead on the sleeve of his cassock. Halen gave him a smile.

    "I''d call that a success," Halen said.

    "I hope so," Aymon said. "I always forget how much this takes out of me."

    "Just say the word and we can switch places," Halen said.

    "Hah. You''d never be able to pull it off like I can."

    Kino, though it was impossible to tell who she was looking at underneath the sunglasses she was still wearing, stared at them during this exchange with a bored expression.

    "How did you feel about that, Kino?" Aymon asked, turning his attention away from Halen.

    "It was interesting. It looked difficult. How could you sustain that for a whole planet?"

    "With great effort. Localized phenomenon are easier to control, especially when you consider that over an entire planet, if it''s rotating in the usual way, about half the population will be asleep at any given time. Sleeping people are pretty hard to command," Aymon said. "But it''s all very possible."

    "You couldn''t do it by yourself, though."

    "Not with this size operation, no. Remember back at the Governor''s Dinner? That I did myself, because I could grab attention without the power, which left me free to command with the power. That''s about the scale that you can use it on without a partner."

    Kino nodded. "Will you have to do this again?"

    "I hope not. It''s up to the operation command, though. If they decide it''s needed elsewhere, well, as a public servant I must comply."

    Kino furrowed her eyebrows. "Why didn''t one of the Fleet sensitives do this? Why you, here?"

    "Several reasons. I was going to be here anyway, I''m one of the best at it, I''m obviously trusted not to give commands that would destroy the operation, it''s a learning experience for you, and simply, I wanted to."

    "Why?"

    "I like to be involved in things. It''s... Being in my position can be isolating and, while not lacking in excitement, be lacking in the feeling of doing things for myself. It''s important to me that I feel effective every once in a while."

    "Now what?"

    "Now we just wait and see what happens next," Aymon said. "That''s the mark of any operation, especially one where you aren''t directly in the thick of the action. We need to wait for other people before we can do things ourselves."

 Chapter Thirty-One - The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg

    The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Early each day, in the first shift, alone, the captain looks out on her crew. She sees them and loves them and watches them go, and she¡¯s watching for you just as well.¡±

    -from ¡°The Captain¡¯s Blessing¡±, spacer lullaby

    </blockquote>

    The last leg of the journey to Olar was difficult for both Yan and Sid. They spent most of their time together, holed up inside one of their rooms aboard the Sky Boat. They had a very brief stay aboard the Zhani station, barely even enough time to check if they had any messages sent over the ansible, before they were shipped off onto the Fantastic for their trip to Olar.

    Yan did have a few messages. One was from Sylva detailing new developments in her apprenticeship, another was from her second cousin, Captain Pellon, wishing her a happy early birthday, and the last was from Stonecourt containing a simple update on the situation at Olar. Yan didn''t have any time to respond to these messages before the Fantastic undocked from Zhani station and began the last leg of their trip. Even given a three day journey to stew on those messages and to try to compose responses, Yan wasn''t able to put hands to keyboard and type out anything meaningful. What was there to say?

    To Sylva: I''m a murderer and having a mental breakdown. Glad you got assigned your first translation to work on. Good luck with that. Love you and miss you, but also I''ve had an experience that has irreparably damaged me as a person, so I don''t even know what to say. Sorry?

    To Captain Pellon: Thanks for the birthday wishes. I had totally forgotten that my birthday is next week because I''m completely losing my mind. Please don''t hate me for the letter I''m sure you got from Captain Lida of the Sky Boat. It''s true that I abandoned ship in an hour of crisis but I didn''t know what else to do. Stay safe and say hi to my cousins for me.

    To Sandreas, Kino, and Halen: I don''t know how to cope with the things that I''ve done. I think I had to do them, but I also think I''m going a little crazy. Please tell me what to do so that I can survive this. I hope your trip to the front is going well.

    None of that was acceptable letter material, but it was the only thing that Yan could think of to write, so she didn''t write anything.

    Above all, Yan just wanted to go home, but there wasn''t any one place that Yan could point to to call home. She felt sick about returning to the Iron Dreams, her private apartment in Yora was still too lonely and sterile to feel like a home, and her dorm apartment she had shared with Sylva was long gone. It was that last one that she most wanted to return to, but it was the least possible.

    At least Sid was there with her. Despite everything, his presence was a comfort. He was working his way through the bag of pills that they had been given aboard the Sky Boat, taking half of one every night before going to bed. Though it was distasteful, Yan envied his dreamless sleep.

    The trip aboard the Fantastic was unmemorable. Yan stayed in her cabin, often with Sid, and politely declined any offers to meet with the crew of the ship. After the first day, they learned their lesson and left her alone. It was lucky at least that Captain Lida had not felt it necessary to gossip with crew of the Fantastic while the two ships were docked at Zhani station. Yan was fairly sure she would make good on her promise to send a message to the Iron Dreams, however.

    Yan even missed the Sevensday worship, for what seemed like the first time in years. She couldn''t drag herself out of her cabin to attend the service aboard the ship. Her behavior was apparently worrying Iri because she came knocking every day. There wasn''t much she could do about it. Being on a ship with nothing to do but fret over the past was an excellent way to send a person spiraling out of control. Yan was simultaneously looking forward to and dreading their actual mission on Olar. She knew she functioned best when she had work to do, and finally reaching their assigned destination would give her a task, and a goal, and something else to fix all her attention on. Still, she wasn''t looking forward to facing other people in the real world.

    She would have to get over it, though, because the Fantastic finally docked at Olar station. That had taken some doing. The two ships who were parked in orbit around Olar, the Skyfish and the Imei, were none too happy about another ship coming in to dock at the Olar station, considering that they were there specifically to prevent any trade with the planet. The Fantastic had to promise that all they were doing was dropping off passengers, specifically the Imperial delegation, and not sending down cargo to the planet.

    Sid was a little worried that Trade Guild officials would want to search them as they headed onto Olar Station, but his fears were assuaged when there was absolutely no one on station to greet them, aside from a few maintenance personnel and the station operator. He was lucky, because he had all the pills just tucked inside the pockets of his cassock.

    "Where is everyone?" Iri asked the station operator as they headed towards the elevator that would bring them down to the surface.

    "When no one can buy or sell product, there''s not much traffic up here," the station operator explained. "Everyone prefers to meet down on the planet, and civilian traffic is limited to what the Guild brings in. I tell ya, it''s been miserable for our permanent staff."

    "Well hopefully this trouble will all be cleared up soon," Iri said.

    "I''m countin on it," he said.

    The elevator trip down to the surface of the planet was as slow and tedious as every elevator trip was. Watching the surface come slowly into finer detail was not enough to take Yan''s mind off of everything, and she had no interest in talking while she sat in the public area of the elevator. She half read a dossier about their upcoming negotiations, and half stared out the window. Maybe she should have used the time to write back to everyone who had contacted her, but she still wasn''t feeling up to it. She didn''t want anyone to worry, but she figured she had at least another day or so of leeway on letter writing before anyone, mainly Sylva, felt ignored. After all, space travel could take strange amounts of time, and they were a little behind schedule.

    The elevator came down at the equator of the planet. Surprisingly, it wasn''t hot there, merely mild and rainy. The whole party didn''t have much of a chance to marvel at the weather underneath the thin shadow of the elevator, as they immediately had to head off to catch a flight that would take them to the capitol city, City-One-North.

    Olar had, for whatever reason, rejected some of the conventional naming schemes that most planets preferred. In most colonies, whenever a new city was established, it would be up to the people living there to vote on a name. Olar, however, retained the preliminary names given during the colonization planning. While it made understanding what cities were, and where they were, fairly easy, it was also weirdly clinical. Even to Yan, whose childhood geography had been comprised of places named such things as "Bay Three" and "The Bridge", it was odd to think of what had possessed the citizens of Olar to keep these non-names.

    City-One-North was in the center of a mountain range, nestled in a valley and surrounded on all sides by towering rock faces. It was originally chosen as a spot for settlement because the mountains provided a barrier against the strong winds that circled the planet, and it was far enough north that it didn''t face the constant rain that fell almost incessantly around the equator. Unfortunately, the drawback to the location of City-One-North was that it was cold. Very, very cold.

    Yan was hit by a blast of frigid air as she stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac. Her cassock and short cape were woefully inadequate. Winters in Yora were never this cold, and the wind still blew despite the mountains, sapping even more heat.

    "You packed winter clothes," Iri said. "I made sure of it."

    Yan did remember vaguely, it seemed like a lifetime ago, Iri texting her and telling her to pack her warmest gear. It was all buried in the bottom of her suitcase, and she wouldn''t be able to get it out until they made it to their temporary accommodations.

    It was nice that Yan now had a team of people who would arrange lodging and transport and food. Certainly at this point in her life, Yan didn''t feel like she was capable of taking charge of all of those details. The whole group was shuffled into a van taken them to the hotel. They were trailed the whole way by members of the Olar Planetary Militia, in their own unmarked cars.

    The airport, in order to provide a sufficient distance for planes to clear the mountaintops, was in the center of the city. Their hotel was on the far south end, built directly into the side of a mountain and overlooking the rest of the valley. Though the city streets were cleanly laid out and free of traffic, it was a long drive to go from the airport to the hotel due to the sheer size of the city, and the prevalence of potholes in the streets, which caused their van to bump along sickeningly.

    It was a relief to walk into the warm hotel. It was a very fancy place, full of gleaming metal and marble walls. In styling, it was comparable to parts of Stonecourt. Unfortunately it did not inspire the same sense of majesty that the halls of Stonecourt did, since Stonecourt was the seat of government for all of humanity and this was a hotel on a rather backwater planet. Yan felt vaguely guilty for thinking that, but it was true, even as she was grateful to be housed somewhere nice, dry, and warm while on this diplomatic mission.

    Before she was allowed into her hotel room properly, Iri and two of the Fleet group did a security sweep of the room, checking for bugs. Yan saw Hernan enter the adjacent room, which was apparently Sid''s, to also check it. Iri left her blessedly alone after that. It wasn''t as though Yan disliked Iri, quite the opposite, actually. But it had been a long, exhausting day of travel in a series of long, miserable days and Yan wasn''t feeling very sociable. She really wanted to curl up in bed.

    The room, suite really, was massive. The windows overlooked the city, and there was a balcony that Yan did not plan on using, considering how dark and cold it was outside. The main room had a mini bar, well stocked with complimentary beverages and snacks. Yan was tempted to eat, but she was more tired than she was hungry, so she gave it a look through and then moved on.

    The bathroom was the real star of the show. It was divided into two areas. There was a functional toilet, sink, and small shower in the main room, but a door opened up into another room sandwiched between the bathroom and the bedroom which had a massive tub. It was absurdly large and deep, it could probably fit four people comfortably. This tub also had a control panel built into the wall to change the temperature and... bubbliness... of the water. Yan had no idea what that meant, but if the tub was fancy enough to require a control panel, that was enough to intrigue her. She made a mental note to try out the tub the next night, but she really did have to go to bed.

    The only concession that she did make to her future self was to take out her clothes from her suitcase and hang them up, so that they wouldn''t be quite so wrinkled in the morning. She would probably still have to iron them before she could go out in public, but it was the thought that counted. Besides, she had to get her toiletries and other things out of the suitcase anyway, so she might as well take care of that.

    Yan was changing into her pajamas when there was a knock on the door. She sighed and hurried to open it. Of course, it was Sid, looking rather pathetic. Yan let him in.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    "How long are we going to keep doing this?" Yan signed.

    "Until these run out?" He pulled the baggie of pills out of his cassock pocket. There were a few pills left. Since he was splitting them in half, they would probably last the rest of the trip. That was good.

    "And then what are you going to do?" Yan asked.

    "Die, I guess," Sid signed. Yan frowned.

    "Not funny."

    Sid wandered through Yan''s hotel room. "This place is just like mine," he called out to her as he inspected the bathroom. "The jacuzzi is really interesting."

    "What''s that?" Yan called back as she headed back into the bedroom to put her dirty clothes in a pile.

    "The bathtub. You''ve never seen one before?"

    "I''ve never heard of that, and I''ve never seen a bathtub that needed a control panel."

    "Spacers live such deprived lives. It''s just a bathtub that can get really hot and blast you with bubbles while you sit in it. My family went on vacation once and I got to use one."

    "Weird."

    Sid came back out into the bedroom and plopped down on Yan''s bed.

    "Are you really going to stay here tonight?" Yan signed, feeling conflicted about the whole thing.

    "Do you not want me to?" Sid asked. He looked slightly hurt.

    "People are going to start talking," Yan said. "It''s pretty weird."

    Sid shrugged. "Let them talk."

    Yan waved her arms helplessly. "We can''t do this forever."

    "If you want me to go, then I''ll go," Sid signed.

    "I don''t know what I want," Yan signed.

    "You never do."

    "I''m sorry," Yan signed, helpless.

    "I''ll go," Sid signed. "All I want to do is whatever doesn''t make things worse."

    Yan nodded. "If... If you need to, you can come back."

    "I''ll let you know," Sid said. "That reminds me, you should set up your phone to work on the net here."

    "Will do. See you in the morning?" Yan asked.

    "We can investigate the hotel breakfast, see how the fancy people eat."

    "Sid, we ARE the fancy people."

    "God. You''re right." He smiled, a genuine grin that Yan had missed seeing over the past few days. "We are the ultimate authority here."

    "Don''t let it get to your head," Yan signed with a laugh.

    "My head is receptive to all bad ideas," Sid signed. He turned and headed towards the door of the hotel room, Yan following behind. They stood in the entryway for a second, Sid looking like he wanted to say something else. Yan waited for him to compose his thoughts, but instead of signing something, he just reached out and hugged her. Yan was stiff in the awkward embrace, and patted him on the back a little bit. He let her go after a second.

    "What was that for?" Yan asked when she could use her arms again.

    "Just, thanks for being my friend," Sid signed.

    "Thank you for being mine," Yan awkwardly replied. "But I haven''t done anything particularly nice to you today."

    "You put up with me," Sid signed.

    "Goodnight, Sid," Yan signed, then pulled open the door. She waited in the doorway until he had shuffled himself back into his own apartment, then she shut the door.

    All of a sudden, it was much lonelier, and she immediately regretted sending him away. But she couldn''t take that back now. Yan washed her face and brushed her teeth in the bathroom, turning out the lights in the hotel room. She set an alarm on her phone for the next morning and configured her phone to connect to the net.

    Before she could crawl into bed, however, Yan felt like she had to pray. She hadn''t been doing much of it over the past few days, but it was perhaps time to change that, just as she had forced Sid out. Yan pulled back the curtains that covered the balcony door all the way back and knelt on the carpeted floor.

    She looked out over City-One-North. The lights in the valley below were a mix of colors, predominantly yellow and white, and they blurred out into a general shining patch as she traced the lines of the city up towards the opposite end of the valley, where more mountains loomed. Above the peak of the mountains, unobstructed by any clouds, Olar''s singular moon shone down. It was massive, three times the size of even the large moon of Emerri, and it cast a dusky red light over everything. Yan stared at it, transfixed. She could see the pits in its surface, gouges that spoke of a rough history or formation.

    She opened her mouth to pray but felt all choked up, staring at that massive red rock. Yan closed her eyes and prostrated herself instead, arms out in front of her on the floor, head tucked between them. She spoke the words of the penitential rite.

    "Oh God- how can I be forgiven? What penance must I do to atone for the wrongs I have done? I have held my heart against You. I have held my sword against my brothers and sisters. What is the payment I must make for a pound of flesh? What is the cost of my transgression? There is no one from whom I can seek forgiveness. Oh God- how can I be forgiven?"

    Of course, there was no answer. Yan lay there on the floor, whispering the words of the prayer over and over, covered in the light of the red moon.

    After a long time, Yan fell silent, then pulled her stiff body up off the floor. She staggered into the bedroom and into the large, cold bed. The sheets tangled around her like snakes as she tried to get comfortable. For what felt like hours, she rolled over and over, trying to sleep.

    Yan woke with a start several hours later, drenched in a cold sweat. While she slept, she had kicked the quilt off the bed, but the undersheets were tangled up around her. She panicked upon waking, instinctually using the power to try to fight of the bedsheets that felt like an attacker. Unfortunately for her, the sheets were wrapped around her left leg so thoroughly that yanking them with the power pulled her leg, and her, down the bed, giving her a bruise and a friction burn for her trouble.

    Yan cried out in pain, falling off the side of the bed with a crash and hitting her head on the nightstand. She lay there on the carpeted hotel floor, first stunned, then angry, then pathetic. She cried.

    To the credit of the Fleet security detail who had been accompanying her, it took the guard on duty less than ten seconds upon hearing her screaming and crashing to break into her hotel room. The guard came in, gun drawn, looking for an attacker, but found only Yan lying pathetically on the floor, relatively unharmed. Unsure of what to do, he backed out into the hallway and called Iri for backup.

    Iri arrived not long after. Yan was still on the floor. Iri was wearing her own pajamas, a rumpled pink tanktop and checkered flannel pants. She surveyed Yan''s bedroom with her hands on her hips for a second, then crouched on the floor next to Yan.

    "God, Yan, you''re a mess," Iri said. She disentangled Yan''s foot from the remains of the bedsheet, then held out a hand to help her to her feet.

    Yan accepted the hand, feeling more embarrassed than anything, and stood. She rubbed the tears from her eyes.

    "Sorry," Yan mumbled.

    Iri rolled her eyes and turned on the lights.

    "You ok?" Iri asked.

    "No," Yan said. "What time is it?"

    Iri looked at her watch. "Four and a half hours."

    Yan groaned. Not that her sleep had been that restful, but if it was that close to being morning, there wasn''t any point in trying to go back to it. "Sorry for waking you up."

    "Don''t worry about it," Iri said. "Coffee?"

    Yan shrugged and Iri headed out into the main room of the suite, where Iri poured water into the coffee pot and dumped one of the pre-measured bags of grounds into the filter. The bubbling sound and smell was comforting. Iri took a seat on one of the stools around the table while she waited for it to finish. Yan sat down across from her.

    In the harsh lights of the hotel kitchen area, Yan could clearly see the bags under Iri''s eyes, as well as the taught muscles of her arms. Although Yan had known Iri for about a month, Yan didn''t know her. She could privately admit that she found Iri attractive, though obviously she would never speak that aloud to anyone. That was part of the reason she had been so flustered when they had first spoke at the Governor''s Dinner.

    Iri looked at Yan across the table with a steady gaze. "Yan, can I trust you to be honest with me?"

    The question was startling. "What would I need to be honest with that you don''t already know? I-"

    Iri waved her hand. "This isn''t about Sid, if that''s what you''re wondering. I do know all about that."

    "Oh." Yan hadn''t imagined that Sid''s bag of drugs could be kept secret for long, considering that Iri, and presumably Hernan, were consummate professionals when it came to spying on their charges.

    "I need to know if you think that you can actually complete this task," Iri said. "I can''t see into your heart, but I know how you''ve been acting the past few days."

    The coffee finished, and Iri stood up to pour two mugs of it. She placed the mugs down on the table and scooted the plate full of creamers and sugars towards Yan, who poured in four creamers and two sugars. Yan sipped the coffee to avoid answering the question. It burned her mouth. Iri was waiting for her answer.

    "I think I can," Yan said, finally. "If something is important, I can put myself aside and get it done."

    "I''m glad to hear that." Iri drank her own coffee. "I''ve been worried about you."

    "That makes two of us."

    "You did the right thing, you know," Iri said. "There isn''t anything I would have recommended you do differently."

    "I don''t really want to talk about it," Yan said, then continued to talk about it. "I know that I''m just going to have to accept it, and it will take time, and... There''s no ''what ifs'' I go over in my head that didn''t end in basically the same way. I''m rambling, sorry."

    "If you need to get it out, get it out. If you don''t want to talk about it, we don''t have to."

    "Have you ever killed anyone?" Yan asked, looking up at Iri.

    "Once," Iri said, terse.

    "How did you cope with it?" Yan asked.

    "I tried not to think about it, I drank heavily, and I moved on."

    Yan didn''t say anything.

    "Do really want to know what happened?" Iri asked.

    "You don''t have to tell me if you don''t want to," Yan said, though she was quite curious.

    "It was... four years ago. I was in the Fleet security detail at Stonecourt at the time. To make a long story short, First Sandreas was attending a party and I was in the guard group. There was a man there who tried to kill him. He had taken drugs to slow his heart rate and stay calm so that Halen wouldn''t be able to notice him. But I saw him draw his gun, so I shot first."

    "Oh."

    "That was the reason why Halen took me under his wing, and how I eventually got to be your minder. He saw my potential, I guess." Iri took a sip of her coffee.

    "I''m glad you''re here," Yan said.

    "Ha, thanks. I''m glad to be here."

    They sat in silence for a few moments.

    "Happy birthday, by the way."

    "Thanks," Yan said. "It''s been real fun so far."

    Iri laughed. "How much do you like surprises?"

    Yan looked alarmed. "Uh. At this moment? Not at all."

    "So you want me to spoil one for you?"

    "Please."

    "Your uncle, Maxes BarCarran, is with the Guild delegation that just pulled into orbit," Iri said. "It''s definitely supposed to be a surprise, but I got the passenger manifest."

    "Oh God." Yan leaned her head into her hands. "Really?"

    "You don''t want to see your uncle?"

    "Hey, Iri, consider this for a second. You''re working your first job, and your boss asks you to give a really important presentation to the whole company. But it turns out your family member who you have a weird and complicated relationship with is coming to wish you happy birthday, but also participate in this business meeting. Also you just killed a whole bunch of people, and he doesn''t know that yet."

    "You''re really bad at coming up with analogies. I can forbid him from coming, if you want."

    "No, that''d just make it worse." Yan sighed.

    "Probably. Look, if he cares about you enough to worm his way onto this delegation, he''s probably not going to ruin it for you."

    "Here''s a fun story about the relationship I have with my uncle. When I went home to the Iron Dreams over the summer, I learned from my mother''s cousin, Captain Pellon, that Uncle Maxes was the one who bought black market genetic material in order to get my mom pregnant with me. I''m not supposed to know this, and Uncle Maxes doesn''t know that I do."

    "That''s pretty wild. But as they say about families, everybody''s got their own private drama to play out. I don''t think that he''s necessarily going to make it awkward."

    "I might," Yan protested. She didn''t know what she was protesting against, as it was clear that she would see her uncle regardless. "I''ll try not to. Thank you for the warning."

    "My pleasure," Iri said.

 Chapter Thirty-Two - The Marquis

    The Marquis

    <blockquote>

    ¡°In the course of performing her duties, the ship and crew will uphold the standards of professionalism set forth by the Guild. At no time shall this ship be in violation of local or universal laws regarding her operation or the decency of her crew.¡±

    -from the Iron Dreams charter, signed 1/3rd/397 (EC)

    </blockquote>

    When the sun finally came up above the peak of the mountains, Yan was still tired but readier to face the day than she had been several hours before. Iri had spent a little more time with her, making sure she was ok, and then Yan had tried to stay busy until it was properly time for breakfast. She had tried out the jacuzzi, drank more coffee, read new dossiers on what to expect from today''s meetings, and composed a letter to Sylva. It had been a productive morning, despite its rough start in the middle of the night.

    Yan put the finishing touches on her letter to Sylva and uploaded it to the ansible queue.

    Dear Sylva,

    It''s awesome that you''re going to start translating things for real. How much authority over the project do you have? Is somebody else going to look over it or is it all on your own? How long of a book is it? What''s it about?

    Have your coworkers gotten over their shock that I''m real? I feel a little mean about participating in your prank still.

    Thank you for the happy birthday message. Yes we can celebrate it when I get back. I got this message when we stopped at Zhani Station but I am only getting the chance to write back now. Things have been... pretty rough. I''m ok, don''t worry.

    I haven''t even started the actual mission, haha. We got to Olar yesterday. But when we were on the trip between Byforest (you remember Byforest) and Zhani on the Sky Boat, we were attacked by pirates. I don''t think it had anything to do with ME I think it was just a nasty coincidence. I don''t really want to go into detail, but I had to do some things that I regret. I''ve just been feeling pretty wrecked about it for the past couple of days. Sid, too. He''s been helping.

    Anyway, please don''t worry about me. I''m sure I''ll be fine as soon as I get to work here on Olar. There''s a lot to do, so it should keep my mind off things. Apparently my uncle Maxes has gotten himself attached to the Guild diplomacy party that''s coming. I don''t really know how or why, but he always was one of the most connected people on the Dreams.

    Now that I''m actually on Olar, I should be more contact-able. I know it''s weird to write letters instead of just calling and texting, but that''s the way the ansible service is. I''m sure we''ll get used to it. It just feels so formal and empty. But it tis what it tis.

    I don''t really know how long this all is going to take. It could be days or it could be weeks. Either way, I am already looking forward to coming home. And by home I really mean I wish I could see you, but just being on the same planet would be good enough, I think.

    Love you / miss you / God keep you,

    Yan

    P.S. I don''t know how public knowledge my involvement in the pirate attack is? So please don''t talk about it unless you see it on the news. Thanks.

    It wasn''t the best letter she had ever written, but it touched on all the major points, and that was all she needed it to do. That, and let Sylva know she was still alive. It would suffice.

    Yan had put her pajamas back on after taking her bath in the jacuzzi, so after sending the letter she closed her computer and went to get dressed. Her winter-ready outfit was quite nice, in her estimation. She had long, thermal undergarments that she wore underneath her standard pants and button down. Her cassock was a heavier version of her normal uniform, but her short red cape was the thing that was most changed. It was replaced with a massive, heavy, hooded cloak that buttoned in the front. It was black on the outside and red on the inside, with an embroidered pattern of leaves around the bottom. Yan had to say that whoever the wardrobe master was did a really nice job. They managed to make everything coordinate between her and Sandreas, and also look nice. It was comfortable and not too heavy to be worn indoors if she didn''t feel like taking it off, though she probably would if she was going to be sitting in one building for a while. Her outfit also came with black boots that went a fair distance up her calves. They were sleek but warmer than they looked.

    As Yan was putting on her long underwear, she examined her hurt leg. The bruise was dark and tender, and her skin was rubbed raw. She had really done a number on herself. It was maybe lucky that no one else was there, because she could have accidentally hurt them while flailing around with the power. But maybe that was the point. Halen would have been proud of her for instinctually defending herself with it.

    Of course, she really had been defending herself from her own bedsheets after she had had a nightmare. He might have thought that was more pathetic than anything.

    Yan sighed. She didn''t know why she was hung up on what Halen would think. Her feelings about him were as complicated as ever. Maybe it was true that distance was making the heart grow fonder, because she probably wouldn''t have minded some of his gruff advice about now. After working closely with Sandreas, Halen, and Kino on a daily basis for a good while, she had come to miss all of them. Sandreas''s no-nonsense instruction, Halen''s solid presence, and Kino''s strange friendship were all missing. Were they all having a good time at the front and Jenjin? Where were they now?

    Yan''s phone buzzed on the table, and she quickly finished getting dressed. She checked her message. It was from Sid, asking if she wanted to get breakfast in the hotel''s restaurant. She sent a quick affirmative reply, and headed out into the hallway. On her way out the door, she grabbed her pair of gloves, hat, and scarf and shoved them into the deep pockets of the cloak. It swirled around her in a pleasing way as she walked.

    Sid was already waiting for her, dressed in an outfit identical to hers.

    "Sleep well?" Sid signed, raising his eyebrows.

    "Who told you?" Yan asked, frowning.

    "Hernan," Sid signed, using the man''s sign name, which was a finger gun made with his right hand brought down from eye level to tap against the wrist of his left.

    "Please don''t say I told you so," Yan signed. "You wouldn''t have wanted to be there anyway, since I used the power to fend off an imaginary attacker."

    "I don''t think you''d be able to hurt me, even if you tried. Let''s just get breakfast, I''m hungry." Sid smiled as he signed, making it clear that he wasn''t trying to be mean.

    They headed down together into the hotel''s very fancy restaurant on the ground floor. The hostess ushered them in and gave them a table near a set of windows that looked over the city. The sun was peeking up over the mountains, leaving half the city in shadow and half in the direct glare of the sun. Snow had fallen during the night; the rocks outside the window were dusted in it. Yan admired the view for a few seconds before turning her attention to the menu. Due to the fact that Olar was a terraformed planet rather than one that had been already fit for human habitation, it didn''t have much in the way of native foods to offer. As such, the breakfast menu was something that one could find on basically any planet in the Empire, except for the prices, which were absurd. She sighed, but it wasn''t like she spent her (generous) salary on much, so she could get whatever she wanted without feeling too bad about it.

    They ordered their meal and then ate it without much conversation. Yan had her fourth cup of coffee for the morning. The food was filling and hot, which was good because the windows were not very well insulated, and Yan could feel the chill on her face from sitting near them. Though she and Sid were eating alone, Yan spotted members of the Fleet team lurking in the corners of the restaurant, keeping an eye on them. She ignored them as best she could. The security was just a feature of her life.

    "What''s our schedule for today?" Sid asked as he finished his breakfast of cornbread, eggs, and sweet sausages.

    Yan, who had spent part of the morning reading the information docket, had the answer to that question. "We''re meeting with Governor Marquis in an hour, we''re scheduled to take a tour of City-One-North during the afternoon, and then tonight we''re having a dinner with the Guild representatives. Their ship came in sometime in the middle of the night, so they''re probably sleeping off the elevator ride right now."

    "The actual diplomacy starts tomorrow?"

    Yan wiggled her hand. "Everything is diplomacy. Tomorrow we have a public forum with Olar citizens, then we have a sit down meeting with both Marquis and whoever the Guild representative is. Ideally after that we will count the problem as solved, but you never know."

    "This all is looking tedious," Sid signed.

    "You get what you sign up for," Yan said. "And remember, no real policy changes allowed."

    Sid rolled his eyes. "Who could stop me?"

    "Don''t get any ideas."

    They finished their breakfast, then were ushered into a meeting room in the hotel. The Olar expert they had brought along, Chaten Howe, gave them a rundown on Governor Marquis''s personality and what they should expect from a meeting with him. Howe was an unusual man. He had been born on Olar, but spent most of his time on Emerri. He had originally been part of an Imperial Council delegation, but he found his own niche in an advisory position to the Imperial Government.

    Howe had the tattoos that most Olar natives had. In the several hundred years since the founding of Olar, it had become tradition on the planet for people to tattoo parts of their bodies with concentric circles, in a representation of age or experience. Almost everyone had at least one of these tattoo ring sequences, and most people had several on different parts of their bodies. People who were more dedicated to the art often filled in some of the rings with images or patterns. When Yan had first met the man, he had explained that the most common places for the center of the circles were the forehead, navel, hands, knees, and shoulders. Howe had the circles on his forehead; the first three rings were small enough to fit on his forehead, but they became progressively larger and further apart, crossing his eyebrows, eyelids, and nose, and going back into his grey hair. The largest circle on his face just brushed the top of his upper lip, passed in front of his ears, and continued through his hair.

    Sid was openly jealous of the tattoos. Not really of the circles, just of the fact that everyone had a tattoo.

    Yan even saw one of the other hotel guests, an Olar woman, had a baby with a tiny dot tattooed into the center of their forehead. The whole thing was fascinating to Yan, but she had no desire to go visit one of the many tattoo parlors around.

    After they had been thoroughly briefed by Howe, Yan and Sid were put in a car and escorted to the Governor''s residence, another lavish building built into the sides of the mountains. The way City-One-North was laid out was contradictory to every city Yan had ever visited: the important buildings and nice areas ringed the outskirts of the city, while some of the seedier areas were directly in the middle. They had driven through some of those less well kept zones on their way out of the airport the night before. This trip, around the edge of the city, took them along the mountainside, on terraced streets that were well maintained and clear of any snow.

    When they arrived at the Governor''s residence, local press photographed them getting out of the car. Yan put on a brave face and gave them smiles and waves, Sid had his chronic smirk. Yan almost kicked him, but thought the better of it at the last second. She didn''t want any of that type of bad publicity to get attached to her. Governor Marquis was waiting for them at the top of the steps. It was a power move for him to be waiting up there, looking down on them as Yan and Sid climbed the stairs together, but that was to be expected. Despite being there as agents of the Imperial Government, they were still strangers on the planet, and apprentices at that. Yan and Sid had power here in name only, while Governor Marquis ran the planet.

    The pair reached the top of the stairs.

    "Welcome, Apprentice BarCarran, Apprentice Welslak," Marquis said with a gregarious smile. He was a short man, stout and brown. His voice was booming and his handshake crushed Yan''s hand. He was wearing a thick winter coat, buttoned down the front, a slick pair of glasses, and heavy gold earrings. The circular tattoo on his face was large enough to reach his neck, and both his hands had matching tattoos on the back.

    "Thank you for inviting us here, Governor," Yan said politely. The three of them lined up nicely on the top of the stairs to allow the media to get some good photographs of them. They didn''t want to stay out long. This would be a closed meeting to which the media were not invited. A cloud passed over the sun as they stood there, casting them into shadow. Yan and Sid stood on either side of the governor, and he threw his arms around their backs. Yan, being a spacer, was a good half a head taller than Governor Marquis, and his hand ended up awkwardly at her waist rather than at her shoulder as it was on Sid''s. Yan sincerely hoped he was not trying to feel her up, but she would be generous and assume it was simply an accidental thing.

    After a few smiling photographs were taken, Governor Marquis let the pair inside his residence. The building was tasteful but rich. Decorative rugs lined the stone walls. The lighting was tinted red, and the whole place smelled clean and warm. Where their hotel was clinical in its richness, with polished metal and plate glass, the Governor''s residence had the richness that spoke of the history of the planet.

    In the entrance hall, one of Governor Marquis''s staff took their winter outerwear. Yan was a little sad to part with her cloak, since she liked it so much, but it really wouldn''t have been polite to keep it on indoors, so she relinquished it. They followed Governor Marquis through a hallway and into what must have been some sort of reception room. It wasn''t an office, as there was no desk, but there was a couch and an armchair. Bookshelves lined the walls, and a skylight let in some cloudy daylight. There was an unlit fireplace on one wall.

    "Please, take a seat," Marquis said, gesturing to the couch. He closed the door of the room, possibly as a signal to his staff not to interrupt him, but it also served to cut Yan and Sid off from their entourage of Fleet guards, including Iri and Hernan, who had entered the Governor''s residence after all the photos had been taken.

    Yan was nervous. This was the first real political thing she had done, and it was just her and Sid. And, if Yan was being honest with herself, she didn''t trust Sid not to screw it up. Maybe that was ungenerous of her. Sid hadn''t ever done anything too outrageous, he just tended to get angry.

    "May I just say, Apprentices, I am very glad that you have come to visit us here on Olar," Marquis said, sitting down.

    "The Empire is always striving to meet the needs of her citizens, Governor Marquis," Yan said. "We''re happy to come."

    "Please, we''re among equals, call me Jaiwan," Marquis said. "But specifically, I''m glad that you came rather than First Sandreas. Sometimes things call for a lighter touch that the Voice, however talented he is as a politician, cannot provide."

    "By a softer touch, do you mean a touch made without experience or without power?" Sid asked, speaking for the first time. Marquis turned to him, looking startled.

    "I''m sorry, Apprentice Welslak-"

    "Just Sid," Sid smiled. Yan thought this was already going badly.

    "Sid, I didn''t mean to imply that at all. I simply meant that the Voice of the Empire taking an interest in an issue carries with it certain expectations and visibility that I don''t believe would benefit anyone, least of all the citizens of Olar." Marquis said. "May I ask a personal question, Sid?"

    Oh no.

    "Of course, Jaiwan." Sid''s smile was crystalline.

    "Where are you from? You have such an... interesting accent."

    "I''m from Galena," Sid said.

    "Really? I''ve met plenty of people from Galena in my time and none have sounded quite like you."

    Yan glanced at Sid, giving a look that asked him if she should step in to this mess of a conversation. Sid gave an almost imperceptible sign with his hands on his lap, signaling no.

    "Yes, I was born and raised on Galena, but I didn''t learn to speak until I went to the Academy. I''m deaf, you know."

    "That is fascinating. I was under the impression that that was cureable?"

    "That what was cureable, learning to speak?"

    Yan had to clamp down on her conflicting desires to roll her eyes, sigh, and sink down into the floorboards. Did Sid really have to die on this hill now?

    Marquis laughed.

    "No, really," Sid said, leaning forward. "I am in no need of being cured."

    "You don''t want to hear?" Marquis asked.

    "Jaiwan, I am happy to be the way that I am. I know what hearing is like, and I can assure you, I''m not missing out on much."

    Yan had to step in. "All of us have upbringings and experiences that shape who we are. Sid had his own, I had mine. I''m sure you had your own, Governor. It''s those experiences we bring with us to help you here on Olar."

    Sid gave her a look that communicated his amused disappointment at not being able to continue harassing the governor.

    "Yes, and you, Apprentice BarCarran, you''re a spacer, are you not?" Marquis asked. Yan was glad that she was still Apprentice BarCarran to him. She wasn''t going to get involved in the messy first name power play that Sid had gotten himself into.

    "I am. My family''s ship is the Iron Dreams."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    "I hope that means you''ll be able to use your unique background to help in this matter."

    "I can use my knowledge and experience with how the Trade Guild operates, yes," Yan said. "But that is the same as any competent politician would do. I have no particular clout within the Guild. Although my family has always been very supportive of me, that is family, and this is politics."

    "Of course, of course. And may the two never meet," Marquis said. "Best to keep family and politics far apart, or you risk getting burned."

    "You say that as though you have personal experience with that, Jaiwan," Sid said. Yan could have screamed. Why was he being so antagonistic?

    "Ha, well, I met my ex-wife when she was serving on the Planetary Council. Unfortunately, our marriage was not strong enough to survive the political differences that grew between us."

    "Political differences?" Sid asked.

    "The personal is the political," Marquis said. Sid grinned.

    "Governor Marquis," Yan said. "Before we get too sidetracked, I would love to hear what your expectations for our diplomatic trip here are. This is, after all, our first independent trip, and I don''t want to spend it stepping on your toes."

    "That''s an excellent thought, Apprentice BarCarran. I''m sure you will hear all about what the people of Olar want most during your open forum tomorrow, but as for the Olar government, the number one priority is to allow the free travel of sublight ships around the system. We have mining operations and research outposts on several of the other planets in the system, as well as in the asteroid belt beyond Mona, the sixth planet. It is vital that we be able to get shipments in from those outposts, as well as resupply them with necessities. Not all of them are self sustaining. With the Skyfish and Imei shooting at any sublight ships that approach the planet, there''s been no way for us to conduct our usual business. It''s not only a danger to our economy, it''s also absurd that the Trade Guild can create their own blockade of any planet they choose to harass. It''s unconscionable for them to shoot at unarmed, civilian ships."

    "Are you requesting that the Skyfish and Imei leave orbit, or are you only asking for them to allow passage of other ships?" Yan asked.

    "I would love for them to leave and never return, but my first priority is to open the sky for travel again."

    "I doubt that such a thing will be possible without concessions from you," Yan said, as delicately as possible. "The Guild is likely to demand something in return. It would be helpful for me as a mediator to know what type of agreements you''re willing to make."

    "Well they''ve got us by the throat, haven''t they? What type of deal do you think we''re talking about?" Marquis asked.

    "They may want to leave one or both of the ships in orbit, to inspect cargo coming on and off the planet, to ensure that it isn''t contraband. They may request that the Imperial Government sends down a task force onto Olar to ensure that all black markets have been closed down. The Guild could even request financial compensation for the harm that running a black market off Olar has caused."

    "Well hold on a second," Marquis started, and Yan held up her hand.

    "I''m not here to argue with you about whether or not such a market ever existed, or still exists. That''s not a conversation that would be productive for either of us. I''m simply saying that the Guild may ask something like that."

    "It feels like you''re saying that I have no leverage, and that I will just have to accept whatever deal they''re prepared to offer," Marquis said. "Tell me I''m wrong in thinking that."

    "You''re the one who said they have you by the throat," Sid said. "What leverage do you think you have? If you''re going to bring something to the table, you should let us know about it."

    "I''ve been holding back on sending out the OPM to escort our sublight ships. I didn''t want to raise tensions, but that is one bargaining chip that I have," Marquis said.

    "And you can keep that bargaining chip in your pocket," Sid said. "We''re not going to threaten the Trade Guild with force. I think that''s more likely to explode in your face than help."

    Yan nodded. "I''ll be honest with you. Even if you did send out a few of the OPM''s sublight ships as escorts, the Skyfish and Imei have far more combat experience between them than a planetary defense force that mainly focuses on in-system scouting. They would almost certainly be able to shoot down any OPM ships you send out. And you''re right, it would raise tensions unnecessarily."

    "I was advised against it," Marquis said. "The only other things I have are the reforms that we''ve been enacting on planet. Over the past Imperial month, we''ve arrested thousands of suspected smugglers and drug runners. We''re processing them all through the courts right now."

    Sid shifted nervously. He was technically a drug criminal, based on the Vena that was tucked away somewhere in his hotel room.

    "Well, that''s at least a show that you''re doing something. I don''t know how much leeway it will get you with the Guild, but it''s better than nothing," Yan said. "Again, we''re here primarily as mediators. We are not going to enforce a ruling, or dictate what is going to happen, so anything you can give to the Guild, the better."

    "I see that on your first mission out First Sandreas told you to not use any real power," Marquis said.

    "What else was he going to say?" Sid asked. "Yeah, go absolutely wild, whatever you say goes." Sid smiled broadly.

    "That I''d like to see," Marquis said.

    "It would be funny, if nothing else. But I do think that Sid and I are responsible enough to exercise power carefully. And in this case, I do think the best path to take is one of mediation," Yan said.

    Marquis leaned forward on his armchair. "You''ve got the tongue of a diplomat, Apprentice BarCarran. But I appreciate your frankness here. I believe it will serve us well."

    "So," Sid began. "Could you tell us a little more, exactly, how life on Olar has been impacted by the behavior of the Trade Guild? Not just the stranded ships in the system, but life on the surface."

    "You understand that manufacturing is a significant part of our economy?" Marquis asked.

    "You have a large export of computer equipment, right?" Sid asked.

    "That is our largest export, and we have several different companies that compete for it. I''d bet good money that at least some part of the phones in your pockets were made on Olar. But we have other manufacturing exports as well. It makes up for the deficit we have in other areas. Because we are a planet that is still under active terraforming, even though it''s been inhabited for several hundred years, our farming is restricted to little more than sustenance."

    "The planet is still being terraformed?" Sid asked. "Why?"

    "Back during the founding of our colony, it was decided that the planet would be terraformed in two stages. The first stage would be quick and dirty, just enough for people to survive on the surface. The second stage would be a slow and gentle refinement of the planet to make it more suitable. The goal was to inhabit the planet as quickly as possible, and then once a planet is inhabited, it is difficult to make sudden, massive changes. We''re all lucky to be living here in a time when the terraforming project, while it will probably never be complete, has progressed quite far."

    "No offense," Sid said. "But what was it like it before that this is the result of hundreds of years of work?"

    Marquis laughed. "I know this place seems inhospitable now, but you''ve come to our city in the dead of winter. It used to be like this year round, and much, much windier. Now, for the most part, the violent storms are confined to the equator, and we rarely have much to worry about this far north. And, of course, before this place was terraformed at all, there was hardly an atmosphere at all; much of the gasses that we''re breathing now were trapped as solids on the cold side of the planet."

    "Wow," Sid said. "Why was Olar settled at all, if it was going to be that difficult of a proposition?"

    "Not that I am an expert on terraforming by any means, but I believe it was somewhat of an experiment at the time, to see if it was possible to ''unlock'' a tidally locked planet."

    "That sounds absolutely insane," Sid said.

    "I''m sure it was a sight to behold, when they went about it. That''s where we got our moon- this planet didn''t originally have one."

    Yan was tempted to ask more questions, but she stopped herself. This conversation was getting off track.

    "So your manufacturing is your main export and the backbone of your economy, and you also rely on importing a lot of luxury goods," Yan said. "Is that right?"

    "I wouldn''t describe them as luxuries," Marquis said. "Going without imports of things such as clothing, cars, medicine- all of those we can technically survive on what we produce ourselves, but it is not an easy life. You need to keep in mind that we need more than just the bare necessities. I am responsible for providing comfort and joy to the population. It¡¯s especially necessary on planets such as ours, where the natural world is an uneasy neighbor rather than a friend as it is elsewhere."

    "I understand," Yan said. "Though it is important to the Empire that every planet be self sustaining."

    "And we are, but sustenance is not the same as happiness, is all I''m trying to say. And even if the general population is happy, the largest businesses are not. With no way to import or export products, it''s brought our economy to its knees. People can''t go to work, because they can''t make products to just sit in warehouses. You understand."

    "I do," Yan said. "And that is the reason we are here. The Empire is... sympathetic to your situation."

    "In that respect, anyway," Sid said. "We do still have some concerns about the original problem of black markets operating off Olar."

    Sid was really, truly pushing it.

    "As I said, we have made significant arrests of all those connected to smuggling, and they are awaiting trial in secure locations. We have also raided several locations where contraband was being stored and destroyed it all," Marquis said.

    Now it was Yan''s turn to ask a probing question. "You say these people are awaiting trial and being held, how long is it expected to be before that is finished?"

    "It may be some time, as the number of arrests have rather gummed up the normal flow of the judicial system here. Unfortunately, normal civil proceedings must take precedence over this new wave of trials, so they are all coming through the system at a trickle."

    Yan hadn''t been asking to know how quickly heads would be rolling, Yan had really wanted to know if they were planning on detaining people without trial for an indefinite period, which seemed immoral to her, even if they were part of the black market.

    "It is unfortunate that the wheels of justice turn slowly, Governor Marquis. I would hate to see people''s trials being delayed indefinitely. Since operating a black market does technically fall under the purview of Imperial law, we would be happy to direct some of these cases to the Tribunals. We have let you handle this as an internal matter thus far, as it related most closely to the security of Olar, but if this is not resolved quickly, the Imperial government will be forced to intervene."

    Yan didn''t feel too bad about making this threat. The process of extraditing criminals to be tried in an Imperial Tribunal was a smooth and easy one. The process of taking hundreds of people to be tried might complicate things some, but it was true that smuggling was an Imperial crime, rather than simply a planetary one.

    "That won''t be necessary, Apprentice BarCarran," Marquis said. "If we must, we can expedite the process. Of course, all those who were arrested have been given the option to be tried by Tribunal, but I don''t believe any have taken up that offer."

    "That''s good. The faster this is taken care of, the better it will be for all involved, I''m sure," Yan said.

    "Jaiwan, I''m wondering one other thing about this," Sid said. "How were you able to arrest these people so quickly, once this trouble started?" The subtext of that question was, of course, why wasn''t this taken care of before?

    "Sometimes it takes shining a light on a spiderweb to see all the threads," Marquis said. "Once deliveries stopped being made, people operating in these illegal rings started to sweat, and some turned in their comrades in exchange for a deal. It''s a tower of blocks- once you take out one block from the bottom, the whole thing becomes unsteady."

    Yan did not buy this explanation for one second.

    "But how can you be sure that you''ve gotten all of them?" Sid asked.

    "Even if we didn''t, we''re well and truly starving out their whole business," Marquis said. "No deliveries of illegal goods are coming on or off this planet."

    Yan had to give it to Marquis, he was cool under pressure. He was even managing to take credit for the functional aspect of the Trade Guild¡¯s blockade. He wasn¡¯t worried at all about Sid''s questions. Maybe he was just feeling extra confident since Yan and Sid were apprentices, and First Sandreas wasn¡¯t coming to bring justice down upon the black markets of Olar.

    "Still," Sid said, looking intently at Marquis. "This begs the question, how and why were these markets operating in the first place?"

    "You''d have to ask the Trade Guild that one. It was their ships that were bringing down the drug shipments in the first place," Marquis said. "I will take responsibility for not better monitoring the elevator and the cargo passing up and down there. But it is the Trade Guild that is the root of the problem, and now they have the nerve to act like we are the ones who deserve to have their economy crippled."

    "Certainly, the Trade Guild is the one originally at fault," Sid said. "But we had reports that pirate ships were jumping into your system and using your sublight ships to bring in merchandise. Is that true?"

    "That is what the Guild alleges, to give themselves an excuse to make Olar into a target," Marquis said.

    "Several Guild ships were attacked by pirates less than one jump out from here," Yan said. "A pirate attack is solid proof, and very serious."

    "We cannot be held responsible for the actions of pirates," Marquis said. "The Guild is just scrambling to improve their public image. They don''t want to be associated with drug trafficking any more than we do, but they have the power to throw a fit and cripple a planet with their ships."

    "This is an honest question," Yan started. "Why do you think the Guild picked Olar to make an example of? There were plenty of other planets who have had similar scandals."

    "We''re an easy target," Marquis said. "Our economy depends heavily on the involvement of the Trade Guild, so they can make us suffer. We''re a backwater planet that isn''t even particularly vital to the circle run. We ship out technology, but there''s always another planet that would be grateful to take up the slack." Marquis looked somewhat defeated as he said this. "That''s why we need the Empire''s help to end this nonsensical blockade. It''s not fair for the law abiding citizens to be suffering because the Trade Guild has problems with their image."

    "Image is everything," Sid said. Yan glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

    "That''s true, but they have their image. They''ve publicly punished us. Let us live," Marquis said.

    "We will do our best to help end the blockade, Governor," Yan said. "I do hope that once this is all past, real justice will be served and the peaceful, legal way of life can resume on Olar."

    "That''s all I wish as well. I am not trying to cover any great conspiracy of sheltering drug dealers and gangs. Certainly, there are people on my planet who profit from breaking the law. Some of them probably have even donated charges to my reelection campaigns, but I want nothing more than to see my planet and people thrive legally."

    "I''m glad to hear it," Yan said. She didn''t trust Marquis. The way he talked made him feel slippery, but there wasn''t much she could fault with what he was actually saying.

    "Now, may I ask you an honest question?" Marquis asked.

    "Of course," Yan said.

    "What do you think your chances are of getting normal life to resume around here?"

    "We haven''t met with the Guild yet," Sid said. "We can''t be sure what they''re looking for out of this."

    "I think there''s a very good chance that the blockade will be lifted," Yan said. "If nothing else, I''m sure the crews of the Skyfish and Imei are getting bored of sitting in orbit, taking potshots at your sublight ships. There''s nothing a spacer likes better than to be moving."

    "And the chances of normal life resuming?" Marquis asked.

    "That wholly depends on what you mean by normal life," Sid said. Yan shushed him gently with her hand, and he glared at her.

    "I think that the Trade Guild has more incentive to trade with you than they have to keep you isolated. But I also think that because they have the upper hand, they''re going to milk this situation for all it''s worth. As we said earlier, be prepared to make concessions."

    Marquis nodded. "I can accept that."

    "You''ll have to. The Trade Guild, as much as they are a force generally for good in the Empire, enjoy testing the waters of what they can get away with. They''re flexing their muscles here, and it is also in the Empire''s interests to get them to back down, before they decide to threaten anyone else," Yan said.

    "I''m glad that Olar could be of use as a test bed for all of these warring parties," Marquis said calmly.

    "Oh, Jaiwan, we''re not so uncivilized as to fight a war over it," Sid said lightly.

    "Well, a war is what you''ll have at that open forum you''re holding if you''re not prepared to tell people that the whole business is over. No one is happy with the lack of, as you called it, luxury goods."

    "I can imagine that they''re not," Yan said. "We''ll do our best to manage it tactfully."

    "Just so long as no one starts throwing tomatoes or eggs," Sid said. "I have no fear of people yelling at me."

    Yan did roll her eyes at that one, and Marquis laughed, breaking the tension.

    "No one will be throwing food, I''m sure. There''s little enough of that to go around, since we aren''t getting any extra in."

    "Maybe you should look into improving your crop yields," Sid said seriously. "I grew up on a farm, so I know what''s involved in some of it, but it seems as though running your planet on only the bare minimum to sustain the population isn''t doing anyone any good."

    "You''re taking a tour of One-North, right?" Marquis asked.

    Sid glanced at the clock on the wall. "Right after we leave here."

    "Then you''ll get a good look at our farming system. It''s quite impressive, but I''m sure it will give you an idea of why we have such low yields," Marquis said.

    "I look forward to it," Sid said honestly. "Put me on a farm anyday. I''ll fix your tractor."

    Marquis laughed again, and Sid smiled. Maybe they had gotten off on a weird foot, but this was a genuine lighthearted moment.

    "Do you wish you were still living on a farm?" Marquis asked.

    "Are you kidding? No way," Sid said. "I live for excitement, and I''ve lucked into the most exciting job there is."

    "That is undoubtedly true. What about you, Apprentice BarCarran, do you want to be back on your family''s ship?"

    Yan shook her head, though she was much less emphatic about it than Sid was. "I''ve known that I need to find my own way in the world away from my family''s ship for a long time. I enjoyed that life, but I''m not sure that I could go back to it, if all of this ended tomorrow."

    "I certainly understand," Marquis said. "Before I got into politics, I worked at my father''s law office. It was enjoyable and worthwhile work, but I''ve found my calling as governor."

    "Your election record certainly corroborates that," Yan said. Marquis was serving his fifth term as governor.

    "Well, I''ve worked quite hard, so I haven''t ever had to move out of this beautiful house." He gestured around to the residence. "But people have been happy with the work I''ve done here."

    "It''s always good to hear about a planet with good governance," Sid said.

    "May I tell you a secret?" Marquis asked.

    "Of course," Sid said, leaning forward eagerly.

    "I don''t think I''ll be seeking reelection when my term ends," Marquis said. "I''m getting a little too old for these sorts of games."

    This was an interesting revelation, but Yan suspected that the economic crash resulting from the current Trade Guild problems had more to do with it than Marquis''s age.

    "Wow. The end to an illustrious career," Sid said. "What will you do in retirement?"

    "Maybe I''ll take up art," Marquis said. "I''ve never been very good at it, but there''s always time to learn."

    "I wish you luck with all your artistic pursuits, then," Sid said.

    Marquis glanced at the clock; their meeting had run over time. "Do you have anything else you wanted to discuss? We''ll be seeing eachother again tomorrow."

    "I think we''re prepared enough to meet with the Guild''s representatives. You gave us a good indication of what you''re looking for," Yan said.

    "Excellent. Then I won''t keep you any longer. Couldn''t have you miss the tour of our wonderful city."

    "I did have one other question," Sid said. Yan barely restrained herself. Please don''t let it be something complicated or undiplomatic.

    "Go for it," Marquis said.

    "Why is this place called City-One-North and not an actual name?"

    Marquis laughed. "Back during the founding of the colony, various names were proposed and put to a vote, but no one could come to an agreement. Since no one could decide, they just kept it as what it was originally called, and then all the subsequent settlements on the planet followed suit. Apparently the fighting over names was quite nasty, with people throwing punches in the Council chambers. Of course, that was hundreds of years ago, so it''s possible the story has been exaggerated since then."

    "Well, it certainly gives the planet a unique character," Yan said.

    "You''d think it wouldn''t, but in a universe where everything has a flowery name, sometimes it''s a relief just to have a simple and easy naming scheme, don''t you think?" Marquis said.

    "Think anyone''s ever going to change the name?" Sid asked. "Reawaken that old fight?"

    "I sincerely hope not. At this point, it''s as much of the culture of Olar as anything else is," Marquis said.

    "I can understand that," Yan said. "Thank you for the little history lesson."

    "You''re very welcome. You probably would have heard it on your tour as well, but you can say you heard it here first," Marquis said, standing up. Yan and Sid also stood.

    Marquis held out his hand to shake each of theirs.

    "It''s been a real pleasure talking with you two, I''m sure you''ll both make fearsome politicians as soon as you finish your apprenticeship."

    "Yeah, which one of us do you think is going to take over as Voice?" Sid asked.

    "I wouldn''t dare to answer that question," Marquis said, opening the doors and leading them out down the hallway and to the door. Their escorts were waiting in an antechamber, and as Marquis and the two apprentices walked past, they fell into line behind them.

    Marquis gave them a final goodbye as they stood at the door to the street, clapping Sid on the back. "Good luck at your meeting with the Guild, the whole of Olar is counting on you to help us smooth this over."

    Yan nodded, unsure of how to respond to that. Sid gave a wide grin. They said goodbye, retrieved their coats, and headed out and down the stairs towards the waiting car.

 Chapter Thirty-Three - The Good Captain

    The Good Captain

    <blockquote>

    ¡°If you miss the ship I¡¯m on, you will know that I am gone, you¡¯ll see it in the sky, so far away. We¡¯ll jump away, jump away, jump away, jump away. You can see us in the sky as we jump away.¡±

    -From ¡°Jump Away¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan and Sid¡¯s afternoon included a whistlestop tour of several major locations in the city which was entertaining, if not particularly enlightening. The tour included the farms surrounding the city and ended at the largest public market. The farms did give Yan and Sid an idea of why food production was so low; because of the weather, terraced greenhouses were built into the sides of the mountains. Though the whole process was automated, it was constrained by the fact that it was indoors rather than outside. Apparently the situation wasn''t much better on any other part of the planet. The settlements closer to the equator had to contend with storms and flooding year round, and those farther north or south dealt with harsh cold for much of the year. By the end of the tour, Yan thought it was a wonder that the terraforming of Olar was widely regarded as a "success". Sure, people could walk around outside, but at what cost?

    On the tour, protected by their own Fleet guards and an OPM escort, no civilians dared to approach the group, which made it both easy and lonely to walk around. Since the last stop on their journey was the open market, Yan and Sid decided to stay a while and have a late lunch. They had a little time to kill before they were going to have dinner with the Trade Guild representatives, a group that presumably included Yan''s uncle Maxes.

    The market was massive, with both an indoor and outdoor section. The indoor section mainly sold finished goods, such as clothes or electronics, while the outdoor area sold mainly food, of both the prepared and produce variety. The indoor stalls were permanent but the outdoor shops were made up of tents that could be moved at a moment¡¯s notice. The outdoor stalls were set up with heavy plastic sheeting, tied down with thick ropes to posts embedded in the ground. Whenever a particularly nasty gust of wind came through, the whole place shook and the plastic doors flapped around with a loud rattle. Though Olar natives darted back and forth with ease, knowing where all their favorite stalls were, the place was overwhelming to Yan.

    Sid decided where they would get a snack from, and they sat down at a sheltered outdoor table. The food here was a traditional food that was a favorite among Olar children. They watched the vendor of the stall make it, curious. First, a dough was prepared and stretched out into a skinny rectangle. Dried fruit, nuts, spices, or chocolate pieces were laid along the length of the dough, depending on the preference of the consumer, then the rectangle was rolled into a long tube. That tube of dough was then fried with the assistance of a mesh basket that held the dough in a cone shape as it was dropped little by little into the fryer. Once it was cooked, it was then used as a holder for a filling. Adults tended to order the less sweet versions, with meat, cheese, or vegetables tucked inside the fried-dough cone. Children almost universally preferred to fill it with candied fruits or, if they were feeling particularly messy, ice cream. Once ordered, it had to be eaten quickly, as it tasted best warm.

    The food was pretty good. They also had a hot beverage, made of milk and a mix of spices, predominantly cinnamon. It was actually better that they were eating it in one of those strange outdoor shelters. Yan felt as though the experience would have been significantly diminished by being cozy and warm while consuming it. As it was, drinking the spicy and hot beverage burned her mouth and throat, while holding the hot food warmed her hands. It was more of an experience than a food, Yan thought. Even if she ordered something like this in some other setting, it would never be the same as it was here.

    Yan couldn''t stop thinking about things, but at least the ugly feeling in her stomach was mostly unrelated to the events aboard the Sky Boat, and more anxiety about their current project. She wasn''t optimistic about the upcoming dinner with the Trade Guild. While the meeting with Governor Marquis had gone alright, it still seemed as though he was treating them like children.

    Maybe they were still children just playing at being politicians. They didn''t have any real say.

    All they needed to do was provide an excuse for a meeting between Olar and the Trade. Without the intermediary of the Imperial government, it seemed as though neither of the involved parties would be willing to step down. But as soon as Sandreas''s office had issued a summons, saying that he was sending representatives to negotiate a peace, then Olar and the Guild had been willing to come to the negotiating table. That was the kind of power that Sandreas wielded by name, and that Yan and Sid were tasked with following through on.

    Yan didn''t want to face her uncle, but that was a different miserable thought. There were so many things that she was worried about failing at, and being an acceptable spacer was one of them. Word from the Sky Boat had almost certainly reached the Dreams by now. And if Captain Pellon saw it, he would forward it to her uncle Maxes. It was shameful for her to have run away in the first place. Yan wouldn''t be surprised if they disowned her. They didn''t have any responsibility to keep a wayward family member. Certainly they had no responsibility to claim her as a family member when she had brought shame upon them with her actions. She was an orphan, and she didn¡¯t even live on the ship. She-

    She was slowly tearing apart the wrapper that had held the fried dough, staring into space. Sid leaned over the table and snapped his fingers right in front of her. Yan was jerked out of her thoughts and back into the present moment.

    "You okay?" Sid signed.

    Yan shook her head. "Worried about tonight."

    "I''m sure we''ll handle them just like we handled Governor Marquis." Sid smiled.

    "You almost drove me crazy in that meeting," Yan signed. "You know you don''t need to antagonize everyone you meet."

    "I can''t help it. It''s as natural to me as breathing."

    Yan rolled her eyes. "Please don''t make a fool of yourself at the Guild dinner."

    "I promise to be on my best behavior," Sid signed. "I just couldn''t let Marquis keep any misconceptions about who I am. Besides, you asked some pointed questions."

    "There''s a difference between a pointed question and a..." Yan didn''t quite know how to express it. Sid grinned. "Whatever it is that you like to do in conversation."

    "If I''m mean to people, I catch them off guard, then I have power over them," Sid signed.

    "Sure, that''s how it works."

    "The Guild dinner will be fine, we''ve handled Guild events before."

    "You mean months ago with Vaneik? About this same issue?" Yan asked.

    "Yeah, that went great," Sid signed. Yan had to laugh at his expression.

    "I think this is a little bit different."

    "Well, I trust us to do a good job anyway. And if you don''t think you can, you can just let me take care of all the talking."

    "That is the best idea I''ve heard all day. Sadly, I will have to decline that generous offer."

    Sid gathered their garbage and tossed it into a nearby trash can. Yan flagged Iri over. She got up from her seat next to Hernan and came to talk to Yan and Sid

    "Ready to go?" Iri asked.

    "Yeah, I think so. How much longer do we have before we meet with the Guild?" Yan asked.

    "Enough time for you to digest that whole mess. Did you want to go back to the hotel or do something else?"

    "I''m pretty done with being a tourist, if I''m completely honest with you," Yan said.

    "Understandable. That will at least give us some time to prep you on what to expect at this Guild meeting," Iri said. Yan suppressed a groan. She knew it was better to go into things prepared, and staying busy would stop her from ruminating, but it still did not sound thrilling to spend the rest of her afternoon hashing out strategies for polite dinner conversation.

    <hr>

    Dinnertime rolled around. Over the rest of the afternoon, Yan had slowly been working herself into a more and more anxious state, barely able to concentrate on the advice she was being given by their Olar expert and the other members of her team. Sid noticed this, and did his best to deflect attention away from her, for which Yan was immensely grateful. Still, that didn''t stop them from having to go through with the dinner.

    Yan was jittery all through the car ride to the restaurant where they were meeting. The Trade Guild always had meeting places that seemed arbitrary and random, but that was because they didn''t tend to own large properties on planets. They usually an office building, to coordinate what would be shipped on and off each planet, but that didn''t lend itself to formal events, so rented out restaurants were the easiest solution.

    The restaurant in question was built of stone into the side of the mountain, as was the typical Olar style. It was warm and dark inside, with the same hanging rugs that had adorned the walls of Marquis''s residence. Yan and Sid had discussed with their team where they would remain during the meeting, and it was decided that it would be a show of good faith for Iri and Hernan, as well as the Fleet personnel who were accompanying them, to not join them in the meeting, but to remain outside. Yan and Sid both had ways of contacting them quickly, should there be an emergency, but there wasn''t likely to be one.

    The host led Yan and Sid down a set of stairs in the back of the restaurant. Since the place had very few windows to begin with, and it was dark outside, Yan supposed they wouldn''t be missing the natural light anyway. They went down a short hallway and through a door into what seemed to be a space that usually held banquets, but it only had one large table set up. The Trade Guild representatives were already seated around the table, talking and laughing, but they quieted and stood when they saw Yan and Sid enter the room. It was a level of respect that Yan hadn''t been expecting at all, so she didn''t really know how to respond.

    "Good evening, Apprentice Welslak, Apprentice BarCarran," Yuuni Olms said, walking over to shake hands with them. "Thank you for coming to meet with us."

    "Apprentice Olms! Good to see you again!" Sid looked genuinely excited as he shook her hand. This whole experience was so similar that very first dinner that they had had with Sandreas and Vaneik, it was giving her a weird sensation that she had been here before. Yan put on a brave face and smiled and shook Olms''s hand. Olms led them over to the table.

    "And may I introduce you to Captain Aditya Chattarge of the Imei, First Officer Marc Stath of the Skyfish, and our Guild Council representatives: Em Staffort from the Fantastic, Xueyin Lee from the Lightning Brigade, and Maxes BarCarran from the Iron Dreams."

    Every ship elected a representative to the Guild Council, and those members could request to be involved in various decision making processes that the Guild was undertaking. Though her uncle had not been on the Council before, possibly he asked Captain Pellon if he could take up the position. Maxes was always a go-getter, with connections both above and below the board. It made sense that he would want the position, especially if it gave him more of a chance to see Yan. Yan wondered if he was regretting it, right about now. She couldn''t tell what he was thinking, the expression on his face was carefully neutral.

    Yan and Sid shook hands and exchanged polite greetings with all the Guild members. Sid was by far the shortest person in the room, despite being of average height for a non spacer. It was almost comical. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, and none of the spacers seemed ready to yell at Yan and Sid for what they had done aboard the Sky Boat, so maybe the news hadn''t reached the Guild proper yet? Everyone took a seat around the table, Yan and Sid next to each other, with Maxes on Yan''s left and Olms on Sid''s right.

    A waiter came in and filled everyone''s glasses with water, then handed out a short menu before leaving. Presumably to avoid having the waiter interrupt the dinner more than was absolutely necessary, it was a sheet where each person checked off the item that they would want. Everyone busied themselves with that before the conversation could begin in earnest.

    Despite sitting next to her, Maxes had barely given Yan a second glance. What did that mean?

    Yan distractedly picked the first thing she recognized on the menu and then looked around at the group. Yuuni Olms was the same as she had been when they had met ages ago, on Yan''s first night on the job. She had the same friendly, broad face and spiky black hair, but she seemed slightly more confident when running the meeting herself than when Vaneik was around. Yan envied that about her, but maybe she would grow into her own position in the five years that Olms had.

    Captain Chattarge was a brown skinned man with curly dark hair streaked with grey. He sat up completely straight, looking over Yan and Sid imperiously. She tried not to openly study him, but their eyes met and he gave her a curt nod.

    First Officer Stath was a fat man with bright brown eyes and a crooked nose. He was the polar opposite of Chattarge in his attitude, as he leaned back in his chair and smiled broadly at everyone, inquiring what the people next to him were going to order for dinner.

    The Council members seemed to know each other well. Staffort and Lee talked quietly about the birth of Lee''s first child, a boy, and Lee took out her phone to show pictures of the child. Yan, glanced at the picture, which showed a placid and chubby baby with wisps of black hair and dimples. Staffort was as pale as Sid, with long, braided brown hair.

    Maxes looked the same as he always had, except that he was wearing nice clothing rather than his Iron Dreams uniform. His hair was braided tightly, with beads at the end of each little braid. They clicked whenever he moved his head.

    After everyone had chosen their meal selection and the waiter took their orders, the real talk could begin.

    "So, Apprentices, how was your journey here?" Olms asked.

    Yan took a sip of her water, wishing desperately that any other question had been asked.

    "Yes, we heard that you had quite the adventure," Maxes said. "We''re all eager to hear about it."

    Though the words sounded perfectly pleasant, Yan felt as though she were on trial. She looked down at her plate, mentally pleading that Sid pick up the slack. He did, as he had promised.

    "Our time on the Sun''s Gold and the Fantastic were both completely uneventful," Sid said, pretending that he had no idea what they were talking about. That was not what Yan had wanted him to do. At least he wasn''t trying to hold the conversation in sign. Perhaps he had forgotten that most spacers had some familiarity with the language. Or maybe he just didn''t want to bring that awkwardness to bear on the conversation as well.

    Olms laughed. "Well, it wasn''t the captain of the Fantastic or the Sun''s Gold that we''ve been hearing from nonstop. What did you do to poor Lida Migollen that got her so riled up?"

    Sid scowled. "We didn''t do anything to her."

    "She didn''t tell you what happened?" Yan asked.

    "I served briefly aboard Captain Migollen''s ship many years ago," Staffort said. "She has a nasty habit of letting her displeasure be known, but never telling anyone why."

    "She''s sent me no fewer than three letters detailing how you in particular cannot be trusted," Olms said. "Now, I thought that was a little overboard. I can''t judge the facts of the situation until I''ve heard them myself."

    "Did you-?" Yan turned to Maxes. "Did Captain Pellon tell you?"

    "What? No, I haven''t heard from Pellon since I left the ship to come here. All anybody here knows is that Captain Migollen has been sending angry messages to Guild leadership."

    "I would love to have this mystery cleared up, so that we can get down to the real business of the evening," Chattarge said.

    "You in a hurry to go nowhere?" Stath asked with a smile. Chattarge glared at him. "But I agree, let''s hear what has gotten one of our illustrious captains so worked up."

    "How much detail do you want?" Sid asked, looking resigned.

    "Give us the thirty second summary, and then we''ll see if we need clarification," Olms said. "Just to be clear, you''re obviously not in trouble. Whatever problems Captain Migollen has with you are between you and her, but I''ve been dying of curiosity ever since she got in touch with me."

    Sure, they weren''t in trouble now, but what about after they had told their story? Yan glanced at Sid, wondering who was going to take the responsibility for actually telling it. Sid looked more confident than she felt, so she let him take the lead. Thank God for Sid.

    "While we were on the Sky Boat, in transit from Byforest Station to Zhani, the ship encountered pirates. Yan and I, we, uh, acted under orders from our group leader, Fleet Lieutenant Harber, to leave the Sky Boat. We returned to help the Sky Boat when the pirates ambushed them. Captain Migollen was angry that we abandoned ship, and blames us, Yan mostly, I guess, for the deaths of several of her crew members and some damage to her ship. That''s the thirty second summary," Sid said, awkwardly.

    Everyone at the table took a long second to process that. Yan couldn''t tell what anyone was thinking. It was dead silent, and everyone¡¯s expressions seemed frozen.

    "Actually, we could use some more detail. When you say you left the ship, what do you mean by that?" Olms asked, clearing her throat.

    Yan felt like she could answer this question, at least. "It was part of our travelling contract that we would have use of one of the Sky Boat''s shuttles while we were aboard. Lieutenant Harber used that to take us off the ship. He wanted to wait out the attack rather than get involved, because he knew that even if the Sky Boat was destroyed, a Fleet ship would come looking for us."

    Captain Chattarge looked as though he wanted to spit. "Fleet are all cowards," he said. "Running away from danger won''t do anybody good. Why did you go along with that?"

    "I can''t give you a satisfactory answer to that," Yan admitted quietly. "Now, I don''t think it was the right choice. But at the time-"

    "You were looking out for your own skin, I understand," Chattarge said dismissively.

    "I''m sorry," Sid interjected. "I know you all think that Yan needs to obey some sort of code of behavior that all you spacers have, but I was an equal part in this decision, and I have no such requirements. You all want to blame her, but it was not her decision entirely, and it was not her fault."

    Yan wanted to crawl underneath the table and die. The truth was, it had been her decision. Sid had looked to her for what to do, and now he was lying to try to protect her. It was sweet, if completely miserable to witness and experience.

    "You''re right, you aren''t a spacer. You don''t understand," Lee said. "Spacers need to stick together, and no one abandons ship."

    "Hold on," Olms said, holding up a hand, attempting to placate the group. "No one is blaming anybody."

    It certainly felt like they were blaming her, just as Captain Migollen had. At least now they could understand the context for the angry messages that Olms had been receiving. Yan was glad that Olms was here leading the meeting. She had seemed very nice the first time they had met, and even if they had a vast gulf of experience separating them, they were still both apprentices.

    "So what happened after you left the ship?" Maxes asked, sounding more curious than angry. "You said you came back when the pirates ambushed them?"This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "We expected that the pirates would come in with the sublight engines, and save their jump to get out, but they jumped in instead. I, uh, felt it happen, and had the shuttle turn around and come back," Yan explained. She was feeling okay, listing out facts like this. She wasn¡¯t choking on her own words yet.

    "Why would you do that? If you thought the Sky Boat was capable of fighting off pirates before, what made you change your mind?" Staffort asked.

    "The dogs were still out and wouldn''t be able to get back fast enough. I- we- couldn''t leave the Sky Boat helpless like that," Yan said.

    "If you thought you were going to be useful, you should have stayed with the Sky Boat in the first place," Chattarge said.

    "Hey, we had to-" Sid started, and Yan kicked him swiftly under the table. She didn''t need to add mutiny to her list of crimes, and Yan was certain that was what he was about to elaborate on in their defense.

    Olms raised her eyebrows at Sid''s outburst and subsequent wince. "Had to what?"

    "Nothing," Sid grumbled. "Forget it."

    This whole thing was going from unprofessional to outright disaster. Olms looked like she absolutely would not be forgetting whatever it was that Sid wasn''t about to say, but she didn''t try to pry. At least she had some sense of being diplomatic about things.

    "So you came back. What did you do then?" Lee asked.

    Yan could handle the fact that she had abandoned ship. It was shameful, but that was something that she could recon with. Yan couldn''t handle the fact that she had killed probably upwards of thirty people. She didn''t even know the exact number, for God''s sake. Desperate to escape the situation, Yan took deep breaths and tried to zone out. She did her best not to cry. She had already done too much of that.

    "We killed them," Sid said, sounding distant. The blood was rushing in Yan''s ears. "We destroyed the boarding parties and the shuttles and the dogs."

    There was a clamor around the table, as everyone tried to voice their own opinion. Yan stared down at her plate. She took a drink of water, her hands shaking. Yan had hoped that this meeting would stay on the topic of the Olar trade dispute because that was the only thing keeping her mind off of all the rest of it. But here she was, being forced to confront it, in what felt like a jury trial of her people.

    "Cheers, I''ll drink to that," Stath said loudly.

    "How could two children dispatch an entire pirate raid?"

    "They''re not children, Staffort," Olms said.

    "At least they did turn around and make themselves useful," Chattarge said.

    "But the Sky Boat still had casualties? It doesn¡¯t sound like you were protecting anyone." Lee asked.

    Only Maxes was quiet, looking at Yan with an inscrutable expression.

    Olms held up her hand again to silence the group. It was amazing the amount of power she wielded over them, considering she was about half the age of the rest of the spacers in the room.

    "Is this true, Apprentice BarCarran?" Olms asked. Yan nodded.

    "Do you care to elaborate?" Staffort asked. "I find it difficult to believe that-"

    "Staffort," Olms said in a warning tone, "if you have never seen the power used to violent ends, you have lived a lucky life. Let''s not end that streak of luck now."

    There was a moment of silence. Perhaps everyone else in the room was coming to the realization that Yan, Sid, and Olms could kill the rest of them with little more than a thought.

    "In your estimation," Chattarge began. "Did the Sky Boat only survive due to your intervention?"

    Sid had no way to answer this question, so Yan had to take the lead. Her voice cracked when she spoke.

    "By the time we got back, they were being boarded. They had no dogs left nearby, and they had a hole blown in their side. I can''t say for sure they wouldn''t have survived- if their other dogs came back in time- or if they held off the boarding party-"

    "I see," Chattarge said, then said nothing else.

    The tension in the room was momentarily broken as several waiters came in bearing everyone''s meals. They set them down in front of the group and then departed. It gave everyone a chance to focus on something other than Yan and Sid for a second. Unfortunately, that distraction didn''t last long.

    "If you had stayed on the Sky Boat, would they have suffered any casualties?" Lee asked.

    "Lee, they''re not on trial. Leave it," Olms said.

    "But-"

    "Leave it, or leave the room," Olms said again.

    Yan''s face felt like it was on fire. It was a miracle that she wasn''t crying.

    Sid looked around and spoke. "I don''t know what would have happened if we stayed on the Sky Boat. I don''t know what happened aboard while we were gone. All I know is, when we were on the shuttle, we were in a position to do something, and we did. We did our best, God damn. You can yell at us for that, but it¡¯s the truth. And if you don''t have to live the rest of your life knowing that you killed people, then good for you." Sid''s face was angry and red, and his words sounded like rocks that he was throwing to the ground.

    There was a profound silence this time. No one was quite sure what to say after Sid''s outburst.

    "Apprentices," Olms said after a long few seconds. "We are not here to pass judgement on you. But, as an official representative of the Trade Guild, what I can say is that if you had not been in a position to assist, the Sky Boat would have surely been lost to pirates. I am grateful for the... help you provided."

    "But they abandoned ship," Lee said petulantly. "Anyone else and you would have-"

    "Lee, please leave the room before I lose my temper," Olms said slowly. There was a crackling, static feeling in the air. The hair on Yan''s arms stood on end.

    "You''re only defending them because you''re all alike-" Lee shouted, then choked, her words cut off by her own shirt wrapping itself tightly around her throat. Olms was sitting perfectly still, but her power moved through the room. She yanked Lee''s chair out from under her, and Lee scrambled to stand, clawing at her shirt. The door to the room slammed open, and Olms used Lee''s shirt to drag her out of the room. Olms released the shirt once she was outside in the hallway, and Lee fell to the floor, gasping. Olms used the power to slam the door back shut.

    "Does anyone else have any objections?" Olms asked. There was a resounding silence from the room. "Good. Let''s eat, then we can get on with the actual purpose of this meeting."

    Olms was a scary bitch, Yan thought. It was good that she seemed to be on their side, or this whole dinner would be going much, much worse than it already was. It was a shame, maybe, that Olms wouldn''t be leading the Trade Guild. Was Vaneik still planning to install his son as his successor? Yan hadn''t heard anything new about the Guild''s line of succession since Sandreas had mentioned it ages ago.

    Yan looked at her dinner. It was fried vegetables on a bed of rice. It came with a sauce, but Yan''s stomach was tied in knots enough that she didn''t want to chance eating too much of anything too flavorful. The waiters had poured them all alcohol, some sort of Olar specialty, but Yan definitely wasn''t going to touch that. She did see Staffort and Stath both drinking it freely, but everyone else was showing some moderation. The whole group was uncomfortably aware of the empty space left by Lee, and the power that Olms had wielded.

    It was Chattarge who finally broke the silence. "Are you still planning on becoming a captain of your own ship, Apprentice Olms?"

    "For now," she said tightly, poking at the fish on her plate. "The future is always a cloudy proposition."

    "You''ll make a good one," Chattarge said. Apparently he had nothing to follow that up with, because he began eating his own dinner. As the only captain in attendance, he was apparently qualified to make that assessment, though Yan couldn''t really tell on what basis he was making it. Maybe in order to be a captain a person had to be ready to assert their will upon others. Olms had certainly demonstrated an ability to do that. Yan wondered if someday she would be confident enough to do as Olms had. It didn''t quite seem civilized.

    Olms accepted the compliment with a nod.

    Yan glanced at her uncle, who had barely contributed to the conversation. He seemed to be enjoying his dinner. He gave Yan a small smile when he saw her looking. Yan turned away.

    "How''s life on orbit around here been?" Maxes asked, changing the topic of conversation back to the original purpose of the meeting.

    That was apparently the signal to let the real discussion of politics begin.

    "I will literally pay you to get me out of here," Stath said. "Have the Dreams come over, we''ll trade spots."

    The conversation flowed fast and easy from there. Olms laid out the official position of the Guild, which was to prevent piracy. They were willing to resume normal operations on Olar if and only if Olar could prove that there was no more illegal activity happening. Apparently, several ships who had been trading with Olar had had their routes quietly rearranged, and more trustworthy ships were set to take over the normal trading.

    Stath and Chattarge were interested primarily in resuming their own normal operations. Their priority, above all else, was to leave Olar behind. Although they were being compensated for their time at the same rate as their normal routes, apparently their crews were both getting extremely antsy to leave. Sid had to ask where the money for the Skyfish and Imei was coming from, and apparently it was being drawn from a Guild fund that offered charges to ships who performed Guild duties. Where that money came from was a slightly deeper mystery. Guild dues were so minimal as to be nothing, and it wasn''t as though the Guild itself as an entity was making a large cut of trade profits. Yan made a mental note to look into Guild finances later. Though it was just one more headache to add to her plate, she had a suspicion that if she went digging in that greenhouse long enough, she was bound to find some worms.

    The Council representatives had varying opinions on what the Guild''s responsibilities should be. Maxes seemed to be of the opinion that the Guild should have stayed out of enforcement and let the Empire deal with all drug running issues. If the Guild had done its part by quietly punishing the ships responsible, why did they need to take this extra step? Staffort felt that the damage that had been done to the Guild''s reputation by the whole affair did require some sort of public action, but at this point they were perhaps moving into territory that was unjustifiable.

    As the night progressed, Yan was able to focus on the talk and get a clearer picture of how to best approach the actual negotiations over the next day or so. Olms was taking the hard line stance, but that was because she had to as the official representative of the Guild. It would be interesting to see how much she was actually willing to cave when she got into a room with Governor Marquis and started fleshing out an agreement.

    Yan was certain there would be an agreement. The opinion of the Guild in general was written on the walls; no one wanted to be strongly involved in Olar anymore.

    <hr>

    Yan wanted to leave with Sid the instant the dinner was over, but her uncle couldn''t let her do that. He grabbed her arm as she tried to head to tehe waiting car, wearing the world''s most pitiful expression on his face.

    "You''re not going to say hello to me at all?" Maxes asked. "Oh how the power has gotten to your head."

    They were standing outside the restaurant. It was dark, and the streetlights cast a harsh blue light down on everything, glaring off the snow that had fallen the night before. The wind was whipping past them, tugging on the edges of Yan''s cloak. Thankfully, the huge red moon was completely covered by clouds, so Yan didn''t have to look at it. To be honest, it scared her a little.

    Iri and Hernan were watching this exchange with curiosity, leaning up against the wall of the restaurant. The rest of the Trade Guild members had already departed, but Maxes had waited behind to talk to Yan as she came out of the restaurant.

    Yan sighed, but the wind was loud enough that she didn''t think anyone heard it. "Sorry, Uncle Maxes. I didn''t mean to seem like I was trying to escape." Not technically a lie, since she she just didn''t want to seem like she was trying to escape. She very much had been trying to actually escape.

    "You didn''t think I''d let you go without giving you your birthday present, did you? I weaseled my way onto this board just to see you, after all."

    "I was wondering how you managed that," Yan said.

    "I have my tricks," Maxes said with a wink. "You may be the politician, but I''m very well connected."

    Yan said. "I don''t feel like that much of one."

    "You look the part alright. And image is 98% of the law, isn''t it?"

    "I don''t think so," Yan said. "Why, do you think I did well in there?" Yan still didn''t know what her uncle thought of the whole fiasco with the Sky Boat.

    "I think that you were forced into a difficult situation," Maxes said diplomatically. "Once we got on to actual business, it was a lot smoother."

    "Yeah," Yan said. "I''m sorry you had to find out about it like that."

    "Hey, how could I hold anything like that against my favorite niece?"

    "Heh. It''s a good thing I''m not your only. You should pick a different favorite to have," Yan said.

    "Now why in the world would I do such a thing?" Maxes asked. "I think you''re being too hard on yourself."

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "This whole thing, like, I feel like I don''t even deserve to be a part of the family."

    "Yan, family isn''t something you deserve or don''t. It''s something you''re stuck with, like it or not. Besides, you did defend the Sky Boat in the end. I think that''s something to be proud of. People aren''t giving you enough credit."

    Yan shrugged. She was at least able to have this conversation without crying, but that didn''t mean she was enjoying it in any way. She was exhausted.

    "I''m glad you see it that way, I guess," Yan said. "I''m all messed up over it."

    "Hey, at least now that I know the real story, I can spin it in your favor when I get back to the Dreams."

    "Please don''t," Yan said. "I''d really like as few people to be talking about it as possible."

    "I don''t think that is a realistic desire," Maxes said. A particularly strong gust of wind caught his braids and flipped them onto his face. "You''re going to have to live with the fact that people will want to talk about you. You''re a public figure, after all. At least on the Dreams we''re all your family."

    Yan wasn''t really comforted by that. "Well thanks for taking my side, then."

    "Not a problem," Maxes said. "But can I ask-"

    "I can tell you''re going to ask anyway, so go ahead." Yan scuffed her feet on the ground, kicking up some of the old snow.

    "How many pirates do you think you killed? And how did you do it?"

    "I hit them all with a rock," Yan said. That was understating it, but Yan didn''t want to elaborate. "Thirty, maybe. I don''t know."

    "Wow. You know, I was just a little older than you when the Iron Dreams-"

    "You''ve told me the story before," Yan said shortly. "I don''t need to hear it again."

    "Oh." Maxes seemed to be lost for words, which was unusual for him.

    "Look, I''m sorry," Yan said. "I don''t really want to talk about it. I kinda hate everything right now. I''m really..." She scuffed the ground with her feet some more.

    "I understand," Maxes said. "Let me change the subject to something else. Happy birthday!"

    He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a wrapped package. Yan took it. It was heavier than it looked.

    "Want me to open it now?"

    "Go for it. It''s nothing massive, but I figure you should at least get something if I''m coming all this way."

    "Just seeing you is enough of a gift," Yan said, feeling slightly more lighthearted now that the topic was changed. Maxes laughed.

    Yan peeled off the blue wrapping. Inside was an ornately decorated book. It had an embossed red cover, and the spine and corners had inlaid metal decorative metal. Yan opened it up. It was a prayer book, written in Terlin. Every few pages there was an illustration, shining with gold leaf.

    "Oh, wow," Yan said.

    "I''ll be honest, this was meant to be a graduation present, but you know how delayed these things get sometimes. No one swung by Terlin to pick it up in time to get it to you. So happy belated graduation as well."

    "Thank you, it''s beautiful." Yan turned the pages delicately. She was more used to reading books on her tablet, but printed books were still nice as decoration, and for prayer.

    "Well, I''m glad you like it. I was worried that you wouldn''t. After all, what do you get for a girl who has everything," Maxes said.

    "I love it," Yan reassured. "But honestly, you all heathens up on the Dreams could use a prayer book more than I do."

    Maxes laughed. "Don''t you hold that against us."

    Yan tucked the book into the pocket of her cloak. She would have to keep it nicely on her desk when she got back to Emerri.

    "You going to introduce me to your partner in crime?" Maxes asked suddenly, nodding over to where Sid was leaning against the wall, having a signed conversation with Hernan. "What''s his deal?"

    "Do you really want to talk to him?" Yan asked. She wasn''t sure if she really wanted the two to have a real conversation, but it didn''t seem like she had much of a choice.

    "Yeah, I always want to know who your friends are. And I never get a chance to meet them."

    "You met Sylva," Yan said.

    "And she was great! Now I''ve had a taste for getting involved in your personal business, I''m never going to want to let go."

    "How was I to know that bringing Sylva for the summer would unleash this type of torment upon me?" Yan asked sarcastically. "Are you going to keep showing up at important meetings, demanding to meet my friends?"

    "Only until I die," Maxes said.

    "Don''t say that," Yan said. "But fine." She turned around and waved at Sid. He looked up from his conversation with Hernan and trotted over.

    "Hey," he said. "Maxes BarCarran?"

    "The one and only," Maxes said. "Pleasure to meet you, Apprentice Welslak."

    "Well, if you''re Yan''s family, you can just call me Sid," Sid said awkwardly. He had a knitted black hat pulled down to cover his ears, and his glasses glinted in the streetlights.

    "Well, Sid, are you taking good care of my niece here?"

    "What?" Sid asked. Yan groaned in embarrassment.

    "You can''t make this weird," she admonished. "Sid isn''t my keeper."

    "Yeah, that''s, uh, Maedes''s job," Sid pointed behind him at where Iri was leaning next to Hernan. "Yan and I are just partners."

    "Oh really?" Maxes asked. "Partners?"

    "Oh my God. You''re making this weird. Not like that," Yan said.

    Sid seemed to revel in Yan''s awkwardness. "Yep, Yan and I are as close as two peas in a pod."

    Yan slapped Sid¡¯s arm lightly. "Coworkers is the word you''re looking for. We''re coworkers."

    Sid and Maxes both laughed. Snowflakes began to fall, more horizontally than vertically due to the wind. They caught in Yan''s eyelashes and made the lights of the street dance in the edges of her vision.

    "Do you work together well, at least?" Maxes asked Sid.

    "Yeah, we do make a great team, I think," Sid said. "We look out for each other."

    "I''m glad to hear it. Where are you from, Sid?"

    "Galena," Sid said. "Just born a humble farm boy."

    "I''ve only ever been there a few times," Maxes said. "Guess I can''t say much about the planet, then."

    "Eh, there''s not much to say about it," Sid said. "My life has gotten exponentially more exciting since leaving there."

    "I would be shocked if it hadn''t," Maxes said. "Can I ask you a question?"

    Sid raised his eyebrows, but didn''t object.

    "How are you holding up after this whole pirate ordeal?"

    "That''s a little personal, don''t you think?" Sid asked. "If you must know, not great. But we both have a job to do here, and we''re going to do it." He looked over at Yan, who nodded.

    "I wish you luck with that," Maxes said.

    "You don''t need to wish us luck, you''re in a position to affect Guild policy, you can make things easy for us, if you wanted to," Sid said.

    "That''s not how the Guild Council really operates, unfortunately. If I could I would, for my favorite niece and her... partner."

    "Coworker," Yan said.

    Sid laughed. "Why do you have to tease her like that?"

    "Only family has the perfect responsibility to knock each other down a few pegs," Maxes said. "I take that duty very seriously."

    "Are you going to be around tomorrow for the talks?" Sid asked.

    "Hm, I don''t know. Apprentice Olms may decide that she wants to represent the Guild by herself. It might not look good for me to be there."

    "Because you''re related to Yan?"

    "Yes. Especially if, as I suspect, Lee will not be joining Olms in the talks tomorrow."

    "Is she ok?" Yan asked.

    "I''m sure she is," Maxes said. "Olms wouldn''t actually hurt her."

    "Well, yeah, but is she going to lose her council spot?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know. The council is always in a weird position," Maxes said. "I can''t really make any judgement on what the individual members will choose to do."

    "Olms is scary," Sid said. "We''ve met her before and she didn''t seem like... that."

    "Usually she''s very sweet. She must have taken a shine to you, though," Maxes said. "I''ve heard stories from the other council members about her getting angry, but this was the first time I ever saw it myself."

    "What did Captain Chattarge mean when he said that she would make a good captain?" Sid asked.

    "Not that I have any plans to ever become one myself, but to be a captain, you have to be willing to make difficult decisions and then put your full force behind them. To Chattarge, it probably didn''t matter so much that Olms was making a decision that he personally disagreed with, just that she was making one and being forceful about it."

    "That makes sense, I guess. Seems like a crazy way to live life, though."

    "You and Yan are training to be the next Voice," Maxes said. "I think you''d better get used to making unpopular decisions."

    "I don''t really like to think about that," Yan said. "But clearly we already have been."

    Maxes laughed. "Starting off your diplomatic careers on a very weird foot. I admire that."

    The snow was falling heavier now.

    "We should probably get back," Sid said. "It''s late."

    "It certainly is," Maxes said. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Sid."

    "Good to meet you too, Mr. BarCarran."

    Maxes reached out and swept Yan up into an unexpected and crushing hug. "You''ll be ok," he whispered. "You''re doing good."

    Yan nodded into his shoulder, unable to say anything. He released her, and she slid a little on the wet snow.

    "See you around, Uncle."

    "Bye, Yan," Maxes said.

    Yan turned and headed towards the waiting car that had been idling at the side of the road. Iri and Hernan left their watchful positions and followed them into the vehicle. Once everyone was seated, they drove away, Yan watching her uncle recede into the snowy distance.

    "I thought you were going to talk forever there," Iri said. "Glad to see you escaped your uncle alive."

    "He didn''t seem that bad," Sid said. "Just like, family weird."

    "He was on his best behavior," Yan said. "And I think that''s because I''ve been having a bad time, and this is a diplomatic trip, and it''s my birthday. If any of those hadn''t been true, you never know what sort of nonsense he could have started."

    "I think you overthink it," Iri said.

    "Maybe," Yan said. She stared morosely out the window of the car, the snowflakes splattering against the glass.

    "Think you''ll be able to sleep tonight without having a fit?" Iri asked. "I don''t really enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night."

    "I''ll do my best," Yan said. Sleeping was yet another thing she wasn''t enjoying about this trip. There seemed to be no end to her troubles.

    "Good," Iri said. "I''ll hold you to that."

    "Just sleep without bed sheets, then you won''t be able to strangle yourself with them," Sid suggested.

    "And freeze to death instead? No, thanks."

    "Whatever you choose to do, you have the public forum at eleven hours tomorrow. You don''t have to get up early, but you do have to get up."

    "Boy, I''m sure looking forward to getting yelled at by members of the Olar public," Sid said.

    "That''s the job of a public servant. Get used to it," Iri said with a smile.

    "You know, I''m really starting to hate this job," Sid said.

    Hernan, recalcitrant as usual, rolled his eyes.

 Chapter Thirty-Four - Trial by Comparison

    Trial by Comparison

    <blockquote>

    ¡°In the judgement of this tribunal, we sentence Josephian Sandreas to life without parole in the Hiborra Prison Colony, as payment for the crimes he has committed against the citizens of the Empire. May God forgive the debts that you cannot pay.¡±

    -from the transcript of the trial of Josephian Sandreas, arsonist. 33/10th/593 [EC]

    </blockquote>

    Aymon was forced to wait, which he hated. He had forgotten how absolutely miserable it was to be stuck somewhere, not in control, and not having twenty different things to split his attention between. At home on Emerri, there was always something new demanding his input. Here, in orbit around Jenjin, he could only wait for everything to be handled without him.

    He was irritable the entire time, both on the shuttle and when they linked back up with the God''s Engine. While everything on the surface of Jenjin was reasonably sorted, these things did take time. Halen knew that he was in a mood, and simply left him to it. Kino was her usual quiet self, and so avoided the brunt of his frustration. Unfortunately, the team aboard the God''s Engine were not so lucky, and often were caught off guard by Aymon''s impatience and temper. He wasn''t making a good image for himself, but he was on a Fleet ship, not in public.

    At last, days later, the planet was under some semblance of control. The Fleet had taken over all operations from the JDF, Governor Vaspar had been found and imprisoned, all the agitators on the farms had been captured or calmed, and aide had been distributed to cities. Aymon could finally land on the planet, taking a shuttle down rather than the elevator. It was faster that way. Halen had come down with him, but Kino was staying aboard the God''s Engine, not wanting to aggravate her concussion further. Unfortunately the prolonged acceleration she had been put under just days before had caused a resurgence of her head pain and concussion symptoms.

    He was planning to spend as little time on Jenjin as possible. His personal ship, the First Star, was supposed to be arriving to take him back to Emerri shortly, but Aymon did have to attend to things on the planet before he could leave.

    The first order of business was to install the new Governor, Halia Xu. She was to be the interim Governor, anyway, until the end of what would have been Vaspar''s term. Xu was a former Imperial Council member, who had mysteriously failed to be reelected as soon as the charges of fraudulent elections began surfacing. She had fallen out of favor with Vaspar''s government, but had remained a relatively trusted figure on Jenjin. She had originally come from the mining part of the planet, but she was known for her work on the Council, which was somewhat insulated from the politics back at home.

    Her swearing in was going to be a private, televised event. There was no reason to have it be public, given the recent chaos, but it did need to be documented. Film crews set up in front of suitable backdrop in the capitol building.

    Halia Xu looked like she had had a rough few days. The makeup crew had done their best to disguise the deep bags under her eyes, but she still looked as though she was dragging herself through the day by sheer force of will. She was almost scarily thin. Someone had handed her a Fleet ration energy bar, and she was nibbling at it slowly, leaning against a wall.

    Both Aymon and Xu were dressed up for the event. Aymon was wearing his full formal attire, with the long black cassock and cape embroidered with gold. Xu, who was not a sensitive, was wearing a flowing, intricately wrapped garment that was of a popular style on Galena. It was a deep, forest green with black trim. It suited her, but did little to disguise the ragged edges of her professional persona.

    Aymon came to talk with her before the swearing in.

    "Hello, Governor," Aymon said.

    "Don''t curse me yet, First Sandreas. I still have another half an hour by my clock."

    "Are you really dreading it that much? We can find a replacement."

    "I''m joking," Xu said. "It came out wrong. I don''t feel that taking over this position without an election is ideal, though."

    "It is what it is. At least you have been democratically elected before. Had we not had any appropriate candidates, Jenjin would have been under complete Fleet control until the next election."

    "That almost might have been better. If people see a friendly face that they trust, they might forget that they didn''t actually choose me for this position. If there''s martial law, no one will forget how precious the right to vote is."

    "It''s no worse than living under Vaspar," Aymon said. "And it''s only for another year and a half."

    "That''s true." Xu yawned. "Sorry."

    "Rough few days?" Aymon asked.

    "When I got word that you were in system, I knew it was time to head for the hills, so to speak. I was in hiding, then there was all the fighting, and once that was over I''ve been working non-stop. I haven''t had a chance to sleep much."

    "At least the food shortage is over," Aymon said, nodding to the ration bar she was holding.

    "For now, maybe. There will be a lot to do getting the farms up and running. More than just the Governor''s Residence burned to the ground."

    "I know, but I trust that you will be able to handle it. You''ll have plenty of support."

    "I hope to not disappoint," Xu said. "It might take more than a year and a half. Then you''ll have to trust my successor to it."

    "You could always run for reelection."

    Xu laughed. "I''m already dreaming of retirement. Imperial Council was the height of my ambitions. I never had any desire to be Governor, and yet, here I am."

    "Those who seek power shall lose it, and those who seek humility shall achieve greatness," Sandreas quoted.

    "Speaking of, what''s the situation with Vaspar?" Xu asked.

    "He''s in custody. There will be a trial, of course.¡±

    "Was he hard to catch?"

    "Vaspar is a slippery man, but his fatal flaw is that he likes to make himself known. If he had just stayed quiet, disguised himself, and faked some paperwork, he almost certainly could have gotten himself off planet. But he couldn''t do that," Aymon said.

    "He always did have an ego. Strange that the Academy didn''t manage to beat that out of him."

    "The Academy, for all its good qualities, can''t be responsible for every sensitive, you know," Aymon said. "The Academy is only ten years of a person''s life. For a man who''s pushing sixty, Vaspar had plenty of other experiences that shaped him."

    "That''s true."

    "Are you ready for this?" Aymon asked.

    "As ready as I''ll ever be," Xu said, then finished her ration bar. She picked up a water bottle she had left on a nearby table and took a long drink. "I''ll be honest, I think I was more nervous the first time I was sworn in to the city board."

    Aymon laughed. "All of these ceremonies are the same, aren''t they? And, hey, this time you don''t even have a crowd."

    "The ceremony is easy, it''s what comes after is the hard part," Xu said. "But I know as soon as I''m sworn in, I''m going to go home and take a..." She pulled out her phone to check the time. "Twelve hour nap."

    "That''s certainly the strangest definition of nap that I''ve ever heard," Aymon said.

    "This is my planet now, and I''ll decide what a nap is or not."

    "Not yet, you still have another twenty minutes," Aymon said.

    "See, I''ve let the power get to my head already."

    They stood around and chatted for a little while longer, but before long each of them were pulled away to deal with pressing matters.

    "How much do you want to hear about what''s going on with Yan and Sid?" Halen asked. He was holding a sheet of paper in his hand; it looked like the printout of an ansible message.

    "Who sent the message?" Aymon asked.

    "This one specifically is co-written by Maedes and Hernan to me, but there are others from Lieutenant Harber and the captain of the Sky Boat."

    "That''s the one they were taking between..." Aymon wracked his brain.

    "Byforest Station and Zhani," Halen supplied.

    "Why has her message gotten all the way to me?" Aymon wondered aloud.

    "It hasn''t, yet, I''m here filtering this information for you," Halen reminded him.

    Aymon sighed. "How bad is the news?"

    "Do you want the good or the bad first?" Halen asked.

    "Good."

    "Apparently the negotiations on Olar are going well," Halen said.

    "See, you got me thinking that I should be nervous," Aymon said. "What''s the bad news?"

    "While aboard the Sky Boat, they were attacked by pirates. There was, what¡¯s the best way to say it? There was confusion about what Yan and Sid should have done, and now the captain of the Sky Boat is sending insane messages to everyone she can. Also, they¡¯re both, you know-"

    "Give me the letter," Aymon said. He swore under his breath as he read it.

    "Try not to think about it too much," Halen said. "As far as I can tell, they''re coping and still accomplishing what they set out to do."

    Aymon crumpled up the paper in frustration. "How long until they get back?"

    "Depends on how the diplomacy goes," Halen said. "They really shouldn''t have to be on Olar too long, and they have a much straighter shot out of there than they had in, in terms of ship routes."

    "Will they beat us back?" Aymon asked.

    "There''s no way to know that," Halen said. "May I say something?"

    "Always," Aymon gave him an odd look.

    "You might want to write something to them," Halen said. "I doubt anything that I could say would be received very well."

    "I''ll take that under consideration. Did you tell Kino this?"

    "Not yet. Do you want me to?"

    Aymon had to think on that one for a second. "Don''t go into too much detail, but she deserves to know. They haven''t been mailing her, have they?"

    "Not as far as I know. Maedes didn''t mention that Sid mailed anyone, and Yan only mailed a friend of hers."

    "I assume the incident is public knowledge?" Aymon asked.

    "Somewhat. No one has published anything about it, but with the captain of the Sky Boat all up in arms, I''m sure all the Trade Guild knows about it by now."

    "Ugh," Aymon said.

    "If it''s any consolation, if this does get to the media, it''s much easier to sell as ''Apprentices save Trade Guild ship from pirates'', rather than the current angle of ''Apprentices abandon ship during pirate attack''."

    "No offense, but spacers are all insane," Aymon said.

    "You have to be a little bit, to survive the life.¡±

    "I''ll trust you to handle this, I''ve got to go," Aymon said. Someone was flagging him down so that they could start the swearing in for Xu.

    "There''s nothing to handle," Halen said. "It''s all far out of our reach at the moment. Go do your thing."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Aymon nodded and left Halen. He had remarks prepared for this swearing in, which he would be delivering beforehand. The whole thing was set up on a slightly raised stage, and the usual space in the room that held a small gathering was filled only with media people.

    Aymon and Xu both had microphones fitted to them to catch every sound, then they were shuffled on stage to do a quick check of the setup. Everything looked good, so Aymon and Xu were hurried off the stage again to give time for the broadcasts to begin; every news channel airing a pre recorded segment.

    In the wings, Aymon smiled at Xu, who, contrary to what she had said before, was looking fairly nervous. Her hands were shaking a little bit as she took the last few sips from her water bottle. Aymon tried to appear comforting, but he wasn''t sure if he succeeded or not. Then, from across the stage, someone flashed him the signal to go on. Aymon walked out into the bright lights of the cameras, wearing his most professional expression.

    His remarks were short and to the point, reiterating that this was a temporary measure, and that the Empire supported the right to self determination of all planets under its care. He briefly talked through some of the reasons why Xu had been chosen, and what he hoped that the future would bring for Jenjin. It was about as standard as he could make it, in such an unusual situation. It was still unfortunate that the Empire had to step in on Jenjin in the first place, but it was working out for the best.

    Then it came time to actually swear in Xu. They stood face to face, with their sides to the cameras filming the event. Normally, Aymon would never even be present for the swearing in of a new governor, but the situation was anything but usual, and since he was on hand, he might as well preside over the event.

    "Halia Xu, you have been called here to represent the people of Jenjin, to rule over them fairly, and to protect them from all harm. Do you accept this call?"

    "I do accept this call."

    "Halia Xu, you have been called because the people of Jenjin have seen that you seek the truth, speak with compassion, and act with justice. Will you continue to do so?"

    "I will continue to do so for the people of Jenjin."

    "Halia Xu, in the course of performing duties for the people of Jenjin, you may be tested. The road of truth may be tested by the ease of deceit, the merciful heart may be tested by the heat of anger, and the sword of justice may be turned astray by the love of power. Will you face these tests with a steady heart?

    "I will face them with the courage that God gives me."

    "Halia Xu, do you choose to reject evil and all its works?

    "I reject them with the grace of God."

    "Halia Xu, do you swear to guide the people of Jenjin in the light of God?"

    "I do so swear."

    "Halia Xu, do you promise to uphold this sacred duty with all your power, until the time comes to pass this duty to another?"

    "I promise to walk this road for the time that God wills."

    "Then, Halia Xu, receive the blessing of the people of Jenjin."

    Xu knelt on the ground. Aymon held his hands over her.

    "God, you have seen fit to guide us to this day and hour. Your servant, Halia Xu, wishes to take up the mantle of protecting your people. She has professed her faith and her steadfastness. Grant that she may perform her duties with strength, courage, and wisdom."

    Aymon paused for a long, silent moment.

    "Halia Xu, we name you Governor of Jenjin and protector of God''s people. Go forth with our blessing."

    Xu stood up and there was scattered applause from the people present. Ideally this whole thing would have been done in public, and been a big celebration, but the conditions just weren''t right.

    Aymon and Xu shook hands, Aymon clapped her on the back, then Aymon walked off stage so that Xu could deliver her own remarks. He half listened to them from the side of the stage, but Aymon considered his duty done. Everything now was in the hands of Xu and the Fleet, since she would be using their manpower and resources to get Jenjin back under total control. Although it was too early in the process to feel confident, Aymon was hopeful that the whole thing would go over well in the end. Xu seemed like a competent leader, and her track record while on the Imperial Council was a good one. If it hadn''t been, she never would have been nominated for this position.

    When Xu finished, Aymon gave her his due congratulations.

    "Congratulations, Governor," Aymon said.

    "And now the curse settles over me like a blanket," Xu said. "But thank you. Are you heading off?"

    "Yes," Aymon said. "I have a certain former politician to visit in prison."

    "Good luck," Xu said. "I doubt he''ll be in much of a mood to talk."

    "Hm, you never know, he may have a loose tongue," Aymon said. "Good luck to you, though. If there''s any assistance you require, let me know."

    "I hope to not need to trouble the Imperial Government any more than we already have.¡±

    "Ha, well, sometimes it can''t be avoided. Don''t feel ashamed to ask for what you need to be successful. We did put you into this position, after all."

    "Let me give governance a try before I start begging for help," Xu said. "Are you leaving the planet soon?"

    "As soon as the First Star gets here. There''s always work to be done at home, and I feel remiss being away for so long."

    "I understand. Thank you for being here," Xu said. "It may not seem it now, but I know in the future the people of Jenjin will appreciate what you''ve done."

    "I certainly hope that history looks kindly upon us all," Aymon said. "There is one thing I need from you, though."

    "What is it?" Xu asked, sounding wary.

    "There isn''t going to be any colony space available for a long time, years, maybe. I need you to try to keep the planet together until then."

    "That has always been the intention. I think we are better as one planet, anyway, rather than spinning off by ourselves every time we disagree."

    "I wish that everyone saw it that way, but that''s why you¡¯re the leader."

    Xu yawned and nodded.

    "Are you still planning on taking that long nap as your first official act as governor?" Aymon asked.

    "I''m lucky beyond lucky that there''s no afterparty like there usually is for these swearing ins. The Governor''s residence was burned to the ground anyway, so I get to go to my own comfortable bed, rather than trying to move everything in to a new home."

    "Well, I hope you don''t let that stop you from rebuilding it before your successor comes into power."

    "That''s years away yet," Xu said. "We''re going to take things day by day around here."

    Aymon saw Halen waiting on the edge of the room, tapping his watch to indicate that they needed to move along with their day.

    "Sorry to rush right out of here, but I do need to get going" Aymon said. "Enjoy your well deserved rest."

    "Thank you. Godspeed on your journey, First Sandreas," Xu said.

    Aymon nodded at her, then headed towards Halen. They made their way through the capitol building and out into a waiting vehicle. It was marked with the JDF colors, but was driven by Fleet personnel. They drove to the outskirts of the city, where there was a building that the Fleet had taken over as a base. It had been a JDF building, but they had been sent elsewhere as the Fleet came in. The building was useful because it had plenty of secure facilities where criminals sometimes were held.

    On many planets, and in the Empire itself, enforcement of the law fell to the military force on the planet. The JDF ran the prisons, the street patrols, and the courts. It was one use for a planetary military force when there weren¡¯t many outside threats to defend against.

    These facilities, though, held only one prisoner at the moment. Former Governor Tani Vaspar was imprisoned in the most secure cell. He was under constant surveillance and was kept drugged just enough to impair his use of the power. After all, if a person couldn''t think straight or concentrate, there would be no using the power at all, let alone to escape from a secure prison.

    All of Vaspar''s cronies who had been captured, including General Hamark, were in different locations. Vaspar was the only sensitive among them, so he required special treatment.

    Aymon and Halen were escorted down into the depths of the facility. It was dingy in the way that only these clinical settings could be. No matter how many times the walls and floors were scrubbed, the harsh glow of the lights would cast everything in the most unfavorable view. Whites turned grey, greys turned a ruddy blue.

    Vaspar''s cell was painted the same grey as everything else in the facility. It had a heavy door and a one way mirror for people to look in on him. Inside the room was a bed with a thin mattress, a toilet and sink with a shower curtain around them for some semblance of privacy, a table, and a chair. Vaspar wasn''t chained down or in any obvious distress, he was just sitting on the bed and staring across the room at a blinking light on the wall.

    "What''s the light for?" Aymon asked as they observed him through the mirror.

    "It flashes in a totally random way. It''s designed to be distracting, so that it will be difficult for him to focus through the drugs and meditate," one of the prison guards supplied.

    "Seems unnecessary to me," Aymon said. "But I''m not an expert in prison security."

    "It has a proven track record of improving the effectiveness of the drugs," the guard said. "It was tested on volunteers a while back."

    "I think that the psyche of a volunteer from the Academy looking to earn a few extra charges and the psyche of a criminal who wants nothing more than to escape are two completely different things," Aymon said. "But it isn''t doing any harm, I suppose. In your assessment, is Vaspar a suicide risk?"

    "We haven''t dialed in the dosage yet," the guard said. "I don''t think he''s lucid enough for that."

    Halen placed his hand on Aymon''s arm, and sent him a message through the power.

    "Vaspar''s more lucid than he''s getting credit for. Faking being out of it to reduce his dosage," Halen sent.

    "And how are you checking his state of mind?" Aymon asked aloud.

    "Just look at the man. Since we first got him he''s done nothing but stare at that light." The guard seemed clueless. Granted, there wasn''t a great way to determine the effectiveness of a drug other than testimony, and checking if the recipient had passed out, but there had to be some way to know other than lowering his dose until he appeared more responsive.

    "Just to be safe, I want him kept on the dosage that''s appropriate for his body, whatever it says in the literature. Don''t go after what he looks like. Keep in mind that Vaspar is a man known for playing the long con."

    "Just so, sir," the guard said. "We''ll be sure to keep his dosage up next time we deliver it to him."

    "Excellent. Is it safe to go in and talk to him?"

    "I don''t know if he''ll have much to say, but the most he''d be able to do to hurt you is throw a punch," the guard said. "Do you want to be let in?"

    "Yes, thank you," Aymon said.

    The guard led them towards the door, where he unlocked it by consulting his phone and keying in on the door a code that he received. The lock clicked and the guard pulled the door open.

    "Just say when you want out," the guard said. Aymon, Halen, and two Fleet guards stepped into the cell. Vaspar barely looked up. The door swung shut behind them with a dull clang.

    Looking more closely at Vaspar, it was clear that he had not been captured without a fight. He had bruises showing over the collar of his bright green jumpsuit, and one of his hands was bandaged. Aymon pulled the chair away from the table and moved it to sit directly in front of Vaspar. The two Fleet guards stood by the doorway, and Halen stood directly behind Aymon.

    "Hello, Tani," Aymon said. "How are you doing?"

    "Oh, fuck you," Vaspar said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

    "It''s good to see you, too," Aymon said. "When we last talked, I had hoped that you were taking things in the right direction. I see I was wrong about that."

    Vaspar didn''t say anything.

    "It doesn''t give me any pleasure to do this, you know," Aymon said. "But I think that in the end, this is what''s best for the whole population of Jenjin."

    "Did you just come here to gloat?"

    "Actually, I came here to make sure you didn''t have some sort of plan set up for just this eventuality," Aymon said. "If you can assuage my fears, then I''ll be happy to leave you alone."

    "I don''t have any fucking plans," Vaspar said. "Anything I did have planned is already done and over with. It failed."

    "What were you hoping to accomplish, Tani?" Aymon asked, sounding as sincere as he could under the circumstances.

    "Someone needed to take back control of the planet. The whole place was slipping into the hands of a bunch of backwards farmers who wanted to starve us out. It was unconscionable. Someone had to do something, and I was the one who took that responsibility," Vaspar said. His face was twisted into something menacing, even though his eyes were still closed.

    "You based your entire career as governor on repressing the freedoms of those so-called backwards farmers. You tampered with the elections, for God''s sake. What made you do that?"

    "You wouldn''t understand, First Sandreas," Vaspar said. "You''ve never held an elected position. You can talk so high when you were pulled into power as a child. You don''t know what it''s like to work hard for something and have it ripped away by a fickle minded public."

    "The Empire respects the right of every planet to self determination. You don''t have the right to deny that to your citizens."

    "The Empire can get fucked, too," Vaspar said. "It didn''t want to provide aid to us when farmers refused to send in staple food for months at a time. You only come bearing gifts to disguise the fact that you''re controlling the way we do things around here."

    "The way you do things is not the way that things should be done, Tani."

    "You''ve replaced one unelected governor with another," Vaspar said. "I see no difference, aside from the fact that at least some people supported me and what I was doing."

    "Halia Xu was elected to the Imperial Council for five consecutive terms, with a good amount of popular support. I think that she is an excellent choice to serve the rest of your term."

    "There''s a big difference between the toothless Imperial Council and what actually happens at home. No one on Jenjin cares about how much sugar Rothuss should be allowed to export, no one on Jenjin cares about how many stardrives to sell to the Trade Guild. Everyone on Jenjin cares about feeding the people in the cities. That''s the difference between electing someone to the Imperial Council and the governorship. It doesn''t translate."

    "That may be so," Aymon said. "But Xu is governor now, and we must all trust that she will make the best decisions for the future of all of Jenjin."

    "The future of the mines is the future of all of Jenjin," Vaspar said with a sneer.

    "I think you are wrong about that," Aymon said. "But since you no longer have any power over it, you can keep that opinion."

    "So. Am I being tried here or by the Empire?" Vaspar asked.

    "That depends on how much you are willing to cooperate.¡±

    "By cooperate, you mean lie down and take it."

    "Yes, that is what I mean. I don''t actually know what would be worse for you," Aymon said. "You can be tried for treason by the Empire. I doubt anyone would call for the death penalty, but you''d almost certainly spend the rest of your life on a prison colony."

    "And the alternative is spending life in prison here on Jenjin? That doesn''t sound very different."

    "Well, prison colonies do not have the greatest reputation for comfort," Aymon said, putting it as lightly as possible. "But I don''t doubt that certain people on Jenjin, specifically those who are also set to be tried soon, would find you an unpleasant cellmate."

    "Ha. So you did catch the leaders of the Levelers, too?"

    "They were much easier to find than you were. I take no pleasure in it, but they were responsible for some of the suffering here, just as much as you were."

    "More so," Vaspar said.

    "They would argue that you and your faction drove them to it."

    "And I would argue that they were driving me mad," Vaspar said. "They''re all guiltier than I am."

    "Luckily, trials are not comparisons of one criminal to another," Aymon said. "I have no doubt in my mind that you all will be sentenced to the degree that you deserve."

    They continued to go back and forth. In truth, there wasn''t much that Aymon thought he could actually get out of Vaspar, he had just come to see what it looked like up close when an Academy man betrayed the ideals that they had all thought were accepted. Had it truly just been the belief that he was doing the right thing that caused Vaspar to fall so far? Aymon didn''t know. He couldn''t really tell.

    Vaspar¡¯s acting overly drugged had been abandoned as soon as Aymon walked into his cell, of course. Aymon would give it that the man was a good actor, but he couldn''t resist showing off. And if the leader of the Empire deigned to visit him in his prison cell, well, that was a prime opportunity to get some last few jabs in. Aymon had no doubt that when his trial reached court, it would be full of theatrics from Vaspar. It was almost unfortunate that they did have to keep him drugged halfway to oblivion, but with sensitives, there was too much of a danger to not.

    Aymon''s curiosity satisfied, he left the prison. There were more administrative duties to attend to before the First Star arrived to take him home.

 Chapter Thirty-Five - An Appearance Meant Not to Deceive but to Inform

    An Appearance Meant Not to Deceive but to Inform

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Oh we¡¯ve been in port for ten whole days, when can we go? Our ship is packed and the crew¡¯s all in, when can we go? What¡¯s the hold up, what¡¯s the delay- we¡¯re bound to stay another day? Oh please, please, let us go, Lord, oh please, please let us go.¡±

    -from ¡°Repair Blues¡±, spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan and Sid had not had the best morning. They had started out their day with a rousing public forum. It was mainly the citizens of City-One-North, but Yan doubted that opinions across the planet were very different. They were all under the same blockade, after all. Possibly opinions varied based on where particular black market venues had frequently operated, but that wasn''t something that Yan was too concerned about. After all, if someone was angry that their local drug dealership was closed, well, they couldn''t very well complain about it on planetwide television, could they.

    Although no one had thrown vegetables at them, and they had both managed to keep pleasant expressions on their faces, almost an hour and a half of constant haranguing by the public was enough to make both of them slightly crazy. They couldn''t even give satisfactory answers to anyone who asked them a question.

    "What punishment is the Trade Guild going to recieve for blockading our planet?" Someone asked.

    And Yan was forced to say something like, "The Empire is not currently seeking punitive measures, we are interested in finding a peaceful solution to your problems..." And then the whole auditorium would start to chatter and boo.

    It was rough. Yan and Sid finally slunk out, tails metaphorically between their legs, and took refuge in their hotel for lunch. They had a little time to kill before the real meetings would begin.

    Unfortunately, even their "free" time was fraught with complications. As Yan and Sid sat down to eat, Iri came over and handed them an ansible message she had printed. It was from Sandreas. She gave each of them a copy.

    It started out as a general update on how things were going with their mission. Yan gasped when she read about Kino''s misadventure in the caves of Tyx III, Sid was intrigued by the use of what Sandreas called ''shock and awe'' on the population of Jenjin. Yan had a suspicion that the first part of the letter was actually ghostwritten by Halen, as Sandreas didn''t seem the type to remember to keep his apprentices updated on what he was doing. The letter contained just enough detail to make Yan glad that she had chosen to come to Olar instead of the front and Jenjin, pirate attack notwithstanding.

    Then the letter took on a drastic shift in tone. It was as though it had been composed over several sittings, and on the last one, Sandreas had finally learned what had happened to Yan and Sid on their journey. This part, Yan was sure that Sandreas had actually written.

    Yan and Sid, first, let me say that I am glad that you are safe. My recent experiences on Tyx III have shown me just how important that you two and Kino have become to me. I don''t know how my own mentor, Caron Herrault, managed to send out her apprentices and cope when the worst happened. Irrationally, I wish that I did not ever have to let you out of my sphere of influence, but you know as well as I do that there are times when you must go out into the universe on your own.

    I can''t say that I know what you are feeling right now, but I can imagine it. I won''t tell you a story about the things that I have done, because I don''t think that will help you right now. In this line of work, sometimes you will be tasked with doing things that have a cost upon your soul. That is the price that leaders must pay to save those under our care.

    [As an administrative note and an aside, you are in charge of where you go and what you do, not Lieutenant Harber. While he may offer compelling reasons for things, and it is usually best to follow the advice of those tasked with protecting you, you both have the ultimate say. I am told that there was a small amount of threatened mutiny, which, while amusing, should not be necessary in the future. Keep in mind what role you hold, and use the powers that it grants you. I trust you both enough to be responsible.]

    I don''t think that you did anything wrong. Sometimes, in life, there comes time when the right thing to do still feels impossibly wrong. There''s no easy way to make that feeling go away. The only cure is time, distance, and experience. If you could go back in time and make different decisions, maybe you would choose differently with what you now know. But no one has that luxury. There are no ''what-ifs'' or do-overs in life, and to wish there were is to condemn yourself to a lifetime of suffering. The only thing to do is to take the lessons that you learned and apply them in the future. Until death, there nothing that cannot be learned from.

    Not every decision you make will be popular with everyone. Some of them will be extremely unpopular with most people. If you feel like you made the correct decision, not even necessarily a ''good'' decision, then you will have to let that go. I say that especially to you, Yan. It''s easy for leadfeet like Sid and me to spin this as simply defending a ship from pirates, which is an unequivocally good thing. I know that the situation is complicated for you in ways that I cannot understand. I hope that your family doesn''t turn against you, but even if they do, you can lean on other people you know.

    Sid, I caution you to be aware of what ties you create, and what it will feel like to break those ties. The things of the physical world are not capable of saving you. This is not a command, but it is a warning given with compassion.

    To both of you: even if you feel like there is no one you can turn to, remember that there is always God. God will hold you close, even if you feel there is too much darkness in your heart.

    In other news, I''m gratified to hear that you both are getting along and having a successful diplomatic mission thus far. Keep up the good work.

    I''m sure I will hear all about your experiences on Olar when you both get back. By time you read this, I may already be en-route to Emerri, so don''t feel as though you need to respond. By time I get to Emerri, I''m certain you will already be off of Olar. Truly communication is one of the joys of space travel.

    Safe travels home, I''ll be praying for you.

    Aymon

    Yan and Sid processed the letter in different ways. Sid crumpled it up; Yan folded her copy neatly and tucked it inside her pocket.

    "What?" Yan asked. "Why are you angry?"

    "He can''t say anything useful," Sid signed. "And he still manages to come off like he knows everything when he''s half a galaxy away."

    "Iri and Hernan report to Halen, and Halen reports to Sandreas, of course he knows everything," Yan signed. "I thought it was fine, not that I want to talk to him about it."

    "Probably when we get back he''ll talk my eyes off about his ''similar experiences''," Sid''s face curled in a sneer.

    "He probably has had similar experiences," Yan said. "Remember what Halen told us?"

    Sid deflated a little. "I guess it probably would be worse to be the person responsible for killing your later boyfriend''s family. Still. I hate hearing about how much worse somebody else has it."

    "I don''t know. At least we know that Halen forgave him for it," Yan signed.

    "Obviously. But that''s different. Kidnapper sympathy syndrome."

    "You think that''s what Halen''s deal is?" Yan asked.

    "What else could it be?"

    "Yikes." Yan didn''t really have an opinion on that. She figured Halen would have had plenty of time to break out of any brainwashing he may have been under, but maybe not. "Either way, we don''t have to talk to him for a while. Not until we get back to Emerri."

    "It seems crazy that we spend so much time travelling and then we''re only here on the planet for a few days at most," Sid signed.

    Yan shrugged. "Just how long things take on ships. You get used to it if you travel enough."

    They finished up their lunch and worked for a while discussing what they were going to say in their meeting with both Governor Marquis and whoever the Trade Guild representatives would be.

    Yan suspected that, out of politeness, Olms would only bring herself and possibly one other person. It wouldn''t be prudent for Olms to bring either of the representatives from the Skyfish or Imei, and Lee was obviously out of the question. That left Yan''s uncle Maxes and the council representative that Yan didn''t know very well. Maxes could almost certainly be struck from the list. It was amazing that he had managed to sweet talk his way onto the trip in the first place, but Yan didn''t think that his run of good luck could last much longer. Yan figured that Staffort, the last Council member, would be the only reasonable choice for Olms to bring with her. So it would be either Olms by herself or Olms and Staffort. Yan and Sid placed bets on who would show up.

    The meeting would take place in the Olar capitol building, yet another place that was built directly into the high mountain walls that overlooked the city. It was quite near to the governor''s residence where they had met with Marquis, but this was a much more formal event than that private meeting. The sun was just about to sink below the opposite mountains, and the light of it cast a heady golden glow over the capitol. It was built of towering stone, seemingly mined from the same reddish grey rock as the mountains. The steps up to the front entrance were terraced and impressive. It wasn''t a very practical entrance, but the practical entrance (including parking garage) was hidden one level down, carved out underneath these wide stairs.

    Yan and Sid made the trek up, all the while smiling at the media who followed their every move. They were met at the top of the stairs by Marquis and Olms. Sid smirked at Yan; he had won the bet that Olms would come alone. They all shook hands and posed for photos together at the top of the steps. It had all the components of a friendly meeting. Yan suspected that Olms was coming in more willing to work things out than it had initially seemed.

    There were yet more media people inside, of course, and they followed the group into the depths of the capitol building, toward Marquis''s office. They were blessedly forbidden from the meeting itself, though the whole thing would be recorded for posterity, just without the actual presence of the media.

    Marquis''s office was nothing like Sandreas''s in Stonecourt. Where Stonecourt''s halls were light and airy, everything on Olar had the stodgy feeling that only the rough hewn stone of the mountains could bring. Everything that wasn''t stone was heavy, dark wood and thick drapery. It would have been alarming if Marquis''s office was the only place that was decorated like this, but all of Olar followed these interior design rules. For some reason, people on Olar liked to decorate like this. The carpet and drapes in Marquis''s office were all a forest green, which Yan appreciated. It was a nice contrast to the reddish tint of the stone. One wall had windows and a balcony. The sun had truly slipped behind the mountains, but the sky remained slightly illuminated. It was eerie. When the group took seats, Yan made sure to position herself and Sid such that she wouldn''t be able to see that huge, red moon if it rose over the horizon. She didn''t know why she hated it as much as she did, but she knew she would be able to breathe and speak easier if she wasn''t looking at it.

    "Thank you all for coming," Marquis said, sitting down. They took seats around a coffee table, with Olms and Marquis opposite to each other, and Yan and Sid together at the side.

    "Of course," Olms said, sounding polite. "The Guild is eager to put this business behind us."

    "As are we," Marquis said. He was polite, but his tone indicated his frustration that the Guild could simply leave, if they were so eager.

    "Thank you both for allowing us to facilitate this meeting," Yan said. "Would it be helpful if we laid out the points as we see them?"

    Olms smiled at Yan. "I would love to hear a neutral party present the case."

    "I have no objection to that," Marquis said.

    "Excellent," Yan said. She nodded to Sid, who picked up the conversation.

    "It is clear to us that this blockade needs to end as quickly as possible. It suits no one. It was originally conceived from your need to prove that the Trade Guild would not tolerate any planets harboring pirates, which is a laudable goal, but one that unfairly impacted the citizens of Olar," Sid said.

    "Apprentice Olms, does the Trade Guild feel as though their ships will be safe trading with Olar in the future? Has the problem been dealt with?" Yan asked.

    "There''s no way to know that, at this time. Our own ships, the Skyfish and Imei, have been safe, but that is because they are the most heavily armed ships outside of the Fleet. Were they to leave, who knows what dangers could come crawling up," Olms said.

    "But is Olar any less safe than any other planet?" Sid asked.

    "That depends. If the black market is still thriving on the ground, that incentivises pirates to come," Olms said. "Only Governor Marquis can say if that has changed."

    "Governor?" Yan asked.

    "We have always done our best to stomp out criminal activity," Marquis said. "We''ve pushed back against it even harder, recently. As I''m sure you know, we have made many arrests of suspected traffickers and sellers of illegal goods. With those people imprisoned, there is no more infrastructure for drugs and weapons to pass through," Marquis said.

    "Is there any way you can prove that the planet is safe?" Yan asked.

    "The only proof I can offer is if you inspect the records of those we have arrested, or watch their trials, you will see that we have caught the fat spiders on every strand of the criminal web," Marquis said.

    "Just out of curiosity," Olms said. "Could you tell me where on the planet the trading was being done? Warehouses, secret storefronts, through the net and the mail?"

    "There were locations where the products were being stored, at least. There were some, shall we say, depots on the equator that were raided. Things brought into the cities tended to be stored in small quantities in private homes and businesses," Marquis explained.

    "Did you find any records that were kept of all of this? Even criminals need to keep the books, I''d assume."

    "Some. Most people destroyed them when they got wind that the OPM was conducting raids," Marquis said.

    "And you really think that you''ve cleaned up the entire planet in such a short time? I find that hard to believe, especially if you had, as you said, always done your best to stop criminal activity," Olms said. "I would love to be able to trust Olar, to believe that my captains'' ships are safe here, but I''m afraid that I can''t."

    "May I remind you that the original cause of this was your captains ferrying in illegal goods themselves," Marquis said. "Should I ask for assurances that that will not continue?"

    "Governor Marquis," Yan said. "The Trade Guild has done its due diligence in punishing the ships responsible. They have been moved to different routes."

    "Hm, but just as Apprentice Olms has no guarantee that the black market here is completely gone, I have no guarantee that these new ships will not simply take up the mantle of the old ones."

    "Then perhaps you will just have to trust each other," Sid said. "There¡¯s no way to get what you both want without trust."

    "I don''t like trust," Olms said. "It leaves open the possibility of betrayal."

    Yan thought this was being a little melodramatic, but Olms was smiling, so it was a joke.

    "We must all occasionally commit to things that we don''t like," Yan said. "Governor Marquis, what would make you willing to put your trust in the Trade Guild again?"

    "All I ask is that my people be allowed to travel freely within the system. The mining and scientific operations on the outer planets have ground to a halt. We also need access to the wider marketplace of the Empire, in order to sell our goods and receive supplies in return. That requires the Trade Guild reinstating the old routes, with new ships."

    "You won''t ever be able to go back to the level of traffic you had before," Yan warned. "All the extra ships that were coming and going are forbidden. This is on the Empire''s orders."

    "We at least need the Circle Run. We depend on it," Marquis said.

    "That all sounds quite reasonable. Apprentice Olms, what will you need, in order to trust Governor Marquis, to make this all happen?" Sid asked.

    "May I ask a favor of the Empire?" Olms asked.

    "You can ask, but there''s no guarantee that you will receive," Sid cautioned.

    "I would like, at least on a temporary basis, some independent commission to be set up that investigates all the in system ships docking at the elevator," Olms said.

    "That doesn''t sound right," Marquis said. "Why should all of my ships, which are scientific and mining vessels, have to be inspected while yours go around free? If that were to happen, I would need that independent commission to search all Guild ships coming in as well."

    "This was discussed when this problem originally came to light. The Empire does not want to be responsible for this type of enforcement," Yan said. Not to mention, Yan didn''t think she had the authority to order such a thing.

    "May I propose an alternative?" Sid asked.

    "Of course," Marquis said.

    "Apprentice Olms, does the Guild have the ability to set up an office on the Olar Station?"

    "Are you asking in terms of manpower, charges, or desire?" Olms asked.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "Would you be willing to set up your own investigation of the Olar sublight ships, rather than entrusting it to the Empire? I doubt many people would want to see the Empire swooping in to inspect cargo, so I say this for our sake as much as yours," Sid explained.

    "This still seems one sided," Marquis said.

    "Governor, this is your planet. You have a militia who you can order at any time to start investigating cargo that is brought down on the elevator," Yan said. "I would say that if you have not already been doing that, then you have been lax in your duties."

    If the OPM and the Olar government in general had been letting cargo through without even a cursory inspection, then the current crisis was their own fault.

    "The stationmaster is responsible for making sure that the cargo coming down matches the manifest," Marquis said.

    "Then I suggest you find a stationmaster who is less susceptible to bribery," Sid said. "All of that cargo gets down to the planet somehow."

    Olms smiled thinly. "Your government is always welcome to inspect the cargo unloaded on the station. My captains are used to rigorous checking elsewhere."

    "So, would it be possible for the Trade Guild to set up their own office aboard the station?" Sid asked. "Would it be suitable to both of your tastes?"

    "I have some questions still about how you think that would work," Olms said.

    The conversation went on and on, every new point being met with some objection from someone. It was almost as though they couldn''t just agree to agree, they had to object strenuously enough before they could actually give in. It was much more frustrating than either of the individual meetings had been, and Yan almost wished she was back getting yelled at during the public forum. At least people there had a reason to be contrarian.

    The whole thing seemed to bring out the best in Sid. For once in his life, he wasn''t the most unnecessarily argumentative person in the room. He brought up points and counterpoints to everything that Marquis and Olms said, trying to win the conversation.

    Eventually, though, they had to reach an agreement. Fundamentally, Olms and Marquis both wanted it to end- a month or so of being under a blockade, and a month of enforcing a blockade, both grated. Marquis did have to allow that the Guild could do "random checks" of ships docking at Olar Station, which meant that the Guild would have to keep at least some sort of permanent presence there. In the grand scheme of things, that was a concession that he was able to make without too much fuss. He did manage to weasel out that it would be renegotiated after a few years, and that an OPM team would be on hand to make sure the checks were carried out fairly. He hadn''t quite managed to win any financial compensation for the month of damage to the Olar economy. He would have been well within his rights to ask for it, but Marquis was not negotiating from a position of power.

    They all shook hands at the end, agreeing on the deal. Someone in Marquis''s office would take the recording of their meeting and draw up a formal document, which Marquis and Olms would sign together at some point in the next few days. Yan and Sid didn''t have to be anywhere near that. The Empire had not agreed to anything: they were just there to facilitate the meeting.

    Yan and Sid were able to escape, finally, returning to their hotel. The night had grown much darker, and that moon hovered in the sky like a malignant eyeball. Yan was glad that they would be leaving soon. She asked Iri what their travel plans were.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know when the blockade will officially be lifted, but I contacted the captain of the Skyfish while you were meeting, and he said that he can take as far as Galena. From there, I don¡¯t remember the name of the ship, but there¡¯s a regular route that runs between Galena and Emerri. We¡¯ll be taking that.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t arrange our transportation off until just now?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you, the alternative was taking the same set of ships back, which I don¡¯t think you wanted. Harber, Hernan, and I have all been scrambling to figure out a different route,¡± Iri said.

    They were standing in the lobby of the hotel. The clean and shiny place seemed an odd contrast to the rest of the architecture and general aesthetics of Olar, but Yan didn¡¯t mind. Perhaps it was built like that because most foreign visitors would stay in a hotel like this. They might feel more comfortable in a place made with shining metal and bright lights than a room filled with heavy stone and drapery.

    ¡°Well, thank you for that,¡± Yan said. ¡°You should probably contact the ship you think will take us from Galena to Emerri, though, before we actually go.¡±

    ¡°Of course. You know how it is,¡± Iri said, waving her hand.

    ¡°Do you think that Sid will be excited to go back to his home planet?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t the faintest idea, you¡¯d have to ask him,¡± Iri said. Yan nodded.

    ¡°What¡¯s a good dinner food around here?¡± Yan asked. She had suddenly realized how hungry she was.

    ¡°You can always order from the hotel¡¯s restaurant,¡± Iri said. Yan debated this internally for a second.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go ask Sid what he wants to do,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Ok. Don¡¯t go anywhere without letting one of us know,¡± Iri said. Yan resisted rolling her eyes.

    ¡°As if I could ever escape your watchful gaze.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you could try to slip out. You never know what you¡¯re capable of until you do it.¡± That was too uncomfortably true for Yan, so she just shrugged and headed up to her hotel room.

    She found Sid waiting for her, just outside her door. He had gone up to change out of his nice clothes, and was now wearing just his plain black cassock. He had somehow gotten hold of a plain black winter cloak as well, with none of the fancy decoration that they had on the ¡®normal¡¯ ones.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you get that?¡± Yan signed, pointing at the cloak.

    ¡°Borrowed it from one of the Fleet team. Got you one, too, in my room.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Yan raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°Let¡¯s have a night on the town, incognito.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Yan¡¯s eyebrows couldn¡¯t go any higher.

    ¡°We deserve to relax,¡± Sid signed. ¡°Before we go back to normal life.¡±

    ¡°Two things,¡± Yan started. ¡°Going out is your idea of relaxation? And we don¡¯t have a normal life to go back to.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an idea of fun,¡± Sid signed. ¡°But you¡¯re right, so we should take this opportunity while we have it.¡±

    ¡°What are you actually suggesting we do?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°We could walk the city, see the nightlife, get some food. Also, let me show you something.¡± Sid pushed back the sleeve of his cassock to show Yan his arm. There was an angry red line across the back of it, as though he had gotten scratched by some sort of animal.

    ¡°What did you do?¡± Yan signed.

    ¡°Look,¡± Sid said aloud, unable to move his arms because he was holding his cassock back. He closed his eyes for a second. Yan felt him use the power, and along the scratch of the line, black ink rose to the surface of his skin, where before it had been invisible.

    ¡°God, what did you do to yourself?¡± Yan signed. ¡°That¡¯s going to be on you forever?¡±

    ¡°Look!¡± Sid insisted, and he focused again with the power, and the ink disappeared.

    ¡°Even if you can make it go away, what did you even do?¡±

    ¡°I took a sewing needle from a clothing repair kit and some pen ink and did it to myself yesterday,¡± Sid signed, letting his sleeve flop back down to cover the angry red mark.

    ¡°Why were you doing that in the first place?¡±

    Sid looked vaguely ashamed. ¡°That¡¯s not important, but it works as a proof of concept.¡±

    ¡°A proof of concept of what? Also it is important,¡± Yan insisted.

    ¡°Well, remember ages ago when I told you I wanted a tattoo that I could change whenever I wanted? We¡¯re on a planet where everybody has tattoos, where¡¯s a better place to get one?¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously telling me that you want to go out in disguise, in the middle of the night, and get me to hold your hand while you get your skull tattooed in some random shop? Are you serious?¡± Yan was repeating herself out of her sheer disbelief, though maybe she shouldn¡¯t be surprised at any of Sid¡¯s nonsense.

    Sid nodded, his grin almost infectious. Yan was very wary of this entire concept, but Sid¡¯s enthusiasm was convincing.

    ¡°Did you know,¡± Yan signed, changing the topic. ¡°We¡¯re going home a different route, stopping by Galena.¡±

    ¡°Even more reason to do this now, then,¡± Sid signed. ¡°My mother hates tattoos, I can¡¯t wait to show her.¡±

    ¡°This is the worst idea I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s my body, not yours, and I¡¯m doing it. If you don¡¯t want to come along, you don¡¯t have to,¡± Sid signed, frowning.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to do it anyway, then I guess¡­¡± Yan said. She really would have preferred not to, but she did feel slightly protective of Sid. To be honest, if the situation were reversed and Yan had had some sort of similarly crazy idea, Sid probably would have gone along for her sake. Luckily, Yan was not quite so prone to crazy ideas.

    ¡°Great, change out of your fancy clothes, and I¡¯ll get you one of these,¡± Sid signed, gestured at his cloak, then dashed to his hotel room.

    Yan turned around with a sigh and went into her own room. She picked through her clothes to find her plainest cassock. She changed, leaving her shirt and pants the way they were, since they were invisible anyway. She left her fancy cloak draped over her bed with some regret. It was the most fashionable thing she got to wear, so it was a shame to have to leave it behind. Maybe she¡¯d get to wear it more when winter really came down on Emerri. That would be nice.

    Yan headed back out into the hallway, and Sid passed her the borrowed cloak. It was short on her. Sid gave her an appraising look.

    ¡°It¡¯ll do,¡± he signed.

    ¡°I look like a tree in this. I don¡¯t hate being tall, but I hate how nothing fits me,¡± Yan signed.

    ¡°So you¡¯ll have cold ankles. Whatever, let¡¯s go,¡± Sid signed.

    ¡°Can we at least get dinner first?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to to that market and get more of those tube cakes. Those were good.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s junk food,¡± Yan protested.

    ¡°And I¡¯m a junk human, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Yan followed Sid down the stairs to the lobby. Iri was still there, talking to Lieutenant Harber. Yan waved at her to get her attention. Iri abandoned her conversation with Harber and came over.

    ¡°Sid and I are going out,¡± Yan said.

    Behind her, she could practically feel Sid¡¯s disdain for this process radiating off him. She glanced over her shoulder at him, his arms crossed. The look he gave her said ¡®do you really have to get them involved?¡¯ Yan turned back around and ignored him.

    ¡°Are you inviting me, or just warning me?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯d have someone follow us anyway, I¡¯m sure, but I don¡¯t think we want an entourage. We¡¯re going low profile.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t look low profile like that,¡± Harber called over. ¡°You stand out as foreigners right away. No tattoos.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Iri said. ¡°I can come with you, if you prefer to keep this a small affair.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°But you know the Fleet car will be just a block away at all times.¡±

    Yan frowned. ¡°No privacy.¡±

    ¡°None at all.¡±

    <hr>

    They did go to the market and have dinner. The place was still bustling, even at night, which surprised Yan. Most of the grocery vendors went home, and the outdoor section was barren except for the restaurant stalls. There was more food to choose from than just the fried dough that they had had the previous day, so Yan was able to buy a plate of grilled vegetables instead. Sid happily munched on his fried dough as Yan judged him. Yan wondered how well that would sit in his stomach as he got his whole skull tattooed, since he seemed intent on actually going through with it.

    They had talked about it more over their dinner. Iri thought the whole thing was hilarious, and cautioned that it would probably take a long time and be excruciatingly painful. Sid just shrugged. He may have gotten a little paler as Iri launched into a discussion of just how many nerve endings were in the skull, but the lighting was bad, so Yan couldn¡¯t really tell. He seemed prepared to go through with it, regardless.

    ¡°How are you going to even find a tattoo artist who¡¯s willing to start a massive project on no notice in the middle of the night?¡± Yan asked

    ¡°I think we¡¯ll just ask around. Enough charges solve most problems,¡± Sid signed. Yan couldn¡¯t disagree with the second part of that; it was probably true that someone would be willing to do it for some price, but she didn¡¯t fancy the idea of walking around through the cold night. It was snowing only lightly, but the wind was present as always.

    They all purchased hot drinks to carry and sip as they wandered through the marketplace. It was warmer indoors where the more permanent shops were, and there were several tattoo places. Some of them were even surprisingly well populated, despite the late hour. The whole market was crowded. Every few stores seemed to have their own music system, pumping out noise. There were clubs that Yan hadn¡¯t noticed before, lining the edges of the marketplace. It seemed as though they were competing with each other to have the most crazily spinning lights, loudest music, and wildest dancing. There was no want for customers. People walked around the place, talking, laughing, and buying things despite the late hour.

    Though some of the normal stalls had closed for the night, that didn¡¯t stop all business. Sid asked at several of the tattoo shops, starting off that he was willing to pay for a difficult job done immediately. He was rejected at a few, but at one place the guy running the desk shrugged and let him in to talk with the tattoo artist.

    The artist in question was a petite woman, with rich brown skin and dyed red hair. Her face had the usual tattoos of Olar citizens, the circles coming off her forehead and ending just below her nose. The shop was quite warm, so she was wearing only a tank top that was a little too short. Her pants sat low on her hips. In the slip of space between her shirt and pants, there were overlapping tattoo lines, like the ripples caused when two rocks hit the surface of water. She was small, but it was clear that she was strong. Yan¡¯s face grew hot as she looked at the woman, then tried to look away, unsuccessfully.

    ¡°So, Vance told me that some rich foreigner wanted something complicated done right away?¡± The woman said. ¡°I see three foreigners here. Which one of you is the rich one?¡±

    Iri laughed. ¡°Not me. He¡¯s the one you¡¯re looking for.¡± She pointed at Sid, who smiled and waved.

    ¡°You sure look like an egg, don¡¯tcha,¡± she said. ¡°What are you looking for me to do?¡±

    ¡°I just want you to do my entire scalp, all black,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°And you need this done now, in the middle of the night, without an appointment? You¡¯re wild.¡± She smiled anyway and reached out to shake Sid¡¯s hand. ¡°I¡¯m Benna.¡±

    ¡°Sid.¡± Sid had his trademark grin out in full force.

    ¡°Got any other tattoos, Sid?¡±

    Sid shook his head no.

    ¡°Are you sure you really want this? Are you sober? This is, actually, hey, kinda crazy. Little bit unethical to do something like this if I¡¯m not certain you want it.¡± She seemed to be protesting without much conviction. It seemed that Sid¡¯s promise of money was enough to get her to do anything. After all, if someone was willing to pay that much then they must really want it.

    ¡°I¡¯m certain,¡± Sid said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I know what I¡¯m in for and what I want.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Benna asked.

    "I''ve wanted this for a long time, and everybody here has tattoos, and we''re leaving the planet soon, so this seemed like the best time to do it."

    "How long are we talking?" Benna asked.

    "Years," Sid said.

    "And you really just want the entire top of your head to be black? That isn''t going to look like hair," she cautioned.

    "I know. I don''t want hair, I want to look more intimidating."

    Benna rolled her eyes. "If the charges are good and you really want this, then I guess I won''t refuse. You''re a crazy rich kid, though. You two just along for the ride?"

    "Moral support," Yan said.

    "Yeah, he''ll need it. Come on back." Benna led them into the back room, where a chair was set up. "You might all want to take off your coats, we keep it warm in here."

    Everyone hung up their cloaks on a hook on the wall. Benna gave a long look at their cassocks, plain black though they were. She didn''t ask about them.

    "You in particular probably want that off, too. You''re going to sweat," she directed Sid. Sid wiggled his cassock up off his head without unbuttoning it, and hung it up with their coats.

    "I''m going to need payment up front for this one," Benna said, writing out a receipt. "Go take this up front and pay Vance while I set up."

    Sid obediently took the receipt and went to pay. Yan caught a glimpse of the total as he headed out. It was a good thing that Sid didn''t have many other expenses in life. Yan, despite the absurd amount of money that they were getting for their salaries, didn''t think that this was the best financial decision. Perhaps that was just her prudish nature as a spacer talking, though.

    Benna prepared the materials that she would need to work, wiping down surfaces with disinfectants, pulling out bottles of ink, and assembling an alarming looking machine.

    "You two can go grab chairs, just pull some in from over there. If you''re planning on staying to watch, anyway."

    Yan went into the room next door and dragged in two stools. Yan let Iri deal with her own, but Yan stood awkwardly around waiting for Benna to tell her where she could sit.

    "Waiting on a special invitation?" Benna asked, and Yan''s face grew even hotter. In every unfamiliar situation, where Yan didn''t know the rules of the engagement, she felt painfully awkward.

    "I just didn''t want to get in your way," Yan explained.

    Benna laughed. "Well, if you''re going to be holding his hand, set up right over here." She gestured to the area on the other side of the adjustable chair that Sid would be sitting on. Yan dragged her stool over and perched upon it, feeling rather like an ungainly bird. The stool was not designed for someone as tall as she was, but she made the best of it.

    Sid came back in, still smiling.

    "Well, first things first," Benna said. "Let me check if you''re shaved alright." She walked over to Sid and he made a face as she rubbed her hand over the top of his head. "Heh, smooth as a baby''s bottom."

    "I shaved it earlier," Sid said, rolling his eyes. "I know how to keep my head clean."

    "Great. Take a seat."

    Sid hopped up onto the adjustable chair, flopping dramatically backwards.

    "First thing I''m gonna do," she said, "is mark out the boundaries of where I''m going to put the ink, and then you tell me if that''s what you want or not. Lean over here."

    Sid obeyed, and Benna took a marker off the tray next to her and drew a line all around Sid''s head, where she suspected his normal hairline would be. She had a handmirror on the tray also, and handed it to Sid so that he could check it. Yan watched this process with fascination, Iri was reading something on her phone, paying no attention.

    "How does that look?"

    Sid inspected himself in the mirror. "Could you make it smoother? Like, no ridges here, and just make it round at the back?" Sid touched areas where she had indicated the hint of sideburns, right above his ears. On the back of his head, right where his skull met his neck, he traced out a smooth curve.

    "Sure. Going for a more geometric look. I get that." Benna adjusted the lines. "Like that?"

    "Yeah, that''s great."

    "Alright. Well, if you''re really sure about this, I''ll disinfect you and we can get started."

    "I am sure," Sid insisted. Benna put some disinfectant onto a sterile pad and started scrubbing at Sid''s head. He rolled his eyes at Yan. Yan frowned at him.

    "Well, laying down on your stomach will probably be your best bet," Benna said. She used some foot pedals at the bottom to set the chair in motion, adjusting it so that it was nearly completely horizontal.

    "How long is this going to take?" Sid asked, flopping over onto his stomach and putting his arms underneath his chin.

    "If you don''t need any breaks, about four hours. If you''re really leaving the planet soon, you''ll want to get it done all at once, so I hope you won''t need to stop."

    "I won''t," Sid said. Benna looked skeptical, but she went over to the sink, washed her hands, and donned a pair of gloves.

    "Do you want earplugs? The machine is loud when I''m working right by your ears."

    "No, I''m good," Sid said, smiling broadly.

    "Let me know if you change your mind."

    Yan wasn''t going to speak up and reveal the fact that Sid was deaf, but it was pretty funny. Benna arranged herself on her own chair so she had best access to Sid''s head. She held her machine in her right hand, had her left on Sid''s head and a wipe cloth, and was stepping on a foot pedal. Her rolling tray of inks and implements was next to her.

    "You ready?" She asked.

    "As I''ll ever be," Sid said.

    Benna started up the machine, putting the needle down right in the center of Sid''s head. He immediately tensed, but to his credit, didn''t jerk his head out of the way. He couldn''t really, with Benna''s hand holding it.

    "Damn," Sid swore, sucking in a breath. Iri and Yan gave eachother a look, Iri slightly shaking her head.

    "Scalp tattoos hurt like a bitch, I''ll give you that one," Benna said. "Keep still so I don''t stab you too hard.

    "I''m gonna close my eyes," Sid said. He did so, squeezing them shut. Benna kept on working on his head.

    "So, where are you all from?" Benna asked, making conversation over the buzzing of the machine.

    "We all live on Emerri, but he''s from Galena, originally," Yan said.

    "Galena, eh? What brings you here, Galena boy?" Benna asked.

    "Business," Yan answered for him, as Sid didn''t even know that Benna was asking a question because his eyes were closed. Benna gave her an odd look.

    "Don''t want him answering?" She asked.

    "No, he just can''t hear you," Yan explained. "He reads what you say on his glasses, and he closed his eyes."

    "Interesting," Benna said. "Well, I guess you''ll have to content me as a conversation partner, since she''s clearly just reading a book over there." Benna nodded back at Iri, who was only half paying attention to the conversation. "What''s your name?"

    "Yan, Yan BarCarran."

    "And what type of business do you do, Ms. BarCarran?"

    "Uh, politics," Yan said.

    "Gross," Benna said. "I pay as little attention to that as possible."

    The conversation flowed smoothly from there. They sat for hours. Yan occasionally held Sid''s hand, and Sid occasionally opened his eyes and talked as well, gritting his teeth through the pain. Benna worked the pure blackwork out across Sid''s scalp, moving in ever expanding circles. They took a few breaks for one or both of them to stretch and get drinks of water. It was tedious work, but it required intense concentration and skill to keep the needle at just the right depth and angle.

    Through it all, Yan hoped that Sid was getting what he wanted out of this.

    At the end, Sid did have a pitch black scalp. It was swollen, bleeding, and raw, but it was done. It completely altered his appearance; where before he had been an egg, Sid was sharper and more... Yan didn''t want to say sinister, but it certainly gave him a different feeling altogether.

    They bid goodbye to Benna, thanked her for her work, and walked back to the waiting car. Sid complained bitterly the entire way about the feeling of the cold air on his head. Too bad his skin was too raw to wear a hat. He really was an idiot.

 Chapter Thirty-Six - The Past Is Not a Home You Can Go Back To

    The Past Is Not a Home You Can Go Back To

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Her arms are the comfort of the airlock, holding me close. It¡¯s the promise of safety, of coming home and of going out again. I hear her voice in the crackle over the radio, in the moment before my uncle says ¡®Hand me the spanner, will you?¡¯ I see the reflections of her eyes in familiar stars, when I tilt my head just right.¡±

    - from ¡°My Mother, Gone to God¡±, Yan BarCarran for Creative Writing 202, age 17

    </blockquote>

    The remainder of the days on Olar were uneventful. It took a little while longer to finalize all the details of the agreement between Olar and the Trade Guild than Yan had hoped, but the wheels of progress turned slowly. Yan and Sid were invited to a formal event where Apprentice Olms and Governor Marquis signed the document, and they went out of politeness, since all they had to do was smile for the cameras. She was growing tired of the whole event, and now that the work was done, she was left with more than enough time to fret and continue to feel guilty.

    Yan was doing better. Her feelings weren¡¯t as bad as it had been those first few days. Some of the sting and shock was gone, but Yan just wanted it all to go away. She was tempted to try to somehow erase the memory from her brain. It might be possible, if she got Sid''s help. But that seemed like the coward''s way out. The sin would still weigh on her soul even if she didn''t remember committing it, and then she would have no way of atoning for it, either. As Iri said, she would just have to wait it out. Yan spent a lot of time praying, and attended a few worships on Olar when she wasn''t busy. Sid didn''t come, but Iri followed her as always.

    Sid was coping with things in his own way. Or perhaps they both were not-coping, but still differently. He spent a lot of time alone. There was no way to know what he was up to.

    Yan did see her uncle a few more times. They met up to have meals, or walk the city. Yan would have preferred not to spend so much time with him, but she couldn¡¯t be rude. They were in the same place so rarely, after all. In some ways, it was just like when Yan was a kid, and the Iron Dreams stopped at a planet and let people down for shore leave. Those were rare occasions that stood out in Yan''s memory. They talked about mundane things, on these meetings: politics, family, how Yan liked her coworkers, Sylva. The specter of Yan''s guilt and the awkwardness that had lay between them for years prevented them from saying anything meaningful.

    The time finally came for them to leave Olar, and they boarded the Skyfish. The captain, whom they had talked to at the dinner with the Guild, was polite to them, and the crew seemed unaffected by their presence. It was a pleasant, quiet journey to Galena, as much as it could be when Yan stewed in her own thoughts.

    There came a point where Iri, even, became fed up with Yan and yelled at her to stop being so melodramatic. Yan had cried and gone to her room. Iri came back later and apologized, then gave Yan a task to do (helping repair a fishtank in the ship''s greenhouse), which made Yan feel better by taking her mind off of things.

    They made it to Galena without any problems, but they would have to wait several days before the next ship, the Kinetic, would pick them up to take them to Emerri. Sid took control of the situation and demanded that he be allowed to go visit his family. He argued with Hernan about it, but won the argument, so they all ended up taking the long elevator ride down to the surface of Galena, rather than staying on the station. It was a relatively quick plane flight to Sid''s family''s town, then a long taxi ride out to the farm where Sid''s family actually lived.

    There was nothing but farmland for miles around. Yan had never seen anything like it before. Endless fields stretched out from one side of the horizon to the other, worked by massive machines that she had only seen in pictures and videos. It was enchanting, if also a little lonely.

    Sid''s family lived in a farmhouse that looked like it had been standing since before the founding of the Empire. It was surrounded by a blessed break in the monotony of the farmland; a copse of trees was planted around it to serve as a windbreak. What could be considered the front yard had an assortment of odd sculptures cluttered around. Machinery in different states of disrepair lay scattered nearby, and a few cars were parked on the grass at the end of the dirt road to the town. Outbuildings were positioned further away behind the house.

    The whole place was almost eerily silent. Save for the rustling of the wind through the tall grain crops and the distant roar of machinery traversing the fields, the whole place could have been abandoned. The van that had drove the group in headed away, leaving Yan, Sid, Iri, Hernan, and two of the Fleet guards all standing on the road, waiting for something to happen. Sid took the initiative, and bounded up to the front of the house. Everyone else followed him, much more sedately.

    He casually kicked over a statue that sat next to the front porch, a weird looking bird with giant plastic feet, and picked something up off the ground. Sid held up the spare key triumphantly.

    "One of the cars is out, so I don''t think anybody''s home," Sid signed. He stuck the key in the lock and opened the door. He held it open for everyone to file in. Yan picked the statue back up before she went inside. She didn¡¯t understand what the point of locking the house was when there was clearly nobody around for kilometers, but then again, she wasn¡¯t Sid¡¯s family.

    Sid instructed everyone to put down their bags and deposit their shoes on the mat near the door. The interior of the farmhouse was spacious, but every available shelf seemed to be crowded with knickknacks. More weird statues lurked in every corner of the room. There were paintings (mainly of the nearby scenery and what Yan assumed were Sid''s family members) on the walls. There was also a smoke detector that was making a constant ''error'' beeping noise. The kitchen had a large wooden table, its surface marred by years of heavy use. Sid rifled through the refrigerator to see what snacks his family had. When Sid finally turned around, soda can in his hand, Yan was able to ask the question that she desperately wanted to know the answer to.

    "Did you tell your family we were coming?" Yan asked.

    "No," Sid signed. "But it doesn''t really matter."

    Yan wanted to scream. Iri and Hernan, who apparently already knew this small fact, gave each other a look. "At least they aren''t waiting in town to pick you up," Hernan signed.

    "I''m sure they''re all out shopping. The fridge is barren," Sid signed dramatically.

    "Any guesses when they''ll be back?" Iri asked. Sid shrugged, plopping down on a chair at the table.

    They all sat around uncomfortably for a while. The two Fleet soldiers looked especially out of place in the farmhouse kitchen. Sid seemed relaxed, but in a way that made Yan think that he was doing that just for show. His tattoo was healed enough that he felt like he could safely mess with it, but it was still sensitive and raw, so he was leaving it alone. Yan wondered what his mother''s reaction would be when she did get home, considering that one of Sid''s stated reasons for getting the tattoo was to make her mad. The family politics of this situation were confusing and mysterious. She didn''t want to think about how the presence of five strangers would impact that dynamic.

    Yan was slowly being driven insane by the beeping of the smoke detector.

    "Can you fix your smoke detector, please?" Yan asked, finally, pointed at the offending object.

    "What''s wrong with it?" Sid asked.

    "It''s beeping," Yan signed.

    "I wonder how long it''s been doing that for," Sid signed. He stood and dragged his chair over to where the fire detector was positioned on the ceiling. Standing on the chair, he unscrewed the offending object and fiddled with it until the beeping stopped. He then screwed it back in to the ceiling.

    "Thanks," Yan signed. Sid sat back at the table, hands now slightly dusty. "What was wrong with it?"

    "I don''t know. I just turned it off."

    Yan sighed. Of course.

    "How does that help you if you can''t hear it?" Iri asked, clumsily signing.

    "It''s wired up to flashing lights in other rooms. But we''ve never had a fire anyway." He shrugged.

    They waited and waited for Sid''s family to return. Eventually, Yan heard the sound of a car approaching: car tires crunching over the pebbles on the unpaved road.

    "They''re back," Yan signed.

    Sid grinned widely. He stood up, and walked over to the front door. He positioned himself so that his family would immediately see him when they opened the door. Car doors slammed outside.

    Yan thought that this was not going to go well. She cringed at the embarrassment that all of this was bound to cause. Iri looked vaguely amused at the whole prospect; Hernan looked bored.

    The front door jiggled as someone put a key in the lock, but as it was already unlocked it just creaked open. Yan could only see Sid, and didn''t see what his family members'' reactions were. Sid signed "Surprise!" and there was the sound of something heavy falling to the ground outside the door.

    Yan went to look out the window. Sid''s family, not counting Sid, consisted of four people: what looked like his parents, one that Yan knew was his older brother, and his younger sister. He had mentioned them to Yan on occasion, but she didn''t know their written names, only their sign names.

    Sid''s mother was sitting on the porch, surrounded by spilled groceries. She was wearing a long skirt, heavy work shoes, and a flowy green top. Her wiry grey hair was pulled up into a bun on the top of her head, though there were many strands flying loose.

    Sid''s father was a stout man who was holding one side of a heavy wooden crate. Sid''s brother, "dirt foot" as Sid had called him, was holding the other side. Both of the men were strong and tanned, much darker than Sid, belying the fact that Sid rarely went out doors if he could help it. Both were wearing work jeans that had clearly seen better days and heavy boots. Sid''s father was clean shaven, with rough black hair falling into his eyes. Sid''s brother had a massive beard. Yan thought that was a bit of an affectation.

    The younger sister, "apple face", was in the middle of pulling groceries out of the car when the commotion up at the front door happened. She was dressed like her brother and father, in jeans and boots, but with her hair in a bun like her mother''s. She had a sweet, open face with sunburned cheeks. Yan could imagine where she had gotten her nickname.

    Now that Yan thought about it, were the sign names that Sid gave her just mean nicknames, or were they the ones that their parents used as well? Knowing Sid, Yan would probably put her guesses on the former. At the very least, "dirt foot" didn''t seem like the kindest name to give someone.

    The brother and father put down the crate in front of the porch, and the father helped the mother up. There was a flurry of sign that Yan couldn''t follow- but she got the jist that all of them were asking how in God''s name Sid had gotten here, and what in the name of all that''s good had he done to his head?

    The commotion continued for a while, but Sid managed to give at least a satisfactory enough explanation to stop them from crowding him. They all picked up the spilled groceries and came inside. Everyone who had been sitting at the table stood up to greet the family.

    "Mom, Dad, dirt-foot, apple-face," Sid signed. "This is my group. Yan, Maedes, Hernan, Lopp, and Vane." Sid pointed at each person before he spelled out their names. Lopp and Vane were the names of the two Fleet soldiers who had accompanied them. Yan was a little surprised to note that Hernan was the only person in their group who had his own sign name, the finger gun tapped to the wrist that Yan had seen Sid use before. Maybe it was a private joke between him and Hernan. Sid fingerspelled all the names, including Hernan''s before he gave Hernan''s sign name.

    Sid''s parents and siblings came in to shake hands with everyone and deposit all the groceries on the kitchen table.

    "Nice to meet you all," Yan signed. "Sorry for the surprise, I thought Sid had told you we were coming." Yan used the sign for Sid''s name that he had originally shown her, the sign that she thought of as "egghead".

    "It is an unfortunate habit of Sid''s to do things without telling anyone," Sid''s mother signed. She fingerspelled Sid''s name, then used a completely different sign for him: the sign for "fix" tapped on her forehead.

    With the whole family in the kitchen, Yan could get a better look at them all. Sid''s father and brother were both taller than he was, with the brother being about the same height as Yan. Sid was taller than his mother and sister, who were both approximately the same height.

    Sid''s father pulled Sid out into the hallway, where no one else could see their conversation. Yan wondered what they were talking about, but she figured it was just Sid getting yelled at for scaring his mother.

    "This is my daughter, Renay," Sid''s mother signed, waving her daughter over to introduce her to the group. She fingerspelled the name, then gave the sign name that wasn¡¯t Sid''s unfortunate nickname. This new sign was the sign for ''quick'' rested on the palm of the left hand. "And my son, Karl." After fingerspelling it, she made the sign for ''strong'' with her right hand, and the first letter of the name with the left, wiping the letter along the length of her right arm.

    All of this was a lot of new information to Yan, and she was doing her best to remember it. The kitchen was quite crowded with everyone in it, and some of the groceries on the table looked like they needed to be put in the freezer before they melted.

    "Renay, can you take everyone out back? I need to put away the groceries," Sid''s mom signed, looking overwhelmed. Renay nodded, and she gestured for everyone to follow her.

    It was a bit of a process, as everyone had taken their shoes off as Sid instructed earlier, and had to put them back on before they could go outside. Behind the house, amidst the tall trees, there was a picnic table and assorted lawn furniture in various states of disrepair.

    "Sorry that my mom kicked you out of the house," Renay signed. Yan and Renay sat down at the picnic table, Iri, Hernan, and the two soldiers stood around talking between themselves.

    "It''s ok," Yan replied. "We did barge into your house without warning."

    Renay smiled. She looked quite similar to Sid when she did that, with the same sharpness at the edges.

    "Nothing like a little excitement," Renay signed. "You''re Yan, right? Sid mentioned you in a letter, one time." Yan nodded.

    "I hope he said something nice," Yan signed.

    "Just that you signed badly, but it was better than not at all."

    Yan laughed. "I''ve gotten better."

    Renay shrugged. "Sid doesn''t really like to say anything useful in letters."

    "Really?"

    "We don''t get a message from him for months, then he''ll send us something really random. Like, a ten page letter about a book he just read, or scanned pages from his sketchbook, or some new idea about how to make the tractor faster."

    "You sure he wasn''t just sending you his best schoolwork so you knew he was still alive?" Yan asked.

    "Those were just some examples," Renay said. "I love him but he is the worst."

    "Sid said he was mad that he had to go to the Academy," Yan said. She recalled that he had used the term ''stolen'' when he had first mentioned it, but she was trying to be polite. "Do you think he still is?"

    "He would have hated staying here," Renay signed. "I''m sure he already told you, but he doesn''t get along the best with our parents."

    "He did mention something like that," Yan admitted. She wasn''t going to go into detail about how Sid said he was doing things to make his mother mad on purpose, but she assumed that Renay already knew.

    "Are you and Sid good friends?" Renay asked, changing the subject.

    "I think so. He came to my room one day and declared that we were.¡±

    "Sounds like Sid," Renay signed. Yan noted that she used the ''egghead'' sign that Sid had first introduced himself with, not the one that his mother used.

    "We''ve been through a lot together," Yan said. "But I think we''re friends mostly because I could already sign when I met him."

    "Spacer, right?"

    "How could you tell?" Yan asked sarcastically, gesturing to her overly tall body. Renay smiled.

    "I want to hear all about Sid''s apprenticeship- he''ll never tell us anything, so you have to."

    "What do you want to know?" Yan asked. "I''ll tell you anything that isn''t confidential."

    "You could even tell me secrets, nothing will ever pass my lips," Renay signed jokingly.

    They continued on, Yan telling Renay about what Sandreas was like up close, how brutal Halen''s training could be, and what it was like getting to attend fancy dinner parties with important politicians. She left out most of the important details, such as how she and Sid had murdered a bunch of pirates, and Halen''s past, and how Sandreas and Halen were partners, and how Sandreas was actually off visiting an active warzone that no one knew about. There was a lot that Yan had to filter out that was just background noise to her life. Renay asked to see her gun, and Yan showed it to her. She also wanted Yan to demonstrate her powers, and Yan did by making one of the weird statues fly around.

    Renay gave as well as she got, describing their somewhat mundane family life. It was a completely different world than what Yan had grown up with. Sid''s family was isolated, living alone on the massive farm. They went into town occasionally to buy supplies, but almost every other transaction was conducted over the net: buying and selling their crops and animals; homeschooling Karl (until he graduated), Sid (until he was taken to the Academy), and Renay; and communicating with the outside world, including their grandparents, extended family, and the wider Deaf community on Galena.

    Sid''s family was almost the opposite of what Yan''s home life was like. Where Sid had a close immediate family and distant extended one, Yan had only her extended family all around her. But their home, alone in the middle of miles of farmland, was almost like a ship, in that it contained most everything they needed.

    Renay also described how Sid used to spend hours and hours arguing with people over the net about how best to maintain tractors, what was the best farming equipment to buy, and any other mundane thing. Apparently he was quite a firebrand when it came to net arguments. It made Yan glad that she had lived on a ship without access to the net, so she never developed the instinct to publish her diatribes on random subjects to public forums. She wondered if some member of the security team had gone through and scrubbed the net of any of Sid''s more vitriolic messages. She didn''t envy that person their job.

    Yan also inquired about all the statues around the place. Apparently, most of them were made by Sid''s father, but Renay herself had taken to making a few recently. It seemed as though every member of the family had some sort of personal hobby. Sid''s was drawing and fixing up the family''s machines, Renay and her dad worked on the statues, Sid''s mother was an accomplished painter and cook, and Karl... Renay rolled her eyes when Yan asked what Karl liked to do. Apparently Karl enjoyed going into town, getting drunk, and participating in weightlifting competitions. Yan had no opinion on any of that.

    The life on the farm seemed almost idyllic from the way Renay described it, but Yan saw the look on Renay''s face when she mentioned certain things, and the way that other things were casually not mentioned. Renay was about five years younger than Sid, so fifteen or sixteen, yet she had made no mention of what she would do for the rest of her life. On that same point, Karl was twenty-four and was still living at home, even though his hobbies as Renay listed them involved socializing in town. Sid was, although no one quite seemed willing to frame it that way, the only one who had managed to escape. Sid had mentioned, once, that his mother liked to control people. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The question lurked in the back of Yan''s mind, even as she had this pleasant conversation, why had Sid chosen to come back home at all?

    Eventually, Karl came out of the house, bearing sodas and snack food to pass out to the assembled guests. He sat down on the picnic bench next to Renay. She gave him a friendly shove to try to push him away, but his body was solid enough that she wouldn''t have been able to move him even if she had actually been trying.

    "Hey," Karl said aloud, which shocked Yan enough for her to choke on the soda that she had just opened. "Yan? Nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand to shake. Yan finished coughing and shook his hand.

    "Hi?" She said, questioningly. Yan had been under the impression that Sid''s entire family was deaf. Karl wasn''t wearing the glasses that Sid wore, so she wasn''t sure if he could hear her.

    "Oh, yeah, I can hear you," Karl said. "I''m the oddball here, not deaf."

    Next to Karl, Renay was making ''blah, blah, blah'' motions with her hands. She wasn''t wearing glasses either, but it was clear that she couldn''t hear what Karl was saying. Yan wasn''t sure what to do. Was it rude of her to talk to Karl out loud when Renay was right there? But Karl clearly wanted to be speaking, so would it be rude to use sign? Yan was paralyzed with indecision. Renay saw the look on Yan''s face. She rolled her eyes.

    "I''ll go talk to Sid''s buddy over there," Renay signed, pointing to Hernan. "Sid must get along with him great." Renay stood up from the table with a jaunty wave and headed over to where Hernan and Iri were sitting beneath some trees.

    Yan hoped that Iri was not flirting with Hernan, but they did seem to spend a lot of time talking to each other. It wasn''t really her business, but the thought of it did feel extremely weird. She shook her attention away from the two minders and turned back to Karl.

    "I thought that your whole family was deaf," Yan admitted.

    "Well, it''s genetic, but there''s always weird stuff with genes," Karl said. "Doesn''t really matter. So, you''re Sid''s friend?"

    "Yeah, well, coworkers first, friends second. But yeah," Yan said. It was difficult to explain the relationship that she and Sid had in simple terms.

    "Heh, of course. You''re pretty good lookin, you know?" Karl said.

    "Uh, thanks?" Now Yan was trapped in this awkward social situation.

    "I''ve always told Sid, he''s missing out on the best parts of life, which is to say, the girls," Karl said.

    "We''re not dating," Yan clarified. "If Sid told you I was his partner that''s-"

    Karl laughed. "Like I said, he''s missing out."

    Yan was distinctly uncomfortable, and really didn''t know how to escape. She wished Renay hadn''t left. She would just have to approach it like the diplomat she was.

    "Well, Sid can make his own decisions in life," Yan said.

    "That''s too true. Did you try to stop him from getting that ugly as sin tattoo?" Karl asked.

    "I didn''t think it was the greatest idea," Yan said, tactfully. "But Sid was going to do it whether I liked it or not."

    "He''s in there getting yelled at over it," Karl said, nodding to the house. "He shouldn''t have done it, or he shouldn''t have come home."

    "I think he lives for the drama of it all, sometimes.¡±

    "That''s true. Maybe he''s just a sucker for punishment.¡± Now that they were actually talking about Sid, rather than obliquely about how much Karl liked the way Yan looked, the conversation was easier. Sid was something they had in common.

    "You really think so?"

    "Let me put it this way. When we were kids, he used to challenge me to fights, and I would win every single time, but he never got bored of trying."

    "You''d think he''d at least try to cheat to win," Yan said, thinking about the lessons that Halen had taught them.

    "Nah, he likes to feel superior, but he won''t break the rules. So he''ll lose honorably when I wrestle him into the dirt." Karl flexed his arm, showing off his physique.

    "Well, you have about forty kilos on him," Yan said. "Is that really a fair fight?"

    "All''s fair in the family," Karl said. "But it''s Sid''s fault for being so scrawny. He never would go outside."

    Karl talked about the brotherly rivalry he had with Sid until he got bored and wandered away, leaving Yan alone at the table. This was going to be an awkward overnight stay, she could already tell. She liked Renay enough, but Karl seemed like the opposite of ¡®her type¡¯. Having now gotten the full Karl experience, Yan could safely say that she understood why Renay had rolled her eyes when describing Karl''s hobbies.

    On the other hand, Yan couldn''t really blame him for being the way that he was. Karl was the odd one out in the family, possibly even more so than Sid was, but he was trapped there by... what? What kept Karl from leaving the family farm and living in town, where he clearly would prefer to be? She would have to ask Sid about it later. Maybe he would be able to give her a clearer picture of what was going on with his family. Or maybe he wouldn''t. Sid was unpredictable if he was anything.

    Yan waited around at the picnic table, not sure what she was waiting for. They had arrived in early afternoon, and it was a warm, late-summer day on this part of the planet. The shadows cast by the trees that surrounded them grew longer, and a breeze rustled through their branches like a whispering chorus.

    Sid came out of the house eventually, looking slightly chagrined. Perhaps he had been yelled at more than he was expecting. He came over and sat next to Yan. Yan nudged him with her shoulder.

    "Get yelled at?" she asked.

    Sid nodded. "We can stay here for tonight, but they didn''t buy enough groceries to feed guests, so we can''t stay tomorrow."

    "I don''t know what you expected to happen.¡±

    "Honestly, I didn''t really plan anything.¡±

    "That is extremely clear. Does your family have guest rooms?"

    "One. You and I can share my room, and Hernan and Maedes can share the guest room. Lopp and Vane can take the couches downstairs, I guess."

    "I''d rather share with Iri, if it''s ok with you," Yan signed.

    "Why?"

    As unnoticeably as Yan could, she jerked her thumb to point at Karl, who was in the middle of arm wrestling with the Fleet soldiers. "He was being weird."

    Sid raised an eyebrow. "Want me to punch him?"

    Yan gave him a look. "No, I do not want you to punch him. I just would prefer not to give him any more ammunition."

    "I''ll punch him anyway," Sid signed. "But sure, you can share the guest room with Iri. And Hernan will be stuck with me."

    "I''m sure he''ll greatly appreciate you as a bed partner.¡±

    "I''m sure he''ll sleep on the floor.¡±

    "Well, you get to break the news to all of them," Yan signed. "Since you were the one who suggested all of this."

    Sid grinned. He was going to stand up and deliver the news, but Renay came trotting over, Iri and Hernan in tow.

    "You must have gotten so yelled at," Renay signed. "You''re so dumb."

    "I just missed you so much, I had to come home," Sid signed. "Not a day goes by when I don''t think of you, my dear, sweet apple-face..." Sid was being melodramatic, and Renay slapped his hand, hard.

    "You idiot. I can''t even call you egg-head anymore, now you''re..." Renay struggled to think of a new pejorative sign, but Sid held up a hand to stop her.

    "Watch this," he signed. Closing his eyes, he focused on the ink on the tattoo on his head, and made it invisible somehow, leaving the normal white of his head. As normal as it could be, considering it was still a bit raw. Sid opened his eyes and grinned at Renay, waiting for her reaction. Yan, Iri, and Hernan were watching this demonstration with patience, amusement, and resignation, respectively.

    Renay did not disappoint. "You could do that and you left it up just for them to yell at you about? Wow, I bow before your stupidity," Renay signed, bowing to Sid.

    "Well, that''s the point, isn''t it?" Sid asked.

    "I don''t know what planet you''re living on," Renay signed. "But on this one, we try to get chewed out as little as possible."

    "I live on Emerri, the rules are different there," Sid signed, grinning. He closed his eyes and let the ink of the tattoo return to its normal color.

    "I wonder what Dad is making for dinner," Renay signed, changing the subject. "Pasta, probably. That¡¯s all we could have enough of."

    They all sat around the picnic table and had a fine conversation. Iri must have felt a little left out, as her sign was only the basics of what was required to understand most of what Yan said to Sid on a normal day. Even Yan felt a little left behind by how Sid, Renay, and Hernan signed to each other, and she had been practicing sign nonstop for months. She thought she had gotten pretty good at it, but it was clear now that Sid had been humoring her and slowing down his motions most of the time. She could follow most of the conversation, but not well enough to feel confident participating.

    Sid was a good conversationalist, as he usually had something interesting to say, even if it was mainly aimed at riling up various other people. Everyone was used to his antics, however, and took it in stride. He told Renay all about what Olar was like. She was interested in the descriptions of the city, as the mountainous zone was so different from the endless expanse of grain that surrounded her here.

    Despite it being summer, the afternoon slid by quickly, and the sun crept towards the horizon. Yan still had seen neither hide nor hair of Sid''s parents, who were bustling around in the house. Presumably Sid''s father was preparing dinner, and possibly his mother was preparing the guest bedroom and couches for use by their unexpected guests. Considering how isolated Sid''s family seemed to be, it was a wonder that they had guest space at all, but Sid explained that it was really just a spare bedroom that had been around since the building of the house. He didn''t mention how long ago that was, but it from the look of the place, it was quite a while ago.

    Finally, Sid''s parents came out. Sid''s dad was bearing a giant pot of pasta in sauce, and Sid''s mother went in and out of the house, fetching plates and cups and utensils. Everyone was quite hungry by this point. Yan stood up and moved away from the picnic table so Sid''s parents had a place to put all of the things. There wasn''t going to be enough space for everyone to sit at the table, so it was only polite for no one to sit there, Yan figured. Everyone got in line to take food and drink. Once served, Yan went to sit on the grass underneath the trees, carefully balancing her food on her lap. Everyone sat in a big circle. Even in the deepening twilight, Yan could see the family clearly.

    They all talked as they ate, putting down their forks when they wanted to sign something. Yan noticed that Sid''s parents were careful to keep the conversation away from the awkward situation at hand, that of the unexpected group of guests barging into their home.

    "So, Yan, what did you like to study before your apprenticeship?" Sid''s father asked. Yan still didn''t know his name, but she was too awkward to ask, at this point. She resolved to just fingerspell out Mr. Welslak, if it came down to it.

    "I wanted to go into xenobiology," Yan signed, remembering the sign that Sid had taught her the first night they really talked. That had been a million years ago.

    "A useful calling indeed. What made you change your mind?"

    "One cannot refuse when opportunity knocks.¡±

    "That has always been Sid''s philosophy," Sid''s mother signed. "Do you two get along well? I heard Sid mention that he didn''t like one of the other people he was working with."

    "I never said I didn''t like her," Sid protested. "But that was Kino, anyway. Yan and I are friends. Obviously."

    "Kino?" Karl asked. "Who''s that?"

    "The third member of our merry trio," Sid signed. "Another apprentice."

    "She pretty, too?" Karl asked.

    Sid''s mother, who was sitting right next to Karl, slapped his leg, causing his pasta plate to slip sideways onto his shoe. "Be polite," she signed.

    "What''s she like?" Renay asked.

    "She''s quiet," Sid signed.

    "Observant," Yan added. "Always paying attention."

    "Where is she now? Why didn''t she come with you?" Sid''s father asked.

    "She went with Sandreas to visit Jenjin," Sid explained. "We got to pick where we would go."

    "She didn''t want to go with you?" Sid''s mother asked. "I wonder why." Her face was the normal neutral questioning one. Yan wondered if there was something hidden underneath that simple sentence.

    "One of us was going to go with First Sandreas no matter what," Yan signed. "I picked to go to Olar, and Sid picked to go with me. Kino was left with going to Jenjin."

    "So it was you who left her behind," Sid''s mother signed. "Of course."

    Yan wasn''t really sure what was going on. She had just explained that only two of them could come on the trip. It wasn''t as though Yan wouldn''t have wanted Kino to be with them- well, she was glad that Kino hadn''t been inflicted with the same traumas that they had faced on the journey- but in the beginning, Yan would have liked all three of them to have gone. It wasn''t her choice, or Sid''s. Maybe his mother was where Sid got his argumentative streak from.

    "We couldn''t all come," Yan tried again to explain.

    "Besides, you''re glad she''s not here, there isn''t even room for us," Sid signed with a grin. He looked positively ghoulish in the dim light. They would have to go inside soon, or quit talking. The light was growing noticeably dimmer and it was going to be hard to see each other''s signs soon.

    "I always have room for my wandering son," Sid''s mother signed. "Have you been well, out on your travels?"

    "I haven''t been sick," Sid signed. That was a dodge to the question if Yan had ever seen one.

    "That''s good to know," Sid''s father signed. "What''s your apartment like? Is rent expensive now that you''re not in student housing?"

    "It''s paid for by my apprenticeship. It''s a nice place." Sid shrugged. "Not much to tell about it. High security, right near Stonecourt."

    "Do you really need a lot of security?" Renay asked, curious.

    Sid pointed at Hernan, Iri, and the Fleet soldiers. "We usually have a bigger entourage than just them, but nobody else wanted to come down to the planet with us."

    "And thank God for that," Karl said aloud.

    "Wow, you''re really important," Renay signed. "Don''t let it make your head any bigger. I''m sure if it gets any larger you''ll explode."

    "Renay, be nice to your brother," Sid''s mother signed. Renay smirked.

    "If I haven''t died from it by now, I''m sure I''ll survive," Sid signed.

    "No, all those tattoo pricks relieved the pressure of the gasses in your skull. It''s only a matter of time before they build back up to fatal levels," Renay signed.

    "So I should get more tattoos is what you''re saying?"

    "NO," Sid''s mother signed emphatically. "I can''t bear it. They''re beyond ugly."

    Sid covered his mouth with his hand so that his family couldn''t read his lips. "Karl, did they ever find out about yours? Want me to tell?"

    "Don''t you dare, you little-" Karl dropped his plate on the ground and started to lunge across the circle at Sid. Sid scrambled up out of the way. This was apparently the signal that meant dinner was over, because everyone scooted out of the way of Karl and stood up to escape the brotherly scuffle. Hernan watched it with consternation, but didn''t step in.

    Renay came over and tugged on Yan''s sleeve, pulling her to the side of the house so that they could have a more private conversation.

    "What did Sid say to Karl?" she asked. Renay was using the ruder sign names for both of them.

    "I don''t think I''m supposed to tell you," Yan signed. "Sorry."

    "He''s rude," Renay signed. "I hate him."

    "Who, Sid?" Yan asked.

    Renay nodded. "I think he came here just to blow off steam on us all. What made him extra angry?"

    "Extra? He''s usually at least a little like this.¡±

    "But not to everybody, all at once," Renay signed. Yan frowned.

    "Renay, I think you''re cool, but I''m not going to tell you Sid''s secrets. You''ll have to ask him yourself," Yan signed.

    "But I deserve to know, he''s my brother."

    "And he''s my friend, and he deserves to have his secrets kept, if he wants them to be."

    Renay crossed her arms. Yan sighed.

    "Here''s a compromise. If you ask him, you can say that I don''t mind him telling about my part in it. He might be trying to protect me, too."

    "How mysterious," Renay signed. "Thanks."

    "Yeah. Well. Don''t... Don''t be mean about it, ok?"

    "What? I''ve never been mean to Sid in my life."

    "Yeah, and I''ve never been on a starship before. But really, please. I''m not kidding."

    "Ok, I promise I won''t be mean about that specific mystery," Renay signed. "Thanks, Yan. You''re cool."

    "You''re welcome," Yan signed, but Renay was already skipping away, presumably to go harass Sid. Yan slowly made her way back around the side of the house toward where everyone was gathered.

    The evening was winding to its conclusion, with everyone standing around and talking. Sid had been beaten squarely by Karl in their fight, surprising no one. Yan hadn''t gotten to see it, and she almost wished she had. Maybe she should tell Halen to make Sid bulk up. She was surprised to find herself thinking positive thoughts about Halen. They had been gone for so long, maybe absence truly did make the heart grow fonder. If she thought about it too hard, though, the feeling of guilt would come back- Halen was once a pirate, and she had-

    She tried to stop thinking about it. She walked around the yard, picking up people''s discarded plates and cups, stacking them on the picnic table. She made herself useful. Once she had finished cleaning, Yan stood around with Iri and Hernan, not wanting to go bother Sid as he talked with various members of his family. Yan felt like an outsider here, more than she felt like an outsider in general. She was used to that feeling, but she hated it. Eventually, everyone trickled inside the house.

    Inside, it was almost unnaturally quiet, since the majority of the house spoke in sign language. Sid''s parents sat on the couch in the living room and watched tv, muted. His father had his feet up on the coffee table, socked feet wiggling. Yan definitely didn''t want to be alone in a room with them, as that would be unbearable, so she headed into the kitchen, where they were all drinking. Karl had broken out his personal stash of beer, it looked like, and had deigned to share it with his siblings on this night of celebration. Though Yan didn''t want to intrude, Sid was the only person she knew, so she headed into the kitchen and took a seat next to Sid. Karl offered her a beer, but she declined as politely as she could. No one was really saying much; there was only the sound of the bottles hitting the table occasionally.

    From the look on Sid''s face, it seemed that he and Renay had their conversation already. Yan didn''t know what the outcome of it was, but underneath the table, she twined her leg with Sid''s and tried to send him a bit of comfort through the power. Sitting silently and thinking was the opposite of keeping his mind off of it all, after all, but Sid had been coping with it so differently.

    Yan just wanted to go home. Maybe Sid felt the same way, after all, here they were. Was this helping him? Sid sent her a muted feeling of amusement back. The beer, like the Vena, took the edge off of his power, but in a much lesser way. One would have to be completely blackout drunk before they were unable to muster the thoughts to control the power, but Vena took much less of a dosage before thoughts became soft, unfocused, and muted. That was the way Yan imagined it, anyway.

    Sid and his siblings had a conversation, but Yan just watched, feeling already overwhelmed by the day. She didn''t really follow it, and just tipped back her chair and let the time and the warmth of the kitchen pass around her. Eventually, they heard Sid''s parents head up the stairs to bed, and then Sid got up to show all the guests to where they would be staying.

    Yan and Iri took the guest bedroom. It had a large (neatly made) bed, a desk with a chair, a closet, a mirror, and a window, but not much else. The quilt on the bed was a haphazard yet endearing patchwork, and it clashed horribly with the striped green wallpaper of the walls. Yan wondered how long all of this had been in the room. Generations, maybe.

    Yan washed up in the bathroom a few doors down, then changed into her pajamas. She had brought them and two changes of clothes in her backpack, but it seemed she would only be needing one. They would be leaving in the morning, after all.

    "I guess we don''t have to worry about keeping anybody up if we talk," Yan said to Iri as she came into the bedroom, having finished brushing her own teeth. "Except Karl, and the rest of our group, I guess."

    "Karl''s bedroom is all the way down the hall, Lopp and Vane are downstairs, so it''s really just Hernan we''d be bothering," Iri said. She always did have a good idea of where everyone was. That was her job.

    "Sorry, Hernan," Yan said. There wasn''t any response. "Guess he can''t hear us."

    "You know, you really ripped me off, not letting me share a room with him," Iri said. "I''m holding that against you."

    "Grow up and be professional about it," Yan said. "You''re supposed to be here working with me, not flirting with your coworker."

    "Ah, but Yan, those things are not mutually exclusive!" Iri said, voice muffled as she pulled off her shirt.

    Yan turned away as Iri started changing into her own pajamas, hopping around ungracefully to get her feet into her pants. Yan caught a glimpse of her muscular body in the mirror and immediately shut her eyes. Iri was... ostensibly straight. For all that she had flirted with Yan at the Governor''s Dinner, that seemed to be more for amusement than anything, and her recent attentions had been directed squarely at Hernan. (Yan still personally thought that Hernan was too old for her, but that might have just been her projecting.) Besides, Yan had Sylva, and it would be weird to get involved with Iri. But, unfortunately, Iri was undeniably attractive, in a strong and sultry way, and constantly present. It was a bad combination, especially when mixed with Yan''s perpetual feeling of awkwardness.

    "I''m dressed, you can turn around now," Iri said. "Not like you had to be all weird about it in the first place."

    "It''s not weird, I just wanted to give you privacy," Yan protested weakly. She sat down on the side of the bed.

    "If I cared that much about privacy, I would have changed in the bathroom. Besides, not like you have any privacy from meeeeeee," Iri teased. "And we get to spend the whole night together, isn''t that fun?"

    "You don''t have to be all weird about things," Yan said. "You''d better just hope you don''t wake up with me thinking that you''re out to get me in the middle of the night."

    "Well, you seemed to sleep pretty soundly when Sid was around, didn''t you?" Iri hopped onto the bed, causing the springs in the mattress to creak and bounce Yan up and down as the whole thing settled.

    "Only because he was out cold, and I was psychically latching on to that," Yan said.

    "Oh, weird power nonsense, of course that''s why you were all cuddled up," Iri said. "I get it."

    Yan was tempted to hit her with a pillow. "We should go to sleep. We spent all day travelling and we''re going to have to spend all of tomorrow doing the same."

    "You''re not wrong," Iri said. She wrestled somewhat unsuccessfully with the covers, only managing to get her legs twisted up in the taut blankets on top of the bed. "Hit the lights, will you?" Iri asked.

    Yan just used the power to flick the light switch, plunging the room into pitch blackness. When Yan''s eyes adjusted, she could see the vague outlines of things , thanks to starlight coming in the window. She crawled underneath the covers, kicking to free the quilted blanket from the end of the bed. She pulled it up to her chin.

    They lay there in the darkness, facing eachother. Iri''s eyes caught the light.

    "Iri?" Yan asked.

    "Yeah?"

    "Do you think Sid''s ok?"

    "No," Iri said. "But you should talk to him about it, if you want to know."

    Yan nodded, mostly invisible in the dark, but the action tugged on the blanket. Iri tugged it back.

    "Talking about it is hard," Yan said.

    "I know. You don''t have to."

    "Do you think that I''m ok?"

    "No. But I think you will be, eventually."

    "When?"

    "I don''t know. I think you''ll survive, though."

    "I don''t want to just survive," Yan said.

    "What do you want?"

    "I just want to go home," Yan whispered.

    "We are," Iri said. "We''ll be there soon."

    Yan felt the tears pooling in her eyes, and she wiped them messily on the quilt. This had been a new record length of time she''d gone without crying, since the whole thing happened. A whole two days, even.

    Iri fumbled around underneath the quilt, grabbing Yan''s hand. She squeezed it hard. Iri''s hand was solid where Yan''s was long and spidery. Iri could break her bones, if she wanted, but Yan could do worse. Why was she thinking like this?

    "It won''t be the same," Yan said.

    "The past is not a home you can go back to," Iri said.

 Chapter Thirty-Seven - All Of Us Pirates Would Have Been Martyrs, Part II

    All Of Us Pirates Would Have Been Martyrs, Part II

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Why must the mirror lie to me? From the glass on the window I look into her eyes. She¡¯s a sinner so hated, she¡¯s awful to see. So why does my mirror tell me lies?¡±

    -from ¡°Mirror Regret¡±, song by Laquan Hope

    </blockquote>

    Yan woke to the sun streaming in through the window, and with Iri''s arm draped over her waist. One, or both of them had kicked the blankets off during the night, and the quilt lay crumpled on the floor. Yan disentangled herself and got up.

    The morning passed by in a blur. There was a breakfast that wasn''t so much hurried as it was chaotic. Sid''s family all had tasks that they needed to do around the farm, so they scattered after wolfing down cereal or toast. That left Sid to "coordinate" getting everyone moving. There weren''t enough bowls for everyone, so Yan ate cereal dry off of a plate. She didn''t mind.

    Karl was going to drive them all back into town, and from there they could make their way through various modes of transport to the elevator. Still, it was a while before everyone was actually ready to leave. While everyone on the Fleet team could be up and out at a moment''s notice, Sid had to go and say goodbye to all of his family members, show Yan some of his old haunts, and generally procrastinate enough that Yan worried they wouldn''t make it out before night. Hernan was the one who put a stop to it, telling Sid that he had better get control of himself and let them all leave. Sid bid final goodbyes to everyone, and with some relief the group squeezed into the van so that Karl could drive them away.

    They spent the rest of the day in transit from one place to another, with hardly more than a minute spent in any one place. The elevator ride back up to Galena Station was long and tedious. Yan watched out the window as they ascended the long wire tether. Storms gathered above the nearby ocean, and Yan watched the clouds grow and move. It wasn''t meditative, but it suited her mood.

    They finally made it back to Galena station, and only had to wait another day and a half for the ship that would take them to Emerri to arrive. Yan felt anxious about it. The tension that had been growing in her stomach turned into solid knots of worry. She could barely eat. She didn''t even know why she was so nervous. She wasn''t worried about the journey; after all, they had traveled on the Skyfish just fine. Maybe it was just that the whole series of events were coming to their inevitable conclusion, and endings made her nervous.

    Their very last leg of the journey, aboard the Kinetic, went smoothly. The trip between Galena and Emerri was a relatively short one, just a few jumps. The most agonizing time was the wait right before the last jump. The ship had to come in just outside the system, and then had to make a final jump that would place it in orbit. This final jump always had to be done by the most skilled navigator, since it was placing the ship in a densely (for space) populated area, and an accident could be fatal. It wasn''t the thought of the jump that was scary, it was just the feeling of being so close to the end of the journey, yet trapped just far enough away.

    They jumped in after a miserable eight hours of waiting and docked with the Emerri station. Then there was the long, slow ride down to the planet, and the plane flight from the base of the elevator to Yora.

    It was night when they arrived. Yan dragged her heavy suitcase behind her into her apartment. It was cold, dark, and empty. Yan hated it. It was odd, now, to no longer be in such close proximity to Iri and all of the rest of the Fleet team that had accompanied them. Sid was right down the hall, but Yan didn''t want to bother him. She would just have to cope with the loneliness of her apartment. She turned up the heat and unpacked her suitcase.

    Despite the lateness of the hour, Yan took out her phone and called Sylva. She waited as it rang and rang, but there was no answer. Sylva probably wasn''t expecting her back. It was an absurd hour of the morning where she was, anyway. Yan sent her some texts when she decided there was no way Sylva was going to answer the phone

    > hey Sylva

    > I''m back

    > I''ll call you tomorrow probably

    > I''m fine.

    > hope everything''s going ok with you

    > goodnight

    Yan went to bed, not eager to face the next day, but not willing to stay awake either.

    The next morning, Yan woke with her phone blinking with what felt like hundreds of notifications. All her friends had sent her messages in the night. She answered the messages from Harbin, Genna, and Anni with quick replies, as that was the lowest priority and lowest stress thing that she could do. There were messages from Sylva also, which she tackled next.

    < glad you''re back!!!

    < I missed you so much!!!

    < call me whenever, I''ll try to be awake later

    < are you really ok?

    Sylva was probably at work at the moment, so Yan didn''t reply. She would call Sylva in the evening. Was that just putting everything off? Yes, but she needed to conserve her strength, Yan justified.

    The next messages were from Ms. Rosario, who instructed her and Sid to meet in Sandreas''s office at Stonecourt at ten hours. Yan checked the time. She would have to hurry if she wanted to make it. Apparently she had slept in. All of the changing time zones between planets that she had been going to had thrown her for a loop.

    Yan quickly showered and dressed. All the food left in her apartment was questionable at best, since she had been gone for so long, so she forwent breakfast. Yan trudged out of her apartment and headed to Stonecourt. She didn''t bother informing Sid or Kino. If Sid was awake then he could make it to Stonecourt without her pestering him, and if he was asleep then she would take it that he needed rest. As for Kino, Yan had no idea what her status was. The message that Ms. Rosario had sent was only addressed to her and Sid, so perhaps Kino had been given different instructions.

    It was odd to have to think of Kino again, after so long with just her and Sid being partners, but they were all going to be back together now. Until they were sent out again, at least. Yan hoped that wouldn''t happen too soon. As far as she knew, there wasn''t anything pressing on the horizon, but she also hadn''t exactly been keeping up with wider Empire politics while she had been out on the road. She would need to remedy that as soon as possible.

    The journey to Stonecourt felt new and unfamiliar. The brightest colored part of fall had come and gone while she was away, and now the trees that lined the streets had only scraggly brown leaves hanging on. It was instinct that led her to her destination more than memory. She was glad to not need her winter gear just yet; though it was chilly and breezy her thick cassock still provided enough protection from the elements.

    Yan went in the side entrance of Stonecourt, as she always did. She was greeted along the way by a few security guards who knew her. They inquired about her trip and Yan gave quick but friendly non-answers. Yan checked the time. She had a few minutes before she needed to be in Sandreas''s office, but she headed directly there. She didn''t have any other place to go.

    Ms. Rosario was at her desk outside the office. She greeted Yan warmly.

    "Welcome back, Yan! First Sandreas isn''t here yet, but I can let you in," Ms. Rosario said. "Is Sid on his way?"

    "I don''t know, he might have slept in by accident," Yan said. Or because he had taken enough Vena to keep him knocked out for a good few hours. "I haven''t seen him yet this morning. Is Kino here?"

    "She should be here with First Sandreas in a few minutes," Ms. Rosario said.

    "Is there anything I need to catch up on? I feel like I''ve been out of the loop for so long."

    "I''ve heard space travel will do that to you. But no, I''m not going to dump a thousand dossiers on you the day you get back," she said kindly.

    "Thank you.¡± That was a relief that she hadn''t realized she needed.

    "I''m sure First Sandreas will be excited to hear about your trip," Ms. Rosario said. She let Yan in to the office. "They should be back shortly."

    "When did they get back to Emerri?" Yan asked.

    "About a week ago," Ms. Rosario said. "But they had the luxury of much more direct travel in both directions."

    "You have to take what you can get when you hitch a ride on Guild Ships," Yan said. "It''s too bad there isn''t a second First Star."

    "You want to spend Empire money on building a Second Star?" Ms. Rosario smiled. "Good luck getting that funding through committee. The First Star is actually undergoing maintenance right now, so it would be nice to have a spare, but stardrives are not something that can just be pulled out of nowhere."

    "Why is the First Star getting maintained?" Yan asked. Though she had never been on Sandreas''s "personal" ship, she was curious about it. She would have to ask Kino what it was like. "Did they have problems on their trip?"

    "No, this is just normal wear and tear maintenance, and some upgrades. You should ask Halen if you want details, or I can get you the spec sheet, if you would like.¡±

    "No, I''m not that curious," Yan said, smiling.

    Ms. Rosario winked at her. "I understand. Well, go on in, relax for the next few minutes. I''ll call around, see if anyone has seen Sid."

    Yan nodded and headed into Sandreas''s office. The door shut behind her. The place was largely unchanged from the last time she had been there; it had the same white walls, the same pictures, the same furniture. Yan paced in front of the couches, waiting for everyone else to show up.

    She didn''t have to wait very long. Halen''s power swept over her, checking the room, and then he, Sandreas, and Kino entered. They all looked about the same as they had when they had left. It had only been a few weeks, but it felt like a million years. Everyone stood in silence for a moment, but then Sandreas walked over and stiffly embraced Yan. She was taller than he was by a few centimeters, and she awkwardly wrapped her arms around him.

    Sandreas broke off the embrace and stepped back a little. "I''m glad you''re back, Yan."

    "It''s good to see you, too." Yan wasn''t exactly sure what else to say.

    Sandreas gestured to the couches, and they all sat down. Kino had a moment of indecision on where to sit. The normal status of things had been disrupted: Kino had spent her trip with Sandreas and Halen, and presumably felt more of a partnership with them than with Yan. Still, Yan was grateful when Kino slid onto the couch next to her. Things always felt like less of an interrogation when a person was sitting right next to her.

    "Where''s Sid?" Sandreas asked.

    "Still asleep," Halen said. Being in constant contact with all the security teams gave Halen a distinct advantage when it came to knowing people''s status.

    "Hm. Is someone going to get him?" Sandreas asked.

    "Let him sleep," Yan said. "He''s- it''s- tired. He''s tired."

    Sandreas smiled at her. "Okay. Fine. He can sleep the morning away." Sandreas studied her intently for a second. Yan looked away. "Are you ok, Yan?"

    "Fine," Yan said.

    "I don''t know why you even bothered to ask that question," Halen said. "It''s nice to be back with an apprentice who wears her heart on her sleeve."

    Kino was busy yanking the buttons on her own sleeve, but gave Halen a look when he said that. She hadn''t spoken a word yet, and she didn''t seem about to.

    "I''m glad to hear the diplomatic part of your trip went well, at least," Sandreas said.

    "It was set up so we couldn''t fail. All we needed to do was provide an excuse for everyone to be in the same room together," Yan said.

    "There are still plenty of ways an operation like that can go wrong," Sandreas said. "I''m glad that it didn''t."

    "Did everything go well on Jenjin?" Yan asked.

    "There were a few snags, but we accomplished what we set out to do. I''m hopeful that installing a new governor will stabilize the situation there, at least for the next few years."

    Yan nodded. "I heard you had some difficulties at the front?"

    "I got trapped in a cave for a while," Kino said. "I think that everybody else had a worse time of it than I did." She seemed relatively nonchalant about the whole thing.

    "I was quite worried when it happened," Sandreas said. "We all had a little adventure, I suppose."

    "That''s one way of putting all of it," Halen said. "In terms of physical harm, Kino came out of everything with a concussion. We can all be thankful that there was nothing more serious."

    "Are you ok now?" Yan asked, turning to Kino.

    "I''m fine. It''s all healed," Kino said. "It was nothing."

    "She was in bed for a week, sitting in the dark, because she refused help," Halen said to Yan.

    Kino shrugged and returned to picking at her buttons. There was silence for a long moment, then Sandreas sighed and brought up something that Yan was hoping that he would forget.

    "I know this probably isn''t going to be an easy topic, Yan, and I was hoping Sid would be here, but I think that as a group we all need to go over what exactly happened on the Sky Boat, and what could be handled better going forward," Sandreas said. "It''s important to me that you someday can be able to look back on this as just another piece of your education."

    "As opposed to what?" Yan asked.

    "As opposed to being something horrible and unexpected that feels separate from your everyday work," Sandreas said.

    "But it was," Yan said. "I didn''t go there with the aim of-"

    "The things you have to do to stay alive are also part of your work," Halen said softly, cutting her off.

    "You''re training to take my place," Sandreas said. "All three of you. And when you¡¯re in my shoes, there will be many unpleasant things that you will need to do. When you take my place, you cannot be killed, you cannot die. The work that you do to keep yourself alive is right and necessary, whatever it takes. And we need you to understand that now, so that you can do it more easily in the future. Do you understand?"

    Yan nodded, looking down at her shoes.

    "Do you understand, Kino? Because you will need to learn this lesson, too."

    "Yes," Kino said.

    "Do you want me to just tell you what happened?" Yan asked, still looking at the ground.

    "No," Sandreas said. "Lieutenant Harber sent us all of the footage, recorded from the shuttle''s and the Sky Boat''s sensors. We used that to recreate the event in the simulation room. I would like to walk through it."

    "Do we have to?" Yan had only been in the simulation room once before, and that was the time when Kino got shot. It did not hold any pleasant memories.

    "I won''t force you, but it will be to your benefit," Sandreas said. "Perhaps going through the event in a controlled environment will help you take more ownership of it."

    Yan absolutely did not want to take ownership of it, but it didn''t really seem like she had a choice. Though Sandreas was saying that he wouldn''t force her, she was sure that he would be disappointed and judge her. She didn''t think that this would help, but she nodded anyway.

    "Fine," Yan said. "Now?"

    "There''s no point in wasting time, other than waiting for Sid to arrive," Sandreas said.

    "He can''t sleep for that much longer. When he wakes up, he can join us there," Halen said.

    She wouldn¡¯t be able to escape reliving this worst day of her life, then. It seemed incredible that anything could top the day her mother died, but this one felt fresh in her memory. She had had almost thirteen years to process her mother''s death. It was less than a month ago that Yan had committed what she had been thinking of as her first mass murder, so it was fresh in her memory.

    The group went down to the simulation room, through the underground passages to the place where the air hummed with power just as a stardrive did. The room was the same as Yan remembered it, with the same clean white walls and computer terminal.

    "Are we starting with the macro or the micro?" Halen asked, fiddling with the terminal.

    "Could you run both simulations at once?" Sandreas asked. "Put the macro over there, on half size, and the micro over here, full scale?"

    "Sure."

    In the regions of space indicated by Sandreas''s waving hand, there appeared two distinct simulations. One, taking up half the room, was a region of space where there floated scale models of the Sky Boat, the pirate ship, and all of the shuttles and dogfighters that had taken place in the confrontation. The air in which they hovered was clear, but the walls, floor, and ceiling around them were dark colored to match the starry backdrop on which the drama had originally unfolded. On the other side of the room, though the room''s white walls were unchanged, there sat a perfect replica of Shuttle Four, which Yan''s whole team had occupied during the encounter. Yan put her hand out to feel it, and to her shock, the wall of the shuttle that she touched disappeared, giving an illuminated glimpse into the inside. Life size figures of everyone who had been present in the shuttle were seated, perfectly still.

    Yan looked into her own eyes and shuddered. Her body double was pressed back up against her seat. Presumably this freeze frame was taken when they were under heavy acceleration. Her face was twisted up in fear, and she was holding hands with Sid and Iri on either side. Kino leaned over next to Yan, the real Yan, and peered inside.

    "Sid looks scared," Kino said.

    "Yeah, he had a right to be," Yan said. "When was this?"

    Halen came to stand next to them, looking in on the shuttle. He had a tablet in his hand, which was apparently linked to the terminal on the wall that controlled the whole room.

    "This is right before the pirates jumped in," Halen said. He put a solid hand on Yan''s shoulder, which was surprising but surprisingly not unwelcome. He must have noted her sudden spike in... relief? And he laughed. "You''ve found I''m not so bad after all? I''m glad."

    "Don''t push your luck," Yan grumbled. "I''ve had a lot to think about."

    He squeezed her shoulder, then let go, dropping his hand to his side. Yan felt he had been trying to send a message through the power, but she hadn''t caught the meaning in it. They didn''t know each other that well, yet. She looked over at him with a questioning expression. He smiled at her.

    "We can talk later," Halen said. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Sandreas, who had been investigating the larger setup across the room, walked over to join their gathering.

    "I suppose it is the micro that draws the most attention from the crowd," he said. "Are we ready? Shall we play out the drama before us?"

    Kino gave him a flat, annoyed stare. "Theatrics," she said.

    "Ah, you''re right," Sandreas said. As an explanation, for Yan''s benefit he elaborated. "Kino got to witness some of my, perhaps unfortunate, love of drama when we were on Jenjin."

    "I''ve been telling him for years that you would have made a better playwright than politician, but he''s never once listened," Halen said. "Anyway, I''m ready to begin. Yan?"

    "Fine." It wasn''t as though waiting would make this whole process any easier.

    Halen consulted his tablet, and the scene within the shuttle came to life. Yan watched herself jerk, presumably reacting to the pirate ship jumping in. Although she had replayed all of these moments over and over in her head, to the point of feeling like she could recreate the whole scene beat for beat from her memory, she hadn''t realized just how expressive her body was, and how she moved unconsciously. Yan certainly thought she had been sitting still for most of the ride.

    They watched the scene play out between Yan, Sid, and Lieutenant Harber at the front of the shuttle, and then Halen paused the playback.

    "So, Yan, could you explain to us your thought process here?" Sandreas asked.

    "More than what I," she pointed to her body double, "already said?"

    "We on the outside, from these recordings, can''t tell what passed between you and Sid, or what was actually going through your head," Sandreas said. "If you could give us any insight, I would appreciate it."

    "I felt the ship jump in, first of all. Nobody else would have noticed that, not until it started running hot. So I had to make sure everybody knew that a ship had jumped. I guess I kinda started panicking..."

    "Completely understandable, if not ideal. What then?" Sandreas asked.

    "Sid asked me what was going on in the power. He had his eyes closed, so he didn''t know what was going on at all. I basically told him what the situation was. I think I said something like ''we''re the only ones who can help.''"

    "Was that true?" Kino asked. "Were you the only ones who could help?"

    "The Sky Boat, with her dogfighters far away, is not in a very defensible position," Halen said. "Big ships are not very maneuverable, and are large, easy targets. The dogfighters are what do all the real damage in a firefight, and the Sky Boat only had one or two left onboard- the rest had been sent out to scout." Halen explained all this to Kino.

    "But the God''s Engine could have accelerated," Kino said.

    "Fleet ships are better put together than the average Guild ship," Halen said. "But in a real fight, it wouldn''t be useful for one ship to accelerate away, the other would just try to match them. None of it is substitute for jumping, and the Sky Boat couldn''t jump out."

    "Okay," Kino said.

    "So then Sid decided to mutiny? You didn''t tell him to?" Sandreas asked.

    "No, of course not," Yan was almost aghast that anyone could think such a thing of her, but clearly, she had been part and parcel to the whole situation. "Sid did that all himself."

    Halen laughed.

    "Well, he was in the right to take command," Sandreas said. "You both were the ultimate authorities on this mission, and I regret that it was not communicated to you clearly beforehand."

    "Why didn''t you tell us that?" Yan asked.

    "It was an attempt at a leash," Sandreas admitted. "You knew that you couldn''t do anything you liked on the diplomatic side of things, but I was hopeful that you would also feel constrained to remain inside the stated mission with regards to your travel, lodging, and recreation as well. I''ll admit that I didn''t plan out specific orders for this particular worst case scenario."

    "There were specific orders for other worst case scenarios?" Yan asked.

    "Mainly involving trouble on Olar itself," Sandreas said. "That seemed much more likely than a pirate attack. They''re so rare. Harber was following the standard Fleet protocol for members travelling on non Fleet ships if the ship they''re on comes under some sort of duress. That protocol does not usually take into account the presence of sensitives."

    "The chance of having a pair of fully trained sensitives on a ship being attacked by pirates is so astronomically small," Halen said. "The manuals don''t tend to take things like that into account."

    "Don''t pirates specifically attack ships headed to and away from the Academy at the end of the year?" Kino asked.

    "The main transports on and off Emerri at those peak travel times tend to be the most heavily armed Guild ships, for that specific reason. But I also said fully trained. Most Academy students are children who would be helpless," Halen said. "We''re getting off topic, though."

    "Is the lesson here just that I always have control over the situation?" Yan asked. "You said that in your letter, basically."

    "Don''t be afraid to take command," Sandreas said. "Sid had the right idea, even if he went about it clumsily."

    "I''ll try," Yan said.

    "Would you consider your role here to be a leadership one, anyway?" Sandreas asked.

    "I guess? I did tell everyone what to do," Yan said. "But if I hadn''t been there, I''m sure they could have done it themselves. Sid, at least." Yan vaguely remembered the argument that she had had with Sid, right after this whole disaster. They had both tried to say that the other was the leader, but it was true that Yan had done most of the planning, though it had all happened so quickly and on the fly.

    "Well, it''s a valuable skill to see what needs to be done and tell others what to do. Though we''ll see later some of the execution was lacking, the ability to make decisions and follow through on them is important," Sandreas said.

    They watched through the whole thing, pausing every so often to talk through what had just happened. They had a long discussion about strategy, as Yan had picked her targets in the wrong order. Sandreas tried to impress upon her the need to pick the actually important targets, not just the targets that felt important. Yan had gone after the boarding party, rather than all of the dogfighters that had been around. It was likely that the crew of the Sky Boat could have held off that wave of boarders while Yan stopped any further damage to the body of the ship caused by the dogfighters, and prevented any other boarding parties from latching on by destroying the shuttles. Yan just hoped that in the future she wouldn''t have to do some Halen Training that involved picking targets based on logic rather than emotion. Yan didn''t know how such a thing would even manifest, and she wasn''t really willing to find out.

    Overall, Yan was able to keep calmer than she would have expected during the whole process. She felt detached, which was the opposite of taking ownership of her actions, as Sandreas had wanted. Watching her old self, reconstructed from video and audio recordings, standing and talking before her, Yan could think ''that was something that she did''. Looking at the event through this perfect, distancing lens, it gave Yan a space to literally see herself as an outsider. Her letter-perfect body double went through the motions, and Yan got to watch her past self get hurt, hurt herself, but that was a distant pain. The three dimensional people in the shuttle moved like perfect actors in a perfect play, and at the end of it, Yan could stand and take a bow, the drama concluded, the actor still alive and separate from the work.

    She felt sure that the guilt would come back when she left, but maybe having this analytic memory of the event overlaid with the memory of the event itself, that might help.

    It was too bad that Sid never showed up. Halen tried getting in contact with him at one point, calling his phone and asking the guard at the desk in their apartment to page him, but it was of no use. Iri and Hernan were both taking a few days off after the whole adventure. They had earned some vacation time. There were plenty of other spies Halen could send to keep an eye on the two (three, counting Kino) of them, but apparently Halen didn''t feel comfortable sending whoever was watching Sid to go fetch him. He would just have to go through this experience later.

    Kino didn''t participate very much in the dissection of the experience. She didn''t have a lot to say, but she was definitely paying attention, and asked the occasional clarifying question about the strategies that Sandreas and Halen walked through, as alternatives to what Yan had done. She also paid attention when Yan was asked to describe her motivations or internal thoughts during certain moments.

    There was a part of Yan that wanted to put Kino under the microscope and hear all about what she had done when she had apparently gotten lost in a cave, but of course there was no footage of that that could be programmed into a simulation. Besides, to hear Kino mention it, it had hardly been dramatic at all. She had gotten separated from her team during a rock collapse of unknown origin, pushed them out of the way with the power, got hit by some rocks, and then wandered around in a daze for a while before deciding to just drill her way to the surface using the power. Considering that she had a concussion at the time, it wasn''t surprising that she didn''t have many juicy details to relay about her mental state. Not that it would have been surprising even if she didn''t have a concussion; Kino had her natural emotional wall.

    They played with the simulation until Sandreas had to go meet someone else over lunch. Yan supposed she was "lucky" that Sandreas had been able to spare the time that he had. He must have had a lot to catch up on after his trip. Yan wondered how he was ever able to go off planet. Running the government and staying up to date was much easier on a planet with an ansible connection and all the staff right nearby. Before he left, Halen pulled Sandreas to the side, and they had a quiet conversation. By the way that Halen''s hand was sitting on Sandreas''s back, half of it was probably passed between them silently. Yan didn''t feel anything moving in the power, but it might have been drowned out by the simulation room''s constant throb, or it may have been that Halen had been practicing trying to make his use of the power undetectable. Either way, she didn''t stress out about it. She simply waited for them to finish, examining her own clone''s face. Not like the clone was in a particularly flattering position, but that was only to be expected, considering the situation.

    Sandreas left, and Halen came back over to Yan and Kino.

    "You done looking?" Halen asked. Yan nodded, almost reluctant to leave her clone. If the clone went away, then she would be back to being the only Yan, the only one responsible. But it had to be done; she couldn''t stay here forever.

    Halen pressed a few buttons on his tablet and the whole simulation vanished, returning the room to its blank, white state.

    "Kino, you''re free to go. Someone will let you know if you''re needed later, but there''s nothing for at least a few hours," Halen said.

    "Okay," Kino said. She didn''t leave quite yet, though, glancing at Yan.

    "Yan, let''s get some lunch," Halen said. He gave Kino a look, raising his eyebrows and looking pointedly at the door. Kino got the hint and scurried away, letting the door to the simulation room slam shut behind her.

    "You tired of hanging out with Kino?" Yan asked.

    "I''ve spent every day with her since we left. I have almost nothing left to talk to her about," Halen said. "You, on the other hand..."

    Yan scuffed the floor of the room with her shoe, making a squeaking sound. "How much is everyone going to obsess over talking things out with me? Can''t you go bother Sid?"

    Halen laughed. "Sid is purposely avoiding us, but you''re responsible enough that I can drag you along for almost anything, even if it will make you miserable."

    "I''m going to stop being so responsible then," Yan said. "I can''t bear it."

    Halen just smiled and started walking out. Yan followed him. They didn''t really talk as they walked. Halen led her down several hallways that she had never seen before. It wasn''t as though Yan spent a ton of time exploring the depths of Stonecourt. The place was a borderline labyrinth, filled with rooms of every conceivable purpose.

    They ended up in a small cafeteria, presumably meant for Stonecourt staff. Yan and Halen were both a little high profile to be eating there, but no one was going to refuse them. It was past the peak hour for lunch, so the cafeteria was mostly empty. They ordered their food at the counter and then sat down across from each other at a tiny table. Halen was comically large for the chair that he was sitting in, but he made it work. The whole place was filled with ugly decor that looked about thirty years out of date. Whether the furniture had been moved here after remodeling some other area of Stonecourt, or if it had just been sitting in this room for the past several decades, there was no way to tell. It gave the place a weirdly homey feeling.

    Yan picked at her fries and waited for Halen to initiate whatever conversation he had brought her here to have. Though some of Yan''s animosity toward the man had worn away during the time that she had been gone (absence does make the heart grow fonder, she decided), her feelings toward him were possibly more complicated and confusing than ever. Halen didn''t seem to be in any particular hurry; he ate his own sandwich as though he had not a care in the world. As they ate, Yan''s attention wandered, and she thought about what Sid was doing, and how she would really just like to take a nap, and how bright the lights were in the cafeteria.

    "I guess I''ll be direct about this," Halen said after a while, wiping his hands on a napkin. "I don''t hate you or think you''re wrong for anything that you did out there, Yan."

    Yan didn''t really process that. She took a sip of her soda.

    "Yan?" Halen asked.

    "What?" She looked up at him. "Sorry."

    "I just said I don''t hate you," Halen said.

    "I don''t hate you either, I guess," Yan said.

    "I know," Halen said. "And I''m glad. But I need you to understand what I''m saying."

    "You don''t hate me, I get it," Yan said. She wiggled a fry around in the pool of ketchup on her plate.

    "No, really, Yan, please pay attention," Halen''s voice sounded as though he were struggling to express something, and that was what finally got Yan''s full attention. She dropped the fry back down onto her plate.

    "I know this has been difficult for you," Halen said. "I can tell that you''re feeling confused, and guilty, and lost."

    "You would know better than I would," Yan muttered. "Unless I have something to be doing I can barely think straight."

    "Yeah, I know. Maedes told me that you''ve been a near complete wreck. You seemed fine in the simulation room, but now you''re zoning out on me. Did you talk to anyone about this?"

    "Who? I talked to Sid, obviously. And Iri, a little bit. But they were there. And Sid is the only one who gets it."

    "Do you want to talk about it?" Halen asked.

    "Want to or not, here we are," Yan said. "Obviously I don''t. But if you think I need to then you''ll make me sit here until I do."

    "Remember what Aymon said earlier," Halen said. "You are in control."

    Yan shrugged. "You''re still, like, my teacher." She hesitated to say boss, and couldn''t say anything more personal than teacher.

    "Aymon will never admit it," Halen started, "but he thinks of you as being much more than just his students. He- we, both care about you quite deeply. All three of you. And I hate to see you feeling like this."

    "It''s not like there''s anything that can be done about it. I''ll get over it eventually. According to Iri, anyway."

    "I''m sure you will, but I would like to make that an easier process for you, if I can.¡±

    "Don''t think that''s possible." Yan was being perhaps needlessly pessimistic.

    "You know what Aymon did to me, right?" Halen asked. "When we first met?"

    "What? Oh, he hunted you down, yeah, you told us."

    "More than that, though." He paused. "Yan, it had been his job to find and kill my entire family. He did that, and then he spared my life. But I forgave him anyway."

    "Sid thinks you''re crazy, that you have that kidnapped kid syndrome," Yan said.

    Halen smiled. "Maybe I do, but that''s besides the point."

    "What is the point, then?" Yan asked. "It''s not the same. With you and Sandreas it''s like¡­ You had time to get to know him, and then you made the choice to forgive him. I am never going to face the people on that ship, the people still alive anyway. We''ll never know each other, so they can never forgive me."

    "You say that now, but God works in mysterious ways."

    Yan shuddered. "I hope not."

    "Every pain fades in time. Their pain and yours."

    "I did them wrong, though," Yan said.

    "And they weren''t going to do worse?" Halen asked. "Listen to yourself, Yan. Pirates! Two months ago you hated me for much less of a crime."

    "I know, I know." She was frustrated. "Half of this is just all wrapped up in feeling guilty about leaving the Sky Boat in the first place. I shouldn''t have done that."

    "Maybe not, but you wouldn''t have done any good trapped in the saferoom, either. I don''t think anyone aboard the Sky Boat would have thought to use your particular talents," Halen said. "It''s over now, though. There''s nothing you can do about that."

    "I feel like everything that happened there was my fault somehow."

    "You might feel that, but it isn''t true." Halen reached out across the table and put his hand on hers. "Trust me when I say that I know and understand what you''re feeling, what you''re going through, and exactly what impact your actions had. Trust me when I say it''s all going to be alright."

    Yan sighed. "On one hand, I guess I believe you, and that''s a good thing. But on the other hand, I feel like I can''t believe that right now. And another thing is, just, I don''t want it to get easier, I don''t want it to be alright. I feel like¡­ That''s wrong."

    "Perhaps. But in the line of duty, there are many wrong and unpleasant things that we must do," Halen said.

    "Why?" Yan asked. "Wouldn''t it be better if like¡­ I''m going to be in charge, so I should be able to make right and good decisions. There must have been some way to resolve the situation with the Sky Boat without killing anybody."

    Halen laughed. "That''s a funny way of putting it. But there isn''t always a better way to do things." He paused. "You were in charge when you were out there. You made the decisions. I think they were, for the most part, correct ones. It''s only afterward that you have time to think ''maybe I should have done something better.'' A lot of life is like that. You have to be able to make decisions without being paralyzed with fear about the future."

    Yan pulled her hand out from underneath Halen''s. She smashed a fry between her fingers, the soggy potato mass dropping down onto her tray. "It sucks."

    "Yeah, it does. There''s no two ways around that," Halen said. "But you''ll survive, and you''ll be able to make choices better in the future."

    "But not better choices?"

    "Sometimes there is no good choice. But you have to be able to go forward anyway."

    "That''s what you keep saying. I guess there is one thing I''m good at, and that''s at keeping working even when everything is a mess," Yan said.

    "An admirable trait, but I don''t think it''s the only thing you''re good at," Halen said.

    "Trying to flatter me, now?" Yan asked. "It won''t work."

    "No, I''m not, I just don''t want you to discount yourself."

    Yan changed the subject slightly. "Are you going to have this heart-to-heart with Sid, too?"

    "Probably not," Halen said. "While I like Sid, I don''t think he could use anything that I''m saying to you. Aymon will probably find him later."

    "Really?" Yan asked.

    "Aymon has told me many times about the reasons why he thinks God called each of you to him. In terms of personality, I think that he and Sid are closest."

    Yan raised her eyebrows. "I''ve spent a lot of time with Sid; they don''t seem like a matching set."

    "Aymon was quite a firebrand when he was younger," Halen said. "He can still let his temper get the best of him when he''s bored. Of course, he''s matured as a person. He''s been Voice for what¡­" Halen thought for a second. "Twenty odd years now? We have to trust him to put his hot-headed nature on ice. Most of the time."

    "Hm. So you got to have this talk with me because you think that was a better fit?" Yan asked.

    "Of course. I remember saying before, I don''t know if it was to you or to Aymon, you and I are more similar than you would probably like to believe."

    "Only in terms of upbringing, maybe. You''re¡­" Yan didn''t quite know what to say. Halen was stronger than she was, and more assured, and scary when he wanted to be. More empathetic, too, but that could hardly be considered a facet of his personality- it was more of a God-gift.

    "Heh, maybe it''s only the experience that comes with age that lets me see it," Halen said. "Part of it is upbringing. Being on a ship shapes the way you see the universe, certainly. But I think there''s more than that. " He didn''t elaborate.

    "Why didn''t you ever try to take some sort of leading role?" Yan asked.

    "I am not fit for the public eye," Halen said. "That''s the short and easy answer. The truer answer is that, I do lead, just quietly. I make invisible decisions every day. I have no desire to publicly direct the masses. I manage my own teams, on my terms, in the way that I think that they would be best handled. I think I''ve been successful so far."

    "Iri said that you were the one who, uh, mentored her? Do you like doing that?"

    "I see you''ve neatly managed to flip the conversation away from yourself. But yes, I do. Iri was quite a different person, a few years ago. She was in a different place in life. Literally. Physically. I don''t know if I''ve quite managed to unlock her full potential, but I think she''s glad she transferred out of the wider security force and into my personal care." There was something about the way that Halen said that Iri was different that gave Yan pause, but she didn''t press.

    "Do you think she likes being my minder? I try not to be too difficult," Yan said.

    Halen laughed. "Trying not to be difficult? I think Iri might like it if you made her life more exciting. I think she finds you endearing."

    Yan scowled. That made it sound like Yan was some sort of puppy that Iri had adopted. "I''m not endearing, I''m an adult. She''s only like five years older than I am."

    "Age has nothing to do with it. She just thinks you''re sweet."

    "I don''t know what gave her that impression." Yan returned to picking at the food on her plate. She had barely eaten any of it, and now the fries were cold. She took a few experimental bites of her sandwich, then realized anew how hungry she was, and went in with renewed vigor.

    "You''d have to ask her. I''m sure she has a more complete picture of your life than anyone else does, at this point." Halen resumed eating his own sandwich, at a much more leisurely pace.

    "Should I be worried about Sid?" Yan asked, talking with her mouth full.

    "I should be asking that question of you," Halen said. "You''ve been with him through this whole thing, and I''ve been on the other side of the galaxy."

    "You know what I mean. You have insights that I don''t," Yan said. "I''m too inside of it all with him." She tangled her hands up, illustrating her point.

    "I think that Sid will come out of this the better, just like you will. But he needs to take his own route to get there. And if that route involves trying to avoid everyone for a few days, making questionable choices, and then getting yelled at by Aymon for shirking his duties, then that''s what will need to happen. I don''t doubt that he will also be fine in the long term. In the short term he''s being self destructive, but that''s just the way that some people cope."

    "Should I do anything about it?" Yan asked. It was true, the drugs, the tattoo, the family visit, the hiding from work- all of these things seemed to be Sid doing his best to come out the other end of the whole affair by digging a tunnel directly through the center of the planet. Perhaps there was even more that Yan hadn''t seen and Halen (through Hernan¡¯s reports) had.

    "I think that you should continue to support Sid because you two are friends and that''s what friends do. But I don''t think that trying to rip away the things that comfort him will do any good, and neither will coddling him. Use your good judgement. I trust you have plenty of that."

    "Okay," Yan said. She drank the last of her soda.

    "I do suspect that Aymon will take a much harsher view of this than I have, so if you don''t want to get contradictory advice, don''t bring it up with him."

    "I really wasn''t planning on it," Yan said. "My previous alone conversations with Sandreas have not gone particularly well." Now that Yan thought about it, there had only been a few times that she had been more than incidentally alone with Sandreas. The only one of any note was her original interview, which she privately considered to be a disaster.

    "You should get to know him better as a person, and not just as your mentor," Halen said. "I know it''s difficult for him to find time for each of you alone, but I''ll tell him it''s worth it."

    "Great." Yan drank the last of her soda, shuffling the ice cubes around with her straw.

    "Well, you won''t be the first one I''ve had to tell him to have a little chat with. I forced him and Kino to spend some time together while we were travelling. Before the whole cave incident, I mean. That really put things into perspective for him, I think."

    "Kino seems to come out of every disaster relatively unscathed," Yan said. "I''m not sure how she does it, but it''s an enviable skill."

    "Kino has had a lot of things go horribly wrong in her life. I think that even getting shot, or trapped in a cave in an active warzone, none of that really compares. Although I''m glad that I got to spend time with her, and I''m also glad that she was not involved in the whole piracy mess, I wish that you and Kino had gone together to Olar, rather than you and Sid."

    "Why?" Yan asked, curious. "I think Sid and I make a great team."

    "Oh, you absolutely do," Halen said. "Sid''s willingness to step up and your more, hm, tactical thinking, you compliment each other well. But I think that Kino could use some more experience working with people, and she would have gotten more of that by going with you than she did tagging along with Aymon."

    "Oh, this is just the manipulating people into self improvement thing," Yan said. "Not because it would have improved the way things had turned out." She smiled. "I get it."

    "And some of the things we did on Jenjin may have been more interesting to Sid, as well, but that''s neither here nor there. I just find myself wishing that Kino connected with you both better, is all I''m saying."

    "Well, we''re all back together, now. I''m sure we''ll be spending every waking hour together soon enough," Yan said.

    They continued to talk, moving on to more meaningless subjects and less fraught topics. Eventually, Halen had to leave, and he dismissed Yan for the rest of the afternoon. He gave her the same instructions he had given Kino, but with the additional information that he did not expect that they would be summoned at any point. Yan wasn''t particularly glad to hear it. Her afternoon was a wide open chasm, yawning before her, and she didn''t know what she would fill it with.

 Chapter Thirty-Eight - Fighting Fire With Fire

    Fighting Fire With Fire

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The Red King raised his sword against all those who were his enemy. Their bodies he twisted into unnatural forms. Their minds were torn apart by all he forced them to see.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Several days passed without Sid showing up to work. Aymon was annoyed the first time it happened, but he was furious by the fourth. Halen had advised him to let Sid come back on his own terms, but that didn''t seem to be happening any time soon. He had even gotten Hernan to come back from his vacation to bother Sid to come to work, but that hadn¡¯t helped either.

    On the most recent day of Sid''s non-appearance, Aymon cornered Yan as she was about to leave. They were in his office, and Kino had left already. Halen had stepped out to deal with some minor issue involving security, so Aymon was able to grab Yan alone. She looked resigned as Aymon told her to stay. Halen had mentioned that Aymon should spend more time alone with each of his apprentices, so this was accomplishing two goals in one shot. They were both standing near the door.

    "Yan, I won''t keep you for long, but do you have any idea what''s going on with Sid?" Although Aymon was furious, he tried not to take his anger out on Yan, who hadn''t done anything wrong, aside from not forcing Sid to come to work.

    "He''s just avoiding you," Yan said. "I don''t know why. Halen said he''ll snap out of it."

    "Have you tried to talk to him about it? You two are close."

    "I''ve tried, but as soon as I bring anything up, he kicks me out," Yan said. She scuffed her foot on the carpeted floor. ¡°I think he¡¯s mad at me.¡±

    "I need him to come to see me," Aymon said. "Would you be willing to get him to come?"

    "I don''t know how effective I''d be," Yan said. "I can tell him that you need to talk to him, but I''m sure he already knows that."

    "He certainly does. Is there something you can hold over him?"

    Yan shrugged. "Maybe if I started ignoring him he''d get over it, but that would take a long time."

    "That doesn''t seem like it would be effective. Can you just¡­" Aymon rubbed his forehead. "Just yell at him or something. I don''t want to have to march down there, or have him dragged out, but I will if I have to. Threaten him with that, ok?"

    "Sure. I''ll let you know how it goes." Yan tried to dodge out the door.

    "Are you doing alright, Yan?" Aymon asked. She had seemed fine, or as fine as could be expected, during the times that they had spent together. She and Kino had come along to his meetings and trained with Halen just as they had before the trip. Yan performed fine there, but he wanted to make sure.

    "Yeah. I''m fine," she said in the most non-committal tone, and slipped away down the hallway. Well, if she wasn''t fine, it wasn''t impacting her work any, so Aymon would leave her to it.

    He waited the rest of the afternoon for Yan to report back. He didn''t spend the time sitting around; he had plenty of pressing issues to keep him busy. Not least of all, Aymon was still following the news out of both Jenjin and Olar, to see what the fallout from their visits would be. The issue on Olar seemed to be mostly resolved, except for the lingering presence of pirates in the area. Could there be a black station somewhere near there? Perhaps there should be a further survey of the area.

    Apparently, though the Olar issue was resolved, Vaneik was still feeling the backlash from his string of unpopular decisions. There wasn''t any movement to oust him as the head of the guild, but Aymon was receiving reports that he was under significant pressure from his captains. The position of Guildmaster required him to toe the line, and Vaneik had apparently overstepped his bounds. A pity that Aymon had been the cause of it, but such things couldn''t be helped.

    There was always trouble brewing somewhere in the Empire. That was the nature of heading a vast conglomeration of planets, most of which were only out for themselves.

    The rest of the day passed without hearing back from Yan. She finally texted him after dinner, giving him an update on Sid.

    < Sid was gone until just a few minutes ago. I told him to text you- did he? Or should I yell at him

    > I haven''t heard anything from him. pls tell him to come see me.

    > thx Yan.

    A few minutes later, Yan texted back.

    < He says he won''t come. Want me to try to force him physically or?

    > no, I''ll come to him.

    < ok? should I tell him that you''re coming?

    > let it be a surprise.

    It wasn''t a long drive to the apartment where the three apprentices lived. Aymon was accompanied by Halen, as usual, but in the car they discussed whether Halen should actually come in to Sid''s apartment. In the end, they decided it would be better if Aymon went alone.

    The car parked on the street, and Aymon and Halen got out. They were let in and went upstairs without any trouble by the guard in the front office. Aymon rarely had reason to go visiting. Most of the time his audience came to him. This was a unique opportunity to see how his apprentices lived. Or at least how Sid lived. He had neither a reason nor the desire to intrude upon Yan and Kino''s apartments, despite them being directly next door.

    "Which one is his?" Aymon asked Halen. Halen pointed to one of the doors. "He''s home, right?"

    "Of course. But I''ll check again," Halen said. He performed his usual power sweep of the area, making sure that nothing was afoot.

    "Do you know if he''d even be able to tell if I rang the bell?" Aymon asked, fingers hovering over the doorbell. Knocking certainly wouldn''t do the trick.

    "Don''t know. But he''s angry," Halen warned. "Be careful, ok?"

    "What, you think he''s going to do something crazy?" Aymon asked. He rang the doorbell.

    "I think that you are liable to do something crazy," Halen said. He leaned against the wall next to the door, looking at Aymon. "He''s deeply hurt, among other things. You might try compassion before you try anger."

    "I''ll consider it." There had been no response from within the room from the ringing of the doorbell. Aymon stretched out his power, reaching into the apartment and seeking out Sid. He let Sid know that he was there with a mental prod. He wasn''t gentle about it, so it probably felt more like being jabbed with a fork than being softly touched. He was not considering Halen''s advice.

    There was still absolutely no response from within the apartment, but now there was no excuse of not being able to hear the doorbell. It was the continuing, deliberate avoidance, and it infuriated Aymon.

    "Can you open this door?" Aymon asked.

    Halen sighed, and Aymon stepped aside to allow Halen to key in some sort of elaborate security code to the door, reading the pass code off of his phone. The lock of the door clicked, and Aymon pushed the door open and headed inside. He left Halen standing in the hallway, ready if he needed him. The door closed behind him.

    The apartment was dark. The place was haphazard looking. It was as though someone who kept a deliberately tidy place had decided in a fit of rage to dirty it up, but had not actually managed to do so. The couch in the living room was shoved against the wall and tipped over, there was a pile of broken glass (a plate?) on the floor of the kitchen area, every appliance seemed to be unplugged, and every cupboard door was open. On the coffee table in the living room, pages had been ripped out of a sketchbook and lay scattered around. Some were shredded or scribbled out. The curtains were drawn over the windows. The place smelled stale, as though the central air had been turned off for several days.

    Aymon walked further into the apartment, coming to the bedroom where he thought Sid was. He pushed the door open. Something sailed at Aymon''s head and he ducked just in time. His reflexes had been honed over the years by the ever present danger of being Voice, so Sid''s power propelled shoe posed no threat. It hit the door behind him with a thump, then fell to the floor.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Sid was laying on the bed, naked except for his underwear. He was facedown, with his head buried in his pillow and all of the blankets kicked onto the floor. He probably had felt the gust of air stirred up by Aymon opening the door, which allowed him to throw the shoe.

    One thing caught Aymon''s eye; a snapped pair of glasses sat on Sid''s bedside table, the bridge completely destroyed, the two eyepieces disconnected. One of the eyes was shattered. He sighed. This would make things more difficult if Sid didn''t have a spare pair. Aymon only knew the most rudimentary of sign: fingerspelling, simple directions that were required to be certified for spacewalks, and hello and goodbye. He was not going to be able to hold any conversation with Sid if Sid couldn''t hear him. Perhaps that was the reason why Sid had snapped his glasses in the first place.

    More likely, though, Sid was just angry and was taking out his anger on anything and everything. He had run out of Vena, and was withdrawing from it. It couldn''t be helped. Still, this was all completely unacceptable behavior, and Aymon needed to teach him a lesson. That was his job as the mentor to his three apprentices. It was part of his duties, and he took it very seriously.

    Aymon reached out in the power, focusing and gripping it with all the strength that he possessed. This would take some doing. He grabbed Sid''s body. The power bucked and fought against him. As always, it was unwilling to physically touch another. But unwilling was not the same as unable. Aymon used the power to force Sid to sit upright.

    Sid did not take this laying down. As soon as he realized what was happening, he first attempted to fight the attack off and free himself, but he did not succeed. Then he turned to retaliation. He first attempted to seize control of Aymon''s body as Aymon grabbed his, but Sid was not practiced enough, and Aymon''s muscles barely twitched. Sid finally tried what he could control. He took objects lying about the room and threw them at Aymon. First the shoes again, then the contents of his desk drawers, then the drawers themselves, the chair, the discarded bedsheets, the coat hangers from the closet- it all came tumbling out at Aymon in a torrent.

    In order to stop himself from being hit, Aymon was forced to rapidly alternate his attentions within the power, stopping every attack and then returning to forcing Sid''s body to sit up straight. Every time he loosened his grip on Sid, Sid flung himself back down. Then Aymon had to start everything over, until he was finally interrupted by Sid strangling him with his own shirt.

    That was enough. Sid couldn''t win this battle, but Aymon had no more interest in prolonging the torture. It was a kind of torture, he knew, for a person''s own body to be controlled and manipulated roughly by another. Still, he needed to teach Sid a lesson. He let go of Sid, who collapsed to the bed for the last time, sweating profusely from the exertion of fighting against Aymon.

    Aymon walked over and grabbed his arm, physically this time. He pulled Sid up. There was no struggle now. Either Sid was spent, or he considered that he had won the game by making Aymon abandon using the power to force him up. They glared at each other.

    Of course, there was no way for them to talk. Sid''s glasses were shattered on the bedside table. Aymon pointed at them. Sid shrugged. Even in the darkness of the bedroom he looked smug.

    "C-a-n y-o-u f-i-x?" Aymon fingerspelled. Sid shook his head.

    "W-e n-e-e-d t-a-l-k," Aymon spelled. Sid shook his head again. He started to flop back down onto the bed, but Aymon grabbed his arm, hard enough to bruise, and held him upright. He glared at Sid, looking directly into his eyes. Sid shrugged again, this time trying unsuccessfully to loosen Aymon''s vice like grip on his arm. Aymon let him struggle for a second, but didn''t let go. Sid gave up after a few seconds, resigned to being held like a child. He was behaving like one, so he deserved the treatment it got him.

    With his free hand, Aymon reached out and tapped Sid''s forehead, causing him to flinch back again.

    "N-o-w," he fingerspelled with that free hand. He released Sid''s arm, and Sid tried to turn away. Aymon caught him with the power that time, yanking his head back to look at him. "N-o-w," he reiterated.

    Aymon let Sid go, and this time Sid didn''t turn away. Perhaps he had finally learned his lesson. He sat there, passively waiting for whatever Aymon would do next. Slowly, Aymon released his grip on Sid''s upper arm. The skin where he had been grabbing him was completely drained of blood, and Aymon''s fingernails had dug little divots.

    They stared at each other unmoving for a few long seconds, both angry. Was it fair that Aymon was using Sid as a punching bag? No, probably not. But was it necessary to get Sid to see sense? It was the easiest way. Finally, Aymon raised his hands. Sid flinched back, but Aymon made no move to strike him. He knew what Sid''s preferred method of synching up for meditation was, and that would be the easiest way for them to communicate. He certainly wasn''t going to have Halen or, God forbid, Yan come in to translate for them.

    Cautiously, Sid also raised his hands, pressing his palms against Aymon''s. In the dim light, Aymon noticed- well, he would have a better way to investigate in a second. Without taking his hands off of Sid''s, Aymon used the power to summon over the toppled desk chair, and set it right next to Sid''s bed. He sat, continuing to make eye contact.

    They began to clap. Right hands reach out, clap together, clap alone, left hands reach out, clap together, clap alone. They repeated it over and over, closing their eyes. It took a while for them to fall into the trance together. They each needed to let their anger dissipate before they could focus entirely on the repetitive clapping of the hands.

    As always, meditating with someone new was a completely different experience. This was nothing like the feeling of meditating with Kino, or with Yan. There was a momentary mutual amusement as they both had the same thought- though their meditations with Yan had completely different tenors from each other, that was a thread that they shared.

    Sid''s mind was a raw, unguarded mess. Part of it was the sudden lack of Vena. It had been a crutch which had been dulling his thoughts and preventing him from feeling too badly. Now it was gone, and there was little hope of him getting more. He was forced to recon with the nightmares, the guilt, and the fear. There was a mask of anger over everything in Sid''s mind, but when that was brushed aside, there was nothing left but a string of half formed, chaotic images of destruction, and a deep, sickening horror that felt like a physical punch to the gut.

    Perhaps it was the physical symptoms of withdrawal that were contributing to Sid''s general mess. Aymon could distantly feel his own body breaking out into the same cold sweat that covered Sid, and his stomach churned. Their breathing synced, but it was ragged. They were both clapping harder than was necessary, and so they let their hands slow down and stop, dropping onto their laps. The sting of it still rang in their palms even after they had finished.

    Here they could commune, think, and understand each other.

    "Why haven''t you been coming?" Aymon asked, sending the thought out like a runaway truck.

    Sid''s internal voice was muddled and layered with emotion. If a thought could feel like it was rising up through layers of mud, these would be the thoughts. Sid recounted the emotions that he had gone through that had led to his prolonged absence. On the first day, he truly had been tired and had simply slept. Then he felt abandoned by Yan, which made him angry at her. He took the last of his Vena, which kept him out. Then it was a spiral. Too guilty feeling to repent for not coming in, too sick still to feel ready, too angry at Yan for abandoning him, again and again the feelings burned like wave after wave of fire- and through it all the haze of self destruction that he had been feeding from the very beginning.

    Aymon seized on that feeling, the self hatred, brought it wriggling into the light. It brought with it a physical ache: the desire to smash his head into something hard, felt deep within his foreheads; the desire to scratch and claw and bite his own arms, a horrible itch; the desire to tear himself completely asunder, as if casting his limbs to the corners of the universe would free him. To jump out of one''s skin, to be a completely blank mind, to feel punishment¡­ All of it, and more, all tangled up in knots inside his bones, just begging to be released.

    The harshest rolling heat of the feeling passed over them both, and they came out on the other side, still choking on it, but less acutely. Sid let it happen, not bothering to try to stop Aymon from poking around and directing their thoughts. Sid had no interest in reaching back into Aymon''s mind. Just as he had let all the feelings overwhelm him, Sid was ready to let this conversation take its course with as little of his own input as possible. This understanding almost jolted Aymon out of the shared space, but he held on, gripping tightly even if Sid wasn''t willing to.

    They needed to talk, even if it hurt. After all, that was what he des- no, that wasn''t right. Aymon halted that thought.

    "You need to come to work," Aymon sent.

    Sid''s stubbornness rose up within him, and he rejected the idea.

    "You don''t have a choice."

    Sid still didn''t budge on the issue.

    "It won''t help you to stay like this."

    An exhilarating rush, sweeping them both up in the tide. Of course it wouldn''t help him to stay like this! Hiding in the dark made it worse, and that''s why he was here, burrowing into the mud like a worm!

    Aymon clamped down hard. Sid would not be able to get away that easily.

    "You only feel abandoned because you''re hiding. Yan wants you to come back."

    Sid jerked away at the thought, sending images of a frustrated Yan kicking him out of her room, Yan telling him to come to work or else, Yan, Yan, Yan. Yan the perfect, who was doing so much better than he was. Yan who could say the words of prayers and mean them. Yan who was selfless and generous and always knew what to do.

    "If you''re angry at her, you can work that out with her later. I am ordering you to come back to work."

    Or what? Or what? Or what? What was the consequence? What could Aymon do that was worse than-

    "If you can''t pull yourself together, you''ll be out. I''ll be done with you."

    There was a moment of mental silence as Aymon''s resolve and anger came together to deliver the ultimatum to Sid. Sid didn''t respond. Sid''s fears came rushing back up, the fear of being abandoned again, stronger now, and the tendrils of his mind clung to Aymon''s consciousness.

    "Come to work tomorrow, or don''t ever come again."

    Sid tried to hold on, but Aymon ripped himself free of the shared meditation. He opened his eyes to the darkness of the bedroom. Sid''s hands clenched at his sides, his eyes still closed, face crushed, crumbling. Aymon stood up and left.

    Outside in the hallway, Halen and Yan were talking. It was nice to see them getting along, at least. Kino was nowhere to be seen, but that was anything but unexpected. Yan had probably felt the commotion in the power and came out to investigate. She looked at Aymon curiously as he came out.

    "Done here?" Halen asked.

    "I am. Have a nice night, Yan," Aymon said.

    "Is, uh, everything alright?" Yan asked as Aymon and Halen started to walk back down the hall. She tagged behind them for a few steps. Aymon smiled at her tenacity.

    "We''ll have to see about that," Aymon said. "I''ll see you tomorrow, alright?"

    "Yeah, ok, goodnight." She sounded lost, but stopped following them.

    Aymon turned back to look at her as they reached the elevator at the end of the hallway. Yan was standing forlornly outside Sid''s door, hand raised to press the doorbell, but as the elevator dinged its presence, she let it drop and headed back to her own room. Aymon and Halen took the elevator down and left, going home for the night.

 Chapter Thirty-Nine - Holy Sick Divine Nights

    Holy Sick Divine Nights

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Everyone says there¡¯s a song in the dark, but I can¡¯t feel it, I can¡¯t feel it. I whisper my prayers to you as I fall. You ask me why I¡¯m not singing, why I¡¯m not signing¡­¡±

    -from ¡°Exitlude¡± by Estra Carrier

    </blockquote>

    Yan woke the next morning drenched in a cold sweat. She rolled and checked her phone for the time; she was awake long before her alarm was supposed to go off. It was too early to be properly up, but too late to go properly back to sleep. Not that she wanted to return to sleep anyway. From the way that her legs were twisted up in her blankets, and the jerk that she had woken with, Yan suspected that she had been having yet another nightmare. It was a common occurrence.

    For a few minutes, she laid still and stared up at the dark ceiling, watching the patterns made from the streetlights and cars going by outside as they reflected up through her window. She could hear rain falling; fat, miserable drops hit the window in static bursts with every gust of wind. It could have been peaceful, under different circumstances. Now she felt just trapped by it all. To calm that feeling, Yan breathed deeply and stretched out her awareness in the power, feeling the world around her in an ever expanding circle. It pushed out passed the walls of her apartment, part of it heading out of the building and towards the street, the other part reaching into the building. She didn''t pay attention to the positions in space that people took up, she just took comfort in recognizing the bright points of light in her minds eye, in knowing that there were people going about their lives totally detached from her.

    There were the usual suspects, of course. Yan knew the people who lived on the floors above and below her by feeling in the power, and by sight, but not by name. She would end up in the elevator with them and smile politely. All the flares of life were familiar and comforting. There was the distinct lack of Kino''s presence, as there always was. There was the security guard she knew from the front desk, and the birds that nested on the rooftops. There were lonely people, couples, one group of three together in a room nearby. She thought about the lives they could be living, passed them over, and moved on. Yan''s power reached the maximum radius she could hold it out for, and she pushed it just a little farther, a little more, straining her concentration until it collapsed. The power dissipated, leaving Yan just a single body laying in her bed again, not an ever expanding bubble of consciousness. She released a heavy breath, having held it in while she pushed that final stretch.

    Most people were peacefully asleep, Yan presumed. She didn''t feel anyone moving. It was an unpleasant hour on an unpleasant day. It seemed as though no one was particularly willing to get up and go about their lives. Yan certainly wasn''t.

    She idly browsed the net on her phone, scrolling various feeds in the hope that they would give her some sort of reason to be awake. She could have gotten up and showered but¡­ Her phone buzzed in her hands with an incoming text message. She opened it. Why was Sid texting her at this time of day?

    < goodbye

    That was just about the most ominous text message Yan had ever received.

    > ???

    > u ok?

    > whats going on

    There wasn''t any response from Sid. Yan realized with a start that when she had swept her awareness out, there had been no sign of her fellow apprentice. Yan got out of bed. Panicked, Yan dialed the first person she could think of.

    Iri picked up immediately, voice rough and groggy from sleep. Luckily, she was back from her vacation.

    "God, Yan, what is it?" Iri asked, mumbling a little.

    "Sid''s gone- I don''t know where he is- I think he''s doing something stupid-"

    "Deep breaths. Yan, are you ok?"

    "I''m fine, but Sid-"

    "Tell me what happened, start at the beginning." Iri sounded much more awake now, and over the phone Yan heard the creak of her getting out of bed and walking around her room.

    "Sid just texted me goodbye like he''s leaving, and he won''t respond, and he''s not in the apartment, and I don''t know where he is, and Sandreas yelled at him last night and-"

    "He texted you what?"

    "He just said ''goodbye'', that''s it," Yan said.

    "Ok, I''m trying to contact the person who''s watching him now," Iri said. "Hold on just a little." There was the sound of typing over the phone.

    "Hernan?" Yan asked.

    "Hernan and I are only on duty during the day and during important events. You have a ''B'' team watching you at night," Iri explained distractedly. Yan put the phone call on speakerphone and started getting dressed, abandoning any thoughts of showering. There was a long pause in the conversation as Iri tried to contact the other team.

    "I can''t get in touch with the night watch," Iri said. "I''m going to call this in."

    "No, don''t," Yan protested. "Don''t get Halen and Sandreas involved."

    "I need to," Iri said. "This is really important."

    "But Sandreas is mad at Sid, this will just make it worse." Yan had a flash of inspiration. "I''m ordering you not to call them."

    There was a long pause, and Iri sighed heavily over the line. "On your own head so be it," she said. "I''ll track where his phone is. You''ll need to give me a minute. And I''ll get Hernan up. I''ll call you back, okay?"

    "Fine," Yan said. The phone clicked as Iri hung up.

    Yan finished putting on her pants and belt. She patted her waist to double check her holster was secure, the grabbed a cassock from the back of her chair and yanked it down over her head, fumbling blindly around for a second until she was all the way through. She grabbed her phone, slipped her shoes on, and ran out of her apartment.

    Yan came to Kino''s door. She had a moment of indecision about involving her, but to be honest, Yan felt like she might need the backup. Kino wasn''t involved in all of their recent drama, but maybe that was for the best. Yan rang Kino''s doorbell over and over, until she heard Kino''s stumbling footsteps in her apartment.

    Kino opened the door, looking frazzled. Her black hair was coming out of her braids, and she had a line of dried drool on her cheek. Unattractive, but Yan couldn''t really judge, seeing as it was still a while before anyone should be up.

    "What?" Kino asked.

    "I need your help," Yan said. "Sid''s gone missing."

    "What do you want me to do?" Kino rubbed her eyes, sounding apathetic. "He doesn''t even like me."

    "I need you to come with me for backup," Yan explained. Might as well be honest. Kino stared at her blankly for a long second, then shrugged.

    "Fine. Let me get dressed." Kino closed the door in Yan''s face, a little harder than was probably necessary.

    Yan had no choice but to wait anxiously for Kino to return and Iri to call her back. When Iri had said she couldn''t get in touch with the night watch, did she mean only Sid''s minder, or was everyone gone? Was this Sid leaving or was there some sort of danger that had caused their night team to become incapacitated? It was more likely that Sid was doing something monumentally stupid, but Yan couldn''t discount the other possibilities.

    Where would Sid go? Yan didn''t know if he had friends on the planet, or what. Would he be trying to go back to his family? Would he just be trying to disappear? There wasn''t much in the way of opportunity in the Empire for people without official documentation. Even to get off planet, Sid would have to either bribe people or use his real identity. He could do either of them. Yan took out her phone and tried to look up what ships, if any, were docked at Emerri station. The Sun''s Gold was one ship that regularly made the route between Byforest Station and Emerri, but it didn''t look like it was there. If Sid was going to try to leave the planet, he would be stuck waiting on Emerri station until a ship arrived. That was a small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

    Though a person could easily still disappear and remain hidden on a single planet, it did comfort Yan to know that Sid wouldn''t be able to leave orbit quite yet. And if he did try, Emerri station would be an excellent bottleneck to hold him at.

    Yan''s phone rang, and she answered immediately.

    "Any luck?" Yan asked.

    "I''ve tracked his phone. It looks like he''s riding on a city bus, but I doubt he''s actually on it. More likely he left his phone behind intentionally."

    "Where do you think he''s going?" Yan asked.

    Iri sighed. "You know him better than I do, but Hernan thinks he''s probably going to try to get off planet."

    "That''s what I thought, too." Yan banged on the door of Kino''s apartment, trying to get her to hurry up. "I checked- there''s no ships at Emerri station right now, so he can''t get off planet."

    "I sent out an order to delay him if he ends up at the airport," Iri said.

    "You can do that?"

    "I can do anything. But yes. Hernan and I will be at your apartment with a car in five minutes. Be ready to go."

    "Alright," Yan said. "Kino''s coming, too."

    "Fine. Got to go." Iri hung up.

    "Five minutes, Kino!" Yan yelled through the closed door. She felt a little bad about the people sleeping above and below, but since this was a building where important government officials lived, maybe the floors and ceilings were soundproofed.

    Kino appeared at the door, dressed, but with her hair down instead of the messy braids. She was ready to go, though, and she shut her door behind her.

    "Where are we going?" Kino asked.

    "Iri and Hernan are coming, they''ll probably have a plan when they get here," Yan explained. She then proceeded to tell Kino everything she knew, starting from Sid''s mysterious message and ending with his probably attempt to escape from the planet.

    "Are we going to go downstairs?" Kino asked. "Are they going to come get us?"

    "I don''t know. We''re going to go find Sid, but he won''t be able to go anywhere too far, so-"

    "If it isn''t urgent then why''d you have to wake me up?" Kino yawned.

    "It is urgent, just, I don''t know what we''re doing," Yan said. She twisted her hands together. Her phone rang again.

    "Are you still in your apartment?" Iri asked.

    "In the hallway. Should we come down?"

    "No, stay where you are. We''re coming up. See you in a second." Iri hung up the phone.

    They waited in tense silence for a few moments, then the elevator dinged, spilling Iri and Hernan out into the hallway.

    "Come here," Iri said. She stood in front of Sid''s door, consulted her phone, and unlocked Sid''s door using the passcode. "Hernan had the brilliant idea to check the video feed," she explained. "We''d better free the ''B'' team."

    Kino raised her eyebrows.

    "Sid decided to lock all of your night watchers in the closet," Hernan said. "He''s lucky nothing bad actually happened tonight."

    "You''re not going to tell Halen and Sandreas, right?" Yan asked.

    "I can''t believe you''re trying to protect him right now," Kino said. "This is stupid."

    Iri shoved the door open. "Come on, I''ll need one of you to break down his closet door."

    They walked into Sid''s apartment, which was a far cry from the state it had been the last time Yan had been in the room. It was a mess, with furniture knocked over and the ripped pages from Sid''s sketchbook scattered around. Had there been a struggle when Sid trapped the night watchers in his closet? Sid''s bedroom was in an equally dismal state. It looked as though all the equipment from inside his secret room had been unceremoniously pulled out and dumped on his bed.

    "Well, someone will need to break open the back wall." Iri pulled open the closet.

    Yan and Kino looked at eachother.

    "I''ll do it, I guess," Yan said. It was her fault for involving Kino in this in the first place. Yan closed her eyes and sent out her power, feeling the edges of the walls. It didn''t respond to her the way her own closet secret room did, obviously, but she could still sense the interior mechanisms. If she was calm, and patient, and concentrated, she could feel the hinges, the weak points in the door, and if she pushed just right¡­

    The door screeched horribly, and Hernan''s phone started screaming with an alarm alert. He turned it off.

    "Sorry. Halen''s been alerted too," Hernan said. "Unavoidable." He said this in such a way that made Yan think that Halen being informed of this break in was anything but unavoidable.

    "You really want to get Sid in trouble?" Yan asked, pausing in her efforts to pry open the door. "Why?"

    "Just open the door, Yan," Iri said, sounding tired. "We''ll deal with the consequences of all this later."

    Yan closed her eyes again and finished yanking the door open. It smashed sideways, destroying all of its internal mechanisms and part of the wall. Yan dropped it, and it fell to the floor with a heavy thud. It was a thick piece of metal, but it remained wedged upright, luckily not hitting anything or anyone.

    The secret room was dimly lit, and sitting on the floor against the wall were the three minders. They were tied up but unhurt. Iri and Hernan went in to help them. Yan sat on Sid''s bed dejectedly. Kino seemed apathetic as she leaned against the undamaged wall. There was a quiet conversation inside the closet between Iri, Hernan, and the three night crew. Yan didn''t understand half their conversation, since they were quiet and sounded like half of what they said was in code.

    The now untied night crew headed out, thanking Yan as they headed out the door.

    "Where are they going?" Yan asked Iri when they left.

    "Don''t worry about it," Iri said. "Let''s go."

    Yan got up from the bed, and they all headed out, closing the door to Sid''s bedroom behind them. Yan felt sorry for the destruction she had caused, but it was good that Hernan had seen where the night crew had been trapped and that they had been able to free them. That was at least one mystery solved and one worry less to deal with. Now it was just a matter of finding the wayward Sid.

    All four of them got in the car that Iri and Hernan had brought. Yan didn''t know whose car it was, but it was a personal vehicle, not a government issue one. Hernan climbed in the driver''s seat, so it was probably his. Iri was in the passenger seat, and Yan and Kino sat together in the back.

    "Are we going to check where Sid left his phone first?" Yan asked, leaning forward to look over Iri''s shoulder.

    "We have a few leads. Sid is not being very smart about what he''s doing," Iri said. She pulled a tablet out of the glovebox and swiped through it to access what she had been looking at last. "He''s not on that bus. He used his personal charge card here about half an hour ago." Iri pointed to a spot on a map that she had pulled up on the tablet.

    "So we''re going there?" Yan asked.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    "Look, Yan, we''re going to do our best. We''ll go there, and I think it''s going to be your responsibility to try to find him. You can find people, right?"

    "Oh, yeah. I can do that. Kino?"

    "Yeah." Kino stared out the window at the rain dripping down. It was loud on the roof of the car, forcing everyone to talk louder than they normally would. They drove down towards the place where Sid had last been traced.

    "Can you like, I don''t know, hack the store''s security cameras to track where he went?" Yan asked.

    "What do you think I am?" Iri asked. "I only have access to the tools that have been planned out ahead of time. Of course we''re tracking Sid''s charge card, but why would I ever need to get into the security feed of some random store." Iri was frustrated.

    "Sorry," Yan apologized, leaning back in her seat.

    "Look, we''re just lucky that Sid is bad at covering his tracks, or he doesn''t care that we''re trying to find him," Iri said. "He hasn''t gone far, at least in the past half hour. We''re getting close. Can you do your thing from the car?"

    "Yeah," Yan said. She closed her eyes. For the second time that day, she sent out her power in an expanding sphere, brushing past everyone in a wide radius. There were still so few people out, it was too early for most people to be up. Why had Yan woken so early? Was it God telling her that there was something amiss? Was it just luck? Did her power notice Sid leaving while she was asleep and wake her?

    She focused. No sign of Sid.

    Hernan had pulled the car over to the side of the road.

    "I don''t feel him," Yan said.

    "We''ll move around in a search pattern," Hernan said. "I''m sure he''s around here somewhere."

    "Why do you think that?" Yan asked.

    "He''d have to use his charge card again to take a car or bus somewhere. But all he bought around here was a coffee," Hernan said. "He probably walked around and tried to find somewhere dry to wait."

    "He could just deflect the rain," Yan said.

    "Yan, Sid is clearly not in his right mind," Iri said. "Who knows what he''s doing, other than not moving very far. Let''s focus on finding him rather than speculating."

    Hernan drove the car down the street. Yan leaned forward again, directing him to the limits of her range. She repeated the exercise several times, seeking Sid''s presence in the rain. It took many tries before she found him, just brushing the edge of her consciousness.

    "There! He''s there!" Yan jumped when she touched him with the power, and she hit her head on the roof of the car. It jolted her so completely out of her concentration that she was momentarily disoriented, confused about where she had felt Sid in relationship to the car.

    Hernan brought the car to a stop, the tires skidding momentarily on the wet pavement. They on the true outskirts of Yora, the opposite side of the city from the Academy, and far from Stonecourt. Yan didn''t realize how far they had actually gone. This was a place where the buildings of the city abruptly gave way to parkland, which then gave way to a tall forest that had been planted during the original colonization of Emerri. It was an old place, and the trees loomed taller than the buildings on the closest street.

    "Sid came to the forest?" Kino asked. Yan felt the touch of Kino''s power as she brushed it out, double checking Yan''s work. "Oh, yeah."

    The rain was still falling in thick sheets, possibly even harder than it had been earlier. Hernan had parked the car along the side of the street that lined the park, which was really just an empty field with some forlorn looking play structures on it. Everyone clambered out. They would have been immediately soaked to the bone, had Kino not thoughtfully brought the power up to cover them, deflecting the rain away from their group. Still, in order to get to the forest where Sid seemed to be hiding, they had to slog through the muddy field.

    They reached the threshold of the forest. Though it was fall, and most of the trees around the city had lost their leaves, this forest was primarily pine, and the needles had their own peculiar scent in the wet air. It was dark, darker than it had been out on the streets where the streetlights cast their sickly glows into the puddles and across the roads. Here there was no light at all.

    Since Kino was shielding them from the rain, Yan took it upon herself to provide illumination as they walked into the woods. She created the same burning sphere of air that she usually used, keeping it floating just above her hands, so as not to accidentally set fire to the branches or the carpet of brown needles underfoot. The ground was less muddy here, but they had to contend with rocks and roots, so it was no easier of a walk than it had been through the field. At least the trees were spaced far enough apart and the lowest branches were high above their heads.

    It wasn''t quiet; the rain fell through the branches and the wind tore through the trees in occasional creaking gusts. Still, the walk felt silent. They searched out Sid, both Yan and Kino sending out waves of their power to sense where he was. He was on the move, which made it more difficult to find him. They weren''t gaining ground on him, now that they had to travel on foot, they were just barely keeping pace. Sid seemed to move away from them faster than Yan had ever seen him move before. What was driving him deeper and deeper into the forest? Did he know they were following him? Why was he doing this? All of these questions spun around in Yan''s mind incessantly, driving her to distraction even when she needed her focus the most- trying to hold up her glowing light and search out Sid''s presence at the same time.

    Eventually, they started gaining on Sid. He had stopped, maybe to take a break, or maybe because he had reached his ultimate destination. The feeling that they were finally making progress spurred the pursuing group forward. Yan was in the lead, followed closely by Iri and Hernan, shoulder to shoulder, and Kino trailed them, often at a distance of several meters. Occasionally Kino fell so far behind that Yan left the protection of the rain shield, and the cold drops of water hit her face. She would have to stop and wait for Kino to catch up, so that she didn''t get lost. It wouldn''t do to have both Sid and Kino be missing in the forest.

    They eventually found Sid in what could have passed for a clearing in this forest; a ring of pine trees circled an empty space. Sid sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, facing away from the group as they approached. He couldn''t hear their footsteps, but he turned around and stood when the light from Yan''s fire brightened the ground around him, sending a long shadow out from where he sat. Sid stared at them. They stared back across the clearing.

    Sid was drenched, wearing street clothing rather than his uniform cassock. He had a backpack next to him, and a small pile of garbage that looked like the remnants of a meal. In his hand, he clutched his glasses. Birds were beginning to sing, their calls signalling that the sun was coming up, though none of them could see it through the rain and the thick forest canopy.

    Yan was the one to finally break the silence and stillness that gripped the group. She tossed her fireball up in the air, then ran towards Sid, stumbling over the uneven ground. She grabbed him, half in a hug, half in a hold to prevent him from running away. In her haste, she had abandoned the protective cover of Kino''s rain shield, and the rain fell on her as hard as ever, sliding down her cheeks. Sid''s wet clothes accentuated his scrawniness, and he was cold to the touch. He stood stiff in Yan''s arms, not hugging her back but not pushing her away. Iri and Hernan stood at the edge of the clearing, silently letting this play out.

    Yan dragged her hand down Sid''s arm, to his hand where he was clutching the glasses. She pulled his arm up; he didn''t resist. She took the glasses and examined them. There were faint, spiderweb cracks along one of the lenses, but in other respects they seemed fine. She delicately placed the glasses on Sid''s face, pushing them up his rain slicked nose until they sat securely in their normal place.

    "What are you doing, Sid?" Yan asked, her voice not much louder than the rain. "What are you doing?"

    "Leaving," Sid replied. His tone was flat, and his face was expressionless. He squirmed away from Yan, ducking out of her grip. Yan tried to clamp down on his arm, but he ripped it away. "Leave me alone!"

    Yan reeled back, shocked.

    "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Yan yelled. Somewhere in the distance, birds took off, screeching their unhappiness at Yan and Sid''s loud voices. "What are you doing?!" Yan couldn''t say anything more coherent than that.

    She lunged for Sid''s arm, but he scrambled out of the way, and Yan tripped, ending up sprawled across the wet log that had been serving as Sid''s seat. He started to run away, trying to go deeper into the forest, but from the edge of the clearing, Kino sent out a burst of power. Sid fell as well, leaving him sprawled on the needle covered ground. Kino released the power and stalked over, standing above Sid as he lay on the ground. She used the power again, flipping him over onto his back so that he could see her. Yan stood. Kino wasn''t using the power directly on Sid, just binding his clothes around him and using those to manipulate his body. Kino had no qualms about handling him roughly, apparently. His glasses had fallen off when he tripped. Kino lifted them with the power and shoved them back on his face.

    "Answer Yan''s question," Kino said coldly. "She dragged me out here to find you, you owe us both that courtesy."

    Sid struggled to sit up, but Kino''s power kept him pinned to the ground.

    "Let him up," Yan pleaded, feeling conflicted. She didn''t want him to run, but she was sick seeing him trapped like that. Perhaps Sid could have freed himself, but Kino was giving no quarter. Kino shot Yan a look of disgust, but Yan felt her release Sid, who scrambled into a sitting position. His whole body was covered with the damp brown needles from the forest floor.

    "What are you doing?" Kino asked, repeating Yan''s question. "Why are you running away?"

    "None of you care," Sid said, spitting. He rubbed his face with his sleeve, and needles fell away from both of them. "Fuck off."

    "You are on the ground, and I am here ready to kick you," Kino said. "If we didn''t care, we would be at home sleeping. Tell us what you think you''re doing." Kino pulled back her leg, ready to swing it at Sid.

    "Nobody wants me here, so I''m leaving," Sid said. "That''s it. That''s what I''m doing. I''m going home."

    "Going home? Going home?" Yan felt hysterical. "You locked people in your closet! You ran away in the middle of the night! You refused to talk to me! You''re going crazy!"

    "Yeah, I''m going home," Sid said. He was still sitting on the ground, but he crossed his arms, the picture of defiance. "I want to get away from this stupid planet and this shitty apprenticeship. I never wanted to be here in the first place."

    "What? Why?" Yan felt shaky on her feet. "I thought- but-"

    "I don''t belong here," Sid said. Yan''s light above them sputtered in the rain, the drops that hit it turning into steam. "Sandreas told me to leave, so I''m leaving."

    "No, he didn''t, couldn''t-" Yan sat helplessly down on the log, fingers scrabbling against the damp and rotting wood.

    "If Sandreas is mad at you, it''s because you don''t come to work. You can''t be mad about that," Kino said. "You idiot. If you came to work and did the right thing, no one would be mad at you. This is your fault."

    "My fault? My fault?" Sid looked up at her, his face twisted, ghoulish in the light. "You don''t know anything! There''s no way you could understand-"

    "I don''t understand? What. Tell me," Kino said. "Tell me how much you''ve suffered, Sid. Go on." Kino use the power again, gathering Sid''s shirt up like she held the front of it in a giant fist. She pulled on it, dragging him a little way off the ground. Sid clawed at the shirt, trying to free himself. He didn''t use the power, just his ineffective fingernails.

    Yan had never seen Kino actually angry. She didn''t know how to intervene. "Kino, why-"

    "No, I want to hear this," Kino said. "Let Sid explain why he''s doing this to you."

    "He''s not doing anything to me!" Yan cried. "I don''t-"

    Kino''s long hair was wet and sticking to her back. She looked positively maniacal. Everything that anyone say to her seemed to just work her up more. How long had she been on this edge of collapse?

    "Go on, Sid. What makes you think you get to run away? You get tired of being in your little club with Yan? You get tired of being the only one of us that Sandreas actually likes? You sad that you don''t get to use Vena anymore? You want to go back to your cozy little home? Cry to your mommy?" Kino didn''t stop until she had to take a ragged breath, not giving Sid a chance to defend himself. She shook him with the power, pulling harder on his shirt.

    "What the fuck are you talking about?!" Sid finally used the power and yanked his shirt out of Kino''s grasp. He stood up, getting in Kino''s face. "What is wrong with you?"

    Kino shoved him, with her hands this time, and he stumbled back a few steps.

    Sid turned to Yan. "See! Fuck you. This is why I''m leaving." He turned again and started walking away.

    "Sid!" Yan cried out, anguished.

    Kino just kept shouting at him. "You think you''re the only one with problems? The only one who feels like they don''t belong? You''re so special because you''ve got a home to go back to, and somebody who''ll chase you down."

    Sid finally rose to the provocation. He stopped and turned back towards Kino.

    "And you''re so much better than me? You have no idea what I''ve been through!" Sid yelled back.

    "I don''t?" Kino laughed, a hollow, horrible sound. The rain was still falling all around them. "You don''t have any idea what other people are like. You can''t look past your own nose. You think I haven''t seen people die? Hunh?"

    "You never-" Sid tried to say something back, but Kino stalked over to him. Yan stood up. She needed to be ready to intervene if things went worse than they already were.

    "You''re a coward. It''s pathetic. I shouldn''t have come with you," Kino said, turning to Yan. Yan felt helpless, paralyzed.

    "Are you ok, Kino?" Yan asked finally. "I didn''t mean to-"

    "Now you''re taking her side?" Sid was irrational, walking back towards them. "I never asked you to come find me. I didn''t want you to."

    The three had ended up just a few arms lengths apart from each other. Sid and Kino couldn''t put their hands on the other without lunging, and Yan was in position to step in between, if it came to it. Kino and Sid were both still angry. Kino''s face had returned to its normal blank expression, but she was breathing heavily and her hands were clenched into fists at her sides. Sid was baring his teeth, the orange firelight glinting off his glasses and making his face look more like a skull than ever.

    "Sid, I don''t want you to leave," Yan said. "Please." She was begging, and she didn''t know if it would even help. "Please don''t go."

    "Sandreas told me to leave," Sid said.

    "Did he really? Because I think if he had then you wouldn''t have had to lock people in your closet," Yan snapped. Why weren''t they signing to each other? Why were they yelling? What had come between them since they got back to Emerri? ¡°God, Sid- don¡¯t.¡±

    Sid looked down at the ground.

    "I have to go," he said.

    "No, you don''t," Yan said. "Don''t go. We came to bring you back."

    "You don''t understand," Sid said.

    "Then for God''s sake," Kino said, her temper flaring again, "please explain it to us!"

    "I''m- I just- no one wants me here. I''m not good at this like you are." He was looking directly at Yan. "I''ll never fit in, and I''m a burden to everyone, that''s why you leave me behind, and-"

    "Sandreas told me that he thinks you''ll be his successor," Kino said. She dropped that information like a bomb, and Sid was stunned into silence for a few seconds. "So if you think that Sandreas doesn''t like you, that''s you being fucking crazy. At least you''re not me. I know everyone thinks I''m a freak."

    "I don''t," Yan said. "Kino- I-"

    "No, you and Sid can go and have your own little adventure, and then you come back and everything''s different, but you think that must be so much worse than what I''ve been through, I wouldn''t be able to understand," Kino said, rambling. It was rare for Kino to talk so much, and to stand so still. "I know you would rather have him than me. I get it. I know that''s why you dragged me out here."

    "I didn''t mean it like that," Yan said. Everything was coming down around her. "I thought we were friends." Yan didn''t even know if she was addressing Kino or Sid. Both, probably.

    "Sure. Friends. We''re just in the same place at the same time. That doesn''t mean we have anything in common. Friends," Kino said. Her voice was dull again.

    Yan didn''t want to bring up her own pain. Maybe Sid did feel like he didn''t fit in, somehow. And Kino, too, if she thought that everyone thought she was freaky. But Yan understood feeling like an outsider; she was an orphan among her family, a spacer on the ground, a sensitive everywhere, a sore thumb, a raw edge, a misstep in the pattern of normal life.

    But-

    Kino was a refugee. Yan had no idea what her childhood was actually like, she hadn''t been much for discussing it. She was probably an orphan, and at one point just as addicted to Vena as Sid seemed to be. Kino probably had more in common with either of them than anyone really thought. She still didn''t understand just why Kino was so angry at Sid, but she was trying to look at things through her eyes.

    As for why Sid was acting the way he was, Yan didn''t understand it, and she wished she could. The two things that Sid and Kino said didn''t add up; if Sandreas had said that Sid was to be his successor, why was he trying to send him away? Perhaps everyone''s emotions were just running too high for things to be coherent.

    "Kino." Yan looked at her, and though Kino didn''t meet her eyes, she was listening. "I''m sorry if I ever made you feel alone, or like I didn''t care for you- I do. I don''t understand everything that you''ve gone through, and I probably never can, but I do- I do care, and I don''t want you to think that I don''t."

    Yan turned to Sid, who was frowning at the ground, but at least not running away. "Sid, please don''t go. I need you-"

    "No you don''t," he said. "You know what to do."

    "I don''t!" Yan swiped her wet sleeve across her face, not sure if it was rain blurring her vision or tears. Her throat was certainly choked up enough for it to be tears, but her eyes weren''t burning the way they normally would. "I miss having you with me, and I just want you to be okay."

    "Then you should let me leave," Sid said.

    "No, please, please, please." Yan grabbed at Sid''s arm, and he jerked it away. Yan dropped her arm to her side, dejected.

    "Why did you even come here?" Kino asked. She was calmer now, but still was directing the conversation away from pleading with Sid to stay.

    "I always liked coming here, on Sixdays when we were at the Academy. We don''t have forests like this at home. I just needed a place to wait, before I went to the elevator," Sid said. Some of the tension left him like a deflated balloon.

    "Are you really going home?" Kino asked. "You shouldn''t."

    "My family would take me back," Sid said.

    "You don''t even like being there," Yan said in protest.

    "You don''t know anything about my family," Sid said. Apparently Yan had pressed the wrong button, because he was angry again. "You don''t understand."

    "Maybe I don''t, but I do know you should stay here," Yan said. She was firm this time, gaining confidence.

    "I can''t."

    "Why not?"

    "Doesn''t this look like a burned bridge to you?" Sid asked, gesturing around himself aimlessly.

    The rain was finally slowing, the drops smaller and less frequent than they had been earlier in the morning. It was a nice reprieve from the relentless onslaught of cold drops that had been falling before.

    "It will be okay if you come back, I promise," Yan said.

    "You can''t promise anything like that," Sid said.

    "Yes I can," Yan argued. "I''ll make it be okay."

    "How?" Sid seemed skeptical, but if he was willing to entertain the idea, that was at least progress from the screaming fight they had been having earlier. Kino also seemed interested in what Yan''s answer would be; her eyebrows were raised and she was studying Yan intently.

    "Sandreas wants me to take more control. If I order people to do things, maybe¡­"

    "I don''t think Sandreas wants you to boss him around," Sid said. He laughed, a calculated, harsh sound. "That would be hilarious, though."

    "Well then you should come back just so you can witness it."

    "You should come back just so we can get out of this stupid wet forest," Kino said. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. "If it helps, I''m sorry I yelled at you."

    "I''m sorry I didn''t tell you I was leaving," Sid said. "I¡­ haven''t been feeling like myself lately."

    "That''s obvious to anyone with a pair of eyeballs," Yan said.

    "That wasn''t what I would have wanted an apology for," Kino said, "but if that''s all you''re willing to give then I will have to take it."

    Sid glared at her again, and she stared back, unflinching. They were worse than they were when they first met, Yan thought. Why couldn''t they all just get along? Why wasn''t this easy? It felt like it should be. Maybe Yan understood the both of them even less than she thought she had.

    Yan looked at Sid, not wanting to ask him again if he was coming back with them, just wanting him to say that he would. Kino had no such qualms about asking, though.

    "So, are you coming back?" Kino asked. She looked at Sid and slowly unclenched her fingers

    "Do I have a choice?" Sid asked. "I''m outgunned."

    "You have the choice to come willingly," Kino said.

    "How hard would you fight me on this?" Sid asked.

    "Hard enough that you wouldn''t win," Kino said. "If you had really wanted to get away, you wouldn''t have been so dumb and obvious about it. Then we wouldn''t have been able to catch you."

    "I don''t know how you caught me," Sid said. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. Some of the tension had left their group. Maybe everyone just needed to scream at each other to get out what they needed to say.

    "You used your charge card at a store," Yan said. "That''s traceable."

    "But it was my personal one," Sid whined. Yan rolled her eyes.

    "Come on. Let''s get out of here and go home," Kino said. She started walking back towards where Iri and Hernan had been watching the whole scene unfold. Sid sighed, picked up his backpack, and started to follow her. Yan stayed a moment longer, gathering up the garbage that Sid was apparently going to leave in the forest. She jammed the soggy mess into her pocket, summoned her light from above them, and walked out of the clearing and back into the woods.

 Chapter Forty - The Emperors Punishment

    The Emperor''s Punishment

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The Red King¡¯s palace was built of stones. In the stones were the bones of all the tiny creatures of the land and sea. They carved the stones such that even these dead could sing glory to the Red King.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: The Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    The group that straggled into Aymon''s office that morning looked worn and smelled like they had been crawling through the mud. They alternated between checking to make sure every one of their number was present and glaring at each other when they made eye contact. Aymon had heard some of what had gone on during the early hours of the morning, primarily from Hernan keeping Halen updated, as well as from hearing the reports of the three night watch members whom Sid had managed to overtake. Halen had apparently given them a thorough talking to.

    Aymon hadn''t looked at them as they came in, he simply sat at his desk and read over and over the message he had received from the Emperor. Halen stood behind him, as usual, and he did the glaring as the children walked in. They weren''t really children, and he needed to stop thinking of them like that, but they certainly gave off the impression of kids who knew they had done something wrong. They slunk in, heads down, eyes nervously darting around, and they didn''t seem willing to sit on the couches they were so accustomed to flopping onto. At least Sid came. That was a victory, despite all of the mess he had apparently caused. Though he had been the one to give the ultimatum, Aymon would have been sad to lose Sid. He was lucky that Yan and Kino were able to talk (or push) some sense into him.

    Aymon let them stew for a second before he looked up at them, standing near the door.

    "So, you''ve all decided to come to work today," Aymon said. His tone was perfectly neutral. "I was wondering what the ending of your little drama would be."

    No one had anything to say. Aymon stood up from his chair, placing his tablet delicately down on the table.

    "It seems that certain things have not been made clear to you all," Aymon said. "I would like to make absolutely sure that there will be no further misunderstandings between us." He walked towards the three apprentices.

    Aymon wasn''t quite sure how he wanted to approach this. The way all three of his apprentices had handled themselves irked him, to put it mildly, though Sid was the greatest offender. It wouldn''t do to come down hard on him alone, as he might just run away again, but then again, Yan and Kino had tried to salvage the situation.

    "None of you," Aymon said, looking at all three of them, "are blameless here. Each one of you has displeased me."

    Yan stared down at her feet; Kino had her usual expressionless, thousand meter stare; and Sid clenched his fists, half angry, half afraid.

    "Whose sin is the least?" Aymon asked. "Look into your own hearts."

    Yan and Kino shot looks at each other. Certainly Sid wasn''t the one who had made the smallest mistake, but perhaps they didn''t understand what they had done wrong. It didn''t matter, he was going to lay it out for them. Well, he might make them squirm a little bit more first.

    "No one wants to say anything?" Aymon raised his eyebrows, staring at each one of them in turn.

    From the back of the room, Halen sent him a message in the power. It was an echoed feeling of shame from one of the three apprentices (Aymon couldn''t tell which), and a sense of mild annoyance from Halen. Halen was trying to warn him not to go overboard, but these were Aymon''s apprentices, not his. He would treat them the way he thought was correct.

    The three continued to be silent, and only Kino met his eyes.

    "Well, let''s try an easier question. Sid, what do you think that you did wrong?" Aymon asked.

    "I didn''t come to work. I tried to run away. I attacked members of the security team. I was stupid," Sid said. His voice was hollow as he repeated his list of mistakes. It was as though he was reading off a list of random trivia, not anything that had weight or meaning behind it.

    "All of that is true," Aymon said, almost casually. "We''ll return to that in a minute. Yan, what do you think your sin was?"

    Yan was flustered, and didn''t seem quite able to string together an answer. "I, uh, I- well, I didn''t realize what was going on until too late?"

    "Hm. No," Aymon left it though. He would get back to her after Kino. "Kino, what did you do this morning?"

    "I was uncooperative," Kino answered. It sounded as though that was a stock answer she had been giving since childhood. Maybe it was.

    "That''s not it either. I see that only Sid understands what he did," Aymon said. "A shame, because being able to recognize your own failings is the first step towards growing."

    The feeling of annoyance that Halen sent to him almost made Aymon stop his little tirade and laugh. If Halen weren''t such a professional, he would probably be rolling his eyes in the back of the room. Halen had said earlier that he considered getting Sid back a success, and he wasn''t worried about the shouting match the three had in the middle of the forest. Aymon took Halen''s unspoken advice and tried to tone it down. He physically stepped back, giving the apprentices room to breathe, and went to sit on the couch. He waved his hand for the three to sit across from him. With some trepidation, they all followed.

    "I''m not trying to make this difficult for you," Aymon said, switching his tone. "I just need you all to understand that your position requires certain behavior, and it comes with certain rules and responsibilities."

    He looked at them, and they all nodded. Sid was sitting on his hands, and Kino was picking at a loose thread in the weave of her cassock. Yan was looking across the room at Halen. Interesting. Halen sent him a mental shrug, and Yan looked away, turning her gaze out the window, where the sun had finally broken through the clouds. It was lighting the whole office in a warm orange glow. Outside, workers were raking up fallen leaves and tending to the gardens, cleaning up after the rain.

    "Kino, I''m disappointed that you lied to Yan and Sid. You cannot put words into my mouth that I never said. I wish that you would discuss any problems that you have with me, or with anyone for that matter, before unleashing them upon your peers. Sid, for all his faults," he cut himself off before he said ''and there are many'', "does not deserve you blaming him for your own personal problems."

    Finally, one of the apprentices took the initiative.

    "What did Kino lie about?" Sid asked. There was the unspoken question ''and how do you know'' in Sid''s tone.

    "While we were travelling, Kino and I had a conversation about certain things that each one of us have in common. Kino misrepresented that conversation to mean that I favored one of you over the others. It is not true, and I am hopeful that none of you took her words to heart," Aymon said as evenly as he could. He didn''t want to even repeat what Kino had claimed, that Sid would be his successor. It felt like it would give that statement more merit than it deserved.

    "Oh," Sid said. "Okay."

    "Kino, do you have anything to say about this?" Aymon asked.

    Mechanically, Kino spoke. "I''m sorry for lying. I misunderstood what you were trying to say, and I''m sorry for saying things just to make people angry." There were several different problems buried in that apology, but Kino didn''t seem intent on elaborating and Aymon wanted to move on. He turned to Yan.

    "Yan, you also overstepped your bounds this morning." Aymon let a little edge return to his voice. "Do not presume that you can make orders. I am the ultimate authority, especially when it comes to you and your education. You cannot contradict or direct me according to your whims. Remember what your position is in this world, and stay within its bounds."

    Yan nodded, looking down at her hands on her lap.

    "Look at me when I''m speaking to you," Aymon said harshly. "You''re not a child."

    Yan looked up at him and nodded again. There was a glimmer of tears in her eyes. She wasn''t crying, but she was close. Aymon backed off.

    "Good. Now, Sid. You understand exactly what you did wrong. You put your¡­" Aymon paused, not wanting to say friends since the three had some sort of massive falling out. "You put Yan and Kino in danger by removing their support system. You were careless, cruel, and cowardly. Is this likely to continue?"

    Sid scowled. "No."

    "I''m glad that you think so. Although I cannot fully trust that you have returned to your senses, your presence here is a step in the right direction."

    Aymon stopped talking for a second and looked at the three of them. "Unfortunately, I cannot let any of this go unpunished."

    Halen sent him the mental equivalent of a sigh from the back of the room. Halen could read Aymon''s own feelings as clear as text; he was mildly amused at Halen''s wish to coddle the children, but he was determined to make sure his apprentices understood that he was the ultimate authority.

    "Yan, because you don''t understand what the bounds of your own authority are, you will not be given independent missions until you prove that you can be trusted again. The Anthus colony will be launching soon. Going there for the consecration is my next scheduled trip off planet. We shall reassess then whether you need to stay by my side or if you are capable of working independently." As far as punishments went, that was milder than anything. It wasn''t as though when they stayed on planet they would have much scope for independent decision making anyway. Really all it entailed was extending Yan''s workdays to the meetings that Aymon usually left his apprentices out of. It would be good for her.

    Yan nodded, looking relieved.

    "Kino, you need to spend more time with your peers. From now until I decide you''re ready to work alone again, you will be performing all of your duties alongside your fellow apprentices. You will not be able to go anywhere alone."

    Kino frowned, the first real reaction Aymon had seen from her.

    "But you just said Yan would be with you," Sid spoke up. It was funny that he was ready to argue when he was the one facing the most trouble.

    "That will be the exception," Aymon said. In reality, Kino would most likely get dragged along after himself and Yan. The more the merrier, he supposed.

    "As for you, Sid, I need to know if you can be trusted to remain my apprentice," Aymon said. This was the one punishment that actually pained him to dole out. "We will be visiting the Emperor together, and your character will be judged."

    "The Emperor?" Sid asked. He didn''t understand the gravity of what Aymon was saying, but then he could hardly be expected to. Aymon had been keeping his apprentices away from the real seat of power for their own sake. He had not enjoyed his first meeting with the Emperor when he was an apprentice, and even as an adult, even as the Voice, Aymon still loathed going there.

    "Yes," Aymon said. "You and I will go alone." By that he meant ''Yan, consider yourself lucky to evade this'', but he doubted that Yan picked up on that.

    "And what the Emperor do?" Sid asked.

    "The Emperor will decide if you are worthy to stay here," Aymon said. "If you are, then nothing will change. If you are not, then I will have no choice but to send you away."

    "Oh, I see," Sid said. "So much for me being welcomed back with open arms."

    Yan looked at him. "Did you really think that would happen? You attacked people!"

    Aymon laughed, and Yan looked horrified at her own outburst. "It would be nice if everything was able to be water under a bridge, but unfortunately we must be realistic. Not everything can be easily forgiven."

    "Additionally, and quite obviously, you are going to be under constant watch from here on out," Aymon said. "And you''re cut off from Vena, it was not a good idea for you to take it in the first place. I''ve had a conversation with Hernan about that."

    "Yan let me take it too," Sid said, sounding petulant and whiny. Yan glared at him.

    "Yan takes it upon herself to feel responsible for your actions, but she is not actually in charge of you. You can both be thankful for that," Aymon said. "Now, Yan and Kino, I believe Ms. Rosario can point you both to what you will be working on for the rest of the day. Sid, you''re with me."

    There was a second''s delay as everyone processed their instructions. Yan and Kino got up and started walking out to go talk to Ms. Rosario. Kino left without a backwards glance, but Yan gave Sid a little wave.

    "We''re going to the Emperor now?" Sid asked.

    "No time like the present," Aymon said. "I''m glad to see you fixed your glasses, by the way."

    "I didn''t. These are an old pair that were only half broken," Sid said. He pushed them up his nose nervously.

    "Hm. Well, you''ll need to change out that lens. It''s unprofessional looking," Aymon said. He stood up.

    "I ordered a new pair," Sid said. "They should come at some point."

    "Why don''t you make ones with the power, like you did for Kino?" Aymon asked. "Seems like you should have the ability."

    "Ha. Kino''s glasses pull from her power to work, and they relied on me putting in all my knowledge of sign. They were very tricky to make, and they''re barely functional even with all the effort. They don''t have all the context that sign has, and they only translate the words literally, with the barest rearranging to be coherent. They probably give Kino a headache."

    "I see," Aymon said, though he did not see at all. He didn''t understand anything about sign beyond the bare minimum, and he didn''t have the time to dedicate to learning. He supposed he was lucky that Sid deferred to New Imperial when he was around.

    "Besides, I''d rather just have the technological solution. They work well enough, and they don''t require anything from me," Sid explained. His mannerisms and tone when discussing the technology were completely different. He must like all of that, the inventing and fiddling, much more than he enjoyed the day to day work of his apprenticeship. It was a pity. Perhaps the Emperor would send him away. Aymon would hate for that to happen, but sometimes such things must be done.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Aymon stood, and Sid followed him. Aymon''s own stomach churned at the thought of what was coming, but it needed to be done. The Emperor had summoned him, after all, and he must answer.

    "Where is the Emperor?" Sid asked.

    "You''ll see," Aymon said.

    "What''s he like?"

    "You''ll see."

    The Emperor''s chambers were dark and cold. Aymon coached Sid in the anteroom before the went in. Halen was waiting outdoors; he wasn''t invited and didn''t like being around the Emperor any more than Aymon did, so there was no point in him coming in. This was the most secure facility in the universe, though not because of the guards at the doors, or the enhanced security in the building.

    "Don''t try to lie," Aymon warned. "You''ll be found out immediately. Just answer any questions asked of you quickly and honestly."

    "Okay," Sid said. He didn''t seem nervous, and Aymon wondered how much he should be prepared.

    "Don''t be rude."

    Sid gave him a look. "I promise I''m not trying to dig myself a deeper hole than I''m already in."

    "See, none of that," Aymon said. "Don''t speak unless spoken to, don''t try to resist anything that happens."

    "Oh, I''m going to be everyone''s little ragdoll again, I see." It was true that Sid had spent a lot of time over the past few days being jerked around by everyone. Aymon felt a little guilty about that, but not enough to apologize.

    "No, the Emperor probably will not touch your body-"

    "There''s no creepier possible way you could have said that," Sid said.

    "Sid. I''m not joking around here. This is serious," Aymon said. "If you want to stay as my apprentice, you need to behave."

    "What if I don''t want to?" Sid asked.

    Aymon sighed. "Sid, stop. Just stop."

    Sid relented, shoving his hands into his pockets.

    "I can''t tell you what facing the Emperor is like. Trust me when I say that you need to take it seriously," Aymon said.

    "You sound like this is a death sentence." Sid wasn''t wrong, and it very well could be, if Sid had committed some more major offense.

    "Are you ready to go in?" Aymon asked.

    "Are you?" Sid raised his eyebrows at Aymon.

    No, Aymon wasn''t ready. He never was. He was sweating, even in the cold room, and his whole body was strung tighter than the wires on a suspension bridge. He may have been hiding it from Sid, but he hadn''t hidden anything from Halen outside, and he certainly wasn''t going to be able to hide it from the Emperor who could see through him like glass. Sid wasn''t ready, but Sid didn''t understand what there was to be ready for.

    Aymon opened the door at the end of the dark antechamber, and walked in to the Emperor''s visiting room. Sid followed after him. The door swung shut behind them with a muted thud.

    The place wasn''t quiet, exactly, but there was a deadly stillness about it. The gentle hum of machines came from the back. The walls were covered by thick drapes, and there was a single spotlight pointed into the middle of the floor. While Aymon could appreciate the drama of it all, the drama was working against him this time.

    "Where''s the-" Sid started to ask, but Aymon nudged him hard, putting his hands on his shoulders and steering him into the center of the room, underneath the one spotlight. It was blinding, and it cast the already dark room into further shadow. There could have been anything out there. Aymon knew what was there, which made it almost worse. He kept his eyes open, though, waiting.

    Perhaps if Yan had come she would have been forewarned by her sensing of the power, but Aymon had no such skill. He knew what to expect, and even then it hit him like a hammer, the voice echoing inside his own skull.

    "Aymon, how good it is to be near you again." The voice was like a ringing chorus. Aymon''s grip tightened on Sid''s shoulders, but Sid didn''t move; the Emperor was speaking only to Aymon. "You''ve brought your apprentice? Let me look at him."

    The power withdrew from Aymon''s mind just as abruptly as it had come. Sid jumped underneath his hands. The Emperor was inside Sid''s head now. Aymon kept his hands on Sid''s shoulders as comfortingly as he could, but Aymon knew the terror of the greater mind slipping inside his thoughts was nothing that could be prevented or assuaged. The Emperor was more powerful than any sensitive who had ever lived. The Emperor''s will would not be denied.

    Sid was trembling. The Emperor''s attention returned to Aymon for a moment.

    "Oh, Aymon, you have chosen an interesting apprentice. Leave us for a moment. We will call you when we need you to return." The Emperor must have sensed Aymon''s reluctance. "No harm will come to this one while he is here," the Emperor said, sounding amused. "Do you care for him that much?"

    "Yes, I do," Aymon said. He spoke aloud, though it wouldn''t have made a difference whether he thought it or uttered it. The Emperor could see him down to the bone. With some hesitation, Aymon uncurled his fingers from Sid''s shoulders, and started walking away. Sid stared after him, terrified. To his credit, though, he didn''t plead for Aymon to stay. Sid''s eyes rolled back into his head as the Emperor left Aymon and returned to Sid. Aymon slipped out into the antechamber.

    It was a long wait before the Emperor summoned him again. Aymon paced back and forth in the dark room, fearing for Sid, and for himself. It wasn''t as though Aymon hated the Emperor. On the contrary, Aymon respected the Emperor more than anyone else. But he did fear that overwhelming power and what it meant. There was no way to keep track of time in that windowless room. There were no clocks, and Aymon had left his phone with Halen; it wouldn''t do to be disturbed while in an audience, so the fear stretched on and on. Finally, Aymon felt the brush of power against his mind; it was his summons.

    He opened the door and re-entered the chamber. Sid practically ran out past him, face covered in tears. Aymon couldn''t stop to question him; he would find out soon enough from the Emperor what had happened.

    "Welcome back, Aymon." The voice was in his head again like thundering bells. He stood in the spotlight. He didn''t say anything, and the voice chided him for it. "There is no need to hold your tongue here; we are all equals in the eyes of God."

    That was easy for the Emperor to say.

    "What did you decide for Sid?" Aymon asked.

    "Ah, your reckless apprentice has done more harm to himself than to anyone else. We have punished him appropriately. He may remain with you," the Emperor whispered in his brain.

    This was a non answer. "What was the punishment?"

    "Is the punishment," the Emperor corrected. "Your boy submitted himself to having a block put on his power."

    Aymon felt sick.

    "Don''t be afraid. It will be over soon," the Emperor said. "And he will not suffer for it."

    "How long?" Aymon asked, voice cracking.

    "Oh, Aymon, do not concern yourself with it. It will only be as long as it needs to be," the Emperor''s voice was soft, feeling concerned, like a parent tenderly disciplining their child. "You remember¡­"

    The memories of his own punishment rose unbidden to the forefront of his mind. It had been worth it, in the end, to transgress and then take the blame, but the punishment took its place among the list of worst parts of Aymon''s life. Though he suspected that every apprentice or Second went through the same punishment at some point or another, it didn''t make it any more pleasant for him to watch Sid go through it. The Emperor had inscrutable ideas about the concept of time, and these punishments could stretch on, and on, and on.

    And Sid was so young, and this was so soon-

    The Emperor sensed his thoughts and laughed mentally, a feeling like bubbles rising to the top of a fizzy drink, only felt in the spine. "I have foreseen that no major troubles will befall him," the Emperor said. "And I promise it will not be long."

    Aymon gathered up the courage to step slightly out of line. "Do you think he will be a good apprentice?"

    "God chose him for you. There is no need to question it beyond that. But we find no real fault that we have not seen before," the Emperor said. "There are others, and we look forward to meeting them."

    "Someday," Aymon said.

    "Do not tarry, Aymon. We see your heart. There is nothing here that you need protect them from."

    Aymon squashed all of his unruly thoughts, trying to keep himself under control. The Emperor waited for him to finish.

    "Now, on to other matters. We have forseen that there is trouble within the Trade Guild¡­"

    <hr>

    Aymon and Sid took some time to regroup in Aymon''s suite, far away from the pressures of the Emperor. Aymon appreciated that he had the time to spend with Sid, but he was worried about him. Sid was subdued, and Aymon didn''t know what to attribute it to. The past day had probably been one of the most tumultuous in Sid''s life. How old was he? Twenty-one? Twenty-two? Young.

    The two were alone, sitting across from each other at the kitchen table. The lights were dim, but it was a cozy dimness quite unlike the darkness in the Emperor''s chambers. Aymon had dinner brought up to them, just a simple meal of sandwiches, so that they could talk and recover. Sid surely needed more time and space to recover than Aymon did. For all that he didn''t like his visits to the Emperor, they were familiar, and there was little the Emperor could do that would actually surprise him. He had seen most of the Emperor''s tricks. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Aymon was waiting for Sid to speak, but Sid, accustomed to quiet as he must be, seemed to have no inclination to do so. Eventually, Aymon could stand it no longer.

    "I''m sorry that I had to bring you there," he said. "There are few forces in the universe that I must answer to, but the Emperor is one of them."

    "Who is the Emperor?" Sid asked. Aymon sighed. Of course that was the first question.

    "I don''t think you''re ready to hear that information. When you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll tell all three of you. Though I''m surprised the Emperor didn''t tell you."

    "Yeah." Sid poked at his sandwich. "How long is this going to last?"

    "Another question I can''t answer. It could be days, it could be months," Aymon said. "The Emperor has a different conception of time than we have."

    "Why? What does he? It? Even do?"

    "The Emperor has the gift of farsight," Aymon explained. "It involves, with great concentration, seeing anything that is happening in the universe, predicting with some accuracy the near future, and divining the events of the past."

    "That''s crazy. How?"

    "In theory, it works the same way as you might use farsight to see what is in the next room over. You concentrate, stretch out the power, and then use what you know to interpret the information the power gives you," Aymon said. "Just on a much larger, more powerful scale."

    "Well I won''t be using the power to do anything." Sid scowled, rubbing his head. In a stroke of rare good thinking, he had put his tattoos ''away'' before he tried to run in the night. They wouldn''t be coming up to the surface anytime soon. "Every time I try to focus on it, I feel this horrible¡­ static, I guess, and it drowns out everything."

    "I know," Aymon said. "It''s quite unpleasant. I''m familiar with it."

    "Nothing like being on Vena, even though that has the same effect," Sid complained.

    "I couldn''t very well start drugging my apprentices to punish them," Aymon said. "You still need to be able to function."

    "Ha. I''m a broken machine," Sid said. "I doubt I''ll be working in peak shape anytime soon."

    "No, probably not," Aymon said. He looked into Sid''s face, trying to be as earnest as he could. "I consider everything that has happened settled, you know. No more hard feelings."

    "That''s easy for you to say," Sid said. "I still have to cope with all this." He swung his hands in a circle, encompassing his whole situation.

    "You''ll survive," Aymon said. His sympathy for Sid would wear off fast if he kept complaining.

    "I don''t just mean having my power taken away," Sid said. He looked sad. "That''s whatever. Not like I use the power that much every day."

    "I think you''ll find you''ll miss it more than you expect," Aymon said. "That''s the point of the punishment."

    "Really?" Sid asked. "What makes you think that?"

    Aymon fished in his pocket for a second and pulled out a pen.

    "Catch," he said, tossing it in Sid''s direction but deliberately a bit wide. Sid reached out for it, and there was a momentary look of shock on his face as the pen slipped past his fingers, and the stool he was sitting on tilted. He nearly fell to the floor.

    "No fair!" Sid exclaimed, righting himself. Aymon summoned the pen back over, and it flew into his hand.

    "You tried to use the power there didn''t you?" Aymon asked. "It''s a part of you, and you don''t realize how much you use it until you can''t anymore."

    Sid nodded.

    "You''ll get used to it. After all, you lived for however many years before you learned to control the power, you can live without it again for a little while."

    "How am I going to train with Halen?" Sid asked.

    "I think because of the schedule for the next month or so we''re going to drastically reduce that sort of training time. You''ll just have to stick close to your watcher and try not to get yourself in trouble."

    "I have to trust Hernan to protect me?" Sid rolled his eyes. "I''m sure Hernan would rather see me dead at this point."

    "I somehow doubt that," Aymon said. "Halen has told me that he speaks very highly of you. But if you want people to like you, perhaps you should try to be less abrasive."

    Sid rolled his eyes. "If he can''t handle me at my worst he doesn''t deserve me at my best."

    "I feel as though we have yet to see what your best is," Aymon said. "Maybe it''s time you stopped holding your best in check."

    "We''ll see about that."

    Aymon was glad to be having this more normal conversation with Sid. Despite all the trouble that Sid had caused and the threats that Aymon had made, he was still his apprentice, and that meant something real.

    "Are you going to be able to patch things up with Yan and Kino? I know you fought with them," Aymon asked.

    "I guess. If they don''t hate me," Sid said. "I don''t know what Kino''s deal is."

    "Kino is a very private person.¡±

    "That''s the understatement of the century."

    "What I mean by that is that you will have to work hard to get to know her. Maybe put in some effort rather than brushing off what she says."

    "I have put in effort!"

    "Maybe you did before you left on your trip, but it''s been a long time and many things have changed. There was a reason that Kino came with me rather than working with you. Even back then you didn''t really get along."

    "Fine." Sid seemed reluctant to admit to any wrongdoing in the case of Kino.

    Aymon couldn''t blame him; Kino was an enigma to everyone around her. Even her own minder, Deboan, confessed that she couldn''t keep track of Kino''s movements (cave incident notwithstanding). Kino was slippery and hard to understand but generally harmless, aside from yelling at Sid. Aymon didn''t know what had caused her to take out her anger on him right then, but then again, he understood very little about his three apprentices. He thought that having selected people who were definitely ''compatible'' he would find them easier to understand. Their lives and experiences were so far removed from his own, he had no way to connect to them. Maybe it was the generational gap, maybe it was the fact that he had been almost ruling the universe for the past two decades, or maybe it was just the simple facts of different backgrounds that made him feel like such an outsider to their lives. Had Carron Herault, his own mentor and predecessor, felt the same way?

    "You''re content to stay here, right, Sid?" Aymon asked, just making sure.

    "Yes, obviously." Sid made that sound as if it should have been the clearest thing in the world, but he had just tried to run away not even a full day ago. "I see that I''m stuck here with you."

    "Do you really feel stuck or are you just being dramatic?" Aymon asked.

    "You''re not the only one who''s capable of being over the top," Sid said. "You know you could have just talked to me yesterday. I don''t think you needed to make such a big fuss about it."

    "I think you''re wrong about that. You''re vastly overestimating how coherent and stable you were," Aymon said. "Sometimes a little theatrics is just what one needs."

    "You''re crazy."

    "And so are you, but let''s not let that get between us," Aymon said. "Did the Emperor burn the rest of the Vena out of your system?"

    "Burn, that''s an interesting word for it," Sid said. He didn''t answer the question, though. Aymon could assume the answer was yes.

    "The stuff can linger, but as with Kino, the withdrawal period can be shortened by a little," Aymon said.

    "Like when Halen wiped it out after Kino got shot?" Sid asked. "I didn''t know that would stop the withdrawal symptoms."

    "It wouldn''t stop the mental ones- the cravings, the reasons why you were taking it in the first place. But it can help reduce the physical ones. Nausea, sweating, dizziness, you know what it''s like."

    "Horrible," Sid said. "Why didn''t someone come help me earlier?"

    "Let me ask you: were you really in a position to accept help?"

    Sid made a face. "No."

    "Then there''s your answer. You''re calmer now."

    "Only because I worked all my stupidity out of my system, I guess."

    "Sometimes that''s what a person needs," Aymon said.

    "You said that you knew what this was like," Sid started. "Did this ever¡­?" He trailed off.

    "Oh, yes, I was punished just like this. But I was a few years older than you are. I was-" Aymon stopped to think. The time blended together in his mind. "I was either at the end of my apprenticeship or already Second. I don''t really remember. But I made a decision that the Emperor disapproved of, and I was tested."

    "What was it?" Sid asked. "What did you do?"

    "I brought Halen under my wing instead of killing him," Aymon said. "If you''re wondering, I don''t regret it for a second."

    "Ha. Nice. So the Emperor took away your power?"

    "Yes. I believe the rationale was that if I was the only one keeping Halen in check, then Halen''s disloyalty would be proven the instant I had my power stripped away. The Emperor and I were gambling with my life."

    "Well, you didn''t die, so I guess that worked out."

    "It wasn''t as easy or simple as it sounds in retrospect, but you''re correct, it turned out well in the end."

    "I''m glad," Sid said.

    "I''m sure I''m gladder than you are," Aymon said. "Dying is not high on my list of things I''m looking forward to."

    Sid laughed. "Betrayal, either."

    "Well, that was early in my time with Halen. I''m not sure if it would have counted as a betrayal, more like something justified."

    "Hm." Sid didn''t seem to know what to make of that. "You''re not worried he ever would betray you, right?"

    "I''m fairly offended that you would even ask that question. But no, I''m not worried. Halen has proven his loyalty to me a hundred million times over. He''s the last person I would ever think would betray me."

    "Well, it''s always those that getcha."

 Chapter Forty-One - A Death in the Family

    A Death in the Family

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Vaneik¡¯s father was the master. Long live Vaneik. Now he¡¯s gone, his son¡¯s none the better. Long live Vaneik. Oh, when your father is the captain, won¡¯t you be the captain too? That¡¯s what we all deserve when we¡¯re our father¡¯s precious brood.¡±

    -from ¡°Descendants¡±, popular spacer drinking song

    </blockquote>

    It was a long month. The late fall swept itself away into an early winter, and everyone gradually settled in to their new/old roles around Stonecourt. Yan followed Sandreas along like a loyal dog, attending to his every meeting and observing the political goings on in the galaxy beside him. Kino and Sid spent much of their time together, which chafed them both for different reasons. Kino, in her usual solitary nature, was annoyed by Sid''s constant presence as mandated by Sandreas. Sid hated feeling dependent on Kino as he remained powerless.

    The time dragged on, and their tempers wore thin. Yan was luckily spared the brunt of it, as she was so busy with Sandreas''s business that she barely had time to herself, let alone to dedicate to working on Kino and Sid''s relationship. She came to realize just how much work Sandreas had been shielding them from in the early days of their apprenticeship. Of course, now that she understood better exactly what being Voice entailed, she was looking forward even less to that ultimate responsibility.

    They all formed an odd little family. Yan hated to admit it, but she was beginning to think of her apartment as home, and she enjoyed the familiarity that being in Stonecourt brought. She was used to Sandreas, Halen, Sid, and Kino in the same way that she was used to her friends at the Academy, in the same way she was used to her uncle and aunts and cousins on the Iron Dreams. As the end of their mandated punishment period drew to a close with the launch of the Anthus colony on the horizon, Yan was feeling apprehensive about what that would mean for a changing of the status quo.

    Yan was sitting with Sandreas in a meeting with representatives from Raithe and Cogita, who were both interested in creating a profit sharing system of stations and mining operations in an area that was equidistant to their two planets. It was a fine idea, but all new stations, especially mining stations, needed imperial approval to construct, so they were here petitioning Sandreas. Yan was paying attention, taking notes and contributing to the discussion whenever prompted, but this was a very low stakes discussion. If Raithe and Cogita could come up with the budget for these stations, then there would be no issue passing the proposal through the Imperial Council, especially if Sandreas put in a good word for them, which he would.

    The meeting room was warm, and the light passing in through the windows was the last golden dregs of fall shining upon them. It would probably be one of the last days where it was still almost warm enough to go out in just her cassock. Yan, although she liked her winterwear very much, felt like she wasn''t justified in wearing it unless there was snow on the ground. It hadn''t snowed yet, despite the bitter cold that came when the sun went down. Yan was half listening and half looking out the window when an aide came into the room, interrupting their meeting, and whispered something to Sandreas. Yan saw his face pale, his knuckles whiten as he suddenly clenched the pen he was holding. Other than that he made no outward sign; his face didn''t change, his voice was as steady as ever as he thanked the aide who left the room as swiftly as he had come.

    "I''m sorry, Mr. Falkes, Ms. Zev, something has come up. We will have to pick this issue up another time," Sandreas said. "I look forward to seeing your proposal to the Council. If you need anything from my office, please do not hesitate to get in contact with my secretary."

    The two petitioners looked crestfallen. Sandreas stood, and they all shook hands. Falkes and Zev thanked Sandreas for his time, and Sandreas headed out of the room. Yan, who was just as confused as the two petitioners were, followed him out.

    Wordlessly, they walked at a swift pace down the halls of Stonecourt toward Aymon''s office. Halen was waiting for them there, along with Wiley Blune, the seniormost Trade Guild liason to Stonecourt. Blune was a tall woman, about the same height as Yan, with curly black hair and dark skin. She stood stiffly, and had a somber expression. Clearly she was the bearer of some sort of news. Sandreas greeted Blune, and let them all into his office.

    "Have Kino and Sid been sent for?" Sandreas asked Halen.

    "Give them another minute," Halen said.

    The whole group waited in tense silence for Kino and Sid to arrive, and they did, quickly and out of breath. Apparently they had been sprinting through the hallways to arrive. Yan was growing more nervous by the second. Why as Blune here? Why had Kino and Sid been summoned away from whatever they were working on? Sandreas gestured for everyone to take a seat on the couches in front of his desk. Halen stood in the back of the room, but everyone else arranged themselves around the coffee table. The sun had set outside; it wasn''t late, but the days were shorter now. Out of deference, they all waited for Sandreas to say something.

    "Ms. Blune, I was told that you had some bad news for us," Sandreas said finally.

    "Reading our mail again, First Sandreas?" Blune asked. Sandreas smiled faintly. It was well known that all ansible communications were strictly monitored. "Well, that''s no matter. I''ll spare you the prelude. Guildmaster Vaneik has died."

    Yan couldn''t help but gasp aloud. Vaneik was hardly any older than Sandreas, and he had seemed in the peak of health when they met him just a few months ago. Was his ship attacked? No one reacted to Yan''s gasp; Sid was wearing his own horrified expression and Kino was intently listening.

    "I''m sorry to hear of the Trade Guild''s loss," Sandreas said diplomatically. "Do you have any details about the circumstances? I was unaware that the Guildmaster was in ill health."

    "I do not have any details, aside from knowing that it was not an attack on his family''s ship," Blune said. "I assume that his family will decide if they are going to disclose that information. He was in fine health, as far as I was aware. It may have been a sudden short illness."

    "Could he have been overworked?" Sandreas asked, raising an eyebrow. "A heart attack?"

    "I don''t have the details, First Sandreas. You would be as able to judge such a thing as I am," Blune said.

    "Of course, of course. I am simply compelled to speculate due to the lack of information," Sandreas said. Yan was certain that Sandreas would find out exactly why Guildmaster Vaneik was dead soon enough. He probably had agents all over the Empire who would be in position to discover such information, it was just a matter of when that information would be relayed.

    "The funeral arrangements have already been made," Blune said. "In accordance with Guild tradition, it will be held on his family''s ship, but there will be plenty of time before the service to allow all the mourners to gather."

    "I will be there," Sandreas said. "Who is leading the Guild in the interim?"

    "Until the council can vote, his two apprentices will be leading it together. Of course, they will have no real authority during this period- no one is making any decisions during this time of turmoil." Blune may have said this in an attempt to quash Sandreas''s hopes for one of the Empire''s favored successors to take up the reigns of the Trade Guild, but Sandreas had no reaction to it.

    "That is completely understandable. When will the council be coming together?" Sandreas asked.

    "Since they will all be in place for the funeral, they will be electing a new leader then. The specific meeting time has not been announced, but we are certain it will be on Canerra station within a day or so of the funeral. The Guild cannot remain leaderless for long."

    "Certainly not. I''m sorry for asking, but do you know whose names are in the running?"

    "That sort of speculation is best left untouched. You know, of course, that his two apprentices, Nomar Thale and Yuuni Olms, will be putting in their names. His son Wil might put his name in as well, if his mother urges him to. As for which captains will throw in, I couldn''t possibly say."

    "Marne Vaneik wouldn''t be willing to bid?" Sandreas asked, curious as to what Blune would say.

    "I''m sure that she is consumed by grief at this moment," Blune said. "And between us, I never considered her a woman in search of power."

    "That''s too bad," Sandreas said. "Vaneik always described her as having a sensible head on her shoulders."

    Yan found that somewhat hard to believe, considering how badly he had gotten along with Vaneik himself, and how much he apparently hated his son.

    "Well, First Sandreas, it''s for the council to decide," Blune said. Sid raised his eyebrows.

    "Of course. But that doesn''t stop me from having an opinion," Sandreas said with a smile. "May I ask a favor of you, Ms. Blune?"

    "Is this a favor from me, or a favor from the Trade Guild?" Blune asked. "Either way, I''m sure we are willing to provide."

    "Ah, neither in particular," Sandreas said. "But I am finding myself as a man without a ship and places to be. The First Star has been undergoing maintenance recently, so I will have no transportation to attend Guildmaster Vaneik''s funeral. Is there any ship that would be willing to host a poor traveler such as myself? Quietly, of course?"Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Blune laughed. "Of course, First Sandreas. I''ll flag down a ship for you. But don''t be making a habit of expecting free rides."

    "I would never dream of doing such a thing," Sandreas said. "Thank you, though. It would be unconscionable for me to miss paying my respects simply due to lack of transportation."

    "I completely agree. You and Guildmaster Vaneik worked together for a long time."

    "Saying we worked together is an interesting way of putting it. We''ve been butting heads for the past twenty years. I find it hard to believe he''s really gone."

    "Such is the way of the universe," Blune said with a sigh.

    "Knowing that makes it no easier to lose a loved one. If you are in contact with Marne or Wil Vaneik, please do give them my immediate condolences."

    "I will be sure to," Blune said. "Thank you for your time, First Sandreas."

    "Thank you for delivering us this bad news, Ms. Blune. And for finding me a ship to sail away on, of course." This was the end of their little audience; the main points had all been hashed out. They stood, Blune shook hands with all of them, and then left the office.

    Everyone sat back down on the couches after she was gone.

    "Well, that complicates things, doesn''t it?" Halen asked, coming over from the back of the room to sit next to Sandreas.

    "Yes, unfortunately," Sandreas said. "And I was really hoping that I''d be able to see the Anthus colony off to a good start without any drama."

    "Wait, so what''s going to happen?" Yan asked. "Are we still going to Anthus?"

    "That''s what we need to figure out." Sandreas rubbed the back of his neck. "The Anthus colony can''t be delayed, that date is set in stone, and it would be a major snub for there to be minimal Imperial presence there. The funeral takes precedence, of course, so I''ll need to be there, but there isn''t time for me to do both- the travel times make it impossible."

    "But all the captains will be going to Vaneik''s funeral, will the Anthus ships even still run their route?" Yan asked. "I don''t remember when the last Guildmaster died, but I know that it''s a massive event."

    "The captains will come, but the whole Empire can''t come grinding to a halt to send off one man. Any ship that can''t abandon its route will be left in the hands of its seconds. I''m sure the Anthus colony ships will be like that," Halen said.

    "So you''re going to the funeral for sure?" Sid asked.

    "Yes." Sandreas thought for a second. "And I''ll have to divvy up the rest of you to attend to everything else while I''m gone."

    This made Yan so nervous her vision swam, and the sound in the room turned into a whine. She tried to breathe evenly, and the sensation passed after a second. Yan looked up; Halen was staring at her, alarmed. She shook her head minutely. Halen raised his eyebrows but didn''t say anything.

    "Yan," Sandreas started, and Yan jerked her head toward him. Her expression must have betrayed something, because he looked concerned for a brief moment, then continued. "Consider your punishment over. You''re in the best position to go out on your own, so I''m going to send you to Anthus in my place."

    No, no- she couldn''t do that. Alone? Without even Sid? It had gone so badly last time she went out, and now this? She didn''t, she couldn''t¡­ The words Yan wanted to say, any protest she had, they stuck in her throat. Her face was burning, and she felt like she was drowning, unable to breathe.

    "Are you okay, Yan?" Sandreas asked.

    She took another few deep breaths, unclenched her fists, made a conscious effort to relax her body. Next to her on the couch, Sid was looking at her with some concern.

    "Can- can someone come with me?" Yan finally asked. She couldn''t make this worse by asking not to go. That would be too cowardly to even admit, and there was no chance of Sandreas changing his mind on that, but she had a chance, a small chance, of getting either Sid or Kino to come with her. Either would be fine. Yan couldn''t do it alone.

    "No, unfortunately," Sandreas said. "This will be a good learning experience for you. Just try to think of it that way."

    "Why can''t I go with her?" Sid asked. "We work well together."

    "For one thing, I need people to stay on Emerri to deal with any crises that may arise in my absence," Sandreas said.

    "We all left at the same time before," Sid protested. "Why''s this different?"

    "On our last trips, there was no unexpected event, such as the lack of leadership within the Trade Guild. There''s a difference between a planned trip an an unexpected outing to deal with a crisis," Sandreas said. "And besides, you are not going anywhere until the Emperor decides you are done with your punishment."

    Yan had almost forgotten that Sid still couldn''t use the power. He tried to hide it, as though the lack of it embarrassed him, by simply not mentioning the power at all, and ducking out whenever anyone was about to meditate. Yan felt bad for him, but it was only one in a million people who had the power anyway, so he wasn''t suffering any more than them.

    "The Emperor didn''t say anything about me staying on planet," Sid argued.

    "No, but I am. It''s simply too dangerous for you to leave when you can''t protect yourself." That was a fair point. At least on Emerri, Sid was surrounded at all times by highly trained guards. Yan didn''t think that Sid was a particularly worthy target for assassination, but then again, they had been attacked by pirates, so the point probably stood.

    "What about me?" Kino asked.

    Sandreas sighed. Yan could see exactly what the dilemma crossing his mind was. Could he trust Sid and Kino together unsupervised, or would he have to separate them for the sake of the Empire?

    "Fine. Kino, you''ll go with Yan to Anthus." Yan''s spirit soared.

    "I don''t think that I can do that," Kino said.

    "Why not?" Sandreas asked, surprised.

    Kino pointed at herself. "I think it would be a bad image to have someone from Falmar go to a new colony opening."

    "Would that really be such a big deal?" Sid asked. Sandreas thought about it for a long few seconds. Yan desperately hoped that he would say that Kino could still come with her.

    "Kino isn''t wrong," Sandreas admitted. "It would be bad publicity, especially since I''m already bowing out of the trip unexpectedly."

    "But-" Yan tried to protest, and Sandreas held up his hand to stop her.

    "You''ll have a great time on the trip by yourself, Yan. You''ll get to stretch your wings, and it''s a purely ceremonial thing. Kino, you can come with me to Vaneik''s funeral."

    "I''d rather stay with Sid," Kino said.

    "I don''t love that idea. You''ve been spending enough time together recently, it will be good for you to have a break." A rare look of disappointment flashed across Kino''s face, but she squashed it and returned to her normal neutral expression.

    "So I''ll be left all on my lonesome," Sid said with a smile.

    "No, you will be babysat here at home," Sandreas said. "Don''t get any funny ideas while I''m gone. I have to be able to trust you to run things while I''m away."

    "I won''t even have Yan around to boss me around and keep me on the right track," Sid said. "How sad."

    "Get used to it," Sandreas said. "This will be a good test to see if you two can handle independent work. I''m hopeful that you will both pass with flying colors."

    "Yeah, just like our last trip," Sid muttered.

    "I must say, the actual work part of your last trip was fine. Better than fine, even, considering the circumstances under which it was performed. The rest of it¡­" Sandreas paused and Sid smirked. "It could have been better, is all I''ll say about that.

    "It really is a shame the First Star is in for maintenance," Sandreas continued. "An occasion like this is just where having your own ship comes in handy. I hate hitching rides with the Guild."

    Yan, whose relationship to the Guild remained rocky, nodded in agreement. Even if the First Star had been available, it wasn''t as though she would be able to avoid hitching her own ride to Anthus; Sandreas would have taken the First Star himself to go to Vaneik''s funeral. It was a shame that stardrives were in such short supply; it would be nice to have a sky as full of ships as it was of stars. There seemed to be a perpetual shortage of transportation, and so all their journeys ended up being circuitous and longer than necessary. Having a personal ship that could go in a straight line from one planet to the next, without having to arrange deliveries and layovers, it sounded like an unimaginable luxury.

    Yan still would have vastly preferred for Kino to accompany her, but it seemed as though that was not to be. It seemed like not being able to attend the consecrations of new colonies would be a major problem going forward for Kino. It was a big event, and if she was the one of the three of them who eventually became Voice, well, she would have to attend these sort of things, Falmar bad luck or no. Sandreas was too obsessed with image, but he hadn''t even been thinking about it before Kino brought it up. Was that just on her mind all the time, or was she purposely trying to stay on Emerri with Sid? Maybe Kino was just as averse to travelling as Yan was at this point- had her cave misadventure affected her that badly? Yan didn''t know. It wasn''t as though Kino was exactly loose lipped with what she was feeling at any given time. As for what Yan was feeling, it was complete nervousness. Her thoughts spiraled out of control.

    "So when are you leaving?" Sid asked.

    "It will all depend on what kind of transportation Blune can arrange for me. The funeral probably won''t be for at least another week or so, just to give everyone a chance to get the news and respond to the summons," Sandreas said.

    "That''s gross," Sid said, wrinkling his nose.

    "I''m sure they''ll be keeping the body on ice," Sandreas said pragmatically.

    "Imagine keeping that in the big walk in freezer," Sid said.

    "Don''t be crass," Sandreas warned. "You need to practice having polite conversations."

    "Will I get my power back then?" Sid asked, leaning forward on his hands.

    "That''s not up to me. If you want you can go beg the Emperor while I''m gone," Sandreas said, giving Sid a look.

    "Ha, no, thanks."

    Yan hadn''t been able to find out exactly what the Emperor was like from Sid; he had been completely unwilling to discuss the experience. She knew it must have been bad, though, because Sandreas always had a weird expression whenever the subject was brought up. At least the Emperor, however powerful, stayed out of day to day business and communicated with Sandreas primarily through text.

    "Sid, just to be clear, I am leaving you in charge of all of my business. The Empire will be in your hands, at least while I am in transit. I expect you to be able to handle it gracefully," Sandreas said sternly.

    Sid seemed to be somewhat chagrined, because he responded seriously, for once. "I''ll do my best."

    "Good." Sandreas put his hands on his knees and stood. As usual, everyone else stood as well, following his cues. "Kino, you should get ready to leave as soon as possible. When Blune gets a captain to take us, we need to be ready to go. Yan, the Anthus trip is still happening at its scheduled time, so get your affairs in order over the next three days. Sid, you''re with me. I''m going to go over the schedule for the next few weeks with you so that you''re prepared."

    Sid frowned, looking jealously at Yan and Kino who were walking towards the exit. Yan gave him as much of a rueful smile as she could muster. She was still feeling horrible about leaving, but she could at least commiserate with Sid over him taking over Sandreas''s schedule. After all, Yan had been following him around for the past month- she had a much better sense of just how much work that entailed.

    She knocked the underside of her chin with her knuckles as she passed Sid. Chin up. He rolled his eyes at her.

 Chapter Forty-Two - What Shall We Do with a Drunken Spacer?

    What Shall We Do with a Drunken Spacer?

    <blockquote>

    ¡°My brother¡¯s bought us black-grain beer, you¡¯d better believe we¡¯ll drink it all down. One glass, two glass, three glass, four- you¡¯d better believe we¡¯ll drink it all down. When Donny Daylight dances at our door, you¡¯d better believe we¡¯ve drunk it all down. Five glass, six glass, seven glass, eight- you¡¯d better believe we¡¯ve drunk it all down.¡±

    -from ¡°You¡¯d Better Believe¡±, drinking song

    <h2></h2>

    </blockquote>

    Yan was shipped off planet with little pomp and less circumstance. The ship she would be travelling on, the Tranquility, was full to the brim with passengers and cargo. It was followed closely behind by the Petra, carrying even more passengers. Both ships, after they dropped off this first load, would return to pick up more starting colonists. Trade Guild ships, though they had a great capacity for inanimate objects, such as ore or wheat, did not have the berthing space to carry the thousands of passengers that a new colony required. A Fleet ship would have done the job, but the Trade Guild would have rioted to lose the business of shipping colonists around. Besides, the Fleet was busy exploring and fighting (though according to Kino, Tyx III was at a complete standstill), so they didn''t have ships to spare.

    Still, the Tranquility was more crowded than Yan could bear. The Petra and the Tranquility were both favored recipients of colony contracts because they had more living space than any other ships in the Guild. That living space did not necessarily mean comfortable space; all of the colonists were bunked several to a room, could only carry one bag with them into the habitable sections of the ship, and were eating boxed rations for the entirety of the journey. Yan, being an important figure, was given special treatment. She was allowed to eat with the Tranquility''s crew and she had her own private cabin, but it was still an unpleasant experience.

    Walking down the corridors, she practically tripped over colonists who were hanging out in the hallways for no good reason. Being on a spaceship with nothing to do but wait to arrive apparently led people to become stir crazy. The colonists were remarkably friendly people who wanted nothing more than to shake her hand and tell her how excited they were to be starting their new lives. Yan had more polite conversations with these people than she could count, and she began cloistering herself in her own room to avoid them.

    It didn''t help that she was unsure of where she stood with the crew of the Tranquility. While it was almost certain that the gossip about her (was it gossip if it was true?) had almost certainly reached the crew of the ship, it was possible that Apprentice Olms''s assessment of Yan''s character had also been spread around. Everyone treated her politely and no one brought up the incident aboard the Sky Boat, but that could have been just due to her status as well. When Yan started fretting about it too hard, Iri threatened to smack some sense into her. Yan tried to keep quiet on that particular subject from there on out.

    The one saving grace was that Yan''s friend from the Academy, Genna Markus, was part of the high level leadership of the Anthus Colony Project and was coming along to start her new life. Well, she was an apprentice to that high level leadership, but it was close enough. Yan was in the somewhat awkward position of being an apprentice herself but also being the guest of honor on the ship. She wished that Sandreas had been able to come, because his presence shielded her from attention. Still, Yan had a fine time catching up with Genna, exploring the depths of the Tranquility, and trying to be a good guest and gracious leader.

    Yan did decline any offers to tour the bridge of the Tranquility, though. She was taking the advice of Joun Migollen, the second of the Sky Boat, under consideration; it wasn''t proper for her to pretend to be a spacer any more. So, while she was still able to dodge about the no-grav sections with the greatest of ease, she made no attempt to fit herself in among the crew of the ship.

    Yan and Genna were amusing themselves on the observation deck, one of the few places that was not full to the gills with colonists. That may have only been because they hadn''t been told of its existence. The colonists were all berthed in the no-grav sections as well, in the one cargo hold that the Tranquility had specifically outfitted to be able to carry passengers, so they didn''t have the normal excuse of not being used to the no-grav sections to visit the observation deck. Perhaps they just didn''t like to be reminded of what was outside the ship''s walls. Either way, it suited Yan and Genna just fine; they were grateful to have some time to catch up and talk to each other. It had been months since they last were together at the Academy, and a lot had changed since then.

    "Are you excited to be living on a new colony?" Yan asked.

    "I''m looking forward to it, but I don''t know if excited is the right word," Genna said. She had mellowed out a bit in the months since graduation. "Farms is farms."

    "You won''t be a farmer, right?" Yan asked. "I really don''t know anything about colonization."

    "Pretty much everyone has to be a farmer," Genna laughed. "But you''re right, I''ll be mostly working in central planning. I don''t think I''ll have time to start a farm of my own until my apprenticeship ends."

    "Do you want to start a farm of your own?" Yan asked. Genna frowned, and shoved her mechanical hand deep into her cassock pocket.

    "Not right now, anyway. I don''t know. Once I''m done with my apprenticeship I''ll have a better idea what pathways are open to me. Maybe I''ll run for governor."

    Yan laughed. "Ambition, I like it."

    "Well it would be dumb to waste Academy training on farming, wouldn''t it?" Genna said bitingly.

    "Why''d you pick this apprenticeship anyway, you were offered a position in¡­" Yan struggled to remember what her friend''s other offers had been.

    "Law. I was offered a law apprenticeship." She didn''t go into the details. It probably didn''t matter, since she hadn''t taken it.

    "Why didn''t you take that one?"

    Genna shrugged. "I had this crazy thought that it would be nice to get in on the ground floor of something."

    "Yeah, that is crazy," Yan said. "You''ll be an old lady before this colony has even a hope of relevancy."

    Genna laughed. "Heh, you never know, Anthus could turn out to be the best colony ever created."

    "Just because you''re there?"

    "Of course! Everything is better with me on it!"

    "What are you actually going to be doing, though?" Yan asked, switching the subject away from Genna''s comical self-aggrandizement.

    "Eh. That''s kinda complicated to explain. How much detail do you actually want?"

    Yan considered this for a second. "Thirty second summary."

    "Might as well not even bother asking, but fine. This is the first wave of colonists. We need to work on getting infrastructure set up. So first things first is getting down on the ground and assembling quick shelters, then from there we construct permanent buildings, roads, farms, stuff like that. For the next couple years it''s going to be a lot of land clearing, building from supplies that are coming with us now, and setting up things that can be used in the future."

    "So when you get down there, are you even going to have a place to stay?"

    "There was a pre-first wave team, obviously. They''ve been there for ages, so there is some shelter set up. We''re not gonna just be dumped on a planet in the middle of nowhere with nothing- that would be insane." Genna''s voice was rich with disdain.

    "Well, I don''t know, you could have filled this whole ship with crazy people who would love to do that."

    "What kind of monster do you take me for? I don''t want to do that."

    "I guess I don''t know anything about colonization," Yan said, shrugging. It was nice to be back with Genna- she was funny.

    "There has been nothing more obvious than that," Genna said. "I mean, God, when I first met you, you didn''t know anything about how to live with anybody who wasn''t your cousin."

    "That''s true," Yan said. "Guilty as charged."

    "I never did ask," Genna said, changing her tone, " what made you not take the xenobio job? You''d only been talking about how cool all the life on planets was since the day you learned enough New Imperial to say it."

    Yan considered her answer for a second. "I didn''t really feel like I had a choice."

    "That''s dumb. You always have a choice."

    "I don''t know," Yan protested. "I always feel like I''m just being pushed along. And that was God pushing me into taking this apprenticeship." Yan gestured down at her whole self. "So here I am."

    "God told you to do it? That''s really the line you''re going to use?" Genna laughed. "I see you''re the same old person you''ve been for years."

    "What else am I supposed to say?" Yan asked, feeling a little put out.

    "Oh, maybe, ''it was the greatest opportunity that ever passed in front of me, so I snatched it like a hot potato'', or ''I have a desperate desire to climb the social ladder'', or ''I don''t know, we just clicked really well in the interview''. Anything to make yourself less passive," Genna said. "I don''t know how you''re going to rule the universe someday if you''re all ''I just did it because God told me to''."Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Yan didn''t love the direction this conversation was headed. She put her hands into her pockets and fiddled around with the collection of pens and lint in there. Briefly, her right hand ghosted over the form of the gun on her hip. Yan clamped down on the urge to shudder.

    "Well there''s also Sid and Kino who could take over," Yan said. "No guarantee that it''s going to be me as Voice in the end."

    "Yan, listen to yourself. I met Welslak and Mejia when we were at the Academy. I had classes with both of them at one point. You''re really saying that you''d rather have deaf baldy or weirdo rule the universe before you?"

    "Hey, don''t be mean, they''re my friends."

    Genna rolled her eyes. "The one-hand farm-hand is here giving it to you straight," Genna said. "If you don''t become Yan, queen of the universe, I''ll throttle you myself."

    "That''s really not-"

    "That wasn''t a threat, that''s a promise!" Genna emphasized. "You''d better start living up to your potential, or I''ll worm my way onto the Imperial Council just so I can getcha."

    "If I survive that long," Yan muttered.

    "If you don''t survive for me to kill you, I''ll-" Genna struggled to think of an appropriate threat. "I don''t know. I''ll think of something."

    "I''m glad to hear it," Yan said. Genna was fun to be around. Yan had missed lively dinner conversations at the Academy.

    Yan felt the stirring in the power that signaled the Tranquility''s aging stardrive warming up. Unlike some of the ships with a newer stardrive Yan had been on, the Tranquility''s took a good few minutes to gather up all the energy it needed to make a jump. That was what happened when a stardrive got old, Yan supposed. She wondered how much longer it would be before the Tranquility would have to fork over the massive amounts of money to get a new one. It couldn''t be too much longer; it would be a disaster beyond imagination if the stardrive on a ship actually failed while it was out in the universe. The crew would be stranded and as good as dead. Yan hated to think about it.

    "We''re going to jump soon," Yan said, warning Genna. Seeing the jump was the whole reason they were in the observation deck.

    "Do I need to hold on?" Genna asked.

    "Nah, you shouldn''t feel anything. Just keep an eye on the stars. And say ''bye-bye'' to the Petra." Yan pointed out the window to a tiny, green lit speck in the distance. The Petra and Tranquility both had some of their onboard lights on, just as a courtesy to the other ship. It allowed for easier communication, if everyone could see and point their antennas in the correct direction for broadcast. The Petra had a few hours before their stardrive would be ready to jump, so they wouldn''t be seeing them again for a while. That was assuming that the two ships would continue to jump to the same places, anyway. Yan didn''t actually know what the itinerary looked like.

    "Here it goes," Yan said. She stared out the window and felt the rip in the power as the Tranquility''s stardrive jumped them. It was a feeling Yan was very familiar with, but it never failed to make her jump a little. The stars outside the window instantaneously shifted position, and the hum of the stardrive quieted, going into its rest cycle.

    "That was anti-climactic," Genna said.

    "I''m not really sure what you expected," Yan said. "I told you there wasn''t that much to see."

    "I wanted like flashing lights or something cool like that," Genna complained.

    "Well I''m sorry that it failed to meet your expectations," Yan said. "Should we head to dinner? It''s about that time."

    "Oh, yeah, that fancy thing."

    Yan had been invited to a dinner with some of the colony management. While sure to be the opposite of fancy (for politeness'' sake, the Anthus colony team were restricting themselves to the same meals as the colonists, rather than partaking in the much more varied offerings in the Tranquility''s dining hall), it was sure to be a good time with pleasant conversation all around.

    They made their way out of the observation deck and through progressively more crowded hallways until they reached the elevators that would take them into the rotating rings of the ship. One luxury that the colony leadership didn''t pass up was bunking in the gravity section, and using the few conference rooms aboard the Tranquility for their own meetings. It was much more pleasant to eat in gravity than to float around, so Yan was happy that they weren''t staying in the crowded hold of the ship.

    Genna introduced Yan to some of the younger members of the Anthus team that they passed as they walked, those not quite ranking high enough to join the dinner. Genna had no qualms about knocking on people''s doors and sticking her head in to chat for a few minutes. Yan was glad that Genna had made some friends among her coworkers. At least they seemed like friends, due to the familiar way that Genna addressed them, but as always, it was hard to know with her. She was equally abrasive to everyone except her boss. Yan couldn''t guarantee that Genna wasn''t talking about her boss behind her back, though.

    Yan had met everyone in the upper leadership when they had first all boarded the Tranquility. There were a few who were on board the Petra to help coordinate all the colonists and supplies, but the bulk of the leadership was together here. A good few of them were gathered in one of the re-purposed meeting rooms, lounging on the creaking old office chairs that filled the room. Clearly, the Anthus team was using this room as more than just a dining hall, as maps and timetables were hung up all over the walls. It was a visually chaotic environment, and Yan took a second to process it as she came in. Everyone insisted on re-introducing themselves and shaking her hand, just in case she had forgotten who they were. Yan did her best to remember everyone, but the room was full to bursting with people, all of them talking loudly and enthusiastically about things that she didn''t know anything about, and it was just a little overwhelming.

    Everyone was alarmingly friendly. It felt like all the thousands of colonists aboard the Tranquility wanted to stick their heads in the door and greet some member of the leadership team personally as they ate their dinner. Even the man who brought their rations up from the storeroom had a long conversation about how his wife was doing with the team before he passed the food out. Yan''s stomach was growling, but at least that couldn''t be heard over the hubub of the room. She had to wonder if this camaraderie was born only of excitement and close confinement, or if it was a natural product of the people who had been selected to be part of this first wave of colonists.

    The Anthus colony was made up primarily of people from Almanzil who wanted to get away from that heavily industrialized core world, but as with most colonies, they opened up their population to anyone who wanted to join, so there was a fairly diverse mix of people, though almost all young. Making new colonies was not the work of the old. There were very few children. The whole atmosphere reminded Yan of the housing at the Academy for the upper year students. Everyone knew their place, but they were young and untethered and in the same position together. It lead to a looseness Yan had not seen elsewhere. She had forgotten how much she missed that spirit while working with Sandreas.

    When they were actually all settled down to eat, Genna''s boss, Josain Ydra, pronounced that there should be a moratorium on work talk during dinner. Ydra was a stout woman who reminded Yan of some of her aunts, and she spoke jovially and loudly to everyone at the table. She didn''t dote on Genna, but there was definitely a fondness in the way that she addressed her, and sat her at her side during dinner. Genna was the least senior person in the room and she sat between two of the most senior, Yan and Ydra, so she kept quiet. Someone broke out a few bottles of alcohol from some secret stash, and it was a nice compliment to the otherwise dull food.

    There was only so much one could do to make packed, cold lunches an inviting party dinner. Yan tried not to be ungrateful, but she longed for the homey spacer fare that was sure to be being dished-out in the dining hall of the Tranquility. Someone had put all their sandwiches on trays to serve them, and there were little bags of cookies and chips to eat as well. People kept passing her glasses of some Almanzil specialty, and she couldn''t refuse. At first, Yan was worried about drinking so much, so she sipped her drink slowly, but it turned out to be quite strong. As more people passed the bottles around and topped off her glass, Yan drank more, and eventually lost her inhibitions about it.

    As the night wore on, no one seemed to be letting up on either the rowdy conversations (in fact, they seemed to be growing louder and less focused as time went on), or the passing around of the drinks and snacks. It turned out that someone or someone else had smuggled in some interesting foods with their luggage, and everyone sampled the cheeses and cakes that were produced. The room was a pleasant haze, overly warm, overly loud. Yan was laughing at everything Genna said, Genna and her boss were insulting everyone at the table, people were talking of plans for the future, all the things that they wanted to do. The room swam, and Yan swam in it.

    Eventually, people started to trickle away, and Yan did her best to say her goodbyes and stumble back to her room. Iri was waiting outside the party, with a stern expression on her face. Yan laughed.

    "Hi Iri," Yan said.

    "You are going to be one hungover bastard tomorrow," Iri muttered. "You smell horrible."

    Yan laughed again. "Sorry."

    "What made you drink so much? I''ve never seen you like this before."

    "Can''t say no when I''m havin fun," Yan said, swaying on her feet.

    "God. You''re lucky Halen isn''t here to beat that instinct out of you." Iri grabbed her arm, helping her walk down the hallways, brushing past countless straggling colonists who were still out in the hallways talking and laughing, deep into third shift.

    "Halen looooooves me," Yan protested, letting Iri steer the way, leaning hard on her. "Youuuuuuu love me."

    "Halen and I both like having you functional," Iri said, but she was smiling.

    "I knew it," Yan said. "You love me." Yan cackled with laughter.

    "I love you enough that I''ll tuck your sorry ass into bed. I¡¯ll even give you a painkiller in the morning when you come to your senses," Iri said.

    They came to Yan''s quarters, a tiny room that was just like every guest room on every starship. Iri mashed the combination to open the door and led Yan inside.

    "Can you manage your sloppy self enough that I don''t have to babysit you?" Iri asked.

    "I''m not a baby," Yan said. She sat down on the bed and kicked her shoes off, sending them flying to the corners of the room. She wiggled her sock-clad toes at Iri, who rolled her eyes.

    "Fine. I''ll see you in the morning then," Iri said. "Goodnight Yan."

    Yan waved goodbye to Iri as she shut the door behind her. Yan was feeling completely out of herself. She her thoughts felt dampened and she was unable to focus. Yan made a halfhearted attempt at getting undressed. She took off her cassock and ended up tripping over it, all tangled up in her legs. Yan kicked it away and fell backwards onto the bed, then squirmed around pathetically as she tried to remove her belt and pants. The belt came off, and she tossed it onto the floor, but the pants did not. Exhausted by her struggle with her own clothing, Yan curled up under the covers, still mostly dressed, and fell asleep.

    She was woken some unknown time later by the sound of the door opening and light from the hallway spilling into her dark room. She turned her face away from the intrusion, yanking the sheets higher up over her head.

    "Go away, Iri," Yan grumbled. "It''s too early."

    "Oh fuck." There was the sound of a panicked shuffling, and as quickly as Yan realized that the voice of the intruder was not Iri, she was already being jabbed in the arm with something, straight through her shirt. It stung, and Yan flailed around in the dark at her unseen attackers. She tried to use the power to free herself, but it slipped from her grasp like water through a pipe.

    Yan felt her hand impact something hard as she punched and kicked, and someone swore again. Someone tackled her, pinning her whole body down. She came to her senses enough to try to scream, but then the heavy man on top of her jammed a cloth into her mouth and covered it with his hand. Yan was panicked, trashing about as much as she could. She tried to reach for her gun- was it still on her hip from when she crawled into bed? No- she remembered with a jolt of panic that she had taken it off and tossed it onto the floor somewhere. Again, the power that she tried to grab at slipped away from her.

    She couldn''t breathe, but she tried, snorting air in through her nose like a panicked animal. Spots formed on the edge of her vision, then swam in towards the center. Yan lost consciousness, falling down into a deep well of fear and horror. She was lost.

    End of Part One

 (Reference Chart / Table of Contents) Part One: New Creatures With New Hearts

    Chapters

    Chapter Summaries

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    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Chapter?</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Point of View</td>

    <td>Summary</td>

    <td>Location</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sylva eat dinner in the Academy dining hall. Yan attends worship and talks to her advisor about her final project.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, the Academy</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Aymon visits the Academy to choose apprentices based on their projects.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, the Academy</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Three</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan and Aymon</td>

    <td>Yan meets other apprentices who are being interviewed. Aymon interviews Yan to be his apprentice.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, the Academy</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Four</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan tells her friends about her interview with Aymon.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, the Academy</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Five</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sylva journey to the Iron Dreams to spend their summer vacation.</td>

    <td>Byforest Station, the Iron Dreams</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Six</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sylva have dinner with Captain Pellon.</td>

    <td>the Iron Dreams</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Seven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan tells Maxes about her apprenticeship.</td>

    <td>the Iron Dreams</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eight</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Midyear aboard the Iron Dreams. Sylva confesses her feelings.</td>

    <td>the Iron Dreams</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Nine</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sylva return home from their summer vacation.</td>

    <td>Emerri</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Ten</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan moves into her new apartment and meets Sid (again).</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eleven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon and Yan</td>

    <td>The apprentices have their first day on the job.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twelve</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Everyone prepares for the meeting with the Trade Guild. Yan and Kino have a conversation.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Sandreas and apprentices meet with Guildmaster Vaneik and his apprentices.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Fourteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Sandreas debriefs the meeting with his apprentices.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Fifteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Sandreas continues to debrief the meeting with his apprentices.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sixteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan is trailed through the city and has a conversation with Halen.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Seventeen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>The apprentices participate in a dangerous training exercise.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eighteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Everyone debriefs the training.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Interlude: The Book of Secrets</td>

    <td style="text-align: center"></td>

    <td>Yan''s notes from reading the Fleet Apprentice Onboarding Manual.</td>

    <td></td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Nineteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>The apprentices go out for dinner.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan and Aymon</td>

    <td>The Governor''s Dinner begins.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan and Aymon</td>

    <td>The Governor''s Dinner, continued.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>The apprentices prepare for an upcomming mission and Yan visits Sylva.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt // Emerri, Landis</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Three</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid''s trip to Olar begins.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Emerri Station, the Sun''s Gold, Byforest Station, the Sky Boat</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Four</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Aymon and Kino have a long overdue conversation.</td>

    <td>the Telescope</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Five</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Pirates attack theSky Boat.</td>

    <td>the Sky Boat</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Six</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid fight pirates.</td>

    <td>the Sky Boat</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Seven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Aymon meets with Fleet leadership on Tyx III.</td>

    <td>Tyx III</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Eight</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Kinois lost in a cave.</td>

    <td>Tyx III</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Nine</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid comfort eachother.</td>

    <td>the Sky Boat</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Aymon reaches Jenjin and the coup begins.</td>

    <td>the God''s Engine, Jenjin</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid arrive on Olar.</td>

    <td>the Sky Boat, Zhani station, the Fantastic, Olar Station, Olar, City-One-North</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid''s diplomatic mission begins and they meet with Governor Marquis.</td>

    <td>Olar, City-One-North</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Three</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid meet with the Trade Guild representatives.</td>

    <td>Olar, City-One-North</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Four</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>The new government of Jenjin is established.</td>

    <td>Jenjin</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Five</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid negotiate a settlement between Olar and the Trade Guild.</td>

    <td>Olar, City-One-North</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Six</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid visit Sid''s family.</td>

    <td>Olar, the Skyfish, Galena station, Galena</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Seven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan and Sid return to Emerri. Yan gets debriefed.</td>

    <td>Galena, Galena Station, the Kinetic, Emerri Station, Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Eight</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Aymon has a conversation with Sid about his behavior.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Nine</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Sid runs away.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Forty</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Aymon gives out punishments to his apprentices. Sid and Aymon visit the Emperor.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Forty-One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Aymon learns about a death within the Trade Guild.</td>

    <td>Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Forty-Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yan begins her trip to Anthus.</td>

    <td>the Tranquility</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Characters

    In order of appearance

    Major Characters

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    <table>

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    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Appearances</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Yan BarCarran</td>

    <td>1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sylva Calor</td>

    <td>1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19, 21, 22</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Aymon Sandreas</td>

    <td>2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Halen</td>

    <td>2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 30, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Kino Mejia</td>

    <td>3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 37, 39, 40, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sid "Egghead" Welslak</td>

    <td>3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Secondary Characters

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    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Description</td>

    <td>Appearances (and non-incidental mentions)</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Maxes BarCarran</td>

    <td>Yan''s maternal uncle, who raised her after the death of her mother.</td>

    <td>1,4,5,6,7,16, 31, 33, 36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Pellon BarCarran</td>

    <td>The captain of the Iron Dreams. Yan''s first cousin once removed.</td>

    <td>1,6,8,31</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Ungarti Vaneik</td>

    <td>Guildmaster of the Trade Guild.</td>

    <td>11,12,13,14,21,22, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Nomar Thule</td>

    <td>Apprentice to Ungarti Vaneik. Supervises Guild finances.</td>

    <td>12,13, 20, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Yuuni Olms</td>

    <td>Apprentice to Ungarti Vaneik.</td>

    <td>12,13, 33,35, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>The Emperor</td>

    <td></td>

    <td>BoS, 40</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Iri Maedes</td>

    <td>Yan''s minder.</td>

    <td>21, 23, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39, 42</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Tertiary Characters

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    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Description</td>

    <td>Appearances</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Karl "Dirtfoot" Welslak</td>

    <td>Sid''s brother.</td>

    <td>10, 36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Renay "Appleface" Welslak</td>

    <td>Sid''s sister.</td>

    <td>10, 36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Wil Vaneik</td>

    <td>Ungarti Vaneik''s son.</td>

    <td>12, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Jaiwan Marquis</td>

    <td>Governor of Olar.</td>

    <td>20, 32, 35</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Tani Vaspar</td>

    <td>Governor of Jenjin.</td>

    <td>22, 30, 34</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lieutenant Harber</td>

    <td>Leader of the Fleet group escorting Yan and Sid to Olar.</td>

    <td>23, 25, 26, 33, 35</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Miles Hernan</td>

    <td>Sid''s ''minder''.</td>

    <td>23, 25, 26, 32, 36, 39</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lida Migollen</td>

    <td>Captain of the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>23, 26, 33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Joun Migollen</td>

    <td>Second on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>23, 25, 26</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Loan Lang</td>

    <td>Fleet general. Stationed on Tyx II. Aymon''s friend from the Academy.</td>

    <td>27, 28</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Halia Xu</td>

    <td>Former Imperial Council representative for Jenjin.</td>

    <td>30, 34</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mrs. Welslak</td>

    <td>Sid''s mother.</td>

    <td>36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mr. Welslak</td>

    <td>Sid''s father.</td>

    <td>36</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Minor Characters

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    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Description</td>

    <td>Appearances / Mentions</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Master Farber</td>

    <td>Yan''s advisor at the Academy.</td>

    <td>1</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Marca Windreshon</td>

    <td>The head of the Academy.</td>

    <td>2, 3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Admiral Vaalks</td>

    <td>A Fleet Admiral.</td>

    <td>2,11,15,21</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sinnah BarCarran</td>

    <td>Yan''s mother. Died when Yan was eight.</td>

    <td>3,6,16,29, 36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Harbin Ula</td>

    <td>A friend of Yan''s from the Academy. Apprenticing as an architect.</td>

    <td>4,10</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Master Hein</td>

    <td>Harbin''s advisor at the Academy.</td>

    <td>4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Rumon BarCarran</td>

    <td>Yan''s cousin. Runs traffic control for the Iron Dreams.</td>

    <td>5</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eman BarCarran</td>

    <td>Yan''s aunt. Arranges shipments with customers and coordinates placement of cargo aboard the Iron Dreams.</td>

    <td>5</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Beranni Kasinsa</td>

    <td>Yan''s friend from the Academy.</td>

    <td>5</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Genna Markus</td>

    <td>Yan''s friend from the Academy. Apprenticing in the Anthus Colony Team. Lost hand in farming accident as a child.</td>

    <td>5,10, 42</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Bellero</td>

    <td>Cantor aboard the Iron Dreams</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Emil BarCarran</td>

    <td>Yan''s cousin. Married. Honeymooned on Veralli. Navigator aboard the Iron Dreams.</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mena BarCarran</td>

    <td>Cook aboard the Iron Dreams.</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Aureius BarCarran</td>

    <td>Navigator aboard the Iron Dreams.</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thome BarCarran</td>

    <td>Navigator aboard the Iron Dreams.</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Jalena BarCarran</td>

    <td>Maxes''s wife. Native of Terlin.</td>

    <td></td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Jeff Denson</td>

    <td>Works at the front desk in Yan''s apartment building.</td>

    <td>10</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Melina Rosario</td>

    <td>Aymon''s secretary.</td>

    <td>11,12,15, 17, 37</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Banmei Olms</td>

    <td>Father of Yuuni Olms, captain of the Neutron Star.</td>

    <td>12</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Marne Vaneik</td>

    <td>Ungarti Vaneik''s wife.</td>

    <td>13, 41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Tybee</td>

    <td>Ungarti Vaneik''s bodyguard.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Caron Herrault</td>

    <td>Sandreas''s predecessor as Voice.</td>

    <td>14, 20</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Josa Runwest</td>

    <td>Governor of Emerri.</td>

    <td>20</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Elena Runwest</td>

    <td>Daughter of Josa Runwest.</td>

    <td>20</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Vinet Morche</td>

    <td>Son of an industrialist on Olar. Attempted to assasinate Ungarti Vaneik. Deceased.</td>

    <td>21</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Chaten Howe</td>

    <td>An Olar expert accompanying Yan and Sid to Olar.</td>

    <td>23, 32</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Bebop</td>

    <td>Iri''s dog.</td>

    <td>23, 25</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Bowen Lyle</td>

    <td>Captain of the Sun''s Gold.</td>

    <td>23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Endo Migollen</td>

    <td>Child living on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Patt Migollen</td>

    <td>Child living on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Zevin Migollen</td>

    <td>Child living on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>23, 29</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lief Migollen</td>

    <td>Child living on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Midge Migollen</td>

    <td>Dogfighter pilot aboard the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>25</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Henns Migollen</td>

    <td>Bridge crew on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>25</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Brija Migollen</td>

    <td>Bridge crew on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>25</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Bec Migollen</td>

    <td>Dogfighter pilot aboard the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>26</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Carnen Migollen</td>

    <td>Bridge crew on the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>26</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Vice Admiral Kolruss</td>

    <td>Fleet Admiral. Responsible for coordinating operations around Tyx III.</td>

    <td>27, 28</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Commander Vale</td>

    <td>Scientific commander on Tyx III.</td>

    <td>27</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Cantor Xu</td>

    <td>Theological leader on Tyx III.</td>

    <td>27</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Deboan</td>

    <td>Kino''s ''minder''.</td>

    <td>28</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>McKinnon, Bale, Howarth</td>

    <td>Fleet soldiers on Tyx III.</td>

    <td>28</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>General Hamark</td>

    <td>Leader of the Jenjin Defense Force.</td>

    <td>30</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eda Sath</td>

    <td>Coordinator of the Jenjin coup mission.</td>

    <td>30</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Aditya Cattarge</td>

    <td>Captain of the Imei.</td>

    <td>33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Marc Stath</td>

    <td>First officer on the Skyfish.</td>

    <td>33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Em Staffort</td>

    <td>Trade Guild Council representative from the Fantastic.</td>

    <td>33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Xueyin Lee</td>

    <td>Trade Guild Council representative from the Lightning Birgade.</td>

    <td>33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Josephian Sandreas</td>

    <td>Arsonist.</td>

    <td>34</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Vance</td>

    <td>Tattoo shop owner on Olar.</td>

    <td>35</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Benna</td>

    <td>Tattoo artist on Olar.</td>

    <td>35</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lopp</td>

    <td>Fleet soldier who accompanied Yan and Sid to Olar.</td>

    <td>36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Vane</td>

    <td>Fleet soldier who accompanied Yan and Sid to Olar.</td>

    <td>36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mr. Falkes</td>

    <td>Representative from Raithe.</td>

    <td>41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mr. Zev</td>

    <td>Representative from Cogita.</td>

    <td>41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Wiley Blune</td>

    <td>Trade Guild liason to Stonecourt.</td>

    <td>41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Josain Ydra</td>

    <td>Genna''s mentor. Leader of the Anthus Colony team.</td>

    <td>42</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Locations

    In order of appearance

    Planets

    <input class="spoilerButton" type="button" value="Show">

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Description</td>

    <td>Mentioned In</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Emerri</td>

    <td>The capitol planet of the Empire. The Academy, Imperial Center, and Stonecourt are all here.</td>

    <td></td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Terlin</td>

    <td>Yan''s family''s ancestral home planet. One of the "original" colonies.</td>

    <td>5,6,BoS</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thesios</td>

    <td></td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Veralli</td>

    <td></td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Jenjin</td>

    <td>A planet with a separatist movemnt.</td>

    <td>6, 21, 22, 30, 34</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Galena</td>

    <td>Sid''s home planet. Core world, once considered the seat of the Empire. One of the "original" colonies.</td>

    <td>10, 13, BoS, 32, 36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Anthus</td>

    <td>Future colony.</td>

    <td>10,13, 41, 42</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Falmar</td>

    <td>Kino''s home planet. Most of the colony was killed by plague, and the Imperial Government chose not to aid the citizens of it. The Trade Guild stepped in to rescue people.</td>

    <td>12, 24, 27, 30</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Hanathue</td>

    <td>The planet Kino lived on after leaving Falmar.</td>

    <td>12, 30</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Calbrais</td>

    <td>Owns a new mining route.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Colmorn</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Vos</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mikolon</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.</td>

    <td>13,17</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Ampola</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme. Sylva is working on theological texts produced on Ampola.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Olar</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.</td>

    <td>13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Kelsale</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lonn</td>

    <td>Aymon''s home planet. Known for having large trees.</td>

    <td>13, 20, 24</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Zhani</td>

    <td>Outer rim planet. Having trouble with pirates.</td>

    <td>13, 23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lekke</td>

    <td>Planet famous for drug production.</td>

    <td>16, 21</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Edden</td>

    <td>First colonized planet. Generally considered the originating planet of humanity, but it isn''t. Destroyed before the founding of the Empire.</td>

    <td>BoS,</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Minglian</td>

    <td>One of the "original" colonies.</td>

    <td>BoS,</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Tyx III</td>

    <td>A planet where the Fleet is engaged in combat operations. Much of the planet is covered by a vast system of underground caverns.</td>

    <td>21, 22, 27, 28</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mona</td>

    <td>Sixth planet in the Olar system. Uninhabited. Asteroid belt mined beyond its orbit.</td>

    <td>32</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Raithe</td>

    <td></td>

    <td>41</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Cogita</td>

    <td></td>

    <td>41</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Ships and Stations

    <input class="spoilerButton" type="button" value="Show">

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Description</td>

    <td>Mentioned In</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Iron Dreams</td>

    <td>Yan''s family ship. Part of the Trade Guild. Captain is Pellon BarCarran.</td>

    <td>1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sun''s Gold</td>

    <td>A Trade Guild ship. Part of its run is between Emerri and Byforest Station. Captain is Bowen Lyle.</td>

    <td>1, 4, 5, 22, 23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Byforest Station</td>

    <td>A station that is a stopping point for many ships within the Trade Guild. The Iron Dreams often stops there. Has a large forest built in its center.</td>

    <td>5, 8, 9, 22, 23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Devali</td>

    <td>Mining zone.</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Malstaire</td>

    <td>Illegal mining colony operated by the Trade Guild. Shut down by Imperial forces. Was a very valuable operation, but also dangerous due to stellar activity in the region.</td>

    <td>7,13, 15</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Bluebeetle</td>

    <td>Halen''s family''s original ship. Pirate ship.</td>

    <td>11</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Neutron Star</td>

    <td>Trade Guild ship. Captain is Banmei Olms.</td>

    <td>12</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Blue Sky</td>

    <td>Guild ship. Part of the Circle Run.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Mother''s Love</td>

    <td>Guild ship. Part of the Circle Run.</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Fantastic</td>

    <td>Guild ship. Part of the Circle Run.</td>

    <td>13, 22, 31</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Barsoth Station</td>

    <td>Abandoned mining colony that once was a black market trading hub. Destroyed.</td>

    <td>16</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sky Boat</td>

    <td>Guild Ship. Part of its route is between Byforest Station and Zhani. Captain is Lida Migollen.</td>

    <td>22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 33, 37</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Skyfish</td>

    <td>Guild ship. Heavily armed. Blockading Olar.</td>

    <td>22, 31, 32, 36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Imei</td>

    <td>Guild ship. Heavily armed. Blockading Olar.</td>

    <td>22, 31, 32</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Emerri Station</td>

    <td>The station in orbit around Emerri.</td>

    <td>23</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Telescope</td>

    <td>Fleet transport ship.</td>

    <td>24</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>First Star</td>

    <td>The ship reserved for Aymon''s personal use.</td>

    <td>24, 34</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>[unnamed pirate ship]</td>

    <td>The ship that attacked the Sky Boat.</td>

    <td>25, 26, 29, 33, 37</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>God''s Engine</td>

    <td>Fleet ship.</td>

    <td>28, 30</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Zhani Station</td>

    <td>Station in orbit around Zhani.</td>

    <td>31</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Olar Station</td>

    <td>Station in orbit around Olar.</td>

    <td>31</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Lightning Brigade</td>

    <td>Trade Guild ship.</td>

    <td>33</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Kinetic</td>

    <td>Trade Guild ship.</td>

    <td>36</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Tranquility</td>

    <td>Trade Guild ship with large passenger areas.</td>

    <td>42</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Petra</td>

    <td>Trade Guild ship with large passenger areas.</td>

    <td>42</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Other Locations

    <input class="spoilerButton" type="button" value="Show">

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Name</td>

    <td>Description</td>

    <td>Mentioned in</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>The Academy</td>

    <td>A sprawling campus where the most talented sensitives are trained. Students there are between the ages of ten and twenty.</td>

    <td></td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Imperial Center / Yora</td>

    <td>The city that is the seat of the Imperial government. The Academy is on its outskirts, Stonecourt is in its center.</td>

    <td></td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Landis</td>

    <td>City on Emerri. Tropical. Sylva''s apprenticeship is here.</td>

    <td>10, 22</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Stonecourt</td>

    <td>The center of the Imperial Government. Aymon''s office and home are here.</td>

    <td></td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Veruit</td>

    <td>Capitol city of Jenjin.</td>

    <td>30</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>City-One-North</td>

    <td>Capitol city of Olar.</td>

    <td>31</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 (Abridgment Guide) Act One: New Creatures with New Hearts

    Thank you for checking out my story! I am aware that act one tends to try the patience of some people, and to ameliorate this problem, I have created this guide to which chapters of act one can be "safely" skipped and which are vital for comprehension of the story.

    If you are enjoying the story, I do highly recommend reading the whole thing, but I offer this as an alternative to those who find the pace too slow.

    It may be also helpful to think of chapters as belonging to "episodes" of the story which are best read together. I have listed which episode each chapter belongs to in the chart below.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>Chapter?</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Point of View</td>

    <td>Required?</td>

    <td>Episode</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>1</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>1</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Three</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan and Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>1</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Four</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>1</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Five</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>2</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Six</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>2</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Seven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>2</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eight</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>2</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Nine</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan </td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>2</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Ten</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eleven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon and Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twelve</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan </td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan </td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Fourteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan </td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Fifteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon </td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>3</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Sixteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan </td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Seventeen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Eighteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Interlude: The Book of Secrets</td>

    <td style="text-align: center"> </td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>n/a</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Nineteen</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>4</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan and Aymon </td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>5</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan and Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>5</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes (first scene only)</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Three</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Four</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>6</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Five</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>7</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Six</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>7</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Seven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center"> Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>8</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Eight</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>8</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Twenty-Nine</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>9</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>10</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>9</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>11</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Three</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>11</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Four</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>10</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Five</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan </td>

    <td>No</td>

    <td>11</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Six</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>12</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Seven</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Eight</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Thirty-Nine</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Forty</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Aymon</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>13</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Forty-One</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>14</td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>Forty-Two</td>

    <td style="text-align: center">Yan</td>

    <td>Yes</td>

    <td>14</td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Please be aware that because of the number of chapters omitted to make this abridgement, there WILL be significant plot and character information that is not conveyed. If you find yourself confused, consider reading the preceeding skipped chapter for context.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I do plan in the future to significantly edit all of act one, but for now, this is a stopgap to make the story more accessable to new readers.

    (Chapters can''t include hyperlinks, so see the author''s note for a linked list.)

 Chapter Forty-Three - Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

    Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

    <blockquote>

    ¡°A leader must comport himself with dignity at all times, and must not allow personal emotion to dictate public policy. The greatest danger to any political body is a leader who does not restrain himself.¡±

    -from Ashbridge¡¯s Leadership Guide, 4th Ed

    </blockquote>

    Sid had finally achieved the dubious honor of his own office in Stonecourt. Before he left, Sandreas explained in no uncertain terms that Sid would absolutely not be taking up residence in Sandreas''s personal office. Sid had complained about the optics of it, and Sandreas had someone make arrangements for Sid to use Sandreas''s old office, the one he had used while he was Second. If there was one thing that could reliably change Sandreas¡¯s mind, it was an argument turned to optics.

    It was not, unfortunately, a particularly nice office. Perhaps Sandreas''s own mentor wasn¡¯t intending to punish him by giving him this single windowed room on the very top floor of Stonecourt, but Sid felt banished. There was a desk, a few chairs, the aforementioned window, some art on the walls, and some cabinets for Sid to keep papers and such in. It hardly seemed fitting for a person who was running the whole galaxy while Sandreas was away.

    To be fair, Sid hadn''t had to deal with any problems, yet. Everyone had been gone for a week, and everything was fine as an aged wine. Copacetic. Sandreas had cleared out his schedule completely in preparation for going on the Anthus colony trip, and though he was now attending Vaneik''s funeral, Sid at least was free from scheduled events. He was briefed every morning by Ms. Rosario, who was a true Godsend, and then went through his day checking off the list of tasks that she gave him. He was busy meeting with Counselors about their problems, and attending the occasional luncheon, but he hadn''t had to make any decisions, and he wasn''t in crisis mode.

    At least, he wasn''t in crisis mode until his office doorbell rang unexpectedly. He didn''t hear the bell, but he had taken a half hour when he first moved into the office to rewire it to blink a light when the bell rang. It was another of those simple tasks that he needed to take care of any time he worked his way into a new space. Every dorm room he ever lived in had gotten the same illicit modification. Before he went to open the door, Sid consulted his daily schedule. He wasn''t expecting anyone, so this was an exciting deviation from routine.

    Sid opened the heavy wooden door to greet whoever it was outside. It turned out to be Hernan, escorting one of the many aides who flitted about Stonecourt like busy bees. This particular aide was clutching an ansible printout. Ansible printouts were almost never good news. Since it had come by personal courier from the office rather than simply being sent as a message to his phone for him to read at his leisure, it must contain very, very bad news. The aide handed him the printout, tucked inside a red envelope, and Sid muttered a thank you before returning to his office. Hernan followed him in, and Sid gestured him to take a seat on one of the chairs. Sid sat back behind his own desk.

    "I have a feeling I should be sitting to learn whatever this is," Sid signed to Hernan. "Do you know what''s in here?"

    "That''s your eyes only," Hernan signed. "But look at the sender."

    Sid looked. Beneath the horrible ''URGENT'' stamp on the thing, in the upper left hand corner was the information about the letter.

    <blockquote>

    To: Sid Welslak, Apprentice to First Sandreas c/o Stonecourt Ansible Service

    From: Iri Maedes, Anthus Colony Ansible Station

    </blockquote>

    "Not from Yan?" Sid asked.

    "I don''t know what''s in it," Hernan signed. "You remember that Maedes and I sent updates to First Sandreas on our last outing."

    Sid ripped open the envelope and read its contents.

    <blockquote>

    Apprentice Welslak,

    At sometime around three hours on 7/9th, Yan was attacked and kidnapped off of the Tranquility.

    </blockquote>

    That first sentence hit Sid like a rock, and he put the letter down on his desk, unable to read further. His face was pale, and he looked at Hernan in horror.

    "Did you read all of it?" Hernan asked. Sid shook his head and picked up the letter once again.

    <blockquote>

    As much as we can ascertain, this is the sequence of events. Yan attended a dinner party hosted by members of the Anthus colony team. At the party, Yan was drugged with an unknown substance, as well as given significant amounts of alcohol to disguise the effects of the drug. I escorted her back to her room after the party, and left her to sleep. At the time, I assumed she was simply drunk. During the night, the guard watching her, Dovrall, was killed to gain access to her room. Dovrall was shot in the head from behind. Several assailants broke the lock on her door, entered her room, and kidnapped her. There were signs of a struggle, but we hypothesize that Yan could not use the power to defend herself because she was drugged. Once she was subdued, Yan was carried off the ship on a shuttle taken from the Tranquility. The shuttle may have met up with a ship that was hiding in nearby space. Video footage and ship logs during the attack were deleted by a program shortly after the shuttle left.

    Two crew members from the Tranquility are missing, as are three people from the Anthus colony. It is likely that all of these people were responsible for the attack, and left on the shuttle with Yan. Currently, the Tranquility is in orbit around Anthus. No one has disembarked for the planet. We will continue holding here until we receive word from you or First Sandreas. The crew of the Tranquility and the Anthus Colony Team have both assured me that they will cooperate fully with any investigation the Imperial Government wishes.

    It is not my place to speculate, but I believe that this attack was not intended for Yan. From the scope and the number of people involved, it seems as though it was intended to capture First Sandreas. As he was not aboard, Yan was the only substitute. Yan is probably still alive. I don''t know what the motives of the people were, but they went to great lengths to remove her from the ship rather than killing her outright. I don''t know who they are or where they have taken her, but she may be able to escape.

    I formally tender my resignation from the Imperial Security Force. For my failure to protect my charge, I fully expect to be brought to trial and sentenced. I will cooperate with any actions the Imperial Government wishes to take. If there is anything that you need me to do aboard the Tranquility or on Anthus, I will do it.

    May God keep you,

    Iri Maedes

    </blockquote>

    Sid handed the letter to Hernan, who read it, then put it down on the desk between them.

    "What are you going to do?" Hernan asked.

    "What am I going to do?" Sid shook his head. "God- I-"

    "Are you going to make a public statement?"

    "I need to get in contact with Sandreas."

    "He made it to Canerra station, and then immediately left on Vaneik''s ship, the Oathkeeper, for the funeral," Hernan signed. "I don''t know when he''ll be back in range of an ansible."

    "Canerra has one, though. Why don''t they use that?"

    "It''s traditional for the funerals to be held in uninhabited space. They''re at least one jump away from the station."

    Sid frowned. This was a problem. "How long until they''re back in range?"

    "Depends on how long the funeral lasts, and how many jumps out they were."

    "Fuck." Sid swore, then clenched his fists. He hadn''t quite yet processed that Yan was gone, probably for good, but the sense of panic falling over him was immense. "What do I do?"

    "You can either wait for First Sandreas, or make a move yourself," Hernan signed. "Those are really your only two choices."

    "No¡­" Sid thought for a second. "There''s a third choice."

    "What?"

    "I think I need to go see the Emperor."

    Hernan raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

    "I''m not ready to be the highest authority here," Sid explained.

    "Sandreas trusted you to be."

    "Sandreas never expected this to happen. He wouldn''t have trusted me if he had."

    "What do you want the Emperor to do?"

    "Give me my power back, first. Then, like, I know the Emperor has farsight, maybe we can figure out where Yan got taken?"

    "You think that''s possible?"

    "It''s worth a try," Sid signed. "The cost is me having to go there again. And I would have to anyway."

    "True. But are you going to make an announcement?"

    "I need to find out how far the word has gotten before I say anything. I don''t want to say anything right now, but if it''s already public knowledge then I would have to, right?"

    "That''s your choice."

    "You''re not helpful. Do we have any other word from anyone else?"

    "Check your ansible messages. Anything that was sent in the same batch should be through the pipe by now."

    Sid did just that, opening the laptop on his desk and reading through several of the other urgent reports that had come in while he was talking to Hernan. His main question, if Yan''s kidnapping was known outside the ship that she had been on, was answered. No, the crew of the Tranquility had not told anyone, and the consecration of the Anthus colony was being put on hold. That wouldn''t be able to stay forever, because the colony did need to start, with or without consecration. They couldn''t keep the whole population trapped in the ship forever. Actually, he figured that as long as they were on the planet, they wouldn''t be able to go anywhere, so even if they needed to question every person on the ship, well¡­

    Sid typed up a message saying that they should let the colonists onto the planet, but instructed the Tranquility to remain in orbit rather than going to pick up their second set of passengers and cargo. There was no sense in delaying the vital work of beginning the colony, especially if all the guilty parties had presumably already escaped on the same shuttle that had taken Yan. He would need to get that list of people, and have their connections investigated¡­ That was another message he drafted, sending his orders along to the appropriate people who would know how to organize such a search. If only Halen were here, he''d be in control of the situation. But Halen wasn''t here, and neither was Sandreas, and neither was Yan. Even Kino, as useless as she was, was gone. It was just Sid. He consulted Hernan as he composed the messages, and thanked God that Hernan was competent and helpful.

    It took a long time for him to write everything up and get it sent out.

    When it was finished, Sid turned his attention back to his new goal: going to see the Emperor. He was about to stand up and head out, but Hernan stopped him.

    "Does Yan have next of kin on Emerri?" Hernan asked.

    Oh. Whoever was listed as her emergency contact should be notified and sworn to secrecy. Did Yan have any family on the planet? She was a spacer. How would he even get in contact with her family''s ship? But Hernan was right, whoever was listed as her contact had a right to know.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Sid returned to his laptop and searched through the personnel database to find Yan''s file. There was a photo of Yan that had been taken just before she started her apprenticeship. Though it hadn''t been that long ago, Yan looked much younger and more nervous than Sid remembered. The light of the flash made her look washed out, and her smile was forced for the camera.

    <blockquote>

    Yan BarCarran

    Born 15/7th/602 - Age 21 (EC)

    Height: 187 cm

    Weight: 74 kg

    Eyes: Brown

    Position: Apprentice to Aymon Sandreas, Voice

    </blockquote>

    Sid clicked over into the emergency contacts tab. There were two sections, an "On-planet contact" and an "Off-planet contact". The off-planet contact was listed as Maxes BarCarran, uncle, and he could be reached by ansible through the Trade Guild''s mail system, or by leaving a message care of Byforest Station. It didn''t seem like a great idea to get the Trade Guild as a whole involved in this just yet. Rumors always spread like wildfire whenever someone in the Guild got wind of information, and they probably already were spreading, considering the involvement of a Guild ship, but it seemed prudent to keep things on the down low. Sid checked the "On-planet contact section". There was a listing for one Sylva Calor, and it gave an address in a city fairly far south-east of Yora, as well as a phone number and email. Her position was listed as an apprentice within the theological office of the IKRB.

    "Know who Sylva Calor is?" Sid asked. "She''s Yan''s emergency contact."

    Hernan raised an eyebrow at him. "Yan never mentioned her girlfriend to you?"

    "That''s who that is?" Sid shrugged. "I don¡¯t think Yan ever talked about her by name."

    "Now you know. Are you going to tell her?"

    "I have to, don''t I?"

    "You don''t have to do anything. But I say that you should, at least before she finds out from the news," Hernan signed.

    "Okay. After I talk to the Emperor, then."

    "You''re still set on that?"

    "I think I need to," Sid signed. He felt resigned to it, but that feeling of resignation at least was stopping him from feeling total despair. As long as there was a path forward, he could keep going. He closed his laptop. "Let''s go see the Emperor."

    <hr>

    The Emperor''s antechamber was just as uninviting as Sid remembered. It was cold and dark, and this time he didn''t have Sandreas there to protect him. He hadn''t even been invited. He had just decided to show up, bearing bad news and asking for favors. If he stopped to think about it, it occurred to him that this might be an extraordinarily bad idea, but Sid was not prone to ruminating like that. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind as soon as they entered, and he stood as calmly as possible, waiting for the Emperor to allow him inside.

    The door swung open. Sid guessed that was his signal to enter. Sandreas had opened the door himself, before, but Sid didn''t know if that was because he had felt some sort of invitation from the Emperor, or if by his status he felt able to come and go as he pleased. Sid was glad that he had at least this tiny invitation.

    The same single spotlight illuminated the center of the room. If Sandreas thought he had a flair for the dramatic, he clearly had nothing on the Emperor, who seemed to design this whole experience around intimidation. Sid stepped into the spotlight, doing his best to remain unintimidated. He didn''t feel the Emperor''s presence in his mind yet, but he was sure it was only a matter of time. Perhaps he was being made to wait just to draw out the suspense of the moment.

    Then he did feel the Emperor in his mind, laughing at the thought.

    "Oh, little Sid, back so soon?" the Emperor spoke directly into Sid''s brain, pushing and prying at Sid''s half-formed thoughts. "And all alone, how curious. Did Aymon send you?"

    Before Sid could speak or sign anything, the thought of where Sandreas was flashed across his mind. He''s at Vaneik''s funeral. It was odd that the Emperor didn¡¯t know that, but perhaps the Emperor was more concerned with other matters than watching Sandreas.

    "Ah, the troubles with the Guild have started already. I did warn him. No matter. What is it you have come for?"

    The Emperor loosened its grip on Sid''s mind to allow him to answer on his own terms. How kind.

    "I need to ask you a favor," Sid said aloud. "Two favors," he corrected himself.

    "How bold! And what might they be?"

    "Did you hear what happened to Yan?"

    "Yan?" the Emperor asked.

    "One of Sandreas''s other apprentices. My friend."

    "Oh, yes, Yan BarCarran." There was the feeling of mental shuffling as the Emperor looked up exactly what had happened to Yan. Sid thought about the information so that the Emperor could access it easily, but the Emperor¡¯s great mental eye was elsewhere. Page after page of text flashed in front of Sid''s eyes, faster than he could process or follow. "Hm. What a pity I never got to meet her," the Emperor said after a moment. "Still, such is the fate of apprentices."

    "Wait- is she dead?" Sid asked, wondering if the Emperor had any information that he did not.

    "Dead? I wouldn''t be able to know that. But I do not believe you will ever see her again," the Emperor said. This all was delivered in a dry and neutral tone, directly into his brain. It infuriated Sid.

    "What? No, we''re going to get her back," Sid proclaimed.

    "We, little Sid?"

    "Sandreas won''t just let her go! And neither will I."

    "Aymon cannot afford to drive himself to distraction over such lost causes," the Emperor said. "You''ll learn that as you get older."

    "Yan is not a lost cause!"

    "She is lost," the Emperor said, with a voice like a hundred bells. "If you came here to ask me to find her, I am afraid that I will not be able to help you. My farsight has limits- I can only look in the present somewhere I know where to be looking. I can only look into the past when I know exactly what to look for, and can trace the present moment backwards like a string. I cannot know the future with any certainty."

    "You can''t do anything?"

    "If one could form the universe in a perfect image by myself, there would be no need for people like you, little Sid. Some things are better accomplished by people who are my Voice and my hands out in the world."

    "I don''t believe that. There has to be something I can do to find her and get her back," Sid said, petulant.

    "That may be so. You can send out spies, and you can search through the threads, and you can take prisoners and interrogate them. All of these things you can do. But there is nothing that can guarantee success."

    "Well the only thing that guarantees failure is not looking at all! Yan wouldn''t give up on me if we were in different places."

    "If Yan were here, though we may never meet, she would be given the same advice. The path of endless searching is the path of madness."

    The Emperor reached into Sid''s brain, like the hot breath of an animal. Perhaps it was meant to be comforting, but it was anything but. Sid shivered and tried to yank away, but the feeling was internal, and there was no escape.

    "People will move out of your life often when you are Voice. Accept this lesson early as a gift," the Emperor said. "We all must learn it in time."

    "We?" Sid asked. The Emperor was not human, it was a monstrosity. The Emperor seized onto this thought and brought it to the forefront.

    "Oh, little Sid, did my wayward apprentice not tell you who I am?" the Emperor asked with a laugh.

    "He said we weren''t ready to know, and that he should tell us when we''re all together," Sid said. He hadn''t been thrilled when Sandreas had refused to answer his questions, but he had accepted that Yan and Kino deserved to meet the Emperor as well. Not that he really wished the experience upon them. Having the Emperor digging through his mind was nerve wracking at best, and humiliating at worst. The Emperor didn''t even need to bother with the usual formalities of going into active meditation with another person before busting down all his brain-doors. There was no reciprocity there. The Emperor just swept in and overpowered the boundaries between Sid and the outside world.

    The Emperor listened to Sid''s train of thought with the same feeling of amusement.

    "Do you want to know?"

    "Do I want to know?" Sid asked. That was an honest question. Would he be better off for knowing?

    "Go ahead and look behind the curtain."

    Sid stepped forward out of the spotlight, walking towards the back of the room where dark curtains covered the walls. His movements were only half his own; that other mind guided his steps and lifted his arm to part the curtain, revealing a door. He twisted the knob and walked through.

    There was a long, cold hallway there. As Sid took his first steps, lights flashed to life along both walls. His head was forced to turn and look.

    "Here I am¡­" the Emperor said.

    Under the light, there was a tall tube filled with liquid. In it, a naked old man floated peacefully. He was totally non-responsive, with eyes closed and arms by his sides. The tube was wired up to machinery that lined the walls of the hallway, presumably connecting to other rooms in this vast complex. There was an identical tube on the other side of the wall, but with a woman floating in it. There was a name plaque on the bottom of each of the tubes, but Sid didn''t recognize the names.

    Sid''s legs moved without his permission, bringing him deeper and deeper into the hallway. As he walked, more lights flashed to life, illuminating more and more tubes. He didn''t count, but there were more than a hundred of them. The people were all adults, but aside from that they had nothing in common- men, women, different skin colors, different ways of wearing their hair, names that didn''t sound like they came from the same planet, different signs of wear on the bodies- no two were the same. That was, until the last tube, which was lit like all the others, but empty. Sid''s eyes were forced down to read the nameplate of this last one.

    Aymon Sandreas.

    Sid didn''t really know how to process this. He couldn''t stop himself from picturing Sandreas, his boss, dead and in that horrible tube. Not naked, though, because that would be too weird.

    The Emperor laughed in Sid''s mind again and ushered him back down the hallway into the room with the single spotlight.

    "So, now you know who we are, little Sid. We are an unbroken line since the founding of the Empire. Will you be joining us someday, I wonder?"

    "But Sandreas hates coming here-"

    "Our wayward apprentice fears what is coming, but he will do his duty eventually. We will welcome him home, as we always knew we would."

    "Why?" Sid didn¡¯t even feel like he himself was asking the questions. It was as though the Emperor was putting on a little play and using his own mouth as one of the actors.

    "You understand that sensitives working together can accomplish what one alone cannot. Our original number joined together to help found the Empire as it is today. We realized that we would need a way to stay connected to the universe as it is, and to not grow stagnant. So we sought out helpers, who would carry out our work, who would be our Voice. Their reward is to join us when their time comes."

    "Reward?"

    "To be powerful, to be undying, to be together forever with your kin, is that not a perfect reward?"

    Sid thought that if Yan were here she would have words to say about that with regard to the doctrine, but Sid could see why it would be appealing. "Then why doesn''t Sandreas want to join you?"

    "Aymon, our wayward little apprentice, has placed some things above his duty. He is not the first to have done so, and he will not be the last to do so, but it makes his journey more difficult."

    "Halen?"

    The Emperor laughed. "The little pirate boy, yes."

    Sid would not have referred to Halen as anything close to little, or a boy, or even a pirate anymore, but at least he was reassured that he wasn''t the only one the Emperor discussed in such condescending terms.

    "What do you think, little Sid? Will you be joining us?"

    "I don''t know, I-"

    "You are young yet. That answer will be easier to see once you take your full place as Aymon''s second."

    "You don''t want me to find Yan because you think I''m attached? Is that it?" Sid had been distracted from his original quest, but he put the dots together.

    "There can only be one of you who takes your place with us. It is the way of things that most apprentices¡­ go on to different paths."

    "You mean they die?"

    "Yes. Their path is to return to God."

    "Yan isn''t dead, though."

    "Not right now, but someday."

    "You don''t know that!" Sid was angry again, but the Emperor brushed away his anger like fallen leaves.

    "If you really seek my blessing to find your missing one, then you have it. There is time yet for you to learn this lesson. Aymon has years yet to rule for me."

    "How long?"

    "Only our Aymon knows when he will be called back to us," the Emperor said, sounding wistful. "But it will neither be today, nor tomorrow."

    "So you''re saying you don''t care what I do?"

    "I care for you very much, little Sid. There is great potential in you, if you do not waste it on frivolous pursuits." The Emperor''s care was a grasping, pulling feeling that tugged at his bones, beckoning his soul back into that dark room behind the curtain. He was disgusted by it. He could understand why Sandreas didn''t like coming here. The Emperor was a parasite.

    A parasite who could hear his every thought.

    "You should be careful what thoughts you allow to grow, little Sid," the Emperor said. "You will find we are not so bad after all. There is a thread that binds us all together. Aymon chose you, Caron chose Aymon, Yesikiah chose Caron, and so on, all the way back to the very first days."

    Sid felt rather that he liked having his own brain, untouched by hundreds of other people. The Emperor''s presence sang in his mind like the tingling of a thousand needle pricks.

    "Someday you may realize how lonely it is¡­"

    "Yeah, well, maybe I want to be lonely," Sid said petulantly.

    The Emperor laughed again and the tension was over. "You are a funny one. Was there anything else you came to seek other than my blessing?"

    "Can I have the power back?" Sid asked.

    "Yes, you may. Let me in."

    Sid forced himself to relax and not think as the Emperor once again re-arranged something deep within his brain. How they had that power and control over him, he didn''t understand, but he had to accept. At once, the feeling of the power came back to him like a limb waking up from being asleep. It hurt. It hurt, but it was a productive feeling. He shook himself, goosebumps breaking out on his arms.

    "Is that better?" the Emperor asked.

    "Yeah. Thanks, I guess." He couldn''t be too grateful. After all, it was the Emperor who took away the power in the first place, which was rude, no matter how much Sid deserved it. He was pretty embarrassed to think back to the reason why he had lost it in the first place. He had not been in his right mind- that was what coming down from Vena did to him, apparently.

    "Now, you have what you need?" the Emperor asked again. Sid nodded. "Then you may go, little Sid. We wish you well on your work."

    That was as clear of a dismissal as any. Sid left, grateful to have the Emperor out of his brain once more.

 Chapter Forty-Four - Dont Quit Your Day Job

    Don''t Quit Your Day Job

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Language is not the foundation of thought. However, once it is learned, language embeds itself into the center of thought, inextricable.¡±

    -from ¡°Philosophy of Translation¡±, by Najie Jamison

    </blockquote>

    Sylva was not having a great night. She was surrounded on all sides in her apartment by various printed matter that she was going over with a fine tooth comb. It was tedious, boring work, and every time she shifted position on her couch, papers fluttered to the ground, upsetting her careful work flow. Sylva was beginning to hate her apprenticeship.

    Not that she minded the idea of learning languages, or of working on theological texts; she liked both of those things. But she was the most junior member of the team, and thus was delegated to the most mundane possible job: error checking. Every text had to be consistent with every other text, and that meant that Sylva needed to cross reference several databases and flag errors as they came up. She was thorough, but not quick, so her work tended to follow her home. She printed it because it made it easier to read, annotate, and flip through, but it also messed up her apartment. The papers also became limp and soggy in the ever-present humidity.

    Sylva wished she were out riding her speeder, or even just taking a long shower and heading to bed. Either would have been preferable. She wished she could call up Yan, and chat mindlessly while she worked, but Yan was off planet again, for the second time in three months, and God only knew when she''d be back. Though Sylva loved Yan deeply, and the whole situation was kinda her fault, Sylva wished that she and Yan could actually spend time together, not have whatever this messy, long distance¡­ thing was. At least when Yan got to Anthus they would have an ansible there, so they could still write.

    Sylva''s phone rang. She jumped, surprised, and papers scattered everywhere, messing up what little organization she had. The phone had slipped down into the cushions of her couch, so Sylva had to dig for it. It was lucky it was ringing, or she may have lost it for good. The caller ID on the number said ''restricted''. That was strange. Sylva answered the phone.

    "Hello, is this Sylva Calor?" The voice on the phone''s was a man''s, but he spoke with an odd cadence that Sylva couldn''t place.

    "Yes, who is this?" Sylva asked. When she spoke, she could hear the echo of her own voice back. Why was she on speakerphone? That seemed rude.

    "Hi, Sylva, I''m Sid Welslak, I''m one of Yan''s coworkers."

    This could not possibly be good news. This could not be anything good, at all, ever. There was no reason for Yan¡¯s coworkers to be calling her. Sylva leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

    "Oh," was all that Sylva could say.

    Sid did not seem to pick up from her tone that she knew something bad was coming. He plowed on. "I''m sorry to call you, I know it''s late where you are."

    "It''s fine. Sid, look, I know Yan listed me as her emergency contact. What''s the bad news?"

    This did give him pause. Sylva drummed her fingers on her cheek anxiously.

    "Are you sitting down?" Sid asked.

    It was that bad, hunh? "Yes." Sylva''s voice was flat.

    "There''s no easy way to say this, but while en route to the Anthus colony, Yan was kidnapped off the ship she was on."

    "Oh."

    "I''m sorry," Sid said. "I know that you and her were very close."

    "Are. We are close."

    There was a momentary silence over the line. "I''m sorry," Sid said again. He didn''t seem to have very much to say.

    "What are you doing to get her back?"

    "I''m afraid I can''t tell you that."

    "You can and you will."

    "It''s classified."

    "Sure it is! At least tell me that you''re going to do something!"

    "I can''t-"

    "You''re not going to even try? Oh my God, oh my God¡­"

    "Sylva, I will do everything in my power to get Yan back," Sid said. His voice cracked. "But right now we have no information on who took her, why, or where. I can''t make any promises to you."

    "You don''t know anything?" Sylva whispered.

    "There hasn''t been an investigation yet. As soon as we have more information, then we can figure out a way to move forward."

    "Did you tell her family?" Sylva thought back to her brief stay aboard the Iron Dreams. They might not be in contact, but someone should tell them.

    "No," Sid said. "This isn''t public information, and I don''t want to get the Guild involved."

    "They''re her family!" Sylva was approaching hysterics, vacillating between screaming and choked whispers. Sid didn¡¯t seem to change his tone at all.

    "They''ll be told eventually. Just not right now."

    "Why are you telling me, then?" Sylva asked.

    "You''re her primary emergency contact. Do I need to swear you to secrecy?"

    "No." Sylva said no, but what she really meant by that was that she was not planning on keeping this secret in the least.

    "That''s good. Are you-" Sid sighed over the line. "Are you alright? Is there anything I can do for you?"

    "No? I''m not alright? Are you some sort of idiot?"

    "Sorry I asked, then."

    "Just find her, ok? And tell her family." Before Sylva told them herself.

    "We''ll do our best. If you need to get in contact with me, you can text my personal phone," Sid rattled off a phone number, and Sylva scrambled to write it down on one of the papers scattered around her.

    "You''ll keep me up to date?"

    "Sure."

    "That doesn''t sound very reassuring."

    "There are some things I can''t tell you," Sid said.

    "Well, at the very least tell me when you''re going to start looking for her, okay?"

    "I''ll tell you what I can, when I can."

    "Fine." Sylva wasn''t under any illusions that Sid had any intention of telling her anything, but she didn''t have anything else to say to him.

    "Like I said, if there''s anything I can do for you, please text me and let me know." He was stressing text. Maybe he just really hated phone calls.

    "I will," Sylva said. She wouldn''t.

    "Okay. Again, I''m sorry. Yan is my friend, and I will do my best to find her again."

    "I know."

    "Bye, Sylva."

    "Bye."

    Sid hung up the phone, leaving Sylva with just the buzzing silence of her apartment. She stared into space for a few minutes, trying to work over the information she had learned. Despair hadn''t hit her, at least not yet, but there were plenty of other emotions swirling around in her head. With Yan, the person Sylva had spent the past eleven years of her life leaning on, gone, Sylva was adrift. But as she thought long and hard about what Sid had said over the phone, a plan began to formulate in her mind.

    After all, if there was only one thing that Sylva knew, it was that Yan''s family would do a lot more to help her than Sid would ever be able to understand.

    Sylva pulled out her laptop and began composing several messages.

    <blockquote>

    Dear Captain Pellon,

    This may sound like an odd request, but I would like to take you up on the invitation you kindly extended to me upon my last visit to the Iron Dreams. I have a proposal that may interest you¡­

    </blockquote>

    <hr>

    "I need to take a leave of absence," Sylva said, her hands on her hips. She was standing in her boss''s office in the IKRB building. The office was in the corner of a building, so it had a nice view through two windows of the sunny street below.

    "What? Why?" Her boss and mentor, Qwame Brache, looked at Sylva with a shocked expression. "You don''t look sick, or pregnant." Brache was not known for her tact. She was sitting at her desk, computer in front of her, and surrounded on all sides by books with sticky notes flying out of them. Although printed books were inconvenient for most everyday uses, people in Sylva''s department found them easier to work with than going purely digital- they had their own in house printer to service that need.

    "Personal emergency," Sylva said.

    "What kind?" Brache raised an eyebrow. "You can''t just leave. We''re really ramping up on this project, and I have edits that I need you to do on your translation of that Yallow book."

    "I can, and I will," Sylva said. "I''m not at liberty to discuss the details."

    "If you want more vacation time, you could just say so," Brache said.

    "This isn''t a vacation," Sylva said. "I really do need to go, and I don''t know when I''ll be able to get back."

    "Sylva, you can''t just do things like that," Brache said with a sigh. "This is a job, more than a job. It''s your life."

    "If you won''t let me go, I''ll quit." Sylva hadn''t budged from her position, frowning firmly at her boss. It wasn''t as though Sylva disliked Brache, she just knew that the way to get Brache to do anything was to yell at her until she gave in. That was how everyone else in the office handled her, anyway. If they didn¡¯t, Brache would get sucked away into her own corners of niche interests without ever successfully directing the team she was supposed to lead. In that way, the office tended to be somewhat chaotic, as Brache''s own boss, the head of the entire IKRB theological division, and all of Brache''s subordinates spent their time navigating around Brache''s peculiarities. Brache, when she was an apprentice herself, had been projected to lead the entire IKRB by the end of her career, but had ended up stagnating in middle management. Not that she seemed to mind. She had told that story to Sylva herself, smiling. Sylva thought it had been a very odd introduction to the job.

    "Are you really going to do this? We can''t afford to be short staffed, Sylva. And this isn''t good for your career."

    "Look, I''m sorry that I''ll be leaving you at a deficit, but I have to go. Some things are more important than my career."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Brache''s face lit up, like she had just reached some sort of revelation. "Is this about your girlfriend?"

    "How did you know?" Sylva asked.

    "Are you getting married?" Brache was smiling. "That''s so cute."

    "What? No! If I was getting married don''t you think I''d invite you?"

    Brache''s whole face was radiant. "You''d really invite me? That''s so sweet!"

    "Brache, I''m not getting married. I need to take a leave of absence, yes it''s about Yan." Brache looked crestfallen. She looked down at her computer and typed rapidly, ignoring Sylva for a good minute. Sylva was used to this behavior, and she just waited it out, presuming that she was checking the schedules and seeing if she actually could spare Sylva for an unknown length of time.

    "Oh. I see," Brache said. "I''m sorry. Is her family holding a funeral?" She was serious now.

    Sylva turned around and slammed the door to Brache''s office shut. The windows rattled. "She''s not DEAD!"

    "Well this says-"

    "How do you even know about it? Let me see," Sylva demanded. Brache obediently turned the computer screen around so that Sylva could read what she was looking at. It was in some sort of archive of ansible transmissions, and it was a letter addressed to Sid, describing what had happened to Yan. Sylva read it over mutely.

    "How do you have access to this?" Sylva asked when she finished.

    Brache tapped her nose. "I was at one time slated to head the IKRB, you know¡­"

    "Yeah, and then you got trapped here for lack of ambition," Sylva said. "That doesn''t explain it."

    "Just because I may not be ambitious doesn''t mean I''m not helpful," Brache said. "Or very, very trusted."

    "Okay. Whatever." Sylva turned the computer back around.

    "So, you want to take a leave of absence to do what?" Brache asked.

    "I need to go tell her family," Sylva said. "They haven''t been informed yet."

    "I''m sure they will be, soon enough," Brache said. "And that''s not an excuse, since you could easily send them an ansible message. You don''t need time off work for that."

    Sylva glared at her. "You can''t stop me from going."

    "No, probably not. But I do want to know what you''re planning to do, so I should know whether to reassign your projects or not," Brache said with a sigh.

    "I can''t tell you."

    "Are you really planning on going after her?" Brache asked. "Is that what this is?"

    Sylva blushed. It sounded stupid when Brache said it like that.

    "Oh, you are. Hm." Brache shuffled some papers on her desk, a mindless habit of hers that drove Sylva to distraction whenever they were in a room together. "Sylva, I think that you''re not prepared for what that could entail.¡±

    "Don''t tell me what I can and can''t do."

    "I''m not, I''m just saying that there are things out in the universe that you have no clue about. There are greater things in heaven and below than any creature can ever know," Brache trilled, quoting some text.

    "Please, spare me," Sylva said.

    "What makes you think that you can just go out and get her back? I''m sure there''s a crack team within the Imperial government that''s working on it as we speak, and they have the resources and knowledge that you assuredly don''t."

    "I don''t think anyone is going to try to find her," Sylva admitted. "The guy who told me, one of Yan''s fellow apprentices, he sounded like- you need to keep this quiet, by the way," Sylva said, remembering that this was not supposed to be public knowledge. Brache zipped her lips. "Well, he sounded like they were going to give her up for lost. I can''t accept that, at least not without trying."

    "I get that, but you''re just one person, what are you going to do?"

    "That''s why I need to talk to her family, in person. Her uncle has some sort of deep ties all over the place, I''m sure he could help investigate," Sylva explained.

    "And what makes you think that you need to get involved?" Brache asked. "If her uncle does have these ties, and does care as much as you are betting he does, why couldn''t he just do it himself?"

    "I don''t know," Sylva said, "but I have to try. I can''t just stay here and feel like- I don''t know- like I''m letting Yan die or whatever, and I''m not doing anything to help."

    "Are you sure that you meddling won''t make things worse?" Brache asked. "You could get in real trouble, especially if you actually start to get involved in the business of the type of people who would kidnap and kill government agents. This isn''t something you can just do on a whim, Sylva."

    "I don''t care," Sylva said. "I''ll do what I have to."

    "Clearly." Brache''s voice was dry. "Look, Sylva, I know a lot of things about the universe. I know a lot of things that I can''t tell you, but I can tell you that you don''t want to get involved in them. I wouldn''t usually say this, but I''m begging you to reconsider. I think that you should leave this up to the experts."

    "You could just tell me whatever it is that you know, and then we can move on."

    Brache laughed. "There''s a reason I''m trusted enough to have ansible archive access, and it''s because I don''t go telling the Empire''s secret business to anyone who asks, even if they have that pouty look on their face."

    Sylva tried to straighten her face out, but she was unsuccessful, and just ended up feeling more stupid. "Whatever. You can''t stop me."

    "You''ve said that about ten times now. I''ll let you have your leave, Sylva, but only because I think you''ll be back soon enough."

    "Don''t say that," Sylva said, feeling crushed that her mentor wasn''t confident in her.

    "I''ll give you a gift, though," Brache said. "You might need it."

    "What?"

    "You''re going to hate this," Brache said. "Let''s take a seat."

    "Oh my God, really?" Sylva groaned as Brache stood, walking over to the front of her desk and clearing a space among the stacks of books and paraphernalia on the floor. Brache sat down on the floor, and patted the space in front of her. Sylva sat down heavily, crossing her legs. "When you said you were going to give me a gift I thought it would actually be good for a second."

    "When have I ever not been good to you?" Brache asked. She held out her hands. Sylva reluctantly placed her palms into Brache''s, and their fingers wove together.

    Sylva hated meditating. It was a wonder that she even made it into the Academy, her grasp over that fundamental aspect of using the power was so poor. She had made up for it on the written tests, but every second she had to stay in the meditative state was a struggle. Sylva had hoped that joining the working world would leave her free to not meditate, and never touch the power, but she had ended up paired with Brache, who thought it was the most useful collaborative tool on the planet. Sylva was Brache''s third apprentice; the other two had gone on to higher positions in the IKRB after their five years were up. Apparently while working with them, Brache had decided that jamming information into her apprentices'' heads via meditation was the easiest and best way to get them up to speed. In previous conversations, she had lovingly called Sylva her meditation charity case, since Sylva was so bad at it. Luckily, Brache was an endless well of patience, if nothing else.

    Both of them closed their eyes. Brache hummed a simple tune, and Sylva joined in. It was the same few notes, over and over and over. Sylva hated it. She tried desperately to focus on just the act of humming it, the feeling of the notes in her throat, the pattern of the music, but her mind wandered over and over. Distractions danced in front of her just like the light shining in through her eyelids danced in the branches of the trees outside. The power always felt just out of reach, and the more she grasped for it, the less it came to her.

    Brache just kept on humming, relentless in her drive to teach Sylva whatever it was that she needed to know. The floor was uncomfortable, the music boring, the temperature in the office not quite right, their hands sweaty as they held them together. Sylva alternated between focusing and relaxing, but neither worked. She shifted her position constantly, probably driving Brache crazy.

    After an agonizingly long time, something finally clicked, and Sylva slithered down into that deep well that was Brache''s mind. She was more familiar with that than anyone else''s. Perhaps some of her teachers at the Academy had come close, but she had been working with Brache day in and day out for months, now, and they knew each other pretty well. Sylva would have never meditated with anyone else. For all that she loved Yan, and for all that Yan loved meditating, Sylva just could not bear it.

    It was an uncomfortable feeling. Both Sylva and Brache had disorganized minds, to say the least, but while Brache tended to fixate on random thoughts, Sylva was scattered and would jump from place to place and moment to moment without warning. They were an odd pair, and Sylva never could get Brache to say what had made her choose Sylva to be her apprentice. She supposed after taking on two others and training them up well, Brache knew well enough how to pick an apprentice.

    "Stop thinking so fast, you''ll jolt yourself awake," Brache said in that internal space. Sylva felt her mouth move, sounding out the words. "Shhh, when will you get better discipline?"

    Sylva focused on not moving her mouth when either of them sent a complete, formed thought out into that shared space.

    "Not so hard," Brache said, and reached down into Sylva''s body to loosen the muscles of her jaw, which had clamped together. "Relax."

    "What was it you wanted to show me?" Sylva asked finally, stringing the words together like beads.

    "Here''s a trick that I wasn''t going to teach you," Brache said. "But if you really are going out into the universe, you might need it. Watch me."

    Brache pulled up a scene from her memory, and forced it to play at the front of their thoughts. In it, she was a younger woman, dressed in an apprentice cassock that was similar to the one that Sylva wore today. A bald man- glancing at him in the memory Sylva got the information that he was Brache''s own mentor, long ago- stood at her side. There was a young man in front of them, a scrawny guy, couldn''t have been older than eighteen. All three of them were in some sort of building made of clay, lit by strings of bare lights hanging on wires across the beams of the ceiling. The whole place smelled of smoke, it was heavy and vivid in the memory. Sylva didn''t know what type of place this was, or why Brache was here. The memory didn''t provide that information to her; possibly Brache was keeping it secret for some reason. Or it just wasn''t relevant and Brache wasn''t actively thinking about it.

    Brache''s mentor turned to the young man and spoke. To Sylva/Brache it sounded like gibberish, even in this memory. The man nodded, and the mentor handed him a charge card. Payment for whatever was about to happen. The mentor pointed at the dirt floor, and Sylva/Brache sat down, along with the man. He wasn''t a sensitive; that was information that Brache provided. Sylva/Brache took the man''s face in her hands, leaning their foreheads together. She could feel his stubble and smell his breath. They stared into each other''s eyes.

    Then, using the power, Brache reached into his brain. It was a horrible sensation. The man jumped underneath her hands, but she held him down, violently searching for what she needed. The language, the language¡­

    It was a gross violation. It hurt. Even for Sylva, this echoed memory-pain of both Brache and the man traveled back into her body, and she almost cried out. Brache seemed to recall every moment of the scene in agonizing detail, each neural impulse of the man''s brain, each spark of a thought, she stole them and pressed them into her own head. How long did it take? There was no way to tell time in this state. It could have been seconds, it could have been hours. How long was it taking Sylva to see this memory? She hated every moment of it, and only the present-Brache''s grip on her kept her from falling out of the meditation.

    Eventually, it ended. Sylva/Brache withdrew her power and the man collapsed backwards onto the floor. Dried tears tracked through the dust on his cheeks, and he clutched his head, moaning. It was cruel. Sylva/Brache felt almost as bad, but she had come out on top of the situation. Her mentor looked down at her on the floor.

    "Did it work?" he asked, still in that strange language, but this time, the neural network that Sylva/Brache had ripped wholesale from the man fired, and the words meant something. She nodded. "Good."

    Abruptly, Brache let the memory fall away. Sylva yanked out of the shared space, coming back into her own body with a shiver. Her head still hurt, but it was only a shadow compared to the pain of the memory.

    "Shame that you came out of that," Brache said, releasing Sylva''s hands and stretching. "I was just about to explain to you how it worked."

    "That was horrible!" Sylva cried, then coughed. Her throat and mouth were unbelievably dry. "You should have warned me."

    "You never would have gone in with me if I had," Brache said, her practicality showing through. "And you might need to know how to do that."

    Sylva frowned. "No."

    "Why not?" Brache asked. "It will come in handy, I think."

    "It''s immoral."

    "What? We paid him," Brache said. "Very fair compensation."

    "It was torture! And you stole part of his brain!"

    "It hurt me just as much as it hurt him," Brache said. "You do get the worst headache for like a week or so afterward. And I wouldn''t say stole, just copied."

    "Still."

    "You are a different person, after that. It''s weird," Brache waxed philosophical for a moment. "There''s more to language than just language, you know. Especially when you get it like that, you''re taking all of the thought patterns that a person''s had for their whole life, and you lay them on yourself. It takes a while to grow into it. Like a second layer of skin."

    "It''s disgusting," Sylva said. "I won''t do it." Privately, she didn''t even think that she could. She had a much weaker grasp on the power than Brache did. She was privately flattered that Brache even thought that she had the capability to do such a thing, but she knew in her heart that she didn''t.

    "Then I sincerely hope you won''t need to. But take it from me, Sylva, I know more things than you do about the working of the universe. There''s a reason I''m telling you this."

    "Did you teach this to your other apprentices?"

    "No. But I didn''t think that they would ever need it. I will admit, I''d be just as happy to see this technique die out. There are better ways to learn, but¡­ " Brache shrugged. "My own mentor thought that it was the most effective way to learn a language. Though I respected him very much, I have to disagree with him."

    "He doesn''t seem like a very nice person," Sylva said. She rubbed her eyes, blinded by the glare of the sun on the office''s windows.

    "He had his moments," Brache said. "He could be many things, and he always held me to a very high standard. But perhaps that was what I needed in my youth. Certainly I can''t imagine myself for not having him."

    "I guess."

    "It would be a shame to lose you so early in your apprenticeship," Brache said. "There''s a reason why we take you in and keep you for so long. It doesn''t do to disrupt that by having you gallivanting off on your own."

    "Don''t try to keep me," Sylva said.

    "I won''t. Just promise you''ll come back and be my apprentice again, okay?" Brache honestly sounded a little forlorn.

    "I''ll do my best," Sylva said. She really did like Brache, and she was sorry to leave her hanging like this.

    "I''m too old to have the heartbreak of losing an apprentice," Brache said. "And I don''t want another one."

    "Too tough to eat and too old to lay eggs?" Sylva asked. "What a horrible thing that must be."

    "It''s true, It''s true," Brache said with a smile. She braced her feet against Sylva''s and the pair grabbed hands and hoisted each other up. "Are you leaving today?"

    "My trunk is packed, my rent''s paid till the end of the year," Sylva said. "There is one other favor I''d like to ask of you."

    "Oh, no. What?" Brache asked.

    "Can you look after my speeder? I don''t just want to leave it parked in my yard, just in case I''m not back by rainy season."

    "Fine, fine. Keys?"

    Sylva fished in her cassock pocket and handed them over.

    "I''ll ride this baby all over town," Brache said, holding them up and jingling them.

    "If you crash it, you''re paying me for it," Sylva said.

 Chapter Forty-Five - Murder on the Oathkeeper Express

    Murder on the Oathkeeper Express

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Men came in the night to the palace of the Red King, bearing all manner of weapons hidden beneath their cloaks. At the north gate, they asked for an audience. The northern gatekeeper refused them entry and said that the Red King would see no visitors. At the east gate, they asked for refuge. The eastern gatekeeper refused them entry and said that there was no place for people to shelter here. At the south gate, they asked for a day¡¯s work. The southern gatekeeper said that there was no work to be had, and refused them entry. At the west gate they murdered the gatekeeper and entered by force. By this method, even the thrice refused may have their way.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Aymon had been to a Guild funeral one time before, when the previous Guildmaster had died. He hadn''t enjoyed that one, and he didn''t particularly find himself liking this one, either. For one thing, hitching a ride in on a random Guild ship was a blow to his dignity, and being surrounded by freakishly tall spacers was a blow to his ego. It wasn''t as though Aymon was short, he just hadn''t grown up on lessened gravity like all of these people had. Being towered over by this sad group of strangers was unpleasant, to say the least.

    After coming into Canerra station, they had immediately been shuffled away onto the Vaneik family ship, the Oathkeeper. Since the Oathkeeper had been the ship of the head of the Trade Guild for several generations, it was very well appointed. It was clean, functional, and decorated to an extent that most other Guild ships were not. There was "art" on the walls that was beyond the homemade scribbling that most Guild ships were covered in. Apparently one of the many Vaneiks had hired artists to paint murals and various sculpted fixtures around the ship. Either that or they just had one or two particularly talented family members. Aymon would put money on having hired someone, or more than one someone, because every area of the ship they passed through was decorated in a different tasteful style. Aymon didn''t have the greatest appreciation for art, but at least he could tell that there had been time and talent put into it.

    Even the ship''s chapel, where the funeral would be held, was far better appointed than any other one he had seen outside the First Star. Aymon heard someone whispering that the Oathkeeper actually had two chapels, a normal one and this one for large gatherings. The whole room was crowded with people, all those tall spacers from every ship in the Guild''s fleet. In attendance was every captain who could bear to leave their own ship, as well as every council member. And that wasn''t even counting the crew of the Oathkeeper herself, some of whom looked legitimately distraught over the death of Vaneik, or Ungarti, as he was known here. Aymon recognized few people. He wasn¡¯t in the business of knowing spacers, but he could tell various affiliations apart by the colors of the suits they wore. Family members shared the same color scheme, so all of the crew of the Oathkeeper wore the same formal wear.

    He had a seat up in the front of the room, but Halen and Kino had both been banished to the far back. Despite the well known clashing of personalities between Aymon and Vaneik, it still wouldn''t do to have the leader of the Empire not be given a seat of honor at his funeral. After all, for as much as they had struggled to work together, Aymon and Vaneik had considered themselves equals of a sort.

    The crowd was quiet in the general shuffling way that any funeral crowd tended to be. They were packed in tightly together, shoulder to shoulder. Despite the room being much larger than it had any right to be, there were still an absurd number of people there. The part of Aymon''s brain that had developed a healthy amount of paranoia over the years was thinking about all the reasons that this would be the perfect opportunity to kill every important member of the Trade Guild, and himself. Luckily, Halen was watching like a bird of prey from the back of the room. It was unlikely that any mischief would go down while he was paying attention.

    The music of the service swelled from the band at the front of the room. It was all made up of various members of the Oathkeeper''s crew. Apparently spacers used their copious free time to develop musical talents. The band was fairly good. The whispering and shuffling in the hall stopped, and everyone stood up and turned to look at the back of the room. Vaneik was being carried in. His wife and son were carrying one side of the casket, and his two apprentices were holding the other. Behind them, the cantor came in, wearing the black funeral robes, heavily embroidered with silver thread. He must be the cantor for the Oathkeeper, because Aymon didn''t recognize him.

    They set the casket down on the prepared dais at the front of the room. The four pallbearers went to take their seats in the front row, and the cantor lifted the lid of the casket, revealing Vaneik''s body.

    Vaneik looked smaller than he had ever been while alive. His face, though it had been poked and prodded into looking ''peaceful'', was sunken and quite literally dead. He was no longer animated with the enthusiasm and power that he had held so dear while alive, but Aymon hadn''t realized just how much that would actually take out of the man. It was ghastly. He wished they had kept the casket closed.

    The cantor gestured for the gathered people to sit.

    "Lord of all creation, we come before You with the soul of Ungarti Vaneik¡­"

    The funeral rite was the same as it ever was. Aymon had been to many of them, and all of them were the same. The only difference was the distinct lack of candles. Spacers were, on the whole, allergic to fire, and avoided using it at all costs.

    There was no one there who could say that Vaneik hadn''t lived a rich and full life. He had seen his son grow to adulthood, stayed faithfully married to his wife for thirty years, ruled his family ship fairly, and wrangled all the captains and council members in the room into submission as leader of the Guild. Many people, Aymon included, considered Vaneik a bastard, but he was a capable one, and would be missed because of it. Everyone had time to share their piece about him, during the long middle section of the funeral.

    Aymon gave his own small eulogy, of course, near the beginning of the long service. Vaneik''s wife Marne gave the first remarks, then their son Wil, then his two apprentices (the boy first, then the girl), the second from the Oathkeeper, then Aymon was finally able to talk. He was an outsider among spacers, but aside from Vaneik''s corpse, he was the most highly ranked person in the room, so he figured that was an appropriate time for him to speak. He stood and positioned himself right behind the casket, where there was a microphone set up. He had a mental debate with himself if he should suffer the indignity of moving the microphone lower (damn spacer height), and decided that he would have to. Even if he did some sort of trick with the power to direct his voice, it would be absurd for him to stand with a microphone pointed at his forehead. He adjusted the microphone.

    "What can I say about Ungarti that everyone doesn¡¯t already understand?" Aymon began. "Most of you knew him better than I did, worked with him more closely, and considered him a close friend, a mentor, or a member of your family. I could boast none of those things.

    "Ungarti and I had a difficult working relationship. I''m not sure if we ever saw eye to eye. We were twins of a sort, both trusted with power at around the same time. We both worked to distinguish ourselves from our predecessors and fight for what we each thought was right. We clashed on almost every issue, but only because he believed fiercely in his duty to the Guild. Ungarti worked tirelessly to serve every ship, every captain, every crewmember under his command.

    "You are all here to speak to his effectiveness as a leader, his kindness as a father, and his generosity as a friend. I can speak only to his dedication, his guile, and his strength. We saw each other as equals, and I respected him greatly.

    "If I have regrets from my time working with him and against him, it is that there was too great of a divide between us for us to know each other as friends. We came from different worlds, and the distance between them was too great, or I was perhaps too unwilling to reach out and bridge it. God knows that Ungarti came to me often enough. Hardly a few months went by without him passing by Emerri. He always had some reason to come see me, and perhaps that was what got in between us. There was never a time that we could meet without this-"

    God help him, he was actually getting a little choked up over the slimy bastard. Aymon took a breath. If only Ungarti had been a sensitive, they would have been classmates at the Academy, and Aymon was sure they would have had a smoother relationship. Maybe they could have even been friends. Still, the man was dead and it was too late for that now.

    "Without our duties hanging over us like a cloud,¡± Aymon continued.

    "There will never be another like him, not in my lifetime, and not in yours. He was a man of singular talents and singular vision. He leaves behind a legacy that will be hard to follow." Aymon had specifically decided not to include nods to any of the people who were hoping to take up Vaneik''s mantle. He knew which one he preferred, but it wouldn''t do to be too political at a funeral.

    "He is with God now. And so it becomes your duty to carry on his memory and continue his work. Under him, the Guild prospered. I know that it will continue to do so in the coming years because of the groundwork that he laid.

    "Godspeed you on your journey, Ungarti. You were known and loved, and you will be missed."

    Before Aymon sat down, he gave a silent look at the corpse. Out of curiosity, not expecting to find anything, Aymon reached his power out through Vaneik''s body, seeing if he could see what had killed him. He wasn''t really expecting to find anything, as it was only a cursory examination, but he wanted to find telltale signs of a stroke, or maybe any remnants of a disease. Instead, as he walked back towards his seat, he almost tripped and fell, because what he found in the corpse was not a blood clot in the brain, a tumor in the lungs, or cells ravaged by illness. When he passed his power through the body, there was the unmistakable sensation of one of the things he checked his every meal for: cyanide.

    Aymon returned to his seat, face pale. The captain sitting to his side gave him a sympathetic look, but he ignored it. This threw a major wrench into all of the reorganization that the Guild was going to go through in their search for a new leader. Aymon looked around the room. Halen, feeling his panic, sent out a tendril of his power, accompanied by a questioning feeling. Aymon sent back as simple of an instruction as he could, for Halen to examine the body. Halen responded a few seconds later with understanding, then with anger.

    Aymon had a decision to make. He could, fairly easily, call the whole funeral to a halt, demand they return to somewhere where someone would be able to perform an autopsy. He could demand a full investigation into this murder; he could try to find some sort of independent commission to interrogate everyone who had been aboard the Oathkeeper at the time of death. He could do a lot of things. But at the same time, he was trapped by his position. It could destroy the Trade Guild, and it could put him in a precarious position with all the planets in the Empire if the Guild became uncooperative.

    He thought about it all through the rest of the funeral. It seemed like everyone there gave their own accounting of what Vaneik had meant to them, and how they had known him. Not everyone could have, of course, because it would have dragged on forever, but every time the cantor looked like he was ready to say the closing prayer, yet another person would stand and walk to the front to deliver their remarks.

    Was he really going to let it go? They were going to shoot his body off into space at the end of the service, and it would be close to impossible to ever locate again. There would go all the evidence that Vaneik had been murdered.

    He felt Halen''s eyes on him as the last person finally sat down from their eulogy. There was a long moment of silence as the cantor judged whether anyone else would speak, saw that there was no one else willing, and stood to give the closing part of the funeral rite. The cantor closed up the casket, and the four people who had carried it in came to take it out again. It must have been lighter than it looked, because they didn''t seem to be straining at all. The whole gathering followed them out, tramping in a line through the hallways of the Oathkeeper, toward one of the bays of the ship. The transition from the rotating rings of the ship to the gravity free storage area was tedious. The group split; the corpse and its carriers headed toward a shuttle bay, the rest of the mourners all gathered into the observation room and waited for the shuttle to launch.

    Despite being small, the observation room fit everyone much more comfortably than the chapel had, because they could fully use all three dimensions of the space to array themselves out. Aymon had no interest in actually watching Vaneik''s body be set adrift by the shuttle, so he hung in the back with Halen and Kino. Halen was scanning the room, and Kino was looking bored. The atmosphere here was generally more relaxed. It would take time for the shuttle to launch and go far enough out, most people were taking the opportunity to stretch and talk with each other after the brutally long funeral service.

    Aymon and Halen floated next to each other, close enough for their arms to brush, and thus close enough to talk through the power. Their intimate knowledge of each other made it easy, and they could converse in this fashion just as easily as they could talk.

    "Who did it?" Aymon asked silently. "Could you tell?"

    "The feelings in that room were overwhelming. I have no idea," Halen admitted. "The only reason I could tell something was wrong with you was the sheer panic you were feeling, and I''m used to feeling for you."

    "Was it really that bad?"

    "You were spooked."

    "Yeah. Well, this is about as bad as it gets," Aymon said. "Killing the leader of the Guild is a step above anything I''ve ever seen." Perhaps that was an exaggeration. He himself had survived several assassination attempts.

    "Do you have any ideas about who did it?"

    "We can narrow down the actual murderer to people who were aboard the Oathkeeper at the time of death, but it could have been a plot arranged by someone else, so-"

    "Motive?" Halen asked.

    "There''s only a million possible. Vaneik had his hands in every money making scheme in the Empire. If he wasn''t so honest about it, he could be the richest man alive. Maybe someone wanted a slice of that. Or it could be someone who wants to take his place. It could be personal drama that has nothing to do with larger Guild politics."

    "Everything has to do with larger Guild politics. A captain sneezes and ten people write secret messages to each other about it. Fuck," Halen swore. Aymon understood his sentiment exactly. It was a mess, and with the body about to vanish, it would become a worse one.

    "You''re keeping your senses out?"

    "I will, but emotions are already running high, and it''s easier to sense a crime in progress rather than one that''s already over," Halen cautioned.

    "Yeah, well, you''re the best we''ve got."

    "Are you actually going to investigate this?"

    "I need to know," Aymon said with a feeling of finality. "If this is political, even if we can''t bring it to light, I need to know who and why. I can''t work with Guild leadership if I think that the person at the top is out to stab me in the back for petty gain."

    "Understandable."

    "If you had to put money on it, who would it be?" Aymon asked.

    "How good was his relationship with his wife?"

    "How would I know that? He always talked of her fondly, and I never saw her unhappy, but she raised an idiot son, so how happy could she be?"

    "So you don''t think there''s a chance that she killed him for infidelity or something like that," Halen clarified.

    "I don''t know." Aymon''s mental sigh was clear. "Did she seem suspicious?"

    "I don''t know, like I said, I couldn''t pick out heads from tails in there."

    "Okay. Maybe this will all become clearer at the council meeting. When''s that?"

    "Should be¡­" Halen thought about it for a second. "It''s six hours until we jump back to Canerra, and then after that we''ll probably wait the night out and the council will convene in the morning. Everyone needs the night together to establish whatever their little voting groups are."

    "Of course, of course."

    "Look out," Halen warned, but it wasn''t a danger alert. Aymon looked up.

    Floating towards their little group were two tall brown men. Both were dressed nicely in olive green suits, presumably the color of their ship, and they looked related in the way that spacer families do. They were approximately the same age. One had long hair in cornrows with beaded ends, the other was bald. If Aymon had to guess, they would be the captain and council member from the same ship, and if he had to guess further, that ship was the Iron Dreams. Most of the other spacers seemed content to ignore him, for which he was grateful.

    "First Sandreas," the bald man said, dragging his gloved hand along the wall to slow his approach. "Are you busy? May we have a word?"This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Aymon put on his most neutral of smiles. "Of course, gentlemen."

    "Thank you," said the bald man. "I would have preferred to meet under more auspicious circumstances, but I''m glad to make your acquaintance. I''m Pellon BarCarran, captain of the Iron Dreams, and this is Maxes BarCarran, council member. Your apprentice, Yan, is my cousin and Maxes''s niece."

    "Of course. It''s a pleasure to meet you both." Aymon stuck out his hands, and they all shook. "This is one of my other apprentices, Kino Mejia."

    Kino shook hands with as much of a pleasant smile as she was able to muster. Halen studied them dispassionately, moving behind Aymon to not impede in the conversation.

    "I guess I''ve met the whole trio now," Maxes said. "How lucky I must be."

    "When did you meet my other apprentice?" Aymon asked. He didn''t recall Sid ever mentioning meeting Yan''s extended family.

    "As a council member, I was involved with the whole affair on Olar," Maxes explained with a wink. "I weaseled my way on to the team headed there just so I could spend some time with my niece. Apprentice Welslak was there as well."

    "Ah, I see. Well, I must thank you both for raising Yan to be the person she is. It''s a joy to have her as my apprentice," Aymon said. He felt like he was one of the teachers he had as a kid, before he went to the Academy, telling his mother all about how he was doing in school.

    "I''m glad to hear it, though I can hardly take credit," Pellon said. "I''m sorry that she isn''t here for the funeral."

    Aymon resisted raising his eyebrows. It seemed hard for him to believe that Pellon didn''t understand the reasons why Yan would be a poor choice to bring to Vaneik''s funeral. "I believe there are people here she''d rather stay away from at the moment," Aymon said. "She''s going out to Anthus right now, to consecrate the new colony. She was originally going to accompany me there, but circumstances changed, obviously."

    "Oh, that whole business," Maxes said about the pirate disaster, waving his hand as though it were nothing. "I highly doubt anyone would dare to bring it up."

    "It isn''t so much that they would bring it up, but that Yan would be unhappy regardless," Kino said. "She''s not avoiding you."

    "Truth be told, if Sid, my other apprentice, weren''t on a bit of probation," Aymon began. Kino stifled a laugh. "He would be going to Anthus and I would let Yan stay home. I think he would much prefer the excitement of getting out and about."

    "Excitement, yeah," Kino said. She had a weird tone in her voice, but Aymon couldn''t question what she meant by it at that moment. He would ask later, if he remembered.

    "So you have one apprentice here with you, one out setting up new colonies, and one keeping the peace back at home?" Pellon asked.

    "That''s the idea. I''m ever so slightly loosening everyone''s leashes, making them walk on their own."

    "Bit early for that in their apprenticeship, isn''t it?" Maxes asked. "They''ve only been with you for about four months."

    "Are you doubting Yan to be capable of running the galaxy?" Pellon asked Maxes, looking fake shocked. He seemed like a fun man.

    "Yan isn''t running anything, yet. But I''m sure she will be quite capable someday," Aymon said. "As long as everything doesn''t go to complete disaster while I''m away, I have no problem letting my apprentices test their strength."

    "So why are you here, Apprentice Mejia? Wouldn''t you prefer to be on your own personal adventure?" Maxes asked.

    "I''m here because First Sandreas likes me the best," Kino said in that flat voice of hers, but the corners of her mouth twitched up, indicating the joke. Pellon and Maxes didn''t know what to think, but Aymon laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

    "I don''t pick favorites," he said. "But it seemed like the best choice for Kino to accompany me. Maybe we just work best together."

    "Well, I have to say, Yan speaks the world of you in her letters home," Maxes said.

    "She''s not spilling government secrets, I hope," Aymon said, but he smiled, indicating it was a joke. Maxes laughed.

    "No, she just tells me how much she enjoys working with you, and how much she''s learning. I just wanted to thank you for taking her on."

    "The relationship is as much to my benefit as it is to hers. After all, I''m getting a lot of free labor from my little gaggle of apprentices."

    "Free? I seem to recall she was getting a generous salary," Pellon said.

    "Free in that I can''t trust anyone else to do the work. It''s a funny thing, apprentices. As soon as you get one, it seems like everyone''s willing to accept their word as yours," Aymon mused.

    "You can''t ask me to explain it, I don''t understand anything about sensitives, however much I love Yan," Pellon said.

    "We''re just a different breed," Aymon said lightly.

    "That is true," Maxes said. "Nothing against you, of course. After all, we wouldn''t have starships without all your tireless service."

    "I always an so worried about spacers who turn out to be sensitives," Aymon said. "There''s bound to be a few who will decide they can make a stardrive with no training."

    The feeling of amusement that Halen sent him was so strong, Aymon almost laughed at his own joke. Kino covered her mouth with her hand, hiding her smile. After all, Halen was one of those spacers who made their own stardrive.

    Pellon raised his eyebrows, the inside joke lost on him. "Well, I don''t think that Yan would ever be so stupid."

    "Oh, ha, I''m not worried about her, I''m just speaking in general terms. Yan is a very bright girl."

    "That she is," Maxes said. "Well, it was a pleasure to talk to you, First Sandreas. We won''t trouble you any longer."

    "The pleasure is all mine," Aymon said.

    "If you are ever in need of anything that the Iron Dreams can provide, just say the word," Pellon said. "Again, thank you for taking on Yan."

    "I''ll keep that in mind." They smiled and nodded at each other, then the two BarCarrans pushed off the wall and drifted towards the viewing window. The band in the front of the room had struck up again, playing some new, mournful tune. Someone made an announcement and pointed out the action outside the window.

    Everyone watched out the window as the tiny dot of the shuttle, clutching Vaneik''s casket in its grasping claws, tossed the thing off into the depths of space. The action was so distant that it could barely be seen, but Aymon watched with mixed emotions as the corpse, and all the evidence for Vaneik''s murder, floated away. The cantor said another short prayer over the band''s mournful strumming, and then the whole thing was over. The shuttle turned around and made its journey back to the ship.

    People stood around and talked for a while, but eventually everyone started to trickle out. Unfortunately, the ship didn''t have very many places for people to go; none of the visiting captains and council members (or Aymon and his party) had been given guest rooms aboard the Oathkeeper for their little jaunt, so everyone was forced to wander around the public areas of the ship until the whole thing jumped back in to Canerra station. It was a pain dictated by tradition that these funerals be done in deep, empty space. It seemed as though it would be just as proper for them to happen in the station. Then again, he wasn''t a spacer, so he really couldn''t judge their peculiarities.

    Aymon, Halen, and Kino waited around in the viewing area for a little while longer. Most of the spacers gave them a wide berth. Drifting side by side, close enough that they could touch, Aymon and Halen continued to discuss the lurking problem of Vaneik''s murder. In order to make it non obvious, Aymon pretended to be praying, keeping his eyes closed and his hands floating out.

    The best thing to do would be to get each of the likely suspects by themselves in a conversation, and then see if they could ask probing questions so that Halen could feel out their guilt. But who were the likely suspects? Marne, his wife? Aymon didn''t know her very well, and he didn''t see any motive. His two apprentices? It seemed more likely that they would murder each other, or Vaneik''s stupid son, before they killed Vaneik. The idiot son himself? It seemed like he was too lazy and stupid to orchestrate such a thing. Someone else looking to seize power within the Guild? They would have had to be on the Oathkeeper at the time of Vaneik''s death, and there were no people who fit that description. A disgruntled crewmember? There were so many crewmembers; there would be no way for Aymon and Halen to sniff them all out. It was looking more and more hopeless by the second.

    "Can we go get lunch?" Kino asked, after fifteen minutes of her floating patiently next to Aymon and Halen, who were deeply wrapped up in their interior discussion. She didn''t know about any of this. Aymon debated whether to inform her and decided against it for the moment. Perhaps if he needed to make use of Kino''s particular skillset (being invisible in the power), then he would tell her. But it seemed unlikely that he would need to send Kino sneaking around, and the only people it would be even remotely useful against would be the two apprentices, Nomar Thale and Yuuni Olms.

    "Yeah. Let''s go find the dining hall," Aymon said. They all made their way through the ship, tracing their path back based on what murals they remembered seeing on the walls. The Oathkeeper was a nice looking ship. Aymon could admit that. After all, Ungarti Vaneik was dead, there was no reason for Aymon to continue hating everything associated with him.

    Part of him even believed the things he had said in his eulogy. Not that he had lied, exactly, but he had tried to make the best of a complicated relationship. Maybe it would have been better if they had been friends. Maybe it would have been better if they had trusted each other more, or if Aymon had let Vaneik just a little further into his confidences. After all, it wasn''t as though Vaneik had ever been in a position to truly betray him, just to make life slightly more confusing and difficult. And he had managed to do that just fine without ever being let into Aymon''s life on more than a business level.

    It was sad. Aymon could admit that. They passed a long line of portraits- previous captains and other important crew members of the Oathkeeper. The faces, all bearing trace resemblance to Ungarti in his prime, that long line of Vaneiks, stretched back two hundred, four hundred years. It was a shame that Ungarti was just going to become another face on this wall. Aymon had always assumed that they would be squabbling with each other until he ended his tenure as Voice, which he was planning on putting off for as long as humanly possible. Ungarti was still, if not in his prime, at least still well in the time when a man could be expected to work. He had been murdered, and everyone was chalking it up to illness. It seemed a disservice.

    He hoped that Vaneik was laughing at him from heaven. Reminiscing over all the mediocre-to-bad times they had had together- what was he, some sort of pathetic kid? He glanced over at Halen who walked next to him, and Halen raised his eyebrows. Aymon struggled to get his feelings back under his complete control, but he ended up only frustrating himself.

    The dining hall was crowded with people. While the bulk of the Oathkeeper''s crew had returned to their normal stations, most of the visiting captains and council members decided that the dining hall was the best place to sit and pass the time before the ship jumped back. Thus it was also the best place to hear any gossip about what was going to happen at the council meeting, and who was going to announce their candidacy to be the next Guildmaster. It was strange, usually the position would be passed on with a strong recommendation from the current Guildmaster, who would simply be retiring, but in this case, Ungarti had died before giving that recommendation. Presumably he had been intending to stay the leader of the guild for several more years. It didn''t do to make that sort of announcement too early, because people would start scheming.

    Of course, considering the way he had died¡­ There were most definitely schemes afoot.

    Aymon, Halen, and Kino all got food in the long serving line. The kitchens of the Oathkeeper were struggling to feed everyone, given the unusual crowd, so the line was long. Aymon felt like he was back at the Academy, getting served in the dining hall- it had been a long time since had needed to wait in line for anything. It amused him, and took his mind off the facts of the situation. They found a table and sat, listening to the chatter in the hall. People were discussing the upcoming council meeting. Aymon was eager to hear what the captains and council members thought of who was going to put their name in the running.

    The council meetings were closed affairs, and so Aymon would not be able to attend, but he would be sticking around and holding a court of his own. Every contender would announce their running to the council member for their ship, and that council member would deliver the message to the council at large. The meeting could stretch on, as candidates were announced and withdrew, as alliances formed and dissolved, until eventually a vote was able to get a majority for one person or another. Usually, given the recommendation of the previous Guildmaster, the whole process would be a mere formality, but here it was anyone''s game. What alliances would turn up?

    Aymon''s thoughts were interrupted as he saw a familiar face walk into the hall. Yuuni Olms, the former apprentice of Vaneik, headed into the food line, seemingly alone. His eyes followed her as she got her meal, and she saw him staring, and nodded. Once she got what she had came for, she brought her tray over to where Aymon''s little group was.

    "Mind if I sit here, First Sandreas?" Olms asked.

    "Not at all," Aymon said. It really was just like being in the Academy dining hall. Olms slid into the seat next to Kino, and gave her a small smile. "I''m sorry for your loss, Apprentice Olms."

    "Apprentice no longer, I suppose," Olms said with a sad smile. "It''s bittersweet."

    "I''m sorry that your apprenticeship ended so suddenly, then. Was Ungarti sick for long?" Obviously, Aymon knew the length of time that he had been sick for was less than ten minutes, considering the cyanide in his system, but he wanted to probe Olms for answers.

    "No, it was very sudden, just a few days. We had just been in port, so he must have picked up something he wasn''t vaccinated for as a child," Olms said. She seemed sincere.

    "There wasn''t an autopsy?"

    "Why would there be?" Olms asked, looking askance at Aymon. "It''s sacrilege to disrespect the body."

    "Well, not if you need to find out how he died."

    Olms raised her eyebrows. "I wasn''t aware that there was anyone worrying about how he died. No one on the Oathkeeper brought it up."

    "Oh, I''m not trying to be rude, Ms. Olms, I just-" Aymon laughed a little. "If I ever came down with the classic ''sudden, short illness'', I''d want someone to do an autopsy, just because of my position as First."

    "Guildmaster isn''t exactly on the same level," Olms said.

    "Ungarti and I always considered each other equals."

    "Not to speak ill of the dead, but that''s because my dear mentor always had a bit of an inflated sense of importance."

    Aymon laughed. "You don''t seem to hold the position of Guildmaster in high regard. Do you not have an intention of running for it?" Halen wasn¡¯t signalling him through the power, so he must have decided that Olms''s emotions were not betraying her as Vaneik''s murderer. Aymon was glad of it, and continued to talk with her without that worry hanging over him. Unfortunately, it also meant that she probably wouldn''t be able to provide him any useful information about who the killer actually was, so it was a bit of a wash.

    "It was clear to anyone who knew him that Ungarti wanted Wil to be the next Guildmaster. I wouldn''t want to step in between that," Olms said.

    "Ungarti never made that a formal recommendation, the door is still open."

    "Why does it matter to you? Do you want me to run?" Olms asked. "The only reason he didn''t make that recommendation is because he died before he could. I''m sure in ten or so more years he definitely would have."

    "I think that you would be capable. Yan and Sid were highly impressed with you when you met on Olar."

    "The feeling is mutual," Olms said with a smile. "I quite like those two."

    "Then you should run; you''d see a lot more of them if you became Guildmaster."

    "I don''t like them that much," Olms said. "Look, First Sandreas, I was planning on bidding for a ship of my own. I have access to the funds, and with this year''s glut of stardrives, it''s the perfect opportunity. I don''t want to waste my life chasing a dream that somebody else picked for me."

    "You didn''t want your apprenticeship?" Aymon asked. He knew that the process had been somewhat perverted by the complicating factor of Vaneik not being a sensitive, and having his apprentices recommended to him by someone else, but¡­

    "I had several other offers," Olms said. She took a bite of her food before she continued. "And I picked this one because of my family. I think any spacer would do the same. Is that not true?"

    "It''s true of Yan," Kino said, a rare interruption in the conversation. "I think, anyway. She wanted to go into xenobio."

    "What do you mean?" Aymon asked.

    "It''s important to put the family''s needs, the ship''s needs, before your own. Sometimes that means taking the most prestigious position you can," Olms explained.

    "And by not running for Guildmaster you''re doing what, exactly?"

    Olms laughed. "I''ve managed to spend the past few years mostly away from my family. Some of the brainwashing''s worn off."

    "You should consider it anyway," Aymon said. "I know you don''t want to, out of respect for Ungarti, but I think you would make a good leader."

    "People have said I would make a good captain," Olms stressed.

    "The skills are transferable, I''m sure."

    "Is this open favoritism from the leader of the Empire? It seems inappropriate."

    "You haven''t even announced your candidacy yet, and neither has anyone else, so it''s not really favoritism. Just a humble suggestion."

    "I''ll think about it," Olms conceded.

    "Better think fast, the council meeting''s coming right up. Any idea who else will be putting in a bid?"

    "Nomar, my fellow former apprentice, definitely will. Wil Vaneik, certainly. Some people have floated Pellon BarCarran''s name around, but I don''t think that''s a possibility."

    Aymon raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

    "Only because of his association with you. I heard you talked earlier."

    "Word does get around fast here," Aymon said. "But I don''t know him. He only wanted to talk to me about Yan."

    "Of course. He''s a competent captain, and I''m sure he wouldn''t make a bad candidate, but I think that''s idle gossip. He doesn''t seem like the really ambitious type."

    "Anyone else?"

    "Joun Migollen from the Sky Boat might jump at the opportunity, even if he''s an unlikely candidate to actually win. Uniss Fenn from the Fantastic might toss her hat in the ring as well. I don''t know. No one was really expecting anything like this to happen, so no one was prepared. I think everyone who''s ambitious will throw in their name for fun."

    "You''re saying it will be a bloodbath in the council chambers?"

    "No, I''m saying that a lot of people who don''t have a chance will throw their name in because they don''t know any better. Nothing like this has happened in our lifetimes, or even my grandfather''s lifetime."

    "And who do you think has a real chance?"

    "I couldn''t possibly judge that right now. We''ll have to see how it plays out in the council."

    "Are you going to be there?"

    Olms laughed. "Yes, probably for the last time. Nomar and I have what I guess is considered a probational seat, since we''re symbolically filling in for Ungarti."

    "Did you attend council meetings a lot before?"

    "Oh, constantly. I think that was the one real joy Ungarti got out of having apprentices, he could send me to council meetings so that he wouldn''t have to go. I did the council''s business quite a lot."

    "Hm. Wouldn''t that make you an excellent candidate then?" Aymon smiled. He really did think that Olms would be an excellent choice for Guildmaster, but if she couldn''t be convinced then he wouldn''t push her.

    "I''ve made myself plenty of enemies on the council," Olms said. "I have been known to let my temper get the best of me."

    "Don''t we all, at one point or another?" Aymon asked. "I heard about what happened on Olar."

    "Yeah," Olms looked embarrassed and poked at her food for a minute. "I think I came off a little strong handed there."

    "Sometimes that''s what it takes to get people in line. Besides, council members come and go on a moment''s notice, anyone you don''t like is bound to be replaced soon enough."

    "That depends on the ship," Olms corrected. "Some of them have been in the council for years and years."

    "Perhaps. Have there been big shakeups recently?"

    "No. Most of the captains, they''ll just tell their council member how to vote, if they care at all. That''s one thing I don''t like about the Guild: if something doesn''t directly affect the daily workings of their ship, most captains don''t care at all."

    Aymon gave Olms another pointed look, but didn''t say anything.

    "You are really going hard on this," Olms said. "I said I''d think about it."

    Aymon smiled. "Olms, if you see Thule around, can you tell him to come find me? I would like to talk to him as well."

    "So you are just trying to butter up the next leader of the Guild, I see how it is."

    "Are you that confident that he''ll win?"

    "Nomar has spent his time very deliberately not making enemies. I think that he''s a very popular choice."

 Chapter Forty-Six - No Such Thing as Good News

    No Such Thing as Good News

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The three men walked silently through the Palace of the Red King, carrying their knives and seeking him out. They came to three branching paths in the gardens, and each one drew lots to decide where he would go. Absalom took the right hand path, Glade took the middle path, and Zesa took the left hand path. The three men bid each other farewell, for they would never meet again.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Several hours later, the Oathkeeper jumped back in to Canerra Station and docked. All of those who had been on the Oathkeeper for Vaneik''s funeral rushed off back to their own ships. Canerra station looked positively warty with all the ships docked to it, their long tunnels for crossing stretching out to the massive ships arrayed all around.

    Aymon, Halen, and Kino didn¡¯t make it very far into the station before being stopped. Several members of his normal entourage were waiting for him as he stepped off the bridge between the Oathkeeper and the station; none of them looked happy.

    "First Sandreas," one of them said, pulling him to the side to allow the stream of people exiting the Oathkeeper to pass by him. "There''s some news from Emerri that might be best given in private."

    Usually any news that needed to be heard immediately yet quietly could just be sent to his phone and he would read it. What was it that he needed to be so private that no one could be in the room when he heard it? After all, Vaneik was already dead, and that was the most recent news that had been delivered to him in person.

    He followed his aide to the rooms they had rented on Canerra Station. They were the nicest suite available. The Imperial Government had had to foot quite the bill, considering how many visiting captains were here for Vaneik''s funeral. The station must be making a killing. The rooms were large, brightly lit with artificial sun lamps, and painted a cheerful shade of yellow. The furniture was the sterile sort of furniture that one could expect in a hotel. It was somewhat old, due to the cost and hassle involved with shipping things to stations, but Aymon wasn''t going to fuss over it. Kino settled herself on the couch, perched like a bird, and Halen hovered near the doorway.

    "Do I need to sit down to read this?" Aymon asked. "Is it that shocking of news?"

    "I don''t know, sir," the aide said. "The note that accompanied the message gave the instructions to make sure you were alone before you read it, but I don''t know the contents."

    "Is it from Sid?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Then I''m hoping it''s simple exaggeration based on inexperience," Aymon said. "Let me see it." He held out his hand and the aide gave him a thick envelope full of printouts from the ansible. Though ansibles needed to be anchored to a planet, Canerra Station had a radio relay to the barren planet that it orbited. Most stations did the same- there were very few that were built in interstellar space or without a planet nearby.

    "You can go," Aymon told the aide. "I''ll let you know if I need anything." The aide looked concerned, but obeyed, heading out the door.

    Aymon sat down on the couch opposite Kino, and Halen sat on the arm of the furniture next to him, causing it to creak.

    "Let''s see what''s got Sid all worked up, shall we?" He smiled cheerfully at Kino. She seemed much more nervous than he was, and even more nervous than usual. She was chewing her fingernails down to the quick. Aymon ripped the envelope open and pulled out the top message.

    Dear Sandreas,

    Yan''s been kidnapped.

    Immediately, Sandreas''s whole body froze. The blood roared in his ears; his heartbeat thudded underneath his tongue.

    Quick summary: she was on the Tranquility, Maedes reports that she was drugged and her night watcher was killed, she was taken off the ship, along with everyone who participated (stole shuttle from the Tranquility), Tranquility is holding in orbit around Anthus colony now. No idea where Yan is. Maedes quits but is standing by for orders. Attack was probably meant for you, but Yan ended up as only target available. All the other documents are attached.

    I don''t know what to do- should I make a public statement? I told her emergency contact on Emerri b/c I thought she should know, but it''s not big news. Haven''t told her family yet b/c I was worried about trade guild gossip. I asked the Emperor if there was any way to find her and he said no, basically. I don''t know what to do.

    I''m sorry,

    Sid

    Aymon passed the first letter on to Halen, who was looking at him with deep concern. He pulled out paper after paper, reading the official reports from everyone. He was speechless. Papers were passed around between the group, Aymon to Halen to Kino, until there was nothing else to look at.

    His chest was tight. He couldn''t breathe. Halen had his hand on Aymon''s shoulder. What was originally meant to be a comforting touch had turned into a death grip as Halen read the reports on his own and absorbed Aymon''s feelings. Kino''s finger was bleeding; she had chewed on it so much by time she got to the end of the stack that there were little pink smears on the corners of the pages she touched.

    Aymon took deep breaths, trying to force his chest to open all the way. He didn''t know what to say. Yan was gone? This was an attack aimed at him? And Yan was caught in the trap instead, unable to defend herself? Had they not taught her well enough? She didn''t deserve this.

    "She''s not dead," Kino said finally, after a long silence that was punctuated only by Aymon''s heavy breathing. He wasn''t crying, he wasn''t going to cry, but this was a loss that he felt deeper than anything else.

    Halen looked at Kino. "Kino, there''s probably no way to get her back." He said this as kindly as possible, but the force with which he crushed Aymon''s shoulder was enough to make his bones creak in protest.

    "You don''t know that yet, you haven''t even tried!"

    "If they can use Yan for something, they''ll keep her alive until she''s served her purpose. If they can''t use her, there''s no point in keeping her alive," Aymon said. "We don''t know who took her, or where, or why. If they were aiming for me, they probably don''t have a use for Yan." The words came out as though he were speaking through a thick haze.

    "Why would they kidnap her instead of just killing her, then?" Kino asked. Her voice was shrill and artificial sounding, but perhaps that was just the way Kino was when overwhelmed by emotion. "She might escape. She could-"

    "If they have her, they''re going to keep her drugged all the time," Aymon said. "There''s no way she''ll ever be allowed to be fully conscious. Just like the prisoners that we have. Vaspar."

    "You can''t give up-"

    "The best we can hope for is that they''ll ransom her off," Aymon said. From the look on Halen''s face, everyone knew that was unlikely to ever happen. People who wanted a ransom chose easier, softer, financially liquid targets. People who targeted politicians wanted something completely different.

    Kino fell silent. She had been looking slightly off all day, but now her brown skin was positively green. Aymon supposed he didn''t look much better.

    "Sid said he hasn''t alerted her family," Halen said, his voice soft.

    Oh, God. Her uncle and captain were right here on the station, probably having a relaxing night after the funeral, waiting for the council meeting.

    Aymon stood, and Halen''s hand brushed down his back, letting go of his shoulder. He went to the door and stuck his head out. The aide was standing outside, and he snapped to attention when Aymon came out.

    "Can you please bring Pellon and Maxes BarCarran here as soon as possible? They''re from the Iron Dreams and should be on station."

    "Of course, sir." The aide scurried away, and Aymon closed the door and returned to the couch.

    As he sat down, Kino stood up. She went into the kitchen area of the suite and poured them all glasses of water, handing one to him and Halen, keeping the third for herself.

    Aymon looked at the water. It was shaking in the glass as he held it. He took a sip; he hadn''t realized how dry his mouth was.

    "What are you going to tell them?" Halen asked.

    "The truth," Aymon said. He leaned over and shuffled through the papers on the coffee table. He selected a few that would be appropriate to let the BarCarrans see, then tucked the rest inside the pocket of his cassock. They waited in silence for a long time. Kino continued chewing on her fingers, Aymon stared into space, trying to think up ways that Yan could be found.

    "There has to be someone, somewhere, we can tag for information¡­" Aymon muttered. "An operation like this, there''s bound to be leaks. Do we still have plugs on the black stations?" He wasn''t really looking for an answer, just muttering to himself. There were teams of people on Emerri already hard at work trying to trace every clue and hunt Yan down. One of the documents described a team of investigators that were going to meet the Petra when it picked up another batch of colonists, so that they could reach Anthus and start questioning anyone who might have been a witness.

    The colonists, that was a mess. They were a bunch of people brought together for no reason other than they didn''t want to live on their own planet anymore. Anyone could integrate themselves into a group like that, and clearly they had. The more tantalizing leads would be among the Tranquility''s crew, since they were sure to be a tightly woven bunch. All spacers were¡­ Aymon thought this over until the doorbell rang.

    Halen stood up to go answer it.

    "Kino, come sit over here," Aymon said. Kino came next to him so that the two visiting spacers would have a place to sit while they received the bad news.

    Halen opened the door for them, and they walked in, smiling. They didn''t seem to suspect that anything was wrong. Aymon stood to greet them; Kino followed his lead.

    "Hello, captain, council member ," Aymon said. "Please, take a seat."

    "Thank you, First Sandreas. We were certainly surprised to get your invitation," Pellon said. Everyone sat except Halen, who was standing against the wall of the room.

    "Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you," Aymon said. Maxes frowned at this, but Pellon didn''t have an outward reaction. "I know this comes at a very bad time."

    "There''s never a good time for bad news," Pellon said. "Is Yan alright?"

    Aymon paused. "No."

    Maxes looked like he wanted to jump up and throttle someone. Only the fact that he was in a room with the leader of the galaxy and two people (three, counting Kino) who could kill him with a thought kept him from doing something inappropriate. His hands clenched into fists.

    "What happened? Is she dead? Where is she?" Maxes asked.

    "She''s not dead, as far as we know. She was kidnapped off of the ship she was travelling to Anthus on, the Tranquility-"

    "Elias''s ship. I''ll kill that bastard," Maxes said. Pellon laid a hand on his shoulder, and Maxes scowled but relaxed backward onto the couch. That was the power of a captain, to take back control of the situation. The familiar touch reminded Aymon of the way that Halen would grab his arm or give him advice.

    "Do you know who, or how, or why?" Pellon asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

    "Not yet. We''re working to find out," Aymon said. "Investigators have been dispatched to interview everyone who was on the Tranquility at the time, and we are using all of the options we have to look for her." He handed Pellon the original letter that had been sent by Maedes. It didn''t have anything that was secret on it aside from the kidnapping itself, so they could look at it. Pellon took it, and Maxes peered over his shoulder, reading it alongside him.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    "This Iri Maedes, who''s that?" Pellon asked after he had finished reading it.

    "Halen, my head of security, can better answer that question for you," Aymon said, nodding to him.

    "She''s the person in charge of Yan''s security. There are guards who work under her, but she accompanies Yan almost everywhere," Halen explained.

    "Like a bodyguard?" Pellon asked.

    "In some respects. In others she''s more like a personal assistant."

    "Was she responsible for this?" Maxes asked.

    Halen sighed. "Maedes has been a loyal and valuable employee for several years. She is not on duty while Yan sleeps, and this attack happened during the night. She clearly takes what happened very personally as her fault, but she was not on the scene at the time."

    "And the person who was guarding her was killed?" Pellon asked.

    "Yes," Halen said. "This attack was clearly orchestrated by professionals, possibly even people who had spent years infiltrating the Anthus colony planning. It''s almost certain that the attack was meant for First Sandreas, but Yan was the only available target."

    "Because you''re here at Vaneik''s funeral," Pellon clarified. He seemed like he was having difficulty processing all of this, and that''s why he was asking for clarification on all these simple facts that had been laid out in the letter. Aymon couldn''t blame him.

    "Yes, that''s right," Aymon said.

    "Can you be honest with me?" Maxes asked, leaning forward again. His voice was rough where Pellon''s was quiet.

    "Yes," Aymon said, though that was a lie. He obviously wouldn''t be able to tell Maxes any secrets if he asked for them. Still, he wanted to give the man as much comfort as he could. He needed comfort himself.

    "Is she- will you get her back?"

    "We''re going to do our absolute best," Aymon said. "I love Yan-"

    "She''s like a daughter to me," Maxes said. There were clear tears in his eyes. "I raised her since she was a little kid."

    "I know. I''m so, so sorry that this has happened to her," Aymon said. There was a long moment of silence.

    "Realistically, should we have a funeral?" Pellon asked, meeting Aymon''s eyes. Aymon wasn''t cowardly enough to look away, though he wanted to.

    "We don''t think she''s dead right now." That was the most honest non-answer he could give. Would it be too terrible to tell the truth? That she was as good as dead? That they would never see her again? "I don''t know what spacer custom is in this situation."

    "Right now?" Maxes asked. His voice was strained.

    "We know that she was taken alive," Aymon explained. "That''s all that we know. The longer things go on with no news, the less we can predict."

    "When do you make that call?" Pellon asked. Aymon looked at Halen for the answer; he typically knew these things.

    "A year." Of course, that year was when the official records would be changed, but if a year went by with no news, well, it was likely that whoever it was had died long before. Fleet soldiers who went missing in action didn''t ever tend to come back to the fold.

    "We''re not having a funeral until I see a body," Maxes said suddenly, sitting up straight. "I swear to God."

    "That''s your choice," Aymon said. It was a foolish thing to say, but Maxes had that right as next of kin. If they didn''t find her alive, it was unlikely that they would find her dead, either. Not unless someone wanted to send them a message. It pained Aymon to think of Yan''s soul going without the proper send off of a funeral, but if Maxes was going to have his way, he would rather have that come to pass than have her corpse be desecrated and displayed for some sort of awful purpose.

    "Is there anything that we can do?" Pellon asked. "I know it''s a long shot, but¡­"

    "We have experts working on it, but if you hear anything, you can send that information along," Aymon said. Unless the Iron Dreams regularly trafficked on the black market, it was unlikely that they would hear anything, but if they wanted a sense of purpose, he could give them that at least.

    "Do you think that Yan could break out? Get away?" Maxes asked. "I know you all can do things."

    "They captured Yan by drugging her; sensitives can''t use the power unless they''re fully conscious. It''s likely that she will be kept drugged all the time. Even if she wasn''t, she''s still being taken away, maybe to a black station or a hideout on an uninhabited planet. If she could break out, she would still need to steal a ship and fly it home."

    "Yan can fly a starship," Pellon said. "She can navigate."

    Aymon didn''t say anything. He let the man have his dreams. It wasn''t the flying that would be the difficult part, it was the getting of a ship in the first place.

    "You think she''s not going to come back?" Pellon asked.

    "I think that it''s best to be honest about the chances," Aymon said. "Yan knew when she took this position that it would be a dangerous job."

    "That doesn''t make it right," Maxes said. "She''s just a kid."

    "No, she''s twenty-one," Aymon said. "She''s been an adult for several years. Certainly since she graduated from the Academy."

    "That doesn''t mean that it''s right to put her in danger!" Maxes said.

    "Councilmember, I''m sorry that this has happened. More sorry than you can possibly imagine."

    "She''s MY kid," Maxes growled. Aymon wanted to say ''no, she''s your niece,'' but he held his tongue.

    "If there were something that I could have done to prevent this, then I would have done it in an instant," Aymon said. "But this job has its risks, and Yan undertook them willingly. She''s been in danger before."

    "Not a personal attack! Pirates aren''t the same thing!" Maxes was a hair''s breadth away from shouting. Aymon did his best to look at him steadily, but he could feel his hands quivering, though they were folded tightly on his lap.

    "I''m sorry," Aymon said again. It was the only thing he could say, really.

    "Thank you for telling us this, First Sandreas," Pellon said coldly. He put his hand on Maxes''s arm again. "Are you going to make a public announcement?"

    "Soon. It might not be until I get back to Emerri." It wouldn''t do to make more of a mess of the Guild''s election time, even though this was an unrelated issue.

    "I understand," Pellon said. "May I tell my crew, the rest of Yan''s family?"

    "Yes." Aymon didn''t think that anyone aboard the Dreams was likely to spread the information far. The Dreams was out doing its normal run, anyway, and likely wasn''t going to be near an ansible for several days.

    Pellon nodded. "Thank you again for telling us. We have a lot to think about." He stood, and Maxes followed him up. Aymon and Kino stood as well.

    "I''ll be praying for her safe return," Aymon said.

    "We will as well," Pellon said.

    Aymon walked the two over to the door and showed them out. Once they were gone he took a deep, choked breath. The ache was beginning to set in in his chest.

    "Kino," Aymon said. "You can go for the night." He wanted to be alone.

    "I- okay." Kino seemed as though she were going to protest, but then her normal mask fell back into place. She nodded and headed out the door. Was it cruel of him to dismiss her when she had nobody? Maybe. He remembered what it was like to be an apprentice when¡­ He couldn¡¯t think about that right now, the current pain was overwhelming.

    Aymon headed into the bedroom, lights off, and laid down on the bed on top of the covers. He was alone in there for a long time, carefully trying to let his thoughts go blank. He closed his eyes, counted his breaths, and tried to build a wall up around the pain. Halen couldn''t be around him when he was so raw.

    There had been so much that had happened over the past day. His sadness over Yan crowded out the mystery of Vaneik''s murder, the apprehension about the Trade Guild''s election, the general stress that came with travel.

    If the First Star hadn''t been under maintenance- no, if it had been, he would have taken it, and Yan still would have been aboard the Tranquility. If Vaneik hadn''t died¡­ Would Halen have been able to protect him from the attack that was supposed to be aimed at him?

    Yes.

    Poison. He knew how to find that. Why hadn''t they bothered teaching Yan (and Sid, and Kino) how to identify drugs in their food? Had it just been one of those things that slipped their minds? Had he put too much responsibility on them too fast?

    Yes.

    What did they hope to get out of her? Yan wasn''t a substitute for him. Was this a personal attack, or was it political? Probably political. But why did they go through with it, if there was nothing real to be gained? He found it hard to believe that Yan could be useful to anyone other than him.

    Why had God led her to him, why had she felt chosen and special, if she was just going to be taken away?

    The Emperor had told him not to get too attached when he took apprentices. The Emperor had been telling him that his entire life. Had the Emperor said the same thing to Caron? How had he knowingly chosen apprentices, just to watch them die?

    How could he have been so callous, talking to Vaneik so many months ago? That last conversation he had had with him had been ringing through his head all day, just because of the funeral, and now his words were coming back to haunt him. An heir and a spare. How could he have said that and meant it at the time?

    Why was it that everyone in this line of succession ended up with only one apprentice at the end? Why go through that pain?

    Yan.

    Aymon was unable to quiet his mind, but Halen came in anyway. He laid down on the bed next to Aymon, his massive body making it creak. Aymon rarely thought about how big Halen was, but he took up a good portion of the bed. Aymon felt small. He was comparing himself to Halen now only because he felt crushed and tumbled by the weight of what had happened. He rolled over to face him.

    It was dark in the bedroom. Neither of them could see each other in anything other than vague outlines. The red numbers of a digital clock on the bedside table were the only source of illumination. Halen reached across the short distance between them and put his hand on Aymon''s face, cradling his cheek. Halen''s fingers brushed across the minute stubble of his beard: a day''s growth. He brushed a stray strand of hair off of Aymon''s ear, ghosted his thumb over Aymon''s lips, returned to his cheek. Aymon didn''t breathe or move. He just closed his eyes and let Halen''s fingers trace the lines of his face.

    His closed eyes burned. He took a long breath through his nose. Halen''s finger was wet as it stroked the side of his face. Was he crying? How long had it been since he last cried? He hadn''t even cried when Kino was lost. Maybe he hadn''t had time to then.

    "I''m sorry," Aymon whispered to Halen.

    Halen continued his silent movements. Aymon reached up and grabbed his hand, first clutching Halen''s wrist, then sliding down to weave their fingers clumsily together.

    "I''m sorry," Aymon said again, even more softly than before. Halen squeezed his hand tightly enough that he felt his bones grind. He squeezed back, as hard as he was able.

    Aymon didn''t know what Halen was thinking, but he could guess that he was feeling the same. Yan had been Halen''s favorite among the apprentices. That had been true even back when Yan hated Halen for being a pirate.

    Why had they both been drawn to the one that frustrated them the most? Aymon to Sid because of his impetuousness, Halen to Yan because of the gulf between them. Where did that leave Kino? Was it wrong for him to be thinking of his other two apprentices now, of all times? Aymon regretted not taking more time alone with Yan. Even during the past month, where she had hung on his coattails, almost none of it had been private; it was all strictly business.

    "She loved spending time with you," Halen said finally. "Work or not. She admired you. She wanted to be like you. She wanted your respect."

    Was Aymon thinking that loudly, that Halen could pick it up through their clasped hands?

    The past tense was horrible.

    "Were you prepared for this to happen?" Aymon asked.

    "If I was prepared, it wouldn''t have happened," Halen said. "I failed her."

    "No, I did. She shouldn''t have been pushed so fast, and so hard. I should have listened when she asked for someone to go with her."

    "Then we would have two-"

    "No." He squeezed Halen''s hand harder. "No."

    Yan always managed to succeed when there was someone else on the line. He had seen that time and time again; the training where Kino had gotten hurt, the pirates, when she needed to take responsibility and find Sid. She was selfless, just as Sid had said, but that selflessness came with a downside. She couldn''t protect herself.

    "Is that a fair thing to think about her?" Halen asked. "She was ambushed. She didn''t have the training that we should have given her. I should have given her."

    Why were his thoughts leaking toward Halen? Why wasn''t Halen sending anything back? Why was his mental control so bad right now? It hurt so much.

    "Let me," Halen said. Aymon knew what he was asking.

    "No. I need to feel it."

    Halen steadily rubbed his thumb across the side of Aymon''s hand, just waiting it out. The tide of emotions that Halen was probably feeling from Aymon, along with his own- Aymon should probably take Halen up on his offer, even if only for his sake. But if he didn''t feel this now, when would he? Yan deserved-

    "Say a prayer, then, and then let me," Halen said. "This isn''t serving her."

    Maybe Halen was right. Aymon thought for a long second for the best prayer to say. It was hard to think clearly through the fog. There wasn''t a prayer for this specific situation. At least, nothing that wasn''t a prayer for the dead. And she wasn''t dead.

    "Oh God," Halen started, which made Aymon open his eyes in surprise. Halen was the same silhouette, shoulders slumped up toward the ceiling, but he had the words. He had the words where Aymon didn''t.

    "Oh God, you are the keeper of all places, and the spaces in between."

    This was a prayer that Aymon didn''t know? He closed his eyes and let Halen continue speaking, feeling the heavy sound of his voice wash over him. The rumble that passed from his chest into the springs of the mattress. His hot breath. His solid hand.

    "Our sister is going away. She may travel far. She may travel alone.

    "If there is danger, hold her in Your hand. If there is fear, we beg You to send Your great comfort.

    "She shall not be lost. Keep her in Your sight, as she keeps the stars in hers.

    "Let her always know that she is home in our hearts. Let her always know that we will rejoice at her return.

    "Let her never despair. Let her never forget You.

    "Just as You split the darkness from the light, so too You split travel from rest. You split the sorrow of parting from the wonder of coming home. You split us apart, just so that we may know each other in the end.

    "Sister, keep us in your heart.

    "We shall meet again, in our home or Yours."

    Halen fell silent, and they lay there, just breathing for a long minute.

    "What prayer was that?" Aymon asked finally.

    "We would always say it when someone was going away on another ship. My mother would say it for me when I went- when I went out. I don''t know if it has a name."

    "Why haven''t you ever said it before?"

    "I did, just by myself."

    "Why?"

    Halen''s voice changed, cracking a little bit. "You know why."

    Oh. Aymon was so blind to Halen''s pain. It rarely rose to the surface, but Aymon knew, deep down, that he was the cause of it. If this was the prayer that Halen''s mother said before leaving him alone to make stardrives, it was almost certainly the last words she ever spoke to him. She was dead, and Aymon was responsible for that.

    "Thank you," Aymon whispered. "Thank you."

    "Will you let me now?" Halen asked, his voice hoarse.

    "Yes."

    Halen released Aymon''s hand. He cupped the side of Aymon''s face once again. This time, though, Halen''s power trickled down into the walls of Aymon''s body, fighting past his natural defenses. Halen forced all of his muscles to relax, one by one. Aymon couldn''t have moved if he wanted to. Then Halen pulled on the strings in his brain, a tug that felt gentle and horrible for a single instant, and he fell asleep.

 Chapter Forty-Seven - Elections

    Elections

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Zesa, on the leftmost path, hid his weapons among the plants of the garden. He knew where all of the paths led because he had been there before. He sought out the guard at the doors of the Red King¡¯s palace. There was no knife to his throat when he told the guard of Absalom and Glade¡¯s intentions and locations. One guard told another, and then the whole palace was alive and searching for Glade and Absalom. Zesa was brought to the Red King¡¯s right hand side.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Waking up the next morning, Aymon had a blessed few moments where his mind was blank, and he didn''t remember the events of the day before. Halen was gone, as he always was in the morning, having slipped out sometime after putting Aymon to sleep. Aymon stumbled around the unfamiliar room in the dark, searching for the door to the bathroom.

    He flicked on the light. His reflection stared out at him from the bathroom mirror. Surrounded by all the cheery yellow paint, he looked positively jaundiced. Despite having slept for seven hours, there were bags under his eyes. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before.

    It all came rushing back to him and he gripped the bathroom counter, feeling like he was going to topple over. The feeling passed after a long minute. He swayed, rocked by the thrum of his own heartbeat. His chest hurt. He wasn''t enough of a child to let loose in the power, to topple over furniture or to shatter light bulbs with his accidental emotions. He had enough control to keep everything within his body. He drew in a deep breath, drew all that feeling back down toward the center of his chest until it was tucked away there.

    Sleeping had helped, even if it came with the unhappiness of waking up in the morning and realizing anew what had happened. Mornings were time for going forward. He had mourned, and now he needed to take action. There wasn''t anything he could do for Yan right this moment, but at least he could get himself showered.

    Aymon stripped and got in the shower. He turned the water on as cold as it would go, and just let its icy fingers stab him. He almost laughed; he was acting so much like Sid. But the thought of Sid was the thought of all of his apprentices, including the one who was missing.

    He stayed in the shower until he was finished washing, then stayed a little bit more, until the cold felt like it was stealing his breath. He finished his morning routine and got dressed in a clean set of clothes: the same uniform that he wore almost every day of his life. Then he was ready to face the universe again.

    Before he left, he consulted his phone. Was there any update on anything? He was shocked when he saw the time. Had he really been asleep for that long? Why hadn''t anyone come for him? He knew why. But the Council meeting had already started, so he had missed his chance to talk to Vaneik''s other former apprentice.

    Apprentices, apprentices- they were haunting him today.

    Aymon headed out of his hotel room, giving a final glance in the mirror to make sure that he still had his dignity about him. He did, as much as he could. He stepped out into the main area of Canerra station, and the two guards who were at his door saluted him. He nodded to them, and walked off to join his team watching the council meeting.

    Aymon found what seemed like his entire team of aides, as well as Halen, practically glued to a radio set playing a live feed of the Council meeting. It wasn''t an official feed, of course. They had bugged the room. It was necessary that the Imperial Government know the important goings on of all her citizens, including the Trade Guild. The results would be published later, but it was tradition to keep Guild meetings secret and free of outside parties. But they couldn''t wait for later, they needed to know now.

    Everyone in the room gave the appropriate deference to him as he entered, but he waved them all down quickly.

    "Sorry I missed the beginning of the meeting," he said. "What''s the status in there?"

    "It''s chaotic," one of the aides said. "When the list of candidates was announced, everyone went absolutely crazy."

    "Who''s on the list?"

    "It would be easier to list who isn''t on the list, at this point."

    "Or who hasn''t been on the list, off the list, back on the list," Halen piped up from the back of the room. "Council members keep putting forward their own nominations then withdrawing them again as soon as someone shouts at them. But then they shout at someone else and that gives them the courage to re-propose."

    "This is idiotic," Aymon said. "I thought that the Trade Guild was a part of civilization."

    "Clearly not." Halen was the only person in the room who could get away with making that sort of statement.

    "They''re all out of sorts because of Vaneik. There hasn''t been an election like this in living memory, and it''s made worse by the fact that the man Vaneik would have chosen is, well." The aide stopped himself before admitting that Wil Vaneik, the clear favorite, had less brains than a particularly intelligent fish.

    "Are there no coalitions?" Aymon asked.

    "There''s a few. Unexpected ones, too. Nomar Thule, though he was originally in the running, withdrew his nomination to publicly support Wil Vaneik. Yuuni Olms is running, and a fair number of moderates are supporting her. The Sky Boat''s delegate put forward Joun Migollen, and there''s a whole contingent supporting him, but when they say supporting him, they''re really only doing so to oppose Olms."

    "Considering that Olms wasn''t even going to run yesterday, and she''s the only non-horrible option, this isn''t going as badly as it could be."

    "She''s not the only non-bad option. There are plenty of small time ships who have proposed themselves- the whole Circle Run has formed a small coalition to elect Ayrin Hernlo, and she has a good track record as a captain, but it''s not going to happen."

    The radio emitted horrible noises of people yelling incoherently. One of the aides turned it down with an apologetic look, but continued taking copious notes, somehow managing to interpret the screaming into actual positions held by Guild Council members.

    "Who''s BarCarran supporting- do you know?"

    "He didn''t show up. We''ve had both BarCarrans under watch. They''ve stayed in their rooms on station. Pellon sent two ansible messages."

    "Do you have copies of those?"

    The aide picked up a tablet and swiped around. "Sent them to you, sir."

    "Thank you."

    Aymon took out his phone and read through the two ansible messages. One was a grief stricken, if bog standard, letter to the rest of the crew of the Iron Dreams, informing them of Yan''s kidnapping. The other was a letter of transit/work order for someone on Emerri to come stay on the Dreams. Pellon was probably just taking care of business.

    It was Maxes that really concerned Aymon. From what little Yan had mentioned, and his own first hand impressions, the man was a loose cannon. It was worrying that he had chosen not to attend the Council meeting, especially during such a pivotal time. Not that one ship would have made a difference, and considering how the BarCarrans probably felt towards the Empire at the moment they almost certainly would have voted against his interests, but it looked very bad for a ship to not take interest in the wider goings-on of the Guild.

    The radio continued to squawk out its messages, cresting waves of silence and noise as someone spoke and everyone objected. How had the Guild survived, if they were made up entirely of petty, squabbling people looking out only for the self interests of their family? He knew the reason. They survived because they relied on the Guildmaster to lead them with a firm and unerring hand, just as every ship trusted in their captain. Without a captain, ships fell into disarray. Without a Guildmaster, the Council turned into petty arguments and broken alliances. Aymon turned his attention back towards the real politics of the situation.

    "So, Thule is supporting Wil Vaneik. I''m certain he thinks it''s because he''s easily manipulated. Is there a lot of support for their little coalition?"

    "Some. There''s a few different positions. There are those who want to respect what would have been Ungarti''s wishes, had he had time to write them down. Some people think that by flattering the young Vaneik they can ingratiate themselves with him and get ahead. And the rest of those supporting him were the ones who threw themselves behind Thule in the first place, they''ve simply followed him."

    Aymon nodded. "And who''s looking to come out on top right now?"

    "It''s hard to tell. We have to wait for all of the smaller groups to shout each other out and give up before we can say definitively who will end up on top. Migollen''s got a sizable contingent behind him because of his family''s connections, Vaneik has by far the best claim, and Olms is the best choice in terms of leadership ability," the aide explained. "Everyone else is likely to back one of those three, but it''s hard to tell who will end up where."

    "Do people have a strong objection to Olms?" Aymon asked. "I can''t tell what people think of her."

    "She and Thule have been painted with the same brush- that they''re Imperial agents. Thule dodged this by throwing his support behind Vaneik, but Olms is still out there facing it. Migollen''s camp hates her. If it comes down to Vaneik against Olms, they''ll back Vaneik."

    "Why?"

    "I believe some of her dislike comes down to what happened at the meeting on Olar," the aide said tentatively. "From looking at their conversational records, it seems the animosity started at that point."

    Of course it did. It all came back to Yan. How was he supposed to have known that sending her and Sid out on the world''s simplest mission would have lasting consequences for the leadership of the Guild for the next, conservatively, thirty years? Thinking of Yan brought another stab of pain into his chest, and Halen looked up at him across the room. Aymon tried to bring his attention back to the shrieking over the radio.

    "If it comes down to Vaneik against Migollen, Olms will back Vaneik, of course," Aymon said. "She hardly wanted to run in the first place. What about Olms against Migollen, who would come out on top of that?"This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    "I don''t foresee a situation where Wil Vaneik is knocked out of the running before the last pair. His backing is the largest out of all of them,¡± the analyst said.

    "He just doesn''t have critical mass yet. Alright."

    "One of the other two will need to fold before he can really get going."

    "Who do you think that will be?"

    "Olms, definitely. You said she didn''t even want to run in the first place. If she thinks that the Guild would be better served with Vaneik, she will defer to him."

    "Why has she stuck in it this long, then?"

    "If I had to guess, I''d say that seeing other people back her and hearing the arguments against the other two has helped her stick it out up until now."

    "Hm." Aymon wasn''t sure that was the only reason. He knew she had a longstanding rivalry with Thule. Perhaps his backing of the younger Vaneik was what set her more firmly against him.

    "Thule and Olms are both in the chambers, correct? But Wil Vaneik isn''t?"

    "Yes. The actual council representative for the Oathkeeper is Lambert Vaneik." The aide pulled up a picture of the council member on his tablet and showed it to Aymon. She had curly brown hair and freckles that looked nothing like most of the Vaneik clan.

    "Never heard of her," Aymon admitted.

    "She''s Ungarti Vaneik''s sister in law. Originally from the-" The aide consulted his tablet to find her history. "From the Rise-Again."

    "Is she representing Wil in a convincing way?"

    "No, but that''s where Thule comes in."

    A fresh batch of shouting erupted out of the radio, Thule''s distinctive voice breaking above the chaos in the room to say something. Aymon wasn''t paying attention to the words; it didn''t matter the specifics, just the tone.

    "Was this planned ahead of time?"

    "We can speculate that it was, based on the way that Thule has operated in the past." That was a polite way for the aide to call Nomar Thule a slimy bastard. "Being Wil Vaneik''s stand-in catches some people who are willing to trust him to keep Wil on track."

    Aymon nodded. "Do we have any updates on the other situation?" he asked.

    "There hasn''t been any word off Emerri," the aide said. Aymon had actually been asking about Vaneik''s murder, but he couldn''t blame his aide for being confused about what he was trying to figure out. There was a whole lot going on. He could safely assume that Halen had been coordinating an inquest into what happened to Vaneik, even if Aymon hadn¡¯t told him to directly.

    "Alright. Has anyone found anything more about Vaneik''s death?"

    "Franco can tell you more about that," the aide said, and gestured a short man over.

    "What''s the status?" Aymon asked Franco.

    "We''ve combed through as much of the Oathkeeper security logs as we can get our hands on, but it''s a Guild ship- they don''t have much in the way of security footage, especially when they''re not docked. There''s only footage from the bridge and a few other places aboard the ship, like the medical facilities."

    "So, nothing there?" Aymon asked.

    "Well, there is the record of Vaneik''s illness," Franco said. "We see him going into the medical area a few times over the days leading up to his death, and the records show that he was feeling sick for several days before he died. He was running a fever and reporting nausea and dizziness."

    "Coincidence?"

    "Perhaps. It would be much easier to disguise a poisoning if you wait until your victim is sick. It might look more accidental then."

    "A sudden short illness."

    "Precisely."

    "Did anyone else on the ship get sick? Is there a record of what he was sick with?"

    "There were a few other people who visited the medical area. Vaneik had gone planetside half a week before he got sick, according to his chart, so it may have been an illness that he caught while on Lekke."

    "Why was he on Lekke?" That planet was famous for producing drugs.

    "The Oathkeeper was delivering a load of iron ore, and he was planetside to meet with Vaness Qual- she runs a big manufacturing cooperative- about finances."

    "Did anyone else go with him planetside?"

    "A few members of his crew took shore leave, and he was accompanied by Wil and Thule to the meeting."

    "Where was Olms during this?"

    "Olms stayed on the Oathkeeper. Why do you ask?"

    "Just trying to place all the major players. What about his wife, Marne?"

    "Commanding the Oathkeeper in his absence."

    Aymon nodded. "Is there any way we can get information off of Lekke? Any chance that someone saw something?"

    "We''ve sent word, but there''s little chance anything will turn up. I''m sure there will be something that people can do to trace the movements of all the crew who went down to the surface."

    "Track their purchases, at least."

    "Yes," Franco said with a grim smile. "Perhaps a murderer would be stupid enough to buy poison with their charge card."

    "That would make things easy for us, wouldn''t it. And nothing suspicious has turned up here, no whispers of conspiracies?" Aymon asked.

    "Nothing as of yet. Canerra is pretty well bugged, we''re keeping an eye on everything that happens."

    "Okay. Keep me up to date on it."

    "I''ll let you know as soon as we have something."

    "Thank you, Franco."

    Franco returned to the other side of the table, where he was coordinating the searching of the Oathkeeper''s onboard files. Much of what they had secretly pulled from the ship were being sent back to Emerri for processing over the ansible, but it would be advantageous to at least look through the surface level things now, before they left Canerra station and the Oathkeeper itself flew away.

    Aymon took a seat at the table and settled in to wait for the council meeting to end. He hated this waiting. There was nothing that he could do, trapped here. At least he had ansible access. Someone handed him his computer and a cup of coffee, and he smiled and thanked them. He began composing a message to Sid with instructions as he waited for his remote connection through the ansible to log him in to his work accounts on Emerri. Even with the adapted interface, it was painfully slow, so he had plenty of time to write his letter.

    The council meeting stretched long into the night. It was traditional not to break for any reason until the next leader of the Guild had been elected, but these meetings usually didn''t last very long. The muddied line of succession, such that it was, made things draw on and on as alliances formed, broke, and reformed in new and exciting configurations. Council members would dash out to use the bathroom and update their waiting captains on the status of the meeting, but couldn''t stay out long for fear of missing the vote. Only those present in the chamber could take part in the vote, and if a vote was initiated while someone was out of the room, well, that would be a disaster for that person.

    The whole of Canerra station was buzzing by the end of it. Aymon took a break from listening to the chaos over the radio to go get dinner in one of the station''s restaurants. He sat by himself; not even Kino was willing to show her face today. He wasn''t bothered by it, though he did wonder where she was. Halen stood a little ways away, not wanting to look too attached, and various other members of the security team hovered in the vicinity. He could hear the other patrons discussing the news that came out of the council chamber in fits and spurts. People were making wagers on it. Some were betting on how much longer the council would deliberate, others were putting money down on their favorite candidate, or if people in the council would resort to violence before picking a new guildmaster.

    He hoped it would end soon. The faster it ended, the faster he could get back to Emerri. He didn''t hate travel, but whenever there was a crisis he needed to be home. This was crisis after crisis, and he was stalled out, with no way to move forward. There was no way for him to really do anything aside from give orders, and he could do that almost as well here on Canerra as he could on Emerri (slow ansible connection notwithstanding), but there was much more of a sense of control at home. The whole system was set up to work around him there.

    Then it was as though some sort of switch had been flipped. Patrons started flooding into the restaurant, captains and council members. Some looked dejected, others elated, most of them simply tired and hungry. The council had clearly come to a result. Aymon quickly paid his tab and left the restaurant, tailed by his security.

    His phone was buzzing in his pocket, alerting him to the results of the election. He headed to the room where his team had been following the election. He wanted to hear from them in person who the winner was. He had his suspicions, but-

    His train of thought was interrupted when he almost crashed into Yuuni Olms as they headed in opposite directions down one of the narrow hallways in the station. She stopped him to talk.

    "Hello, First Sandreas," she said. "Long day?"

    How haggard did he look, that she was asking him that. "I would say that it has been, considering how long the council spent in deliberation. From the lack of a swarm around you, I presume that you are not the new Guildmaster?"

    Olms laughed. "No, that dubious honor belongs to Wil Vaneik, long may he reign."

    Aymon looked at her, questioning. It was a bit difficult when she stood about half a foot taller than him.

    "You don''t think he''s going to last?" Aymon asked.

    "I don''t know, but I have a feeling that there''s going to be a lot of trouble in the Guild for a while. I''ll admit that I''m glad to be free of the burdens of the Council for now. After that last meeting-"

    "I can imagine that most council members will be dreading going to the next one. Was it tense in there?" Obviously it had been tense, but he wanted to hear her opinion.

    "It was difficult," Olms admitted. "People want the best for the Guild, but they have different opinions on what that best looks like."

    "How long will they all have to cool off before the next meeting?"

    "That''s up to Vaneik to decide."

    "It''s hard for me to believe that one Vaneik leaves and another takes his place."

    "That''s the way of things in the Guild. We- well, most people in the Guild, have the luxury of children who they can train."

    "You think that Ungarti trained his son well enough to be Guildmaster?"

    "That was his intention. Wil could do a fine job."

    "He hasn''t fallen out with Thule, right?"

    "No, he''s definitely going to let Nomar keep his position."

    "As apprentice?" This was a stupid question, of course Thule wouldn''t be an apprentice, but the position that Thule would be holding was lost on him.

    "No, as overseeing the Guild finances."

    "And does that please the Council?"

    "I no longer have any reason to care about whether it pleases the council or not." Olms smiled broadly. "I''m free. Untethered. For the first time in a long time."

    "What are you going to do?"

    "Go back to my father''s ship, for a while at least."

    "Not staying on the Oathkeeper?"

    "Nothing''s keeping me there anymore, and I somehow doubt that Thule would appreciate my presence."

    "There''s really no one you''ll miss?"

    "I didn''t say that. I''ll miss Marne, and a few of the officers, and Ungarti- but Ungarti''s dead, so I''d miss him anyway." Olms sighed. "I mean, it''s a chapter of my life that''s over. I need to take some time to figure out what it is I''m going to do with the rest of it."

    "Still going to get your own ship?"

    "That would be nice, but with Wil in charge¡­" She trailed off. It might be harder to convince the council to let her have a stardrive, even if she had the funds.

    "The stars will travel in their course," Aymon said. "I''m sure you''ll figure out exactly what you want to do soon."

    "Maybe I should just start trying to disrupt my older sister, so that I can have my father''s ship," Olms said. She wasn''t exactly joking, more making a sad admission of what was required to get ahead in the Guild.

    "Well, if you''re ever considering grounding yourself, I''m sure I could put in a good word for you in the Imperial government."

    "Ha, I don''t think I''d survive on Emerri. I''ve heard they''ll eat you alive down there."

    "Only if you taste good," Aymon said. "But seriously, if you ever want to get yourself out of the Guild, there are many other places you can go."

    "Oh, I''m not fed up with them that much." She waved her hand dismissively. "I''m just going to let the dust settle before I start cashing in all my favors."

    "Smart girl."

    "That''s the goal. Now, First Sandreas, if you''ll excuse me, I think I''m going to go have a drink with my poor, despairing father."

    "Is he disappointed that you won''t be running the universe?"

    "I''m sure that he''s more crushed that I''ll be coming home to haunt his bridge for a while," Olms said. "Say hi to Yan for me, will you?"

    "I will," Aymon said. He tried to make it sound genuine, but it probably didn''t matter, because Olms was already traipsing off down the hallways, brushing past the security who tailed him. She was clearly taking her newfound freedom to heart. It was too bad that she hadn''t been the electable candidate. She was seen too much as the Empire''s choice, which, while true, wasn''t an ideal image for a Guildmaster to have.

 Chapter Forty-Eight - Puppets and their Masters

    Puppets and their Masters

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Zesa stood at the Red King¡¯s right hand side and watched as Glade and Absalom were dragged before him. This was their audience with the Red King. Their day¡¯s work had come to nothing. And Zesa had taken refuge in the Red King¡¯s protection.

    ¡®Now you see,¡¯ the Red King said. ¡®There is none who can stand against me and live.¡¯

    Glade and Absalom wept on the floor, and pleaded with their friend. The Red King had commanded that Zesa kill them. He took the knife in his hands and raised it high.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    Aymon wondered if he should go congratulate the young Vaneik. He was dreading it, and not least because he thought the boy was an imbecile. While his father did his best to keep Wil''s shenanigans under wraps, that didn''t stop rumors from circulating about the boy''s propensity for trouble. Tales of scorned women, unpaid dealers, and damaged dogfighters all painted a sordid picture that followed him across the galaxy. Maybe he had grown up a bit since his teenage years, but Aymon doubted it. He was "lucky" that Nomar Thule had thrown his weight behind him. Now, there was a smart kid.

    Kid. He was at least twenty six. Aymon shook his head as he walked down the hallway. He made it at last to the room where his team had used as their makeshift office. Most of them were still there, though the whole day was winding down. In the morning, everyone would be boarding ships to head away from Canerra, aside from the council members who were staying for the next session of the council. Everyone else would be going home directly, or hitching whatever ride they could get back to their own ship. Aymon''s whole team would be going back the way they came, paying passage on a guild ship to Emerri station. He wished once again that the First Star was in service. As much as he felt a connection to any ship, he loved that one; it was his.

    Aymon spent a few minutes catching up on what had actually transpired during the last few minutes of the council meeting before the vote. He needed to understand what the landscape of the Guild was looking like. As he might have guessed, it was fractious. The Migollen family''s representative had fought to the bitter end, and even after Olms''s contingent sided with Wil Vaneik, it still was decided by a margin of a few votes. Aymon was glad, then, that Maxes BarCarran had not shown up at the council meeting. Who knows how he would have voted, considering what had happened to Yan.

    Every time Aymon thought about Yan, his heart ached horribly.

    He turned his thoughts back to the Guild and asked where he would be able to find Wil Vaneik, to congratulate him, and Nomar Thule, to actually discuss the future of the Guild with. It was clear who the brains of the new regime were. One of his aides handed him a box: the gift that he was going to give the new leader of the Guild. It was traditional for the Empire and the Guild to exchange small tokens whenever one of them switched leadership. When Aymon had taken office, he had been given a set of paperweights carved to look like all the planets in the Emerri system, made out of some of the components of a decommissioned stardrive. That particular set sat on the desk of his private office in his apartments. They were pleasant little baubles.

    Wil Vaneik was the easier stop, and it was better not to bruise his ego by visiting Thule first. Aymon found him celebrating in the lounge of the Oathkeeper, surrounded by friends and well wishers. Halen hovered at Aymon''s shoulder, on edge from the noisy, already drunk crowd. The room was dark and loud. A band was playing music in the front of the room, but most of the chaotic energy came from people shouting, laughing, singing, and drinking. He had hoped that the Guild had gotten all their shouting out beforehand, but apparently in the Guild there was never not a time to have a riotous party.

    Wil was in the center of the mess, seated on the counter of the bar like a king, with two girls hanging on to either side of him. They weren''t from the Oathkeeper. Aymon wondered in passing how much they had been paid to be there. It wasn''t as though Wil Vaneik was a bad looking man; he had the face of his mother on the body of his father, but given his reputation, his looks alone were not what drew women to him. His parents had only managed to pass down to their child their looks and their wealth, not any of their actual redeeming qualities.

    Being loud, self assured, rich, doted-upon, and good looking from birth did not tend to be a good combination of traits that produced successful leaders. Still, Wil Vaneik seemed to be enjoying the party.

    Aymon edged his way through the crowd, people either uncaring about his status or unable to tell who he was in the dark. No one let him through, so he found himself dodging and shoving to move forward. It was an odd feeling of anonymity. Under normal circumstances, he would have waited until after a party like this to present his gift, and it would be a formal meeting, and there would be photographs and handshakes, but Aymon wanted to leave the station first thing in the morning, so there was no putting this off. The circumstances here were anything but normal.

    Aymon came to the bar. He was absolutely not going to be so undignified as to stand underneath the young Vaneik as he perched high up on the counter, so he nodded to Halen, signalling him to get Vaneik''s attention. Halen brushed past him, and their arms briefly touched. In that flash of contact, Halen sent him a signal to be cautious. Something was up with Wil Vaneik, apparently. Aymon squeezed the wooden box he had tucked in his hand at his side.

    Halen got Vaneik''s attention. Aymon couldn''t hear the conversation they were having over the music and hubub of the room. Halen pointed in his direction, and Vaneik looked down and across the room at him. Aymon nodded stiffly.

    The young Vaneik clumsily jumped off the bar, startling his two clinging women, and almost knocking over several people who were sitting on stools nearby. He steadied himself on Halen''s shoulder, and Halen, ever the professional, didn''t even blink. Aymon didn''t think that he would have been able to keep his cool if he and Halen were in opposite positions.

    Vaneik stumbled down the row of stools along the bar to where Aymon was standing.

    "First Sandreas! What a surprise! Come to party with us?" Vaneik had what seemed to be a genuine smile on his face, and he clapped Aymon on the shoulder. Aymon did his best to follow Halen''s example and not react. He took a deep breath before he said anything, practically having to shout over the din of the room.

    "I came to congratulate you on winning your election," he yelled. Luckily all tone was lost in the din, so he didn''t worry about sounding too genuine. "Your father would be proud."

    "Yeah, shame he died!" Vaneik grinned some more, holding up a bottle. "Can I get you a drink? You look like you could use one." He called for the bartender. "Get this man something strong!"

    "Oh, no, thank you-" Aymon tried to protest, but Vaneik was already shoving a glass into his free hand.

    "Drink up!" The man''s face was beet red, with sweat beading on his forehead. He was positively deranged, but maybe it was just the fever and passion of youth. Aymon couldn''t really refuse the offer now, not without making a fuss, so he raised the cold glass to his lips. Before he drank, he sent his power out through it, checking for poison. He was wary, after all, of exactly how the elder Vaneik had died. There was nothing in it but strong alcohol. He sipped it, and it burned as it went down. He forced himself to smile.

    "Like it?" Vaneik asked. "We brew that ourselves on the Oathkeeper. Old family secret recipe!"

    "It''s strong," Aymon said, which was as much of a compliment as he could give the drink. It didn''t have any redeeming qualities in terms of flavor or texture. Vaneik smiled with an open mouth and nodded, his breath was hot and wet.

    Aymon held out the box that he was holding in his other hand, smiling thinly. "Usually I''d present this under more formal circumstances, but I''m heading back to Emerri in the morning."

    He decided he was already regretting the gift that had been chosen when Vaneik reached clumsily for the box and fumbled it. Aymon rescued it from falling on the floor with a quick use of the power, stabilizing it across Vaneik''s arm. He smiled triumphantly, as though he had caught the box himself, and dropped it onto the sticky counter of the bar.

    "A gift? Amazing!" He had the enthusiasm of a much younger man, considering Wil Vaneik was in his late twenties. He opened the box and reached inside. He pulled out an ornate bell, with a polished wooden handle and an engraved silver bottom. He rang it happily. "Wow."

    The bell could hardly be heard over the crowd, but Aymon knew that it had a mellow sound. It was the type of bell that was used occasionally during worship. This one he had taken from his personal collection, it had been made on Lonn many years before. If he had time to plan to commission something, he would have chosen something different, but the circumstances around the elder Vaneik''s death had necessitated the quick selection of a gift.

    "Thank you!" Wil put the bell back into the box and closed it. He handed it to one of the random people milling around, and Aymon hoped that this person was a member of the Oathkeeper''s crew who would be responsible with the gift. Wil put his arm around Aymon''s shoulder and dragged him deeper into the crowded room. Aymon resisted looking back at Halen. Wil''s arm was heavy; he leaned on him. His breath was sticky and loud in Aymon''s ear as he spoke. "Let''s talk about the great partnership we''re going to have."

    Wil and Aymon sat down on two bar stools. The probably-being-paid girls scooted out of the way, moving to either side of them. Aymon stiffened when one tried to drape herself on him, and she got the hint and stood up, wandering away to go get a drink. Wil had no such problem, and the other woman had her head on his shoulder. Bright lights flashed; someone was taking a photo.

    Aymon hadn''t been in a party like this for many years, and he hadn''t particularly liked them even when he had attended them as a student or apprentice. It was difficult to be the center of attention in such environments. Everyone was drunk and self absorbed, and the line of sight was limited, as was the distance a voice could travel. Power over other people came when they paid attention to him.

    "You''re leaving tomorrow?" Wil asked. Aymon nodded, but Wil didn''t seem to understand. "What?" He yelled.

    "Yes, I''m leaving," Aymon said, saying it directly into Wil''s ear, so that there would be no mistaking it. It was beneath his dignity to yell for the entire party to hear.

    "Too bad, we could''ve made plans." Wil bobbed his head to the music, some jaunty spacer song that Aymon didn''t know.

    "Plans?"

    "Yeah, my dad was always talking about wanting to build more stations, but he never did get around to talking it through with you- think we''re gonna get started on that right away."

    This was alarming. The Guild could not just start building things. That had gone badly enough with Malstaire, and the older Vaneik had learned his lesson. Apparently has son had not.

    "You''ll have to come to Emerri, talk to the Council, maybe we can get some funding for you," Aymon said.

    "Funding?" Wil laughed like a screeching animal. "We have charges to burn!"

    Wil Vaneik''s lack of restraint was alarming, to say the least. He had the political foresight of a toddler, at least when he was drunk like this. Aymon decided not to try to upset him.

    "Well, at least come to Emerri so that we can talk things out properly."

    "You should come to me!" Wil protested, draping his arm over Aymon''s shoulders. He hated this. He hated this. If only the older Vaneik was not dead.

    "I am here with you, Wil."

    "That''s Guildmaster to you!" Wil laughed again. "I''m kidding. We''re friends."

    "Indeed." Aymon''s skin was crawling. "I didn''t mean to crash your party. Is Thule here? I heard he enjoyed himself at the council meeting."

    "I wouldn''t know- I haven''t seen since the Council let out. Gotta thank him for rooting for me, though. The man''s a lad. Said he''s going to help me out."

    "He is a clever politician," Aymon admitted. He needed to toe the fine line between inquiring about Thule and not bruising Wil''s ego. He needn''t have worried, though, because Wil was easily distracted.

    "Yeah. Hey, you know my mother, right?" This was an unexpected turn to the conversation.

    "I''ve met her," Aymon said warily.

    "Do you know-" Wil stopped to hiccough, and the girl draped over him patted his back. "Anything that would cheer her up? She doesn''t like parties and, you know."

    Was this the type of thing that Wil Vaneik asked to every stranger he met? How to cheer up his grieving, widowed mother? Or was it just because he didn''t typically associate with anyone older than he was, and Aymon was the first person that he came into contact with who was his mother''s age?

    "I think you just have to be there for her," Aymon said. "I''m sure she''s very proud of you becoming Guildmaster."

    "Oh, yeah, of course." Wil frowned, and the bottle in his hand tilted dangerously. "I don''t know. She''s really sad about my dad."

    "Aren''t you, too?" Aymon glanced over at Halen, wondering if he was picking up anything strange from the young Vaneik. Halen mouthed ''later''.

    "Well, yeah, I guess," Wil said. He didn''t sound really like he had any feelings toward it. He pulled his arm off of Aymon''s shoulder, and hunched forward on the stool, elbows on his knees. "Sorry I asked. I''m bringing down the mood of the place."

    "Don''t worry about it," Aymon said. "It''s your party."

    "Yeah, you''re right, I should be dancing," Wil smiled broadly and hopped off the stool, almost knocking over the woman next to him. His loosely held drink sloshed around and spilled a few drops onto his shoes. He looked at it in confusion for a second, then drank the rest down and slapped the tumbler onto the bar counter.

    "Shall we dance?" he asked the woman next to him, holding out his hand. She giggled and nodded, grabbing his hand. Aymon had to give her one thing: she was quite the actress to put up with Wil Vaneik. "Coming?" Wil asked him.

    "I''m not much one for dancing," Aymon said. "Get in touch with my office later, alright? I''m sure there''s lots of things you want to discuss with me."

    "Yeah, sure, sure." Wil traipsed down through the mass of people, finding a spot where he could sway and dance clumsily. Aymon watched him for a few seconds, then stood to go. He abandoned his unfinished drink on the bar counter, then pushed through the crowd to find the exit. Halen followed him out. They were both relieved when they returned to the relatively chaos-free Canerra station, rather than the bustling Oathkeeper.

    Before they tried to find Nomar Thule to talk to him, Aymon and Halen stepped into his hotel room for a minute. It was mostly to discuss the short meeting with Wil Vaneik, but Aymon was definitely going to take the opportunity to brush his teeth and get the lingering taste of Vaneik''s homebrew out of his mouth. What possessed the crew to make such stuff, and take pride in it, he had no idea. Spacers just had no taste. That was an unfair assessment, but it was the one he was going to make.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Aymon stood in the bathroom, running cold water over his toothbrush. Halen leaned on the door behind him. Their eyes met in the mirror.

    "What did you think of Wil Vaneik?" Aymon asked after a moment of silence.

    "I think the Guild is in serious trouble if he''s the one that''s going to be heading them. The man was high as a kite."

    "He was drunk, sure," Aymon said. Halen shook his head.

    "No, you couldn''t tell? There was something else in his system. His emotions wern¡¯t normal."

    "You sure he''s not always like that?" Aymon squeezed out the toothpaste and began brushing his teeth, scrubbing extra hard.

    "No, but please trust me to know when something unusual is going on."

    "Ooo ow ere ule eh?" Aymon said, still with toothbrush in his mouth. Halen scowled at him. Aymon spit out the toothpaste. "You know where Thule is?" He rinsed his mouth.

    Halen nodded. "We''ve been watching him. He''s on station. Want someone to call him to arrange a meeting?"

    "Yeah."

    Halen texted the instructions to the appropriate people as Aymon examined himself in the mirror with a sigh. He was much more haggard than usual. No wonder people had been commenting on it all day. It wasn''t good public image. At least that one photo someone took at the party probably was so washed out from the flash that everyone looked equally bad. He smoothed his hair down and made sure that he was clean looking.

    "Should I try to cover these up?" he asked Halen, pulling at the bags under his eyes.

    "What?" Halen looked up from his phone. "Oh. You gonna start covering your wrinkles with makeup now?"

    Aymon sighed and dropped his hands to his sides, turning around to lean against the bathroom counter. "I''m trying not to think about it."

    "Good," Halen said. "You need to be focused to talk to Thule."

    "I don''t know what I''m going to say to him," Aymon admitted.

    "Easy: all you have to do is congratulate him on his shadow puppeteering of the Guild, but don''t be too obvious about it. That and see if he''s involved with what happened to Vaneik."

    "You think he is?"

    "Considering how well this turned out in his favor, I can''t say that he isn''t a suspect. I haven''t been able to get close to him since the funeral, and there was no telling anything there."

    "If he''s in on it, then Wil Vaneik probably is as well."

    "You never know. The man is as dumb as a particularly badly bred dog. He''s more likely to be a pawn than anything else."

    "You say that even though he had that drug messing with him? Could it be like what happened that other time?"

    "The assassin? Maybe. I don''t know. I''ve been more paranoid about that since then, which is why I noticed the drugs in the first place." Halen sighed. "I don''t know. I can''t see everything."

    Aymon walked forward to close the distance between them. He rested his hand on the center of Halen''s chest. "I''m not expecting you to see everything. I''m just asking what you think."

    Halen''s phone buzzed. He looked at it. "Vaneik says yes to a private meeting with you. Fifteen minutes, aboard the Gallant."

    "The Gallant?"

    "His family''s ship."

    "Oh." Aymon didn''t know much about it, he had never heard of it. It must be a third rate ship, for it to be docked at Canerra station. Every ship that had important deliveries to make all stuck to their schedules. The guests attending Vaneik''s funeral all had to hitchhike their way to Canerra aboard these less busy ships.

    "Is he not planning on staying with the Oathkeeper?"

    "I don''t know what he''s planning to do. You''ll have to ask him that yourself."

    Aymon tapped his fingers on Halen''s chest. Halen wasn''t in the best mood, and understandably so, but it didn''t make Aymon feel any better. He dropped his hand and headed out. Halen followed him. If the Gallant was docked on the other side of the station, it would be a bit of a walk to get there.

    Nomar Thule''s chosen meeting spot on the Gallant was a run down little meeting room near the bridge of the ship. When it came to Guild ships, it was clear that the Gallant was not ranked highly in wealth, power, or any other measurable characteristic. The whole place had an aura of disrepair. Aymon thought it was shameful, and even Halen couldn''t resist looking around at the place with a slightly curious expression. What type of captain and crew would tolerate such conditions?

    They had been led to the room by a little kid who had been sent to meet them. He claimed to be Nomar''s youngest brother, though Aymon didn''t see any resemblance. It was pretty disrespectful of Nomar not to meet them himself, considering who Aymon was, but perhaps he was busy. The whole ship was borderline deserted. The crew were either on station or cloistered away. Aside from their young escort, they only saw one or two other people as they walked the length of the ship.

    Though Halen followed him all the way to the door to this meeting room, Aymon flashed him a hand signal before he went inside- he would go in alone. There was no reason to spook Nomar by making this a non-private conversation. Aymon was perfectly capable of defending himself, after all. And anything that Halen needed, he could feel out from outside the door. Aymon knocked, then opened the door to the room and stepped through, closing it behind him.

    The only nice thing about the meeting room, as far as Aymon could tell, was the screen on one wall that was displaying the current view outside of the ship. Everything else, from the shabby office chairs to the stained tiles on the ceiling to the torn rug gave off a sad feeling. Why had Thule debased himself by meeting here? They could have met anywhere on Canerra station.

    Thule was standing on the other end of the room when Aymon came in, examining a tablet in his hand and pacing. He put it down, smiling, and came over to shake hands.

    "First Sandreas, I''m glad you came to find me," Thule said. His handshake was firm, and his smile looked genuine.

    "It''s good to see you again, Nomar," Aymon said. "I''ve been looking for you since yesterday."

    "I heard that you were. I''m sorry that I''ve been unavailable; it''s been pretty crazy around here."

    "That''s one way of putting it."

    "Here, have a seat. Can I get you anything?"

    Aymon didn''t know what Nomar could get him, since the room was so devoid of anything appealing. "No, I''m fine," he said. "I just came from, well, I suppose Guildmaster Vaneik''s party."

    "It does feel strange to say that again so soon, doesn''t it?"

    "I''m afraid that I won''t be able to picture anyone other than Ungarti when I say it until it really settles in," Aymon said. They took seats across from each other at the table.

    "So," Thule began, "what were you looking for me to talk about?"

    "Yesterday, I was going to give my condolences and ask what your plans were, but I see that those plans have already played out."

    "A lot has changed over the past day or so, that''s for sure."

    "I do still want to offer my personal condolences," Aymon said. "Ungarti was a great man, and I know what it feels like to lose your mentor." His mind flashed back to Caron Herrault, his own mentor, for a moment. What would she do in his place?

    "Thank you. That means a lot. Ungarti respected you."

    "And I respected him. I wish that we could have worked together, rather than at cross purposes much of the time."

    "I think that''s just how politics works," Thule said with a laugh.

    "I certainly hope not. I am eager to forge a working relationship with this new Guild leadership."

    "Oh, of course, I didn''t mean to imply otherwise," Thule backpedaled.

    "Are you planning on working closely with the young Vaneik? He seems to trust you, and you supported him in the Council."

    "I had to support him, or the Migollens would have won the vote," Thule said. Aymon wasn''t exactly sure that was true. If he had worked to sway some of the more rational minded people, there was a chance that Olms could have won the election. A slim chance, but a non zero one. But Olms and Thule had been competing with each other for leadership of the Guild since the first days of their apprenticeship, so it was unlikely that Thule ever would have bowed to her. It was odd, though, that both apprentices eventually acquiesced to serve under the young Vaneik, especially considering what a poor choice he was. The love they had for their old mentor and the respect they had for his opinions must have done wonders to sway them in the end. They trusted Ungarti''s watching ghost far too much, he suspected.

    "That doesn''t really answer the question of what you''ll be doing now that you''re no longer an apprentice."

    "Wil did say that I could remain in my position," Thule said. "Though since my position aside from ''apprentice'' has always been an unofficial one, I hope that I won''t be shuffled around."

    "You coordinate finances- that''s not an official position?"

    Thule laughed. "You have no idea how dysfunctional the Guild really is. It''s up to the Council and the Guildmaster to actually allocate funds. Ungarti had me assigned as a special aide to the Council to make recommendations about which directions money should flow."

    Aymon knew exactly how dysfunctional the Guild was, and he also knew that Thule was significantly downplaying the role he had in the previous administration, but he smiled and nodded anyway. "Sounds like a lot of responsibility for an apprentice."

    "Well, you don''t learn without doing," Thule said. "And I wanted to learn everything I could."

    "That''s an admirable goal. So are you staying on Canerra with the council, or are you moving back on to your family''s ship, or are you going with the Oathkeeper?"

    "I''ll stay on Canerra for now. It''s a good central location. I came here to talk to my family about taking their council spot, so I could at least attend the meetings, if I''m going to remain in my position."

    "You can''t just attend them as an appointee of Wil Vaneik?"

    Thule laughed. "No. Like I said, the Guild is a confusing mess. The only reason I could before was because I was Ungarti''s apprentice. There''s special privileges associated with that, though I don''t entirely know why."

    Aymon smiled thinly. There were special privileges associated with apprenticeship because apprenticeships were part of the social structure of the Empire. It wasn''t just for fun. Thule should know this, but perhaps he was just pretending to be ignorant.

    "Did your family give you the council spot?"

    "Oh, yes," Thule waved his hand dismissively. "They rarely voted anyway, so I might as well have it, and then they can have an actually useful crew member back on their ship." He sounded weirdly dismissive. Did his family not think he was useful? Aymon wondered what the story was there. In his opinion, any ship should be glad to have a sensitive, even if just to do manual labor that would otherwise require whole crews. After all, the power made lifting and moving things as easy as a thought. But Aymon really didn''t want to pry into Thule''s personal life. It didn''t seem worth it to open that can of worms.

    "Why aren''t you at Wil''s celebration party?" Aymon asked, changing the subject. "He would be happy to have you there."

    "I''m not the biggest fan of parties," Thule said. "I don''t drink."

    "Understandable. Still, might be polite to stick your head in. Don''t want to make your new leader mad," Aymon said. He didn''t know why he felt compelled to offer this political advice to Thule.

    "Yeah, maybe. We''re going to meet tomorrow, though, and he''s going to tell me all about his plans for the future." Thule smiled broadly. His teeth showed.

    "He mentioned something to me about building stations." Aymon said.

    "Wil has a lot of grand ideas, I think. He wants to get the council off Canerra. He says he doesn''t like paying rent to planets."

    "Oh, is that what it is? I''d be happy to give the council a building on Emerri somewhere."

    Thule laughed loudly. It hadn''t been entirely a joke, but Aymon smiled. He knew the Guild would never, ever want to conduct their inner business on a planet- especially not on the Empire''s capital.

    "Thank you for the offer, but I think I''ll politely decline on behalf of all the council. I can see how that vote would go," Thule said.

    "There would be a riot,¡± Aymon said dryly. ¡°Well, in terms of building stations, I''d be happy to discuss what the options are at some point. If all that Wil wants is an independent meeting place for the Guild, I''m certain that I could manage to pass that through committee."

    "Thank you for the offer," Thule said. "Wil has his own ideas of what he''s looking for. He''ll have to present those to the Guild before we can start working with the Empire on anything."

    "Of course, of course. I just wanted to let you both know that the Empire is eager to develop a working relationship with the new Guild leadership."

    "I''m sure that we will work together quite well in the future. But for now, I think that the Guild as a whole needs to take some time to itself, to figure out where its priorities really lie."

    "Are people that upset after the election?" Aymon asked. He knew it had been bad, but the tone in Thule''s voice made him worry that it was worse than he imagined.

    "If the Migollens get their way, they will call for a vote of no confidence within the next month or so."

    "So soon?"

    "The sooner they do it, the better their chances are. I don''t think there''s a single person who voted today who didn''t come out of it feeling like they had compromised on something important," Thule said. "If Migollen can latch on to that feeling before Wil has a chance to demonstrate himself as a good leader, well, it might be over before it begins."

    "You don''t think you could hold enough people to Wil''s side?"

    "All I can say is that I didn''t love our chances the first time around, and seeing the mess that was made in the Council chamber today, I actively hate our chances if it comes to a second round of voting."

    "I see. Is Wil going to try to show what he can do as a leader, then, before it comes to that?"

    "I can''t say what Wil will do. I know that personally, I will be doing my best to calm some of these tensions. Maybe it''s better to let things rest for a little while. But in the end, I''m not the Guildmaster- it''s up to Wil to figure out what to do." Thule said this, but Aymon knew he wasn''t being completely genuine. He was situating himself as Wil Vaneik''s right hand man, and there would be no way that he wasn''t going to be heavily involved in the decision making process.

    "I certainly hope that you will be able to smooth things out," Aymon said. "Tensions in the Guild aren''t good for anyone."

    "That is the truest thing that anybody can say," Thule said. "It''s too bad that we have to rely on the fickle election process. If only our leaders were unilaterally appointed like you were."

    "People keep saying that to me, but I don''t think that it would be good for anyone if we did away with democracy completely."

    "Then why do you do it?" Thule asked, leaning forward over the table. "What is it that keeps the position of Voice, the highest position, passed down from generation to generation like some sort of celibate king?"

    Aymon resisted the urge to laugh at the celibate comment. "Tradition and stability. And the grace of God."

    Thule leaned back on his creaking office chair. "Can I say something to you?" he asked.

    "Of course."

    "I think that it was a mistake for the Empire to give Ungarti apprentices. It''s a miracle that we worked together as well as we did."

    "You didn''t enjoy your apprenticeship?" Aymon asked.

    "I''m not saying that, I''m just saying that I wish¡­ I really wish that Ungarti had been a sensitive. And I wish that I could have had the normal apprenticeship that everyone else gets. There was nothing in my personality and Ungarti''s that called to each other."

    "Not every apprenticeship is picked based on personality," Aymon said. "Not even close to all of them are."

    "Maybe." Thule was unconvinced. Aymon wondered why he was bringing this up now; his apprenticeship was over, Vaneik was dead, and he had managed to position himself firmly in the center of the Guild''s power. Thule''s apprenticeship had turned out rather well for him.

    "I''m sorry that the system didn''t live up to your expectations," Aymon said after a second. He wasn''t sure what else to say. Thule shook his head, changing the topic.

    "The past is the past. We''re moving on to a bright new future now."

    "I think the Guild has many great things ahead of it, if everything goes smoothly," Aymon said.

    "Do you approve of the leadership?" Thule asked. "I''d rather just ask this openly than worry about it in silence for the next few years."

    Aymon laughed, a dry sound. He wasn''t much in the mood for humor, but he appreciated Thule''s honesty. "I would have preferred Olms."

    "People were right to call her an Imperial panderer, then."

    "No, and they would have called you that, too, if you kept running for yourself," Aymon said. "I think she has a good head on her shoulders."

    Thule frowned slightly. "And what do you think of Wil Vaneik?"

    "I think he has a lot of growing to do before he can replace his father, or his grandfather."

    "Is that going to be a problem when you work with him?" Thule asked.

    "I''m willing to work with whoever the Guild selects," Aymon said. "It''s up to you all to elect the person most suitable for the job." He was implying that Wil Vaneik was not the most suitable candidate, but he suspected that Thule knew very well that Wil had precious few brains to spare.

    "I''m glad," Thule said. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

    "I mainly wanted to congratulate you on your new, old position. And if you think that there won''t be any any major changes in the way the Guild is running, then I believe I can rest easy for the next little while, at least."

    "Yes, I believe you can," Thule said. "Thank you for coming to talk to me about it. Are you leaving?"

    "Tomorrow morning."

    "Have a safe journey back to Emerri, then. Tell your apprentices I said hello, will you? They seem like nice people."

    "I will. Thank you, Nomar." Aymon stood up, pushing the squeaking chair back across the worn rug. Thule stood as well, and they shook hands across the table. "Don''t hesitate to get in contact with me," he said, looking Thule in the eye.

    "I''ll be on Canerra for the time being, so I''m always in ansible range."

    "Good, good."

    "Need me to walk you out?" Thule asked.

    "No, I believe your little brother is still waiting outside."

    Thule laughed again. "He''s a good kid. Thank you for coming, First Sandreas." Aymon nodded at him and left the little meeting room. The younger Thule brother was still waiting there. Apparently Halen had been entertaining him with some sort of story while they waited, because he was laughing when Aymon came out into the hallway. He lead them back to the dock of Canerra station. As Aymon and Halen squeezed into the small airlock area, Halen''s hand found its way to Aymon''s upper arm.

    "Nomar killed Vaneik," he sent through the power.

 Chapter Forty-Nine - Hurry Up and Wait

    Hurry Up and Wait

    <blockquote>

    ¡°A well coordinated team is one where every member knows their role and responsibilities. The whole machine will collapse if one person takes on too much, or if anyone is not sure of their duties. Thus the leader¡¯s role should be to enforce strict guidelines of behavior.¡±

    -from Ashbridge¡¯s Leadership Guide, 4th Ed

    </blockquote>

    By the time that Sandreas returned from his trip to Vaneik''s funeral, Sid was at the end of his rope and ready to tie the noose. He didn''t know how Sandreas coped with the constant nonsense that was thrown his way every second of every day. It was hard to focus on the million little things that everyone wanted from him when all he really wanted to be doing was going to look for Yan. It wasn''t realistic, but Sid wanted to spend his every second poring over the documents that had come off of the Tranquility, following up on every report, and coordinating every effort to go find her.

    Unfortunately, those documents were turning up a whole lot of nothing. There were more qualified people checking over them as well, but even they were having no luck. The more time passed, the more helpless and angry he became. It was made worse by the fact that no one had been told that Yan was missing. Sid had to smile and pretend that everything was alright in public, but it really, really wasn''t.

    Sandreas came back in the middle of the night, and Sid was awake to see it. He had taken to spending nights in his office in Stonecourt, unable to sleep. He waited for updates and searched for clues in the information until all the words ran together like soup and he was able to pass out. He often wished for Vena, but he knew that wouldn''t be acceptable or pleasing to Sandreas. After all, he had only just finished his punishment that was a direct result of his previous drug use.

    Sid had gotten updates on Sandreas''s travel plans as soon as his ship had jumped back into the system, so Sid knew approximately when to be watching out the windows for Sandreas. The distinctive caravan of car lights coming into the side entrance of Stonecourt tipped him off that he was back. Sid made the long trudge down from his office to the door to meet them as they came in. Hernan had gone home hours ago- though he had stayed with Sid the first few days that he had stayed up, Sid had ordered him to go home after a couple times. After all, even if Sid was going to suffer, that didn''t mean Hernan had to.

    The group that entered Stonecourt seemed to be in an even fouler mood than Sid himself. Sandreas was scowling in the way he did whenever he was frustrated, Halen wore a look of utter exhaustion, and Kino''s fingers were chewed to bits- a new bad habit that Sid had never seen her engage in. Right now, she was yanking on a rubber band, maybe in an effort to stop her from completely eating the rest of her fingernails. Sandreas was surprised to see Sid, probably because it was the middle of the night.

    "Sid, what are you doing up?" Sandreas asked as they met in the hallway outside the parking garage.

    "Just came to welcome you home."

    Sandreas''s face twitched into an even deeper frown. "I''ll still be here in the morning."

    "You''re not happy to see me?" Sid asked, unable to resist, even though he could practically taste his own foot as he spoke.

    "Not in the mood, Sid," Sandreas said shortly. "Go home. Take Kino with you."

    "I''m not a dog," Kino said. "Or a child."

    "Oh, for God''s sake, Kino," Sandreas snapped, his face red. "Go home. Get some sleep."

    Kino yanked the rubber band so hard that it broke, sending a piece flying at Sid. He flinched away from it, not yet used to having the power back to reflexively divert things. It was as though he had to relearn the instinct for it from scratch. He hated the thought. Halen put his hand on Sandreas''s shoulder, and he relaxed a fraction.

    "Sid, we''re glad to see you, we''re glad to be back," Halen said. "But we''re all tired. We can talk more in the morning."

    With that, Sandreas and Halen brushed past Sid, heading off toward Sandreas''s apartment in Stonecourt. Sid and Kino were left staring uncomfortably at each other in the hallway.

    "I''m sorry that Sandreas yelled at you," Sid said, though he didn''t know why he was apologizing for someone else. It wasn''t really his fault that Sandreas yelled at her, even if he had done his part to rile him up.

    "It''s okay. We haven''t had a good trip," Kino said.

    "What happened?" Sid asked. "I mean, aside from Yan."

    "I''ll tell you at home," Kino said.

    "You''re actually going to go home?"

    "I''m tired."

    "Fine. We should take a car." Sid started to head down into the garage.

    "Why?" Kino asked.

    "More security, ever since Yan, you know." Sid didn¡¯t love the increased security, and he liked being able to walk around, but Hernan kept yelling at him about it every time he walked out the doors without a guard. At least now taking a car would help avoid some of the nastier cold night weather.

    "I''m going to walk," Kino said. She walked past Sid in the opposite direction.

    "What, why? It''s gross out."

    "I''ve been in space for the past two weeks. I''d rather walk." She didn''t pause as she headed up the stairs at the end of the hallway. Sid debated internally whether he should follow her or not. She had left his line of sight already. He dashed after her. As they reached the exit to Stonecourt, two guards peeled off from their contingent and followed them. Sid and Kino both ignored them and continued to walk in an awkward line. Sid didn''t want to be next to Kino, so he trailed her. Kino had apparently no interest in appearing more normal, so she stayed comfortably ahead of Sid, even though she must have been aware of his presence.

    The night air was frigid. Sid had left his winter cloak up in his office, and he was missing it now. The large moon was overhead, but it was mostly obscured by clouds. All the little trees in the sidewalks were bare, and there were nearly invisible frozen puddles all over the sidewalks. It wasn''t winter, exactly, but it was cold. Sid could see his breath every time they passed underneath a streetlight. Kino walked at the same pace, regardless of whether they were going uphill or down, and crossed streets with absolutely no care for her personal safety. They were both lucky that it was the middle of the night and the streets were deserted. Those few cars that did pass paid them no mind. She walked around Yora with absolute authority, as though she knew every street, and didn¡¯t care for anyone else.

    Sid briefly wondered where Kino''s luggage was, since she had come to Stonecourt apparently without any. Maybe one of the many assistants had brought it back to her apartment for her.

    Sid continued to follow Kino all the way inside her apartment. She neither stopped him nor encouraged him to come in. He couldn''t remember if he had ever actually been in there before. Despite Kino having been on a trip, the place was a mess. Even Sid at his very worst couldn''t compete with all of Kino''s belongings scattered across the floor and furniture. The only neat thing in the room was the suitcase leaning right next to the interior of the door. That solved the luggage mystery at least. Kino hadn''t turned on the main room''s lights when she came in, and Sid wasn''t entirely sure that she wanted him there, so he just stood in the center of the living room, waiting for Kino to acknowledge him.

    She didn''t. She went into her bedroom and closed the door. Sid waited.

    After a few minutes, Kino came out, now dressed in her pajamas: warm looking flannel that seemed too cozy for Kino''s cold personality. She continued to ignore Sid, walking past him to head into the kitchen. She filled up a water heater and set it to boil. As it heated, unusually quickly (was she helping it boil with the power?), Kino pulled down two mugs from her cupboard and tossed a tea bag in each. Sid was glad that she had at least some clean dishes, considering that there were dirty ones left on the table and in the sink. Who goes on a trip without at least doing their dishes first? Kino, apparently.

    Kino poured the hot water into the mugs and carried them both to the living room. She handed one to Sid. They had an awkward dance as Sid tried to grab the mug from Kino without burning himself or intruding on her personal space too much. In their mutual awkwardness, some of the boiling water splashed out onto the floor. Sid could see Kino''s chest heave in an uncharacteristic sigh. Sid took the mug.

    Kino sat down on one of the couches, using the power to shove a pile of dirty clothes and garbage over so that she had a space to sit. Sid sat somewhat more cautiously, wedging himself in between pieces of mess. They stared at each other. Why did every interaction with Kino need to be such a production? Was she going to start the conversation, or did he have to? Sid gave up.

    "What happened on your trip?" he finally asked. Kino sipped her tea.

    "Vaneik didn''t just die, he was murdered," Kino said.

    "What?"

    "You didn''t hear?"

    "I didn''t hear anything." Sid couldn''t help it. Kino frowned at him.

    "No one told you?"

    Sid looked at her helplessly. "After I heard about Yan I was more focused on other things. I told people not to bother me unless it was something I could do something about."

    "That''s not a good way to run the government," Kino said.

    "Like you''d have done any better." Sid didn¡¯t want to admit that she was right. If he had been ignoring important information like that, he wondered what else he could have missed.

    Kino''s hands were wrapped around the mug; her knuckles were white from how much she was crushing it. How was she not burning herself?

    "That''s what happened then," Kino said. "Vaneik was murdered."

    "How do you know?" Sid wasn''t willing to accept it that easily. Kino explained in her usual clipped sentences how Sandreas had found the poison in the body, and then the search that had been conducted of the Oathkeeper''s records.

    "Did you find anything?" Sid asked. "Who killed him?"

    "Halen says that Nomar Thule did it."

    "What? Vaneik''s apprentice? He was nice."

    "Just because someone signs to you doesn''t mean they''re nice," Kino said.

    "What do you have against him?"

    "Halen thinks that he murdered Vaneik." Well, yeah, she had just said that. Sid supposed that would be a good enough reason to dislike someone.

    "Is there any proof of that?" Sid asked.

    "His scheming to get in a position of power. He was on the Oathkeeper when Vaneik died. Halen thinks he felt guilty and triumphant about it."

    "None of that is proof, though."

    "It fits the puzzle." Kino took a sip from her tea. Sid thought about drinking his, but he didn''t actually like tea, and it was still too hot to drink comfortably. He didn''t understand how Kino was doing it.

    "So what is Sandreas going to do?"

    "Nothing."

    "What?"

    "There''s no proof. There''s no reason to destabilize the Guild even more."

    "Oh my God. This is crazy." Someone murdered Vaneik, Sandreas had a good idea of exactly who did it, and he was just going to let that person continue with no consequences because of the politics of it? Sid couldn''t believe it. "Is he at least going to have people keep investigating?"

    "Everyone will be watching the new Guild leadership," Kino said. "If they slip up they''ll be out of power, I think."

    "So Sandreas is just going to wait for them to make a mistake? And then what?"

    "Then maybe there will be enough evidence to take them to trial."

    "What if there isn''t enough?" Sid asked. "If there was some, wouldn''t it have been found?"

    "I don''t know. He could just make something up," Kino said. She wasn''t meeting his eyes. "Sometimes we have to live with the situation until it resolves itself."

    "But he got murdered." Sid felt just as helpless as he did with the whole Yan situation, but at least this was less personal. He had only met Nomar Thule a few times, and while he had been a charming and friendly person, Sid didn''t have much familiarity with his political work. They had danced one dance together at the Governor''s Dinner, a lifetime ago. Nomar had held his hand and patiently walked him through the steps, seemingly not caring that Sid was clumsy because he couldn''t hear the music. He had been much nicer than just someone who signed to Sid, as Kino had said earlier. Sid didn''t feel like he was capable of murder.

    "Didn''t Halen say ages ago that Nomar wouldn''t assassinate someone? Before our first meeting with Vaneik?"

    "Someone said something like that. But no one expected this to happen. It came out of nowhere."

    "There must be some reason. Why would he kill his own master?" Sid couldn''t imagine what would have to happen for him to take up arms against Sandreas. Or, God forbid, the Emperor.

    "I don''t know."

    Sid rubbed the back of his head, feeling the rough beginnings of hair beginning to sprout again. "Okay. Okay. Are you alright?"

    "I''m alive," Kino said.

    "Heh. That''s the best we''ve got going for ourselves. Did Sandreas tell you anything about how he plans to find Yan?"

    "No. I don''t think he knows what he''s going to do. He needs to consult his advisers."

    "Yeah. I guess. He''s going to announce what happened, right?"

    "He has to. The Guild probably knows by now."

    "What do you mean?" Sid asked. "I only told her emergency contact."

    "Her uncle and captain were at Vaneik''s funeral. Sandreas told them."

    "Oh." Sid couldn''t imagine how miserable that must have been. He was glad that Yan''s emergency contact, Sylva whatever, had lived on the other side of the planet. He had an excuse not to go meet her in person. A phone call had been bad enough. She had clearly been distraught, even without hearing her voice, just seeing the words that she said, Sid felt horrible delivering the news. To give it in person? That was a whole different level. Sandreas was a true professional.

    "Do you know what''s going on with the Anthus colony itself?" Sid asked.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "No." Kino yawned widely. How long had it been since she last slept? Was Sid keeping her up? He didn''t feel too tired, but then again, he had spent the past days restless and awake. "Maybe I cursed it anyway."

    "How?" Sid asked.

    "They won''t be consecrated."

    "Oh. Yeah. Well that''s not your fault." Sid couldn''t imagine how Kino could possibly be blaming herself for what had happened to Yan. She stared at him blankly, which made him uncomfortable. Sid looked away.

    "I''m going to bed," Kino said. She stood up. Sid stood as well, not wanting to awkwardly stay in Kino''s apartment. She seemed intent on ignoring him as she dropped her now empty mug onto the coffee table and walked away. Sid left, heading to his own cold and sterile apartment. He was glad he was nothing like Kino. Her mess reminded him a little too much of the clutter in his family''s home.

    Sid¡¯s apartment was clean and looked approximately as it had when he first moved in.He had gotten repairs done on all the damage that he caused, and now, a month later, he regretted his little tantrum. That all felt so long ago, now. It felt better for it to be clean, even if he hated being here alone, sleeping alone. Before everything had gone to shit, he had been half tempted to start dating, maybe try to find someone online. But the dating pool after leaving the Academy dropped significantly, and that was especially true after getting an apprenticeship like his. He couldn''t have it, but the comfort of having someone to welcome him home and into bed was something he imagined constantly.

    <hr>

    The next day passed in a flurry. Sid barely had time to see Sandreas, as he spent all his hours consulting with his experts and getting back up to speed on what had happened during his absence. Then there was the announcement about the Anthus colony, and that included what happened to Yan. Sandreas somehow managed to keep a stiff face through the whole thing, but Sid knew how much effort that cost. To stand there, to be peppered with question after question, the words a chaotic jumble, all about something that felt so hopeless and out of control- Sid wouldn''t have been able to do it.

    Thinking about that, he was glad that Sandreas hadn''t forced him to practice delivering such bad news to the crowd. But Yan was Sandreas''s apprentice, and so it fell to him to announce the bad news. Sid had to wonder how much the press had already known, as all of them seemed to have long lists of questions prepared in advance. The Empire really did keep them all on a tight leash, if they had so much information that they were content to sit on. Their sources sent to cover the Anthus colony launch must have had plenty to write up.

    After the press conference, Sid sat in his own office, pondering his options. It was night, but not late. The sun set early this time of year. Now that Sandreas was back, everyone who had been hounding him had largely forgotten about him, so he was free to spend his time thinking of what could be done for Yan. The Emperor''s discouragement still lingered in his head, but Sid was like a dog with a bone; he wasn''t going to stop until- well, he didn''t want to think about what could actually cause him to stop.

    The real question was, still, who had taken Yan, and why? If they knew the answer to at least one of those questions, it would be so much easier to find out where she was. She was definitely aboard a pirate ship. That was clear. Maybe¡­

    Was this a stupid idea?

    Sid had no shortage of stupid ideas. But he wanted to do something, anything. And Sandreas could hardly say that pirate hunting was a bad idea, considering that was what he had done as an apprentice. In fact, that was pretty much the only thing that Sid knew Sandreas had done as an apprentice. But if it was pirates that took her, then he wanted to go find them. It would be a service to the galaxy to wipe them out.

    He thought about this idea, and exactly how stupid it was, for as long as he could. But the more he thought about it, the more it itched in his head that he needed to do something, and this was the only idea he had. So he stood up and went downstairs to find and confront Sandreas.

    As it turned out, he didn''t have to go very far. Sandreas was on his way up to find him, and they met in the hallway. Halen trailed behind at his usual distance.

    "Sid, perfect, I was just coming to talk to you," Sandreas said. "Can we step inside your office for a minute? I wanted to debrief how things went during my absence."

    "Sure." Sid turned around and led them back to his tiny office. It was much shabbier than Sandreas''s downstairs, and it was very odd for Sid to be the one sitting behind the desk and Sandreas in front of him. Their normal roles were reversed, and Sid was uncomfortable with it. Sandreas didn''t seem to mind, sitting and relaxing as much as possible in one of the stiff chairs. Halen stood by the closed door.

    "I''m sorry we didn''t get a chance to talk earlier," Sandreas said. "There''s been a lot going on."

    "I''ve gathered," Sid said. "Kino told me some of what happened while you were on your trip."

    "I''m glad that she did. That''s not particularly what I wanted to talk about, but I''m glad you''ve been informed."

    "What did you want to talk about then?" Sid asked.

    "What you did during my absence. How did you find handling everything?"

    "Oh. I don''t know. It was fine. I mean, it was until I heard about Yan, then I didn''t know what to do."

    "You seemed to cope with that crisis well enough, from what I''ve heard."

    "I just ran and asked everyone for help and to tell me what to do. I don''t think that''s really great leadership," Sid said.

    "Being able to consult people who know more than you do is a good strategy. It''s impossible to know everything, and sometimes other people have good advice to give."

    "Yeah, well, I wasn''t feeling particularly effective. I didn''t even tell anyone about it. You had to."

    "I''m glad you didn''t, because having to deal with that while at Vaneik''s funeral was not something that I would have enjoyed. The Guild would have had a total fit."

    "Why?"

    "One of their ships was infiltrated by people who have serious designs against the Imperial Government. There are no good ramifications for that, especially for anyone associated with the Tranquility. At least some of their crew were involved."

    "Would that have screwed with the election?"

    "I don''t know." Sandreas rubbed his temples. "The whole thing was a disaster anyway."

    "Because of the murder?"

    "That''s part of it. If it hadn''t been murder¡­ I don''t understand what the motive was. It seems like even though Vaneik was murdered, the election played out exactly as it would have had he died of natural causes. Everyone knew he wanted his son to take his place, Thule knew that he could play puppetmaster with Wil Vaneik, and that''s exactly what played out. Why go to the trouble of murdering Vaneik if all that they had to do was wait?"

    "Maybe Vaneik was going to support someone else?"

    "Who?" Sandreas asked.

    "Olms, maybe?" Sid proposed. "She can be scary when she wants to be."

    "She might be good at commanding, but she''s spent years tamping down her ambition into something realistic, as far as I can see. By the end of her apprenticeship, she had her sights so solidly set on getting her own ship, I think she might have been legitimately crushed if she had been made Guildmaster instead." Sandreas laughed a little. "Not that it was too difficult to convince her to run anyway."

    "Oh. Well I don''t know what the motive was. But I can''t believe you''re just going to let it all slide."

    "The only person in this I had any remaining respect for is already dead, and disrupting the politics of the Guild further would be a disaster. The biggest opposition to Wil Vaneik would be one of those Migollens, who have a nasty bent to them."

    "Yeah. Just because of Yan and I, or?" Sid trailed off. The incident aboard the Sky Boat apparently had farther reaching consequences than he had imagined.

    "That certainly didn''t help. But there have been factions in the Guild like that for as long as both the Guild and the Empire have existed."

    Sid decided now was the best time to broach his request. "Speaking of pirates¡­"

    Sandreas looked at him, and Sid could see the exhaustion written in every line of his face. It was almost enough to not make him continue.

    "What gives me the feeling that you''re about to ask for something impossible?" Sandreas asked, looking Sid in the eye. Sid didn''t look away, but his face did heat up.

    "About Yan," Sid started again. In the back of the room, Halen was frowning. "I want to do something."

    "There''s not much we can do until one of our investigations yields results," Sandreas said. "And that''s another thing that we have to leave up to experts." He pointed to some of the related papers that were stacked in neat piles on Sid''s desk. "You''re not going to be able to pull anything out of this that someone else won''t, faster, and better."

    "Yeah, I know. That''s not what I''m asking," Sid said. "Yan had to have been taken by a pirate ship, right?"

    "There''s an outside possibility that another Guild ship was also involved and has been cooking their travel records, but yes. Pirates are the most likely answer. Why?"

    "I want to go and get them," Sid said. "Give me a ship."

    "No," Halen said from the back.

    Sandreas looked both tired and frustrated, wrinkling his forehead. "Sid, there''s so many problems with that request."

    "What? You used to hunt pirates."

    "That was extenuating circumstances. An emergency."

    "And this isn''t?"

    "Even if you were successful in finding a pirate ship with Yan on it, which, let''s be honest with each other here, you wouldn''t be, you''re as likely to kill her during your rescue mission than not."

    "She''s probably not still on a pirate ship. I''m sure they''re keeping her somewhere else," Sid protested.

    "We don''t know that for sure."

    "It''s not really about finding Yan," Sid said. Judging by Sandreas''s frown, Sid knew that he had made the wrong argument.

    "What is it about then?"

    Sid didn''t have an answer for a moment. It was about Yan, in a way. "I need to do something," Sid pleaded. "I can''t just sit here thinking that there is something I could be doing that I''m not. I know I probably won''t be able to find her, but I have to try."

    "So you want to go ghost hunting across the galaxy because you''re bored?" Aymon was deliberately misinterpreting everything that Sid was saying.

    "No! I just-" Sid couldn''t form a coherent sentence. The feeling was so real and strong inside of him, but the words weren''t coming, just as though he was a child who couldn''t, wouldn''t speak again. He looked up at Halen, who must understand. Halen was frowning even more deeply than Sandreas was. Why wouldn''t they let him go?

    "Sid," Halen started. "How could we live with sending you into danger?"

    That was their objection? That was the weakest possible reason.

    "I wouldn''t be in danger. Let me have a Fleet ship."

    "You don''t understand how lucky you got when you were aboard the Sky Boat," Halen said. "I saw the footage. That ship was weak and held itself back. Most pirates are not so careless."

    "But a Fleet ship-"

    "Fleet ships aren''t built for singular encounters," Sandreas said. "They''re meant to engage in groups, and most of them are transports. We don''t have specialized pirate hunting ships."

    "Then let me take the First Star," Sid begged. That actually made Sandreas laugh.

    "No. The First Star is still being worked on, anyway. It won''t be back in service for at least another few months."

    "The answer is no regardless of the First Star''s readiness," Halen said.

    "Why not?" Sid asked. He was a bit angry now. A Fleet ship could definitely take on a pirate ship.

    Halen stared him down. "How honest do you want me to be?"

    Sid glared right back. "Why do you even get a say at all? You''re not my boss."

    "I take Halen''s advice, so you''re going to take it too," Sandreas said. He wasn''t rising to the provocation as much as Sid had thought he would.

    Unexpectedly, Halen switched to sign. Sid had almost forgotten that the man knew it, since he rarely chose to communicate that way. But he had grown up on a pirate ship, after all, and they needed sign just as much as Yan''s spacer family did. "What makes you think you can handle more killing?"

    "I know what I am capable of," Sid signed back.

    "I don''t think you do," Halen signed. Clearly Sid had lost a lot of trust after his whole breakdown. But how was he supposed to prove that he could do better if they wouldn''t let him?

    "I can''t just let you go out on some half-baked revenge fantasy," Sandreas said, breaking in between the silent dialogue that Halen and Sid were having. Sandreas seemed to not mind that Halen was deliberately going behind his back to talk to Sid in a language that he didn''t know. It was amazing that he trusted him so much.

    "But wouldn''t it be a good show to the Guild to make a scene out of hunting pirates? Didn''t you promise that you would do something about them, ages ago?"

    "I stationed a ship in a hotbed area," Sandreas said. "That was the extent of what I promised to the Guild. I am not going to waste manpower or resources on pirate hunting."

    "Not even when it would do good?" Sid asked.

    Sandreas looked at him with an expression of mild frustration. "I don''t see what good it would do to have half of my remaining apprentices out, squandering their time sitting around in space and waiting for pirates to show up. Pirate hunting is tedious work."

    "But you-"

    "Extenuating circumstances, and Caron Herrault wanted me out of her hair. I was driving her crazy. She sent me away on a wild goose chase for the sake of her own sanity." Sid wanted to know the story behind that pronouncement, but Sandreas didn''t seem like he was going to elaborate. Sid filed that away as a thing to pry about later.

    "Is there anything I can say to you that would convince you to let me go?" Sid asked.

    "No," Halen said. What was his problem? Sid glared at him.

    "Asking that is a bad choice of thing to say," Sandreas said. "Did you really not think this request through?" He looked mildly disapproving, which was different at least from the frustrated look he had earlier.

    "I honestly thought you would say yes," Sid admitted. Sandreas laughed, wide open mouth, teeth flashing. Sid didn''t think it was that funny.

    "Maybe you should get your head checked," Sandreas said. "I recall that I grounded you."

    "But the Emperor ended my punishment."

    "The Emperor is not here," Sandreas said. "Sid, I appreciate your willingness to go out and do something; I feel the same way most of the time. But I think you''d feel even more trapped on a ship. If you aren''t used to the life aboard one, the endless waiting can drive anyone insane."

    "What good am I doing here?"

    "Having you here gives me peace of mind, and you''re learning."

    Sid scowled at the floor. "What if I threatened to steal a ship?"

    "Good luck with that," Halen said. Sandreas was no longer amused.

    "Don''t try to bully me, you won''t win that battle."

    "I won''t?"

    Sid felt the icy, horrible touch of Sandreas''s power move through his body. The fingers of his left hand involuntarily twitched, controlled by Sandreas. Sid tried to yank his hand away from him, but it was no use. Sandreas just sat there, staring at him and watching him struggle. Sid had vowed ages ago, back when Halen had first used the power against him, that he would learn how to do the same trick, but he had no success. The power screamed and fought in his mind whenever he tried to touch someone else with it. How Sandreas could casually sit there and invade his body- it made Sid sick, but angry, too. There was no point in trying to retaliate when Halen was in the room. Sid would be completely incapacitated before he could so much as throw a piece ocf paper at his boss. Sandreas dropped the power.

    "There aren''t many battles you can win against me yet. Maybe in a few years."

    "That doesn''t count," Sid said, rubbing his sore hand. He looked around the room, searching for anything that would spark an idea that would help his cause. He was better off still begging Sandreas; for all that the man was crazy, he seemed at least slightly willing to entertain Sid''s pleas before rejecting them. Halen was so dead set against sending Sid out that there wasn''t any point in arguing with him. Halen was an ex-pirate after all; he probably didn''t like the thought of Sid going out to hunt his brethren. That was stupid, though, because Halen was¡­ Sid was thinking himself into a hole, circling round and round. He tapped his foot on the floor.

    "What about the black stations?" Sid asked.

    "What about them?" Sandreas looked at him with an inscrutable expression.

    "You want to get rid of them, right?" Sid asked.

    "Somewhat. It''s not a top priority. And they''re good places to send agents to gather information."

    "You''re allowing them to exist on purpose?" Sid asked.

    "For every one we destroy, a new one pops up somewhere, and then we have to work to find it," Sandreas said. "It''s easier to keep an eye on things if they don''t keep moving around."

    "You''re dealing with them exactly like you''re dealing with a certain murderer in the Guild," Sid accused. Sandreas didn''t have any reaction to that. Too bad. Sid thought that at least would get a rise out of him. Maybe Sandreas was becoming immune to Sid''s tricks.

    "I''m dealing with them in the way my advisers tell me to. I don''t have the time to dedicate to thinking about the minutiae of combating the black market."

    "What if your advisers are being paid off, and they''re telling you to do the wrong thing because-"

    "Seriously?" Sandreas looked almost bored. "I''m willing to listen to what you have to say to me because you''re my apprentice and you deserve at least that much from me, but if you''re going to insist on wasting my time then I''m going to walk away."

    "You''re the one who came to meet me." Sid was frustrated. Sandreas stood and headed for the door. "Wait!"

    Sandreas paused and turned around. "Last chance, Sid."

    "I know you don''t want to destroy all of the black stations." Sid scrambled to find words. "But I think that you should at least consider taking a stand against some of them. Show that you''ll take action for what happened to Yan. Please."

    "Is this just because you want revenge, or because you think it will accomplish something useful?" Sandreas asked. Halen was scowling.

    "I don''t know. But I can''t just sit here and let things go unpunished. So, yeah, revenge, I guess. And maybe if you kick the bee''s nest enough, the queen will come out."

    "I''ll think about it," Sandreas said. "That''s all I can promise to do."

    "Okay," Sid said. That was better than he had hoped for a few minutes ago. "I''ve just been going crazy these past few days. I need something."

    "If you want more work to do, I''m sure I can have that arranged as well," Sandreas said.

    "Is there anything that can help get Yan back?"

    Sandreas''s chest rose and fell as he took a big breath. "If you want, I''ll have Ms. Rosario rearrange your schedule so you''ll spend part of your time with the task force assigned to her case."

    "Thank you," Sid said. He was completely sincere. Maybe feeling like he was involved would stop him from itching so badly. He imagined he knew how Kino felt, fidgeting all the time. He had so much nervous energy to burn. Thinking about Yan was keeping him up all night.

    "Goodnight, Sid," Sandreas said. He briefly rested his hand on Halen''s arm as the two turned to leave. Sid''s own heart ached briefly. He would never admit it to anyone, certainly not them, but he was a little jealous of the casual trust and love that they had. It seemed so natural and familiar. He tried to stop thinking about it.

    "Goodnight. See you tomorrow," Sid said.

    "Yes. The docket looks much more normal, so meet me in my office at ten hours."

    "Will Kino be there?"

    "Barring disaster, yes." Why did he have to say things like that? Couldn''t he just say ''yes''? Maybe Sid was reading too much into it.

    Sandreas must have seen the look on Sid''s face, because he smiled sadly and opened the door. He had Halen headed out into the corridor together, leaving Sid alone with his thoughts. At least he had said he would think about sending Sid out. It was better than complete rejection. Not that Sid thought it was going to happen- they needed to milk those black stations for any rumors and information that they could- but he had to ask to do something. He didn''t know why wanderlust, or whatever this was, had suddenly struck him. He hadn''t enjoyed his last trip out at all, and Yan-

    He missed Yan. That was the only reason. And there was no amount of reading reports that would bring her back. There was probably no amount of blowing up black stations that would bring her back either, but maybe the people on them deserved to die.

    Yan would probably hit him if she heard him think that.

    But he would do anything that he could to get her back. She deserved better than everyone giving up on her.

 Chapter Fifty - Crewman

    Crewman

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Any group that is sufficiently isolated or cohesive will develop their own languages, modes of communication, and behavior. To integrate oneself within a new setting, one must adopt or adapt these customs.¡±

    -from Language in the Outer Colonies: An Introductory Text by Kalian Burgess

    </blockquote>

    Sylva arrived on the Iron Dreams a little the worse for wear. It had been a tougher journey off planet than she had expected. She was coming to realize just how much Yan had taken care of for her on their previous visit to the Dreams. Now she had to struggle with travel arrangements and what to pack all on her own. Describing her as harried when she finally arrived aboard would have been an understatement. She came along onto the Iron Dreams with every other passenger hitching a ride between planets, and there was no one there to greet her aside from the bored looking young man who gave all of the passengers a guest room. Sylva trudged there unhappily.

    She didn''t know what she should have expected. Probably she shouldn''t have expected a warm welcome and a whole ship party, but she did think that she rated slightly above all these other passengers. After all, hadn''t she spent a month onboard not too long ago? Hadn''t she made herself useful and been generally well liked? Maybe most of the people she had known while aboard before only associated with her because of Yan, and maybe now they didn''t even know she was here. That was a depressing thought.

    Her room was in the gravity section of the ship, which she guessed was a luxury. It was weird to go there instead of to Yan''s room in the belly of the ship. The bedroom even had a private bathroom attached to it, with a shower, so there would be no more trekking the ship to use the communal showers every morning. That had been a very annoying part of staying with Yan, and Sylva was grateful for the privacy that this guest room afforded her.

    Still, it was sterile and barren without company. At least she didn''t have to worry about attaching velcro to all her possessions to keep them stuck to the walls. Sylva sat on the bed and took stock of her situation. She had made it to the Iron Dreams, but she wasn''t sure what to do next. She had her proposal for Captain Pellon, but she wasn''t entirely sure how well it would go over. It wasn''t as though she could just waltz onto the bridge or into his apartment- that would be insane. But she also couldn''t just stay in her room waiting for someone to remember that she had boarded the ship. Sylva idly fingered the pin that she had been given by the captain on her last visit. She wore it all the time when she wore her cassock.

    Maybe she should ask to take up cantoring again. She had enjoyed that more than she expected to.

    But first she would have to find someone to ask. Maybe she should go find Yan''s uncle. He would probably want to talk to her. She wasn''t sure if he knew she had come; as far as Sylva knew, the only person who knew she was coming was Captain Pellon. She had sent him her long letter asking to come aboard, and he had responded with nothing more than the required travel documents. She didn''t really know how to interpret that. She was worried that he had misconstrued her letter as just a request for a free ride across the galaxy, since she couldn''t tell him about what had happened to Yan.

    The official announcement had come before she reached the Iron Dreams, and she didn¡¯t know how to feel about that. On one hand, she was glad that she didn''t have to break the news herself, but on the other¡­ It would have been fitting for her to do so. She wondered how Yan''s family had taken it. Her uncle was probably completely crushed. For all that Yan thought he was weird (and he was), he genuinely cared about her.

    Sylva unpacked her suitcase, noticing some of the velcro that was still attached to the back of it. Part of her was tempted to go take up residence in Yan''s room, to go be weird and pretend like her ghost was there, or to sniff her left-behind clothing and cry. That was a little too far, even for Sylva. And Sylva was no stranger to strange lovelorn rituals. The number of papers she had practiced signing her name as "Sylva BarCarran" on was innumerable. They had all been burned immediately, of course. She tried not to think about how dumb she had behaved in the past. Foolish teenage things were behind her now.

    Once all of her stuff had been put into drawers, Sylva re-attached her phone to the onboard messaging system. She checked the duty roster to see where Maxes was. Weirdly, he wasn''t on it. Sylva paged through the information system to see the current manifest, and swiped over to the crew section. Maxes was indeed onboard, just not listed as having a duty. Strange. Yan had mentioned that he was the current council representative but¡­ Sylva swiped through the list. The council representative was listed as Eman BarCarran, Yan''s aunt, currently off ship. Had Maxes given up his post so quickly after getting it? Maybe he didn''t like the council as much as he had thought he would.

    Just out of curiosity, Sylva scrolled through the list of crew to check if anyone had filled the cantor position. It was still empty. Well, at least she could probably make herself useful by stepping into that spot. If she was going to be living with Yan''s family, the least she could do was her spiritual duty. Sylva put her phone away and stood.

    Whatever Maxes''s story was, if he didn''t have duty he was likely to be at home. She knew where he lived. She had visited his quarters several times. She thought his wife was sweet, and his two kids were rambunctious but fun to be around. Jaden and Sion were twelve and ten respectively, but they were already both taller than Sylva. Not that Sylva was particularly short, but it was a little awkward to be surrounded by extremely tall people all the time. She would just have to get used to it again, if she was going to be spending any length of time aboard the Dreams.

    She walked down the hallways, reacquainting herself with the layout of the ship. There was the cafeteria, the chapel, the library, the classrooms, the gym. She remembered them, and felt more confident with that memory. Most of the actual crew quarters were in the other rotating ring of the ship. Guests were housed near all the amenities out of courtesy, or just to keep the uninitiated out of the crew''s hair. Important things, such as the bridge, were far away from all these social areas. Sylva had to switch between the first ring and the second, which meant navigating through the zero gravity sections. It took her a few minutes of clumsiness before she regained her "space legs" and remembered how to dash about. She probably wouldn''t ever be as comfortable as a natural born spacer, but at least she hadn''t lost all her facilities during her few months back on the ground.

    As she traveled the ship, a few of the crew members looked her over, but none stopped her. She couldn''t tell if they recognized her or not. She certainly didn''t know the names of most of Yan''s extended family. There were just too many of them, and all of those who hadn''t married in to the Iron Dreams looked vaguely similar as cousins and siblings tended to do. Sylva had been saved from awkwardly not knowing people''s names countless times by the embroidery on most people''s uniform spelling it out. Thank goodness for the industrial laundry of the Dreams needing all the clothing to be labeled with its owner''s name. All those green jumpsuits looked the same.

    Maxes''s quarters also looked the same as any other door on the ship. There was the same gunmetal grey construction, the same peeling white paint labels, and the same scuffs and scratches from decades of use. Sylva hesitated outside the door for a long second. It was the middle of first shift, according to ship''s time. Since Maxes didn''t have a duty assigned, he would probably be home and awake. Jalena, his wife, had duty in the med station, so it was unlikely that she would be there. The two kids were either at school or doing their minor duties. Maybe no one would be home.

    Sylva rang the bell. She waited about thirty seconds, but heard nothing from inside. Just to be sure, she rang it a second time. It was only then that the door opened. Sylva looked up at Maxes.

    He was a mess. His beard had grown out, and his braided hair lacked its usual compliment of bright beads. His eyes had a haunted, dark look in them, and he was out of uniform, wearing just an undershirt and shorts. He looked down at Sylva and it took a moment for recognition to snap into place.

    "Sylva Calor?" he asked, confusion written clearly on his face.

    "Hi, Mr. BarCarran," Sylva said. "Sorry to surprise you."

    "Come in, come in. And it''s just Maxes." Maxes stood aside, and Sylva stepped into the quarters. It was a cozy place, filled with well worn furniture that had seen better days, and all sorts of trinkets and decorations that had been accumulated over the years. The walls were draped with tapestries, and the floor had area rugs taped down in strategic locations. Most of the furniture and decorations were fastened to the floor, in case of the rare but occasionally necessary stoppage of the rotating rings. There was no kitchen, but the family did have one bathroom. Off of the living room there were two bedrooms- one shared by Maxes and Jalena, the other by their two children.

    "What are you doing here, Sylva?" Maxes asked, closing the door. "Not to be rude, but I never thought I''d see you again. I thought you were at your apprenticeship?"

    "I took a leave of absence," Sylva said.

    "Why?" Maxes asked. He sat down on one of the couches. Sylva sat on a large reclining chair. She sank down into it further than she expected.

    "Isn''t it obvious?"

    "Did you come for the funeral?"

    "You''re having a funeral?" Sylva asked, blanching.

    "No," Maxes said sternly. "No." He clenched his fists, his knuckles white.

    "Oh," Sylva said. "No, I didn''t think you were having a funeral. I would have come if you were, but¡­" She trailed off.

    "Then what are you doing here?" Maxes hadn''t quite relaxed, but the lines on his face smoothed a little. Apparently he reacted badly to anyone insinuating that Yan was dead. Sylva could understand that.

    "I want to find Yan," Sylva said. This was the first time she was saying this aloud. She had run through her prepared script over and over. She had practiced variation after variation of how she would convince the crew of the Iron Dreams to go along with her crazy plan, but it felt strange to finally be delivering the lines in person.

    "What do you mean?" Maxes asked.

    "She was taken by pirates, right?"

    "That''s the leading theory."

    "I want to infiltrate one of their ships and find where she went," Sylva said. She delivered her line with as much confidence as she could, but Maxes still looked like he was on the verge of laughing at her. He probably would have if he didn''t care so much about Yan.

    "So why are you here?" Maxes asked. He seemed genuinely confused, his nose and forehead wrinkled.

    "I need help," Sylva said. "Not to infer things that you don''t want me to infer, but I know you have connections. I know you could find a way to get me onto a ship."

    Maxes frowned at her. "What makes you say that?"

    "Uh¡­" Sylva didn''t want to admit how she knew what she know. She could either tell the truth and admit what Pellon had told her and Yan in confidence, or she could say that Yan said something that she really hadn''t.

    Maxes stared her down in the long silence. He apparently wasn''t going to let this go without an answer.

    "Yan told me that you have connections to the black market," Sylva said. This wasn''t technically a lie in the traditional sense, but it wasn''t the original reason that she suspected that Maxes and the crew of the Iron Dreams would be able to help her.

    "Did Yan tell you why she said that?"

    "No."

    Maxes hummed noncommittally.

    "Well, is it true?" Sylva asked. "I came here because that''s not the kind of thing you can just ask over the ansible."

    "It''s not the type of thing you should just ask someone in conversation, either," Maxes said with a frown. Sylva figured that his dodges of the topic were as much of an admission as she was going to get. "I assume Captain Pellon gave you permission to come aboard. Does he know that this is what you''re here for?"

    "No. I couldn''t say anything over the ansible, and I messaged him asking to come before, uh, before the news came out. So I said I had a proposition. If the Imperial Government had never announced it, I would have told you what happened to Yan as soon as I got here."

    "How long have you known?" Maxes asked.

    "A few weeks."

    "Captian Pellon and I were on Canerra station for Guildmaster Vaneik''s funeral. We heard about it then." Sylva did the math in her head. She had remembered reading some news story about the funeral, but she hadn''t paid it much mind. Still, that had taken place long before the official announcement.

    "Who told you?"

    "First Sandreas was there attending the funeral. He told us in person."

    "Was he¡­" Sylva didn''t really know what she was asking. Yan had a high opinion of the man, but Sylva had only seen him on the news. He seemed imposing and competent, but she didn''t know much about his personality.

    "He did his best to be professional," Maxes said, but she could tell that Maxes wasn¡¯t expressing everything he thought. Sylva nodded.

    "How have you been?" Sylva asked, trying to inject a note of compassion into her voice. She had just barged in to Maxes''s room, his life, his home without preamble. Maybe she should have waited a little longer before delivering her own plans.

    Maxes tugged on the end of one of his braids, curiously silent from their lack of beads. Over the summer, the clicking of the beads against each other had been a constant backdrop to talking to Maxes as he moved his head or walked around. "It''s been hard," he admitted. "I quit my post on the council."

    "You were only on the council for a little while, though, right?"

    "I had been intending to stay longer," Maxes said. "My sons are old enough now that they could deal with me being gone for a few months at a stretch, so I was hoping to make it a career."

    "Why did you quit then?"

    "I needed to be home," he said. "I might go back someday, but I couldn''t do it now."

    "Oh." Sylva wasn''t exactly sure what to say to that. "What are you going to do now?"

    "Pellon and I told First Sandreas that we would keep our ears to the ground. I''m going to get in touch with some old friends of mine." The way he said old friends made Sylva more curious than anything.

    "That sounds like it aligns with my goals pretty well."

    "Maybe." Maxes wasn''t willing to commit to Sylva''s crazy plan outright. "I think you need to figure out exactly what you want, and you need to talk to Pellon about it. This is his ship, he doesn''t like people doing things without his knowledge."

    "Yeah, I wasn''t planning on making it a secret. I just think he''s forgotten that he gave me permission to come aboard at all."

    "What makes you say that?"

    "I''m here instead of talking to him."

    "He''s a busy man, and he''s been¡­ Yan was always one of his favorites."

    "Yeah, I got that impression over the summer. Why?"

    "He was quite close with her mother when they were children, and after she died, raising Yan became somewhat of a community effort. There are lots of people aboard who are invested in her." Maxes couldn''t have said that in a way that made Yan sound more like a venture capital project, but the sentiment was clear. Sylva decided not to bring up the fact that Yan had always felt distant from everyone aboard precisely because they looked at her like some sort of construction set to build up. Yan''s family dynamics were not supposed to be Sylva''s business, but here she was anyway. Still, she could at least try to not make things awkward for when Yan came back. Because Yan would come back.

    "That makes sense. Does everybody here know what happened?"

    "Yes. Life goes on, though."

    "Can I ask a question?"

    "You clearly already are."

    "Not right now, obviously, but are you ever, uh, planning on having a funeral?" Sylva asked.

    "Bring me a body," Maxes said. "Bring me a body and we can have a funeral. Not a second sooner."

    That was his right, as next of kin, of course. The concept of next of kin was debatable. Any one of her aunts or cousins could have claimed the title by blood, or Pellon as head of the family, but Maxes had raised her after her mother died. Sylva couldn''t fault Maxes for that decision, but she wondered if he would actually keep it up if Yan didn''t turn up after a year, two years, a decade? Would she wander unmemorialized? Sylva shivered.

    "I''d rather bring her back alive," Sylva said, trying to put as much confidence behind the words as she could. "That''s my goal."

    Maxes smiled, his lips a thin line. "I certainly hope that you will succeed."

    "So you''ll help me?"

    "I don''t know what help you want me to provide, but I''ll give you what I can. You should start by talking with the captain."

    "Yeah, I should. I didn''t want to interrupt him while he''s busy running the ship, though."

    "First shift will be over in a while. You can catch him at dinner."

    "Does he eat in the dining hall?"

    "Not lately. But I''ll send him a message. I''m sure he wants to talk with you. Do you have an actual plan?"

    "Uh, mostly?" Sylva wasn''t sure how much planning she could do. She mainly wanted to infiltrate a black station and then listen around for gossip and trace that back to its source, but that wasn''t the most robust plan.

    Maxes sighed. "How long are you planning on staying on the Dreams?"

    "As long as it takes to come up with a real plan, I think," Sylva said. "Not that I don''t have a plan, but just, it might take awhile before it''s perfected and ready to be implemented. Do you think that Captain Pellon will go along with this?"

    Maxes had to take a moment to consider that question. "I think he''d be willing to do a lot to help Yan, and your best bet is to make him think that you actually can help her."

    "You say that as though you think I can''t." Sylva was rather put out.

    "Be honest with me. What skills do you have?"

    "I can use the power. I can learn any language. I''m smart and capable."

    "If you go onto a black station, or are among pirates for even a second, you won''t be able to use the power. You can''t let anyone know that you''re a sensitive." Maxes was weirdly adamant.

    "Why?"

    "Do you know what happens when pirates capture sensitive children? They hunt ships coming off Emerri just for that reason."

    "Oh." Sylva didn''t have much experience with pirates except in an abstract sense that they were bad. The only times she had even been in space were the summer and now. She had never met a pirate, just read the occasional news story about them. "Okay."

    "So you''re smart and good at learning languages. Maybe that will get you onto a pirate ship. But you''re going to stand out like a sore thumb." Maxes looked her up and down. "I mean, look at you."

    "What about me?"

    "There''s no person in the universe who will think you were born a pirate. You''re just too short."

    "So? I''ll just have to have some sort of false identity that explains that."

    "Such as?" Maxes didn''t have bad intentions in asking these questions, but he was making Sylva feel more stupid and useless than she already did.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    "I don''t know," Sylva admitted with a sigh. "I came to you all for help, because I knew you''d be willing to help me because, well. Just because."

    "I never said I wasn''t willing," Maxes clarified. "I just think that you need to solidify your plan. Especially if your plan involves bringing the Dreams somewhere. Diverting a ship from its course is a difficult thing to do."

    "I know you all still have jobs to do and deliveries to make. I don''t- I''m not expecting you to ferry me across the galaxy. Just maybe to point me in the right direction."

    "Sylva, if I knew what the right direction was, I''d already be running in it."

    "You can''t just go off somewhere, you have kids and a family."

    "Yan is my family," Maxes reminded, his voice soft. "I know we haven''t always been as close as I would like. But I raised her. She''s mine."

    Sylva wasn''t sure if she should interpret Maxes as being sweet or possessive. If she hadn''t known what she did about the plan that Maxes had concocted involving Yan''s birth, it wouldn''t have even been weird, but that knowledge tinted everything that Maxes said into off-shades. She wanted to trust him wholeheartedly, but the reservations and odd feelings that Yan had towards him transferred to her. After all, in the eleven years that she and Yan had known each other, she mostly talked about her uncle in resigned tones: yes he loved her, but. And it was that but that made agreeing with Maxes slightly awkward. Sylva just nodded at him.

    "I promise I''ll do everything I can to get her back," Sylva said. "I love her."

    She wasn''t sure if Yan had told her uncle about the fact that they were a couple, but it wasn''t really a secret. It felt so obvious that it should have been apparent to all onlookers. Maxes didn''t have a reaction to what she said, but they heard shouting and footsteps in the hallway outside the door.

    "Jaden and Sion?" Sylva asked. Her question was answered as the two kids almost broke the door down in their hurry to come home. Sion dodged in the door first and tried to hold it shut to prevent his older brother from coming in. Sylva watched their antics with a smile, but Maxes seemed less amused.

    "What have I told you about playing with doors?" he asked loudly. Sion, who hadn''t noticed his father sitting on the couch, jumped about a foot in the air, which left the door free to swing open and bash him in the face. Sion fell over, clutching his nose. Jaden came in triumphantly.

    "Gotcha," Jaden said, tapping his younger brother with his foot. Sion wasn''t too injured, as he stopped holding his nose to snatch his brother''s ankle. Now off balance, Jaden fell down as well. He looked shocked for a second, then started laughing. Sion didn''t laugh, but disentangled himself from the pile of limbs and school bags and stood.

    The two boys were both extremely tall and wiry. They took after their father in terms of the shape of their features; they had the characteristic low cheekbones of the BarCarran clan, and the same bright, wide eyes. They did share one peculiar trait with their mother, a native of Terlin. The two boys were immediately recognizable as hers by the odd patterning of light and dark skin that covered their bodies. On their hands, knees, elbows, and face, parts of their usually deep brown skin were a bright white. It gave them an endearing look, and they always stood out in photos of the crew. Their hair was braided like their father''s was, in elaborate skinny braids all down their heads. They still had their usual beads, unlike their father. Sion''s beads were large and shaped like animals: birds, bugs, the heads of cats and dogs; Jaden''s beads were simple and colorful.

    It was only after he stood back up that Sion noticed Sylva. He froze, scrunching up his nose.

    "Hi Sion, hi Jaden," Sylva said with a wave. She had spent plenty of time hanging out with Yan''s young cousins over the summer, so she knew them pretty well.

    "Sylva?" Sion asked. Jaden sat up, looking to see who was talking. "What are you doing here?"

    "Coming for a visit," Sylva said. She didn''t think it was super appropriate for her to tell the kids about what her plans actually were.

    "Cool. Are you going to do temple again?" Jaden asked from the floor. Both of the kids had no problem adjusting to her presence.

    Sylva shrugged. "I don''t know. I don''t know how long I''ll be here for."

    Maxes stood and hoisted Jaden off the floor. "Did you have a good day at class?"

    "It was fine, I guess," Jaden said. He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I need to go to the greenhouse soon."

    "Okay, go get changed," Maxes said. Jaden shuffled off into the bedroom that he shared with his brother. "What are you up to, Sion?"

    "Math," Sion said, tossing his bag onto the couch. It landed with a heavy thud, even on the couch cushions. Sylva wondered what exactly he was keeping in there.

    "All afternoon?" Maxes asked.

    "Until I''m done with it," Sion said, with a face that indicated his dad was being stupid. "What are you doing?"

    "I think I''m going to take Sylva to talk to Captain Pellon," Maxes said.

    "About what?" Sion asked, curious.

    "It''s a surprise," Maxes said.

    "Is this about Yan?" Sion asked, sounding grumpy. "That''s all you ever talk about with Captain Pellon."

    Maxes eyes shifted. "Yes, it''s about Yan. Is that a bad thing?"

    "No, I guess," Sion said. He sat down on the couch next to his bag and pulled out a tablet. He ignored his dad, who puttered around the room aimlessly for a moment.

    "Sylva, let me just get dressed and we can go find Pellon," Maxes said. He seemed eager to leave the house now that his kids were home. He went into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

    "How have you been, Sion?" Sylva asked. Sion was focused on his tablet, and he didn''t look up at her to respond.

    "Fine," he said.

    "Why aren''t you going to the greenhouse with Jaden?" Over the summer, Sion had a short shift there.

    "I only work when Victory is around. She takes me on Onesdays, Threesdays, and Fivedays." Victory was one of the older teens aboard the Dreams- there was a mentoring system to help the younger kids learn various jobs around the ship. Sylva thought that Sion was already graduated from that program and given independent tasks like Jaden was, but apparently he was still a little too young.

    "How''s your mom doing?" Sylva asked, vainly trying to find a conversation subject.

    "Fine. She was busy when everyone got sick last month." Jalena BarCarran, Maxes''s wife and the boys'' mother, was the ship''s doctor.

    "Really? What did you all get sick with?"

    "Flu. One of the passengers brought it on board."

    "I thought you all were vaccinated?"

    "Mom said it was a different strain."

    "Oh. Is everyone better now?"

    "Yeah." Sion continued to poke at the tablet. Sylva craned her neck to see what he was doing. It looked like math homework. Sylva sat back on the chair. "What are you going to talk to Captain Pellon about?" Sion asked, still not looking up from the tablet.

    "I don''t think your dad wants me to tell you."

    Sion bit his lower lip. "Oh."

    "I might be able to tell you later."

    "Okay." Sion didn''t sound convinced. "You know, we''re not dumb."

    "What do you mean?" Sylva asked. "Of course I don''t think you''re dumb."

    "Yan''s dead. You don''t have to pretend she''s coming back," Sion said sullenly. He swiped up on his tablet with such force that his fingers squeaked on the glass.

    "Yan is not dead," Sylva said firmly.

    "Whatever." Sion didn''t seem to be in the mood for talking. She was getting the feeling that there was more to Sion''s attitude than just confusion about Yan''s status. Something was wrong in the family dynamic here, but it also was definitely not Sylva''s business. She was probably making it worse by being here, if she was honest.

    Jaden emerged from his bedroom, wearing a much rattier uniform than he had been wearing before, and carrying his personal gardening gloves. He had a bandanna tying up his long braids so that they wouldn''t get messy as he worked in the greenhouse. His facial expression clued Sylva in to the fact that the interior walls of this apartment were very thin; he had heard their conversation.

    "Headed to work?" Sylva asked, trying to raise the mood and be cheerful.

    "Yeah. We''re planting new corn today."

    "Good stuff," Sylva said. She didn''t know anything about the crop rotations in the greenhouse, and she didn''t particularly care to learn. The most she had done over the summer was water a few plants and harvest a few fruits. Unlike a good percentage of the population of the Empire, Sylva had no farming experience. She was from a home as suburban as they came, and she liked it that way.

    "See you at dinner?" Jaden asked. He seemed more willing to be friendly with her again than Sion was. Maybe the extra two years of maturity he had were the cause.

    "Maybe. I don''t know what my plans are, but I''ll be around in general."

    "Cool. I''ve gotta go," he said. "Bye Sion."

    "Bye," Sion said. "Bring me a tomato."

    "I''ll see if there are any extras," Jaden said, pushing open the door. "But you should just ask in the kitchen." He left, bouncing down the hallway.

    "You really like tomatoes?"

    "I need one for an art project," Sion said, but offered no explanation of what the project could be. Maxes came out of his room, now dressed in his uniform and looking better overall.

    "Ready to go, Sylva?"

    Sylva stood from her seat in the cozy chair with some effort. All the furniture was just a little too tall for her comfort. Spacers must order specialty stuff to be more suited to their heights. Either that or they built it themselves in one of the ship''s workshops.

    "You think we can find him now? First shift isn''t over."

    "It''s fine. We''ll find him. I''m sure he isn''t busy."

    Sylva looked at him. "Not busy?" she asked.

    "Not so busy that he can''t talk."

    Maxes held open the door for Sylva. "I''ll be back so we can have dinner together," he said to Sion.

    "Yeah, whatever," Sion said without looking up.

    Sylva followed Maxes out into the hallway, and they walked along the great curved corridor in silence for a while.

    "Why is Sion mad at you?" Sylva asked after a bit.

    "What?" Maxes asked.

    "Sion, he''s mad at you. What did you do to make him angry?"

    "It''s been a rough few months for him. I don''t think he liked me leaving to go be on the council."

    "Well, obviously," Sylva said. "No ten year old would like their dad leaving for months at a time."

    Maxes didn''t say anything. That might be the only reason that Sion was grumpy, but Sylva couldn''t tell. Either way, she had a strong suspicion that the whole family could use a good therapist, but then again, who couldn''t. Even just the loss of Yan would have necessitated such a thing, but from the way that Yan had talked about her past, well, even after her mother died there had been nothing and no one. Maybe that was why she was so into meditation, it gave her a way to escape her feelings or whatever. Sylva didn''t get the appeal, but then again, she lacked the attention span required for meditation, to the point where she barely qualified to attend the Academy.

    They came to the bridge and paused.

    "Wait here for a second. I''ll see if he''s available." Maxes swiped his finger over the fingerprint scanner, and the door to the bridge slid open. Sylva caught a glimpse of people sitting at computers and a big screen displaying the ship''s current status as Maxes walked in. The door closed behind him.

    Sylva leaned on the wall next to the door and stared around at the featureless hallway as she waited. She could understand that she didn''t rate enough to be allowed into the control room of the Dreams, but she also didn''t think she would cause any trouble if she was let in. It was just annoying.

    The door opened again and Sylva straightened. It was just Maxes.

    "Pellon will meet us in ten minutes in there." He nodded across and down the hallway at another door. Sylva followed him. It was a meeting room, with a long rectangular table. One nice but somewhat disconcerting feature of it was the floor, which had windows placed into it along the edges of the room. Outside the windows, the stars slid by. The glass was very thick, and probably wasn''t glass, but being reminded of how close she was to a hard vacuum at all times made Sylva more than a little nervous. She wouldn''t ever admit that to anyone, of course, but she wasn''t accustomed to the casual way spacers interacted with their (lack of) environment. Sometimes Yan would talk about going for a spacewalk as casually as she would talk about going for a stroll around the Academy campus. Sylva didn''t think she could ever get used to something like that.

    She hoped that wouldn''t be a problem when she put her plan into action. After all, she would have to be spending a whole lot of time aboard ships, if she really was going to track down Yan herself.

    Sylva was starting to have her doubts about the whole thing. As she sat in silence with Maxes, staring at the floor windows, she worried that her plan was starting to sound more and more stupid, even to herself. But she was here, and although there technically was plenty of opportunity for her to hitch a ride back to civilization, Sylva was not going to be deterred that easily. After all, no one had even tried to stop her yet. Except her own worries about her plan, or lack thereof, things were going smoothly. And if there was one thing that was true about her, she had never let a stupid plan pass by without at least giving it a fair shot.

    They waited. Finally, the door slid open, and Pellon walked in. Sylva hadn''t seen him in a while. He looked approximately the same as he had over the summer. He still had the same aura of command, even if he was smiling and friendly. Maybe it was just the way that Maxes unconsciously oriented himself toward him, subordinate. Any room that Pellon was in, he was the center of attention.

    Pellon sat down at the head of the table. Sylva and Maxes were across from each other.

    "It''s good to see you again, Sylva," Pellon said. His voice was softer than she remembered. "I got your message at a bit of an inopportune time."

    "Yeah, I mean, that''s what it was about," Sylva said. "I couldn''t tell you over the ansible. I''m glad to see you, though."

    "How did you find out?" Pellon asked.

    "One of her coworkers called me. I was her on planet emergency contact," Sylva said.

    "Oh. I''m surprised that you were told," Pellon said. "But maybe I shouldn''t be. First Sandreas doesn''t seem stingy with personal information."

    "I wouldn''t know, I never met him."

    "He told us before he made the official announcement. It was¡­ I''ve had better conversations."

    "Yeah, I can imagine," Sylva said. "I''m glad that you found out from something other than the official announcement."

    "I am as well. Now that you''re here, though, you can tell me what it was that you were proposing in your letter. I''ll admit that I signed your travel papers without thinking about it too much."

    "Did you think I was coming for the funeral?"

    "That would have been a reasonable thing to think, but I wasn''t thinking. But we''re not having a funeral, and you''re not asking to go home, so I''d assume that there was something else you wanted to discuss."

    "Yeah. Maybe this is a stupid thing to say-"

    "Don''t shoot yourself down before you''ve even started," Pellon said kindly.

    "Okay. Did Maxes tell you anything?"

    "No."

    "I just- when I heard what happened- I needed to do something. So I thought, well, Yan got taken by pirates, right?"

    "Probably."

    "So there must be someone who knows what happened to her. If I could get onto a pirate ship then maybe I can hear, I don''t know, and follow where she went?"

    "You want to become a pirate?" Pellon asked, sounding as amused as he could, considering the situation.

    "Uh, double agent?" Sylva said. "Spy? Whatever that would be."

    "How do you expect to go about this?" Pellon asked. He wasn''t angry, and he wasn''t making fun of her, but he didn''t seem entirely confident in this plan. Not that it was a very fleshed out plan.

    "I was hoping that you could, uh, not to impugn your ship, but I think that you could introduce me to someone who could take me to a pirate ship, or something."

    "I don''t know if that would be as easy as you''re hoping," Pellon said. "And what were you planning to do once you''re there?"

    "Uh, work on the ship until I heard something, then I would leave and muster up forces to rescue her."

    "What would you do on this pirate ship?" Pellon asked. "Do you have any skills?"

    "Uh, not really. But I could learn. And probably lots of people end up on pirate ships without any skills."

    "Those types of people tend to end up in unpleasant positions," Pelon said kindly. "I would be hesitant to go aboard a pirate ship, if I were you."

    "I can defend myself."

    "Sylva," Pellon sighed. "You''re an adult, and I can''t stop you, but I won''t agree with sending you into danger. I can''t have you on my conscience."

    "Well, okay, I can learn skills and then go, but I don''t want- I don''t want to waste time. I don''t know if anyone is going to go after her, and I can''t just sit around and not help. I have to try." Sylva scrunched up her face. Her voice rang with conviction, on this part of her plan at least. If the crew of the Iron Dreams was willing to help her, all the better. If they weren''t, it would be a setback, but she would figure out a way to get on a pirate ship. No matter what it would take.

    "I understand how you feel," Pellon said.

    "We''re already keeping our ears to the ground," Maxes said. "We''re listening to everything that we can."

    "That''s not the same as actually being in the middle of things," Sylva said.

    "You''re most likely to end up on a ship where nobody has a clue," Pellon said. "Anybody careful enough to pull off kidnapping Yan in the first place, they''re careful enough to keep their plans and locations a secret."

    "There''s no way to know that. I mean, they must have a big web of people, there''s always leaks," Sylva said.

    "Maybe," Pellon said. "But the point remains. If you don''t have skills to offer, you might have to offer something else in order to get on a ship. If there''s one thing that spacers and pirates have in common, it''s no one does something for nothing, and that includes taking passengers."

    "I''m here and I''m not paying my way," Sylva said.

    "I believe you mentioned something in your letter about a business venture," Pellon said with a sad smile. "But I somehow doubt that you will be content to sit on the ship without providing any services, even if that''s only cantoring on Sevensdays."

    "You want me back as cantor?"

    "You did a fine job over the summer, and we still don''t have anyone filling that role, so I would not object if you want to provide us some spiritual guidance."

    "I don''t know how much of that I''m qualified to provide, I''m just good at singing." She was shooting herself in the foot again.

    "That''s better than nothing at all," Pellon said. "How long are you planning to stay?"

    "That depends on if you''re going to help me or not," Sylva said. "You can''t change my mind on this. This is the best, well, the only plan that has a chance of working. And I have to take that chance, even if I do it myself."

    Pellon and Maxes shared a look. Something was passing between them, some sort of remembrance of a conversation they had before, or some shared sentiment that Sylva was excluded from completely. It was a long moment of silence. Sylva stared at Pellon''s still, smooth face, waiting for him to break the silence. Her fingers moved unconsciously to the pin on her chest, the one that he had given her at the end of the summer.

    "You''ll need to stay a while," Pellon said. His voice had changed, and there was a note of resolve in it. "If you really do want to go through with this, I can''t let you go unprepared. You''ll need to learn everything about how to survive on a ship. That could take a while."

    Sylva grinned broadly. She didn''t know what had caused Pellon''s change of heart, but she was glad. "Thank you."

    "Don''t thank me yet. I assume you want to leave as quickly as possible. You''ll have a lot to learn. Maxes-"

    "I''ll take care of it," Maxes said. His voice sounded stiff.

    "Of course." Pellon tapped the table, drumming his fingers. "I still hate this plan."

    "May I make a suggestion?" Maxes asked. Pellon looked at him with mild surprise written on his face.

    "Please do."

    "Is there anyone who could accompany her?"

    "No. Absolutely not. I lay down my line there," Pellon said. "It''s one thing for me to help someone who is effectively a free agent, it''s another thing completely to send out my crew."

    "No one needs to come with me, I can do it myself," Sylva said. She felt like a whiny child saying that, but it was true. She could do it herself, and that was her original plan.

    "I didn''t mean one of us," Maxes said, though there was a note in his voice that made Sylva suspect he had been about to volunteer.

    "Then who did you mean?" Pellon asked.

    "What about that Maedes woman?" Maxes asked.

    "Who?" Sylva didn''t know who he was talking about.

    "The one who wrote the letter," Maxes said. "I met her briefly on Olar."

    "You mean the one who lost Yan in the first place?" Pellon asked.

    "I don''t think it was entirely her fault," Maxes said. "But yes, that one."

    "Sorry, I''m still confused," Sylva said.

    "Maedes was one of Yan''s bodyguards. She was with Yan on the Tranquility when she was kidnapped, and she wrote Sandreas to tell him what had happened," Maxes explained.

    "Oh. And why do you think she would want to help?" Sylva asked.

    "Good question," Pellon said. He was skeptical.

    "It said in the note that she was quitting her job, right?" Maxes asked. Pellon nodded. "Why would she do that if she didn''t have some desire to be a free agent?"

    "I read that more as an admission that she felt she hadn''t done enough of a job," Pellon said. "I didn''t take that as her saying that she was going to go out and take revenge."

    "I think that there''s a chance that''s what she wants to do," Maxes said. "It''s worth getting in contact with her."

    "Why? Don''t you think that would be overly complicating the situation?" Pellon asked.

    "She probably has a lot of skills. She would have to, in order to have her position in the first place. And from what I saw of her, and the way Yan described her, she sounds both competent and devoted to Yan."

    "How would you even get in contact with her in the first place?" Sylva asked. "I''m not opposed to talking to this person, but I don''t know her." Actually, Sylva was somewhat opposed, but she couldn''t look a gift horse in the mouth. The way that Maxes said that this Maedes was ''devoted'' to Yan, that stirred up a little flame of jealousy in Sylva''s chest. She knew it was completely irrational, but why hadn''t Yan ever mentioned this lady to her? Sylva tried to shake herself out of it. There were more things to focus on than this imaginary love problem that she had just cooked up in her head.

    "She might still be aboard the Tranquility," Maxes said.

    "You don''t think it would send up red flags to the Empire to have us suddenly contact her? You know they read all the ansible messages, and we''re definitely on a watch list." Pellon indicated everyone in the ship, including Sylva.

    "I somehow doubt that the Empire will stop people who are trying to find Yan and bring her back. Obviously we can''t talk about the plan in detail over the ansible, but I don''t know why it would be a problem for us to talk to her."

    Pellon looked somewhat unconvinced. "Well, it''s an academic matter until we get into port. If she isn''t on the Tranquility, do you have any idea where she would be?"

    "I''m sure she lives on Emerri," Sylva said. "But I wouldn''t know how to get in contact with her."

    "Then let''s just hope she''s still on the Tranquility, or on Anthus," Maxes said.

    Pellon''s forehead was wrinkled up. Sylva couldn''t tell if he was frustrated or just thinking. "We can contact her. I have to say, though, that this whole plan- I don''t know if it will survive contact with the enemy."

    "Who is the enemy?" Sylva asked. "We don''t know anything."

    "Precisely," Pellon said. He stood, and Maxes and Sylva followed him up. "We can talk more about this later. I need to get back to the bridge. Maxes, feel free to compose whatever letters you think you need to send. Sylva, consider yourself a part of the crew for now, with all the rights and responsibilities that affords you."

    Sylva was actually taken aback by that honor. "Thank you, Captain," she breathed.

    Pellon stuck out his hand and they shook. "Formally, welcome aboard. You have a lot to learn."

    Sylva grinned up at him. "I''ll do my best." It was Pellon''s magnetism, his casual command, that made her take this seriously.

    "I''m sure." He smiled at her and headed back to the bridge.

    "I forgot that Pellon likes you," Maxes said. "That could have gone a lot worse."

    "If he didn''t like me, I''m sure he wouldn''t have even let me on board," Sylva said. "But man, now I feel kinda bad." She rubbed the back of her neck.

    "What, why?" Maxes asked.

    "Well I have no skills, and Captain Pellon just said I could be a member of the crew- that''s like, it''s a lot." Sylva didn''t really know how to express what she was feeling.

    Maxes laughed a little. "Anyone who''s not a guest is part of the crew. Even babies. Don''t worry about being useless, I''m sure I''ll be putting you to work soon enough."

    "I look forward to it."

    "You say that now, but probably you''ll regret it the first time you''re showed up by a twelve year old."

    Privately, Sylva was used to being beaten by twelve year olds in most non-academic contexts. Her tenure at the Academy had been marked by persistent failure to show any promise while using the power; though she had the raw ability, she lacked the mental discipline that it required. Still, if the skill gap between her and twelve year olds was only in terms of skills to be learned, Sylva was hopeful that she could master things quickly enough to be of some use. And, as Pellon said, she would still be able to be a cantor.

    "I think I''ll be fine," Sylva said. "I''m motivated, after all."

    "Clearly. No one else would be making up the same crazy plans as you are." Maxes walked toward the door, and Sylva followed, still distracted by the glass on the floor. "I''m going to start composing a letter to that Maedes woman. You should go pester Jalena, she can give you a list of what the most important skills to learn while you''re onboard are."

    "Will she be busy?" Sylva asked, not wanting to bother Maxes''s wife while she was at work in the medical center.

    "Probably not. She only became a spacer when she married me," Maxes said with a note of pride in his voice. "So she knows better than most all the catching up that you¡¯ll have to do."

 Bonus Chapter: Kino, Part One - Falmar

    Falmar

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The victory on Falmar was relatively quick. Due to the relative lack of native life, biological agents were chosen to clear the planet¡¯s surface. The enemy combatants were almost completely wiped out with just a few strategic applications of the agent.¡±

    -from ¡°Falmar: the Official Commission''s Report¡±, Secret.

    </blockquote>

    Kino had always liked to wander down to the river. The water held a particular allure for her: all the eddies and swirls at the banks, the cold water rushing down from the mountains in the distance. This land was a wild land, and life was thin here. She scrambled over rocks covered in the native plants, a thin layer of greenish-yellow slime that carpeted the ground in every direction. Their miniscule roots burrowed into the rocks and transformed them into dirt, drinking up the sun and the air and making them fit for people to breathe. The slime would rub off onto her hands and make them tingle until she dipped them in the icy water.

    Her favorite place on the river was a tiny island, really not so much an island as a place where the water split into two pieces around the base of a hill, making little waterfalls at the bottom, splashing over the bouldered rocks. She climbed it high, high, her pudgy little hands grasping in the familiar cracks, her pants snagging on the sharp outcroppings. From the top, she could see so far. Behind her: the mountains. To her left, about a mile distant, was her family''s farm, where lush, edible greenery was tended by massive machines. Before her: the river, stretching on and down across the plain, curving and burbling as it went. And to her right was the wilderness: rocks strewn across a barren land, with just the occasional stray colonizing seed sprouting up into something recognizable, going on and on until the further mountains came into view.

    Her mom didn''t mind if she played out here, as long as she didn''t go past the river. Kino knew better than to try to swim in the rushing water (it was too cold), and even if she did fall in, it wasn''t so deep or that fast that she wouldn''t be able to stand up and walk out. It was a shallow river. Young, her dad had said. A young river on a young planet, ready for them to grow old together.

    Kino stood on the tallest boulder on the hill and looked up into the dusty grey sky, watching the birds wheel and tumble in the currents. Her short black hair flapped in the wind, and she brushed it angrily out of her eyes. The sun broke through the clouds and illuminated her little island, warming her cold hands.

    She loved it here, in this empty, barren world. It was the only home she had ever known, and being out here was the best way to escape the chaos of her house with a screaming baby sister and harried parents always working on keeping the farm going. She and her sister had been born here, on Falmar, but her parents had been born on some other planet, far away. Her dad had pointed out its star in the sky one night.

    Out here, Kino could just be herself, and play the games she liked to play. Today, she would play her favorite game. She sat down on the rock, and leaned back, staring up into the sky. The birds circled, and she stared at them, thinking about nothing else. She always could predict where they were going to go. They traveled in simple patterns, soaring up, then swooping down. She didn''t think about what it would be like to be a bird, she just watched them until her mind was empty, filled with only the images of them spiraling. She breathed steadily.

    When she didn''t think of anything, just like that, she could feel the whole world around her. It was so easy. She had tried to explain it to her mom, one time, but her mom had shushed her and given her the baby to hold while she cooked dinner. Kino stretched out her mind to touch the birds, to feel the puffs of warm air pushing them up higher, higher. One day she had discovered that she could make the air hot and let the birds go higher. She thought she had imagined it, at first, but the birds really did fly so high. And then she had tried making the air hot in between her hands, and she had felt it.

    Then she learned to make other things hot, too. It always took a long time, getting quiet and watching the birds before she could do anything. Then she would put her hand on a rock and make it hot. One time she had made it so hot that the rock had burned her fingers to blisters. She was more careful after that.

    Kino always liked to try new things. She had thought that if she could heat up the air without touching it, she could maybe do the same thing to a rock, and so she did. There was a nice one that she had pulled out of the river a long time ago. It was smooth, and had bands of red going across it. Nice and heavy. Kino could make it so hot that the air shimmered, and the rock started to glow. She liked to take handfuls of river water and toss them onto it to make it sizzle. That was the most fun.

    In one of her stories, her mom told her about the planet she had lived on when she was a little girl. There she had worked in a big kitchen, cooking fancy foods that they didn''t have here on Falmar. She had worked for someone famous. Kino always liked to watch her mom cook. She would make the water sizzle on the stove, too.

    Today, Kino had stolen an egg from the chicken coop. She pulled it out of her pocket and marveled for a moment at how smooth and solid it was. She knelt so that the rock was in front of her, and she made it hot. Tucking the egg between her knees, she warmed her hands over the little stone. The heat dried out the air and baked her skin. Her focus on keeping the rock hot was so intense that she didn''t stop to consider how much heat was required to cook an egg. She carefully cracked it on the ground next to her, and fumbled a little as she separated the halves. Her mom let her do this in the kitchen. She was good at it.

    The egg dribbled onto the rock and sizzled loudly, bubbling. The yolk cracked and the yellow liquid oozed out and solidified as soon as it touched the stone. Too hot, then. Kino stopped focusing on making the rock hot. She didn''t know how to make it cool, so she just had to wait. She flicked a few drops of water onto it every once in a while to see when it was done sizzling, and when they stopped making noise and just placidly slid down its side, she prodded it lightly with her finger to check the temperature. It was still hot, but cool enough that she could use a second rock to scrape off her egg. She did so, and ate the resulting mess with her fingers.

    Kino considered her handiwork. She had a lot to learn about cooking eggs, apparently. What was it that her mom knew about it that she didn''t? A lot, probably, since her mom was like, a hundred years old. Kino shivered and looked up into the sky. Thick clouds were gathering at edge of the mountains. Fat, dark things that lurked menacingly. She washed her stone in the cold water of the river, then left it in her little spot. Gingerly, she climbed down off the hill and hopped the few rocks to the other side. She ran home, chubby little legs stumbling over the occasional rock and dip in her usual path.

    She banged through the door of her house, and her mother turned and shushed her. She was jiggling the baby Bina on her lap, and in front of her were several pieces of one of their farm machines, and her mom''s computer. Kino scrunched up her face and shut the door, a little more quietly this time. She came over and looked down into Bina''s sleeping face, pursing her lips in an approximation of the baby''s peaceful look.

    "What''s the weather like out there, Kino-lino?" her mother asked, using her pet name and ruffling her hair. Kino grabbed her mom''s hand and removed it from the top of her head. She hated when she did that.

    "Gonna rain," Kino said. "Big clouds."

    "You feel like a chunk of ice. You should wear your jacket when you go out." It was true that Kino''s clothes were a little to light for the weather, just a bright orange sweater and ragged jeans. Kino pulled the sleeves of her sweater down over her hands and balled them into fists. She liked the feeling of how it pulled on her shoulders.

    "Did you get the eggs earlier?" her mom asked. Kino nodded, not admitting that she had taken one. She wandered over to the fridge and looked inside. "What do you want for dinner, Kino-lino?"

    There wasn''t much in the fridge. It was early in the year, so their greenhouse stock was on its way out, and their main crops in the fields were still growing. And they hadn''t been to the big store in town in a long time. It was a long way away and her dad didn''t like going. Kino shrugged again and closed the fridge. There was still mutton in the freezer from the sheep they had killed earlier. They would probably eat that for dinner.

    "Want to run me an errand?" Kino turned and looked at her mother. "Go tell your dad that there''s a piece missing. When he got it off the big machine he must have left something behind. And tell him to come in before it rains."

    Kino nodded and headed for the door.

    "Are you sure you don''t want to wear your coat, you little chilly bean?" But Kino was already outside before her mom could protest further. It wasn''t as though she could get up and chase her, holding little Bina. That was the good thing about a baby sister: her mom didn''t have time to bother her anymore.

    She ran around the backside of the farmhouse, towards the outbuilding where her dad fixed up the machines. He wasn''t in there. It was dark and smelled like oil, but there was no sound of her dad tinkering or working. She shut the door behind her and ran further back behind that building, to one of the barns.

    They had a lot of animals: cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, goats, even horses. The barn was always loud when the cows were inside. They were in there now, and so was her dad. He leaned against the wall in the dusky barn light, drinking water out of a little metal cup that he filled with a hose. Kino trotted over to him and looked up. He wasn''t wearing a jacket either, so Kino felt justified. It was warm in the barn, anyway.

    "What''s up, Kino-bean?" Some of the cows moo-ed at him mournfully.

    "Mom says that there''s a piece missing, and to come inside before it rains."

    "I had to get the animals in first, didn''t I?" He sounded a little out of breath, and his face was red.

    Kino didn''t say anything to that. She kicked a piece of straw into the nearby cow pen. "Your mother thinks I''m going to catch my death in the rain, but she lets you play out in that ice river. I don''t understand it."

    "I don''t swim," Kino protested flatly. Her dad laughed, and the cow in the pen next to him turned laboriously around in protest of the noise, bell on its neck jingling. Kino''s shoulders hunched up to cover her ears and block out the sound.

    "I''m just joking with you," her dad said. "Here, want to help fill the water?" She nodded, and he handed her the hose. "You put it in the trough, and I''ll turn it on for you, ok?"

    She dragged the heavy hose behind her and filled up each of the water stations. Usually one of the robots did it, but her dad knew she liked to help and look at all the animals. Some of them were lying down, upset by the oncoming weather.

    "Thanks, Kino-bean. Just hang that up here." Together, she and her dad wrestled the hose back to its customary spot on the wall. Outside, they heard the rain begin, fat drops hitting the metal roof like rocks. "Guess we''ll be late on getting home before the rain, won''t we?"

    Kino didn''t mind the rain. It was usually warmer than the river water. Thunder clapped overhead, shaking the barn. Several of the animals made unhappy sounds.

    "Race you to the workshop?" her dad asked. "I need to get that piece for your mom." They lined up at the edge of the barn doors, and her dad pulled them shut with a heavy thud. "Ready, steady, go!"

    The rain beat down on them as they splashed through rapidly forming puddles. The ground was so flat that the water had no good place to drain to, so it pooled in every indentation in the ground, turning the area into a bit of a swamp. They were soaking by time they reached the workshop, and they took shelter in its cool dark interior. Unlike the barn, it was quiet aside from the drumming of the rain on the roof. Her dad flicked on the lights, showing all the farm machines in various states of assembly. He walked over to one large grain harvester and leaned into its interior.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "Kino-bean, did your mom say what piece was missing?" His voice was muffled inside the machine.

    "No," Kino yelled, so that he would hear her over the rain. He fished around inside the interior of the machine for a while. Kino, eager to help, pulled a light off his bench and brought it over to shine into the machine.

    "Thanks," her dad said. "Got it." He emerged, triumphantly, clutching a circuit board with a few dangling wires. "Must have missed this one earlier."

    Kino replaced the light on the bench as her dad tucked the circuit board inside his shirt pocket to keep it from getting wet in the rain. "Ready to head out?"

    Kino nodded, and they repeated the mad dash back to the house. Her father banged open the kitchen door, this time, and her mother gave him the same glare. This time, though, Bina was awake, and started crying at the loud noise.

    Rain made everything grind to a halt outside the house, so Kino retreated into her room to work on schoolwork until dinner. Her room was her own place. Like the little island in the river, it was hers and hers alone. She wouldn''t even have to share with Bina, when Bina was old enough to have a real bed. There was another room that had been built just for her. So Kino decorated the space in the way she found best. Little carved rock figures her mom had made for her lined up along the wall, along with plastic figurines, woven grass dolls from their plants, and broken pieces of farm equipment cobbled together into little carts or moving little toys. She collected them all and arranged them in pleasing patterns, ruling them like her dad ruled over the robots that worked the farm.

    Kino curled up on her bed and worked on schoolwork, half paying attention to the video lessons, then answering the questions. That took until dinner, and then after dinner, she returned to her room again, free to read or play or watch a movie as she pleased.

    She could hear her parents talking through the thin walls of the house. "Are you sick?" her mom asked. "You look awful."

    "Are you about to tell me I''ve finally caught my death from being out in the rain without a coat?"

    Her mom laughed. "No. I just have to trust you''re not giving Kino too many bad ideas about appropriate weather wear."

    "Ah, she''ll be fine. She''s a native of this place. You can''t expect her to wear a coat all the time. She''s like the corn, ya know?"

    "And you''re like a delicate greenhouse tomato," her mom said. "You''re so red."

    "Maybe it''s a cold."

    "Well, don''t breathe on Bina."

    "Too bad you had me hold her all through dinner."

    "I need a break from baby sometimes."

    "I''ll trade. You can go out and deal with the farm, and I''ll stay right here with my two beautiful daughters."

    "Heh. You''d never survive."

    "Are you sure about that?"

    There were some shuffling sounds, and her mom giggled. Kino rolled over and put her headphones in her ears, poking around on her computer to play her favorite music. She didn''t need to listen to her parents complain about farmwork. Eventually, she fell asleep, and the rain pounded on the roof all night long.

    <hr>

    Kino felt red, and itchy, and out of breath when she woke up the next morning. Her mother came in to find her when she didn''t get up at her usual time to get the eggs from the coop. She stood over Kino''s bed and laid her cold hand across her forehead.

    "Can''t believe it''s you, too. You and your dad are two birds of a feather with this."

    Kino just lay there and wheezed pathetically.

    "Do you feel like you need to go to the doctor, or are you gonna be ok, Kino-lino?"

    Kino wiggled her shoulders in a lying down approximation of a shrug.

    "Well, let me take your temperature, and we''ll see if we need to go into town, alright?"

    Her mom vanished and returned a little later with the thermometer. Kino''s temperature wasn''t too much higher than normal. Nothing dangerous.

    "Alright, looks like we''ll just be waiting this one out, okay? I''ll get some soup on. Gimme a shout if you need anything." Her mom left.

    Her dad shuffled in a little later, as Kino was laying in bed staring at the ceiling. His face was beet red, and he sounded even more out of breath than he had the day before. "I heard you caught something from me, Kino-bean?"

    Kino nodded, feeling a little bit miserable. Her dad took her phone and took a picture of them both. "Look how red we are."

    In the dim light of Kino''s bedroom, they both did look extremely flushed.

    "Don''t know where we could have gotten a germ from. None of us have been in town in a long time." He ruffled her hair, and she swatted his hand away. "You feeling ok?"

    "Hot," Kino wheezed.

    "Tell me about it, babygirl. Maybe take a bath and you''ll feel better." Kino had very little interest in bathing. She wished she weren''t so tired, so she could go outside and play and look at the birds. "I''m gonna go lay down, alright? You let me know if you need anything. Want me to open the window?"

    Kino nodded as vigorously as she could without making her head hurt, and her dad slowly stood up off her bed and went to open the window. She noticed that his hands were shaking. The cold breeze that came in was an immediate relief on Kino''s sweaty face, and she took a few breaths, as deep as she could.

    "Yell at your mom if you want someone to close that, okay?" Kino nodded again. Her dad blew her a kiss and shuffled back out of her room.

    Kino slept fitfully, alternating between boiling hot and bone chilling cold. The day was bright and sunny, and the light that poured through her open window disturbed her sleep. Her mother brought her soup during the day, and made sure she ate it. It seemed to be a passing bug, because by the night, Kino was feeling much improved. She was still sweaty and red, but her breathing was less restricted, and her energy had returned.

    She found her mom in the kitchen the next morning, rocking a crying baby Bina. Bina was bright red, and Kino couldn''t tell if that was just from her screaming, or if she was sick as well.

    "Feeling better, Kino-lino?"

    Kino nodded.

    "Want to hold Bina for a bit? I need to check on your dad." Kino held her arms out, and her mother deposited the screaming baby in them. Bina was always heavier than she looked, and she only seemed to be getting more heavy every day. Kino wasn''t going to drop her, though. She was good at holding her sister; that was why her mom let her do it.

    "Hi Bina," Kino whispered to her little sister. As she held her arms underneath the baby''s fat legs, Kino bobbed up and down, rocking them both. She stared into Bina''s little dark eyes, and eventually she quieted down. Maybe she was just tired from screaming so much. The red color faded from her face, so it had just been from the crying. Bina had such a cute little nose. Had Kino looked like that when she was a baby? She couldn''t even imagine it.

    She bounced around the warm kitchen, holding Bina until her mom came back out.

    "Kino," her mom said, unusually serious. "I think I need to take your dad to the doctor in town."

    "Okay," Kino said, continuing to bounce Bina.

    "How do you feel?" Her mom asked.

    Kino shrugged as well as she could while still holding the baby. She felt much better. In fact, she felt wide awake since she had been in bed for a night and a day and a night.

    "Let me take your temperature."

    Her mom got the thermometer and Kino obediently opened her mouth to let her mom put it in. Bina reached up one of her chubby little hands to grab at it, but Kino yanked her head out of the way and Bina got her hair tangled up in her fingers instead. That was okay. She would let Bina touch her hair because Bina didn''t know any better.

    "Hmmm, looks fine. I think your dad¡¯s lungs have gotten a bit worse?" Her mom sounded unsure. "Will you be okay at home with Bina?"

    Kino nodded.

    "We shouldn''t be gone more than a couple hours. I don''t want to bring you both into town. You know where her food is?"

    Kino wandered over to the fridge, balanced Bina on her hip, and pulled out one of the bottles of milk that were in there.

    "Excellent. Remember you need to warm it up before you give it to her."

    There was an apprehensive look on her mother''s face, but Kino didn''t mind. She happily hoisted Bina higher onto her chest and poked at her face. Bina giggled a little bit. Her mom vanished into the bedroom, and came out a minute later with her dad. His face was a deep red, and he struggled to breathe. Every breath sounded like a horrible wheeze.

    "See¡­ you¡­ later¡­ Kino¡­bean," he wheezed. He patted her on the head, and she would have brushed his hand off if she wasn''t so busy holding up Bina. "Bye¡­Baby¡­Bina."

    Kino looked up at him, then gently butted her head against his side. She hoped he would have a good trip to town.

    "Okay, if you need me, call me right away, okay? And stay inside. I don''t want you bringing Bina to the river, especially not with all the rain we''ve been having."

    Kino nodded.

    "Alright, see you in a little while." Her mom smiled grimly and helped support her dad on the way out the door. Kino watched them go out the window. She heard the dull thrum of their family truck start up, and watched as it traveled off down the beaten dirt past their fields, following the river to town, many kilometers away.

    She and Bina had a fine day together. Kino cooked herself eggs (on the stove this time), and warmed up Bina''s milk and fed her. She changed her diaper, even though that was gross. And they played a fun game, where Kino held up Bina''s arms, and then helped her pretend to walk around. Kino liked to do that; it was fun. More fun than putting Bina on the floor and laying there with her while she flopped around.

    It was a good thing that the robots could take care of most of the farm jobs. Kino didn''t know how to do very many, aside from collect the eggs. She did know how to do her schoolwork, though, and she showed it to Bina. Bina didn''t care about books. She just kept sticking her hands in her mouth and drooling. That was what babies were like.

    Her mom and dad weren''t back by dinner time, so Kino made herself more eggs for dinner. That was the only food she knew how to cook, really. And even then, the eggs all stuck to the pan and got too crispy. She would have to have her mom help her later. She put Bina to bed after that, in her little crib, and Kino curled up in her parents'' big empty bed, so that she would hear Bina if she cried.

    Kino got a text message from her mom.

    > Hi Kino-lino. We have to stay in town overnight. Are you doing ok?

    < yes

    > That''s good. Dad says he loves you. Tell Bina that, ok?

    < ok

    > Do you have enough milk and food?

    < yes

    > That''s good. I''ll bring you back something fun from town, ok?

    < ok

    > Goodnight Kino and Bina

    < goodnight

    Kino did not say anything to Bina, who was asleep.

    <hr>

    When Kino woke up the next morning, she went out and collected the eggs like usual. She changed Bina, and warmed up some milk for her on the stove. She fed it to her in the bottle. Then she cooked herself some eggs.

    All day long, she hovered with one eye on her phone, waiting for her mom to send her another message. She didn''t want to send one herself, because her mom was probably busy.

    By time night came, Kino hadn''t heard anything. She curled up in her parents'' bed again, this time putting Bina on the blanket next to her. They cuddled up together, in the warm and dark house, waiting for their parents to return. Bina probably didn''t know what was going on, but she cried anyway, and Kino couldn''t make her stop, no matter how much she held her and rocked her.

    <hr>

    The next day, Kino sat out on the front porch, holding Bina in her lap, looking across the cold expanse of their farm, hoping that the cloud of dirt kicked up by their family truck would come into view over the tops of the grains.

    It didn''t come, and by the end of the day, Kino was out of even frozen milk for Bina. She didn''t know if cows milk would be good for her, but when Bina cried from hunger, that was what Kino went to the barn to go get. The animals there were listless. Although the robots took good care of them, it was still her dad who made sure the robots were doing the correct things. Kino didn''t know how to best take care of the animals; she was still dwarfed by the cows and horses.

    Kino fed Bina cows milk, and settled in for another long, sleepless night.

    <hr>

    The next day, a strange man came to their door. He knocked on the window, and Kino put Bina down on the floor and went out to him. He had pale skin, and was wearing thick, rough clothes. His hair was long, and he smelled like the river water.

    It almost felt like a dream. There was something about him that made her trust him. Maybe it was just that she had been abandoned by her family for several days, and she needed some adult around to tell her what to do, but this man was here, and she was going to do what he said.

    He spoke quietly in a language that Kino didn''t know, and gestured for Kino to follow him. They walked together to the barn, and he saddled the two horses without speaking. He led them and Kino back to the house and walked into the kitchen while Kino held the horses reins outside. Kino watched him rifle through their cupboards and pull out food, and put it in her father''s lunch bags that he kept hanging on the door. The man tied the lunch bags to the saddles of the horses. Then he took Bina''s sling, and tied it around his shoulders, and put Bina in it.

    Kino let him. He wasn''t going to hurt them.

    The man helped Kino onto one horse, and made sure her little feet were steady in the stirrups. Then he lept onto the other, holding baby Bina gently. He clucked his tongue and urged the horses on, holding both reins. They walked off the farm, a long, long way, towards town.

 Bonus chapter: Kino, Part Two - Hanathue

    Hanathue

    <blockquote>

    ¡°K.M. has presented a unique challenge to the assessment board. Her scores for intellectual functioning are uneven, with superior mathematical ability and below average reading comprehension, and her verbal and social skills are extremely lacking. No records exist from her previous education (which may have been interrupted for several years). Because of the extenuating circumstances, we cannot be sure if her lack of language is due to selective mutism from trauma, an underlying developmental disability, or a combination of these factors. It is the board¡¯s recommendation that she remain in her current class and grade, with 5 hours of pull-out services (3 S.T., 1 S.W., 1 O.T.) per week. We will reassess in 6 months. If she shows academic decline or behavioral problems, we will consider moving her to an alternative classroom.¡±

    -from ¡°Kino Mejia: Educational Progress Assessment, Grade 3¡±, Traver City E.S. 17, Special Education Division

    </blockquote>

    Traver City on Hanathue was a dark, dirty place full of yelling, angry people, and Kino hated every second she spent living there. It was better than being in quarantine, but only marginally.

    The worst part of it was being separated from Bina. The second worst part was going to school.

    She had never been around that many people her own age in her life, and she was beginning to find that she hated them. They were so loud, loud, loud all the time, and it made her want to cover her ears and cry. She didn''t cry, though, and she stoically came to school every day.

    "If you''re good," they said, "you can come visit your sister in the afternoon." So she had to be good, and she had to do what they said, all day long, even if all she wanted to do was to go outside and look up at the birds who circled the skies above the city.

    In the first year of being on Hanathue, Kino had lost most of her childhood pudginess. She wasn''t starved, but the food tickets they got as refugees didn''t go very far. Everyone else who had come from Falmar was in the same situation. The other children at school could pick her out as a Falmar kid out from the crowd. Maybe it was the way that everyone from endlessly flat farms were universally awed by the massive buildings of the city, no matter how long they lived there, or the way that they all tended to speak New Imperial in a accent that was completely different than the Hanathue drawl. Whatever it was that made them stand out, it made them targets. People thought they were bad luck. Even the teacher did.

    When Kino walked around in the hallways, no one would let her shoulder brush hers. No one would shake her hand, or pick up her pen when it fell on the floor. No one would sit near her at lunch, and in the classroom anyone assigned to the desk next to hers would scoot as far away as possible. Although she hated people touching her, usually, and she didn''t even want to talk, Kino could see that this was a targeted campaign against her. She held her head high anyway. She had been through quarantine. There was no way she was still contagious. And even if she was, sitting an extra few centimeters away wasn''t going to protect anyone.

    This particular day had started out on the wrong foot. It had been raining in the city. Rain didn''t bring back bad memories for Kino, not precisely, but when the sky grew dark and cloudy and a certain light filled the air, she couldn''t help but remember those last few days on her family''s farm. Dashing through the storm from the barn to the house with her dad, listening to the rain hit their roof in rattling static bursts.

    She trudged alone through the city streets from the group home to school. Most of the other people in the group home were older than she was, and all of them were Hanathue natives. She was the only person from Falmar who had come to that particular home. Bina had been sent to a foster family, since she was so young. And cute. Bina was cute, but Kino was not. Bina would laugh and talk. Kino would not.

    Kino stepped through the streets, carefully treading along the same pattern of bricks she stepped on every single day, rain or shine. When there were puddles in her way, she carefully tiptoed. Adults, walking to their jobs, and other children walking to school all passed her by in a mad and constant rush. She kept her own pace, and arrived at school at exactly the prescribed time.

    The first bell shrieked as she walked in the door, and she hunched her shoulders up and yanked at the sleeves of her uniform miserably. She hated the stiff fabric, and she hated wearing so much of it. She was too warm all the time. The school was a squat, older building that had not been renovated even as the taller buildings around it had. It was dingy and underfunded, and the hallways were crowded with kids rushing this way and that. Kino stared down at the floor as she trudged up the three stairways to her classroom. Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Nietzal, would yell at her if she was late.

    She squeaked in the door just in time, and slid into her seat.

    "I was hoping she wouldn''t be here today," someone whispered behind her. Kino ignored it. She kept her head down, and just stared at the flat, blank surface of her desk. There was no pattern to the scratches there. Nothing she could latch on to and let her mind go blank. She missed the birds.

    "You think she''s ever washed her uniform?" Someone else giggled. She had to ignore it.

    "Ewwwwww." Kino didn''t know what they were reacting to. She didn''t look up. She didn''t look up.

    Mr. Nietzal came into the room as the bell rang again. It always shook Kino when it did, and she jumped in her seat.

    "Good morning," Mr. Nietzal trilled. "Did you all remember that we''re having an event this morning?"

    "Only because there wasn''t breakfast!" one kid shouted from the back. Please be quiet, Kino begged internally. Please.

    "They were setting up the cafeteria for the special guests we''re having. Do you know what it''s for?"

    Everyone shook their head or mumbled out suggestions. Mr. Nietzal counted them back down into silence. "Three, two, one¡­" The class quieted down.

    "So, I don''t know how much you know about this, but every few years we test all of our students¨C"

    A veritable riot broke out at the word test. Kids started groaning and complaining. Kino put her head down on her desk and covered her head with her hands.

    "Five, four, three, two, one," Mr. Nietzal said and the class quieted down. "It isn''t a school test. You don''t have to do anything, just talk to one of the nice people, okay?"

    "What happens if we fail?" one of the other students yelled.

    "We need to raise our hands when we ask questions," Mr. Nietzal said. There was a moment of silence. "Yes, Jaylinn?"

    "What happens if we fail?"

    "This isn''t a test where you pass or fail. It''s like the tests we do to see if you need glasses."

    "My mom doesn''t want me to wear glasses," someone yelled.

    Mr. Neitzal took a deep breath. "You''re not getting glasses, this is for something different. And please raise your hand before you yell something out. Yes Cadwell?"

    "What''s it for, then?"

    "Some people, very rarely, have something special about them, and they need to go to a different school because of it. We''re just going to check for that. Lamber?"

    "Good special or special special?" Someone groaned, and someone else protested.There was the sound of a slight scuffle behind Kino. She ignored it as best she could, keeping her head on her desk.

    "Let''s be polite and keep our hands on our own bodies, okay? I''ll explain it, if you stay settled in your seat. I''m waiting." Eventually the noises in the room returned to their normal level. "I have a video that we were given to show you. Give me one second to get it set up."

    "Yesssss!" Watching a video was apparently the favorite pastime of half of her class. Kino didn''t particularly care for it over the lesson. People were just as badly behaved, whether a video was playing or not.

    "Let me get the lights!"

    "We don''t need to turn the lights off¨C" The light peeking in between Kino''s desk and face abruptly vanished. "But I guess we can have the lights off if you really want." Mr. Nietzal was a long suffering man.

    Music thrummed from the front of the classroom, a jaunty and childish sounding song. Kino picked her head up off the desk slightly, so that she could see the video. It showed a woman, dressed in a long, black coat, walking down a path surrounded by green trees. The camera zoomed in on her, and she stopped her walk and smiled at the camera. The whole thing was already very saccharine and artificial.

    "Hello, and welcome to the Academy entrance exam testing session. My name is Karleigh Thorne, and I''m a graduating senior at the Academy on Emerri. I''m here to explain the testing process to you and to answer any questions you might have.

    "Right now, you may be wondering exactly what you''re about to be tested for. Don''t worry! This isn''t an academic test, and you don''t have to do anything. This also isn''t something you can pass or fail. What we''re doing is looking to see if you are a sensitive." The word ''SENSITIVE'' flashed up on the screen, in bold letters. The woman resumed her walk down the path, chatting conspiratorially with the camera.

    "Do you know what a sensitive is? You may have heard of them before, but you probably haven''t ever met one. About one out of a million people are sensitives.

    "Sensitives are just like you, except for one little difference. They all have a power granted to them by God, and they can use it to do all sorts of incredible things." She smiled at the camera. "I myself am a sensitive. If you don''t mind, I''d like to demonstrate a little bit of what I can do."

    "Look at this apple." She pulled an apple out of her pocket and held it up. "I can make it move by itself." The apple whirled around, hovering above her hand. Kino wasn''t very impressed. Anybody with a camera and a computer could do something like that. "I can cut it, too." The apple split into neat segments, as though it had been cut by an invisible knife. One of the segments floated over to the woman''s mouth, and she took a bite out of it.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    The camera cut away to still shots of a planet floating in space. The same woman''s voice continued as a narrator. "But most of what sensitives do isn''t just fun tricks. Sensitives are the only people who can create the stardrives that make ships work." A ship jumped into the empty space around the planet. Wiggly green illustrations of radio waves moved between the ship and the planet. "Sensitives also create ansibles, to allow planets to talk to each other faster than the speed of light. Our whole Empire depends on their contributions."

    The camera returned to the woman, now walking toward a building. "You''ve probably seen famous sensitives in the news. For example, our leader, the Voice of the Empire, First Sandreas, is a sensitive. Many other leaders in planetary governments are sensitives also. It''s because these people have such great potential to help the Empire, that we test the whole population to find them.

    "It looks like testing is happening in here now. Let''s go see how it works."

    The camera cut to the interior of a building, though Kino was suspicious that it wasn''t the same one that was shown from the outside. The production values on this were really low, she thought. Her dad had always liked watching movies, so Kino had seen enough to judge what was good entertainment and what wasn''t.

    Onscreen, there were a group of kids, between the ages of maybe five and ten, all standing in a line. A man holding a strange tube stood in front of them. The woman came up to him and smiled.

    "Dr. Yopa, are you testing people today?"

    "That''s exactly what I''m doing, Ms. Thorne. Do you remember when you were tested?"

    "Of course, how could I forget?"

    "Would you mind being my tester for a moment? I want to show these kids how it''s done," the man said.

    "Of course!"

    "Alright, just sit right here for me. Now kids, watch what I''m going to do for Ms. Throne here." The woman sat down on the chair, and the man took his tube and waved it all around her head. "Ms. Thorne, could you focus on this video for me?" The man handed her a tablet that was playing some sort of video. The camera was oriented such that Kino couldn''t see what was being shown.

    "Excellent," the man said. "And just like that, we''re all done. Congratulations, Ms. Thorne, you are a sensitive." They both laughed like it was the funniest joke in the world. "Alright, now which one of you is next?"

    The woman stood up and walked out. Over her shoulder, the screen showed one of the kids sitting down on the chair and going through the same procedure, but it didn''t linger on them. The woman was back outside, now.

    "So you see, it''s a very quick and simple procedure to be tested. In the rare case that you are a sensitive, we will notify your parents or guardians and let you know what''s going to happen. It''s very unlikely that anyone in your school will be a sensitive, but we test everyone just in case. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding!"

    The film cut to more jaunty music and credits. Mr. Nietzal was standing by the lightswitch, and he turned them on. Kino was momentarily blinded by the light, and she winced. She wasn''t really sure what to think of the whole thing. It didn''t seem like¡­ well¡­ Kino had never made anything fly around like that, and she had certainly never built a stardrive, but there was¡­ She didn''t really want to think about it. She was going to be tested, and that would prove something, one way or another.

    She hadn''t ever told anyone about her hot rocks. She liked to keep things quiet, in general. Her parents would have been mad at her for stealing eggs, probably, so she had never mentioned it. And it wasn''t like Bina was old enough to care.

    "Great, so, as the video said, it''s unlikely that this will affect any of you, which is why we test the school every couple of years, rather than every year. You shouldn''t have to go through this again. We just have to wait until we''re all called down by class. You can have, uh, some free time until then. It shouldn''t be more than a couple minutes. Stay in your seats, please, voices at level three."

    Immediately, kids disregarded that instruction and scooted their chairs around to talk loudly with their friends, or got up to wander the classroom. Mr. Nietzal leaned against the wall, mentally checked out.

    Kino stared at the surface of her desk, and pulled out a pencil. She needed to know. Could she make it fly? She concentrated on it so intensely that her head began to hurt.

    "What are you doing, sicko?" one of the other kids asked her, leaning in closer than most people would. "You think you''re special? Hah." He blew hard across her desk, and the pencil rolled off it and fell to the floor. Kino leaned down to pick it up, and he kicked at the legs of her chair, making her almost fall to the ground. She wanted to go home. She clutched the pencil tightly in her hand. It was true that she hadn''t managed to make it fly. There probably wasn''t anything going on with her.

    It had even been a long time since she had made the rocks hot. It had been a long time since she had been peaceful by the river, and she hadn''t tried it since. There was a part of her that now was worrying that she had imagined it. Perhaps she had just fallen asleep and dreamed about eating eggs. Perhaps the time she had burned her hands, she had actually just fallen and scraped them. Perhaps watching the birds drift higher and higher had nothing to do with her thoughts or actions, and had only to do with random happenstance and the sun shining warm over patches of ground.

    "Class 3C, please report to the cafeteria for testing," the intercom announced. Mr. Neitzal interrupted everyone''s chatting, and luckily distracted Kino''s tormentor from his teasing. He got the class to line up, not without difficulty, and escorted them all down towards the cafeteria.

    Kino was at the end of the line, where she preferred to be. At the back, no one could bother her from behind, and there was a little bit of extra room for her to dawdle anywhere. They made it to the cafeteria. There was a long line of students, and several people testing them with machines. The video that they had watched was apparently accurate, because the process took less than a minute for each person, and there was no kicking or screaming, so it must have been less painful than getting one of the vaccine shots they gave out sometimes. Kids just sat down and were told to look at a screen while someone pointed a weird device at their head. Kino bounced on her tiptoes in line, waiting her turn. The line crawled forward, and the cafeteria was loud with so many people in it. She was grateful that they called people down by class. She couldn''t imagine having the whole school in here at once.

    Actually, she could imagine it, and she hated it. Kino always did her best to escape whole school assemblies, with their loudspeakers and close quarters groups of kids crammed in. It was much better to hide in the bathroom whenever one was coming up. No one ever took attendance, so she was able to get away with it, most of the time. She had to stay for this, though. Her shoulders crept up to her ears, trying to block some of the noise, and she pulled relentlessly on the sleeve of her shirt, further fraying the already unraveling hem. The woman who ran the group home would be mad if she noticed that Kino''s uniform was getting destroyed, but Kino couldn''t stop her nervous pulling and picking.

    Eventually, it was her turn, and she walked on tip toes to the testing area, sitting down in the chair just like everyone else had before her.

    "Kino Mejia?" the tester asked. Kino nodded. "Great. Can you focus on this picture for me?" He pointed at a screen set up so that only people sitting in the chair could see it. It didn''t look like much to Kino, just a mass of swirling static. She looked at it, trying to see if there were any patterns. It mostly just made her eyes sore.

    "Hey Karl, I think my meter just died, do we have a spare?" her tester asked, shouting over the din of the cafeteria toward one of his coworkers.

    "It died? What do you mean?"

    "I''m not getting any reading over here."

    "Alright, let me check it out." Another man wandered over to Kino, and studied the device in the first man''s hand. Kino looked away from the screen to watch what they were doing, nervously. "Try it now," Karl said.

    "Same result." Her original tester was frustrated, and slapped the device against his palm. Kino wanted to ask if everything was ok, if she was causing a problem, but the words were stuck in her throat.

    "Try it on me?" Karl asked. The first man held the device up to his coworker''s head, then checked the reading.

    "Oh, that''s very weird." The two men frowned at it.

    "Kino, sweetie, let''s try this again," the first man said. "Pay very close attention to the screen, please."

    Kino obediently focused on the screen, opening her eyes as wide as they would go, and staring so intently at the blurry swirls that her eyes dried out.

    Karl whispered to the first man, clearly not intending for Kino to hear, but she heard anyway. "Is she, uh, all there?"

    "I''ll ask her teacher." Her first tester walked off to talk to Mr. Nietzal.

    "You don''t have to look at that anymore, sweetheart," Karl said. Kino blinked and sat back in the chair, grateful to not need to look at the screen anymore. The first tester came back, a somewhat relieved look on his face.

    "Well, that answers that question, I guess."

    "It''s a no, then?"

    "Of course it''s a no, I just thought the machine was broken at first." The two men laughed. "You''re all set, Kino." Kino got up and left, glancing backwards at the two men. She wondered what exactly had gone wrong with her test, and what Mr. Nietzal had told them. It couldn''t have been anything good.

    Even though there wasn''t anybody in her school who had passed the test, as far as Kino could tell, this rejection, in particular this way that they asked if she was All There, that hurt. It hurt more than she had expected. It was as though her whole life on Falmar had just been a dream. A dream of having a family, a dream of being able to do things, a dream of feeling like a human being, a dream of¨C. A dream of being happy. And she was rudely awakened from it again and again by the harsh noises of the city, of her classmates, of her alarm clock in the group home, blaring at her. She covered her ears.

    No, that wasn''t the group home alarm clock. That was the fire alarm. Teachers, roused from their lazy positions leaning against the walls, started assembling classes into lines and ushering them out the door. The men doing the testing stood around looking confused as children rushed around them toward the emergency exits. Kino stood still, trembling in the floor for a moment and covering her ears, until one of the teachers came around and grabbed her by the elbow, escorting her out of the building.

    Though the scene on the street was chaotic, with children standing in haphazard lines and teachers calling out names for attendance, the blaring of the alarm was muted and the air was fresh and clear. The sky had cleared into a pale blue, and it was brisk and a little windy out. Something in the smell of the air reminded Kino of Falmar, and she smiled for the first time in a while. As she stood in the back of her class line, she was finally able to let her hands drop off her ears and stare up at the sky.

    Birds wheeled and tumbled in the air above the city, dashing from signs to light posts to building awnings to trash cans. Kino watched their dance with a familiar patience. There were no massive thermals here to sweep the birds higher and higher, but little birds or big birds, they all flew the same. She loved them, and she watched them go, tuning out the noises of her classmates and the dull blaring of the alarm within the building. Her mind drifted away into that calm place she remembered.

    Just out of curiosity, Kino glanced around the sidewalk where her class was lined up, and saw a nearby piece of landscaping filled with rocks surrounding small flower pots. She stepped out of line, not really caring or paying attention, and took one, feeling its satisfying, cold weight in her hands.

    She stared up at the birds, and clenched the rock in her fist. She focused on it, drowning out everything else. She could feel it growing warmer and warmer, but was that just her hands heating it up? How could she know that it was real?

    "Kino, back in line," Mr. Nietzal shouted from further down on the sidewalk. "And please don''t touch the flowerbed."

    "What do you need a rock for?" somebody asked. Kino was jolted out of her reverie.

    "She''s gonna put it in up her nose so it can rattle around with the rest of them in her brain."

    Kino stood still, frozen, listening to the taunts of her classmates. Maybe they were right. The rock grew hotter and hotter in her hand. Hotter, and hotter, and hotter.

    "Can I take a rock, too?" Someone else asked Mr. Nietzal.

    "No. Kino, put the rock back, please."

    She was frozen in place, like she couldn''t move a muscle. The alarm screamed behind her; the other kids screamed in front of her; the birds had a shrieking chorus overhead.

    "Give me the rock!" Someone lunged at her, a boy with slicked back brown hair. Kino was holding her hands in front of her, clutching the rock, and he pried them apart. "Ahh! She bit me!"

    Mr. Nietzal rushed over, seeing the altercation. Kino hadn''t bitten anyone. She was so still, holding her rock as it burned her hands. She walked away. The rock had burned someone else, too. It was real. She knew what she had to do.

    "Kino, come back here!" Mr. Nietzal said. She ignored him, and carefully pushed through the crowd of students, cradling the rock in her hands. She didn''t want to hurt anyone else, but she needed to prove to someone else that this was real. The testers were leaning against the wall, watching the relative chaos of the student scene. They had abandoned their equipment inside as the fire alarm rang, and they were waiting along with everyone else to go back in. They were shivering slightly; their work clothes were much thinner than the school uniforms of the kids.

    Kino stood in front of them resolutely, her fingers burning. They looked down at her. She held her hands out, opening them up like a flower. She saw the red welts on her hands where her rock had burned her.

    Mr. Nietzal arrived to grab Kino just as the tester yelled out for someone to get the nurse. The scene devolved into chaos, and Kino''s hands kept smarting long after someone shook her arms enough to get her to drop the stone. It rolled onto the street.

 Bonus chapter: Kino, Part Three - Emerri

    Emerri

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Vena is one of the most common street drugs within the Empire. Though the drug originated on Lekke, its use has spread through a massive smuggling operation that carries it to anywhere there are people with charges to spend. Now, you may ask, why would people risk breaking the law by smuggling (a crime that can be punished by up to three years in a mining colony)? The answer is that it¡¯s a lucrative business. And why do people buy Vena, despite it being a dangerously addictive drug and illegal to possess (punishable by up to two years imprisonment on Emerri)? Because Vena takes a person out of their own mind, but only for a little while. It¡¯s not worth the risk; drugs are only a temporary solution to any problem.¡±

    -from ¡°Vena is an Agent of Evil¡±, propaganda pamphlet produced by F.I.D.R. (First Introduction to Drug Resistance) for use at the Academy

    </blockquote>

    Kino had been at the Academy for several years, and she had been a resounding failure at making friends. It could have been due to growing up in a place where it was only her family around, and it could have been due to her general attitudes towards life, and it could have been due to people just not liking her, but whatever it was, Kino found herself alone most of the time.

    And being alone with her thoughts, especially when meditation encouraged such rumination, led to nothing but problems for Kino. She couldn''t remember the last time she had slept through the night without a nightmare. It might have been before she even left Falmar, for all she knew. When she had been in the group home on Hanathue, she hadn''t been able to wander, because she hadn''t known the extent of her abilities, and she hadn''t felt confident in her place in the world. And in her first years at the Academy, she had been in the group dorms that had been monitored and locked at night. Now all bets were off. She was fifteen, and and that meant she didn''t have minders anymore. She could enter and leave her little dorm room as she pleased. And she did please.

    Somehow, she had gotten a single room. Maybe the dorm authority had talked to her mentor and decided it would be better if she was alone. People weren''t mean to her, precisely, but they didn''t talk to her and she didn''t talk to them. Some said she was creepy. Kino was grateful for her single room. It made leaving easier. She stripped off her uniform cassock and left it on the ground, shutting the door tightly behind her.

    She crept out into the Academy grounds. There wasn''t any need for her to sneak; it was perfectly allowable for her to leave, and no one could have stopped her even if it wasn''t. Still, she walked quietly because that had become her nature. The late fall air was brisk and chilly, but Kino didn''t regret leaving her heavy uniform behind. There were days when it felt so restricting that she couldn''t bear it. She just wanted to tear her skin off.

    Both moons were out, large and small, and the small one moved visibly across the sky as Kino stared up at it through the bare tree branches. She crossed campus, taking the paths and mouthing silently to herself. Prayers. That was what she was supposed to say. And if she was muttering prayers, she wasn''t chewing her fingers up. That was what one of the minders had said to her, and Kino had taken the advice a little too much to heart. It was one thing to talk spontaneously. That was something that everyone who knew her said she had a problem with. But it was another thing entirely to pray without ceasing. Memorized words would come much more easily to her lips than anything else.

    On the other side of campus from the dorms, the hill down into the city dropped off into a steep set of roads. Kino looked out over it for a minute, her breath freezing in the air and clouding her vision underneath the glowing lamps. Stars peeked out from behind clouds, and a heavy stillness hung in the air over the city. The lights were distant blurs, the ordered streets crossing around and around, with the vague menacing shadow of Stonecourt in the distance. After a moment of contemplation, looking out over the city, Kino started the long journey down the staircases away from the Academy.

    She didn''t mind that the walk was long and tedious. She could have caught a bus if she had an actual destination in mind. But she didn''t. She just wanted to walk around, to clear her head from her nightmare, and to invigorate herself for the day to come. She would have to return to her dorm room and sleep eventually, but not now.

    When she reached the bottom of the steps, she broke out into longer strides, half jogging, her heels never touching the ground. If she did it fast enough, the wind would catch underneath her fingers and she could almost feel like a little flying bird. The birds were all asleep now, of course, just like most people in the city should be.

    She traveled a familiar circuit around the city. No one bothered her because no one was there. Even the clubs, where thrumming music could still be heard, were beginning to empty for the night. It was late.

    "Hey," someone said.

    Kino almost didn''t stop. She was caught up in her mouthing a prayer, and puzzling out the intricacies of the bright streetlights. Then he said it again, louder.

    "Hey."

    Kino stopped, taking a few steps to come to a complete halt. She looked around. There was a man sitting on a stoop, smoking some sort of herbal cigarette. She could smell the cloves in it from here. He blew the smoke out in a long plume.

    "Goin somewhere? I see you every night," he said.

    Kino shook her head, braids flopping around on either side of her face.

    "You aren''t cold? Here, sit down." He scooted to the side of the stoop, leaving space for Kino to sit. She hesitated for a moment, but if he was going to try to do something to her, he already would have, and she felt confident in her ability to defend herself. People had said she was altogether too trusting, but that couldn''t be helped, could it? If there was one thing that Kino had shown a repeated pattern of doing, it was putting all her trust in strange men who had walked into her life for no discernible reason. It hadn''t yet worked out too badly for her.

    She sat down.

    He passed her the cigarette and she took a drag of it. It burned on the way down and she coughed, hard. He laughed at her and took it back.

    "What''s your name?" he asked.

    She could answer that one easily enough. "Kino. Kino Mejia."

    "Live around here, Kino?"

    She pointed vaguely in the direction of the Academy.

    "How old are you? You look pretty young to be wandering around at night." The man was probably in his mid twenties. He was wearing a ratty red sweatshirt and had curly brown hair that caught the light of the streetlights and danced in the wind. His nose was crooked and the top of his lip looked messed up. He had nice eyes, though.

    "Fifteen," Kino said.

    "Your parents know you''re out here?"

    Kino shrugged. There was a theological answer to that question and a practical answer to that question, and she didn''t really feel like getting into it with this stranger. He laughed again and took another drag from his cigarette.

    "Yeah, me too." She didn''t know what he was agreeing with. They sat in silence for a while. "Why''re you walking around every night? Seems crazy to me. Talkin to yourself and everything."

    Kino didn''t respond for a minute, and he waited in patient silence. It seemed as though he actually wanted an answer, so Kino strung one together. "I have bad dreams. I like to clear my head."

    "You know, if you take the same path every night, someone''s gonna getcha."

    Kino shook her head.

    "Heh. You''re not afraid of people?"

    Kino wouldn''t say she was afraid of people or not. She didn''t think that anything bad would happen from walking around, though. She tried to think of a way to express this to the stranger.

    "Everything that''s bad has already happened to me," she said.

    "If I had a drink I''d drink to that," he said. He passed her the cigarette again. This time, Kino knew what to expect, and she managed to not cough quite so hard, even though it burned and tickled in her throat. "But you''re still alive, so there has to be some worse thing you should be worrying about."

    Kino shrugged.

    "I''m Mahmoud, by the way," he said. Kino handed him back the cigarette. Something in it made her head buzz, not entirely unpleasantly. They sat in companionable silence for a while, passing the cigarette back and forth. Kino didn''t know what to think of him, but he made no moves to hurt her. Eventually, though, Kino''s legs got jittery, and the cigarette burned down to a nub. She was feeling a lot better, and she didn''t know if she should attribute that to the blur of the cigarette, the crisp night air and her walk, or the companionship of this man who didn''t seem to want to yell at her. Any one of those things could have done it.

    She stood up, stretching, and Mahmoud looked up at her.

    "Headed home?"

    Kino shrugged. There was still a bit of time before she needed to be back at the Academy, so she could walk further, but also, the purpose of her walk had been to feel better and to distract her from her bad dream. That had been accomplished. So she probably should make the long, slow trek up to the Academy, and try to get some uninterrupted sleep for the few hours before she had to go to class.

    "Will I see you tomorrow?"

    Kino shrugged again, but they both knew that it was likely that he would see her again. After all, she walked the same circuit of the city basically every night. It was rare that she didn''t sneak, just walk really, out of her dorm and down to the city.

    "Well, goodnight, Kino."

    "Goodnight," Kino forced out, then turned and headed back up the street. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mahmoud pull out another cigarette from inside his shirt pocket, and light it. The dim ember at its tip was a little star.

    She came to see him basically every night thereafter. He was always sitting on the stoop and smoking. Why he was always up, she didn''t know at first, but she came to appreciate his company. It had been a long time since she had had someone to just sit and be with. Not since her parents had died, or maybe even since Bina got adopted by someone else.

    She and Mahmoud developed a little routine. She would walk down the street, and he would call out to her. She would sit down, and they would share whatever he was smoking. It gave Kino enough of a pleasant buzz to be able to stomach the walk back up to the Academy. He would talk at her, just a little bit, but he learned quickly that she didn''t have very much to say back. She was always listening, though, and she learned a lot about what he was like and what he did. Apparently, he was up so late all the time because he was getting ready to go to work. He worked early shift at a bakery, and he liked to get some quiet time with a smoke in before he went there. His house was crazy during the day because he lived with his sister and her husband, and there were three children who were loud and cute, but mostly loud. Apparently he appreciated Kino''s silent companionship as much as she did his slightly more talkative one.

    He had some sort of side job that brought him all over town, and he often complained to Kino about the annoyance of making deliveries and the foibles of some of his customers. One night, as he puffed a smoke ring into the air, he looked at her contemplatively.

    "You want to do me a favor, Kino?"

    She looked at him, waiting for him to explain. "I''m getting tired of doing deliveries all by myself. You want to carry packages? I''ll pay you."

    "Charges?"

    "Yeah. Charges. I''ll give you twenty for every delivery. Since you walk around every night anyway, that should just be a bit of extra in your pocket. Buy yourself something nice." That was a lot of charges, just for walking around. Considering that Kino had no money to her name, being technically a ward of the Academy, she could immediately think of what she wanted to spend that on. He must have seen the interest in her eyes and the consideration on her face. "So, what you say, you up to it?"

    She nodded, and he grinned. "I think we know each other well enough. I don''t think you''ll be spilling my secrets, at least." He laughed at his own joke. Kino just stared at him impassively. It wasn''t as though she had anything better to do with her time.

    "Well, I''ll start you off with something small. You stay right there, ok?" She held the smoldering cigarette as he stood up and went inside his house. She could hear the creaking of the floorboards for the first few steps, then he vanished from her hearing. She stared up at the large moon, the only thing visible in the sky above the buildings and through the bright haze of the streetlights. Mahmoud returned shortly, holding a white envelope.

    He stayed standing, so Kino stood as well, scrambling to her feet clumsily. The cold or the cigarette was getting to her motions; she couldn''t tell which was more responsible. It was the same every night, but if both the cold and whatever was in the smoke were helping to keep her head clear, then she wasn''t going to complain that it made her a little clumsier. As long as she didn''t fall on the tall staircases back up to the Academy, it didn''t matter.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    "Alright, I need you to bring this package to my friend at 751 Easton Street. Do you know where that is?"

    Kino shrugged. She could look it up and figure it out, even if she didn''t precisely know.

    "Okay. I''m going to trust you with this. Think of it as a trial run." He handed her a thick, yellow envelope. "Don''t open it, obviously. He''s already paid me for this, so you don''t have to bring me the charge card. And I''ll give you the charges when I see you tomorrow."

    Kino nodded and flipped the envelope over and over in her hands, feeling its weight. She vaguely wondered what was in it, but she didn''t care enough to break Mahmoud''s trust and open it. She also just didn''t care that much about it in general. She was more focused on the twenty charges she would earn. This would be the first money she had had to her name in, well, ever. She thought of suggesting that she could come back and get paid right away, but the words didn''t come out.

    "He''ll let me know that everything is ok," Mahmoud said. "And he should just be waiting outside. His name is Ulo, so you know who to give it to. Understand?"

    Kino nodded. She clutched the package in her right hand, fingers making little claws in the plastic-y material.

    "Okay, I''ll see you tomorrow then, Kino."

    "Goodnight," Kino said. She got that out easily enough, now that she knew him. He watched her as she traipsed off down the street. Once she was out of his sight, slightly embarrassed about not knowing her way around the city aside from her one well traveled path, Kino pulled out her phone to check directions. It was about a kilometer and a half away, but luckily it was in the direction of the Academy. Kino walked quickly this time, constantly checking her hand to make sure the package was still in place.

    She didn''t run, but she did walk fast enough to make her legs ache a little from the unusual speed. The address was a tall building, in a slightly nicer part of the city, with shops all along the bottom. Since Kino didn''t know what the man she was supposed to be meeting looked like, she just loitered in front of the building. She should have asked Mahmoud for more information: who was the guy, which apartment did he live in, where would he be standing, how would he recognize her, et cetera.

    But it didn''t end up mattering that Kino didn''t have any of that information, because a man turned the corner of the block and made a beeline toward her. She tensed up for a moment as he came closer, and mentally began sizing up if she could take him in a fight. He was scrawny and tall, but he carried himself with a swagger that Kino didn''t trust at all. Maybe that was strange of her to think, since she trusted Mahmoud so easily, but he was different. She clutched the package.

    Why was she so nervous? Her heart was beating so much. It wasn''t just that she had been walking quickly. She hoped she was fully inside the protective cone of the streetlight, as thought that would protect her. It was still a little while before dawn.

    As he came closer, Kino began mouthing a prayer, falling back on her learned habit to stop herself from sticking her fingers in her mouth and chomping down. She stood as still as she dared.

    "You the one ''Moud sent?" the man called down the street, coming closer. Kino nodded; this must be Ulo. He looked her over. "''Moud''s a scumbag for sending a kid here when he knows I''d''ve punched him if I''d seen him."

    Kino stood still and didn''t respond.

    "I already paid. Let me have it." Ulo came right up to her, and Kino foisted out the package, trying to keep him at a literal arm''s length. No wonder Mahmoud didn''t like making deliveries.

    Once it was in his hands, he ripped it open to check the contents, rifling through it in the dim glow of the street light. Kino didn''t know if she should stay. Her job was technically done as soon as he had the package, but she also didn''t want to let Mahmoud down by leaving too early. He had been so nice to her, for so many days, it didn''t seem fair to her to just want to do the bare minimum and run, even if this man gave her a seriously bad feeling.

    "It''s all there," Ulo said. "Tell ''Moud that I''m expecting all of it on time next time."

    Kino nodded. She didn''t know if she would actually follow through on that instruction, but she wasn''t going to say that to this man.

    "Well, what are you waiting for? Go," he said roughly. Kino took the hint, turned, and ran off down the street back to the Academy.

    For all that her first delivery had scared her, Kino grew more confident the more deliveries she made. It wasn''t exactly fun, but it added an interesting element to her nighttime journeys. Now, she had some sort of purpose. If that was a good purpose or a bad one, she didn''t know. But it was just like being in class¨C if she had something else to think about, then she would do so much better. She knew, logically, that the packages she was ferrying all around the city were not precisely legal. She had her suspicions about what exactly Mahmoud was selling, but Kino found herself not really caring about breaking the Empire''s laws. There was some built up resentment there, after that long, hard, awful time trapped on Falmar, where no one came to help them. That was how she justified things to herself, anyway.

    Things only went badly a few times, and Kino tried not to think of those. If nothing else, she was good at knowing when a situation was about to take a turn for the worse, and getting out. As it turns out, the people that Mahmoud sold to had a tendency to want to shoot the messenger when Mahmoud''s deliveries didn''t arrive as expected. That, and they fought with each other a lot. Kino always hated to deliver to people who were standing around in groups. Arguments always broke out. But if Kino kept her head down, she usually stayed out of trouble.

    And she was very, very good at avoiding the suspicions of the Emerri Force who watched the streets. Kino was an expert at disappearing and keeping a low profile. Not even all of that was due to the power. She just made herself small and unobtrusive as she walked around. She had never once been stopped and searched, though she supposed most of her classmates going about legitimate business hadn''t either. It just seemed more likely that someone would stop a fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old wandering around the city in the middle of the night, smelling vaguely of herbal cigarettes and carrying a backpack laden with packages.

    Kino was making good money, ferrying things around. And with money came the desire to spend it. There was the normal hoarding of foods and clothes and trinkets that she squirreled away in her dorm room, then there was the finding a dealer of cigarettes like Mahmoud''s so that she could calm herself down without going out every night. It was a comfortable existence that Kino was eking out, even if she only slept for about four hours a night, between going to class and doing her nighttime errands. She didn''t mind at all. If the other people living in her dorm thought it was odd that she left in the night, Kino couldn''t tell. Maybe they just assumed that she was going to midnight worship. No one ever bothered her about it.

    Then, after a while, everything changed. One her normal nightly excursion to go find Mahmoud and pick up packages, he wasn''t in his usual spot on the stoop. She hadn''t heard anything from him saying he would be working a different shift at his bakery, or that he would be leaving town for some reason, so she was fairly concerned. After all, he had been the most consistent thing in her life for a long time now.

    Kino made the bold decision, after standing chilled on the stoop for a good few minutes, to go up and investigate. She had never been inside Mahmoud''s house, but she owed him an investigation, at least. Kino deftly used the power to break the lock on the front door, and went inside the apartment. There were stairs leading up and doors to either side. Luckily, the doors had names on them. Kino searched each floor methodically, looking for where her friend''s family lived. It wasn''t that hard to find.

    He lived on the third floor, apparently. There were crayon scrawls on the walls outside the door, presumably from his sister''s kids. Kino broke the lock on this door as well. She felt a little bad about it, but was more curious about where Mahmoud had gone. If he was sleeping, she would need to wake him up, right?

    She needn''t have worried about breaking the lock, however. The whole apartment was empty, stripped of both people and meaningful possessions. A few pieces of garbage lay scattered across the floor, but all the furniture was taken, the refrigerator was empty, and the whole place had a terrible air of loneliness. Mahmoud was gone, without a trace.

    Kino stood there, in the middle of the empty living room, overwhelmed for a moment. She thought first of how this small space must have looked before everyone abandoned it, then she thought back to her own house, abandoned on Falmar. She wondered what it looked like now, so many years later, the whole planet empty of life, just like this place. Then at last she wondered where Mahmoud had gone, and why he hadn''t told her he was leaving.

    Her fingers crept into her mouth. That old, bad habit that resurfaced whenever she was really nervous. She didn''t know what to do. She wasn''t going to cry, but she was going to chew her fingers raw. Another person, the first person she had considered a friend in a long, long time, was gone. He had abandoned her.

    It would have been one thing if she had come here and found a body. That would have been something at least. But just like everyone else, he had vanished. She didn''t have any reason to think that something bad had happened to him. By all accounts, his apartment was cleaned out just as though he was planning on moving somewhere else. Kino couldn''t stop herself from imagining all the worst case scenarios: a deal gone wrong, getting caught by the Emerri Force, messing up something in dosage and getting sick¨C anything that could go wrong flashed through her head in a roaring gust. Her finger started to bleed; she had bit right through the skin.

    She eventually left the silent apartment and made the long trudge back up to the Academy. She felt lost, confused, and totally empty of purpose. What was there for her now? A whole lot of classmates who didn''t care about her? An empty dorm room? Classes that mostly bored her? There was no reason for her to ever leave the Academy now. Except, when she got back to her room, she couldn''t sleep. Not even one of her calming cigarettes helped, and the Vena she had tucked in a drawer for emergencies was too much for now. She tossed and turned all night, desperately trying to sleep and to get Mahmoud out of her head. Wasn''t he her friend?

    Kino spent the whole next day distracted in class. More distracted than usual, anyway. Even some of her peers commented on it, though Kino wished they wouldn''t. She even deigned herself to spitting out some sort of retort at them when they noticed her putting on her gym uniform backwards. Everyone was shocked whenever she spoke. Kino could talk. She just didn''t like to.

    That night, she laid in bed, fretting again. Her legs twisted together restlessly under the blankets, and she felt the cold night air calling to her. She resisted the temptation, though, because there were no more packages to deliver. No more places to go, no more people to see. She squinted her eyes tight shut.

    But that was no use. Kino got out of bed and headed down into the city. She wandered aimlessly, just like she had before she met Mahmoud, but she found herself returning to spots where she often met up with his customers. The regulars. If she saw one, she would ask if they knew where he was. They probably wouldn''t, but it was worth a try. The first night of this, she didn''t see anyone she knew. The second night was the same, and she considered giving up again. But every time she laid in bed in her dorm, the anxious feeling overtook her and she knew she had to do something.

    On the third day, she braved a certain place that she hated. Mahmoud had introduced her to one of his friends, a dealer. He had told her it wouldn''t be ethical for him to sell her anything, so she would have to buy from someone else, and he knew just the guy. Ralah was a drug dealer, and a DJ on the side. He could reliably be found in a club fairly far away from the Academy, and Kino could hear the throbbing music outside as she approached. While Ralah was a nice enough guy, she didn''t like going to his club; it was just too loud for her to bear.

    But he was the only person who knew Mahmoud that she knew how to find reliably. So she told the bouncer who she was there to see, and the man waved her in. She was underage, of course, but the people there knew her as a friend of Ralah''s. Or, if not a friend, a customer, and that was maybe more valuable.

    The inside of the club was dark and pulsating with flashes of light and heavy sounds. People undulated on the dance floor, wearing as little as they could get away with. Kino edged around the side of the room, her shoulders hunched up to her ears to try to block the sound. It was impossible, though, because the deepest notes rattled her bones. Nobody bothered her. She could thank her usual social invisibility for that.

    Although the music was much louder there, Kino came directly up to the foot of the stage, trying to not get jostled by all the dancers thrusting their elbows around. She didn''t understand the appeal at all of the club. It took several long minutes for her to get noticed by Ralah, who was blasting away at his music. Ralah finally did notice her, standing in the spot where his customers usually hovered, and he made a signal to her to wait a moment. He passed his DJing off to a friend of his, and hopped off the stage, smiling broadly at Kino. His teeth were painted with something that made them glow in the dark lighting of the club. It was the fashion, apparently.

    He threw his arm around Kino''s hunched shoulder and she winced just a little. They walked together into a room behind the stage which, while not completely isolated from the booming club sounds, was quiet enough that they could talk without yelling.

    "What''s up, sis?" Ralah asked. "All out already?"

    Kino shook her head. Though the words felt like slime sticking in her mouth, she spoke. "Did Mahmoud leave?" She asked. "Is he alright?"

    "He owe you money?" Ralah scratched the top of his head, making his shockingly blond hair stand off at strange angles.

    Kino shook her head again.

    "Then whatcha lookin'' for him for?"

    "He''s my friend," Kino said.

    Ralah laughed, long and loud. If it had been attached to speakers, it would have shaken Kino more than the bass of the club did. "Sure he is."

    "He is," Kino reiterated flatly. She didn''t know what was so funny about this. What was someone she shared a cigarette with every night if not a friend? What was someone who sat with her if not a friend?

    "If you still want to be a runner, I''m sure I could set you up with somebody else."

    Kino shook her head, more adamantly this time, and her braids flopped around her neck. Ralah grabbed one of them and tugged a little. Kino slapped at his hand and he laughed again. "I want to know where Mahmoud is."

    Ralah sighed. "He''s ditched. Skipped. Flown." Kino stared at him in silence as Ralah continued his litany. "Jacked. Took the kit. Headed out."

    "Where?"

    "Off planet, I think."

    That didn''t seem possible. It took a lot of paperwork to travel off planet, Kino would know. And she found it hard to believe that a bakery worker who sold black market goods on the side would be able to just get the permits to relocate for that.

    Kino had a lot of questions, but she didn''t want to say them all individually. "Tell me more?"

    "He owed a lot of people a lot of money. So he got in contact with some people who would discreetly get him off planet."

    "Why didn''t he tell me?"

    Ralah shrugged. "I have my guesses."

    "Tell me."

    "He might have been trying not to hurt your feelings, or whatever. Or maybe he didn''t want you to sell him out."

    "I wouldn''t do that," Kino protested.

    "Yeah, well, you''d better be on guard in case some of the people he owed come to think that you know where to find him. You were his runner, after all."

    "Can I talk to him?"

    Ralah scratched his head again, and flaky dandruff or hair gel fell down onto the carpet. "I dunno."

    "Please."

    "I can see if I can get you in contact with people. No promises."

    Kino nodded. That would be acceptable, at least. "Will he ever come back?"

    "Oh, definitely not. I bet if he sets foot on Emerri¨C" Ralah did an impression of someone holding a gun to Kino''s head. "You might want to start packing, sis. Just in case."

    Kino shrugged. She could protect herself, and she doubted that a gun would be an acceptable thing for people to find in her Academy dorm room. She was only able to keep her stash there because it was so small and easy to hide. Or maybe he meant packing to leave the planet. Well, she wasn''t going to do that either. She couldn''t leave, being a ward of the Academy.

    "Well, that''s on your head, I guess." Ralah looked around the tiny office, as though the peeling posters on the walls would have an easy answer for him to give to Kino. "Look, I''ll ask around and see if he can get in touch with you. It''ll be slow, though. No ansibles. So don''t come buggin me every day about it."

    Kino nodded.

    "And I don''t even know if he wants to talk to you. Hope you didn''t do something to piss him off."

    "I didn''t," Kino said. She didn''t know why she had to justify herself to Ralah so much, but she did.

    "Yeah, sure. I gotta get back out there. You buyin anything or did you just come to ask about that?"

    "I''m good," Kino said. She wasn''t good, but she didn''t need to buy anything at the moment. Ralah escorted her back out of the back room and set her loose in the club, climbing back up to his DJ station. He gave her a cheeky little wave as she turned and left.

    It was a long time before Kino heard anything from Mahmoud. But she did eventually hear from him. Getting his letter, that had been passed from hand to hand in illicit shipments, smuggled along with everything else down onto the surface of Emerri, it opened her eyes to the wider world. She couldn''t believe it all.

 Chapter Fifty-One - Yan.

    Yan.

    <blockquote>

    ¡°When I am lost, oh darling, darling baby, when I have no sight of anyone I know, I turn around and I thank God almighty, who made the stars, who made the heaven above.¡±

    -from ¡°Find Me in the Water¡±, traditional song

    </blockquote>

    Yan''s entire body hurt. Her head felt fuzzy and hot, like the way that thoughts slid out of her brain when she had a fever, but somehow worse. Her mouth was painfully dry. She couldn''t move. When she tried to speak, her thick tongue and dry throat permitted her only to make the hoarsest whisper, more of a cough than a word.

    She couldn''t see. There was something covering her head.

    Her body lay on a cold floor. She could tell it was the floor because of gravity, or maybe she was accelerating? It was cold on her whole body, except for her head, which was trapped and too hot. Her arms were pulled up behind her, and she was on her stomach. She could barely even twitch her fingers, something was holding her wrists too tight.

    She kicked her legs feebly and found that they, too, were restrained.

    She couldn''t breathe. Oh, God, she couldn''t breathe. She thrashed as wildly as she could, struggling with her chin to remove whatever was covering her head and blocking access to the fresh air. She tried reaching for the power, but it slipped away from her in the panic and haze of her thoughts. She couldn''t focus on anything but her basest instinct of trying to free her head. Her arms strained against their bindings enough to cut her, and she felt a trickle of blood or sweat drip sideways down her arm.

    "Oh, fuck, she''s awake." There was a voice, the same voice she had heard before, or maybe just something that she heard in a dream, and all of a sudden there was a weight on top of her, crushing the air out of her lungs, grabbing her arms, pinning her legs. There was a sharp pain in the side of her neck. In the darkness, her thoughts slipped away again, even as she struggled to breathe and free herself from whatever, whoever, was on top of her. She blacked out.

    <hr>

    The next time she emerged ever so slightly into consciousness, she was no longer on the floor. She woke with the same jolt of panic, the same feeling of being unable to breathe, but her thoughts were just the tiniest bit cleaner. She tried to breathe, in, out, take stock of the situation.

    She pried her dry eyes open. Her head was still trapped inside something. A bag, maybe. Light filtered down through the weave of the fabric. That helped calm her. Not being so completely in the dark, that was a positive thing.

    Being able to think a little, that was a good thing too. The power still slid away from her thoughts, but maybe it would come back. It was as though she could only think with the shallowest part of her brain, anything that was instinct and observation and flashes of feeling, but the deeper concentration that the power required eluded her. It wasn''t for lack of trying; Yan laid as still as she could and reached for it with every ounce of willpower that she possessed, but stars skittered across her vision and her brain hummed like a broken motor.

    She gave up and turned her attention back to her immediate surroundings.

    She was laying on a bed, maybe. Or some sort of fabric covered surface. It wasn''t soft. She was on her back, rather than on her stomach like she had been before. She was very, very tied down. Straps crossed her body, and she could feel them pressing at her neck, arms, waist, legs- everywhere that she could try to move. It was probably that feeling of being strangled by the neck restraint that had woken her. Just to test the strength of her bonds, Yan tried to lift her head. It was impossible. She couldn''t even scrape her chin against it to remove whatever was covering her eyes.

    She wiggled her arms experimentally. There wasn''t much leeway in the restraints, but there was an odd tug on her left arm, near her elbow. She was colder there. She wasn''t as thirsty as she had been. Maybe they, whoever they were, were giving her fluids. There was no point in trying to rip it out; she couldn''t move, and it would probably hurt her if she did yank on it somehow.

    Yan realized abruptly that her legs were bare. A cold breeze passed across them. Her fingers could stretch just enough to feel that she was wearing some sort of underwear, at least. She suspected that she had been naked at some point, since her normal clothes were gone. She felt nauseous at the thought, but controlled her gagging after a few seconds. It would be bad if she vomited while basically unable to turn her head, trapped inside whatever bag she was covered in. She didn''t have much in her stomach, which made it easier to swallow back down any bile that rose in her throat.

    How much time had passed? Where was she?

    A machine somewhere to her left beeped softly, whirred, and Yan felt something cold enter her arm. She shivered, goosebumps popping up all over her body. She tried to breathe. She tried to breathe. She tried-

    There was something stuck in her nose. Her throat. She choked on it, coughing and snorting to try to get it out.

    "Damn, again?" someone said.

    "Just give her the next dose now."

    Footsteps.

    Something slimy dripped down the back of her throat, and someone pressed their hand on her forehead to keep her still. She continued to try to cough out whatever it was that was. She couldn''t. It was stuck there. She breathed, rough, ragged breaths. Tears leaked out of her eyes, and snot dripped from her nose sideways onto her cheek.

    She tried to fight back, tried to beg them to stop, but her mouth wasn¡¯t working right.

    At least she wasn''t trapped inside the bag anymore. She was just blindfolded. Light snuck in where the blindfold met her forehead. Why were they keeping her like this?

    "Anyway, do you think we''ll have any updates from the mirror when we get in?" The hand dropped off her forehead.

    "How am I supposed to know that?"

    "I''m asking if you want to make a bet, dumbass."

    "That''s a shitty thing to bet on."

    "I need something to think about to pass the time."

    "Just read your book, it''s good for you."

    "Like you''re any less bored."

    Yan''s stomach churned. The room fell silent save for the occasional shuffling movements of her captors. Her limbs felt like lead. She couldn''t move, she couldn''t breathe.

    <hr>

    She was almost getting used to these hazy awakenings. This time she was being carried. Manhandled. Her limbs screamed in pain as someone grabbed her arms and legs, hoisting her like a sack of rice.

    Still blindfolded, still lost. She tried not to fight back this time. She didn''t want to let them know she was awake. If she could stay awake long enough, maybe whatever they were drugging her with would wear off, and she could use the power. If she had the power, she could escape.

    The men were talking as they carried her. She stayed as limp as she could, even though she wanted to kick out. They were speaking Old Imperial. It had been a while since Yan had last used the language in conversation, but it was mutually intelligible with New Imperial, so she could follow it well enough, even if she was still half dead brain wise and in pain. It might save her life to listen, so she did, focusing her attention as much as the sparks that jolted through her brain would allow.

    "I feel like she was easier to carry before," one of them complained.

    "We''re almost there. She doesn''t even weigh anything."

    "You only say that because your parents bred you to be the size of a shuttle. I wasn''t so lucky."

    "Save your breath for your puny little lungs then."

    "Complaining gives me strength."

    "God better give me strength to deal with your stupidity."

    The apparently scrawny one laughed. "I can''t wait to be done with this. The sooner the better."

    "As soon as she''s on the shuttle she''s out of our hands."

    "And thank God for that."

    "Why?"

    "The faster she''s gone, the faster we can get back to somewhere I can spend my share."

    "Are you going to spend it or are you going to use it like you did last time?"

    "I learned my lesson. I''ve got big plans for when we get to Joulais."

    There was a sound of a door opening, and Yan was folded up and jostled even more as the two men shuffled closer together. Her back dragged on the floor. It hurt, but she did her best to stay limp.

    "You gonna tell me what those plans are?"

    "Not on your life."

    There was the feeling of lightening. They must be on a ship, in the little pod that transferred between the rotating and non rotating sections. The men still hung onto her wrists and ankles just as tightly, but now they could move her by simply pushing her through the air. Maybe that would hurt less. The door opened again and they shoved her out. The two men were careless as they traveled down the hallways of the ship, and Yan tried not to tense up every time she hit a corner. It was hard to remain floppy when she was being shoved around, blindfolded, and could hit a wall at any time.

    They finally came to a bay. Yan could tell they were in one because suddenly the voices of her captors echoed in the larger space, and the air was colder and moved differently than in the hallways. Her captors feet slapped on the floor, the magnets in their shoes helping them stay on the ground. Identifying these sensations and matching them to a location on a ship came instinctually to Yan. She took some comfort in knowing where she was on a ship, even if she couldn''t see, and even if it was a ship that was holding her hostage.

    There was a third man in this bay.

    "This is what you''ve got?" this new man asked.

    "Yeah." That was big man, as Yan had taken to thinking of him. "Need us to strap her in?"

    "Let me look her over first." The hands that had been holding Yan''s arms and legs released her, and she drifted free in the bay. A breeze brushed across her as the new man drifted over. He put his hand on her bare stomach. Yan couldn''t help herself, and she shuddered involuntarily, ruining the illusion that she had been keeping up. "Oh, she''s awake. Sneaky girl."

    Her plan discovered, Yan decided that she might as well do her best to break loose. She thrashed wildly against her bonds, but it was useless in the microgravity. There wasn''t anything for her to push against, and she was so weak, she couldn''t escape from the ties that bound her. And that damn hand stayed on her stomach the whole time, no matter how much she tried to bring her legs up to kick him, or her arms down to hit him, or roll away from his touch.

    "Well, we don''t need any of that," he said after a long moment of her ineffective thrashing. Yan''s whole body seized up in a new and terrible way. Even though she couldn''t access the power, even though that was locked away in the back corner of her mind, she could feel that this man was using his power on her. Her legs and arms straightened against her will. She was stiff and rigid as a board, held in place no matter how much she fought. She even tried to cry out, but found her jaw locked and her vocal cords frozen. She reached again for her own power, desperate for anything. It answered her a little, and she used it to slide the blindfold just a hair upward, enough that she could see the situation out of her left eye. Not being able to see made her less able to use the power, so she had to take care of the blindfold first.

    "Definitely none of that," the man said. He was young, maybe a few years older than Yan, and had deep green eyes and a wan face. He took his hand off her stomach, but grabbed her arms instead, bringing them stiffly down in front of her. Yan couldn''t move. He took one of her fingers, the middle one on her left hand. "If you try that again, I''ll break your hand."

    He squeezed her hand hard: hard enough that she didn''t doubt his words. Gently, he pushed the blindfold back down over her eyes. Yan stayed still, but only because she couldn''t move. She could barely breathe, the force of the man''s power on her was so great.

    "Sorry, we didn''t know she was awake," scrawny man said.

    "That much is clear. Do you have her next dose on you?" the powerful man asked. "Well, give it."

    "We were told that too much is bad for the brain."

    "I don''t care. We''ll be changing it up once we''re on the ground, but I don''t want any troubles on the shuttle ride."

    The large man shuffled over. Yan could tell it was him based on the way his footsteps sounded on the magnetic floor. There was a pinprick in her upper arm. How many different ways had this drug been given to her? Yan could do nothing to fight the onrushing blackness. It must be a fast acting drug. Hands were on her again, dragging her into the waiting shuttle, sitting her upright, strapping her in. She passed out.

    <hr>

    Yan came to her senses in a completely new place. She would have said a better place, but that wasn''t a judgment call she was prepared to make. When she opened her eyes, she found she wasn''t blindfolded. There was no tube in her nose or in her arms. She was laying on a bed. No sheets, no pillow, but it was a lumpy mattress and not a floor. She was still tied down, but less than she had been before. There was just a single heavy chain attached to her right ankle. Yan delighted in this new "freedom" of movement for a second, sitting up and stretching every muscle that she could. She was naked, once again.

    God, she hated to think about it. It was shameful and disgusting, and the thought of people touching her unconscious body made her shudder. Especially that other man, the one at the shuttle. Was he around?

    Yan tried again to reach for the power, and found it even more impossible than before. A searing pain shot through her head when she tried to focus on it- it was like being stuck with a hot piece of metal right between her eyes. It was so much different than the lack of focus that whatever she had been drugged with before had caused, but the effect was the same. Yan tried focusing on something else- not using the power, just staring hard at the chain on her ankle, trying to absorb every piece of information about it. There was a warning tingle in her brain, not quite as intense as that first pain, but noticeable.Stolen story; please report.

    Well, if it was only pain¡­ Yan reached for the power again, this time knowing what to expect. Immediately, even before she could use the power for anything, she broke out in a sweat, gritting her teeth hard enough that her jaw popped. She tried to use the power to peel open the chain on her ankle. Every instant that she held the power, the pain grew worse and worse. She whimpered involuntarily. But she needed to continue, she had to continue. The pain swallowed her thoughts and she toppled backwards, her vision going black.

    She was far, far too used to passing out at this point. But at least it was only for a moment. Her head hurt like someone had hit her with a sledgehammer. Yan looked at the chain around her ankle; it was completely undamaged. She tugged on it and discovered that it was exactly as solid as it looked.

    She almost cried, but she was too dehydrated. Only now as the pain in her head began to subside a little, in swells with her heartbeat, did Yan realize how hungry and thirsty she was. She looked around the room again.

    The walls and floor were all made of a grey stone. Not concrete, but neatly hewn stone blocks- obviously mined and assembled by machine. There was a toilet in one corner of the room, and a sink, opposite from the bed on which she sat, and there was a single door to her right. The door had a window in it: a small one, at about eye level. There was a table and a chair along the back wall, between the bed and the toilet. On the table were a folded set of clothes. There was an empty plastic garbage can next to the door. The whole room was lit by a single bare bulb on the ceiling.

    Yan got up from the bed. Her whole body still hurt tremendously- stiff from disuse and bruised from rough handling. With difficulty, she walked to the table. It was hard to adjust to both the uncooperativeness of her limbs and the chain that prevented her from walking normally. She almost tripped over it several times, even in just the few steps between the bed and the table. It rattled unpleasantly on the ground. There was a shirt and a skirt sitting on the table. Not pants, but Yan wasn''t that surprised. How would she get pants on with a chain around her ankle?

    Yan pulled the black skirt down over her head- it was stretchy enough and long enough. The shirt went on in the normal fashion.

    She washed her hands and face in the sink. She drank the sink water as well. There didn''t seem to be any food, and she wasn''t going to try to attract her captor''s attention to get some. She could survive being hungry for a little while longer.

    There was no mirror, but Yan checked herself over to see if she had been seriously hurt at all during her capture. There were bruises in various places across her body- some felt tender and fresh while some were old and healing. She had to wonder just how long she had been passed out for. The crook of her elbow was particularly nasty; people must have had difficulty getting the needles in and out of her. Distantly, she was glad she hadn''t been awake to experience it. Her nose and throat still felt raw.

    "Can I talk?" Yan asked aloud, checking to see if her voice worked. She remembered struggling to speak in those times when she had briefly woken, and she was glad to hear that her voice was working, even if it sounded and felt like sandpaper had been rubbing her throat.

    She ran her hand over her neck, which ached the same as every other part of her body. Her hand stopped in its tracks when she felt a lump at the base of her skull. It was tender to the touch and slightly crusty. The lump was about the size of a marble. Yan looked at her fingers and saw that they were covered with dried blood and a bit of pus. She touched the lump again, as delicately as possible. She could feel stitches, now mostly healed. She poked the lump, trying to dislodge it. Whatever it was seemed to be firmly affixed to the base of her skull. It was solid and immovable, and poking it too hard served only to make the slightly inflamed region scream in pain.

    Someone had operated on her and put something into her body. She didn''t know when, and she didn''t know why, but the thought was so horrible that she wanted to cry. She rubbed furiously at her eyes, but they were too dry for actual tears. She was still dehydrated.

    Yan splashed cold water from the sink on her face. At least she had that and a toilet. At least she wasn''t passed out. At least she could walk around a little. At least she could think. At least there was no one there right that moment with their hands on her.

    She took comfort in those small things.

    Her hand returned to the lump. She was compelled to pick at it, wanting to rid her body of this impurity, this foreign intruder. It hurt, and she didn''t manage to do anything except make her neck ache more. She would have to find some way to get it out, but it seemed fused there to the top of her spine. She gave up on it for now.

    Thinking that it was at least worth a shot, Yan examined the door to her little cell. It didn''t even have a doorknob on the inside. She tried to pry her fingers inside the cracks between the door and the wall, to pull it and push it into opening. It didn''t move. Even if it had opened, she wouldn''t have been able to leave. The chain attached to her ankle wouldn''t have let her go more than a step outside the door. She continued to try, though, until her fingers were so thoroughly worn that she couldn''t keep going. Her nails were broken from getting caught in the cracks, and the effort it took to try to pry had strained her tendons.

    Outside the window in the door, the hallway outside was either pitch black or the window was covered up. Yan honestly couldn''t tell. The material of the door was so thick that when Yan knocked on it, she couldn''t hear if it was muffled by a drape on the other side or not. It sounded just like knocking on the walls, which she also tried.

    Her knocking, though she had been hesitant to do so at first, didn''t seem to summon anyone. Though there had to be someone watching her, no one came to investigate her. Clearly they intended for her to be awake, given the clothes, the chain, and the toilet, but no one showed any signs of coming to talk to her.

    For the first time, Yan had time to contemplate who had taken her and why. She suspected that she was on a planet. She didn''t know for sure, but the way the walls were made of stone blocks rather than sheet metal or some other man made material was a big clue. The gravity also felt slightly more than she was used to on Emerri, but that might just have been because of her weakened state. She tried to check by dripping some water onto the floor and seeing how quickly the drops fell, but she didn''t have a great sense of if they were falling faster than usual. It would take actual measurement to figure that out, and she didn''t have any way to do that. Regardless of the feeling of gravity, it would be hugely energy inefficient to haul stone blocks into orbit just to construct a prison cell, so Yan thought she was on the ground.

    Or perhaps even under it. Though there was little ventilation, and certainly no sounds of central air cooling and heating, Yan felt cold. The air was a little damp. Wiping her hand along the stone blocs came away with moisture. She licked the residue off her finger. It tasted slightly salty. Yan didn''t know what to make of that.

    Being on a planet made the possibility of escape both easier and harder. It would be easier because she didn''t have to contend with the realities and dangers of being in space on a ship, and there might be sympathetic people somewhere on the planet who could help her. It would be harder because planets had a lot of variation where ships did not. For all Yan knew, she could be on an unterraformed mining colony with only a few hundred citizens. There would be no way to escape or hide, if there wasn''t any atmosphere outside the buildings and domes that were prepared for people to live in. It was, in fact, likely that she was on such a low profile planet. It would be much easier for such places to build up relationships with pirate ships, rather than planets that had the full attention of the Empire. If she had been on a ship, there was always the chance that she could have broken free and taken it over. Yan could fly a ship. She could say that with confidence after her stint on the bridge of the Iron Dreams that last summer, which felt so long ago.

    Thinking of her family made Yan choke up. She wondered if they knew she was gone. She wouldn''t put it past Sandreas to cover up her absence. He always had his reasons for things.

    It was strange that no one had come to talk to her. She had obviously been taken because she was an agent of the Imperial Government. If someone had just wanted to kidnap a sensitive, there were plenty of far easier targets out there. Maybe the attack had even been intended for Sandreas himself. After all, he was the one who was supposed to go to Anthus aboard the Tranquility. The only reason he hadn''t was because of Vaneik''s death.

    Yan wondered who the new leader of the Guild was. She wondered what her uncle thought of that. Maybe he had thrown in his name. That would be funny, to have Uncle Maxes as head of the Trade Guild. Imagining this amusing scenario took her mind off her own problems for a moment. There was no way that he ever could have won election, though, even if he had run. Yan knew that her uncle had plenty of connections, but those weren''t the types of connections that would turn into votes in front of the Guild Council. Besides, he seemed to be content with his council seat when she saw him last, even if it was mostly just an excuse to come see her every now and again.

    Maybe Yan had been too hard on him. The last time she saw him she had been so awkward. She wished she could turn back time and tell him that she loved him, instead of doing her best to avoid him. Why had she been like that? Of course, being held prisoner somewhere really did put things into perspective.

    She was remarkably calm. Maybe that was really just panic in disguise, keeping her from screaming and flailing around. Or maybe she was just too weak and hungry for screaming and flailing. Her stomach was growling uncomfortably now. She hoped that whoever was keeping her at least wasn''t planning on starving her to death. That would be really counterproductive for them, whatever their plans for her were.

    Were they going to get information out of her? It didn''t seem likely since she really didn''t have any. She was privy to a few secrets, but none that she felt were worth kidnapping her over. Maybe she was being held ransom by someone? In exchange for some policy change by the Empire? Or maybe she would be held in abeyance for some future policy negotiation, since Yan couldn''t think of anything that had happened recently that would inflame anyone enough for kidnapping.

    There were worse possibilities, though. If Sandreas himself had been the intended target, and she had gotten caught up in it by mistake, the whole thing could be a personal revenge on him. She didn''t know enough about Sandreas''s past to figure out what type of enemies he''d made, but he could hardly have gone through life without making a few. If this was meant to be a personal revenge, well, Yan didn''t know how well that would turn out for her.

    She could see that there were a few broad futures stretching out before her. In the worst future, she would be tortured and eventually killed. In the best future, she would either escape or be rescued. She didn''t know how likely that was; there was no way to tell how much information Sandreas had on where she had been taken, though she could safely assume that people were looking for her. Yan was confident in that, at least. There would be an investigation, a thorough one. She couldn''t wait for them to find her; she would try to escape as soon as she saw an opportunity, but it was a comfort to think that people would be looking.

    There was comfort in a lot of smaller things. If they hadn''t killed her yet, they probably wouldn''t for a while. If they hadn''t tortured her yet, they probably wouldn''t for a while. If they had allowed her to wake back up, she would probably be allowed to stay awake for a while. All of these things were good.

    Yan was pacing around the room, the chain dragging on the floor and making an unpleasant rattling sound. She was already getting used to it, having to pick her foot up more to move it, needing to make sure it didn''t tangle when she turned. It was unpleasant, but to avoid panicking she was focusing on the positives. That was all she could do.

    Yan''s gaze happened upon the trash can. It was made of plastic. Breakable, thin plastic. It wasn''t useful to her like this, but if she was lucky, maybe she could fashion it into something else. Having a knife would be useful.

    She picked it up. It felt too solid to break with her bare hands, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was good because the sturdier the plastic, the more useful it would probably be. It was bad because she would need to figure out some new way of breaking it. Yan thought for a second, then carried it over to the bed. With difficulty, Yan lifted up the frame of the bed and wedged the can sideways underneath one of the legs. It took some working to stop it from immediately slipping away, but she managed it. She was overexerted by the time that she finished getting it into place. She hoped it was only due to not being fed enough and not being able to move around, and not because she had been asleep for weeks.

    Yan inspected her construction, judged that it was the best that it was going to get, then threw her whole weight onto the corner of the bed where the can was wedged. Though she was light, the impact had enough force to crunch the bin a little bit. It made a cracking sound, then slipped out from underneath the leg of the bed and hit the wall. Yan''s chin hit the bedframe, and she felt slightly rattled. After a moment of tense waiting to see if anyone would come to investigate the noise, Yan stood and went to see what damage she had caused.

    The bin was cracked a little, but a little was all she needed. Yan sat down on the side of the bed and started prying pieces loose from it, wiggling them to separate them from the main part of the bin. She managed to pull off a few. One she kept out to use immediately, the others she tried to hide. She tucked one underneath her mattress and the other she tried to cram behind the toilet. There weren''t very many hiding places in the room, and she was certain she was being watched anyway, but it was worth a try. After all, no one had stopped her thus far.

    Once that task was complete, Yan sat down in the middle of the floor where her chain attached. She contemplated it for a few moments, trying to think of the best place to attack it. Her instinct was to pry it off right where it sat at her ankle, but that was where it was the thickest. It was an odd device. She didn''t see any openings on it at all. Running her fingers over it, she thought she could feel a hairline crack where it must be able to open and close, but there was no way Yan was going to be able to use her piece of broken garbage can to pry that open. She focused instead on the chain itself, which seemed sturdy and well made, but thinner and easier to manipulate than the piece attached to her ankle.

    Her piece of plastic was not very sharp, but it was all she had. She made the best of it, trying first to pry open any area that looked like it was cracked or weak. When that failed to yield results, she attempted to saw through it. Unfortunately, her dinky piece of plastic was no match for the chain. Her hand went again unconsciously to the back of her neck where the healing lump was. Since she didn¡¯t feel drugged, or at least not as drugged as she had been, that must be what was preventing her from using the power. If she could get that out then she could use the power to free herself.

    Yan examined the piece of plastic in her hand and thought about what she would have to do. It wasn''t very sharp, so she tried scraping it on the stone floor to give it an edge. She tried to work quickly. There was no way of knowing if or when she would be interrupted. It was difficult to get it to sharpen. She tested her makeshift blade on her finger. If she pressed hard enough it would cut.

    She tried grinding the edge on the stone floor a little more. The sharper she could get it, the better. The stone floor was rougher in some places than others, and Yan tried to use that to grind, then smooth.

    Enough.

    She got up and rinsed the shard of plastic off in the sink. She splashed water on the back of her neck, scrubbing it as clean as possible. There obviously wasn''t any disinfectant available, so she would just have to hope that she didn''t catch anything. She took one of the other pieces of plastic that she had broken off, and used it to rip a slit in the skirt she had been given, down at the bottom. She tore off a strip of fabric from the bottom of the skirt. Hopefully it would be enough to make a makeshift bandage.

    Hopefully as soon as she got whatever it was out, she would be able to use the power again. That was the only theory she had to go on, so she was going to act assuming it was true. She didn''t really have a choice. Either she did something or she sat around and accepted her fate. She didn¡¯t know how much time she had before someone would come in to stop her. She felt like this might be her only chance, her first and best, to get out.

    She cleaned her neck and her makeshift knife again, more and more nervous by the second. There were no other preparations she could make, given the circumstances. She sat down on the floor and tried to steady herself. Since there was no mirror of any sort, she would just have to do this by touch. She didn''t even have the power to give her second sight.

    She took a deep breath.

    "God, do not let me be lost. You set the stars to split the night and guide us home. Lead me where I need to go."

    It was the fastest prayer she could think of, and she whispered it between gritted teeth.

    The piece of plastic wasn¡¯t very sharp, and it hurt her hand to hold it. Yan cut from above, slicing the skin open on the back of her neck. It took a lot of force to get through that first layer of skin. She held the lump steady with her left hand, and pressed down with her right. It was incredibly painful. The old wound stretched, and the new wound covered her hands with hot, sticky blood. She couldn''t see what she was doing, so she prodded the open wound with her left index finger, searching for anything that felt like a foreign body. She couldn''t feel it yet. It was deeper.

    Yan had taken a human anatomy class at the Academy. It had fit right in with her intended career path of xenobiology. After all, what good was a biologist who didn''t first understand the workings of her own body?

    Yan knew exactly what she was cutting through, or she did before all of that knowledge left her mind in the wave of pain. She had the determination to see this through, and the consequences would resolve themselves one way or another.

    Her eyes were scrunched shut, and she grunted in pain as she sawed deeper, using her left hand to peel back the flesh. This was nothing like the dissections she had performed on dead animals in her classes. This was nothing like helping to prepare meat in the kitchens of the Iron Dreams. This was its own horror, a new kind, that she had never felt before. How had she been so calm before she started? Now that she was deep into it, how could she not continue until the task was done?

    Whoever had operated on her before had done an admirable job of not destroying all the muscles in her neck. Yan sawed through them. It was a good thing her head was already tucked to her chest to give her better access to the site, or she would have been unable to hold it up.

    She had never imagined that she would have the resolve to do this, but what Yan was finding was that over and over again, she had the resolve to do things that no one else did. She would do whatever it took. She gritted her teeth and grunted in pain as her fingers finally touched the smooth surface of the implant.

    She tried pulling on it and found that it was stuck. It wasn''t just going to come out. Somehow it had been attached to the bone. Some sort of epoxy, maybe. Exploring with the tips of her fingers, she didn''t feel any screws holding it in place. She wedged the piece of plastic in between the implant and the bone and started sawing.

    God, it hurt more than anything she had ever felt. Yan clung to consciousness. It might mean death if she passed out. She had to keep going. She didn''t have a choice.

    The implant broke free with a sickening, wet crack. Yan almost choked for joy as it came off in her hands. She dropped it to the floor, along with her plastic shank. Still with her eyes closed, now leaking tears, Yan wrapped the cut off skirt piece around her neck as tightly as she could. She tried to smooth the flap of skin and muscle that she had ripped through back down and fasten it in place.

    Her neck hurt so badly.

    Though the cloth was in place, Yan could feel that it was already wet with blood. She was dizzy, and she didn''t know if that was from the pain or from blood loss. Carefully, blindly, Yan leaned forward until she was laying facedown on the ground, her cheek pressed into the cold stone floor. She had to use her hands to position her head, which felt like a useless lump. This position twisted her open wound, but it was better than toppling over.

    Yan breathed heavily. Her sweat and blood dripped down. She could see the mess she had made when she opened her eyes a crack. She closed them again, and the pain rolled over her in waves. Her heartbeat was the lapping of the water on the shore. She struggled to clear her mind.

    Yan reached for the power.

    The same sledgehammer of pain crashed into her. Yan choked down a scream. No. She had taken out the implant. She should be able to use the power. She tried again, pushed through the pain, but the pain was everywhere, and it was overwhelming.

    She passed out, again.

 Chapter Fifty-Two - No-Evil

    No-Evil

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Language both bridges and creates gaps between people. It shapes our understanding of the universe around us. When we encounter someone with a different perspective than our own, we may not have the linguistic capacity to describe and overcome our differences. When we encounter someone similar to ourselves, we may not have the language to understand that this similarity exists. Language hides the self and fragments the other.¡±

    -from Philosophy of Translation by Najie Jamison

    </blockquote>

    Sylva had a difficult time adjusting to life as a crew member aboard the Iron Dreams. It wasn''t for lack of trying; she had effort in spades, but she lacked the basic skills that even children aboard the Dreams had. She had no idea, for example, how to put on a suit to perform a spacewalk. She found herself panicking the first time she was inside an airlock and all the air went out of it. Maxes took her out to teach her the fundamentals of flying a shuttle, and she almost sent them into a spin that would have caused them to pass out, had the shuttle''s safety system not kicked in just in time.

    She came back to her little guest bedroom every day sore and frustrated. She tossed and turned at night, completely unable to sleep from thinking about every small thing that had gone wrong during the day. She had taken a weird piece of advice to heart somewhere in her childhood, so every day she aimed only to be one percent better than the day before. Even if she could just improve a little bit, that would be progress. But she was beginning to feel like one percent of zero was still zero, and she would never amount to anything.

    It didn¡¯t help that everything aboard the Dreams was designed for freakishly tall spacers, and she was slightly below average height for a normal grounded person.

    There were a few things she was feeling successful at, and that gave her a little comfort, anyway. She was enjoying once again being the cantor for the Iron Dreams. It was pleasant, to be able to sing and hear everyone else join in. It was a wonder that spacers weren''t more religious, considering how much they loved to sing their own little songs constantly. But the rote words of the prayers, no matter how pretty they were, and no matter how good the call and response was, did not lend themselves to either being work songs or party songs- and those were the main types of songs that spacers sang. Sylva was learning those, too, and she amused everyone as she first stumbled her way through the choruses. There seemed to be an endless number of these songs, she wondered how everyone on the ship seemed to know so many. Occasionally they would sing one that Yan had hummed under her breath years ago, and Sylva would recognize it and pay closer attention.

    She was also fairly good at anything that required her to use her brain. When someone asked her opinion on a problem that didn''t require intimate knowledge of some esoteric system aboard the ship, Sylva could puzzle through and come up with a good solution. The cargo reorganization project that had been cursing the ship since the summer (or even earlier) was still ongoing, and it was made even worse due to the main architect behind it leaving to be the council representative. Loading and unloading cargo would routinely turn into a logistical mess, but Sylva always volunteered to help coordinate it. If only she could transfer that spatial awareness to a better ability to navigate in the zero gravity parts of the ship.

    At least aboard the Iron Dreams she almost never had reason to use the power. No one sat her down and demanded that they meditate together, and any time she was asked to do a party trick she deflected the question by saying something profound sounding about responsibility. In the back of her mind, Sylva was a little worried that if she didn''t keep up her regular practice, she would lose even the meager skill she had. She justified it by saying not using the power was practice for when she would be undercover on the pirate ship and would have to hide the fact that she was a sensitive.

    She spent a lot of time with Maxes and his family. She came to know his wife rather well, as they bonded over being relative outsiders to spacer culture. Jalena gave Sylva a crash course in basic medicine when neither of them were busy with other things, and she put up with Sylva''s barely passable (but improving) Terlin.

    Sylva also tagged along with the two boys, Sion and Jaden. Though it was embarrassing to feel behind a ten year old in terms of practical skill, she thought both of the boys were sweet, and they tolerated her presence. Their friends (cousins? Sylva couldn''t keep track of all of the complicated family relationships aboard the Dreams) didn''t love when she tagged along with them because she was a dreaded adult presence, but she ingratiated herself with them by being funny and clueless. Adults were more tolerable when they could be laughed at.

    The days blended together. It was partially due to the weird out of time sensation that being on ships gave, without the outside influence a day/night cycle provided by planetary rotation. This out of time feeling was compounded by Sylva working multiple shifts, at random times, every day of the week. She found herself being everywhere, doing everything, always. The only day that was different was Sevensday, where she ran the worship services. She barely seemed to sleep, and rarely had a moment to herself to stop and think. Perhaps that was the best, because it stopped her from falling into despair about Yan.

    And so time passed. Somehow, Maxes managed to get in contact with that woman, Iri Maedes, and she made her way to meet with the Iron Dreams at Byforest Station. The place was a crossroads for so much of the business within the Empire, and the Iron Dreams had a route that had them docking there approximately once a month.

    Maedes came aboard during the middle of third shift, just after all the cargo that was going to the station was done unloading. It was a tight dance, navigating all the massive shipping containers from the Dreams to the station, and docking them in neat lines to await pickup. Sylva helped out outside, dressed in an ill fitting spacesuit and staying far away from the massive, slow moving boxes. She was tethered to Maxes, as a child would be, but Sylva didn''t mind that much. Some of Yan''s fears about this process had lodged deep in Sylva''s brain.

    She and Maxes worked for hours off the side of Byforest Station. The process of moving the containers around was a tedious one. Aboard the Dreams, containers were outfitted with a modular control system, which was operated remotely to send the container to its destination on the station. Once the container was tethered in place, a process handled mainly by Byforest Station employees, Sylva and Maxes detached the control system, and it was sent back to the Dreams to be reattached to another container, or refueled, if necessary. Though there were many pairs of workers on the operation, detaching each controller took about ten minutes, and every other step of the process had to be carefully directed by the traffic control around the station to avoid accidents. Loading and unloading cargo was always a process that took a long time and the participation of everyone who was able.

    When they were done working, Sylva and Maxes entered the airlock on Byforest Station, rather than taking a shuttle to the Dreams. They waited until the long tunnel connected the ship to the station was attached, and then they made the trek back along with all the boarding passengers, holding their helmets under their arms and kicking tiredly off the floors and walls to send themselves sailing. Sylva wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed. Her fingers were twitching with the repeated memory of unscrewing hundreds of bolts that fastened each control system to the containers. Her arms were sore from the shaking of the high powered drill.

    It was only after they arrived back aboard the Dreams that they heard the news that Maedes was aboard. Sylva was struggling to pull off her suit and hang it in the dressing room with all the others. Maxes had to help steady her as she kicked her way out of it, and it floated away. He grabbed it and hung it up alongside all the other suits.

    Sylva retrieved her phone from the locker she had stored all her non-spacewalk supplies in. It was flashing with a message notification; Captain Pellon wanted to meet with her and Maxes as soon as they got back to the ship. While that was exciting, it was unfortunate that Sylva wasn''t going to get to sleep the rest of third shift away as she had originally planned. She showed the message to Maxes, who looked resigned. He was just as tired as she was after a long day of manual labor outside the ship.

    They both had to clean up a little after their long shift outside. Maxes messaged Pellon to tell them they would meet him soon, and he and Sylva headed back through the ship to the gravity section where they could shower. After getting cleaned up, she reunited with Maxes outside the meeting room off the bridge. They walked in together.

    Pellon was there, talking to the woman who must be Iri Maedes. They both looked up as Maxes and Sylva entered. Maedes was tall for a non-spacer woman. She was pale, with brown hair that was tied up in a frayed bun. Her casual sweater did very little to disguise the thick cords of her arms, or the stiff arch of her back. She wasn''t precisely pretty, but Sylva''s eyes were immediately drawn to her. Maybe that was just because after spending a while on the Dreams, Sylva was as anxious to see and meet new people as every other crew member was. Pellon gestured for Sylva and Maxes to take seats.

    "Ms. Maedes, this is my cousin and logistics man, Maxes. And Sylva Calor, Yan''s friend," Pellon said. Sylva took issue with several of the things in that sentence. For one thing, calling Maxes a logistics man when he was more of a jack of all trades was a bit of a stretch. Just because he had contacts didn''t make him good at planning. Sylva also resented being referred to as only Yan''s friend.

    Maedes shook hands with Sylva and Maxes. "I''m sure that I''m more acquainted with you both than you are with me," she said. Maedes had a rich voice, but she was quieter than Sylva had expected.

    "Nice to meet you," Sylva said.

    "Did we ever talk while we were both on Olar?" Maxes asked.

    "I don''t believe we did. It''s not, well, it wasn''t my business to talk to Yan''s family unless she asked," Maedes said. The correction that she made in her speech had an obvious note of pain. Sylva almost felt bad for her. She couldn''t divorce the understanding that Maedes clearly cared for Yan from the fact that Yan had been taken while under her watch. It was a confusing mess of emotions that sat deeply in her stomach. That and the hunger and tiredness from a long shift. Sylva wasn''t really in the mood to be having this conversation.

    "I understand," Maxes said. "I''m glad you''re here now. Did you tell her anything?"

    "It''s Sylva''s plan. I believe the honor should be hers," Pellon said. Great. Sylva was not prepared to give an extemporaneous rendition of her plan, for all that she had attempted to refine it during her stay on the Dreams. Maedes looked at her curiously.

    "Uh, so I guess the first thing is, thank you for coming," Sylva said. "I know you weren''t given a lot of detail about why we wanted you here, but we think that we could be of mutual benefit to each other. You''re planning on searching for Yan, right?"

    "As much as I can," Maedes said. "I originally resigned my post because I didn''t want to cause any problems by remaining in it, and I fully expected to be brought before a tribunal after that."

    "You weren''t, though."

    "Someone high up decided that I was not at fault," Maedes said. There was an odd tone in her voice. Did she feel like she should have been brought to trial? Did she have some sort of complicated feelings about the mysterious ''high up''? Sylva couldn''t tell. That one line contained as much mystery as anything.

    "Well, that''s good. Because I''ve been developing a plan to try to get Yan back, and I think that you could help."

    "I''m obviously willing to listen. What''ve you got?" Maedes asked, spreading out her hands in a ''come at me'' gesture. It could have looked intimidating, but Maedes'' eyes were so sad and tired looking that it just came off as pathetic. Sylva was struck with doubt about the whole operation, looking at her, but she was the only person they had a hope of cajoling into this plan.

    "We know that Yan was taken aboard a pirate ship somewhere, correct?" Sylva asked. Maedes nodded. "My idea is to infiltrate a pirate ship, that whole way of life, and listen out for any clues on who took Yan. That''s the short version, anyway. And I would do it myself, but it would be better to have a partner, which is why we got in contact with you."

    Maedes looked Sylva in the eye. "You know there are already Imperial agents doing this exact thing, right? There are spies all over black stations, gathering as much information as they can, and feeding it back to First Sandreas. What makes you think that you can do it better than they can?"

    "I assumed people are looking for her. Of course they are. And maybe I won''t have any luck. I don''t know." Sylva said. "But I have to try. I couldn''t live with myself if I didn''t."

    "And you?" Maedes asked, looking at Pellon and Maxes. "What do you think of this?"

    "I think that it''s dangerous," Pellon said cautiously. "I don''t know what the chances of success are, especially as time passes, but Sylva has said she''s going through with this with or without my help. I''m sure she would say the same to you."

    "I can''t leave the Dreams and the rest of my family to go out on a search like this. I am grateful that there is someone who can," Maxes said. He conveniently failed to mention that Pellon had forbidden any off the crew of the Dreams from going out after Yan. "For all that there are Imperial agents out there looking, I''m sure they won''t share any of the information they find with us. And if I had my way, it would be to pick up all the clues myself."

    "I see," Maedes said. "And how long are you prepared to try this plan for?"

    "Until the situation changes," Sylva said firmly. She knew that was a vague answer, but it was the only one she could give. "I''m not going to put a time limit on finding Yan. I think, I know that she''s alive."

    "And how are you just able to rearrange your life to go out and do this?" Maedes asked, sounding more curious than anything.

    Sylva felt slightly guilty, now. "I told my boss I was taking a leave of absence, and I left."

    "And your family?" Maedes asked.

    "Uh. I don''t really talk to them that often." That was a non-answer.

    "Do they not know you''re gone?" Maxes asked. "Oh my God, Sylva."

    "It doesn''t matter," Sylva said with a huff. "I''m an adult, and they can''t stop me."

    "It''s common courtesy to tell your family when you''re about to do something life threatening," Pellon said disapprovingly.

    "And you want me to work with you?" Maedes asked.

    "Yeah," Sylva said. She was worried that Maedes''s perception was irrevocably colored by this new information about Sylva''s family. To be fair, she had left instructions for what to tell her family if she didn''t report back after a certain amount of time. It wasn''t as though she was planning to vanish completely and never be found, she just didn''t want her family to get all weird about it. "I want you to come with me."

    "And what help do you think that I can provide?" Maedes asked. She folded her hands together.

    "You''re a trained professional," Sylva said. "I''m not. You know how to fight, and how to get information, and how to keep things on track."The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "That may be true," Maedes said, though the look on her face was an unsure one. "If that''s the case, though, what''s stopping me from going alone? Why should you come with me?"

    "Because I have to go," Sylva said earnestly. "And I''m very, very good at listening."

    "Yan said you were a linguist?" Maedes asked.

    "Uh, not really," Sylva said. "More like a translator. Kinda." She worked on translations so that they could be checked over for theological consistency. Eventually she would get to make decisions on her own, but that was conditional on her ever returning to her apprenticeship. And that wouldn''t be happening until she found Yan. "It''s complicated to explain and not really very interesting. But I''m good at learning languages."

    "And you can use the power," Maedes said. "Are you as good as Yan is?"

    "Uh. Yan was always better at it than I was. But I can do things." That was an over-exaggeration, a lie by complete omission of Sylva''s struggles with the power. But she wasn''t going to be dissuaded from her course, and Maedes could assume whatever she wanted about how good Sylva was at using the power. "But I''ll have to keep it secret anyway."

    "Keeping it secret is one thing. Being able to use it to save your own ass is another," Maedes said. Sylva didn''t know what she meant by that. They looked at each other across the table, each trying to size the other up.

    "I think it''s a good idea for the two of you to work together," Maxes said, interrupting the weird look that Maedes and Sylva were giving each other. "Clearly you both want to go find Yan, so you might as well team up."

    Maedes broke eye contact. "You''re right." She sounded defeated. "I wouldn''t be here if I wasn''t prepared to go out, and if I wasn''t prepared to take something from you."

    "It''s not taking if we''re freely offering our services," Pellon said. "As I was saying, all of us are desperate."

    "Desperate people make bad decisions sometimes," Maedes said. "Yan wouldn''t want you to rush into danger, especially if you''re not prepared for it."

    "Her ghost isn''t here to tell me what not to do," Sylva said. "She can yell at me for doing dangerous things all she wants when we find her. I don''t care. I''m going."

    "That''s clearly been established," Pellon said, sounding either amused or annoyed. "No one is trying to stop you."

    Sylva frowned at him, and he just gave her the same sad smile that he seemed to wear all the time. Pellon was a good man, and Sylva got along with him, but there was a gulf between them that would never be crossed. It was a generational divide and a cultural one- and he was her commanding officer for as long as he considered her a part of his crew. For all the good she did while aboard, anyway. The only thing that had cause to bridge that gap was Yan, or the thought of her. Somehow Yan had managed to bring all of them together: her family, Sylva, and Maedes. In another lifetime, in any other context than tragedy, they may never have met. And yet-

    They had a common goal. And they were going to meet it. Sylva was sure. She looked around the table and saw a hint of her own resolve in everyone''s faces.

    "So, when are we leaving?" Maedes asked.

    "I was hoping to keep Sylva here a little longer, just to make sure she knows the ins and outs of ship life. You should learn some of that as well," Maxes explained. "It would be pretty bad for you to go unprepared onto a pirate ship.¡±

    "I''m sure I''ll be fine," Maedes said, offering no explanation for why she considered herself prepared.

    "I want to leave as soon as possible," Sylva said. "The longer we wait, the worse things are going to get." Maedes nodded. "Not that I don''t appreciate everything you''re teaching me, but I''m not here to learn the trade of being a spacer."

    "No, but that will help you survive." Pellon frowned at her. "You''re making good progress, and you''re quite helpful as someone who can follow instructions, but that''s not going to earn you passage on a pirate ship."

    "What will earn that?" Maedes asked. "I''m not really in the mood to become a slave."

    "Drugs, if you have them. You can pay your way as passengers by that. Or any specific skill set that you can bring. Pirates are always looking for specialists," Maxes said.

    "I assume languages aren''t one of the things that they often need?" Sylva asked.

    "If you already knew all the languages in the galaxy, then sure, you''d probably be a valuable asset," Maxes said. "Do you?"

    "No, I can just learn quickly."

    "Well that isn''t enough. Most people know either New or Old Imperial, or sign, so there''s no dearth of communication," Maxes said. "You''d have to go above and beyond to stand out there."

    "Fine. Then I offer myself as a regular old crew member."

    Maedes looked her over. "There''s no specialization you can even pretend to have?"

    "Wait," Sylva said. An idea was going off like sparks in her brain. "What if I pretended that I could refresh stardrives. Make them last longer? I wouldn''t have to do anything, no one would be able to check."

    "No," Pellon said immediately.

    "Why not?" Sylva asked.

    "Once a stardrive is dead, it''s dead. No one has ever heard of them being repairable, and anyone who would take you at your word for it is an idiot. And if you reveal you have the power, they''ll want to have you making new ones. That''s where the profit is, I''m sure."

    "But-"

    "He''s right," Maxes said. "Besides, the likelihood that you''d get pressured into actually touching a stardrive, then blowing yourself and everyone else up in the process, that''s too much of a risk. Your goal is not to make yourself known to every pirate in the galaxy, it''s to keep a low profile and your ears to the ground."

    "Do you have any mechanical skills?" Maedes asked. "Medical skills? Anything?"

    "My dad was, is, a pediatrician. And Jalena''s teaching me some stuff. She''s the ship''s doctor," Sylva added for Maedes''s benefit. "I could pretend to be a doctor."

    "I''m beginning to take Halen''s opinion that all Academy students are completely useless," Maedes said.

    "Halen?" Maxes asked

    "My old boss," Maedes said. "He has some words about what type of people the Academy tends to churn out."

    "We''re not supposed to learn practical skills until we get our apprenticeship." Sylva was feeling a little hurt by the insinuation that she was useless. She may well have been useless, but it probably wasn''t the fault of the Academy.

    "Do you actually think that you could pretend to be a doctor well enough to survive on a pirate ship?" Pellon asked. "Really think about the answer to that question."

    What was there to think about? It couldn''t be any worse than pretending to be something else. "Sure."

    Maxes and Pellon exchanged looks. Sylva watched them intently. It wasn''t as though they could technically stop her, but she respected both of them. Pellon was the one who finally spoke, sounding resigned. "Well, if there''s no alternative."

    "I''ll keep thinking about it until it''s time to go," Sylva said. "And I''ll try to research it."

    "You''re with Jalena from now on. All your other duties are suspended," Pellon said. "At least you''re suit trained now. That''s something, at least."

    Suit trained, sure. She could go out in space. Technically she was still supposed to be tethered, but if Pellon was going to say she could do whatever, Sylva wasn''t going to complain.

    "And you?" Pellon looked at Maedes. "I know you have skills, but what skill are you going to say you have?"

    "I can pretend to be a natural born pirate," Maedes said. "I look the part well enough."

    "And what ship are you from?" Pellon asked. He looked her over, appraising her stature to see if it could match that of a pirate''s.

    "The Bluebeetle," Maedes said without hesitation. She seemed so assured that Sylva half wondered if she wasn''t actually a pirate.

    "And why did you leave it?" Pellon asked, probing her.

    "My mother and I left the ship when her husband¡­ displeased her. I''ve been without a permanent place since then."

    "And your mother?"

    "Found a new husband," Maedes said, injecting disdain into her voice. She was a pretty good actor. "I decided to go my own way after that."

    "And your father?"

    "The Bluebeetle was destroyed by Imperial forces many years ago. I don''t know if he was on it at the time, and I have no reason to care either way."

    "And what''s your name?"

    "No-Evil Vinright, but my friends call me Evie."

    Pellon laughed. "Yeah, that''d stand up to inspection. You''re a little young to have come off the Bluebeetle, though. You could have picked a less famous ship."

    "I''m not that young," Maedes said. "I''m stealing parts of the life story of someone else I know. It''s not as though I have an extensive catalog of pirate ships at my disposal."

    "Who?" Pellon asked, just curious now.

    "A man who had the unfortunate name of ''Hail-and-farewell'' Vinright."

    "Do all pirates have such ridiculous names?" Sylva asked.

    "If you thought us spacers were insular, you haven''t seen anything yet," Maxes warned. "Pirates are on a whole different level. But no. Some of them have weirder conventions."

    "Do I have to pick a crazy name?" Sylva asked.

    "You''re not going to pretend you''ve been a pirate your whole life, so no," Pellon said. "As far as anybody knows, you''re a nobody. You''ll probably need some sort of fake documents to prove that you''re a doctor, though."

    "I could say I dropped out of med school right at the end."

    "Do you want people to think you''re incompetent?" Maedes asked. "We''ll get you some fake documents."

    Maxes looked at her with a slightly impressed expression but didn''t say anything.

    "So, we''re back to the question of timeline," Pellon said. "How long will it take you to procure what you need?"

    "How long is your route before you''re back to Byforest?" Maedes asked. "If I send the request for the appropriate documents, they can be delivered here."

    "About a month. Emerri calendar," Pellon said.

    "Then I''ll send an ansible message before we jump out, and the documents will be here by time we get back."

    That was fast, given what Sylva knew of physical mail between planets. Byforest was a major destination, but mail was such a rare thing and so low priority on most ships'' manifests. Such a thing might even need to be delivered by courier. She wondered how much such a service would cost.

    "You''re intending to stay on the Dreams?" Pellon asked.

    "I was under the impression that you would want me to," Maedes said. "Of course, I could remain on Byforest until you return."

    "No, not at all," Pellon said, realizing his mistake. "You''re welcome to stay. I had just assumed you would have business on Emerri to attend to before you left."

    "I have no intention of going back to Emerri any time in the near future." There was regret in her voice, but she stared straight ahead. "Clearly my responsibilities lie elsewhere."

    "I understand," Pellon said. "I suppose that will give you time to adjust to ship life, and get to know your future travelling companion." Maedes and Sylva looked at each other.

    "At some point we should discuss our story for why we are travelling together," Maedes said.

    "I figured we could just explain that it''s safer for unmarried women to travel in groups."

    "That may be true, but admitting to weakness is not a great idea," Maxes said. "You don''t need all the answers right now. You have a month to think it over."

    "Yeah, I''ll think it over, alright. Got a whole lot to think about," Sylva said. She didn''t know why she delivered it with such hostility, and everyone looked at her, somewhat shocked. The tiredness from working all day hadn''t really left her. "Sorry." She yawned.

    "Well, if that''s all settled, then I suppose we can stow this matter until later. Ms. Maedes, go send whatever messages you need to. I''ll have someone arrange a bunk for you," Pellon said.

    "Thank you," Maedes said. Pellon stood, and everyone else followed his lead. After spending time under his command, Sylva could understand better the gravitational force that Pellon seemed to have. It was vital that a crew trust and respect their leader, and that involved following his every move.

    "Maxes, I want to talk with you tomorrow. Find me during second shift," Pellon said.

    "Of course."

    "Good night, ladies," Pellon said, nodding to Sylva and Maedes as he exited.

    Sylva yawned again. "I think I''m going to get to bed as well. Long day."

    "Agreed. I''ll let Jalena know you''ll be joining her from here on out," Maxes said. "Goodnight, Sylva."

    "Thanks." Sylva paused at the door, then turned back around. "Maedes, uh, you can follow me and I''ll show you where the guest rooms are, since I''m headed in that direction."

    Maedes nodded and followed Sylva out. They were mostly quiet on the long journey to the other rotating section of the ship.

    "So," Sylva said awkwardly as they floated in one of the elevators that would bring them onto the other ring. "Are you and Yan good friends?"

    Maedes smiled. "Yan tries to keep a professional distance."

    "She can be a little awkward, I guess," Sylva said. "She''s nice, though."

    "I know," Maedes said. "I didn''t mean that I didn''t talk to her."

    "Oh. She never mentioned you to me."

    This made Maedes laugh. "I''m offended. We spent quite a lot of time together. Maybe she thought you''d be jealous."

    Sylva''s brain immediately started twitching. True, she was jealous, but why did this Maedes lady have anything to say about it?

    "Should I be jealous?" Sylva asked.

    "Maybe," Maedes said with a wink. They left the elevator and walked down the slightly curved hallways towards the guest areas of the ship. That answer didn''t make Sylva feel better at all. In fact, it made her hate Maedes, just a little bit. What did she mean by that?

    "Did Yan ever talk about me?" Sylva asked.

    "Not really. She mentioned you in passing, but I never had reason to inquire about her personal life."

    "Oh." Sylva had talked about Yan to all her coworkers- even playing a prank on them. It wasn''t as though she precisely wanted Yan to have spread her name far and wide, but a little bit wouldn''t have gone amiss.

    "Yan is a private person. In a few years, maybe I could have been a closer confidant to her, but I-" Maedes sounded slightly wrecked, her so far even voice cracking.

    "Yeah." They were quiet again for a little while longer. "Yan''s been my best friend since we came to the Academy."

    "What was she like, as a little kid?"

    "You''d be better off asking Maxes about that."

    "I get the feeling that you know her better than he does."

    "I don''t know about that."

    "All of us know different parts," Maedes said. "The Yan I know is a professional. The Yan Maxes knows is a child. The Yan you know is a friend. None of us can see the whole picture."

    "I guess. I don''t know. She''s just always been in my life. When she came to the Academy she didn''t speak a word of New Imperial. She could only read and write in Terlin. But we were in the same dorm room. Maybe it was just lucky that we were together. I don''t know if I would have known her otherwise. And she would follow me around, just because, I don''t know. She shouldn¡¯t have bothered with me. But I thought she was funny, the way she was so tall. Most other kids were kinda scared of her."

    "She was tall even as a ten year old?"

    "She was already like¡­ A hundred sixty centimeters tall. She was a beanstalk. I don''t know if she had ever even been on a planet before that."

    "Really?"

    "Well she was just so obsessed with all the plants and bugs and stuff. She would catch bugs and keep them in jars in our dorm. It was creepy and weird, but I don''t think she cared. And she would pick up the leaves off the ground when they fell and string them together to put around her bed."

    "That''s really cute," Maedes said.

    "And she didn''t know that not every plant was edible, so she''d try to eat anything that looked like a berry."

    "Shouldn''t someone have stopped her?"

    "I think she learned her lesson after getting sick a few times. What doesn''t kill you makes you stronger, I guess."

    Maedes leaned in close to Sylva, and her low, sweet voice whispered in her ear. "Don''t let anyone else know I said this, but I think that most spacers lack common sense."

    Sylva laughed. "You''d better throw yours out the airlock, then, because we''re going to have to pretend to be among them."

    "I¡¯m beginning to understand what my boss used to talk about. Spacers and Academy graduates are both noticeably lacking in understanding how to live a balanced life. It''s a wonder that Yan survived to adulthood."

    "Not funny," Sylva said. Joking about Yan dying was a line that not even she was willing to cross, and that was saying something, considering her typical sense of humor.

    "Sorry, I didn''t mean it like that."

    "Who is your boss that gave you such a grudge against Academy grads?" Sylva asked, choosing to forgive and forget the earlier comment.

    "I''m surprised that Yan never mentioned him to you. Halen. He''s in charge of First Sandreas''s security."

    "If she did mention him, I''ve forgotten," Sylva said. "When we talk on the phone, it''s always late for me. So sometimes the details of things slip my mind."

    "You''d better learn to correct that," Maedes said. They came to the guest rooms. Sylva''s door was right there. She pulled out her phone.

    "Let me check if someone''s assigned you a cabin yet." Sylva scrolled through the ship information system to find the guest directory. Someone had given Maedes a room. Sylva pointed it out; it was right down the hall. "Check your messages, someone probably sent you the keycode."

    "Thanks, Sylva."

    "Not a problem, Maedes. See you in the morning?"

    "Sure. It''s just Iri, though."

    "Goodnight, then, Iri." Sylva turned and opened her own room. Maybe she could learn to get along with Maedes, Iri, after all. If she liked Yan enough to come here, even if that made Sylva jealous, she couldn''t be that bad of a person, could she?

 Chapter Fifty-Three - I Dont Want to Die in Here

    I Don''t Want to Die in Here

    <blockquote>

    ¡°She was lost there and forsaken on the day the pirates came. She was hiding in the darkness, out of sight, alone, afraid. [...] They killed her father, and her mother, and her brothers all the same. She was the sole survivor on the day the pirates came.¡±

    -from ¡°The Day the Pirates Came¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Once again, Yan found herself waking up after some unknown amount of time had passed. She was still in the little room. She was laying on the bed, and as she opened her eyes, she saw the plain stone of the ceiling, and the bare bulb that illuminated the place. It hummed annoyingly in her ears.

    Her whole body hurt. Yan tried to pick her head up to look around, and she found that she couldn''t. Her neck was as stiff as a piece of wood.

    Her neck.

    She raised her arm, and though it was weak and felt floppy, she could at least do that. She touched her throat, then traced her hand around to the back of her neck where it pressed against the mattress. The whole thing felt hot and inflamed. She squeezed her hand beneath her neck to touch it. There was a thick raised line where she had cut herself wide open, but there wasn''t any more open wound. Either she had been knocked out for an absurdly long time, or someone had patched her up.

    On the outside, at least. She couldn''t move her head, so that was a real problem.

    "You''re awake," someone said. It was a man''s voice, speaking in heavily accented Old Imperial. Yan tried to turn, couldn''t because of her neck, then struggled to sit up. "No, don''t bother. I''ll come over to you."

    Yan was still struggling. The chair that was in the room scraped across the stone floor with a horrible shrieking sound, and a man''s face swam into her field of view. She was pretty sure it was the same man who had taken her on the shuttle. Yan hated him.

    "You did a very bad thing to yourself, didn''t you?" he asked, then clucked his tongue. If Yan had the strength to punch him, she would have reached out and done so.

    Yan finally was able to prop her elbows up underneath her. As she started to rise, the man put his hand back on her stomach. She froze up, not even able to turn to look at him directly. His hand slid up her body, then pressed her shoulders back down, overcoming the feeble tension in her arms to push her back onto the mattress.

    "No need to strain yourself," he said. "You need to recover your strength."

    Her strength. Her strength was in the power. Yan reached for it, and again was assaulted by the massive pain that she was growing all too familiar with. Seeing her face contort with the agony of it, the man clucked his tongue again. His fingers traced her throat, the same path that her own had taken just moments before. But this was invasive, and he wasn''t gentle.

    "That chip was as much for your benefit as it is for mine, you know. You''d have a real problem on this planet if you took it out for too long."

    Yan refused to give him the satisfaction of a response, but she was also afraid that her voice wouldn''t work. After all, the muscles in her neck were destroyed. Her voice might be gone, too.

    The man brought his hand down her throat, drifted across her collarbone, over her shoulder, and down her arm. He gripped her wrist, and raised it.

    "Feel this," he said. Yan couldn''t see exactly where he was bringing her arm, but Yan clenched her hand into a fist so that she wouldn''t be able to touch whatever it was. "Oh, no," he said. She felt his power move into her, and force her hand to open. She was disgusted by all of this. Her hand was on the back of his neck; she could feel the coarseness of his short hair. She tried to pull away, but his grip on her arm was tight. On the back of his neck was a lump just like hers; he had a chip as well.

    "Of course, mine still lets me use the power," he said. "But it''s important. You need one to stay sane on this planet."

    He dropped Yan''s hand, and it flopped weakly onto the bed.

    "I put yours back in, but deeper this time. I don''t suggest you try to remove it."

    Yan couldn''t resist. "Where?" She asked. Her voice was barely a creak. She realized how thirsty she was, how dry her mouth and lips were.

    She realized immediately that she shouldn''t have asked. His hands were back on her body, this time trailing up her neck to just behind her left ear. He tapped her skull, just behind her jaw. "Right there," he said. "Underneath."

    Yan couldn''t feel anything, but she hadn''t had a chance to run her fingers over the area and feel for an incision scar. She hadn''t had the chance to do much of anything. Her sense of time was totally destroyed.

    She could only trust that he was telling the truth, that there was indeed a new chip freshly embedded in her skull. If she tried to dig that out, she would surely destroy much more than the back of her neck. She had been willing to cut there, but she wasn''t ready to dig past her actual skull. She probably wouldn''t be able to, anyway. She was sure that this man and whoever was working with him would reconsider keeping her anywhere near anything she could improvise a weapon out of. Or maybe it had been a test.

    "What are you doing with me?" Yan croaked out, struggling to string together the Old Imperial sentence. Though it was a language she had learned in childhood, she didn''t use it particularly often. Her brain felt like it was slowly being massaged by the gears of a food mill she had once used in the Iron Dreams kitchen.

    "I don''t think it would be wise for me to tell you," the man said. "In fact, I''ve probably already overstayed my welcome." He put his hand underneath her chin, and his face came back into view. She tried to thrash away, but his power held her down.

    "Don''t try to take that out again. I had enough trouble putting you back together as it was. I''m not a doctor."

    "You-" Yan couldn''t describe what he had done to her neck. She couldn''t move it.

    "You did this to yourself," the man said. "I only tried to fix you up as best I could. You''re lucky I was around. It could have been worse. Maybe it''ll teach you not to make knives."

    He patted her cheek paternally and stood. "Try to behave, will you?" His chair scraped across the stone floor, and his footsteps sounded near the door. By the time he released her from the power, he was too far away for Yan to try to grab at, even if she had the strength. He opened the door, probably with the power since it didn''t have a doorknob, and walked out, slamming it behind him with a dull, thick, thud.

    Yan was alone again, and that was almost worse. She struggled to sit up once more.

    In most ways, the room was unchanged. The trash can was gone, obviously. She was still chained to the floor by her ankle. There was a small cardboard box on the table. She was still wearing the clothes she had been given before, or, actually- she felt around the collar of the shirt, and tugged on it until she could see the back of it. There was no dried blood, so it was clean version of the same clothes. Someone had changed her. The thought of being naked and unconscious still roiled her stomach, especially considering the way that man insisted on laying hands on her, but she couldn''t do anything about the past. Especially not for a past she hadn''t been present for. If anything had happened, she just had to pray that she wouldn''t ever find out about it. Was that a bad way to feel?

    Yan decided that she was already in a bad enough situation. Worrying about what had happened to her body while she wasn''t present in it wasn''t something that she could realistically handle at the moment. She had enough on her plate worrying about what had happened to her body while she was in it. She felt her neck again. It was easier now that she was sitting up.

    There was the original incision from when the chip had been put in, the thin vertical slice with the crusty stitches. It was still there, though it was raw feeling and swollen now. It had clearly been jostled when she was performing her own emergency surgery. The whole back of her neck was hot, and that heat crept up underneath her hair and down her back. It was inflamed, and if Yan had a mirror to check, it probably would have been bruised and ugly looking. The cut that she had made was closed, clumsily. It was as though someone with no experience in surgery had sewn the ragged pieces back up. The stitches were nothing like the ones on the original wound. Then that man had gone back in with the power, and had knit everything back together. A little, anyway.

    Yan stood up from the bed, her whole body feeling faint and shaky. She slowly made her way toward the sink. There, on the floor underneath it, was a brown patch. Her blood had stained the stone. Though it had clearly been scrubbed, the rock must be extremely porous. Great. Of course she would have to look at that for the rest of her stay here. She splashed water on her face, then drank. She would have bent down and put her face under the faucet, but her neck was immovable. No matter how much she felt like she was straining to turn it, nothing moved. So she just cupped her hands and took many long sips, occasionally needing to steady herself on the side of the sink.

    She had lost a lot of weight, she noticed. It was a testament to how long she had been drugged. Yan had been thin before (tall spacers tended towards the slender, on the whole), but now she felt positively skeletal. It wouldn''t surprise her if she hadn''t been given enough nutrition, purposefully to keep her weak. Not that it mattered. Without the power she was practically useless.

    Food. It had taken Yan so much energy just to sit up and hobble over to the sink that she hadn''t looked closely at the box on the table. She walked over, chain dragging behind her, and almost collapsed onto the chair. She opened the box, fingers unusually clumsy. Inside was a granola bar, a sandwich, and a small bottle of juice. All of the packaging was plain white, no labels. If Yan had to guess, she would say that it had been stripped so that she wouldn''t be able to guess what planet she was held on. Not that it would have mattered. She was feeling pretty hopeless.

    Yan ate the sandwich first, slowly. Her jaw hurt as she chewed, and she probed with her fingers the area that the man had indicated. There was a small, closed incision there, and the whole area felt raw and tender. There wasn''t a big lump like the previous chip had, but maybe they used a smaller version of it, in order to make it fit. Either way, she wasn''t going to go digging around in there for it. At least not at the moment.

    She drank the juice. It was orange, but it tasted reconstituted and watered down. It didn''t matter. She hadn''t eaten real food in¡­ Well, she had no idea how much time had passed, and that was driving her crazy. She couldn''t even count on the passage of time from the healing of her wounds. Once the power got involved, anything was possible. So all she had to judge was the somewhat wasted state of her body, which did indicate she had been out of things for a while. A while.

    People were definitely looking for her. She wondered if they were making any progress. She hoped they were.

    She stood, clutching the side of the table for support, and walked over to the sink to refill the juice bottle. It was made of plastic so thin that it crumpled as soon as it was empty, so there was no way she could use it as a weapon. She could at least get herself a cup so she didn''t have to drink water with her hands. It was harder than she had thought to fill the bottle. Since her neck refused to bend, she couldn''t see what she was doing as she turned the handles of the faucet and put the neck of the bottle underneath the stream of cold water. It took trial and error to get it in the right place. She sat back down at the table. The granola bar she would save for later. She didn¡¯t know when her next meal would come.

    That was something else, the extreme uncertainty of her life. At any moment, someone could come in and decide to kill her, or torture her. They hadn''t shown any signs of wanting to do that yet, aside from kidnapping her in the first place, but her life could lose value at any moment.

    And what was that man, she was going to have to think of a name for him, saying about the chips? Was he a prisoner too? Clearly not, because he could come and go, and he was the one to bring her down here. And he could use the power. But if the chip wasn''t stopping his power, why did he have it? Who was he? Why did he have such a thick accent that sounded so unfamiliar? Who was he working with, or for?

    There were too many questions, and she would drive herself crazy if she thought about them. There was absolutely no way for her to learn the answers, after all. It was a waiting game. At least until she saw some new opportunity to escape. Just because her first plan had failed didn''t mean that whatever her second one was wouldn''t.

    She drummed her fingers on the table, trying to think of avenues for escape. There weren''t any that she could see, but that didn''t stop her from imagining. The drumming was a good way to try to get more coordination back into her hands. She felt like she had lost half of her agility, or more, since she had been kidnapped.

    Her thoughts drifted back to that night. She didn''t even remember much of it. She had been so drunk, probably drugged as well, considering how the power refused to come to her call. It must have been one of the colonists who did it, slipped something into her food. She hoped that everyone else who had been aboard the ship was alright. Pirates had obviously carried her away. She knew that much from the snippets of conversations she heard. She just hoped that the pirates who took her hadn''t also taken the chance to attack a fat target like the Tranquility. In other circumstances, they might have, but Yan was holding out hope that the pirates had wanted to escape with their new, valuable acquisition rather than going after a Guild ship.

    If that was true, it meant that Yan was more valuable to them than a stardrive.

    That was a terrifying thought, but it was definitely better than the alternative: wondering if the thousands of colonists and crew aboard the Tranquility had been killed. That ship¡¯s passenger list included people she knew.

    Yan wondered how Iri was holding up. Iri had certainly faced worse than just having her ward kidnapped, but Yan hoped she hadn''t been hurt or brought up on charges or anything. Halen probably wouldn''t do that, would he? Or maybe that wasn''t anything in Halen''s control.

    It was odd who her thoughts jumped to first. Iri, then Halen, then they meandered their way through her little family, Sylva, Aymon, Sid, Kino, Maxes, all her cousins, her friends from the Academy. Had they buried her in their hearts yet? Did anyone expect her to come back?

    Her fingers tapped frantically on the table, the thin wood making a paltry sound. She was worse than Kino was, but she didn''t have anything else to distract her. Were they really not going to give her books to read, or anything to entertain herself with while they kept her here? Of course they weren''t. Maybe she should have asked the man for some, but she couldn''t think when he was in the room.

    She had plenty of time to think now. So what should she name him? Most of the names she could think of were the names of her extended family. She didn''t want to curse one of her cousins with that. She started running through all the names of historical figures that she knew. Scientists, characters from literature, anybody who had ever had a song written about them, classmates at the Academy she didn''t particularly like, actors, politicians, the names of animal species she found unpleasant¡­ It was an exhaustive process, but more often than not, Yan found herself stumbling and feeling like there was something on the tip of her tongue. She became more and more frustrated every time she came to a name that she thought she should know but had slipped from her mind. There was a constant buzzing in her head. She didn''t know if it was from residual drugs, or weakness from being asleep for so long, or from the chip that was buried underneath her skull, but it was driving her crazy and making it almost impossible to think straight.

    She decided after a while to call him the Green King. In the Song Cycle, which was the foremost religious text, the Red King was an evil ruler who twisted the laws of nature to make himself like God. He was eventually defeated. Yan couldn''t quite be so sacrilegious as to call her captor the Red King directly, but he had bright green eyes, and that was enough for her to seize upon. And it wasn''t really a name, so if she found out his real name later, well, she''d be able to start thinking of him by that too.

    He wasn''t a king, of course. He probably wasn''t even in charge. But he was the only person Yan had seen, so his was the only face she could connect to her whole imprisonment. He might as well be the only other living person in the universe, for all anyone else could access her here.

    Now, that was a sad thought. To be alone in the universe with just that maniac. The way he touched her made her skin crawl, just thinking about it. She wouldn''t have minded if Sylva- oh, she couldn''t think about that.

    Would anyone else come see her? Were the people in charge of this going to come deal with her? She didn¡¯t really want to think about what that could entail.

    She continued to drum on the table, trying to drown out violent thoughts. Thinking about different ways she could be tortured was not a productive use of her time, and all it served to do was make her more miserable.

    Yan needed to find some way to pass time. At least, even if she didn''t have the power, she could still meditate. She stilled her fingers and breathed deeply, closing her eyes. It was hard to clear her thoughts, and it was hard to let go of the feeling of her body. It seemed like every ache and pain, every bruise, every tender patch of skin was itching and alive. Yan focused in on one narrow sensation, dragging her fingertip across the smooth surface of the table, trying to block out everything else. Just that feeling.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    How long did she sit there, clearing her mind? There was no feeling of time passing, since her surroundings didn''t change. Everything stretched on and on. She sat there with her eyes closed, just breathing and feeling, until she grew tired.

    Exhaustion wasn''t a reliable measure for how long had passed. She was so weakened that she probably was getting tired faster than usual. She shook herself like a dog, thinking of Iri''s silly hound, Bebop. She wondered how he was. Iri had said before she left that her brother was taking care of him. She hadn''t wanted to bring him on another trip off planet. The dog was well behaved, but Iri hadn''t enjoyed wrangling managing his transportation. Yan was glad that Bebop at least was safe at home.

    She went to lay down on the bed. There was no pillow or sheets, and she was unexpectedly cold. She curled onto her side, one arm under her stiff neck, the other tucked as close to her knees as she could. Yan scrunched her eyes shut again and prayed her nightly prayer. She had no idea if it was night or not, but she was going to sleep, so she would pray whatever she could.

    It was hard to sleep. The light stayed on, the room was cold, the bed was uncomfortable, her neck made her feel stiff and defenseless. She didn''t want to wake up again with someone else hovering over her. She didn''t want to wake up in this place again at all, but the alternative of waking up somewhere else was definitely worse.

    If she could have tossed and turned, she would have, but she didn''t have the ability. It was a restless night.

    Yan woke up. She didn''t know what had woken her. Maybe it was some small noise out in the hallway beyond her cell, maybe it was a need to pee. She stiffly clambered to her feet. It should have been easy to get out of bed, especially when unencumbered by blankets, but her sore muscles had clamped up during the night. It was part of healing, but it made her feel horrible and sluggish.

    The room was mostly the same. She hadn''t expected anything to be different about it, but she saw on the table a new box, with new food in it. On one hand, that was good, and her stomach grumbled at the thought, but on the other hand¡­ Yan clearly saw what the plans for her were. She was to be left alone in this cell, probably until she went crazy.

    She had thought before that the Green King had come in just to bring her food, but since this food had been delivered while she was asleep, it seemed more likely that her captors were going to avoid as much interaction with her as possible. What had the Green King said? That he''d overstayed his welcome?

    Not that Yan liked him, far from it, but having someone else around broke up the monotony of the six white stone walls around her. And another person could tell her about the passing of time. She didn''t want to think about being trapped here for however long, slowly feeling more and more alone, losing all sense of the outside world. What would happen to her brain? What would happen to her?

    Yan had always considered herself to cope well with being alone, but that was after her mother died. Being alone in your little room that you''re free to leave at any time, being alone when your family is right on the other side of the ship, that was a totally different feeling than being alone in enemy territory. She would just have to keep herself as busy as possible.

    She hobbled over to the sink and cleaned herself up, performing what she could of a morning routine. There was soap and water and toilet paper, so she bathed herself in the sink as best she could. The cold water woke her up, and shocked her thoughts a little bit away from despair. She made a plan. She would eat her food, or part of it, anyway. Maybe she would have the granola bar she saved from the night before and keep the rest for later. Then she would focus on getting her strength back.

    Any exercises she could do by herself in this room, she would do them until she was tired. Then she would pray, or meditate, or sing, or probably all three. Just to kill time. Then, if she was hungry, she would eat more of the food that had been provided. If she had the strength, she would work out more. If not, she would go to bed and sleep. Maybe more food would come. She wondered if it would come on a set schedule, or if whoever brought it would come when she couldn''t see them. She hoped it was the former, but there was no way to know without seeing a pattern.

    She put her plan into motion. The granola bar was pretty disgusting tasting, but it was food, and that was what she needed. Then she tried to work out. It was difficult for several reasons. First of all, she was weak and stiff. Second, most activities were made more difficult with the chain around her ankle. It was really beginning to annoy her. She started out with stretches, trying to ease the stiffness out of her body. Then she moved on to trying sit ups, pushups (which she couldn''t do), leg lifts- every exercise she had hated in her gym class at the Academy. Still, as an adult with a reason to work out, she wasn''t going to give up on this until she was well and truly burned out. She got tired a lot faster than she had hoped, so she got off the floor and just paced the room.

    Her thoughts churned meaninglessly, and she made circuit after circuit of the room. The whole place was a rectangle, and she could walk across it the long way in six normal strides. She had to turn around so often that she was already starting to get too good at the pivot and hop that was required to clear the chain as she switched directions. She alternated silence and talking to herself. There were plenty of prayers she had memorized, plenty of poems and songs, so she muttered them until she ran out of breath, then lapsed into quiet. The chain rattled on the ground, and her bare feet slapped the stone. She was forced to look straight ahead as she walked. Her neck didn''t move, so she couldn''t even stare at the floor. Her eyes were the only things that could wander, and she usually just let them rest on the opposite wall. She started to creep as close to the walls as possible as she walked, just brushing against it at first, then coming closer at each pass, until she ended her steps in each direction by pressing her nose and forehead onto the cold stone.

    She didn''t count her laps, it would have been too depressing. She probably paced for hours. It was the only thing that she had. She walked until her legs started to really hurt, then took a break and sat down at the table. She drank her juice, ate her dry sandwich, and saved the granola bar for the next day. Was it really going to be the same meal over and over again? She hoped not, but she didn''t have any control. There wasn''t even anyone around for her to complain to.

    She supposed she could shout at the hidden microphones and cameras that were almost certainly somewhere in the room, but there wasn''t any point. It wasn''t as though her captors were going to be interested in listening to her complaints. If they actually cared about her well being, they wouldn''t have kidnapped her.

    She ate her sandwich. She stared at the white wall. She closed her eyes. She meditated. She prayed. She went to bed.

    The next day was the same.

    The next day was the same.

    The next day was the same.

    The next day was the same.

    The next day was the same.

    Yan was beginning to go crazy. Those first days she had imagined that it would be bad. She had known that solitary confinement made people lose their minds. That was why the Empire didn''t practice it. It was considered humane to send people to work on mining colonies, rather than to lock them up alone. That had always been the justification for the mines, anyway. Even for criminals that couldn''t be kept in with the general population, it was more humane to kill them than to keep them alone like this.

    A body needed another. That was the whole story of the second song in the song cycle. Terae had been the only human created by God, and they hadn''t been able to understand themself without companionship. Just as God had created the darkness in order to give light shape and meaning, Terae pleaded with God to create someone other than themself.

    Yan had started pleading with God.

    She would silently beg inside her head, she would reason aloud, sometimes couching it in prayer, and sometimes she would scream just to hear her own voice. When she closed her eyes, God was a pillar of light in the center of the room. Or was that just the buzzing light of the bulb overhead?

    Sandreas''s voice came back to her. "God will hold you close," he said in her ear.

    "Shut up," Yan said, uncharacteristically testy. "You don''t know anything."

    "I don''t?" Sandreas asked. "Are you sure?"

    "Don''t tell me about your long dark night of the soul. I don''t want to hear it."

    "What do you want to hear?"

    "I don''t know."

    Sandreas walked away. Yan heard the sound of footsteps on the floor. She stopped pacing and the footsteps stopped. Oh.

    She was getting her strength back, at least. Her body didn''t like wasting away, laying on a bed, not eating. She probably slept more than once a day, because she rarely seemed to be too hungry. They fed her enough. She thanked her captors for that, anyway.

    Every day she spent time trying to smash the chain on her ankle with the bedframe of the bed, but even the whole force of throwing herself down onto the corner wasn''t enough to crack it. Whatever it was made of, it seemed intent on not letting her go.

    She stopped praying. Yan would still sing, and often talked aloud to anyone listening, but it seemed more likely that the Green King would hear her than God would.

    Halen goaded her on when she did her workout. He used to make them run a little, in their training. While they had focused on using the power, it was still important to know when to run, how to scramble across obstacles, how to get away. Yan wished she could get away.

    "Five more. You can do five more, can''t you?" Halen said, standing over her. It was hard to do pushups when she couldn''t move her neck. Her head was stuck stiff out from her back. Her chest heaved as she knelt on the floor, taking a break. Halen nudged her arm.

    "Why?"

    "It''s good to be strong, isn''t it? If you aren''t pushing yourself, you aren''t living."

    "But I don''t want to."

    "Don''t want to live? Give me a break, Yan."

    "I don''t think I can do it."

    "Try. Here we go, up."

    Yan'' s body felt light as Halen pushed her up, hands under her shoulders. Her arms creaked as she lowered herself back down.

    "Four more."

    She did it again, and again. Halen talked to her the whole way. She collapsed on the floor at the end, nose pressed into the cold stone, teeth grinding, her jaw pressed back. If only her neck wasn''t fused in position. She cursed the Green King for doing it to her, but she probably bore equal blame.

    "Can you fix it, Halen?"

    "Not right now." He put his hand on her head. She could feel it, right there. "Someday, maybe."

    "I just want to go home," Yan said.

    Iri''s voice rang in her ears. "The past is not a home you can go back to."

    Yan rolled over onto her back. The sweat that soaked her shirt chilled her. Goosebumps rose all over her arms. She stared up into the light, blinking her eyes so rapidly that she thought she could see it dancing.

    "Look at the stars," Halen said.

    Yan peered out the front window of the shuttle. The whole thing was beat up and cobbled together. The console looked ancient. Halen sat in the pilot''s seat. A young Halen. Barely older than she was.

    He was holding something in his hand. "What is it?"

    The young Halen held up a granola bar in an unmarked package. "The last one."

    "There''s nothing else?" Yan asked.

    "I could start eating the seats."

    Yan stroked the pilot''s chair. "I think it''s fake leather. The plastic stuff."

    "Could eat it anyway." Halen put the granola bar on the top of the console. It taunted them both.

    "How long have you been out here?" Yan asked.

    "Three weeks," Halen said. "No one''s coming to get me."

    "No one?"

    "They''re all dead."

    "How do you know?" Yan asked. "They might not be."

    "It''s never been more than four days before."

    "What are you going to do?" Yan asked.

    "I''m not gonna die in here." Halen said. "I''m not gonna die in here."

    "You make it out alive," Yan said. "I know you do."

    Halen looked at her, staring deep into her face. "Then so will you."

    "But you have the power, and I don''t."

    "You''ll find a way."

    "Show me the stardrive?" Yan asked, changing the conversation topic.

    Halen got up from his seat in the pilot''s chair. Yan could see all the blank displays showing how empty the nearby space was, and all the familiar instruments showing the craft''s status. Yan wanted to take the yoke in her hands and send the shuttle spinning off into the unknown- an unknown an immeasurable distance away.

    Even as a youth, Halen was massive. He towered over Yan in the small shuttle, and drifted past her in the gravity free environment. She followed him. He was wearing a jumpsuit so similar to the one that she wore aboard the Dreams that it made her homesick. It was a dull red instead of olive green, but the style was the same. Why was it red if his ship was called the Bluebeetle? Or was that his family''s old ship? She couldn''t remember.

    There was the stardrive, sitting harmlessly in the back of the shuttle. It thrummed with power, just like a heartbeat. It glowed with the light of a star. Yan blinked.

    The ceiling swam into focus above her, the white stone blocks threatening to crush her. The light buzzed overhead. She was still just on the ground. Her arms felt floppy from so many pushups, and not from drifting in the zero gravity shuttle. There was no Halen, there was no stardrive ready to take her away. The light blazed in her eyes. She was tempted to smash it, but then she would be in the dark, and what good would that do her?

    She stood. The bulb wasn''t one that could be unscrewed, even though she could reach it easily by standing on the chair. It was stuck to the ceiling firmly, with no visible method of opening it. It was a shame. Even if she wanted to, she probably wouldn''t be able to electrocute herself on the wiring. She didn''t want to die, she just had hopes that a jolt of electricity could fry the chip in her brain. Of course, applying mains voltage directly across the most delicate organ in her body sounded like an excessively stupid idea, even to her desperate self. And that was considering she had already performed an emergency surgery with a prison shank to get the thing out in the first place. She was no stranger to stupid, dangerous ideas. But there was a part of her that was glad that the light was so sealed off that there was no accessing it. She didn''t know if she could resist the temptation if it wasn''t.

    Yan stood and resumed her pacing. Six steps across the room. Turn, hop over the chain, six steps back. Repeat until her legs gave out underneath her. She imagined herself wearing a groove in the stone below her. How much walking would it take until her bare feet finally wore away the brown splotch of the uncleanable blood stain?

    She had taken to folding the boxes her food came in into little shapes. She had never been particularly good at arts and crafts, but she needed something to do with her hands as she walked, so she improvised. If her first attempts came out looking more like blobs than animals, well, she had plenty of time to practice. It was difficult, though, because in order to see anything she had to hold things up in front of her face, keeping her arms raised. When she was sitting down at the table she could at least lean her whole body forward and keep her elbows on the table, but while she walked she either had to make strain her eyes looking down, or strain her arms holding things up. When one part of her body got too tired, she switched to the other.

    The constant light was tiring to her. It, along with the impossibility of tracking the passage of time, dulled the line between waking and sleeping. A while into her captivity, Yan had no idea how long, she decided to try to do something about it. Yan pushed the bedframe as close to the wall as possible, then pulled the mattress off the top and slid it onto the floor underneath the bed. There was just enough room there that she could lay flat on her back without touching the wooden board that usually held up the mattress. She took long strips of toilet paper and tucked them in between the board and the metal bedframe, creating as much of a curtain as she could. She didn''t have enough toilet paper to make the whole thing lightproof, but when she crawled underneath it, it diffused the light enough to disguise the ever present white stone. She hoped that there would be more toilet paper put up the next day. It had been refilled before when she ran out.

    Yan woke to an odd sound. A shuffling. Was that her feet? She checked. No, she was laying in her cave. Her body told her her feet were still. She couldn''t turn on her side, and she couldn''t turn her neck to see what was happening outside her constructed shelter. Was there someone there? Was this the person who brought her the food? Was it the Green King?

    The empty toilet paper tube fell to the ground. Yan heard it roll toward her. She assumed that was what the sound was. Footsteps. Breathing. Yan wished she could turn her head to look. The toilet paper covering her rustled. Yan tried not to breathe. Please don''t go. Stay here.

    But the person stood, the breathing retreated. Footsteps. The door opened, and slammed shut again.

    Yan cried.

    She had known, of course, that there had to be someone bringing in food to her, and taking away her garbage, and replacing the toilet paper, but this was the first time she had seen them. And she hadn''t even seen them. She knew she was desperate for someone else to be around, but she didn''t understand exactly how much her body needed it. She was sobbing and choking on her sobs. She would have done anything to have that person come back for just one second, just to see their face, hear their voice.

    She knew that she was thinking of other people, imagining them with her, but she had thought that was a product of only boredom. With a room filled with almost nothing, she had to imagine something to occupy her time. If she imagined all the people she knew, that was normal, right? But breaking down into sobs over not even seeing a total stranger, someone who was keeping her in captivity? That was a something that Yan hadn''t realized would hit her quite so hard.

    She lay there in the muted light underneath the bed and cried herself to sleep.

    The next night, or whatever Yan was calling nights, she resolved to stay awake. If she pretended to sleep, maybe she could catch a glimpse of the person who delivered her food. She rearranged her room again, putting the mattress back on the bed. She lay on her side, tucking her arms underneath her head.

    It was easy enough to lie there in the light with her eyes closed, but what was harder was to stop muttering to herself. She did it almost constantly. Singing and talking to herself were the only things that drowned out the buzzing of the light overhead, and she had no reason not to narrate her every thought aloud. She thought it was keeping her sane, but she knew that if anyone else was watching her, and they almost certainly were, they would think that she was already crazier than she actually was.

    In the end, she had to bite her tongue, physically, to stop herself from talking. Maybe that was how they knew she was asleep; she wasn''t saying anything. Her mouth filled with blood. She had bit down too hard, but it didn''t matter. She listened to the buzzing of the light and tried to clear her mind, stay awake, and be ready for when the mysterious person appeared.

    It took a while. They must know down to a science how long she usually slept for, because they waited plenty of time before sending in the person. Yan heard the door open, and it took all her willpower not to jump up, to open her eyes wide, to shout. Her teeth ground into her tongue. She allowed her eyes to open a tiny bit, just to catch a glimpse.

    She wasn''t the Green King. She was a short woman, with brown skin. Her hair was cut in an ugly way, as though she had hacked it off herself, or it had been shaved and grew back unevenly. Her head was flat all along the left side, and the skin on her face on the right was slack. She must have had some sort of massive injury in the past, but she puttered around the room quietly, picking up Yan''s trash from the table and replacing it with new food. She examined the little folded cardboard shapes that Yan had made, and nudged them into a line. She walked with a slight limp.

    After she had put the food down on the table, she turned to look at Yan. Yan was surprised, and she didn''t have the thought to close her eyes all the way. The woman came a little closer. She was wearing cloth shoes that were soft and slippery sounding on the stone floor, and a long dress sewn out of one big piece of fabric. She reached out toward Yan, and gently tugged free one of the toilet paper strips that decorated the side of the bed; it had gotten caught underneath her as she lay there. Yan couldn''t resist, and she opened her eyes all the way. The woman looked up from smoothing out the toilet paper, and their eyes met. She squeaked and jumped in fear, running out of the room as quickly as the door could open.

    And then she was gone, and Yan was alone again.

    She was back with Halen in the shuttle. The same as before, holding something in his hand.

    "What''s that?" Yan asked.

    Halen showed her the picture. "My mother," he said.

    But it wasn''t Halen''s mother. It was the brown and beautiful face of Yan''s mother, tiny braids falling around her ears, her smile as wide as the space between the stars.

    "Will you see her again?" Yan asked.

    "Not in this lifetime."

    "But someday?"

    "Probably not."

    ¡°Why?¡±

    "Because I''m gonna die in here," Halen said, gesturing around the shuttle.

    "How long has it been?"

    "Six weeks."

    "But the stardrive?"

    Halen got up from the pilot''s seat and led her into the back of the shuttle. The stardrive was chained there, with wires going every direction. It throbbed like an open wound, or the flashes of a heartbeat on a monitor.

    "It will tear me apart when I use it," Halen said.

    "But you have to use it anyway."

 Chapter Fifty-Four - The Good Doctor

    The Good Doctor

    <blockquote>

    ¡°The oft-repeated advice is that lying well requires using elements of truth. I¡¯m here to tell you that the best liars are the ones with the most self confidence. Even the most brazen of falsehoods will be accepted when delivered with a charming smile. It helps, though, when you tell people what they want to hear. Deep down, everyone just wants to have their own worldview confirmed by someone who seems friendly, confident, or powerful.¡±

    -from The Actor¡¯s Guide to Making Friends (and Enemies) by Marks Chile

    </blockquote>

    For Sylva, her last month on the Dreams passed in a blur. She didn''t ever see Iri, her new travelling companion, very much, as she spent all of her time holed up with Jalena in the medical center. Jalena was, most of the time, a general physician. Aboard a ship, though, a doctor had to be anything and everything: a pharmacist, a surgeon, a grief counselor, a scientist. She was also, as it turned out, a rigorous teacher. Sylva spent hours a day poring over textbooks, taking notes, and the rest of her time doing practical tasks. She learned how to draw blood, insert needles, stitch wounds, perform laboratory tests, decide which medications were best for which common ailments, examine x-rays, and more. Any test that the Iron Dreams had the capacity to run, Jalena showed Sylva how to perform it. Anytime anyone had any kind of ailment, be it a cut or a cold, Sylva was right there next to Jalena, getting quizzed on what to do and how to treat it.

    In a rare moment of downtime, when both women were drinking coffee in the clinic, Jalena turned to Sylva and stared her down.

    "You know, I don''t agree with this plan at all," she said. Her long, beaded braids clacked as she moved her head.

    "It''s the best plan I have," Sylva said.

    "I know. And I''m going along with it for, well, for Maxes''s sake, because he trusts you to make it work. I don¡¯t know why."

    "Is there a particular reason you don''t like it?" Sylva asked.

    Jalena laughed. "Only about a thousand."

    "Like what?" Sylva sipped her coffee. She was glad Jalena trusted her enough to at least say what was on her mind. She was quite closed mouthed around all the other members of the crew, aside from her family. Sylva suspected that being an outsider to the spacer world and being cooped up in the clinic instead of out doing tasks aboard the ship led to a fair amount of isolation for Jalena.

    "Don''t laugh at me," Jalena said.

    "Laugh at you?"

    "Or tell anyone else what I''m about to say."

    "Uh, okay," Sylva said. She wasn''t sure what Jalena could possibly say about Sylva''s incompetence at pretending to be a doctor that wasn''t already well known.

    "It feels wrong for me to teach you just enough that you can get yourself in serious trouble, and then let you loose on a ship. It''ll be on my head, my soul, if you kill somebody you''re trying to help. I honestly feel bad for the pirates."

    "Oh. Well. I mean." Sylva didn''t actually have any rebuttal to that. "I promise I''ll do my best not to hurt anyone."

    Jalena sighed. "I know you will, I think. God, I should make you swear an oath to not kill pirates on purpose."

    "What? Why would I do that?"

    "Oh, if you hang around with spacers long enough, you get some wild ideas in your head," Jalena said.

    "Does Maxes have wild ideas?"

    "No shortage of them. Not that particular one, I don''t think, but he, well, he has a deep well of bad plans to draw on."

    "So do I," Sylva said. "And don''t worry, I won''t tell him you said that."

    "Oh, Maxes knows perfectly well what I think of his schemes. I tell him to stop it often enough."

    "Does he listen?"

    "Occasionally he will see that I know what I''m talking about," Jalena said with a smile. "Don''t marry a BarCarran; they''re all bad news."

    "How are you supposed to teach me anything if you don''t take your own advice?" Sylva asked, a little put out.

    "Oh, I did my best to discourage myself when I lived on Terlin. But sometimes you love someone even despite your better sense."

    They stood in silence for a moment, leaning against the cabinets and counters in the supply room of the medical office. That was where the coffee pot was, so that was where they stood to steal a few moments of relaxation and drink.

    "What do you think the chances are that I''m accidentally going to kill someone by not having a clue what I''m doing?"

    "It depends on what you''re going to deal with. I''ll pray that you don''t end up on any ship where there''ll be life threatening emergencies for you to treat."

    "Yeah. Me too." But that was not the first thing that Sylva thought of when she thought of praying about her mission. She was muttering prayers on the hour for Yan. Wherever she was.

    <hr>

    It wasn''t long before Sylva and Iri were standing together on Turco Station, watching the Iron Dreams jump away. Sylva had the name of a contact written on a slip of paper in one of her pockets, and Iri was carrying all her mortal possessions in a bag on her back. They were both outfitted with fake identities. In Sylva''s case, that required little more than some fake medical licenses, printed out on thick holographic card that looked so like the one her father carried around that she could hardly believe they were fake. For Iri, this involved a complicated set of cover identities: her true disguise as a born pirate, and the disguise of that identity that would allow her to walk around the Empire as an honest citizen. It was a complicated dance, but Iri Maedes aka Evie Winer aka No-Evil Vinright, seemed to have no trouble navigating it. That must be something that a person in Iri''s original line of work was trained in, being a spy. Or maybe not, and she was just good at remembering to look up when someone said the name of any of her false identities. Sylva was having difficulty just not calling her Iri, despite how little time they had actually known each other.

    Turco Station was a bustling place, but it skirted the edge of lawlessness. The planet that technically owned it, Ayira, was a relatively new colony, less than a century old, and had set Turco Station up as a way to enable ships making the Circle Run to trade with them, even though Ayira was at least twelve jumps away from the closest planet in the Circle Run. Ships could instead leave their goods at Turco Station, and then one ship chartered specifically by Ayira could trade between the station and the planet, quite far away. That was the theory, anyway. In reality, Ayira was not a thriving planet, and had been hit with natural disaster after natural disaster directly on their major population centers over the past decade. The planet had no money to support the station, and little care to regulate what was happening on it. Thus it made the perfect stopping ground for both Guild ships and less savory types. It was a neutral ground, of sorts. And, while no one could be completely sure that they wouldn''t be stabbed in the back, it was generally considered impolite to attack a Guild ship coming to trade. After all, under the table dealings with the Guild were the easiest way to get certain types of cargo down onto planets. At any other time, pirates and Guild ships might be at each other¡¯s throats, pirates chasing down a ship for its stardrive, but here the more mundane financial concerns took priority.

    Sylva and Iri''s contact was a bartender. Sylva had read enough stupid thriller novels in her youth to think that this was a ridiculous setup, but as it turned out, most spacers did go to bars whenever they were able to get off their ship for a few hours. After being on the Dreams, Sylva was discovering how monotonous being around the same people day in and out could be. Bars were a great chance to meet someone new, and to get smashed, which was another favorite pastime of spacers.

    This particular bar aboard Turco Station was moderately busy. It was the beginning of second shift, and many of the permanent residents of the station were coming to have their dinner. For single people living on the station, it was an excellent place to mingle with passing spacers. Single people on stations were often unattached, and would do temporary work assignments on station or on any ship that would take them. These people were either those who were looking to live a life of adventure off their home planet, or spacers who had decided to make their living away from their family for whatever reason. Iri and Sylva blended right in with the crowd, and they took seats at the long counter. The place was dim but cozy, and the sound of chatter in several different languages tingled in Sylva''s ears. New Imperial was the standard, of course, but she thought she heard Almanzil and snatches of curses in weird offshoot dialect of Old Imperial that was used on a few of the older outer colonies.

    Recorded music was playing over speakers, drowning out most of the clatter of cups and dishes that came from the back part of the room. There was a slightly raised area over to the left where live musicians could have played, but there weren''t any at the moment. Iri flagged the bartender down.

    "What can I get you, miss?" he asked. The man was scruffy, short, and blond. He was probably in his late thirties, and he had tattoos on the backs of his hands.

    "Got any cider?" Iri asked.

    "I''ve got the next best thing," the bartender said. "You should know that apple trees are hard to come by around here."

    "I was assuming that you didn''t brew all your drafts locally," Iri said. "But I''ll take whatever this next best thing is."

    "House special," the man said with a wink. "You''ll love it. And can I get anything for you, miss?"

    "Vodka cranberry, please," Sylva said.

    "Coming right up." The bartender prepared the drinks and passed them over. Iri and Sylva both paid with their charge cards by tapping them on the edge of the bar. They both had their fake identities set up with charges, both from their own personal accounts and from funds that Maxes had somehow managed to slip them. It wasn''t much, but it would be enough for them to live off of for a while, especially if they were also planning on working and getting paid while searching out pirate ships.

    Sylva sipped her drink. She wasn''t planning on drinking too much, but this was a bar, and they were here to talk to the bartender, so it was only polite that they drank something.

    "What''s this made of?" Iri asked, sipping her drink.

    "Hybrid fruits," the man said. "Won''t find ''em anywhere else in the Empire."

    "Why not?"

    "We had some eccentric people trade us the plants a while back. Think they bred them themselves."

    "And you''re sure it isn''t poison?" Sylva asked, glad she was sticking to a tried and tested beverage.

    "Nobody''s died of it yet," the bartender said with a smile. "And besides, what''s a little genetic modification between friends?"

    Sylva didn''t really have an acceptable answer to that. At least, not any answer that would preserve both her own theological integrity and the man''s pride in his homebrew. She didn''t want to alienate her only contact, especially when the Dreams had left, and they had no way to get off the station if they didn''t find a ship to hitch out on.

    "Do you know a Franke Blacran, by any chance?" Iri asked.

    "As much as anyone can know themself," the bartender said. "Who sent you?" He didn''t say this conspiratorially, just in the same friendly tone the whole conversation had been in.

    Maxes had said that there wasn''t any harm in mentioning his name. "Maxes BarCarran," Sylva said.

    "Oh, that old dog," Franke said. "You''d think he''d have given up on pestering me, ever since he said he was walking the straight and narrow."

    "Is that even possible for him?" Sylva asked, only half joking.

    "Evidently, it is not." Frankie put down the rag he was wiping the counter with, and pulled up a stool to sit across from the two women. "What can I help you two with?"

    "We''re looking for work, and a way out of the system," Iri said. "I''m Evie Winer, by the way, and this is Sylva Loak." It had been decided after a long trial period that it was best to let Sylva keep at least her first name. She had consistently failed to respond to all of the fake names they had tried on her. There were plenty of Sylvas on almost every planet, so her name was not so uncommon as to stand out.

    "Pleasure to meet you, Evie and Sylva," Franke said. "You got anywhere in particular you''re looking to go?"

    "No destination in mind," Iri said. "Just looking to see the sights."

    "You''ve come to the wrong corner of the galaxy for sightseeing. But I suppose on any ship you''re bound to end up somewhere interesting."

    "That''s the idea," Iri said.

    "Got any talents that would recommend you?" Franke asked. "Most people aren''t looking to take on freeloaders."

    It was time to put Sylva''s new lies to the test. "I''m a doctor," Sylva said.

    "Look a little young for it."

    "Uh, well, I finished my education. And I have my license. But I, uh, didn''t want to join a practice or anything right away."

    "Any particular reason for that?" Franke was calm but insistent.

    "Family drama, mostly." Sylva could inject a note of truth into this, even if the rest of it was surrounded by fiction. "My dad wanted me to join his practice, and I didn''t, and, well..."

    "And you thought the best thing to do would be to run away into space?" Franke laughed. "I admire your gumption, if nothing else. Let me see that license."

    Sylva fished around in her pockets for her wallet and pulled it out. She wasn''t used to the more casual clothing that she was wearing now. Her Iron Dreams jumpsuit had been traded out for jeans and a button down. It was the first time she had been out of some sort of uniform in a couple of years. She handed the heavy holographic card over to Franke, who examined it for a second. Maxes had told her that he probably would ask a lot of questions. He was a professional, after all.

    "And how do you know Maxes?" Franke asked, holding the card up to the light.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "She doesn''t, really. I do," Iri said. "We met ages ago. I was on a ship that was ferrying him to the Council."

    Franke handed the card back to Sylva. "You''re a spacer?"

    "In the loosest sense," Iri said. "Don''t have a ship of my own, but I''ve been in space most of my life, so I suppose."

    "No ship of your own? Why not?"

    "Doesn''t every story you hear around here boil down to family drama?" Iri asked, taking another sip of her drink.

    "Most of them do," Franke said.

    "Then I''m sure you can imagine what my story is. Suffice to say, I''m in the market for a husband."

    "And you''ve exhausted the possibilities on all the other ships you''ve been on?"

    "I''ve been playing the field," Iri admitted. "But sometimes when things go wrong you just have to clear out."

    "I see." Franke sounded suspicious. Maybe Iri''s story was not so good after all.

    "I''m just looking for people whose life experiences are more in line with my own," Iri said. She drank the rest of her drink. "I''m a jack of all trades, and I''m willing to do dirty jobs."

    "Ships are full of people like you. What should I say if I send you along?" Franke asked. "Most ships aren''t looking to add another mouth to feed."

    "I don''t eat very much," Iri said with a smile. "And I''m good with every tool that''s put in my hand."

    "Eh. I''ll see what I can do for you," Franke said. "You both got rooms on station?"

    "Yeah," Sylva said. "We''re paid up for the next few days at least."

    "Good to see some honest paying folk," Franke said. "So, how''d you two meet each other?"

    "We went to school together," Sylva said.

    "My dearest mother wanted me to learn some math planetside," Iri explained. "So I got stuck on the ground for a few years. Sylva and I had a few classes together years ago. She sent me a message recently asking about the best way to avoid her dad, so now we''re both here."

    "Oh, you can navigate?" Franke asked, latching on to the one relevant piece of information that Iri provided.

    "I can do math," Iri explained. "No one has yet been willing to let me take a seat at the helm."

    "Not that surprised," Franke said. "If I had a ship I''d be hesitant to let strangers drive it as well."

    "Yeah. My mother thought being educated would make me a more eligible choice to marry, but it hasn''t really worked out that way."

    "Only because you are allergic to commitment," Sylva muttered under her breath. This was part of their disguise, and the plan they had set up.

    "So you''re not looking for anything long term?" Franke asked.

    "I''m not sure what I''m looking for," Iri said, sounding earnest. "I think I''ll know it when I see it."

    Sylva drank the last few sips of her drink, giving a side-eye to Iri. What they were after was a short term position that they could leverage to get themselves somewhere where the information flowed. It didn''t seem prudent to advertise themselves directly as ship hoppers, but if they managed to come off that way, Sylva wasn''t going to complain. She was worried that the longer she stayed on any one ship, the more likely she was to have to do some actual doctoring. Despite her false credentials and month of rigorous training, Sylva knew she was woefully unqualified. She wasn''t going to let a pesky little thing like that stop her, though.

    "And you both want to stick together?" Franke asked. "You a couple?"

    "It''s just safer for unattached people to travel together, isn''t it?" Iri asked. "Especially people who don''t know an airlock from a shuttle." She looked at Sylva, trying to convey the joking familiarity that was their cover story.

    "Hey," Sylva said. "I''m not that clueless. Besides, you wouldn''t know a," she scrambled to think of two appropriate medical terms, "spleen from a spine." Pathetic, but it was the best she could do.

    Franke looked at the pair with a combination of amusement and disdain. Maybe they were laying it on too thick. Sylva made a mental note to tone it down.

    "Can I get you two anything else to drink?" Franke asked. "I''ll have to ask around to see if there''s any work for you."

    "No, I''m good," Iri said. "Do you want our room number?"

    "Just come see me in a few days," Franke said. "I''ll either have something for you by then or not."

    "Alright, thanks," Iri said. She shook Franke''s hand. "Good to meet you," she said.

    "Pleasure''s mine. Goodnight ladies," Franke stood up from his own stool behind the counter, and returned to his normal duties. The regular patrons seemed to understand that he wasn''t to be bothered while he was having a serious discussion, but as soon as he stood, people waved him down for orders or their own conversations. Iri and Sylva left.

    <hr>

    Franke came through a few days later. Despite his skepticism of Iri and Sylva''s act, he had arranged for them to be shipped off station and start duty on a pirate ship, the Warrior II. When she asked what had happened to the Warrior I, Franke glared at her and told her not to bring it up. Because the station was still, technically, an Imperial station, the pirate ships didn''t dock with the station. They hid somewhere out in the system that Turco station orbited in, and it was a long shuttle ride with an unsmiling and not very talkative pilot to reach the ship.

    Sylva was beginning to have serious doubts about the plan for the first time, and she bit her lip to stop herself from blurting out and asking to turn around. Iri sensed her nervousness and did most of the talking. She was better at it anyway.

    The Warrior II looked just like every other ship Sylva had ever seen. As they approached in the shuttle, the mined out asteroid came into clearer focus. Its surface was warty with instruments and added on rooms to the outside. The rotating rings probably were in the center rather than on the outside like the big one was on the Dreams. Sylva had always thought it was particularly stupid to have the rings on the outside. Looking out at the stars made her motion sick, and if the ship ever were to be attacked, the outside ring would be the ship''s most vulnerable point. These pirates had the idea.

    Or maybe ship construction was decided based on random factors like budget and the material of the asteroid. Sylva didn''t really know.

    The shuttle docked in the bay, and the gruff pilot, a giant pale man, told them that someone was waiting to interview them, and gave directions to where they could find him. It wasn''t entirely clear who exactly was going to be talking to them, but Sylva and Iri dutifully followed the instructions, carrying their bags. Sylva had been hopeful that Franke''s intervention had secured them a place on the ship sight unseen, but that hadn''t been likely to be the case. She hadn''t had very many interviews before. Actually, the only one she had was her apprenticeship interview, and that was more of her deciding if she would reject or accept the posting, not trying to put her best foot forward. She wasn''t really prepared.

    They floated through the ship until they transferred into the rotating section, then they were able to walk the rest of the way. In some ways, the Warrior II was just like the Dreams. Every ship tended to follow the same basic design principles: heavy doors, prefab walls, convoluted passageways in the no-grav sections, clearly laid out hallways in the rings.

    It turned out they would be interviewing with the ship''s second, a man who was freakishly large even by spacer standards. He looked like he was in his mid thirties, and he had curly blonde hair that fell to his shoulders. It was a disarming look when contrasted with the rest of his body. He wore a jumpsuit like every spacer did, but it was half unzipped, with the arms tied around his waist, exposing his undershirt and heavily tattooed arms. Iri nudged Sylva and smiled as they walked closer. Sylva would have sighed. There was absolutely nothing attractive about him at all, but there had clearly been some truth in Iri''s cover story about finding a husband.

    "Welcome aboard the Warrior II," the man said, reaching out to shake their hands. "I''m Sign-of-God Del, but most people just call me Sign."

    Sylva tried hard to resist her instinctual cringe at the name. What kind of people were pirates, to curse their kids with names like that? Devotion to God was one thing, but this was taking it a little too far.

    "No-Evil Vinright," Iri said. "Pleasure to meet you."

    "Sylva Loak," Sylva said. They shook hands.

    "So good old Franke sent you over, eh? Which one of you is the doctor?"

    Sylva raised her hand.

    "Excellent. Our old doctor had a bit of a mishap with his own medicine cabinet, so we''ve been looking for a replacement."

    Was ''mishap with his own medicine cabinet'' a euphemism for getting high on his own supply, or was he crushed to death by a falling cabinet?

    "Do you need to see my credentials or anything?" Sylva asked.

    "Between you and me, I''m not worried about your credentials," Sign said. "I''d even take just a nurse. My sister is about eight and a half months pregnant, and I do not want to be out in space without a doctor when she goes into labor."

    Abruptly, Sylva''s stomach sank into her toes. She smiled thinly. "I''ll be happy to help when the time comes," Sylva said.

    She really did not want to help out with delivering a baby, but that was what doctors were ordered to do. It was unfortunate that no one aboard the Dreams had been pregnant while she was aboard, so there had been no practicing under Jalena''s watch. At least best case scenario, she''d have a good few weeks to read up everything she could on how to deliver babies. How hard could it be? People had been giving birth for the entire history of humanity, however long that had been.

    "And you''re the pilot?" Sign asked, turning to Iri.

    "If that''s what Franke billed me as then yes," Iri said. "But I''m happy to provide any service that you need. I''m really an all hands kind of gal."

    "Handsy, eh? Do you go by No-Evil, or do you have a nickname?" Was he flirting with her? What kind of charm did Iri have that allowed her to instantly flirt with this man, hopefully their future boss, within thirty seconds of meeting him?

    "Evie," Iri said with a laugh. "But you can call me whatever you want."

    Sign was taller than Iri, but not by too much. In Sylva''s estimation, Iri was probably about the same height as Yan, who was a full head taller than herself. She had gotten over a little of her feeling awkwardly short during her stints on the Iron Dreams, but around new people that feeling was reawakened. If only there was a pill to make her get taller. Unfortunately, Sylva was out of the period in her life when any amount of hormones would stretch out her bones.

    "Are you two a package deal?" Sign asked.

    "We''re travelling together for now, at least until Sylva gets herself on her feet," Iri said.

    "And how long are you expecting to stay aboard?"

    "I don''t know," Sylva said. "I certainly won''t leave you before your sister has her baby, though."

    "I wouldn''t have let you," Sign said, not a hint of jokes in his voice. "I need someone here."

    Sylva was worried, to say the least. "Is she having complications, or is everything normal?"

    "No one''s looked at her in months," Sign said. "But the baby''s still kicking."

    "Is this her first child?" Sylva asked. She didn''t actually know what the answer to that question would tell her, but it seemed like the type of thing that a doctor would ask.

    "I think you should talk to her about it. Do you want to see her now?"

    "Uh," Sylva started, but Iri interrupted her.

    "So, is this you taking us both on as a package deal?" Iri asked with a smile.

    "Oh, yes, sorry. I probably should have said."

    "Great," Iri said. "We should probably find our bunks and get settled in a little before Sylva starts making sick calls."

    "She''s not sick," Sign protested. "But alright. I''ll be honest, when Franke said you were a doctor, I was going to take you right away, no matter what the other conditions were. We take on a lot of hands that rotate on and off pretty fast, so it wouldn''t have been an imposition to us anyway, but man, I''m so relieved to have you."

    His face was extremely expressive, and the tension had slowly fallen out of his body during their short conversation. "Follow me right this way, I''ve got bunks for you."

    "Why do people come and go so much?" Sylva asked. It was a reason to change the topic away from her impending usefulness, and she was just curious. She hadn''t felt like most ships had a quickly rotating crew, but maybe it was different for pirates.

    "Oh, there''s plenty of reasons. Our captain, Respect, you''ll love her, she has a few policies that most other ships don''t hold by, and it makes it more likely for people to leave."

    "Like what?" Sylva pressed.

    "Oh, we¡¯ll pay in whatever currency people want, and we run a route that puts us close to a lot of different places. So people end up where they need to go, and they have the charges to start up an honest new life, so they leave."

    "What do you all traffic in?" Iri asked. They walked down the brightly lit and slightly curved hallway. It wasn''t precisely featureless. As with the Iron Dreams, Sylva knew that if she walked these corridors long enough, she would be able to see a picture of a particular section of grey wall, scratched a certain way; or an overhead beam with an old abandoned zip tie around it; or a decorated door, and know exactly where on the ship she was, but for the moment it all felt drab and the same.

    "Anything we''re paid to," Sign said. "We don''t really do raids anymore, so we''ve just been focusing on getting more stable income."

    "Is it stable?" Sylva asked.

    "It''s more stable than fishing for stardrives. There''s always a market for drugs and other things."

    "Yeah, I get that," Iri said.

    "Here are your cabins," Sign said. "Do you know how to connect to the ship''s system?"

    "Is it any different than any other ship?" Iri asked.

    "Don''t think so." Sign scratched his head. "I don''t have a ton of experience with other ships, but I dunno why it would be."

    "Great."

    "Hey, uh, it''s like halfway through first shift. Can we meet back up at the end of first shift, and I can give you a tour of the ship, and get you set up in the med office, and get you some type of job, and then maybe have dinner?" When he said this, his eyes rested on Iri.

    "Sure, sounds good. We''ll meet you then," Iri said with a wide smile. "I look forward to you setting me up."

    "Hah, yeah. See you then." Sign headed off down the hall, and Sylva hastily pulled Iri into one of the rooms and shut the door.

    "He seemed nice," Iri said.

    "Oh my God we''re going to die," Sylva said, leaning back against the door. She dropped her bag on the floor.

    "What? This seems fine. He seems fine." Iri looked vaguely dreamy.

    "I''m about to have to deliver a baby and all you can think about is flirting! How do you even function?"

    Iri looked at Sylva disdainfully. "I can focus on more than one thing at once, you know."

    "What am I going to do?"

    "You''re going to say a prayer and then deliver a baby," Iri said with a shrug. "Everybody''s done it for generations and generations. Most of the time it works out okay."

    "Yeah and if I fuck it up, then what will happen?"

    "I don''t know. We''ll probably be kicked off the ship."

    "Oh my God¡­"

    "Not into space, just onto the next station."

    "And then what? That''s just as bad."

    "It''s better than being dead. And besides, you''re not going to mess it up. It''ll be fine."

    "But what if I have to do something else?"

    "If I remember correctly, this was the only idea that you could come up with."

    "Yeah, and it''s a terrible one!" Sylva grabbed the braids that coiled around her head, yanking on her hair.

    "Do you want to back out? We might be able to sneak back off the ship before we leave the station."

    "No!" Sylva considered it for a second beyond her initial knee jerk response. "We''d have to steal a shuttle, and then fly it back to the station?"

    "Basically."

    "Doesn''t sound realistic."

    "It''s not, but if you really didn''t think that you could do this, then this is our last chance to get out of here."

    "I don''t know if I''d feel worse if I fucked it up by being here, or if I left and then they had no one to help."

    "The question you have to ask yourself is if your presence will, on the whole, be better than nothing. Do you know enough that you can help even a little?"

    "Maybe?" Her braids were fraying.

    "Well, you have at least a little while to learn everything you can about pregnancy. You have the whole medical archive to read through."

    "Is that going to be enough?"

    "I don''t know," Iri said. "I''m not in charge of you."

    Sylva sighed. "I guess I''ve gotten myself deep into this already, it would be stupid to back out now."

    "Let''s hope you keep feeling that way."

    Iri retreated to her own room and they both unpacked their paltry belongings. The room was tiny, barely large enough to hold a bed, desk and closet. Sylva and Iri shared a tiny bathroom, connecting their two rooms, though both doors locked. There was still plenty of time before they needed to meet back up with Sign, so Sylva spent it on her computer frantically researching everything she could find having to do with childbirth. It didn''t make her feel any better; in fact, it made her feel worse. The words and images floated across the surface of her brain, and as her eyes jumped from line to line, from image to image, and from subject to subject, she realized that she wasn''t processing anything in her panic. She couldn''t focus on one thing, and so she jumped from pages on typical childbirth, to common post-partum problems, to c-sections, to birth defects, to¡­ Iri knocked on her door.

    Sylva opened the door and let Iri in.

    "You ready to go? Feeling any better?"

    "No and no. You?"

    "I''m fine. If you want, I''ll do my best to run interference and stop him from asking any deep questions."

    "I doubt he will. He doesn''t seem like the type to have a lot of deep medical knowledge."

    "Neither are you."

    "Shut up," Sylva said. "Fuck."

    "This is bad, but I think you''ll be fine."

    "And what if something else worse happens later? At least pregnancy is natural."

    "Then you''ll figure it out and cope. If it''s any comfort, I don''t think we''ll need to stay here long."

    "Why?"

    "I doubt there''s anyone on this ship who knows anything about where Yan went. All we need to do here is get our foot in the door, then hitch a ride to a black station, or another ship where we''re more likely to get information."

    "Okay, okay." Sylva took a few deep breaths, feeling a tingle in her arms as the fresh, oxygenated blood rushed through them. She needed to remind herself to breathe sometimes because she definitely didn''t breathe enough.

    "We should get going. Don''t want to wander around and get lost on the way to the cafeteria, would we?"

    "I didn''t see any signs, so we probably will," Sylva groused. "Guild ships are so much better designed."

    "I''m sure you''ll get used to it soon."

    Sylva and Iri went to go find Sign for dinner.

 Chapter Fifty-Five - Schemes in a Guilded Age

    Schemes in a Guilded Age

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Though I may walk between high walls, or in the darkest corridors, I shall neither be lost nor forgotten. Though I may stand on the tallest mountain, or cry out in the depths, I shall be both seen and heard. Though I may be on the edges of life, I shall be known in sum to God. Every step and breath and thought of mine shall be recorded, from the rising of my star to its setting.¡±

    -from ¡°Eighth Song: Wisdom¡±

    </blockquote>

    Aymon had been fairly surprised when a note slipped through to him from Yuuni Olms, requesting a meeting. Things had been quiet from the Trade Guild, as quiet as they could be, anyway, and he had thought that everyone was just quietly adjusting to the new regime. It had been a few months. Though Aymon had a few informants within the Guild, as well as plenty of intelligence gathering tools in places Guildmembers tended to gather, he had barely heard a peep about trouble. If that was because Nomar Thule knew exactly how much his government was being spied on and kept all business as private as possible, or if the Guild had been operating business as usual, Aymon couldn''t tell. It had been two months since Ungarti Vaneik''s murder, and as of yet, no additional evidence had yet surfaced to prove Halen''s hunch that Thule had murdered the elder Vaneik. That wasn''t unusual. Thule, and it almost certainly had been Thule, had covered his tracks. What was unusual is that the young Wil Vaneik had managed to survive as the head of the Guild this long without making a complete fool of himself.

    He attended Council meetings without issue. All his personal correspondence was polite, to the point, and looked like it had been proofread by someone much smarter than he was. No charges had flowed out of his bank account to various¡­ entertainment¡­ agencies. Overall, Wil Vaneik was taking to heart the idea that a quiet man will come off as more intelligent than a loud one. It was unlikely that such change had been wrought simply Vaneik accepting and understanding the burden placed upon him as head of the Trade Guild. Aymon suspected that, behind closed doors, Vaneik was being led around on a string by Nomar Thule and all of his close associates.

    One thing that was made very, very clear in all the intercepted ansible messages, the secretly recorded conversations, and the reports written by paid agents, was that Thule was at the center of a vast spider web within the Guild. His time working the finances had given him contacts on every ship and a deep understanding of exactly how the Guild operated. It wouldn''t have shocked Aymon if Thule knew more about the Guild''s coffers than even the elder Vaneik had. The Guildmaster had to trust his subordinates to run things, just as Aymon did. Although Aymon had a general idea of the flow of money around the Empire, he couldn''t say exactly how much money was flowing in and out of every planet, who was getting rich, what legal and illegal businesses the prominent players were engaged in, and who to talk to to make things happen. He compensated for this mortal failing by having his own trusted network to provide the essentials, and he kept those people in check by having still others watching them closely. And at least, if Aymon couldn¡¯t hold ever detail of the Empire in his head, no one else could either.

    Except, perhaps, the Emperor.

    Aymon shook his head and returned to rereading the note on his tablet. Yuuni Olms wanted to meet because¡­ The note didn''t outright say. It sounded as though she wanted to take Aymon up on his offer for a job within Stonecourt, but there was no reason that a request like that would have come to his attention if there hadn''t been some sort of deeper meaning.

    He had told his secretary to schedule a meeting with her. Now she was here. If he had wanted, he could have tracked her progress through the building on the security cameras, but there was no reason for it. She would be here in a minute.

    Sid and Kino were off working. Sid had taken a great interest in Fleet operations recently, and since it kept him from badgering him about going off on a ship by himself, Aymon was fine with that interest. He had him working closely with people who were planning the Fleet''s next moves, farther out in the galaxy. They needed to find more planets to colonize, and if that meant taking them by force, all the better. The Empire had an insatiable appetite for expansion, as was human nature. Sid¡¯s pleading had succeeded in planting the seeds of an idea in Aymon''s head. Maybe it would be good to have the Fleet take decisive action against pirates. It had been far too long since the last time that had been a priority.

    Kino was sitting in on Imperial Council meetings. Aymon had instructed her to get to know the major power players in the Council, and to ingratiate herself with them. It wasn''t going particularly well. Though Kino was competent, she was also distinctly difficult to get to know. The idea was that she needed the practice of talking to people more, and forming relationships, but it seemed to be making her miserable. Every time he saw her she looked exhausted, and she practically dragged her feet on the way to Council meetings, or whenever there was some sort of social event being put on.

    Halen was behind him, as always. He had been sad lately. Aymon couldn''t blame him. The loss of Yan had affected all of them, and the hurt wasn''t growing less raw with age. Although Halen was always on top of intelligence, he took extra care with every scrap of information they had been provided about Yan. Unfortunately, it was a paltry amount. They had traced Yan''s kidnappers as far as all of the crew who had defected from the Tranquility, and had followed the breadcrumb trail of messages that had led them to cooperate with whoever coordinated the operation. The whole lot of them were paid in drugs, which were much harder to track than the movement of charges from one account to another. It was more likely that they would find the defectors based on surveillance on black stations than simply chasing rumors. If any one of them were to be caught, it might spark a chain reaction that would lead to Yan. As it was, the trail was disturbingly cold. Aymon had never seen people that able to cover up their own tracks. It was as though Yan had vanished from the galaxy, and everyone who had been involved with taking her had vanished too.

    There was still hope that she would be found. That was what kept them going, and what kept Halen glued to every report from agents in the field the moment that it came out.

    Aymon''s thoughts slid around in his head as he waited for Olms to appear, always returning to the same few subjects. There were plenty of other things that he should have been focusing on, but every second that he wasn''t forcing himself to think about other things, he drifted back. Everyone was distracted and in a bad mood, and had been for two months. It didn''t make for a well functioning government, but Aymon was doing what he could.

    He looked up when he heard the knock on his door.

    "Olms," Halen said from behind him.

    Aymon stood and went to open the door. He could have had it swing open with just a press of a button underneath his desk, but there was no need for him to come off as impressive to Olms. She was a relative nobody, ever since her mentor had died, and he liked her enough anyway.

    Physically, Olms looked the same as she had two months ago. She was the same tall and slender girl he had seen lurking behind Vaneik any number of times over the past five years, but there was something new in her posture now: a wariness and tiredness that hadn''t been there before. It seemed completely at odds with the happy way she had discussed going off to become captain of her own ship not so long ago. What had changed since then?

    "Hello, Ms. Olms," Aymon said. It was odd not to address her as Apprentice Olms. "Come right in."

    "Thank you, First Sandreas," Olms said, flashing him a brief smile. Aymon closed the door behind her. Olms looked around at the office, taking in the airy white walls and the expensive but tasteful furnishings. Aymon had never visited the elder Vaneik on his own home turf. He now wondered with a slight pang of regret what it had looked like, Vaneik¡¯s office on his ship. It was still the strangest sensation to find himself missing the man. They had barely tolerated each other while he was alive. Perhaps his feelings about Vaneik were getting all tied up in his sadness over Yan. Halen nodded to Olms as her gaze passed over him. Odd.

    "Go ahead and take a seat," Aymon said. They sat opposite from each other on the couches. Olms was about the same height as Yan, and sat on the couch in the exact same way, folding herself up so as to avoid knocking things with her long limbs. They were so different, but it was that sort of memory that brought his sadness into clear focus, again and again.

    "So, a little birdie told me that you''ve come to take a government job, despite your protestations to the contrary," Aymon said, putting on a smile.

    "Is that what I said in my letter to you?" Olms asked. "I thought I phrased things a little bit more delicately than that."

    "Oh, I read between the lines. But you certainly didn''t have to come all the way here if you wanted a job. You could have just asked outright."

    "It''s a little hard to know where the line should be between talking plainly and talking tactfully," Olms said. "I''m grateful for the chance to talk to you in person."

    "It''s not a problem. So long as I don''t have to go somewhere, I can almost always fit in a quick meeting."

    "Then I did have to come to you."

    "Only if you had something that needed to be discussed in person," Aymon said. He was trying to leave the door open for her to discuss whatever it was she had come to say. It was true that he could fit her in, but it was also true that he didn''t want to waste time beating around the bush. It wasn''t as though Olms had much personal standing; it would be absurd of her to be offended that he was trying to make this fast.

    She bit her lower lip, looking nervously over to the side. "In your opinion, how tactful does someone like me need to be?" Olms asked.

    "You didn''t come here for a lesson in manners. You should talk to your own mother if you want one of those," Aymon said. "I trust that I won''t take too much offense at anything that you have to say. I''m sure you didn''t come here to insult me."

    "No. I came because¡­" Olms paused, a long, silent moment. Aymon looked at her calmly. He wondered what sort of information she was going to divulge. There had to be some reason for her to be here. It probably was going to be good, but he doubted it would be anything truly novel. After all, he had people watching the Guild constantly. "What happened to the star drives that you promised to Ungarti?"

    "I was still planning on delivering them. Bidding doesn''t start until next month, right?" The process by which stardrives were allocated to the various ships in the Guild was an arcane one that mainly involved desperation, large amounts of money changing hands, and managing political favor.

    "Officially," Olms said.

    "And unofficially?" Aymon asked.

    "The numbers that have been circulating about the number of stardrives available don''t add up," Olms said. "People are getting antsy."

    "Really? I haven''t heard anything."

    "Of course you haven''t," Olms said dismissively. She realized who she was talking to and backtracked. "Sorry. I just, if I''m here anyway, I might as well say it. Everyone knows you watch the Guild. But there''s no way you could bug every ship and every meeting place. So business happens far away from walls with ears. And nobody writes anything down."

    "I commend the Guild on their operational security," Aymon said dryly. "But that level of paranoia is not necessary."

    Olms smiled, a thin line, and waited for Aymon to continue.

    "But the stardrives," Aymon said. "What are people saying? Anything strange?"

    "There''s been nothing but strange things going on over the past three months," she said. "Even before Ungarti died, I¡­"

    "You what?" This was beginning to be excruciating. If Olms had come all this way, she might as well say what was on her mind. Aymon wasn''t going to punish her for it.

    "I thought that there might be more going on than I was aware of."

    "In what way?"

    "I don''t know. Nothing I could put a finger on. But Marne Vaneik, we had always been close, she stopped talking to me. And Nomar would try to sabotage me more than usual. And then him throwing his support behind Wil Vaneik, I get it, I guess. It''s a good political move, but." Her hands balled up into fists. "I suppose I can''t complain. I threw my support behind Vaneik, too."

    "I''m sorry, Ms. Olms, I''m not sure exactly what you''re complaining about?" Aymon''s thoughts were actually buzzing. Had Marne Vaneik been connected to Ungarti''s murder? He hadn''t had a chance to talk to her alone, merely giving his condolences at the appropriate public times.

    "I was hopeful that Guild politics would stop messing with my future plans. But there are people who insist on punishing me for crimes I did not commit." Olms''s ears were red. She had a barely contained rage underneath her skin. Aymon remembered the description of that meeting that Yan and Sid had with Olms. The girl could stand to learn some self control.

    "Such as?"

    "Whatever danger Nomar sees in me, he refuses to take my word that I have no interest in stealing the Guild from him. As soon as I figured out that getting a recommendation from Ungarti was a lost cause, I decided I wasn''t going to fight. But he never considered that I could be anything other than a scheming-" She cut herself off. "He never considered that I would ever rise above his petty level."

    "Isn''t it settled by now? After all, Wil is Guildmaster."

    "With Nomar pulling the strings," Olms said. Aymon nodded. "But no. It''s not settled."

    "Are you intending to get back into politics?" Aymon asked.

    "No! I want my ship." Olms took a deep breath, clearly trying to steady herself. Aymon waited. It was almost funny to watch her. She was a spitfire, that was for sure.

    "Your ship?"

    "It would be my ship, if Nomar wasn''t hoarding stardrives."

    So there was the root of the problem. Aymon was a little put out that she had come all this way just to whine to him about not getting a stardrive for her personal pet project, but he might as well humor her. "Do you know what he''s hoarding them for?"

    "If I knew, I probably would have led with that. I''d assume they''re going to go to anyone he needs a favor from, but I don''t know how he plans on pulling that off without setting the whole Guild into a panic spiral."

    "The bidding has never once been fair."

    "There''s a difference between a bidding where the results are decided beforehand, and giving stardrives to people without even the pretense of offering them to the public."

    "Would they be for new ships?" Aymon asked, curious.

    "It would be stupid to replace a stardrive that isn''t coming to the end of its life, so probably."

    "What would people do if a new ship just appeared in the Guild, do you think?" Aymon asked.

    "It would depend on who it belonged to. But there would be some sort of crisis regardless. People aren''t willing to stand under a leader who snubs them."

    "And would they blame Vaneik for this, or Thule?"

    "Vaneik. It''s not like you can go pointing figures at people who are working behind the scenes."

    "You can."

    "But Wil would be the target. The only way it would bring Nomar down is if he couldn''t find a way to ingratiate himself with whoever leads the strike against Wil Vaneik."

    "You paint a picture of Thule as both malicious and clever," Aymon said.

    "Am I wrong?"

    Aymon didn¡¯t respond, just waited for Olms to continue. People who wanted to talk always did.

    Olms leaned back on the couch with a heavy sigh. "Does this sound like I''m just here being mad that my daddy can''t fork over tons of money to get me a shiny toy?"

    "At least you''re a little self aware," Aymon said, genuinely amused. "Is there anything that you want the Imperial Government to do about it?"

    "I''m just letting you know that you should keep an eye on those stardrives. I don''t think that anything good can come from keeping them away from the rest of the Guild."

    "We will, thank you for the tip. You know, if you wanted to be a captain, you could always join the Fleet. I''m sure you could have a command in no time."

    "Oh, God, no, thanks," Olms said, sounding genuinely disgusted. "I have no desire to hop about blindly exploring the galaxy. It sounds miserable."

    "How uncharacteristic that a spacer prefers to stay close to home."

    "I simply prefer to be among my own kind," Olms said. "Fleet ships are all crewed by planetary recruits. I doubt I''d fit in."

    "You never know," Aymon said. "And if you''re going to be prevented from getting a stardrive, well, you should consider all your options."

    "I''ll consider them. But if I had wanted to go into the Fleet, I would have tried to get a Fleet apprenticeship."

    "Are you sure you haven''t grown and changed in the five years since you graduated the Academy? You aren''t a different person now: maybe a person who would enjoy the Fleet for what it is?"

    "You know, I''ve had about¡­" Olms stared up at the ceiling and counted on her fingers. "Three real conversations with you, and in most of them you try to convince me to take a job that I do not want."

    "But you came to me asking for a job."

    "Sure. But not on a Fleet ship or Emerri."

    "Then what job do you want?"

    "If you can help me get a stardrive, I''ll help keep an ear out in the Guild."

    "What information would you be able to provide that would be worth it to me?" Aymon asked. He wasn''t usually in the business of personally recruiting spies, but he might as well hear Olms out. She was a nice enough girl, and proved herself at least a little trustworthy by her distaste for Thule, the murderer.

    "I know that you already have informers." Olms waved her hand, dismissing them. "And I know that some people already don''t trust me because of my Academy training. But people trust my father, and my family. And my father and my family trust me. I can keep my ears to the ground and tell you all the things that people don''t like to say on stations, or write down on their ships computers."

    "And that''s worth a stardrive to me?" Aymon said. "I''m afraid that you''re vastly overestimating your own importance."

    "I''m not asking for a new stardrive. I''m just asking that, if the stardrives that you promised to Ungarti aren''t publicly announced for bidding, you''ll put a little pressure on the Guild to pony them up."

    "But you wouldn''t be guaranteed to win one, especially if Thule has it out for you like you say."

    "I''d have a better chance than none at all," Olms said. "I''m not asking for anything unreasonable here."

    "You''re asking me to possibly jeopardize my relationship with the new Guild leadership, not even half a year into it. That is a lot for you to ask, in exchange for relatively little." Aymon wasn''t trying to be harsh, he was just pointing out facts.

    "Do you really think that whatever Nomar is planning to do with those stardrives is anything that will benefit the Empire? Or the Guild, for that matter?"

    "We always have to ask who is going to profit from any venture. And I''d guess that the people standing to profit are Nomar Thule and Wil Vaneik. I wouldn''t even know if their families will get a cut of whatever they''re planning."

    "Nomar hates his family, so probably not."

    "Interesting," Aymon said. The Guild and their constant personal squabblings tended to get on his nerves. He really didn''t want to steer the conversation into rehashing every personal grievance Thule had ever uttered about his great aunt Mona or whatever. "But the real question is, what are the things that Thule could do, and who else will benefit, even if only accidentally, from those actions."

    "He could sell the stardrives to pirates," Olms muttered. Aymon looked at her, and she brought herself back to a semblance of professionalism, sitting up straighter on the couch.

    "That seems unlikely, unless the Guild is far worse off than I had ever imagined."

    "It''s not, I''m just angry."

    "I can tell."

    "Hah. I''ve always had a temper."

    "It can be a tool, but you should be wary of using it," Aymon cautioned. "Didn''t Ungarti ever tell you that?"

    "He said a lot of things. I think his main rule was to never get angry at your betters. That way you can never get in trouble."

    "That would be easy for a man with very few betters to say," Aymon said with a smile. "But I can easily imagine him saying it without a hint of irony."

    "I miss him," Olms said. "I know it''s dumb, and I was going to be done with my apprenticeship anyway, but it ended in such an awful way."

    "I''m sorry," Aymon said. "I understand what it''s like to lose a mentor." In a sense. He wondered if Olms had any inkling that the elder Vaneik was murdered. He didn''t think she did, and he wasn''t going to bring it up.

    "It''s ok. I''m just mad at myself. It''s been two months, you''d think I''d have gotten over it by now. It didn''t even hit me until I was back on my family''s ship."

    "There was a lot going on at the time. Everyone takes different amounts of time to grieve, and the people who made the biggest impacts on our lives stay with us the longest," Aymon said. "You can''t be faulted for that."

    Olms looked down at her lap and smoothed the fabric of her cassock out.

    "But back to the matter at hand," Aymon said. "I can''t make any promises, but I will be keeping an eye on things. I don''t want to turn any of this into a public disaster."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    "You could try to shame them into releasing them. Announce the extra stardrives yourself."

    "I could. Or I could privately threaten to withdraw my offer."

    "That wouldn''t do anyone any good."

    "But it would stop whatever Thule is planning," Aymon said, smiling. Olms really wanted a chance at one of those stardrives. "I''m just keeping my options open."

    "Either way, I think you''d upset Thule."

    "I''m going to do something that sets him off eventually," Aymon said. "If you recall, I haven''t had the best track record with Guildmasters."

    "Thule isn''t the Guildmaster."

    "He might as well be. You don''t think that Wil Vaneik has suddenly grown up, do you?"

    "I try to stay as far away from Wil Vaneik as I can," Olms said, failing to conceal the expression of disgust and contempt on her face.

    "Probably a good idea. Was there anything else you needed, Ms. Olms?"

    "Not anything worth bothering you about," Olms said.

    "Alright. Like I said, I''ll keep an eye on the situation. Thank you for bringing it to my attention early, so that I can have a chance to do something about it before the bidding starts."

    "Not a problem."

    "And you know how to contact me."

    Olms nodded. "I will keep an ear out. I have as much of an interest in this as you do."

    "I suspect you have a much more personal one. Pay attention to anything you hear about Thule, will you?"

    "Of course," Olms said. "He''s the one causing all this trouble."

    "I think there''s more to him than just the current trouble," Aymon said cryptically. "He''s going to play a long game."

    "If he is, then I guess I''ll have to as well."

    "Even if you got a stardrive, it''d be years before you had a complete ship," Aymon said. "Slow down. You''ve got your whole life ahead of you."

    "Yeah, unless something happens to me."

    "You think something will? Should I be worried?"

    Olms scowled. "No. I''m just being stupid."

    "If you think that your life is in danger, we can help you with that."

    "By keeping me trapped on a planet? Thanks, but no. I''m capable of defending myself."

    "I don''t doubt it, but¡­" Aymon stopped. "Stay safe, alright?" It was a useless warning, but he wished he could go back in time and deliver it to the other young spacer girl he knew.

    "I''ll do my best. Thank you, First Sandreas."

    "Not a problem, Ms. Olms." Aymon stood and they shook hands. He led her over to the door. She nodded at Halen, who had been standing near the wall the whole time. "Keep in touch."

    "I will." They smiled at each other briefly as he held the door open for her. She left, and Aymon sighed and looked at Halen.

    "Complication after complication," he said.

    "You know she was genuinely worried that someone is going to kill her, right?" Halen asked.

    "I doubt she would have brought it up if she wasn''t," Aymon said. "But she should be safe enough on her father''s ship."

    "She''s not on her father''s ship right now," Halen said. Aymon walked back toward his desk, sat, picked up his tablet and put it down again restlessly. "I don''t bet charges on murder attempts," Halen continued, "but I think that Thule has proven himself untrustworthy."

    "I can''t tell if it''s a grudge that''s causing him to withhold the stardrives, or if he has some sort of plot. Olms seems to think that this is about her."

    "I''d say that it''s more likely a plot, but if it also hurts an old political rival I don''t think Thule would be unhappy about it."

    "Heh. Yeah." Aymon ran his hand over the top of his short hair. "Do we usually keep tabs on the distribution of stardrives?"

    "Obviously. But she''s right that we can''t watch everyone everywhere. Our information and hers might disagree due to her error."

    "Are we even trying?" Aymon asked. "Because if we have big holes in our knowledge, I feel like we aren''t."

    "We have people across the Guild," Halen reassured. "And we pull as much information from ships computers as we can every time any ship comes into port. But there''s real logistical problems to bugging a ship, or putting a man out there."

    Aymon tapped his pen on his desk. "I don''t like working in the dark."

    "You''ve been lucky that the older Vaneik either didn''t care about his own operational security, or didn''t feel the need to hide things from you. You got complacent."

    "He could have had plans going on that I didn''t know about," Aymon said.

    "Like what got him murdered?"

    "Yeah. I think we need to investigate his wife."

    "We investigated her as much as we investigated Thule, in terms of information gathering."

    "But you never got close to her alone."

    "Olms thinking that she was acting strange isn''t much to go on. As far as I was aware, she was devoted to her husband," Halen said.

    "Things change," Aymon said. "And it is a bit of a strong coincidence that her behavior changed right before Vaneik was murdered."

    "I''ll get people to keep as close of an eye on her as we can," Halen said. "Closer, even."

    "Good. Speaking of intelligence, any updates?" It was obvious to both of them that Aymon was talking about Yan.

    "If there had been any, you''d be the first to know."

    "I just mean have there been any new strategies, plans, anything?"

    "You''re kept in the loop already," Halen said softly. "It''s been a long time."

    "Eight more months," Aymon said. "A year. That''s when I''ll call it."

    "I''m not saying you should give up hope," Halen said. "I''m just saying that looking every second of every day for new news isn''t going to get you anywhere."

    "I know. How can people have simply vanished out of existence? They''re not on any ship, they''re not on any planet, they''re not- ugh." Aymon stopped, then started again. "What ship goes two months without calling at some port or another?"

    "There may be ports we don''t know about," Halen cautioned. "You know that there are black stations we haven''t mapped out."

    "And these pirates know enough to only visit the ones that we conveniently haven''t been able to track down? Their wealthy benefactor is somehow controlling them from a station that has so few charges or drugs passing on or off it that it doesn''t make a blip in our radar? And people who have just made a fortune off of kidnapping a politician aren''t going to go somewhere to spend it as fast as they can?"

    "Or they could have had facial surgery, and wear contacts to disguise iris scans, and fingertip replacements," Halen said.

    "I''m sorry, I''m just frustrated."

    "I can tell," Halen said in a voice as dry as the desert.

    Aymon leaned back in his chair, looking up behind him into Halen''s face. It was a childish pose, almost funny. Halen put his hands on Aymon''s shoulders.

    "We''ll find her, or she''ll escape. I know it. Does the Emperor have anything to say?"

    "I find that the Emperor has had very little good things to say to me recently. It''s Council this and colonies that. Let the Council eat itself for all I care."

    "Now that''s not a way for a good leader to talk," Halen said, rubbing Aymon''s shoulders.

    <hr>

    The mystery of the missing stardrives was solved sooner than Aymon anticipated, and it immediately precipitated a crisis. It was approximately one week before bidding on stardrives would begin within the Guild. Aymon''s phone, placed on his nightstand, was ringing in the middle of the night, something that only happened in a real emergency. He was curled up naked and alone in bed. Halen had left a while ago, retreating to his own quarters as was their custom. The shrill tone of the phone roused him from his sleep and he fumbled around in the dark, grabbing it. The light from the screen momentarily blinded him as he swiped to answer.

    "Yan?" he mumbled. It was the only thing that he could think of that would cause him to be woken in the middle of the night.

    "No, sir," an aide said, tinny sounding. Aymon was holding the phone a good distance away from his ear. His eardrums still felt rattled from the unpleasant wake up call. "There''s trouble with the Guild."

    "Does it really need to be dealt with now?" Aymon asked. Guild problems happened so slowly. Even in the fastest cases, ships still needed time to travel from one place to another.

    "Vaswani Parks says you''ll want to see this right away." Vaswani Parks was the head intelligence officer on everything concerning the Guild.

    "Is someone going to die if I take fifteen minutes to shower?" Aymon asked.

    "No, sir."

    "Then I''ll be in my office in twenty minutes."

    "I''ll let Parks know. Thank you, sir."

    "Yeah," Aymon grumbled, then hung up the phone. He let it fall unceremoniously onto his bare chest, were it lay somewhat tilted over the thick raised scar that crossed his upper body. He took a moment to stare up at the dark ceiling. Lights from the clock ghosted red above him, and he watched them flicker in and out as the minutes changed. The red splotches refused to resolve into anything coherent, and his thoughts wandered. There had been a moment when the phone rang, in between being awake and dreaming, where he had been so sure that Yan had been found. He didn''t have time to rest in bed, as much as he wanted to.

    Aymon rolled out from under his covers, feet hitting the floor with a thump. He stumbled through the darkness into the kitchen, and he put coffee on to brew while he showered. He went back to the bathroom, and turned on all the lights as bright as they could go. He felt like one of the many slugs his brother used to catch and salt as a child, torturing them to death. He was being melodramatic, moaning about the bags under his eyes and the glare from the lights. For his shower, he turned the water on only cold, and he stood under it, biting his lip as the icicles hit him. When he was cold and clean, he got dressed and drank his coffee. Black. As with everything, it was a new exercise in self deprivation. He had been "into that" lately in a way that he hadn''t since he had been much younger. Old habits died hard, he supposed.

    If he found his life bouncing between moments of hedonism and moments of asceticism, who was to say which one was better? In any event, his personal business had no relationship to his professional life, and that was what he needed to deal with now.

    He made his way to his office. The halls of Stonecourt were absolutely deserted at this time of night. Except, he noticed, for one person in particular who should have been at home in bed. A little tracker on his phone showed him the location of his two remaining apprentices at all times. He wasn''t letting Kino get away with vanishing from his radar so easily nowadays. How she had managed in the past to slip away from his trained professionals was a mystery, but since she had usually returned safe and never got into trouble, he hadn''t been too concerned. That was in the peaceful time between his trip to the front and Yan''s disappearance, though. Now he panicked at the thought of her being out of his sphere of influence.

    It wasn''t Kino who was awake lurking in Stonecourt, though. It was Sid, who seemed to have become allergic to regular bedtimes. Aymon sent him a message as he walked.

    > Join me in my office.

    < k

    Though he hesitated to call that response ''classic Sid'', it was certainly in character for him. Aymon arrived at his office and the guard outside saluted him. Vaswani Parks was waiting in the waiting room outside, her black hair cut around her head short enough to show her massive gold earrings. As a native of Almanzil, she brought with her to Emerri the heavy jewelry preferred by everyone on her home planet. She was armed with a briefcase and computer that Aymon was sure was going to be used to torture him to death with excessive detail on whatever the present crisis was.

    Surprisingly, Halen was nowhere to be seen. He turned to the aide lurking near Parks. "Where''s Halen," he asked.

    "Off duty," the aide said. "Do you need him?"

    He should let Halen rest. "No, I was just wondering." Halen was usually alerted when anything happened that required Aymon''s attention. Although the depth of their relationship was private, it was well known that Aymon trusted Halen and wanted to have him around during important moments.

    "I don''t think we''ve ever had occasion to meet so early, Director Parks," Aymon said.

    "I''m sorry to have woken you up, First Sandreas, but I do think you need to see this as soon as possible. Shall we go in?"

    "I''m waiting for my apprentice to arrive. He should be here in a moment," Aymon said.

    "Does he sleep at Stonecourt?" Parks asked.

    "I''m beginning to suspect that he does not sleep," Aymon said wryly. They heard Sid''s approach. He was never quiet when he walked, probably because he didn''t know how loud he was being. It was that, or he wanted to punish everyone for existing around him. Either could have been true, and both were funny. Maybe he shouldn''t be so uncharitable about his apprentices. Sid was getting better. He had certainly thrown himself headfirst into the work at hand over the past few months. Even if that was only to convince Aymon to let him go fight pirates, it was still admirable how well he had turned his act around. Perhaps that month or so of punishment had been good for him. They had never really discussed his coping with it during or after, aside from the very first day when they had gone to the Emperor. It was strange. Aymon spent by far the most time with Kino, even though Kino was the most emotionally distant of all his apprentices. He had to work extra hard to break through her shell, but he wasn''t successful. Kino remained an enigma, and in devoting so much time to her, he had left his other apprentices¡­ apprentice¡­ on the back burner.

    He smiled at Sid when he entered the room. Sid had bags under his eyes, and his tattoo was partially showing. He was still getting used to raising and lowering the designs with any detail. Early attempts had been so clumsy that Aymon had almost forbidden him to go out in public with it showing at all, but if Sid wanted to embarrass himself, Aymon couldn''t really stop him. Now Sid just had it set in a large, flat spiral, the line about the width of his finger, tracing out from the center of his head to the edges. There was room for improvement, but at least it was made with intent. He still found it difficult to believe, months later, that not only had Sid gotten this tattoo, but Yan had allowed him to do it.

    Aymon opened up his office and invited Parks and Sid inside. "Were you planning on going to bed at any point, Sid?" Aymon asked.

    Sid brushed past him without answering and took up his usual seat on one of the couches. Aymon gestured for Parks to take a seat as well. Aymon sat down on the armchair.

    "So, what is it that you so urgently needed to tell me?" Aymon asked, leaning forward slightly. Parks pulled a small projector from her briefcase and set it on the table. She opened her computer and activated it with the things that she wanted to show. Above the coffee table, the projection of a giant rotating rock appeared.

    "What is that?" Sid asked, peering intently at it.

    "This is the problem," Parks said. "We discovered plans for this recently. Several ships within the Guild had this same set of heavily encrypted files on them, and we had been trying to crack the encryption for about a month. Then we had a stroke of luck. Someone on the Valiant left their key where we could find it."

    "Key?" Aymon asked.

    "Data stick with the necessary information to decrypt the files."

    "Who left it?" Aymon asked, thinking that if this was such a big deal, why would anyone be stupid enough to leave their important data right out in the open.

    "Ah, well, we were suspicious about a meeting between Nomar Thule and several families within the Guild. So when several ships congregated at Zhani station to hold this meeting, we had agents board each of the ships and search the cabins of the people who attended. We got lucky."

    "Sounds risky," Sid said.

    "Perhaps, but it was worth it."

    "And what does this all mean?" Aymon said. He was getting hung up on the details, but the ramifications were more important. "You decrypted some Guild files about a ship. So?"

    "This isn''t any ship," Parks said. She clicked around on her computer for a second. "Look at this for scale."

    The first rock on the projection scooted over, and a much larger rock appeared next to it. The holographic projection resolved into familiar shape. Continents, oceans, ice caps, mountain ranges, it was the planet Emerri. The first rock was about a quarter of its size.

    "They want to build a really big ship? What''s the problem?" Sid asked. Aymon gritted his teeth, not at Sid''s question, just at the implications of the projection.

    "There''s usually an upper limit to the mass of ships," Parks said. "Even when hauling freight, ships can''t mass more than a large asteroid. Stardrives just can''t handle it. This ship is the size of a large moon."

    "So they''re building a station?" Sid asked, confused.

    "No, they''re going to make it mobile." Parks clicked on her computer again, and the surface of the ship became transparent, showing a spinning set of rings built inside the inner layer, each rotating counter to the ones next to it. Further inside the ship, four lights lit up. "Those are the four stardrives they''re planning to fit this with."

    "Can you even do that?" Sid asked. "I always thought there was a reason that ships didn''t have more than one stardrive."

    "Complicated question. Stardrives don''t like to work together. The way they warp space around them means that historically we haven''t managed to make them engage together, and the few times we''ve tried, things have ended badly."

    "So, what makes this any different?" Aymon asked, leaning back onto his chair. "If all that''s going to happen is that Vaneik blows his investments or self away by fooling with stardrives, I fail to see what''s so urgent."

    "Unfortunately, they already have a working prototype," Parks said. "Take a look at this." She cleared the projection of the ship and Emerri and replaced it with a flat video, hovering in the air above the table. Tinny voices sounded from the speakers. The video was showing a ship, or possibly just an asteroid, floating quietly in space. The people talking in the video were calling out instructions and a countdown. Clearly they were about to watch a ship with two stardrives engage at once. Aymon wondered who exactly had provided these drives, but that wasn''t his main concern as he watched the video. The countdown ended and the asteroid jumped away, just vanishing out of space. There was a general muttering of apprehension in the voice recording, and then another countdown. The ship which was the perspective of the video then jumped, the stars blinking out and into different positions. As the camera struggled to focus in empty space everyone waited with bated breath. Then the image resolved into the asteroid, sitting as peacefully as it had in the other area of space. There was a massive cheer. Parks cut the video off.

    "Oh, that is bad," Aymon said. "That was just two drives?"

    "Yes. They''re old ones, in case you were wondering. They came off of ships who won the bidding last year for new drives."

    "So this was being planned even under Ungarti?"

    "It''s technically not against any rule for the Guild to build ships," Parks said. "He may have been doing it with the best of intentions. But yes, at least the plans were commissioned under his watch."

    "And who exactly made these plans?"

    "We''re still working on figuring that out. All names are code names even in these documents."

    "Very strange that they really don''t want us to find out who built this."

    "I agree. We''re working on it," Parks said.

    Aymon leaned forward again. "How real is this?"

    "In terms of what?"

    "Construction."

    "We have reason to believe it''s mostly finished. At the very least¡­" She put the projection of the ship back up. "It probably looks like this." The outer layer of rock was once again transparent, and just a single ring rotated near the pole of the massive body.

    "So, habitable but not complete?"

    "Exactly. So many parts from ships are prefab, since ships are almost always under construction. It wouldn''t be difficult at all to set up just one ring the size of a normal ship on this," Parks said. "And we''ve seen some of the work orders and purchases."

    "Who is building this?"

    "Most of the labor can be done by robots: the digging and building and such. There''s probably a skeleton crew of volunteers from within the Guild."

    "Who in the Guild is actually involved?"

    "Families with whom Nomar Thule has cultivated close relationships. Most people don''t know about this."

    Aymon scratched his chin. He hadn''t had time to shave, so it was itchy with stubble. "What kind of power play is this, exactly?"

    "If this were Ungarti, I''d say it was an attempt to show that the Guild is a civilization in its own right. After all, that could house the population of a whole colony, once it was finished."

    "But under Thule, and Wil?" Aymon asked. Sid watched Parks, staring at her as she thought about it.

    "For Thule, this is definitely a way to consolidate his power within the Guild. Once this is complete, it will be the biggest, fastest, and most powerful ship in the entire Guild."

    "Fastest?" Sid asked.

    "Stardrives can jump different distances based on many factors: the mass of what they''re carrying, their age, and what spacers think of as the drive''s temperament."

    "But with a larger ship, wouldn''t it be slower?" Sid asked.

    "Based on our estimates about the mass, this ship would be able to run with three stardrives. They''re putting on four. Though four hasn''t yet been tested, as far as I know, if each stardrive ''thinks'' that it''s taking less than a full load, it should be able to jump farther. And it would be four brand new drives. All new ships have that advantage."

    "And what is Wil getting out of this?" Aymon asked. He suspected that for the younger Vaneik, it was as much of a giant dick measuring contest as much as anything, but he had to ask the professional opinion.

    "Since he''s been so quiet recently, it''s hard to know. It''s clear to everyone that he is not the real power in this regime. May I make a comment?" Parks asked.

    "Of course."

    "I suspect that if Thule is allowed to run unchecked, Wil Vaneik will not be long for this life."

    "I don''t doubt it," Aymon said. "Thule is-"

    "A murderer," Sid broke in.

    "Yes," Aymon said.

    "We''re still looking for solid evidence on that," Parks said. "If we find anything, we''ll let you know right away."

    Aymon nodded. "Has the Guild beefed up their security, or are we just monumentally unlucky in finding out about all of this until it''s well underway."

    "They''ve done an excellent job of keeping it secret so far," Parks admitted. "It''s clear to me that Thule has been in on this project from the beginning, even when Ungarti was Guildmaster. Since he was personally responsible for the Guild''s overall finances, he was able to cook the books and hide some of this evidence."

    "But Olms didn''t know?"

    "We don''t know. I know she was the one who brought the stardrives to your attention in the first place. Did she seem dishonest at the time?" Parks asked. Aymon wished Halen were here, he could give a more solid answer to that question.

    "She seemed angry and afraid. She mentioned that Thule was trying to take revenge on her. I don''t know how much that would have to do with this."

    "I would think that Ungarti wouldn''t hide things from one apprentice and not the other, so if I had to guess I would assume she knew. But it''s interesting that she would have a change of heart about this without telling you directly."

    "Do you think she''s trustworthy?"

    "She''s a woman with her own goals," Parks said. "In this case, her goals and yours happen to line up closely enough that she could feed you information."

    "She offered to give more, but she hasn''t ended up telling us anything."

    "That may have just been an excuse to tell you things she already knew, at times that were convenient for her." Parks half shrugged. "She''s not important right now. I think that she could be a valuable ally, especially if she is right about Thule''s intentions toward her."

    "I''d like to get her back on Emerri," Aymon said. "Peacefully. Uncoerced."

    "We''ll get on that," Parks said.

    "Don''t scare her. And if you can find out what she knows and when she knew it without bringing her here, that would be fine too."

    "You have a soft spot for her?" Sid asked. His voice didn¡¯t give any indication as to what he meant to imply by that. Aymon was tempted to smack him upside his bald head. Did he not understand tact, and what was appropriate to be said in a professional conversation about a serious topic?

    "No, I just don''t want to lose one of the few people in the Guild who has any goodwill towards us at this moment," Aymon said.

    "If it''s any consolation," Parks said, "we have no reason to believe that Thule has any intentions other than his own consolidation of power within the Guild."

    "And by consolidation of power, you mean declaring himself ruler for life?" Sid asked.

    "That is probably the end goal, yes," Parks said. "But he hasn''t shown open hostility toward the Empire."

    "Of course he hasn''t." Aymon''s voice was weary. The lack of sleep was beginning to hit him again. A coffee and cold shower could only do so much. "But he will."

    "You don''t think his ties to the Academy are strong enough to keep him, uh, under control?" Sid asked.

    "I think that Academy training is beginning to mean a lot less than it should," Aymon said. "Just within this past year I''ve dealt with a rogue governor who was trained at the Academy. And Thule has already shown he has a penchant for murder. Maybe it''s because his mentor wasn''t a sensitive."

    "Is that really so important?" Sid asked.

    "Yes," Aymon said, giving him a pointed look. How could Sid not understand the importance of passing on knowledge and tradition to those who were most compatible? Since so few sensitives ever had children of their own, taking apprentices was a key event. And in Aymon''s case, it was paramount that the line of succession remain intact.

    "Then why was Vaneik given apprentices in the first place?" Sid asked.

    "I thought it was an acceptable tradeoff at the time," Aymon said. "The Guild has always run better with a sensitive at the head, so it was worth it to place some in appropriate positions."

    "Well it isn''t doing so well now, and Thule is in charge." Sid took off his glasses and rubbed them on his shirt for a second, as if daring anyone to say anything to him while he couldn''t hear. Both Aymon and Parks waited for him to put them back on. Aymon tapped his foot.

    "In a way," Parks said. "But he''s got a long way to go before he''ll really take over."

    "Alright. That''s all very interesting, but I need your suggestions on what to actually do," Aymon said. "You know the inner state of the Guild better than I do." He looked at Parks as she consulted her computer for a second.

    "There''s as many options as there are stars," Parks said. "Do you want to get rid of Thule?"

    Aymon rubbed the back of his neck, feeling how tense he was as his hand pressed down on various knots he hadn''t realized were there.

    "Get rid of?" Sid asked.

    "It might come down to that," Aymon said. "But I want to avoid destabilizing the whole Guild. Any leadership change right now would probably create even more chaos. Do you know how they''re planning on getting the stardrives away from the public bidding?"

    "It''s most likely that they''ll have certain families who are contributing to this project win bids on the stardrives," Parks said. "Since you announced how many there would be, they have to."

    "Heh. Doesn''t seem to have made much a dent in their plans."

    "No, it hasn''t."

    Aymon thought for a long second. "Can we destroy the ship? Make it look like an accident on one of its first few trips out? Maybe even before it becomes public?"

    Parks nodded. "We can sabotage the drives."

    "No, Thule will probably check them," Aymon said, thinking of Halen''s stardrive experience. It seemed like any sensitive with a connection to space should make it their mission to understand stardrives.

    "Can he do that?" Sid asked.

    Parks clicked around on her computer again. "Thule took two classes in stardrive technology while at the Academy. It wasn''t a full certification, but he might be able to tell if something was dramatically wrong with one."

    "So could the ship itself be compromised? Maybe the connection between the stardrives? Cause it to missfire?" Aymon asked.

    "Yes. We could arrange that," Parks said. "Though the maiden voyage may be public rather than private."

    "That would be unfortunate. Can you make a media blackout?"

    "Media? Of course. But Guild captains and anyone else who knew about it? They''re unlikely to stay quiet," Parks said.

    "It would be really idiotic of them not to test it before they show it off to the public," Sid said. "You''d think the chances of it going wrong, even without you guaranteeing it, would be too high to risk the embarrassment."

    "The Guild is currently under the care of a self centered child, chaperoned by a murderer," Aymon said. "I don''t know if there''s a worse combination for unpredictability and public mistakes." He was grumpy because it was the middle of the night.

    "Is it really a good idea to destroy their ship? What if there are people on it?" Sid asked. Aymon looked at him with disdain.

    "During their testing phase they probably won''t crew the ship," Parks said. "It would be suicidal."

    "You never know. But it''s worth it," Aymon said. "I do have one other question before I let you go, and that will probably decide a lot of policy moving forward."

    "Of course," Parks said. "Happy to answer, if I know it."

    "Where is this thing being built?"

 Chapter Fifty-Six - Meet-Cute

    Meet-Cute

    <blockquote>

    ¡°To be in the public eye is to be constantly scrutinized. You will be asked to justify your actions, and people will find fault with everything you do or do not do. Make your decisions with this in mind, but do not be unduly bent by criticism that you know is wrong. Weak leaders bow unduly to the possibility of public pressure, and therefore can never make decisions that challenge the way things are. You are going to be seen. You should make it worth the public¡¯s effort to look at you.¡±

    -from Realtalk: A Governor Speaks Out, by Raj Calai

    </blockquote>

    Sid barged into Sandreas''s office the next morning, brushing past Kino in his enthusiasm to get inside. She glared daggers at him as his shoulder whacked hers, and she caught the heavy wooden door before it slammed shut on her face. Sid was unusually energetic, considering that he had been up almost the entire night before. The previous night¡¯s meeting had been exciting. He was lucky that Sandreas hadn''t slapped him because he had been running his mouth, but sometimes he just needed to say things.

    Sid skidded to a stop on the carpeted floor in front of Sandreas''s desk. Sandreas was ignoring him, as was usual until he was actually ready to talk, and Halen was lurking by the wall (also typical). Sid didn''t want to waste any time. He hadn''t been able to make his request last night, even though he had wanted to, because Sandreas had left the room before Sid had even finished processing the information he had gotten. Sid had formulated the perfect request during the night.

    He blurted it out with his usual candor. "Let me go deal with the illegal station."

    Sandreas didn''t look up from his tablet.

    "No." Halen said from the back. How did Halen even know about this? It was annoying how well informed he was. And why was he still objecting? After all, wasn''t it just going after pirates in particular that was the problem?

    "What station?" Kino asked, sitting down on the couch. Sid ignored her, tapping his foot as he waited for Aymon to give the answer that he wanted.

    "Kino, last night Vaswani Parks, the head of intelligence on the Guild, let us know about a new discovery of a supership the Guild is building, and the location of the station that''s constructing it. You should have a written report on it," Halen explained. Kino pulled her phone out from her pocket and started looking through her inbox to find the report. Her eyes flicked back and forth with alarming speed as she read it.

    Sid was still waiting impatiently for Sandreas to acknowledge him. Unfortunately, it didn''t seem like being bossy to his boss was about to pay off anytime soon, so he relented and went to sit on the couch next to Kino. He watched over her shoulder as she scrolled through the report. He couldn''t believe how fast she was reading it, or how detailed it was. There were way more specifics on how all this was found, suggestions for dealing with it, and details about the construction of the ship than there had been last night. It was a lot.

    Sandreas finally looked up. Sid seized the opportunity.

    "There''s precedent for sending Fleet ships out to stop the Guild from building stations," Sid said. "I looked it up. Think about, uh¨C'' He blanked on the name.

    "Malstaire?" Kino said.

    "Yeah, that''s the one."

    "Just because there is precedent doesn''t mean that I am going to allow you to do something dangerous or foolish," Sandreas said.

    "It wouldn''t be dangerous," Sid pleaded. "And you said you''d think about me going after pirates, and this is way better."

    Sandreas slammed his fist down on his desk. The little round paperweights that he had jiggled. "I would consider you going out to deal with pirates because there''s was a hope, a chance, a tiny sliver of something, that it would help find Yan. But I see what you''re really after is a fun jaunt and command."

    His face was red. Was he like this just because he hadn''t gotten enough sleep the night before? Sid leaned back onto the couch.

    "Let me go, then," Kino said. Sid stared at her in shock. "Someone needs to do it. You''ll want a representative to negotiate with the people on the station."

    "Why are you volunteering?" Halen asked.

    Kino twiddled a rubber band around her fingers. "Sid has had independent jobs. I want to prove that I can handle one, too."

    Sid fumed at her silently. If she got to go off on a ship and he had to stay on Emerri, that would burn. Kino looked at him calmly. Her face was so flat and inexpressive that he couldn''t tell what she was trying to communicate.

    "You think you would be able to handle a mission that involves negotiation?" Sandreas asked.

    "I can''t believe you''re considering this. I mean just look at her!" Sid couldn''t help himself.

    "Yes, look at me. I''ve gotten better." It was an undeniable fact that Kino had spent the past two months working on her ''people skills'' by going to party after event after meeting after social hour with the members of the Imperial council. She hated it, but she had avoided making any real social flubs recently. Sid had to admit that counted for something when it came to negotiation. "And I''ve been on Fleet ships before. I know how they run."

    Sandreas''s face was returning to its normal color, and he seemed to be judging the situation rationally now.

    "I haven''t even decided what I''m going to do about it," Sandreas said. "I could just let it continue."

    "It''s a whole illegal mine and manufacturing center. They''re building a supership," Sid said. "You can''t just ignore that."

    "I can pretend to not know about it until it is strategic to reveal my hand," Sandreas said. "And Sid, arguing with me on every point is not winning you any trips off planet."

    Sid scowled at his lap. At least Sandreas warning him about his behavior was less bad than the angry ''no'' that he had been given just moments before. That man could go from one extreme to another in an instant. Sid didn''t appreciate having furniture be used as a punching bag, though.

    "I don''t like the idea of either of you going off planet," Halen said.

    "Why not?" Kino asked. "It would be a Fleet ship. There''s no safer place to be."

    "The station is probably armed. It could turn violent," Halen said.

    "I have experience in space battles," Sid countered. "It would be fine."

    "I''ve seen the recordings of your pirate encounter. You weren''t calling the shots." Halen''s face was impassive.

    "There were recordings?"

    "You didn''t come in the day we looked at them. We used the simulation room," Kino said. "It was interesting."

    That must have been one of the days where he was holed up in his apartment, feeling sorry for himself and withdrawing from Vena. It had severely sucked. He didn''t like to think about that, but he was also quite glad to have missed out on whatever blow by blow dissection had happened in the simulation room. Apparently all the following drama made everyone forget that they needed to go over strategy with him. Either that or they had decided not to bother. It was probably the second one. Yan had done most of the strategy, anyway. What little of it there was.

    "I wouldn''t be in charge on a Fleet ship, anyway," Sid countered. "There would be whoever was in command telling me what to do."

    "Like you have such a great track record for respecting authority," Sandreas said. Sid snapped his head up to look at him, biting his tongue hard to stop himself from saying something else inflammatory. He really wanted to go, and he apparently wasn''t going to get there by trading quips with Sandreas.

    "We could go together," Kino said. "There would be less danger that way."

    "And risk losing both of you at once?" Halen asked. "I don''t think so."

    "We''re in just as much danger here as we are there. More, maybe," Sid said. "I mean, everyone knows where we are, and we could get assassinated at any time."

    "That''s not funny," Sandreas said. "You don''t understand what it''s like to face assassination attempts. Don''t joke about it."

    "I know our security is your priority," Sid said. "But you can''t keep handling us with baby gloves on. We''re supposed to be useful."

    "You''re useful here," Sandreas said. "And the purpose of an apprenticeship is to learn."

    "It''s also to do. If they just wanted us learning, we''d stay in school until we rotted."

    "I want to go," Kino said. "Sid wants to go. Please let us take a chance." Sid couldn''t hear, and her face was so flat, but the words flashing across his glasses were so forlorn looking. Was Kino serious about helping him? He almost felt sorry for having talked down to her. Almost.

    "You can''t keep us here forever," Sid said. "We have to go out sometime."

    "If something happened to you because I let you go, it would be my fault," Aymon said. "I don''t think there''s anything to be gained from letting you do dangerous things."

    "It''s really not as dangerous as you think it is. You''re only having a fit about us going off planet because of Yan," Sid said. "There''s danger everywhere, and you said yourself that what happened to Yan was aimed at you."

    "Do you really think you have the skills necessary to avoid being killed or kidnapped, if someone was coming after you?" Halen asked. "Be honest."

    "It depends on the situation," Kino said.

    Sid looked at Kino, willing to throw his support behind her just this once. "I think after everything we''ve both been through, we have proven that we''re resilient and capable. That should be enough."

    "If that were enough, Yan would be here right now," Halen said.

    "You''re going to have to send someone," Kino said. "You''re not going to let this go unchallenged."

    "I have people whose job it is to go out and do my bidding," Aymon said, quirking his lips up slightly. Was he amused?

    "Yeah, us," Sid said. "That''s our job."

    "I''m not completely opposed to it," Aymon said. "Just like I wasn''t completely opposed to you going after pirates. But I am opposed to you dictating policy to me. And I''m also unhappy that you''re dismissing my concerns for your safety out of hand." They weren''t really Aymon''s concerns. It seemed like Halen was more worried about their safety than he was. But of course the two of them were joined at the hip, so one''s opinion was probably the other''s opinion as well.

    "I''m opposed to it," Halen said.

    "Yeah, we got that," Sid grumbled.

    "There''s no guarantee of safety anywhere," Kino said. How many times would they have to make that point?

    "Here you''re surrounded by people whose job it is to keep you safe," Halen said. "People who have all the resources and support that they need."

    "And if we went, we''d be on a Fleet ship with people who are literally incapable of betraying us," Sid said. He knew all about how the Fleet operated. "It''s not at all like what happened to Yan. Just because it would be on a ship doesn''t mean it would turn out the same."

    Sandreas looked conflicted. He looked between his two apprentices, and Sid was sure that he was mentally reaching for Halen. Sid couldn''t imagine the type of lover''s quarrel they would have if Sandreas went against Halen''s suggestions. It seemed like Sandreas almost always took Halen''s advice; they both trusted each other so completely. It almost made Sid jealous to look at them, but then he remembered the fact that they hid their relationship, and the fact that they were like, a hundred years old, and he stopped being quite so weird about it. The only other relationship he could compare theirs to was his parents'', and that wasn''t much of a comparison at all. Sid''s mother was domineering and controlling, and his father was creative and a bit of a recluse. Them being the only two deaf people at the school they attended probably was the only reason they ended up together. Of course, Halen and Sandreas had been thrown together by an even stranger twist of fate, so Sid couldn''t really say if chance meetings were a good or bad footing for a relationship.

    Halen stood as still and stiff as a board in the back of the room.

    "It''s true that I can''t keep you here forever. It''s true that this would probably be a relatively safe task. It''s true that it something that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. You would get good experience from it, and that you need experience to be capable leaders. But I still don''t like the idea of sending you away. Either one of you or both of you," Sandreas said. "Part of it is my fear. I can admit that. And part of me thinks that I was pushing you too far, too fast. You''ve both performed well, but this isn''t something that I would have been able to take on at your age."

    "Then send someone with us to coach us," Sid said. "Like on Olar."

    "I would do that even if you had five more years of experience behind you. I put quite a lot of stock in the people who tell me what the best course of action is."

    "Then have those people tell you to send us," Sid said, crossing his arms. When he was arguing he always wanted to add in signs, put an extra layer into the conversation. The only person who would understand him would be Halen, though, and Halen was even more dead set against him going than Sandreas was. And Halen''s sign was serviceable at best.

    "The person I trust most in matters concerning my apprentices is telling me, very firmly, that I should not send you." Sandreas glanced behind himself at Halen, whose lips twitched in an unusual break from his typical stoicism.

    Sid could always tell how Halen was going to act based on where in the room he positioned himself in respect to Sandreas. If he was standing against the wall, he was in his professional mode¨C impersonal and distant. It let him fade into the background of the room and not distract from whatever conversation or business Sandreas was conducting. If he was shoulder to shoulder with him, or right behind him, he was making an explicit statement that Sandreas was being protected. In the office with just the apprentices, it usually depended on how much Halen was planning on contributing to the conversation. If he was going to be really invested in it, he would come closer, or even sit on the couch next to Sandreas.

    Sid was always making a mental catalog of how people were behaving. If there was one thing he didn''t get from his glasses, it was tone of voice, so he had to rely than other people on body language and behavior. Granted, signing made him want to pay attention to those types of things anyway, but spoken speech lacked any of the depth and richness of expression that sign had. Sure, Sandreas could pound his desk all he wanted, but he was never going to throw his whole body into something he was talking about, or restrain himself with stiff, measured movements when he was angry. Or say that he was going to slap you and reach out and do it in the same movement.

    Was it selfish of him to miss Yan simply because she was someone to sign with?

    There was a long moment of silence as Sandreas contemplated the problem. From the length of time he was spending thinking about it, Sid felt certain that at least one of them would be allowed to go. He would be so intensely angry if it was Kino who got the job.

    "When you were an apprentice, and your coworkers died, did First Herrault stop sending you out?" Kino asked, breaking the silence.

    "The first time. For a little while," Sandreas said. He actually leaned his head on his hand, tucking his fist underneath his hand. As his head moved into the light, Sid could see much more clearly the wrinkles and tightness around his eyes, and the white streaking through his hair. Sandreas wasn''t that old, but the past few months had aged him.

    "What happened the second time?" Kino asked.

    "I was immediately sent out to finish the job," Sandreas said. "It was¡­ a different time. And I was much older than you are now."

    "Not to be crass, but only one of us can actually succeed you," Sid said. He immediately knew he shouldn''t have said that. Sandreas jerked his head up and glared at him.

    "There''s a difference," Sandreas said, the words flashing across Sid''s glasses on at a time. "Between not taking my place and dying."

    "Sorry," Sid said.

    "You should apologize to Kino," Sandreas said.

    "What for?"

    "You just insinuated that she would have to die. I assume you weren''t thinking about your own death," Sandreas said.

    "I could die too," Sid said, raising his arms helplessly. He had just been trying to be frank about the dangers of their position. It wasn''t as though he wanted Kino to die, or Yan to get kidnapped.

    "Apologize anyway," Sandreas said.

    "You''re not my mother," Sid snapped back.

    "And I thank God every day that I''m not." Sandreas''s knuckles were white.

    "Sorry, Kino," Sid said. He had several other comments, but he decided not to push his luck and bit his tongue to keep his mouth shut.

    "It''s fine." Kino seemed unaffected by the entire situation, still twisting her rubber band.

    "What is it worth to you, going out on this mission?" Sandreas asked. "Why do you want it so much that you''re fighting me over it?"

    There was a long stretch of silence.

    "I want to do something," Sid said, seeing that Kino wasn''t going to answer. "I sit around here and I learn things from other people, and I watch decisions get made, and sometimes someone asks me for advice or to do something for them. That''s not leadership, and I want to go out and learn how to lead."

    "Leadership involves a lot of sitting around and taking advice from other people. It''s not often thrilling, and you notice that I almost never end up spearheading any operations."

    "That''s not true, we were on Jenjin," Kino said.

    "Jenjin was the exception, and I was there for political reasons rather than military ones. The operation would have gone the same without our input," Sandreas said.

    "Then I want to get that experience in now, before I''m tied to a desk and have to send lackeys and my own apprentices out to do it for me," Sid said. "You got to."

    "I got to, and I almost got killed on several occasions. If you''re too eager you will end up hurting yourself."

    "Okay, then I''m only moderately eager."

    "And you, Kino?"

    "I''ve been with you this whole time. I want to go out like Sid has." There was an awkward pause after ''like''. Sid waited for the words to appear on his glasses. Kino was avoiding mentioning Yan. "And I want to get away from the Council."

    "Any negotiations you get into will be much harder than dealing with Council members," Sandreas cautioned. "This isn''t a lowball mission. This would be real work, with real consequences. I don''t think you understand what the consequences might be."

    "What do you mean?" Sid asked. "All we have to do is stop the Guild from using a station that they''ve built."

    "And if they refuse to stop?" Sandreas asked. "What do you think the Fleet ship you''re on will have to do?"

    "Blockade it?" That had been the strategy the Guild used on Olar.

    "We''d have to destroy it," Kino said. "It''s not public information, and we couldn''t risk it getting out there, or having Guild ships come to break the blockade."

    "Malstaire ended without violence," Sandreas said. "But that was when Ungarti was in charge. He was a more rational man than his successor is."

    "You mean we''d have to kill Guild members?" Sid asked.

    "Yes," Sandreas said. "There''s a possibility that you would have to do that, if the negotiations failed. And you would be in charge of the negotiations. This station doesn''t have an ansible, obviously. There would be no way for you to contact help if things went wrong. Everything that happens to this station would be on your head, if you went out to it. Are you actually prepared for that responsibility?"

    "There''s only one way to find out," Sid said.

    Sandreas pressed his hand over his eyes. "This is different than killing pirates in self defense."

    "And you didn''t have a good time doing that," Kino said, then paused. "I will make sure that the negotiations don''t go wrong."

    "I''m sure you¡¯ll try," Sandreas said. "But there''s nothing sure, especially in this type of negotiation."

    "What do you mean by this type?"

    "The type of negotiation that is conducted in secret and in an understanding that both parties are holding eachother at gunpoint."

    "They''re holding us at gunpoint?" Sid asked.

    "I''m sure the station is armed. But even if it weren''t, the existence of the supership they''re building is a threat." Sid was a little skeptical of that. Sure, big fast ships were bad, and the Guild trying to flex its own muscles out from under the Empire''s watch was concerning, but it wasn''t anything that would cause an immediate collapse of society. Sandreas was probably just being overdramatic.

    "I still think that I, or we, could do it. You should let us go," Sid said. "I know you have good reasons for not wanting it, but our reasons for going are just as strong." He was trying to convince, rather than further antagonize.

    "I''ll think about it," Sandreas said.

    "That''s what you said before, and you thought about it and never got back to me. You can make a decision now. This is time sensitive."

    "Don''t push me, Sid."

    "But¨C"

    "I said don''t." Sandreas tapped his pen on his desk. Sid watched it bob up and down.

    "Maybe it would be better if we went," Kino said. "You could probably use a break from us."

    That was maybe the funniest thing that Kino had ever said in her life. Sid smiled a little. Apparently Kino was serious, though.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "What? No, I don''t need a break from you."

    "Are you sure? Because I''m driving you crazy," Sid said.

    "I want you to stop. That doesn''t mean I want to send you out somewhere to die."

    "We won''t die." Kino seemed calm and assured.

    "You could ask the Emperor to watch us," Sid said. "Farsight and everything."

    "The Emperor has much better things to do than watch my apprentices."

    Kino, who still hadn''t met the Emperor, ignored these comments, or stashed them away to ask about later. Either way, she didn''t ask about the Emperor, even though Sid thought she should have. He couldn''t believe that he was the only one who had been there. It was such a weird experience. Weird and bad. And he had gone twice! Why had he put himself through that? Because Sandreas forced him to the first time, and because he needed something the second time. And he hadn''t gotten what he needed. He wanted to go find Yan. He obviously wouldn''t admit this to Sandreas, but one of the reasons he wanted to go on this trip was that he thought that, once he was aboard a Fleet ship, he could extend his trip by finding more and more things to do. Perhaps going to hunt black stations or pirate ships. He was prepared for a a "better to ask for forgiveness" type situation.

    "I''ll tell you what," Sandreas said after a long moment. "I need to consult with Guild experts, find a Fleet ship that I can pull to go out there, and come up with a plan. I''ll float your names and see if people would be able to tolerate having you on board. And once I have all that information, then I will make a decision."

    "We''re not that bad to be around," Sid said.

    "Yes, you are."

    Sid smiled broadly. Sandreas could say all he wanted, but at least that was a concession. Sid had done his best to avoid pissing off the Fleet leadership on Emerri. He had been spending a lot of time with them, and he didn''t know for sure, but suspected that he was making a positive impression. As for Kino with the council, well, no one could say she wasn''t trying.

    "Now, I need you to get out so that I can think straight."

    "What tasks did you even call us in here to assign?" Sid asked. "I guess I sidetracked you."

    "Out," Sandreas said. "You know what you''re supposed to be doing. Go do it."

    Well, if Sandreas wasn''t going to give him explicit instructions, Sid was going to start doing some research on what exactly had happened on Malstaire.

    And so it went that Sid and Kino ended up together on a Fleet ship, less than two weeks later. They drifted out of the connecting tunnel between Emerri station and the ship, named the Impulse, and were greeted by the captain. Sid and Kino were both dressed in their most professional but least ostentatious uniforms: black cassock and deep red capes without any ornamentation aside from the gleaming silver buttons. Although they were trying to blend in with the Fleet soldiers around them, they didn''t succeed; all the Fleet were dressed in dark blue suits. As always, the cassock called them out as sensitives.

    The captain and all his accompanying soldiers, about ten lined up in two rows, saluted them. It was a little impressive how orderly everyone managed to be, even without gravity in this part of the ship. The salute was a quick motion where the person dragged their right hand down their face and ended with their hand in a fist over their heart. It was still awkward for Sid whenever anyone did that. He felt perpetually unsure of how to respond. No one had ever told him that he should salute back, so he usually just smiled and nodded as he did now. Kino followed his lead and did the same.

    "Welcome aboard the Impulse, Apprentice Mejia, Apprentice Welslak," the captain said. He shook hands with both of them. "I''m Captain Wen, and this is my first officer, Commander Saito." Wen was probably in his late forties and had a neatly trimmed grey beard.

    "Pleasure to meet you," Sid said with a nod. The commander, a stocky older woman, smiled and nodded back but didn''t offer her hand.

    "It''ll be a long way to get to the station," Captain Wen said. "I look forward to getting to know you both over the trip."

    "Of course," Sid said. "I''m excited to be on a Fleet ship. I''ve only ever traveled on Guild ships before."

    "There''s no comparison there," Wen said. "You''ll find that the Impulse is quite a different beast than any trading ship."

    "That''s a good thing, then," Sid said. "When are we jumping out?"

    "As soon as everything is aboard. Would you care to watch from the bridge?"

    "Oh, yes," Sid said. He tried to make his excitement sound less childlike, but the thrill of being around big machines was one he had since tinkering with his family''s tractors as a child. A starship was the biggest machine of them all.

    "And what about you, Apprentice Mejia? Would you care to join us on the bridge?"

    "Yes," Kino said. "I''m happy to join you." The words crawled across Sid''s glasses with almost agonizing slowness. This didn''t bode well for their upcoming negotiations, but at least Kino wasn''t picking apart the sleeves of her cassock or anything.

    "Great," Wen said. "Crewman Borgess, please help the rest of the group get situated. Saito, with me. Everyone else is dismissed." The crewmembers who had been standing around in the honor guard all scattered as soon as the command was given. Sid and Kino followed the two Fleet officers through the halls of the Impulse, leaving behind the rest of their cohort. It took a minute for Sid to remember his "space legs" and how to navigate the long hallways without gravity.

    The Impulse was, as the captain had said, nothing like the Guild ships that Sid had been on, though they were constructed out of roughly the same materials. In a Guild ship, everything showed signs of the people who made the ship their home. People decorated the walls with art or photos, and even where there weren''t any decorations, there were indications that it was a home rather than an institution. On the Fleet ship, there was none of that. Everything had a place, and a label, and all of the hallways were straight and narrow. Even within the hallways, everything was scrubbed to a shine, every door was labeled and locked, and everything moved with a precision that Guild ships probably could never match.

    And then there were the people. The Impulse was a small ship, by Fleet standards. It wasn''t carrying enough of a crew to do a full planetary invasion. It was a lighter ship designed to fight solely in the air. It carried in its berths hundreds of dogfighters that could scatter out to attack an enemy ship. Even though it couldn''t field a landing force, there were still an absurd number of people crammed aboard. Everywhere they drifted (or when they got to the spinning rings of the ship, walked), there were people who would stand to the side and salute as they passed. The captain acknowledged them with just a nod, but Sid could only assume that there were so many the captain had no idea who most of them were. On a Guild ship, it would have been supremely embarrassing for the captain to not know the names of all of the crew. They were family, after all. But there were about ten times as many people aboard this ship as there were aboard any Guild vessel. Sid wondered what they could possibly do all day, or how they were all fed. He knew there were several spinning rings on this ship. Maybe one of them was devoted entirely to greenhouses, and everyone had a shift there.

    After all, when these ships went out into enemy territory, there would be very few resupply runs to pick up food. These ships were universes unto themselves, with everything they could need to survive. Where Guild ships were mostly self sufficient for economic reasons, these ships had to be in order to sustain themselves and perform their missions.

    The bridge of the Impulse was high tech. Sid wanted to wander around and explore every area, to see what everyone was doing. His fingers itched for it. But he stayed still, right next to Kino, and looked around at the controlled chaos. People were walking between different stations, comparing notes and projections, or checking to make sure that various systems were all working in harmony. Because they were about to jump away, they were coordinating the unhooking of the docking tube that connected the Impulse to Emerri station. It was apparently a trickier maneuver than Sid suspected. He watched on the big screen in the front of the room as the tube pulled itself away from the station and settled back into position against the side of the ship. Two suited figures jetted passed the camera and inspected the dock, fastening a few things down by hand, then zoomed away back to the airlock.

    Captain Wen sat down on his chair at the front of the room. Commander Saito went to converse with some of the people around the room. Sid could tell it was a chaotic environment, because words flashed past on his glasses faster than he could read, and the different conversations filled the whole of the lenses, to the point where he wouldn''t have been able to tell if someone was addressing him in particular.

    In fact, someone was trying to talk to him. Kino tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to Captain Wen.

    "Hunh? Oh, sorry." Sid looked intently at the captain. It had been a long time since he had been forced to rely on reading lips.

    "¡­Oh anythi¡­ ou.. ssaatrifss?" The captain''s mouth was failing to resolve into anything comprehensible, but from what he could see of it and the snatches he could make out from his glasses as all the conversations on the bridge whizzed past, Sid guessed he was saying something about stardrives.

    "No, I''m not familiar with stardrives. Not anything beyond the basics, anyway."

    "Too pat. Kut thik thool tosnt oh ether." Reading lips was a mystery game. He got that Thule was mentioned. Names tended to jump out from the jumble on his glasses. He made a guess.

    "If Thule knew how to make stardrives, we''d be in much deeper than we are now."

    He must have said the right thing, because Wen laughed, his eyes crinkling up.

    "Roo, fare roo."

    "How long until we jump out?" Sid asked. At least the answer to that question wouldn''t be anything he had to respond to over the hubbub off the bridge.

    "Soon as afreewans ansid. Tan minoods." The ship must have a very efficient system for getting the docking gear stowed away and everyone back inside. Really, the Impulse ran with precision that was rarely matched even in the brusque halls of Stonecourt. Perhaps on a ship it was more important that everything ran on time and together than anything on a planet, where there was the luxury of a whole support system.

    "Oooht zhu lit ah our?" Wen asked. Sid could tell it was a question because of the slight raise to his eyebrows, and the way he looked in Sid''s direction. He didn''t seem to know how much Sid was struggling with the conversation. He desperately wished that Kino would take the reins, but she had less interest in talking than he did. Normally, it wouldn''t be a problem, but there were too many people, and too many things happening at once.

    Sid nodded to answer the question, hoping that was enough. It apparently was. Captain Wen looked out into the room and waved over one of the many uniformed people who were bustling about. He was a young man, perhaps a few years older than Sid, and he carried a tablet on which he was marking down various inscrutable things about the proceedings. He was handsome, in an uptight sort of way. Sid could see it in the way that his neck seemed to have a knot in it. He looked like a particularly ungainly bird. The name sewn onto the lapel of his uniform read "Lt. Cesper".

    "This is lootanan sesber," Captain Wen said. "E will kif zhu ah our. I neet oh steb oud, eksos me." The captain stood from the chair he had only gotten to inhabit for a moment, nodded to everyone, and slipped out of the room.

    "Pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Cesper," Sid said, reaching out to shake his hand.

    The Lieutenant''s hand was cold and sweaty, and he had to juggle his tablet awkwardly as they shook. Since he was so much closer than the seated captain had been, the lieutenant''s words showed up larger on his glasses. Volume increased font size, to give Sid more of an indication of what was happening around him, and it spared Cesper''s words getting lost in the shuffle of all the conversations on the bridge. Just so long as he stayed right next to him.

    "Likewise, Apprentice Welslak," Cesper said. "Pleasure to meet you, Apprentice Mejia."

    "Nice to meet you," Kino said.

    Sid didn''t know if it was too early to get into the ''you can just call me Sid'' song and dance with this man. They were on the crowded bridge, so it probably would have been pushing the bounds of acceptable "apprentice to First Sandreas behavior". Perhaps if they ended up at some sort of officer''s dinner together, Sid could dispense with the formalities. They almost certainly would be invited to participate in such things. There was no knowing how long exactly they would be aboard the Impulse. It was going to be a long trip to the station.

    "If you''ll follow me, I''ll show you around the bridge," Cesper said. Sid stuck close by him, but Kino dragged behind. Both of them paid close attention to all of the stations that Cesper pointed out, and Sid even felt like he was able to ask a couple intelligent sounding questions to the people sitting at each of the stations. Maybe he was actually coming off as ignorant, but no one was impolite enough to tell him that, so he felt perfectly content to continue asking questions and learning the answers. Just so long as he stood quite close to everyone who was talking to him, and he angled his face so that the tiny microphone on his glasses had unimpeded access to their voice, then everything was completely fine. Even when it wasn''t fine, smiling and nodding politely was usually enough to put most people off his track. Sid did his best to remember the growing litany of names and faces of people aboard this ship. Names were easy, at least, because everyone wore them emblazoned on their chests. Faces were more difficult, but he felt confident that by the end of the tour he would recognize more than half of the bridge crew who were on duty at this time.

    There were probably uncountable numbers of officers hidden within the bowels of the ship. It was so huge, and there were so many people, it astounded him. He asked Cesper if he could see some sort of diagram of the whole ship, just to get a sense of the scale of it, and Cesper obliged, pulling the model up on his tablet. The ship had four rotating rings. One, he was told, was exclusively used to grow food to feed the crew. Cesper commented something that may have been intended to be funny about plowshares and an army being their own supply train, but Sid wasn''t versed enough in the lingo of the ship to understand it.

    Kino was particularly interested in comparing the Impulse to the other Fleet ships she had been on: the Telescope and the God''s Engine. They were both different from the relatively sleek and quick Impulse. The Telescope was, more than anything, a transport ship, meant to run supplies and people back and forth from the front. The God''s Engine was a ship that carried a landing force, capable of taking a planet from the ground. The Impulse aimed for superiority in the space around any planet. There weren''t currently any warzones where space superiority was necessary, so the Impulse was free to be deployed for tasks around the Empire, which included the dealing with of the rogue station.

    Sid couldn''t tell what the feeling of the bridge crew was toward their mission. He tried to casually ask Cesper about the makeup of the crew, and found that the majority of them had just returned from an exploratory mission in far distant reaches of the galaxy. The Impulse could serve as a scout ship, because it could be trusted to get itself out of any trouble it found itself in. As Cesper related it, they were lucky that they ran into no problems and made several promising discoveries of potentially terraformable planets, but the crew were somewhat stir crazy after a year of exploration. This mission was the last thing a lot of the crew were going to do before they were debriefed and sent home.

    Sid couldn''t imagine being away from civilization for that long. Certainly he couldn''t imagine being on a Fleet ship and being forced to keep its secrets after returning home. Even if this ship saw no combat, there were plenty of secrets to hide from the general public anyway. For example, it wasn''t good to say exactly how many promising new planets had been found, because then people would start clambering all over each other in rampant speculation, trying to get their own colony proposal pushed through. It was best to deliver that kind of information slowly, in a nice drip feed. That was Sandreas''s view on it, anyway, and for once, Sid wasn''t compelled to argue.

    "How do you feel about going home?" Sid asked Cesper, after their tour had concluded and they were standing around, watching the big screen for the moment of the jump.

    "I might take a few months off, visit some family," Cesper said. "But my career in the Fleet is just beginning, so I''ll be back."

    "Isn''t that true for most people aboard the ship?" Sid asked.

    "Oh, no. Lots of people do their one tour and then go home. It''s safer, and there''s plenty of employment opportunities for people who did a tour. You need to learn a skill when you''re with us."

    "But not if you''re an officer?"

    "Officers learn leadership and organization. But if you''re an officer, you''re deciding that this will be your career," Cesper explained.

    "How did you become one?" Sid asked. "Sorry if this is a personal question."

    "It''s not. I went to the officer''s training school on Emerri after I finished my degree."

    "What was your degree in?" Sid asked, curious. That was one thing that being an Academy graduate made somewhat strange. Everyone else''s schooling didn''t quite line up with his. Though he had a focus while in the Academy, and it was probably equivalent to a degree, the expectation off going into an apprenticeship was completely different.

    "Mathematics," Cesper said.

    "And why did you choose to go to officer training once you were done?" They were both looking out over the action of the bridge. Kino was off investigating things still, probably making everyone whose shoulder she hovered over nervous. Everyone else was ignoring Sid and Cesper, focused on the minute countdown that would signal the jump of the ship.

    "I decided I liked strategy more than I liked pure math," Cesper said.

    The countdown ended and the ship jumped away from Emerri station, leaving behind the glow of the planet and the brilliance of the star, replacing all of that with black space. It took a moment for the cameras outside the ship that were displaying on the big screen to adjust to the new lighting conditions, and stars slowly faded in against the black backdrop, like dewdrops on a newly sprouting field.

    "Do you like being on a ship?" Sid asked. "Sorry if this is too personal." He kept repeating himself out of awkwardness, but Cesper didn''t comment on it.

    "I like it well enough. I''m hopeful that my next posting will be on the ground, though."

    "You don''t get to pick?"

    "Hah, no. I serve at the pleasure of the Empire," Cesper said. His words scrolled across Sid''s glasses at a steady pace. Sid wasn''t sure if he was speaking slowly and deliberately for Sid''s benefit, or if that was just the way he spoke. "At the end of the tour, we will all put in our letters of intent. So people will declare if they''re leaving the Fleet or if they''re staying, and that''s the time to request any change in posting. Everyone''s commanding officer will also write an assessment of how you performed, and that will be used to decide promotions and future postings."

    "Makes sense," Sid said. The world of the Fleet was entirely foreign to him. "Do you know where Captain Wen went?"

    "He probably had business to attend to," Cesper said. He couldn''t have said anything more enigmatic. Maybe he was being self absorbed, but it seemed to him that having important guests aboard and jumping the ship would be cause for the captain to stay on the bridge, but maybe there were more important things for him to be doing.

    "Do you think he wants us to stay here until he gets back?" Sid asked.

    "Oh, certainly not," Cesper said. "Unless you had some sort of meeting planned?"

    "No, I think we''re going to meet to discuss the whole thing formally tomorrow."

    "Ah. I''m sure he''ll have you for dinner in his stateroom before then." Cesper looked down at his tablet to check the time. "That won''t be for a few hours yet, though."

    Dinner. That would be a nice thing to have.

    "Is there anywhere I can get a bite to eat before then? Unfortunately, I missed lunch on the elevator ride." It had been less of a miss and more of a pass on lunch on the elevator. The constant, slow shifting of gravity made him nauseous. It wasn''t like the abrupt transitions between weight and weightlessness on a ship; those were fine. It was the feeling that, ever so slowly, his own body was getting lighter and stretching toward the sky. It was distinctly uncomfortable. He would have hated the elevator completely if it wasn''t for the ease of travel it provided, and the view of Emerri (or any other planet) slowly receding beneath him. That was always spectacular.

    "Of course. Do you want me to show you to the officer''s mess?"

    "Yes, thank you," Sid said with genuine gratitude and a bright smile. He turned toward Kino, who was off on the other side of the bridge, still lurking over someone''s instruments. He reached out in the power to get her attention, a difficult task when she was so invisible. Trying to prod her with the power was like trying to balance a drop of water on a duck''s feather. He got her attention, though, and she trotted over, almost crashing into one of the many people walking around the bridge.

    "Do you want to go to the officer''s mess?" Sid asked. "I''m going to get lunch."

    Kino shook her head. "I¡¯ll stay," she signed shakily. Sid grinned at her, his face feeling stretched from the width of his smile. She had been practicing, and he appreciated it. Cesper watched the exchange curiously, but didn''t comment on it. Did he know any sign? Sid would think that anyone in the Fleet would need to know at least the very basics to get suit certified, but maybe not everyone got suit certified? There were certainly enough people aboard a ship that they could train a few specialists on doing EVA tasks, rather than having a whole crew of generalists as on Guild ships.

    "Great. Contact me if anything comes up, okay?"

    "Will do," Kino signed.

    Sid turned and followed Cesper out of the bridge. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Kino return to her snooping. He wondered what she found so interesting about the instrument displays. She had never shown that much interest in mechanical things before.

    It was an immediate relief to escape the noise of the bridge. While Sid couldn''t hear it, the constant flashing of different conversations across his glasses was giving him a headache. Every time he needed to "listen" to someone, he had to focus his eyes on the close glass, and pick out the thread of what was going on. If there was too much going on at once, it was likely to give him a headache more than any real understanding of the conversation. He wondered what it felt like to people who could hear. He didn''t know if that would be better or worse. Cesper seemed to relax slightly once they were off the bridge, so perhaps he disliked the noise as much as Sid did.

    It was a long walk to the Officer''s mess, and the hallways of the Impulse, though well labeled, were all the same. Sid had no idea of how long they had been walking along the slightly curved hallways. For the most part, people ignored them as they walked by. It was the captain who had demanded respect earlier, not the visitors to the ship. There were so many people passing by in either direction that it wasn''t feasible for people to stop and give even the shortened salute, just a hand clasped to the chest, to anyone they passed on the way.

    Cesper stopped in front of a room labeled the Junior Officers Mess. Sid came up short, almost running into him.

    "Wait, sorry, Lieutenant Cesper, were you allowed to leave the bridge? I should have asked before if you''re supposed to be here during your shift."

    Cesper laughed. "Oh, I should have explained it earlier. Captain Wen has me marked down as your liaison while you''re aboard. I can go wherever you need me to go."

    "Kino''s too?"

    "For both you and Apprentice Mejia, yes."

    "Excellent," Sid said. "Is this it?"

    "Yes. Though, sorry, I''m sure the Senior Officers Mess is much nicer, but even with you I don''t believe I have access to it." Cesper slid the door open and let Sid pass by him. Their arms brushed as Sid entered the room. Sid''s face twitched in a tiny smile.

    The room was mostly empty. There was a buffet style serving area, and round tables with chairs. The whole place was brightly lit and clean, but rather severe. Sid took some food. Everything available was vegetarian, so Sid scooped up some tomato soup and slices of bread. The necessity of growing all their own food on the ship probably made meat a limited resource, even if it did come in vats. Those vats took up a lot of energy, space, and material input. If, most of the time, all the crew could get their nutrition from vegetables, it probably was more efficient in the long run. Guild ships, with their abundance of space and relatively little crew, could afford a more balanced diet. At least, that was what he assumed, since he had plenty of meat while aboard other ships.

    Cesper nodded to the other group of people who were sitting at one of the tables, but since they looked like they were getting ready to leave, didn''t sit down with them. Anyone here was having a late lunch, early dinner, or some unquantifiable other meal. Time aboard a ship stretched and strained with the changing shifts, but the dining areas emptied and filled in predictable ways as shifts began and ended. Cesper had only grabbed a few pieces of fruit: an apple and an orange. It surprised Sid that the Impulse had fruit trees in the greenhouses, since they didn''t have larger meat vats.

    Sid ate his soup without talking for a few minutes, half watching Cesper peel the orange. He had long fingers, and he peeled it so that it came off in one piece.

    "I like to imagine I''m inventing new map projections," Cesper said as he flattened the orange peel onto his tray. It tore on the edges. It wasn''t like any map projection Sid had ever seen, but he was willing to go along with it.

    "What planet is it?" Sid asked.

    Cesper pulled a pen out of his pocket. Sid watched, fascinated, as Cesper sketched out lines on the stretched out orange peel. They didn''t look like anything, but then Cesper picked up the peel, and shaped it delicately back into a hollow sphere. Miraculously, the lines formed the familiar shapes of the continents and oceans on Emerri.

    "Wow, nice," Sid said, genuinely impressed.

    "I have a good brain for figures," Cesper said. "It makes a neat party trick, anyway." He dropped the peel back onto his tray and started eating the orange. Sid could smell it.

    "Do you go to many parties?"

    "Not in particular," Cesper said. "You?"

    Sid laughed. "I don''t tend to get much out of them."

    "That makes two of us, then."

    "Do you have a first name, Lieutenant Cesper?"

    "Ervantes," Cesper said. "But everyone calls me Ervan."

    Seeing the name come up on his glasses, Sid could only guess at its pronunciation. "Air-van-tess?"

    Cesper stared at him, nonplussed. "Ervantes." He pronounced it again, slowly. "Her, Vaughn, Tees." Sid got the pronunciation then, as it flashed across his eyes as separate words. There was a standard lexicon of names built in to the dictionary of his glasses, but Sid never encountered most of those names, and when one had a non obvious pronunciation, he was easily lost.

    "Sorry," Sid said. "I''m not trying to make fun of you or anything. I''m deaf."

    "What?" Cesper asked.

    "Deaf. I can''t hear you," Sid explained, as patiently as he could, though probably some of his irritation came through on his face. "Didn''t you get some sort of information packet about me?"

    "No, just your name and your mission," Cesper said. "I didn''t really know what to expect of you."

    "I guess you have been completely out of range of all communications for basically an entire year," Sid said. "I''ll forgive you for not watching all of Imperial politics closely. I''m Sid, by the way. If we''re going to be working together, you might as well call me that rather than my mouthful of a last name."

    "It''s only two syllables," Cesper said. "Not that much of a mouthful."

    "Whatever plows your field." Sid resumed eating his soup.

    "Can I ask you a question?"

    "You just did, but sure."

    "What''s it like, working with First Sandreas?" Cesper leaned forward.

    "Why, you think you''re going to work with him someday?"

    It was the wrong thing to say. Cesper''s face turned beet red and he looked down at his fruit. "No, I''m just curious," he said.

    "Sorry, I didn''t mean anything by that. I let my mouth get away from me sometimes."

    "It''s okay," Cesper said, picking at his orange peel with one of his long fingers. "I''m at the beginning of my career, I don''t have any long term plans." That was clearly a lie, but Sid let Cesper continue without interrupting him. "I just can''t help be curious about the leader of the entire Empire. He leads the Fleet, in an indirect way. It''s worth it for me to be informed about him." He was rambling.

    "I don''t know. He''s¡­ He can be hard to work with, but he''s a good leader," Sid said diplomatically. "He has this magnetic personality. Everyone''s eyes are on him all the time."

    "Not just because he''s always the highest ranking person in the room?"

    "That''s part of it, but, I don''t know. He just draws people to him. I thought at first I wouldn''t like him, but he just¡­" Sid shrugged helplessly. "He can be scary when he wants to be, and he can be friendly and funny when he wants to be. Underneath all that, I think he''s caring, but calculating."

    "You''ve just described exactly the way he comes across on every broadcast I''ve ever watched. It barely sounds like you know him at all."

    "Maybe he''s just a really genuine person, and the same in public and in private," Sid said. That definitely wasn''t true, and he knew it wasn''t true, but he didn''t feel particularly inclined to start divulging the intricacies of Sandreas''s personal life to this man he had just met.

    "Really, there''s nothing you can say that would give me a different view of the man than just watching old broadcasts?"

    "I''m not going to talk shit about my boss," Sid said. "That would be incredibly stupid of me."

    "I won''t tell," Cesper said.

    "Oh, I''m sure you think that, but the urge to gossip is always strong."

    "So there is gossip." Cesper grinned. "How juicy."

    "There''s gossip about anyone," Sid said. "My precious mother has gossip about her, I''m sure, and she never even leaves her house." That wasn''t strictly true. His whole family went into town about once a week to grocery shop and attend worship.

    "Well that''s just inviting gossip right there," Cesper said. "There''s nothing more alluring than a shut-in."

    "First Sandreas is not a shut-in, so then you shouldn''t need to gossip about him."

    "Celebrities are second to shut-ins on the gossip scale," Cesper said.

    "First Sandreas isn''t a celebrity, he''s a politician."

    "Politicians are celebrities. In any event, people are interested in the details of their lives. People always want to know what''s hiding behind a facade. Be that the house of a shut-in, or the cultivated image of a celebrity."

    "First Sandreas is extremely concerned about his public image, so I don''t think he''d ever let anything slip through that he didn''t want to," Sid said.

    "That''s why I''m asking you. Maybe you''ll let something slip through."

    "Doubt it. Besides, I really don''t think it''s that fascinating. Wait." Sid paused for a moment, thinking. "Is there gossip about me?"

    "Probably. I''ve been away from civilization for a year, so I wouldn''t know. Too bad we can''t look it up over the ansible right now."

    "I don''t think I''d want to know." The more Sid thought about it, the more he was sure that there was gossip about him. Of course there was the whole thing with the pirates, but Cesper was right: people did love to talk about celebrities. A sick thought came over him as he considered what the whole arc of his apprenticeship would look like to an outside observer. Most of the gossip would probably be about Yan. Cesper probably didn''t even know Yan existed. Sid didn''t know if that was a relief or an additional burden.

    "Do you get along with Apprentice Mejia?" Cesper asked, unintentionally bringing up the subject through the absence of Yan''s name.

    "We didn''t used to, but we''ve been working together a lot more recently. We''ve gotten better together, I guess."

    "What made you two not like each other originally?"

    "I tend to take an initial impression of a person and then hold them to it. It''s a flaw of mine."

    "And what was the initial impression that you didn''t like?"

    "Boy, you sure do love the personal questions," Sid said dryly, dipping his bread in his soup. "I don''t know. She didn''t know sign, so that was an automatic downgrade, and she''s quiet where I''m argumentative, and her twitchiness annoyed me, and¡­ We''re just different people."

    "What''s your initial impression of me, if you don''t mind me asking?"

    "You''re cute," Sid said immediately, without thinking. Foot, meet mouth. His face heated up a little, but he plowed on. "You''re nosy and a little awkward, but friendly." He stirred the remainder of his soup.

    Cesper didn''t seem to mind his awkward comment. In fact, there was a hint of a smile on his face. "I''m glad I didn''t make a bad first impression."

 Chapter Fifty-Seven - The Green King and the Silver Flame Attunement

    The Green King and the Silver Flame Attunement

    <blockquote>

    ¡°You¡¯ve been travelling a long, long time. Like the birds in the winter you¡¯ve been gone. But when the sun does rise, I can see them in the skies, and like the birds in the springtime you¡¯ll come home. Home to me, home to me, like the birds in the sky you¡¯ll come home to me. My lover and my friend, my darling to the end, with the birds in the spring you¡¯ll come home.¡±

    -¡°Wintertime Traveller¡±, Emerri folk song

    </blockquote>

    Yan had a few strategies. She hadn''t stopped trying to escape, and she was doing everything she could, even if that wasn''t much. Underneath her bed, she was creating something disgusting. She had a few bites of chewed up food that she piled up on the floor, waiting for them to grow mold. Maybe if she ate it and got sick enough, someone would have to come and take her out, and then she might have an opportunity to escape.

    She tried every day to smash her chain apart. Over and over, she placed the chain underneath one of the legs of the bed, and threw herself on top of it as hard as possible. Usually, the chain just skittered out of the way, undamaged.

    She hoisted her chair over her head and used it to batter at the door. Nothing ever came in that, but it was something to do.

    Even the light, which she had sworn she wouldn''t try to smash, she went at it, hammering it with the chair leg. Unfortunately, like the chain, it was extremely resistant to breaking.

    Yan was also developing a certain language of pain. It was the only thing that she could reliably feel, so she almost welcomed it whenever she strained her arms from lifting, or hopped over her chain wrong while pacing. It always snapped her back into her own body, her own head, from wherever she had been drifting in her thoughts. She seized on that and tried to use it to her advantage.

    The chip in her head blocked her use of the power by overloading her nerves with pain until she passed out. That was what it felt like, anyway. It didn''t actually stop the power from existing, or her ability to access it, like drugs did. It just punished her whenever she even thought about it, and ramped up in intensity whenever she built up the focus required to use the power. There was a constant tingle in her brain. It wasn''t painful, exactly, it was just a static feeling that reminded her that the chip was present. It grew louder when she meditated, and quieter when she abandoned her physical body and floated in her imagination.

    If she could stay conscious through that pain, Yan knew that she could use the power. And if she could use the power, she could escape. So, along with all of her other daily tasks- eating, working out, smashing the chain and door, cultivating her poisonous mess underneath her bed, sleeping, pacing relentlessly, singing, imagining she was elsewhere- Yan added practicing her pain tolerance to that list.

    She knew she already had a pretty high one. After all, she had sliced open her own neck not¡­ How long had it been? There was no way to tell. It didn''t matter. In her desperation to escape, she had carved herself into pieces. That took a lot. Yan knew what she was capable of, in that respect, at least.

    Deliberately testing the bounds of what she could manage before she passed out was difficult, though. She had to take a moment to psych herself up before each attempt, and she would stiffen her whole body in anticipation of the searing pain. It was like nothing else, and it felt different, and newly horrible, every time.

    Maybe her brain was just saving her the agony of remembering the pain, but it didn''t make developing a tolerance to it any easier, if she couldn''t tell how much further she had to push herself. She hoped that there was some sort of maximum threshold, above which the pain could not increase, and she would be free to focus on maintaining focus, using the power.

    There was one other thing she kept trying. In between her focused sessions where she lay on her mattress and focused until she passed out, she would pace, tossing one of her folded up pieces of cardboard from hand to hand. She remembered that at least part of the use of the power was instinctual. When Sid had been punished by the Emperor, he had abruptly become much clumsier. With things like catching objects, there was an unconscious use of the power to nudge the flying thing into the hand. Or, if something was teetering on the edge of the table, one could subconsciously use the power to stabilize it for the fraction of a second it took to reach out and grab it. All those processes that happened without her thinking about them, maybe they wouldn''t be attacked by whatever chip was in Yan''s head. So she paced, stared straight ahead with her stiff neck, and tossed things from hand to hand, trying to seize on that instinct that let her catch things she couldn''t see.

    She wasn''t making that much progress with it. Every time she thought she felt something, the pain would come back. And she couldn''t tell if she was just getting better at catching things naturally, or if she was using the power. And even if she did manage to harness that subconscious feeling, it wasn''t as though she could subconsciously break her chains or open the door.

    Aside from her routines, the one thing that kept her sane was her nightly visits from the girl who brought her food. She didn''t come every time Yan slept. They had started delivering her food in larger quantities, apparently satisfied that she could ration it herself. It made the passage of time even less connected to reality, since the food came once in a while while she slept, and sometimes she was very hungry before she got a new delivery of it. Maybe they didn''t want the girl interacting with her.

    But Yan still lay awake every time, hoping to catch a glimpse of her through half lidded eyes. Whenever the door clicked open and Yan heard the soft shuffling footsteps, it was hard to resist jumping up and yelling. Her heartbeat sped up so much it was a wonder the girl didn''t hear it.

    The girl had the same routine every time. She would set the food on the table, line up Yan''s cardboard figures (there was quite a collection of them now), clean up the garbage, and then¡­ There was always a moment where the girl paused indecisively and looked around the room, glancing up into the corners and the light. Then she would say something in a language Yan didn''t recognize or understand, and it was barely more than a whisper anyway. And then Yan had to hold her breath, because the girl would come over and crouch down in front of the bed. Yan peered out at her, eyes almost closed, looking out at her from behind her eyelashes.

    The girl had dark eyes, and the side of her face that wasn''t drooping from old injury always had a pensive look on it. She came close enough that Yan could hear her breathing, and occasionally she would reach out her finger and almost touch Yan''s face. It was almost too much to bear, feeling the warmth of it hovering just millimeters away. But she always lost her courage before she ever touched Yan, and she would shiver all over, stand up, and walk away. Yan always tried not to cry when the door closed again, but she didn''t always succeed.

    <hr>

    How long had it been?

    "Tell me how you make the stardrive work, Halen?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know. I''m not a computer," Halen said. "I don''t even know enough math for it." He stared at it, in the back of the shuttle, all the wires and ties holding it down. It was brighter than any of the stars outside the window.

    "But you made it work."

    "Not yet."

    "You will."

    "Will I?"

    "Yes."

    "Then you need to tell me," Halen said. "Because I don''t know."

    "You''re not even real." Yan turned away, frustrated, and floated back to the front of the shuttle. "Nothing here matters."

    "That''s not true."

    "Watch me," Yan grunted through gritted teeth. She slid herself into the pilot''s chair and strapped in, grabbing the yoke. "Watch me."

    The shuttle responded to her instructions, and warning lights flashed on the console as she sent it into a dangerous spin. The blood rushed out of her head towards her feet. Halen slammed up against the side of the shuttle behind her, vainly reaching toward her to make her stop. Yan laughed maniacally, holding the yoke to stay spinning. The stars swung crazily around outside the window. The stardrive in the back rattled and its light flickered, casting wild illuminations over everything.

    It hurt to hold that spin. The blood rushed out of her brain. The air was trapped thick as soup in her lungs. She couldn''t breathe. Yan passed out.

    When she came to, the room was pitch dark. Yan was on the floor, her chain wrapped around her ankle. She stretched out her hand on the cold stone floor, and felt a sudden pain. Carefully, cradling her hand, Yan sat up. She couldn''t see anything, but she poked at her right palm with her left hand and felt a shard of glass embedded in it.

    Somehow, she had broken the light.

    Her head and hand hurt, one throbbing with the residual pain of using the power against the will of the chip, the other stinging from the shard of glass stuck in it. She yanked out the shard, and felt her hot blood pool in her palm. She couldn''t see it, but as she raised her hand up to her eyes, the blood trickled down her arm. Yan laughed and laughed and laughed.

    Unfortunately, her moment of triumph and her long stretch of solitude ended at the same time. The watching camera must have been hidden in the light, and the sudden darkness in her room brought attention to her cell. The guards came quickly, and opened the door, letting light stream in. Yan held her glass shard as they approached her.

    It was two men, and neither of them looked like the Green King. She couldn''t see their faces, and they spoke to her in a language she didn''t know. The intent was clear from the tone. Don''t move. Put down the glass.

    Yan could only imagine what she herself looked like, crouched on the floor, one hand covered in blood, the other holding a shard of glass up like a weapon in the dim light, grinning like a maniac.

    The two men glanced at each other, and one of them stepped toward her. Strangely, he stepped past her, and bent down. Something glinted at his waist. A gun?

    Yan lunged for it, using her wounded hand to grab for it. Her fingers closed around it the same instant that the second guard tackled her hard, pinning her body and wrenching her back. She turned as much as she could and scratched wildly at him with her nails and the glass shard, digging it into his face. He grunted in pain and wrestled her arms flat onto the ground. The other guard helped, abandoning whatever he had been doing behind Yan.

    "You should be more careful," Yan huffed, trapped underneath the guard. "I''m dangerous." She wasn''t feeling particularly stressed out. Some of her euphoria about managing to use the power (however accidentally it had been) and her relief about seeing and touching someone, anyone, was greater than her fear towards these people. After all, her captors hadn''t actually hurt her yet. Well. It depended on how she looked at things. They hadn''t physically tortured her while she was conscious yet. That was maybe the most she could say.

    The two men said something to each other very quickly. It was weird, she couldn''t place it at all, and they didn''t seem to understand anything that she said. They didn''t react to it, anyway. Had she said it in Old Imperial?

    "Get off me," Yan said, this time in Old Imperial for sure. That was the language that the Green King had used, and it was fairly standard throughout the Empire. She kicked her legs for emphasis, but it didn''t do anything.They didn''t respond. The one kept her pinned down while the other performed his duty. He seemed to be checking her chain. It rattled against the floor as he picked up and inspected every link of it. Yan would have laughed if she could have breathed enough to do so. If her chain was broken, wouldn''t she be trying much harder to escape?

    At least the fact that they were checking her chain gave her hope that the chain was breakable, even if only by the power. It was a little sad to think that no one had ever bothered to inspect the chain after all the hours she had spent trying to smash it to pieces with the leg of her bed. That had given her something to fill the time with at least.

    When the man on top of her breathed, she could feel it in her own chest. "Sorry I sliced you with the glass," Yan said. They both ignored her. Once the man was finished looking over her chain, he came over to her and pried the glass out of her hand. She couldn''t be allowed to keep a weapon like that, of course. He tossed it out into the hallway; she heard it skitter across the floor. Then he kicked the rest of the broken glass shards out as well.

    It wasn''t as though Yan was going to hurt herself with them. They needn''t have worried about that. Maybe a few hours ago she would have, but she was feeling beastly and strange, with a wild energy and confidence coursing through her. Even her current predicament, pinned down as she was, didn''t bother her as much as it should have. It really should have bothered her. She knew that. Maybe she was really going crazy. Maybe she hadn''t used the power to break the light. Maybe she had just used the chair. She couldn''t see the chair from her position on the ground, not with her stuck neck and being pinned.

    It took a surprisingly long time for the man to find all the glass shards and kick them out into the hallway. Yan didn''t bother moving or resisting. There was no way she was going to be able to get out of this full body hold. Though she probably had at least a few centimeters on the man in terms of height, he weighed a lot more than she did. The men, too, grew more relaxed as she just lay there limply. They didn''t talk to her, but they spoke to each other in their own language. The man dealing with the glass even laughed at one point, a halfhearted chuckle, sure, but it was something.

    She gave them both names. The one she had scratched with the glass shard (who was pinning her down) she would call Scarface. The other could be¡­ Kicker.

    "What do you even want me for, if you''re not even going to do anything with me?" Yan asked Scarface. "Nobody''s even taken pictures of me for ransom. It''s like you just want me rotting for no reason."

    Kicker finished with the glass and said something to Scarface. He began to let her go, standing up slowly. Kicker kept his foot heavily on her chain, so she couldn''t have gotten up even if she wanted to. They left, and Yan was left in the dark.

    Abruptly, the fear that had been absent while the two men were with her came back full force. She stood up, cradling her cut hand to her chest. Yan shivered violently. The silence and darkness of the room wrapped around her. It had been better to be with people than alone, even if those people were her captors. Her back hurt from being tackled. She knew her way around the room backwards and forwards, since she paced so much with her eyes closed, so it wasn''t much of an obstacle to be in the dark. She rinsed her hand off in the sink, cleaning the cut, and she wadded and wrapped some toilet paper over it.

    Why hadn''t she been worried while they were there? She didn''t even think that she could use the power again (if it had been the power she used). Now that she knew that she could access it from her daydream about Halen, it would probably be harder to get back to that state. Going into it was completely involuntary, and only happened sometimes when her mind wandered. It was nothing like the structure of prayer or singing or meditating. It was completely unformed, and half crazy. She was more than half crazy.

    She was exhausted and lay down to sleep. Her dreams were turbulent.

    Yan woke some unknown amount of time later. The door creaked open, and her familiar night visitor came in. Yan knew it was her by her odd, shuffling steps. She was carrying a flashlight, and the beam of it made firelike shadows on the walls where it touched. After the girl finished her normal routine, she turned the flashlight''s beam on Yan. Her eyes had been open all the way; because it was dark there was no reason for her to disguise that. The sudden direct light momentarily blinded her, and she clamped her eyes shut. The girl didn''t seem to notice, and her shuffling footsteps approached. The beam of the flashlight made red spots behind Yan''s eyelids, it was that bright.

    And then there was a gentle touch. She peeled back Yan''s fingers to see the clumsy toilet paper bandage on her palm. Yan was limp, not wanting to disturb the girl as she prodded at it. It hurt, but it wasn''t malicious. Then the girl curled Yan''s fingers back up and took a step back, leaving Yan alone and in the dark once more.

    It was strange how her life was completely ruled and punctuated by these visits. These things were the only things that broke up the monotony, and it was a long time before the monotony was broken again.

    Yan struggled to return to her daydream state, but as she had suspected, the more she tried, the less it worked. She couldn''t even summon the ghosts she usually talked to- friends and family that she casually chatted with and imagined sitting around as she paced through her tiny cell. Yan had never considered herself a particularly imaginative person before. Sure, she enjoyed meditating, but that was clearing her mind, not intentionally cluttering up reality with ghosts. Discovering her penchant for it under extreme circumstances, then immediately losing the skill as soon as it became relevant was extremely annoying to her.

    It was lonely and boring without her ghosts. She went back to praying, talking to God as though God was one of them. That didn''t bring her much comfort, and it felt almost sacrilegious, even though she was angry at God anyway. She just needed someone to talk to other than herself. And she continued her experiments with withstanding pain and with her subconscious use of the power.

    If someone had asked her beforehand if it would be easier to slide away into her daydreams with the light on or off, she would have said off, but now, in the dark, it was harder. The people keeping her operated under the flag of taking away anything that she tried to hurt herself with. So just as the trashcan had vanished forever, so had the lightbulb. As an experiment one day, Yan shredded the plastic wrapper that held her granola bars, and ate it. She was thoroughly indigested and scraped out her insides with the plastic, but her suspicions were confirmed when, from then on, all of her foods came to her unwrapped.

    And then, some unknown time later, but after perhaps ten or fifteen visits from the girl who brought her food, the Green King returned.

    He brought a flashlight. It looked like the same one the girl who came at night had. Yan imagined for a moment it hanging on a hook outside her door, ready for anyone who came into her dark prison to have. The light burned her eyes. She had been in the dark for too long, and he was pointing it directly at her face.

    This was the first time they had met where she began the conversation with some semblance of control over herself, and she wanted to keep it that way. She was neither drugged nor immediately being held down by the power. It was pathetic how even that tiny amount of control over the boundaries of her own body was something to relish, when she remained trapped and chained.

    "What do you want?" Yan asked in Old Imperial, sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. She knew there was no point in going after him. His power, even if she had been able to use hers, was strong enough to keep her trapped.

    "Information." The Green King took the greatly battered chair and scooted it so that its back was facing Yan''s bed. He sat on it backwards, leaning over the back of it and holding the flashlight so that it pointed at her. The flashlight illuminated bloodstains on her clothes from when she cut her hand that she hadn''t been able to get out. She washed her clothes in the sink regularly, but in the dark she couldn''t ever tell if they were really clean. Her eyes hurt in the glare, and from straining to look down at her own body in the rare opportunities that she got to see herself. Her neck still was frozen in place, so her peripheral vision did all the heavy lifting. It was always a bit disconcerting to see again after so long in darkness.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "Why didn''t you ask me before?"

    The Green King smiled, a sight made more ghoulish by the light of the flashlight bobbing around in his hand. "It''s been hard to figure out what exactly we wanted to do with you. You haven''t been making people very happy, you know."

    "What do you want to do with me?"

    The Green King continued as though he hadn''t heard her question. "You weren''t our original target, obviously, but by time our operation was set up, it was too late to change our plans."

    "Then why are you keeping me?"

    He sighed dramatically, leaning forward on the chair and tilting the flashlight up underneath his own chin. "We''re hoping to have some use out of you anyway."

    "Who is ''we''?" Yan asked.

    "Do you really think I would tell you that?"

    "It''s not like I have much hope of escaping," Yan said. Her fingers itched to reach out and grab the flashlight, to hit the King over the head with it, to search his body for keys that would release her from her chains and room. There probably was no such key, though. Her chains probably required the power to break, or at least some judicious use of power tools.

    "You seem to think you have hope," the Green King said.

    "Then do you really think that I''ll give you the information you''re looking for?"

    "I haven''t even asked my questions yet."

    Yan didn''t say anything in response, just stared at him.

    "You really messed up one of my men," the Green King said. "That glass did a number on his cheek. Had to get stitches."

    "Sorry," Yan said. She didn''t feel that sorry.

    "How have you liked living in the dark?"

    "It''s about the same as the light. The buzzing annoyed me." Yan didn''t want to give him any satisfaction from the way they were treating her.

    "Sorry," he said, but he clearly wasn''t sorry either. They stared at each other for a moment.

    "Are you planning to kill me?" Yan asked after a while. She felt detached from the question, but it was something that she needed to ask, that she had been wanting to know for a long time.

    "I''m not planning to do anything except what I''m told," the Green King said. "I''m the hired help, you know."

    "Then why are you in here instead of someone important?"

    "Oh, because you''re not a danger to me." He shrugged, and the light flared in Yan''s eyes.

    "I''m hardly a danger to anyone," Yan said.

    "That''s not going to convince me to let you out. Specifically since it isn''t true. You know, if you insist on trying to use the power, we''ll have to drug you again, and that will be no fun."

    "What''s the point of you keeping me alone in here?"

    "Temporary holding, like I said, until people figure out what to do with you. Breaking your spirit would be a nice secondary accomplishment."

    "Is it working?"

    "Is it?" he asked.He studied her. Yan kept her arms at her sides, resisting the urge to lash out at him. She wanted to keep her body her own. She didn''t want to give him new reason to touch her with his power. "I don''t think so. Well, there''s plenty of time yet."

    They fell into silence again.

    "Aren''t you overstaying your welcome?"

    "No, I have as long as I like with you today." He scooted his chair back slightly, making a horrible grinding sound on the floor.

    "Could you tell me how long I''ve been in here?" Yan asked.

    "No, I don''t think so." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He ignored her and swiped through it idly. It was such a mundane action, and so out of contrast to her surroundings, that Yan almost laughed. The cool glow of it illuminated his features, and he stood the flashlight up on the floor between them, pointing up to the stone ceiling. The phone was just outside of grabbing range, and that was probably why he had scooted back so far.

    "Texting somebody?" Yan asked. He ignored her.

    "So. Ms. BarCarran. I''d like you to answer these questions for me as completely and honestly as you can."

    "No."

    "I haven''t even asked the question yet!" The Green King sounded slightly amused. He wasn''t looking at her, he was just staring down at his phone screen. His attention on it was making Yan a little nervous. "Let''s start off with something easy. Why did Aymon Sandreas pick you to be his apprentice?"

    "Why do you care?"

    "I''m mostly just curious. Indulge me, will you?"

    "I don''t know. He liked my project."

    "Project?"

    "You don''t know about that? Did you not go to the Academy?" Yan had been thinking that the Green King was a rogue Academy graduate. She didn''t know how common such people were, but she had heard all about the nasty business on Jenjin, so they weren''t exactly unheard of. So either the Green King was playing dumb, or she had made several fundamental mistakes about her situation.

    "Just tell me what the project is."

    "I made a fake fish. I wanted to be a xenobiologist. Probably would have been better for me in the long run."

    "I agree. And why did Aymon Sandreas like that project so much?"

    "He said that God told him to pick me. I don''t know. This is dumb." Yan couldn''t believe that the first real conversation she was having in who knows how long was with her captor, and all he wanted to ask was inane questions about the beginning of her apprenticeship. It didn''t feel relevant to her. Maybe he was just softening her up for later questions that would be more difficult for her to answer. Or maybe he was trying to get down to the core personality of Sandreas, but that didn''t make sense either. As far as Yan could tell, there wasn''t any external rhyme or reason to the projects that he had picked. Other peoples were more impressive, or more politically tailored, and there was almost nothing in common even between the projects of the three apprentices. Sid and Kino had both made statues, but that was it. She clenched her fists, though she kept her arms to her sides, careful not to look aggressive.

    "Dumb or not, I need you to answer the questions."

    "I did answer your question."

    "The other two apprentices, Kino Mejia and Sid Welslak, why did he pick them?"

    "I''m not going to answer that." As much as she thought the question was harmless, there was no reason for her to give these people any information that could hurt Kino and Sid.

    "I do need you to answer the question."

    "I don''t know the answer, and even if I did, I''m not going to tell you anything about my friends."

    "That''s nice of you, but I''m just asking why Aymon Sandreas chose them to be his apprentices."

    "God told him," Yan huffed. "That''s the only thing I know."

    "And you believe that?"

    "Are we going to have a theological discussion here? Because I''ve had a whole lot of time to sit in the dark and think about fucking theology. You have me bugged. You''ve heard me praying, and everything else, too."

    "Luckily for me, I am not the person who has to comb through your ramblings for any useful information," the Green King said, his voice dry.

    "Oh, fuck you."

    "Language."

    Yan said something foul in Terlin, cheerfully repeating a long string of swears she had once heard her aunt use when cussing out a late delivery. The vivid image of her aunt screaming at the navigators of another ship after they had been trapped waiting in port for several days was indelibly etched into Yan''s mind. Her lips twitched up at the corners when she recalled it.

    "I''ll assume that was nothing polite," the Green King said.

    "Why do none of you speak New Imperial, anyway?"

    "I''m asking the questions here," the Green King said.

    "You''re lucky we used Old Imperial on the ship, sometimes, or I''d hardly be able to talk to you all."

    "How well would you say that you know your fellow apprentices?" the Green King asked, going back to his questions.

    "Not going to tell you anything about them." It was so strange that he was focusing so much on Kino and Sid, when they were, in the grand scheme of the Empire''s politics, fairly irrelevant. Until one of them stepped up to take Sandreas''s place, it wasn''t as though they had that much power aside from what Sandreas chose to give them.

    "Do I need to encourage you to speak up?"

    Yan did not like the sound of that, but she also wasn''t going to betray her friends with just the suggestion of torture. She didn''t say anything.

    "Sid Welslak. Has he ever done anything that you thought was strange?"

    Although Yan desperately wanted to ask him what he meant by that, she stayed silent. It was her new tactic. Of course Sid had done strange things. All three of them were deeply strange, messed up people.

    On that thought, Yan wondered just how messed up she would be when she got out of here. She was going to get out of here.

    "Alright, a simpler question, maybe. How much time did you spend with Sid on a daily basis?"

    Yan bit her lip. She had become quite chatty (with herself) during her confinement, so it was difficult to resist just saying things. Luckily, she had practice during all the nights she had pretended to be asleep so she could catch a glimpse of the girl who came to visit her. Words popped out of her mouth, seemingly without her volition.

    "Who is the girl who brings my food?"

    "I''ll tell you her name if you tell me about Sid Welslak," the Green King said. Yan frowned and silenced herself again. Although she did want to know, that was definitely not worth giving up anything on Si. She didn''t even know what they could possibly use this information for, but it wasn''t worth the risk. After all, these people had managed to kidnap her, and were presumably aiming for Sandreas, so they must be at least a little bit competent.

    "Are you really not going to tell me about Sid? We''re not going to hurt him, we just need to know a little bit about him."

    Yan looked steadily into the Green King''s face. The room was dark, and he was illuminated only on the sharp parts of his face, yellow from the flashlight, blue from the screen of his phone. She didn''t believe a word he said.

    "Alright, I''ll try a different question. We''ll go back to Sid in a minute. Who is the Emperor?"

    "I don''t know, I''ve never met him," Yan said.

    "How can you be the apprentice to the Voice of the Empire and not have met the Emperor?" The Green King''s face proclaimed just how little he believed what she was saying. Unfortunately, it was true.

    "Sandreas never took me to him, and no one ever wants to talk about him. It''s true."

    "But Aymon Sandreas himself goes to see the Emperor?" Oh, that might have been a mistake for Yan to say. She shut up again. Maybe all this time alone really had broken her.

    "I''m really not good at this, am I?" The Green King ran his hand through his hair. "Maybe yes or no questions would be easier. Did Aymon Sandreas go see the Emperor?"

    Yan didn''t say anything, didn''t move.

    "I do need you to answer the question."

    She bit her lip and closed her eyes.

    "Did Aymon Sandreas consult with the Emperor, yes or no?"

    She stayed silent.

    "You have ten seconds to think about my question." Oh, so there was the threat again. "Ten. Nine. Eight¡­" The Green King was shockingly bad at counting backwards in Old Imperial; he had to stop and think about each number before he said it. "Three. Two. One."

    Nothing happened for a second, and Yan was about to laugh at his empty bluff, but then he tapped his phone, and a searing wave of pain shot through Yan''s brain. The chip. It was the same pain that assaulted her whenever she tried to use the power, but it was a lesser version of it, and she was able to stay conscious. It wouldn''t make sense for them to make her pass out when they were trying to get information out of her.

    "Did Aymon Sandreas ever indicate to you that he was going to talk to the Emperor?"

    Yan stayed silent, and the pain came again, just a tiny bit more. It was all in her head, and that was one saving grace of it. It might have felt like her body was on fire, but she could open her eyes and see that nothing was wrong with her. There wasn''t anything¡­ At least they weren''t touching her. She looked at her hands, and they trembled on her lap as she rode the wave of pain for a few moments. The other thing that saved her was that she knew she could withstand more. She had been practicing every day, over and over, resisting this pain so that she could break through and use the power. She knew exactly what her threshold was.

    "They didn''t even give me a good list of questions to ask, you know. They''re all wrapped up in their own paranoid conspiracies that they''ve given me a list of nonsense, and you aren''t even cooperating! It''s bullshit." The Green King then went on to mumble something in a language that Yan didn''t understand. At least when he was doing that, he wasn''t keeping his finger on the pain button. "You know what? Fuck it, I''ll ask about military strategy if I want to. Ms. BarCarran, what''s the next planet the Fleet is going to target?"

    There was probably a reason why whoever the Green King''s boss was hadn''t wanted him to ask about military information. That reason was that now Yan knew more about her captors. Nobody in the Empire should know anything about the Fleet, and certainly not that there was a list of planets out there waiting to be captured and colonized.

    Several things clicked into place during the long moment of silence where Yan refused to answer. She had been captured by actual enemies of the Empire. Those enemies were somehow also working with pirates to capture her, which had horrifying implications. And those pirates had been able to get themselves in the good graces of some crew members on a Guild ship. The Empire had a horrible, horrible information leak on its hands. If pirates were freely associating with the enemy¡­ It was a miracle that, through the normal flow of information along channels of drug trafficking and money laundering and human transportation, everyone in the Empire hadn''t learned about the war.

    "My name is Yan, you know."

    "I know. Please answer the question."

    "I don''t know why you think I will," Yan said. She clenched her hands again in anticipation of the oncoming pain.

    "Next Fleet target planet. Come on, you should know this."

    Yan stayed silent. She had an idea, and it was going to be a bad one, but she had to test her hypothesis. She was sure that the chip in her head wasn''t just a chip. After all, when she had removed it before, the pain remained when she used the power. It probably wasn''t hooked directly onto her nerves. There must be something residual in her brain that the chip then controlled. And if it was just acting as a relay, she needed to know if it could perform two commands at once. After all, if the Green King was frying her brain at a relatively low setting, maybe she would be able to use the power without it "noticing". She would have to try to do something small first, just as a test.

    Her range of vision was limited, both by her inability to turn her neck and the darkness of the room. She needed to manipulate something that she could recognize, but that the Green King wouldn''t. As he counted down from ten, Yan began to concentrate on the fabric of her skirt that was bunched up on her knee. She wouldn''t have to move it too much, just a tiny bit. Enough to know¡­ The concentration, the readying herself, that caused a tingle to grow in her brain. A warning signal.

    "Three. Two. One." The Green King pressed the button, and Yan felt like she was on fire again. As always, it was difficult to think through the pain, but she had practice. The Green King wouldn''t hold the button down for more than a few seconds, so she had to be quick as she used the power. It came sluggishly toward her, feeling like a thick sap oozing out of a wound on a plant in the greenhouse. In the long time she had been trapped and unable to use the power without fear, her usual skill with it had degraded. The thought of that was almost more painful than the searing of her nerves. She hadn''t realized just how much her skill with the power had been a part of her identity, part of her perception of herself.

    She focused, and the fabric of her skirt shifted imperceptibly in the dim light. She felt it move across her knees, and she let out a rush of breath that could have been a whimper. The pain stopped, and her ears rang.

    "Are you ready to answer my questions now?"

    Yan was careful to keep any sign of her triumph off her face. Though she could do nothing but stare straight ahead, she didn''t let her mouth move, or the corners of her eyes crinkle up. She took a few deep, ragged breaths and looked squarely at the Green King.

    "What''s your name?" she asked.

    "None of your business, I''m afraid." She hadn''t expected anything different. "What is the next military target the Empire has chosen? There has to be one, since¨C" He coughed slightly, his face twisted in the flashlight beam.

    "None of your business, I''m afraid," Yan said. Now she did need to egg him on. A plan was forming. Break the chain first, quietly, then take the flashlight, hit the Green King with it until he passed out. Or maybe not the flashlight. Maybe the table would be better. Heavier.

    It was a shame that Halen hadn''t ever gotten a chance to teach them how to actually freeze another person''s body. She probably wouldn''t have had the strength and dexterity of power for it even if he had, but it would have been one more tool in her arsenal. Even now, she was going to be working against great odds, with very little in the way of supplies or preparation. But she had to do it. She wasn''t going to allow herself to languish here without trying.

    She had no idea what the consequences for failure would be. The bad thing about knowing that she had been taken by the enemies of the Empire was that she knew, now, that she probably wouldn''t be rescued. Unless she was on Tyx III, which seemed highly unlikely, there would be no search party combing the surface of a hostile planet. She needed to free herself, and she was going to try to do so for as long as it took, or die trying.

    The thoughts rushed through her. She felt like time was slowing down.

    "You little¨C" the Green King tipped his chair forward towards her, reaching out, but Yan scurried backward onto her bed, just out of reach. He either didn''t think to use the power or only wanted to intimidate her, but he couldn''t physically touch her from his position now. He smiled at her grimly. "Kino Mejia. How closely does she work with Aymon Sandreas?"

    "I''m not going to tell you anything," Yan said. "You might as well not even ask."

    This time, there wasn''t even a countdown before he unleashed the pain. Yan yelped, but remembered her plan through the haze. Once again, the power crawled toward her, and she had just enough time to seek out one of the chain links resting on the floor and break it. She cleaved a line straight through it, and the two halves separated cleanly on the floor, just out of sight. The pain abated, and she took a few choked breaths. She was very careful not to move her leg, not to let him know that the chain was broken.

    The Green King didn''t make any sign that he saw what was going on. Yan was sweating; her whole forehead was beaded in it, and her palms were slimy. She opened and closed her fists a few times, feeling the ache in her hands from clenching them too hard.

    "Did you know Kino Mejia when you both attended the Academy?"

    If she stayed silent, maybe she could provoke him more. She anticipated the stinging pain. She wanted it to come. The thought of freedom was sending shivers down her spine, and she clamped all her muscles as firmly as she could to stop herself from wiggling. It was so close. She could do it. She could at least get out of here, even if not off whatever planet she was trapped on.

    "Is there anyone who Kino Mejia is in regular contact with?"

    Yan didn''t know why he was so focused on Sid and Kino. It didn''t make any sense to her. He wasn''t even asking questions about Sandreas, and theoretically he had been the one they were after when Yan had been kidnapped.

    Wait.

    If he wasn''t asking about Sandreas, and he was focused on Kino and Sid¡­ They couldn''t have gotten Sandreas, could they have? Sandreas couldn''t be dead. That wasn''t¡­ But if he only wanted to know about Kino and Sid, maybe one of them had been forced to take over. Maybe she was overthinking things.

    Halen would have protected Sandreas. There was no way that he would allow anything to happen.

    "What''s been going on since you put me in here?" Yan asked, in as calm of a voice as she could make.

    "That''s none of your business."

    Maybe they were just trying to decide which one of the apprentices they''d prefer to have eventually become Voice. Maybe they were trying to stake out future plans. That was even more reason for her to not say anything about Kino and Sid. None of this was making any sense. She shivered, tense and miserable.

    She needed to provoke him again, in order for him to zap her with the chip. She didn''t want to, though. All of a sudden, she wanted to know what was happening outside in the real world. She had just been assuming that life had proceeded as normal without her, but the realization that more bad things could have happened had struck her like a brick, far harder than the pain of the Green King''s zapping chip.

    "Are Sid and Kino alright?"

    "I wouldn''t have any information on that," the Green King said with a halfhearted shrug. "I didn''t even know who they were until I got this list of questions."

    That had to be a lie. "Is Sandreas still the Voice?"

    The Green King raised an eyebrow at her. "I just told you I wouldn''t be giving you any news. Maybe I''ll change my mind if you answer my questions."

    "I won''t."

    "Let me ask one again. Did Kino Mejia have any contact with people outside the Empire?"

    "I don''t fucking know," Yan said. "Tell me if Sandreas is still alive!"

    "You have ten seconds to answer my question. And I won''t be so gentle with my punishment this time."

    Yan braced herself. She would grab the flashlight with the power and hit him with it. That''s what she would do. The pain hit her again, and it was worse than before. The Green King hadn''t lied about that, at least. Her whole body twitched involuntarily, and through the haze, Yan reached for the power. It was slow and weak, but she wrapped it around the flashlight, and yanked it up into the air as violently and quickly as she could. It knocked the underside of the Green King''s chin, and his head snapped backward.

    He dropped his phone, and immediately the pain stopped. With the pain gone, the power left Yan''s grasp as well and the flashlight clattered to the ground. She lunged for the phone, but the Green King recovered his senses before she could reach it, and she felt the hard grasp of his power on her body. She froze and toppled over, face planted on her mattress, arms reaching out and grasping at nothing.

    "Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not." The Green King picked up his phone, and spit onto the floor. His voice sounded thick, as though he had bit his tongue when she hit him with the flashlight.

    "Now, let''s take it from the top, and if you don''t answer me, I''ll just break your fingers¡­ I see that I''ve been treating you a little too kindly."

 Chapter Fifty-Eight - The Keeper Did aHunting Go

    The Keeper Did a''Hunting Go

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Make no excuses for yourself in your own mind. If you look and sound like you know what you¡¯re doing, everyone will start to believe you, including yourself. That¡¯s the secret to abandoning your fears about not fitting in. Act like you belong, and everyone will accept you immediately.¡±

    -from The Actor¡¯s Guide to Making Friends (and Enemies) by Marks Chile

    </blockquote>

    Sylva was getting herself familiar with the location of everything in the clinic. The clinic was a suite of a few rooms, none of which were really ideal. There was an entrance room, with a few chairs, a large desk, and cabinets holding supplies. The large machine that could churn out a bunch of common medicines (provided the ship had the supplies), was also in that room. It was a combination of office, waiting room, and dispensary, and it was by far the best maintained room in the clinic. Off to the right of the room was a bathroom, which included a single toilet and a bathtub, a rare luxury on a ship. Presumably it was for helping any patient who couldn''t stand or sit up to bathe. Sylva hoped it wouldn''t be necessary.

    To the left was a long chain of rooms, each one less pleasant than the last. An examination room was first. It contained the usual bed, sink, and scanner for checking the interior of a patient. The scanner could operate in several different modes, and could give good pictures of the inside of a patient''s body. It was an older model, but it seemed to (mostly) function. There was a note taped to the side of it that listed one of the imaging functions as broken. Maybe Sylva could convince someone to fix it, or to buy a new one. Really, though, she had no idea how a pirate ship went about obtaining medical supplies in the first place, so perhaps beggars could not be choosers.

    The next room was the truly chilling one. It was nominally an operating room. It had the whole sterile atmosphere, all gleaming metal and bright lights ready to be moved into position. Seeing the operating table was scary in itself, but what was worse was the back wall. What looked like an abnormally large set of drawers turned out to be cold storage for bodies. She opened and closed them experimentally a few times, feeling the heft of the drawer as it slid smoothly out, and the rush of cold air that accompanied it.

    After that was the lab. It was full of equipment that Sylva had no idea how to use. Test tubes, petri dishes, centrifuges, refrigerators, heating units. There was a note taped to one of the heating units. Sylva wondered who wrote it.

    ''need to buy more cultures for antibiotics. rmd respect. fix heating coil to avoid addtl wipeout.''

    Sylva couldn''t believe that she was going to be expected to grow her own antibiotics. How disgusting. She couldn''t imagine how one person could deal with all of this. At her father''s practice, he had a whole team of people, and a supply chain, AND he was only a pediatrician. Sylva was beginning to understand why the previous ship''s doctor had met with such an unfortunate incident with his supply cabinet. He was probably going crazy trying to be¡­ Oh, God, every type of doctor, and a pharmacist, and a mortician. Jalena probably felt the same way, but at least on Guild ships there was always the possibility of sending someone who was really sick off to a planet or station that could take care of them. That was legal. For pirates, they were completely alone. She wondered how any of them survived.

    Let alone¡­ Hadn''t Yan told her one time about pirates genetically modifying their children? Was she going to have to do that, too? Maybe there was someone on a station who was paid to do that sort of thing. Sylva didn''t know the first thing about genetics, and she hoped she wasn''t about to have to learn. It was unnatural and immoral, anyway. She could participate aboard a pirate ship as a doctor, even if just a fake one, but she didn''t think she would have the strength go fiddling around with the fundamentals of what made up a person. What God saw fit to cast, she had no desire to tear asunder, as it were.

    It was while Sylva was examining the mishmash of tools and supplies in the storage closets in the lab that Sign''s sister appeared. She walked quietly, for all that she was tall and heavily pregnant. She startled Sylva when she stood in the doorway of the lab and knocked on the doorframe. Sylva jumped, surprised, and dropped the test tube she was holding. It almost shattered on the floor, but it landed on her shoe instead and rolled away underneath one of the cabinets that lined the room.

    "Sorry to bother you," Sign''s sister said. She was tall, probably as tall as Iri, and she had strawberry blonde hair that was shaved across the sides but curly on top. Her shoulders were broad, and her heavily pregnant belly stretched against the pastel green jumpsuit she was wearing. Tattoos crept up the side of her neck towards her ears and peeked out of the sleeves of her jumpsuit at her hands. "I heard the doctor was here, and so I came to pay my respects."

    "The doctor is indeed in." Sylva laughed nervously. "You must be Sign''s sister?"

    "I''m Keeper-of-Promises Del, but just call me Keep." She stretched out her hand to shake, and Sylva took it. She felt almost feverishly hot, but she looked fine, so Sylva wasn''t too concerned.

    "Sylva Loak. Pleasure to meet you."

    "Do I have the honor of being your first visitor?" Keep asked.

    "You do indeed. Though if your brother is to be believed, you''re the only reason I''m here in the first place."

    "Oh, don''t listen to him. He''s been paranoid his whole life. I''m sure as soon as you get settled in, everyone''s going to come by complaining of all their ailments." That wasn''t promising.

    "Is everyone on the ship dying of some sort of disease?"

    Keep laughed. "No, I''m joking. But we haven''t had a doctor in months, so we''ve all had to make do. And, you know, when things are left like that, the complaints begin to build up. A chronic sore back here, a rotten tooth there, a weird rash on somebody¡­"

    "I can tell that you''ve been short handed for a while. There''s dust everywhere in here. Are these actual examples, or are you just listing possible problems?"

    "Oh, they''re all real. My baby cousin, Grace, she''s got this weird thing¡­" Keep reached into the pocket of her jumpsuit and pulled out her phone. "Let me show you the picture." Clearly patient confidentiality was not going to be a prime concern on the ship. Sylva was glad that while aboard the Dreams she had never had reason to complain to Jalena about her own health problems. Though Jalena was a professional, it probably would have only been a matter of time before everyone suddenly knew about any weird rashes that she happened to develop.

    Sylva examined the picture that Keep thrust into her face. Grace was a tall child, but her face still had the soft features of a four or five year old. The rash in question was an angry red thing that spread all over her chest in blistering bumps. Sylva had no clue what it was, but it looked painful.

    "I''ll have to look at that in person before I can give any real advice on it," Sylva said, trying to deflect. She cataloged the rash in her brain as best she could, and made a mental note to search up in the extensive medical reference library all the different types of rashes that a person could get.

    "Yeah, I figured. I''ll have Maze bring her around tomorrow."

    "Maze?" Sylva asked.

    "Amazement, she''s Grace''s mother. My cousin," Keep explained. Sylva remembered anew how convoluted the family relationships aboard a ship could get. She made yet another mental note to see if the ship''s information system had maybe a directory of crew, and maybe a family tree.

    "So," Sylva began, changing the subject. "You came for me to check you out?"

    "I came to say hi, but my brother would murder me if I came away with anything less than the absolute seal of approval from you."

    "Can I ask a personal question?"

    "Sure."

    "Is it just me, or is he a tiny bit overinvested?"

    "That''s hardly a professional question," Keep said, but she smiled. "I suppose you did warn me it was personal. I''m his little sister. He''s always been protective of me. There''s nothing more to it than that."

    Sylva didn''t know how to put this delicately. "And may I also ask who the father is?"

    "Oh my God, are you worried that we¨C" Keep broke out into raucous laughter, so hard that she bent over coughing. "Oh GOD, no. My husband is Shielder D''Artro. He''s from the Bird-of-Prey." She swiped around on her phone for a second and pulled up a picture of a brawny, bearded man with a stern face. "That''s him."

    "Sorry, I just had to ask," Sylva said. Her face was red and hot.

    "No, I get it. We''ve had non-spacers come aboard before. You know if anyone tries something like that, they get kicked off the ship, right?"

    "No, I didn''t know that." It was a reasonable system.

    "It''s true. Or, it least it would be if we ever had any problems with that in particular. Which we don''t." Keep was firm.

    "I believe you," Sylva said. "Sorry for insinuating otherwise."

    "It''s fine. Anyway, like I said, my brother will kill me if I come away from here without getting checked out."

    Sylva couldn''t put it off any longer: her first test as a "doctor" had arrived. Looking at Keep, she was afraid of the responsibility that she had managed to place upon herself. In just a short while, unless something else went unexpectedly wrong, she was about to have two lives literally in her hands.

    "Come on over here then." Sylva left behind all the test tubes and other supplies she had been examining in the lab room, and both of them walked out through the operating room and into the exam room. Sylva closed the door and drew the curtain. "Just so you know, I''m not trained as an obstetrician." Or anything. "And I also have no idea where any of the supplies here are, so you''ll just have to be patient with me."

    "That''s fine, I''m a patient woman. Need me to take my shirt off?"

    "Yeah, let me see about finding some equipment. You wouldn''t happen to know where the vitals monitor is stored, would you? Wait, actually, let me weigh you first." Sylva puttered around the exam room, searching for the vitals monitor. Keep watched her with a patient and amused expression.

    The scale was in the corner, and Keep stepped on it. Sylva jotted down the number on a notebook, and wrote Keep''s name at the top.

    "I''m just realizing how much I''m going to have to get used to. Whoever''s in charge of the computer system will have to give me editing access to people''s personal information¡­" Sylva muttered. She didn''t have any access to the shipboard files, so she would just have to write down all of her notes on her patients longhand at the moment. Although it was annoying, it also was a convenient excuse for her to not embarrass herself with not understanding how to work the ship''s file system yet.

    "How many gravities is this ring running on?" Sylva asked, seeing that the number on the scale did not jive with Keep''s tall and broad stature.

    "Uh, point eight, I think." Sylva had felt lighter when she came aboard, but she hadn''t been able to tell how much.

    "Okay. Uh, get undressed and hop up on the table, I guess."

    "All the way undressed or just the top?"

    "Just the top." Out of the corner of her eye, Sylva saw Keep struggle to disentangle herself from her tight jumpsuit. The top of it flopped around her waist, and she pulled off her undershirt and sports bra as well, tossing them on the table next to her. Sylva busied herself for checking all the cupboards and drawers for the vitals monitor. She finally found it and held it up triumphantly. She put it down on the counter and washed her hands in the sink.

    "I wish I had one of those privacy gowns to give you, but I didn''t see any around," Sylva said, genuinely regretful as she turned back toward Keep. Keep''s tattoos were clearly visible now, swirling red lines that traveled up her arms and back, towards her neck. They swept down and ended in the gulf between her breasts. Sylva wanted to ask about them, but decided it wouldn''t be professional.

    "It''s fine. I''ve accepted that there''s a little bit of indignity in the doctor patient relationship."

    "Okay, so this goes on your arm¡­" Sylva wrestled with the device. She had practiced with similar ones aboard the Dreams, but the cord on this one had become hopelessly tangled. It needed the cord because it had been sitting in a drawer for months and was totally out of batteries. She finally got the monitor strapped to Keep''s arm, and she read the vitals off the little screen on the device. As soon as she got her computer hooked up to the system, she would be able to do this automatically, but for now she just had to write everything down.

    "How''s it look, doc?"

    "Your blood pressure is a little high, but I''m not surprised. It''s nothing dangerous."

    "Do you need to draw blood or anything?"

    "Not right now. I don''t have the lab even remotely set up, so I wouldn''t be able to do much with it. Do you feel alright?"

    "Morning sickness, aches, soreness, swelling everywhere, constantly needing to pee, bitching out my husband, cravings for things we haven''t grown in the greenhouse for years¡­ I¡¯ve started having a bit of bleeding, but it doesn¡¯t hurt."

    "I think that¡¯s fine,¡± Sylva said, though she had no idea. ¡°If it starts to hurt or get heavy, then there might be a problem. But that sounds like the whole normal pregnancy suite. Is this your first child?"

    Keep''s face darkened. "I had a stillbirth once before, a couple years ago."

    "I''m sorry to hear that," Sylva said. "Could you tell me the details?"

    She shrugged helplessly. "The baby had severe defects and died around seven months. The doctor induced labor and got him out."

    That didn''t sound like anything that Sylva would be able to prevent if it happened again. "Do you know what caused it?"

    "It could have been anything. I didn''t know I was pregnant for a long time, so I kept doing my normal duties on board. I could have exposed him to extra radiation when I went on a spacewalk in-system or something. Or maybe it was just one of those things that happens sometimes." She sounded torn up.Stolen novel; please report.

    "Was this an unplanned pregnancy?" Sylva asked, indicating Keep¡¯s belly.

    "No, we went on a station to get this one done. Got him fixed up nice and right." Keep laid one hand across her taut belly. "He''ll be the strongest man on the ship." So they had genetically modified him somehow. If what had happened to Keep was common among spacers, she guessed it made sense for them to do it. Being inside the ship would protect them from radiation, with the massive bulk of rock that they lived inside forming a very impressive shield- but going out on EVA while pregnant? It was a disaster waiting to happen. She was honestly shocked that more spacers didn''t die horribly young of cancer. Well, it wasn''t as though Sylva had any actual medical knowledge.

    "Sounds good to me," Sylva said, even though it actually sounded like the opposite of that. "Alright, let me just check your lungs¡­" She fished through the drawers to find the stethoscope. "Sorry again, this is just, moving into a new office is the worst."

    "No, it''s my fault, I probably should have given you time to get settled before I barged in and started demanding that you check me out."

    "As long as you don''t mind waiting while I search around for all my supplies¡­" Sylva muttered. She pulled the stethoscope out of the drawer. It wasn''t one of the types that her father used in his practice, the digital ones that could analyze the sound and health of the lungs, this was one of the old fashioned kind. Pirates must not have access to the latest and greatest medical equipment. They probably only had the imaging machine because it was so useful for diagnostics that it had no equal. She wedged the uncomfortable ends of it in her ears. She pressed the other end to Keep''s back.

    "Ok, deep breath in," Sylva said. Keep complied, but Sylva had no idea what she was looking for. She scooted the stethoscope around and repeated the process several times. Keep could have been dying of bronchitis and Sylva wouldn''t have known. She was just imitating what she had heard her father and Jalena do a hundred times. It was awkward for her to lay hands on this woman, especially since she wasn''t wearing gloves, which she hadn''t been able to find. She would need to find those fast.

    "Sounds pretty good to me," Sylva said with a smile. "Let me just check your neck." She awkwardly rubbed Keep''s neck, her cold fingers checking for any swollen lymph nodes or other abnormalities. She didn''t feel anything that screamed at her as being out of place, so she dropped her hands to her sides and stepped back for a moment. "Everything is looking fine so far."

    "Do you want me to do imaging on the baby now, or did you have something else that you wanted me to check first?"

    "Let''s look at the baby," Keep said.

    "Sounds like a plan," Sylva said. "This is conditional on me finding the gel, off course."

    At least Jalena had taught her to use all the functions of imaging machines. Sylva turned the machine on to make sure that the display worked, then searched through the adjacent cabinet for the gel that the ultrasound needed. The gel was easy to find, and there was almost a full bottle of it. She didn''t know if she would be able to buy more, so she was going to do her best to conserve it.

    "Alright, just lay back. Put your arms underneath your head." Sylva didn''t actually know if that would help, but that was what Jalena had told one of the crewmembers of the Dreams to do when she was examining his kidney.

    Keep settled herself back on the cold examining table, using her discarded undershirt as a sort of pillow. The goosebumps crawled up her arms and the fine hairs on her stomach stood on end.

    "Sorry, this will probably be cold," Sylva said. She squirted the goop out onto Keep''s stretch-marked stomach. "Let''s have a look, shall we?"

    The grainy, dark images showed up on the monitor as Sylva pressed the ultrasound wand into Keep''s stomach, moving it up her stomach, starting just above where her jumpsuit lay open and flopping off the table and ending just under her ribs. Keep had an intense emotion on her face as the baby came into view. Keep''s mouth was open in a gentle, silent ''o'', and her eyes were wet.

    ¡°He¡¯s beautiful,¡± Keep whispered.

    "Have you not gotten to see him before?" Sylva asked.

    "No, we haven''t had a doctor," Keep said. Sylva held the wand in place so that Keep could continue looking.

    "You know it''s a boy though?"

    "When we had him, uh, made, we asked for a boy," Keep said distractedly. That was good for Sylva, because she did not think she could confidently identify the sex of the baby from the blurry images that she was getting. She could see the broader features: a head, limbs, torso. But fine detail was lost on her, just as much as it was lost on Keep, who continued staring at her baby''s face, utterly transfixed. Sylva knew it would be important to locate things like the placenta, but she couldn''t find it. Moving the wand provided her with no information that she could make use of.

    The baby twitched on screen, and Sylva felt the kick in her hand, resting on Keep''s stomach. "He''s awake, I guess," Sylva said, though Keep had certainly felt the kick much more than she had.

    "He loves to wiggle around in there. It''s been keeping me sane. And awake at night. Does everything look good?"

    Sylva tried to orient the image in her head. The red line on the wand corresponded to the red x on the screen¡­ And that was a problem. The baby was facing the wrong direction.

    "Good news is, he''s got all his fingers and toes, and his heartbeat looks good. Slightly more complicated news is that, right now, he''s breech," Sylva said, trying to keep the panic firmly out of her voice.

    "Is that a bad thing?"

    "It just means he''s pointing butt first here." Sylva pointed at the legs of the baby, pointing up towards the head. She wiggled the wand to get the clearest picture. "Plenty of babies are born breech without any problems, but it''s more typical that the head comes out first."

    "Is there any way to make him turn around?"

    Sylva didn''t have a clue. She made some bullshit up. If it was wrong, she would look it up later and send Keep a message to correct it. "Well, the best thing for you to do would be to provide a space for him to move around. The head is heavier, so we want to encourage the rest of the body to get out of the way. He might turn around completely on his own, but if you spent extra time in the no-grav sections, that would probably give him the help he needs."

    "Should I sleep there, or...?"

    "Are you still on active duty?" Sylva asked. "What do you usually do all day?"

    "I run the workshop. Making parts for things that break."

    "Alright, well, that doesn''t seem like something you can up and leave, but if you could spend a little while every day in the no grav section, that would probably help. Not that I have personal experience, but you''ll probably feel it if he flips himself over. He''ll be kicking in a different place, after all. He still has plenty of time to flip over, if he doesn''t decide to pop out early."

    "And if he doesn''t turn over?"

    "It will probably be fine," Sylva said, putting her calmest possible face on.

    "Probably?"

    "Giving birth is always dangerous," Sylva said. "But women have been doing it since God put us all here, and in worse circumstances than this. While there is nothing sure, I swear I will do my best to see you through this safely."

    Keep looked unconvinced. Sylva couldn''t really blame her. After all, Sylva''s best was really not very much, considering her complete lack of training. Not that Keep needed to know that. "Is there anything else I should do?"

    "Eat well, try not to strain yourself too much, get as much sleep as you can, prepare your home for a baby, try not to yell at your husband too much¡­" Sylva said. "Oh, and if you''re particularly friendly with any of the other women aboard who have given birth, you might want to ask them for advice, or even if they''d be willing to be here with you when it happens. I''m just one person, and I could use all the calm, experienced help I can get."

    "Shielder will be here," Keep said. She was still looking at the images that were on the screen, those pictures of her baby inside of her.

    "No offense to Shielder, I''m sure he''s a wonderful, capable man, but he''s just as likely to be panicking as he is to be helpful."

    "I''ll make him promise to be on his best behavior."

    "Best behavior always depends on the circumstances, and I''ve heard stories about men who have needed to be banished from the birthing room."

    Keep pursed her lips but didn''t argue.

    "In any event," Sylva said, "I''ll need helpers here, and anyone you can rope into it who can keep their cool, I will take."

    "I''ll ask around," Keep said. "Can you print this picture for me?" Sylva still had the wand jabbed into her stomach.

    "Uhhhhh¡­" There didn''t seem to be a printer anywhere, but Sylva saved the still image to the computer. "I''ll send it to you," Sylva said.

    "Alright. Do you know how much longer this is going to be?"

    "Your brother said you were eight and a half months?" Sylva asked.

    "Thirty six weeks, give or take a few days."

    "Ok, then you should have another couple weeks left, if everything stays on schedule. So no heavy lifting. Nothing that would encourage him to start trying to get out."

    "Got it," Keep said. Sylva put the wand back on the tray.

    "Any other questions?"

    "Can I come see you again?"

    "Absolutely," Sylva said, even though she absolutely did not want Keep to come visit her. The more patients she saw, the less her facade would hold up. "Anything that you feel is going wrong, come on by. Or wake me up if it''s the night."

    "Great," Keep said, and the relief on her face was so clear that Sylva felt immediate, intense guilt for tricking this woman.

    "Now, let me find some wipes to help you clean this up." Sylva looked around for wet wipes to clean up the ultrasound gel, but didn''t see any. She resorted to dampening a hand towel in the sink and handing it to Keep, who wiped herself off. Sylva tossed the towel in a nearby basket when she was done. She guessed it didn''t make sense for a pirate ship to constantly go through disposable materials, so she would be doing a lot of laundry. Yet another thing to add to her plate of responsibilities.

    Sylva busied herself with sending the ultrasound files to Keep as she got dressed. Thank goodness that it was easy to connect the machine to her phone, and from there send the files wherever they needed to go. She would still need to ask for access to all the personal data of everyone on the ship.

    "Alright," Sylva said once Keep was fully clothed and on her feet once more. "It was good to meet you, Keep."

    "Thank you for coming aboard," Keep said. "We''ve been looking for a doctor for a while."

    "I think it was just a random coincidence that we ended up in the same place at the same time," Sylva said. "I didn''t know there was a ship specifically looking for someone like me."

    "Oh, there always are. Doctors are in short supply. I''m glad we got to snag you," Keep said with a grin. "You''re all mine, now."

    "I don''t know if I like the sound of that," Sylva laughed.

    "You''re so little and cute," Keep said, and patted Sylva''s head patronizingly. "You''ll fit right in with us."

    Why did every spacer insist on bringing up the height difference? It was hardly Sylva''s fault that she grew up on a planet, and was slightly shorter than average even for planet bound people.

    "Just as long as I never have to do an EVA," Sylva said. "The last ship I was on, none of the suits fit me right."

    "I''ll see if we can get one custom made just for you."

    "You make your own suits in the workshop?"

    "The workshop? No. But King does all our suit repairs, and he might be able to make one for you." King was apparently another one of the many people aboard the Warrior II that Sylva had not yet had the pleasure of meeting. Since she had only met Sign and Keep thus far, there must be at least two hundred more people she knew nothing about.

    "I hope I won''t need to go outside at all," Sylva said.

    "Too bad. I like going out," Keep said. "I''m excited to get to do it again, just as soon as he''s born."

    "Alright," Sylva said. "Anyway, have a good rest of your day, Keep." Sylva walked Keep to the door of the medical clinic and watched her leave. The moment she was gone, Sylva shut the door and leaned against it, sliding to the ground. She would have screamed in panic, but she didn''t want anyone to hear.

    This was really bad.

    What had she gotten herself into?

    <hr>

    Sylva didn''t have very much time to get used to her office and position before she began to ingratiate herself with the crew. As much as she was nervous about someone finding out about her fake identity, and more importantly, her fake medical license, she couldn''t just isolate herself and hope that no one came. So within a week she was having friendly conversations with all the strangers aboard the ship, beginning to piece together their family histories, and making herself known to them.

    It wasn''t just friendliness that made her chat with people in the dining hall. If someone confessed to her that their cousin or brother or daughter was having stomach troubles, or persistent earaches, or had a weird growth on their leg, Sylva would then have time to research the problem before the person showed up at her clinic door. There was no way she was going to be caught unprepared. It was lucky for her, then, that spacers were such a gossipy lot. They always wanted to tell her all about somebody else''s problems. Maybe the excitement would wear off after she stopped being a new face around the ship, but Sylva wasn''t so sure. It may have just been her doctor persona that was inspiring such friendliness.

    Still, as the days crept by, the pit in Sylva''s stomach about Keep''s impending delivery grew deeper. That was by far the most intense medical procedure that Sylva had had to do yet. Looking at a rash and prescribing a cream was one thing, pulling a living, breathing (genetically modified) human out of Keep''s vagina was a whole other ball game.

    And it wasn''t as though Sylva could avoid Keep, either. She was a nice and friendly woman, despite being snippy and complaining about how much her feet hurt. She came to the clinic every few days, mostly to chat, partially to keep Sylva updated on how she was doing. Keep had managed to wrangle together a list of women who were willing to help with the delivery, and she provided that list to Sylva piece by piece. To hear Keep tell it, it had required paying her cousins and aunts pure gold bars to get them to be willing to help out, but Sylva could see from just looking at the faces of the other women on the ship, they all would have done anything they could to help.

    One troubling thing was that the baby refused to flip over. He remained stubbornly head up. Sylva did look up other methods for getting him to flip, encouraging Keep to lay in a variety of positions designed to orient the baby correctly. She even went as far as trying a procedure in which she manhandled Keep''s stomach to try to flip him manually. Keep had come away with bruises and not much else. Sylva had apologized, and tried to reassure her that there was still time for him to flip on his own, and that even if he didn''t, it would still be fine.

    And it was going to be fine, even if Sylva was quietly researching how exactly one performed a surgical delivery, and under what circumstances that would be necessary. She was making sure that the operating room was clean and stocked with everything she could possibly need, and she was trying to cover any possible eventuality. She kept all that quiet though, from everyone except for Iri, who she reconvened with every night.

    Almost every night. On the first night Iri had not returned to the little room next to Sylva''s, with their shared bathroom where they would talk over the day''s events, Sylva panicked a little bit. She worried that they had been found out. She packed her bag to leave, cramming all of her important belongings into it, and breaking the lock on Iri''s door to do the same. She used the power to do it, for the first time since coming aboard the Warrior II. Possibly even the first time since leaving Emerri. The power didn''t come easily to her, and she was supposed to be keeping it a secret.

    Once she packed Iri''s bag, Sylva stashed it in her own room and began to search the ship, tracking down Iri''s phone. Iri had made them both able to do that. She did have a lot of skills from her days as Yan''s minder, apparently, and Sylva was grateful for it.

    What she was less grateful for was sneaking through the halls, carefully opening the doors of what seemed to be a little used storage room, only to catch a glimpse of Iri and Sign as a tangle of limbs, jumpsuits discarded at their feet, Sign''s tattooed back on full display, him kissing her neck. Iri, who was a much more observant person than Sign, saw Sylva standing in the doorway and glared at her, waving her hand in a shooing motion before raking her fingernails down Sign''s back. Sylva scurried away, ashamed, and spent the rest of the evening putting Iri''s belongings back where she had stolen them from and attempting to fix the lock on the bathroom door that she had smashed in her haste.

    Sylva wasn''t even sure why she had packed their bags. The Warrior II was jumps away from any civilization. Even if they had stolen a shuttle, they would have been trapped out in the middle of space forever. It had been a panicked overreaction. Sylva had been having a lot of those recently, but that was because the stress of everything was getting to her. She had brought it all upon herself, of course, but even as she admitted that, she still felt like she had no choice. Everything was the best plan she could think of, and she had to do something.

    When Iri returned, several hours later, they both avoided bringing up the subject. Sylva couldn''t quite look her in the eye. It wasn''t as though she had seen very much of Iri (her body had been very much covered by Sign''s), but it was a major violation of privacy. Granted, the two of them had been going at it in a public area of the ship, so it wasn''t exactly Sylva''s fault that she walked in on them.

    "And no, if you''re wondering, I''m not going to get pregnant, so you can put that out of your mind," Iri said, unprompted after a long and tense silence as they brushed their teeth together in the bathroom.

    "I wasn''t even remotely worried about it," Sylva said, which was a lie. She didn''t know what she would do if Iri did get pregnant while they were out and about on this mission of theirs. At least Iri was taking precautions.

    "Can you let me know when you''re not going to come back here next time, at least?" Sylva asked as she rinsed her toothbrush.

    "It''s sweet that you want to look out for me," Iri said. That wasn''t a yes.

    "I just don''t want a repeat of this," Sylva muttered, crossing her arms. Her pyjamas were soft and light green.

    "I''m much more competent than you are, I don''t think you need to worry about me getting in trouble," Iri said.

    "Yeah, but¨C" Sylva protested.

    "But what?"

    "We''re partners, right? We look out for each other," Sylva said plaintively. Iri looked at her in their reflection in the mirror, then nudged Sylva''s shoulder with her arm.

    "Yeah. We are. Partners in crime." Iri smiled and turned to go back to her own room. "I still can''t believe you broke my door, by the way." Iri jiggled the handle and it flopped down, completely broken on the inside.

    "Sorry," Sylva offered, though she wasn''t that sorry. She headed back to her room. As she heard Iri start to close the bathroom door, she yelled out one last thing. "Was the dick good enough to be worth it?"

    "Absolutely!" Iri called back. That woman had no shame.

 Chapter Fifty-Nine - The Road Less-Traveled

    The Road Less-Traveled

    <blockquote>

    ¡°In order for a leader to remain in power, they must make themself essential. It is the sad truth that most people are replaceable, no matter their position. No one likes to consider themselves expendable, but until a person is respected or needed just enough that no one can step up in their stead, they are. Keep an eye on anyone who can fill your shoes, and start making your shoes bigger.¡±

    -from Realtalk: A Governor Speaks Out by Raj Calai

    </blockquote>

    Sid and Kino were back on the bridge when they jumped into the star system that housed the illegal station. The code name that referred to it in all the stolen Guild documentation was Less-Travel Station, but no one called it that. If they needed to refer to it by a name, they called it The LT, or just The Station. There was hardly any question of what they were referring to. The LT was in a star system with five planets, and it was in orbit around the third. The Impulse came in in several jumps, in order to best disguise its presence. It started out beyond the orbit of the fifth planet, then Captain Wen decided that they should jump into the orbit of the fourth planet, in order to survey the LT more closely while remaining unobserved.

    Of course, if the station was paying very close attention to all of the space within their system, they probably would have been able to notice the Impulse jumping in. But the Impulse had an advantage that the LT did not, and that was that the LT should not have any idea that they were coming.

    The Impulse deployed their most detailed sensing apparatuses, and though they were still light minutes away, they could see things in rough detail. It was enough to make Sid¡¯s breath catch in his throat. The station orbiting the planet came into view, but it wasn''t the station that was the thing that made his hands clench into fists. Next to it, looming large enough to be a moon, was the supership that the Guild was building. On the view screen, the two fuzzy forms danced together. They were in a very high orbit above the planet, as far an orbit as Emerri¡¯s small moon was above it. As they watched and plotted out the orbits of the various bodies, it became clearer that the station had situated itself in the balance point between the massive ship and the planet. Tiny dots would occasionally move between the three bodies: the planet, the station, the ship, carrying raw or finished materials. From the amount of traffic going up from the planet into orbit, the planet must have at least a small mining venture operating on it. Sid wondered what they could be pulling from there that would be worth the cost of hauling it into space without an elevator.

    Or perhaps anything was worth the cost, in order to keep this project secret. If they needed raw materials to smelt into construction pieces for their ship, it might rouse suspicion to buy that from elsewhere. And the station there was large enough that they could conceivably have a small manufacturing facility set up to process raw materials into almost anything. There must be a constant tradeoff between the economies of scale and secrecy that the Guild was manipulating here. On one hand, building this ship required so many materials, many of them specialized, that could be bought in quantity on most planets in the Empire. Perhaps if those purchases were distributed out across many different planets, many different families, many months, it wouldn''t rouse suspicion. But for more specialized parts, especially anything that was needed to support the structural integrity of such an absurdly large ship, everything would need to be custom made and designed. And that couldn''t be exported. The Guild would have to make those themselves.

    And clearly they had been. Even in the grainy, blurred out images taken from the distance they were at, they could see constructions on the surface of the ship, massive things.

    "How close to launch do you think this is?" Kino asked anybody who had the answer.

    Captain Wen considered it for a moment. "From here it''s hard to tell, but based on the amount of things on the surface, they probably haven''t installed everything inside the ship. They might still be excavating."

    "It''s not fully excavated?" Sid asked.

    "Probably not enough to build the rings. If we enhance this image¡­" Wen controlled the large screen from his tablet, and it zoomed in. An algorithm made predictive enhancements to the fuzzy blobs of the surface of the ship, and it resolved into a ''best guess'' for what the things on the surface were. Massive poles, support structures, prefabricated walls laying flat on the ground.

    "But as soon as the stardrives arrive it will be able to move," Kino said.

    "As soon as they install them, yes," Wen said. "It''s impossible to tell if they have the computer and the chamber for the drives ready yet."

    "We can''t be spotted from where we are, can we?" Sid asked.

    "If they know we''re here and are looking, they''d be able to find us, but we''re keeping radio silent, we''re running cold, and we''re staying as much behind this planet as possible," Wen said. "I''d be shocked if they managed to see us. And even if they did, I''m not sure what they''d be able to do."

    "How many people are working on that station?" Kino asked.

    "No way to know. Probably a lot, though," Cesper said. "It''s a big job to build a station like that, even if they''re importing all their food and supplies. There''s still a lot of robot wrangling that needs to be done."

    Sid could attest to that. His family''s farm was completely mechanized, in terms of the actual crop production, but even with a fleet of robots performing at their peak capacity, it still took his family an absurd amount of time to program their routes, keep them working, monitor their operation, and deal with any mistakes they made. Though he liked all the robots, and was glad for the work that they did, they weren''t autonomous enough to run a farm without constant supervision, and he shuddered to think of what type of monitoring would be required to build something completely unique, like this ship.

    "But where do they all come from," Kino asked. "All the workers?"

    "That''s one of the million charge questions, isn''t it?" Captain Wen said. "I think that if you figure out that answer, you''ll have a much better idea of what the Guild''s plans actually are."

    "What do you mean by that?" Sid asked.

    "Well, the Guild is only going to recruit people who are willing to work with them toward their future goals. They could be directly supplying people from within their own force, or they could be picking up passengers off of planets and giving them work, or they could be working with¨C"

    "Pirates?" Kino asked.

    "It''s a long shot, but possible," Wen said. "After all, who has a better supply of free labor?"

    "Imperial prisons," Sid said. Wen laughed.

    "Maybe so, but I think we can be safely assured that the Guild is not taking prisoners from us. Do you have a plan for when we jump in?"

    "Yes, of course," Sid said. He had discussed it with his whole team. He and Kino had a veritable entourage of diplomats, there to ensure that they didn''t make some sort of horrible misstep. Of course, when it came right down to the grain of it, Sid and Kino would be the ones doing the talking and making the decisions, not anyone that Sandreas had sent along with them. Sid wasn''t intending to disobey their advice, precisely, but he knew where true power lay. "Can we radio them from here?"

    "Sure, but it''ll take a few minutes for them to get our message."

    "Yeah, I know. I just want to give them about a minute of head time before we jump in on top of them."

    "Why?" Wen asked.

    "It just seems polite, doesn''t it?"

    "I think you and I have different definitions of polite. Since we''ve come here armed and dangerous, perhaps politeness is out the window."

    "Politeness is never out the window," Sid said with mock seriousness. "But I do want to give them a little warning, and then jump in ourselves ready to go. I think it would be a bad look to go in aggressively."

    "Do you really think that anything we do here will come off as non-aggressive?" Kino asked.

    "We have to try." He didn¡¯t want to make any steps that could turn this into a bloodbath, and if giving the LT a bit of warning could avoid triggering a panic defense, then he¡¯d take that any day.

    Sid stared at the blobs on the screen, the giant false moon and the smaller station, watching the occasional dot of light pass between them. He didn''t want to think about all the people aboard those places. Sid couldn''t help but remember the pirates. These weren''t pirates, though. They were just people. People doing illegal things.

    It was another eight hours before they could jump in closer. Sid took a nap for the first part of it. His sleep had been disjointed for months, and being on the strange ship''s schedule only made it worse. He felt a little bad for Cesper, who was responsible for following him and Kino around and making sure they were in the right places at the right time. Since Kino seemed to always be awake and around when Sid was, he didn''t actually know if she ever slept. Cesper was developing bags under his eyes that deepened every time Sid saw him, which was often. The man must have had some sort of access to the ship''s monitoring cameras to know when Sid was awake and wandering around.

    As he lay on his bunk, staring up at the corrugated metal ceiling above him, Sid wondered how things were going back on Emerri. What was Sandreas doing? Was he quietly informing Guild leadership about Sid''s presence here? Was he wrestling with the Imperial Council for funding to build their own multi-stardrive ships? Was he just waiting and watching to see what would come of Sid and Kino''s trip?

    And Yan. He hadn''t abandoned her in his thoughts. Where was she? She had to still be alive. As irrational as it was, Sid thought that he would know if she was dead. Some part of him would have to feel it. Something would echo through the universe and tell him.

    Maybe that was God. That hoping, that message that he knew he would feel.

    He rolled over in his bed, trying not to think about any of it. He didn''t want to think about how badly the upcoming negotiations could go. If there was one thing that was good about Yan being missing, it was that she didn''t have to be around to see what the Trade Guild had come to. It probably would have been miserable for her to hear about the murder, and the missing stardrives, and the illegal station, and what Sid and Kino might have to do if the negotiations fell through. It wasn''t going to come to that, though.

    Sid slept uneasily. He had an alarm set for a while before the Impulse was set to jump out, but as he drifted of to sleep, the buzzing of his own snoring kept making him think that his phone alarm was vibrating under his hand.

    Hernan came to get him, once he was done with his nap. Sid had made his way to the Junior Officers'' Mess, hoping to find Cesper, and also to get some breakfast. He still wasn''t sure which dining hall was appropriate for him to eat in by himself, so he usually waited for Cesper to arrive and bring him somewhere. Today, though, he was ravenous. As he was trying to figure out if he could open the door himself, Hernan and Cesper arrived, walking shoulder to shoulder down the hall.

    "Apprentice Welslak," Cesper said. "Captain Wen is looking for you on the bridge."

    Of course he was. "Can I just grab something to eat first? I''m starving."

    Hernan checked his watch. "You have a minute," he signed.

    "Thanks," Sid signed. "Lieutenant, can you open the door for me?" he asked aloud. They were addressing each other formally because people were rushing past them through the hallways. It wouldn''t do to seem informal to the general crew of the ship. As Sandreas would say, it was bad optics.

    "Of course. Though you know I feel horribly left out when you sign to each other," Cesper said, unlocking the door and holding it open for Sid to get in.

    Sid grinned and headed inside. The dining hall was crowded, and the line to get food was quite long. Surprisingly, the predominant smell was roast meat, and it made Sid salivate. He didn''t have time to sit down and eat something, though, so he scooted around the line until he got to the big bowls of fruit. It was still strange that the Impulse rarely served meat but had the space available to dedicate to fruit trees. The vats to make meat were smaller than trees, even if they were much more resource intensive. Sid snatched a couple apples and shoved them deep into the pockets of his cassock. He kept one in his hand and ate it as he left the dining hall, walking beside Cesper to the bridge. Hernan trailed the both of them as a guard. Not that he needed it on a Fleet ship like this one, but Hernan''s familiar presence was never unwelcome. At this point, Hernan probably knew Sid better than anyone else. After all, he had been there through the worst of it.

    When they arrived on the bridge, it was maybe even more of a hive of activity than it had been that first day when they jumped away from Emerri. Captain Wen was sideling along between the different stations, personally checking in on everyone. Kino was lingering on the side of the room, waiting for Sid. She came over to join him, and together they watched the business of the ship.

    Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Impulse, soldiers were suiting up, checking their shuttles and dogfighters, preparing for any conflict that might happen. Somewhere, weapons were heating up, ready to accelerate chunks of metal towards an enemy. Somewhere, the stardrive was churning to life, ready to jump them all in.

    When Captain Wen noticed who had come in to the bridge, he patted the shoulder of the man he had been leaning over, and walked over to see the two apprentices.

    "Ready for the jump?" He asked.

    "I want to send the message first," Sid said. He was still holding the apple core in his hand, and he stuck it guiltily in his pocket. There was probably some prohibition about food on the bridge. Certainly if he had been running a ship, he would have banned it.

    "Text, voice, or video?" Wen asked. "I can get you set up at a station."

    "Let me send the message," Kino said, jumping into the conversation. Sid glanced at her, then shrugged.

    "Sure."

    "Video, please," Kino said to Captain Wen.

    They had prepared a script beforehand, and it had been carefully combed over by the whole diplomatic team they brought with them, so it didn''t particularly matter which of them delivered the message. Still, Sid was surprised that Kino was volunteering. She didn''t tend to like the spotlight. He saw her nervously fiddle with her hair, straightening her two long braids to fall neatly across the front of her shoulders. Kino''s minder, Deboan, who had been lurking in the corner of the room, came over and adjusted the lay of her short cape across her shoulders. Something incomprehensible to Sid flashed between them at that moment.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Sid hadn''t gotten much of a chance to see Deboan interact with Kino. First there had been the period before their minders introduced themselves, then there had been the long trip away from Emerri, and then Deboan had been out on injury, so Kino had what felt like an endless string of substitutes. Then, once Deboan was back, Kino did her best to avoid her. Kino was a remarkably private person and seemed to resent having her minder around. It was nothing like the professional relationship that Sid had with Hernan, or the friendly and teasing one that Yan¡­ Thinking about Yan was the wrong thing to do at this moment.

    One the communications officer on the bridge of the ship situated Kino in front of a station with a camera so that she could record the message. Kino checked her hair and ran her hand over her face one more time to make sure it was clean, then gave the signal to record.

    "Less-Travel Station, this is Kino Mejia, apprentice to First Sandreas, Voice of the Empire, speaking to you from the Imperial Ship Impulse. Your station is currently in violation of Imperial law. Immediately cease all operations and prepare for the Impulse to dock with your station. All shuttles and auxiliary ships must also cease operations. Failure to comply will be regarded as aggression. The Impulse will be making the final jump in within five minutes of you receiving this message. The intended coordinates of our jump are¨C" Kino rattled off a long string of information provided to her by the navigation officer who stood at her side. "Please have your commanding officer stand by for contact. Thank you for your cooperation."

    Kino signaled below the view of the camera to end the recording, and the whole thing was prepared for transfer. Though sending this message would reveal their position, it didn''t matter. They were far enough away from anything the Guild had set up that nothing would be able to get to them before they jumped, and they would be jumping right in to the station. All that was left to do was wait the required amount of time: the transit time of the message and the delay they had allowed for the LT to prepare itself for their arrival.

    The atmosphere on the bridge was tense. Everyone was ready for the jump, and there was a long countdown running on the large screen. It was still projecting images of the station, but those images were like looking back in time. Everything still looked peaceful, aside from the menacingly large ship.

    "Ready?" Captain Wen asked again.

    "As I''ll ever be," Sid said.

    "Yes," Kino said, looking cool and confident.

    "Let''s jump."

    As always, there was no feeling of movement, or of any change at all as the ship''s stardrive whisked them forward in time and space. Even though the old momentum of their ship was eaten by the stardrive, and they were given a new one to neatly match the orbit of the station, it didn''t feel like anything.

    The space looked different, though.

    Giving the LT a warning had evidently been a bad idea. Somehow, the ship, the real object of everyone''s concern, had vanished.

    Sid swore loudly, unable to help himself. Though some of the officers on the bridge looked at him with mild disdain for violating the sanctity of the bridge, the feeling was shared by most people- he could see it on their faces. Sid looked out on the screen at the empty space where the moon sized ship should have been, and he felt a deep fear settle on his shoulders. The beginning of this diplomatic trip, whose goal was to safely stop this ship from being built, was already falling apart. Even Sandreas''s plan, to infiltrate and destroy the ship before it could take its maiden voyage, was destroyed. The thing was mobile, and now it was missing.

    Kino, in an uncharacteristic move, came close enough so that their shoulders touched. She sent a message to him through the power. It was a little garbled. They didn''t know each other well enough that this would be easy. He almost laughed. How much easier had this been with Yan just months ago? And now he had been working with Kino for so much longer, but there was just this empty place in his brain when he thought about her. He didn''t understand her inner life enough to process the thoughts she sent to him. That was a wakeup call if he had ever had one.

    But he could understand well enough the intention behind her message. They needed to figure out what to do, and fast.

    "Technically," Sid began, and he could see Hernan''s face twitch out of the corner of his eye. "Building a ship isn''t illegal. Only the station is." It was true that the Guild had the license to construct their own ships, according to their own specifications, with whatever stardrives they had. This ship just happened to have stardrives that were not really accounted for. Sid hypothesized that they were the almost burnt out ones that had been rigged together for the test. How long had the Guild been stockpiling old stardrives? They would need to use several to get that ship moving, and it would be a risky thing if one of them failed during the ship''s journey.

    "So we continue as planned. I won''t mention the ship at all," Kino said, adding on to the end of Sid¡¯s statement.

    "Everyone will understand that''s the purpose of this little visit," Captain Wen chimed in. "No one will be fooled." Wen may have been a competent Fleet captain, but he was not that much of a diplomat. Sid supposed rising through the Fleet ranks only involved being able to strategize and stay in line with other Fleet leaders.

    "They don''t need to be fooled, they just need to understand what the Empire''s intentions are. And the Empire, though it may allow ships to be built, cannot stand for unauthorized station building and mining activities. That is clearly out of the Guild''s charter, and we will not allow a precedent to be set to the contrary," Kino said, looking slightly imperious. Her language was formal, and it felt like more spontaneous words than Sid had seen Kino speak in a long time. Maybe even since she yelled at him in the woods. He didn''t like to think about that, but he was coming to realize just how many different sides there were to Kino, though she was a mystery on the surface. He just didn''t understand what the invisible connection between all these pieces of Kino was.

    "Yeah," Sid said. If Kino wanted to continue taking the lead, he was going to let her.

    "Get me back on the radio. I want to see who''s in charge," Kino said.

    Kino sat back down in front of the transmission station. Sid stood right behind her, curling his fingers around the back of her chair so that her back touched his hand. It wasn''t meant to be possessive, just enough that they could talk. As much as they could talk, anyway.

    "Less-Travel Station, this is the Imperial ship Impulse. Please acknowledge." The Impulse broadcast the message on every standard wavelength, and a few non standard ones, just to be sure that the LT was receiving. They knew that they were, because they had clearly gotten the message about the impending arrival of the Impulse, enough to send the supership running, but the Impulse couldn''t be sure exactly which frequency they were listening on.

    There were several long moments of radio silence. Everyone on the Impulse waited, bodies tense. In the depths of the ship, soldiers sat in the cockpits of their dogfighters, bays already cleared of air, ready to deploy at a moment''s notice. Others watched the LT for signs of their own dogfighters. They space around the station was perfectly still.

    "Impulse, this is Less-Travel Station, we are receiving you. Please standby."

    Everyone continued to wait. Kino drummed her fingers on her leg.

    "How long will we wait?" Sid sent through the power. He wasn''t sure if Kino heard his message, because she didn''t even send a feeling in response. Aside from the distant mutterings from the back of the bridge of officers going about their equipment checks, words floating like pale ghosts over the surface of his glasses, no one was speaking. He kept half his attention on the big screen. Just like everyone else, he was watching to make sure that the LT wasn''t about to launch its own dogfighters.

    The radio came to life once again. "Impulse, this is Commander Willis aboard Less-Travel station, please state your business."

    "Commander Willis, I am Kino Mejia, apprentice to First Sandreas. Your station is in direct violation of Guild charter and Imperial law. All operations must cease immediately, and you must prepare to be boarded by Imperial inspectors." Imperial inspectors was a fairly soft word for an armed crew of Fleet soldiers. "What is your docking procedure?"

    Sid had to imagine that the prolonged silence on the other end of the radio was born of resignation.

    "Impulse, we cannot currently allow you to dock with our station."

    "If docking the Impulse is not possible, we have shuttles standing by," Kino said calmly. "You do not have the authority to refuse entry, Commander Willis."

    There was no one who had the authority to refuse entry to Imperial officials, but that didn''t ever stop people from trying.

    "We do not have docking space for your shuttles, Impulse."

    "Less-Travel Station, what is your specific reason for your refusal to allow us access?"

    "This station is Guild property, and under Guild charter there is no requirement that we allow Imperial agents aboard any ship."

    "The Guild charter does not include the occupation or construction of stations by the Guild," Kino said. "Therefore, the existence of this station is not covered by the charter, and it can be considered an independent and illegal body."

    There was silence over the radio. Sid''s hands tightened on the back of Kino''s chair.

    "Don''t say it," he tried to send to her through the power. There was no indication that she received his message at all.

    "If you do not cooperate willingly, we will be forced to board you," Kino said. And that was board in the unfriendly way.

    There was more long silence. Kino didn''t make any move to order the shuttles and dogfighters waiting in the bay out.

    "Less-Travel Station, we await your response," Kino said.

    "Don''t," came the response over the radio. It was a different voice. "This is, uh, Shen, I''m, uh, Willis''s second."

    "Where did Commander Willis go?" Kino asked. Sid wasn''t sure if that was the ideal thing to do, right this second, but he understood the impulse; he had the exact same question.

    Out of the corner of his eye, Sid saw Captain Wen smirking at his own second. He covered his mouth with his hand when he noticed that Sid was watching him. His second smiled back and raised an eyebrow. Sid resented whatever mouthed conversation he was having, but it wasn''t his business.

    "Commander Willis is, uh, indisposed," Shen said. "Um. Sorry, I''m not really, uh, look, could you just tell us what''s going to happen when you come on board?"

    "Light touch, Kino," Sid sent as a suggestion. Kino sent back a completely garbled sentence and a vague feeling of¡­ It was a positive emotion at least.

    "That will depend on your cooperation," Kino said. "But our first priority is to place this station under Imperial oversight. Stations cannot operate without Imperial permission."

    "Uh, Ms. Mejia¨C"

    "Apprentice Mejia," Kino corrected. Sid sighed involuntarily, remembered that other people could hear him doing so, and clamped his mouth shut.

    "Um, ok, Apprentice Mejia, I, well, some of the crew want to know¨C" There was the sound of things being knocked around in the background, and the radio abruptly cut out. Sid reached down to flick off their own transmission for the moment so that he could talk aloud.

    "This isn''t going great."

    "It''s fine," Kino said. "They''re doing all the hard work for us."

    "What do you mean?"

    "If there''s people on there who are so desperate not to get arrested that they''ll mutiny, then all we have to do is keep putting on this pressure, and they''ll surrender."

    "You don''t think we should interfere?" Sid asked.

    "You don''t think sending out our ships would make them panic more?"

    It definitely would. Kino wasn''t wrong, but Sid was a little bit worried that whatever was happening on the bridge of the station was a little bit more than panic at maybe being arrested. If he was a Guild member, working on a secret project, on an illegal station, full of incriminating files about various activities by Guild members, probably not even limited to just the construction of the supership, he might have something like a kill switch built into his system. And if he was the second on a station where there was a kill switch that the commander might be tempted to use, he might decide that this was the right time to put a knife to his commander''s throat. Murder be damned, at least he would get out of it alive.

    That was a runaway train of thought. Kino tilted her head backward to look at him. Her eyes were wide and large from this angle, the dark brown irises staring up at him without any hint of emotion. She looked more birdlike than ever.

    "Calm down," she said, and flipped the transmission back on. She tilted her head back to its normal angle and looked directly into the camera. They didn''t know if the station was actually watching their broadcast or just listening, but it didn''t hurt to appear professional. "Less-Travel Station, are you there?"

    They waited for a long moment. Sid looked around at everyone on the bridge, taking a poll based on their faces of what each person was feeling. Some of them looked apprehensive or excited, others looked merely curious.

    "Less-Travel Station, please respond."

    Then Shen''s voice came back over the line. "Sorry Impulse, I''m here."

    "Is everything alright?" Kino asked.

    "Uh, no, but, uh, yeah." Shen''s voice appeared on Sid''s glasses in fits and stutters. "What''s going to happen to us?"

    "If you cooperate, we can work out a solution to this problem that is amenable to all parties," Kino said. "I have no desire to see this situation reach an unpleasant conclusion."

    Tone it down, Sid thought, but it wasn''t a thought directed at Kino through the power, it was just his wish. Why had he let her take the lead? It was happening again, wasn''t it? He had done the same thing when he was with Yan¨C letting someone else take charge.

    He was struck by how much he both wished Kino wasn''t here, so he could prove himself, and how glad he was that she was here, so she could share the blame if anything went wrong. Perhaps he was just being a coward. He wasn''t going to wrestle Kino to the ground to take her spot in front of the camera, though. She could keep it.

    "Ok, uh, look, if you come closer, we can dock? But, uh, shit." There was a momentary pause. "Sorry, this is kinda a mess."

    "Take your time," Kino said, but from the way her fingers twitched on the fabric of her cassock, Sid could tell she was stressed.

    "Oh, fuck, well, uh." How this man, who under stress resorted to incoherent ramblings over the radio, ever became second on anything, was beyond Sid''s understanding.

    "Less-Travel, could you please tell us what''s going on?" Kino asked.

    "Not really," Shen said.

    "Can the Impulse dock with you or not?"

    "Not really."

    "Would it be better for us to send shuttles?"

    "Sorry, I don''t actually have, uh, control of that right now."

    "Aren''t you on the bridge?" Kino asked.

    "I am, but, uh, there''s, uh, well, the computer."

    "What about the computer?"

    "It''s all messed up."

    "Alright, hold on Less-Travel." Kino flipped the switch on the transmitter, cutting off their communication with the station.

    "Wiping data?" Sid asked.

    "Probably," Cesper said, leaning over his shoulder. "Not that I''m an expert, but if I was in charge of this station, that''s the first thing I''d do if an Imperial ship swooped up on me."

    "And what''s the second thing you''d do?"

    "If I was somebody wanted? I''d escape to a designated meeting point."

    Now that was a thought. "Have we seen any shuttles go out?" Sid asked.

    "No," one of the officers on the bridge said. "It''s been quiet."

    "But someone could have left when the supership jumped?"

    "We''d see their engines," the officer said. "We would know if anyone had left."

    "They might still try to get out of here, though," Sid said.

    "Our dogs are ready. If we need to chase someone down, we can," Captain Wen spoke up.

    "Good." That didn''t solve the real problem, which was getting agents aboard the station, preferably before all its systems deleted themselves to remove incriminating evidence. "Will we be able to get anything off of the computers, even though they''re being wiped?"

    "It depends on how thorough they are," Cesper said.

    "Let''s assume they''re very thorough," Sid said.

    "Then we''d better stay clear of the blast radius," Cesper said. "The only way to make sure no traces remain is to destroy the computers. I think, based on the way things are going, that''s not happening."

    "Let me get them back on the line," Kino said, interrupting the speculation. She flipped the switch. "Less-Travel, please give us an update on your status."

    "I''m, uh, on the bridge. And so are a couple other people. And everyone is sitting tight, mostly. And, uh, the computer is freaking out but, uh. Here, maybe I can open a bay?"

    "Are you in danger, Mr. Shen?"

    "I don''t think so? It''s mostly under control. Just let me¡­" He trailed off. "Ok. Bay 2 is going to open. Uh. Are you sending a shuttle?"

    "Hold on, Less-Travel." Kino killed the radio again.

    "I''m going over there," Sid said, before anyone could interrupt. "You should stay here," he said to Kino.

    "Okay," Kino said. She didn''t seem to mind his sudden desire to take charge of his own situation. And Sid was determined to take charge. He wasn''t going to continue to let other people tell him what to do.

    He turned to Hernan. "Get the advisory team and meet me in¡­" He looked to Cesper.

    "Shuttle bay 4," Cesper provided, peering down at a tablet.

    Hernan looked at Sid firmly. "If Sandreas were here," he signed. Yeah, sure, if Sandreas were here, he would have objected to Sid going onto a dangerous, illegal station. Of course he would have. But the good thing was, Sandreas wasn''t here, and that meant that Sid got to make the decisions. No one had seriously tried to object, so it couldn''t be that dangerous.

    "I don''t care," Sid signed back. Hernan didn''t argue, he just turned and went to gather the appropriate people.

    "Cesper, you''re with me," Sid said aloud. Kino''s lips twisted a fraction of a degree. What was she smiling about? Sid didn''t have the patience to worry about it at the moment. "Kino, you tell them we''ll be on our way."

    "Good luck," she said, twisting around in her seat to look at him full on. "Leave if it gets dangerous."

    "I''m not stupid," Sid said. There was only so much that should be said in the bridge of this warship. They had an audience. And the more Kino said things to him, the less tactful he was likely to be. He remembered the conversation about rumors he had with Cesper; he didn''t need any more of his own floating around.

 Chapter Sixty - The Walls Come Tumblin Down

    The Walls Come Tumblin'' Down

    <blockquote>

    ¡°In many lives I¡¯ve been a stranger. I¡¯m one who¡¯s travelled far away. In many times there¡¯s been unkindness, but we¡¯ll rise again one happy day [...] So lend your hand to all burdened travellers. Lend your coat, your bread, your home. For some day too, you¡¯ll be the stranger, and you¡¯ll find there¡¯s friends along the road.¡±

    -from ¡°Long Road Home¡±, traditional song

    </blockquote>

    Yan cradled her broken fingers: the pinky and ring on her left hand. She should probably have been grateful that the Green King didn''t break anything important. They would probably heal fine. She had ripped the cloth of her skirt with her teeth and wrapped them up as best she could. It would at least keep them still. It was impossible to see what she was doing, still in the dark, and so her hand felt larger than life, a throbbing, magnified mess. In her mind''s eye, it bloomed to five times its usual size, dragging on the ground behind her as she paced. She kept it cool on the stone floor, drooping it off the side of her bed as she lay to sleep.

    The Green King hadn''t even gotten anything useful from her. It wasn''t as though she made a point of memorizing star charts to point out planets that the Fleet had their eye on. Even when she had told him random pieces of information about Kino and Sid, it wasn''t anything that had strategic importance. She started making up stuff, just so that he would shut up and go away and leave her alone and stop breaking her fingers. So what if they thought that Sid had a secret double life when she said he disappeared. He had run away once. That didn''t mean anything. There was nothing they could get out of that information.

    She was given food, again. She didn''t even manage to stay awake to see the girl come in. It felt like the moment she laid down to sleep, she passed out. It was difficult to know how long she had been asleep. Now, with the light gone, there seemed to be even less passage of time. But she was able to grope and fumble her way to the table, and eat the unwrapped food that was left there.

    She thought for a while, resuming her usual back and forth across the floor. She re-visited the scene from the day before over and over. The Green King''s voice played on a repeat track in her head. Back and forth, back and forth. The short laps turned into long minutes, the long minutes turned into a half hour. As she paced, she felt dizzy. Her thoughts slipped away from her like. Her thoughts slipped away. Her thoughts. She¨C

    Yan realized something was happening. She stumbled to the toilet and stuck her finger down her throat, trying vainly to make herself throw up. The food had something in it, something new this time. A panic seized her as she thought that it might be meant to kill her.

    Halen stood behind her. "If they meant to kill you, a knife would be faster."

    Yan puked into the toilet. Not much came out. She stood and went to the sink, drinking as much water as she could. Maybe she could flush it out. She choked, spluttering water everywhere.

    Anger and fear were the only emotions that cut through the haze that whatever she had been drugged with brought on. She saw shining spots on the edge of her vision. Her heart was racing. She yanked at the chain on her ankle. If she didn''t escape right now, she would die. Someone was coming down the hallway to kill her. Someone was holding a knife to her throat. Someone was pounding her broken fingers onto the floor. Someone was putting acid in her mouth. She wailed and pounded the floor as horrible visions wrapped themselves around her brain. There wasn''t any way for her to think clearly. She sobbed, choked on her sobs, curled up into a ball on the floor.

    It felt like a million years of being haunted and battered. She didn''t even think to use the power, but when she came out of it, so many hours later, she knew that she wouldn''t have been able to. Yan lay on the floor, miserable, and thought about her situation as her mind cleared. The thoughts came crawling back, like feeling returning to an asleep limb.

    She didn''t know if that had been an intentionally bad trip, a drug cocktail made just to torment her, or if it had simply been something made to sedate her that had backfired. It didn''t particularly matter. If there was one thing that Yan didn''t want, it was getting drugs in her food.

    And that meant that she had a time limit on her escape. She had to escape before anyone noticed that she had stopped eating, and obviously before she starved. She could conceivably flush food down the toilet for a while, but she was sure that there was an infrared camera monitoring her every move in her dark cell. If she was too obvious that she wasn''t eating, she would be caught out, and probably drugged in a much less pleasant way. Not that she would have described this as pleasant in any way, but it was better than being stabbed with a needle, or any other method.

    They had to know she was going to stop eating as soon as she realized what was happening. Or maybe they thought it was supposed to be a painkiller for her broken fingers. Ha. That was funny. She delicately touched her bandaged left hand. It still felt hot and swollen. She gently dropped it down onto the floor where she lay. It didn''t matter if her eyes were open or closed; she saw the same thing either way.

    Yan almost missed the buzzing of the light.

    One thing that had given her hope, right before she had lost herself to the drug completely, was that she had managed to imagine Halen again. That was her only hope now, since the Green King realized that she could use the power while he was torturing her. It felt¡­ pretty bad to admit that was what was happening, and to think that it was probably going to happen again. Not that it wasn''t obvious, but she had spent so long here without anyone doing anything to her, and now they finally decided to, and¨C

    She knew her limits now, and she had found that they weren''t really that far away.

    It was really only a small step, to go from torturing her to killing her. She had to get out.

    "What am I supposed to do?" she asked aloud, to no one in particular. She didn''t think that anyone would answer; she was just back to her normal muttering to fill the silence.

    How easily she slipped into her fantasies when she wasn''t trying! And now that they was her only hope of escaping, they refused to come to her.

    She may have fallen asleep there on the floor. Time and consciousness did funny things, when she was alone there in the dark.

    There was a bright light in the center of her vision. A flashlight, the shining of the stardrive, God, maybe. She didn''t move, didn''t speak. It went away.

    Yan thought about it again, focusing through the twinge of pain in her brain that came whenever she thought about anything too much. Open eyes, closed eyes, it didn''t matter. Just imagine, conjure, bring into being that bright point of light. If it was God, then let it be God, and let God help her escape here. If it was the stardrive, let her be back in that shuttle with the young Halen, and let that be the ticket to her escape. If it was the flashlight, let it be held by a friendly hand. She thought she saw something at some points, but as she got excited and seized upon them, they went away.

    Eventually, she had to get up. Her back ached. As always, it was difficult to get up with her stiff neck. She couldn''t just curl up onto herself. Instead, Yan needed to roll onto her stomach and get up that way, on her hands and knees.

    She found more food on the table when she went to check. So the light had been the flashlight, coming in to deliver her next few meals. Yan sat down at the table, like she always did when she ate. This time, though, she brought the pieces of food up to her mouth, then carefully dropped them down her shirt. She tried to be inconspicuous about it, but her internal image of what she would look like on the camera probably didn''t match up with whatever the infrared camera was actually seeing. Assuming there was one. Yan thought it would be beyond stupid not to constantly monitor a prisoner, even if they were in the dark. She slowly pretended to eat as much as she normally would in a meal, then carefully walked over to the toilet, trying not to spill any of the food she had dropped in small pieces down her shirt. She kicked down her skirt, sat, and dropped the food in between her legs into the toilet bowl. There. Mission accomplished.

    Her stomach grumbled, and she drank tap water to calm it. This wouldn''t be sustainable for long. The hungrier she got, the less she''d be able to focus. Given how little she was able to bring her visions back already, that didn''t bode well. She wished she could stop putting so much pressure on it, but pressure was all she had, beating down on her from all sides.

    She paced some more, going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth until she had exhausted herself. She didn''t want to think of how many kilometers a day she walked, going forward and backward the same six steps, bare feet slapping the stone floor. Too many kilometers.

    When she could walk no more, and her stomach was screaming at her to eat something, she sat down on her bed. She tried to imagine the light again. That was the simplest thing. Just stare into the darkness long enough, and she''d see it. She raised her right hand up to her eyes. There must be a light illuminating behind them, because in the complete darkness of the room, she could see her hand, right there, plain as if she was in sunlight. She raised and lowered her fingers. The light was just behind, just, just, if she could hold that in her head. She had to force herself not to think about how it was all just an illusion, her brain tricking itself. In her brain, she knew she was just recognizing the feeling and bodily sensation of holding up her hand and connecting that to the knowledge of what her hand should look like. But she had to ignore that, or it wouldn''t work. She had to let herself be swept up in the fantasy that there was a light in the room.

    She closed her eyes. She lowered her hand. The faintest light remained. She could feel, or she pretended to feel, her body creeping forward, crawling infinitely across the stone floor on hands and knees toward the light. Yes. This was a good fantasy. Closer. Go closer.

    Her fingers ached. Her knees burned from scraping on the stone. The light grew brighter.

    She crawled forward. Off in the distance, there were stars, but she was there in the center of this vast expanse. A cold stone floor, a long chain dragging behind her. A shuttle, perched on the ground. A young man leaning against it.

    That wasn''t God. She stood.

    "What are we doing here?" Halen asked. "Did you wreck my stardrive?"

    "I need you to help me," Yan said.

    "With what?"

    "Getting out of here."

    "Where''s here? I think we might be dead. This is the place you go when you make a stardrive wrong, isn''t it?"

    "Forget about the stardrive," Yan said.

    Halen crossed his arms. "You almost wrecked my shuttle."

    "It''s not real. It''s just a metaphor."

    Halen laughed. Yan clung to the vision, keeping it steady. "You tell yourself that."

    "I''m trying," Yan said. "I don''t want to die in here."

    "Then let''s take the shuttle and go. Get out." Halen pointed up at the stars.

    "I''d love to," Yan said. She pointed at her chain. "Help me with this, first."

    "That''s not just a metaphor, too?" Halen asked. "You sure you get to pick and choose what''s real and what isn''t?"

    "If you argue with me too much I''ll¨C"

    "You''ll?"

    Yan gasped. She had been holding her breath in concentration for too long, and the vision fell apart. She was back in her dark room. It took so much effort to sustain something that had once been so effortless. It was just like a prayer, or meditation, both of which had become so useless to her in this cage. Where once she could have slipped into those ways of thinking easily, now that she had spent so long dissecting them and trying to purposefully use them as refuge, they felt hollow and useless, like the shed skin of a snake.

    But. This was the best she had done so far, and it gave her a boost of confidence where there had been none. Even if she hadn''t quite made it to using the power, she still had gotten back into that state.

    One thing that puzzled her was the near-constant presence of Halen in these visions. Why him? Was it just because of her previous complicated feelings? The way he treated her? How he had once been trapped? It seemed like she should be seeing Sid, or Sylva. She knew both of them so much better. But maybe that was why they didn''t show up. She could imagine things about Halen, so her brain had room to fill in the gaps. With Sylva, she would have to constantly be checking against what she knew.

    And who knows? Maybe there was some sort of deeper psychology to it. Father figure. Whatever. Yan scowled and lay down on her bed, facefirst on the mattress. She wanted to sink her teeth into it. Her stomach growled. Sleep for dinner.

    The next day she repeated the process. Fake eating came first, dropping each morsel down her shirt and wishing desperately that she was actually eating them. Then she paced herself into exhaustion, trying to think up strategies for forcing her mind into some sort of state where she could imagine something, anything. She needed to trick whatever was monitoring her brain into letting her use the power. Then she sat down on her bed and tried again, staring off into the darkness for hours on end until the tedium that seized her relented, and she fell down into that well of imagination that had once been simply a comfort and distraction, and was now salvation.

    The blank, endless stone nothingness was the easiest to visualize when she was trying so hard, so she returned there again. The chain stretched endlessly behind her, disappearing out into the darkness. Halen stood there, without his shuttle this time. She stood as well.

    "Help me break the chain," she demanded.

    "How?"

    "You pull that end and I''ll pull this end," Yan said.

    "Doubt it''ll do anything," Halen said. "You''re crazy, you know. I can tell."

    "Doesn''t matter."

    He grabbed the end of the chain anyway, and Yan picked up the slack in her hands. They both pulled against eachother, feet scrabbling on the stone floor, until Yan toppled over, the chain in her hand unbroken. She hit the floor with a heavy thud, and was jolted out of her reverie for a moment, finding herself not on her bed where she had thought, but instead on the actual floor of her cell. Her fingers throbbed. She closed her eyes, breathed steadily, and tried to get back.

    The light grew brighter around her.

    "Can you saw through it?" Yan asked, her voice sounding like it was coming from herself through a thick fog.

    "With what?"

    Halen was so far away, standing as though on a distant shore. Between them, Yan tried to resolve the darkness into a meaningful shape. There was a saw blade. She forced Halen to walk forward, slow, plodding steps, and he came into clearer detail. He picked up the saw.

    "And you think this will cut it?"

    Yan took the saw from Halen without answering. He held the chain taught against the ground, and she dragged the saw across it, in slow, steady strokes. Back and forth. Rhythmic. The same as breathing. The scrapes of the blade against the chain were her thick gasps in the soupy air of her cell. Focus. Back and forth. A simple action here. A desire to accomplish something. That could translate into the power somewhere else.

    How much would she have to saw? She had to believe that she was making a dent in it. A dent appeared. She kept her attention to a laser point, no matter how difficult it was.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The chain broke in half. She dropped the saw. It clattered to the ground, and the lack of sound jolted her out of her dream. She fumbled around on the floor of her cell, picking up the chain that held her leg, inspecting every link, feeling every piece, testing the slack, finding the one point¨C

    Where the chain was broken cleanly in half, as though by a saw blade. Yan stuffed her hand into her mouth and bit it, so that she would stop herself from screaming. She checked it again, barely able to believe what she was feeling. She held the two halves of it in her hands. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

    She remembered that she needed to be careful. She couldn''t be seen on the infrared doing anything that might let people know she had broken out. Her head hurt fiercely.

    She wasn''t broken out yet. There was still the matter of the door. Now, it was even more urgent that she get it open, because if anyone came in and saw that her chain was broken, they would definitely put her back on drugs by any means necessary. Or just decide she was no longer necessary and kill her. That was a possibility.

    She swiped her tears away from her face, calmed her breathing, and tried to go back to that place in her mind. It was harder, this time, because her body was flooded with adrenaline, and her mind was screaming down its thoughts like a runaway shuttle. Deep breaths. Calm breaths. Hand in front of her face. Imagine the light shining behind it. Walk towards it.

    Slowly, she crept towards it through the walls of her imagination. The light illuminated everything, a harsh circle on the ground. No chain held her ankle here, anymore. She felt as though she could run forever. She was free. Almost.

    A door stood in the center of the light. She had imagined it there. After all, it would be probably easier to focus the power on something she could see. Halen stood at her right shoulder, his hand heavy on her arm. This wasn''t the young Halen; he was the one she had known and met.

    "Can you open it?" Yan asked.

    "You have to open it yourself," he said.

    "And what''s on the other side?"

    "Freedom."

    "But danger, too?"

    "Yes, that too."

    "How should I do it?" Yan asked.

    "Just pull. You can open it."

    She walked forward. His hand slipped off her shoulder. She put her hands on the doorhandle. It was warm and solid in her hands. She twisted it. She pulled the door. It was heavy. It was so heavy. She put her whole body weight behind it, her bare feet sliding on the stone.

    "Help me," she grunted.

    "You have to do it," Halen said.

    "But I can''t!"

    "You can. You have to."

    "What if I don''t?"

    "You''ll die. You have to open it."

    Yan strained, the muscles all over her body heaving with effort, her fingers stretching and scraping on the handle. It burst open like there was a massive pressure difference, and Yan fell heavily backwards.

    She opened her eyes.

    Dim light was spilling in through from the hallway, along with dust. Her head hurt. Yan raised her hand and touched her forehead. It was bleeding. Something had hit her. She took a deep breath and coughed. Her mouth was full of dust.

    It took a moment for her to process what she was seeing. She had ripped the door off its hinges, and taken chunks of the stone wall with it. She stood up off the floor, wincing as the change made her head throb and her broken fingers grazed her legs. She was surprised that no one had come running. She needed to start running. She wouldn''t be able to fend off gunshots in this state, and that was the only thing that made her a competent fighter under the best of circumstances. She couldn''t turn her head, had broken fingers, and couldn''t use the power. She was as good as useless. But she was going to try.

    She scrambled out through the wreckage of the door into the hallway. There was still no sign of anyone. Her eyes were having trouble adjusting to both the new light and the longer distances. After so long being cooped up in such a small room, she had forgotten what it felt like to focus her eyes on something far away. She didn''t have time to think about that now.

    Yan picked a direction and ran right. Her feet got scratched on some of the rubble from her destruction of the door, but she ignored it and continued. There were two doors at the end of the hallway. One had a light on behind it, the other was windowless. She tried the windowless one first, hoping that it was an exit. It was locked. She saw the keyhole on the door. How old fashioned.

    Behind her, Yan heard footsteps from far down the hallway. She couldn''t turn her head, so she did the only other thing she could, which was to try the door with the light in the window. It swung open, and she stepped through. She quickly closed it, and took stock of the situation.

    Yan could have sobbed with relief at what she found. She was in a little office room, with a cozy looking armchair tucked into a corner, set up with a television in front of it, silently playing some movie or another. Asleep on the chair was the woman that Yan had seen during the nights. Her head was turned so that the flat side was hidden, and a line of drool slipped out of her mouth and gathered on her beige dress. A single key was strung on a scrunchie bracelet on her wrist.

    The girl stirred, rolled her head to the side, and yawned widely with her eyes closed. Yan froze. She didn''t know what she would do if the girl woke up. She needed that key. It was probably the key to the outside world. She turned and searched the room for any sort of weapon, found only the desk lamp on the rickety little office desk. That would be solid enough. Yan reached over toward it, trying to be as silent as possible. The girl opened her eyes.

    Yan yanked the desk lamp out of the wall plug and held it up menacingly. The girl seemed to take a moment to process what was going on.

    "The key," Yan demanded in Old Imperial, the only language that the Green King seemed to speak. "Give me the key."

    The girl''s eyes were wide, and she was forcing her whole body backwards into her armchair as if that could protect her. She said something incoherent and rapid, in a tone that sounded low from sleep and high from fear at the same time. Yan stepped forward, hoisting the desk lamp. The girl shook.

    Yan pointed at the key on her wrist. She seemed frozen in place, unable or unwilling to move. Yan switched to holding the desk lamp menacingly in just her left hand, and leaning down to snatch the key off of the girl''s wrist with her right. But that movement spurred her into action, and she lunged forward and dove past Yan towards the desk. She yanked one of the drawers open.

    Yan tackled her, dropping the desk lamp to clatter to the floor. They wrestled. This girl was short and had bigger muscles than Yan did after being locked away, but Yan was taller, and could reach into the drawer first. She held the girl''s head to the ground with her left, wrapping her legs around her waist. Her fingers scrabbled around in the drawer. She elbowed the girl to get her to move out of the way. Yan''s hand closed around the barrel of a gun. She pulled it out of the drawer triumphantly, and flicked off the safety. She held it to the girl''s head on the floor.

    The girl, realizing that she had lost, started sobbing. Yan let go of her head and used her left hand to yank the scrunchie bracelet with the key off the girl''s wrist.

    For a moment, Yan sat there on top of her, just listening to the girl sob and contemplating what she was going to do. She inched forward a little to see if there was additional ammunition in the drawers. She opened them one by one, and found one small box of it. She still had her knees clamped firmly against the girl''s body, holding her down, and the gun pointed at her head. Yan put the ammunition box in her mouth, since she had no pockets, and wanted at least one hand free.

    The real conundrum was this: she was escaping, and now she was armed, but she had no idea where she was going and what sort of resistance she was about to encounter. Taking a¨C she hesitated to think the words human shield¨C along would probably help her chances of survival. She did feel pretty bad about it, but it wasn''t like she actually would hurt or kill her. And, well, she had been kidnapped, and¨C

    She didn''t have time to justify it to herself. She snapped out of it and made her decision. Carefully, she inched off of the girl''s back, into a standing position. She looked down on her as best she could, given that she couldn''t move her neck, and kept the gun squarely aimed at her head.

    Yan waved the gun to indicate that the girl should stand up. She didn''t move. Yan bent down again, holding the gun at a safe distance, and tugged on the girl''s arm to get her to stand. She was still crying, the tears running down her brown cheeks. Yan felt pretty bad about it. She didn''t have a choice. She marshaled the girl in front of her, and Yan nudged her to open the door out of the office.

    The hallway was abandoned, for some reason. Perhaps the guard or the person who had come to investigate what had happened to her decided that he needed backup. Yan couldn''t fault him for that. After all, if they thought she could use the power freely, well, she wouldn''t want to face her either. That meant that someone was definitely getting the Green King, who would be sure to stop her if he arrived. That was all the more reason for her to hustle.

    She nudged the girl towards the other, locked, door, and handed her back the key. She pointed to it. Yan kept her back to the girl, just so she could see if anyone came down the hallway after her. The door clicked open, and Yan turned back around. There was a set of stairs there, with another door at the top. She hoped the same key could be used for both. Yan shut the bottom door behind her and nudged the girl up the stairs. She moved slowly, but with a gun at her back, she couldn''t help but move.

    This door''s lock was a fingerprint sensor, but it had a red light on it. When Yan manhandled the girl to put her finger on it, it beeped and didn''t open. Yan would have laughed hysterically, had she not had a mouth full of bullets. She had made it so far just to be stuck by a door on automatic lockdown.

    What was worse was the fact that whoever had set up this locking system clearly didn''t care about this girl that Yan was holding hostage, since she had been abandoned in here with Yan. She was really starting to feel bad about her decision to kidnap her, or whatever this was. Wasn''t really a human shield, since the Green King, whenever he arrived, would have the control to stop Yan dead in her tracks, without harming a hair on this girl''s head. Yan could threaten to shoot her herself, but she¨C

    This was getting off track. She needed to open that door. Her left hand went to the place behind her jaw where the chip was supposedly lodged. She needed that out. She needed it out immediately.

    Yan searched around the edges of the door for any way to open it.

    "I could use some help here, Halen," she mumbled through the obstruction in her mouth. "I don''t want to die in here."

    Her first thought was to shoot out the security system on the door. It couldn''t hurt. She grabbed the collar of the girl''s dress and hauled her back down a few steps and forced her to the ground. There was no sense in exposing her to more shrpanel than was necessary. Yan stepped back as well, and took aim at the fingerprint sensor. Just as she was about to fire, the girl kicked out her leg, and sent Yan tumbling backwards down the steps. The shot went wide, hitting the stone wall and spraying pieces of stone. The noise of it in the tiny hallway was unbearable, as was the sick feeling of her stiff neck and head slamming into the floor. Yan''s vision blacked out for a brief moment, and her teeth clamped down on the ammunition box. Though her vision was swimming, her ears were ringing, and her body felt like it had been dropped off a cliff, Yan kept her wits about her as much as she could.

    The girl dived at her from further up the stairs, wrestling for the gun. Yan was desperate and vicious, and elbowed the girl in the face to keep her as far away from the gun as possible. The girl couldn''t reel back, because they were both tilted upside down on the stairs, but she moved enough that Yan could shove her off her body.

    Yan kicked backwards, braced herself against the back door, and stood shakily, keeping the gun aimed at the girl. Yan had smashed the girl''s nose so hard that it started to bleed. She felt¡­ pretty bad about that. She pulled the makeshift bandage off her broken fingers and handed it to the girl so that she could staunch the flow of blood. Yan didn''t take her eyes off of her, but she didn''t want to feel like she was now the one hurting another person. It couldn''t really be helped, but¡­

    The girl put the scrap of cloth to her nose and stood. They looked at each other warily, and Yan gestured for her to climb back up the stairs. She had to think of another way out of this stairwell. She certainly wasn''t going to turn around and go backward; it was probably the same situation on the other side of the hallway, and she didn''t want to waste time finding that out.

    Her head was swimming from both the adrenaline pumping through her body and from the impact of hitting the floor a moment ago, as well as the low blood sugar that came from not eating in so long. She ran her fingers along the edges of the door, checking to see if the hinges could easily be broken. She wasn''t going to try to shoot anything out again, because that had ended so badly before.

    Yan tried to stop and breathe. She didn''t know how long it would be before the Green King arrived, but she couldn''t control that, so she just had to take the time to think. Stop. Breathe. Focus. The chip in her head throbbed with pain whenever she focused in that particular way. She tried to shift her thoughts sideways, to the imaginative space where she could use the power abstractly, but her heart was pounding, and she had to keep her eyes open to make sure the girl didn''t try anything. She had to imagine seeing, just out of the corner of her eye, a flicker of something. She had to.

    She could feel Halen, standing right behind her on the stairs, towering over her.

    "What do I have to do?" she asked. Her voice sounded clear in her head, even though she was mumbling through the box in her mouth. Halen shoved her forward a little bit.

    "The same as you did before."

    She stumbled the rest of the distance up the stairs, and put her whole weight onto pushing the door open. This wasn''t exactly like before, because it was pushing rather than pulling, and because it was real instead of completely imagined. But if she could just trick her brain enough¨C

    Opening locked doors was the easiest thing all Academy students did. They just went up to them and they opened. It didn''t take any conscious thought, for those eight year old sensitives to want to go behind a locked door. They just leaned on it and pushed and¨C

    The whole door collapsed outward in a rush of power that she felt leaving her, and Yan fell flat on her face, the gun trapped underneath her stomach. Her fingers screamed in pain as she lay on top of them. She stood up as quickly as she could, and blinked rapidly to clear her vision. She was outdoors, for the first time in God only knew how long.

    It was night, and the stars in the sky were shockingly bright and clear. They drove pinpricks into her vision as she stared up at them. The air was cool and and smelled like water. A light breeze tugged at the dusty remains of her skirt. She took a deep, snorting breath in through her nose. A wild animal released from her cage, at last, at last.

    She was on some sort of hill; the door was built directly into a rocky hillside, and scrubbly grass stretched down over the shambles of rocks. They stabbed at her already cut feet as she began traipsing down the hill, gesturing the girl forward, heading down towards whatever lay shaded by trees off in the slight distance. She passed solar panels that provided the energy for this outpost.

    Though she didn''t have the time to think about it, Yan couldn''t help but wonder where she was as she ran. Clearly, this was a low tech facility, somewhere disconnected from the main power grid of whatever planet she was on. Now that she was outside of her cell, she could see that the place had little in the way of security. She was probably the only prisoner, and they had counted on her being unable to use the power to escape. Joke was on them.

    And yet, for such a disconnected place, it was teeming with life, and open to the elements. It wasn''t any domed mining colony on some forsaken chunk of rock. This was a whole, live planet.

    She stumbled as she ran, but she kept going, heading down to the bottom of the hill. There was a bit of a clearing there, before the grass gave way to bushes which gave way to stubby, fat trees. The girl was in front of her, keeping ahead only by virtue of not wanting to be in Yan''s direct reach. She turned her head (how Yan envied that), and cried out loudly, yelling something in a language that Yan didn''t know.

    Yan had time to pivot on her foot before the Green King''s power grabbed her whole body and froze her like a statue. She could see him, coming out from around the other side of the hill. He was alone, but he was more than dangerous enough all by himself. Yan couldn''t move.

    The girl stood, frozen between them, seemingly unsure of what was going on. The Green King called out to her, speaking in that same language. His voice was rough and unfriendly. The harsh lights of the prison behind him lit up his eyes, and they gleamed disturbingly. His whole face was flickering with wild shadows. He walked forward, but he was still a good thirty meters away, over rough terrain.

    The girl stepped a little to the side, inching away from Yan. She looked worried that Yan was going to reach out and grab her at any second, and she kept glancing back and forth between them.

    Yan was frozen, her face twisted into a pained grimace, her body tilted unsteadily, halfway through a step. Tiny pebbles skittered down her bare feet as the wind inched her to the side. Without her permission, her legs steadied themselves. Her right hand, the one holding the gun, checked the already down safety, and raised the gun to her own head. She fought it every fraction of the way, but it was no use. Her body was out of her control.

    She still had the ability to cry. The Green King hadn''t managed to take that from her, apparently. The tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes.

    "Drop it," Halen said in her ear. "Drop it. Simple."

    She could still feel the metal of the gun in her hand. She could still feel the wind brushing past her, and smell the water somewhere in the distance. She made a choked little noise deep in her throat.

    The Green King said something else to the girl.

    "Drop it now," Halen continued.

    She was in that white space, all alone. Just her and the gun. The spotlight came down from the ceiling. Halen wasn''t there. She was frozen, even here, with the gun to her head.

    "You have to put it down," Halen said again, his voice all around her.

    "I can''t," she sobbed. "I can''t."

    "If you don''t do it, you''re going to die. Right here."

    Yan was alone in the shuttle, the gun still pressed to her head. "You don''t want to die in here," Halen said.

    "I can''t move."

    "You moved before."

    The tears were streaming down her face. She had no long how long this was lasting in the outside world, but inside her head, this dark moment stretched on and on forever. If she died here, she would be trapped in this shuttle for the rest of eternity. No one would find her. No one would be able to. She was choking on her own tears.

    "Drop it. NOW," Halen was yelling at her like she had never heard him yell before.

    She screamed, not knowing if it was just in her mind or out loud. It hurt.

    Her fingers uncurled from the gun, and it fell to the ground.

    She opened her eyes. The scene unfolded in front of her faster than she could process. Most of her body was still frozen with the Green King''s power, but the gun was sliding down the rocky ground at her feet. The Green King was yelling something incoherent and charged forward towards Yan, his face red and his teeth bared. The girl first scrambled back, then looked between the sobbing Yan and the enraged Green King. Something changed on her face¨C the side of her bloodied face that could move, anyway¨C and she lunged to the ground, grabbed the gun, and fired it into the Green King''s shoulder.

    He fell to the ground, screaming, and his power over Yan immediately broke. The girl was standing stock still, looking shocked down at the gun in her hands. Yan started to run down the hillside. It was only a matter of time before the Green King realized he wasn''t fatally wounded and got up to chase her. The girl followed, still clutching the gun. She darted in front of Yan, more nimble than she first looked, though her gait was lopsided. Yan followed her down the slope, into the bushes, crashing through the underbrush.

    The line of trees was thinner than Yan had thought from the hill, and they broke out of it after less than a minute of running pell-mell through the growth. Distantly, they could hear the Green King yelling somewhere behind them, but there was no accompanying sound of him crashing through the trees after them.

    They emerged from the growth onto a rocky beach, on the shore of an ocean that stretched off to the too-wide horizon. Only tiny waves created by the wind lapped the shore¨C there was no moon here to make tides, or at least none that Yan could see. The girl ran headlong across the rocky beach toward a distant pier where a few small boats were docked. Yan followed, and the girl didn''t stop her or threaten her with the gun.

    The pier was shaky and wooden, and Yan stopped short on it. The girl pushed the small of her back, sending her tripping into a shallow boat with just a simple motor on the back. The girl deftly untied its moorings, hopped in herself, and started the motor up. It purred into life, and the ship lept away from the dock, leaving a massive wake behind.

 Chapter Sixty-One - The Bait in its Trap

    The Bait in its Trap

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Act first, act fast, act ferociously.¡±

    -Karl Welslak¡¯s wrestling motto

    </blockquote>

    The shuttle ride to the LT was tense and without much conversation. Sid always hated the feeling of acceleration, and he hated it more in that small, confined space of the shuttle. It reminded him far too much of what had happened aboard the Sky Boat, and when he closed his eyes he could almost imagine himself back there. In some ways, this was a much better situation. There was no violence, there was no need to kill, and there was no immediate fear either. But in other ways¡­ Yan wasn''t there, by his side, clutching his hand in hers, keeping them both steady. To his left was Hernan, and to his right was Cesper, and in the back were plenty of Fleet soldiers chosen specifically to investigate the station.

    Sid kept his eyes closed, and his hand went again and again to his hip where his gun was holstered, checking it compulsively as though it could have vanished from one second to the next. The shuttle jerked around and settled on the floor of one of the bays of the LT with a scrape that Sid could feel in his bones. Sid opened his eyes.

    "Is this going to come to pressure?" one of the pilots asked. "They''ve closed the doors, but my gauge isn''t changing."

    "Get them on the radio."

    "Less-Travel station, this is Imperial shuttle Impulse-4, we request that you pressurize this bay¡­"

    Sid closed his eyes again. "Poke me when we''re ready to get out, will you?" he said aloud to anyone who was listening. He had no idea if they responded. With his eyes closed, he was in his own little world, where he could run over and over his plans in his head.

    Step one, find whoever is actually in charge of this station. Step two, work out conditions for surrender. Step three¨C well, steps one and two were far easier said than done. Step three would be probably to find their missing ship. It probably hadn''t gone very far, but in the infinite expanse of space, there were far too many places for a ship to hide.

    If Yan was here, she probably would have said a prayer or something. That seemed like the type of thing that she would do. Sid, on the other hand, went over and over various disaster scenarios in his mind. What if the ship jumped back in unexpectedly and attacked the Impulse? What if there were people waiting right outside the doors to this bay, ready to kill everyone who got off the shuttle? What if this whole station was rigged to explode?

    He couldn''t actually discount that last one. If it hadn''t exploded yet, it likely wouldn''t, but there was no guarantee. All Sid knew was that he was glad that his Fleet team included people who were very good at breaking into ships'' computers. Station computers couldn''t be that much different.

    What if the whole station, since it no longer had the gravity of the giant ship to hold it, started crashing down onto the planet below?

    Someone jabbed Sid in the ribs. That would have to be Hernan; Cesper was too professional to be annoying like that. Hernan, though, was willing to cross the professional line, occasionally.

    "Bay''s all pressurized?" Sid asked, opening his eyes.

    "We''re ready to go," Hernan signed.

    "Great." He extracted himself from the padded shuttle seat and patted his hip once again to check the positioning of his gun. He really didn''t want to use it, but this was the first time he was going to be walking into potentially dangerous close quarters. Aside from just existing in his everyday life, anyway. He always forgot, or let it slip out of his mind, that he and everyone around him could be in danger at any time from assassins or kidnappers. He should have learned that lesson, but he knew that if he thought about it too much he would go crazy. He loved to walk down the streets of Yora, heedless of danger, imagined or real.

    The whole crew of the shuttle spilled out, as did the crews of two other shuttles who had docked behind them. This was a substantial landing party. All of the Fleet movements were being coordinated by somebody else. Cesper had mentioned her, Commander something, but Sid didn''t remember who she was, nor could he pick her out amid the crowd of Fleet uniforms. He kept Cesper and Hernan close at hand. The scene was chaotic, as without gravity, everyone floated freely around until their magnetized shoes found purchase on the walls or the floor.

    "Do we know where the leaders are?" Sid asked.

    "We were told that someone¡¯s coming down here to meet us," Cesper said. "Over the radio."

    "Shouldn''t we get out of this bay? Not to be paranoid, but it can just vent to the outside," Sid said. Hernan pointed to the side of the bay, where a few members of the Fleet team were attaching devices to ports in the walls. Computer terminals, perhaps, or just ways to stop the doors to the bay opening and exposing them all to a hard vacuum.

    "They got started on that while you were sleeping," Hernan signed.

    "I wasn''t sleeping," Sid signed back, grumpily. This wasn''t the time for jokes. "Should we go into the hall, then?"

    Cesper summoned over the squad of Fleet soldiers who had been assigned to guard Sid, and everyone trooped toward the exit door to the bay. It was an awkward, shuffling progress, with everyone swinging their feet in carefully controlled ways to attach to the floors. Sid, who had seen firsthand the grace with which born spacers navigated environments such as this, realized just how stiff and awkward most of the Fleet soldiers were. All of them were from planets; none of them had been born into the wild space faring life.

    The hallway was dark and cold, and the air in it felt thin and slightly damp. It was a bad feeling when compared to the sterile, regulated atmosphere of the Impulse. There was something wrong on this station, and it put a chill down Sid''s spine. He didn''t want to feel paranoid. He didn''t want to think the worst, but there was something extremely off-putting about a ship with only emergency lights activated, and with a cool, damp breeze flowing unimpeded through the corridors. There was also an almost imperceptible vibration running through every surface. As Sid ghosted his fingers across the walls of the hallway, he felt it travel up his arm and into his chest where it rattled there like a persistent, tickling cough.

    The Fleet soldiers noticed it too, because everyone was on alert.

    "Where are we supposed to meet the leader?" Sid asked.

    "He was supposed to come to us," Cesper said. At once, everyone in the group snapped their heads to the left; they must have heard something coming down the corridor. Sid turned as well, following the cue. He had turned his glasses sensitivity down, because he knew he was going to be in crowded, noisy spaces a lot, but he was regretting that choice now. He should have set it to the sound alert setting for everything, so that he could have a visual indicator of directional noises. Unfortunately, it was too late to change now. If he wanted to fiddle with the settings, he had to do it at his computer, and it was a frustrating and finicky process.

    The disturbance that had caught everyone''s attention came into view. A chubby young man was floating down the hallways, bouncing slightly off the walls and presumably making quite the racket. He wasn''t a born spacer either; Sid could tell from his lack of absurd height. He just seemed to be a normal man, coming toward them in a hurry. Some of the Fleet soldiers put their hands on their weapons, and Sid''s hand went unconsciously to his own pocket, where he could feel the heavy weight of his own gun.

    The man was out of breath. "Hey, uh, hi! Sorry for making you wait," he panted. "I''m Eric Shen."

    Shen had floppy black hair, and glasses that were thicker than Sid''s own. His glasses were unusual in that they didn''t have arms to hold onto his ears; they stayed anchored to his face on his nose only. Did he have magnets embedded in there to hold them in place? Perhaps Sid shouldn''t judge, but he felt like, if Shen was going to have an operation done to put magnets in the bridge of his nose to hold up his glasses, he might as well just get surgery to fix his eyes.

    Sid scooted forward, carefully navigating between the Fleet soldiers who did their best to get out of his way. "I''m Sid Welslak, Apprentice to First Sandreas."

    Shen looked confused for a moment. "What about Apprentice Mejia?"

    "She''s still on the Impulse. We''re sharing this mission." Sid didn''t really want to take the time to explain all these little details, but it seemed as though Shen wouldn''t be able to move on without processing his confusion appropriately.

    "Oh, okay, I get it," Shen said. "Nice to meet you."

    "Yeah. Mr. Shen, are you in charge of this station?"

    "Uh, not really? Commander Willis is."

    "Where is Commander Willis?" Sid asked.

    "I don''t know," Shen said. "He, uh, ran out of the bridge after, well."

    "After what?"

    "There''s this, you know, uh, system wipe thing, to clear the computers, and he tried to run it, but I told him that it would mess with the life support, and he said, uh, life support can go fuck itself, and, uh, well." Shen stopped and wiggled his arms in an approximation of a shrug.

    "So is the life support on right now?" Sid asked.

    "Yeah, uh, we restarted it. It was down for a little bit. I think Commander Willis got access to the computers, but, uh, Dray ran a backup and got power and everything back on. Mostly."

    That ''mostly'' made Sid very nervous, but he focused on the name instead. "Dray?"

    "He runs IT on the station," Shen said. That didn''t give Sid a lot of confidence. After all, if you were on a station with a bunch of secrets, the one person who it would be most vital to have erasing those secrets would be the information technology officer.

    "Look," Sid said. "It isn''t great for us to just stand around in this hallway. I''m ordering this station under Imperial control, and my people are going to go around and secure the place. You can help us out with this, and avoid a whole lot of trouble." There was the unspoken threat of ¡®or you can disobey, and one of us will make your life a lot more difficult.¡¯ Shen had been willing to cooperate so far, so Sid didn''t need or want to threaten him aloud, but he paused for a moment as Shen looked around nervously. "Should we expect any threats against us?"

    "Uh, I don''t know, I think Commander Willis just wants to erase the information. I don''t have access to most of that."

    "You''re his second and you don''t have access?"

    "I''m, uh, really I''m only here because of the manufacturing?" Sid''s glasses provided the unusual punctuation, but Sid saw the unsure look on Shen''s face as clear as day in the dim light of the corridor. "I''m in charge of that. And since that''s most of what was going on on the station, uh, well, I got to be second."

    Sid didn''t know enough about how stations operated to dispute that, but he also wouldn''t put the stuttering and unsure Shen in charge of a kitchen, let alone a secret industrial space station. Maybe he was an expert on manufacturing technology, and he was helping them, but he seemed like a uniquely poor leadership choice. And that was even comparing him to himself and Kino, two uniquely poor leadership choices in their own rights. He supposed it was true that some people had leadership thrust upon them. At least Shen was willing to cooperate.

    Either way, the Fleet soldiers had a job to do, so Cesper relayed the information that the place was mostly safe, and that sent them all streaming out into the body of the station.

    "Okay¡­" Sid said slowly as the majority of the Fleet soldiers departed. "So you think that Commander Willis will not resist arrest?"

    "I don''t know. He was always, uh, a normal guy before this."

    "And who is Commander Willis? Where''s he from?"

    "Uh, I think his family is from the Devotion? He didn''t really talk about it that much." The Devotion must be a Guild Ship that Sid didn''t know about. Not that he knew of very many.

    "And just to be clear, who is financing this operation?" Sid asked. "Actually, hold on, let''s get out of this hallway. Is there anywhere around where the life support isn''t likely to fail us?"

    "Yeah, uh, just follow me, we can go to the control center." Shen pushed off from the wall and started drifting back the way he came, checking over his back every few seconds to make sure that Sid and the rest of the group were following him.

    "Seems like a weird one," Sid signed to Hernan as they drifted down the hallway. Hernan didn''t say anything in response, just gave Sid a look and pushed off the wall to move ahead.

    The hallways continued to be oddly damp and breezy as they travelled. Sid asked about it, and Shen said that it was due to the turning on and off of the life support, there had to be a certain flushing of the air systems, which made them raise the humidity. It was creepy feeling, and Sid wished that it wasn''t a feature of the station. Apparently the dampness would all get cleaned out of the air eventually, but as it was, it felt like he was drifting through a cold soup. They finally made it to one of the rotating rings of the station, and they squeezed into the elevator to go down. Hernan and Cesper both made the independent choice to wedge themselves between Sid and Shen, probably to prevent any sort of attack. Sid appreciated the thought, but he somehow doubted that Shen was going to pose any danger. It was a little funny watching the two men try to edge each other out to protect him, though.

    "Sorry that the gravity will be, uh, a bit off. It takes a while to get the rings back up to speed," Shen said as they stepped out. There was a slight feeling of ''offness'' as Sid stood in the new hallway. It was probably the minute changes in acceleration as the ring spun back up, as well as the overall lessened gravity of the ring moving slower than usual. Sid had gone through plenty of acceleration changes already today, and this one was just adding to the uncomfortable feeling in his bones.

    "The rings were shut down, too?" Sid asked.

    "The computers control everything," Shen said. "I guess we''re, uh, lucky we were able to get them back up so quickly."

    Yeah. Otherwise everyone on the station could have died. Sid didn''t voice that particular opinion out loud.

    The ring was just as poorly lit as the other section of the ship, and they still didn''t see anyone as they walked.

    "Where is everyone?" Sid asked.

    "I gave the command to go into, what''s it called, lockdown? They''re all locked in their quarters, or, uh, wherever they were when I gave the order."

    Cesper gave an almost imperceptible wince. That wasn''t great news for the Fleet teams trying to round everyone up peacefully. People who felt trapped and panicked, especially people who didn''t have a clue what was going on on the bridge, and then saw the life support go out (even if it did come back on), probably wouldn''t be very receptive to Fleet soldiers rounding them up. Shen was still in front, so Sid leaned over to Cesper and whispered in his ear as quietly as he could.

    "You should call that in," Sid breathed. He didn''t have the greatest volume control, because he couldn''t hear himself, but since Shen didn''t turn around, he had probably succeeded in quietly communicating the message to Cesper. Would have been easier if the man knew sign, of course, but one couldn''t have it all, Sid supposed.

    Cesper stopped and moved to the back of the party, then fell slightly behind as he sent a message to the Fleet teams crawling the ship. He caught back up with the party a few moments later. They all wound their way through the slightly sloped hallways until they came to the control center. Hernan and a few of the soldiers who accompanied them stepped through the doors and checked out the room first. It wasn''t empty, unfortunately, and people panicked when the Fleet soldiers entered. Sid''s glasses lit up with panicked yells and barked orders from the Fleet team. Shen shoved in past him, and started yelling as well, his ineffectual and stuttering pleas making a mess in front of Sid''s eyes. He waited until the whole thing calmed down, and Hernan waved him in.

    The room was dark, and for the most part everyone in it now seemed copacetic. There was a foul smell of burned electronics in the air. A quick glance around revealed that it was coming from one particular computer console, to which someone had taken a blunt object. The culprit was most likely Willis, the commander of the station, who had tried to destroy the computers. Apparently he had been inventive in his methods.

    Shen was talking to a couple of the people who had been in the room. They were all bunched up in a corner, about five of them, and Shen was reassuring them over and over that the Fleet team wasn''t going to arrest them. At least not right away, was a caveat that Sid personally would have added on there, but it probably wouldn''t have helped the mood in the room. A few of the Fleet people set themselves up on the consoles and began the arduous process of trying to pull whatever they could out of the command center''s computers.

    "Shen," Sid called after a moment. Shen whirled around. "What''s the procedure for contacting the crew?"

    "Uh, stationwide radio is right over there, I think. I''m not really, uh, an expert on everything here. I mainly only deal with the manufacturing."

    "Yeah. I know. Does anyone here know about getting in touch with the rest of the crew of this thing? I''d like to make an announcement so that people don''t panic."Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    One of the people in the group in the corner timidly raised a hand, and Shen ushered him over to the console in question. Under the careful watch of Hernan, he got Sid set up to address the ship.

    "Hello Less-Travel Station, this is Sid Welslack, Apprentice to First Sandreas, speaking. Your station is currently being boarded by Fleet personnel. This station is now under Imperial control. Please continue to shelter in place, and cooperate with any Fleet personnel who come find you. No violence or resistance will be tolerated, but we are not here to harm you, simply to account for everyone on board. If you require urgent assistance, please contact Station Control. Thank you. I''m handing this over to Eric Shen." Sid passed the microphone to the startled Shen, who almost dropped it. It was important to give the station some address by their own leadership.

    "Hi everybody, uh, yeah. This is Shen. Just do whatever the Fleet people tell you to. I''m downgrading the lockdown to a shelter-in-place, so please don''t go anywhere. Life support should be staying on from here on, so don''t worry about that, I guess. Yeah. If you have urgent problems, call me. Uh, Shen out."

    That was the worst public address Sid had ever been witness to, but it would have to do. Thinking about it, even Kino had done a better job, for God''s sake. How did Shen get put in this position where he was the only one available to work with Sid?

    "Great. Shen. Is there a place where we can talk privately?"

    Shen looked pensive for a second. "I guess we can use Willis''s ready room? But you''ll have to break in the door."

    "Not a problem. Where is it?"

    Shen led Sid and his entourage out of the control center and down the hall, though they left a healthy group of Fleet soldiers behind. The ready room was indeed protected by a locked door, but all it took was a nudge with the power to open it up. Sid smirked at Hernan, who had been about to ask someone for a kit to open the door. The power did make things quite a bit easier.

    The interior of the ready room was plush in a way that the control center was not. Chairs were well constructed, the table was wood instead of plastic, and the whole place was nicely decorated with pictures of the ship being constructed. The pictures were more aspirational than actual; as they showed the ship completed and in orbit around various planets, but they were a nice touch.

    A Fleet soldier checked the room for recording devices, though it seemed unlikely that Willis would have wanted to record secret conversations in his own secure ready room on his own illegal station, but it never hurt to be paranoid. Sid, Cesper, and Shen sat down at the table. All the Fleet soldiers and Hernan stood, since they were more security than they were representatives at this meeting.

    "So, Shen, I''d like to go over with you what''s going to happen with this station," Sid said. He was about to make up a whole bunch of things on the fly, but he knew that Cesper would stop him if he started getting too off base. There was a general plan that Sid was following, but he needed to adapt the specifics to this particular situation, which was the situation where Shen was cooperating and everyone else was not.

    From the way Shen''s chest rose and fell, it looked like he was heaving a huge sigh of relief. "That is something that I, uh, really do want to know," Shen admitted.

    "Great. Fantastic." Sid desperately wanted to avoid messing up the conversation, as he was so wont to do, but that required he be agreeable to Shen, which he wasn''t in the right mindset for. "First, I am going to need a comprehensive list of everyone on the station, and what their ranks and responsibilities are, and if you have the information, where they come from. Can you do that?"

    "Can you tell me what you''re going to, uh, do here first?" Now that Shen was showing some backbone, Sid found that he hated it. He resisted the urge to grimace.

    "Okay, let me break this down for you. This station is operating illegally. It''s great that everyone is cooperating with us right now, and we''re going to try to make this whole transition as painless as possible, but we can''t get around the fact that everyone here is acting against the laws of the Empire. So the first step is going to be to check the station over, top to bottom, and make sure that it''s not going to explode. Then we need to find everyone, and figure out how much responsibility people have. Once we''ve done that¡­ It''s most likely that everyone will be sent back to their planet of origin."

    "A lot of the crew here are spacers," Shen said. "They don''t really have, you know."

    "I get that, I get that," Sid said. "Unfortunately, the problem of the Guild operating this station does bring into question their whole leadership. Anyone who is a spacer, their family ship will probably need to be investigated for connection to this. I''m not saying that anyone will be jailed, I''m just saying that we need to spend some time figuring out how deep this goes, and punishing the people who are actually responsible." Of course, people who were on this illegal station voluntarily, they should face consequences, in Sid''s opinion, but he didn''t want to spook Shen out of continuing to collaborate.

    "So we''re not under arrest?"

    "You aren''t free to leave the station at the moment, but no one is going to be hauled in front of a tribunal tomorrow, no. The punishments are most likely to be financial in nature, for the people at the top. There is precedent for dealing with issues like this."

    "Malstaire?"

    "Yes. And I don''t believe that most of the station employees faced sentences harsher than planet lock and some community service."

    "The crew will be glad to hear that," Shen said.

    "We''re not announcing this yet," Sid cautioned. "All of this is, as I said, contingent upon your continued cooperation."

    Shen nodded vigorously. "What about Commander Willis?"

    "He put the lives of everyone on this station at risk with his little stunt. I''m fairly certain that disabling the life support of a ship is a murder charge?" Sid looked at Cesper for confirmation.

    "Attempted," Cesper clarified. "There haven''t been any casualties yet."

    "Well. Yeah. Anyway, he''s going to be detained and tried, for sure." Sid looked at Shen to see how he was taking that news. He looked nervous, but then again, when didn''t the man look nervous. His face was shiny with either sweat or the overbearing humidity in the station.

    "What about anyone who follows his orders, because he''s in command?" Shen asked.

    "I''m certain we can figure out who bears particular responsibility," Sid said. "But let''s not worry about hypothetical right now. Can you get me that crew list?"

    "If it''s still on the computers, yeah, I guess," Shen said.

    "Great. Perfect. The second thing I am going to need is all your manufacturing information that you have. Suppliers, part orders, balance sheets, pay stubs, design documents¨C everything."

    "Probably a lot of that was destroyed¡­" Shen said. "Willis really wanted to scrub it clean."

    "Yeah, I can tell."

    "But what about the station?" Shen asked. "Can you tell me what we''re going to do?"

    "As soon as every room is secure, we''re going to begin evacuations. Are preparations being made to dock with the LT?"

    "Once it''s secure," Cesper confirmed. "Until then it''s too much of a risk."

    "What do you mean by secure?"

    "Everyone accounted for and under watch," Sid said. "That''s why I need that crew manifest. And a list of any people who weren''t on station," Sid added abruptly, remembering all the dots of shuttles passing between the station and the planet below.

    "Yeah, uh, I can get that. I''ll need to be at the computers though."

    "Fine. Do you have any other questions about what''s going to happen here?"

    "Are you going after the ship?"

    Sid raised an eyebrow. "And you''re concerned about that because?"

    "Just, a lot of my guys were, uh, on it when it jumped. It wasn''t fully set up, so there isn''t, like. They don''t have an infinite amount of time."

    "Then let''s hope they see sense and decide to surrender themselves on their own," Sid said. That was a complication that he hadn''t expected. To be honest, the fact that the ship was functional enough to even jump, considering the stardrives weren''t supposed to be in place, was still bothering him.

    "Uh, yeah, I guess," Shen said. Sid suspected that there was something else going on that he didn''t know about. Obviously the ship had to have some sort of designated escape spot, or meeting place, just in case something like this happened. Everyone involved couldn''t be so stupid as to think that their plan was completely foolproof and beyond the Empire''s view. What Sid really wanted to know was which Guild ship was scheduled to pop over to the designated meeting spot every once in a while. There had to be one in case of emergencies. Even the Guild, who, as Sid had come to know all too well, were intent on never abandoning ship, had to have some common sense about this secret operation.

    "Quick question," Sid asked. "When''s your next delivery supposed to be?"

    "Delivery?" Shen asked. Sid couldn''t tell what his tone was, but a slight look of discomfort flashed across his face. Was he just playing dumb? It was frustrating that Shen seemed to have his own little motivations, that didn''t completely align with Sid''s.

    "Obviously this place isn''t self sustaining either. You''re getting supplies in to build that ship, at the very least," Sid said.

    "Things come when they come. We don''t, uh, it''s not possible to have a schedule."

    "You''re saying that your food deliveries come at random times? Seems hard to believe." Sid gave him a piercing look.

    "We can''t have the, uh, schedule. Everyone comes at different times." The state of Guild travel had always been a mess, that was true, but Sid didn''t believe for a second that this station wasn''t expecting deliveries on a semi-regular basis, give or take a few days depending on routes and holdups.

    "I''ll take a look at your past delivery logs, then."

    "The computer is¨C"

    "A mess, yeah, I know. This whole process would be a lot easier if you could give me straight answers about things."

    "Sorry," Shen said. "I don''t have all the information, I''m really just¨C"

    "Manufacturing. Yeah." Sid was being short with him partially to get him to talk, and partially because he was just tired of the man. He turned to one of the Fleet soldiers. "Take him back to the control center, and have him give you as many logs as possible. We can use this room to coordinate everything."

    Shen left with the Fleet soldier, and Cesper spread the message that this ready room would be the new hub of their operation aboard the ship. Someone set up a video link so that Sid could talk to the people still aboard the Impulse. The room gradually filled with coordinating staff as the operation got underway. People combed through computer logs, tried to repair damage that had been caused and retrieve deleted files. Others marked down on a map of the station which rooms had been checked and what areas of the place had been searched. It took a long time, and Sid began to grow more and more antsy the more time passed and Willis hadn''t been found. They couldn''t start the evacuation until everyone was accounted for.

    Even shuttles that had been down hauling things off the planet were found, but the commander was nowhere to be seen. It seemed absurd that on a well mapped out station, being combed over by a top Fleet team, that there was any place a man could hide. The more time that went by, the more mischief (or worse) he could be getting up to, somewhere within the bowels of the station.

    Hours passed, and the concern turned into worry, and then the worry turned into fear. Cesper and Hernan shared his concern. Hernan went so far as to suggest that Sid return to the ship, and the whole thing could be sorted out from there. Kino, who wasn''t aware or didn''t care about the ramifications of the problem, suggested independently that they switch positions so that Sid could have a break.

    That would have felt too much like abandoning the place, or setting up Kino as some sort of cow to the slaughter. After all, it was just as dangerous for her to come aboard. Sid declined all offers to abandon the station. Maybe he was more like a spacer than he thought.

    When the Fleet teams reported that every room on the station had been searched and cleared, it became obvious that the problem was not going to be solved easily.

    "How willing is Captain Wen to put his ship on the line?" Sid asked finally, as he thought over his options.

    "It''s a Fleet ship," Cesper said, as though that explained everything. Sid looked at him. "He''s willing to do whatever the job is, but I''m sure he would prefer that you didn''t think of some sort of insane plan that''s bound to get everyone killed." He was unusually frank. Perhaps he was getting tired of this waiting game as well.

    "I think we need a way to drive the rest of the rats out of hiding," Sid said. "There''s already so many discrepancies between this crew manifest and the people we''ve actually cornered. I''m not sure we have even close to the whole crew."

    "And what does this have to do with our ship?" Cesper asked.

    "I think we should evacuate everyone we have, get them processed, then we flush the station."

    "Flush?"

    "Kill the life support, flood with gas, self destruct, I don''t know."

    "And you were saying earlier about murder?" Cesper asked.

    "It''s a bluff. I want everyone to come out of the holes they''re hiding in. Leave them a couple shuttles to escape on, if they so choose."

    "And why did you open this proposal with asking if we''re willing to put our ship in danger?"

    "We''re vulnerable when docked. If Willis wanted to cause a problem, that would be the perfect opportunity."

    Cesper tapped a pen on the table, hard. Sid could feel the bounce of it through the tips of his fingers. "You''d have to ask the captain," he said finally. "I''m not remotely qualified to make that call."

    "If you do want to do this, you are not going to be on the station during it," Hernan said, speaking up from his position in the back of the room. "Baiting a trap is all well and good, but I draw the line at putting you anywhere near danger."

    "I''m not stupid," Sid grumbled.

    "Your prior refusals to go back to the ship would indicate otherwise," Hernan said.

    "Well, get me on the line with the captain, and we''ll talk this over. Will he want to jump the ship close or accelerate, you think?"

    "Since you have a plan that involves putting the ship on the line, he''s going to save the jump for an exit strategy. I can assure you of that, at least," Cesper said.

    "You''re not going to talk this over with Kino first?" Hernan asked.

    "Don''t you think Kino will still be on the bridge?" he asked. She was bound to hear his plan when he delivered it to the captain.

    "She keeps weirder hours than you do," Cesper complained.

    "Kino wouldn''t fall asleep while we''re in the middle of something important." Sid had no idea if that was actually true, but he felt compelled to defend his fellow apprentice, at least a little. They were both in this together, after all. Hernan and Cesper gave each other a look, then Cesper''s chest heaved up and down in a sigh.

    "I''ll get the captain for you," Cesper said.

    Sid delivered his plan to Captain Wen, who reluctantly agreed. It would take some time to manually get the ship in position to dock, and it would take further time for the station to recall the docking program from the computer from the backup system. It really was a pain that the whole thing had gotten so messed up. Everyone aboard the station should really thank the previous designers of ships and stations that designed the computers such that all life support operations were last to fail and first to recover. They all were multiply redundant and could be restarted independently from the main computer assembly.

    As Sid waited for everything to be put in place, he wandered among some of the crew of the station and tried to find out more information from them about where they came from. Either the people weren''t being honest or the files weren''t, because there were weird anomalies between stories and documents. Perhaps this whole place had been designed with being caught in mind, and so some of the files had been doctored to be more savory, and these people didn''t know what their own files said. Names didn''t match; planets and ships of origin didn''t match; the number of people didn''t match. It made Sid think that the whole operation was running on string and glue, since the file system was so clearly chaotic.

    Or people could have just been lying to screw with the Fleet, but this was an awful lot of people doing the same type of lies, all different. It seemed implausible.

    Finally, everything was ready for the evacuation. Hernan hustled Sid and a bunch of the core team who had accompanied them down to the shuttle bay. The guard posted outside the bay doors let them in. The devices that had been attached to the doors to stop them from accidentally opening were still functional, which was good. Sid wondered if they had been necessary at all. Probably. There was no such thing as an overabundance of caution.

    Everyone hoisted themselves into the shuttle, and Sid strapped himself into his seat, resigned to a short, uncomfortable ride back to the ship. He didn''t like being in shuttles. He saw their utility, but they didn''t remind him of anything good.

    "Let me know when we''re ready to get out," Sid said, leaning back in his seat and squirming to get as comfortable as possible. He took off his glasses and folded them up on the collar of his cassock. "Poke me or something." He closed his eyes, separating himself from the world at large.

    He could feel people settle into the seats next to him, probably Cesper and Hernan, and then the slow and arduous process of getting the shuttle out of the bay. Every jerk and touch of acceleration made him want to open his eyes, but he kept them firmly closed.

    The shuttle jerked and stopped accelerating. The people next to him shifted. Then someone was grabbing his arm urgently, reaching behind his back, shoving his head down toward his chest. Sid gasped and opened his eyes. Hernan pressed him down, and he struggled to get into a position where he could see. He had barely a second to process the scene in front of him. Something had gone very, very wrong. A warning light flashed in the cabin of the shuttle, all the Fleet soldiers were ripping themselves out of their harnesses. Hernan was pulling his gun out of his holster. Cesper clawed at a ceiling panel access for something, but there was nothing there.

    Unfortunately, that was as far as anyone got before the shuttle explosively depressurized. Anything loose in the cabin and maybe anyone not hanging on were tugged in the resulting massive gust of air heading out the back. Sid was still strapped in, and he couldn''t hear the rush of air, but he felt it come streaming out of his lungs in a torrent. Snot poured out of his nose, then dried immediately. His glasses pulled free of his cassock. Sid couldn''t think straight as he watched them drift away. The chaotic environment was full of flashing lights, his vision was blurring, and he couldn''t breathe. His mouth and tongue tingled as the water on them boiled away.

    Sid knew he was the only person who could do something, and he had maybe ten seconds of consciousness left. He processed these thoughts sluggishly. Everything was moving in slow motion. His hands felt thick and clumsy as he unbuckled himself from his seat and pushed off toward the back of the shuttle. There was a man there, in a space suit. Sid ignored him for the moment and focused his attention on¡­ There was the open airlock door.

    Debris trailed out behind the shuttle in a long tail. Sid looked at it as his vision blurred further. No one was out there. All the people around him were clinging on to something. Good.

    It was easy to focus on the power when there was nothing else standing between him and death. It came to him quickly.

    His vision narrowed down to a dot, and he took the power and pushed the exterior airlock door shut. The seal was gone. Sid did the last thing he could think of to do, and he heated the metal of the door white hot and molten, and smashed it to the sides of the shuttle. Sealed.

    He passed out.

    The shuttle''s automatic systems kicked in while he was unconscious, and he came to with a heaving chest as thin air filled the cabin again. His vision was still horribly blurry, and he was drifting¨C no, he wasn''t drifting. Someone was holding him. A thick, gloved hand was pressed to his neck and something else jabbed into his head. The suited man had him, he guessed. The interior of the shuttle was dark, and even if Sid could see well, he wouldn''t have been able to tell what was going on. Figures twitched and jerked on the other end of the cabin, where the lights were brighter, and a horrible acrid smell filled the air. Something burning.

    Sid struggled, but his whole body felt unresponsive and his joints screamed in pain. The thing jammed into his temple pressed harder. It had to be a gun. What else would it be? He thought Yan had said one time that spacers used knives, because of the damage they would risk causing to the walls of the ship. Or the risk of opening a hole onto vacuum. Sid would have laughed in his delirium if he could, if his lungs would let him. Clearly this person had no problem exposing everyone to vacuum. How did he get on the shuttle? The thoughts drifted through his mind, even as the man shook him and he tried in vain to get his body to cooperate.

    The power. He should¨C If he couldn''t focus on what was going on around him aside from the immediate touch, then he would just have to work based off of that. The gun pressed into his head. All he had to do was. All he had to do was. His brain wasn''t working. Don''t let the bullet leave the chamber. If it couldn''t leave, it couldn''t hit his head. Right.

    Why were his thoughts moving so slowly? The power felt like juggling a gelatin dessert, wobbling right out of his hands and sliding down through his fingers. He took it and made a barrier. He knew how to redirect bullets. He had practiced that so many times. Just make a wall that they couldn''t cross. It felt like it shone in his vision, but he couldn''t see it. Halfway down the barrel of the gun, just a sharp, hard stop to not let anything escape.

    He continued to struggle, and the person in the suit continued to jab him. Sid was finally able to raise his hands to claw futilely at the suited hand on his neck. His nails weren''t sharp enough to do any damage, and his fingers felt too weak and clumsy to use to pry. He had no leverage. His knees hurt so much he couldn''t move them at all.

    Then whatever status quo he was held in broke. The man in the suit jerked backwards, spinning a little. Had someone else shot him? Sid couldn''t see. Then the gun held to his head jerked, hitting his skull enough to make his little vision black out momentarily. The hand holding his throat released him, and immediately Sid thrashed to get forward and away from his former captor.

    He swam through the thin air, kicking wildly until he reached the other side of the shuttle. In the crazily flashing lights, he saw Cesper, holding a gun steady. No one else was moving. The whole scene was frozen in time. His joints screamed in pain. Cesper said something, but his vision was so fuzzy he couldn''t read his lips. Cesper slowly lowered his gun. Dark figures moved around Sid¨C the Fleet crew? Hernan? He couldn''t tell. No one moved urgently. Sid took deep breaths, his lungs protesting.

    The danger seemed to be gone. Hernan turned around, face swimming into view, illuminated briefly by the flashing lights. He pointed at the seats. His brain feeling foggy and numb and his body feeling like it was being stabbed with pinpricks, Sid clumsily sat down. It was over.

    Why did bad things always happen to him in shuttles? He never wanted to ride in one again.

 Chapter Sixty-Two - San Bernadino Welcomes You

    San Bernadino Welcomes You

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Don¡¯t lie about things that someone¡¯s gonna demand you prove later.¡±

    -Fredrik Calor, to Sylva, when asking about her schoolwork

    </blockquote>

    The atmosphere around the Warrior II was becoming strange, for some reason. Since she had come aboard the ship, Sylva had done her best to ingratiate herself with the people around her. She came to know a few of them, specifically Sign and Keep''s close families, fairly well. She could tell when something was going on. Everyone seemed more interested in getting their job done and rushing home to their apartments than they were about gossiping and chatting. This frustrated Sylva because her whole medical practice basically depended on people gossiping about their family members troubles before they actually came to see her.

    She cornered Keep on the second day she noticed this persistent, odd behavior and asked her what was going on.

    "It''s Deepdark," Keep said. "In like, uh, two days. You don''t follow the calendar?"

    "Oh, Midwinter?" Sylva asked.

    Keep rolled her eyes. "Don''t have winter in space, grounder."

    "Well, is it any different?"

    "I don''t know. I''ve never been on a planet for that."

    "Okay¡­" Sylva said. She didn''t know what the difference could possibly be. She had been avoiding going to the temple on the ship, so she didn''t know if there was something particularly different about the ways that pirates celebrated Midwinter. The reason she avoided going to the temple was at least partially because there were a lot of people gathered there at once, increasing the likelihood that someone would show her their ailment right there in front of everyone else. That was a remote possibility, but the thought of it scared Sylva away from attending.

    "You have to come to it," Keep said. "I know you grounder heathens don''t care about going to temple, but you have to come to Deepdark." Sylva tried not to resent the fact that Keep had just called her a heathen. She hadn''t spent ten years going to the top theological school in the universe for nothing. But it was true that she hadn''t been going to temple, so she couldn''t really blame Keep for making her own assumptions.

    "I wasn''t planning on missing it." She also hadn''t been planning on going, since she didn''t know the holiday even existed, but she didn''t want to say that and hurt Keep''s feelings. She was weirdly intense about it. "Do I need to do anything special?"

    Keep sighed loudly. "It''s like you were raised on a planet or something. Bring an offering."

    "An offering to what?"

    Keep flicked the side of Sylva''s head. "Your ancestors, idiot."

    Sylva rubbed the place where Keep flicked her. "Go eat some lunch, I can tell your blood sugar''s getting low."

    "Well considering I couldn''t keep my breakfast down this morning, I''m not surprised." Keep smiled at her. "I''m glad you''ll come, though. You wouldn''t want to miss it, even if you are a heathen."

    "I''m not a heathen, I just¨C" Sylva began, but Keep was already traipsing heavily off down the hallway in search of lunch.

    Sylva asked Iri about it later when they were back in their rooms.

    "Do you actually know things about pirates, or have you just been pretending this whole time?" Sylva asked her, sitting on Iri''s bed and braiding her own hair as Iri painted her fingernails.

    "I know them pretty well. One in particular, anyway." Iri bit her lower lip as she concentrated on applying the black paint.

    "You have any clue what Deepdark is?"

    "Their version of Midwinter," Iri said. Sylva twined her braids.

    "Yeah, I get that. But like, what is it?"

    "I''ve been told that they drive the ship to some sort of extra desolate place, then do a ritual for their dead. I don''t have a lot of specifics."

    "Extra desolate? And regular space isn¡¯t?"

    "I don''t know. I didn''t ask that many questions."

    "And we''re supposed to bring some sort of offering?" Sylva asked.

    "You asking for suggestions?"

    "What kind of offering?"

    "You have the power, you can make anything you want. Just go get some raw materials from the workshop. I''m sure Keep would give you whatever."

    "You think I should make something?"

    "Unless you''ve got something laying around," Iri said. Sylva''s hand moved quickly to the pin she kept on her collar, the one that Captain Pellon had given her half a year ago. No, that wouldn''t be an appropriate offering. She was supposed to give something for her ancestors, and she assumed that meant dead people, and Yan wasn''t dead. It wasn''t just a prayer for anything she cared about, it was going to be specific. What had her mother once said her great-grandparents liked? She could try to remember that and come up with¡­ something.

    "And usually people give something handmade?"

    "Well it''s not like there''s a lot of spare charges laying around that they can toss off the ship."

    "What will you be giving?"

    "Shockingly, that''s none of your business."

    "This whole thing has you in a mood too?" Sylva asked.

    "I''m just saying there''s no need to pry into something deeply personal like that."

    "I didn''t realize it was personal."

    "Well now you know. Don''t go asking anybody else on the ship either. They might just laugh at you, or they might get mad."

    "Fine, fine," Sylva grumbled. "I''ll be weird and secretive about it then."

    "Good."

    The next few days passed in that same strange haze of odd tempers aboard the ship. Sylva did indeed borrow supplies from Keep''s workshop, and she spent several agonizing hours meditating and forcing lumps of iron into something that resembled chiseled images of her eight great-grandparents. She had her whole family photo album saved to her computer, just in case she got homesick, so she had plenty to use as reference. It would have to do, and apparently no one on the ship would know about what her offering was, let alone what her great-grandparents looked like, so Sylva didn''t worry about it too much.

    Then the day came. Sylva was awakened in the middle of the night by the feeling of the gravity rings slowing to a stop and everything beginning to drift in the sudden lack of acceleration. It was a disconcerting feeling to wake up to. She was worried at first that something had gone horribly wrong, but Iri came into her room, dressed in her jumpsuit, and told her to get dressed and ready. It didn''t take long before Sylva figured out what exactly they were getting ready for.

    From down the hallway, a riotous echo of drums and wailing sounded. Rhythmic pounding on a ceremonial drum, accompanied by rather less rhythmic pounding on the walls of the hallway, rattled Sylva''s ears.

    "Get your offering and get ready to join the procession," Iri said. She was holding a bag filled with her own offering. Sylva could see that it had some heft to it, from the way the bag floated in the lack of gravity when Iri yanked it around. "And once they get here, get in the back, and don''t talk unless you want to join in the song." Song was a strong word for what the wailing sounded like. "Leave your phone and anything else here."

    As the sounds came closer and closer, more and more people joined into the chorus, and what had sounded chaotic at a distance resolved into something that could resemble a tune. It was nothing like the structured worship music that Sylva was used to. There wasn''t a cantor, just the incessant pounding of the drums, and everyone sang (or yelled) words that Sylva didn''t understand. It didn''t precisely sound like Old Imperial, but there were snatches of it. It was a mysterious thing. She tried her best to learn the repeating words before the line got to them.

    When it did, people pounded on the doors to their rooms as they passed by, and Sylva stepped out into the tail end of the procession. Iri came out of her own door a moment later, floating behind Sylva. The whole group traveled the entirety of the ship, gathering up a long tail of people. Everyone was there. Sylva didn''t see anyone missing, and the volume of the chanting and the pounding and the length of the train of people would corroborate that assessment.

    The captain, who Sylva rarely saw or interacted with, was the one in the front of the line, holding the drum. Everyone else trailed behind, banging on the walls and chanting. Sylva joined in as soon as she thought she had a good grasp on the words. Some of the pieces of the words were recognizable, and she felt just from this snapshot of chanting that maybe this was some sort of proto-language that Old Imperial might have descended from. Why pirates of all people were chanting in a language older than Old Imperial, or some strange offshot of it, Sylva had no idea.

    The procession left the rings, though it really made no difference as the whole ship was without gravity, and they drifted further and further down into the center of the ship. Sylva hadn''t had much cause to explore the deep interior of the ship, where all the cargo was stored. She rarely left the rings. She wondered how deep they were planning to go.

    Her question was answered when the whole procession ground to a halt, people bumping and jostling off each other as they came to a stop through the friction of dragging their hands and feet along the walls. They were all gathered just outside the engine room of the ship. This close, Sylva could feel the thrum of it in her fingertips resting against the wall. The chanting quieted to a whisper, but still continued unabated. The drum pounded on. In the front, the captain raised her hands for silence.

    "This Deepdark. We have all gathered here to embrace this darkness, for that is where we all came from, and that is where we will all return. We have all gathered here to meet with our ancestors again." The captain and two other people disappeared into the engine room. There was a tense, waiting atmosphere for a long moment, and the chanted whispers resumed.

    All power on the ship cut out completely, the thrum of the engines died down to nothing, leaving an eerie silence. If Sylva had been in gravity, she would have jumped about half a foot in the air. The involuntary motion she gave instead was a whole body shudder as the lights cut out. Iri grabbed her arm, steadying her. At least, it probably was Iri. Sylva had never been in such profound, complete darkness. The whispered chanting faded to nothing, though the drum continued to pound like a heartbeat. The captain must have passed it off to someone else before going inside the engine room. The only other sound was the shuffling and breathing mass of people.

    Somewhere back in the long line, a baby cried. The mother shushed it in a barely audible whisper that still carried further than it should. It was amazing how much background noise there usually was from the engine and the rotating of the wheels and the buzzing of the lights and the flow of the air filtration and¨C Sylva abruptly realized that ALL the power was off, including the things that they needed to live. She hoped this wouldn''t last long.

    At the head of the line, the doors creaked open and the group of people who had gone into the engine room came out. It was odd to just hear the slapping of their hands and feet against the metal walls as they pushed themselves around. There was no light, no way to see. Sylva adjusted her arm so that she could hold Iri''s hand instead of Iri just grabbing her. Their fingers wove together.

    "The naming of the dead," the captain yelled out from the front of the line. The drumming changed pace, and abruptly there was a massive shuffling within the line. Someone nudged Sylva in the back. They were turning around, for some reason. She disentangled her hand from Iri''s so that they could turn easily, and then thought that she had lost her. Luckily, Iri was better at keeping track of her than she was, and linked back up as they began to move in the opposite direction. It was difficult to move just enough to follow the person, whoever it was, in front of her without nudging or getting nudged, and Sylva was so focused on that that she almost ignored the voices around her. In the front, no, back of the line, the captain was calling out names, and everyone repeated the name in a whisper as it traveled up the line to the front.

    "Call-Your-Name Dreyfus," the captain yelled, and then everyone repeated it back in a hushed tone.

    "Nilan Yarrow. Never-Leave Del. Mender-of-Hearts Del. Price-of-Happiness Del." The Dels were the clan that owned the Warrior II, so it wasn''t surprising that the list was comprised of a long, long litany of Dels who had died. She wondered just how many generations were represented by this list. It seemed to stretch on forever. Just where they were going in the ship? They seemed to travel through the darkness forever, yelling and whispering and bumping into each other in the caravan.

    Then, once the captain finished saying his piece, which presumably had all of the people who had ever died aboard the Warrior II, and any of their ancestors who could be remembered, or anyone they knew, there was a chance for all the ship''s unrelated passengers to say their piece.

    Sylva jerked a little when Iri began to call out.

    "Side-by-Side Vinright. God''s-Home Vinright. Carry-the-Sword Vinright." It was a long list of names, and Sylva sensed that Iri was even curtailing it for the sake of everyone else in this crew, not forcing them to whisper the names of people they didn''t know. These must be the names of all the people who had been on the ship of the pirate that she knew, whose identity she was borrowing. Curiously, Iri hesitated before saying one last name: "Hail-and-Farewell Vinright." That was the name of the person she had known. Was he dead? Or was something else going on? Sylva wanted to pry, but considering the way Iri had reacted to her asking questions earlier, it probably just would lead to her getting snapped at.

    Iri nudged Sylva once she was finished. Oh, Sylva should probably call out the names of some of her own ancestors. But she had a fake name, so that made it a little complicated. Oh well, people changed their names all the time. She called out the names of her great-grandparents, and felt a little stir in her chest when everyone around her in the long line whispered the names too. Eventually, they came to whatever their destination was, and she crashed into the person in front of her who had come to a complete stop. The person behind her crashed into her, and so it went all the way down the line until everyone had arrived and bunched up into one clump. They were all oddly silent, with just the beating of the drum and the shuffle of clothing and the quiet huffs of breathing.

    Sylva really couldn''t tell where they were in the dark; she had lost all sense of direction in the gravity-less areas. Without the sense of the ground to orient her, she could have gotten flipped upside-down (though that really didn''t have any meaning) and had no idea what left and right were supposed to be. Or even up and down, since the interior of the ship had tunnels that went off at all different angles. Someone at the front of the line opened a door, and a dim light filtered down onto the group. It wasn''t much, but it was more than Sylva had been used to on their weird blind fumbling way through the halls of the ship.

    They had come to one of the shuttle bays, the one with the big window at the front of it, and everyone crowded inside. Sylva had been there once before, and she had thought the window was a bit silly at the time, but if this was the purpose they used the room for, she guessed she could understand it. The stars stood out like knives in the blackness of space, and there was an odd puckering directly in the middle of the view. It seemed as though some of the light was smeared out around a dark point. Sylva rubbed her eyes for a second to make sure of what she was seeing. She wasn''t sure, but if she had to guess, Sylva would have pegged that as a black hole. This really was a desolate place, then.

    Silently, everyone put their offerings down in a box set up at the front of the bay. It filled up quickly, considering just how many people there were who had to put something in there. Most of the offerings were wrapped in fabric, so Sylva couldn''t see them. And it was still quite dark in the bay; the light of the stars really only allowed her to see the vaguest outlines of people as they drifted around. Once everyone put their offerings in the box, two people sealed it up. The lid of it had a little thruster on it. It wasn''t a massive engine, but it would definitely serve to blast the box out of the ship, and presumably the massive distance to the black hole (or whatever that was).

    Everyone went out of the room again. Sylva let herself get caught up in the shuffle, following everyone as they drifted out back into the hallway. It was crowded in there. Someone sealed the door to the bay, and the light vanished with it. It was annoying to be in the dark. Somehow, during the whole process in the bay, Iri had gotten separated from her. Oh well. This couldn''t go on that much longer, could it? After all, they had to turn the engine back on at some point, even if just to let them breathe. Or to open the bay doors to send out the offerings. Someone pounded the drum relentlessly. Sylva was getting tired of that, too. The chanting started up again. It wasn''t names, this time. It was back to the old, weird, not quite Old Imperial, style chanting, just with slightly different words. Sylva did her best to learn it, but it was hard to understand when everyone was saying it at once and slurring the words. It was easy to slur words when they didn''t have any meaning to the speaker. Then they were just sounds.

    The chanting and the drumming got louder and louder and more frantic, and when Sylva thought everybody couldn''t yell any louder, the ship''s engine roared back to life and the lights flickered on. She was momentarily blinded, and everyone around her cheered and clapped for a minute. As the cheering began to die down and the spots left Sylva''s vision, everyone began to disperse through the hallways, though most of them floated down towards the rotating rings that could be heard groaning back in to motion. Sylva found Iri in the crowd, and they headed off together to a less crowded area of the ship.

    "How''d you like Deepdark?" Iri asked, once they were far enough away from everyone else that they could have a private conversation.

    "I don''t know. Was I supposed to like it?"

    "How would I know?" Iri asked and laughed.

    "Have you ever done one of these before?"

    "No, but I knew a little bit what to expect. My friend told me."

    "Is he dead, the friend?"

    "Oh, no."

    "Then why''d you say his name?" Sylva was asking the question, even though she had thought that she wouldn''t. She just couldn''t help prying.

    "You noticed?"

    "How could I not?"

    "I just thought he''d want me to. It''s more of a symbolic death than a physical one."

    "I have no idea what you mean by that."

    "Then it doesn''t matter," Iri said."

    "Are we supposed to do anything else? Is it done?"

    "Yeah, it''s over I think. Just go back and get some sleep before first shift starts."

    "Wait, what time even is it?"

    "It''s the middle of the night," Iri said. "I''d show you a clock, but I left my phone in the room."

    "Because of the light?"

    "Yeah. Somebody would have yelled at you if you''d''ve had your phone out."

    "I have to say, I didn''t really get the whole thing. I think I prefer Midwinter."

    "Well, you''ve left normal civilization behind, haven''t you," Iri said, nudging her. They drifted, then walked back to their room. The slow spinning up of the rings was uncomfortable, but Sylva was able to fall back asleep anyway.

    <hr>

    She had one day of peace left before the crisis happened. Someone came to her door in the middle of the middle of the night and pounded on it relentlessly until she crawled out of bed, dressed only in a long tunic top. She opened the door with clumsy fingers and stared out at the figure in the hallway with blurry eyes.

    "Keep''s water broke earlier today, and she''s started having a lot of contractions," the figure said. Hearing the voice, she could identify him as Shielder, Keep''s husband.

    "God. Couldn''t have waited until morning, could he have?" She rubbed her eyes. "Sorry. Send her to the clinic, I''ll be there as fast as I can. If there''s an emergency, call me and I''ll run, but I gotta get dressed. Tell her not to start pushing until I''m there, and get all the women who agreed to help, okay? Let me write down the door code for you so you can let yourself in." All of the words came out at once, as she gave every instruction that popped into her head She reached behind her and grabbed a pen from her desk. She didn''t have any paper, so she just handed it to Shielder. "Write it on your hand or something. The code is 599724."

    Shielder took all of that in and scribbled the code on his hand with a look of panic on his face. He handed her back the pen. "How long will you be?"

    "Give me ten minutes?" Sylva asked.

    "Uh, yeah. Ok. I''ll call you if there''s an emergency."

    "Who''s with her now?"

    "Sign."

    "Great." That was not great. Having two overbearing men in the room would probably do no good for anyone, but he could stay for now, at least until he started causing any trouble. "Okay, the faster you get going, the faster I can get there." Sylva shooed him out the door, and she slammed it shut behind him a little harder than intended. She took a bunch of the fabric of her tunic and put it over her mouth and screamed. It didn''t muffle things as well as she had hoped, at least from the perspective of her ears. Hopefully Shielder hadn''t heard.

    All the sound had woken up Iri, though, who came into the room in her own pyjamas and looked at Sylva questioningly.

    "Keep''s having her baby," Sylva explained.

    "It had to happen sometime," Iri said calmly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What are you going to do?"

    "What am I going to do?" Sylva echoed plaintively.

    "What you have to. Get ready." Iri shoved Sylva toward her dresser. "Put on some clothes. You feeling awake?"

    "No?"

    "I''ll get you something for that." Sylva was already yanking her tunic top off over her head and rummaging through her drawers for a clean jumpsuit that she didn''t mind getting blood on. She didn''t have a lot to choose from. She hopped around getting dressed, and Iri returned to her room bearing a water bottle and a couple pills. She thrust them at Sylva as she stood with her jumpsuit half up around her knees. She pulled it on the rest of the way and took the offering from Iri. She looked at it for a moment.

    "What is this?"

    "Don''t recognize various street drugs?" Iri asked, quirking an eyebrow. "What kind of doctor are you?"

    "A fake one. Tell me what it does before I take it."

    "It''s a stimulant. Should keep you awake. Take one now and put the other in your pocket for later."

    Sylva looked at the drug and considered it, then said a mental fuck it, decided if she was in for a gram she was in for a kilo, and popped the pill into her mouth.

    "And you should eat something with that. It''ll wreck your stomach if you don''t have something else in there," Iri said. Sylva retrieved a mushed up granola bar that she had been saving and gnawed on it. "You ready to go now?"

    "Lemme zip up. You coming?" Sylva finished zipping her jumpsuit and crammed her shoes onto her feet, shoving the rest of the granola bar into her mouth. She patted herself down, making sure her hair was still braided enough to stay out of her way, and ensuring that her clothes were all on right. She looked and felt like a chipmunk, but at least she wasn''t in total panic mode yet. That might change when she got to the clinic, but a certain numbness was setting in, like her body and brain were moving on an autopilot, and she didn''t actually have control over what was going to happen next.

    "I''ll be there," Iri said. "But I''m going to take a shower first."

    "You''re really going to abandon me for that?"

    "Well you''re abandoning the pregnant lady in order to chat with me, so you''d better get going." Iri shoved Sylva again, this time in the direction of the door. Sylva stumbled, caught herself, then left. She ran down the hallways to the clinic, not encountering anyone on the way. Inside the clinic was a bit of a different story. It felt like half of the women on the ship had arrived to help out, along with Shielder, and Keep''s brother, Sign. It wasn¡¯t actually that many, but she had expected two at most. She had at least five, and more might be coming. She didn''t know if it would be worse for her to be totally alone or to have this audience. She wished Iri were here already; she would know how to marshal these forces.

    Sylva entering the room got everyone''s attention focused on her, without her needing to yell and corral everyone. "Alright, ladies, let''s make this a clean environment. Hair nets, wash your hands up to the elbow, gloves. If you''re wearing something that you''ve worked in, go home and change into something clean." Was this actually sterile? No, absolutely not, but Sylva didn''t even have scrubs for herself, let alone all these women. "Shielder and Sign, you guys stay out here for now." She pointed to the chairs in the little reception area. "I''ll call you if I need you," she said, preemptively stopping their protests.

    As everyone scurried to get ready, Sylva headed into the observation room, where Keep was laying on the table.

    "How''s it goin?" Sylva asked.

    "Not. Great," Keep huffed, grabbing the edge of the table. Her knuckles were white.

    "Yeah, I can tell. How far apart are the contractions?"

    "Urgh. Four minutes?" She sounded unsure, and in a lot of pain. Her face was pale. Keep was wearing her jumpsuit, but had a towel wrapped around her waist as well.

    "Can I ask what the towel is for? I mean, I''m gonna need you to get undressed anyway." A weird, hyper, nervous feeling was building up within Sylva. She couldn''t tell if it was the stimulant or the situation that was making her this way. Possibly, probably, it was both.

    "I bled through my stupid pad." Keep leaned her head back on the table and took a few heavy breaths. "Didn''t want to get blood. Everywhere."

    "I think that''s unavoidable, at this point," Sylva said. "Can you move by yourself, or do you need help?"

    "Give me a second. God this hurts so bad."

    "It''ll be okay," Sylva said unconvincingly. "I can get you some pain medication."

    "Yeah. Do that." Keep grabbed the sides of the table again, and hoisted herself onto the floor. "Maze!" Keep yelled suddenly.

    One of the women, Maze, poked her head into the room. She was wearing a hairnet and had a circle of tattooed dots around each of her eyes. "Everything okay?"

    "Help me get this stupid. Fucking. Argh." Keep closed her eyes for a long moment and shuddered as another contraction squeezed through her.

    "Try to relax," Sylva said.

    "Relax?!" Keep almost yelled. "Don''t tell me to relax!"

    "Okay, okay. Sylva backed away slightly. Maze, can you just help her get undressed? Jumpsuit needs to go, she can keep her undershirt, and wrap the towel under her belly for now, I guess."

    Maze gave a skeptical look. "You guess?"

    "I''m going to be honest with you." Sylva had to stop herself from blurting out the fact that she wasn''t a doctor at all. "I''ve never delivered a baby before, and never expected to have to, and we''re working with the supplies we''ve got. Right now, that''s a towel."Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "You have fucking terrible bedside manner," Keep huffed. Maze came over and started helping Keep get undressed, supporting her so that she could kick her jumpsuit off without falling over.

    Sylva headed into the back room, the one where all the lab equipment was. She was glad that delivering drugs was a well known science that she could just follow simple instructions for. Keep wasn''t allergic to anything, so Sylva prepared the drug she had read was best for this early stage of labor, which was a mild pain reliever in a pill, not much stronger than general headache medicine. She wasn''t going to tell Keep, that, though, since she''d probably get punched. When things got closer to the actual time of delivery, she would need something stronger. Sylva walked back out. Keep was alone in the room again, presumably having shooed Maze away. Sylva handed her the pill.

    "This should help a little with the contractions. When we get closer to actual delivery, there are stronger things available, but I don''t want to give you those before you''re ready."

    "You mean this isn''t it yet?" Keep was back up on the table, wrapped in a towel from hips down, and a grey undershirt from ribs up. Her massive belly was exposed.

    "These things take a long time," Sylva said. "It''s different from person to person. Let me get the monitor on you and see what he''s doing in there."

    Sylva had at least found and prepared all the birth-related equipment ahead of time, and so the heartbeat monitor was quickly retrieved and placed on Keep''s belly. She also gathered up the ultrasound equipment.

    "Did you feel him turn around since I last looked at him, or is he still the wrong way up?"

    "How am I supposed to know?" Keep asked. The heartbeat monitor looked fine, or at least not going crazy or dead. Sylva applied the ultrasound gel to Keep''s stomach. She shivered a little.

    "Sorry, I know it''s cold." At least Sylva had gotten some practice using the machine on Keep a few times. Though the shapes other than the baby still were incomprehensible, she was at least able to operate the ultrasound without problems. The images of Keep''s baby showed up on the screen, grainy and black and white, but clearly showing all his limbs and head. Keep smiled when she saw it, again. "You know you''re going to have him right out in a little bit, then you''ll have the real thing and not just pictures."

    "I''m enjoying him while he''s still nice and quiet, aren''t I?" Keep said shortly.

    Sylva examined the image, and rotated it in her head to see what direction the baby was facing. "Good news is that he looks fine. Bad news is that he''s ass first," Sylva said. One other thing that she wanted to look for was the placenta. She couldn''t tell where it was. "You said you''ve got a towel because you''re bleeding a lot?"

    "Yeah."

    "I don''t know if that''s normal," Sylva said. Keep lifted her head up to look at her.

    "You don''t know?"

    ¡°The baby''s heart rate still seems fine, so I don''t think there''s too much reason to worry." Sylva was almost babbling. She should not have taken the stimulant from Iri. This was a bad idea. Or maybe it was just the nerves. Her hands were shaking on the ultrasound wand, which didn''t improve the quality of the picture any. "Do you feel ok?"

    "No." Keep smiled grimly. "But I''ll live."

    "Alright. I think it might be a waiting game from here on out."

    "It''s been a waiting game for the past ten months, hasn''t it?"

    "Well. Yeah."

    "Yeah." Keep seemed satisfied with that admission out of Sylva.

    "Okay, I''m going to goget ready. You want people in here with you?"

    "Get me Shielder."

    Sylva went to the door and fetched Keep''s husband. Most of the women were sitting around on the chairs in the office area, chatting quietly. They had obediently put their hair in nets and washed their hands in the little bathroom sink, but Sylva was beginning to suspect that they had all been summoned a little bit early. From what she had read, if Keep''s contractions were still three minutes apart, she still had a long way to go before the baby would actually be ready to come out. That gave Sylva at least a few minutes to go check what heavy bleeding during labor meant. She glanced at the discarded jumpsuit on the floor as she passed it. There really was a lot of blood. It was somewhat concerning.

    In the back room, Sylva entered the symptoms into the medical database and scrolled through the list of possibilities. She remembered, during her first conversation with Keep, that she had mentioned having light, painless bleeding for a couple of weeks. It hadn''t sounded too concerning at the time, so Sylva had forgotten about it. Why was she so stupid about stuff like that? She wanted to bang her head on the wall. Sometimes it felt like important information would just go right over her head, because she was too busy focusing on something else. In that case, she had probably been so focused on pretending to be a doctor that she had forgotten that she was actually supposed to be gathering and evaluating medical information.

    Jalena had been right: this was a bad and immoral thing that she was doing. Now she had two lives literally in her hands, and she had been fucking up everything, all the time.

    She couldn''t beat herself too much up yet. That would stop her from being able to go forward. She forcefully jerked her train of thought away from how much of a failure she felt like, and focused on the problem at hand. Apparently, bleeding like this was a sign that the placenta was covering the cervix. So, that was fantastic. Two things were going against this birth now: upside down baby, placenta in the wrong place. According to the database, this misplaced placenta happened a lot with test tube babies. Weird. The mean part of Sylva''s brain offered a snide comment about meddling with the natural order of things, but she tossed it out and tried not to think about it. After all, Yan had also¨C Well it wouldn''t do anybody any good to think about Yan right now.

    Sylva needed some way to confirm what was going on with the placenta. She pulled up the most recent ultrasound images, and squinted at them. All the fuzzy lumps didn''t look like anything. Maybe that outline there¡­ But it could have been anything. Why had she gotten herself into this?

    She really hoped that the placenta was not down there. The only solution for it seemed to be surgical removal of the baby. The thought of that made Sylva''s hands shake. She glanced across the room to where she had earlier prepared all sorts of surgical implements, just in case. She was glad, now, that she had prepared that beforehand, but she was also desperately hoping that she wouldn''t have to use them.

    If Sylva considered what she knew about giving birth, it was about the same as what she knew about surgery, which was to say, nothing. And just letting Keep pop a baby out on her own was, well, it seemed a little less like Sylva''s fault if something went wrong. If she was doing surgery on Keep and like, stabbed her bladder with a knife by accident, that would be really, really bad, and definitely her fault.

    She had looked up how to do the surgery. It looked¡­ Well it didn''t look as bad as it could have been. At least it wasn''t on a brain, and there weren''t that many layers of things between the skin and the baby, but still. The idea of slicing someone open with a knife was not a fun one.

    And she liked Keep, no matter how snippy she could be. Sylva couldn''t blame her for that.

    She put her head in her hands for a minute, palms on her temples and stretching back the skin so much that her eyes watered. She couldn''t stay in this back room forever. She was going to have to go give the news to Keep, and maybe figure out a way to confirm what was going on. She could do a cervical exam to see if she poked the placenta rather than the baby''s butt. No. She would just look at the ultrasound more carefully. It wasn''t worth risking internal damage by fucking around with a cervical exam, which Sylva had no experience with, and she didn''t know if she''d be able to make a determination based on that either.

    Sylva looked at the ultrasounds with renewed focus, checking them against examples provided by the medical database. That faint, dark line was probably the cervix; that blob was the bladder; the baby was clearly visible; and the placenta, a faint, almost indistinguishable blob. Right where she expected it to be. Just so that she wasn''t convincing herself of a ghost that wasn''t actually there, Sylva checked each image fastidiously to be sure she wasn''t mistaken. The whole procedure had taken a long time, and intense concentration that Sylva hadn''t felt in, well, maybe years. At the twenty-fourth hour, she finally was able to sit down and figure out where the placenta was. Different feelings bubbled up inside her: pride at figuring it out, anxiety that it was indeed in a dangerous location (almost completely covering the cervix), and anger at herself for not sitting down and figuring this out before it was almost dangerously late. She was such an incompetent doctor.

    She wasn¡¯t a doctor.

    No. She didn''t have time to beat herself up over this. She took a few deep breaths and prepared to deliver the bad news to Keep. She stood, hands shaking slightly, and went back out into the area where Keep was. She was pacing slowly around the room, gripping Shielder''s arm tightly. Her towel had a red patch on the back of it from where she had been sitting and laying. She and Shielder both looked at her as she came in.

    "I''ve got some good news and some bad news," Sylva said.

    "Good news first," Keep said firmly, shutting up Shielder, who was starting to open his mouth.

    "I have a solution to the problem of the bleeding."

    "Bad news?"

    "Your placenta is directly over your cervix." Sylva took a deep breath. "You need a surgical extraction."

    "Fucking really?" Keep was angry, and her hand clenched on Shielder''s arm even tighter.

    "You knew this was already a possibility, since he''s breech," Sylva said, trying to calm Keep down. It didn''t work.

    "A possibility, but I don''t even get to try before you rip me open?"

    "No, you don''t." Sylva tried to put as much firmness as she could into the words. She hadn''t been able to figure out what would happen if someone tried to deliver a baby where the placenta was covering the cervix. If she had to take an uneducated guess, she would say that it would probably cause the baby to be starved of oxygen and the uterus to get all ripped up from the placenta not coming off right. But really, that was just a guess. "It''s too dangerous to try to deliver him naturally at this point. There''s too many things going wrong, and I couldn''t find anything in the medical database telling me how to deliver a baby like this. As soon as the placenta is in this position, the surgical method becomes necessary."

    "Fuck. FUCK!"

    "It''ll be okay," Sylva said. "This is one of the most common medical procedures. It''s just one cut, and then some stitches. It will be okay."

    "You keep saying that," Keep hissed. "I''m starting to not believe you." She couldn''t really blame Keep for that. Things were just getting worse and worse.

    Sylva looked at Shielder helplessly. He patted his wife''s back, and murmured something presumably comforting into her ear.

    "I''m sorry that this is so stressful for you, Keep, but I promise that I won''t let you down."

    "How long do I have before you cut me open?"

    Sylva scratched the back of her head, dislodging a few chunks of hair from her braids. "We need to get you completely numbed, but the operating room is prepped already, just in case. We should do it as quickly as possible. The blood loss is dangerous, I think. So we want to deal with all that as soon as we can."

    "Will I be awake during it?"

    "Do you want to be?" Sylva did have medication to knock her completely out, or just completely numb the lower half of the body. It was Keep''s decision whichever one she wanted. To be honest, Sylva probably preferred that Keep be asleep, just so she wouldn''t have to deal with that audience, but she wasn''t so unethical as to not present Keep with the choice. Well, she was exactly as unethical as posing as a medical authority, but it was the little things that she could try to get right.

    "Yeah. I do."

    "Okay, then I can numb you from here down." Sylva gestured to her own body, right at about the bottom of her ribcage. "I''ll get that set up." Sylva had prepared this all in advance¨C this anesthetic at least was the same as what she would have given for a normal birth, so she had that lined up ages ago, as with everything else for Keep''s delivery, just in case. That was the one thing she had managed to do right, get all her tools in line in advance. She¡¯d had them ready for at least a week and a half. "We should probably move into the other room." Though Sylva hated the operating room/morgue, it was definitely a better place for the eventual surgery. The regular doctor table was all well and good, but it didn''t have the lights and space set up for a major procedure.

    Sylva held the door open for Keep as she headed into that other room. It was as clean as she could get it, and she had tried to make the table a bit more comfortable by putting a pad down on it. She had also remembered to cover the knives and such that were laying around with a cloth. It wouldn''t be great to scare Keep even more than she already was. There was a stool to help Keep get up onto the table, and she clambered up with some difficulty. Shielder stood next to her, rubbing her shoulder with his large hand.

    "Let me just go prepare the anesthetic. I''ll be right back." She slipped again into the back room. Keep and Shielder both were doing their best to focus on eachother, and not Sylva, which was for the best. She almost felt bad about her earlier threats to kick him out. He was acting much more calm than she felt. Sign was outside in the office area though, and that was good. Sylva had caught a glimpse of him through the window earlier, pacing like a caged animal.

    She was familiar with how to administer this type of anesthetic, even though it had to go in through the spine. She had looked up extensively how to do it, and she had been able to practice once, on the Iron Dreams. Sylva was thankful to Jalena for being able to wrangle people into being volunteers for Sylva''s trials. The amount of trust that people had in Jalena was truly astounding.

    She came back out with all the required pieces on a tray, and she put them down on the counter in the operating room. "Alright, let''s get this started," Sylva said. "First things first, I''m just going to put a port in your arm, in case we need to give you fluids or anything."

    "Great," Keep grumbled. She was sweaty, pale, and tense. She might have just had a big contraction before Sylva came into the room. She tried to give her a sympathetic look as Keep held out her arm. Sylva bit her lip as she focused intently, remembering the many, many blood draws Jalena had made her practice. Sylva wiped down the area, and neatly inserted the needle and port, taping it down quickly. Keep cringed and looked away.

    "Perfect," Sylva said. "Unfortunately, this next one isn''t quite as quick or pleasant. I have to put the nerve block into your spine."

    "Is it too late to change my mind and ask to be knocked out instead?"

    "Then I''d have to tube you," Sylva said pointing to her throat. "That''s less great."

    Keep shuddered. "What do I have to do?"

    Sylva grabbed the pillow from the end of the table and held it out to Keep. "Grab this and lean forward. It helps stretch out your spine. I''m gonna do a local anesthetic first, so you shouldn''t feel the needle too much."

    "That''s what everybody says," Keep said bitterly.

    "Everybody who?"

    "I had this done once before. Our last doctor." Sylva remembered the sad story about Keep''s previous pregnancy.

    "I''m sorry. I''ll do my best not to make it hurt."

    "If I break Shielder''s hand, it''s your fault."

    "Please don''t break my hand," Shielder said. He gave Sylva a look that communicated just how much trust he was putting in her. It was clear from the way that he hovered around Keep that he loved her.

    Sylva positioned herself behind Keep, and vigorously wiped down her back to clean it off. Then she poked her lightly with the local anesthetic. "It''ll take a minute for that to kick in."

    "And I have to stay sitting like this?"

    "That would be the easiest thing, yeah. Actually, if you could go to the bathroom, just make sure your bladder is empty, that would be great." She changed her mind at the last second to give that instruction.

    "Fantastic."

    "I''ll be right back, I''m going to go and tell everyone out there what''s going on, unless you have some objection to that."

    "No, go ahead. I''ll follow you out and use the bathroom out there." Shielder helped Keep down from the table, and she waddled out with him.

    Sylva went out into the waiting/office area. The group of women (and Sign), were all sitting around, talking. Iri had also made it, finally, and she gave Sylva a bright smile. Someone had made coffee and passed it out. They all greeted Keep and Sheilder as they passed into the bathroom.

    "I''ve got some good news and bad news," Sylva said, getting everyone''s attention.

    "Good news first," Iri said.

    "You won''t have to spend hours sitting around waiting for Keep to be ready to pop out her baby," Sylva said. A few of the women, the ones with particularly dark circles under their eyes, tried to hide smiles at that pronouncement.

    "And the bad news?" Sign asked.

    "We''re going to do a surgical removal," Sylva said. Seeing the look on some of their faces, she quickly added, "It''s not an emergency." Yet, she thought. "But I''ve decided that there are too many factors working against having a safe, natural birth."

    The room was fairly quiet. Sylva didn''t know what she had expected everyone to say, but it certainly wasn''t nothing.

    "I''m still going to need your help. Keep is getting ready for surgery right now; I''m waiting for local anesthetic to kick in so I can give her a spinal block, and once that''s all set, we''re going to start as quickly as possible. So I''m going to assign you all into teams to help me during the procedure. Does anyone have any questions?"

    Most of them shook their heads no. The atmosphere in the room was tense.

    "Sign and, uh." Sylva looked around the group of women, and settled on one somewhat randomly. "Comfort. You two will be responsible for taking the baby after I pull him out. You''ll need to clean his mouth and nose so he can breathe, make sure there''s nothing going wrong, clean him up, and give him to Keep. Got that?"

    Sign and Comfort nodded. That seemed like the easiest job to get Sign out of the way.

    "Maze and Evie," Sylva said, giving Iri a hard look. "You''re my surgical assistants. Evie will pass me instruments, Maze, you''ll need to help me hold the cut open and get the baby out. Can you handle that?" Maze considered it for a second, then nodded. Iri gave a little smile. She had picked Maze to do that part of the operation mainly because she seemed to be the woman Keep was closest with aboard the ship. If she herself had been on the operating table, she probably would have wanted someone she knew and trusted to be fishing around inside her. Granted, she would have preferred a real doctor, but beggars couldn''t be choosers.

    "Hold-Fast and Praise, you two will be doing everything else. Making sure the area stays clean, getting anything I need from the other room, staying in contact with Keep to make sure she doesn''t have any problems, stuff like that. Understood?"

    The last two women agreed. Sylva didn''t know what else there would be to come up during the operation, but it didn''t hurt to have all hands on deck.

    "Shielder''s obviously going to be in there also, but his job is to stick with Keep and just like, hold her hand. It might get a little crowded, but I think we''ll cope. Does anybody have any questions?"

    "How long until we get started?" Praise asked. She was short for a spacer woman, with curly black hair and a button nose.

    "I''m going to go in there now and give the second part of the anesthesia, and then it''ll probably be ten or twenty minutes before she''s completely numb and we can get started."

    "Anything we should do in the meantime?" Maze asked.

    "Pee if you think you''re going to need to. Say a prayer if you like. Wash your hands again. Get clean gloves on right before we get started." Sylva''s brain felt like it was running at about a million kilometers a second, flashing from one thought to the next. She slipped her hand inside her jumpsuit pocket and fingered the second pill that was in there, collecting lint.

    "I''ll come get you in a bit," Sylva said, and headed back into the operating room.

    Keep came back in a moment later, helped along by Sign. She clambered back up onto the table and resumed the hunched over pillow position. "How''s it going?" Sylva asked.

    "You''re the doctor," Keep remarked. "I just want to get this over with."

    "Soon. This''ll be way faster than it would if we were going to let you go through labor."

    "Yeah. Well. Still." Keep was clearly just nervous and in pain, and Sylva felt pretty bad for her. She walked around behind her and poked her bare back with a gloved hand.

    "Feel that?" Sylva asked.

    "Only a little. Feels kinda weird."

    "You''re probably numb enough then. Shielder, can you just¡­" Shielder grabbed Keep''s hands. "Yeah," Sylva said. "This might feel a bit weird. Sorry in advance."

    Sylva wiped down the area once again, and poked around for a moment to determine where the big needle should go. It had to go right there, into the spine. And it would leave a little port behind, just in case she had to put more medicine down it, if something went wrong. She lined it up carefully, and poked it in.

    Keep half jumped, twitching. "FUCK," she yelled, voice ragged. Sylva dropped her hands away from the needle in surprise, but quickly grabbed it again to make sure it didn''t fall out and wreck everything.

    "Sorry, sorry, I''m almost done," Sylva said quietly. "Just try to stay still. I know this sucks."

    Keep choked back a sob as Sylva finished the injection. The medical reference had warned that some people have worse reactions to it than others, but Sylva couldn''t be sure if this was because Keep was particularly sensitive, or if she was just doing a shitty job. Her hands shook as she removed the needle. This wasn''t boding well for her being steady in the future.

    "Alright, all done." She rubbed Keep''s shoulder ineffectively, and made an apologetic look to Shielder over Keep''s shoulder. He didn''t respond, but from the way that Keep''s knuckles were white while gripping his hands, he probably was feeling the strain. "Now just lay down, and it should be about ten minutes before this kicks in. You might feel like, weird tingling. That''s normal. And I''ll get your monitor on." She probably should have put the monitor on Keep before giving her the intense anesthesia, but it had slipped her mind. She found the cuff in the other room and put it on Keep''s arm. Everything looked mostly normal, except for her blood pressure, which was a little low.

    "So I just have to lay here?" Keep asked.

    "Yeah, basically. I mean you probably won''t be able to walk that well, since we''re literally numbing your whole spine. You shouldn''t be able to feel anything at all."

    "Great." Shielder helped Keep lay down, sticking the pillow back under her head, and helping hoist her long legs up onto the table.

    "I''ve got this screen, so let''s put this up. I don''t think you really want to, uh, see what I''m doing." Sylva pulled a wheeled screen over from the other side of the room, and started to set it up between Keep''s top and bottom half. It was a bit awkward, and Shielder, being so tall, could see right over the top of it. While the table had clearly been made with spacers in mind, some of the other equipment in this room had not. Either that or operating tables just were that long. Sylva didn''t know.

    "You don''t think I could handle it?" Keep asked. "I''ve seen way worse."

    "Keep, I have absolutely no doubts about your ability to handle anything. I just am trying to make this easier. If you don''t want it, I can put it away."

    Keep rested her head and closed her eyes. "It''s fine. It''s whatever. Sorry."

    "It''s okay. I know this is pretty stressful."

    "Understatement of the year."

    "Just chill out for ten minutes. I''m just going to prep some things, then I''ll be back to check if the anesthetic took."

    "I hope it did, because I don''t want to go through that again." Before she headed back into the waiting room, Sylva checked the monitor on Keep and her baby''s vitals. It didn''t look any different than before.

    "If it didn''t, we''d have to try a different kind," Sylva said as she left. She walked back through the examining room and into the waiting room where everyone was standing around, looking tense. She got their attention once again. "Okay everybody, I''ve given Keep the anesthetic, so this is your ten minute warning. Evie, you''re with me so I can get you set up with the tools."

    Iri followed Sylva all the way to the back room where the lab was. Sylva shut the door behind them. She didn''t know how soundproofed the walls were, so she whispered so that Keep in the next room wouldn''t hear. "I''m freaking the fuck out," she hissed to Iri.

    Iri shook her, putting her hands on both her shoulders. "Get over it. Even if it wasn''t you out there doing it, it would be someone else, with even less training. You just have to do it."

    "What if I fuck it up?"

    "This is an easy, easy surgery, right? Just one cut and two sets of stitches?"

    Sylva laughed harshly. "That¡¯s easy to say. Not so easy to do."

    "It''ll be fine." Iri squeezed her shoulders. Sylva shook Iri''s hands off and began to start washing up in the sink, cleaning her hands all the way to the elbows, like she used to see her dad do. She splashed her face for good measure, feeling wide awake despite the late hour and the tremor in her hands. She held them up to Iri.

    "Look how much I''m shaking."

    Iri pursed her lips. "It''s just nerves. As soon as you get in there, you''ll steady right up. How many times did Jalena make you practice stitching?"

    "Only like, a billion."

    "Then you''re fine."

    It was true that Jalena had made her practice stitches in all variety of situations, starting her out with using the tools on fabric, then moving her up to meat she pulled from the kitchen, then finally culminating in stitching up a knife wound that someone had given themselves while trying to pry open a stuck electric cabinet. That had been a pretty minor wound, and this was a major surgery.

    Sylva didn''t respond, just bit her lip and started getting her own new set of gloves and hairnet on. She tied her facemask, and felt a little better now that no one could see how much she was nervously chewing on her own face.

    "Wash yourself up," Sylva said. "I''m gonna get all the rest of the tools out of the autoclave." The autoclave in question was in the back of the room, and had a heavy, locking door. "We don''t have all the fancy equipment that was in the instructional video. All the specialty dressings and stuff. I know because I basically memorized that video. Well, I watched a lot of them. But I guess that''s the one that''s going to come in handy. I thought it might because of the breech, but, yeah." She was rambling.

    "Don''t need any of that," Iri grunted as she struggled to tie on a face mask.

    Sylva handed her a tray full of the rest of the tools, then checked in the closet for a stack of clean towels, which she draped over her own gloved arm. "Should I say a prayer?"

    "Don''t bother. Better to just get started and get it over with." The thought made Sylva cringe, and so she silently said a few words of prayer inside her own head while turning away from Iri.

    She took a deep breath. Holding the towels steady was keeping her a bit steadier, too. "You ready?"

    "Yeah. If you pass out, I''ll take over."

    "God. Hope that doesn''t happen."

    "You squeamish about blood?"

    "No, thank goodness."

    "Guess I should have asked that question back during the planning stages of this whole idiocy."

    "We''re in it now."

    "Once this is over, we need to talk."

    "Don''t say shit like that to me. Not now." Sylva would have punched Iri, but both of their hands were full, and she didn''t want to risk dropping all of the clean towels and sterile instruments.

    "Just about our future plans. We can''t stay here forever."

    "Yeah, well, if I fuck this up we definitely won''t be."

    "Deep breaths; it''s fine," Iri said, somehow calm. Sylva envied her, but she also hadn''t taken a stimulant. How Iri was the one who had drugs on her when Sylva was the one who controlled access to the entire medical facility was a mystery that she didn''t really want to contemplate. If she had to guess, she''d say that Iri probably got them from Sign somehow, while they were having one of their trysts. She shook her head, physically trying to get the thought out.

    "You don''t have any of the," Iri lowered her voice even further, "power healing stuff, do you?"

    Sylva laughed again, this time bitterly. "I can barely control it enough to do the basics. What kinda superhuman do you take me for?"

    Iri shrugged, rattling the instruments on her tray. "Sorry to bring up something painful."

    Sylva glanced at the time on the wall. "We gotta get going."

    "You''re saying that again, but you''re not moving."

    Sylva took a couple steps toward the door and grabbed the handle. It took a few more calming breaths before she stepped out into the operating room. All the women were there, now fully decked out in as much sterile gear as they could find. That mostly meant facemasks and hairnets and gloves; even Sylva didn''t have a full set of scrubs available. Two of the women were setting up the harsh lights.

    "Glad you''re all dressed up and ready to go," Sylva said, trying to sound cheerful.

    "You look green as a leaf," Maize said dryly. "Don''t puke on my cousin, okay?"

    "I''m fine," Sylva said shortly. "How are you feeling, Keep?"

    "Like I want to get this done." Keep sounded miserable. The towel that Keep had wrapped around her was covered with blood now. Alarming, but it was only going to get worse from here on. All the vital signs still looked good, though, so Sylva tried not to panic just yet. If she could have, she would have run away screaming, but here she was, and she was going to plow forward. After all, she had made this plan, so it would be worse than anything for her to quit on it now.

    "You numb?" Sylva poked Keep''s foot. "Actually Ir-Evie, can you grab me an ice cube from the freezer in there." There was a clunky old freezer in the lab used for storing samples. Iri put the tray down on the little wheeled cart near Sylva''s hip and went to go fetch the ice cube. She returned a moment later. Sylva took it in her gloved hand and ran it over Keep''s stomach and legs. "Feel that at all?"

    "Ice, I assume? No, I don''t. That mean I''m ready?" Keep''s hand was draped off over the side of the bed, so Sylva could see it past the cushion. Shielder was clutching it, both white knuckled.

    "Yeah. It does. Does anyone have any last minute questions before we get started? Everybody knows what they''re doing?"

    "How long is this going to take?" Keep asked.

    Sylva considered this for a second. The medical reference videos were done by people who did this day in and day out, and they were extremely fast at it. Sylva, on the other hand, had never done anything like it before. "We should have the baby out in less than ten minutes, but it will take longer to close you up," Sylva said. "I don''t know the exact time. I''m not the fastest stitcher." And she wouldn''t want to go too fast to risk messing it up. "Any other questions?"

    No one said anything.

    "Right. Let''s get going. Praise and Hold-Fast, I need you to switch out this towel for a clean one. Evie, I need the sterilizing fluid and wipes." Everyone jumped into action to clean up Keep, wiping her down so that the fresh wound that Sylva was going to make would at least be a little less likely to get infected.

    "Keep, if you feel any pain, go ahead and scream and we''ll get you more medicine."

    Sylva took the scalpel in her hands. Deep breaths. Her vision narrowed to just the spot above Keep''s pubic area where she was going to cut. All the noise in the room: the beeping of the monitors, the shuffling of all the waiting women, Keep''s ragged breathing and Shielder''s comforting whispers, it all faded out into nothing as Sylva brought the scalpel down.

    There were so many different layers, underneath the skin. She tried to keep them distinct and cut them cleanly, because she knew she would have to sew them all back up. She alternated between tools, using the, she didn''t know what the names for them were, the scissors a lot. She tried to make the cut wide enough to get the baby out. It would be way worse to have everything open and then get stuck than to make a slightly larger than necessary cut. She put in a wedge to hold the cut open, and murmured something to Maze to have her towel up some of the blood. There wasn''t a lot of it, at first, but Sylva needed to be able to see.

    Distantly, someone retched, and Iri abandoned her post for a moment to hustle one of the women out the door. Sylva didn''t look up to see who it was.

    "Change your gloves," Sylva said when Iri returned. She was more focused than she had ever been in her life, which wasn''t saying much. The power stirred within her, feeding off of that intense concentration, and Sylva, for the first time ever, had to stop herself from using it. If the situation had been less dire, she would have laughed.

    She was down into the last layers, and she tried to be very careful not to cut the baby as she (as neatly as possible) hacked her way through the uterus. There was a lot of blood now. Sylva put down her tools, Iri holding forceps at the ready for her, and Maze holding the flaps of skin open.

    The baby was in a stupid position. She had known that, but it didn''t make this any easier.

    "Maize, press over here, gently, I need him to just, yeah." Maize put her hands on the top of Keep''s stomach and pushed as Sylva grabbed inside the hole. She felt legs, inched her fingers upward a little bit to get a more solid grasp, and found the baby''s hips. So much blood rushed out of the wound. She pulled, wiggling the baby out through the hole. There was some sort of art to this, some sort of special turn that people were supposed to do, but at this moment it was all she could do to just wiggle the baby until first his butt came out into the glaring lights, then his legs, his back, his shoulders, his feet, and finally, at last, his head. The arms were the last things to come out. There was blood and liquid everywhere, pooling and soaking into the towels. She laid him down right on top of the bloody incision (there wasn''t any better place) so that she could cut the cord. His arms flailed around, a little feebly.

    He was grey and wrinkly and horribly ugly, but Sylva didn''t have time to worry about that or contemplate it at all. "Got him out, Keep," she called. Iri handed her the clamps, and she put them down onto the umbilical cord, far away from the baby''s stomach. Sign and the woman she had assigned to take the baby came over, and started suctioning out his mouth and nose. He immediately started screaming, the weak little infant sound. Sylva handed him off to them, grateful that at least one person was going to come out of this.

    Now came the hard part. Watching the videos, Sylva had seen the surgeons literally pull the whole uterus outside of the body in order to sew it back up, after they got the placenta out. Sylva didn''t know if she could do that, and, if she could do it, if she would be able to get it back in. It seemed scarier than any other part of the process. First, she gave Keep a shot that was supposed to make the uterus contract and release the placenta. She tugged on the remaining umbilical cord length with one hand and reached back inside of Keep with the other, trying to gently pull the placenta out. Her focus had waned a tiny bit, now that what felt like the most urgent part was over, and there was a baby screaming, but this was still¨C she dragged her attention back to what she was doing. The placenta was larger than she expected, and she dropped it heavily in a tray.

    The uterus did come out, scarily easily, and Sylva applied the little clamping things around the edges of the cut. She didn''t know why, but she had seen people do it in every video she watched. She could repeat the motions, like a clever little monkey, and maybe that''s all she needed to do. After all, if she got the right end result, it wouldn''t matter if she knew why she was doing anything. Right? Right? That was all she had to keep telling herself. The hysteria was setting in as she jammed a clean towel around in Keep''s body, to make sure that there wasn''t anything left in there. Then it was time to start sewing. She sewed up both corners of the pulled out uterus first, then worked her way towards the middle. The tools were so clumsy, and her hands were slippery with blood, and she was having a slow and miserable time. Keep was probably having a worse one, but¨C FOCUS. She brought her attention back to what she was doing, and then after what felt like a million tense stitches pulled around by the unwieldy instruments, the uterus was closed up. She looked to make sure it wasn''t bleeding, and unfortunately discovered that it was. She had to do a couple more stitches in that spot, tying them tight. The bleeding stopped, though there was still blood absolutely everywhere on the table. It was hard to see.

    Then there was putting it back in. Weirdly, it slipped in without much issue. She had to resist fishing around in there to check that it was in place. Since she hadn''t ever seen anyone do that in a video, she had to assume that the whole body knew where its organs were supposed to live. And at last, it was time to sew up all the layers between the uterus and the flesh. So many layers, each needing their own tedious and difficult set of stitches. Her hands were getting tired, her mind was wandering. She made Iri count all her equipment to be sure there hadn''t been anything left behind. The last thing she would want, aside from like, Keep dying, would be to find a pair of scissors got sewn up inside Keep, and then she''d have to fish them out again. That would be so miserable.

    Stitch after stitch. Maybe it was really only two or so layers, the sheath, the stitching up of any bleeding in the small fatty area beneath Keep''s skin, then the closing of the skin itself. By the time that Sylva closed the knot on the last stitch in the top layer of skin, her hands and legs were both extremely jittery. She felt like she had been wrestling with both Keep, Iri, and Maze, to get the right instruments in the right places at the right times.

    "Maze, can you and Ir-Evie, can you clean this all up and put on a bandage. I need to sit down. It''s all done. I gotta go." Sylva practically rushed out of the room, dropping her instruments in the tray with a clatter. She slammed open doors with her hips to avoid getting blood on them, and rushed into the little bathroom. She knelt on the floor and threw up in the toilet, choking, drooling, and sobbing, getting Keep''s blood all over everything.

 Chapter Sixty-Three - Ettas House

    Etta''s House

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Oh the good God sends us comfort in our harshest times of trial. Oh the good God sends us comfort, in the sea and in the sky. Oh the good God sends us comfort, all we need to do is hear; there¡¯s comfort and there¡¯s hope for us to see another year.¡±

    -from ¡°Be My Hearthstone¡±, traditional song

    </blockquote>

    Yan squeezed herself into the back of the small craft, near a bunched up tarp and boxes that were clasped shut. They weren''t locked, but Yan was now here, and alive, entirely on the goodwill of the girl, so she wasn''t about to start going through them. She had the soggy ammunition carton in her hand. Miraculously, it had stayed clutched between her teeth through all of the various trials and tribulations that she had endured since the scuffle in the office.

    As the boat skipped lightly over the tiny waves, Yan inspected her body for the damage that had surely been done to it. She was coming down off her massive adrenaline rush now, so things were beginning to hurt in full force again. Her broken fingers, which had been jostled significantly, throbbed. She was bruised all over, and had a particularly nasty lump forming on the top of her head where she had hit the stairs. The bottoms of her feet were shredded from running over the sharp rocks on the hillside and along the beach. Her right hand was intensely sore from the muscle strain involved in resisting the Green King''s power. Nothing new was broken, though, and she had no life threatening injuries. She had gotten off positively unscathed.

    The girl stood at the helm, consulting a screen built into the front of the small boat, and turning the rudder according to what it showed her. She seemed completely indifferent to Yan''s presence at the moment, but maybe that was only because she was focused so intently on driving the boat as fast as she could that she had no time to worry about her passenger. She had tossed the gun onto the floor of the boat, and it lay there, among the coils of rope, looking as innocent as it could. Yan wasn''t going to touch it. There was a truce between them, now. The girl had saved her life, for no reason that Yan could discern. Thinking about it, the tears rushed to Yan''s eyes. She felt overwhelmingly guilty about how she had treated her, and, despite that, the girl had, for some reason, decided to help her. To abandon her own job, possibly her whole life, to help a stranger who had held her at gunpoint. That was¡­ Yan, who had done many difficult things in her life, couldn''t imagine herself standing in that girl''s cloth shoes and making the same choice. She swiped ineffectively at her eyes with her sore hands and sat silently in the bottom of the boat.

    They sailed in silence for hours. The battery powering the engine buzzed and hummed. Eventually, the sun began to come up over the horizon, slipping too-bright fingers through Yan''s thick eyelashes. She might have nodded off at one point, but that woke her up, along with the girl shutting off the boat''s engine and abandoning her station at the front of the craft. She walked to the back, and pulled on the tarp that was rolled up back there. As she unfurled it and pulled it over their heads and all across the top of the boat, Yan saw that the top of it was a solar panel material that would recharge the battery.

    The girl tied it down, and Yan didn''t dare move to try to help. She didn''t want to mess anything up, and she didn''t want to scare the girl either. Once it was all attached, the whole interior of the boat was dim. The water still reflected light up inside, and made dancing patterns on the underside of the tarp, but the immediate glare of the rising sun was gone. It was humid and warm, but hardly any different from the exterior, since the sides were still basically open to allow air to pass through. They wouldn''t suffocate. The girl sat down, leaning her head against the steering column, and staring across the boat at Yan. They regarded each other cautiously. The gun was still on the floor between them, but since neither of them had made a move for it this whole time, many hours, they both seemed to understand each other in that regard.

    One of them had to be the first to break the silence.

    "Thank you," Yan said in Old Imperial, the only language she thought the girl might know. "Thank you for saving me."

    The girl said something back in her own language, sounding much calmer than she had earlier.

    "Yan." She pointed to herself. They could at least know eachother''s names, if nothing else.

    "Etta." The girl, Etta, pointed to herself. Yan smiled.

    "Nice to meet you, Etta."

    Etta said something else, then slowly crawled over to the back of the boat where Yan was. She couldn''t really walk because of the tarp. Yan scooted out of her way, careful not to touch her. She opened up one of the latched boxes and pulled out two yellow life jackets, the puffy kind with the thick foam in them. Etta handed one of them to Yan, who took it and inspected it. Her year at the Academy had taken overnight trips to the ocean a few times, so Yan was vaguely familiar with how they were worn. She probably should have been wearing this already, since she didn''t know how to swim at all. Yan pulled it over her head and Etta laughed.

    She scooted herself back up toward the front of the boat, held up her own life jacket, and put it down on the bottom of the boat. Then she laid down, curled up so that she wasn''t kicking the sides of the boat, using the foam as a pillow. They had been on the run all night long. Maybe it was time to sleep, for real. Although she may have closed her eyes and slipped away as the boat skipped over the waves, Yan felt a little reluctant to lay down and sleep now. It felt more vulnerable to be consciously doing it.

    Perhaps she was less vulnerable than she had been during her entire imprisonment, but the lack of walls around her, and the entire unknown feeling of this strange new world was making her head spin. Either that or the rocking of the boat on the water, the fact that she hadn''t eaten in days, or her swollen head injury from being pushed down the stairs. It could have been any number of things. Slowly, watching Etta, Yan pulled the life jacket back off and laid down on the floor of the boat. Now that both of the women were lying there, staring at each other, neither of them closed their eyes. There was so much that Yan wanted to say to Etta, but none of it was possible, since they didn''t speak the same language at all.

    Etta closed her eyes first, more willing to trust Yan, apparently. Either that or she was more tired from taking control of steering the boat all night long. Yan watched as the reflected light danced across Etta''s face. Asleep, she seemed much more whole, as both sides of her face were equally slack. Yan wondered just what kind of injury she had sustained to her head to make her face like that. She had noticed her limp, too, and the way she favored one hand when doing complicated tasks. From what she knew about serious brain injuries like what had caved the side of Etta¡¯s head in, Etta was probably lucky to have the ability to move that half of her body at all.

    Yan nodded off. Since she was unused to having a pillow (her cell didn''t have one), she found even the scratchy, stiff fabric of the life jacket to be an improvement. In her dream she walked through her empty white space. Halen was there with her. Why was it always Halen?

    "Did you survive?" Halen asked her.

    "Did you?"

    "The old me didn''t," Halen said. "He stayed behind."

    "Yeah."

    The landscape morphed and shifted away from the blank white, and she was on the boat with Etta. Etta was sitting on the edge, dragging her feet through the water. Yan stood behind her, looking out over the flat, infinite ocean. The sun got in her eyes. The water was clear all the way down to the rocky bottom. Yan had no idea how deep it was. It could have been a meter. It could have been ten thousand.

    "Why did you save me?"

    "Wouldn''t you have done the same?" Etta asked. Here in the dream, she spoke flawless Terlin, Yan''s native language. She looked up at Yan over her shoulder. "Would you be able to stand there and let someone suffer?"

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "I don''t know." She felt tears on her cheeks, or maybe it was just the spray of the waves hitting the side of the boat.

    "You might want to figure that out. Just in case," Etta said, turning away.

    "I''m sorry for what I did," Yan said.

    "You did what you had to to survive," Etta said. "And you''ll do it again."

    In her heart, she wasn''t just referring to what she had done to Etta. She was thinking too of that tiny shuttle crammed full of people, and what she and Sid had done to survive. Thinking of it still sent pangs of guilt through her, regardless of what she had thought was necessary at the time, and regardless of what anyone else told her.

    "But¨C"

    Etta dived off the side of the boat, swimming down, down, down, infinitely far. Yan reached into the water to grab her and pull her back up, but she started to fall in as well. Her face hit the water, and Yan woke up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright, and hitting her head on the tarp above her.

    Etta was still asleep. Yan''s mouth was painfully dry. She crawled over to the side of the boat, and stuck her head out stifflythrough the gap in the tarp. The horizon did seem endless, with nothing breaking up the blue-green-white of the waves and the steel-blue of the sky. The sun was about halfway between the horizon and its zenith. Yan, still a little wary from her dream, reached down her hand into the water. It was colder than she expected. She pulled a handful of it up and put it in her mouth. It was salty, but less salty than the ocean water on Emerri. She wondered if it was safe to drink.

    The sound of her crawling around the bottom of the boat had awakened Etta, who crawled over to see what Yan was doing. She laughed again, a sound hoarse from sleep, and opened another one of the chests. She pulled out an odd contraption, some sort of water filter, and scooped it down in the ocean, filling up the top reservoir. There was a pump handle on it, and she pressed it to force the water through the filter medium into a lower chamber. She then unscrewed the two halves and offered it to Yan. Yan drank some, amazed at how thirsty she was, but stopped before she drank all of it. She handed it back to Etta, who drank the rest and reassembled the filter, which she passed to Yan. Yan busied herself with pumping more freshwater out of the ocean as Etta unfastened the tarp from above them and rolled it back up toward the back of the boat.

    Once the reservoir in the pump was full, Yan set it down. She glanced at Etta, who was consulting the navigation screen at the front of the boat, and decided that it was okay for her to check the rest of the boxes for food. She doubted there would be any, since Etta probably would have pulled that out first thing, but it didn''t hurt. Unfortunately, her suspicions were confirmed as she found only miscellaneous boat supplies: rope, flares, a bucket, and other tools that she couldn''t identify and didn''t want to mess with for fear of breaking. Her stomach had reached the hunger point where it had stopped physically complaining, but food was just about the only thing she could think of. Yan was glad that she had been able to escape when she had, because she doubted that if she had remained in her cell with the drugged food she would have been able to resist eating it.

    Etta started up the motor again, and the boat resumed cutting through the water. It was slower than a car, but it was much faster than Yan would have expected, considering its size. Granted, it was hard to judge speed by anything other than the feeling of the wind hitting her face. Yan scooted closer to the front of the boat to watch what Etta was doing. The screen up there showed a simple directional display, with various beacons. Etta simply steered the boat towards one of them. Yan wondered what the satellite situation on this planet was to enable such navigation. There had to be some. Either that or an extensive sea-based beacon relay setup. Satellites seemed easier. There was text on the screen that Yan couldn''t read. It wasn''t using any of the standard alphabets throughout the Empire, or any of the Old Imperial logograms that Yan could recognize.

    Yan had known, on some level, that she wasn''t in the Empire anymore, but it was hitting her just how different this world was. She stared out at the flat expanse of water and waited. Etta hummed a little song under her breath, but she must have decided that trying to talk to Yan was more trouble than it was worth because of the language barrier. They sailed on and on. Yan tried to stay focused on the present, but her thoughts slipped back into her past, and she almost wondered if she was dreaming, still in her cell. She tried not to slip back into her daydream space either; it wouldn''t be helpful to her, now, and she was worried that if she kept using it she would really be crazy. Something about being cooped up so long had wrecked part of her brain. The lack of walls around her felt unreal, and she still felt like she was being watched by cameras hidden somewhere. No matter how much she tried to breathe and stay focused on the present, those fears kept creeping into her. Maybe that was reasonable, since she was still far from anything she had ever known, and was probably still in danger, but it didn''t help anything.

    "Yan," Etta said, interrupting her long reverie. She pointed at the horizon, and Yan squinted to see what she was pointing at. Some other landmass was coming into view. At the moment it was just a dark smudge sideways to the setting sun, but it clearly broke up the ever expanding ocean, as soon as it was pointed out to her. Yan sat up straighter in the boat, and Etta gunned the engine, ramping up their speed. She said something in her own language and smiled.

    They approached the island, and Yan could see that it was populated, with a few buildings, a pier with boats, farms, a large netted off area in the ocean around one side, and dirt paths. The island was built on a hill or a stubby mountain, so Yan couldn''t tell how long the island was. It was several kilometers wide, probably, and it loomed large as they approached. Etta drove the boat handily up to one of the piers, killing the engine and letting the boat drift in and bang on the dock. She hopped out lightly and gestured for Yan to toss her the rope. Yan did so, revealing the gun that was resting in it in the process. She kicked it uncomfortably over to the side of the boat and tried to ignore it. She handed the end of the rope to Etta, who tied the boat to the dock.

    Etta jumped back in the boat and gathered up various supplies. She had seen Yan kick the gun away, and she looked at Yan cautiously, then went over, picked it up, unloaded it, and put the gun and ammunition in separate boxes, burying them under the supplies in there and locking them away. Yan stood as still as she could in the bobbing boat and waited for her to finish. Interrupting Etta while she did something like that seemed like an ill advised idea at best, and a dangerous one at worst. Once that was all sorted, Etta climbed out of the boat and held out a hand to hoist out Yan.

    They paused there for a moment, Yan looking at her cautiously, but then she accepted, and Etta helped her climb over the side of the boat onto the dock. Yan''s broken fingers hurt as she used her left hand to stabilize herself, and her cut feet screamed as they encountered the rough wood. She gritted her teeth and bore it, waiting for the wobbles in her body to subside as she got used to the world not moving underneath her anymore.

    The sun was just about to slip below the line of trees that blocked the horizon, and Etta started walking away from the dock, glancing behind her every few seconds to see if Yan was following. There weren''t many people out, but it was probably time for the evening meal in most houses. Either that or the boats that were docked, which there were a fair few of, did not represent the total number of boats that called this island (and Yan was fairly certain it was an island, rather than an outcropping of a continent) their home. The road that Etta led her down was basically just a path scraped free of vegetation, leaving the loose, rough rocks behind. It hurt to step on with her bare feet, but Etta''s cloth shoes could hardly be doing that much to protect her. Their shadows stretched behind them as they wound their way up the hill.

    The sound of crunching gravel and the purr of an electric engine pierced the air, and Etta stopped. A dawning look of fear crossed her face, and she gestured for Yan to first get behind her, then go into the trees. Yan obeyed, practically diving into the undergrowth at the side of the road. She certainly didn''t have the expertise to argue with Etta about this. She peered out through the bushes as an open air truck drove past. It honked its horn as it passed Etta, and she plastered half a smile on her face and waved. She waited for a long time before beckoning Yan out of her hiding spot; the sound of the truck faded into the far distance.

    "Everything okay?" Yan asked, even though Etta would have no way of telling her. Etta gave a thin smile and they continued on their journey. Luckily, they didn''t encounter anyone else on the way: no travelers, no cars, not even a stray dog that would cause a fuss with a stranger. Their destination was on the other side of the first tall hill that lumped towards the beach. The road circled it, but there was a worn footpath that went directly over top, through the trees, that Etta led Yan over. The trees granted privacy, and though Yan''s legs were unused to stairs after so long pacing on flat ground, that was worth the sacrifice of going uphill. The lights from nearby buildings faded away behind the greenery, and the sun''s last rays crept away, leaving the sky a dusty dark red that slowly faded to black.

    The building they headed to was a squat house, built into the side of the hill, with a flat roof covered by some homemade furniture, and a set of wooden steps that went down to the door. It was almost impossible to tell it was a house from the direction they approached in; it was only when they climbed down the steps that the front of the building was revealed. Etta opened the door, wooden with just a screen window, confidently and stepped inside. She held the door open for Yan and closed it behind herself.

    "Amma," Etta called out. "Om heidle re." Etta turned to Yan, who was examining the space. Etta''s mouth twitched nervously, and she reached over to Yan, ineffectively trying to brush off some of the dried blood and grime that was covering her. Whose blood it even was at this point, Yan didn''t particularly know. Probably her own? Maybe from falling down the stairs? Or something? Yan didn''t even know. There had been so much going on that she probably had forgotten about half the injuries she had sustained. It could have been Etta''s blood, from when Yan elbowed her enough to give her a nosebleed.

    The home was clean and airy, with wooden furniture covered with simple woven blankets that resembled Etta''s sewn shift in texture. There was a reed rug on the floor surrounding a low table, where a pleasantly scented candle burned. The lights were electric, but few and far between, and Yan noticed several empty sockets where bulbs probably should have been. There was no television, but there was a tablet sitting on the low table. This world was clearly not devoid of technology, but given the rough nature of a lot of it, it seemed to be in somewhat short supply. The whole place gave off a homey feeling, and was clearly designed for maximum air flow.

    "Amma?" Etta called out again.

    "Etta?" The voice, clearly belonging to an older woman, came from the other room, hidden behind a curtain made of wooden beads. "Blan taver ra, deha?"

    "Hei," Etta said, then spat out a bunch of syllables so fast that Yan couldn''t even follow the sounds. A running faucet, which Yan hadn''t even processed as part of the noise in the house, shut off, and a woman emerged through the beaded curtain. She looked almost identical to Etta, but with wiry grey hair pulled up in a bun, and a face that was as vivacious as it was wrinkled. She was wearing the same style of dress as Etta had, but hers was decorated with little wooden beads along the hems, and it clacked pleasantly as she walked in. The woman didn''t even seem to notice Yan, she just walked over to Etta and embraced her, rubbing their cheeks together.

    "En wessa ra." The woman wrinkled her face, as though she smelled something disgusting.

    "Hei," Etta said. "Amma, an shina roe. Yan." Etta pointed at Yan, who stood awkwardly, watching Etta''s interaction with her¡­ mother? Probably.

    The woman clapped her hands together and bowed slightly in Yan''s direction. Yan, stiffly, mindful of her broken fingers and frozen neck, echoed the gesture.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    "En hashaba ra," Etta''s mother said to Yan. Yan didn''t know if she should repeat it back, so she just smiled awkwardly. Etta''s mother''s mouth twitched, perhaps in displeasure, perhaps in confusion, and she turned to Etta. "An wallah roe?"

    Essa raised her arms helplessly. "Tappa noe roe ba."

    "Ah."

    Yan watched the two of them have a conversation. Etta glanced helplessly at Yan as her mother grabbed her gently by the arm and led her off behind the beaded curtain. Yan could still hear what they were saying, but it didn''t make much of a difference since she couldn''t understand it. She occupied herself by walking around the room, returning to her pacing. Her feet hurt, but that wasn''t going to stop her. She got used to the space, a long uninterrupted stretch of floor behind the table, and walked back and forth her usual six steps. Even though she had plenty more space, it was still six steps, hop, turn. The remnant of the chain on her ankle was short enough that it didn''t even need her to hop, but she did it anyway. She closed her eyes and blocked out the world.

    For once, she wasn''t trying to get back to her little daydream space, but that was where she went. Halen was there, walking alongside her, through the endless white expanse with stars above.

    "You could imagine a more interesting place, you know," he said.

    "That''s harder."

    "Maybe."

    "Think if I imagine food here I''d start feeling less hungry?"

    "I''m surprised you''re not imagining yourself eating me."

    "Don''t test your luck."

    "I''m a bigger meal than you could handle."

    "Store you away for when I hibernate in the winter."

    Halen laughed. "I''m sure you''ll get to eat soon. This island isn''t hurting for greenery. I''m sure that means there''s farms somewhere."

    "I wish I could understand what''s going on."

    "You''ve been in this position before."

    "Yeah, and I hate feeling like a kid. I hated not speaking the language as a ten year old, and I hate it now."

    "You''ll learn."

    "I don''t want to stay here long enough to."

    "How do you think you''re going to get off?"

    Yan rubbed the back of her neck. Even in this waking dream space, the thick scars in a T on the back of her neck were easily felt. She wondered what they looked like.

    "This planet, the pirates obviously visit it sometimes. They''re probably like spacers. I could hitch a ride."

    "With the face of the most wanted woman in the galaxy?"

    "I''m flattered."

    "We''re all searching for you, back home. On Emerri."

    Home. She knew that this Halen was just a figment of her imagination, but hearing him say it still was more comforting than she wanted to admit, even to herself, even here. She might even be lying to herself, only thinking that people were searching for her. For all she knew, they believed her dead. She had to hope, though.

    "If I get this chip out, I can change my face."

    "You got better at the light trick?" Halen inside her head was really just her voicing her own fears, she reminded herself. No, she hadn''t practiced the disguise illusions very much, but she was confident that she could learn, with enough time.

    "I might have to do something more permanent than that," Yan said.

    "Like what?" Halen asked, but her thoughts were interrupted by someone shaking her shoulder. Yan''s eyes snapped open in a panic, and she whirled, but then she saw the warm wooden walls around her and remembered where she was. She wasn''t in her cell, just in her mind. Etta looked up at her, concern written plainly on the mobile half of her face.

    "Flidr," Etta said, pointing to the table. Her mother was in the room, too, putting down a large bowl and a stack of breads on the short table. It smelled delicious. Yan wondered how long she had been zoned out for, for the mother to have time to make all of this food. Or maybe it was premade and reheated. Yan''s sense of time had been utterly destroyed. She didn''t know when she would get it back. Etta led her over to the table and sat down cross legged on the floor. Yan sat next to her.

    "Clebat mannis ra," Etta''s mother said sharply, looking at Yan. Etta sighed and stood, beckoning Yan up. Dismayed and disoriented, Yan followed Etta, who disappeared behind the beaded curtain. Yan ducked through and shivered as all the tiny beads hit her face. It was overstimulating. Etta pointed at the sink, which was more like a faucet over a trough, and Yan washed her hands. They weren''t as dirty as they could have been, but there was salt that had dried from the ocean water all over her arms, making a white crust on her skin. Yan puzzled at it for a second before the cool water washed it away.

    Etta shut the water off for her as she stood there, staring down at her hands. It startled Yan. She was torn between feeling offended that she was being treated like a baby and concerned that she had zoned out for so long while doing such a simple task. After she ate she would feel better. The pair returned to the kitchen and sat back down. Yan was tall enough that her knees banged the bottom of the table as she sat.

    Etta''s mother passed out thick fried bread to the three of them, and Yan watched as she and Etta used it to scoop out food from the larger bowl. Yan did the same. It was vegetables in sauce, and it was delicious. It could have been anything and she would have eaten it. She ate so fast and so much that her stomach twisted up and she almost vomited. She kept it down though. All through dinner, Etta and her mother talked in their own language, occasionally casting glances of various types at her. Yan tried to focus on the food and ignore their concerned, angry, frustrated, scheming, tired, long-suffering looks and tones. As they scraped the bottom of the bowl with bread, the conversation wound down. Etta''s mother took the dishes and brought them to the kitchen. Yan yawned, feeling weighed down by all the food in her stomach.

    She returned to her pacing, like a caged animal, as Etta puttered around the house doing various tasks. She didn''t know how long it would be safe here. Obviously not long. The Green King probably knew where Etta''s family was, and since Etta had taken her away, it was only natural that someone come looking for them here. The only thing that might cause a delay would be that the Green King needed medical attention on his bullet wound. They wouldn''t come after Yan without him, since they probably thought she could use the power unimpeded. That wasn''t how Yan would describe her use of the power, but it was more than nothing. She needed to get the chip out. She needed some way to tell Etta that there was a chip.

    Yan looked around in the house for a piece of paper and pencil. There wasn''t any, but there was the tablet on the table. Its display was in an incomprehensible language, but the large icons arrayed on the side were as clear as they would be on any tablet of Imperial manufacture. Either the design language was universal, which Yan doubted, or there was significant, one-way cross contamination between the Empire and¡­ whatever this civilization was. Yan found the drawing app. With a shaky finger, she sketched out a profile view of her head, and used bright red to indicate the location of the chip. She drew some squiggly radio lines off of it (hopefully that meaning would come across), and a knife on the side, to indicate that it needed to be removed.

    She hoped the meaning was clear, but the more she looked at it the less confident she was that Etta and her mother would understand. Well, there was at least the chance that Etta knew about the chip. After all, she worked for the Green King. She probably knew a lot about everything that went on. Yan found Etta in the kitchen, scrubbing down the dishes and putting them away. Yan hovered near the beaded entryway and waited for her to finish. She didn''t know where her mother had disappeared to. Etta finally realized she was there, and put away the last dish. She turned to Yan, and Yan handed her the tablet. Etta studied it with a frown. She said something in her own language, shook her head slightly, and took the tablet out of the room. Yan followed her, and Etta went through another beaded doorway and down a set of stairs into a cool, stone basement. The whole room reminded Yan of her cell, and she shuddered a little bit. But there was light on the walls, and a woven reed mat on the floor, and a tub where Etta''s mother was scrubbing out clothing.

    Etta walked to the other side of the tub and started a conversation with her mother, holding up the drawing so that her mother could see it without getting soapy wash water on the tablet. Their conversation was rapid. Eventually, Etta''s mother tossed the robe she had been scrubbing into the tub, rinsed her hands off in the faucet, and came over to Yan. She took Yan''s chin, and Yan suppressed a shudder. She tried to turn Yan''s head, but of course couldn''t because of how stiff Yan''s neck was. Yan shuffled sideways awkwardly, to let Etta''s mother examine the little nook between her jaw and her ear, where the small incision scar was. She ran her fingers over it and a shiver went up Yan''s spine.

    Etta''s mother shook her head and dropped her hand, then said something rapidly to Etta. Etta frowned, then gave Yan a helpless look. Her mother, seeing that, said something else to her. Etta sighed heavily, then beckoned Yan back upstairs. She was glad to be out of the basement. Etta walked over to a nook in the living room, where a series of drawers were inset into the wall. She pulled out a large blanket and shook it out, dropping little packets of something sweet smelling to the ground. Yan helpfully gathered them up and put them back in the drawer. Etta walked toward the back of the house, on the other side of the kitchen, where there were two more beaded curtains and a door. She opened the door, revealing a bathroom with a simple shower and squat toilet. Etta nudged Yan into the bathroom, and pointed at the thin woven towel that hung on the door. The meaning was clear¨C she needed to clean herself up.

    Etta wandered away as Yan did her business. She came out cleaner than she had been in a long time. The soap had smelled strongly of burning wood, which was a smell that Yan found pleasant, and so she was glad that it clung to her as she wrapped herself in the towel. She heard Etta fussing in one of the rooms covered by the beaded curtains, so she entered, bearing her dirty clothes. Etta had laid the blanket down on the floor, over top of some mattress roll. Her own bed was similar, so it wasn''t as though Yan was getting the terrible guest bed, just the spare.

    Etta said something to her, sounding apologetic, as she fluffed up the pillow. Yan smiled thinly. They had just slept, on the boat, not that long ago, but maybe it was time to start keeping normal human hours, whatever those were.

    "It''s fine," Yan said. She looked around a little helplessly for where she should put her filthy clothes, and if there was anything other than a towel for her to wear. Etta saw her struggle, and retrieved a dress like the one she was wearing and handed it to Yan, taking her dirty clothes and tossing them into a woven straw basket in the corner. Yan retreated back to the bathroom to put the dress thing on, though undoubtedly Etta had already seen her naked at some point, one of the many times she was passed out. It absolutely didn''t fit¨C it was too wide in the waist and too short in the everywhere else, but it was what it was. At least it covered her body more than it didn''t.

    Yan hung up her towel and returned to where Etta was. She sat down cross legged on the pad and wrapped the blanket around her. It was nice to have a blanket. She hadn''t had one in her cell. Etta sat on her own pad, and the two considered each other once more. They were doing a lot of that, this sitting and staring at each other, as if there was something they could learn from just that. Yan just had to trust that Etta wasn''t going to steer her astray.

    Etta pulled the cord on the light, plunging them both into darkness. The room had no windows, so it felt just like¨C it felt just like¨C Yan focused on the feeling of the blanket around her, and the sound of Etta''s soft breathing across the room. She wasn''t alone. This was fine.

    She laid down, curled up, with her left hand tucked against her chest. It was hard to fall asleep when she didn''t feel tired, after a long time where her only sense of time passing was how tired she was at various points. She also felt nervous, as though someone could come through the door at any second. Someone could.

    "You can relax," Halen said.

    "No, I can''t."

    "You need the sleep."

    "Why won''t you go away?"

    "You brought me here."

    Yan wasn''t in her complete mental space, she just heard Halen''s voice in her ear, and she mouthed her response back. She hoped that she wasn''t going to have to live with this her entire life, however long that was. If she had driven herself crazy, she should be able to drive herself un-crazy, right? Just ignore it. Don''t engage. Focus on the real.

    "But you needed this," Halen said.

    "Not right now."

    "You might still."

    Yan rolled over, pulling the blanket up to her ears in an attempt to drown it out. It was all in her head.

    Yan woke in a bit of a panic, feeling strangled by her blanket. It felt a little too much like someone''s hands on her, and she wrestled with it, straining her injured fingers in her panic. Then the soft light from the bulb overhead, and the wooden walls, and the lumpy mattress pad beneath her, and Etta''s concerned face all registered in her head. It was all too like that one night on¡­ God, what planet had it even been? Olar. With Iri. A million years ago.

    Etta was no Iri, but she helped Yan up, and the smell of something warm and cooked floated in from the kitchen. Etta said something, and pointed Yan to the bathroom. Yan caught her breath from her panic, smiled shakily, and went in and shut the door behind her. It was unfortunate that this house didn''t seem to understand the concept of chairs, because there wasn''t even a toilet for her to sit and cry on. She cried anyway, and turned on the shower so that Etta and her mother wouldn''t hear her.

    In some ways, it felt much worse to be reliant on these people''s charity than it did to be stuck in her cell. At least, to the extent that it was physically possible, she had control over her own actions, and no moral imperative to treat other people a certain way. It was stressful to be back with people, after so long. Was that crazy?

    She let the shower water run over her, until she felt like she had stopped crying. And if her eyes were red still, it didn''t particularly matter. She put back on the ill fitting robe dress (more like a tunic) and washed out the gross taste from her mouth.

    There was bread and a hot vegetable soup for breakfast. Etta and her mother ate it by drinking the broth from the bowl, and scooping up the chunks with the bread. Yan copied. It wasn''t like she could ask for a spoon, when there probably weren''t any, and she didn''t have the words to, anyway. She felt sullen all through breakfast, resentful of Etta seeing her moment of weakness, no matter how stupid, dumb, ridiculous¨C of course she had seen her moment of weakness¨C Etta had been in her room every time she pretended to sleep for¨C

    Yan wanted to smash her head on the wall; the thoughts just kept rolling around in her head.

    Etta and her mother kept up a lively conversation. Yan tried to listen to it, just to take her mind off of her own situation. She noticed the way that Etta''s dropping face made her words come out more stiffly, more slurred, than her mother''s. She noticed the way they looked at her, and the way they looked at eachother. She missed her mother.

    It had been a long time since she had thought about that. Yan put her bowl down and ran her right hand over her hair. It was getting a bit too long again, but not long enough to braid by a long shot. She forced her hand back down onto her lap. Not time to think about that.

    For some reason, Etta and her mother both seemed to be procrastinating with finishing their breakfast. The hesitancy made her worried. When they could pick over their soups no longer, Etta brought the dishes to the kitchen, and her mother went outside. Yan contemplated following, but though the better of it, since she was still, definitely, a wanted person. And there would be no sense in trying to listen in on whatever she was doing, since Yan couldn''t understand anyway. So she followed Etta into the kitchen and helped wash the dishes. They went through those motions painfully slowly as well.

    Etta''s mother came back in, had a short conversation with Etta, who blanched slightly, and then headed down into the basement. She returned with a long shawl, which she handed to Yan. When Yan didn''t do anything with it, she sighed loudly and wrapped the shawl over and around Yan''s head in a complicated knot, shading the top of her face. She also pulled out a long woven cloth, similar in material to the dress Yan was wearing, and tied it around Yan''s waist. It at least did more to cover up her body than the ill fitting tunic she was wearing did.

    All of this was clearly in preparation for going out. A spare pair of the cloth shoes were procured as well, and though Yan''s feet were larger than intended, it wasn''t as though they had much form to restrict her. She was disguised and dressed, as well as she could be. They would all just have to hope that no one questioned them, because there was no way that Yan was answering any questions. Etta''s mother packed a small bag and strapped it to her own back.

    Yan really wanted to ask where they were about to go, but they couldn''t stay here. It really was only a matter of time before someone came to investigate Etta. It was surprising to Yan that the Green King and his cohort apparently weren''t part of some greater organized government. If they were, they surely would have contacted the local authorities on this island, and had them come arrest Etta, even if Yan wasn''t around.

    Etta''s mother ushered them out the door, locking it behind her. They made their way back down the path towards the ocean. Just as before, there were very few people around, but the path looked different in the bright daylight. Yan was sweating profusely after just a few steps out the door. The cloth wrapped around her head was just keeping the humidity in the air trapped on her skin. How the interior of the house had stayed cooler than this, Yan didn''t know.

    Etta and her mother talked as they walked, but they both walked quickly, and Etta panted a little bit as she tried to keep up. The faster she went, the more pronounced Etta¡¯s odd gait was. Yan was also having her own problems, unused to the floppy cloth shoes and still coping with the destruction that had been wreaked on her feet not so long ago.

    There were a few people at the docks, but Etta''s mother led Etta and Yan in a path that kept them away from anyone who might try to talk. They passed right by Etta''s little boat and went to a different, slightly larger one. This one had a mast with a sail tied down. Actually, Yan didn''t know if the boat that Etta had taken away actually belonged to her, or if it was stolen. Didn''t matter now. Etta''s mother was spry as she prepared the boat for sail. Yan clumsily climbed down into the boat, sitting down in what felt like an unobtrusive corner as Etta untied the ropes from the dock. The two women spoke to eachother in their language, yelling out what sounded like well practiced commands and comments about the state of the little boat. It was oddly reminiscent of being on her family''s ship, when she would take the shuttle out. Perhaps there was some deep connection there, between all travelers of sea and sky.

    They must not be going on a very long trip, because they hadn''t packed any supplies, aside from whatever was currently in the boat and in Etta¡¯s mother¡¯s bag, but Yan had no idea where they were headed. She was glad to get away, though. As the boat lurched away from the dock with the start of its engine and the additional help of the unfurled sail, Yan leaned back and tried to calm the roiling in her stomach. When they were far enough away from shore that she wouldn''t be seen, she unwrapped the fabric from her head and let the fresh air and light breeze cool her forehead. The sun glinted off the water. The water glinted off the sides of the boat. The island receded behind them in the distance. If Yan had been able to pray truthfully, she would have said a prayer to hope that Etta and her mother would be able to return to their homes unharmed someday. She had no idea if they would be able to.

    They sailed for several hours. This boat was probably both faster and more energy efficient than the other one had been. It required constant effort from Etta and her mother to keep the sail operating at its maximum efficiency. They traded off duties with each other. Yan wanted to volunteer to help, and she mimed the actions that Etta was doing as a way of offering, but Etta had laughed, pointed at Yan''s injured left hand, and shook her head. Yan sulked a little at that, unreasonably. She just wanted to feel like less of a burden on them, which she was feeling more of by the second.

    "You''re not a burden," Halen said. "You''re a member of the crew."

    "That''s what people say, but you know they don''t believe it," Yan muttered.

    "Even babies are part of the crew."

    "They should get a job."

    "Not everything is about you and your mother, Yan."

    "Aren''t you lucky to not have mommy issues." She was getting tired of this Halen-in-her-head. She shook her head to clear it.

    Etta looked at her as Yan frowned and talked to herself. Yan snapped out of it and tried to smile up at Etta.

    They ate a bit of food that was in storage aboard the boat. Yan operated one of those water pumps to clear out the ocean water. They kept sailing.

    Eventually, as the sun was about half a hand''s breadth above the horizon, they came to another island. They could see it approaching from far away, both by its dark smudge on the horizon, and by the many, many boats that dashed about the water around it. Buoys littered the place, and Etta''s mother took the helm to deftly navigate around them. Buildings, real ones, like a city, stood out against the sides of the island, though none could have been more than ten stories tall. Even a few massive boats stood docked¨C shipping boats? Cranes hovered above them, but since the sun was on its way out, most of the industrial activity seemed to have ceased. They slipped in to the stream of boats heading in to the docks, and Yan reluctantly pulled the shawl back over her head, knotting it herself at the neck.

    They found an empty place to dock the boat, and Etta jumped out to secure it, while her mother found a place to pay the docking fee. Yan climbed wearily out of the boat and onto the dock. Just staying still in the rocking of the boat, under the beating sun, had taken its toll on her. And she hadn''t even been the one doing the labor of controlling the sail. Though she was still slightly resentful that she wasn''t allowed to at least try helping, she admitted that she was the beneficiary in the situation, and thus should not complain.

    Once out of the dock area, it became clear just how different this island was from the other. The streets were paved, and people were everywhere, pushing carts or driving around on little motorized scooters. No big cars, but the amount of foot and small vehicle traffic more than made up for it.

    Etta started to look overwhelmed, especially as her unusual face and limp caught people''s attention. Yan, feeling compassionate, bumped their shoulders together and held up the edge of her shawl to offer it to Etta. She laughed, and the tension was momentarily broken. She and her mother seemed to know their way around fairly well, or at least they had a specific destination in mind. The streets were lit mainly from the bright lights spilling out of storefronts that lined every avenue. They walked for a long time. Yan''s legs, though still wobbly from the boat, were ready for the distance from her many hours of pacing.

    The area of the city they eventually came to was less well lit, with fewer storefronts and more residential buildings and what seemed to be offices, all mixed together. The paving on the street was more like cobblestone here, and some of the stones were loose, leaving holes that the few remaining pedestrians simply skirted around. Etta chewed on her lip, and Yan, picking up on her anxiety, looked up at the buildings around them with trepidation. No one spared Yan a second glance, which was good. That was at least one worry off her shoulders¨C for some reason, no one recognized her here.

    Etta''s mother stopped in front of a building with a sign out front. The door was locked, but there was a bell and an intercom. She pressed the button for the fourth floor, the top one, and waited for someone to answer. A voice crackled out, and she had a conversation, rapidly, sounding demanding. The other voice gave in with a sigh, and the door clicked open into a dark stairwell. They climbed the stairs. Etta traced her fingers along the wall.

    The fourth floor landing was clean, and had one of those woven reed mats out front. Etta knocked on the door, hesitantly. It swung open.

 Chapter Sixty-Four - Sid, Master of Understanding

    Sid, Master of Understanding

    <blockquote>

    ¡®You may find you¡¯re making a mistake.¡¯

    ¡®I¡¯m not.¡¯

    ¡®Putting your love and trust in him is likely to kill you.¡¯

    ¡®He would never betray me.¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s not exactly what was said.¡¯

    -a conversation with the Emperor

    </blockquote>

    Decompression sickness, Sid decided, was a real bitch of a thing to go through. At least he wasn''t going to go deaf from it, ha fucking ha. He had heard stories of people who had died from coming up too quick from diving, or had like, nerve damage or whatever. He was probably lucky. His decompression had only lasted a little while¨C half a minute at most. He just had achy joints and a rash that wouldn''t go away and a headache and blurred vision that he hoped would fix itself and a persistent dizziness and¨C

    Sid lay in his cabin aboard the Impulse with his face pressed into his pillow and groaned. The vibration in his chest was a pleasant distraction from the pain. He felt like he was purring, even though it wasn''t in pleasure.

    For once, Sid was glad to have Kino around. She was taking care of the diplomatic part of the mission. Whatever was left of it, anyway, after someone almost murdered Sid. And everybody else on the shuttle, of course. It was a funny joke that God was playing on him. He had protested so much that this would be a safe trip for him, and then he had almost died. If he had been a little slower with the power, he would have. If it had been Kino on that shuttle instead of him, who knows what would have happened. He never wanted to go on a shuttle again.

    Sid wondered what was going on with the other people on the shuttle: Cesper and Hernan. Sid had been rushed out of the shuttle to be checked out by medical staff immediately, and he had become separated from them. He could only assume that Cesper had been relieved of his duty, on medical grounds at the very least.

    Sid wasn''t exactly sure, but he thought that Cesper had probably saved his life. The man in the shuttle, in the suit. Probably that was Willis? Sid didn''t know. Someone should bring him information. Unless Kino was keeping him on an information diet in the hopes that he''d go to sleep.

    Joke was on her. He was coiled tighter than the spring in a pen. He wouldn''t have been able to sleep, even if the pain in his joints was less distracting. He had been given painkillers, but asked specifically for things that wouldn''t dull his thoughts. For one thing, he didn''t want another taste of Vena, or anything like it. For another, he was feeling rightly paranoid, and if he needed to use the power again, he wanted his brain to be able to make that happen. So the pain in his limbs and head was dulled but not gone.

    His glasses sat on his bedside table. They had freed themselves from his shirt during the mad struggle, but they had avoided floating away into space. Someone had tucked them into his hands after the confusion was over. That was good. He didn''t bring a spare pair.

    Sid lay in his bed, face down, until his phone vibrated with an alert. He looked at it unhappily. It was from Cesper.

    > open your door, I''ve been standing here knocking like an idiot for two minutes

    < you are an idiot. why''d you think knocking would work

    Sid could practically feel the exasperated sigh come from outside the door. He got out of bed and opened it. His joints ached with every movement, but the medicine and just time were doing their job.

    Cesper looked just as bad as Sid did. The same bright red rash covered every inch of exposed skin. It wasn''t painful, really, but it was annoying. Cesper stepped inside, and Sid motioned for him to grab the chair at the little desk. Sid sat down on the bed and put his glasses on. The room was so little that when Cesper turned the chair to face him, their knees knocked together.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    Sid wasn''t exactly sure what Cesper had come here for, but he wasn''t going to send him away. This was probably just like... He remembered Yan, and a bolt of sadness shot through him. At least he wasn''t feeling anything like as badly as he had that other time. Cesper might be.

    ¡°You ok?¡± Sid asked after a long moment of silence.

    ¡°I guess,¡± Cesper said. He shut his mouth and appeared to be thinking. ¡°I wanted to thank you for saving my life.¡±

    ¡°You want to hear me say something rude?¡± Sid asked, smiling a little.

    Cesper didn''t look entirely amused, but he said, ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    ¡°It was really more of a self-preservation thing, so I can''t really take your thanks.¡±

    ¡°The motivations may have been different, but the end result was the same,¡± Cesper said. He smiled a little now, too. ¡°If you hadn''t been there, we would have definitely died.¡±

    ¡°I guess. I kinda did a number on the shuttle, though.¡±

    ¡°I''m not sure if that can be fixed. Luckily we''re going into dock for a while, so I''m sure a new one can be arranged.¡±

    ¡°Am I going to get a bill? For wrecking Fleet property?¡± Sid asked jokingly.

    ¡°They''re going to haul you in front of a Tribunal,¡± Cesper said. The look on his face indicated that he was also joking.

    It felt like a little barrier between them had come down. Maybe all it took to endear two people to each other was a little bit of life and death experience. Sid liked that shortcut.

    ¡°Can I ask you something?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°I was a bit out of it in the end there. After I fixed up the doors, anyway. Did you shoot that guy?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I did.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°I could say the same line about self-preservation,¡± Cesper said.

    ¡°Well, he was holding a gun to my head instead of yours.¡±

    ¡°Did you make the gun missfire?¡± Cesper asked.

    ¡°Uh... Maybe?¡±

    ¡°You don''t know? You sensitives are worse than I thought.¡±

    ¡°I was kinda out of it. I think-- there''s this, like, trick that I learned ages ago. About redirecting bullets? I might have just done that.¡±

    ¡°They teach you how to redirect bullets in school?¡± Cesper asked. His face was incredulous.

    ¡°Hah. No. I learned that when I started my apprenticeship. From my boss''s bodyguard. Halen.¡± Sid kept on adding more and more information as afterthoughts, He was careful not to reveal too much about Halen. There was a lot he wanted to tell Cesper.

    ¡°That makes sense. Have you had to use that trick?¡±

    ¡°In training, one time. And a variation of it, last time I was on a ship.¡± It wasn''t technically the last time he had been on a ship, but those other journeys were uneventful and thus inconsequential. Not even worth mentioning, really.

    ¡°You had to redirect bullets during training? What kind of training were you doing? Were you getting shot at?¡±

    ¡°Haha, yeah.¡± The panic and chaos of that dark room in the simulation chamber in Stonecourt seemed almost funny to him, now. He could better relate to what Kino had gone through, though. ¡°It kinda sucked. But looking back on it, it''s like. Whatever.¡± He flapped his hand in the air, waving the thought away. ¡°Kino honestly has a more dramatic story about it than I do.¡±

    ¡°I''ll have to ask her.¡±

    ¡°She''s taking care of everything, right?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Yeah. My most recent update said that the evacuation is going smoothly.¡±

    ¡°Are we able to actually identify some of the people on the LT? Did we figure out what is going on with the fake names?¡±

    ¡°I think we''re going to have to wait until we''re in port for that, so that we can check people against the citizen database.¡±

    ¡°What, your beautiful ship doesn''t have a copy of that in internal memory?¡±

    Cesper laughed, his mouth open wide. ¡°I''m not sure what use it would have when we''re out exploring, halfway across the galaxy.¡±

    ¡°You never know, you could find a wandering and lost soul out there and bring them home.¡±

    ¡°If we found anyone out that far who belonged to the Empire, I think we''d have bigger problems on our hands than just identifying them.¡±

    ¡°Point taken.¡± They sat in silence for a few moments. Sid stared at Cesper. He looked a bit tired. Maybe more than a bit. ¡°You okay?¡± Sid asked, finally.

    ¡°Mostly.¡± There was another long pause.

    ¡°You gonna elaborate on that?¡±

    Cesper''s chest heaved up and down in a sigh. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, like a fish. Sid thought it was endearing. ¡°I killed that guy. Willis. He''s dead.¡±

    ¡°Really? I thought you just got him in the shoulder?¡±

    ¡°Went right through some arteries. He bled out in his suit before we could get him to the medical area.¡±

    ¡°That kinda sucks, I guess.¡±

    ¡°More than ''kinda''.¡± Cesper rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm and leaned back heavily in his chair.

    ¡°He would have been given the death penalty, anyway,¡± Sid said. ¡°I don''t think any tribunal would put a guy who multiple times disabled ship life support onto a mining colony.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know.¡± That didn''t appear to comfort Cesper, because he stayed in the same position.

    Sid tried to stop and not put his foot in his mouth when he said his next line. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Killing someone sucks, even when it had to happen, or was going to happen anyway. Trust me, I know. It''ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°It''s not even that, really,¡± Cesper said. ¡°I get it. I don''t think I did anything wrong in the situation, except maybe not shoot him earlier, because if you hadn''t been blocking the bullet you would have died when his gun went off, but...¡±

    ¡°What is it then?¡±

    ¡°I''m in the Fleet. I have to be okay with this. It''s what we do. I''m planning to make this my career. It''s not what I thought it was going to be like when I signed up for it, but it''s...¡± Cesper seemed lost and struggling to come up with the words to explain how he was feeling.

    ¡°Yeah. This is kinda what the Fleet does.¡±

    ¡°How do you cope with it?¡± Cesper asked.

    ¡°What, killing people? Or the Fleet?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°I don''t know. Both.¡±

    ¡°Uh. Well I''ve only killed people once, and it was in stupid circumstances. Pirates. And I didn''t cope with it very well. I did a lot of drugs, and I tried to run away from my problems, and I made a lot of people really mad at me. My friend, Yan, she coped with it a lot better.¡±

    ¡°What did she do?¡±

    ¡°I think she prayed about it a lot?¡± Sid didn''t really know how Yan had coped, but after that first little while, where they had huddled up in her bedroom, Yan had seemed so on top of things. She probably had still been worrying about it and thinking about it, but she hadn''t let it destroy her life like Sid almost had. Sid was a little jealous that Yan was more competent than he was in almost every respect, but then again, she was gone and he was here. This was a poisonous line of thought, and he tried to kill it as he waited for Cesper to respond.

    ¡°I''ve never been particularly religious.¡±

    ¡°Me neither.¡±

    ¡°Don''t they make you attend service like, every day at the Academy?¡±

    ¡°No. Not sure where you got that idea from. Just once a week, same as anybody else.¡±

    ¡°Nobody really knows what goes on at the Academy,¡± Cesper said. ¡°We have, uh, two guys on here who are Academy graduates, and they never, ever talk about it.¡±

    ¡°If I had to guess, they''re just cultivating a sense of mystery in order to look more impressive. Can''t really blame them.¡±

    ¡°I find it hard to believe that sensitives would need any extra sense of specialness about them, considering.¡±

    ¡°Well once you''ve got one thing going for you, it gives you a bit more incentive to inflate your own ego,¡± Sid said. ¡°Can''t you tell?¡± He gestured at himself.

    ¡°You seem mostly fine to me,¡± Cesper said. ¡°Kino, too.¡±

    ¡°You don''t think Kino cultivates a sense of mystery? She''s practically steeped in the stuff.¡±

    ¡°I''m not sure what''s mysterious about her,¡± Cesper said. ¡°She''s just a little quiet.¡±

    ¡°I guess you haven''t hung out with her as much as I have. She just never, ever talks about her past, or what she''s thinking about. I don''t think she''s ever given me a personal detail without me prying it out of her. Like if I asked her what''s her favorite color, she''d give a three word answer that somehow doesn''t answer the question.¡±

    ¡°You seem to have a lot of built up anger about this.¡±

    ¡°Am I losing control of my tone?¡± Sid laughed. ¡°Sorry. Kino''s great, I guess. But she doesn''t really connect with people very easily.¡±

    ¡°So what''s your favorite color?¡± Cesper asked.

    ¡°If I told you I was colorblind, would you believe me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Cesper said.

    ¡°Good choice.¡±

    ¡°Are you dodging the question intentionally to prove a point?¡±

    ¡°Caught me. It''s green. But like, a light, yellow-y green. What''s yours?¡±

    ¡°Purple.¡±

    ¡°Really? You don''t strike me as the purple type.¡±

    ¡°What do I strike you as?¡± Cesper asked.

    Sid contemplated for a second. ¡°Maybe an ocean-blue type guy.¡±

    ¡°How dreadfully common,¡± Cesper said.

    ¡°Now we''re all putting on airs,¡± Sid said. ¡°Have I sufficiently distracted you from your misery?¡±

    Cesper laughed, mouth open and teeth glinting in the dull light. ¡°I guess you did, for a minute, until you brought it back up.¡±

    ¡°There I go, running my mouth when I shouldn''t again.¡±

    ¡°It''s okay, I guess I''m just glad you understand what I''m saying.¡±

    ¡°That''s me, Sid, master of understanding.¡± Sid didn''t entirely get what Cesper was going through, and he hadn''t even answered the second half of his question, but if the conversation had switched on to lighter topics, then he wasn''t going to go diving back into the depths of despair without needing to.

    ¡°Your decompression sickness still killing you?¡± Cesper asked.

    ¡°I''m not really dying of it, but it does suck. You?¡±

    ¡°I think I''ll be ok in a day or so. Pretty sure my case of it is lighter than yours.¡±

    ¡°Aren''t you lucky.¡±

    ¡°I guess I am. How''s your head feeling?¡±

    Sid reached up to touch the swollen lump where he had effectively been pistol-whipped. ¡°I was told it wasn''t a concussion, but I''m just going to have a nasty bruise for a couple days.¡±

    ¡°Hair would protect you from something like that.¡±

    ¡°I somehow doubt that.¡±

    Cesper reached across the distance between them, and softly took Sid''s hand off his head, to inspect the place where the gun had hit him. His fingers were gentle on the swollen, ugly bruise. Goosebumps sprang up all over Sid''s body. ¡°Hair would have at least stopped everybody from having to look at it.¡±

    ¡°You don''t like looking at my head?¡± Sid asked, smiling. He grabbed Cesper''s hand.

    ¡°I like it just fine,¡± Cesper said.

    ¡°That''s what I thought.¡± Sid was a little smug. He wondered just how far he could push this. He liked Cesper, quite a lot. And if he needed something to take his mind off of the events of the shuttle, Sid was happy to provide a distraction. ¡°Are you off duty?¡±

    ¡°For the next day, or until I''m cleared, anyway.¡±

    ¡°So this is a purely social visit?¡±

    ¡°Is that not allowed?¡±

    Sid laughed. ¡°No, I''m just wondering how much of your time I can monopolize.¡±

    ¡°As much of it as you want. Fleet ships can be dull when you don''t have any assigned duties.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try to make this less dull for you, then. Want to watch a movie? It''ll get my mind off my headache.¡±

    ¡°Won''t that make it worse?¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Sid said. ¡°I''ll turn the brightness all the way down.¡±

    ¡°Then sure, if you don''t have anything better to be doing.¡±

    ¡°Kino told me that I should stay away from her business. She''s handling it. I''ll take her word for it.¡±

    ¡°I know she said that, but I didn''t entirely expect you to obey her.¡±

    ¡°Am I not allowed to take a day off after a traumatic experience where I almost died?¡± Sid acted fake offended and Cesper laughed as expected.

    ¡°What movie do you want to watch then.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know, I''ll find something.¡± Sid reached down underneath the bed and pulled out his computer. He browsed through his media library until he found a random movie that he liked.

    ¡°Ever seen Jonathan Lingdron is a Dead Man?¡±

    ¡°Don''t think so, what''s it about?¡±

    ¡°It''s a comedy. About a gangster.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± Sid scooted over on his bed so that Cesper could join him. Cesper considered it for a second, looking hesitant. ¡°Come on, you idiot, it''s not like I''m going to have you watch a movie sitting on an office chair. What type of bad host do you take me for?¡±

    ¡°It''s not exactly proper.¡±

    ¡°Not like I''m your commanding officer or anything. Besides.¡± Sid didn''t know what exactly he was saying besides to. He thought that there was mutual attraction between him and Cesper, or at least some sort of possibility of there being some. And he didn''t want to leave him out in the cold, not when he was feeling down about what had happened on the shuttle. They could both use some comfort. That was normal. Right?

    Cesper still looked slightly unconvinced, but at the same time, the look he was shooting at Sid was a desperate one. Sid grabbed his arm. ¡°Come on.¡±

    He relented, and Cesper lay down on the bed next to Sid. It was a small one, so they both had to squeeze. Sid kicked the blankets so that Cesper could get underneath. This curling up in bed with someone after a crisis was becoming a real tradition, wasn''t it? But Cesper was shorter than Yan, by a good few inches, and his body and Sid''s mirrored each other. The colors and details were different, but there was a symmetry there.

    ¡°Comfy?¡± Sid asked. Cesper nodded. ¡°Hit the light, will you?¡± Cesper struggled to reach it from his position on the bed, and almost got up, but Sid sighed, pushed him back down, and used the power to turn off the light.

    Cesper turned his head to look at Sid, his face illuminated by the gentle glow of Sid¡¯s computer. ¡°Why didn''t you do that in the first place?¡±

    ¡°It''s rude to show off,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°It''s not showing off if you''re just being practical.¡±

    ¡°Shhhhhh.¡± Sid put his finger clumsily over Cesper''s mouth. ¡°Don''t worry about it.¡±

    ¡°If I didn''t worry about it, I wouldn''t be the person that I am.¡±

    ¡°At least take your mind off it for a few minutes while we watch a movie, okay?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Cesper was stiff and tense next to Sid as the movie started, but after a while, he began to relax. Their shoulders touched, and Sid casually moved his legs closer to Cesper''s as well. They both made comments occasionally as they watched it, and Sid had a better time than even he had expected. How long had it been since he had done something simple and fun like this?

    When the movie finished, they lay there together in the darkness for a second. Cesper made a move to get up, but Sid grabbed his arm.

    ¡°You don''t have to go, you know.¡±

    Cesper tensed up, but didn''t get out of bed. ¡°What do you want from me?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I don''t want anything from you,¡± Sid said. That wasn''t precisely true. He didn''t want to be lonely. ¡°But I don''t want you to go back to your room still feeling like, I don''t know.¡± Sid didn''t have the words for what he was both trying to get from and give to Cesper. Sid rolled over onto his side, so that they could look at each other. ¡°If you want to go, you can go. But I wouldn''t mind if you stayed.¡±

    ¡°People will talk.¡±

    ¡°No, they won''t.¡±

    ¡°They will.¡±

    ¡°Well at least I won''t hear it,¡± Sid said with a little smile. ¡°I don''t really care. What''s the worst anyone can say?¡±

    "The truth, maybe," Cesper said.

    "And what''s that?" Sid asked, trying to make his voice barely louder than a whisper. There was a conspiratorial nature to their conversation now, like they were the only two people who mattered in the world. He smiled a tiny bit, but it was probably invisible to Cesper in the dark.

    "I don''t know," Cesper said.

    "Do you like me?" Sid asked, abruptly switching the topic of conversation back to something less abstract.

    "Yes. I¨C"

    Sid propped himself up on one elbow, and leaned over toward Cesper. "Can I kiss you?"

    Cesper''s face blushed a hot red in the dim light of Sid''s glasses. Sid wasn''t sure what he was embarrassed about. After all, he had been flirting just as much as Sid had. What else had he touched his head for? Sid was just more willing to be forthright about it. Cesper gave the tiniest nod, and Sid dipped his head down. Their mouths met.

    They awkwardly adjusted their positions so that the kiss would be easier. It wasn''t much at first. Cesper had dry, chapped lips, and Sid hadn''t had much practice with kissing recently, and certainly none with anybody outside the Academy, but this was¡­ nice. It was nice. It was just two people who had saved each other''s lives, having a nice time.

    Cesper''s hands stopped laying on the mattress like dead things, and began to move around, touching Sid''s back, his arms, his neck, his ears. Sid reciprocated and used the arm that wasn''t propping himself up to touch the side of Cesper''s cheek and back into his hair. Cesper''s breathing was shallow, and his face felt warm against Sid''s. Sid broke off the kiss.

    "Do you like that?" he asked.

    "Yes," Cesper said and dipped his head back toward Sid''s. Sid pushed on his shoulder a little bit so that they could lay back down on the bed. Cesper tugged off Sid''s glasses, and turned briefly to put them on the desk behind them. Sid would have protested, but he didn''t think that much intellectual discourse was going to be happening here anyway. He closed his eyes. He was a creature of only touch. His lips were on Cesper''s¨C no, Ervantes, that was his first name¨C and his hands were on his shoulders, on his back, up in the space between his ear and his hair, pushing and pulling, touching and being touched. Ervantes''s breath was heavy and hot through his nose, blowing onto Sid''s face. Sid leaned into it, pushing Ervantes back down into the pillow. They were like that for a long time.

    Eventually, though, Ervantes broke away, gently disentangling himself from Sid''s grasping hands. Sid opened his eyes. They were both sweaty and flushed, and there was a strange gleam in Ervantes''s eyes. It was probably matched by the one in Sid''s. Ervantes opened his mouth and said something. Sid reached up over him to grab his glasses from the bedside table.

    "What did you say?" Sid asked.

    "We should stop," Ervantes said.

    "Why?"

    "Because I''m starting to feel like I''m breaking some sort of professional ethic."

    "At least that''s taking your mind off of everything else," Sid said. Ervantes heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. Apparently that had been the wrong thing for Sid to say. "Sorry."

    "It''s fine." The mood was gone, though. Sid flopped back down on the bed as well.

    Sid closed his eyes. "This is going to sound stupid, so don''t like. I don''t know. I just¡­ I know what it''s like to be in the situation you''re in. And when I was all I wanted was for there to be somebody to hold me."

    If Ervantes said anything in response, Sid didn''t know. He was too good at just turning off conversations that he felt too strongly about. He could just close his eyes. It was like his sister, when she was watching a show, and one of the characters did something embarrassing, she would have to turn away until it was over. Except it was him, just letting the words tumble out of his mouth, free of consequences for as long as he kept his eyes shut.

    Ervantes nudged his shoulder, and Sid opened his eyes and turned to face him.

    "Thank you, again," Ervantes said.

    "Thank you," Sid said. "I mean it."

    "Yeah, me too."

    Ervantes got up, and Sid made no move to stop him. He left the room, leaving Sid alone in the dark again, with nothing but his aching joints, ugly rash, and headache for company. He groaned and clutched at his pillow, feeling the warm, empty space that Ervantes left.

 Chapter Sixty-Five - The Loneliest People in the Whole Wide World

    The Loneliest People in the Whole Wide World

    <blockquote>

    ¡°If you speak the truth, people will either believe or disbelieve. If you speak what¡¯s in your heart people will either love or hate you. Speak what you know to be true, and nothing may change, but you¡¯ll be free of your own burden.¡±

    -from ¡®The Proverb of the Liar¡¯, children¡¯s story

    </blockquote>

    Sylva did her best to avoid everyone over the next few days. She was feeling¡­ Extremely bad would be an understatement. She couldn''t have even said why, if anyone had bothered to ask her. For all intents and purposes, the surgery had gone well. Keep and baby were still alive, and life seemed to be going back to normal. But Sylva was wracked with some sort of unending guilt that made her dread the thought of going back to the little office and resuming her duties. She faked sick for a couple of days, telling Iri to tell everyone that she had a bad cold and didn''t want to get everybody else sick with it as well.

    Iri came back to her on the third day of laying around feeling sorry for herself. She stood in the doorway, putting her hands on her hips and looking down at Sylva as she lay in bed.

    "If you can''t stand to be here anymore, it''s a good thing that we''re docking at a station tomorrow."

    "What?" Sylva asked, not really understanding.

    "Tomorrow. We''re docking at a station. We can leave the ship."

    "Oh." Sylva''s mind was blank. "Should we?"

    "Do you feel like you''re getting any closer to finding Yan by being here?" Iri asked. "Because I don''t."

    "Yeah. You''re right."

    "You agree with me?"

    "I was kinda relying on you to deal with our travel arrangements," Sylva admitted. "I''ve been holed up in the office¨C"

    "No, you''ve been holed up here, but continue."

    "I''ve been holed up and not paying attention to where we''re going. But yeah. You''re probably right. Shouldn''t stay here." Sylva tried to roll over in her bed to get Iri to go away.

    "You''d better say your goodbyes, then," Iri said. "I can talk to Respect for you, but you should at least check in with Keep."

    "Why?"

    "Are you a decent human being or are you a worm?" Iri asked, sounding unexpectedly annoyed. "You didn''t go to her naming ceremony."

    "What?"

    "Her naming ceremony. For the baby. You know, the one you delivered. It was yesterday. I tried to tell you about it but you were so insistent on not leaving here that¨C"

    "I didn''t know it was, like, required."

    "The whole ship went, Sylva. Everyone was there except for you."

    "So you''re saying I should apologize?"

    "Yeah."

    "Why?"

    "Oh my God," Iri said. "I don''t know why I bother with you."

    "Look, she''s a pirate, I''m not. I don''t really¨C"

    "Sylva, are you really here basing your social priorities on who''s an enemy of the state? Because out here that''s a good way to get a gun put to your head."

    "No, I just mean I don''t know anything about their weird ceremonies, and I don''t really¨C"

    "Go. Say. Goodbye. And apologize," Iri said firmly.

    "Is this actually about Sign?"

    "Of fucking course it''s about Sign. His sister is pissed at you which makes him pissed at me. And we do need to get off this ship, and I''d personally prefer doing it in such a way that we don''t piss off this half of the galaxy. This fake identity is too useful to make single use, you know."

    "Fine." Sylva tugged the blankets back up towards her ears.

    "Now." Iri walked further into the little room (it was really only a few steps) and pulled the blanket down off of Sylva, leaving her unexpectedly cold despite her jumpsuit. Sylva flailed her arm and whacked Iri in her solid shoulder. Iri grabbed her arm and hauled her off the bed, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor. "Get going."

    <hr>

    A few minutes later, Sylva was making the trek towards Keep and Sheilder''s rooms. She stood outside their door for a solid minute, hand poised to knock, until the door swung open of its own accord. Shielder looked shocked to see her there, though he didn¡¯t see her until he basically tripped over her, she was that far below his eye level. He was dressed go go out to work his shift, wearing his utility belt around his waist.

    "Hi, Sylva, uh¡­" Shielder was a fairly quiet man. He seemed more confused than anything by Sylva''s presence. He held the door open so that she could go inside. "Keep''s in there."

    "Thanks, Shielder. Have a good shift," Sylva squeaked out.

    "Yeah. See you around." Shielder edged out around her, and Sylva made her way into the tidy and tiny suite that the two of them (three of them, counting the baby) shared. She heard Keep''s voice murmuring something in a back room, behind a closed door. Sylva again hesitated before knocking, but figured she was already here, and rapped on the door.

    The murmuring stopped. "Who''s there?" Keep called out.

    "Hi Keep," Sylva said.

    "Sylva?"

    "Yeah."

    "Come in. Door''s not locked." Keep sounded a little resigned, but Sylva couldn''t back out now, so she pushed the door open. Keep was laying in bed, wearing pyjamas, with her blanket pulled up to her chest. Her little baby was curled up next to her, sleeping, or just laying. Sylva couldn''t really tell.

    "Hi," Sylva said again, awkwardly. She stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Sorry for not coming to your naming ceremony. Iri told me I missed it."

    "Yeah, you did," Keep said. She didn''t look up at Sylva, she just kept looking down at the baby. "I was pretty mad about it."

    "I wasn''t¡­" Sylva trailed off. There wasn''t any good way to explain how she was feeling. "I''m sorry."

    "Is that all you have to say?" Keep asked, her voice flat.

    "I mean, I guess I came to see how you''re doing." She was nervous about hearing about the results of her surgery, but Keep still seemed alive and kicking, so nothing could really be that bad.

    "Fine. I think you bruised my bladder something terrible, though. Hurts like I''m being stabbed to pee."

    "I''m sorry," Sylva said again. That at least didn''t sound like it was going to be life threatening. Keep would probably heal on her own.

    "Again, is that the only thing you have to say?" Keep asked.

    "What do you want me to say?" Sylva asked, unexpectedly angry.

    "You might want to ask what his fucking name is!" Keep gestured angrily at the baby, which rattled the bed and caused the baby to wake up. His arms and legs, swaddled in a soft little baby jumpsuit, flailed weakly, and he cried a tiny, wheezing sound.

    Sylva grabbed her head, shoving her fingers deep into the thick braids that crossed her skull. "I don''t know anything about your custom¨C I didn''t¨C argh." She took a deep breath, yanking on her hair. Keep picked up the baby and shushed him. "What''s his name?" Sylva asked after she got herself under a little bit of control.

    "Travel-Well. We''ll probably call him Trav." Keep said after a moment. "You should have come to the ceremony."

    "I know, I know."

    "Why didn''t you?"

    "I was scared. I¨C I had never done anything like that before. And it was the hardest thing I had ever done, and I didn''t¨C I felt so embarrassed."

    "You''re so weird. You''re so weird." Keep lay back on the bed. "It turned out fine, I think. There''s nothing to be embarrassed about. And now you know if you did it now, you can do it again."

    Sylva''s breath caught in her throat. She was so close to admitting that she wasn''t a doctor, that she had no right to be here, doing anything, but she couldn''t say it. She couldn''t blow her only cover like that, not after she had finally gained her first real piece of clout. She settled for the next best thing. "I''m just¨C I feel like I''m a fraud. Nothing like my father."

    "Fathers are overrated. Don''t tell Sheilder I said that."

    Sylva laughed, and Keep did too. "Okay, I won''t."

    "Seriously, Sylva. Sign told me that you''re like fresh out of school or whatever, but you put your hands where your mouth is, and you got the job done. That''s all anybody can ask from any member of a crew."

    "You''d be singing a different tune if I had fucked up, though," Sylva said. She jammed her hands back in her pockets. "Maybe next time I won''t get lucky."

    "You think you got lucky?" Keep asked. "I feel like I had just about the worst birth I could have had."

    "No, uh, definitely not. Nothing was¨C until I, you know, cut you open, there wasn''t¨C"

    "Well, I wouldn''t have been able to do it without you. If you hadn''t been here, we both could have died."

    "Somebody else would have stepped up and done it. The medical library is¨C it''s a pretty good teaching tool," Sylva said. She was fumbling over her words. "I don''t. Yeah." She gave up.

    "Regardless."

    "Yeah."

    They stood in silence for a moment. "Do you want to hold him?" Keep asked.

    Sylva nodded.

    "Come sit down, then." Keep scooted to the side of the bed, wincing as she shifted her lower body. Sylva sat cautiously on the edge of the bed, and Keep passed her the baby, Travel-Well. He was small, and chubby, and wrinkled, and ugly, in an endearing sort of way. He had a tuft of strawberry blonde hair, and dark brown eyes. Those features, at least, came directly from his parents. He was heavy, for a baby. Had some real heft to him. He stared myopically out at the world, completely uncomprehending. Sylva tucked one of her fingers into his hand, and he grabbed at it. His hand was so tiny, it was shocking. She looked down at him wonderingly for a moment. Keep had made this. Keep had made this.

    "He''s very cute," Sylva said.

    "Isn''t he just."This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    "So do you forgive me for not coming to his ceremony?"

    "Yeah, I guess," Keep said. "Try to go to the next one, will you?"

    "You''re having another baby?" Sylva asked, aghast. She really wouldn''t recommend that. She had no confidence in her stitches holding up under that sort of strain.

    "What? No. But somebody''s going to, eventually, I think my cousin, Guidance¨C"

    "Keep," Sylva cut in.

    "What?"

    "I came to tell you that I''m leaving."

    "What?!"

    "I wasn''t ever going to stay for that long. Ir-Evie and I are getting off at the next station." Sylva was so bad at remembering Iri''s fake identity.

    "You can''t go!" Hearing Keep''s shrill words, Trav began to cry again. Sylva bounced him up and down on her knee gently, then gave up and handed him back to Keep.

    "I have to."

    "Why?"

    "I have things I need to do. I didn''t just come out here for fun," Sylva said.

    "I thought you were just here to get away from your family. You can stay here. We''re always on the move."

    "No, I''m¡­" Sylva sighed, shook her head. "I''m looking for someone."

    "To marry?"

    "I''m not Evie."

    "Then what are you looking for?"

    "A friend of mine."

    "Universe is pretty big. You''re just as likely to run into that friend with us as you are anywhere else."

    "Maybe."

    "So you shouldn''t go. Who else is going to look after me? And Trav? And everybody else?"

    "I''m sure you can find a new doctor."

    "It took us months to find you!"

    "And you survived in that time."

    "Barely," Keep said. "Seriously, don''t go."

    "I''m going."

    There was a moment of silence as Sylva¡¯s words sat there like rocks between them. Then Keep started to cry. She cradled her baby in one arm and wiped at her eyes with the other. "You''re the worst. You''re sick. You¨C"

    "I''m sorry," Sylva said again, plaintively. There wasn''t anything else to say. "Part of me doesn''t want to go, but I can''t stay here. I have things I need to get done."

    Keep didn''t say anything, just cried and cried. Sylva was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She reached out to awkwardly pat Keep''s shoulder, but she shoved her away.

    "Just get out. Go. I don''t care."

    "Keep¨C"

    "Get OUT!"

    So Sylva stood, and left.

    <hr>

    And so it came to pass that she and Iri were once again friendless and alone on a station, this one much less inviting, pleasant, and legal than the last. Iri stuck to Sylva like glue, not letting her out of arm''s reach, let alone sight. For all that the pirates aboard the Warrior II had been nice people individually, the people who congregated on this station were, on the whole, a rough bunch. It was a wonder that the station survived, but according to Iri, who had asked Sign, the station was under the ownership and protection of one particularly strong pirate clan, who made their living partially by taking a toll from everyone who docked there, and partially from mining out and building ships, minus stardrives, of course. That and the usual workings of pirates¨C trading in drugs, weapons, human lives, and anything else that someone cared to put a price on.

    The place was well lit, and there were cameras every few meters along the black walls and ceilings, but that didn''t give Sylva the impression of safety. It only gave the feeling that the people who ran this place simply wanted the chance to take a cut of any profit made from violence. They drifted down the gravity-less hallways together, away from the docking tube that connected the Warrior II. Most of the crew who were doing business had already gone back aboard; Sylva and Iri (but mostly Iri), had waited until the last second to say their goodbyes.

    There was a bored looking man with a thick knife strapped to his hip waiting at the end of the docking tunnel, floating in front of a desk. If it could be called that, since it was rather sideways to him.

    "Fee," he said, holding out his hand.

    Iri fished through the pockets of her jumpsuit and pulled out a thick envelope. She put it in the man''s hand. He opened it, took out the bag of pills that was in there, and pulled some sort of testing kit from his own pocket. He dropped a pill into a tiny bottle and shook it around, holding it up to the light to see the color change. Iri and Sylva waited patiently as he did so.

    "Alright," he said after a long moment. "Don''t cause trouble. If you''re staying for longer than ten days, you need to pay again. Keep these on you." The man pulled out two cards from a set of drawers, as well as a scanner. He scanned both their faces; the light blinded Sylva momentarily, and then he handed each of them a card. Considering that he hadn¡¯t even asked for a name, just a face for the cameras to recognize, that was a good indication of how scrupulous the pirates were about who became a guest on their station.

    "Thanks," Iri said.

    "Yeah," the man grunted.

    Iri tugged Sylva along, and they headed into the station proper. There had been a part of Sylva that was expecting it to be dingy and poorly maintained, but if there was one thing that held all spacers together, it was their love of their vessels. Apparently that extended to stations as well, because the place, while it had a sinister aura, had no cracks in its walls or garbage on its floors. They were in the rotating section, or one of them anyway. It was a bustling marketplace, with people going every which way, and stalls lining the walls, hawking their goods and services. There were plenty of empty stalls; it looked like they were often rented on a very short term basis. Pirated goods didn''t usually lend themselves to having a steady supply, so maybe that wasn''t so surprising.

    The whole place made Sylva a little sick. She saw normal storefronts: machinists workshops, tattoo parlors, food vendors, electronics repair, all right along side drug vendors, and things that could be only generously described as brothels. Real human beings were for sale here. Bile rose in the back of Sylva''s throat as she saw someone idly swiping through a display showing which people were for sale. She turned away, and Iri tugged her forward.

    "We need to get rooms to stay in, at least for tonight," Iri said, hand firmly on Sylva''s arm.

    "Yeah, okay." Sylva muttered her agreement, but she was deeply wishing that they both could run back to the Warrior II and get away from this place. The harsh white lights above made nauseating shadows on the ever so slightly curved floor. Iri navigated the station with no problems, sidestepping the several people who tried to get their attention to sell them something, and giving a clear berth to people with heavy weapons and bad looking intentions. They made their way further through the market, which seemed to stretch out forever. It probably did span the entire ring, and loop back on itself eventually.

    Finally, they stopped under a glowing sign proclaiming that there were rooms for rent, and food and drinks for sale. Iri and Sylva stepped in to the dimly lit establishment. There was a desk near the front, guarding the entrance to the bar and dining area behind, as well as the stairs up to the rooms. A bored looking woman stood at it, playing a game on her tablet. The dining area was almost completely abandoned¨C possibly this station was running on an odd timing system, and this was in between meals.

    "Hi," Iri said, getting the woman''s attention. "We''d like to book a room."

    "Single or double?"

    "Single," Sylva spoke up. She didn''t think their funds, in whatever assorted "currencies" they had, were going to stretch very far if they kept having to shell out for things on this station. Better to get the cheaper room. Iri hid a smirk behind her hand. Sylva wondered what that was about.

    "How are you paying?" the bored woman asked, swiping through her tablet to the reservation system.

    "Merchandise," Iri said. What a pleasant euphemism.

    "It''s fifty grams a night," the woman said. "How long you staying for?"

    "Can we pay by the night?"

    "Fine."

    Iri handed over one night''s worth of payment, along with the cards they had been given as they entered the station. The woman scanned the cards and handed them back. Sylva noticed that the woman did not bother checking the bag of pills that Iri handed over. The woman could count herself lucky that Iri wasn''t trying to scam them.

    "You''re in room 214. Connect your phones to the information system if you want to know what''s on the dinner menu for the upcoming nights. Or don''t. I don''t really care."

    Iri and Sylva took themselves and their limited personal belongings up the set of stairs into the second floor. This station was pretty big, to have a rotating ring that could accommodate a second story. Probably that second story was where all the residents of the station lived, hidden above the marketplace, since the other rings hosted greenhouses and manufacturing space.

    The room, unlike the rest of the station, was somewhat dingy. The light above was half burned out, and the single bed creaked badly when Iri tossed her stuff down onto it. Sylva sat down, feeling how much of a tremor was in her body as she did so.

    "I kinda hate this place," she said.

    "No shit." Iri flopped down on the bed as well, and the mattress lurched horribly sideways. Sylva was worried the whole thing was going to collapse, but it didn''t. "But we''ve got a better chance of finding out where to go from here than we did on the Warrior II."

    "I know," Sylva said. She shuddered to think that this was the true face of piracy, all the nastiest parts of it out and on display for the highest bidder. The Warrior II had been downright respectable in comparison. Sylva wondered what exactly compelled the crew of that ship to only trade in relatively benign drugs and other black market goods. She hoped it was human decency, and not just some sort of convoluted profit motive that would change as soon as the winds of fortune shifted.

    "See if there''s any jobs on the information system," Iri said. "I''m gonna take a nap."

    "What?"

    "You heard me." Iri straightened out on the bed, and pulled the rather worn covers up around her. Sylva huffed and scooted out of the way. She took out her phone and hooked it up to the information system aboard the station. There was a space for ships to leave job postings, including a time they would be returning to the station, as well as their general route. It was quite handy.

    There were a couple ships looking for doctors, which was¡­ It was an option, anyway. Even though Sylva hadn''t left the Warrior II on the best terms with Keep, she had a letter of recommendation in her pocket from Sign and Respect, and she was assured that it would go a long way towards getting her wherever she needed to go. Even so, Sylva swiped away from the requests for doctors for a minute. She had had her fill of doctoring, unless there really wasn''t any other choice.

    The list of available positions went on. Lots of people were needed to maintain ships, and because of the necessity to leave the family ship in order to find a partner, it created a constantly rotating pool of available positions. If Sylva had ever wanted to be an engine repair specialist, a dogfighter pilot, a chef, a greenhouse overseer, an inventory appraiser¨C now would have been the time. There were also requests for odd jobs, and requests for various types of cargo that ships were willing to buy. Out of idle curiosity, as she listened to Iri''s steady breathing turn into jerky snores, Sylva paged through all of that. The bulk of it was for requests for specialized equipment that was probably useful on ships, from medical supplies to farming robots. Another significant portion was asking for large deliveries of certain material: rare ores, less common drugs, weapons of a particular manufacture. None of it held much interest, other than as a glimpse into how these economies worked.

    Then Sylva swiped all the way through to the last page, entitled simply "Human Contracts". She shouldn''t have expected any different¨C it was bounties, of all prices, on all types of people. There wasn''t any section for completed orders, so she couldn''t tell how often any of these came due, but there were a staggering amount of them, and some of them were worth a whole lot of money. She was disgusted, but she kept looking. A little voice in the back of her brain was telling her that this would be a pretty lucrative way of living, but she squashed it with the more normal part of herself.

    Sylva''s finger slid down the phone, and then stopped, dead in its tracks. Staring up out of her from her phone screen was the face she had been looking for.

    Yan BarCarran, the message read. Wanted Alive. Reward: 5,000 kg. or choice of equivalent payment. Contact Seal-the-Mouth Yossar aboard the Bellringer.

    Sylva''s hand clenched and unclenched on the phone. She was frozen in place for a few seconds, then abruptly came to her senses. She leaned over the bed and shook Iri awake. Iri jolted, and her hand immediately went to her side where she kept a concealed weapon, drawing it on Sylva. Sylva ducked out of the way of the gun barrel.

    "Iri, it''s just me!" Sylva hissed urgently.

    "God, don''t wake me up like that," Iri said, sitting up, dropping the gun to the bed, and rubbing her eyes. "At least be a little more gentle."

    "How was I supposed to know you''d draw on me." Sylva got back up from where she had ducked to the floor.

    "Common sense." Iri yawned widely. "What was it that couldn''t have waited until my alarm went off?"

    "Didn''t know you set an alarm," Sylva said, getting distracted.

    "Sylva, if you woke me up for nothing, I really will shoot you."

    "Oh, sorry, yeah." Sylva''s presence of mind had scattered to the wind during the jarring moment after waking up Iri. She retrieved her phone; it had fallen to the floor when she had. She passed it to Iri. "Take a look at that."

    "Hmm." Iri considered the wanted poster for a long few moments. "Guess I shouldn''t be surprised about that."

    "You''re not surprised?"

    "Think about it for a hot minute, Sylva," Iri said, flopping back on the bed. "Who''s likely to put out a bounty on Yan?"

    "I thought she was already captured, and that''s why we''re looking for her."

    "Duh. Use your brain." Iri reached up one of her long arms and tapped Sylva''s forehead. "I''ve seen you use it before."

    "The Empire could be putting out a bounty on her, in order to get her back," Sylva said. "And they disguise it as a pirate request in order to get people to willingly give them the information." She looked at Iri expectantly.

    "Sure. Not the first guess I would have made, but I could see that happening."

    "Then what would you say it is?"

    "Did Yan not tell you what happened when she was on the way to Olar?" Iri laughed a little bitterly.

    "That''s what this is about?" Yan hadn''t described it in clear detail, obviously, but Sylva did remember that Yan had some sort of pirate encounter. It had left her a little changed.

    Iri swiped through the phone a little more, and pulled up another wanted post, showing it to Sylva. There was Sid Welslak, Yan''s coworker, with the same reward out on his head. "Since there''s no listing for the third apprentice, Kino Mejia, I''d assume that''s what this is about, yes."

    Sylva thought for a moment. "How big of a reward is that?"

    "Pretty sizeable. Not a stardrive''s worth, but getting up there. You saw what the other bounties were." It was true that Yan''s was higher than average. Sylva took the phone back and looked at Sid''s wanted poster¨C they had the same bounty on their heads.

    "And how do these people even know about this to put a mark on her head? How do they know she did it?"

    "They were the talk of the whole Guild, and not in a good way," Iri said. "News gets around."

    "Well there''s one silver lining to this," Sylva said.

    "What''s that?"

    "Wait, two silver linings."

    "Spit it out."

    "We can at least be sure that since these posts are still up, they haven''t found her yet."

    "Sure. That just means these particular people haven''t gotten to torture and kill her yet." Iri was frowning. Sylva picked up the pillow off the bed and hit her with it. Iri fended it off without smiling.

    "And we know a lead where we might be able to find information," Sylva continued. "If they''re looking, and they have money, and connections, and resources, we should get on that ship."

    "You sure you want to do that?" Iri asked.

    "What other choice do we have?"

    "There could be other avenues of information."

    "This is a pretty sure one, and it''s right under our noses. I''d say we go for it."

    "You''d better check their hand requests then, and hope they''re looking for a doctor."

 Chapter Sixty-Six - In Which Kino Claims She Has No Exploitable Vulnerabilities

    In Which Kino Claims She Has No Exploitable Vulnerabilities

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Don¡¯t get distracted by the inessentials. Always look at the bigger picture, and work backwards from there.¡±

    -from A Problem Solver¡¯s Guide to Entrepreneurship, by Rosalinne Harper

    </blockquote>

    Sid emerged from his room as if from inside a dark cave. He was feeling sufficiently recovered to get out and about his business, and he couldn''t leave Kino to have all the fun without him. He found her on the bridge, talking with Captain Wen. Sid lingered on the edge of the room, waiting for them to finish their conversation so that he could snag Kino and get caught up. He saw, to his surprise, on the big display, that they were no longer in orbit next to the station. They had jumped away. Sid reached out with the power and sent a tendril of it toward Kino. Unexpectedly, he felt her power bat it away, like two sparks meeting in the air. He had never felt her do that before, and he looked over at her, questioning. She turned her head a little bit, half away from the conversation with Wen, and her lips turned up in an approximation of a smile. Sid leaned back against the wall of the bridge and sighed, waiting his turn.

    Kino eventually got herself out of the conversation and came toward him. Wen looked like he was coming along as well, but Kino grabbed Sid''s elbow and led him off of the bridge before Wen could come talk to him. Once they were outside of the sliding doors, Sid spoke up.

    "What was that about?"

    "What?" Kino asked.

    "You sending me away."

    "I was in the middle of something. You can''t just demand me at any moment." Her words certainly looked haughty, but as Sid glanced at her face, he saw that she was attempting to make a joke.

    "You''ve let the power get to your head, with me being gone."

    "The power''s always been in my head," Kino remarked. "That''s where it lives."

    "You''re the worst. But really, what''s gotten into you?"

    "You don''t like it?"

    Sid sighed, then shook his head. "Let''s just get down to business."

    "There are other people you could talk to."

    "I don''t want any information other than what is strictly necessary. I trust you to give me just the rundown. Besides, I need to make sure you haven¡¯t been going crazy without me."

    "Thanks."

    "Wasn''t exactly a compliment or anything."

    The pair made their way into a little office. Kino had somehow gotten code permissions to a lot of the rooms of the ship. She must have made some sort of convincing argument that she needed full access. If Sid had been trying to make that argument, he probably would have said that since Cesper, Ervantes, was off duty, he wouldn''t be able to let him in to the officer''s mess at all hours of the day. It wasn''t a particularly strong argument. Maybe Wen had just gotten tired of needing to dedicate one of his crew to escorting around the two wayward apprentices.

    The office was on the interior of the rotating ring, and it had no windows to speak of, just a few powered down screens and a long table surrounded by office chairs. Sid and Kino took seats across from each other, both toward the head of the table.

    "You missed me?" Sid asked.

    Kino shrugged. Sid didn''t know what he expected. She was picking at the sleeve of her cassock. This one in particular had seen better days¨C there were loose threads dangling off it.

    "You okay?" she asked.

    "I''m fine. I think Sandreas is going to kill me when we get home, though."

    "Why?"

    "We convinced him that we should go on this trip, and then I went and almost died on a stupid shuttle. Again."

    "You survived, though."

    "Yeah."

    "You did survive, right?" Kino asked again, more pressingly. He didn''t really understand the question.

    "I didn''t do anything other than seal the shuttle back up," he said. "Didn''t you watch the recording? There definitely is one."

    "I didn''t want to see it."

    "So you don''t even know what happened?"

    "I know the results of it," Kino said after a long second. "But I wasn''t going to learn anything important from watching the recording. I saw what it was like with the pirates."

    "Oh, yeah, I forgot Halen showed that to you. It really wasn''t anything like that. Cesper was the one who shot him."

    Kino nodded slowly. "Is he okay?"

    "I think Fleet training''s got him a little messed up. But other than that¡­" Sid trailed off, remembering what it had been like to kiss Ervantes. That had been nice. He hadn''t seen him around, and wondered if he was being avoided, or if he had been reassigned. He should try to get back into contact with him. Sid put finding Ervantes onto his mental to do list for the afternoon.

    Kino shuddered. It was one of the strongest reactions Sid had ever seen out of her. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "I don''t like the Fleet training," she said in explanation.

    "Who really does?" Sid asked.

    Kino opened her mouth as if to say something, then thought the better of it. "What?" Sid asked.

    She considered for a second more before she spoke, and when she did, the words crawled across Sid''s glasses with agonizing slowness. "When one of us is Voice, do you think we''ll change it?"

    Sid thought for a second. "There''s probably a reason for the Fleet to be the way it is. It seems to be working. I don''t know."

    A hint of something flashed across Kino''s usually still face. Maybe it was the momentary squint of her eyes, as though she was in pain, or the way her eyebrows twitched a fraction downward, but Sid knew he hadn''t given her an answer that she wanted to hear. He wondered why she was so invested in it. After all, the Fleet was a tool, like any other, and it was made and maintained in a certain way. It had been going on like this for hundreds of years¨C there was no point for him to think about changing the status quo. He tried to cheer her up.

    "Got big ideas for when you become Voice?" Sid asked with a smile.

    "I don''t like to make plans that far into the future," Kino said. "I was just wondering what you were thinking."

    "Suppose it''s good you don''t get ahead of yourself, since I''m probably going to become Voice anyway," Sid said. He grinned widely, flashing his teeth.

    Surprisingly, Kino didn''t rise to the bait. "Yeah," she just said, distractedly. She was staring into space and pulling at the loose threads on her arms again. Even for Sid, who was usually pretty astute about body language, he didn''t know if that was just a thing that she did all the time, or if she only did it when she was nervous or had something on her mind. Maybe she was just perpetually nervous or had something on her mind. He hadn''t come here to discuss the far future of the Empire, though, and neither had he come to worry about how many cassock sleeves Kino destroyed in a year. Still, he had to ask.

    "You okay? Really?"

    She nodded, still pensive. "I''d like to get back to the Empire," she said.

    "We''re on our way, right?"

    "Nearest station''s still nine jumps away."

    "I keep forgetting just how far out they were building this thing."

    "They had to find a moon that was the right size to mine out."

    "So it was a moon?"

    Kino nodded again. "Don''t know what the ethics of disrupting a whole planet like that are."

    Sid did consider that the planet the moon had been orbiting would probably suffer some sort of effect as the ship jumped away. It couldn''t be good for it. "Did it have oceans?"

    "No. It was completely barren. Still."

    "Well it''s too late now. Not like we can put it back."

    "We''re going to try to find it."

    "Obviously."

    "Not right now, though," Kino said.

    "We''re ditching the prisoners first?" Sid asked.

    "Handing them over to the TRA." The TRA was the Transportation Regulation Authority, who were broadly responsible for making sure too many people weren''t leaving the planets they lived on. Without a letter of transit from a ship''s captain, it took a lot of paperwork, and charges, to travel between planets. Sid had a bad feeling that most of the people on the station with conflicting personnel records were not supposed to be off planet at all, and were perhaps listed as missing. The best case scenario was that they were all willingly employed. The worst case was¡­ Well, he hadn''t actually heard anyone admitting they''d been sold into slavery, and he was hoping that wasn''t something the Guild would stoop to, but the possibility couldn''t be dismissed out of hand.

    "Are there any that will get sent to tribunals?"

    "Cesper killed the ringleader, but based on some of the information in the station logs, there are a couple people who require further investigation."

    "There weren''t any more people found hiding or anything, were there?" Sid had not followed the evacuation of the station at all.

    "We think we cleaned it out completely," Kino said. "One of the ship''s sensitives checked it out."

    "Toola or Roth?"

    "Toola."

    "That''s good. And did we get any real connections back to the rest of the Guild?"

    "I think a lot of the most sensitive stuff was kept aboard the ship," Kino said. "Either that or they did a better job of wiping the records than they should have been able to."

    "I don''t get how that giant thing is as habitable and mobile as it is."

    "They''ve been working on it for a long time. Since Ungarti."

    "I know." Sid sighed. "Life was a lot simpler when we didn''t know what the Guild was up to."

    That actually did make Kino smile. "You were the one who begged to be here."

    "So did you."

    "But I''m not complaining about it."

    "You didn''t almost die."

    "I''ll go alone next time, then," Kino said.

    "Not on your life." They looked at each other across the table. It was rare that they got to have a private moment like this. Sid, against his better judgement, was having a good time talking to Kino. She could be disconcerting, and odd, and annoying, but she was clearly competent, and could hold up her end of a conversation when she wanted to. That was worth something. And they shared a position. They should start getting along better.

    "Can I ask you a stupid question?" Sid asked, breaking the lull in the conversation.

    "What?"

    "I know you said you didn''t watch the recording, but do you know how, um, Willis got onto the shuttle?"

    "Yeah."

    "Are you going to tell me?"

    Kino looked up at him, seemingly innocent. "I thought you were about to use the concept of how he did it as a jumping off point for the rest of the conversation."

    Sid ran his hand over the back of his neck and up towards his skull. He could feel hair coming back in. He would have to shave again soon. "No, I was asking because I don''t know."

    "Didn''t Cesper tell you?"

    "We were busy with other things."

    Kino stared him down.

    "Busy," Sid reiterated. "Tell me how it happened."

    Sid could just imagine what Kino was thinking: he could have looked up the files himself, he could have asked Hernan, he could have done any number of things other than pester her about it. But Sid was here, and he didn''t particularly feel like reliving the moment in the shuttle by watching the video either, and he didn''t want to bring it up with Ervantes or Hernan (who he was sure were feeling the same way), and it would be embarrassing to ask anyone else. Kino had to understand that. He tried to broadcast that feeling toward her, both with his face and in the power, just using it as a general carrier of his emotions. He didn''t slam her over the face with it, just nudged her a little bit. Again, it was like oil sliding off a hot pan. But Kino relented.

    "He was already outside the ship. He jetted over and hung onto the outside."

    "So he wasn''t a stowaway."

    "No. He was just taking the opportunity."

    "How come no one saw him?"

    "The station cameras were disabled, because of the computer outage. No one was able to fix them for a long time."

    "And the shuttle?"

    "You saw his suit. Black on black. And the jet he was using was cold fuel. No engine. And the shuttle was launching off the dark side of the station, away from the star."

    "So infrared wouldn''t pick it up either," Sid said aloud. Kino nodded. "What was his plan?"

    "Probably to take the shuttle to whatever the meeting point was."

    "And he couldn''t take one of the station''s own?"

    "They were locked down tight."If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    "What made him think he''d be able to take a whole shuttle full of Fleet soldiers, and me."

    "He didn''t know who was on it," Kino pointed out, face as mild as ever.

    "Still."

    "Was anyone actually prepared to depressurize like that?"she asked.

    "I mean. No."

    "So if you hadn''t been very lucky, you would have died."

    "I guess? I don''t know if it''s luck."

    "Skill, then."

    Sid didn''t have anything to say, really. He leaned his chin on his hand. "Should I have been prepared?"

    "You were prepared enough to not die."

    "That''s not what I mean!" He was frustrated, and he waved his free arm. Kino flinched back a little.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Should I be expecting to die at any second! For someone to leap out of every corner I''m in! No matter who I''m with or what!" He was unintentionally yelling, he could feel his throat start to hurt from the volume. Kino''s shoulders hunched up towards her ears. "Sorry," Sid said, taking a deep breath.

    "You know Yan couldn''t have¨C"

    "God, Kino¡­" Sid flopped his arms down, laying them palm up on the table. All the energy went out of him. Tentatively, Kino reached across and put her hand on his. Sid looked up at her.

    "It''s not your fault," she said. Sid laughed, harshly.

    "Sure it''s not. But maybe if I hadn''t had my eyes closed¡­"

    "Everybody has to sleep," Kino said. "Even¨C"

    "I wasn''t asleep!"

    "I''m not talking about that," Kino said. Sid felt a little bad for continuing to cut her off. He waited for her to say something else, but she didn''t

    There was a bit of a break in the conversation. Kino didn''t seem willing to broach any other topic, so Sid did, steading his voice as much as he could. "What are we going to do after we get to the station?" He knew what he wanted the answer to be, but he wanted to hear what Kino''s official plan was before he started proposing his own schemes.

    "We''re going to wait for updates from Emerri," Kino said. She took her hand off his, and straightened her shoulders in a businesslike fashion. "We might go hunting."

    "The ship?" Kino nodded. "What if¡­" Sid began.

    Kino held up her hand. "You almost just got killed."

    "I''m not talking about anything too dangerous," Sid protested. "At least let me say my piece." She stared him down, but didn''t interrupt. "What if we find out a lot of these people who were on the station hail from the same port? Or passed through the same station. Wouldn''t it be our responsibility to shut that down?"

    Kino looked at him with an inscrutable expression. "You still haven''t given up on going after black stations?"

    "I''m not sure what you think is a better use of my time."

    "Learning how to be a good leader," she said. "Rather than just someone who goes around the galaxy on a lark."

    "It''s not a lark. I want to put a real dent in piracy."

    "The only way to stop that is to stop the ships. Stations are easy to build anywhere. They''ll just come right back up and make themselves harder to find."

    She wasn''t wrong, but Sid wasn''t going to give up that easily. After all, it wasn''t as though Kino could possibly be harder to convince than Sandreas. "Yeah, but what if we scope it out and catch it when there are ships docked. We could really do some damage."

    "I thought you had had enough of killing," Kino said.

    "Why does everyone keep saying stuff like that?" Sid asked. "I just want to do things to help."

    "The best thing to do is to resolve things peacefully. I''m glad that we didn''t have to fight the ship."

    "It probably didn''t have a set of dogfighters," Sid grumbled. "That''s why it ran away."

    "You''re acting like you''re an expert on space warfare strategy now."

    "I go to a lot of Fleet meetings," Sid said by way of explanation. "I''m sure it''s much more interesting than hanging out with the council all day long."

    Kino frowned, deliberately twisting her face into a disapproving expression. "The council runs the Empire."

    "No, Sandreas does."

    "The Fleet doesn''t. I would rather focus on things closer to home."

    "Does the Fleet make you nervous or something?"

    "I just don''t like it," Kino said. "No other reason."

    Sid shrugged. "Suit yourself. All I''m saying is that we have this fantastic ship basically at our disposal, it would be a shame not to use it."

    "The Impulse has better things to be doing."

    "Not really."

    "You want to be responsible for stopping these people from going home to their families?"

    "It''s not going to be dangerous!"

    "We''ll see." Kino said, and that was the end of the conversation.

    <hr>

    Three days later, they made it into Loyla station. It was a small place, as far as stations went, and relatively uninhabited. It was the central hub of about five different mining operations scattered throughout the star system it sat in. Non-jump capable ships hauled ore and materials to the station, where they were collected by visiting Guild ships. That was the only reason anyone ever had for visiting here. But it was a place where there was access to the citizen''s database, and the mystery of the mismatched files could be solved once and for all. But first, there was mail. Sid received his ansible mail package before the ship had even docked, and he read it in his room on the Impuse.

    Dear Sid, Sandreas began.

    <blockquote>

    I have to trust that you''ll still be alive to read this message. Halen has been angry at me for letting you both go, but he''ll get over it when you come back. And I do expect you to come back. Since you''re reading this, you''re obviously done negotiating with the station, however long that took. You can consider that your new orders are to come home, unless you get in contact with me, personally, and come up with a very convincing reason otherwise.

    Halen is reading this letter and telling me I''m being an idiot for giving you a way out.

    </blockquote>

    Sid put his tablet down and flopped back on his bed. Sandreas must be in a pretty good mood, for him to be including such random asides in the letter. He was usually much more to the point. Well, actually¡­ Sid considered this for a moment. Usually, his correspondence was ghostwritten by Halen, and the last time that Sandreas had actually bothered to write a message himself was right after the pirates. So either Sandreas had had a change of heart, and this was his cheerful letter writing style, or Halen was ghostwriting and trying to drive a point home. Both seemed unlikely, but he couldn''t tell which was less likely. He decided this was probably Halen. But then again, why would Halen include the ''out'' that Sid had been given at all?

    Probably he wasn''t going to go behind Sandreas''s back and not relate his exact orders. But he would go ahead and include notes about his own displeasure. Sid smiled as he thought about it, then returned to the letter.

    <blockquote>

    I''m interested in hearing about your trip as soon as possible. I''ll get a mission rundown, but I would be happy if you could include your own thoughts with it. Try to be analytic about it: what went right, what went wrong, what you''re going to do in the future. Examining your own work is the best way to learn, so I''ve been told.

    On the home front, I''ve been unable to open up any line of communication to Wil Vaneik. He''s been ignoring every diplomatic missive I send his way. It''s been making me think that there was a ship docked at the station which jumped away to spread the news when you arrived. That''s just my suspicion, though. The situation with the Guild is more muddled than ever.

    Update on Yan is that there is little to report. You may be interested in knowing that the price on your head has increased by about a hundred kilos. You should consider yourself lucky to be such a hot ticket item. Stay away from pirates. The fact that they''d like you alive has me worried. The only other new information is that Iri Maedes, whom I am certain you remember, has embarked on her own trip to go find Yan. This obviously isn''t sanctioned by us, but she saw fit to inform us of it anyway. I suppose there''s no harm that will come of it. So you may hear from her, as well. Don''t be surprised if that pops up in your report sooner or later.

    I hope to hear from you that you and Kino have been getting along splendidly, that there have been no disagreements between you, and that you have been sharing the work and decision making equally between yourselves. Perhaps that''s too much to ask. I revise my hope to simply say that I hope you haven''t taken it upon yourselves to murder each other, and you''re both getting some valuable experience out of this.

    God willing, I''ll hear from you with good news soon.

    Yours,

    Aymon Sandreas

    </blockquote>

    Sid closed the letter. It didn''t say anything he particularly wanted to hear. Apparently things on Emerri were same old, same old. There was no point in him comparing this letter to the one that Kino was sure to have gotten; they were probably almost identical. Nothing in here, aside from the small note about the bounty on him, was information that wasn''t equally applicable to Kino. Even Halen, who had the apparent time and willingness to ghostwrite Sandreas''s correspondence, did understand the value of keeping written work transferrable and reusable.

    Sid left his room and made his way down the hallways of the Impulse to the bridge. Kino was there, along with the standard group of Fleet soldiers that Sid had come to recognize as the bridge crew. Captain Wen was in his central chair, and Ervantes Cesper stood looking over Kino''s shoulder as she stared down at a computer console. Sid nodded to Captain Wen, then went over to see what Kino was up to.

    "How''s it going?" he asked.

    Ervantes glanced at him. "Hi, Welslak. Welcome back to the land of the living."

    "I could say the same to you," Sid said. It was true that Sid had barely been on the bridge since the shuttle incident, but it wasn''t because he had been avoiding things. He just found the actual logistics of space travel, the constant jumping and waiting, to be intensely tedious. He had the thought, often, that it would be easier if the ship could jump infinite distances. He had to remind himself how much better it was that the ships could jump at all. He couldn''t imagine living in a universe where the only travel available was sublight.

    "Everything''s going fine," Kino said. "I''m just watching the results of our search come in." An endless string of faces was flashing across the screen of the computer as Sid watched. He turned his face away, not wanting to stare at it and get dizzy.

    "Radio?" he asked, hoping that they''d understand his question. Ervantes nodded.

    "It''ll get a bit faster once we''re actually docked, but for now it''s fast enough. Better use of our time than sitting around looking pretty," Cesper said.

    "That''s true. When are we docking?"

    "It''s one last jump in close. Should be just a few hours."

    "Will we be done searching through the database by then?"

    "Almost certainly not. This is combing through billions of people. I''m not sure how long you expect that to take." Cesper looked affronted on behalf of the computer system. Sid shrugged.

    "I don''t know. I''ve never tried to search the database before."

    "Most people don''t. It''s at least made a little easier in that we do have DNA from everyone, and we can just compare that. It''s better than just having a face photo, or fingerprints, or something like it."

    "Why, because people are likely to change those other things?"

    "Not really. Almost nobody changes their fingerprints, but time does do a wonder on almost everyone''s face. DNA is a little bit more reliable, and we probably won''t have too sort through half a dozen lookalikes before we find the right person."

    "Unless there''s a set of identical¡­" Sid searched for the word for lots of identical babies, and couldn''t find it. "Whatever. You know. What if everybody on this station had a twin brother?"

    ¡°Twins are pretty rare. I don¡¯t think we need to worry about that possibility,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Perhaps your weakness, Apprentice Welslak, is that you are too invested in out of the box possibilities.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know what my weaknesses are,¡± Sid said, and gave Ervantes a sidelong look. He smiled a little, but turned away.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stay on topic,¡± Kino said, interrupting Sid¡¯s flirting and, returning to looking at whatever the database had combed through so far.

    "Do you have any weaknesses, oh wise and mighty Kino?"

    "None that you can exploit," she said, and clenched her right hand against the armrest of her chair, making it clear through her body language that she was not joking in the slightest. Still, Sid couldn''t help but laugh, and she looked up at him with a mildly frustrated expression.

    "I can''t lay claim to being above all things like that," Sid said. "Anyway, I just wanted to know how long we''re planning on staying."

    Captain Wen, who had apparently been listening to the conversation, broke in. The words registered as tiny letters on Sid¡¯s glasses, barely within microphone range. "The Impulse is due back in her own port for repairs and upgrades as soon as possible, and most of her crew is going home. I''m certain you don''t need me to remind you of that."

    Sid resisted sighing at Wen''s pronouncement. Of course Wen wouldn''t want to go out on some adventure further afield, when he had responsibilities to his ship and crew. Still, Sid wanted to have a hope of going somewhere else, just a little. "I''ll have to talk to First Sandreas about what our continuing mission is."

    Captian Wen frowned at him from across the room, but didn''t jump in again.

    "So if I don''t hear anything from First Sandreas, and we don''t discover anything unusual that requires investigating, then we will be returning to port," Sid said. "Although we might want to chase the ship down."

    "There''s no way we could catch it," Wen said. "Even if we could find it."

    "Won''t four stardrives leave a much bigger wake than one?" Sometimes, depending on the conditions, the path a stardrive jumped along could be determined based on impressions left in space. It wasn''t a reliable method of tracking ships, but it was the only one that existed.

    "Trail is far too cold by now," Wen said. "It''d be a shot in the dark. Even if we''d gotten started as soon as they jumped away, I''m sure they''re faster than we are."

    "Even with old drives? And a heavy ship?" Sid asked.

    "The Impulse, as much as I love her, doesn''t have a young drive in her," Wen said.

    "I kinda assumed that the Fleet would always have access to fresh stardrives."

    "We do. It''s just good to be frugal. There is only a limited number; the supply isn''t only artificially low for the Guild''s sake."

    "So you admit that the supply is low at least in part because of that!" Sid felt like he had won something. Wen wrinkled his nose disdainfully.

    "Can you imagine what the Empire would be like if everybody had unfettered access to stardrives?"

    "What would happen?" Kino asked, joining in on the conversation.

    "Absolute chaos, I''m sure," Wen said. Kino waited for him to elaborate, and he did. "Anyone could go anywhere, sell anything, establish their own colonies, transport anyone or anything they wanted. It would be impossible to regulate."

    "Would that be a bad thing?" Kino asked.

    "And you''re saying this as a potential future First?" Wen asked. He looked down his nose at Kino. Maybe he was invested because of the sense of elitism that came from being a captain, one of a very small number. "I certainly hope you take an economics lesson before then."

    "It''s just a matter of control," Sid said, stepping in, wanting to prevent Wen from thinking them both naive. "That, and it does take a lot of effort to make stardrives. Too much to be worth producing so many of them. After all, I mean, we''ve functioned pretty well on a limited number so far."

    "We have the perfect balance," Wen agreed. "Any more and illegal activity would skyrocket, any less and we wouldn''t be able to function. Do you agree, Apprentice Mejia?"

    "I guess," Kino said, but she didn''t particularly look like she agreed. There was a certain appeal to the concept of the skies being full of ships, and everyone having access to them, but Sid could easily imagine the trouble that would cause. They were already having trouble tracking down one missing ship, and a bunch of people from unknown planets. The criminal web would only get that much more tangled if there were more threads, more ships, in it.

    Kino was allowed to have her opinions, and Wen was allowed to have his. Sid wasn''t going to worry himself about either of them, because there was plenty of time before either he or Kino, and maybe Wen would have retired by then. Not that he wanted to think so uncharitably about him, but Sid didn''t want to make enemies who would stay part of his political life for a long time. He was trying to be a little bit more careful about the people he offended. In a funny way, Sandreas was the safest person he could accidentally (or on purpose) make angry. After all, if Sid did become his successor, then Sandreas would be¨C

    Actually, Sid didn''t want to think about that. The thought made his mouth dry out. He bowed out of the conversation and made his way back to his room to compose a reply letter to Sandreas.

    <blockquote>

    Dear Sandreas,

    Kino and I have been getting along, if that stops you from worrying any. I''m sure you''ve already looked at the data package we sent as soon as we got into ansible range. Sorry that you had to find out that things have been a little dangerous that way. Luckily, neither I nor any Fleet soldiers were injured.

    I know you want me to reflect on what''s been going on, but I''m having a hard time taking myself out of the situation and looking at it objectively. You probably honestly didn''t actually mean what happened on the shuttle, I''m sure you actually meant diplomatic things. But that''s been at the forefront of my mind, obviously. So I''m sorry I don''t have anything better to say. I guess one lesson was that I shouldn''t have allowed the ship to jump away. If I hadn''t given warning, maybe we could have disabled them? Or probably not, because if we jumped in, we would have been on cooldown, and they still could have jumped away without us being able to chase. Since we thought they weren''t operational¡­

    I guess we could have waited and observed for longer? But there was no reason to think that the ship would jump out for any reason. From the technical documents we were able to recover, and from what people have said, it is barely habitable at the moment.

    I don''t know.

    I don''t

    </blockquote>

    Sid deleted the previous two lines.

    <blockquote>

    I guess we''ll find it if it comes back to the station, or we''ll hear about it hiding at some other station. The thing isn''t equipped for long term survival, so it has to go somewhere that is, and somewhere that it can be finished. I doubt it will show its face at any Imperial station, so what really remains to be seen is how deep in bed with pirates the Guild is. Unless they have a second station of their own hidden somewhere. Maybe the difference between a hidden station run by the guild and a hidden station run by pirates is a smaller one than we want to imagine. While I write this, we''re still pulling up the documentation on a lot of people we took off of there. I''m willing to bet some charges on some of them not being in the system.

    If anything, I''m mostly frustrated with the Guild. What gives them the right? Nothing, I guess, except the fact that they have ships. I know I shouldn''t be coming up with public policy, but this whole trip is giving me no shortage of ideas. Is that a bad thing?

    So I''ve rambled long enough about that. I need you to tell me what to do. We could chase down black stations, see which one the ship is hiding at (that''s my vote). We could follow the breadcrumb trail of where all these people came from. We could go back into port (that''s Captain Wen''s vote) and all go back home and get back to normal life (I''m pretty sure that''s Kino''s vote). I feel like it''s a waste to have me out here with this fantastic ship and nowhere to go¨C I''m not begging you to come up with some task for me to do, but it would be nice if I had one more thing before I had to come home.

    Maybe you''re thinking I''m crazy for wanting to stay out when bad things have already happened. Maybe I am. Kino kinda told me that there''s no way to be on guard every second of every day, so I just need to be careful when the situation warrants it. I never thought being on a shuttle, surrounded by trained Fleet personnel, on a short trip between the ship, that someone would grab onto the outside and sabotage the shuttle. If I''m trying to be prepared for insane things like that (say, right now, I''m sitting in my bed in my room on the Impulse, and while I''m sleeping the star we''re in orbit around has a freak stellar event that kills us all¨C it feels like the same level of thing you''d never expect¨C even though I guess a star is a pretty well monitored thing) I''d just go crazy anyway. So I might as well be useful at the same time. I''m sure Halen is wanting to kill me right now for saying all of this.

    It''s funny, I never used to write letters to my family when I was at the Academy, but now

    </blockquote>

    Sid deleted that last line, too.

    <blockquote>

    Back to slightly more concrete matters. The Impulse is going in to dock, and that means most of her crew is getting reassigned. Who should I talk to about getting someone posted to Emerri? My liason, Lt. Ervantes Cesper, saved my life, and he wanted a planetary position, so¡­

    Anyway, that''s all I have for now, at least until the database search comes back, and I''m sure you''ll get that information over the ansible the same as I will, so there''s no point in me delaying sending this until then. Let me know what your thoughts are.

    -Sid

    </blockquote>

    He didn''t know what kind of salutation to put at the end, so he just left his name. There was no point in getting hung up in the details over the mail.

 Chapter Sixty-Seven - Surgery

    Surgery

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Sleep is the refuge of the lost and the damned, the place where old regrets dwell. With the faintest hope that the past can be changed, it holds you in its open prison cell.¡±

    -from ¡°Waking Sleeper, Noontime Dreamer¡±, lyrics by Allie Brosh

    </blockquote>

    An older man, probably in his mid sixties, stood in the doorway. He had wiry white hair that ringed the back half of his scalp, and watery blue eyes. Thick glasses, quite unlike the ones that Sid wore, perched on his nose. He frowned at them, but ushered them in. It was a private home. On the walls there were some tasteful pictures. It was quite unlike the home that Etta and her mother shared, but it had the common feature of the low table in the center of the room, surrounded by a woven rug. He gestured for them to sit down around it, and they did, everyone claiming their own side of the table. Yan, suspicious of this stranger, jostled with Etta for the middle position at the table. Her mother glared at them both, and they eventually did settle with Yan in the middle.

    Yan sat uncomfortably on the floor in between Etta and her mother, listening without comprehension as the man had a conversation with them. Oddly, their focus seemed less concerned with Yan and more with Etta. He kept speaking in a questioning tone, and she responded nervously. Occasionally, she would raise her stiff hand and clumsily perform some motion that he demonstrated or requested. They all seemed to know each other well, though the man was gruff and Etta was clearly unhappy at being at the center of his attention.

    Eventually, though, Etta''s mother cleared her throat and directed the conversation back to the actual subject at hand: Yan. Yan hard her own name mentioned, and Etta''s mother pulled out her tablet and showed the man the drawing that Yan had made earlier. He studied it.

    They had a long, drawn out conversation, and the three natives of the planet kept looking at her. She understood a little bit better how Etta had been feeling just moments before. Yan was, for her own part, getting pretty tired of all the conversations about her that she couldn''t understand or participate in.

    After a while, the man stood up, grunting a little bit with the effort and with the loud popping of his knees. Etta''s mother made what sounded like a joke. She laughed, but he just grimaced. He led them out of his living area and back down the stairs, just one flight, into a medical office. Yan had suspected, but not known until now, that the man was a doctor of some kind. The medical apparatuses that lined the walls of the room were inscrutable in purpose, but looked just like what was in any other specialized office Yan had ever seen in the Empire. The design language was, again, either universal or copied, and she wasn''t sure which was more likely to be the case.

    Her stomach turned a little as the doctor motioned her towards one of the machines. He set it up around her head, like a massive, floating crown, and it whirred to life. An image appeared on a screen on the wall. It was as much of a jumble of brights and darks to Yan''s eyes as their language was to her ears, but it must have meant something to the doctor. He clicked around on a computer, and highlighted a particular area on the screen. Yan figured that she was done being scanned and extracted herself.

    He had another long conversation with Etta''s mother. Etta herself stood in the corner, resolutely ignoring all the action. That was until the doctor called her over to do some tests. Her face was the image of resignation. Yan watched the proceedings with curiosity. The doctor subjected Etta to a wide array of machines, shining bright lights in her eyes and scanning her brain.

    Once Etta was done being given the runaround, the doctor returned to Yan. He pointed to the screen on which he had made his original observations, and to the place inside her head where the chip was lodged. He said something, but Yan''s face must have communicated exactly how little she was absorbing, because he sighed and disappeared into a back room for a moment. He returned holding a fake plastic (or at least Yan hoped it was fake) model of a human head, complete with brain sitting up inside the skull. The top of the skull had a little hinge on it for easy access. The doctor held the skull up next to the images on the screen, and pointed to a place just behind the jaw bone. So the chip was not in Yan''s brain. She nodded, understanding. That was a good thing. It meant that she probably wouldn''t risk too much damage if someone took it out.

    Yan mimed pulling it out, and raised her eyebrows to indicate a question. It was a little like signing with Sid, but much less intelligible. She missed Sid.

    The doctor nodded, and said something to Etta''s mother, who then looked between Etta and Yan. The doctor sighed again. He took his computer off of the tall, wheeled cart it had been sitting on, and he searched around for something. Eventually, he pulled up a bunch of pictograms, like the ones that Yan had seen used in the Iron Dreams'' babysitting room, for kids who were just starting to learn how to read. The words and the pictures were put together, so a kid could guess the meaning of the sentence without being able to actually read a single word. Certainly Yan couldn''t read the strange script at the bottom of each of the pictures. She wondered why the doctor had such a thing handy. He was, seemingly, a brain doctor of some sort, from the way he paid attention to Etta. Maybe he had a lot of patients who used alternative communication like this.

    The doctor clicked on some of the pictures to form a sort of sentence: a finger pointing out of the screen, a knife, a person sleeping on the floor on a mattress like the one that Yan had slept on the night previously, the sun over the ocean. It took a long time for him to put the pictures together. When he handed the computer to her so that she could answer, Yan immediately saw why. The various menus to pick out these different icons were inscrutable, especially since she couldn''t read the text, and the selection of icons itself was limited.

    She thought that what the doctor was saying was that he wanted to take out the chip in the morning, but he could have also been saying that she was going to be asleep while he did it. It didn''t particularly make sense. Or he could have been saying that she would have to take it out herself, but then the sleeping picture and the sun picture didn''t make sense. And it would be ridiculous to expect her to do that. Again.

    Yan selected¡­ She hoped she was selecting yes, even though she wasn''t quite sure what she was saying yes to. She hoped that these symbols meant the same on this planet as they did in the Empire. She knew that all the people in the universe had technically come from one planet, so maybe some of the basest forms of language¨C a person nodding, a smile¨C were the same here.

    The doctor took the computer back and nodded at her. Yan bit her lip, but nodded back. She wasn''t looking forward to going under the knife, if that was what finger pointing out, knife meant. She didn''t have much of a choice, though. As soon as the Green King either recovered or recruited an ally, she was as good as dead without the power. Etta knew that. The Green King knew it, too. He probably wanted to find her as soon as possible.

    The doctor turned the computer back around so that Yan could see it. He had put up another few pictograms on the screen. These ones were the pointing finger again, a person walking down the road, and a woman holding a baby. Yan absolutely could not understand what it meant. Yan looked at him helplessly.

    Etta''s mother said something. Maybe he was asking if she was going to stay with her? She couldn''t stay with them. Maybe they could come with her, but Yan needed to get off the planet and back to the Empire as soon as possible. She didn''t like being here, and she was in danger every second she stayed.

    The doctor gave up on whatever he was trying to ask her, and put the computer away. He turned out the lights in his office and led them back upstairs, talking to them the whole time. Yan yawned. The day had been long. Etta''s mother bowed to him when they got up the stairs, and he smiled benevolently at her. She poked Etta, who also bowed and mumbled something. Yan followed suit, looking at them out of the corner of her eye as she did so, seeking approval. Etta''s mother smiled a little.

    The doctor grumbled something and walked into his hallway, he opened a closet and pulled out a couple of blankets, which he handed out to the three visitors. Unfortunately, he didn''t seem to have any spare mattresses like Etta''s family had. He said something else to them, and then retreated further into his apartment and closed the door to the room he was in.

    Etta''s mother talked to them brusquely as she flattened her blanket on the floor, folding it a little to provide a cushion for herself. Yan sat down and curled up inside hers, sniffing the vaguely herb-scented fabric. People on this planet really did like to keep their linens in with smelly things. Yan couldn''t imagine anyone on the Iron Dreams bothering with something like that. But then again, they didn''t have terrestrial pests to worry about. She heard the doctor in the other room, behind the closed door, making a phone call. At least she assumed it was a phone call. He could have been talking to himself or had someone in there with him.

    Etta turned out the lights, and the three of them settled down to sleep. They hadn''t eaten, and the doctor hadn''t offered them any food, but Yan couldn''t complain. Both because he was offering them hospitality enough already, and because she literally couldn''t say anything. She pulled the blanket up over herself. Etta and her mother curled up together like cats, and Yan was alone on the other side of the room. After a while, she heard both of them snoring lightly. Yan''s mouth moved silently as she processed all her thoughts for the day. Her bad habit of speaking aloud had to be nipped in the bud, but she could still say the words silently. She felt like she had seen Kino do the same thing, once or twice.

    Kino. Yan wondered what everyone out in the real world was up to. Not that this was a fake world, but it was so completely disconnected from everything she had ever know. From the moment she had been kidnapped and awoken in captivity, she had been in a dream. Not even speaking literally of her communes with the imagined Halen, but that dreamlike disconnect was what had allowed her to do things she never would have done under normal circumstances. Some of them, most of them, she regretted. It had been in vain to carve up her neck. Trying to escape right in front of the Green King had earned her nothing but a pair of broken fingers. Taking Etta prisoner had been a cruel and selfish thing to do. But she had done all these things, and they existed as part of her now. Even if she didn''t want to recognize them.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "Am I a bad person, Halen?" Yan asked, whispering, so as not to wake up the other two people in the room. With half of her brain, she could still hear the doctor puttering around in his quarters.

    "Why are you asking me that?" Halen asked. Her eyes were closed, and she couldn''t see him, but she could feel his massive presence next to her, sense the warmth of his body radiating off of him, feel the creak of the floorboards as he shifted, and hear the way her own voice was muffled against his side when it came back to her ears. It was a comforting illusion, and a powerful one.

    "Because you know the answer?"

    "Am I a good person, Yan?" He leaned back, resting his body against his arms behind him as he sat cross legged on the floor. "You don''t know all the things I''ve done in my life."

    And there she was, thinking about those things again, even if she didn''t want to.

    "I don''t know," she said.

    "We''re trapped inside ourselves. That''s all we are."

    "No, I''m trapped here."

    Yan rolled over, turning her whole body away from the illusory Halen, and he vanished as she fell asleep, body melting into the hard floor.

    <hr>

    The next morning, the doctor provided them with a little breakfast of some sort of boiled grain and fish. She was hungry, and ate all of it. He had a long, long talk with Etta''s mother, and they both kept looking over at Yan as they talked. She didn''t like the way they were doing it. Their glances had shifted from being appraising or afraid to looking at her like she was something that had value. More value than just being a person, anyway. A risky investment, rather than just a risk. Yan ate her porridge and tried to ignore them.

    After some time of sitting around waiting, the doctor led the group out of the building and down the street. They walked about a mile. Yan was getting used to the cloth shoes. They were walking in the bright light of day, but no one paid them much attention, other than people giving Etta glances for her face and the way she walked. Etta smiled her lopsided smile, though whenever someone was particularly intrusive, Yan heard her grind her teeth. The streets were busy but mostly clean, and they made it to their destination without trouble. This was another doctor''s office? Maybe?

    They went around the building through alley and to the back door, near the garbage and outdoor storage. The doctor knocked, and a pale woman opened the door with a smile. She was younger than the doctor, probably around the same age as Etta''s mother, and she had large wooden beads dangling from her pierced ears. She ushered them in, speaking.

    They were in some sort of office portion of the building, full of filing cabinets and desks, with all the accoutrements of an administrative area. The woman pulled out some chairs into a circle, and told everyone to sit down. At least, that''s what Yan assumed she was saying. They sat. Yan saw, or thought she saw, or thought that she imagined, Halen lurking in the corner of the room, peeking in behind the door. She didn''t want to think about him, or anything, but it was hard to keep her attention focused on the present when she was excluded from the conversation so thoroughly. She was just going to have to trust these people.

    She stared at the woman doctor (that was what Yan assumed she was) as she talked, watching her face. She seemed genuine and enthusiastic, and she explained something to Etta''s mother with a picture aide. Yan looked at it, too. It didn''t clarify much, aside from showing the muscles all around her jaw, and a bunch of sensitive stuff near her ear. The chip had to come out, but Yan wasn''t feeling enthusiastic about it. The faster it was over with, the better.

    She interrupted the conversation when it reached a natural lull. She waved her hand to get people''s attention, then mimed falling asleep. She looked between the two doctors with her face in a questioning expression. They both smiled and nodded. Yan didn''t like that answer a lot, but it might be better than being awake. Which would be worse: the feeling of falling asleep, knowing that her body was about to be cut open like a fish fillet, or being awake and there to see it happen?

    What she really wanted to know was when it was going to happen. They couldn''t sit around talking forever. Her question was answered quickly enough. The meeting broke apart, through some sort of spoken sign, and the woman doctor escorted Yan to a little bathroom. Presumably she would need to do her business before she was knocked out.

    Yan looked at her face in the little mirror above the sink. It wasn''t dingy, but it was old, and the lights cast a yellow tint down on her brown face, making her look ill. She pulled at the dry skin of her cheeks, feeling the slack in it from a long time of her body being mistreated. She was almost gaunt, and definitely sallow. She didn''t want to be melodramatic, but looking in the mirror always held a sense of melodrama. She barely recognized herself. The flimsy and unfamiliar clothes weren''t helping. It was a good thing this planet was so hot, because otherwise these clothes wouldn''t have helped anybody keep warm.

    She splashed water on her face, felt a little bit refreshed, and left the bathroom. The doctor was waiting for her, and she brought her through the hallways of the building until they came to a very clean, very bright room. There wasn''t precisely an operating table in the center of it, but there was a chair, and lights, and a tray covered by a clean cloth that looked like it was hiding instruments. An attendant of some sort, decked out in scrubs, stood in the corner looking nervous. The doctor gestured to the chair. Hesitantly, Yan climbed up onto it and lay back as comfortably as she could. Her stiff neck made it difficult. She didn''t know how the doctor was going to get the chip out if it was on the side of her head.

    The doctor went out, leaving Yan alone with the attendant. She couldn''t raise her neck to look at him, so she just listened as he walked around the room, seemingly as quietly as possible. Yan wished that Etta or her mother was here. It was amazing how attached to them and comforted by them she had become over just the past day or so. They were the only people she was actually trusting. They had, for whatever reason, taken her in. These doctors? Yan didn''t know what their deal was. She would tolerate them because Etta did, and because they were going to help her. She hoped.

    Being on this table, chair, whatever¨C she felt too vulnerable. Anyone could just as easily kill her as they could save her. More easily, even. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself somewhere else. It was easy. She had to stop doing this, but she couldn''t.

    Yan was startled out of her reverie when the woman doctor came back in, all cleaned up and scrubbed down. Yan wondered how long she had been zoned out for. The woman came over to examine the part of Yan''s head where she would be reopening that old wound. When she gently pushed on Yan''s neck to turn it, she frowned deeply when it didn''t turn.

    "It''s stuck," Yan said, even though there was no hope of the woman understanding her. Yan rolled onto her side so that the correct side of her head was facing up, and she was turned away from the doctor. She put her arm underneath her head, laying in the uncomfortable reclined chair as if she was about to go to sleep. She was.

    The woman pulled on her shoulder to get her to come back for a moment, and handed her a cup of water and two pills. Yan regarded them suspiciously for a second. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and swallowed them down. She hated this. The doctor smiled at her, and held up all of her fingers. Ten minutes? Whatever the standard length of time was on this planet?

    Yan laid back down in the position that would give the doctor the best access to her skull. She closed her eyes and let the sounds of the room: the whirring of machinery, the footsteps and quiet talking of the doctor and her aide, the droning of the central air, all fill her mind. She sank into sleep without even noticing.

    She woke up again later with a blistering headache and a fierce thirst. She was still on the chair, exactly where she had been before, and she carefully rolled over and sat up. Etta was in the room with her, smiling at her in her lopsided way. Yan smiled back, but found that a good portion of her face was numb. She tentatively reached up to touch the side of her head where the surgery had apparently happened without her even knowing it was going to start. The anaesthetic procedures on this planet seemed to be pretty different from in the Empire, as far as Yan could tell. She didn''t have the brainpower to dwell on it.

    Everything felt soft and fuzzy, rather like the bandage that was taped down over her jaw area. Yan poked it. The area underneath was completely numb, which was good for now. She swung her legs off the chair and stood, slightly wobbly, as though she had been back at sea. Etta stood as well, looking a little concerned. Yan hobbled over to the sink in the corner of the room, turned on the faucet, and cupped her hands to drink. Her tongue felt thick and fat in her mouth, but the water was soothing. She stood there, watching the water run for a moment, until Etta stepped in and turned it off.

    Her brain was filled with fog. Etta led her out of the little operating room and back toward the offices. They passed the woman doctor on the way there, and she said something. For once, Yan was grateful for the language barrier, because it meant that she wouldn''t have to think of something to say. The woman doctor held up her hand, indicating that they should wait. She disappeared behind a door for a second, and came back with two little baggies filled with different types of medicine. They had something written on them. Instructions, probably. Yan took them and clutched them in her damp hands. In the office, Etta''s mother was waiting for them. The man doctor had left already, or at least wasn''t there.

    Someone handed Yan that cloth to put over her head. She wrapped it. Her arms felt like noodles.

    Etta''s mother took them back out, down the back stairs, down the alley, down the streets, out to the ocean, out to the boat, start the engine, on the water. The sun was three quarters of the way down. Yan lay in the back of the boat, trying to stay out of the way of the big moving sail and Etta as she did her duties. She stared up at the sky.

    Her head grew clearer and clearer as the sun sank down, though the ache in her jaw grew with that clarity. She looked at the pills that she was still clutching in her hand, and interrupted Etta to see what she should do with them. She held them out. Etta stabilized the sail with one hand, and pointed at the first bag of pills and held up one finger, and the second one and held up two fingers. Yan took the three pills, along with a swallow of water that she got from operating the water pump.

    She didn''t know where they were going. Probably not back to Etta''s home. The pills left a bitter taste on her tongue.

    Yan experimented with the power, to see if she could reach it. There was still a tingle in the back of her head, and she didn''t press her luck too hard. When she focused too much, the searing pain again returned. It was just like what had happened when she took the chip out for the first time. If she had to guess, she would say that the chip was the control unit for a bunch of smaller machines. Nanites, maybe. She knew those could be used for internal monitoring of various types. It might take time to flush them out of her system. Without the chip to direct them, and maybe with the help of the pills she had taken, they might be gone soon. She could only hope.

    Though the sun was going down, Yan felt wide awake. She stared out across the ocean and watched the waves bob up and down as they traveled to another new and strange land.

 Chapter Sixty-Eight - O Ye of Little Faith

    O Ye of Little Faith

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Five little bugs came walkin on the water, walkin on the water, walkin on the water. Five little bugs came walkin on water, til that fish came swimming right along. [...] Four little bugs came walkin on the water¡­¡±

    - from ¡°Water Striders¡±, children¡¯s counting song

    </blockquote>

    They sailed through the night. Yan dozed off once or twice, partially out of lack of stimulation, from the waves bobbing them up and down, and partially because of the pain in her head that crested in waves as her medication wore off. She couldn¡¯t completely tell if the unpleasant feeling that came over her had to do with her body''s natural reaction to being cut open, or if it was the gradual flushing out of the nanites in her brain. Yan felt nauseous and unable to focus. She tried to drink water, but ended up coughing it up over the side of the boat when she found her throat seized and unable to swallow. Maybe it was just all the swelling from going into her neck. Etta watched her with concern, but Yan managed to force a smile onto her face. It wasn''t as though she was dying, just having a bad reaction.

    It even hurt to move her mouth in the unconscious talking to herself that she had been doing. If there was one thing that would get her to break that bad habit, it was a sharp pain every time she moved her jaw.

    She slept.

    She woke.

    She felt much better, now. The sun was about a third of the way up the sky, and Etta and her mother were sitting down in the hull of the boat and eating some bread and a spread. Yan didn''t know where it had come from. Maybe it had been in the boat all along. Or Etta''s mother could have bought food in the city while Yan was passed out during her surgery, and kept it in the boat. It didn''t matter. Yan''s thoughts, though clearer now, swirled around unimpeded. It was as though a veil had been pulled back from over her eyes. She had been looking at the world through a thick sheet of wax paper, but had gotten used to it. Now everything was sharp again.

    Yan stared down at her hands, and her mind zeroed in on all the tiny pale cracks running up and down them, the way her fingers were healing a little crookedly. She looked at them with an intensity she had never felt before. The dappled light from the sunlight off the water bouncing off the sail overhead and back down onto the boat and into her hands and all over her body was like holding a cup of sunshine. It danced and jiggled around as the boat rocked.

    Etta noticed Yan awake and paralyzed by all the sensations around her, or at least awake and staring down at her hands, and nudged her a little, jolting Yan back to the ''real world''. Whatever that was anymore. Yan looked at Etta for what felt like the first time, seeing the slack of one side of her face, and the friendly innocence of the other. Etta handed Yan a piece of bread.

    Yan ate it. She could feel every crumb of it in her mouth. Had life always been like this? Had things felt like this before? How had she never noticed?

    She would have laughed, but that felt like it would have been too much. She would have tried using the power, but she was almost afraid of the intensity of it.

    Etta said something to her. Instead of the language feeling like it was a million kilometers away, it felt like if only Yan had time, she could understand it in her bones. She reached out a hand toward Etta. Etta looked confused for a second, then grabbed it, wrapping her fingers in Yan''s. Yan grinned, and then did laugh.

    "Thank you," she said. "Thank you." She could have kept saying it forever, even if her jaw still hurt. She released Etta''s hand and leaned over the side of the boat, tilting her whole body to let her look down into the salty water. She dragged one hand through it.

    She remembered one other time she had felt this way, when everything was so clear and so full and so much. The first time she had ever gone onto a planet, with her mother, or at least the first time she remembered, and there was the sky, and wind, and animals, and the hot Terlin sun beating down, and the blowing dusky brown sand, and the salty dry taste on her lips, and the little bugs skittering around on the ground, and the people everywhere, talking and yelling and¨C

    The rational part of her brain that wasn''t just soaking things in was glad she was having this eye reopening out here on the boat in the middle of nowhere, rather than somewhere particularly dangerous or overwhelming.

    The day slid by as she stared out at the sea and just let the warm air, salty water, and every shimmering light wash over her. Etta and her mother sailed along.

    This whole planet seemed to be covered in water, with just small islands popping up in chains. Or perhaps Yan was making a faulty assumption based on what she had seen so far. Off on the horizon, they would occasionally see small other boats or a sliver of land, but Etta''s mother directed them away from those. How much longer they could sail for without running out of supplies, Yan didn''t know. They had a decent supply of bread and nuts that Etta''s mother pulled out of a bag and distributed, but they couldn''t live on that forever.

    Something came over Yan as the sun was sinking low, turning the sky into a firey red terror, and the ocean into its reflection. She wasn''t scared, exactly, but she felt something touch her heart, deep inside, and she shivered all over. There was something out there. It didn''t seem menacing, but¡­

    Yan, against perhaps her better judgement, reached out with the power. She was relieved to find that she could, and that her brain didn''t flare with pain the moment she did. The power, though sluggish from disuse over the period of her imprisonment, stretched out around her in an ever expanding wave, letting her feel beyond the limits of her own skin, until she could go no further out and the power dissolved away into nothingness. Yan took a couple deep breaths, steadying herself. Etta was ignoring her, focused on tying a piece of rope to another part of the boat.

    The feeling of the sky reaching out towards her had been fleeting, and Yan wondered if she had imagined it. After all, it wouldn''t have been the first thing she had imagined. Luckily, with the world feeling so present in her eyes and ears, Halen and various other ghosts hadn''t decided to make an appearance recently. That might change as she got used to the real feeling of the world again, but Yan hoped it wouldn''t.

    The wind was picking up. It blew Etta''s hair around, and rocked the boat from side to side. Etta laughed and turned the sail that had been flapping uselessly into it, sending the boat scooting forward with a new burst of speed and crazy tilt. Her mother yelled something to her, and Etta sighed dramatically and began to lower the larger sail. The setting sun cast its last glow onto the clouds behind them, and though the air cooled, the wind did not abate. They carried on travelling with just the motor for a while, Etta and her mother taking turns at the helm.

    After some time, droplets of rain began to pound the little vessel, and it hopped up and down over the water, pitching from side to side. Yan''s stomach turned, this time from true seasickness. It was dark. The stars weren''t visible through the heavy cloud cover, and Etta''s mother was using the only light to point out ahead of the ship. She held onto that while Etta tried to keep the boat going in the right direction. Fighting against the waves was fruitless, though, and the churning of the motor disappeared into the sea behind them. Though Etta and her mother still looked relaxed, if busy, it felt to Yan like all that they could do was just barely keep the little boat out of the water. Considering the amount of water that crashed over the sides and down from the sky, maybe they couldn''t even do that.

    The excitement she had been feeling about experiencing the world turned into a sick fear. Yan couldn''t swim. The deepest she had ever been in an ocean was up to her waist, and that was during a trip with her Academy class. Even then, the relentless tugging of the waves on her legs had made her feel like she was being dragged out to sea by some unstoppable, unresistant force. She had retreated to the comfort of the beach.

    Etta saw her, in the little light that there was on the boat, and grinned with half her face and clumsily pushed her salt slicked hair out of her eyes. She yelled something excitedly. Yan just clung on to the side of the boat and closed her eyes.

    Feeling the jolts of pitch/roll/yaw with her eyes closed was almost worse, but at least now the water wasn''t getting into her eyes. Yan took a couple deep breaths and tried to steady herself. She could focus now. Maybe the old joy of meditation would come back to her. She breathed in every time the boat swung one direction, and out when it swung the other. She cleared her mind. How easy it was, now, for the power to come to her.

    Breathe in, breathe out.

    That feeling of something reaching for her returned, and Yan let it pass through her unimpeded, without trying to draw it in or push it away.

    Breathe in, breathe out.

    She thought she heard Halen''s voice over the rush and roar of the water, but she pushed it away.

    Her breathing grew steadier and more confident. Her mind grew clearer. She felt like she had a clear picture in her head of a bubble of ocean and sky surrounding the little boat, bright as day, detailed as the real thing, but bobbing along in a bottle, safe from all distress. The boat swayed from side to side. Yan breathed.

    Then suddenly, Etta was shaking her shoulder. Yan jolted out of her meditation. For a second, Yan saw that for a ten meter radius around the boat, the water was perfectly calm and still, then the moment was lost as the waves regained control and knocked the boat sideways. Yan slammed into the hull, hard, and water sloshed around her feet. Etta babbled excitedly and gestured around as her mother steered the boat.

    There was too much going on for her to process. Etta stared at her curiously, while somehow still easily keeping her balance in the ever tumbling ship. Yan was just a soggy mess down at the bottom.

    "What do you want?" Yan finally asked. Etta couldn''t answer in her own language, but she smiled and pointed at Yan, then the ocean, and then ran her hand in the air from side to side as though she was petting it. Or smoothing it down. Yan shrugged helplessly. She might have used the power to make the ocean calm, but it didn''t make a lot of sense to her. Usually, using the power required focus, and real intent on what she was trying to achieve. All Yan had been doing was meditating, and¡­ imagining.

    Abruptly, she realized that she would have a big problem on her hands if she started using the power while she was dreaming. She could kill someone, if she had a bad dream. Not like she really needed anything else to worry about. She needed to get her imagination under control.

    Etta continued to talk to her as the waves crashed into the boat. It didn''t really matter what Etta was saying. Even if they had been speaking the same language, it would have been hard to hear over the wind and the waves and the non stop flapping of the sail and ropes.

    Yan stared out over the water. She would keep her eyes open, this time. She could calm the ocean again. Even if Etta and her mother weren¡¯t having problems with the boat, Yan was seasick, and she wanted to get back to the gentle rocking rather than this horrible up and down sway. And she needed the practice. There was probably no better way to get the power back under her conscious control than by using it that way. Right?

    What would be the best way to calm the waves? Maybe a variation on the same shield she had used to stop bullets, and space debris. Just a little tweak on it. Yan sent her power out, in a bubble, and she tried to enforce a mass flow rate condition on it. Wind and water weren''t solids that were easy to stop and deflect, but if wind was coming at them at 40kph, or whatever the wind was doing, she could make a wall of thicker, soupier air. Denser stuff that was hard for the whipping wind to pass through. It slowed down, and a deafening silence filled the bubble, aside from the slapping of the waves against the side of the boat. The water Yan slowed down with a similar trick.

    Now that she was focusing on it, it was a lot harder. It required effort to keep up. Yan''s breath whistled through her gritted teeth. Etta looked concerned, and touched Yan''s shoulder and said something. Yan didn''t want to take her focus off the water to respond. Her eyes felt like they were glazing over.

    That presence, whatever it was, reached out again. It felt like the ocean, like Yan was standing with her toes right on the shore, and it was lapping at her, and pulling the sand out from underneath her feet. She clenched her aching jaw and resisted it. She clenched her aching jaw and kept her dry eyes on the placid surface of the water. She clenched her aching jaw and gripped the railing on the side of the boat for dear life as the motor spit up water behind them, and kept them moving on.

    The presence didn''t relent, though, and the more Yan kept that bubble up, the more it reached for her. It pulled and pulled and pulled. Yan stood up, still holding onto the side of the boat. It wanted her to go, but not in the same direction the boat was. It tugged at her, and took over something inside her brain. The wind swirled around. Yan leaned over the side of the boat. Etta came up next to her as her mother sailed them on through Yan''s calm bubble.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Yan thought for a second, and reached her hand out down to the water''s surface. She had to lean far. She pressed on the water with her hand. It was easy to raise the surface tension. It was just like the edge of her bubble. Now this was a thick film; the water felt firm under her hand as she pressed down.

    Half of her brain was occupied by using the power, and the other half was listening to the siren call of whatever presence was urging her onward. She had placed herself in such a position that there was only a sliver of her mind left for rational thought. That part of her was telling her to stop, to drop the bubble, to force out the intrusion in her head.

    But if there was one thing that Yan had always been weak to, from her first days of using the power, it was joining in with other people using the power. She had always loved meditating as a group. There was, in that space, nothing anyone could do to hurt her, and she was welcomed as she was nowhere else. And so when there came a gentle, probing, pulling, tugging presence that combined with her power pleasingly, and smoothed out the rough thoughts about disobeying in her brain, the already fragile Yan was helpless to resist.

    She swung her leg up and out, over the side of the boat. Etta grabbed her arm and shouted something in her ear, but Yan shook her off. She held onto the rail and hoisted her other leg out as well. Etta''s fingernails tore at Yan''s tunic as she took the short hop down onto the surface of the water.

    Buoyed by the power, the water stretched and wobbled, but didn''t break. Yan took half a step forward. Distantly, she heard Etta screaming, felt someone tugging her back, but Yan kept going forward. She was being inextricably drawn forward.

    Somewhere, in the one crevice of her mind that was free of the influence of this outside power, Yan remembered something the Green King had said, so long ago, after she had tried to take her chip out the first time.

    "You''d have a real problem on this planet if you took it out for too long," he whispered mockingly. "You need one to stay sane."

    Yan had tucked that information away, because it had felt worth it to get the power back. And she had thought the Green King was probably lying to her.

    Something crashed into her back, even as her legs hauled her step by arduous step forward, without her conscious control. It was heavy, wet Etta, hauling on Yan''s shoulders. The surface tension under Yan''s feet couldn''t hold up two bodies, and they crashed down into the water.

    Yan''s mind snapped back into focus as the water, much colder now that she was submerged, filled her mouth and eyes and ears. She lost control of the power, and immediately the ocean slammed into her at full bore. Etta hauled underneath her armpits, kicking madly to bring them back up to the surface. Yan, who had almost breathed in water in her shock, realized again that she couldn''t swim.

    Panic, of an entirely new kind, overtook her, and she flailed madly in the few moments before the water dipped down into a trough and their heads poked out above the water. She caught a glimpse of the boat, about five meters distant, tilting to one side as Etta''s mother abandoned the wheel to toss out a life preserver on a rope towards them. The bright red of it glittered on the surface of the ocean for an instant, but then another wave crashed over them both and sent Yan choking down into the abyss.

    She was, in a way, lucky, that the water was so turbulent, because it forced her back up to the surface again, and Etta pulled on her arm as she swam directly through the waves. Yan kicked, as much as she could. For once, the scant amount of clothing that she had been given was a bonus, as it didn''t weigh her down. The life preserver bobbed into view, and Etta dropped Yan''s arm for a second in order to grab it. Yan immediately began to sink, and the waves crashed over her head. She struggled fiercely, flailing her arms to get back up. Somehow, Etta forced the life preserver, a long red tube, toward her, and Yan grabbed onto it for dear life. Her mother pulled the rope and drew her in. The buffeting of the waves was less dangerous, now that she had something that would stay on top of them. Etta, a strong swimmer, reached the boat before Yan did, even with Yan kicking and Etta''s mother pulling.

    Etta hoisted herself up over the side, and then grabbed Yan''s arm once again to pull her back into the boat. She crashed onto the bottom of it and lay there, panting and dizzy for a second before she managed to sit up.

    Etta was angrier than Yan had ever seen. Her face was beet red, and she was yelling incoherently at Yan. Yan stared back at her, unable to say anything in response.

    "I-" Yan started, but, unexpectedly, Etta reached out and slapped her across the face. The noise and the pain cut across the haze of confusion that remained in her brain. Yan reeled backwards. Etta''s mother said something harsh, to who, Yan didn''t know. Etta scrubbed at her eyes ineffectively with her damp hand. In the wetness from the ocean, and the rain beating down from above, it was impossible to tell if there were tears, but Etta''s crumpled face and choked breathing made her look like she was crying.

    Yan scooted back against the side of the boat. She was the one who had upset Etta, so she couldn''t offer any comfort. Unexpectedly, Etta lunged forward. Yan thought she was going to hit her again, but instead, Etta wrapped her arms around her tightly. The boat rocked, and Etta mumbled something incoherent into Yan''s ear. Probably would have been incoherent even if Yan could understand.

    Yan patted her on the back awkwardly.

    Even though she wasn''t using the power, and she was back in control of her brain, Yan could feel the tugging of whatever it was out there. It still wasn''t precisely malevolent. What had caused Yan to almost drown wasn''t its beckoning, it was Etta diving out after her. It was possessive, though, and it sang with a sweet allure. Now that Yan was actively trying to resist it, it felt like there was someone whispering at her, in words that she could just barely not understand. Or like a cool breeze was ever so slightly drying sweat off her back, but mentally. It was the same crawling feeling.

    Etta released her after a moment, even as Yan sat stock still processing everything that was happening. She had done something foolhardy, dangerous, and completely inexplicable. Was it defense enough that her mind had been invaded? Was she able to say with any certainty that she hadn''t had control over her own actions?

    "I''m sorry," she said, looking up at Etta, who leaned back in a squat, keeping herself steady despite the boat''s rocking. "Really. I won''t do it again."

    Etta just had to look at her suspiciously, or with whatever mix of emotions was there in her eyes. Yan''s cheek still burned from Etta''s slap (it hadn''t been weak at all), despite the rain that trickled down. The rain was less intense, now, and some of the wind seemed to have blown itself out. Perhaps it was a sudden squall that left just as quickly as it came. That wasn''t to say that the sea was calm by any measure, just less wild than it had been moments before.

    Eventually, Etta had enough of watching Yan, and returned to helping her mother sail the boat. She must have decided that Yan wasn''t going to try to get out of the boat again, and if she was, there wasn''t much they could do to stop her. It was a wonder that Etta and her mother put up with her at all, Yan thought. After all, she had been nothing but trouble to them, and she was a major source of fear and anxiety just because of who she was, no matter how well she behaved. And Yan was finding that she wasn''t able to trust herself to behave well at all.

    The adrenaline was still pouring through her system in the aftermath of her little swim. Her heart hadn''t quite calmed down, and her throat hurt from half inhaled water. The fear of it all felt like ice in the bones of her arms, and her hands trembled as she looked at them. She had to find some way to be less¡­ Less¡­

    Out of control.

    Yan needed to get herself back under control. That meant no more imagining things, no more using the power without meaning to, no more letting anybody else invade her head or control her or force her into a cage or tell her what to do. She clenched her fists, feeling the pain in her left hand. No more.

    The niggling feeling at the back of her mind hadn''t gone away, even as she was having this stern talking to with herself. It was time to have a stern talking to with¡­ that¡­ as well.

    She breathed in and out, keeping her eyes open and her attention fixed on Etta and her mother. There would be no more letting herself get sucked away. Now that she knew it could happen, her one goal was to not let it happen again. The allure was strong, but Yan, at this moment, with the fear of near-drowning still present in her heart, was stronger.

    The power twined about her like a snake, and Yan reached out toward it. It tried to pull her in, to make her one with it. She had never felt it so intense and alive like that before, and at such a great distance. She stopped herself, and only touched it on a surface level.

    "Yes, I''ll go to you," Yan said, half aloud and half through the power. "But my way. My terms. Not yours."

    She couldn''t say no outright. She didn''t want to. That was her rational mind speaking. If this was the greatest force of the power on the planet, it stood to reason that whichever holy person, or persons, who were wielding it could help her. Someone with a power to reach across how many kilometers of ocean to grab at her could have just killed her outright. That wasn''t even in question. But they hadn''t. So Yan was forced to speculate that they wanted her for purposes other than harm.

    What had the Green King said? That the planet would drive her crazy without the chip? She already was crazy, she knew, so letting this happen couldn''t be any worse.

    And, Yan thought, if she did get to meet up with whoever this was, they could communicate. She wanted to be able to communicate with people again. Not just gesture and pantomime and point at pictures and yell incomprehensibly. She wanted to understand and be understood at the level only another sensitive could reach. That was always what she wanted. Just now it was compounded by being so much more of an outsider than she had ever been.

    She forced her intention of self control into its purest thought form, and shoved it towards the presence lurking on the edge of her consciousness. The feeling she received in return, of casual amusement, certainty, and patience wasn''t exactly one that inspired confidence in her. The presence offered her something, holding out a sliver of power like a gift. Yan was cautious. It shoved it towards her with a gentle insistence and a deep seated promise that it wouldn''t hurt.

    Yan took it, circling the little sliver of power and intention. A bright spot appeared in her vision, glowing a pale green against the still dripping black sky. It lurked on the edge of the horizon. Yan turned to the side, and the green dot continued lurking in her peripheral vision. She turned her body all the way around, and, weirdly, the dot somehow lived ''behind'' her eye. She could feel it in the back of her brain when she turned around, just as if she were seeing it. It was the same when she looked directly at it and closed her eyes. A navigational beacon, then.

    The presence couldn''t have given her something more useful, like the knowledge of language, could it have? Yan knew it was possible, based on the way Sylva described her apprenticeship. She sent her mild frustration back, and received more of that casual amusement in turn. And then the presence retreated, leaving nothing but the nagging green dot in her vision.

    Yan sighed in relief the moment that it was gone. She kept her guard up, though. There was no way she was going to be caught unaware and pulled back out into the ocean. For a moment, she just lay back against the side of the boat, as she had been doing so often for the past few days.

    Then she stood up. That motion, and her clutching on to the side of the boat to keep her balance got Etta''s attention once again, out of fear that she would go back into the water, probably. Yan waved at her with her free hand, and inched carefully toward the front of the boat, cloth shoes flopping in the pools of water all around the boat. She could see the green dot in the corner of her vision. At the front of the boat, Etta''s mother was holding the wheel. Yan edged up next to her, and put her hand out on the wheel.

    The mother looked surprised, and swatted her hand away, hitting Yan''s hurt fingers. Yan winced, but firmed her grip. She turned her body halfway and gave Etta a pleading look. While Yan and the mother wrestled gently over the wheel, Etta said something in a confused tone.

    Yan pointed out into the dark. She knew where she wanted to go now, at least. Etta''s mother pointed fervently at the display in the front of the boat, showing a variety of navigational beacons and the course they were heading. It seemed to have nothing to do with the green dot on Yan''s vision. But Yan wanted to go there. While she did trust the two women who had saved her and helped her more than she could have ever expected, she didn''t want to walk somewhere else, once again without any foreknowledge of what she was getting herself into. Though the presence that had touched her mind felt overwhelming, and a bit dangerous, it was her best hope of communicating and getting somewhere for real. Yan pointed out across the ocean again, and jerked the wheel a bit.

    Etta tugged at the back of her damp tunic to get her to sit down, but Yan wasn''t dissuaded.

    "I need to go there," she said, gritting her teeth. "I won''t get out of the boat, but I need the boat to take me there. Please."

    Etta''s mother didn''t look like she was going to relent. She kept her own grip on the wheel, and her own course across the choppy ocean. Etta pulled Yan back. Yan turned to her and pleaded silently, pointing in the direction that she wanted to go. The dot was behind her, but still floating in her mind. Her arm and pointing finger trailed out behind her like a banner.

    "Please, Etta. I need to go." She hoped the tone would get across, even if the meaning didn''t.

    Etta shook her head no, and turned away, but the moment that she did, Yan saw something written on her face. Wait.

    Alright. Yan would wait.

    Etta returned to the helm with her mother and Yan returned to the back of the boat, still somewhat reluctantly. She waited there. She couldn''t have misinterpreted what Etta was trying to say, right? That look. Patience. That was what she was supposed to have.

    Yan sat, and thought, and waited. Eventually, Etta and her mother had a short conversation in which they both kept glancing back at Yan. She stared at them, trying to keep the frustration off her face. It wouldn''t be good to make them trust her less. Whatever trust she had, especially from Etta''s mother, had probably been eroded by now. She had been on shaky ground to begin with, but jumping out of the boat had certainly done her no favors. Neither, probably, had grabbing the wheel.

    Etta came to the back of the boat. She pulled the soggy life preserver over to herself and lay down curled up with it underneath her head. It was long enough that she offered the other side of it to Yan. They lay facing eachother, and the shaking of the boat underneath them sent Etta to sleep quite quickly. Yan was less thrilled with the prospect of sleeping, and stayed awake. She was afraid of losing control in her sleep. That was the new thing she had to be afraid of, right?

    Wait.

    She was waiting.

    The clouds broke apart, and the stars shone down over the choppy water. The air was cool. They sailed, but mainly under power of the little motor.

    Yan probably did doze off, and her rest was, for once, relatively free of dreams. She woke to someone gently shaking her shoulder. Etta hovered over her, and put her hand gently but firmly over Yan''s mouth. Yan, still in the haze of sleep, licked it as she had done with Sylva so many times. She was probably lucky that she didn''t have a more violent reaction, considering. Etta, in the dim light, clearly rolled her eyes. She removed her hand, and pointed slightly down the boat at the sleeping figure of her mother. The boat bobbed in the water.

    Etta helped Yan up, and they carefully and silently made their way to the front of the boat. Etta gestured out over the horizon. Yan understood immediately what was going on, and pointed herself, to where the green dot hovered over the edge of her vision. It was unbelievable how much Etta was willing to do to help her. Whatever head injury she had got years ago must have made her really insane, to do all this for Yan.

    They sailed on, in the darkness that turned slowly to a barely lightening dawn, and the green dot grew heavy and large in Yan''s vision.

 Chapter Sixty-Nine - Photographs, Memories, and Spies

    Photographs, Memories, and Spies

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Reminder to all students in Boswell Dorm: nature belongs outside. Please do not bring in any dirt, bugs/animals, water from outside, large rocks, or non-potted plants. Let¡¯s keep the rooms clean and free of pests for everyone who lives here. Thank you!¡±

    -from a note given to all students in Yan and Sylva¡¯s dorm room during their second year at the Academy

    </blockquote>

    Sylva and Iri came aboard as paying passengers. They wouldn''t be able to stay that way forever; their funds would run out soon enough, but it was a start. Sylva couldn''t convince herself to try her doctor persona again quite yet, and it was a moot point because the Bellringer wasn¡¯t looking for a doctor anyway. They already had a capable one. But the disguise was useful in giving them an excuse to travel around on a ship without a set destination in mind. As a doctor in search of work, Sylva had plenty of reason to simply scope out which stations and ships were in need of her. And Evie (Iri) had plenty of reason to scope out suitable husbands. Based on the way that the man processing them onto the Bellringer had laughed, that was apparently a completely normal thing, but usually it wasn''t performed on a ''pleasure cruise'' as he called it. He looked Iri over with an appraising eye and offered to find her suitable work.

    Iri asked if it was flying dogfighters, and at the way he pursed his lips she laughed at him and said she would find her own work, thank you very much.

    Sylva didn¡¯t want to think about what type of work that slimy man had in mind. At best it was kitchen duty. For all that Sylva hated how short she was while surrounded by spacers (and the weirdly tall non-spacer Iri), it did have the advantage of no one giving her a second glance. Grounders were not typically considered the best match, and she was receiving even less attention aboard the Bellringer than she had aboard the Warrior II and the Iron Dreams. On those ships, at least, she had a reason for people to pay attention to her. Here, she was (thankfully) a complete nobody.

    The Bellringer was not a beautiful ship. They had glimpsed the outside of it through the windows as they transferred onto it, and, though all ships (being made of mined out rocks) tended to be a little lumpy, this one had a massive gouge in its side that looked beyond fixing. Had Yan really done that? Sylva found it hard to believe.

    The hallways were also weirdly empty. It was a ghost ship, and Sylva never saw anyone, except for when she passed the busy areas where people worked, or ate in the dining area. Even then, it was sparse. The ship seemed to be built for many more people than it held. There was a lurking, empty echo around every corner, and a long list of names painted in red along the wall in front of the chapel area. Though Sylva didn''t go to the chapel (she was not a fan of the way that pirates did faith, and she didn''t feel welcome), she passed by it quite often.

    When she was alone with Iri in their little, shared room, she asked about it. They didn''t have separate rooms because this was cheaper.

    "You were there, right?" she asked.

    "What?" Iri was fiddling with something, a tiny little microphone. She was planning to bug the ship, as much as possible.

    "When Yan fought this ship?"

    "Oh. Yeah. I was with her on the shuttle."

    "Did she do that? To the outside?"

    Iri stuck her tongue out slightly as she attempted to connect a miniscule wire to the end of the microphone without breaking it. "That chunk? No."

    Sylva didn''t know how to continue the conversation. She desperately wanted to know what had actually transpired, but she was also afraid of what she would learn.

    "What did that?" Sylva asked.

    "The other ship''s weapons. Yan couldn''t use the power directly on the ship itself¡­" Iri trailed off, the as the wire went into its slot successfully she exclaimed, "Ha!"

    "Oh. What did she do, then?"

    "Sylva." Iri looked up at her, tone harsh. "Don''t be a fucking idiot."

    "What?"

    "There''s a reason she didn''t describe it in excruciating detail," Iri said.

    "I want to know, though." For all Iri''s cautioning, Sylva¡¯s curiosity couldn¡¯t be turned away.

    "She killed like thirty people, Sylva. Her and Sid." Iri¡¯s face was twisted, and her voice was clipped. Sylva knew it was bad, but Iri had just been a bystander, right?

    "How?"

    "Fucking God, Sylva. It wasn''t pleasant for me, either!" Iri almost slammed down the pliers she was holding.

    "Sorry. Sorry." Sylva turned away and stopped asking. Iri hunched back over the desk and went back to working on her little sets of microphones.

    After a minute or so, Sylva became aware of the sound of Iri sniffling, and turned back around. Iri had her head on her hand, and there were a couple tears that had dripped down to moisten the plastic surface of the desk. Sylva sat back up on the bed and leaned forward, putting her hand on Iri''s strong back. She could feel the rippling muscles beneath the fabric of her jumpsuit. Iri twitched forward a little bit at the touch, but didn''t recoil. Since she wasn''t yelling at her again, Sylva rubbed Iri''s back gently.

    "Do you want to talk about it?" Sylva asked. "You don''t have to, I just¡­ If you think it would help."

    Iri choked on a half laugh and didn''t speak for another minute. Sylva just kept rubbing her back.

    "She hit them with a rock, if you have to know. I don''t think she looked too closely, but I could see it happen. I think¡­ she wasn''t aiming to kill anyone. She went for legs so that she could have some, I don''t know, plausible deniability. But you don''t¡­ There''s no way to survive what she hit them with."

    Iri lapsed into silence once more, wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath. Sylva bit her tongue, so that she wouldn''t break the moment. If Iri wanted to talk, she should get to talk. Sylva had a morbid curiosity about it, so she wasn''t only being generous in letting Iri get out her long bottled up feelings.

    "It broke something inside of her. I think. And I had to just be there and watch it happen. And there was nothing I could do! I¨C"

    She took another deep breath.

    "And then what was I supposed to do? Cry to her about how it made me feel? I just had to be there for her, and tell her that everything was going to be alright. I don''t even think I did a good job at that. It''s not like I''m one of you. I can''t get into her mind the way that Sid does, and I don''t even know if that helped him because of the drugs and¨C"

    Sylva wasn''t going to ask about what Iri was talking about, because she didn''t want to interrupt, but she wondered about Sid. She didn''t know anything about Yan''s coworkers.

    "I just." Iri laughed again. "I think I''ve been the worst failure of a guardian that''s ever walked this universe."

    Sylva had to step in. "No, definitely not."

    "Halen should have never picked me for this. I don''t know why he thought that some average person could do anything to protect a sensitive."

    "You''re doing a good job of protecting me."

    Iri snorted. "You''re not really in danger."

    "Look around you."

    "You know what I mean." She sat silently again.

    "I don''t know anything about Halen, or what you and Yan went through, really," Sylva began, "but I think you probably did a good job helping her through it. She came through it alright."

    "All I said to her was the stuff that I should have had somebody say to me," Iri said. "It wasn''t profound."

    "At least you were there for her."

    "Until I wasn''t."

    "Not everybody can be everywhere at once. And if you had been on guard¨C"

    "Yeah, I would have probably gotten shot in the head. I know." She sighed and wiped her eyes again. "I don''t know how Halen does it."

    "You keep mentioning him. Who is Halen?"

    "I sometimes forget that you really aren''t in the loop." She straightened up a little bit, but Sylva kept her hand on her back. "I guess it doesn''t really matter if I tell you. Halen''s my boss, kinda. He''s First Sandreas''s bodyguard."

    "He probably does it just by being good at his job," Sylva said.

    "No, I don''t mean that. He''s¨C" she heaved a deep breath. "I mean in the way of how he isn''t paralyzed with fear about not being in the right place at the right time every single second."

    "I''m sure he has the exact same worries as you do."

    "No, you really don''t know the quiet part." Iri smiled a tiny bit, remembering something more pleasant. "They''re lovers. Halen and First Sandreas. Have been for years and years."

    "That''s a pretty big secret."

    "Yeah. But that''s what I mean. I could barely handle thinking about what happened to Yan, and when I was assigned to her, we were total strangers. Just a job. But¨C"

    "So you''re not in love with her," Sylva said, interrupting with a tone of relief evident in her voice.

    "What? No. What gave you that impression?" The question must have been so startling to Iri, because her whole voice and demeanor changed. She turned to look at Sylva with an amused expression, even though her eyes were still puffy with tears.

    "I don''t know." The answer was an immediately obvious ''jealous paranoia'', but Sylva wasn''t going to say that. "Sorry, go ahead with your story, I didn''t mean to interrupt."

    "There isn''t really much of a story," Iri said.

    "No, about Halen. Why keep it a secret?"

    "They have a lot of personal reasons for it, I think," Iri said. "That''s not particularly my business. I just don''t know how he deals with the fear that has to come along with it."

    "Well, wouldn''t it be a worse fear if he wasn''t his bodyguard? He''d have to trust someone else to do the job," Sylva said pragmatically.

    Iri shrugged. "Maybe. But I don''t see you jumping at the chance to¨C"

    "Iri," Sylva said flatly. "What is this if not jumping at the chance?"

    Iri laughed again, a real laugh this time. "Yeah, I guess. But you''ll go back to your normal life when this is over?"

    "I don''t know if I can," Sylva said.

    "I guess we''ll think about that shuttle when it''s time to board it."

    "Yeah." They didn''t say anything for a moment. "How did Halen become your boss?"

    "I was working in Imperial security, and I stood out. Halen liked me, so he took me under his wing. Things were a lot different back then."

    "When was that?"

    "Five years ago, something like that."

    "What''s he like?"

    "You''re curious."

    "I have a right to know about my lover''s boss''s lover."

    "Do you?"

    "Sure."

    "He''s nice. You wouldn''t think he would be from looking at him, but he is. He''d do absolutely anything for First Sandreas, obviously."

    "What''s he look like?"

    "Ugh, hard to describe. Let me find a picture." Iri pulled out her phone and scrolled through her pictures. Sylva looked over her shoulder as years of images flew past. They were small and indistinguishable when she didn''t know what they were referring to.

    Iri stopped on one image, and made it larger. There were a bunch of people, dressed in what Sylva assumed were Imperial security uniforms, all posing for the camera. Behind them, a massive, hulking man with a blotchy red face stood wearing a tight, forced smile. "That''s Halen," Iri said, pointing at the large man.

    "Oh, I think I''ve seen him on the news before."

    "He tries to stay in the background, but he''s so big it''s almost impossible to keep him out of all the camera shots," Iri said.

    "How''d he get so big?"

    "Genetically modified. He''s my former pirate friend," Iri said. "Hail-and-Farewell."

    "I guess I can understand why he tries to stay out of the spotlight."

    "Bad press for being a former pirate is only one of the reasons, I think," Iri said. "Anyway, he''s nice. I miss him."

    "You can go back, though, once we''re done."

    "I quit my job," Iri said. "He wouldn''t want me back, since I proved I couldn''t handle it. I don¡¯t think, anyway."

    "I somehow doubt that."

    "You don''t know."

    "And neither do you."

    "Sure, but I know better than you do."

    "Ugh." Sylva flopped backwards onto the bed, abandoning rubbing Iri''s back. A stray thought popped into her brain. "Were you in that picture? I didn''t see you."

    "Yeah."

    "Where?"

    "I''m ugly in it. I''m not going to show you."

    "Let me see!" Sylva sat up again and reached for Iri''s phone, but she snatched it away and put it in her pocket.

    "You shoulda been more observant the first time, if you really wanted to see."

    "You''re the worst."

    "Yeah. I am." Iri, now apparently feeling better, resumed her work on the microphones. "You up for a little stealth?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "We need to get these planted around the ship."

    "Duh."

    "So can you help with that?"

    "In what way? I''m not exactly, uh, unnoticeable." Sylva gestured down at her pudgy body and her short stature. "I stand out, when people bother to look down at me." Iri laughed.

    "Can''t you use the power? I know that Halen can¨C what''s the best way to describe what he did¡­ He went invisible, once."

    Sylva laughed loudly. "God, no. I thought I''d made it clear that my use of the power barely extends to what ten year olds can do."

    "I don''t really get that. I thought that everyone who came out of the Academy was basically the same."

    "In theory," Sylva grumbled. "It''s not supposed to be different. Like, God doesn''t give more or less strength to one person. But you have to be able to hold it in your head, everything that you''re trying to do. And my thoughts are just¡­" Sylva flailed her hand in the air near her head. "All over the place. That''s why Yan was so good at it. She can sit and just, I don''t even know, absorb the world."

    "Then how''d you make it through the Academy?"

    "Boy, I bring up a sore subject for you, and you have to retaliate? I''m smart, ok? But I just do things in my own way. At my own pace."

    "Didn''t mean to offend," Iri said, holding up the completed microphone and passing it to Sylva. She looked it over; it was small, and would blend in nicely to the corner of any room. She wondered just how much it could pick up.

    "It''s fine," Sylva grumbled. "Not your fault I''m a failure as a sensitive."

    "If you''re a failure at being able to do all sorts of mystical bullshit, what am I? Chopped beef?"

    "You''re beefy, alright," Sylva said with a laugh.

    "Aww." Iri put her hands on her face, pretending to blush. "But seriously, back to the topic at hand, we need to get these up."

    "I''ll tell you what. Here''s what I can do. You got some glue?"

    "We''ll stick them up with these." Iri passed her a sheet of tiny adhesive dots. Sylva peeled one off and tried to stick it to the back of the microphone. Since they were both tiny and incredibly sticky, she struggled with it for a long moment, and Iri watched, amused.

    "Patience is a virtue," Sylva said as she finally got the sticky tack in place. "But look, I can probably sneak these up into high places without anybody noticing." She focused, and with some effort, brought the microphone into a hover above her face. She sent it zooming off into the upper corner of the room, and with a gentle mental press, she fastened it there.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    "Great. Can you get it down?"

    "Oh. Uh. Let me try." Sylva struggled with the power for a second, and failed to ''feel out'' the microphone, now that it was no longer physically in her hand. "Uhhhhh¡­"

    "Sylva!" Iri groaned and stood on the bed, in order to maximize her height and reach into the corner. She pulled it back down, then sat down in the chair with a huff.

    "I did warn you that I''m a little useless."

    "You should practice. I''m sure you could get better."

    "What do you think I''ve been doing for the past eleven years?"

    "Do you want the honest answer?" Iri asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "Oh, fuck no," Sylva said. Iri laughed.

    "Then I''ll give you the silly answer. I think you''ve been too busy making moon eyes at Yan to focus on schoolwork."

    Sylva lunged across the bed and put her hand over Iri''s mouth. "Shut up!"

    "Mrf." Iri, despite the compromising position that she had found herself in, had a smug look on her face.

    "You don''t know anything!" Sylva hissed, but released Iri''s face.

    "Sure. Sure."

    Sylva was smiling, though. For all her bluster about it, she wasn''t actually mad about what Iri had said. Though she wasn''t sure how much Yan talked about what their school days had been like, it wasn''t exactly a stretch to say that Sylva''s complicated emotions hadn''t made her the most focused person at all times.

    Yan, of course, had been fairly oblivious. For all that she was a great person, and beautiful, and good at doing things, and wickedly smart, and fun to be around, and everything else, she had a pair of blinders on that stopped her from seeing anything that she didn''t want to, or didn''t want to think about too closely. On one hand, Sylva was glad that her perpetual lovesickness had been missed, because it was embarrassing to think about. But on the other, it hadn''t exactly made understanding or expressing her feelings any easier. Well, that was in the past now.

    "Anyway¡­" Iri said, checking over the microphone to make sure that their little squabble hadn''t damaged it. "We will need to get into other rooms of the ship in order to put these up."

    "I can open doors, too."

    "Like you opened mine on the Warrior II?"

    "How long are you going to hold that one over me?"

    "Oh, forever, probably. I just think it''s hilarious."

    "I was panicking, okay?"

    Iri laughed. "Well, if you think you can do it without leaving a trail of destruction in your wake, then great."

    "Yeah, if I have time, I can probably open doors without breaking them."

    "I can''t guarantee that," Iri said. "We might have to be in and out of rooms fast. Depending on the room."

    "There''s like, nobody on this ship," Sylva said. "What''re the odds of us getting interrupted?"

    "Since we''re going to bug areas where people do gather, and important places, I''d say the odds are pretty good."

    "And what will we do if we get caught?"

    Iri sighed. "How much of a fight do you think you can put up?"

    "We''re really jumping straight to violence?"

    "What do you think the alternative is?"

    "We could, uh, pretend we''re doing something else."

    "Such as?"

    "Well you and Sign weren''t exactly in a private place¡­" Sylva said.

    Iri laughed. "Little different, since Sign actually belonged to the ship, and I was working for him at the time."

    "You never know. There''s probably someone out there with a fetish that involves just, I don''t know, doing it in public on pirate ships. As many as possible."

    "I really don''t think you want to develop the reputation as the person who has that particular fetish," Iri said with a smile. "You didn''t answer my question."

    Now it was Sylva''s turn to sigh. "I don''t think I''d be very useful. If it came down to it. I can''t even imagine how much control of the power it would take to be able to knock someone out or whatever."

    "You don''t think you can use their clothes to strangle them?" Iri asked, indicating with her voice that she had seen that exact move be used before.

    "Uh¡­"

    "Okay, I won''t count on you at all, then. Just stay out of my way, if we get walked in on. Duck."

    "I can do that."

    "Great." Iri rubbed the back of her neck. "We do want to get this done as soon as possible."

    "Why? We probably won''t be at the next station for, I don''t know, a couple days."

    "I''d like to make sure that it''s working, and get a chance to feel the tenor of the ship, you know."

    "Yeah. So when are we going to do it?"

    Iri looked down and checked her phone for the current ship''s time. "Middle of third shift is probably the time when the fewest people are around."

    "And it''s the time when I''m least awake," Sylva grumbled.

    <hr>

    So, during the middle of third shift, Sylva and Iri dressed themselves in the outfits they thought would least stand out (classic spacer jumpsuits, unfortunately not in the same color as the ones worn by the crew of the Bellringer), and began creeping down the hallways of the ship, their pockets stuffed with microphones. Their first stops were various public locations on the ship, as those would be easiest. They wouldn¡¯t be locked, and Iri and Sylva ostensibly had a reason to visit them.

    They meandered their way through the ship to the dining hall, which was blessedly empty. They availed themselves of bowls of cereal so that they wouldn''t look like they were being suspicious, and sat down at a table.

    "Got this?" Iri asked, as she halfheartedly spooned cereal toward her mouth.

    Sylva nodded. She stirred her own soggy grain, and took a deep breath. With the power, she felt around in her pocket and grabbed one of the microphones. She had trouble distinguishing its ''feeling'' from the feeling of the fabric of her pants, and the air around, and the bench they were sitting on, but eventually, through trial and error, she got one of the microphones to shift around. She pulled it out of her pocket, and dropped it to just above the floor. She watched out of the corner of her eye and sent it skittering across the floor, underneath the tables, so that it wouldn''t be visible on the cameras, until it reached the wall. She lifted it up the wall and pressed it firmly into the corner.

    With such a small microphone, and such a large room, she would have to repeat the process several times. Already she was tired of this, but she continued. Iri smiled at her encouragingly as she ate the bland cereal.

    They weren''t interrupted while they were in the dining hall, which was nice. That was an easy, practice run. They did the ship''s library next, then a few of the recreational areas.

    "Won''t it be weird that we''re visiting all of these places, on the camera?" Sylva asked.

    "Doubt anybody''s actually watching," Iri said. "Probably no one checks the records unless there''s a reason to. And if I can, I''m going to erase them later."

    "Then why was I trying to be so sneaky earlier?"

    "The cereal was just in case someone walked in on us. If you were doing something else stupid, I never told you to," Iri said with a smirk. Sylva had half a mind to punch her.

    But Sylva dutifully bugged the gym, and the bathrooms, and various other public places. Iri guarded the doors in the places where that was realistic, and generally kept a lookout. Then it came time to bug the more private places aboard the ship. The first stop was the office near the bridge where the captain did most of his business.

    Even going towards the bridge was nerve wracking. There was a visceral sense, walking through the deserted hallways of the ship, that they were Not Supposed To Be There. The feeling of transgression only grew as they approached the more official areas. Luckily, they saw no one. Iri had been right that the dead hours of the third shift, people were either working or sleeping, and not roaming. The bridge was occupied, but it didn''t have a window on the door, so as they snuck past it, they couldn''t see inside and no one inside could see them. They just had to hope that no one would choose to come out and go to the bathroom down the hallway.

    Iri stood, facing the bridge, while Sylva leaned down towards the door of the captain''s office. She placed her palm flat against the door and tried to feel out the lock with the power. She bit her tongue as she concentrated. She could feel the difference between the material the door was made of, and the complicated circuitry inside it, and the deadbolt that held it shut. She could feel the difference, as she moved her power through them, but that didn''t translate immediately to knowing which was which. She squinted her eyes.

    Wasn''t it supposed to be so easy for kids to open doors? Just by thinking about it?

    "Open," she hissed. She didn''t want to smash the lock to pieces, but she didn''t want to stay here in the hallway forever.

    Especially not now that the sound of footsteps echoed quietly down the hall. Distant, but coming closer at a steady clip. Iri gave Sylva a hard look, and put her hand warningly at her hip where her gun was. Sylva bit her lip and resumed her work at the door. Worst came to worst, they wouldn''t fight this person, obviously, they would pretend like they had also just happened to be walking down the hallway. But that would become harder the longer it took for Sylva to get the door open. The footsteps came closer. Sylva continued to wrestle with the power like it was an unruly cat.

    Iri looked at her, and took a few steps forward, reaching down to tug on Sylva''s shoulder to pull her up so that they could walk away. "Hold on, one second¡­" Sylva hissed under her breath.

    The footsteps came steadily closer. Iri yanked on Sylva''s jumpsuit. "Sylva!"

    Sylva gave one last push with the power. The lock clicked, the door pushed open, and Iri and Sylva tumbled inside, shutting the door quickly and quietly behind them.

    Iri leaned against the door, eyes wide. "That was too close for comfort," she said.

    "Hey. At least we''re in."

    "And did you break the lock?"

    "I think it still works."

    "That''s one good thing, I guess."

    "And we didn''t even set off any alarms."

    "That you know of," Iri said. "If I was running a ship with an alarm system, I''d make damn sure that they weren''t audible to the intruder."

    "Then let''s get this done quickly," Sylva said. "Where''s the best place to put it in here?"

    Iri considered the room. It was more plush by far, than the equivalent room aboard the Iron Dreams, where Sylva had met with Captain Pellon several times. There was an ostentatious light fixture above, with one bright bulb surrounded by several smaller ones on a weird circular track. The table in here was a heavy, old wood¨C an odd luxury aboard a space ship. The carpet, too, was luxurious, and trinkets lined the walls on shelves. Everything was fastened there with either sticky tack or magnets, of course, to prevent it from floating around in the event that the rings had to be stopped. Even the richness of the room couldn''t disguise that classic spacer practicality.

    As Iri checked the corners and under the table to determine the ideal location for the microphone, Sylva examined the shelf of trinkets more closely. There was an old, geared clock; it was a strange affectation, especially for a spacer for whom time lost real meaning. It wasn''t even working. Next to the clock were a couple fancy pieces of pottery, clay figural statues of people dancing. One of them was missing an arm. Then there were wide, flat dishes full of stones. What was it with spacers and rocks? Yan had stashed a bunch of them in her room at the Academy, at one point as well. Idly, Sylva opened up the little door beneath the face of the clock, where the mechanism to wind it resided. She wanted to see if the thing was broken, or if it was only that no one bothered to set the time on a useless, decorative object.

    And there, tucked almost invisibly in the tiny crack between the door and the body of the clock, was a microphone. Sylva only recognized it because it was so similar to the ones she was carrying in her pockets, only it was much smaller, and clearly better put together.

    "Hey, uh, Iri¡­ Come have a look at this," Sylva said nervously.

    "Hmm?" Iri asked. She was standing on a chair and applying her own microphone in between two of the tiles on the ceiling. She finished what she was doing and got down, landing heavily on the floor. Sylva gestured her over, and Iri peered inside the clock. She broke out into a short laugh.

    "Guess I shouldn''t have bothered with that, then," she said. "That''s Imperial issue, right there."

    "So there''s some other spy on this ship? Should we get in contact with them?"

    "Oh, probably not. I''m sure that someone bugged the ship like we''re doing now, and there''s an automated system hidden in the computer to upload data to a collector on a station every time the ship docks. It would be a waste of resources to put someone on a ship like this."

    "Ugh, what are we, then?" If the Imperial government thought this was a waste of time, that didn¡¯t bode well for Iri and Sylva making real progress.

    "We''re about to make use of some of this Imperial issue property," Iri said. "I can probably get us into the hidden files, now that I know they''re there."

    "So we did all this sneaking for nothing?"

    "Not for nothing, no."

    Sylva rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should move this one to a less obvious place, since it wasn''t hard to find at all."

    "Whoever did it was probably in a hurry," Iri said. "But you''re not wrong. I''ll move it." She delicately pried up the microphone, and went over to the other side of the room. Iri climbed up on the table and unscrewed the light bulb from above them, plunging the room into an odd twilight. She slid the microphone up into the area between the bulb and its housing, then put the light back together.

    "Will it still be able to hear in there?"

    "These ones are way more powerful than the ones I brought. So yes, definitely," Iri said as she clambered down off the table. She was not exactly graceful about it.

    "Great."

    "So you''ll definitely be able to get the feed from those?"

    "Absolutely," Iri said. Her voice wasn''t the most confident Sylva had ever heard, but it wasn¡¯t as though she could argue.

    "Think the hallway''s clear enough for us to leave?" Sylva asked.

    "Do that thing with the power," Iri said. "See if there''s anyone out there."

    Sylva groaned, quietly. Iri was going to kill her with all this power nonsense. There was a not insignificant part of Sylva that wished she had been born without the power, that she had been a completely normal kid who grew up into a mundane life. But then again, she probably would have never met Yan, or Iri for that matter, who she was coming to like as a friend and travelling companion, despite their occasional clashes.

    Sylva leaned against the door and closed her eyes. The power was there, bubbling inside of her, and she focused on it, then immediately lost the thought. She tried again, and again, until it finally stayed with her. She shoved it out into the hallway, and didn''t feel anything there but air and the walls. "Seems clear to me."

    "I''m trusting you."

    Sylva opened the door, just a crack, and peeked out. The hallway was empty. Iri double checked the room to make sure everything was back the way they had first seen it, and they stepped out together. They walked as quickly back down the hallways as possible without appearing too suspicious. Sylva felt the adrenaline lingering in her system, and a weird sense of guilt, or, at the very least, transgression. It wasn''t a particularly nice thing to do, bugging someone else''s ship. Of course, it wasn''t as though the pirates she was about to start spying on were particularly nice people.

    They made it back to their little shared room unscathed. Sylva immediately collapsed onto the bed. "That was nerve wracking," she said. "Let''s never do that again."

    "If we get any information from this, we probably won''t have to."

    "So you think that there''s a good chance we will learn something?"

    "Yeah. I don''t think the Empire would have bothered bugging this ship if there wasn''t a possibility of something good."

    "Still, if they had any information, they probably would have acted on it already."

    "They might be waiting for something a little more definitive than information. With a crew this short staffed, and the ship in the condition that it''s in, even if they knew where Yan was being held, it wouldn''t be good to go fight another ship for her."

    "Yeah, I guess."

    "So they might know something we don''t, even if they don''t have their hands on her yet."

    "Why don''t they just hire more crew, and get their ship fixed, if they have so much bounty money?" Sylva asked.

    "I think that you''d have to interrogate their psyches for that," Iri said. "The ship might not be fixable, so they might need to get a whole new one commissioned, which would be more than the bounty price, and I don''t know¨C I think if I were on this ship, and a bunch of my family died, I wouldn''t want to replace them with paid strangers."

    "True. Still."

    Iri raised an eyebrow.

    "I just think it probably takes a certain amount of manpower to run a ship, and if they don''t have it, they can''t possibly be turning a profit or whatever."

    "I''m sure we''re about to find out more than I ever wanted about this ship''s financial status, if I can go through all the recordings," Iri said.

    "You gonna do that now?"

    "Sooner the better," Iri said. "That way, if it''s not working out, we''ll still have time to plant the rest of our mics."

    "Oh, please, God, no."

    "I agree. So I''ll be working on getting in to the Imperial system. I still have my access key. Halen¡­"

    "What?"

    "He might have left mine activated so that I could have an easier time with something like this."

    "You haven''t tested it?"

    "I don''t make a point of breaking into Imperial systems for fun," Iri said with a frown.

    "Maybe you should," Sylva said. "If it isn''t deactivated, will you be able to get in still?"

    "I have a few tricks, but it would be a lot harder."

    Sylva sighed. "Nothing I can do to help, I suppose."

    "Not unless you can use the power to hack a computer system."

    Sylva laughed. "I don''t know if anybody can actually do that. The physical aspects of computing are a little beyond most people''s patience."

    "Understandably so. Then no, there''s nothing you can do to help."

    "Then I''ll go back to all the sleep I''ve been missing."

    "You do that," Iri said distractedly, as she pulled out her computer and bag. She sat at the little desk and arranged a notebook and pen, and a little access card, and various other things all around herself. Sylva pulled the blankets on the bed up around her chin, and, voluntarily, used the power to flick off the light. That was about the limits of things that were easy.

    Iri didn''t seem to notice. The glow from her computer screen lit up her silhouette, her hair fraying out of its ponytail and catching the harsh blue light in a halo. Sylva watched her and listened to the clack of her keyboard for a minute, then her eyes slid shut and she fell asleep.

    When she woke up, Iri was beside her in the bed, hogging the blanket, but awake. She was sitting up, with her laptop propped on her knees and headphones in her ears. Sylva realized that the heavy presence on the bed next to her was what was making the mattress sag, and sat up, struggling to extract herself from the mess of blankets and the tilted bed.

    "Morning," Iri said grimly as she noticed Sylva moving beside her.

    "It worked? You got it?" Sylva asked, voice raspy from sleep. She leaned on Iri''s arm, bare since she was wearing only a tank top, and peered over her shoulder. There wasn''t much to look at; the screen only displayed the title of the audio file, which was just a date and location.

    "Yeah. Looks like we got on board just in time."

    "What do you mean?" Sylva asked. "They found something?"

    "Listen to this." Iri pulled out one of her headphones and passed it to Sylva, who put it into her ear. A man''s voice, speaking in Old Imperial, carried dimly down to her.

    "They shortchanged me," he said. "So I don''t have any problems with selling them out."

    "The way of the universe, isn''t it," another voice said. Sylva vaguely recognized it as the voice of the captain of the Bellringer, whom she had heard over the announcements several times during their trip. They hadn''t met in person, and for that, Sylva was glad. He didn''t seem like an altogether pleasant man.

    "It is indeed."

    "There''s one thing that does make me question," the captain said. "Why don''t you have the charts on you?"

    "I wanted to make sure you were genuine in your, shall we say, offer of payment for information before I brought them with me."

    "You don''t trust there to be honor among us?"

    "If I had any trust, it left when I got stiffed," the other man said. "Not casting any aspersions on you in particular. I just gotta look out for my own."

    "I see."

    "And there''s other people who''d want this," the other man said. "If you weren''t interested, I''d want to find some other offers."

    "Like who?"

    "Oh, that''s confidential." The man had a raucous laugh, that made Sylva want to yank out the headphone.

    "And you won''t tell me who exactly has her?"

    "I don''t know names, just a system. They all used code names. ''S standard practice."

    "And what did they want from her?"

    "It was a political thing that went wrong." There was a pause. "Probably why they didn''t pay me what we agreed on, to be honest."

    "Political?"

    "Look, I''m not going to give you anything before payment changes hands."

    It was the captain''s turn to laugh, but it wasn''t happy. "And when can we expect that to be?"

    "I''ll be at Vanquished in," a pause, "a fortyday. You can meet me there."

    "What ship will you be with?"

    "That''s none of your business either."

    "I''m afraid it is."

    "Once I get the starchart, I''ll be on the Sundown. Purely business, not family."

    "And will they wait around at Vanquished if we''re late?"

    "I can''t hold up an entire ship. I can stay behind."

    "It''s that kind of business relationship then."

    "Yes."

    "Plan on us being late."

    "You''d be better if the Sundown was there. They have no problems with you, as far as I know."

    "Perhaps. But I''d rather conduct this business alone. And we have our own schedule to keep, regardless."

    "You''re still doing shipments with your skeleton crew?"

    "I wouldn''t speak ill of the people whose product you''re planning to accept."

    If the sound of rolling eyes was audible, Sylva was sure she would have heard it. "Fine. Are we agreed?"

    "Vanquished, in a bit over a month, we''ll bring the payment, you bring the starchart."

    "That¡¯s what I like to hear."

    "I''ll have my second see you out."

    Iri stopped the recording and Sylva pulled out the headphone. "So we''re on our way to Vanquished right now?"

    "Look at the date." The date on the recording was about a week shy of the fortyday mark that the seller had indicated.

    "We''re going to be there early?"

    "I suspect that the captain is preparing for trouble."

    "Why?"

    "For one thing, if there was a collection and relay point at any of the stations that the Bellringer has visited before, the Empire knows."

    "There''s going to be an agent there?"

    "I''d put charges on it."

    "But they wouldn''t know about that."

    "You hope."

    "I do hope. But regardless, if our man was being as loose lipped as he sounded¨C"

    "He wasn''t giving them any information?"

    "You heard him saying he was shopping this around to other customers."

    "Ah. Fuck."

    "So if we¡¯re getting to Vanquished early, we¡¯re trying to avoid all these other potential paying customers. Or unpaying ones, if that man is particularly unlucky."

    "And that''s a black station?" Sylva asked.

    "I can only assume."

    Sylva raised her eyebrows.

    "Hey, I don''t know every piece of pirate trivia out there. They play things much closer to the chest than the Empire does. You aren''t going to just find a directory of black stations, for the most part."

    "Fine. So what''s our plan?"

    Iri sighed and rubbed her temples. "I think our best hope is to stick with the Bellringer."

    "Really? Ugh."

    "Well, it''s not like we can meet up with whoever the Imperial agent is, since we don''t have a guarantee that they''ll be there,. We wouldn''t be able to identify them even if we knew for certain that there was one."

    "I guess."

    "And if there is a mess, which I''m hoping there won''t be, this ship is probably the most motivated."

    "What do you think they''re going to do?"

    "Ha. That entirely depends on how ballsy the captain is."

 Chapter Seventy - Pirate Plots

    Pirate Plots

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Never, under any circumstances, open a door with this symbol on it. Do any of you know what it means? Yes, Yan, thank you. This means that this door is an airlock. It goes to the outside. You shouldn¡¯t be able to open any of these doors, but if you do, you could die. If you ever find a door that¡¯s locked when you think it shouldn¡¯t be, find an adult, and we will tell you if it¡¯s safe to open. Do you all understand? Good.¡±

    -Eman BarCarran, explaining door safety to her nieces and nephews

    </blockquote>

    As it turned out, the captain was going to be extremely ballsy. The captain, whose name was Carver Yossar, or at least that was what everyone called him, could be heard discussing exactly the problem of how to secure the starchart that would lead them to Yan. Paying the man who had it didn''t seem to enter into the equation at all.

    Several of the plans they floated involved being at the station long ahead of the man who was going to give them the map. They only ever referred to him by a code name, but pirate names were so stupid (in Sylva''s eyes) that it hardly mattered what they called him. If they wanted to refer to him as ''Starman'', who was she to do anything other than roll her eyes and move on with her life.

    They couldn''t actually be sure that Starman hadn''t been lying when he said he was with the Sundown. He probably was. He was probably even lying about having a starchart to where Yan was being kept, but every lead had to be chased down, no matter how far fetched it may be.

    Iri and Sylva took to haunting the microphones, monitoring the rooms live as people walked in and out of them. To be fair, it wasn''t as though they had anything better to do while they were aboard the Bellringer. As paying passengers, they had neither jobs nor family obligations to take them out of their little room. And from the way that the crew looked at them, there was no reason that they should want to associate with them anyway. The best of looks could be qualified as ''hungry'', the worst as ''hated''. There had never been this cold of a welcome on any other ship, and their fellow passengers seemed to also be on the receiving end of it. Usually, spacers of all stripes were eager to see new faces. The crew of the Bellringer had clearly retreated into themselves during their personal tragedy, and had little use for outsiders.

    And so, the plan.

    Iri and Sylva waited with baited breath as the Bellringer jumped in to just outside the system where Vanquished station was. They had their bags packed, and they were ready to abandon ship if it became necessary, but they wouldn''t even have the chance to. The Bellringer was early for the meeting, but she was not going to jump all the way in. She was going to stay right outside of reach. Instead, two of her shuttles, which had the ¡®fortune¡¯ of being discarded mining shuttles, were going to the station, on the pretense of being part of the mining operation on one of the outer planets.

    "They had to replace all their destroyed shuttles quickly," Iri muttered as this plan was discussed over the radio. "Mining ships are easy to come by, comparatively. Can get them faster than you can get more specialized things."

    "They''ve had months to replace them," Sylva said.

    "If it works, it works."

    So the Bellringer might as well use their one odd advantage, so they made a plan that relied on some level of deception.

    "Why do pirates even need to mine things?"

    "Precious metals are precious metals. If they can be sold, they''re worth acquiring. Good way to participate in the wider economy of the Empire," Iri explained. Economics had never been Sylva''s strong suit. But there was always a use for rare metals that could be used in computers and such, and there were a limited number of official mining operations sanctioned by the Empire. Pirates could step up to fill the gap.

    She asked a question that she didn''t particularly want to know the answer to. "And who works the mines?"

    Iri looked over at her and didn''t say anything. The silence was enough to answer the question to Sylva''s satisfaction. They paid attention again to the microphones.

    Sylva and Iri listened with mixed emotions as the bridge crew of the Bellringer said a prayer over the group leaving on the shuttles. It was touching, the way that they bid each other farewell, but¡­ They were pirates, going to kidnap someone, but¡­ Iri and Sylva really needed the information that person had, and these pirates were the best way of getting it. Even if they were actually working at cross purposes, and they pirates didn''t know they were working at all. Every step of this was a dangerous game for everyone involved.

    As soon as the shuttles left, there would be no contact from them until they returned. The Bellringer was hiding out on the edge of the system, disguising its presence and saving its jump for an emergency getaway.

    The waiting was intolerable. From the ship''s vantage point, they couldn''t even see Vanquished Station. It took almost a full day for the shuttles to reach the station, and no one knew how long it would take for them to do their dirty deed. That was operating under the assumption that Starman was even aboard the station. If he wasn''t, they would have a whole new set of problems.

    So, by the end of the second day, which was the first conceivable time at which the shuttles could return, everyone was very on edge. Sylva and Iri took turns sleeping and the information feeds from the ship. They stayed holed up in their little room, never leaving except for food, and even then, doing it as quickly and quietly as possible. They didn''t want to invite the hostile stares of the crew of the Bellringer under the best of circumstances, and this was by far not the best of circumstances for any of them.

    It was late on the fourth day when one of the shuttles came screaming back into line of sight with the Bellringer. Radios hissed to life, cameras trained their beady eyes on the action. The old mining shuttle, going faster than it was ever designed for, was pursued by shuttles that, from the way they registered on the Bellringer''s sensors, were from Vanquished Station. Were there no ships docked at the station who had cared to send out any of their own forces?

    As all this information came flooding in, Sylva turned to the bed behind her and shook Iri awake.

    "It''s happening!" she hissed through her teeth.

    Iri, to her credit, jolted up immediately. All traces of sleep left her face, except for the line of dried drool that crossed her cheek. Gross. Iri leaned toward Sylva and the computer. Sylva handed her one of the headphones so that they could listen in on the bridge and radio chatter.

    "Vanquished shuttles, cease your pursuit or we will have no choice but to destroy you," the radio operator of the Bellringer threatened.

    "They aren''t going to listen! Just shoot them out!" That was the voice of the one remaining Bellringer shuttle pilot. That shuttle must have had some significant head start, several hours worth, because even at its current over-the-top acceleration, it was being gained on by its pursuers. They had gotten closer even in the amount of time that they had been visible to the mothership.

    On the bridge, a discussion was playing out.

    "How much can we risk making enemies of Vanquished?"

    "We already have," the captain said. "It''s whoever''s paying them that I''m worried about."

    "Starman isn''t theirs?"

    "Don''t think so. They''d have a copy of his data. He''d be expendable."

    "You don''t think they have one?"

    "They wouldn''t be so desperate to stop us if they did." The captain focused back on the issue at hand. "Can we take those shuttles?"

    There was a pause as everyone on the bridge used their own metrics to decide if the Bellringer had the strength. Sylva bit her lip.

    "If a full ship can''t take out two shuttles¡­" Iri muttered under her breath. It was a bad sign for them getting Sylva where she needed to be: in position to find Yan.

    "Send out Fist and Bright. They should be able to take it," someone finally said. The captain gave the order.

    There apparently wasn''t time to pray over those two. In less than five minutes, two dogfighters left the holds of the Bellringer and accelerated away towards the rapidly approaching shuttles.

    "I thought they only had mining ships?" Sylva questioned.

    "Look how damaged those are," Iri said. She zoomed in on a freeze frame of the video feed of the dogfighters leaving their bay. The entire outside of the closer little ship was covered with patchy weld lines. The other had a mismatch in color between its engine section and all the rest of it, as though it had been hacked together from two disparate vessels. "Those must be their two best ones."

    Sylva''s breath whistled out between her teeth. Every time she was reminded of the damage that Yan and her coworker had done, she was astonished anew. Granted, the destruction of the dogfighters and shuttles could have happened before Yan got to them, but Sylva doubted it. What else could rip a ship apart from stem to stern like that?

    They watched and listened, waiting for the two forces to meet each other. All the dogfighters had to do was distract the pursuing shuttles enough to let their own shuttle get away. All the Vanquished''s shuttles had to do was destroy the Bellringer''s old mining ship.

    But really, Sylva was aware that all anyone aboard any of those factions wanted to do was survive. The Bellringer''s dogfighters didn''t necessarily have to kill anyone, but as Sylva watched, they came close enough to fire off their first salvo of missiles. There were two ways to avoid tracking capable missiles like that: outmaneuver them until they ran out of fuel, or shoot them down.

    The Vanquished''s shuttles took the second option, firing defensively. They weren''t going to be dissuaded from their own hot pursuit of the little mining ship.

    "We''ve got a problem," Iri said.

    Sylva turned to look at her, taking her eyes off the screen for a second. "What?"

    "Look at the mining ship."

    "What about it?"

    "It''s accelerating towards us."

    "So? It has to get away from them." Sylva pointed at the Vanquished''s shuttles, who fired off their own rounds directly at the dogfighters.

    "What was the last physics class you took?" Iri asked.

    "Uh." Sylva thought about it for a second. "Oh. Shit. You''re right."

    The little mining ship needed to dock with the Bellringer. But it was not slowing down to reach zero relative velocity. In fact, it was accelerating as much as it could, trying to put any distance between it and its chasers and their hot guns.

    "You think people on the bridge know that?" Sylva asked. Iri gave her a look.

    "Of course they know. They''re spacers." As if that meant they had a perfect knowledge of physics, or something. That didn''t necessarily mean anything.

    "Why aren''t they doing anything about it? Shouldn''t they start accelerating, to match velocities?"

    "Do we have any information on the navigator?" Iri asked. It felt like a non-sequitur.

    "The bridge is mic''d, but I don''t know if we''ve heard from her in particular," Sylva answered.

    "I think we''re going to blow our jump," Iri said.

    "What?"

    "They''re going to spend it, to give us a velocity that matches the shuttle."

    "And?"

    "And so we won''t actually be able to jump out of the system. If there''s another ship that wants to contest this, and not just Vanquished shuttles, we''re totally screwed." Iri clenched her fists. "Fucking Bellringer. They''re doing it again."

    "What?"

    "The reason they got fucked over so completely before was they jumped in to an engagement without any way to get back out. You''d think that they would have learned their lesson. There''s a reason why ships always classically accelerate into fights. Escape strategy."

    "So you think we''re about to get killed, sitting here?"

    "If there''s a ship at Vanquished, yes!" Iri was taught like a wire.

    "Is there anything I can do?" Sylva asked timidly.

    Iri looked at her. "You think you can do something?"

    "I don''t know! Yan did."

    "Ah, fuck." Iri rubbed her eyes. "If you think you can work at this type of distance, and you can do something big. Just break the shuttles, or something. Fuck. But if you do, they''ll know something''s up, right? The Bellringer? They''ll get suspicious."

    "Tell me," Sylva said. "Worth it?" She wasn''t speaking in complete sentences. She just needed to know if she should try. She probably wouldn''t be able to do anything, but wasn''t it worth a shot, if she could? Wouldn''t it save them a lot of trouble? If they burned their jump, as Iri was predicting they would, and another ship came¡­ They were as good as dead. And Sylva wanted to stay alive.

    "Try," Iri said, finally. "But if you can''t do it, then maybe that''s for the best."

    Sylva looked at the screen. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess. I''ll try not to kill anybody."

    "Yeah." Iri didn''t sound confident there, either.

    This was probably like the repeat of a bad memory for Iri. Sylva felt pretty bad about bringing it all back up to the front, but she didn''t have time to dwell on how much this was going to hurt Iri''s feelings, or whatever. If Sylva could somehow stop them all from getting killed by doing something, then she had to. She didn''t have a choice except to try, even if she failed.

    She stared at the screen and tried to call on the connection to the power deep within herself. She knew, in theory, exactly what she had to do. Just like tearing apart a piece of paper. That was all she had to do. Except instead of a piece of paper resting on the desk in front of her, it was a tiny ship, hundreds of kilometers away, moving unimaginably quickly, made of metal, and she needed to rip the engine off of it. The Bellringer''s cameras were doing an admirable job of keeping the action in tight focus, no matter how quickly it was moving, but that didn''t give Sylva any sense of scale or context.

    "Do we have a, uh, distance display?"

    Iri clicked around, fishing through her feeds of the Bellringer''s system, and pulled up the chart that Sylva was looking for. It showed the position of the Bellringer, and everything else as though they were in orbit around it. There was the planet they were nearest to, massive, and on the edge of the display. And closer, but moving visibly across the screen, were the two shuttles from Vanquished station, edging closer to the old mining ship owned by the Bellringer. Closer still to the Bellringer, and limited in their acceleration to what a human body could take, were the hacked together dogfighters that had just been sent out. Even as Sylva watched, missiles departed from the dogfighters and accelerated at beyond human speeds towards the other ships.

    Oh, she had a different idea. It would be far easier, and look less suspicious, for her to grab the missiles and make sure they hit their targets, rather than just having two ships spontaneously self-destruct. That was what she would do.

    The missiles speeding away were already moving too quickly for Sylva to grab hold of them. She found, to her surprise, that she could stretch the power out that far, and she could sense the various entities moving about, but the fast little missiles skittered out of her grasp like the frogs she used to try to catch as a child in the pond in the park near her house. She grunted in frustration, and Iri looked at her, concerned.

    "You ok?"

    "The missiles are too fast to grab."

    "Well, if you can''t get them, then maybe they''ll hit their targets on their own."

    Sylva half laughed, and gritted her teeth and focused. Something about the urgency of the situation brought the power closer to the surface of her brain. Even as her attention kept dancing on the screen between all the different players out in space, when the dogfighters released their next salvo, Sylva reached out for it, knowing what feeling to expect.

    There was a moment of success as she held them, but it was short lived as she realized that she was truly holding them; their engines were firing, but they were holding positions relative to the dogfighters, just a little ways out. Alarmed, Sylva released them, and they roared off as though their tethers had suddenly been cut. Sylva blinked and looked around. Using the power had caught her in a weird fugue state.

    "Did you see that?" she asked Iri.

    "See what?"

    "I had the missiles."

    "Sure doesn''t look like it to me," Iri said, watching as the shuttles defenses shot down the new attack.

    On one hand, it was good that no one had noticed the momentary blip in the missiles'' trajectories. It would have been cause for panic if they had been firing their engines and not going anywhere (traditional physics dictates that sort of thing shouldn''t happen), but Sylva must have only held them for a fraction of a second. Little enough time that alarms didn''t go off, and no one looking closely saw it. Still, it was bad that Sylva hadn''t succeeded completely.

    "If you can''t do it, you can''t do it," Iri said. "What happened?"

    "I grabbed them, but then they were just stopped for a second."

    "You need to make sure they hit with force, if that''s the route you''re going. They need to be faster than what their engines can do on their own."

    "I know," Sylva said, a little more forcefully than she had meant to. Iri''s calm acceptance of her inability to help was getting on her nerves. Of course Yan had been able to do this easily. Sylva wasn''t Yan, but that didn''t mean she was stupid, and it certainly didn''t mean she wasn''t going to succeed.

    Granted, Sylva was worried that if she screwed this up more, someone would notice that the power was being used to tamper with this fight. As she watched and waited for the next round, Sylva chewed on her lip nervously.

    She had to be prepared. When the missiles came out again, she grabbed them with the power once more. Time seemed like it was stretching out as her focus narrowed to that single point, almost the same way it had when she was stitching Keep back up. She didn''t want to think about that. She couldn''t think about that. The missiles bucked wildly in her feeling of the power, as they pressed with their engines against the constraint she held them under. Feeling that even her odd experiencing of time wasn''t going to save other people from noticing forever, Sylva released them and they zoomed away on their own, though they were no more successful than any of the others had been.

    She exhaled heavily. "How many rounds do those dogfighters carry?" Sylva asked.

    "Probably no more than ten. They don''t have a lot of space." It was true that the dogfighters, designed to create as minimal of a forward profile as possible, didn''t have a lot of room to hold cargo. The mass expense of hauling around missiles had to be huge. Plus the monetary expense expense of building the things. Anything with an engine in it that could go that fast couldn''t possibly come cheap.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Sylva did the math on how many more tries she had. She couldn''t assume that the dogfighters were carrying their maximum capacity, either. This next try had to count. She had to do it. This time, she would take the missile, and jam it forward as fast as she could.

    One of the dogfighters launched one. Sylva grabbed it with the power, feeling the weight of it, and she shoved it forward, fighting with its engine to get it to move at the speed that she wanted it to, and not the speed that physics should dictate. Unfortunately for Sylva, her estimation of what speed should feel like when she forced the power through and into the missile was less than its natural speed, and though it cruised along, it fizzled out in what felt like a far shorter distance than Sylva had hoped. She had to drop it so that it wouldn''t look odd that a missile was accelerating without an engine to push it along.

    She was sweating. It was hard, using the power, especially when she wasn''t good at it in the first place.

    "You okay?" Iri asked.

    Sylva ground her teeth and stared at the screen, waiting for the feeling and visual confirmation that the next projectile had been launched. The dogfighters were moving further and further away, still accelerating at the limits of human endurance for as long as their pilots and engines could hold out for. Finally, one of them released another shot. Sylva would do better this time. She had to.

    Accelerate. That was what she had to get it to do. Not jump to a set velocity with the massive jerk that the power tended to provide. Accelerate. Come on, come on, come on! She grasped the slippery thing in her head.

    This time, as she pushed the missile forward, it did indeed accelerate. It covered a distance in one mark of time, then doubled it in the next, and again, and again. But Sylva, with her limited perspective and only human abilities, didn''t have the pinpoint ability to track and predict the movements of the encroaching shuttles. The missile missed its mark, and at its current speed, it wasn''t able to turn around and go back.

    "Did you see that?" A voice, coming over the radio, broke into Sylva''s awareness.

    "There''s been something buggy in the programming. Think we got ripped off on this batch," that was a voice from the bridge, over their microphone connection.

    Sylva shook her head and her awareness fully returned to her body. Iri nudged her.

    "Maybe it''s time to stop. They''re noticing something''s up," Iri said.

    Sylva''s head was pounding with the effort she had exerted.

    "But I didn''t help," she said.

    "It''s okay." Iri put her arm around Sylva''s shoulder, leaning on her in the cramped little room. "We''ll just have to trust that the Bellringer knows what she''s doing."

    "Do we trust that?"

    "No, but we don''t have a choice."

    On the bridge, the radio chatter took on a different tenor.

    "Dogs, how much more acceleration can you handle?"

    "We''re at our limit," came back the reply from one of the dogfighters. She sounded beyond strained, from the way her breath caught and hissed over the connection.

    "Turn around and come back," the captain ordered. "We''re going to jump to pick up the shuttle."

    A chorus of dissent rang out from both the dogfighters and the bridge crew. The captain silenced them quickly. He was in charge, after all.

    "Enough. We don''t have much of a choice and I''m not going to lose anybody else." There was the question of putting the entire ship at risk for one shuttle with information on it, but that was clearly the tradeoff the captain was going to make.

    With visible reluctance, the dogfighters abandoned their distant quarry and accelerated back the way they had come, towards the Bellringer. They hadn¡¯t been out long, and so it didn¡¯t take long for them to return. Once they were safely back inside, everyone got ready to jump.

    "Do you have the track?" the captain asked. The navigator gave her assent. "Then we''re ready. Three, two, one, jump."

    Sylva gripped the side of her chair, even though she knew that jumping didn''t feel like anything. The positions of the stars outside hardly appeared changed, but the locations and distances of the little mining shuttle and its pursuers on the tracker were totally different. Now, they had almost matched velocities and courses with their own shuttle. They opened the bay doors, and after another tense minute it flew inside.

    The battered guns of the Bellringer itself, which were usually only used in very close quarters defense, trained and fired on the approaching shuttles. They had lost their quarry, and there was no way two shuttles could take down an entire starship by themselves, so they peeled off and accelerated back into the star system where Vanquished Station lurked.

    "Now what?" Sylva asked.

    "Now we wait, and pray that there isn''t some ship docked at Vanquished that wants to fight."

    "What about the data? And Starman?"

    "I''m sure we''re about to find out his real name."

    It took the usual amount of time for the bay with the shuttle in it to repressurize, and when it did, they listened to the bridge chatter as the crew hauled Starman (unconscious) to the medical wing and debriefed the crew of the shuttle about what exactly had happened on Vanquished station. Apparently, as soon as they had grabbed him, the station went on high alert. There hadn''t been any ships there at the time that the shuttles had left, but one could have jumped in in the interim. Once they got far enough away, the little mining shuttle didn''t have the kind of sensors that would allow them to see if a ship had come in. The real question on everyone''s lips was "what happened to the other shuttle." Apparently, it was still at Vanquished, as its crew had been arrested just as the crew of this shuttle snuck off.

    There was an audible sigh of relief on the bridge as everyone realized their crewmates were not dead, only detained. There was a chance of getting them back, then, someday.

    Once that information came out, the rest of the debriefing devolved into chaos, and Sylva could just barely make out that this ship had gotten away because its mining disguise had been better. They had taken different routes in to Vanquished, and while aboard the station, crews from both ships had made trips to the one that was impounded, while they very carefully stashed the unconscious Starman and his data in food stores that were meant to be shipped off to one of the mining outposts. Truly, it was a wild and hard to follow story, with many twists and turns. Sylva almost wished she had been there, but she realized that was a dumb thought.

    It wasn''t like in life a person always got to be where the action and adventure was. And even if a person did get to be in those right places at the right times, it would be a dangerous and probably unpleasant.

    The crew of the Bellringer, while they were waiting for their fate to be sealed by some other ship jumping in, turned their attention to waking up Starman and getting his information. They had his data stick where the starcharts were kept, but it was obviously all locked down and encrypted. So Starman needed to be woken to get the password.

    They were keeping him out with a drug cocktail, and some of the drugs wore off faster than others, or had counteragents. Sylva and Iri didn''t have a video feed of the medical area, but the Imperial agent who had bugged the ship had kindly left them a microphone there. That agent had been thorough, if not completely careful. But it was enough for Sylva and Iri to listen in.

    Starman came to sluggishly, long after he had been brought in. Sylva chewed on her fingertips.

    "Welcome back to the land of the living," someone, maybe the doctor aboard the Bellringer, said.

    "What?" Starman asked. There was the sound of plastic hitting metal. Was he tied down?

    "Don''t try to get up. You''re okay."

    "Like fuck I''m okay," Starman said. "My head feels like it''s got worms in it."

    "I''m sure it''ll pass. I''m here to ask you a few questions."

    "Where am I?"

    "You don''t recognize this place?"

    "Oh, mother fucker."

    "Yes, you''re on the Bellringer. Don''t worry, we''re not going to hurt you. We''ll even pay you what we said we''d pay you. We just wanted some insurance that you were giving us good information."

    "You think taking me hostage or whatever is going to make me give you what you want?"

    "I would hope so."

    "Fuck you!" There were the sounds of a slight scuffle.

    "Please calm down," the doctor, or whoever, said, slightly out of breath. "If you make this easy, we''ll give you a bunk of your own and drop you off at the next station."

    "And if I make it hard?"

    "I really don''t think you want to do that. It wouldn''t be pleasant for either of us."

    "Yeah." There was a long silence.

    "So will you cooperate?"

    "You said you''re going to pay me?" Starman¡¯s tone was different. The thing about starships was that there typically wasn¡¯t any way to escape from them. If he thought he could still stand to make a profit, then he might as well try for that.

    "If your word is worth it."

    "Give me the payment first, and then we''ll talk."

    "One minute." The Bellringer crewmember''s voice left the scene, and there was a long minute of silence. He must have been consulting someone out in the hallway. Sylva didn''t know why they didn''t just give the man his payment. After all, it wasn''t like he could get away with it. If his word didn''t turn out to be good, they could just steal it back from him. Footsteps, and then the man returned.

    "We''ll give you half up front, and half when you leave the ship."

    "And you''ll untie me?"

    "This was merely a formality to make sure you weren''t going to cause us too much trouble as you woke up."

    "Fine. I want the product in a box right here with me, and then I''ll talk."

    "That¡­ can be arranged. It might take some time to get it together."

    So they all waited for the half of the payment to be brought and checked over and handed to Starman. This was stupid. This was all so stupid. Sylva didn''t know why she was frustrated, exactly, but Iri clearly picked up on her feeling.

    "You okay?"

    "I feel like we''re so close to getting somewhere, and we just have to watch these Bellringer people, I don''t know. They''re going nowhere."

    "It''ll be okay," Iri said. "On the plus side, no ship has jumped in to attack us yet, so maybe the captain''s gamble paid off."

    "Sure. Yet."

    "Don''t be such a downer. All we have to do is sit back and wait. We''re in the lap of luxury. The Bellringer''s going to bring us right where we need to be."

    "They''re really gonna go off somewhere and keep their paying passengers aboard?"

    "Have you noticed how little they communicate with us? If we weren''t hooked in, do you think we''d have even known we were at Vanquished?"

    Sylva tugged at her braided hair. "I guess you''re right. Still seems crazy that they''d put passengers in danger like that."

    "No one knows if Yan''s being held somewhere dangerous," Iri said reasonably. "It could be perfectly safe."

    "And I could be my own grandmother."

    "Anyway, if you''re on a pirate ship, I don''t think you have a reasonable degree of safety regarding your transportation."

    "Still, don''t they have places to be?"

    "We move at the whims of the stars, Sylva."

    "Don''t get poetic on me."

    "I thought you loved language art."

    "There''s a time and place for everything," Sylva grumbled. "This ain''t it."

    With the payment, or half of it anyway, tucked into Starman''s hands, he gave over the information that the Bellringer''s crew was so desperate for.

    "All I have is a starchart. I swiped it from their shuttle''s memory bank, on the offchance that it''d come in handy."

    "Their shuttle woudn''t have an interstellar navigation chart on it," the Bellringer crewman said.

    "I don''t mean that. I mean a navigational chart for in system. Of their home system. You should be able to use that, right?"

    There was a long sigh. "And how do you know this isn''t an unconnected starchart?"

    "It was the only one in the shuttle''s main menu," Starman said. "If it''s something else, you can have your payment back. But I''m betting a lot that it''s the right one."

    "So are we, and we''re paying you," the Bellringer crewman said. "For your sake, I hope you''re right."

    "What do you want her so much for, anyway? This a political thing?"

    There was a tense moment of silence. Sylva could only imagine the faces the two were making at eachother. Their body language. The way the crewman hovered over Starman, threatening and cold. It was only her imagination, but she could picture it as clearly as if they had a video feed.

    "So we''ll have to reconstruct this," the crewman finally said. "Should get started on that as soon as possible."

    Iri pulled the computer over to herself, which tugged the headphone out of Sylva''s ear. She let it go. The conversation wasn''t going to give them any more insight. She left the chair and flopped onto the bed.

    "Whatcha doing?" Sylva asked.

    "We need that data," Iri said.

    "Aren''t we just going to hitch a ride with the Bellringer?"

    Iri gave her a look that communicated exactly how stupid she was being. "You think I want to go to wherever this is without a chance of backup?"

    Sylva rolled her eyes. "And I''d like to summon the wrath of God to rescue Yan immediately, but some things just aren''t realistic."

    "Regardless, if I can, I want to get that data transmitted out."

    "How are you going to do that?"

    "Up for a little more sneaking?"

    "Oh, fuck no," Sylva said.

    <hr>

    And yet, a little while later, while the whole ship was still tensely waiting for the timer on the stardrive to tick over and to let them jump, Iri and Sylva snuck out of the spinning ring and into the depths of the ship. Actually, they were headed closer to the surface of the rock, but the mazelike nature of it, and the lack of orienting gravity made Sylva feel like they were descending into the deepest depths. All around, noises echoed strangely as the ship''s systems shifted and rumbled in their own natural way. The Bellringer was a quiet ship already, with fewer people than it should have, and down here, were few people ever had reason to go, it was positively tomblike. And every inhuman creak and groan of the air vents or door latches made a shiver run up and down Sylva''s spine.

    The lights were on low, lighting up the corridors only once every few meters as Iri and Sylva passed underneath them. Though the engine of the ship needen''t concern itself with saving energy, it probably helped the life cycle of the bulbs, which were tedious to replace, to keep the lights on as minimally as possible.

    They were about to steal something from the Bellringer. Iri had access to all the item logs, from being inside the ship''s system, and she had found exactly where all of the maintenance equipment was. Sometimes, the ship needed to send out tiny drones, to inspect damage to the outside of the ship, where it was inconvenient for a person to suit up. Stealing and deploying one of those was their goal.

    What they really wanted to do was send a radio message to the imperial agent who they suspected was on Vanquished Station. But even if they had access to a powerful enough transmitter, they were out of line of sight of the station. So they were stealing a drone. They needed one that wouldn''t be missed too much, so they were taking one that was currently inside the ship, rather than deployed on the outside in one of the many charging docks. This would also give Iri a chance to fiddle with it, making sure that it carried its message securely, and would be able to find its way to Vanquished Station.

    The room housing the unused drones was cold and dark, and the few of them that there were sat in racks, draped like so many lifeless husks. Sylva floated over to them and inspected them. They were simple enough- a tiny thruster, a camera, little claws for doing simple tasks around the outside of the ship, and the body where the control unit was housed. Some of the drones were in different states of disassembly, with pieces missing, or with their guts open and wires spilling out like spaghetti. It was one of the partially disassembled ones that Iri selected, drifting over to one without claws and checking to see if it would turn on. It did, though the only indication of that was a red light flaring to life, and a status monitor on the wall adding another unit to the list of drones being monitored.

    "Why''d you pick a broken one?" Sylva asked.

    "Don''t need the claws. Less mass without them," Iri said. She turned the drone back off, and pried open its back, to access its core functions. There was a port there, and Iri let her computer float in the air beside the drone while she plugged it in.

    "How do you even have a program for this stuff?" Sylva asked, looking out the window on the door to the hallway to make sure no one was coming.

    "I knew I was going to be on ships, so I came prepared with everything I might need. All of these," she jerked her head around at the disused drones, "are standard make. If they weren''t I''d have a problem. Anyway, the Empire keeps documentation and backdoor on all of this type of thing."

    "Hm." It wasn''t exactly surprising, though it did give Sylva some pause to consider its various implications. "And how come you still had access to all this? Are there no security protocols at all?"

    Iri laughed dryly. "Sylva, for some reason that I don''t fully understand, I''ve been trusted with this data package. When I tried to call in some favors, it was handed to me without qualification. Questioning that act of goodwill will probably lead me right to the top, and I don''t really want to think that anyone that high up has their eyes on me."

    Sylva didn''t say anything, and after a moment, Iri continued, her tone somewhat wistful. "I honestly thought I was going to be hauled before a tribunal. I''ve seen people sent to mining colonies for less than what I did. I certainly didn''t expect too be given help in my vigilante quest."

    "Maybe they''re thinking you''ll die out here," Sylva said. Her mind had unexpectedly gone down that dark road, and she couldn''t stop herself from thinking it. After all, they were just waiting here to see if another ship would come in and wipe them out. They might all die without ever having accomplished anything.

    "Yeah," Iri said. "Maybe."

    They floated there in silence for a little while longer, Sylva keeping lookout and Iri manipulating the drone. The starchart was loaded into its internal memory, encrypted with Imperial software, and it was given new programming: to fly away from the safe radius around the Bellringer and to travel far, far away, towards Vanquished station. It would take a while for it to get anywhere near broadcast range. With its tiny little thrusters, it was no match for the shuttles that could cross the distance in less than a day. But it would get the message out, if there was someone there to receive it.

    "Now what?" Sylva asked. She was getting a little tired of just waiting around for Iri to do her thing. Iri got to be cool and competent, and Sylva got to, what, fail at using the power over and over? She chewed on her lip as Iri put the finishing touches on the drone.

    "Now, I''m going to need your help."

    "Great." That meant using the power, probably.

    "There''s a launch tube down the hallway," Iri said. "I need to cut power to it, so that the ship doesn''t get an airlock alert. Then once that''s done, I need you to open the doors."

    Opening doors again. Well, as long as she had time, and no one came by, it should be fine. Sylva nodded, and the two of them left. Sylva carried Iri''s computer, and Iri carried the drone, which was large but not very heavy, apparently. She mostly pushed it, floating, down the hallway.

    There was the tube, just as Iri had said. It was a circular hatch cut into the metal wall of the ship, with a status screen to the right side of it. There was no visible handle, unsurprisingly, since the last thing one would want on a ship was unintended access to the outdoors. The status screen indicated that the tube was pressurized and closed.

    "Once I shut power, we''ll probably only have a minute or so before someone comes to investigate," Iri warned. "So we have to act fast."

    "I thought the whole point of doing this was that no one would investigate if you did shut the power down."

    "Must you question me at every turn? A power failure in a hallway will be a lot less urgent than an airlock opening. Trust me."

    Sylva trusted Iri about as far as she could throw her. To be fair, in their gravity free environment, Sylva could probably throw Iri quite far. Still, she made a face. "You made it sound like you were just going to kill power to the tube."

    Iri laughed. "You ready?"

    "As I''ll ever be."

    "Great. When the lights go out, open the hatch. I''ll help you get the drone in, then you can close it. And then you''ll have to open the outside hatch, and close that again."

    "You''re putting a whole lot of faith in my ability to open doors I can''t even see."

    "You can do it." Iri left the drone floating in the air between them, and pushed off down the hallway to find the power panel that controlled this area. Sylva waited unhappily, then abruptly became even less happy when the power cut out, plunging the hallway into absolute darkness, save for the tiny glowing light on the drone. She pulled out her phone and used it as a flashlight, even if that was wasting the precious time they had. The phone floated in the air, illuminating the door.

    Sylva put her hand flat on it and reached out with the power. The lack of visual stimulus from the whole hallway being dark didn''t stop her mind from wandering. She kept thinking about her earlier failures with the missiles, and it poisoned the well of her mind. The power squirmed out of her grasp, as though she was trying to hold an angry cat.

    "Come on," Sylva said through gritted teeth. "Just once, behave."

    The locking mechanism on the door was complicated, and it was heavy. For anyone else, that might not have made a difference. She remembered, a long time ago, when she and Yan had been really young at the Academy, Yan told her that she hadn''t learned how to unlock doors like everyone else had when they were first using the power. Yan hated the idea of opening a door, and just having there be vacuum behind it. She was too scared to ever force a lock. Funny, now, that Sylva was breaking that key spacer rule intentionally.

    Thinking about Yan brought her focus back onto the task at hand, the power slipped quietly into her hand, and the door swung open without further protest. Iri came back from down the hallway.

    "Oh, great!" she said. Together, she and Sylva wrestled the drone into the tube. It was a tight fit. Since the tube was intended for use with these drones, there was a good chance that they were doing something very wrong, but they didn''t have the time or inclination to try different orientations. It fit without getting stuck, even if it did scrape the sides a little bit. Iri pushed the door shut, and then it was a matter of Sylva re-locking the door. It was easier in this direction, because she already had a feel for the lock.

    Now came the real challenge.

    "How much time do you think I have?" Sylva asked.

    "Don''t worry about that," Iri said pragmatically. "If someone starts coming, we''ll hide back in the other room. Just do your best."

    It was difficult to tell what was door and lock and what was drone and wall, inside the airlock. The first door had been easier, because with it in contact with her skin, Sylva had a good reference of distance for the mechanical innards. They could only be so far away from her, and she could trace out a line between herself and the deadbolts. This time, with the other end of the tube more than a meter away, there was no such shortcut.

    Sylva closed her eyes, though it did very little since they were already in the dark, and breathed. The sensations she felt in the power pulled at her. It was like a hundred different people were whispering in her ear, and she had to pick out and identify the voice of a person she had heard once before, on the radio. She knew what air felt like, and this metal that the door was made of, and the static-y feeling of vacuum, but putting those pieces together into ''deadbolt'' and the movement in a particular direction to open the door was difficult.

    One by one, she forced away the sensations that she was getting, narrowing them down by various criteria (distance, how much they moved with a gentle nudge, the particular taste of different types of materials) until she was sure that all she had was the deadbolts and the door. She forced them open, and the sensation changed as all the air escaped.

    "Got it," Sylva said. She shouldn''t have said anything, because that broke her concentration. She lost hold of the door in her mind. Great. She would have to find it again in order to close it.

    "Push the drone out," Iri said. "Give it a push so it''ll clear the ship."

    "What am I? A workhorse?"

    "That''s exactly what you are," Iri said, though there was tension in her voice. Sylva wondered just how long it had taken her to open the door.

    She refocused. The anxiety in Iri''s voice set Sylva on edge, but it was easy to identify the drone. It was made up of a wider variety of materials than the surrounding ship''s walls, so she shoved it out easily enough. Then it was just time to close the door.

    "Okay, it''s out. I''ll close the door now," Sylva mumbled. She stretched out with the power.

    "Sylva, hurry up," Iri said.

    All Sylva could here were the same creaks and sighs of the ship''s air systems. She didn''t know if Iri thought someone was coming, or¨C

    Distantly, a door opened.

    "Thirty seconds. Give me thirty seconds," Sylva hissed urgently. Her train of thought was scattered. She reached out for the door. She reached out. She scrambled with the power.

    "Forget it, Sylva, we''ve gotta go."

    She kept reaching, and she felt the metal of the door as though it was right underneath her fingertips. She pulled it shut. A little too hard, maybe. The thud could be heard through the metal of the walls from where they were floating. One more second. She slid the deadbolts back into place. Iri grabbed her shoulder and pulled her, breaking her concentration.

    Sylva barely remembered to grab her phone and the laptop as she was hauled unceremoniously down the hallway. They ducked inside the drone room, and Iri kicked off the wall towards the back of the room. There was a little closet there, full of drawers containing spare parts. Iri gestured for her to come inside, and they squeezed in there together, chest to chest, Iri holding the door shut.

    They were just in time. They heard the characteristic sound of hands and feet hitting the walls in the hallway, reverberating through the still air, and a few minutes later, underneath the crack in the door, they saw the light come back on. Sylva leaned on Iri''s chest, hearing the thudding of her heart and the breathing that seemed so loud even in this tiny space. After a long time, whoever had come to deal with the outage left, and they both let out a sigh of relief.

    "Let''s never, ever, ever do that again," Sylva said, and meant it.

 Chapter Seventy-One - The Mother We Share

    The Mother We Share

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And if we have to go down, will you hold my hand? Because, because, we all will go down together.¡±

    -from ¡°All Go Down Together¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Etta''s mother was furious. She was madder than Yan had ever seen, though Yan hadn''t seen her in very many moods. Her face was blood red, and her eyes bulged as she yelled at Etta. The sound carried across the open water, far louder than the waves slapping on the side of the boat. The sun was high in the sky, and the sweat trickled down Yan''s back.

    Though some of the impact of Etta''s mother''s fury was lost on Yan because she couldn''t understand a word that was being said, the shame was there. It wasn''t right of her to take advantage of this woman who had helped her, but there she was doing it anyway. She was doing what she had to do. Or, Etta was, anyway.

    Etta was crying a little bit at her mother''s anger, but she kept her hand on the wheel. Surprisingly, they hadn''t had to sail far. The green dot in Yan''s vision was swelling, and on the horizon, there was the dark smudge that signaled land. Were they so close because the presence that Yan felt simply happened to be nearby, or had they been traveling supernaturally fast because of the way that the water seemed to glide under them, and the way that the wind always filled their sails in just the right direction? It was disconcerting at times. The feeling of the power was in the air. Yan could taste it, thick on her tongue. Or was that just the salt spray?

    Etta''s mother had stopped yelling, and had retreated to the opposite side of the boat from where Yan and Etta were standing. She refused to look at them, staring resolutely out at the wake that their boat left as Etta sailed on. Even when Etta tried to say something to her, she ignored her. On a boat like this, there wasn''t much room for people to get critical distance from each other when they fought, so maybe it was for the best that she was simply ignoring the pair.

    Yan put her hand on Etta''s arm, trying to comfort her and thank her. If Yan was honest, she thought Etta was making a mistake. She shouldn''t be helping her, again and again. But she was, and Yan was grateful for it, even if Etta was crazier than she was. They both stared out to the horizon at the smudge.

    The day wore on. Though they kept sailing forward at a rapid clip, with the wind keeping the sail taught, the smudge didn''t seem to get any closer. Yan found the nautical diagram on the display near the wheel incomprehensible. It was nothing like the orderly starcharts she was used to using for navigation. All the flashing beacons told her nothing, and for whatever reason, the landmass they were sailing toward didn''t even appear on the screen.

    As the day wore on, Yan realized this was because what they were sailing towards was a mountain, or multiple mountains. The tallest she had ever seen. They were probably still a hundred kilometers away, but the shape on the horizon loomed. The green dot in her vision urged them forward, even though Yan herself had nothing to do with their movement.

    Night fell once more. Etta''s mother doled out food without talking to them. It was a sullen silence that they ate in. Since her mother wasn''t helping with the sailing, Etta had even let Yan take the wheel as she fixed the sails. They would sail through the night, then. The wind and the waves that pushed them onward weren''t letting up, and there was no point in stopping to rest now. They couldn''t be that much farther away.

    But they were. Boats didn''t travel very fast, even with the elements conspiring to help them. Yan was exhausted. She didn''t know how Etta did it.

    Yan sent a pointed thought out towards the presence, though she doubt it understood. ''You''d better be worth it.''

    There was no response, but she hadn''t entirely expected one.

    It was the middle of the next day, after sailing nonstop, when they finally saw the actual shore. The mountain had a thick base of clouds around it. Thick, wet, sticky air surrounded them, along with a weird calmness. This mountain was probably blocking much of the prevailing wind. The little strand of air that pushed their boat forward and up toward the gravelly beach was the only thing that moved. When they were close enough that Etta didn''t want to risk damaging the boat, she stopped, dropped the sail, and slowly lowered the anchor into the water. It caught on the bottom and the boat strained against it. Yan looked at her. Was this really the closest they were going to get?

    Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case. Yan could understand not wanting to scrape the bottom of the boat on the bottom. Peering down through the clear water, it did look a little bit rocky, and not something the smooth underside of their vessel would enjoy rubbing up against.

    Etta walked to the back of the boat, and had a conversation with her mother. Or attempted to, anyway. Etta''s mother looked at her, still angry, and refused to say anything. Etta looked hurt, but at this point the silent treatment was getting pretty old, so she turned grumpily away from her mother and returned to Yan.

    Yan, feeling still guilty about Etta''s choice to commandeer the boat, went to the back. She squatted down next to where Etta''s mother was sitting. It felt too weird to tower over her and stand, even though Yan was rather used to towering over people. The mother glared at her coolly.

    "I''m sorry," Yan said. She stretched out her hand. "And thank you. For all your help."

    Of course the mother wouldn''t understand, but she tried to put as much into her tone as possible. She didn''t want to leave, possibly, probably, forever without making her amends. She wished she had some kind of gift to give her, as a token of her thanks, but all Yan had done here was take and take.

    She crouched there awkwardly, with her hand out, hoping that Etta''s mother would accept her gesture of apology.

    Etta''s mother broke the silence. She said Yan''s name, and then a long stretch of something else. Yan wished she could understand. The tone was cold, but not full of hatred. Etta''s mother still didn''t take her outstretched hand, but that was better than nothing. Yan nodded to her and stood.

    Etta was at the helm. She gestured out over the water, wearing a ''well?'' expression on her face.

    They were a good way from shore, about fifty meters. Yan knew what Etta wanted her to do. She was a little nervous about using the power, especially so close to that presence that was beckoning her ever forward. The green dot had faded from her vision, and been replaced with a tugging in her heart that almost matched what she had first felt during that storm. She wasn''t going to get lost in it. Not now. Not again.

    Yan reached for the power. It came to her easily. She was swimming in it. She used it to bring the surface tension of the water up, up, enough to support the weight of a person. She looked at Etta.

    "Ready?" Yan asked. Etta smiled in response, and sat on the side of the boat. Yan had a brief moment of remembering her dream from nights ago. Etta had been sitting on the side of the boat, and, just like that, she had dived into the water, swimming down and down. Etta dived now, but instead of swimming down, she hit the water with a splash, and treaded water easily, not caring that her clothes were floating all around her. Yan sat on the side and lowered herself onto the surface of the water gently. It held her up, as she knew it would.

    She stayed a good distance away from Etta as she walked across the surface of the ocean. She didn''t want to risk Etta''s splashing disturbing her use of the power. She could probably control it, but she also didn''t want to accidentally kick or step on her friend. That wouldn''t have been ideal. Though the water was definitely calm, it was still a very weird sensation to walk across the top of it. It was rather like trying to balance on the surface of a bowl of jelly.

    Etta seemed to be enjoying swimming. She was a strong swimmer, and she turned to look at Yan''s tottering steps. She splashed her purposefully, and laughed. Yan couldn''t retaliate for fear of falling in, so she just kept walking. If the only wet she got was on the very bottoms of her feet, and a little from Etta splashing her, that was definitely better than being completely submerged in the cold water. And it was extra cold here, because the shadow of the mountain towering above them, blocked out the sun and sucked the heat from the waves. After a little while, they came to a place where the water was shallow enough that Etta could stand, and she waded to the shore. Yan hopped over the breakers and released the power as she got closer to the shore. She misjudged the depth slightly, and was startled when she sank in ankle deep. The shock of the cold made her yelp and jump further onto the shore, though that only served to drive some gravelly rocks into the soles of her cloth shoes.

    Overall, there could have been a better start to her stay on the island. At least, she thought it was an island. She couldn''t really tell.

    There was no road, or any sign of habitation at all. The little beach they had come up onto was in a cove, with the gravelly beach sloping upward towards larger rocks that surrounded them. Trees, similar to the ones that Yan had seen when she had first broken out of her imprisonment, began where the rocks of the beach ended. Yan looked behind her, and saw the boat still bobbing peacefully there. Etta''s mother leaned on the side and watched them from afar.

    Yan turned back towards the center of the island. That tug inside her was strong enough that she was compelled forward, even though the boat back there held a tiny, nagging feeling of safety. She knew she was walking into something unknown, toward something much more powerful than herself, and there was a part of her that wondered if she was making a mistake. But it also felt like this was the only choice she had. There was a potential for her to be able to communicate with someone here.

    Yan stepped forward, away from the lapping water and towards the trees. Etta watched her for a second, then jogged after Yan, shaking herself like a dog to clear off some of the water from her swim. Yan was glad, distantly, that she hadn''t gotten wet.

    Her thoughts seemed to slow down and narrow as she reached the trees. The fact that Etta was following behind her only distantly registered as she shoved aside branches and scrubby bushes, wading past the first line of defense into the darkness of the wooded area. It had been dark in the shadow of the mountain, it was darker still among the greenery. Just as the outside world seemed to fade from her mind as she waded forward, the sound of the ocean sweeping up towards the shore vanished. There was no wind here. Even what animals one would expect to find in such an area were silent. It was just the cracking of branches and rustling of leaves as Yan stepped through, leaving Etta to push forward behind her.

    She was guided by the siren song in her head. It felt so much like a natural part of her that it was almost instinct. After some time of shoving through the foliage, getting scrapes on her hands from thorny plants, Yan came to what seemed to be a path. It wasn''t much, just a place where the undergrowth was a little less thick. The ground was just stones mixed with dirt, and not the same layering of wilted vines and choked seedlings that seemed to cover the rest of the place, reaching up towards her feet as she took too-confident steps forward.

    It wasn''t a straight path, but it was narrow. Straight and narrow, hadn''t she made a joke about that one time? But there was no Halen here for Yan to laugh with, or cry with. He had been pushed out of her brain by this new presence that called her forward. The power sang on her lips. Yan laughed alone. Etta, startled, put her hand on Yan''s arm. She hardly noticed.

    They walked along the path, encountering no one and seeing nothing for a long time. The land sloped upward, rising to meet the base of the mountain. Or perhaps this was the base of the mountain. The air was thick and rich with smells: wet earth, growing and decaying vegetation, the humid sea air.

    Eventually, the tree cover thinned out. It wasn''t due to a change in elevation; it seemed more like the forest had been planted in a certain zone, and this was the furthest extent of its creep. In a hundred, two hundred years, perhaps it would be an even thicker and wilder area.

    The forest gave way to bushes, then those too gave way to unplanted land, which gave way finally to terraces covered with growing grain. The terraces climbed up the face of the mountain, sloping into the distance. It must have been early in the season still, because everything growing was green and short. Yan walked around the side of the terraces, where there was a dirt and gravel road. It had tire marks in it. People must have cars here, then, or machinery for farming, at the very least. She followed the path, still seeing no one except her own shadow, and Etta, who occasionally walked faster in order to be by her side. Catching a glimpse of her out of the corner of her eye startled Yan every time it happened. She kept forgetting that there were more people in the universe than her and this presence that was calling to her. How could she keep forgetting that? Yan reached out to Etta, who grabbed her hand. Yan squeezed it, and Etta responded in kind. There. Now she wouldn''t forget. They walked side by side. The path was wide enough for both of them, and probably two more.

    The first person they saw was an older woman, sitting on the side of the path, legs crossed, eating a piece of fruit. Etta waved and called out to her, but the woman ignored her. Yan and Etta came closer, and the woman continued to ignore them. Her clothes were plain, and her hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail. She had a cloth bag on the ground next to her, full of fruit similar to the one she was eating. It was creepy, the way she didn''t look at them, until, suddenly, she did. Her eyes, a piercing green, flicked up to look at Yan, and she smiled. Etta tugged on Yan''s arm, and Yan had to stop staring into the woman''s face as they continued walking. There was that presence, living inside that woman. But Yan was pulled forward, both by Etta''s insistence, and the feeling inside her.

    The same thing happened several more times. People, some standing, some walking, some working, all seemed to recognize Yan and stare her down. It only grew more intense as they came closer to the center¨C

    How did she know it was the center? The center of what?

    They walked on. No one talked to them. Etta''s hand grew sweaty in Yan''s. She was nervous? What was there to be nervous about?

    Then there was a building that appeared just over the crest of a small hill, coming into view past the terraces of grain and the smaller plots of other plants. It was made of stone, the local stuff, big blocks that were probably carved directly out of the mountainside. It was squat, and round, but with plenty of windows that gave it an elegance and an open feeling that it would have otherwise lacked. It was half built into the side of the mountain, as so many of the buildings on this planet were. People, all wearing the same type of plain tunic, passed in and out of it through various doors, intent on their own tasks, but giving that same smile to Yan. They had probably seen around thirty people, all told, of various ages, sizes, and appearances. None had been younger than maybe fifteen, and the oldest they had probably seen was that first woman, who was maybe seventy. That didn''t mean that there weren''t others inside the building. That was the center. That was where the presence was.

    Yan came up to the door of the building and opened it. It wasn''t locked. She started to walk inside, but felt a tugging on her arm. She turned. Etta was pulling her back, shaking her head. Yan looked at her, not understanding. The look of¡­ something on Etta''s face should have meant something to her. What was that supposed to mean? There was an even larger wall between herself and Etta now. Part of Yan cried out at that realization, and she pulled Etta towards her. Etta only shook her head more vigorously and tugged in the opposite direction.

    But Yan had to keep going. She had to keep going. She had to.

    She turned back around, and if Etta was going to keep holding on to her hand, then she could. If she was going to let go, then that didn''t matter anymore either. She felt her hand slip out of Etta''s, and there was only the sound of her footsteps on the stone floor for a moment.

    That jolted Yan back. Footsteps on the floor. Six steps, turn around, hop over the chain. She had turned around without even thinking about it. The cool darkness of the stone surrounding her, the sound of her feet walking their familiar pattern, the lack of anyone else around her all reminded her so much of being imprisoned. Etta stared at her from that short distance away.

    "Please come?" Yan asked, gaining control of herself again, both from her irrational mind seized by thoughts of the past and from the presence that was tugging her deep into the bowels of this place. She didn''t want to go alone. "Please?"

    Etta had come this far with her, farther than Yan had any right to expect of her. But Etta wasn''t going to break that streak now, and so she came forward, tentatively stepping into the cool stone hallway of the building, letting the heavy wooden door swing shut behind her.

    Light streamed in through the windows, but it was muted and dull. Clouds were gathering in the sky outside, bringing rain, and maybe wind that would sweep one side of the mountain and leave the other dry.

    Their footsteps sounded on the floor, but it was four feet this time instead of just two, and that was a comfort. And Yan was wearing the cloth shoes she had been given, and that was a comfort, too. And Etta was here. And a piece of Yan, the piece that was most strongly called to this place, felt like she was coming home. And that brought her a feeling of peace, even if it was an illusion.

    They came to a place in the building where it joined the mountainside. The windows ended, and the walls changed from smooth stone blocks to being tunnels hewn directly into the ground. A breeze whistled past them. Caves?

    This whole time, they had been climbing, and now they began to descend. There were lights in the hallway, electric ones, and they lit the path well.

    Down, and down, and down, and down. they kept going and the air grew cooler around them. The slight breeze tickles on the back of Yan¡¯s neck. At the bottom of the slope there was a door, heavy and wooden. Yan pushed it open with trepidation. The door was warm underneath her hand, much warmer than the stone that surrounded them.

    As the door swung open, Etta hung back. She reached out for the back of Yan¡¯s tunic, but the fabric slipped past her fingers. Yan hardly noticed that Etta was trying to grab her. She stepped through the door, not bothering to check whether Etta was behind her or not. The whole scene was like a dream.

    Inside the room there was one figure, sitting on a rug on the floor, not facing the door. The figure didn''t turn when Yan entered the room, but Yan could feel it reaching out in the power. She stepped forward further into the room and walked around the seated figure. When Yan faced the person, she could see that it was a man around thirty years old, simply sitting with a placid expression on his face. He didn''t smile at her like all of the other people did. His eyes were closed.

    Yan sat down in front of him. She crossed her legs and put her arms on her knees. She stared directly at him. Behind him, she could see Etta standing in the doorway. Etta looked nervous. Yan didn''t want to think about that, though.

    The room was dim, lit only by a few bulbs around the walls. Yan and the man, sitting on the floor cast shadows out around them like the spokes on a wheel. Light danced. The power was thick in the air. Yan could touch it.

    She was here. this is where she was meant to be. She had arrived.

    Yan closed her eyes. She reached out with the power. It was like coming home. The whole world spun around her. Something clicked in her brain. She knew exactly who she was and what she needed to do.

    <hr>

    The Mother had felt this one on the planet for a long time. She had been waiting. It had taken many days, more than days, for this one to wake up. It had taken a long time for this one to come home.

    Yan was here, at last, at last. It hadn¡¯t taken any effort to slip right into the waiting embrace of this power. A collective mind, stretched across how many people? They had been calling out to her, and she was home.

    The Mother stood and stretched this new body. The arms reached up to the sky. Everything was so long and tall. She had so few bodies that were like this. It wasn''t whole and it wasn''t healed; it was hurt, but it would be okay. Her new fingers trailed over her new face. She let her other body stand, too, and she reached out with those arms to touch the same places, to look at the same places, just to make sure that all of her perceptions were in line.

    There was the feeling of seeing out of forty pairs of eyes at once. People waking, people working, people walking. She was everywhere. Out of one set of eyes, she saw her own face. Yan reached out for it, like it was a mirror.

    There was something that this body wanted. She was calling out, inside of the Mother. What did she want?

    And in another set of eyes, she saw Etta, standing back in the doorway. She needed to talk to her. The words were right there, on the tip of her tongue. On the tip of forty tongues. Ready to sing.

    It always took some getting used to, when a new piece joined the Mother. Every new person, every new body, every new mind, every new experience, they all added to the whole.

    What did this body want? Abruptly, the Mother knew. Inside of her, it was the same fear the oldest fear.

    Don''t worry, the Mother thought. You will never be alone again. We are all here together. This is what we were born for.

    And that was a comfort, too.

    There was something else that the new body wanted. That girl in the doorway, her daughter, she needed to say something to her. what did she want to say?

    She walked towards that girl. She made sure to use the new body. It didn''t matter to the Mother, of course, but it might matter to this girl. She smiled. She smiled as wide as this body could. This new one was glad to have the words finally. The words.

    Yan¡¯s body moved like a puppet.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± the Mother said. ¡°Thank you so much, for everything. and I''m sorry. I wish I could have told you that before.¡±

    The words came spilling out, the simplest expression of what Yan had brought with her. All her emotions were caught up and frozen within the Mother, and the Mother was the one who found the words.

    ¡°It''s okay,¡± Etta said. ¡°How do you know how to speak?¡±

    ¡°I''m part of the Mother now,¡± the Mother said. ¡°She knows everything.¡±

    Being part of the Mother. What a strange thought. What a natural thought.

    And the Mother didn¡¯t know quite everything. But it was close enough.

    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Etta asked.

    ¡°I''m going to--.¡± and the Mother stopped, considering. The things that this body seem to want we''re not just things that the Mother wanted. That might be a problem. But not right now. ¡°I don''t know,¡± the Mother said. ¡°I think we''ll have to figure that out.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to stay here?¡± Etta asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the Mother said. ¡°This is my home.¡±

    An echo of a voice. ¡°The past is not a home.¡± But this wasn¡¯t the past. She was here.

    Etta looked at her strangely. ¡°I thought you came from far away.¡±

    ¡°I have come from many different places,¡± the Mother said. ¡°But this is home because this is where I am.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay, Yan?¡±

    Yes, Yan was okay. But not entirely in control. Not in control at all.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The Mother made her body smile again. She was okay. The Mother was where this body belonged.

    This visitor wasn''t convinced that her new body was okay. But it didn''t matter what her daughters thought. All that mattered was that she kept them safe. That, her new body agreed with. She just wanted Etta to be safe. Well, if the Mother wanted every one of her daughters to be safe, it was fine if this body started with just one.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Etta asked. ¡°You seem different.¡±

    A little twinge. Different? Yan had never been able to talk to her.

    ¡°I''m more than I was before.¡± That was true for both this new body and the Mother.

    More, so much more. So many more people, all in her head, knowing her, understanding her.

    ¡°Do you want me to stay here?¡± Etta asked.

    ¡°Do you have somewhere that you will be safe?¡±

    Yes. Keep Etta safe.

    Etta laughed a little bit. ¡°I''ll be fine,¡± she said.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°We were going to my cousin,¡± she said. ¡°She would have taken care of us. You could still come.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    No.

    ¡°Please?¡±

    ¡°No. I need to stay here. I belong here.¡±

    Everyone here could see into the deepest part of Yan¡¯s heart, the dark corners. They hadn¡¯t looked yet, but they would, and Yan knew that they wouldn¡¯t cast her away. She could see into the darkest corners of their hearts, too. And she needed to stay.

    ¡°Will you be safe here?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± the Mother said. She would protect her own.

    That old adage, safety in numbers.

    ¡°Are you going to go back to where you came from?¡±

    Where did she come from? The past. Where was she going to go? Where did Yan want to go? Where did she need to go? Yan struggled for a moment against the Mother. Someday, she would need to go. She couldn¡¯t go back to the past, but she couldn¡¯t stay here forever.

    Abruptly, the Mother and this new body were in opposition. The new body couldn''t win, of course. She was so small compared to the rest of the Mother. But her sadness and her pain we''re also part of the Mother now. That was how life was. Everyone''s pain became part of them, and pain is lessened when shared and understood. The Mother shared it with everyone inside of herself, and every piece understood it.

    They looked inside her, and didn¡¯t find her wanting. They looked inside of her, and understood her.

    And if she was understood here, this was home. And she never needed to go anywhere else.

    ¡°No, I need to stay here.¡±

    ¡°Can I come see you?¡± Etta asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t put yourself in danger for me,¡± Yan wanted to say. But she couldn¡¯t. The words she was thinking didn¡¯t come out. ¡°Stay away from me so that you will stay safe.¡±

    ¡°My daughters are always welcome,¡± the Mother said. Etta looked at her strangely. The Mother considered her daughter. She was hurt, too. It was a shame. She reached out with her new hand, and touched the limp side of Etta''s face.

    They stared into each other''s eyes. Etta grabbed her hand. They stood there, hand on hand on cheek.

    This body had something else to say. The Mother let her. ¡°Why did you save me?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Etta said. ¡°I had to.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Instead of saying anything in response, Etta reached out and hugged her. it was so rare that the Mother had a touch from an outsider. Etta squeezed her, and it felt as though she would never let go. The body hugged back.

    ¡°Tell your mother thank you. And sorry, for stealing her boat.¡±

    ¡°I did that,¡± Etta said.

    ¡°You brought me home.¡±

    ¡°I didn''t know that was what I was doing.¡±

    ¡°But you did it anyway.¡±

    There was a pause for a minute. They stayed there, hugging each other. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you,¡± Etta said.

    ¡°I''ll always be here. I''ll look out for you.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± Etta asked.

    ¡°The Mother keeps this planet safe,¡± the Mother explained through Yan¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°That''s what she said she was doing too.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± the Mother asked.

    ¡°Jeepak.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Neither Yan nor the Mother had any idea who Etta was talking about.

    ¡°The one who was holding you captive.¡±

    The memories filtered into the Mother¡¯s collective mind, and they weren¡¯t pleasant. That one, the one that this body called the Green King. Was she one of her daughters? The Mother took a moment to examine the memories, settling on all of the places where the Green King, who was named Jeepak, apparently, had used the power. Her little device, the one that had caused this body so much pain, that was the thing that kept her away from the Mother, hiding her from the Mother¡¯s sight. That was unfortunate. How many others of her daughters were hiding from her?

    Perhaps it didn¡¯t matter. The Mother was plenty as she was. She was whole, and content.

    ¡°I have been protecting this planet since we came here. I will continue to protect it until we all leave,¡± the Mother said.

    ¡°Are you still Yan, or are you someone else?¡± Etta released her, and looked deep into the Mother¡¯s eyes. The collective light shone there.

    ¡°I am who I am,¡± the Mother said. ¡°Yan is part of me, and I am part of Yan.¡±

    Etta shivered. ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave you here alone,¡± Etta said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not alone,¡± the Mother said, with both of the bodies that were in the room.

    The way that Etta looked: disturbed, scared, sad, stirred the thing that was Yan. Yan wanted to talk. She thought she knew what Etta wanted to hear more than the Mother did.

    It was good to have someone so determined. That strength would be a valuable asset when it came time to protect the planet. The Mother nurtured this feeling, and let that slice of herself have its way. Though everyone was watching through both sets of eyes, there were no real stakes in this conversation beyond the feelings that began in this body¡¯s gut and spiralled out to put waves of nausea in the rest of the Mother¡¯s stomachs.

    ¡°Etta,¡± the Mother began, with Yan directing the sentiment. ¡°I¡¯m exactly where I need to be. I¡¯ll be safe here, I promise. This is where I¡¯m going to stay.¡±

    The body¡¯s mouth continued to move, trying to put the words ¡®for now¡¯ at the end of the sentence. The Mother stopped the vocal cords, and the sound died at the source. The Mother was slightly amused. How many of them had tried, at one time or another, to leave the group? All of them. Some had even succeeded. But they had all come back, because they belonged to each other, and they had a duty. That was more important than frivolous individualism.

    Yan felt that wave of thought from the Mother. It was impossible to resist such reasoning when it was coming from within herself, or felt as though it were, at the very least.

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure,¡± Etta s aid.

    The Mother nodded, wordlessly. There was a tear in the corner of Etta¡¯s eye.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to miss you so much,¡± Etta said finally, and rubbed at her face with her knuckles..

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you, too.¡± This was all Yan. ¡°I¡¯ll never forget--¡± She was torn between ¡®how you saved my life¡¯ and ¡®how you helped me¡¯, so she just left it as it was.

    The sadness was rising up, threatening to crush them all. Across the Mother, the involuntary reaction to such strong emotion was for throats to seize up and for eyes to sting.

    ¡°I won¡¯t forget you either,¡± Etta said. She grabbed Yan¡¯s hand one last time. Etta gathered her courage, straightening her shoulders. ¡°You should go home to her,¡± she said.

    ¡°I am home,¡± the Mother began again.

    Etta continued, ignoring the interruption and staring straight into Yan¡¯s eyes. ¡°To the one you talk about in your sleep. Halen, right?¡±

    The impact of Etta¡¯s words was somewhat lost in a chaotic moment as Yan and the Mother both tried to reconcile their conceptions of gender. Yan presented the image of Halen, and neither of them could adequately explain the way that Etta¡¯s language felt natural (to the Mother) and wrong (to Yan). They gave up on that train of thought and spoke, but quickly ran into the same issue.

    ¡°Maybe she,¡± the Mother began. Yan forced her mouth to a stop. She wanted to say ¡®he¡¯, but there was no equivalent in this language. ¡°Maybe Halen will come here,¡± the Mother said aloud, mainly for Etta¡¯s benefit. For the Mother it was like a joke.

    The thought filled Yan with fear. To imagine Halen in this place was to picture Sandreas at his side. For Sandreas to come to a place like this, far outside the normal boundaries of the Empire, meant that it was totally destroyed. Everyone here would be dead: Etta, her mother, the doctors who had helped her, the people on the streets and in the cities, the Green King and all his guards, whoever the Green King worked for, and even the Mother herself. The vision of the wasteland that this planet would be swam in their thoughts, fueled by Yan¡¯s too-vivid imagination.

    The Mother pushed away the thought like it was nothing, and searched for confidence within herself to give to this new part of her. The Mother would never, never let that happen. Not here. This planet had been kept safe for countless years, and it would be for countless more. There was no force in the universe stronger than the Mother.

    But Yan didn¡¯t want to imagine the opposite either. She didn¡¯t want to see Sandreas defeated. She couldn¡¯t imagine it.

    The Mother was amused. There was no need to imagine anything.

    ¡°You think she¡¯ll come find you?¡± Etta asked, bringing the Mother¡¯s awareness out of her internal conversation and back to the external one.

    ¡°No,¡± they spoke in unison, this time, Yan and the Mother, but for completely different reasons. The mother presented Yan with the image of a sphere, made of the power, that surrounded the star, light minutes out. It stopped all light from escaping and disguised the system completely. No one could see them, no matter what they looked for. That was why the Mother knew that Halen wouldn¡¯t be able to find her.

    Yan said no only because Halen would never leave Sandreas to come find her.

    It amused them both slightly to see the other¡¯s response.

    See? We belong together.

    The Mother was content to have Yan, and Yan was content to be held in the Mother¡¯s mental embrace.

    For now.

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad,¡± Etta said.

    The Mother smiled. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    Etta tried to smile back. ¡°At least you aren¡¯t trapped anymore.¡±

    Far more important, they decided, was that Yan wasn¡¯t alone anymore.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say thank you enough.¡±

    ¡°I know you mean it,¡± Etta said.

    They had already said all this, more than once, and Etta and Yan were both trying to delay the inevitable parting.

    ¡°Your mother is waiting for you,¡± the Mother said. ¡°You should go back to her.¡±

    Etta nodded, stiffly, squeezed Yan¡¯s hand, then let it drop.

    ¡°Goodbye, Yan.¡±

    ¡°Safe travels, Etta.¡±

    Yan wanted to reach out and hug her again, but the Mother froze her body in place.

    It was better to let her go. The sorrow would pass, as it always had and always would. The Mother watched, through all of her eyes, as Etta turned and headed up and out of the home, casting a glance behind her at the Yan-body as she reached the door. Even when she was out of the building and on the road, she looked back, avoiding meeting the gaze of the Mother¡¯s other selves. Then she was gone, heading towards the farms, and there were no more eyes left to watch her with. The Mother could have followed her with the power, but there were better uses for that.

    With Etta gone, Yan had less outside herself to focus on, so she turned her attention inwards, making an effort to explore and understand what it meant to be joined with the Mother.

    That was where attention belonged.

    This body could do with rest, and a bath, and hot food, and new clothes. So she sent her on her way, letting the Yan¡¯s body¡¯s instinct move her in the direction the Mother ordained, while she integrated the Yan¡¯s mind more deeply with herself.

    Down inside the mountain, there was a place where hot water bubbled up from the ground. The Mother had cleaned it out because it had pleased her, so long ago. All the parts of her that it had first pleased were gone now, but the long chain of memories, and the pleasure of putting a body into the hot water remained.

    The Yan-body stripped off her dirty clothes, and stepped into the water without hesitation. The Mother had done this countless times, so there was no need for the body to fear the steam rising up from the surface. She leaned back against one of the rock walls and closed her eyes to guard against the electric light overhead.

    Yan was curious about the sphere that surrounded the planet, so she investigated.

    This one wanted to know things, so the Mother put her to work. Her focus and connection to the power were shunted off to the group that was maintaining the shield. Constant attention and constant use of the power were the two things that kept this planet safe.

    That was how and why the Mother had originally been born. In order to prevent attack, because she had witnessed the destruction of one planet in particular, the Mother had decided that something needed to be done. One single person couldn¡¯t muster the concentration needed to protect an entire star system, and even multiple individuals working together would almost certainly fail. What the problem required was for many people to become completely one with each other. That way they could share the responsibility, the burden, and the joy. They could work in shifts, and provide constant attention, completely synchronised.

    It was as though the power had been designed specifically for this. They all fit together so perfectly. Everyone before had felt trapped and alone inside their own skin. Just through the power, they could be whole together. Those first pieces of the Mother had been overjoyed at this connection they had forged, and had reached out to share it with everyone else on the planet that they could. So they came.

    Whenever a sensitive on this planet began to grow into their power, the Mother called to them, and they all made the journey here. They were all welcomed inside, and everyone lived out their life, harmonious and understood.

    That was why the Mother had bodies of many different ages; people came at around age fifteen, and stayed with her until they died.

    Bringing in a new member always made the Mother think about the past. She couldn¡¯t help it. Those memories were still clear and sharp inside of her, pressed onto the collective matter of all her brains. Everything was scattered, but retrievable and redundant, just like a computer.

    She decided, back when she first came together, that she should think like a computer as much as possible. So she always split her thinking/processing/acting into different streams for different tasks. It was better and more efficient than thinking of a single mind. This way, the Yan body could sit in the hot spring, while the Mother directed part of the Yan-mind to work on maintaining the shield. Another body looked in the linen stores for tunics that were available, while that body¡¯s mind used the power several kilometers away to turn the soil in a new terrace for planting. The body and mind of the Mother that was currently dedicated to planning all of this, the large scale decision making and conscious thought, sat on the floor of a dark room and kneaded dough to make flatbreads.

    It could be overwhelming for her new members, but the Mother was careful not to split the attention or processing power of new ones too severely. Doing too much of that had caused her to lose some pieces of herself. Not physically, but if her bodies were never allowed to think their own thoughts, they eventually just¡­ went away. And the Mother, while she loved being whole, did not enjoy that sensation of emptiness, when one of her bodies was a shell. She had learned that lesson long ago. But as each new member integrated, it would become easier and easier and more natural for that body¡¯s thoughts, feelings, attention, and power to be one with the rest, and to be split or shared as needed.

    It could take years for a new member to get fully settled, but even after just a few days, it was hard for them to leave. The Mother knew, because she kept trying it, against her own better judgement. A body that went back off on its own would have a hard time being alone again. They needed each other, all of them.

    The Mother brought a tunic back to the hot spring for Yan to wear, using her Jona-body. She looked with Jona¡¯s eyes. The Yan-body was shrouded in steam in the hot water, but there was still plenty there to see. Her skin was rich and brown, and her hair collected drops of water in its tight curls. Her limbs stretched out around her like a tangle of branches, her arms floating loosely on the surface of the water. Her hands curled slightly, the broken fingers soothed by the heat. Though she leaned quietly and comfortably against the cool rock wall, her neck jutted stiffly up from her back.

    Jona¡¯s hand reached out, and she pushed her fingers into the space between the wall and Yan¡¯s neck. She felt the contrast between the slick and smooth skin and the patchwork of thick scars. The bumps where the bones had been fused together were alarming. The Mother had never seen anything like that, not done to bones that were otherwise healthy, and she didn¡¯t know if she could fix it. Not right away, anyway. She was angry at the wayward daughter who had done this. On the surface level it was an injustice that the Mother could not abide on principle, but deep down there was a personal, personal anger rolling off of Yan.

    That was alright. They all brought their personal grievances here. The Mother dropped her hand, and Jona squatted on the edge of the hot spring pool and kept staring at Yan.. The water rippled out around her as she breathed.

    Yan felt herself being observed. She carefully abandoned her task, and she watched out of that other set of eyes and looked at her own body. She opened her own eyes and stared into them out of someone else¡¯s. She observed herself; she observed herself being observed.

    She looked into her own face. What was in there?

    It was like looking into a mirror, but only the reflection existed. The real person had stepped away, out of the bathroom, and the reflection in the mirror stayed there alone, untethered.

    Perhaps the experience was most like that one time in the simulation room, when Halen had recreated that horrible time on the shuttle. Yan had watched herself go through the motions, again and again. Yes, this was the person who had done all that. This body.

    The most positive emotion that she could muster towards herself was the same curiosity that the Mother had. Everything else felt flat and dull. Yan had no interest in being that person, in thinking about what that person had done, in remembering where that person had been. She retreated back into the Mother, lending her consciousness and processing power to any task that would distract her.

    The Mother was only too glad to oblige with such a request for oblivion. She let Yan¡¯s conscious mind drift away. She wasn¡¯t done dealing with Yan¡¯s body, though. Even if she couldn¡¯t fix her neck without careful time to study and consider the problem, she had abundant practice with healing minor fractures and other injuries. The Mother, though she never really intended to hurt any of her selves, and was generally careful, could be clumsy. With upwards of thirty bodies to manage, mistakes happened.

    The Jona-body pulled the broken hand out of the water and held it limply in hers. Drops of water slid off the fingers and down into the pool, where the noise of their falling made a gentle tinkling sound that echoed off the rock around them. It was such a simple thing, to borrow this body¡¯s power, and to straighten bone and knit it back together. It hurt, but the pain was passing, and contained. She made sure to keep the scrap of Yan away from this; she had already felt enough. There was no need to put her through the pain of healing, too.

    When it was done, she dropped the hand back into the warm water. The swelling would go down with time. With that task accomplished, Jona left to go work on other things. The Yan-body could stay a while longer. No one else needed to bathe immediately, and the water soothed. All of the Mother took some comfort in it, if they chose to dip into that body for a moment, to feel the heat relax strained muscles.

    Soon, though, it was time to eat. The Mother hoisted Yan¡¯s body up and out of the pool. She pulled all the water off herself with a quick tug of the power, and dressed in the clean tunic. It fell to her knees, which was the right length, but it was loose everywhere else. The next time she went to buy things, she would need to buy a new set of clothes that would fit. She would send a body to do that soon.

    Almost all of her bodies, the ones who weren¡¯t asleep or busy with more important things, streamed into the main meeting area. The rugs were rolled out onto the floor for her to sit, and the food was hot and waiting in bowls and on plates. In perfect synchronization, she sat down in groups of five, and everyone quietly ate, dipping bread into communal bowls of spiced and roasted vegetables, and creamy sauce. She was a good cook.

    As was her custom, the Mother used this time to do a detailed check in with all of her minds and bodies. She made sure that there weren¡¯t any issues left unaddressed, or any deficiencies lurking. The whole could only function if all of its parts were working as well as they could. For the most part, everyone was fine. There was an annoyance at a tangled work problem here, an upset stomach there, a vague discomfort about existing in a body in another place, but it was all standard or minor. To the problem on the farm, the Mother allocated more conscious thought, later. The body with the twisted stomach was sent first to the toilet, and then to bed, alone. And the uncomfortable body¡­ Well, that problem was already as solved as it was going to get. Keeping conscious thought away from it was the only real solution.

    The Mother checked on Yan last, as she had already devoted a significant amount of time to thinking about her. A new member was a curiosity like no other, so the Mother couldn¡¯t help turning all eyes towards her at last.

    That feeling of scrutiny from all corners was alarming and alienating enough to almost knock Yan out of the Mother¡¯s embrace completely. She was so unused to being around so many people, even if they were all with in her and knowing her as she knew herself. The bread that she was eating froze in her hand, halfway from the bowl to her mouth, as all those eyes settled on her. She couldn¡¯t escape seeing, couldn¡¯t escape being seen. The fear of-- what was it, rejection?-- rose up from her gut.

    That was a mistake. Hurriedly, the Mother forced all her eyes away from Yan, and made her stand. She walked her back into the kitchen, where she was alone, with just the humming and gurgling of the industrial kitchen appliances.

    If this body needed somewhere calmer to eat, the Mother had the perfect place. She opened the closet where the smaller dishes were kept, and pulled out two sets. From the pots simmering gently on the stove, she landeled out perfect portions into each bowl, making sure to give plenty to Yan. There was no need for her to be hungry anymore.

    Flatbreads rested in a basket underneath a cloth, and Yan pulled out a few. She used a tiny amount of the power to hover the food in the air, so she wouldn¡¯t have to carry everything.

    The Mother smiled as a memory of being free of gravity floated into the general consciousness. She hadn¡¯t been part of someone who had been to space for a long time. It was nice to have new memories.

    She walked Yan out the back door of the kitchen, down a few hallways and up a set of stairs. A room with a big window and a balcony was built right into the side of the mountain. Though the sun had long gone down, the view of the trees was still beautiful in the light coming out from their campus.

    Her oldest body was in that room, on a bed, propped up on pillows. Her face was wrinkled, but still tan, and though her beard was long and white, her eyes retained their own sparkle among the collective light.

    She was going to miss this body. Her time was coming. Every part of her could feel it. She had been hanging on, just until another came to replace her, and that other was now here. It wouldn¡¯t be long.

    Yan sat on the chair next to the bed and gave out the food. Both of them balanced their bowls on their laps and ate slowly as they looked at the stars, dimly visible over the trees.

    This body, though old, had remarkable control over the power. It was from the experience that came with both age and the constant practice being within the Mother provided. She especially loved to work with the weather. In her youth, the Mother had sent this body out onto the ocean, to calm storms and redirect winds, to prevent drought and to scatter clouds. Those days were long gone, but the memories and the joy of feeling wind tug at her hair remained. It would remain until this body was gone at last.

    The memories would still be there, even after this body departed, but the joy would leave. It was best to hold on to that feeling while she could, before it was inevitably replaced with melancholy.

    It was this one, her Lonnie, who had brought Yan here. Her wind had filled the sails of that little boat and skittered it across the surface of the water. The Mother thought that was poetic and fitting.

    She didn¡¯t want to lose this body. She had had her for something on the order of seventy years. So many seasons, she had held her for. She wasn¡¯t scared of it, though it was never pleasant, but she didn¡¯t like losing anyone. And this body was the last one to have seen some much-loved others with her own eyes. She was a physical connection to the land of the past and to memory. She hated to see that go.

    The Mother let those two bodies eat in peace, the old and the new. She didn¡¯t have to worry about Lonnie going right now. She would know when it was going to happen, but she couldn¡¯t help thinking about it.

    Yan didn¡¯t mind that at all. Even thinking about death was better than that whole vast attention being directed at her.

    It was never the full attention, of course. The Mother had never once had to bring her full force to bear on something before. She never wanted to. She was strong enough the way she operated now. Bringing her whole attention on something meant that she considered it a threat capable of defeating her.

    Unbidden, the image of starships jumping in, armed to the teeth with dogfighters and missiles, floated into her mind. Ah, that was paranoia, but it was paranoia backed by information that she might someday use. The Mother pried through Yan¡¯s memories, seeking out tactical information.

    For someone who was both studious and well placed to learn military secrets, Yan had precious little. The Mother tugged on the strings of Yan¡¯s mind to find out why. Questions and thoughts about the Fleet made Yan feel ill, so she chose assignments that had nothing to do with it, and she didn¡¯t seek out information, even when she could have. Guilt was a thick film atop everything, and it blurred ideas and turned attention away as it sat heavily on the body.

    It didn¡¯t particularly matter. The Mother had very little inclination to go and act on military intelligence, even if Yan had been able to provide specific tactical information. It was perhaps for the best. It was more important for her to stay here, and to focus her attention on keeping all her daughters on this planet safe. If she didn¡¯t have one more thing to tempt her to leave, that was fine.

    After they had both finished eating, it was time to do the sad task that the Mother had brought Yan here for. It wasn¡¯t precisely necessary for her to be here physically, but it was easier. She made Yan lean over, and Lonnie placed her withered hand on Yan¡¯s cheek. The touch was nice, for both of them. The Mother began the process of redistributing the memories that were stored in Lonnie¡¯s brain onto Yan¡¯s. She played them back, and they flashed before their eyes, far faster than life. They went by in the way that human memories always did: abridged and only showing the things that the heart latched onto. The Mother could peer through each brain to see what memories existed, because the power allowed her to do that, but she didn¡¯t have perfect recall any more than any of her bodies did.

    For Yan, it was like getting someone else¡¯s life stuffed inside her head, far too much, to process at all. She was worried that she would have random snippets of someone else, or multiple other people, coming up to the surface whenever she was reminded.

    The Mother pushed gently on her and told her not to worry. After all, the Mother was in charge of these.

    But what if Yan left the Mother?

    The Mother answered that question without hesitation. She had left herself many times, and knew what happened to those stored memories. Because they weren¡¯t actually connected to anything else in Yan¡¯s head, they would be nearly inaccessible. A person needed to remember to remember things. They might only appear in dreams, or never, like something seen in childhood and forgotten completely.

    That was a relief.

    Now, with her memory storage made redundant enough, it was time for her to sleep. The majority of the Mother slept at once, simply for the reason that it was economical to be awake during the day and asleep at night. She left Lonnie alone in her little room to look out over the stars, as that was the way that Lonnie liked it, and returned Yan to the main room. She was careful, this time, to keep everyone¡¯s eyes off of her. No need to make any of her selves uncomfortable.

    Everyone went into the storage area, and pulled out the sleeping mats. There were a few extra, just in case, and though some of her bodies had ones that they took every night, many of them didn¡¯t. Yan had plenty of options, and her instinct guided her to one rather than the Mother¡¯s pushing. The Mother laid her blankets out on the floor of the main room, and turned off the light with the power. Everyone curled up, many with each other, tangled in their own arms and legs.

    Every body fell asleep at its own pace, but after some time, the collective inertia of sleep all around them dragged even the stubbornest holdouts down into shared dreams.

 Chapter Seventy-Two - Tis Better to Have Tried and Failed Than Never Tried at All

    ''Tis Better to Have Tried and Failed Than Never Tried at All

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Come away, oh lovely maid, to where the glistening waters play. Take your lovers in your hand, to a world more full of treasure than you can understand.¡±

    -from ¡°The Stolen Woman¡±, poem by Ousef Margraith

    </blockquote>

    Sylva and Iri, having delivered their message as best they could, now had no choice but to wait for the Bellringer to reach her ultimate destination. It was a long, long, long trip. Even at three jumps a day, as fast as the ship''s stardrive could be pushed, it took them fifteen days. Thee other passengers grew restless. Iri and Sylva could hear them, complaining in the common areas of the ship. It surprised no one when the vitriol between the passengers and the crew grew so intense that a physical fight broke out.

    Sylva, and everyone else, avoided the unscrubbable bloodstain that lingered in the dining area after that.

    On the bridge, someone postulated that they could put the passengers into a shuttle and leave them in dead space to wait until the Bellringer came back. There was resounding laughter at that suggestion, most of it bitter. No one would ever go for a plan like that; not someone who wanted to live, anyway. Another suggestion was to simply kill them all.

    There was far less argument at that one than Sylva would have hoped. She counted her blessings that she had Iri able to keep an eye on the official workings of the Bellringer. It made them far safer and better informed than most of the other passengers, which kept them out of trouble. Trouble was the last thing they wanted.

    As they inched ever closer to the area indicated on the starmaps, the worries began to grow among the crew. It seemed as though they were chasing a star that didn''t exist. From their instruments, and from the starcharts that the Bellringer carried, they were heading into a completely dead and empty area of space.

    It spooked Sylva that they were so insistent on going there for themselves, even if it was clear to her that Starman, whatever his real name was, was lying. No one builds a station in the middle of nowhere, and there''s no way a star could remain uncharted. But the Bellringer carried on, in the hope that they would find what they were looking for, in the hope that they would not be led astray.

    When they were two jumps out from this theorized destination, Iri and Sylva had a long sit down to discuss their plans. It wasn''t as though they had been doing anything else for the past many days, but they needed to get all their options in order. Sylva sat on the bed, her legs crossed stiffly, and Iri was on the chair, sitting backwards and tipping it on its two back legs. She might have fallen, had the room not been small enough that tipping the chair caused it to lean on the bed.

    ¡°Think there''s a station out there?¡± Sylva asked. Iri turned back to the desk, to look at the two starcharts that were open there: their current position and their destination.

    ¡°It''s that or nothing,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Well, there''s a possibility that whatever is there has been erased from all the starcharts, on purpose.¡±

    Iri gave her a long-suffering look. ¡°The reason starcharts are a navigational tool is because you can see the stars,¡± Iri said. ¡°We''d be able to see it from here.¡±

    ¡°I read this proposal, one time, when I was in school,¡± Sylva began. Iri sighed, but Sylva continued. ¡°There''s this group, they wanted to put a sphere around a star, all made of things that would absorb energy, to provide like, the maximum amount of power to the people living there.¡±

    ¡°You know why no one''s bothered to do that?¡± Iri asked, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°It''s a waste of charges,¡± Iri said. ¡°Not really feasible, either.¡±

    ¡°But it could be done,¡± Sylva said again. ¡°And that would stop emissions out of there.¡±

    ¡°Sylva, think for a second. If the Empire decided it would be a stupid idea, who else would even have the means to go about it. Or the reason to?¡± There was something weird in Iri''s voice. She wasn''t just saying that Sylva was being stupid, she was insinuating something else, but Sylva couldn''t quite make the connection.

    ¡°I don''t know, pirates, maybe?¡±

    ¡°And they''d bother with that because...?¡±

    ¡°I''m just saying it''s a possibility, okay?¡± Sylva said, getting frustrated with the conversation. ¡°A small one, maybe, but you don''t have to shoot down everything I say.¡± She was huffy, and snipped at Iri. The long confinement and period of waiting was getting to her, just as it was getting to the rest of the passengers and crew of the Bellringer.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Iri said. She didn''t sound sorry. ¡°Let''s go with the assumption that this is a station, and we haven''t been duped. We need to figure out a plan.¡±

    ¡°And we''re also assuming that Yan is actually on the station?¡± And alive, was the unspoken half of Sylva''s question.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Sylva thought for a second. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times, and Iri watched her.

    ¡°Spit it out,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I hate to suggest this,¡± Sylva began, ¡°but do you think we should just, you know, like we did with Starman, let the Bellringer take care of it?¡±

    Iri frowned, but didn''t say anything for a long moment. ¡°Let''s think that through. Okay, I''m the captain of the Bellringer, no, wait, I''m one of the people the captain sent down onto this station to grab Yan. Obviously, we''re not being diplomatic about this, so maybe the station''s already shot to bits, and it''s rough.¡±

    ¡°So Yan might not even survive that?¡±

    ¡°We''re assuming that she does. Don''t interrupt.¡± Iri closed her eyes, her body tensing up. ¡°I''m with my team, and we fight through to where Yan''s being kept. Doesn''t really matter what state she''s in, but she probably looks pathetic. My orders are obviously to take her back to the Bellringer, so that the whole crew can do justice on her, but-¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    ¡°I said don''t interrupt!¡± Iri''s hands gripped the back of her chair, and she resumed her little imagined story, eyes still closed. ¡°But suppose I''m on that team, and my, hm, daughter, my daughter was one of the ones that Yan killed. I don''t think I want to bring her back to the ship. I think I want to kill her myself,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Is that actually likely? Would the captain be dumb enough to send somebody like that?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Have you seen the decisions this captain has made?¡± Iri asked, opening her eyes and looking at Sylva. She cracked her knuckles, stretching out her arms all the way in front of her. Sylva actually had to lean back in order to avoid getting hit. ¡°Besides, it wouldn''t be much better if Yan got onto the ship.¡±

    ¡°If she was on the ship, then we''d be able to...¡± Sylva trailed off as she thought it through. On a ship, there was no way to escape. In order to save Yan from the clutches of the Bellringer''s crew, they''d have to all be killed, or at the least, incapacitated. Then Iri and Sylva would somehow have to get the ship back to civilization.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Iri said as she watched the thoughts play out obviously on Sylva''s face. ¡°We''d be trapped here together. And I don''t think they''ll be waiting to get back to civilization before they do whatever it is they''re planning to her. They''ve all got blood in their eyes.¡±

    ¡°So what do you think that we should do?¡± Sylva asked. She wasn''t seeing any way that this could work out. They had perhaps backed themselves into a corner. The worst possibility was looking them straight into the eye. What would happen if they had come all this way, only to fail and then watch Yan die at the hands of the crew of the Bellringer? Sylva would never be able to live with herself after that.

    She couldn''t even think about what that would look like.

    ¡°I have some thoughts, but they''re all relying on one big assumption.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡± Sylva didn''t mind that; their entire presence here was contingent upon wild luck, and so if Iri''s plan required some more of that, then Sylva couldn''t particularly fault it.

    ¡°I think we''ll need to steal a shuttle,¡± Iri said. ¡°And get onto that station ourselves.¡±

    ¡°I see several assumptions being made there,¡± Sylva said.

    Iri smiled, but it didn''t reach her eyes. ¡°I think it''s our only real hope. If we can get to Yan before the Bellringer does, and then get out, I think that we stand a chance. Which is better than what we have right now.¡±

    ¡°And after we get Yan, what? You want to try to hide her on here?¡±

    ¡°Oh, no, I don''t think there''s any chance we could steal a shuttle and then sneak back on board,¡± Iri said. ¡°That would be insane.¡±

    ¡°I was more like imagining that we''d stow away as whatever shuttles headed to the station,¡± Sylva said. ¡°We might be able to do that.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Iri said. ¡°I think we need to steal a shuttle, go to the station ourselves, grab Yan, then fly as far away as we can.¡±

    Sylva shoved her fingers into the braids that coiled around her head. ¡°Let''s start at step one here. You think we can steal a shuttle?¡±

    ¡°Sure. That''s not difficult.¡±

    ¡°You don''t think they have all that shit on lockdown?¡±

    ¡°Who''s crazy enough to steal a shuttle, be real. And also, even if they did, I have the keys. Shuttles are all standard make. There''s ways to get in.¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Sylva said, as she realized that Iri was saying that they could actually do this. ¡°Do you know how to fly a shuttle?¡±

    ¡°I''ve had some experience.¡± That was a slightly cagey way of putting it. ¡°And they mostly fly themselves.¡±

    ¡°Sure, they''ll fly themselves when the station''s navigation system sends you docking information,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Not when you''re being shot at as an enemy. You don''t know how to dodge missiles.¡± She shot Iri an accusing glance. ¡°Gonna get us both killed.¡±

    ¡°You''ll have to handle the missiles,¡± Iri said. ¡°I know you can do it.¡±

    ¡°What? I couldn''t hit anything.¡±

    ¡°You don''t have to hit anything. You said you stopped them. That''s all you''d have to do again.¡±

    Sylva tugged at her braids, fraying them severely. ¡°I wouldn''t trust my life to that and you shouldn''t either.¡±

    ¡°It''s either we risk it or Yan dies,¡± Iri said. ¡°And I don''t want to think that we could have done something and didn''t even try.¡±

    ¡°We are trying.¡±

    ¡°Then let''s not give up at the last second. You handle the missiles.¡± Iri was definite. Sylva wasn''t sure that she could, but she nodded slowly anyway. If they both died because she couldn''t deal with the power, then that was Iri''s fault for not coming up with a better plan. How long had Iri been thinking about this plot for? When she had first suggested it, it sounded like it was something she was coming up with on the spot, but clearly she had been mulling it over enough to have answers to Sylva''s objections.

    ¡°And once we get onto this station, if it even exists?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°We don''t know anything about it, so I can''t flesh this out at all,¡± Iri admitted. ¡°I don''t think they''ll just let us in, regardless, so we might have to board them.¡±

    ¡°You mean...¡±

    ¡°Good thing you''re suit trained,¡± Iri said with a smile. ¡°And I know for a fact you can open airlocks.¡±

    ¡°I hate you so fucking much,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°It''s either you open airlocks or I saw a hole in the side of the station. Take your pick.¡±

    ¡°Bring your power saw along just in case.¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry, I will.¡±

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    ¡°Then I think we''ll have to fight our way through to find Yan.¡±

    The thought made Sylva''s neck tense up. She pulled more at her rapidly fraying braids. ¡°I hope you don''t expect me to do anything there.¡±

    ¡°Not really, no. I know that Yan knows how to block bullets. If you could learn to do that, I''d appreciate it.¡±

    ¡°Not happening,¡± Sylva said. ¡°When are you going to learn that the less you rely on me using the power, the better things tend to go?¡±

    ¡°It''s the one real advantage we have,¡± Iri said. ¡°That and the element of surprise, which we''ll be giving up the moment we steal that shuttle.¡±

    ¡°It''s more of a liability than an advantage.¡±

    ¡°Come on,¡± Iri said. ¡°I''m not here to babysit your feelings, but you have proven that you can use the power just fine. I need you to grow up and stop being such a baby about this.¡± Iri tilted the chair dangerously forwards, coming very close to Sylva. ¡°If you didn''t think you could help, I don''t know why you''re even here.¡± She stared her down. ¡°If you don''t want to come, I''ll do it without you.¡±

    Sylva didn''t know how to respond. She scrunched up her nose, and various thoughts ran through her head as she took just a second too long to decide if she should yell at Iri or not. It really was just a moment too long. Iri dropped her chair back onto all four of its legs and laughed.

    ¡°You know, if I''d said something that mean to Yan, she probably would have cried. You were just thinking about slapping me, weren''t you?¡±

    ¡°I really will slap you if you say shit like that.¡±

    ¡°What? I''m just saying that people require different handling.¡±

    ¡°You''re not my handler.¡±

    Iri smiled at Sylva. ¡°Then who is?¡±

    ¡°I''m a free agent.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, just like I am.¡±

    ¡°You''re just on a leash that''s a kilometer long,¡± Sylva said. There was someone out there who was letting Iri have continued access to tools and knowledge. There must be some sort of expectation there.

    ¡°Precisely. And I''m dragging you along with me. So, are you okay with this so far, or not?¡±

    ¡°It''s a suicidal plan,¡± Sylva said. ¡°There''s absolutely no way in God''s universe that we''ll be able to get Yan off that station.¡±

    The look on Iri''s face was weirdly placid. ¡°Sure. But we''re going to try.¡±

    ¡°What would you do if I decided I wasn''t going to go along with this?¡±

    ¡°I''d do it myself,¡± Iri said. ¡°The better question would be of what would happen to you.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Oh, as soon as they see that I''ve stolen that ship, they''d come for you,¡± Iri said. ¡°The Bellringer crew, I mean. I don''t think you''d live to see the shift out.¡±

    ¡°So this is you blackmailing me?¡±

    ¡°No. This is me saying that if you think you''re going to die either way, you might as well pick the plan that has you trying to do some good in the world.¡±

    ¡°I wasn''t being serious,¡± Sylva said. ¡°When I said that I didn''t want to go with you.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Iri''s face was still so calm. ¡°But it doesn''t hurt to walk through the alternatives.¡±

    ¡°Let''s get back on the main topic. Let''s pretend that through some fantastic coincidence, we do rescue Yan. What then.¡±

    ¡°We get on the shuttle and run like hell,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°A shuttle can''t outrun a ship with a stardrive.¡±

    ¡°That''s true. But-¡±

    ¡°And if you even HINT that I should try to build a stardrive, I swear to God I''ll kill you where you stand.¡±

    Iri laughed. ¡°No, I''ve heard too many horror stories about that. I''m just saying, we don''t have to outrun them, exactly, we just have to keep them chasing us until reinforcements arrive.¡±

    The dumbfounded look on Sylva''s face must have said enough to Iri to get her to elaborate.

    ¡°I''m hoping that our message will be received in time. An Imperial warship might decide to make an appearance on the scene.¡±

    ¡°And if they don''t?¡±

    ¡°Then we''ll eventually die, and it will all have been basically for nothing, but, I don''t know, you''ll have gotten to spend your last moments with Yan, so worth it, maybe.¡±

    ¡°And this is like, the best case scenario of your crazy plot, right?¡±

    Iri nodded.

    Sylva stared up at the ceiling for a second, trying to think of how exactly she was going to phrase this. ¡°If this whole thing was doomed from the start, which it probably was, I don''t really understand how I ended up here, or why.¡± She dropped her hands onto the bedspread, laying them palm upwards. ¡°But you''re right that I''m not going to stop now. So.¡± She bit her tongue slightly. The right words just weren''t coming to her, not to express the feeling that lived inside the cavity of her chest. There was something living in there, something bright and warm and alive, and that was pushing her onward.

    ¡°I''m not going into this thinking that I''m going to die,¡± Iri said. ¡°And neither should you. I want to succeed. If I didn''t, I think I''m at least smart enough to not be here.¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡± Sylva probably should have been more angry at Iri''s dig at her, but she was feeling overwhelmed. She paused for a moment. ¡°It''ll be good to see Yan again.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It will.¡±

    <hr>

    They had their bags packed and ready. They were still in their room for the jump. It wasn''t exactly the last jump in, because the Bellringer had made the (smart) decision to stay far enough away from the hypothetical station, running cold, so that they could observe without themselves being observed. That was the idea, anyway. Sylva and Iri were in their room, sitting on the bed with Iri''s computer between them, listening to the bridge chatter and monitoring the instruments as the Bellringer counted down and jumped, dropping them into a new space.

    ¡°Do we have eyes on the station?¡± the captain asked.

    ¡°We''re working,¡± one of the crewmembers said. ¡°Nothing visible yet, but we''re far out. It will take us a while to scan the area.¡±

    The space around the ship was as barren and empty as any space was. All the stars were lightyears away. Though the distance to the closest one could be covered quickly with a stardrive, it was still nowhere near as close as stations typically were to stars. The energy of a star, and the resources that could be found around them, made them logical choices of building locations. The only reason a person would build a station out in the middle of absolutely nowhere was to avoid detection at all costs.

    ¡°There''s nothing here,¡± one of the crew said. ¡°Empty all around.¡±

    ¡°Will someone murder Starman, please?¡± someone else said jokingly.

    For Sylva, this information was both a relief and a terrible feeling. Sure, if there was nothing here, they wouldn''t have to go and definitely risk their lives. But on the other hand, this was a crushing disappointment, being no closer to finding Yan than they had been before they came to this ship. It felt like a failure and a waste. Sylva clenched her fists, and Iri draped her warm arm around Sylva''s shoulders.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°We''ll find something else, try again,¡± Iri said. ¡°It''ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    The atmosphere on the bridge, which they continued to listen to, was much of the same. People were angry, frustrated, and continuing to search in the vain hope that there was something there that they had missed.

    ¡°Captain?¡± someone asked. A low level person, Sylva recognized the voice as belonging to a young woman who was training to take over the navigator''s position.

    ¡°What?¡± the captain growled. ¡°News?¡±

    ¡°Were we having problems with our gravimeter?¡±

    ¡°Not that I know of,¡± the captain said. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I''m getting a weird reading on it,¡± the woman said. ¡°It''s claiming we''re in a gravitational field.¡±

    ¡°There''s nothing here.¡±

    ¡°Dust cloud, maybe?¡±

    ¡°No, no dust.¡±

    ¡°How strong is it?¡±

    The navigator in training consulted a chart. ¡°It''s giving a reading like we would get if we were 2AU out from, uh, Ayhup.¡± Ayhup was the star that Vanquished Station orbited. The navigator was probably using it as a point of reference since it was the last one they had visited.

    ¡°Micro black hole?¡±

    ¡°Don''t see one,¡± someone else said.

    Sylva could practically hear the annoyance in the captain''s voice. ¡°Will someone please go and calibrate it? It''s probably just knocked out of whack.¡±

    ¡°I''ll go,¡± the young woman said. ¡°I feel like there''s something weird going on.¡±

    ¡°What''s weird is that Starman thought he could get away with lying to us,¡± the captain muttered, barely audible over the microphone.

    Sylva pulled her headphone out of her ear and flopped back onto the bed. Bridge talk about technical issues and details with their instruments was not something that she cared about at all. Iri continued to listen, though, with an odd expression on her face.

    ¡°What?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°It''s a pretty weird coincidence that their gravimeter would break right when we jump into this empty region of space,¡± Iri said. She continued to listen with headphones in one ear, but turned around to look at Sylva flopped on the bed.

    ¡°Wouldn''t after a jump be the most reasonable time for it to break?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°I don''t know.¡± Her voice indicated that she thought this was a bit more than a weird coincidence.

    ¡°You think there''s a black hole out there, or some other thing we can''t see.¡±

    ¡°Black holes aren''t just invisible,¡± Iri said. ¡°But no...¡± She trailed off.

    ¡°What? Spit it out.¡±

    ¡°How much do you think that you could feel with the power?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Are we really back on this?¡± Sylva groaned.

    ¡°Can you humor me for one second?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°I know Yan can tell when someone else is using the power around her. Can you?¡±

    ¡°No. I didn''t even know Yan could do that,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Is that normal, or?¡±

    ¡°I think it might just be a her thing. When we were on the shuttle-¡± Iri''s voice faltered a little bit. ¡°She could tell when the Bellringer jumped in. Sid couldn''t, so I think it''s just her. But I was just wondering if you could.¡±

    ¡°Definitely not,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I just was wondering, there could be something out there, hidden.¡±

    ¡°Someone could hide a whole station with the power?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. I''ve seen Halen make things invisible before.¡±

    ¡°It would have to be more than just invisible. No radio, no UV, no infrared...¡± Sylva mused.

    ¡°Sure. But light is light. And if someone maybe could hide a station...¡±

    ¡°What would be the point of that?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°Wouldn''t it just be easier to not give out the location.¡±

    ¡°You''re right, I guess,¡± Iri admitted. ¡°But could you check for me anyway?¡±

    ¡°I just told you, I can''t feel when the power''s being used.¡±

    ¡°I know, but you can feel if there''s mass out there.¡±

    ¡°You''re asking me to look over a huge distance, just to see if there''s a station?¡±

    ¡°It''d have to be close, and big, if it''s putting the kind of pull on us that a whole star would.¡±

    ¡°Iri.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Before I waste my time on this, let''s just wait until that girl fixes the gravimeter.¡±

    Iri crossed her arms. ¡°Like you''ve got something better to be doing.¡±

    Sylva rolled over and pulled out her own computer from her bag. ¡°I''m going to read more medical tutorials. I want off this ship as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Like you can focus on that at a time like this.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it''ll take my mind off of whatever they''re about to do to Starman,¡± Sylva said darkly.

    ¡°Do you want me to keep an ear out for that?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°If you do, I don''t think I want to hear about it,¡± Sylva said. If the Bellringer crew was going to kill Starman, which they almost certainly were, for feeding them false information that lost them almost a full month of profits, then she could only imagine what they were planning to do to Yan, who had cost them that much more. Her imagination could fill in the gaps, even if Iri didn''t tell her anything.

    Iri nodded slowly. ¡°Will you at least try the power, once?¡±

    ¡°You''re really not going to give up on this, are you?¡± Sylva rolled onto her back, putting her computer onto her stomach and staring up at the corrugated ceiling above them.

    ¡°I mean. I''d rather know,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I''m probably not going to find anything, so you probably won''t know any better than before,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°It''s better to have tried and failed than never tried at all,¡± Iri said jauntily, though her eyes had no humor in them.

    ¡°Shut up.¡± Sylva rested her hands flat on the surface of the bed and closed her eyes. Everything in the room was distracting: the sound of Iri''s breathing, the whir of the computers, the creaking of the ship''s air systems, the weight of her computer on her stomach, the temperature that was just a little too cold, her stomach gurgling, the feeling of the rough fabrics all around her body. It was as though the moment she tried to turn off the outside world in order to use the power, it was all she could think about. She resisted the impulse to shift and wiggle on the bed, but it only grew stronger the longer she lay there. Sylva could just imagine Iri staring at her, judging her.

    The power wasn''t coming. It was there, as it always was, lurking under the surface of her brain, but that didn''t mean she could access it at all. Something in the way she breathed must have sounded frustrated, because Iri interrupted her fruitless struggle.

    ¡°You okay?¡± she asked. Sylva''s eyes snapped open, and she lifted her head slightly to look at Iri. Though Iri was looking at her, she seemed more genuinely concerned than judging, as Sylva had imagined.

    ¡°Yeah, I just suck at this.¡±

    ¡°You''re fine,¡± Iri said. ¡°I believe in you.¡±

    ¡°And that makes one of us.¡±

    Sylva closed her eyes again, and let her head drop onto the mattress behind her with a thud that made it bounce up and down a little. She heaved her breath in and out, and reached for the power with what she imagined was an iron fist. And if it was an iron fist, it was like she was grabbing at jello, or smoke. Her head hurt. She clenched her real fists on the bedsheets.

    A hand grabbed hers. Sylva kept her eyes closed, but she felt Iri take her hand, gently uncurl the fingers from where her nails were digging into her palm, and stroke the palm and back of it, gently. It sent a little shiver up Sylva''s back, which she resisted. If Iri thought this was helping, she was dead wrong. It was intensely distracting.

    Even so, it was enjoyable, and it took Sylva''s mind off of the rest of it. Feeling slightly less frustrated now, the power acted more like a placated cat than it did a writhing mass of snakes trying to squirm out of her hands. Sylva stretched out, mentally.

    She could feel the walls of the ship passing underneath her. It was weird, using the power like this. It was easy to imagine what it looked like from the outside: an ever expanding bubble of sensation that started in her chest and worked outward towards... whatever was out there. But in reality, it was as though she was feeling a 2D slice of the world, but wrapped along the surface of a sphere. It was disorienting, if one wasn''t used to it. Sylva wasn''t used to it, but she also could identify the feeling of metal, and air, and warm, breathing humans, and knew that those feelings weren''t what she was looking for.

    The bubble expanded, and she felt finally the weird tingle of space. Vacuums had their own particular set of sensations to them. Out here, her reach was greater, because there was nothing that the power had to push through. If she was on Emerri, her range would have been, maybe, maybe, on the order of a hundred meters. She had never measured it, so she didn''t exactly know. Here, though, the bubble around her could expand without restraint, and so she did, hoping that it would catch on something solid.

    Something solid was not exactly what it caught on. As Sylva''s presence in the power expanded out and out, it brushed against something that felt like electric sparks crawling through her brain. A chorus of voices, like the ringing of bells, screamed in her ears. It was as though she had brushed the surface of someone else''s mind, like when she had been desperately trying to join the group meditation in one of the worship services at the Academy. Sylva processed that feeling of contact in a fraction of a second as it seared across her mind. She shrieked and dropped the power.

    As she came back fully to her senses, Iri was gripping her hand tightly and leaning over her.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Iri asked.

    Sylva''s breathing was all over the place, loud and ragged. She tried to calm down, choked a little on the spit in her mouth, nodded, and struggled to sit up. She gently tugged her hand out of Iri''s, and placed it on her chest, feeling the beating of her own heart. Iri stared at her, eyes wide, and waited for Sylva to be able to speak.

    When Sylva''s heartbeat slowed, and her breathing calmed down enough for her to talk, she tried to put into words the sensation that the power had fed to her. ¡°There''s someone out there,¡± she finally said. ¡°Using the power.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said you couldn''t-¡±

    ¡°No, I mean, I touched their mind. You don''t understand.¡±

    Iri shook her head. ¡°That creepy mind sharing thing weirds me out.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too.¡± That wasn''t precisely true. Sylva just didn''t like it because she was bad at it. If it came as naturally to her as it did to Yan, or any number of her classmates, or her mentor, she probably would have liked it a lot more. As it was, her jealousy and bitterness towards it had combined into a resentment that colored her perceptions of the whole exercise that seemed designed to exclude her.

    ¡°So you touched...¡± Iri reached out and touched Sylva''s sweaty forehead, brushing away a couple strands of auburn hair. ¡°Someone else?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know how,¡± Sylva said. ¡°It''s not usually like that.¡±

    Iri sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and chewed on it for a second. ¡°A couple problems,¡± she said.

    ¡°Obviously.¡±

    ¡°Did you find the body of that person?¡±

    ¡°No, just their mind. It was like they were projecting into space, or something.¡±

    ¡°Okay...¡± Iri thought for a second. ¡°Do you think... Their body has to be somewhere, right? On a station?¡±

    ¡°I mean, you can''t just not have a body. So I guess.¡±

    ¡°Is that something that the Bellringer can find, if they''re hiding it?¡±

    ¡°Depends on that gravimeter, I think,¡± Sylva said. ¡°They know something''s up, but if they ''fix the bug'' that they think they have...¡±

    ¡°They''ll just be miscalibrating it. Right.¡±

    There was a silence for a second.

    ¡°There''s nothing we can do about that,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Either the Bellringer figures it out or they don''t.¡±

    ¡°I''ll keep an ear out for that,¡± Iri said. ¡°I did have another question.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Did that other person out there, will they know you''re here?¡±

    Sylva shuddered. ¡°Yes.¡± It was unavoidable. The contact between two minds was never, ever a one way thing. Even if it was brief, it was felt by both parties. That was definitely for the best, as it stopped... intrusions. Sylva didn''t want to think about what it would be like if other people could invade her brain without'' her feeling it. It would be beyond horrible.

    ¡°Do you think they''re going to do anything about it?¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to know?¡± Sylva asked, indignant. ¡°I don''t know anything about them.¡±

    ¡°But you were in their brain.¡±

    ¡°Surface level. For like, max half a second. That doesn''t tell me anything.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that they could do something to the Bellringer?¡±

    ¡°Maybe? It''s hard to hurt ships, because they''re protected by their stardrives, but this person felt pretty strong, so I really don''t know. I don''t know.¡± Sylva ran her hands over her temples, wiping off the sweat that had gathered there. Her heart was still beating faster than it should. She leaned over the side of the bed and retrieved her water bottle, and drank out of it until it was empty.

    ¡°What are we going to do?¡± Sylva finally asked.

    ¡°You''re not going to like what I have to say,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Of course I won''t.¡± Sylva wiped some drips of water off her chin, then fiddled with the water bottle in her lap. ¡°Spit it out.¡±

    ¡°I think our shuttle plan timeline just got moved up.¡±

    <hr>

    Everyone aboard the Bellringer was sufficiently distracted, between calling for revenge at Starman, trying to fix the ¡°technical difficulties¡± the gravimeter was experiencing, and deciding what to do next. It was the perfect opportunity, or as close as it was going to get, for Sylva and Iri to creep down to the unguarded shuttle bays. They had all their worldly possessions in bags on their backs, and Sylva had said a quick prayer before they headed out.

    ¡°Once I kill the power, we''re going to have to do this quick,¡± Iri said. ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    The door to the shuttle bay was, essentially, the door to a very large airlock. Just as when they had deployed their drone, they had to take extra precautions. Sylva floated in front of the door, one hand on the thick metal. A strange new excitement was gripping her. There was no more waiting, wondering, or hesitation. This was it. Now or never. Do or die. Sylva nodded to Iri.

    Iri pushed off the wall and floated down the hallway towards the closest power access panel. It was actually quite far away, and she vanished from Sylva''s view.

    Sylva drummed on the metal of the door, waiting. The power cut out, plunging her into darkness. This time, Sylva didn''t bother reaching for her phone''s flashlight. She had opened so many doors, she was at least a little confident she could do it again.

    The power came to her along with the adrenaline that flooded her body. It pushed all extraneous thoughts out of her head. She pushed the power in streams down her fingertips and into the door. With a long moment''s effort, she identified the deadbolts (made of a slightly different metal than the rest of the door) and forced them aside. She tried not to damage the door too badly. After all, she didn''t exactly want to kill the crew of the Bellringer, and this shuttle bay by necessity vented directly to the outdoors.

    By the time Iri got back, Sylva was already pushing the door open. It wasn''t an easy thing to do in zero G, when her feet couldn''t exactly find purchase on anything. If she had been smart, she would have used the power for that, too, but she didn''t. Iri lent her a hand, and they got the door open enough to squeeze through.

    On the other side, in the cavernous shuttle bay, Iri helped her push the door shut again. The sound echoed terribly in the darkness.

    ¡°You lock it. I''ll get one of these started,¡± Iri said as she pushed off and went into the depths of the bay. Her own flashlight illuminated each of the shuttles in turn. Sylva watched for half a second, then turned back around to her own task.

    They were in a shuttle bay and not with the dogfighters. They didn''t have much of a choice. While the dogfighers were capable of much greater acceleration, and they had more weapons, they sacrificed seating and storage for those things. Since Sylva and Iri were hoping to bring back a third person, and hide out in space until help arrived, they would need the seats and emergency food stores that shuttles had.

    Perhaps that planning ahead was far too optimistic, but what other option did they have?

    Sylva refocused on the door. She called on the power to lock it. It was harder, this time, because she was distracted by the sound and light of Iri behind her. Still, she ground her teeth, found the deadbolts, and shoved them back into position.

    The thrum of a shuttle''s engine starting filled the air behind her. Sylva turned and kicked off the door, heading towards the shuttle that was sitting still on the floor. Its lights lit up a wide circle around its landing gear and stubby little wings. Fairly agile in the gravity free environment, Sylva stopped herself on the side of the shuttle, then pulled up the side and slipped in to the top hatch. She pulled it closed behind her and spun the heavy wheel to lock it.

    The interior was slightly cramped.

    ¡°Why''d you pick a space-to-ground one?¡± Sylva asked as she buckled herself in to the co-pilot''s seat. There were passenger seats, but there was no way she was going to sit back there.

    ¡°This one wasn''t involved in the fighting, so it''s the least beat up of all of them,¡± Iri said. From what Sylva had seen of the craft''s exterior, that was true. ¡°It''ll work just as well as any other. You ready?¡±

    ¡°As I''ll ever be,¡± Sylva said. She stared out past the control panel on the dashboard and into the gloom of the shuttle bay. The vague shapes of the other shuttles lurked there. Iri fiddled with a few dials and switches on the cluttered control panel that Sylva was ver careful not to touch.

    ¡°Get that door open,¡± Iri said.

    Sylva was good for one thing, and that was opening doors, apparently. She turned her attention to the massive metal constructions on the other side of they bay, only barely visible in the light cast by their shuttle.

    ¡°It might be hard,¡± Sylva warned. ¡°It''s part of the ship, and ships don''t like being touched with the power.¡±

    ¡°You''ve been able to open all the other doors, haven''t you? You''re still part of the ship, too,¡± Iri said matter-of-factly. ¡°It would probably be a different story if we were going the other direction. But we''re not.¡±

    This one was different, something in Sylva said, but that part of her was probably just afraid of the sheer size of it. She just had to trust Iri that she knew what she was talking about. Sylva closed her eyes and reached out.

    Air, air, air, the tangy feeling of metal, the tingle of vacuum. Sylva backed up a little bit, then searched around for the locking mechanism that held the door shut.

    ¡°Hurry,¡± Iri said urgently. Sylva clenched her jaw, keeping her eyes closed. She wrestled with the power.

    She knew she was sweating; she could feel it gather underneath her jumpsuit, and her whole body was tensed in her seat, straining against the straps that held her down.

    There. There were the huge deadbolts. She grasped each one individually and forced it out of its closed position. They resisted her every move, and even through the sealed shuttle, Sylva could hear them scrape and groan open. Then the doors themselves. She steeled herself.

    This was it. This was really it.

    She forced the doors open a crack, and an alarm shrilled outside the shuttle, but only for a moment, until the air escaping grew too thin to carry sound. She was pulling the doors open as though they were the jaws of a crocodile. She forced them open more and more. The shuttle jerked underneath her, and she gripped the sides of her chair, knuckles white.

    ¡°Can we fit through?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It''ll be tight,¡± Iri said.

    With the shuttle moving beneath her, forcing her back into her seat, it was even harder for Sylva to keep her focus on opening the doors. But she did, as far as she thought she could, and she opened her eyes at last.

    The electricity in the bay was back on. The lights flooded the whole area, many flashing red with unexpected vacuum alarms. The shuttle was hovering in the middle of the room, and Iri had her hands on the yoke. She nudged it ever so slightly, and the shuttle shot forwards towards the gap in the doors.

    ¡°Too fast!¡± Sylva yelped as the shuttle veered far too close to hitting the wall.

    Iri didn''t respond, but swung the shuttle up and out through the gap, rotating it slightly so that it would fit. Sylva heaved a huge breath of relief once they were clear.

    ¡°Don''t say a word or I''ll make you fly,¡± Iri muttered. Sylva nodded mutely. She sat on her hands to avoid touching the yoke.

    ¡°How long do we have before the dogfighters come after us?¡± Sylva asked.

    That was the wrong question.

    Warning lights lit up across the dashboard of the shuttle as the Bellringer''s own guns fired on them.

    ¡°Sylva!¡± Iri yelled.

    The projectiles, a mass of rock shot out in a wide scatter, came towards their shuttle. It felt like it came from halfway down the length of the Bellringer, which was a significant distance away, but it was moving impossibly fast.

    Iri jammed the yoke forward, and the shuttle''s engines blasted, forcing both of them back into their seats. Sylva''s vision blacked out for a second, and she gasped for breath, fighting to expand her lungs against the sudden pressure of acceleration. How many gravities was this? Ten? Fifteen?

    It was almost enough.

    The hail of projectiles reached them, and one of them clipped the back half of the shuttle. A horrible groan shot through the metal around them. The shuttle spun crazily.

    Iri managed to keep her hand on the yoke, and after a few dizzying seconds, she got the shuttle out of the spin.

    Outside the window, Sylva could see a trail of debris, chunks that had come off the back of the shuttle when they had been hit. They were incredibly lucky that it hadn''t breached their pressurized section, or killed their engine. Al it had done was hit the tail section of the shuttle, and they weren''t planning on descending into an atmosphere anyway, so that wasn''t even necessary.

    ¡°Sylva, we need that shield, now,¡± Iri said. She moved the shuttle this way and that, trying to make their motions unpredictable and difficult to shoot at. Really all it did was make Sylva very, very seasick feeling, as it bruised her shoulders and jolted her around in her seat.

    ¡°I''m trying,¡± Sylva said. A shield was far easier said than done. It was one thing to do something concrete, like push open a door. It was another entirely to set up a power structure. Those worked not on conscious though performing each individual action, but based on holding the entire construct in her head at once.

    She had taken a programming course at the Academy for one semester, in the hopes that learning a more structured way of breaking down ideas would help her with exactly this type of power use. One of her friends had told her it would. It hadn''t helped at all, and she had hated every second of the class. She had passed, of course, but she hadn''t bothered taking the second class in the series.

    A regret that she hadn''t tried harder to learn flashed through her brain just like the new series of warning lights that lit up the dark interior of the shuttle. Iri jerked them away again, and Sylva''s head slammed back into the headrest, hard. They didn''t get hit this time, but Sylva almost thought that the medicine of dodging was worse than the disease of getting hit.

    ¡°Let me know when you''ve got a shield up.¡±

    Sylva grunted something half affirmative in response.

    Part of the problem was that there were just too many ways to go about this. Should she enforce a condition where in a certain radius of the ship, the energy contained in movement was transmuted into light? That seemed to difficult. Should she pretend like there was an invisible wall out there in space? What would it have to be made of? She was thinking too much.

    All she needed was a shield. A shield. Sylva reached out, far behind them now, and gathered up all the debris that was floating in space from when they had been hit. They had been accelerating this whole time, but the distance was negligible since the vacuum of space didn''t interfere with Sylva''s use of the power. Sylva pulled the garbage towards the shuttle, and flattened it out, mushing the metal and rocks together to form a flat disk. She interposed it between the shuttle and the Bellringer.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Iri asked, with a little too much disdain in her voice.

    ¡°You focus on steering the ship,¡± Sylva snipped back. ¡°It''s the best I can do, okay?¡±

    ¡°Is that going to block things, or do I still have to dodge? It looks thin.¡±

    ¡°It''ll block them the same way a brick wall blocks a bullet,¡± Sylva said with more confidence than she felt.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Iri said. She pushed down harder on the yoke, forcing them both into a choked silence as they accelerated away from the Bellringer. All of Sylva''s attention was focused on keeping her shield in position. She barely even noticed when another round of fire came towards them until it peppered her shield.

    Her shield did not work exactly as anticipated, but it worked. Though she had been imagining it would look something like the slow motion footage of bullets peeling apart as they hit a solid target, the velocity of the buckshot was such that when it hit the shield, they both disintegrated into puffs of dust. Her shield held its overall shape because she was holding it, but it was full of holes wherever the projectiles had hit. The shuttle, however, was perfectly fine.

    Sylva scooped up all the resulting garbage and added it back to her shield, trying to patch the holes. It wasn''t elegant, and it wasn''t even easy, but it was enough.

    They had discussed beforehand the approximate location where Sylva had felt the other mind, so Iri didn''t need Sylva to give her directions. She wouldn''t have been able to, even if she had needed to, she was so focused on the shield.

    They withstood several more rounds of shots, but each one grew less intense. Since they were accelerating away, and the buckshot that peppered them had a fixed velocity once it was fired, eventually it posed no threat. The first shot had been the worst, and they had taken it on the tail rather than the nose. Sylva was extremely grateful to that.

    ¡°Are they going to send out the dogfighters?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Iri said. Iri was staring out the window, intent on steering them forward. Sylva looked at the rearview camera, and saw no sign of movement from the Bellringer.

    Either it was taking longer to get the dogfighers ready than she would have thought, or the ship had decided not to chase them for some reason. She couldn''t imagine why either way, but the captain of the Bellringer was known for making odd decisions. Maybe they just thought that crazy passengers stealing a shuttle would starve to death in dead space and they could come back and pick up the shuttle when that happened.

    ¡°Can you feel the mind?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°You want me to try to look for it? That will definitely let it know we''re here,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°In a bit, I guess. Keep an eye out on the Bellringer, okay?¡±

    Sylva obliged, and they fell silent as they both focused on their own tasks. It was a lull, and the tasks weren''t particularly difficult, so Sylva felt the excitement leave her body and be replaced with a creeping fear that shook her limbs. She tugged on her braids nervously, yanking her hair.

    ¡°Keep doing that and you''ll go bald someday,¡± Iri said, catching a glimpse of Sylva out of the corner of her eye.

    ¡°Shut up,¡± Sylva said.

    They sailed on in silence.

    Then there was an odd, creeping feeling in the back of Sylva''s brain. She jumped slightly in her seat, even through the force of acceleration pushing her backwards into it. ¡°I feel the mind,¡± she said.

    ¡°It''s reaching out to you?¡± Iri asked, surprised.

    ¡°I don''t know, I-¡±

    Sylva''s train of thought was interrupted. It was as though the shuttle had passed through a dark cloud, and had burst out into the brightest sunlight imaginable. The light flared into the cabin of the ship for a second. The window took barely a fraction of a second to auto-darken, but in that fraction of a second, they were both momentarily blinded.

    The whole trapped light of a star shone on them, and on the monitor of their shuttle, three planets blinked into view as the computer scanned the system.

    Iri blinked, eyes watering so much in the sudden light that a tear trickled down her cheek. Sylva scrubbed at her own eyes, trying to clear out the dark spot from her vision.

    ¡°Holy fucking shit.¡±

 Chapter Seventy-Three - Dr. Sylva or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Power

    Dr. Sylva or: How ILearned to Stop Worrying and Love the Power

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Four fundamental pulls on an aircraft: weight, lift, drag, and thrust. They¡¯re tied together in complicated ways. Don¡¯t ask me how it works, because this is a first level physics class and all we¡¯re doing is practicing drawing free body diagrams. If you want to learn more about it, I¡¯ll be happy to take you in my engineering focus group starting next year.¡±

    -Master Gerdelweis, delivering to Sylva the full extent of her knowledge of how aircraft work during her fifth year at the Academy. Sylva did not join the engineering focus group the following year.

    </blockquote>

    Sylva and Iri took a long moment to process what they were seeing as information flooded the sensors of their little shuttle.

    ¡°I guess you were right,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°About what?¡± Sylva asked slowly, still gazing out at the star. It was far enough away that she could block the whole disc out with her thumb, but it was still very, very bright, even with the darkened window.

    ¡°About there being a star here,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    ¡°That mind that you touched, it''s what was blocking the light, right?¡±

    ¡°If it isn''t, I don''t know what could be.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that the Bellringer can still see us?¡±

    ¡°I''m sure it looks like we just disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Then they''ll know something''s up. I''ll keep us accelerating.¡± They were pushed back into their seats with the force of it, but it wasn''t overwhelming, only a little worse than what it felt like to lay on the floor.

    ¡°To where? There''s, uh, three planets.¡±

    In fact, they were quite close to the orbit of the third planet out, though it was a quarter of the way around the star from where they were. The other two planets were much further from them, the closer being approximately 1AU away, according to the information their shuttle provided. The cameras on board were able to determine the existence of these planetary bodies remarkably quickly.

    ¡°That one''s definitely not habitable,¡± Iri said, pointing out the closest planet on the display. It was a gas giant.

    ¡°Just because there''s planets doesn''t mean that we''re not still looking for a station,¡± Sylva said pragmatically. ¡°What''s the likelihood that either of the other two are safe either?¡±

    ¡°Since when are you the voice of reason?¡±

    ¡°Since we stopped getting shot at, now I have more time to use my brain.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Can the shuttle''s sensors tell what each of them is like?¡±

    ¡°We''re pretty far out, the most we can get is approximate size and position. And even that, there could be more planets that are on the other side of the star from us that we can''t see.¡±

    ¡°Can we pick up radio signals from here?¡± Sylva asked, fighting against the pull of acceleration to rub the sweat off her forehead. It was hot in the shuttle.

    ¡°Only if they''re broadcasting it, and we''d have to be in the beam of it, so no.¡±

    Sylva wrinkled her nose. ¡°So we won''t be able to tell where the people are?¡±

    ¡°We''ll get close enough to that second planet to do a visual inspection, and maybe on the way we''ll pick up some radio signals or, I don''t know, some other sign of a station.¡±

    ¡°Such as?¡±

    ¡°Navigational beacons, mining debris, you know.¡±

    ¡°And how long will it take us to get to that planet?¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Iri consulted the shuttles inbuilt computer, which could take over for her as navigator. The math of flying a shuttle towards a planet was well defined, and easily computerized. Since they probably weren''t going to be followed by the Bellringer anytime soon, they didn''t have to worry so much about evasive actions. ¡°Two days.¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Sylva groaned.

    ¡°Any way we can go faster?¡±

    ¡°How much acceleration are you prepared to handle?¡±

    ¡°Whatever gets us there before the Bellringer does.¡±

    Iri chewed on her lip. ¡°They''ll take probably two jumps to get there, since they''ll have to jump past the barrier, then jump to the planet. So that''s... twenty hours. I could double our acceleration, but...¡±

    ¡°Do it. They''ll probably send out scouts to map this area before they jump in. That''ll make it faster.¡±

    ¡°Yeah...¡± Iri fiddled with the controls. ¡°That is assuming that planet is where people are. No way you can check with the power, right?¡±

    ¡°Not this far away.¡± 1AU was a pretty massive distance, all things considered. She was not up to using the power on that scale, and it was actually hard to imagine the mind that she had touched having enough skill to do that either. Maybe they were closer, and then they were back to the whole station question.

    Maybe it would be best to wait for the Bellringer to jump in, and to watch what they did.

    Or maybe that mind would reach out to Sylva, now that she had passed through the light barrier. That was a scary thought.

    ¡°One tiny problem,¡± Iri said, in a voice that indicated the problem was not so much tiny as it was gigantic.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Remember how our tail section got destroyed?¡±

    ¡°Let''s hope it''s a station, then,¡± Sylva muttered. Trying to get a ruined shuttle down through the atmosphere of a habitable planet was not really something she wanted to do.

    ¡°Let''s hope. You ready for me to hit the acceleration?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    Hit was the correct word. It was like being punched in the chest, as the engine slammed to life. If she hadn''t already been pressed back into her seat she would have been bruised all over. Instead, she just felt like her skin was being pulled off her bones by the force of it. Her tongue was being pushed back down her throat, and she had to exert real effort to breathe and stop from choking.

    ¡°Is this safe?¡± Sylva managed to say.

    ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Iri responded, then fell silent.

    ¡°Can I sleep, or will I die?¡±

    ¡°You can sleep, for now.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Sylva wheezed. She shut her eyes. They hurt from being pushed back into her skull, but there wasn''t anything that could be done about that, aside from accelerating less, and she was the one who had suggested they go faster anyway. This was her own damn fault, then.

    The thrum of the shuttle faded out around her as she sank into sleep. She woke hours later, and traded off with Iri, keeping watch. There wasn''t much to look at, so she had plenty of time to listen to music and think. Thinking was bad, though. Anticipating anything that could happen in the future sent waves of fear through her body. It made her want to run around and scream, but she was as trapped as she could be, pinned to her chair by the force of her own body.

    It took an excruciatingly long time to get anywhere.

    They couldn''t even see the Bellringer jump in. The ship was running cold, and Sylva had no way of feeling out a jump with the power, so unless the ship decided to silhouette itself in front of the star or one of the planets, there was no way to see it. So much for that source of information.

    Iri did stop the acceleration a few times, so that they could get up, relieve themselves, stretch, and eat. Even without being pressed into their seats, though, the shuttle was cramped and dark, and the emergency rations onboard were stale at best. At least there were some. It would have been a miserable joke played on them by God if the shuttle they had stolen had been completely barren of food.

    By the time that they arrived in the orbit of the second planet they discovered that they had two problems. The first problem was that this was definitely, definitely where the people were. The second was that this was a whole planet covered with people.

    From orbit, they could see that this was a water world, covered in long lines of chains of islands, some very large, others barely visible from orbit. And on the side of the planet that was in the dark, there were dots of light showing human habitation. No satellites, no elevator, no ships in orbit, none of the normal things associated with inhabited planets, but it was habitation nonetheless. Sylva stared down at it, amazed.

    ¡°What is this place?¡± she asked. ¡°Who lives here?¡±

    Iri had a look on her face that seemed somewhat constipated. ¡°I was hoping that it wouldn''t be this.¡±

    ¡°And this is?¡±

    ¡°I can''t find the best way to phrase it,¡± Iri said, voice strained. She no longer had the excuse of acceleration to make her sound that way. Now that they were in orbit they no longer needed to accelerate and they could drift freely about the cabin.

    ¡°Just spit it out,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Can''t.¡± Iri rubbed the back of her neck, sweat visible on her forehead. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°I''m not talking,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Clearly.¡± This conversation was going nowhere. Sylva turned away from Iri in annoyance and stared out the window.

    ¡°Just think about it, okay?¡± Iri said.

    Sylva was thinking, alright. She was thinking that Iri was about the least helpful traveling partner imaginable.

    Then she was thinking that she was being uncharitable, because she wouldn''t be here without her. But that brought her back to thinking that she didn''t have a single clue where ''here'' was, and Iri wasn''t providing any hints, for whatever stupid reason.

    ¡°You''re not like, my fourth year teachers. You can just tell me things without making me go through some sort of thought exercise. I''m not in the mood.¡±

    Iri grabbed Sylva''s shoulder and spun her around. It was easy in the zero gravity shuttle. She stared at Sylva. ¡°I can''t. Not I won''t. I can''t.¡±

    ¡°And that''s meaningless to me, so I''m just going to ignore it and move on,¡± Sylva said, still huffing a little bit. ¡°It''s not like I have anyone to go spilling your secrets to.¡±

    ¡°Argh,¡± Iri growled, and shoved herself off the dashboard to return to her seat. ¡°You''re hopeless.¡±

    ¡°And you''re infuriating, so that makes us both the worst.¡± There was a long pause as they both contemplated their failure to communicate.

    ¡°Now that we''re in orbit,¡± Iri began.

    ¡°No, is the answer,¡± Sylva said, cutting her off. ¡°I won''t be able to find that mind, unless it reaches out to me. The only reason I could before was that they were so active on the barrier.¡±

    That had probably been what Iri was going to ask, so she couldn''t even be too mad about Sylva''s preemptive answer. ¡°How many people do you think are down there?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°How should I know. Millions, definitely. That''s a conservative estimate.¡±

    Each of the islands on the planet had small but visible points of light. It wasn''t the overwhelming brightness of things like Emerri''s web of large cities, but it was enough to show population centers. Based on the lack of satellites and other space infrastructure, Sylva couldn''t imagine that this planet had a lot in the way of heavy industry, because that tended to need mining, and definitely nothing in the way of trade, since that would involve being, like, known about...

    And that all kept coming back to the question of what this place was, exactly. Pirates knew about it, at least a little bit. Enough for Starman to steal the coordinates from... someone. Someone who was interested in kidnapping Yan. But by time someone reached the point of populating a whole planet, they probably couldn''t be considered pirates anymore, if they ever could have been...

    How long had people been living here? Where had they come from? Why were they hidden? Was it some sort of rogue separatist colony that had been established in secret? An Imperial project gone wrong? Why take Yan?

    The questions swirled around her with no clear answer. She probably wouldn''t find out until they reached the surface.

    And why was Iri acting so strangely? This was clearly something that she knew about, but was sworn to secrecy on. But if she had known about it, why hadn''t she just gone here herself, without going through the trouble of stealing a ride from the Bellringer?

    The concept of something that the all encompassing Empire only somewhat knew about, that would be hiding itself, that would strike and take Yan, that was something that refused to coalesce into meaning in Sylva''s brain.

    It made her feel like an idiot, and she hated that more than anything else.

    Apropos of nothing, Iri spoke up. ¡°Your mentor is Qwame Brache, right?¡±

    Sylva was completely startled by the question, so much so that she forgot that she was angry at Iri for a second ¡°Was is probably the more correct term, at this point. But yes. Why do you care?¡±

    ¡°Did she tell you anything before you left?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°No. I mean, she showed me how to do some sort of crazy power trick that I swore I wouldn''t ever use, but other than that, no. You''re still not telling me why you care.¡±

    ¡°Did she indicate that she knew more than she was telling you?¡±

    ¡°Have you met Brache? Have you ever talked to her? She''s all over the place when she talks.¡±

    ¡°No, I''ve never met her,¡± Iri said. ¡°I only know about her through third hand connections. She''s got a lot of information. I just figured she might know more than she told you, or told you more than I thought.¡±

    Truthfully, Sylva was struggling to remember what had been said in the last conversation she had had with her mentor. It had been a long time ago, and she mainly remembered the miserable meditation and the splitting headache Brache''s last lesson had taught her.

    ¡°She does have access to a lot,¡± Sylva admitted. ¡°But you''re here hinting that there''s some major conspiracy among the top level of the Empire, that everybody knows about but no one talks about.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t say everybody,¡± Iri said. ¡°But I know about it, and Brache certainly does. Yan did.¡±

    ¡°How come you can talk about it in this vague way?¡±

    ¡°I can agree with things that you draw your own conclusions on,¡± Iri said. She spoke slowly, as though every word she chose was measured.

    Sylva slowed down and tried to process the things that Iri was actually telling her, and not the things that she was (mis)interpreting. ¡°When you say you can''t tell me, that''s like a social obligation type can''t?¡±

    ¡°If it were, I think we''re long past the point of being socially obligated to keep the secrets of our former employers to each other. I''ve told you the big secret I''m not... unable... to tell you already.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°About First Sandreas and Halen.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that. I forgot.¡±

    ¡°Your brain is a wonderful tool, should you choose to use it,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°So it''s more like a coercion that''s stopping you?¡±

    ¡°Of a sort. We''re far away from anyone who could be coercing me, though.¡±

    ¡°I mean, when you get back.¡±

    ¡°I was already fully prepared to be dragged before a tribunal about this,¡± Iri said. ¡°But sure. Let''s call it coercion.¡±

    ¡°Physical? Financial?¡±

    ¡°I don''t get paid enough to have money hung over me as a threat,¡± Iri said with a slight laugh.

    ¡°But you''re like, the strongest person I know. Are people threatening your family?¡±

    ¡°When did I ever tell you about my family? But no.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°You mentioned your brother was taking care of your dog at one point.¡±

    ¡°And yet you don''t remember salient information about important government secrets I''ve told you,¡± Iri said. ¡°Your mind is truly a mysterious place.¡±

    ¡°Unless you''re prepared to say something useful, I''d rather you didn''t talk.¡±

    ¡°Rude.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    They lapsed into silence. Iri''s insult had succeeded in derailing the conversation, which hadn''t particularly been going anywhere useful. ¡°Can you see into my mind?¡± Iri asked, again, completely out of the blue.

    ¡°No,¡± Sylva said. ¡°You''re not a sensitive, and even if you were, there''s nothing I suck at more than meditating.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Part of me wishes you could.¡±

    ¡°You don''t want me messing around in your brain, trust me.¡± Sylva stared out the window. This conversation was doing nothing but bring up her many inadequacies. ¡°Can we refocus on the problem?¡±

    ¡°I''d love to,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Great. So question number one, obviously, is how in God''s name we''re going to get down to the surface.¡±

    ¡°You''re not going to like what I have to say,¡± Iri said.

    Sylva was already shaking her head. ¡°No, no, absolutely no.¡±

    ¡°There''s no other way. You either use the power or we die.¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily. The shuttle isn''t, like, structurally damaged. We just don''t have atmospheric steering.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes, steering, that least vital component of navigating a ship down from space to the ground, on a planet with nothing but water and tiny islands.¡±

    ¡°Do we have any life rafts on here? We could do a targeted entry, then just try to crash into the water somewhere strategic.¡±

    ¡°The words ''strategic crash into the water'' do not exactly fill my heart with confidence,¡± Iri said. ¡°Also, I''m not sure if it''s true that the shuttle isn''t structurally damaged. If the tail part that got hit is connected to the heat shield, we could have problems.¡±

    ¡°It''s almost definitely not, if you think about the aerodynamics of the situation,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Heat shield on the bottom, tail on the top, right?¡±

    Iri rubbed her forehead. ¡°Okay. I guess step one is investigate the heat shield.¡±

    ¡°Not it,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Yeah, it''s not like the spare suit in the back has any hope of fitting you,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°How come you get to be so tall? Life''s not fair.¡±

    ¡°Just the luck of the draw,¡± Iri said. ¡°But seriously. If it''s damaged, you really are our only hope of getting down there.¡±

    ¡°You think I can make a heat shield out of thin air?¡±

    ¡°No? What I''m saying is that you could slow our descent to the point where heat isn''t an obstacle.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, making a heat shield out of thin air might be easier.¡±

    Iri reached over and grabbed Sylva''s shoulders, shaking her a little bit. ¡°Sylva, this is not the time for you to be wishy washy. Get over this insecurity you''ve got. We don''t have a choice.¡±

    Sylva tried to pull herself out of Iri''s grasp, struggling against her heavy hands, but she couldn''t. Iri held her tightly. Sylva glared at her.

    ¡°That''s easy for you to say. I don''t like putting our lives in my shaky hands.¡±

    ¡°Your shaky hands have done a whole lot worse. You didn''t kill Keep, you won''t kill us.¡±

    ¡°It''s not that simple.¡±

    ¡°If you need some time to practice moving the shuttle around, now''s the time. I can shut off autocorrect on the engine for a while, and you can see how well you can wiggle us around.¡±

    ¡°You don''t think that because we''re in it, the power won''t like me touching it, do you?¡±

    ¡°I''ve seen people get lifted up by their clothes. Same concept,¡± Iri said. ¡°You can make things hover in the air easily enough, I''ve seen you do it. This''ll be the same thing.¡±

    Sylva clenched and unclenched her fists, avoiding looking into Iri''s eyes. She stared at her nose, the wisps of her hair, her sturdy neck, her chapped lips. ¡°I''ll try,¡± Sylva finally said. ¡°But if I die, it''s your fault.¡±

    ¡°I''m not sure where you get that line from,¡± Iri said, dropping her arms and letting Sylva go. ¡°But I''ll take it, if that''s what it takes. Don''t practice yet. I''m going to go out and check the heat shield.¡±

    Sylva nodded, and drifted herself back into her chair. She stared morosely out the window as Iri got dressed in the spare spacesuit in the back of the shuttle. It was a one size fits most affair, and those most were spacers, so it would have been very, very loose on Sylva. Not ideal for navigating around outdoors.

    Iri came back to the front before she put the helmet on. ¡°You okay?¡± she asked. ¡°Sorry if I was hard on you.¡± She looked absolutely dorky in the bright orange suit, but the way she held the helmet under her arm was a bit endearing.

    ¡°No, it''s alright, I could probably use more people telling me the rude truth,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Even if I hate it.¡±

    ¡°Sure. I''m just being mean because, ugh, you know why.¡±

    Sylva nodded. ¡°Need me to do anything while you''re out there?¡±

    ¡°Just keep me company on the coms. It''s creepy to be out there alone.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± If Iri was just apologizing so Sylva wouldn''t give her literal radio silence while she was out there, that was fine. Sylva could deal with that.

    Iri headed back to the airlock in the back of the shuttle and crammed herself in. Sylva heard the doors open and shut, and the radio click to life. ¡°I don''t need to press any buttons, right?¡±

    ¡°Please do not press any buttons,¡± Iri said. Her voice hissed with static.

    ¡°Not even this one?¡± Sylva asked, joking.

    ¡°Not in the mood,¡± Iri said shortly. Her breathing was audible as she climbed out of the airlock and hoisted herself around the sides of the shuttle to examine the damage.

    ¡°The tail is destroyed,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°We could see that already.¡±

    ¡°I mean it''s not going to provide any stabilization at all,¡± Iri clarified. ¡°And it''s probably going to get worse on reentry.¡±

    ¡°How''s the heat shield?¡±

    ¡°I''m getting there.¡± More breathing as Iri clambered hand over hand down the sides of the shuttle towards the underside.

    ¡°There yet?¡±

    ¡°Patience is a virtue.¡±

    ¡°Sure. But not one of mine.¡±

    ¡°Hah.¡± Iri was quiet for a minute more, with just the sound of her sweaty breath catching in her suit''s microphone. ¡°It looks fine,¡± she finally announced.

    ¡°Fantastic.¡±

    ¡°I mean, that just says we''ll probably, maybe, hopefully, survive reentry.¡±

    ¡°You coming back in?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Be there in a minute.¡± Sylva once again heard the shuffling of the suit and Iri''s breathing as she went back towards the airlock and stuffed herself inside.

    ¡°Now that you''re back in, I can practice rattling the whole ship around,¡± Sylva joked as the airlock filled with air.

    ¡°Please wait until I''m out of this suit and in my seat,¡± Iri said. ¡°I don''t particularly fancy getting my neck snapped by you tossing us around, or me throwing up in this helmet.¡±

    ¡°If you trust me so little to even practice, I''m not sure what that means for the real thing.¡±

    ¡°I''m hoping you''ll get all your mistakes out before we''re plunging down through the atmosphere,¡± Iri said. The airlock finished cycling, and Sylva turned around to watch Iri climb out of the little space. She pulled the helmet off and shook her head, hair stuck down to her face with sweat.

    ¡°Tough out there?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Suit cooling wasn''t working the best,¡± Iri said. ¡°Makes life pretty difficult.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for taking one for the team.¡± Sylva paused. ¡°Do you actually think I can stop us from crashing?¡±

    ¡°Doesn''t matter what I think,¡± Iri said. ¡°But yes. You haven''t failed us fatally yet, and there have been plenty of occasions where you could have.¡±

    ¡°Only a matter of time.¡±

    ¡°Just think,¡± Iri said. ¡°As soon as we get Yan back, we can have her handle all the power nonsense on our return trip. You''ll never have to worry about it again.¡±

    Sylva smiled a little. It seemed unlikely that they would find Yan in any condition to use the power. After all, if she had been able to, she would have used it to escape long before now.

    Well, actually, the thought came to Sylva that maybe Yan had escaped, but she hadn''t been able to get off planet. This place was disconnected from the rest of the universe, it seemed like. And even if one could build a stardrive, which she doubted Yan would risk doing, a stardrive did not a ship make.

    That was an intriguing line of thought, but it was one that would have to wait until they got down onto the planet''s surface to investigate.

    ¡°You know this wrecks our original plan, right?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°The one where we''re going to take the shuttle and hide out in space.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡±

    ¡°Do we have a solution for that?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°We''ll pay that bill when it comes due,¡± Iri said. ¡°For now, let''s just continue to bank on the assumption that someone will receive our message and come looking for us.¡±

    Iri floated in the back of the shuttle and stripped off first the spacesuit, then peeled down her sweat drenched jumpsuit, tying the arms around her waist and leaving her wearing just a bra on top. Sylva could see the fine but dark hairs that climbed up her stomach, and the line where her ribcage ended, rising and falling as she breathed. It was hot inside the shuttle, wasn''t it?

    Iri didn''t seem to mind Sylva looking, and in fact didn''t even really notice it. She pulled herself forward along the ceiling of the shuttle and slid into the pilot''s seat next to Sylva. ¡°If we''re going to do this, we might as well do it,¡± Iri said. She strapped herself in, making sure to fasten the seatbelt extra tightly.

    Sylva followed her lead and wedged herself into the co-pilot''s seat as tightly as she could. ¡°I''ll try to get all my mistakes out now,¡± she said.

    ¡°Just as long as you don''t send us crashing through the atmosphere, that''s fine by me.¡± Iri pushed a few buttons on the dashboard and the intermittent hum of the shuttle''s engine fell completely silent. ¡°But if you don''t mind, I''m going to close my eyes.¡±

    ¡°Wish I could do the same,¡± Sylva said. She gripped the sides of her chair and glanced over at Iri. She was sitting with her head tilted back, eyes closed, mouth slightly open. The slightly bumpy line of her neck was silhouetted against the side window of the shuttle, where the star''s light poured in. It caught the edge of Iri''s whole figure until it was covered up by the chair.

    Sylva turned away and stared out the front window at the planet below, absorbing the glittering lights of the islands, a massive storm system coming down on one side, the greenish blue of the water where the light hit it.

    ¡°You going to do this or what?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Shush, I''m concentrating,¡± Sylva said, even though she had been doing no such thing. She did try to concentrate now, and as the planet passed visibly by underneath them, Sylva stretched out her awareness through the shuttle.

    It was difficult to move things without a frame of reference, she discovered. The planet was too far away to provide anything meaningful in terms of one. The only reason she knew she wasn''t moving the shuttle was that she wasn''t feeling them get jerked around inside of it.

    She gave up on looking out at the planet and closed her eyes. The power swirled distractedly, much like the storm clouds below. She didn''t want to land in that. And if she didn''t want to land in that, or in the middle of the ocean, she was going to have to learn how to steer.

    She could move things in space. She had moved those missiles, after all. This was basically the same thing, right? Just because she was now planning to ride that missile down to the ground didn''t mean that it wasn''t the same movements. Just like hovering a book in front of her, or moving a microphone up into the corner of a room. The same motions. The power didn''t care about size, only her brain did.

    Sylva''s brain was a fiddly little thing, but she wasn''t going to let it get the best of her. Not this time. The shuttle jerked hard sideways, as though they had been hit with something. Sylva and Iri both slammed into their restraints.

    ¡°I sure hope that was you,¡± Iri said, opening her eyes to flashing warning lights on the dashboard.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sylva said, rubbing her arms where the straps of her chair had cut into them.

    ¡°Great. Be more gentle next time.¡± Iri closed her eyes and leaned back again.

    ¡°I''ll try.¡±

    Sylva felt slightly more confident, now that she knew that she could physically do this. That sudden jerk, as painful as it had been on her body, was like a floodgate that spilled open and allowed her to move the shuttle. She just had to remember how it felt, and tweak that.

    So she practiced. She moved it in every direction, quickly, slowly. She even made sure to twist it, only sending it into a sickening roll one time. After an hour or so of practicing, she felt confident about her maneuverability in space, though she didn''t know how that would translate once they got into the atmosphere and really got going fast. Theoretically, she would only want to move up and side to side. That really limited the motions that were ¡°realistic¡±. She made sure to practice those the most.

    By the end of it, she was as sweaty as Iri had been, and she had ground her teeth so much that her jaw hurt. Iri watched her with some consternation.

    ¡°Will you forget how to do this if you take a nap?¡±

    ¡°Doubt it,¡± Sylva said, popping her jaw.

    ¡°Then you should take one. I''ll need time to gently put us in position to descend,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Do we have coordinates for where we''re going down?¡±

    Iri pulled up a map of the planet on the computer. It wasn''t much of a map; it was all just pictures of the planet that they had been taking, wrapped around the surface of a sphere, but that was fine. She spun the sphere around and zoomed in to point at an island.

    ¡°I''d like to get us here, or at least in the water around here. It''s close to the biggest population center,¡± Iri said, pointing at a different island where the lights were thickest. ¡°But it itself seems relatively uninhabited.¡± There were still lights dotted on the edges of that island, but they weren''t the big blotch like the few things that looked like cities were.

    ¡°And we''re sure we can ditch in the water? We have a life raft? Or does this thing float?¡±

    ¡°Even if we didn''t, I''d trust a water landing better than a ground one. Softer, you know,¡± Iri said. ¡°But yes, these space-to-ground transports have water landing procedures. According to the information on here,¡± she poked around in a few other menus. ¡°There''s inflatable pads that do pop out from the sides if we hit the water, and there''s a life raft stored in the back.¡±

    ¡°You check that there is one before you aim us into the ocean,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I don''t want to make it all the way down just to drown.¡±

    Iri nodded, a tight smile on her face. ¡°I will while you''re asleep.¡±

    ¡°Don''t let me sleep too long,¡± Sylva said. She was exhausted from using the power, but they needed to get down to the surface as fast as they could. They had no idea what the Bellringer was up to, and every second they delayed was another second that something bad could be happening.

    ¡°You get two hours,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Perfect.¡± Of course, she was likely to wake up with a terrible headache and an upset stomach after a two hour nap, but that was the way life was, and she''d rather have that than nothing at all. Who knew when she was going to be able to sleep again.

    Sylva got herself into the most comfortable position as she could and closed her eyes, listening to Iri press buttons and the shuttle''s engines grumble back to life. She felt acceleration push her ever so slightly back into her chair, and she leaned into that feeling, nestling her head into the headrest. She tried to sleep, but mostly dozed.

    And then it was time. Sylva''s eyes were still bleary with half-sleep, but Iri handed her a cup of instant coffee in one of the zero-gravity packs, and she drank it. The bitterness of it made her stomach churn a little, and she also ate some of the too-dry packaged ration bread. They were mostly silent as they did their final preparations. There wasn''t much left to talk about.

    Iri showed Sylva how to extract and open the life raft that was stored in the back, and also pointed out a few key instruments on the control panel, should Sylva find them useful to look at during their descent. Sylva didn''t thinks she would. She knew it was going to be just enough to stop them from either ending up wildly off course or crashing directly into the ocean without the chance to slow and stop.

    The shuttle''s stubby little wings would help, of course. They could at least slow the descent, but they couldn''t turn well. And if the shuttle crashed into the side of a mountain because they couldn''t avoid it, that would be pretty bad. And that was what Sylva was for. Get them down onto the surface of the water, near enough to an island that they could boat there, all as gently as possible.

    Far easier said than done.

    They made their final preparations, got fully dressed, and tucked their most important belongings right next to the raft, should they need to grab them in a hurry. Then they strapped themselves in and Iri began the descent.

    ¡°Here we go,¡± Sylva said. She wasn''t even sure if she said it out loud, it was just the thought that was ringing through her brain as they felt the first touches of atmosphere grab hold of their shuttle.

    Watching out the window, the whole thing lit up as the friction of their descent sparked and crackled against the windshield. They rocked and jittered and were pressed into their seats. Sylva''s teeth rattled and the roar in the cockpit was indescribable. They were going fast. She didn''t know if it was too fast.

    The tail would have controlled their pitch and yaw, but in its absence, and with the force of the atmosphere pressing on where it should have been, they began to veer off course. The nose of their craft began to tilt upwards.

    ¡°Sylva...¡± Iri got out between her own clacking teeth. ¡°Now would be a good time to do something.¡±

    Sylva couldn''t think straight. The power streamed past her fingertips like the air streamed past the nose of their shuttle. They were headed down.

    The ground swelled beneath them, still far above the wispy clouds. The sun was going down in this part of the world, and it lit up the ocean underneath a bright red, burning the water. They were only speeding up, not slowing down. What was terminal velocity in a craft like this?

    Sylva closed her eyes, blocking out the bright outside light, scrunching up her face and holding on for dear life. She felt like she could hardly breathe. She needed to do something. She needed to do anything.

    There was a calm place, somewhere inside her brain. That was the place that accepted that she was probably going to die here, crashing into the ocean of this alien world, without having accomplished anything, killing Iri with her in the process. That would be bad, but, Sylva thought, maybe not the worst thing that could happen to a person. At the very least, they had gotten their message out about Yan''s coordinates. Someone would find their starchart message, someone with better resources, and they would get Yan back. That was fine. So whatever happened to Sylva at this point, it didn''t matter that much. Her heart was beating out of her chest, but her thoughts slowed to a fixated crawl on this point. She took a deep breath.

    The power was at her fingertips. She shoved it down into the metal of the shuttle, hauling backwards as hard as she could, slowing them down. She didn''t know enough about how aerodynamics worked to understand that slower moving objects generate less lift, but even if she had she would have done it. She was more worried about their horizontal speed than she was about their vertical speed.

    The shuddering through the whole body of the shuttle continued, but changed as Sylva hauled them slower and slower. They were still falling wildly through the atmosphere, passing through the uppermost layer of clouds, nose pointed crookedly forward.

    Sylva had to open her eyes to steer. She accidentally spared a glance sideways at Iri, who was as pale as a ghost, mouth open slack jawed, eyes wide. Her hands were loose on the yoke, which Sylva saw was flopping around uselessly. There was no mechanical steering that Iri could do. Red alarms were flashing all throughout the cabin, but that was such a normal sight at this point that Sylva tuned them out. She was worried about Iri, but had to focus. Focus.

    She used the power to knock the ship sideways, getting its nose back onto the course that they were aiming for. It sent a shock deep into her bones as she snapped against her restraints, but it couldn''t be helped. Then she tried to use the power a little more carefully, trying to grab just the nose of the ship. She couldn''t quite do it, got the whole forward section, and hauled upward, trying to angle them the right way so that they would slow down further. Too far. She couldn''t see the ground.

    The instruments on the dashboard were going crazy, spinning wildly. Some had probably been in the tail section and were destroyed. Didn''t matter. She didn''t know what they meant anyway.

    This was going to be less of a landing and much more like a crash.

    Sylva gave up on trying to follow the mapped path and just did her best to slow them down. They passed through more clouds, all lit up blood red by the sun.

    At what point, Sylva thought, had the star become a sun to her? Was it the moment they passed through the atmosphere? Was she the citizen of a planet if she died there?

    She slowed them down horizontally as much as she could, though they continued to plummet vertically. Sylva hauled upwards, too, fighting to overcome gravity and momentum. She had almost made a difference.

    ¡°Sylva!¡± Iri shrieked. There was the altimeter. There was the ground.

    They hit the water hard, but at least they hit it belly first rather than nose first. The shuttle groaned, not meant for such an impact, and skidded across the surface of the water.

    They were lucky, in that their seat restraints were designed to break as few bones on impact as possible, but that didn''t mean much at the speed at which they hit. The restraints sliced through their jumpsuits like knives, lacerating Sylva''s arms and dislocating her left shoulder. Her neck slammed forward, wrenching it terribly. She hardly even noticed the pain for a few seconds after impact, the adrenaline and the rush of not being dead were too much.

    Half of the instruments on the dashboard were dead. The other half were... well it didn''t exactly matter now. This shuttle would never be flying again, and they needed to get out of it as fast as possible. The inflatable balloons that were supposed to come out in the case of a water landing had only deployed on one side, so the whole shuttle was leaning dangerously.

    With weak and bloody fingers, Sylva undid her restraints. It was weird to feel gravity again, disorienting in the sideways cockpit.

    ¡°Iri,¡± Sylva said, clambering out of her chair and half falling onto Iri''s limp body. ¡°Iri, get up.¡±

    Iri was breathing, but that was the most that could be said about her. Sylva shook her shoulder, noticing that she had the same wounds from the straps cutting her. Iri didn''t respond for a long moment, and by that time Sylva was already at work trying to unfasten her from the chair.

    Iri''s head lolled to one side, and she blinked at Sylva.

    ¡°Iri, get up,¡± Sylva said. Iri struggled to move, and Sylva ended up having to wrangle her arm out from where it was trapped among the tangle of the chair harness. She hauled Iri to her feet, and Iri leaned heavily on her for a second, seeming very disoriented.

    The shuttle creaked and groaned around them, tilting more and more every second. Sylva half-dragged Iri to the back of the shuttle. Their footsteps only seemed to tilt the thing more. She hauled on the airlock door, then the other airlock door, the one to the outside.

    Her first taste of this planet''s air hit her just as cold water did, rushing into the cabin. Sylva took the inflatable raft in one hand and shoved it out the door. The water was up to her thighs, but getting deeper every second as it dragged the unsupported half of the shuttle down.

    ¡°Come on, Iri!¡± Sylva yelled. Iri seemed to be in a sort of stupor, not really understanding what was going on, but the water posed an imminent threat to her life. Sylva pulled on Iri''s arm, which was quite floppy, and hauled her towards the open airlock. They made it outside, and Sylva pulled the ripcord on the inflatable raft. It exploded outward, smacking her in the face, but it inflated. That was good.

    It seemed that the shuttle had stopped sinking, being held up by its half inflated landing gear. The danger was at least a little less, now, but that didn''t mean that they didn''t need to get into that raft.

    Standing on the edge of the airlock, the water was at Sylva''s waist. With her one good arm, she held the raft.

    ¡°Get on, Iri.¡±

    Iri seemed to be recovering some of her senses. Perhaps the cold water, or the slightly less dire situation were helping, or whatever shock she had been in was wearing off. Iri hoisted herself into the raft. Sylva dived back into the shuttle to grab their packed belongings. Wet, but better than nothing. She returned to the surface. It was hard to carry them, dangling them from her dislocated arm, as she hauled herself onto the raft with her other.

    They both lay there, bobbing in the raft on the surface of this alien ocean, staring up at the rapidly darkening sky.

 Chapter Seventy-Four - Commitment Actions

    Commitment Actions

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Imagine how miserable it would be, to be a civilization confined to a single planet. There would be no chance for us to expand our horizons, or to understand ourselves. Just as I could not understand my own being except in relationship to other people, there is no way for a culture to be fully realized without a contrast, or a language to be truly broken down unless it is translated. We are lucky that the many planets of the Empire retain their individual spirit, culture, and language, even with central leadership.¡±

    -Helem Walochoulis, Sylva''s Galactic Literature III teacher at the Academy

    </blockquote>

    The shuttle didn''t end up sinking. It mainly just floated there lopsidedly, though a leak in one of the inflatable air bladders caused it to release a puffy whining noise whenever a particularly strong wave hit it. The life raft where Sylva and Iri lay didn''t drift very far away. They lay there, panting and trying hard to believe that they were still alive.

    Really, the only thing that convinced Sylva that she was was alive was the pain all over her body from where she had been sliced open by the chair straps. She struggled to sit up on the thin and wiggly plastic, and examined her wounds.

    Her dislocated shoulder was probably the most pressing, though it didn''t even hurt the most. She wasn''t sure how it had happened. She must have somehow twisted herself in the straps as they crashed, maybe she had been been a little bit sideways to crush her arm against the back of the chair and pop her shoulder out. She cradled it to her chest. There were definitely ways for her to get it back in, but she wasn''t interested in trying them without Iri''s help. Iri would probably know better, anyway, as this seemed like a regular first aid thing.

    To check her cuts, Sylva carefully unzipped her torn jumpsuit and pulled her right arm out of it to see the skin underneath. There was a nasty gash across the top of her shoulder that crossed down towards her chest, where it mainly turned into a deep vertical bruise and several horizontal ones. Nice of the designers of these seatbelts to avoid putting pressure on her sternum, which might have killed her. There were matching cuts on her thighs, where the straps had kept her legs and hips in place. All of the cuts were screaming with the intrusion of salt water, but none of them looked like they went into the muscle. On her thighs, she peeled back the fabric of her jumpsuit and saw that the cut did go deep into the globby fat layer below the skin, but that was still better than having her whole leg sliced off.

    She was being remarkably calm and rational, even if that was just shock that would wear off soon. She turned to Iri, who was staring up at the dark and starry sky. Now that she had determined she wasn''t about to die from her own wounds, Sylva could figure out what was going on with her traveling companion.

    ¡°Iri?¡± Sylva asked, leaning over her friend. ¡°You okay?¡±

    Iri''s eyes found hers. ¡°Sorry.¡± Her voice sounded thick.

    ¡°For what?¡± Sylva asked. She scooted towards Iri on her knees, trying not to wobble their boat too much. The whole scene was barely illuminated in the last gasps of light from the set sun, and the stars that lurked on the other end of the sky.

    ¡°I passed out.¡±

    ¡°No shit. Wish I could have done the same. You okay now, though?¡±

    ¡°If my heart would go back to beating normally. And my neck hurts worse than I''ve ever felt.¡±

    ¡°Good news is you probably don''t have a concussion, just whiplash. Those headrests are pretty soft.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I didn''t think I did. You got the first aid kit?¡±

    ¡°It should still be attached,¡± Sylva said. She shuffled to the other side of the liferaft, feeling it wobble disconcertingly beneath her. There was a first aid kit that was attached to the side, on the interior, just in case. Obviously, if a shuttle like this was making a water landing, the occupants were likely to be in significant distress. Shuttles were meant to land and take off from flat, cleared ground. Ditching in the water was obviously thought of as something that could happen, but definitely not something that should.

    She pulled the kit with her less injured arm and brought it back over to Iri. ¡°It''s all here.¡±

    ¡°Great.¡± Iri was still flat on her back.

    ¡°Can you sit up?¡±

    ¡°Probably.¡±

    ¡°Then do it.¡±

    Iri struggled to sit up, clutched her head, and leaned back a little bit against the side of the raft.

    Sylva rifled through the first aid kit, looking to see if there was any painkillers. There were: a few small pills. Despite being on a pirate ship, where the most accessible ¡°medication¡± was drugs, these were the mildest painkillers that money could buy. Maybe that was to stop the crew and guests of the ship from raiding all the first aid boxes to get their fix. She handed one to Iri and took one herself, dry swallowing it.

    ¡°Do we have any water?¡±

    ¡°All our food is still in there,¡± Sylva said, nodding back to the shuttle. ¡°No idea if it''s still good after being submerged.¡±

    ¡°We can think about that in the morning,¡± Iri groaned.

    ¡°We''re sticking around until morning?¡±

    ¡°We''re able to move?¡± Iri countered.

    ¡°Come on. The longer we sit here the worse things will get. With our luck, the Bellringer will be in orbit and tracking where this shuttle went down so they can find us. We have to get out of here.¡±

    Iri closed her eyes. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Let''s do some triage.¡±

    ¡°Go for it, Doctor Sylva.¡±

    ¡°Fuck off.¡± Sylva took stock of the situation. Iri had the same cuts she did, though in slightly different places because she was much taller. There wasn''t anything that Sylva could do about her whiplash, and the reason that Iri had passed out and been so unresponsive earlier was not clear. Maybe it was just terror? Could that do that to a person? ¡°Is it just your cuts and bruises, and your neck that are messed up?¡± Sylva asked to confirm.

    ¡°As far as I know. But my whole body hurts worse than it ever has, so I can''t really pick out anything in particular.¡±

    ¡°We basically slammed into a wall going two hundred kilometers an hour,¡± Sylva said. ¡°It''s to be expected.¡±

    ¡°Could have been way worse,¡± Iri muttered. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Don''t know if I ended up doing much,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°You didn''t use the power?¡±

    ¡°I did, I just don''t know how much it helped.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well at the very least, you stopped me from drowning in my chair.¡±

    ¡°The water wasn''t coming in until I opened the doors.¡±

    ¡°I don''t really remember the order in which things happened,¡± Iri admitted.

    ¡°Is your head alright? Is there a reason you were so out of it?¡±

    ¡°No idea,¡± Iri said. She winced and rubbed her temple. ¡°Probably just me choking up at a crucial moment.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Well, if there isn''t anything actually wrong with your head, and I don''t think I could do anything even if there was, step one is probably fixing my arm so that I can stitch us up. The cuts are deep enough that they need stitches.¡±

    ¡°What''s wrong with your arm?¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure I dislocated my shoulder somehow.¡±

    ¡°Which one?¡±

    Iri squinted in the dim light, and Sylva nodded sideways to her left arm, which she was cradling against her chest. ¡°Think you can fix it?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Iri said. ¡°Won''t be pleasant, though.¡±

    ¡°Like anything has been. What do I need to do?¡± The calm acceptance was still in Sylva''s voice. They had passed far out of the real world, and into this other realm where anything could happen. Maybe they hadn''t died when their shuttle had impacted with the surface of the water, but if they couldn''t find Yan and get rescued, it was certainly only a matter of time. In order to forestall the inevitable, Sylva would have to accept the pain of Iri fixing her arm.

    ¡°Come around here,¡± Iri said. She patted the spot just in front of her, and spread her legs so that Sylva could get close. Sylva inched in. ¡°Give me your hand.¡±

    ¡°How much is this about to hurt?¡±

    ¡°Definitely no more than giving yourself stitches will,¡± Iri said. ¡°Hand.¡± Sylva reluctantly unclenched her wounded arm and gave it to Iri. ¡°Try to relax.¡±

    ¡°I''ve never been relaxed in my life,¡± Sylva said through gritted teeth.

    ¡°It''d probably do you a world of good.¡± Iri raised Sylva''s arm up towards the top of her head. With her height advantage, it was fairly easy, even if they were both sitting. Sylva''s shoulder popped back into place, and the pain immediately lessened, even though her arm felt extremely weird.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Sylva said, carefully lowering her arm and rubbing her shoulder.

    ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°Stitches,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Legs first.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I have a deeper cut there. Goes all the way down to the fat. How about you? Let me see.¡±

    ¡°I''ll do my legs myself, thanks,¡± Iri said, and scooted her feet towards herself so that her knees curled up to her chest.

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°You can do my shoulders.¡±

    ¡°Do you even know how to do stitches?¡±

    ¡°Basic ones, yes,¡± Iri said. ¡°And you''d need me to do your shoulders either way.¡±

    ¡°But why wouldn''t you let me just do them both? I''ve had a ton of practice,¡± Sylva''s doctoring experience was coming in handy, for exactly once.

    ¡°I don''t want you poking around down there.¡±

    ¡°Fuck, Iri,¡± Sylva rolled her eyes. ¡°Just because you''re not into women doesn''t mean-¡±

    ¡°That''s not what I''m saying,¡± Iri said. ¡°Drop it, okay? I''ll do my own.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Whatever. But if you fuck it up that''s your own issue.¡± Sylva went through the first aid kit, now much easier with both hands available for the task. She found a glowstick in there, and cracked it so that they could see. It cast a watery light that was barely enough to do anything by, but it would have to be enough. There were prepackaged kits available with needles and surgical thread already done up, as well as a small bottle of alcohol and wipes to clean wounds. She handed Iri one of the needle sets and some of the wipes. ¡°Legs first, so we don''t rip out our shoulder stitches when we''re doing each other.¡±

    Iri took the offering and put it down next to her. She turned sideways to Sylva and pulled her jumpsuit off with some difficulty, holding onto the side of the raft and lifting to get it off of her hips so that she had access to her thigh cuts. She left it on her feet, and bunched up the material of the rest of it in between her legs. Sylva, out of some respect for Iri''s apparent wishes, turned away and also stripped.

    She could do her own legs, too, since she trusted her own stitching more than she trusted Iri''s. The alcohol stung like bees when she used it to irrigate her wounds, worse than the salty water that had already gotten in there. And it hurt far worse to sew the fleshy part of her legs shut. She didn''t know how easy it would be to walk after this. At least the cuts weren''t exactly in the space where her legs rubbed together. They were a little more to the front.

    When she was done sewing up each side, she looked around again in the medical kit. There was a small tube of surgical glue there. Just as an extra precaution, she smeared that along the edges of her stitches, holding them in place. After all, they probably were going to have to do some walking and swimming. She had no desire to get any extra diseases lurking in there. This wasn''t sanitary conditions at all, but it would have to do. It would all just have to do.

    And, if she contracted some sort of disease, that was still better than having died from slamming into the ground at supersonic speeds. So she could at least be grateful for that.

    She got started on Iri''s shoulders next. She would rather have the full range of motion while doing someone else''s cuts. Maybe it didn''t make sense that Iri, the less experienced stitcher, should be put at a disadvantage when she would have to do Sylva''s later, but Sylva would prefer to not fuck up somebody else. And besides, Iri would also be running the risk of having her stitches rip out if she wasn''t gentle enough, though with the glue that was less of an issue. Either way, it felt fair enough, and when they had finished, it didn''t particularly matter.

    Iri was pretty stoic while she was getting hers done, and barely said anything. Sylva, on the other hand, couldn''t help from hissing in pain basically every time Iri drove the needle in. It sucked. Majorly. But Iri didn''t complain about Sylva''s whining, so it was all alright.

    They were both bloody messes by time they were finished, but at least they didn''t have any holes in them anymore. At least no more than normal. They re-dressed in their torn up and bloody jumpsuits. They hadn''t wanted to weigh themselves down with extra clothing as they fled. Whatever.

    It was still probably a few hours until sunrise, and the excitement of the whole thing had worn off, leaving a deep lethargy. During this whole time, their little raft had moved about twenty meters away from the crashed shuttle, but overall, it didn''t seem like they were drifting anywhere in particular. They should probably have been grateful that the sea was calm, and that they weren''t being pulled in every direction by the waves.

    ¡°So,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Do we know which direction the land is?¡±

    ¡°Based on the last glimpse of the map I saw before we crashed, the island we''re aiming for is probably roughly ten kilometers east of here. It''s pretty big. Can''t miss it.¡±

    ¡°We have a compass that works?¡± There was a compass built in to the plastic of the raft, but Sylva didn''t trust it on an alien planet. No idea if there was a magnetic field to speak of here, and if there was, if what Iri was saying would reliably navigate them in the correct direction based on its markings.

    ¡°By east I mean in the direction of sunrise.¡±

    ¡°Ah. And which direction is that?¡±

    ¡°I think we''ve probably gotten turned around, in our confusion. I''d guess that direction,¡± Iri said, nodding over her shoulder to the left. ¡°But then again, I wouldn''t want to go the wrong way and end up further away.¡±

    ¡°So we''re stuck here until sunrise?¡±

    ¡°You could also watch which direction the stars are moving.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah.¡± It was nice that the blackout around this star system was mono-directional, like a mirror where one side could be seen through. Not having the stars to look up at would be pretty sad. ¡°Can you row with your arms like this?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°I was hoping that you could use the power to scoot us along. It would probably be faster.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Sylva wasn''t even in the mood to argue. She leaned back on the side of the raft and looked up at the stars as they crept slowly across the sky. More accurately, the sky was creeping slowly underneath the stars, but it didn''t matter. None of it mattered.

    Her whole body hurt, but she tried to ignore it, and just keep her eyes fixed upwards, so she could tell in what direction everything was moving. Rather like meditation, she needed to clear her mind and stay focused at the same time. After a long, long stretch of silence, she was pretty sure of the direction they had to travel in.

    ¡°You ready for me to try moving us?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Go for it,¡± Iri said, though she held on to the side of the life raft in a way that did not inspire confidence in Sylva.

    Sylva closed her eyes. If all it took to get more comfortable and familiar with using the power was constantly being put in life or death situations, maybe it was worth the trade-off. She had this clear sense of purpose that made it easier to reach down inside that well in herself and pull the power to the surface. With her hands on the textured surface of the life raft, she used the power to gently tug them forward.

    Two things went wrong. Her tug was less gentle than expected, and the sudden burst of speed sent her falling backwards, breaking her concentration. The second thing that happened was that the instant she used the power, she felt the eyes of that mind on her, the one that she had encountered far far out in space.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Sylva said, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head where it had hit the bottom of the raft. She wasn''t hurt any more than she already was, but the textured rubbery surface of the raft had pulled her hair unpleasantly.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Iri asked, more tired than judgmental.

    ¡°I felt it again,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Whoever was out in space. They''re definitely here.¡±

    ¡°Here, here?¡±

    ¡°On this planet.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said you only found them before because you, how''d you describe it, touched them? What are they doing here?¡±

    That was a good question. ¡°No clue. Let me try again and see if they''re still around.¡± Sylva found it hard to believe that they wouldn''t be.

    Focusing on the power was more difficult, now that she had something distracting her. She kept anticipating that electric tingle of touching another mind, and that prevented her from actually reaching out. It was rather like the feeling of not wanting to touch doorknobs in winter, for the perpetual fear of getting shocked by the static.

    ¡°Got anything?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°At least get us moving forward while you''re doing this. We can''t sit in the middle of the ocean forever.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try.¡± If that mind wanted to seek her out because she was using the power, that mind was welcome to do so. Or, if it wasn''t welcome, Sylva at least couldn''t stop it, so it was functionally the same thing. Perhaps she should have felt nervous about it. After all, she was on a strange world where she knew nothing, and this was a mysterious person who was both far more powerful than she was, and aware of her presence.

    Sylva nudged the boat forward again, and it scooted obediently across the surface of the water. She was careful to keep their speed in check, so she didn''t fall over this time. And again, that mind found hers. The contact sent shivers down her spine. There was a feeling there, like something was trying to be communicated, but Sylva had never been good at this mind to mind contact. She couldn''t understand what she was receiving, just that she was being seen.

    ¡°I feel it,¡± she whispered to Iri, trying not to break her own concentration.

    Sylva probed outward with her own power, momentarily abandoning pushing the boat forward. She was shocked to discover that their raft kept moving, bouncing along over the tops of the waves.

    ¡°Iri,¡± Sylva said, voice shaking with nervousness.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I''m not the one moving the boat,¡± Sylva said, grabbing onto the side.

    ¡°Can you stop it?¡± Iri asked.

    That was a thought. Sylva reached out with the power again and fought against the forward tug on the boat, hauling it backwards. There was a momentary tension between the two minds, and the other one released it. The life raft stopped dead in the water, and resumed its own gentle bobbing.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°That was terrifying,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°You stopped it, though,¡± Iri said. ¡°Good job.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah. Thanks.¡± It hadn''t been as difficult as she would have expected. Either the mind she was fighting against didn''t mind stopping its inscrutable machinations, or Sylva was more powerful than she had thought. It was probably the first one, but it had been surprisingly easy to use the power in that moment. Perhaps it was once again something that felt like a dire threat urging her onward.

    ¡°On the plus side,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°How can there be a plus side?¡±

    ¡°If you''d let me finish I''d explain,¡± Iri said. ¡°As I was saying. If whoever is out there wanted to hurt us, they already would have. Clearly they can.¡±

    ¡°It''s harder to touch someone--¡±

    ¡°You''re not thinking outside the box enough,¡± Iri said. ¡°How easy would it be for them to simply deflate our raft and leave us to drown?¡±

    ¡°We wouldn''t necessarily drown. I can swim.¡±

    ¡°Alright. How easy would it be for them to move the water around us and suck us under?¡±

    That was something to consider. ¡°Don''t make me paranoid that that''s going to happen at any second,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°If it was going to happen, it already would have,¡± Iri said. ¡°Maybe we can consider this person, whoever they are, as a potential ally.¡±

    ¡°Against the Bellringer?¡±

    ¡°In finding Yan.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°There''s two, three, people on this planet we know have the power. You, that mind, and Yan.¡± That was operating under the assumption that Yan was both alive and not drugged out of her mind to suppress the power. ¡°That mind already reached out to you, the second you used thee power. I wouldn''t be surprised if they reach out to every sensitive who comes here.¡±

    ¡°What if they''re the one who kidnapped Yan in the first place.¡±

    Iri scratched her chin, face ghoulish when lit underneath by the glowstick that sat in the bottom of the boat. ¡°Seems slightly unlikely to me,¡± Iri said. ¡°But even if they are, then at least we''d be heading in the right direction.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think it''s unlikely?¡±

    ¡°They''re the one holding up the dark shield, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°That seems like a defensive rather than an offensive strategy. Even if,¡± Iri choked slightly.

    ¡°Even if what?¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Sylva frowned. ¡°You think that this person does have a reason to kidnap Yan?¡± Iri nodded. ¡°Is it a personal reason?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Political?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Sylva didn''t love playing twenty questions, but she was going to get answers out of Iri eventually. ¡°They never released a ransom, did they? Whoever actually did kidnap her.¡±

    ¡°No, they didn''t.¡±

    ¡°So they wanted her for some reason other than money. And they never sent threats or anything.¡±

    ¡°None that I''m aware of,¡± Iri said. ¡°But if I was First Sandreas, and I received some sort or exchange for Yan, I wouldn''t make it public.¡±

    ¡°Sure. But he would do it. Give them what they wanted. And you''d probably hear about it through the grapevine.¡±

    ¡°What makes you so sure that he would? The Empire isn''t in the business of negotiating with... anyone.¡± The pause was telling.

    ¡°The relationship that an apprentice is supposed to have with their teacher is... It''s hard to explain. I think that my mentor would do anything for me, or for any of her previous apprentices.¡±

    ¡°But she let you go out here and risk your life?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°She probably knew she couldn''t stop me. I mean, I''m an adult. It''s not exactly a parent-child thing. But...¡± Sylva paused to think about it. ¡°If I were First Sandreas... I know he''s had a lot of attempts on his life, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I think the only people I would trust would be the people I could share my deepest being with, who I''d be responsible for passing on all my knowledge to. That and the person I love,¡± Sylva said.

    Iri scratched her chin. ¡°I''m not sure if Yan has that type of relationship with First Sandreas,¡± she said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You say your mentor shares her whole being with you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, obviously.¡±

    ¡°So how often did you... You know, do your weird mind thing.¡±

    ¡°Constantly,¡± Sylva groaned. ¡°I hated it. But Brache, she said it was the best way to get me to learn anything, if she could show me first hand.¡±

    ¡°And you felt like that was an important part of your apprenticeship, right? Like it wouldn''t be the same without it?¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°I never once saw Yan and First Sandreas do that. It probably happened at least once or twice, but...¡±

    Sylva was actually so shocked that she leaned back against the side of the boat. She didn''t have an articulate response to that revelation. ¡°Fuck. Yan must have hated that. She-- there''s nothing she likes more than meditating with other people.¡±

    ¡°She did with Sid, sometimes,¡± Iri said. ¡°They were very close.¡±

    ¡°No, but.¡± Sylva was finding it hard to explain what the apprentice relationship was supposed to be. ¡°It''s vital.¡±

    ¡°I don''t understand the whole thing you all have going on,¡± Iri said dismissively. ¡°But we need to get moving. Can you get us going again?¡±

    Sylva sighed, then turned back towards the front of the little raft. ¡°Only if that other mind doesn''t try to grab us.¡±

    She put her hands on the side and sent her power out. She was careful, this time. When she felt the touch of the other mind, she very firmly pushed their raft in the direction that she wanted to go, not the direction that that mind wanted to bring them. The mind still lurked out there, very aware of her, tingling on the surface of her brain, but there was no direct attempt at interference right at this second.

    ¡°It''s not bothering me,¡± Sylva said. ¡°It''s still there, but it''s just watching now.¡±

    ¡°Freaky.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    They sailed in silence for a while. Sylva found that there was a maximum speed she could drag the raft along at, before the jolting of it over the top of the water became too much and its surface began to catch and drag and wobble disconcertingly. So they weren''t going very fast, but at least they were going.

    Sylva found the monotonous task of dragging the boat along got easier the longer she did it, and she was able to split her attention between that and thinking once again about Yan''s apprenticeship and its rather strange nature.

    ¡°So you''re saying that Yan and First Sandreas weren''t close?¡±

    ¡°No, they weren''t. Sandreas is not a very open person, except with Halen.¡±

    ¡°Did they spend a lot of time together?¡±

    ¡°Some. A mix of personal and professional, but mostly professional, time.¡± Iri sighed. ¡°I think that, maybe this is just speculation on my part, but Sandreas doesn''t have a clue how to be a good mentor, because he didn''t have the best relationship with his own.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡±

    ¡°Oh, just some of the way that Halen talks about Sandreas''s predecessor.¡±

    ¡°You talk to Halen a lot?¡±

    ¡°We''re friends. He tells me things that he thinks might be relevant. He''s pretty protective of Yan.¡±

    ¡°Do they have a good relationship?¡±

    ¡°Hah. Depends on what you mean by good.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know. Do they talk? Do they like eachother? I feel like I don''t know anything about this side of Yan''s life, and I want to know more. I''m curious, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Yan hated him at first, but she came around a bit after the whole pirate incident. I think Halen coached Sandreas on what to say. He ghostwrites all his correspondence to them, you know.¡±

    ¡°Iri, I''m not going to lie, the more you say about First Sandreas, the more I want to slap him.¡±

    ¡°That is a hilarious mental image.¡±

    ¡°Do you doubt my ability to slap the leader of the Empire?¡±

    ¡°I''m picturing it now. We get Yan back, and of course First Sandreas wants to meet the person who rescued her. And he goes to shake your hand, and you just whack him upside the head.¡±

    ¡°Perfect.¡±

    ¡°But seriously, Sylva, it''s not like he didn''t, doesn''t, care. I think he''s just really shitty at expressing it.¡±

    Sylva leaned over the side of the boat, resting her elbows on its rough surface, careful not to tug too hard on her shoulder stitches. ¡°Do you know how Yan felt about the whole thing? Her apprenticeship, I mean? She didn''t like to talk about it with me that much. My fault. I got angry and told her to quit, and I don''t think she wanted to tell me anything that was supposed to be a secret.¡±

    Iri was silent for a moment. ¡°She liked a lot of it. She found the work interesting, at least most of it, and she looked up to First Sandreas, and she and Halen found they had a lot of things in common, and she was good friends with Sid, less so with Kino, and I think she liked having me around... Those were the good parts. Everything else? I don''t know.¡±

    They were both just rambling, talking about Yan. Iri stared up at the sky, and Sylva looked out ahead into the darkness that surrounded them, the light from the stars doing little to illuminate the waves. This planet had no moon, which made the night much darker than it ever was on Emerri, which had two.

    ¡°The only things I know about First Sandreas come from personal observation, and from what Halen or Yan says to me. Those are two different pictures,¡± Iri said after a long pause in the conversation. ¡°Even though I was Yan''s minder, I wasn''t really privy to a lot of their private moments. So maybe I have a skewed view. But... Halen told me about what happened when Kino went missing for a couple hours.¡±

    ¡°Kino went missing? When?¡± Sylva disregarded what Iri was trying to communicate, some sort of emotional message about Sandreas''s emotional connection with his apprentices, and seized on the piece of factual information that she hadn''t known about before. She was curious about the other two apprentices. From what she knew of them at the Academy, they were both weird, and she really see why they had been chosen along with Yan.

    ¡°She and Sandreas were on a trip.¡±

    ¡°To where?¡±

    Iri choked a little again. ¡°Nowhere you''d be familiar with.¡±

    ¡°Off planet?¡±

    ¡°It was right before they went to Jenjin,¡± Iri said. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Was it a station?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Another planet, then.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Like this one?¡±

    ¡°In some ways.¡±

    ¡°What ship did they take there?¡±

    ¡°A Fleet ship. The Telescope, I believe.¡±

    ¡°How come I''m allowed to play this guessing game with you?¡±

    ¡°I think if you get too close to it I''ll have to stop,¡± Iri admitted. ¡°You''ll know when that happens.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Do Fleet ships go to that planet a lot? Is it some place that''s being terraformed?¡±

    ¡°Depends on what you mean by terraformed,¡± Iri said, voice a little strange.

    ¡°I don''t know. What does terraforming usually entail?¡±

    ¡°Usually? Fixing the atmosphere; introducing microbial, plant, and animal life; adding water a lot of the time... There''s lots of steps.¡±

    ¡°So were the Fleet ships doing any of that?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What were they doing, then?¡±

    ¡°You ever considered joining the Fleet, Sylva?¡±

    ¡°Only in the way that a ton of Academy graduates end up there. I wasn''t really the exploration driven type, though.¡±

    ¡°You dodged a bullet.¡± Clearly this was Iri indicating that Sylva could ask no more questions along this line without running into difficulty. Sylva gave up and went back to the earlier topic of conversation.

    ¡°So when Kino went missing, on this mystery planet, what did Halen have to say about that?¡±

    ¡°Sandreas went and searched for her himself. Apparently he was fairly distraught.¡±

    ¡°He found her, obviously.¡±

    ¡°No, Halen did.¡±

    ¡°But they won''t go looking for Yan?¡±

    ¡°There''s a bit of a difference between two sensitives searching a small section of a planet they''re already on and the leader of the Empire going personally on a quest to find his missing apprentice across the galaxy.¡±

    ¡°When I talked to Sid,¡± Sylva said, ¡°when he first told me the news, it sounded like there wasn''t going to be a search at all.¡±

    ¡°There''s three apprentices, but only one of them will eventually succeed First Sandreas,¡± Iri said. ¡°Something has to happen to the other two.¡±

    And that was the end of that conversation. Sylva stared morosely off into the distance and pulled the raft forward. There quite obviously was a search, and a fairly thorough one, but Iri was right that it seemed to be the fate of apprentices to die, or at least become indisposed. Had that been true of the previous rulers as well?

    They didn''t see land until the sun came up, peeking over the horizon and blinding Sylva. The dark line of land rose ever so slightly above the crests of the waves. She tugged the boat forward with renewed vigor, even though she was exhausted from a night of using the power nonstop. At least with such a simple task, it was easy enough to do with mild distractions, and simple enough to pick back up if she was disturbed. Throughout the night she had felt that other mind watching her, checking in occasionally, though making no overt moves to interfere. Sylva, perhaps unjustifiably, felt that if she fell asleep, that other mind would try to pull them along again. But soon they would be on land.

    In those first smudges of cloudy sunlight, it was possible to see that the island they were approaching was inhabited primarily on one side. The left, or ¡°northern¡± side of the island sloped gently down to a beachhead, and when she squinted, Sylva could see squat little buildings built on the grassy bluffs that rose back up towards the central hill of the island. It wasn''t quite a mountain, but it may have been, once. The other side of the island was as though the hill had been sawn in half, and short cliffs of rock crumbled into the sea. Off in the very distance, Sylva could see white sails dotting out along the ocean, leaving the side of the island that they couldn''t see and heading out to do their business: fishing or travel.

    This presented a slight problem. Sylva and Iri were not in any position to be encountered by the inhabitants of this planet, but their raft was a vivid orange against the clear blue of the ocean, and with the sun up, the other boats could see them just as easily as they were seen. Furthermore, they needed to get onto land, which would be a challenge in and of itself. They could land on the beach, but that would expose them to the full sight of the buildings up on the bluffs, or they could try to sail around the cliffs to find some more sheltered cove. If Sylva hadn''t been in moderately bad shape, and both of them bruised and stitched up, it would have been only ¡°difficult¡± to climb the cliffs (they weren''t very high, and the staggered way in which they broke would provide plenty of footholds), but it was rather out of the question in the shape they were in.

    Sylva shook Iri awake gently, and stopped pulling the boat for a second. Iri positively sparkled in the sunlight, both of them covered in dry salt from their dip in the water. Her hair was crunchy with it when she sat up and ran her hands through it.

    ¡°Careful you don''t get that in your eyes,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Yeah. We there yet?¡± Iri yawned, which revealed just how cracked her lips were.

    ¡°Close. Not sure where best to bring us in. There''s houses up there,¡± Sylva pointed. ¡°We could try the other side of the island?¡±

    ¡°Circle us around. Maybe there''s a cove or something.¡±

    So Sylva changed the direction she was pulling the boat, and swung them out around the cliffs, keeping a good distance away from the land still. She was worried about the high-visibility nature of their raft, but no boats stopped in their course and came towards them, which was good.

    As they sailed around the cliffs, they did give way eventually to a newer, much rockier beach, where big boulders littered the ground among gravelly rocks. If they landed there, they would have to do some scrambling to get up onto the more solid ground, but it was as good of a place as any, and Sylva was already having to fight the battering waves to keep their boat away from that area. It wasn''t a surprise that no boats docked here, and that there weren''t any buildings. It would have been a fairly unpleasant area for doing any real work, though had she been a child, Sylva would have loved to climb the rocks and scavenge in the tide pools. Now Sylva brought her raft in, and it scraped on the rocks as they got close. She and Iri both hopped out and dragged it up onto what could be considered a shore.

    They looked around themselves, staring out over the ocean and up onto the rocks behind them, which rose first into scrubby grass and then into bushes and finally trees. This place was teeming with life, like a fully realized colony. Birds dashed through the sky, and tiny specks of shrimp swam in the salty tide pools, along with see grasses and lichens and all manner of other things. The air was warm and clean and the day was bright. It was enough to lift both of their spirits, as the wind tousled their hair.

    But they couldn''t stand and contemplate the natural beauty of this world forever. They hauled the raft further ashore and weighed it down with loose rocks they gathered from the shoreline, hiding it in a dip between two of the larger cracked rocks. With any luck, no one would see it, and it would still be there should they need it. Sylva pulled the plug to let the air out of it, and the raft wheezed and deflated. They took their bags and scrambled up the hillside towards the center of the island.

    The grass was scratchy, and their torn, salty, and bloody clothes didn''t make things easy.

    ¡°We need to get new clothes,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Let''s hope these people hang their laundry outside,¡± Iri said. They were going to resort to theft immediately, but it couldn''t be helped.

    Before the treeline, there was a beaten dirt path. Sylva and Iri followed it. They kept a close ear out for people or cars coming down the road, but there were no sounds other than the birds and the rustling of the morning wind. It was a several kilometer walk around the outside of the island to where they had seen houses, and by time they came within sight of them, Sylva''s feet were complaining as much of the rest of her was. She wasn''t used to walking in full gravity; ships tended to run their rings light. As they came closer, they hid themselves among the trees, seeing the backs of houses and trying to avoid detection by the occasional person who peered out of a window or tended a garden.

    The people here didn''t seem to have many unifying physical features; their skins and hair were in the full range of shades, if tending towards the darker end of the spectrum due to the sunny climate. They were of different heights, and Sylva saw both men, women, and children out doing household tasks. Most of them were wearing loose fitting tunics that hit at about the knee, some tied at the waist with ribbon, others with a row of beads at the bottom that made a pleasant clacking as the wearer walked. Everyone seemed to be wearing soft cloth shoes, which made Sylva wince to look at them, considering the tender state of her own feet.

    Snatches of conversation floated across the wind. They were speaking a language that Sylva didn''t know. From what she heard, it had a similar cadence to a few of the languages of the Empire, but she didn''t recognize any of the words.

    They crept along through the trees until they did find a house where no one was around, with laundry hanging out to dry in the back. Tunics were strung up on a line from a window to a tree branch, flapping in the wind. They had probably been out overnight, since it was still a little early to be hanging up laundry.

    The houses were all of similar construction in shape: round, windowed, short. Some of them had a wall or several made out of the local stone, while others were more of a wood or clay construction. While the building materials appeared rather primitive to her eyes, there were solar panels along the clay tile roofs of the houses. So this place was not completely devoid of technology, for all that they used sailboats and had no satellites in orbit. Not technology-afraid separatists, then.

    ¡°Ready to use the power again?¡± Iri whispered to Sylva as they crouched in the bushes.

    Sylva nodded. It took her a solid half minute of concentration, but she was eventually able to get two tunics in her grasp. She tugged them loose from the clips holding them to the wire, trying to make it look like a particularly strong gust of wind had grabbed them, should anyone be watching. They flew through the air and into the bushes. Sylva and Iri waited a minute to see if anyone noticed before they went and retrieved them. With their ill-gotten clothing in hand, they headed into the forest, stripped off their filthy jumpsuits, and dressed in their new outfits. They didn''t fit, but since everything was of a very loose wear anyway, Sylva doubted anyone on this planet would notice. At least they were less blood-soaked now.

    ¡°Now what?¡± Sylva asked. She had a plan percolating in her head, but she wasn''t sure if she actually wanted to follow through on it. They were deep into the wooded area, and they sat, leaning against two trees. Sylva stroked the roughly-woven fabric of her yellow tunic. She had tried to pick the plainest ones, so that there would be fewer identifying features, and if they were seen people would be less likely to peg them as clothes thieves.

    ¡°There''s a long list of things that we probably should do,¡± Iri said. ¡°First would be getting some food and water.¡±

    In all the work that she had been doing, Sylva had been more concerned with how tired she was than how hungry and thirsty she was, but they hadn''t eaten since before they crashed the shuttle, which had been many hours ago.

    ¡°Plenty of gardens we can steal from,¡± Sylva said. She felt only slightly guilty about this. ¡°I meant after that.¡±

    ¡°What was it that your mentor taught you, before you left?¡± That was a non sequitur, but it wasn''t surprising that Iri was curious now. After all, Sylva''s apprenticeship was in linguistics, and they were on a planet where they did not speak the language. Iri was, of course, right to be suspicious.

    ¡°She taught me how to steal knowledge out of someone''s brain.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said you couldn''t do that.¡±

    ¡°Not... memories, exactly. Language,¡± Sylva said, frowning. ¡°I don''t want to do it.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°It''s painful for all involved. And immoral, probably. And I don''t even think I could.¡±

    ¡°What, you''ve done everything else with the power I''ve asked of you. Don''t see why this would be different.¡±

    ¡°It''s way more complicated,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Way harder. I mean you aren''t even supposed to use the power to touch other people.¡±

    ¡°That''s never stopped anyone particularly dedicated.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it''d probably stop me. I don''t think you really get it,¡± Sylva said. She looked at Iri, who seemed as relaxed as she could be against the tree. She had gotten to sleep, after all, where Sylva had been awake since the nap she had taken aboard the shuttle. Plus Sylva had already been doing a lot more work during that time.

    ¡°I don''t, but there''s no harm in trying.¡±

    ¡°There definitely, definitely is,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Worst case scenario, I could destroy someone''s brain completely.¡±

    ¡°That''s not going to happen. I feel like that would take a lot more effort.¡±

    ¡°Even in the best case scenario, we''d have to kidnap someone ourselves, and invade their brain, and I''m not kidding when I say it hurts, and then they''d know about us, and...¡±

    ¡°Sylva, do you want to find Yan or not? Because if you''re refusing to do this, that''s you refusing to take the most direct route to getting information. If we can''t talk to people on this planet, we can''t learn things.¡± Iri stared her down. ¡°Let me know what you decide. I want to see what Yan''s life is worth to you.¡±

    ¡°Fuck you,¡± Sylva said. She ripped up a clump of grass and threw it at Iri. It wasn''t a very effective projectile, and lessened the impact of her words significantly. They glared at each other in silence.

    ¡°I''m waiting for an answer.¡±

    Sylva didn''t speak for a long moment, frowning deeply. She would have usually been twisting her hair, but it hurt just a little too much to raise her arms for that to be a useful coping mechanism. ¡°I don''t think I physically can.¡±

    ¡°But you''ll try?¡± Iri asked, still staring directly at her.

    Reluctantly, Sylva nodded.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡±

    ¡°I assume after that, we steal a boat and get off this island so that no one attacks us for what we did to our victim.¡±

    ¡°Please don''t talk like that,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Let''s not be anything other than blunt.¡±

    ¡°Do you even know how to sail?¡±

    ¡°You know how to push a boat around.¡±

    ¡°And where are we going to go?¡± That was the question of the hour.

    ¡°The way I see it, we have two choices,¡± Iri began. ¡°First, we could go to the major population center. There might be, I don''t know, a library or something where we could look at news articles. I assume that this planet has news articles. If Yan is a high profile political prisoner, which she might be, that could give us a clue.¡±

    ¡°And the other choice? Keeping in mind that I''m not actually sure I''ll be able to learn how to read. It wasn''t really clear when my mentor showed me,¡± Sylva said, trailing off.

    ¡°Not that I particularly like the idea, but we could go towards that other mind.¡±

    ¡°That''s what it wants.¡±

    ¡°And that makes me nervous. There''s nothing good that can come of a person that powerful having their eyes on you,¡± Iri said. ¡°But they haven''t outright tried to harm us.¡±

    ¡°I get the feeling that as soon as we''re in another boat, they''ll be pulling us along again.¡±

    ¡°So it''ll be very, very easy for us to get there,¡± Iri agreed. ¡°And if I know Yan...¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°If she managed to escape, and that mind had its eyes on her, she probably would have gone towards it like a beacon.¡±

    That made sense. Yan was always seeking out a connection. Perhaps she would have judged that as safer than the alternative of being alone on this planet. Who knows how strongly that mind had called to her? Perhaps Sylva''s barely functioning sense of the power had muted her connection to that mind. She had been getting better, but really only at the practical, surface level power applications. Everything else was up in the air.

    She was about to find out just how much better she had gotten. The thought put goosebumps all up and down her spine.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Can we split up, or is that too dangerous?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I want to sleep, and you can go get us food.¡±

    Iri chewed on her chapped lower lip for a second, thinking about it. ¡°Let''s go deeper into this forest area, and yes, I can go find us something to eat.¡±

    <hr>

    It was late afternoon before they were ready to enact their terrible plot. Sylva and Iri staked out a position on the side of the road, a good distance away from the houses. They had been watching people walk up and down the road, and they were waiting until the conditions were just right. They were hoping that down the road would come a man, hopefully scrawny enough that Iri could take him in her weakened state, walking alone, and without much... stuff. There were a couple people who had come by dragging carts full of supplies, or walking in pairs, or riding on little electric vehicles, but none had yet matched quite the right criteria. They wanted someone who wouldn''t be missed if he went missing for a few hours. It was hard to tell exactly what that type of person would be like, but they were going to do their best.

    Sylva was a little further up the road than Iri was, so that she could give Iri advanced warning. She heard someone coming. People on this planet walked pretty quietly, with their soft shoes on the dirt path, but this one was whistling a jaunty tune. Whoever the person was kept getting confused midway through the tune and looping back to start it again, ending in a different place each time. As the person came into view, Sylva could see that he was a man, tall but skinny, alone, and only carrying a bag. She flashed Iri the hand signal that they had set up and waited.

    She saw Iri silently tense in the bushes. As soon as the man walked by, going past her by a few feet, Iri sprang up and grabbed him, her arms around his face to stop him from screaming. He thrashed to get away from her, and they both went down to the dirt road, hard. Iri wrestled with him for a second, but got her legs and arms firmly in place around his body. They were both covered in dirt and grime, and Iri was frowning.

    Sylva rushed over. They had some rope, more like a thin cord, that had originally belonged to their liferaft, and they used that to tie him up. Sylva did most of the tying while Iri made sure he couldn''t escape, despite his struggling.

    They hauled him off the road and into the forest. Sylva carried his feet and Iri hoisted him under his armpits. He didn''t make it easy on them.

    He wasn''t a bad looking man. He had curly brown hair and chestnut eyes, with a sharp nose and slightly crooked teeth. His teeth were in plain view because they had jammed a piece of torn up fabric from Sylva''s discarded jumpsuit in his mouth. His nostrils flared wildly as he struggled to get enough air, wiggling to try to escape their grip.

    They brought him back to the clearing and sat him upright against a tree. For good measure, Iri tied him to that as well.

    ¡°Now what?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°I guess you make sure that no one finds us, and I''ll just...¡± She trailed off. She didn''t want to do this. Every fiber of her being was screaming out to her that she both couldn''t and shouldn''t, but she was going to anyway. Commitment actions. That was what she had done, like the captain of the Bellringer deciding to jump the ship in. She had committed to this path, probably a long time ago, and she would have to follow it through.

    The man looked back and forth between them, panic evident in his face. It only got worse when Sylva crouched down in front of him and sat heavily backwards onto the ground.

    ¡°Sorry in advance,¡± Sylva said, trying to sound calming and apologetic. ¡°This is going to suck. But if it''s any consolation, it''ll probably be just as bad for me as it is for you.¡±

    She leaned forward and put her hands on his face, thumbs on his cheeks, the rest of her fingers splayed out towards his ears. His hair was soft and fine. He flinched back away from her, but there was nowhere for his head to go except into the bark of the tree behind him.

    ¡°Sorry again,¡± Sylva said, and reached for the power.

 Chapter Seventy-Five - A Message Received None Too Soon

    A Message Received None Too Soon

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Good news comes to those who wait.¡±

    -common aphorism

    </blockquote>

    Sid got the news within a few hours of the Impulse jumping back in to the Emerri system. As soon as the radios could be aligned to pick up planetary feeds, it was like the ship was back, tethered to civilization. It had been an island unto itself while it was jumping from place to place. Now it had returned to the fold, and the information came to it in a stream.

    They were still out on the edge of the system. Safety concerns dictated that jumping from completely uninhabited space towards planets and stations be done in two jumps, to lessen the chance of collisions. After all, jumping into a system completely blind from light days, months, or years away was a danger. It wasn''t even ideal jumping in from the distance of light hours at the edge of a system, but things could be more easily scheduled when radio contact was technically possible. The ship would just send their intended jump information as soon as they came in, and they would wait for the planet to confirm.

    So for hours after jumping, as they waited for radio messages to crawl their way across space, Sid amused himself during what he felt were probably the last few hours on the Impulse. He would be going home, and the crew would all be returning to their normal lives, free of their Fleet obligations. Some, like Cesper, would be returning after the Impulse was done receiving her maintenance, but most of the enlisted people would be going. Sid wandered the halls of the ship, looking around for Cesper. He didn''t find him, which was unfortunate. He had wanted to spend some more time with him before they both went their separate ways for a while, but it seemed as though Cesper was avoiding him.

    Maybe that was just an illusion, and he was on duty elsewhere. Now that Sid and Kino''s official duties aboard the ship were concluded, and they were more familiar with its operation, it wasn''t as though they needed a tour guide all the time. Cesper probably had more important things to do with helping the ship prepare to go into hibernation for a while.

    Still, it was hard to not feel dejected and rejected when Sid couldn''t find Cesper to spend his last day with. They would definitely get to say goodbye when they jumped in to the planet (they would probably be taking the elevator ride down together), but there was no privacy there. And a little privacy would have been nice.

    Whatever plans Sid thought he had, though, were wiped away when he received that first data package. He and Kino were sitting together, their own computers open in front of them, in one of the little conference rooms aboard the Impulse that they had commandeered as their own personal meeting room. They knew when the radio broadcasts were set to start, and it would just be a few hours before they would be able to jump back home and take the elevator down to the surface of the planet.

    ¡°Here it comes,¡± Sid said, as his computer flashed with incoming notifications. He clicked the very top one, a red, urgent message from Sandreas. Presumably it was actually written by Halen, and it probably wasn''t that urgent except that it was from Sandreas, but it definitely didn''t hurt to read that first. ¡°You got a message from Sandreas, too?¡±

    ¡°Open it,¡± Kino said. ¡°It''s addressed to both of us.¡±

    Sid did then glance down at its contents.

    <blockquote>

    Sid and Kino,

    I hope this letter finds you well. I''ll get right to the point. We have received intelligence that we think is reliable on Yan''s possible location.

    Because the Impulse is the only Fleet ship available on such short notice, she will be going to investigate.

    I have ordered the Impulse locked down for the moment; no crew will be allowed to leave until I have talked to Captain Wen. I will waiting at Emerri station when you jump in so that we can discuss this in person.

    Safe jump,

    Aymon

    </blockquote>

    Sid''s hands shook as he ran his fingers across the sides of his head, trying to steady himself at this revelation. He had been hoping every day that there would be news about Yan, and to finally have that news materialize made him feel far too much.

    There was a seed of hope growing in his chest that still felt sick and twisted. If this turned out to be a false lead, or if it was a correct lead, but Yan was already dead, that would be too much to bear. He tried to temper his expectations, but found that he couldn''t. His mind was already running a million light years a second, imagining what they would find when they went to...

    Actually, he was mad at Sandreas for not giving any information whatsoever.

    Actually, Sid had a sneaking, horrible thought.

    ¡°Kino, any idea why he didn''t tell us where this information is leading?¡± Sid looked over at her. She was positively green, and her fingers had found their way into her mouth as she bit her nails aggressively.

    She shook her head.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°You look sick.¡±

    Kino removed her fingers from her mouth, then opened and closed it a couple times as though she were struggling to find the words. Sid felt a bit of sympathy for this. He had been in that situation many times, where the words were too much. He always had sign to fall back on, though that wasn''t something Kino was fluent enough into make it feasible for communication. He looked at her for a second, then decided that if she wasn''t going to be able to say what she needed to, he would go ahead and blurt out the thought that had arrived screaming in his brain.

    ¡°I don''t think Sandreas is going to let us go,¡± Sid said.

    This was, apparently, not what was getting Kino so worked up, and her head jerked up in surprise.

    ¡°Think about it,¡± he said. ¡°Why else wouldn''t he just send the coordinates or information to Captain Wen? Why would he have to come here himself?¡±

    ¡°Because it''s delicate information?¡± Kino offered.

    ¡°Encrypted radio is very secure. I don''t think that''s it.¡± Sid drummed his fingers on his chin, elbow resting on the table. ¡°I think he''s coming here to escort us off the ship.¡±

    Kino stared at him blankly, so Sid continued.

    ¡°Think about it. He never wanted us to go out and look for Yan before. It was hard enough convincing him to let us go deal with the station. And this would be going directly into danger, maybe.¡±

    ¡°But why would he need to escort us? He could just order us to come home.¡±

    ¡°I can''t believe you think so little of me,¡± Sid said. ¡°I''ve had worse disobedience for much less reason.¡± He was thinking back to that horrible period when he was in withdrawal from Vena. That had been such a stupid time. He had been so stupid.

    ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°But if he came here, we''d be strong-armed into following him back home.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn''t he just not tell us the information, then?¡±

    Sid raised an eyebrow. ¡°You don''t think Halen put him up to it?¡±

    ¡°I think he and Halen agree on most things,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°No, think about it,¡± Sid insisted. ¡°What would we do if we got home and found out that information had been hidden from us?¡± Sid could feel his voice becoming high and shrill with a familiar tightness in his throat, even if he couldn''t hear his voice.

    Kino stayed silent and stoic, waiting for Sid to answer his own question.

    ¡°I honestly don''t know what I''d do.¡± He deliberately tried to calm down, lowering his volume and taking a deep breath. ¡°I don''t know what I''d trust myself to do.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he just thought it wasn''t worth keeping a secret,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°I might have found out even if he had tried to make it secret. And I would have been mad at him for that, too.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Cesper would have told me, I bet.¡±

    ¡°Even with Fleet information training?¡±

    ¡°We''re both cleared for access to everything. He could tell me, if I asked.¡±

    ¡°And would you ask?¡±

    ¡°If I thought things were suspicious.¡± Sid paused for a second. ¡°Actually, that might be the reason he''s not keeping it secret.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because he knows that Cesper would tell me.¡±

    ¡°He doesn''t even know Cesper,¡± Kino pointed out.

    Sid grimaced a little. ¡°Yeah, but I, uh, talked about him in my letter.¡±

    ¡°Ha.¡± Kino''s face was still grim, despite the single syllable of laughter that Sid''s glasses provided to him.

    ¡°Did you figure out what you were going to say earlier?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°I don''t want Yan to be dead,¡± Kino said finally. Sid nodded.

    ¡°We''re going to fight to go there, right? Together?¡±

    Kino thought about it for a long moment as she ripped at the sleeve of her cassock. Finally, slowly, as though it were against her better judgment, she nodded.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    <hr>

    Sandreas came aboard without any fanfare. There was no formal greeting by the greater crew of the Impulse; there wasn''t time for that. He swooped through the airlock and onto the ship, where Sid, Kino, Captain Wen and his officers were waiting. They exchanged quick greetings, perfunctory, even.

    It was awkward. Sid and Kino were sidelined as Sandreas shook hands with Wen and several of the officers. Sid snuck a glance at Halen, who lurked in the back of Sandreas''s party. Halen noticed his look, and possibly his slight resentment at being almost ignored by Sandreas. Halen''s eyebrow and lip quirked ever so slightly upwards when their eyes met, and Sid shook his head slightly and looked away.

    Ervantes Cesper was in the back of Wen''s party. He was the most junior officer in the group, in terms of experience, if not also by rank, but he was the apprentices'' liaison, so it made sense for him to meet Sandreas as well. Sid had been paying less attention to the greetings than he should have been, but when Sandreas reached Cesper, Sid watched.

    ¡°So you''re Lieutenant Cesper?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± Ervantes said, looking slightly nervous. Sid remembered the conversation he had had about what Sandreas was like.

    ¡°Thank you for saving my apprentice''s life,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°I won''t forget it.¡±

    ¡°He saved ours as much as anything,¡± Ervantes said, trying to deflect.

    Sandreas looked down his nose at Ervantes, not judgmental, simply imperious, as if that made much of a difference when one was underneath his gaze. ¡°Sid communicated to me how much he appreciated it regardless. We should talk later.¡± He clapped Ervantes on the shoulder, which in the zero gravity area of the ship made them both drift apart slightly. Ervantes steadied himself on the wall, and Sandreas turned to continue his greetings.

    Ervantes looked shaken, and he glanced across the hall at Sid, who smiled at him. Something changed on Ervantes''s face. He looked away, possibly angry? Sid had no idea what was going on. He glanced over at Halen, hoping to maybe catch some sign from the empath. Halen''s attention was focused solely on Sandreas, though, and there would be no figuring out what was going on with Ervantes from him.

    The greetings concluded, everyone filed out down the hallways towards the ring section of the ship where they would be meeting in Wen''s officer''s briefing room, which was just large enough to fit all of both parties. As they traveled through the hallways, Wen''s group led the way, and Sandreas fell slightly towards the back so that he could talk to his apprentices a little.

    He put one hand on Sid''s shoulder and the other on Kino''s upper arm for a second, just to get both of their attentions. It would have been nice to have something more, but Sandreas had never been the touchy-feely type, so it wasn''t exactly surprising that he didn''t go in for a hug or anything like that.

    ¡°Admirable job with the station,¡± he said as they pushed off the floor and drifted down the hall. ¡°I hope you two weren''t at each other''s throats the whole time.¡±

    ¡°We got along,¡± Kino said. ¡°We''re adults.¡±

    ¡°If being an adult precluded people from fighting, the universe would be a very different place,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°But I''m glad to hear it.¡±

    Sid wasn''t exactly feeling up to discussing their previous work. He really wanted to get on with the business of the future. He really wanted to guarantee that he would be staying aboard the Impulse to go rescue Yan. And the best way to do that was maybe by being blunt.

    ¡°Why didn''t you tell us what''s going on over the radio?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Because this is a delicate situation,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°Which means what, exactly?¡±

    ¡°I didn''t want anyone rushing heedlessly into things.¡±

    ¡°I don''t rush,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°You two are not the only people involved in this situation,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°We''re wasting time,¡± Sid said.

    Sandreas rubbed the bridge of his nose. ¡°A few hours, a few days, it doesn''t matter. Yan has been missing for months. If the worst was going to happen...¡± There was an unspoken end to that sentence. ¡°I understand that you''re eager. I am as well. But we''ll discuss all this in a minute. With the group.¡±

    Sid shook his head slightly, pushed off from the ground with extra force, and brushed past Sandreas to go join the Impulse''s crew, or at least tag along right behind them. In the brief second when he was in physical contact with Sandreas, Sid sent, ¡°It''s like you don''t care at all,¡± through the power. He wasn''t sure if Sandreas received the message, and he didn''t particularly care, either. It was more of a way for him to let out his frustration than to accomplish anything.

    And if Sandreas did hear him, then all the better if he changed his behavior.

    Was acting like a petulant child going to accomplish anything for him? Probably not. Sid tried to come up next to Ervantes, but for some reason, he was now most definitely being avoided. He would need to corner him later and figure out what was going on. Something Sandreas had said had gotten him all worked up. Sid didn''t understand how; the conversation was so innocuous as to be completely forgettable.

    So Sid''s little rebellion left him drifting along with no one to talk to. Kino and Sandreas''s conversation drifted in tiny letters across the bottom of his glasses, but Sid shook them down to the tip of his nose so that he wouldn''t see it. In terms of information being power, he was definitely missing out, but he was finding it uncomfortable to be back with Sandreas.

    When Sandreas was in the room, all of Sid''s power left. Not physically, just socially. He had no authority here anymore. No one would listen to him when they could listen to Sandreas. He couldn''t win in a fight against his boss. He had no hope of getting what he wanted unless he played nice, and Sid was incapable of doing that. At the very least, he was incapable of doing that when he was agitated, and he was significantly agitated now.

    They came to the gravity section, and then it wasn''t long before they all filed into the conference room and sat down around the long table. Captain Wen and Sandreas sat across from each other at one end of the table, and the Impulse''s crew and Sandreas''s entourage all took seats along the respective sides. Halen stood near the back wall, just the right distance away from Sandreas. Sid ended up between Kino on his right and Jayhun Rook, the intelligence officer who had accompanied Sandreas to give this information, on his left. He didn''t know Rook that well; they had met incidentally a few times, and Sid received regular reports from his staff, but there were far too many Imperial staff for Sid to keep real track of them all.

    Sandreas brought the meeting to order, though he hardly needed to say anything. Everyone listened when he talked. He had a magnetic presence, partially because of his station, partially because of the way he held himself, and partially because of the way that Sid suspected he sometimes injected the power into his voice.

    ¡°First of all,¡± Sandreas said, keeping his face carefully neutral as he stared around the room. ¡°I''d like to thank you all for the work that you did with Less-Travel Station. I am very grateful to your efforts. The measure of success we had is all thanks to your expertise.¡±

    Clearly, Sandreas did not consider what had happened aboard the LT to be an unmitigated success. There was still the matter of the missing ship, and the Guild was no closer to being brought to heel, at least last Sid had heard. It could have been far worse, though, so it was worth it for Sandreas to remark on the small victories, especially when he was about to ask something major of the crew of the Impulse.

    ¡°Now, perhaps fortunately, congratulating you on a job well done is not the reason I came here. As you are all aware, my third apprentice, Yan BarCarran, was kidnapped off of the Guild ship the Tranquility several months ago, and, up until this point, we have been unable to pin down her location.

    ¡°That changed as of a few days ago. We have received intelligence that indicates that Yan is being held...¡± he paused and waited for someone to send the starchart to the big screen at the front of the room. Everyone turned to look. ¡°Here.¡±

    The map was a standard looking starchart, showing points of light, distances, and names of stars. The region of space that it was centered on was curiously empty.

    ¡°As you can see, this is a region of dead space. We suspect, then, that there is a pirate outpost here, far from stellar bodies in order to avoid detection.

    ¡°We say suspect because we do not know for sure. This could be a rendezvous location for two ships in order to pass off a trade, or this could be a completely misleading trail. Or it may not be pirates. The Adversary may be involved.¡±

    Captain Wen raised his hand slightly, a real show of deference. Sandreas nodded to him. ¡°We were all out of contact range at the time that the original kidnapping occurred, so I forgive my crew for not being completely informed on it, but she was originally taken by pirates, correct?¡±

    Sandreas nodded. ¡°Pirates, as well as collaborators aboard the ship she was on.¡±

    ¡°Then, and pardon me if this is an obvious question, why do you believe that the Adversary had anything to do with it?¡±

    ¡°We believe the original attack was intended for me, and Yan was taken as a second place trophy, if you will. There was a thought originally that she had been taken solely as revenge for fending off a pirate attack while aboard the Sky Boat, another Guild ship. That turned out not to be the case.

    ¡°Based on the fact that there have been no attempts made to contact the Empire for a ransom or a threat, which pirates might be inclined to do, the attack was probably political in nature. There have been no signs that it was any group within the Empire. Any terrorist faction or political separatists would have had no problem claiming the act, but there has been nothing. This is what led us to believe that the Adversary may have her.¡±

    ¡°And yet you believe that there could be a pirate base?¡±

    ¡°The worrying thought is that the Adversary and pirates have connections. Not close ones, but perhaps some working relationship, in which the Adversary disguises their true nature. This may be the place where that crossover happens.¡±

    ¡°And how did you come by this starchart?¡± Wen asked. He seemed skeptical, scratching the side of his face casually.

    ¡°My intelligence officer, Jayhun Rook, will be able to explain that better.¡± Sandreas leaned back in his chair. Rook stood to address the room.

    ¡°As you may be aware, we have a web of agents operating across the galaxy. Most are stationed on planets, but we have a few embedded into key locations on board stations and ships, both of the Guild and of pirates. They provide information about the goings on in the underworld that we would not otherwise be privy to. During the course of their duties, they make a point of tapping into the computer systems of certain high-priority ships, and ensuring that their data storage is dumped to station memory while ships are docked.

    ¡°One of these ships, called the Bellringer, is a pirate vessel with a specific connection to Yan BarCarran. The captain of the Bellringer has a bounty out on her head, along with on Sid Welslak''s.¡± Rook nodded at him, and Sid''s cheeks heated up momentarily at this reminder of his role during the pirate attack on the Sky Boat.

    ¡°Two undercover agents were aboard the Bellringer, and they managed to witness the Bellringer gathering information about BarCarran''s location. They kidnapped a man by the codename of Starman, who claimed to have worked for the people who took Yan. He provided them this starmap of the location where he was going to be paid to transport her.

    ¡°This information is about a month old,¡± Rook cautioned. ¡°The agents who provided it couldn''t access the station dump files, so they left the message on a beacon that was only recently picked up by another agent who passed it along to us. Are there any questions?¡±

    ¡°Do we trust the source?¡± Wen asked.

    ¡°Our agents, who we trust, made the judgment that this is credible information, or at least worth investigating. The crew of the Bellringer clearly believe the same thing. Anything else?¡±

    Wen turned to look at Sandreas. Rook, seeing that his turn to speak was clearly over, sat back down. ¡°The Impulse is going to investigate this, correct?¡± Wen asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°I understand that you are past time to return home for your leave, but the Impulse is the only ship available.¡±

    ¡°I understand that,¡± Wen said. ¡°Though I hate to be the one to break the news to my crew that they did a whole tour of duty peacefully, only to need to head into the unknown again.¡±

    ¡°You''re authorized to give double pay for this excursion,¡± Sandreas said, expression dismissive. ¡°None of us like it, but none of us have a choice. I''m in contact with the rest of the Fleet and we''re making plans to relieve you immediately should the situation turn out to be... deeper than expected.¡±

    ¡°How far away is this place?¡±

    ¡°About fifteen days travel.¡±

    Wen''s upper lip curled unpleasantly. ¡°Far.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And when we get there?¡±

    ¡°I have a team assembled to integrate with yours. Depending on what the situation is in this place, they may be able to enact a rescue operation.¡±

    ¡°If there''s a station, you mean?¡±

    ¡°That would be the best case scenario, yes.¡±

    Sid spoke up, interrupting the conversation. ¡°You said that this information came off of the Bellringer. What happens if they get to her first? They''re going to the same place, and they have a major head start.¡±

    ¡°The a pirate ship doesn''t have the resources a Fleet ship does,¡± Wen said. ¡°If there''s any resistance, I have no doubt that we will succeed where they have failed.¡±

    ¡°I''m not talking about what if the Bellringer already tried and failed,¡± Sid said. ¡°I''m asking what if they succeeded?¡±

    ¡°I think we would find that out relatively quickly,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°Pirates are not known for being particularly humble.¡±

    So they were banking on the pirates bragging about killing her, then. In other words, she would be dead if they got to her.

    Rook spoke up. ¡°Our agents are also, as far as I''m aware, still on the Bellringer. They may be in position to sabotage the Bellringer''s plans in order to prevent her capture.¡±

    Sid nodded. He wasn''t appeased but there clearly was nothing he could do. He looked up the table towards Sandreas, and their eyes met. There was a note of warning there. Caution. Don''t overstep your bounds.

    Sid looked up and down the table. He saw the Fleet soldiers, their faces calculating, concerned, tired. Kino ripped at the sleeve of her cassock. Halen stared him down, sensing that Sid was making up his mind. He shook his head ever so slightly, but Sid turned away.

    ¡°Kino and I,¡± he said, then took a deep breath. It was hard to think of the most solid yet delicate way to phrase this. He didn''t want to put his foot in his mouth. He didn''t precisely want to cause a scene and anger Sandreas. But he did want control of the situation.

    ¡°We''re going,¡± Kino said. ¡°We''re coming to rescue Yan, if you''ll continue to have us on board.¡±

 Chapter Seventy-Six - A Friend is a Stranger is a Friend

    A Friend is a Stranger is a Friend

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Understanding the differences between us allows us to recognize what is worthwhile about ourselves. It would be all to easy to live a life taking how we behave and why we behave that way for granted. If we are exposed to different points of view, it allows us to make strange the familiar, and familiar the strange. Not all things that are different are wrong, and certainly not all of the things that we live with every day are there because they are perfect.¡±

    -Helem Walochoulis, Sylva''s Galactic Literature III teacher at the Academy

    </blockquote>

    Rooting through the man''s brain was easier than Sylva expected. It was far, far, far too easy. It was as though the power suddenly fit onto her like a glove, in the way it had never done before. This stealing, this theft of the patterns of another person''s mind, the way this man''s impulses suddenly overlaid her own, like two different understandings held at once, it was wrong, and right, and altogether too much. Sylva reeled back, clutching her own head which was pounding and screaming at her.

    The man, tied to the tree, flopped limply to the side, his head drooping over his shoulder, and drool collecting along the corner of his mouth where the gag ended.

    ¡°Fuck, Sylva, what did you do to him?¡± Iri asked, somewhat concerned. Sylva sat on the bare ground, watching the world swim in front of her eyes. The pain was worse than she had ever felt before, leaping around in her brain. She could understand why her mentor had never had her do this to learn a language before now. It was too much. Too much.

    Even Iri''s words swam around, somewhat muddled by the way this new, stolen mind inside hers felt about the sounds as they came out. Sylva tried to process this and respond to Iri, but what came out was a half formed jumble of two languages.

    ¡°He should be alright,¡± she tried to say, but there were so many different problems that arose in the construction of that sentence alone that it all faded into incohesion.

    Iri seemed even more concerned after that, and looked between Sylva and their victim, not sure what should be done. They would have to let this man go, and then they would have to get off this island, but both of those things brought their own complications, and Sylva was too much in the process of reintegrating her own mind, and dealing with the splitting headache that it gave her to do much of anything.

    They all sat there, under the trees, as the light grew dimmer and dimmer above them, and the man slowly regained some of his senses. Sylva, too, got over her headache and spoke slowly enough that she could stay in New Imperial, without flashes of this new language, Valus, she thought it was called, jumping out of her mouth instead.

    ¡°We should let him go,¡± she finally choked out. Iri nodded. She removed first the gag from the man''s mouth, and he breathed in choking gasps. It was good that he hadn''t suffocated during this whole process, Sylva realized abruptly. They could have killed him, really, for real. But he was alive, and he started shouting as soon as he could speak.

    Sylva covered her ears, the sudden noise driving spikes of pain through her brain. The understanding that came with that noise was more painful though, as her brain rewrote itself for comprehension of these sounds.

    ¡°You''re children of evil!¡± the man was yelling. ¡°I''ll kill you!¡±

    Iri was about to untie his arms, but hesitated as he screamed at her. She looked at Sylva for confirmation.

    ¡°You were able to tackle him before. Doubt he can do anything,¡± Sylva said wearily, the words coming only very slowly. Even though she had just napped fairly recently, she was still exhausted.

    ¡°At least get out of his way so he can''t do anything when I let him go,¡± Iri said. Sylva obliged, and painfully got to her feet. She walked several meters away and leaned against a tree.

    Iri pulled the ropes first off the man''s arms and then off his legs, though the entire time she was attempting to free him, he lunged at her angrily, even if he was completely ineffective. She hopped back away from him once her task was complete, and he looked indecisively between them and freedom, considering. He made his decision and made a break for it, running and stumbling through the woods. Sylva and Iri did not pursue him.

    ¡°Did it work?¡± Iri asked, looking over at Sylva. Sylva had her eyes closed and her head tilted back against the side of the tree.

    ¡°I think so. God my head hurts.¡±

    ¡°Great. We should get out of here,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sylva replied, though there was absolutely no motivation in her voice. ¡°Yeah.¡± She made no motion to leave.

    Iri grabbed Sylva''s arm, and Sylva let it be floppy and weak in her grasp. ¡°Let''s go.¡± Iri tugged on her. Sylva stumbled forward a few steps.

    Iri practically had to drag her deeper into the woods. At the very least, they needed to get out of this spot. There was absolutely no chance that their recently freed captive wouldn''t go and get a hunting party to come after them. That was the logical conclusion. It was what anyone would do. Neither of the two women had any desire to encounter what this planet''s version of law enforcement was.

    They treked through the woods until they came once again to the road, in a slightly different place than they had entered from, and, careful to avoid any people, they followed it for quite a ways. They walked until they were a safe distance away from where they had taken the man. They were now near the central hump of the island, almost directly below its highest point, though that was still not incredibly high. The hill became far steeper here, and Sylva and Iri sat to rest and collect their bearings. Their next step was obviously going to need to be to get off this island, which would involve stealing a boat. That would have to wait until true cover of night, and possibly night of the next day. After all, there probably would be people out looking for them during this night.

    They settled down as much as they could, and formed a little base there. They didn''t bother lighting a fire; it was plenty warm out, and they didn''t have any food to cook, and it would have attracted needless attention. The one thing that was pleasant about night on this island was that, due to the proximity of the ocean, or perhaps due to the ecosystem of this planet, there were far fewer biting bugs than there would have been on an equivalently warm night on Emerri. For a while, Sylva looked up at the stars and contemplated the vast one way barrier out there in space, preventing their light from leaving.

    They spent the night and the day in relative quiet, waiting until they could get the chance to steal a boat. It was good to have some rest, and to allow their wounds to heal at least a day''s worth. They were both extremely lucky in that they seemed to have avoided infection thus far. Everything was hot and inflamed and tender, but no more than usual, and there was no puss or other alarming signals from beneath their stitches. Iri returned to wherever she had gotten food from that first day and brought back some more slightly under ripe vegetables.

    Sylva''s headache had mostly receded by time the next night rolled around. She hadn''t been in a very talkative mood, but that hadn''t meant her brain hadn''t been stuffed to the brim with words. Every time she looked around her, she had this weird dual sensation of her own knowledge, and the language knowledge that going into the man''s mind had brought.

    The weirdest sensation came when she looked at Iri. Gender was baked into the structure of New Imperial. In New Imperial, every verb was conjugated with respect to the subject''s gender: male, female, a neutral version for strangers, inanimate object(s), animal(s), groups of people, and so on. In contrast, this new language had none of that. There were two personal pronouns, but they related more to age than to gender. That was why when that man had spoken, it felt like he was calling them children. He had apparently decided that was what their ¡°gender¡± was.

    Sylva wondered what exactly the cultural dividing line where the age marker switched from one to the other. She certainly felt as though she were older than a child, and Iri was a couple years older than she was. She would just have to wait until she caught a glimpse of someone that sparked that new part of her brain into using the other pronoun. She couldn''t exactly picture it in her head based on the knowledge that the word existed. She could know that that word was there, because of its natural contrast to the child-pronoun, and she could feel the child-pronoun when she looked at Iri, but she couldn''t imagine backwards, thinking of the adult-pronoun and conjuring an image in her head.

    They crept down the road under the cover of night, back towards the town that overlooked the lines of boats docked in the water. Though there were a few lights on in the houses, there was no one out. There seemed to be no security on the boats either. Presumably they weren''t a thing that anyone would try to steal. This was a small island, and everyone living here already had their own boat. The docks creaked under their feet as they made their way through the jumble of masts and dark forms over the water. The air was calm, and the ocean lapped at the beach and rocked the wood they were standing on.

    They chose a boat that seemed well stocked. Was it bad of them that they were stealing probably the entire livelihood of whoever owned this boat? Certainly. Was that going to stop them? No. Probably they would abandon the boat on some dock on a distant island, and perhaps it would eventually be returned to its owner. This planet must have some system for doing that. After all, boats probably drifted off to sea on occasion; if someone found one out on the open water, it seemed likely that they would have an authority to contact to deal with it.

    Iri swung herself down over the side of the boat, and Sylva clambered in much more cautiously and awkwardly. They didn''t turn on any lights to avoid attracting attention, which made Iri''s fumbling around with the ropes difficult. At least they didn''t need to worry about jerry rigging the motor or anything to get it started. Since neither of them knew how to sail, their intention was once again to have Sylva pull the boat along with the power. It was, in essence, the least elegant solution imaginable, and if they encountered a serious storm they would be in danger of dying from lack of knowledge, but the were hoping that it wouldn''t come to that.

    The computer system in the front of the boat booted up when Iri fiddled with it. It didn''t appear to be connected to the engine in any way, as following the wires that came out of it led to a giant antenna that stuck comically upward from the top of the mast, and to a small solar panel and battery that were away from the motor and the small drive computer at the wheel. The display showed a map of the nearby area, and a multitude of flashing beacons superimposed over it, as well as an icon for their current position, and the jumble of boats sitting sleeping around them.

    ¡°Can you read this text?¡± Iri asked. Sylva came over to look at it. She squinted at it. There was a feeling, when she looked at the characters, that there was meaning there, and she could learn it much more readily than if she had not stolen from that man''s brain, but as with the inability to connect the words in her brain to an image that she didn''t have, the forms of the words on the screen didn''t crystallize into meaning. Maybe they were supposed to, and she had done her little trick wrong, but it didn''t matter. She wasn''t about to go trying it again on someone else, on the offchance that she would gain the knowledge.

    ¡°No,¡± Sylva said. She sat heavily down on a bench in the front of the boat.

    ¡°You gonna help me untie?¡±

    ¡°I''m about to do all the work,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Let me be lazy just for a minute. I''ll keep a lookout.¡±

    Even in the dim light from the stars and the computer screen and the town on the hill above them, Sylva could see the expression that Iri made. But she didn''t argue, and went back to untying the boat from its moorings. When they were free at last, Sylva used the power to drag the boat out onto the open ocean. They didn''t even bother unfurling the sails; it probably would have been more trouble than it was worth.

    ¡°So, where are we going?¡± Sylva asked, after they were a fair distance out from the island. ¡°I can''t read, so I don''t know if it''s worth going to the city.¡±

    ¡°I think we need to go there anyway,¡± Iri said. ¡°Maybe not for information, but for supplies. We''ll probably have to travel pretty far to get to that mind you''ve been feeling. Is it still watching you, by the way?¡±

    ¡°Constantly,¡± Sylva said. She had tried to ignore it for the most part. It wasn''t that hard to ignore, since she really only felt its presence when she used the power, and when she was doing that she was trying hard to focus on that, and only that. ¡°I can definitely follow where it wants me to go, so getting there shouldn''t be too much of an obstacle.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but let''s go to the city first. We need food, and at least one change of clothes.¡± They had been wearing their same stolen tunics for quite a while now, and they were fairly dirty. Especially Iri, who had rolled around in the dirt while grabbing the man.

    ¡°We don''t have any money,¡± Sylva pointed out.

    ¡°Are you even sure this planet has money?¡± Iri asked.

    Sylva thought about this for a second. ¡°Uh, there''s definitely something.¡± When she thought about the feeling of making a transaction, of buying something, words sprang into her head, but she got the distinct impression that it was quite different than paying with charges in the Empire. She guessed they would see when they got to the main planet.

    ¡°Doesn''t really matter either way. I assumed we would just continue to steal things.¡±

    ¡°Won''t we be way more likely to get caught in a city?¡±

    Iri wrinkled her nose. ¡°It''s either that or we starve for a while.¡±

    ¡°I''m not saying we shouldn''t, I''m just saying we should be careful.¡±

    ¡°I never suggested otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Do you know which way I''m supposed to be steering us?¡± Sylva asked. She had the power gripped tightly in her hands. She was getting alright at this. Maybe there was a slight feeling that their boat was also being pushed along by that other presence, but she ignored it. She would get them to where they needed to go.

    ¡°We''re heading towards this beacon,¡± Iri said, pointing out one of the blinking lights on the monitor at the front of the boat. ¡°Surface based relay.¡±

    ¡°It''s weird that they don''t use satellites,¡± Sylva grumbled, looking up at the mast where the antenna poked up.

    ¡°This place doesn''t seem to have a lot of big industry,¡± Iri pointed out. ¡°And it takes a lot of infrastructure to make satellites worth it.¡±

    ¡°Whatever. As long as it works, I guess.¡±

    ¡°The one thing I''m worried about,¡± Iri said, ¡°is if we''re broadcasting our position data.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure we are,¡± Sylva said. ¡°You saw that the other docked ships showed up on our display. But it''s probably only line of sight stuff. Not global.¡±

    ¡°Then I''d guess we''d better hope no one sees us. Keep us away from other ships, will you?¡±

    ¡°Obviously. But it''s not like everyone will be on the lookout for us or anything,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°You never know.¡±

    They sailed on through the night, and when morning came, Sylva was exhausted from her constant use of the power. She took a nap under the tarp of the sail, and Iri kept a watch for a while. Then when she woke, they continued on their journey. It took them all through the day, and the next night, to arrive at the island that seemed to be the major population center.

    When they were a little way out, Sylva and Iri put up the sail, so that their boat would look less strange. A boat that came into port with neither engine nor wind power would probably be viewed with suspicion.

    There were a stream of boats coming out of the harbor as the sun rose. Their sails dotted the horizon like birds. Sylva, pushing their little craft the other direction, watched them catch the bright morning sun and the cool breeze that was kicking up off the water. The world was fresh and alive. They were coming into port.

    Iri pretended to be busy with the sail. There had to be a place around here where visiting boats could go, small ones, not the giant shipping vessels that Sylva could see lined up along the side of the island. She directed their boat into what felt like an absolute maze of wooden docks, all crammed full of small craft. Now that she could speak the language, and they were coming in on something more real than a life raft, it was probably more appropriate to dock in this way, rather than finding an empty spot along the shore to ditch at. And if it wasn''t actually legal for them to park the boat there, well, they could always just steal another one.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Was it bad that she was getting a little too casual about stealing from people on this planet, who presumably most of them had nothing to do with Yan? Probably. Could she bring herself to care all that much? Not really.

    There weren''t very many people actually out walking the docks here. Sylva suspected that the boats she had seen out on the water were fishing vessels, and these ones were more personal boats that might not see daily use, so their owners were less likely to be out dealing with them at the crack of dawn.

    Sylva pulled into a space, perhaps a little too quickly, because their little craft bumped the side of the dock with a sickening thud. She let go of the power with a sigh of relief. It took a lot of effort to keep them going. Much more so when she had to navigate in a series of complicated directions, rather than a straight line over the open water.

    Iri tied the boat up, and they both got out. They weren''t exactly pleasant looking. Their hair was greasy after a good few days without soap, their clothes were dirty, and they looked around themselves nervously as they shakily walked down the dock to the shore. There didn''t appear to be a harbormaster or anyone enforcing which boats went where. Perhaps it was all first come first serve on boat parking, or perhaps there was a code of behavior that everyone followed. Either way, they had their bags on their backs, and they left the harbor area as quickly as they could.

    The few people who were around paid them no attention whatsoever.

    The city was arranged once again around the central hill of the island. This island was significantly larger than the first they had been to, and actually was composed of one very large hill in the center that stretched the length of the island, with a sort of dip in the middle.

    Docks ringed the outer edge, but quickly gave way to warehouses, then paved streets with buildings. Out of respect for the fact that the buildings needed to be grouped closely together, they all had straight sides, unlike the rounded houses that had been on the smaller island. The windows on all of them were still large and extremely airy, even on the ones that looked like businesses.

    The streets began to fill with people as the sun climbed high enough to crest over the tops of the buildings and glare off the windows. Small vehicles hauling carts full or empty, people walking on foot, and a scattering of bikes and larger vehicles mixed and mingled in the streets. Because the motorized traffic was relatively small in volume and usually in size, there seemed to be no regulation of the streets. People walked every which way, and simply moved to the side like a stream parted by a rock when a vehicle needed to inch its way through. Sylva somehow doubted that this was very safe, but they didn''t see any actual collisions as they walked, just some near misses.

    A near miss involved, worryingly, a man carrying a very young child in a sling on his chest. He was walking through the street, and a bicyclist going too fast swerved quite close. The man clutched his baby with both arms as he lept out of the way. Something in that action, the parental instinct, clicked in Sylva''s brain. She realized now what the distinction between the two different pronouns in this language was- one was either a parent or a child. A mother or a daughter.

    They didn''t have an actual destination in mind, simply a place where they could ¡°acquire¡± supplies, so they followed the general flow of people, sticking close together to not become separated as the crowd became denser. They were headed around the side of the city, back out towards the ocean again, but to the docks where the giant ships loaded and unloaded their wares. It was the ideal place for a market.

    One curious thing that they passed was a long line of children, about thirty or so, all trailing behind one adult. Sylva and Iri ended up near them for a long stretch of road, so they had plenty of time to observe. The children, though they seemed to be between the ages of perhaps five and eight, were all remarkably well behaved and independent. There was no rope holding them together, or any enforced hand holding. In fact, at several points, children would wander away from the line for thirty seconds or so to amuse themselves with something they found on the street. The teacher, if that was what he was, seemed to be aware of this and paid it no mind, continuing to lead the group on. Every so often, they would come to a building, the teacher would call out the names of two of the students, and they would run into the building and come out with a third child, though the group kept on walking while they did this. At one point, a kid even went up to the teacher, said something, and then left the group completely, running back the way he had come.

    Even for Sylva, who had grown up with all of the freedom and oversight that attending the Academy entailed, she thought this was incredibly strange. Eventually the children and teacher disappeared around a corner and were gone. They caught glimpses of similar lines further away, all headed in different directions. She wondered where the school was, for presumably that was where they were going.

    They could hear and smell the market long before they saw it. People shouted and called, and the sound of loading and unloading of boxes on the ship rang out and echoed between the walls of the buildings. A few people were playing music on instruments that Sylva didn''t recognize by ear, and she honestly couldn''t tell if it was people playing different songs nearby, or if that was one song that just sounded really discordant. The whole air smelled like salty ocean water, and foods of all types cooking.

    They came into the market proper, pushed along by the crowd. It was a massive square, and along the sides of the buildings, tents were set up. Near the center there were plenty of vendors, but no tents. Possibly because if the wind was too strong, they would be blown away without the support of a firm building behind them. But as Sylva watched, she saw a person drag a small cart through the crowd, pick a spot in the middle of the square, and start holding out his wares to sell. So perhaps it was simply that people in the middle had no need of even semi-permanent tents. Anyone could set up shop here.

    The whole place was overwhelming, and Sylva was hungry. She dragged Iri over to the side where the most delicious smells were coming from. A man was frying fish up in a giant pan, pouring alcohol over it to set it on fire briefly, then serving it over a bed of rice and fruit. A customer came up and purchased one serving, in a wooden bowl. To buy it, the woman took from around her neck what Sylva had assumed to be jewelry, a long string of flat and colorful disks, pulled one disk off the string, and handed it to the vendor. She stood there and ate the meal, scooping the rice out of the bowl with her hands, then returned the bowl. When she gave the bowl back, the vendor traded her for a different colored disk.

    In Sylva''s eyes, it seemed really cumbersome to need to carry around physical representations of charges, or what she assumed to be equivalent to charges. But then again, maybe this world, being so disconnected, didn''t have a central net where everyone''s balances were logged and accessed.

    She stood on her tiptoes to whisper to Iri. ¡°We need some of those disks.¡±

    ¡°You''d be better at getting them than I would,¡± Iri said.

    They wandered away from that stall and perused the market. People were selling everything. Electronics, clothes, jewelry, so much food, tools, what looked like instruments, boating equipment, books, pottery... If it could be hauled to the market, it was being sold there. There was even someone standing in front of a giant farm tractor, yelling and gesturing at it. Most people ignored him. How would anyone even get that home? There were several stands that were selling boats, however, which seemed to attract moderate interest. The little things were propped up on blocks, and people would come over and touch their hulls and make inquiries about the cost.

    Sylva and Iri scanned the bustling marketplace for an easy target. Iri pointed at a girl of about ten, who was wandering around by herself with a string of the disks dangling loosely off the waistband of her tunic.

    ¡°I''m not going to steal from a kid, Iri,¡± Sylva grumbled.

    Eventually, they concocted a plan. It was neither a bright plan, nor a fun one, but it would probably be enough. They watched one merchant who was selling onions out of long bins propped up at an angle tuck his disks into a bag underneath one bin. They split up, with Iri going around behind the vendor, and Sylva standing in front, pretending to inspect his onions. While she picked out a few and inquired about their price, she nudged an onion in the bottom of one of the bins with the power, and it sent a whole cascade of them rolling out into the square.

    Sylva began apologizing profusely and picking up the onions. The vendor came over and helped her. While he was distracted, Iri walked around and simply grabbed a handful of disks out of the bag, tucking them into her tunic''s pocket. Once all the onions were retrieved, Sylva apologized again and left. She met back up with Iri at the corner of the marketplace. Iri handed her the ill gotten disks.

    Now that she had them in her hand, she could see clearly that they were irridescent and patterned shells, with somewhat elaborate markings etched around the sides. Curious, she tried to snap one in half, and found that she couldn''t. It was incredibly strong.

    ¡°Can''t believe they use shells,¡± Iri said dismissively. ¡°Couldn''t anybody just go and pick one up from the ocean? Not secure.¡±

    ¡°I somehow doubt that they could, or that these are entirely natural,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Look, these ones are identical.¡± She held up two of the shiny green ones, and lined them up so that the pattern of marks just underneath the surface of the shell lined up. They were exact duplicates. There was no doubt that they were shells, but there was also no doubt that they were completely clonal, grown in some sort of controlled environment.

    As Sylva reflected on their spoils, she realized how shockingly easy it had been to talk to the vendor. The words had come so naturally, and she had felt even weirdly confident as she pulled off her con. Perhaps that was something that had come along with her out of that young man''s mind. Either that, or her time pretending to be a doctor had made her better at lying in general.

    Regardless of all of that, though, it had been a success. They had money, so they could get new clothes, new food. They watched the other patrons of this marketplace as they purchased things, to see what kind of buying power they held in their hands. After all, the exchange rate was an enigma. It seemed as though they could get new tunics, and food for about three days. They made the exchanges and hoped that would be enough. Sylva''s new tunic was bright blue, and Iri''s was a deep red, with thick yellow ribbon embroidered onto the edges.

    Once they had spent every last piece of their money, and they were slightly laden down with their purchases, they left the market. They weren''t going to be able to find any information on this planet, not without being able to read, so there wasn''t any point in staying. They made their way back to the docks, taking a different route than the way they had come before. Despite the city being unfamiliar, and many of the buildings looking the same to their unfamiliar eyes, it was still easy to navigate. All the roads eventually led to the water, and then they could follow the water until they got to where they needed to be.

    The city was still crowded, and the buildings were packed closely together, but occasionally there would be a space where clearly a building could have been, but wasn''t, and a little park would be there instead. The people here carved out space for trees. In one of these parks, they encountered a group of older kids, teens, playing some sort of rough game that involved hitting a ball with a large flat stick, held above the shoulders. The ball was clearly bouncy and heavy, and about the size of Sylva''s fist, and each player of the game carried a heavy wooden bat with a flat end, and they used it to hit the ball around. They watched for a second. She couldn''t parse what the rules of the game were, or even what team the different kids were on. Every so often they would all yell in either disappointment or happiness, or stop by some unspoken signal and reset their positions around the park. They didn''t stay and watch for long, and continued back on to the docks.

    Their boat was right where they left it, though the docks were significantly more crowded now that the sun was high in the sky. People were coming and going, many of them hauling in fish. The whole air was filled with the sounds of people yelling to coordinate their business. Luckily, no one bothered Iri or Sylva, and they managed to get their boat out onto the open water with no one stopping or questioning them. That had probably been due to them hustling by any obstructions or other people without even a nod of greeting.

    Overall, their trip to the city had been quite successful. They had gotten probably as much as they could, and even though they had been somewhat careless criminals, no one had stopped them or even seemed to notice. This was a strange place. It was nothing like the tightly coordinated streets of most places of the Empire. She couldn''t imagine children running free there, or a market where anyone could just sit down and start selling their goods of whatever type without a permit. She was sure she had only scratched the surface of this place, barely gotten to know anything about it, but she was intrigued.

    They only had three days of food, so Sylva and Iri tried to plot a course to the mind that would get them there as quickly as possible, or if not, pass them by other inhabited islands so that they could get more supplies. They sat out on the open ocean and talked as the boat bobbed up and down on the calm water beneath them.

    ¡°Do you actually know where we''re going?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°I got the direction,¡± Sylva said. ¡°They were pretty insistent on where we should go.¡±

    ¡°Distance, Sylva, distance.¡±

    ¡°Let me see.¡±

    Sylva closed her eyes and, this time very intentionally, reached out for that other mind. It met her halfway, lurking on the edge of her awareness, just out of complete contact. ¡°Where?¡± Sylva asked it, putting the most intention behind the thought that she could.

    The other mind reached out to her more fully, and though there was a fuzzy barrier between their thoughts, the most basic of content came through, and the boat leaped forward beneath them, knocking Sylva slightly backwards onto the wall of the boat.

    ¡°You could be a little more gentle,¡± Sylva grumbled aloud. Clearly the mind didn''t care, because it was filling their ill tied sail with wind and hauling them headlong across the water.

    ¡°Did you figure it out?¡± Iri asked, gripping onto the bench as the boat lurched up and down, keel to the sky as it jumped over the waves more quickly than the previously still air should have allowed.

    ¡°We''re about eight days away,¡± Sylva said. ¡°If we keep going at this pace.¡±

    ¡°Fantastic,¡± Iri said. That was not fantastic at all. Their two choices would be to stop for more food somewhere, or ration three days of food into more than double that. Neither choice seemed ideal. ¡°And we''re on a straight course?¡±

    Sylva nodded. Iri consulted the charts. ¡°There is a place we can stop midway. Tell your little friend that''s our plan.¡± She showed Sylva the chart. Though the words were still incomprehensible, it was more than possible to navigate a digital map without them.

    ¡°I wouldn''t call it my friend,¡± Sylva said. ¡°But alright.¡±

    And so, they sailed on, night and day, pushed forward by the sweetest breeze that ever flowed, and the fairest weather that ever shone on that part of the ocean.

    <hr>

    On the morning of the eighth day, they spotted land. It certainly crept up on them. Despite the boat being pushed forward by that force, such that Sylva did not have to use the power to keep it going, they still took turns keeping watch, so she was actually asleep when they came into land. Her dreams were turbulent, probably due to the constant jolting of the boat up and down. Having a dream about flying, and then being crashed down by a few inches onto the hard deck of the boat whenever the keel lifted over a particularly high ripple in the water was not an entirely pleasant experience, but it was one that Sylva was getting quite used to.

    Iri was getting antsy after days trapped on the boat. It was almost worse than being with the pirates, because at least there they could have gotten out of their room and walked around. There was the idea that other people were around, even if the crew of the Bellringer were no people that they wanted to talk to. And there had been much more to do on the pirate ship, what with keeping track of the goings on on the bridge. This was just pure tedium.

    The boat slowly gliding to a halt was what woke Sylva. She crawled out from underneath the tarp of the sail that she covered herself in. After days at sea, she and Iri were both sunburned all over. They wrapped their second tunics around their heads to shield them from the sun, and they stayed in the shade of the sail as much as possible, but it didn''t help as much as they would have liked.

    ¡°Oh, good, you''re awake, so I don''t have to kick you,¡± Iri said. Sylva rubbed her eyes, slightly blinded by the sun that was about a quarter of the way up the sky.

    ¡°What''s going on?¡± Sylva asked with a yawn.

    ¡°Maybe take a look behind you,¡± Iri said.

    Sylva turned. There, looming closer than she had thought, was a tall mountain, rising up out of the water. The side of it was clearly covered in terraced farms, and it was ringed by forest. ¡°How did I not see this before?¡±

    ¡°I think it only came over the horizon after it got dark last night. Either that or we missed it when it was far away. I''ve been watching it since the sun came up.¡±

    ¡°And we''re stopped because...?¡±

    ¡°You''d know that better than I could,¡± Iri said. ¡°What''s your friend say.¡±

    ¡°Not my friend.¡±

    ¡°Well, we''re about to meet them, so maybe we''d better start getting to be friends,¡± Iri said. ¡°And since they haven''t killed us yet, they''re definitely not our enemy.¡±

    ¡°Yet.¡±

    ¡°There''s always time,¡± Iri said cheerfully. ¡°Anyway, I''d love it if you could get us in to shore.¡±

    Sylva took a few minutes to splash water on herself to wake up, and drink some water that was getting hot in a bottle on the deck of the boat. ¡°I''ll be so glad to be on land again.¡±

    ¡°You''re telling me.¡± A lot of things about boat life were not idea. In their tiny, tiny vessel, lack of privacy had been one true annoyance.

    Sylva used the power to haul the boat forward, until the hull scraped on the rocky bottom. Iri tossed out the anchor, and then they both decided what could be carried with them as they swam to the shore. Iri was stronger, so she was able to quasi dog-paddle forward, one hand holding her bag on top of her head, until she could stand. Sylva simply decided to leave all her belongings on the boat, pray that nothing would happen to them, and go ashore.

    The water was cold, but not enough to steal their breath and stop them from swimming, so they made it to shore in one piece. They stood on the beach and looked around. It was rocky, mainly made up of little pebbles, and there wasn''t much distance between the high water mark from storms and the beginning of trees. This planet, not having a moon, did not have tides to speak of.

    Sylva could still feel that mind tugging her onward, and they had come this far, so they might as well keep going. There wasn''t a path out of the little area that they were standing in, so they were resigned to shoving their way through a close tangle of bushes for quite a while. Eventually, the forest became easier to traverse. Sylva and Iri walked in companionable silence. After eight days on the boat, they had mostly run out of things to talk about.

    The trees thinned, giving way to a grassy area, and they saw a beaten dirt road, leading around the edge of the trees up towards the terraced farms. They didn''t see any people at first, but then off in the distance of the fields there were a few walking around on inscrutable business. It didn''t look really like they were tending the land; there weren''t any of the classic large machines that such scale of operations required. Perhaps they were all in use elsewhere, and these people were just out checking on the crops. Either way, they were too far away to talk to them, and it wasn''t as though Sylva and Iri were going to go trampling through shoots of green rice to go talk to strangers.

    The road wound on. They did pass one person, heading in the other direction, who stared at them piercingly, smiled, and nodded, but continued on even as Sylva attempted to say hello. Did people on this part of the planet speak a different language? Was everyone here really used to visitors?

    It was very odd, and Iri was acting a little disconcerted. She had her hand on the gun in her pocket. Sylva nudged her to get her to calm down. ¡°Nobody cares that we''re here,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Stop fiddling with that.¡±

    ¡°I''m not fiddling. This place just gives me the creeps,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Get over it, it''s fine,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°That''s what they all say right before something horrible happens.¡±

    ¡°You''re the one who thought we should come here,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Well you''re clearly the one this person wants, so it''s both of our faults.¡±

    ¡°Oh, shush. We don''t really have a choice at this point.¡±

    The fields eventually gave way to a bunch of cleared land where a few animals, mainly goats, grazed. Outbuildings were scattered around, and the dirt path branched off in a few directions, though all of them were thinner than the main trunk that they were on. There were more people here. One woman was sitting outside, weaving a complicated patterned tapestry on a large loom. A man was milking goats. A girl of about fifteen was climbing on a ladder to clear out the gutters of one of the outbuildings.

    Off in the distance, coming around from behind a corner of one of the white, round, stone buildings, Sylva saw a familiar tall figure. Brown, skinny, wearing a light green tunic that went down to her knees, hovering a massive chunk of stone in front of her with the power, Yan was walking down the dirt path.

    Sylva broke into a run, screaming.

    ¡°Yan! Yan!¡±

    She dashed across the field, scattering goats and chickens in her desperation. No one seemed to pay her any mind. Even Yan didn''t notice her at first, despite how much noise she was making. Sylva practically crashed into her, wrapping her arms crushingly tight around Yan''s chest, standing on her tiptoes, and impulsively kissing her full on the mouth.

 Chapter Seventy-Seven - When Love Is Gone, Theres Always Justice

    When Love Is Gone, There''s Always Justice

    <blockquote>

    ¡°There is power when we all stand together, we''ll face this burning world all hand in hand. Together we will sing and lift our spirits higher, and together we will reach a brighter land.¡±

    -from ¡°Setting the Factory Aflame¡±, traditional workers song

    </blockquote>

    Yan had thought she had been seeing and feeling ghosts. She had spent many days drifting through the crevices of the Mother''s group mind, learning what there was to learn, doing what there was to do. Separating herself from herself was one way of healing. Without Etta around, there was little reason for her to exist as a separate entity.

    Perhaps it was less healing and more ignoring the problems that she had, but the problems were unsolvable. There wasn''t anything that could be done about the lingering horror of months alone in a prison cell, except erasing it with time and company. There wasn''t anything that could be done about the remembered pain and fear.

    Someday, it would all pass.

    In the meantime, she was making the Mother see ghosts.

    The Mother, for her own part, was certain it was not a ghost. She had felt this new sensitive pass through her barrier and run around on the surface. She had come off of the pirate ship that was continuing to orbit the planet. It didn''t particularly concern the Mother.

    One of her selves had been dispatched to the capitol, to determine if the ship posed a threat. The Circle had been in contact with the ship and had decided that they did not. If that changed, of course, the Mother would be the first to know, and the first to act.

    What did the ship want? That wasn''t any of the Mother''s concern. Let the Circle handle it.

    As for the sensitive who had splashed down into the ocean, the Mother was drawing her in, on a line, on a line. She was less willing to come than most others; her mind was slippery in the way its thoughts danced around. But she reached out to the Mother, and the Mother reached out to her, and there was an unspoken agreement that she would come.

    They all came, eventually. If she wanted to wander some of the islands, it didn''t matter. She would arrive in time. It was fortuitous that the Mother was about to have a second new body. She wondered what that would be like.

    All through this process of courting this new daughter to come home, her Yan thought this newcomer was achingly familiar. The touch of a mind so much like a friend of hers. The Mother combed through all of Yan''s memories, watching those happier times with her. It wouldn''t make sense for this newcomer and the ghosts of Yan''s past to be the same, and so they simply were not ghosts. It was a mind that felt familiar, though not out of any true familiarity, only out of longing.

    Such things were common, the Mother understood, when someone had been exposed to great tragedy or pain. It was up to her to be gentle with herself, to understand and to comfort. All of her was feeling echoes of the pain, softly, but a burden shared is a burden lessened, so there was safety in that as well. They were all haunted now by being alone in the dark, as Yan''s memories filtered out into the group. The Mother stayed outside, or together, holding hands, feeling the warmth of skin on skin. And she called this new daughter home, and she came.

    They smiled as they watched her come up the road. She was sunburned and short, with her hair loose and fried bright by the sun and salt water. She walked with a wobble in her step that came from days at sea, though she didn''t seem to notice it herself. She was accompanied by another person, not a sensitive, and they walked side by side. They looked familiar, but the Mother consulted her memories and remembered that she had seen pictures of them, from the ship in orbit, when the Circle had reported what the ship was after to her body in the capitol. It was no matter. The ship certainly wouldn''t be getting the short one back. The one who was not a sensitive could stay or go as she pleased. That wasn''t to say that the ship was leaving orbit, simply that the tall one had no ability to join the Mother, thus no reason to remain here.

    Part of the Mother''s attention was focused on constructing a new stone staircase up to the higher level terraces. An earthquake earlier in the season, combined with heavy spring rain, had caused mudslides to wipe out some of the infrastructure on one side of her little farm. She took rocks from her tiny quarry and used the power to haul them up the hillsides and hew them into shape. It was a simple enough task, and she had only one body assigned too it at the moment. There was no need for urgency, as they wouldn''t be able to replant those terraces until the next growing season anyway. That body was passing through the same area the newcomer was walking, the perfect opportunity to catch a glimpse with another pair of eyes.

    She watched the newcomer approach; she hauled rocks. All was well, until the newcomer stopped in her tracks, looking like she''d seen a ghost.

    ¡°Yan! Yan!¡±

    It was hard to say who was more surprised in that moment, Yan or the Mother.

    It was Sylva, and she ran towards Yan remarkably quickly. Yan''s mind was elsewhere, though her body remained stock still as the Mother decided what to do with it. Hearing her name passing through the distant awareness of several sets of ears brought Yan searching for her body. She arrived back just in time to register Sylva crashing into her, wrapping her arms around her chest, and kissing her directly on the mouth.

    It was chaotic inside the Mother as both the over-consciousness and Yan tried to figure out what to do exactly with her limbs. The Mother, for her part, was enjoying this experience and wanted it to continue. She had been replaying Yan''s memories of Sylva a lot over the past few days, to convince herself that they were not seeing ghosts, and with those memories fresh and clouded by happiness in her mind, it was only natural for the whole of the Mother to want to reach out and touch Sylva, to welcome her. It was nice, to meet an ''other''. It would only be a matter of time before Sylva joined them, but for this moment, the feeling of being touched by someone else was enjoyable. Even with this one body''s stiff neck, the Mother wanted to lean into the experience.

    Yan felt almost the complete opposite. The part of her that wanted to keep kissing Sylva was already in agreement with the Mother, and was making the rest of her rational and irrational brain have a difficult time. She didn''t like the feeling of the entire Mother using her body like this. She didn''t like the idea of someone else kissing Sylva. She didn''t like the twin feelings of possessiveness that had appeared in her brain: Sylva was hers, Yan''s, not the Mother''s, and yet, Sylva should join with the Mother, and then they could be together forever. All these instincts dueled within her, and she was frozen solid, neither able to push Sylva away nor pull her closer.

    And still, there was the fear that this was a ghost come to life. This couldn''t be real, no matter how real it looked and felt.

    So it was Sylva who finally had to back away. She dropped down from her tiptoes, and released Yan slowly, a look of fear crossing her face as Yan and the Mother continued to negotiate how to act. Finally, by mutual agreement, on one part to confirm reality, on the other to invite further touch, they reached out a hand to put on Sylva''s cheek. It was flushed hot, dry, slightly fuzzy, soft, and real. Realer than the sun in the sky, or the churning chorus of thirty voices in Yan''s head. Realer than the gentle wind, or the squawking of the chickens, or the months of prison that slipped behind into her memory. Far realer than this place.

    Perhaps she could never return to the past, but some echo of that happier time had returned to her, inexplicably, without warning, without any expectation that it would ever happen.

    Sylva stared up at her, the look on her face full of protectiveness and love so fierce that they could have stopped an army at a glance.

    Yan, completely overwhelmed by all of this, began to sob. She stood there, choking loudly on her tears, feeling her face burn, unable to do anything as months of pent up and incomprehensible feelings poured out of her. Sylva hugged her again, head nestled onto Yan''s collarbone, and they sort of rocked back and forth, swayed by Sylva''s feet.

    It was at this point that the Mother disconnected most of herself from Yan''s emotional chaos and made some executive decisions. Her body that had been weaving at the loom on the ground nearby stood up, dusted herself off, and walked over to Iri. She knew the names now, after making all of the connections.

    Iri was looking on at the very tearful reunion with her hands stuffed deep into her pockets. Her face looked slightly constipated, as far as the Mother could tell. She was also very sunburned, though not quite as badly as Sylva. Iri noticed the Mother approaching, and half turned away from the tender scene.

    ¡°Hello, Iri,¡± the Mother said in heavily accented New Imperial. She didn''t know the language herself, exactly, but she was running the jist of what she wanted to say through the language processing centers in Yan''s brain. It would work well enough.

    Iri whipped fully around at the sound of her name, hand closing on whatever was in her pocket. Obviously a gun, a Yan-memory whispered to the Mother. There was no way such a thing could ever harm her, so it could be disregarded.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Iri snapped.

    ¡°I am the Mother,¡± she said. ¡°We should go inside and sit down.¡±

    ¡°Mother of who?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°This planet.¡±

    Iri seemed to wrestle with something within herself. Her shoulders tensed, then relaxed, then tensed up again.

    ¡°I don''t recommend that you try shooting me,¡± the Mother said. ¡°It wouldn''t do you any good.¡±

    ¡°So you''re a sensitive?¡±

    ¡°We all are,¡± the Mother said. ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°You''re the one who made the barrier?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And who brought Sylva here?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I bring every sensitive on this planet to me. We are one.¡±

    Iri''s face changed a fraction. The Mother couldn''t tell what it was that Iri was clamping down on. Fear, perhaps. Iri''s voice had been carefully neutral this whole time, and she kept it that way. Calm and professional, just like Yan had known her to be under dire circumstances.

    ¡°So you took Yan.¡±

    ¡°Yan came to me on her own. I did not bring her to this planet,¡± the Mother said. ¡°Please do not think that I would do any harm to my daughters.¡±

    ¡°Yan isn''t your daughter,¡± Iri said. ¡°Yan''s mother is dead.¡±

    ¡°Everyone on this planet is my daughter.¡±

    Iri made a noncommittal noise. Having judged apparently that there was nothing she could do to the Mother, she was looking back at Yan and Sylva, who were still standing and embracing. Yan was content to stay there until some force, either the Mother or Sylva, compelled her to move. The Mother let her be, and Sylva seemed just as happy to stay there as well, so that left Iri as the only other rational actor for the Mother to talk to.

    ¡°Is she free to leave?¡±

    ¡°There is nowhere to go.¡± Certainly she would not permit the ship currently in orbit to leave. She was dedicating a certain amount of her mind and power to wearing away at the stardrive. It was difficult but not impossible to force her will upon it, just as it was difficult but not impossible to forcibly control another person. A stardrive was more specialized and took a different type of effort, but it would yield to her eventually, and the ship would not be able to leave. She couldn''t have her secret out.

    ¡°Is she still her own person?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°In a way. The power facilitates complicated relationships between people. She is wholly me, and I am wholly her. But each of us,¡± the Mother gestured around at the few of her other bodies who were in sight, ¡°are our own as well. The more closely we work together, the better we know each other.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Iri didn''t sound convinced, but what could a person without the power know? Nothing, unfortunately. How sad it would be for her to be trapped in her own mind, alone, forever. The Mother remembered all the times before she had come to herself, to be herself. They were pale and dull compared to her existence now.

    ¡°You should come with me. We can all talk inside.¡±

    ¡°They seem fine where they are,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Don''t you want to talk to Yan as well?¡± the Mother asked. It seemed strange to her. Clearly Iri had come all this way to find Yan, a thought that did manage to stir something in the Mother''s hearts, but she had made no move to approach or greet her.

    ¡°Am I not already?¡± Iri said.

    The Mother smiled. ¡°As I said, we work together but split our individual attentions somewhat. Most of Yan is currently occupied.¡±

    ¡°I''m in no hurry,¡± Iri said. ¡°Let them stay.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    ¡°May I ask you some questions?¡± Iri began.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°You say that you didn''t originally take Yan, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Who did?¡±

    ¡°A child that Yan calls the Green King. I have no relationship to her,¡± the Mother said, somewhat disdainfully. A look of confusion flitted across Iri''s face at the word child, but it smoothed out after a moment. The Mother wasn''t used to the gendering of New Imperial, and running the language crosswise through Yan''s brain wasn''t the easiest for communication.

    ¡°And how did Yan end up here?¡±

    ¡°She escaped from the Green King with the help of one of my daughters.¡±

    ¡°Someone here, or?¡± Iri asked, gesturing specifically to the body that the Mother was inhabiting and using to talk.

    ¡°No, just someone who lives on this planet. We had never met. She was not a sensitive.¡± The Mother smiled slightly at the thought of Etta.

    ¡°What is this planet called, by the way?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Olkye.¡±

    ¡°You are enemies of the Empire,¡± Iri said. It wasn''t a question.

    ¡°We will not be, if the Empire does not know we exist.¡± The Mother watched Iri as she said this. Iri chewed her lip.

    ¡°And if the Empire does know?¡±

    ¡°Then enemies we will be,¡± the Mother said. Though Iri was doing an admirable job of keeping her face neutral, the simple fact that this agent of the Empire had made her way to the Mother''s doorstep indicated that planet''s secret was a sailed ship. ¡°My duty, as it always has been, and always will be, is to protect my daughters. This is the reason I exist. The only reason.¡±

    Iri nodded. ¡°And what do you plan to do?¡±

    ¡°In the best case scenario, nothing,¡± the Mother said. She was perfectly willing to discuss things with Iri, who at the moment had no capacity to harm her, having neither a ship nor an ansible with which to contact the Empire. Still, she was not going to divulge anything that could be used against her in the future, should it come to that. She continued, talking about information that Iri clearly already knew. ¡°I protect this world by keeping it under cover of darkness. If I had a desire to fight, I would have done so long ago. But endless war is no way to live.¡±

    ¡°Who said it has to be endless?¡±

    ¡°The Empire has been waging it for nearly six hundred years,¡± the Mother said. ¡°And doubtless they intend to continue.¡±

    ¡°Only until they win,¡± Iri said. Interesting that she said they rather than we.

    ¡°There are infinite stars in this universe, my daughter.¡±

    ¡°Don''t call me that,¡± Iri snapped.

    They lapsed into silence for a second. The Mother had been listening to Yan and Sylva''s quiet conversation. She tuned into it more fully as Iri had less to say.

    ¡°Does your family know where you are?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Does the Iron Dreams crew know you''re here?¡±

    ¡°In a general way?¡± Sylva squeaked.

    ¡°I''m glad you came,¡± Yan said after a pause.

    ¡°Is that you saying that, or is that...¡± Sylva hesitated.

    ¡°It''s me. It''s both.¡± Speaking in New Imperial came more naturally to Yan, so she had more control over the conversation than when she had needed to borrow speaking power from the Mother to talk to Etta. The Mother was letting her have her way, anyway. For now. After all, there would be plenty of time for the Mother to get to know Sylva.

    Sylva rested her head on Yan''s chest again. Yan would have like to lay her chin on Sylva''s head, but her seized up neck made that impossible. She was forced to stare stoically into the distance. Her hand, possibly in her control, possibly in the Mother''s, but it didn''t matter, stroked the back of Sylva''s head.

    She looked with two pairs of eyes at Iri. From up close and far away, it was clear that something was wrong.

    ¡°Is Iri alright?¡± Yan asked Sylva.

    ¡°She''ll be fine,¡± Sylva murmured into Yan''s chest. ¡°Don''t worry about her.¡±

    The Mother was perfectly happy to take that advice, but Yan found herself unable to let go of the nagging worry.

    ¡°What is this place?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°Iri knows but she wouldn''t tell me.¡±

    ¡°It''s a long story,¡± Yan said. ¡°The Empire is in the business of colonizing new planets. Sometimes those planets already have people on them. So we hide.¡± Yan''s conflicted feelings about the Empire and the Mother''s wish to not say anything too detailed was what led to that particularly benign sounding description of the genocidal war the Empire led.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Sylva said. ¡°So they kidnapped you to stop that?¡±

    ¡°They were after Sandreas,¡± Yan said. ¡°I was just there instead.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I am now,¡± Yan said. Sylva pushed herself slightly up off of Yan''s chest, interrupting the hair stroking, and looked at her in the eyes.

    ¡°Don''t lie.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Yan said. ¡°It''ll take a long time, probably.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°We should go inside,¡± the Mother said. ¡°Sit down and talk.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Sylva unwrapped herself from Yan, and Yan led the way, walking towards the central building of the compound. Iri and the Mother''s other body followed a little way behind. Sylva''s hand crept into Yan''s, and their arms swung between them rhythmically as they walked.

    They went to a little room off the main hall, one of many mainly-empty rooms that the Mother used for whatever was needed at the time. Yan retrieved a rug from the closet and unrolled it onto the floor. Yan sat with Sylva next to her and Iri across. The Mother''s other body left, returning a moment later with a bowl of curried vegetables and a hot stack of fried bread. She left it in the center of the rug for the three to eat, then departed again. The Mother could speak just as well through Yan''s mouth as that one''s, and having only Yan''s body there would ease the minds of her two guests.

    It seemed that Sylva and Iri were quite hungry, because they ate steadily. The Mother made Yan eat, despite the pool of nausea in her stomach. Neither of them could identify quite what was causing it. She was glad that Iri and Sylva were here. Of course she was glad. But their presence meant that the outside world was capable of intruding here, and Yan didn''t know what the future would look like. Part of her had thought that she would stay here with the Mother for the rest of her life. There were no ships to take her away, and no one knew where she was. Now, Iri and Sylva were here, and that probably meant that someone else would be following. Even if the Mother destroyed the Bellringer''s stardrive, they were only the beginning.

    But for now, for now, they were all here together.

    Iri and Yan hadn''t yet spoken to each other, but now that they were in such close proximity, they had little choice. The Mother had decided it would be best to allow Iri to initate the conversation, so she waited in silence.

    ¡°I''m sorry for what happened,¡± Iri said eventually. ¡°It''s my fault.¡±

    ¡°No it''s not,¡± the Mother said.

    ¡°It was my job to protect you, and I failed.¡± Iri''s voice was carefully neutral.

    ¡°Please don''t think that,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°I don''t need you to forgive me. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am.¡±

    ¡°Iri,¡± Yan said. ¡°It''s alright.¡±

    Iri shook her head mutely.

    ¡°I promise it''s alright,¡± the Mother said.

    ¡°I told you she wouldn''t hate you,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Yan''s way too nice for that.¡±

    Yan would have shaken her head if she could have. She was not nice at all, but there would be time enough for Sylva to understand that later. Iri already knew. Iri had seen what Yan had done in the past, everything she was capable of.

    The Mother put a small smile on Yan''s face. She was capable of accepting the compliment even if Yan wasn''t.

    ¡°Sylva, will you join me?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Inside the Mother?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°No, thanks.¡±

    The Mother did not like this at all, but Yan was merely torn. On one hand, she desperately wanted to feel the same connection with Sylva that she felt with the rest of the Mother. She had always wanted that. She probably always would want that. But on the other hand, she didn''t feel particularly inclined to share Sylva with the rest of the Mother. Sylva had come for only her.

    ¡°Just a little?¡± the Mother asked. ¡°You can always leave if you don''t like it.¡±

    ¡°Of course Yan won''t ever leave because she loves meditation,¡± Sylva said to no one in particular. ¡°That''s how she got you.¡±

    The Mother had no response to that. It was true enough, but Sylva was more resistant to her pull than anyone else had ever been. For all that she had been mentally tugging on Sylva since she had arrived on the planet, Sylva had been able to halt her advances handily. It was a little surprising that even the thought of being with Yan couldn''t entice her into the Mother, but Yan''s memories did describe just how much she hated using the power in almost every aspect. Perhaps her weakness had become an unintended strength.

    No matter. The Mother was patient, and since Sylva would be remaining on this planet, it would only be a matter of time. She wouldn''t push her luck now. That would only upset Yan, and that wouldn''t be good for anyone. Her love was patient and kind.

    They spent the rest of the day together. Sylva and Iri described their various adventures that had led them to this point. The Mother let Yan reign over the conversation, and didn''t interfere much. Yan, for her own part, decided that it would be best not to describe what she had been through. They could fill in the gaps. She showed them around parts of the island, and the Mother''s home. The place was full of natural and Mother-made beauty.

    Because remembering the Mother existed seemed to upset them, the Mother kept them away from her other bodies, just in case. They would get used to her in time. She wasn''t forming the best impression of Iri, but she liked Sylva well enough. She would be a valuable addition. Iri regarded her with outright suspicion and hostility, but Sylva''s rejection was due to her own personal biases. Those could be overcome, just as during their trip Sylva had apparently improved her control over the power in leaps and bounds.

    Eventually night fell. They ate dinner again in private, and then it was time to negotiate sleeping arrangements. The Mother did not often have guests. There were occasional visits from the families of some of her bodies, but rarely were they so... attached. She set them up in a private room with sleeping mats.

    Yan felt strange, to not be around the rest of the Mother physically, even as they still shared a dream space. Sylva curled up next to her, and they tangled up limb to limb. Iri kept watch for a while.

    <hr>

    Yan''s shared dreams with the rest of the Mother were interrupted, this time with a far less pleasant guest. The Mother had originally intended to let Yan sleep through it, but the information had trickled through the pathways of their subconscious and into the dream state, where Yan seized upon it and woke, demanding to know if it was true.

    Yes, the Green King had come.

    Yan disentangled herself as gently as possible from Sylva. Iri, who was still awake, noticed her getting up. Despite the darkness of the room, her eyes were clearly visible, like a cat''s.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°I have someone I need to talk to,¡± Yan said. She was resisting the Mother every step of the way. She needed to see the Green King. The Mother relented, and her process was easier.

    ¡°Who?¡± Iri asked.

    Yan didn''t respond, and slipped out of the room. She was aware that Iri was following her, just a few steps behind, because she was making no effort to be stealthy. The Mother dispatched another of her bodies to the room where Sylva was sleeping, so that the girl would not be terrified if she woke up alone.

    The Green King was waiting in the room where Yan had first met the Mother. She was not the only body there. There were four others, all tall and strong. The Mother was clearly making a statement, even if the physical prowess of her bodies had nothing to do with her actual strength. She could have sent her four youngest bodies, or her four oldest, and she would have had the same capability to protect.

    The Mother directed Yan into the room, and closed the door with the power after she and Iri had entered. Despite Yan''s tunic being rumpled from sleep, she managed to hold herself regally as she faced down the Green King.

    ¡°I didn''t think you would come here,¡± the Mother said in Yan''s voice. They spoke in Valus, which Iri did not understand, but the tone would carry meaning all the same.

    ¡°My employers were very angry with me that I lost you,¡± the Green King said. ¡°I see you''ve fallen under the sway of this creature.¡± The Green King spoke in heavily accented Valus. Though she was one of her daughters by virtue of being on the planet, and thus under the Mother''s protection, she was not originally from here, at least based on the way that she spoke.

    ¡°I make my own decisions,¡± the Mother said. ¡°You made the wrong one by coming here.¡±

    ¡°I will pay to take her back,¡± the Green King said, directly addressing the Mother, even though she was looking at Yan''s body. Yan''s stomach churned heavily, and her fingers twitched. The Mother kept her body still. Thee was no need for haste. Should the Green King make a misstep, she would quickly find herself learning exactly what the Mother was capable of.

    ¡°There is nothing you can give me that I would want,¡± the Mother said.

    ¡°I''m sure I could acquire a replacement for you.¡±

    ¡°You mistake me. I have no desire to have people brought to me as sacrifices.¡± The Mother''s voice in Yan''s mouth was cold and hard. She and Yan could neither forgive nor forget what the Green King had done. Even if she was not the top of the line of command, she had been the one to put the gun to Yan''s head.

    There was a gun in Iri''s pocket.

    ¡°There are others looking for you, you know,¡± the Green King said. ¡°That ship in orbit.¡±

    ¡°It''s of no consequence,¡± the Mother said. Yan was aware of the pirate bounty on her head. This whole planet seemed to be encircled in rings of people doing wrong by each other. She had killed the pirates'' family. The Green King had paid people to kidnap Yan. The Green King had shortchanged the people who had been hired to kidnap Yan. Sylva had described how that person had betrayed the Green King to the pirates aboard the Bellringer. Sylva and Iri had stolen information and a shuttle from the pirates. The Green King had hurt Yan. Yan had hurt Etta. Etta had hurt the Green King. And here they all were, all the little pieces wrapped up in it together.

    ¡°I can''t believe you''d let her into your mind,¡± the Green King said to the Mother. ¡°Don''t you know who she is?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Who was Yan? She hardly knew herself.

    ¡°You''d let a murderer and an Imperial leader directly into your head?¡±

    ¡°Yan could no more harm me than I could her,¡± the Mother said confidently.

    ¡°You think you have her on such a tight leash, but look at her shaking there. She wants to hurt me, doesn''t she?¡± The Green King took a couple steps closer, leaning forward into Yan''s personal space. She stood still and stared directly ahead. Through another set of eyes, she saw Iri put her hand in her pocket.

    ¡°I think you''ll find that I want to hurt you more than she does,¡± the other voices of the Mother said in concert.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The Green King smiled. She reached up toward Yan''s face. ¡°Shame about your neck,¡± she said. That was enough. Yan''s hand grabbed the Green King''s wrist, with a force that was far more than her slender fingers would usually exert.

    ¡°Enough,¡± the Mother hissed in Yan''s voice. ¡°You''ve done more than enough harm.¡±

    ¡°And she hasn''t?¡±

    The Mother didn''t answer that question. Yan released the Green King''s wrist, and with a none-too-gentle shove with the power, sent her stumbling backwards a few paces. She wasn''t ejected from the room, but it was enough to get her to back off for the moment.

    ¡°Have you talked to Etta?¡± Yan asked. She needed to know if her savior was alright, or if the Green King had gotten to her.

    ¡°I sent someone to deal with her,¡± the Green King said. ¡°She nearly destroyed my shoulder, you know.¡±

    ¡°Pity,¡± the Mother said. There was no pity in her voice at all.

    All of Yan''s fear had been transmuted into the Mother''s anger. She was angry at the way the Green King had treated her daughter, she was angry at the way she had brought visitors to this planet, and she was angry at the way the Green King was addressing her. She was angry about the implied vengeance done to Etta.

    The Green King was probably lying, of course. Etta was probably sailing somewhere far away, maybe to her promised cousin''s house. Yan hoped she was safe and sound and happy.

    ¡°I didn''t precisely come to get her back,¡± the Green King said. ¡°I have a message from my employers for you.¡±

    ¡°Then say it.¡±

    ¡°You can consider our business relationship over if you insist on keeping her as your pet. She''s a shark below the water.¡±

    ¡°The whole of her mind is open to me,¡± the Mother said. ¡°And she will do no harm. As for your employers, I''m sure they will find that they needed me much more than I need them.¡±

    ¡°You won''t say that when she brings her people here,¡± she said. ¡°You''ll want us then.¡±

    ¡°You are much more afraid of the future than you should be,¡± the Mother said.

    ¡°Perhaps you are being overly optimistic,¡± the Green King began.

    ¡°It''s the present you should be worried about.¡±

    The Green King raised her eyebrows.

    In New Imperial, the Mother spoke. ¡°Iri, may I borrow your gun?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Your gun. In your pocket, please.¡±

    The Green King could understand this conversation, and the Mother held her still with the power. Yan felt a weird thrill of power in her stomach as the Mother marched her body over to Iri. She took the gun from her. There was an electric tension passing through the air between them.

    ¡°Are you sure you want this, Yan?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Thank you, Iri,¡± the Mother said. She walked towards the Green King, bare feet pattering quietly across the stone floor. Yan clicked off the safety of the gun. She took the Green King''s hand and peeled the fingers apart, placing the gun in position.

    Iri watched, face slightly horrified, as Yan physically positioned the Green King''s arm so that the gun was pointed directly at her head.

    ¡°Now,¡± the Mother said. ¡°You''re going to leave here without saying a word, touching anything, or making any more threats. I don''t care to have you here. Leave that on the shore when you go.¡±

    She used the power, to ever so gently caress the Green King''s finger over the trigger of the gun. ¡°You would do better to think of how your actions might be remembered,¡± the Mother said. ¡°Tell your employer the same. I have a far longer memory than they do.¡±

    The Green King, face slightly crumpled in fear, didn''t say anything.

    ¡°Go on, walk,¡± the Mother said.

    Though her hand was frozen in position, holding the gun at her head, the Green King could walk away, which she did, clearly eager to escape the Mother''s horrible presence.

 Chapter Seventy-Eight - Condemned to Repeat Forever

    Condemned to Repeat Forever

    <blockquote>

    ¡°To be in love is to exchange power with another person. They gain control over you, you gain control over them. Keep that in balance, and don''t make it transactional or conditional. Having that power is not a problem, if it''s understood and respected. [¡­] Trusting someone to keep your heart safe is a beautiful thing, and being trusted is even more wonderful.¡±

    -from The Alien''s Guide to Human Affairs: A Rulebook for the Rest of Us by Ryon Davis

    </blockquote>

    Sandreas didn''t seem angry when he met with Kino and Sid in a private room aboard the Impuse. He probably should have been, but his mouth was a tight line and his eyes were distracted rather than furious.

    They were in the small meeting room that Kino and Sid used as their staging area for their operations aboard the ship. They hadn''t quite decorated it, but there were remnants of their previous mission stuck up along the walls with pushpins, charts and photographs that had been printed out. They sat around a table for twelve, just the four of them, with Sandreas and Halen on one side, Sid and Kino on the other.

    For all that Sandreas wasn''t angry looking, Sid still felt like he was a bug under close inspection.

    ¡°I was originally only going to send Kino, you know,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°What? Why?¡± Sid glared at Kino, suddenly angry for this offense.

    ¡°She has more experience with both the Adversary and real military interventions than you do,¡± Sandreas explained. He propped his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers.

    ¡°Yeah, like, one experience,¡± Sid said angrily.

    ¡°Calm down,¡± Halen said. ¡°Against my better judgment, you both can go.¡± It was clear from Halen''s expression that he meant that neither of them should be going.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Kino said. From the size of the text on Sid''s glasses, she must have been almost whispering the words.

    This wasn''t a fight that Sid had even half expected to win. In fact, it hadn''t even ended up being a fight. So all the energy that had been building up inside of him had nowhere to go, and he felt deflated and angry at nothing and no one.

    ¡°I''ve missed you both,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°I was looking forward to having you back with me.¡± He stared out over the tops of the apprentices'' heads as he said this.

    ¡°We haven''t been gone that long,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°We''ll be back soon,¡± Kino said. ¡°All three of us.¡±

    Sandreas smiled a tight smile. ¡°I pray to God that that is the case. But you''ll be gone at least another month. It''s fifteen days there, fifteen days back, and then there''s the time you''ll be there. I somehow doubt that will be less than a tenday.¡±

    Sid nodded. He should send a message to his family before he disappeared again, but then again, it wasn''t as though he was in the habit of regularly contacting his family. They could figure out well enough where he was if they just watched the news most of the time. Kino was lucky in that she didn''t have anyone she had to be responsible for keeping informed, Sid thought.

    ¡°Time will go by as quick as ever,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°For you, I''m sure.¡±

    ¡°Why are you letting us go?¡± Kino asked. She had torn off one of the buttons from the sleeve of her cassock, and she was sliding it through her fingers with the power. Sid hadn''t seen her fidget like this since that very first day they had met, outside of their interview with Sandreas, so long ago.

    ¡°Because I can''t go myself,¡± he said. ¡°Because you would hate me if I didn''t let you go. Because I think if there''s a hope of rescuing Yan, she''d want you to be there. Because when--¡± He stopped short. His eyes flicked between Sid and Halen for a second. What was it that he could be nervous about saying? Sandreas? What did he have to be nervous about?

    The answer came to Sid, of course. The Emperor.

    ¡°When what?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Because of what happened when I was an apprentice,¡± Sandreas said finally.

    ¡°What did happen?¡± Sid asked. The two dead apprentices who had been in his position how many years ago (thirty?), clearly haunted Sandreas.

    ¡°It''s not something that I''m going to get into right now. But suffice to say, I am attempting to rectify some of the mistakes of the past.¡±

    ¡°And what does the Emperor think of that?¡±

    ¡°When it comes to personal matters,¡± Sandreas said, ¡°sometimes it''s easier to ask the Emperor''s forgiveness than permission.¡±

    Sid smiled a tiny bit. ¡°Is this a personal matter?¡±

    ¡°What happens between me and my apprentices does not yet concern the Emperor,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°So, yes. But we didn''t come here to talk about any of this. I need to work out what you''re going to do when you get there.¡±

    They made plans, discussing what the various scenarios could be. It would be difficult to quantify what a worst case scenario could be. For Sid, emotionally, the worst case scenario would be any where Yan was dead and gone. Politically and militarily speaking, however, there were infinite permutations of bad things that could be happening. If the Adversary was indeed working with pirates, and even indirectly with the Trade Guild, that would be a security breach of unprecedented proportions.

    They were fairly sure they would either find a station or nothing in this sector of dead space, so they discussed strategies that they could use to take a station without killing everyone aboard. All of this would also have to be talked to Captain Wen about, but Sid enjoyed this small time that they had, where Sandreas treated him and Kino like the capable adults that they were, where he listened and respected and shared ideas. Perhaps because the distance was so great and the stakes were so high, he simply had no choice but to trust his two apprentices to do the right thing.

    They had a little bit of time, while hastily procured supplies were being loaded onto the Impulse, for Sandreas to stay and talk. Sid saw, perhaps for the first time, how much was weighing on Sandreas: between him and the Emperor, between Yan and the political implications of her kidnapping, between the present and the ever-mysterious past. He appreciated that Sandreas was trying to do right for the two, three, apprentices. From the way he spoke it seemed as though his own mentor, and the Emperor, had done no such thing.

    In the end, though, they had discussed everything that there was to discuss with the limited information that they had. Sandreas needed to return to Emerri, and the Impulse needed to depart. Before Sandreas left the ship, they stood in the hallway, still in the gravity section. There was no one around but Sandreas''s Fleet escort, who pointedly ignored the personal business that Sandreas was conducting.

    ¡°I''ll pray for you,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°Do your best.¡±

    ¡°I promise,¡± Kino said. She looked nervous, but when did she not look nervous? Her tattered sleeve hung limply around her arm, and as she stood there in front of Sandreas, she looked remarkably small and still for once. He put his hand on her shoulder for a long, long moment. They stared at eachother. Sid could tell that Sandreas was sending her a message in the power, but he was not privy to it. Not for the first time, he wondered what it had been like for them on that trip they had taken together.

    As Sandreas was communing with Kino, Sid looked to Halen.

    ¡°I trust you,¡± Halen signed. Although Sid knew that Halen could sign, being a former pirate, he used it so rarely that Sid was always surprised when he did. Sid had no response other than to nod solemnly to Halen.

    And then it was his turn to talk to Sandreas.

    ¡°Sid,¡± Sandreas said, and put his hand on Sid''s arm.

    They were about the same height, though Sid was always under the impression that he was shorter than Sandreas, so they looked straight across into eachother''s eyes. Sandreas''s face was lined with wrinkles, under close inspection and his dark hair was touched with grey. He and Sid looked nothing alike, but at the same time, being so close to him was like looking through a dark mirror into the future. Sid could see it stretching out before him, and he realized that he never wanted to be in Sandreas''s position, having lost an apprentice. Perhaps he simply wouldn''t take any apprentices. How would the Emperor like that?

    Sid''s thoughts came crashing back to reality when Sandreas spoke to him through the power.

    ¡°Sid, it''s very hard for me to tell you how much I care about you and Kino. I don''t want to send you out because I don''t want to lose you. But you''re going, so I''m pleading with you to stay safe.¡±

    ¡°What did happen to the people who were apprentices with you?¡± Sid asked through the power.

    ¡°They died. It doesn''t matter how.¡± Accompanying the words was a swirl of vague images, faces that belonged to the two long dead apprentices, and scenes that were clearly imaginings of what their final moments had been like. It was as though with such a subject, Sandreas couldn''t control which of his thoughts passed to Sid. He mentally shook himself.

    ¡°You are not obligated to learn from old mistakes, but neither are you condemned to repeat them,¡± Sid said mentally. It was a phrase that he had read in a book once, and it had stuck with him for his entire life. He was glad to have an opportunity to trot it out.

    Sandreas smiled thinly. ¡°Sometimes I feel like our whole lineage is designed to repeat the same fate over and over. We''re all trapped in it.¡±

    ¡°I''ll get Yan back, I promise.¡±

    ¡°Don''t make promises that will break you to not be able to keep.¡±

    ¡°I''ll do everything I can, then.¡±

    ¡°I know you will.¡±

    There was a moment of mental silence between them. ¡°I''m proud of you, Sid,¡± Sandreas said, and lifted his hand off of Sid''s arm before Sid had a chance to respond.

    Sid wasn''t sure what there was to be proud of, but he wasn''t going to let go of the warm feeling that had lit up in his chest.

    <hr>

    The Impulse was underway, and the feeling from the crew was rancorous. It was one thing to spend a month in space when it was in the middle of their trip; it was another thing entirely to be almost home, then snatched away into the unknown. Sid, for his own part, could understand the animosity directed towards himself and Kino, but didn''t change his behavior either way. He was certain that everyone was still required to be polite to him, due to his station, and even if they weren''t, the two sensitives on the ship (the only people who could truly hurt him) were career officers who were less affected by this change in plans.

    Everyone was required to be polite to him, that is, except the one person he desperately wanted to talk to. Cesper had been deliberately avoiding him. Even when they ended up on the bridge or in the officers'' mess together, he turned away and refused to acknowledge Sid''s existence.

    Sid should have been angry. If anyone else he knew had been acting like this, he would have been. If it had been his sister, or Kino, or... To be honest, Sid didn''t know very many people his own age now that he was out of the Academy. Regardless, he would have been angry at any of them.Stolen novel; please report.

    But he was mostly just sad. It made the first few days of the trip much more depressing than they should have been. Not only did he have plenty of time to work himself into knots wondering about the future and about Yan, he also had ample opportunity to think about what he could have possibly done to offend Cesper. Clearly, it had been something.

    He had to know. He had to do something about it.

    But every time he saw Cesper, and wanted to ask, something stopped him. Either there were too many people around, or Sid chickened out, or Cesper got away before Sid could approach. It felt unfair.

    Maybe Cesper didn''t owe Sid a reason for avoiding him, but Sid wanted one.

    So Sid looked up Cesper on the ship''s directory. He found his official schedule, and his room number. It was all public information.

    And then, instead of doing anything with that information, Sid sat in his room and moped on it. If he had done something to make him angry, maybe he should apologize? But how could he if he didn''t know what he was supposed to be apologizing for? Maybe Cesper just didn''t want to be with him, and there wasn''t any other reason. Maybe he had miscommunicated something, but when had they even talked? Sid was driving himself in circles. Even his usual distraction technique, drawing, wasn''t helping. He kept ripping sketchbook pages out and throwing them away. Waste of paper.

    Maybe he should make something for Cesper, to apologize. A gift. Would that come off badly? Whatever. He was going to do it.

    The Impulse, like all ships, had a workshop to repair various pieces of shipboard equipment. After all, when out in space, if something broke, the ship had to be able to either fix it or go without it. Especially Fleet ships on exploratory missions like the Impulse, they needed to last for months or years at a time without resupply or contact with the inhabited galaxy. Additionally, because of the prolonged boredom that space travel often created, the workshop had a section where crew members could come and work on their own small projects. It was to this area that Sid went, though he wasn''t planning on using any of the lathes or saws or mills. He only wanted material.

    Yan had told him once about how spacers had access to basically any raw material they wanted, since they transported it. Her family had apparently given one of her friends a gift made out of gold in exchange for just cantoring for them for a few months. It seemed crazy to Sid, and he was fairly relieved to find that the material offerings aboard the Impulse were far more humble: aluminum, brass, tin, steel, iron, glass, plastic... He helped himself to the aluminum. It was his favorite metal to work with, aside from gold, of course.

    When he had made his final project at the Academy, he had been allowed to work with gold. There was a material library that students had access to, so long as they returned everything at the end. It had almost been a relief to haul his project back to the library and melt its shining face down in the furnace to return it to the stock.

    Sid brought the chunk of aluminum back to his bedroom. With the power, he could make anything he wanted. He should have been an artist, he thought. Then he wouldn''t be here obsessing over stupid Cesper.

    What did he even like? Math? But no, he had quit math in order to go into the Fleet. The ship? But he wanted a planetside posting.

    The fact was, they didn''t actually know eachother that well at all.

    Sid thought back to that first real conversation they had shared. He could still imagine the smell of the orange that Cesper peeled, all in one piece, then drew out the familiar continents of Emerri.

    Sure. Sid could make a globe. He sketched out his idea on a scrap of paper, then pulled out his computer to model its interior mechanisms, just to be sure that it would work. That took a good few hours of trial and error, but he eventually got it beaten into shape. He could have worked on it more and then simply sent the digital file down to the workshop to have it made on the jet cutter, but it would be faster and easier for him to use the power.

    Using the power to make things was so easy. He closed his eyes and held his block of aluminum in his hands, cupping the cold metal until the heat from his fingers warmed it up fractionally. He could picture exactly what he wanted in his mind, and he used the power like an invisible knife, to slice through the metal faster and cleaner than any waterjet or laser or blade could. The edges of his rectangular aluminum fell cleanly aside, leaving him with a perfect sphere. He divided it into sections, like an orange, then scooped out most of the interior, leaving a thick shell. On the inside, he used some of his sliced off scrap to form a simple mechanism, one that would allow all the sections of the orange to hinge open simultaneously. It would look a little like the petals of a flower unfolding.

    The nice thing about working with the power was that he didn''t have to bother with welding anything back together, he could just use the touch of his mind to fuse what needed to be fused. Aluminum didn''t weld very well anyway.

    Along the outside of the orange, he very carefully inscribed the continents on Galena. He had to open his eyes and consult a map for this one; his memory and mental imaging were good, but they weren''t that good.

    He carefully buffed and polished the outside of the ball until the aluminum was as shiny as it was ever going to get. He set it down on his desk, petals of the orange pointing downwards and open. It rather resembled some sort of spider, when placed like this. He picked it up and tossed it from hand to hand. It had a pleasant heft.

    On the inside, he debated about inscribing a message. In the end, he just put Cesper''s name. He couldn''t think of anything to say. That was going to be a problem when it came to delivery, but he would fly that starship when it arrived.

    And so he stood outside of Cesper''s room, anxiously readjusting his cassock and clutching his orange globe wrapped in wax paper that he had also acquired from the workshop (he hadn''t been able to find wrapping paper, so he figured this was the next best thing).

    He didn''t want to knock on the door, but he couldn''t keep standing in the hallway like this either. He knocked.

    He obviously couldn''t hear anything happening behind the door, so he wasn''t sure if Cesper was there or not. Sid waited a long minute. A generous minute. Then he knocked again.

    There was still no immediate response, but he had come this far, so he wasn''t about to leave. Probably Cesper wasn''t there, but he had to stay to be sure.

    Sid was about to knock again, but then the door swung open.

    ¡°What?¡± Ervantes asked. He looked slightly disheveled, as though he had been sleeping. He was only wearing an undershirt and boxers.

    ¡°Did I wake you up?¡± Sid asked. He didn''t actually know what time it was, or when Ervantes typically slept. He had gotten pretty lost in his project and had come as soon as he had finished.

    ¡°No. What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I brought you something,¡± Sid said and held out his parcel.

    Ervantes looked between him and the wrapped object Sid was holding. Sid''s hand shook a little. Ervantes at first made no move to take it, but then something seemed to fold in his posture, and he reluctantly took it.

    ¡°Can I come in?¡± Sid asked.

    Wordlessly, Ervantes held the door open and let Sid inside. The room was tiny, the same size as Sid''s guest quarters, but that was to be expected. The bed was unmade. Despite what Ervantes said, it was clear that he had been laying in bed, if not exactly sleeping. His uniform was hung up on the side of the tiny closet, and he had a couple posters on the wall of abstract art. The place was dim and almost stiflingly warm; he liked the heat cranked up, apparently.

    Ervantes sat down on the bed, and Sid stood awkwardly in the doorway until Ervantes gestured to the chair at the desk. Sid sat, nervously smoothing his cassock over his knees.

    ¡°What do you want, Sid?¡± Ervantes asked. He looked tired, but maybe that was just because he was. Sid glanced at the clock on his desk and saw that it was the middle of the night. He really had gotten absorbed in his project.

    ¡°I want to know why you''re mad at me. And to say sorry, I guess.¡± He attemped to sound stoic, but knowing himself he probably just came off as pathetic.

    ¡°I told you it felt like a mistake to be with you. I don''t want to be with someone who will use their position to get me ahead. I want to succeed on my own merits.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Sid was utterly confused. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°You told First Sandreas about me.¡±

    ¡°Obviously,¡± Sid said. ¡°You saved my life!¡±

    ¡°So he wants to give me special attention. That''s not right,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°That has nothing to do with this!¡± Sid said, frantically gesturing between them. ¡°He would have done the same for anybody.¡±

    ¡°I somehow doubt that,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°Besides, even if it was, it''s all because you actually did do something. You did--¡±

    ¡°I did what anybody else could have done,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°But they didn''t and you did. Even Hernan didn''t, and Hernan''s only job is to protect me. I''m just saying that maybe that is succeeding under your own merits.¡±

    ¡°And you kissing me had absolutely nothing to do with you mentioning me to First Sandreas?¡±

    ¡°You''re making it so that I can''t win,¡± Sid said, bunching his hands in the fabric over his legs. ¡°Yes, I did ask for you to be transferred to Emerri because I like you. Is that a crime?¡±

    ¡°You can''t just decide my future for me,¡± Ervantes said, face still. ¡°You can''t do that to people.¡±

    ¡°But that''s what you wanted. You said so.¡± Sid was insistent.

    ¡°I shouldn''t have to watch what I absentmindedly say in casual conversations because I''m worried that you''ll use that to decide the course of my life,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°I didn''t know you before. I can''t say if the power''s gone to your head, but this isn''t the way that normal people treat eachother.¡±

    ¡°But--¡±

    ¡°So you came here to apologize when you didn''t know what you were apologizing for. Now that you do, all you want to do is defend your own actions.¡±

    ¡°I--¡±

    ¡°So I want you to think very carefully,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°Do you want to be my superior, or do you want to be my equal? Because you can''t be one and the other.¡±

    Sid stared at him. Clearly Ervantes had been preparing this little speech for a while. The words looked rehearsed, and the way he delivered them without so much a twitch on his face or a stutter made Sid think he had been practicing in the bathroom mirror.

    ¡°I just thought that I wanted to be with you,¡± Sid said, really pathetic now. ¡°I didn''t realize that you didn''t want this.¡±

    ¡°Clearly.¡±

    ¡°I can take it back,¡± Sid said. ¡°Have you assigned somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°The ship left the dock on that one,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°Can''t un-say what''s been said. And that''s still just you controlling my life.¡±

    Sid looked at Ervantes, who was still holding his wrapped package in his hand. He was sweaty and his hair was a mess, but Sid still liked him. He tried to think of what would be best to say, the thing that would smooth this whole mess over. Sid was bad at smoothing. He was much more abrasive. Maybe he just needed to tone it down, become like a fine-grit sandpaper. A polishing cloth. A burnishing wheel.

    ¡°Do you still want me?¡± Sid asked. ¡°I don''t want to step on you anymore. I''ll go away, if you want. I''ll leave you alone. Your choice. I promise.¡± The words came out choppily. He restrained his hands, keeping his natural physical exuberance under control.

    Sid didn''t have a lot of examples of people not being controlling. After all, he was somewhat convinced that Halen was suffering from kidnapped kid syndrome, and it wasn''t as though his own mother wasn''t totally dominating at home. Over the past few months, maybe he had grown a little too used to watching Sandreas order things, and then having them happen. As far as he knew, he was the only person who had actually dared to defy Sandreas recently, and that hadn''t turned out very well for Sid.

    He waited as Ervantes thought it over.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Ervantes asked, holding up the little package.

    ¡°You can open it,¡± Sid said. ¡°It''s for you.¡±

    ¡°Obviously.¡±

    Ervantes untied the string that was holding the wax paper around the sphere, revealing the segmented globe underneath. He held it up in the dim light, and the ridges where Sid had engraved the mountains and oceans of Galena caught the red light from the clock. He peeled open the segments of the orange, revealing the tiny interior mechanism and the carving of his name.

    ¡°It''s mostly decorative, but you could keep stuff inside it, I guess,¡± Sid explained. ¡°I just, er, thought you would like it.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Ervantes said. He was silent for a long, long time, opening and closing the segmented globe, rotating it around in his hands. Sid watched him. ¡°I do like you, Sid. But I don''t trust you.¡±

    ¡°That makes two of us,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°Not exactly a comforting thing to say.¡± The corner of Ervantes''s mouth twitched upwards.

    Sid tried to change the subject a little, and ask a question he had wanted to know the answer to for a while. ¡°Why did you get assigned to work with Kino and I?¡±

    ¡°Captain Wen though that we would probably have a lot in common, since we''re the same age, and, you know...¡±

    ¡°He should''ve chosen a woman for Kino the ice queen,¡± Sid said. ¡°Probably would have made my life less confusing.¡±

    ¡°The way you talk about Kino makes me think that you talk about me like that behind my back,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°Kino knows exactly how I feel about her. I think she''d take that as a compliment,¡± Sid said. ¡°Besides, wasn''t your whole problem that I was being too nice about you behind your back?¡±

    ¡°Sid, I don''t think you get it.¡±

    ¡°Probably not.¡±

    ¡°You have to make an actual effort here.¡±

    ¡°I''m doing my best!¡±

    ¡°Grow up.¡±

    ¡°You!¡± Sid leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Ervantes ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. Sid took deep breaths, trying to get himself under control. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I shouldn''t be like this.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I''ll go.¡± He stood up, pushing in his chair. Ervantes made no move to stop him. ¡°Have a nice night.¡±

    ¡°You too.¡± Ervantes looked more deflated than anything, and he rolled the globe back and forth in his hands as Sid walked the few steps to the door and headed out.

    Sid felt horrible. Really, really bad. He couldn''t even explain why. Well, he knew why. It was because he liked Ervantes Cesper a lot, and Ervantes Cesper was tired of him. Or at least was tired of him behaving the way that he did, which was inextricably tied to who Sid was.

    He began to trudge back to his own quarters, angrily scuffing his feet on the ground. Probably was making a horrible squeaking noise in the corridor, but he didn''t care. Sid had made it about fifty meters when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He whirled around.

    Ervantes was there.

    ¡°What?¡± Sid asked, trying not to be hostile.

    ¡°I accept your apology,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°I didn''t even make one.¡±

    ¡°I didn''t mean to kick you out.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Sid''s brain wasn''t exactly working, but if this was Ervantes changing his mind, Sid was more than willing to accept that. Something happy stirred in his chest.

    ¡°Come back?¡±

    Sid nodded, slowly, and tentatively followed Ervantes back to his room.

    Inside, the light was completely off. Ervantes kicked the door shut. Neither of them sat down.

    Ervantes was a bit taller than Sid, and was long and spindly besides. They didn''t quite know what to say to each other, or at least Sid didn''t. He felt like he should apologize more, but that would ruin the moment. He thought he should ask Ervantes to kiss him, but he didn''t want to make any demands. That was what had gotten him into this problem in the first place, kinda.

    He was feeling unusually timid. Let Ervantes do what he wished, rather than Sid climbing all on top of him.

    And then Ervantes did. He leaned slightly forward, and placed his hand on Sid''s cheek, slowly nudging his glasses up off his nose towards his forehead. Sid pulled the offending object off his face and tossed the glasses onto Ervantes''s desk. At least in a world of silence, they couldn''t exactly argue with eachother.

    Sid held his breath as Ervantes leaned in towards him, and they kissed. Sid tried not to let his hands wander. He didn''t want to be too pushy, but he couldn''t help looping his arms around Ervantes'' neck. From the way that Ervantes put his hands on Sid''s hips, he didn''t seem to mind all that much.

 Chapter Seventy-Nine - When Justice Is Gone, Theres Always Force

    When Justice Is Gone, There''s Always Force

    <blockquote>

    ¡°There are two ways to deal with problems: ignore them or face them. You might think that one is always the better choice, but sometimes to maximize your own personal happiness, it''s expedient to pick the other.¡±

    -from Utility Calculations by Stein Umoa

    </blockquote>

    For all that Sylva was overjoyed to see Yan safe and (ostensibly) happy, there was something freaky about the Mother that she just plain didn''t like. Perhaps it was the way that Yan seemed to carefully struggle with herself before reciprocating Sylva''s touches, or perhaps it was just the way that she was quietly insistent that Sylva join that group mind. It wasn''t going to happen. Sylva could feel the Mother beckoning to her, but that didn''t mean she had to answer the call.

    They had been in the Mother''s home for a few days. Sylva and Iri were both practically glued to Yan. After all, that was what they had come here for. Clearly, the Mother could spare her, or at least most of her.

    Yan had shown them all the wonders of this mountainous island: the hot springs, the terraced farms, the little coves and caves along the shore, the birds, the breezes, the fish. They had even climbed a little way up towards the inhumanly tall peak, but Sylva had put her foot down about hiking the whole thing. The cloth shoes that everyone on this planet wore would provide no protection while clinging to the side of the mountain, high above the place where the trees stopped growing.

    At first, it had been nice. Now, it was beginning to feel as though they were being shown a careful parade to make them stop worrying. Whatever the show the Mother was trying to put on, it clearly wasn''t working. Sylva caught Iri staring nervously at Yan''s back, hand going instinctively to a mysteriously empty pocket.

    Sylva had noticed them leave, that first night. She couldn''t just sleep through Yan getting up, with the sudden lack of a warm body next to hers. She hadn''t moved at first, and had trusted Iri. When they had both slipped quietly back into their positions later that night, Sylva assumed she had made the right choice to continue to pretend to be asleep.

    Iri hadn''t had a chance to tell her what had happened that night, and Yan seemed to be laboring under the assumption that Sylva hadn''t known that she had gone. Clearly, though, something had happened.

    Sylva kept searching for a moment of privacy in which to talk to Iri, but those were harder to come by than ever. She did want to be with Yan, after all, and even when Yan left the room, Sylva knew that if she reached out with the power, the Mother''s eyes would still be on her. The Mother''s ears would be listening to her conversation.

    The weird thing was, though, that Sylva got the impression that the Mother didn''t actually care. From the way that Yan spoke, it seemed that the Mother was a supremely confident being. There was nothing and no one that could hurt her. Who else would take the apprentice of their greatest enemy and allow her unfettered access to her mind? Certainly not Sylva! Which was why she why she was surer than ever that she wouldn''t be joining the Mother, no matter how much Yan begged.

    There were a lot of thoughts that were constantly crisscrossing Sylva''s brain. Yan had told her everything about this planet''s history: the original war between the Edden Empire and the loose coalition of colonies to which this planet had previously belonged, the destruction of the planet Edden and the power-caused societal collapse, the Empire''s secret war, the Mother''s decision to hide this planet from the rest of the universe... To be honest, Sylva probably had the most nuanced understanding of the whole history, having heard it from the Mother through Yan. Yan''s perspective of the inner workings of the Empire colored the Mother''s perception of history, and vice versa.

    It presented a bit of a dilemma for Sylva. Yes, she found the Mother unpleasant, and she wanted to get Yan away and off this planet. But-- and there was always a but-- the arrival of an Imperial ship would almost certainly mean the complete extinction of the population of this planet.

    Oh, the Mother could hold out for a while, and the populace for a while after that, but neither Yan nor the Mother was aware of any planet that had successfully withstood the advances of the Empire. From the way that it was described, the Empire had much more in the way of resources than any of the planets they fought against.

    Perhaps in the beginning, it had been much more of a fair fight, back when both sides of the conflict had plenty of ships, and plenty of planets, and plenty of people. But things collapsed relatively quickly. The planets the Empire was warring against were not even aligned in any capacity.

    To hear the Mother tell it, during the first fight against the Edden Empire, they had banded together, but that alliance had collapsed once victory seemed assured. The populations of each of these planets grew somewhat distrustful of leaders who would cooperate only to destroy an entire star and wreck the minds of planets full of people. Fair enough, Sylva thought.

    And so, when the new Empire came back for revenge, the group of colonies was fractured, most of them preferring to manage their own affairs, and unwilling to give military aid or launch an offensive. When it became apparent that one planet alone could not stand, and that there would be no help coming from the others, most planets decided to fortify themselves, send their citizens away to new colonies, or hide as the Mother did.

    Fortifications didn''t work; the Empire had the strength of many planets at its command, and had the time to break any defense. Spreading out into new places might work for a time, hopping from planet to planet, living a nomadic lifestyle, but the same problem would always return. Hiding worked until people got careless.

    And people had been careless.

    That was the real problem. The Mother was trying to stop Sylva and Iri from thinking about leaving, because if a ship ever came, the Mother would have to destroy it. None of them could ever go home. That was the Mother''s goal, anyway.

    But Sylva and Iri had left a message, and they knew it might only be a matter of time before help came. And when it did, nothing around here would ever be the same.

    So Sylva tried to enjoy her time with Yan, even if the Mother was there, too. She put that out of her mind, and ignored the odd turns of phrase that would come out of Yan''s mouth, and the hesitation with which Yan moved, and the way that her mind seemed to always be half-elsewhere, and the way that she would look at her with such possessiveness and longing. Actually, Sylva would have liked that last one, if she hadn''t known its source wasn''t Yan herself, but the many minds inhabiting her.

    They lay idly on the bank of a small stream that wound out of the mountainside and down towards the sea. The grass was tall and bright green around them, and the trees were taller and greener above that, with the pale sky barely showing through. The air was warm, and the salty breeze tickled Sylva''s face and rustled the air of the island like a shiver. Sylva was propped up on one of her elbows, bare feet dangling in the cool water, holding Yan''s hand and stroking it with her thumb. Yan lay on her back, staring blankly up at the sky with a slight smile on her face. Iri was off on the opposite bank of the stream, keeping one sharp eye on their surroundings and looking up every time she heard a rustle in the grass or a bird call in the trees.

    ¡°Are you there, Yan?¡± Sylva asked, almost a murmur.

    ¡°I''m always here,¡± Yan replied in the same tone. That was the biggest lie that Sylva had ever heard, considering that the last few months of her life had been defined by Yan distinctly not being here, but it was a comforting thing to hear Yan say nonetheless.

    ¡°Can we talk?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Sylva considered what she wanted to ask. It wouldn''t be a good idea to say anything that would upset Yan. Not because she thought that the Mother would kick them out or anything, just because Sylva didn''t want to make her sad. After all, Sylva had a tiny thought that she might need to make Yan choose between her and the Mother, and she needed Yan to make the right choice.

    If it came down to that.

    It probably would come down to that.

    But at the same time, even if she didn''t want to upset Yan, she still wanted to know the answers to a few questions. Those questions necessarily involved unpleasant topics.

    ¡°Can you tell me what happened to you? Before you got to the Mother?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°I don''t really like to think about it,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Talking about it might make you feel better.¡±

    ¡°I''ve already gone over it with everyone.¡±

    ¡°But not with me.¡±

    Sylva ran her thumb over Yan''s knuckles, listened to the bubbling of the water below them.

    ¡°You don''t have to tell me if you don''t want to, I guess. It''s okay,¡± Sylva said. She tried not to be grudging. She wasn''t owed the story, even if she had come all this way. But she did want to hear it, if Yan would speak. If Yan didn''t tell her anything, how could she ever understand her again?

    It took a long, long time for Yan to decide to talk.

    ¡°I don''t remember the first part of it,¡± she said. ¡°When I was first taken, I mean. The pirates kept me drugged.¡± Yan paused for a second. ¡°Probably for the best.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I don''t remember anything that happened to me,¡± she stressed. ¡°Anything could have happened.¡±

    Sylva understood, and nodded. Yan probably couldn''t even see her from their positions on the ground, so Sylva squeezed her hand. After a half-second delay, Yan squeezed back.

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    ¡°Then the Green King took me,¡± Yan said. ¡°He put me in this room...¡±

    Sylva could tell sometimes that it was Yan speaking and not the Mother, because she would use pronouns correctly. The Mother had difficulty with it, and would call people ''child'' or ''daughter'' a lot of the time when speaking New Imperial to Iri. Sylva and the Mother could have spoken in the native language of this planet, but it was much better that Yan was speaking New Imperial.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Yan''s other hand waved around in the air over her head, sketching out a rectangle. ¡°It was six steps across, and I was chained to the floor, and locked underground, and there was nobody. Just nobody.¡± Her voice cracked slightly, and Sylva remained silent, just petting Yan''s hand as comfort.

    ¡°I couldn''t use the power because he put this chip inside my neck,¡± she reached back to touch her neck, pressed into the soft yellow dirt. ¡°Every time I tried it would hurt like... Hurt like someone was pulling my eyes out.¡±

    ¡°Is that what happened to your neck?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°The Green King putting something in you?¡±

    Yan laughed, a tiny, bitter sound. ¡°No. I did that. I tried to get it out.¡±

    Sylva was involuntarily reminded of herself standing over Keep, slicing her open, warm, sticky blood everywhere. The image was not the same, but Sylva could only imagine the same kind of desperation.

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°There was this garbage can. I don''t know why they left it there for me. Maybe just to see what I would do, or because they didn''t know anything about running a prison. I was the only prisoner, I think. And so I smashed it, and I used the sharpest piece to dig out the chip.¡±

    ¡°And that''s how you escaped?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Sylva waited for Yan to elaborate.

    ¡°Even when it came out, I couldn''t use the power. So the Green King caught me and put it back in. Deeper.¡± Yan pointed at her jaw, where Sylva could see a faint white line against her brown skin. It was far smaller than the knotty lump of scar tissue that crossed the back of her neck.

    ¡°So how''d you escape?¡±

    ¡°I was in there for so long, Sylva,¡± Yan said. ¡°You don''t understand.¡±

    ¡°I want to. If you''ll let me.¡±

    ¡°You could if you''d join me,¡± the Mother said. Sylva felt the touch of her power. It felt almost like Yan''s, now that she knew what she was looking for, but completely different at the same time, like the similarity between snow and rain.

    ¡°Let Yan talk,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°You''re upsetting her,¡± the Mother said, then departed. Sylva frowned. Yan was silent for another moment as she took back control of her body.

    ¡°I don''t know for sure,¡± Yan said, her voice sounding slightly more speculative and lively, ¡°but I think the chip was based at least a little on what the Fleet uses.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Sylva wasn''t following.

    ¡°The Fleet. They need to keep their work a secret,¡± Yan said. ¡°But everyone has to go home eventually. So they use a couple combinations of things to stop people from talking. Chip is just one of them. But the chip can, I don''t know how it works, but it can stop you from being able to form words about certain things. I think it scrambles your language centers whenever you try, when certain conditions are met.¡±

    Yan wasn''t making a lot of sense, at least in the way that this connected to the rest of her story, but Sylva let her continue, trusting that she''d get to the point.

    ¡°I didn''t pay that much attention when it was explained to me.¡± Yan laughed that short, bitter laugh again. ¡°I thought it was distasteful enough that I didn''t want to think about it.¡±

    ¡°Understandable.¡± Sylva said. She looked across the water at Iri, who was definitely listening to the conversation, even if she wasn''t joining in. Iri caught her eye and nodded, tapping her temple. Sylva nodded back, understanding at last why Iri had been unable to tell her various things. It didn''t matter at this point; Sylva had more than enough information.

    ¡°But I figured out kinda that it only can deal with conscious thought.¡±

    ¡°So does the power,¡± Sylva said. ¡°That''s always been my problem.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Yan said. Her hand squeezed Sylva''s. ¡°No, it doesn''t.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I went a little crazy in there, when I was by myself.¡± Yan''s voice was so forlorn, and she closed her eyes, scrunching up her face.

    Sylva lay down completely, nestling up next to her. ¡°It''s okay. You''re fine.¡±

    ¡°I''m not fine.¡±

    Sylva leaned her head on Yan''s shoulder, and her other arm snaked up to pet Yan''s head. If she could have, she would have laid and embraced Yan for all eternity. She would have done anything. But Sylva wasn''t going to say that out loud, because statements like that attracted the Mother''s attention. And Yan lay there as stiff as ever. Sylva knew she couldn''t help it. It would get better in time. At least she thought that Yan took some pleasure from having her there, even if she could barely show it, fighting with the Mother for her body. She didn''t ever try to push Sylva away, and her breathing was slower and deeper when Sylva was close like this. Was it strange for her to notice little things like that? Like the way that the sunlight caught on Yan''s eyelashes, or the dappled patterns of the leaves danced over her cheekbones.

    ¡°I kept seeing and hearing things that weren''t there. I had this whole world I would go to. In the beginning I just tried to pray and keep myself busy, you know, but it was like God wasn''t there. There was this empty place in my brain and in my heart. All of the things that always made me feel better, like after my mom died, none of that worked anymore. I couldn''t meditate, I couldn''t pray, I could only sing so much, and I just kept walking back and forth in that room over and over and over.¡±

    Yan''s voice was weirdly calm, and her words came out in a confused jumble, but Sylva didn''t interrupt. It was maybe a good thing for her to try to put it into words, at least. She knew that the Mother definitely had picked through Yan''s brain, but that wasn''t the same as communicating, right?

    ¡°So I guess I started to imagine that people were there. Mostly Halen, you don''t know him, but he''s First Sandreas''s bodyguard.¡± Yan''s voice was slightly clearer when she realized she had to explain this salient detail.

    ¡°You''d be surprised,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Halen this, Halen that is all Iri ever talks about.¡±

    Yan laughed a real laugh this time. ¡°I don''t know if you''d like him,¡± she said. ¡°I didn''t at first.¡±

    ¡°If you like him, I like him,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I trust your judgment on people.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡± And that was the slight tone of the Mother''s voice creeping back in, always listening. Sylva could tell. She shook her head slightly, nestling further into Yan''s shoulder.

    ¡°Keep telling your story,¡± she said.

    Yan clearly had to bring herself back into her previous mindset. ¡°I talked to Halen a lot. I think I thought about him because he told me this story once, about what had happened to him when he was I guess in a similar situation. And there was enough room inside that story there for me to use my imagination to make up something. It took my mind off of things. A little.¡±

    ¡°I don''t think that''s crazy,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I think anybody would have done the same.¡±

    ¡°I guess I figured out that if I spent enough time in that imaginary world, I could trick my brain into doing things for real, without me being there.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I could use the power without the chip in my head noticing that I was, so it couldn''t punish me.¡±

    ¡°So that''s how you escaped?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    Sylva waited, and Yan eventually continued. ¡°The Green King caught me trying it, and...¡± Yan raised her left hand to the sky, holding her fingers spread out far above her face. They cast a shadow down onto the both of them. ¡°He caught me,¡± Yan said again. There was definitely something there, but Sylva wouldn''t pry, not on that.

    ¡°Then he drugged me some more, in my food, and I just... I tried to escape.¡±

    ¡°Did you that time?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°I almost didn''t. Etta saved me.¡±

    ¡°Etta''s that girl you said? The one who brought you here?¡±

    ¡°She used to be the person who would bring me my meals when I was pretending to be asleep,¡± Yan said. ¡°And when I escaped, I tried to use her as a hostage.¡± That bitter laugh came out again. ¡°It didn''t work. But when the Green King came, and he tried to kill me, he almost killed me, Etta stopped him. And we escaped.¡±

    ¡°Is there a reason why she helped you?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°I think she''s just a good person,¡± Yan said. ¡°I wish--¡± She stopped.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I''m not a good person.¡±

    ¡°You''re good enough for me.¡±

    Yan was silent, and that was where things ended.

    <hr>

    That night, Sylva and Yan were curled up on the floor, Sylva had her arm tossed casually over Yan''s shoulder. Iri was sitting up by the door of the little room, eyes open. Sylva wasn''t sure if she ever slept. She seemed to be perpetually on edge.

    Yan''s breathing was calm and even, and occasionally she twitched a little bit in her sleep. It was endearing. But it gave Sylva and Iri a chance to talk semi-privately, so long as they didn''t wake her up. And so long as the Mother wasn''t listening in, which she probably was. The Mother had to know exactly how Sylva and Iri felt already; they hadn''t exactly made a secret of the fact that they were here to take Yan away.

    ¡°I need to get out of here,¡± Iri said, voice barely above a whisper.

    ¡°We all do.¡±

    ¡°Like, tomorrow, I mean,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I need to find a way to get in contact with any ship that comes into orbit,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°And how do you think you''re gonna do that?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°This planet doesn''t even have SatCom, for God''s sake.¡±

    ¡°The Bellringer does.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡±

    ¡°Someone''s going to come eventually,¡± Iri said. ¡°We need to be ready when they do, or they''ll have no chance of finding us.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure they''ll find us just like we found the Mother,¡± Sylva whispered. ¡°I don''t want you to leave. It''s not worth it.¡±

    ¡°Use your brain for one second,¡± Iri said. ¡°The minute an Imperial ship enters orbit, this planet is fucked. The Mother will be crazy, and either we''ll be able to escape up into orbit or we won''t. That''ll be a lot easier if we have a way of contacting people.¡±

    ¡°Then I should go,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I know the language.¡±

    Even in the dark, Sylva could see the deadpan look that Iri gave her. ¡°You''d leave Yan? I''d love to see how well that would go over.¡±

    If Sylva had had something to throw at Iri, she would have done so. ¡°And what is even going on between the two of you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You''ve barely talked to her at all. It''s like you came all this way and then...nothing?¡±

    ¡°Number one, everything about this freaks me out,¡± Iri said, then stopped.

    ¡°And number two?¡±

    ¡°I still feel bad, okay?¡± she hissed. ¡°Seeing her like this feels like my fault.¡±

    Sylva rolled over and scooted slightly away from Yan so that she could talk to Iri more easily. ¡°Get over it, okay? You being shitty about it isn''t helping her.¡±

    ¡°Well I''m leaving, so it''s a non-issue¡±

    ¡°You''re not going to leave without at least saying goodbye,¡± Sylva huffed. ¡°I can''t believe I have to be the voice of reason around here.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, you''re not.¡±

    ¡°Leaving is an idiotic plan, no matter how much you justify it to yourself.¡±

    ¡°You''re allowed your opinion.¡±

    ¡°And what am I going to do if you leave and never come back? What then? Because I sure as shit don''t have a way to go after you once you''ve gotten to who knows where.¡±

    ¡°Look, Sylva, worst case scenario, you stay here with Yan. You''d be fine and happy, even if you are stuck on this planet forever.¡±

    ¡°You''re lucky that I''m trying to be quiet or I''d slap you,¡± Sylva said. ¡°You think I''d be happy if you went off and died somewhere? You think she would be?¡±

    ¡°I''m not going to die. I''ll be back as quickly as I can.¡±

    ¡°Are you seriously going to go try to steal more things from the Bellringer?¡±

    ¡°I don''t have any better plans.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t this planet littered with radio beacons? Wouldn''t it be easier to work with one of those?¡±

    ¡°At least the Bellringer''s shuttles will have technology I''m familiar with,¡± Iri said. ¡°I''d know how to work their radios.¡±

    ¡°A radio''s a radio. Try the ground beacons first.¡±

    ¡°Do you think those have receivers?¡±

    ¡°Maybe? Look, the Bellringer is a safe bet.¡±

    ¡°Your definition of safe must have gotten jostled in the crash.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try the beacon first,¡± Iri conceded. ¡°But no guarantees.¡±

    ¡°I''m not gonna say some dumb shit like ''if you die I''ll hate you'' because with my luck you will die and I''ll feel guilty forever.¡±

    Iri stifled a laugh. ¡°Go to sleep. I''ll tell Yan in the morning.¡±

    <hr>

    Iri did tell Yan the next morning. Sylva gave them some privacy as they walked through the fields towards the mountain. The two had a long conversation. Out of politeness, Sylva stayed upwind and out of hearing range, kicking a rock morosely down the path. She glanced behind herself occasionally, just to make sure they were both still there.

    She was pretty sure Yan cried at one point, though that wasn''t exactly unusual.

    And then, like that, Iri was gone, headed down to the shore and to a boat with a motor that the Mother loaned her. Iri must not have told her the full truth, or the Mother didn''t care, or Yan wanted to help Iri even if it wasn''t in the Mother''s best interests. One of the three was true, and Sylva wasn''t going to press as to which, just in case it was the first option.

    Iri didn''t come back the next day, or the next, or the next, or for many days after that.

    Sylva''s life fell into an almost comfortable pattern with the Mother. She wouldn''t join her, but they could exist along side each other peacefully, so long as the Mother let Yan continue to exist. That was a worry that haunted the edges of Sylva''s existence here: would the personality that was Yan someday become so overwhelmed by the Mother that she stopped having control of her own body?

    Maybe Sylva needn''t have worried too much. After all, the more time she spent around the Mother, the more she got to know some of the quirks of some of her other bodies. Even if those ones had far less reason to be independent than Yan did, they still had their own likes and dislikes and ways of doing things. This one didn''t like spicy food, this one loved to weave, this one loved to tend to the sheep, this one liked to jump off the cliffs into the ocean, and so on and so on. Sometimes she had to guess at which mind was in which body, and she would occasionally find someone else looking out of Yan''s eyes, or Yan looking out of another''s, but it didn''t trouble any of them.

    Yan seemed to be happy. Or at least she seemed to be distracted, which was maybe enough. Sylva brought up the future at one point.

    ¡°Do you think you''ll ever want to leave here?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± was all Yan said.

    ¡°If I leave, will you come with me?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°There''s nowhere for you to go,¡± the Mother said.

    It was clear to Sylva that the Mother was in denial about the coming storm. Perhaps that was something that Yan brought to her. Yan had always been good at ignoring things she didn''t want to think about. Perhaps she and the Mother were a good fit in that respect.

    The peace was interrupted when two things happened, nearly simultaneously. Before the month was up, Iri returned, towing a shattered beacon behind her in her boat, and the Imperial warship jumped into the starsystem.

 Chapter Eighty - Interrogation

    Interrogation

    <blockquote>

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want people¡¯s perceptions of you to be colored by your past, make sure that your past is as clean as it can be.¡±

    -from Realtalk: A Governor Speaks Out, by Raj Calai

    </blockquote>

    The Impulse arrived prepared. They jumped in as silently and unobtrusively as they could, not entirely sure of what they would find. They were expecting either a station or nothing. What they found, however, once their instruments had time to adjust and take readings of their new location, was odd. For one thing, their main and backup gravimeters were going absolutely haywire, which caused great muttering among the bridge crew. For another, scattered around in space were little ships: probably shuttles and dogfighters, alive with radio signals. There was no mothership to be seen, which was extremely odd.

    Sid and Kino were on the bridge. Sid was seated next to Captain Wen, but Kino was wandering around, looking much like a caged animal as she inspected the consoles of the bridge crew. Everyone had gotten used to her doing that by now, since she and Sid had been regular features on the ship, but Sid was glad that she didn''t insist on hovering over his shoulder.

    ¡°Do the shuttles know we''re here?¡± Sid asked, leaning forward in his seat.

    ¡°We''re running cold, and our exterior is designed to be low visibility, so probably not,¡± Captain Wen said.

    Sid pulled up the gravimeter reading on his tablet. ¡°Could this be a micro black hole?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Maybe. We''d be able to see if we got between it and a star, but the likelihood of that happening is pretty small. It''s not a danger to us either way. Those readings are barely anything.¡±

    The gravitational readings that they were getting were approximately equivalent to the force that Emerri''s star exerted at approximately the distance of its furthest planet. Even without a stardrive capable of faster than light travel, any shuttle could easily fly away from a micro black hole at this radius.

    ¡°Could the ship that those shuttles belong to be close to it? The black hole, I mean. On the other side, so we can''t see it?¡±

    ¡°I have heard rumors that pirates are suicidally obsessed with black holes, but I don''t know why they''d litter their shuttles everywhere. There''s something going on here,¡± Wen said. ¡°I don''t like it.¡±

    ¡°Neither do I. Do you think...¡± Sid paused for a second. ¡°Could we capture one of those shuttles, without them noticing?¡±

    Wen laughed. ¡°You''re out of your mind. Look how much they''re talking to each other.¡± Indeed, the encrypted radio signals being sent out omnidirectionally from each of the shuttles lit up the display like little clouds. The shuttles would notice as soon as one of their number stopped broadcasting, or broadcast a distress message.

    ¡°If we did take them on, would they be a threat?¡±

    ¡°You insult me,¡± Wen said. ¡°The only difficulty would be taking them alive.¡±

    Sid considered this for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°That''s what we''re going to do, right? Get them?¡±

    ¡°I didn''t come all this way for nothing,¡± Wen said. ¡°They look like pirate shuttles. We can at least try to interrogate them for information, even if there''s no physical connection.¡±

    ¡°You think there''s no chance Yan is on one of those?¡±

    ¡°If I had a valuable and dangerous prisoner, I would not want to leave her in a confined space with access to a radio and guns,¡± Wen said.

    ¡°It''s not like a shuttle engine would be able to get her anywhere,¡± Sid said. ¡°But I see your point. Hey, Kino.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kino asked, coming over at the sound of her name. She didn''t particularly like Captain Wen, so the two generally ignored each other. Unfortunately for the both of them (and Sid as their go-between), this was a critical moment and it would be best if both of the apprentices were involved.

    ¡°You ready to see a pirate fight?¡±

    ¡°You sound cheerful,¡± she said.

    ¡°I''m mostly frustrated. But a lead''s a lead,¡± Sid said, keeping a smile on his face. He turned to Wen. ¡°How are we going to do this?¡±

    Wen scratched his chin. ¡°How long are you willing to wait?¡±

    ¡°What are my options?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°We can send our dogs out now, or we can wait and jump in right on top of one of them.¡±

    ¡°What are the odds on each of those plans?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°If we send our dogs out, they''ll know we''re here as soon as their instruments pick us up. They''d be able to run, but probably not very far. There''s a chance they could get back to their mothership, wherever it''s hiding. I severely doubt there would be any real contest between our dogs and theirs.¡±

    ¡°And if we jump in?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°We''re more likely to catch one alive, and it will be much easier on our pilots,¡± Wen said. ¡°But we also can''t guarantee that they''ll all stick around. And there''s the tiny chance that they''ll see us. Not a big chance, but it exists.¡±

    ¡°If they weren''t sticking around, what are the chances that they''d be here at all?¡± Kino asked. ¡°They look like they''re just sitting around.¡±

    Wen nodded. ¡°I agree. I think we have the luxury of time. If you''re alright with waiting, that''s what I''d like to do.¡±

    Sid scrunched up his face a little bit. He definitely did not want to wait another eight hours for the ship to be ready to jump, but it did seem like the sounder plan. He did want to catch them alive, after all.

    ¡°Two questions,¡± he finally said. ¡°Is there any way we can hear what they''re saying over the radio?¡±

    ¡°If they switch to clear signals, sure. Right now it''s encrypted and we don''t have a way to break that.¡±

    ¡°All the technology in the universe, and you can''t crack a communications code?¡± Sid asked.

    Wen raised an eyebrow. ¡°If you have the next ten million years to wait, we can brute force it,¡± he said.

    ¡°Nevermind, sorry I asked. But my other question is, what if we jump in, and the mothership comes to answer the distress call. Will that be a problem?¡±

    ¡°On the contrary, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity,¡± Wen said. ¡°If we can use the shuttle as bait, all the better. There''s probably more information on a big ship.¡±

    ¡°Then wouldn''t it be better to go in right away?¡±

    ¡°We come back to the question of live capture. The more time they know we''re coming, the more time they have to do anything they need to do.¡±

    Sid nodded. He didn''t love the sound of that, but he had learned his lesson from giving advance warning at the LT, for all the good it had done. ¡°Alright. We can jump in, then.¡±

    <hr>

    It was a tense eight hours, watching and waiting. The pirate shuttles, for reasons that none of the crew of the Impulse could discern, stayed right in position, arrayed out as though around the face of a sphere. It was as if they were waiting for something.

    The mothership never made an appearance either. It was unlikely that it was staying cold and radio silent, since the shuttles were doing less than nothing to disguise their presence. The idea that it was behind the black hole still held, but there was also a sneaking suspicion that it simply wasn''t around. All of this raised more questions than it answered.

    Sid tried to sleep during the waiting time, found that he barely could, and instead wandered the halls of the ship, trying to keep his mind alert and away from nagging fears. He kept returning to Ervantes''s door, but just walked past it, not wanting to bother him if he was sleeping. They had made up, a little bit, but there was a weird atmosphere between them. Ervantes still had reservations about Sid, which he could understand, even if he didn''t like. Maybe this whole trip would be an opportunity for him to prove himself in Ervantes''s eyes.

    He drank a lot of coffee, and was practically vibrating by time he returned to the bridge. Kino seemed off. Her sleeves weren''t even torn apart, for once, she just was mouthing something over and over. Sid read her lips and saw that it was one of the common prayers. They could all use one, so he wasn''t going to stop her.

    She stood on the side of the room, and Sid returned to his place next to Wen. Ervantes was on the bridge as well, standing next to Kino. His liaison duties had been reinstated, apparently, since they were on a real mission again.

    Captain Wen called out a countdown to jump, and they moved. Such a short jump hardly changed their perspective in the sky. The only thing that was different was the sudden presence of a shuttle right in the center of their view screen. They were less than a hundred meters away from it. It was tiny, a ragged looking dogfighter, and it took a few seconds for it to respond to the new presence in its area.

    It tried to accelerate away, but the Impulse already had her guns locked on its side, and she fired on it. Being so close, the impact looked instantaneous, and the tiny ship was sent spinning. The flare from its tiny drive died immediately. From inside the Impulse, several Imperial dogfighters rushed out, flying to incapacitate the wounded ship completely. They targeted its guns, which were immediately destroyed, and fired a salvo at its underbay where its missiles were kept. By the end of it, the ship had suffered so many impacts that Sid had to wonder if the crew inside were even alive. Certainly being jerked around that much would be painful. And that was assuming that the crew had been tied down in their seats when the Impulse came in. If they had been floating loose in the cabin, they very well might have snapped their necks fifty times over.

    A small but powerful carrier drone latched on to the side of the shuttle, stabilizing it in space so that it was easier for the the next extraction phase to begin.

    It was almost surgical in its precision. Sid''s nails dug into the side of his chair as he watched suited Fleet soldiers launch out and fly towards the shuttle. It was an odd and uncomfortable thing to watch from the outside as they sliced the shuttle open, allowing them entrance and causing all the air to rush out. Sid felt a twist of empathy in his gut for the people in the ship, but tried to squash it. He needed to focus. It was a good thing that they were going to be able to capture these people alive.

    Within a minute, the Fleet soldiers had gone inside the ship and retrieved the bodies of the crew. They jammed them into coffin shaped rescue pods carried by the drone that was hooked onto the side of the ship.

    And then it was over. The drone hauled its passengers and its cargo back towards the Impulse. It had all been so easy, so fast. Sid felt like if he had blinked even once, he would have missed the whole thing.

    ¡°Are they alive?¡± Sid asked, paging down to the team who were coming in.

    ¡°Injured and unconscious, but they''ll survive,¡± someone said over the ship''s radio.

    ¡°Great,¡± Sid said. He relaxed backwards into his chair, some of the tension leaving his body. Of course, this was only the beginning, but it had gone so much better than he had any right to expect.

    ¡°Sir?¡± one of the bridge crew said, addressing Captain Wen.

    ¡°Yes, Lieutenant?¡±

    ¡°The other shuttles, they''re disappearing.¡±

    In all the excitement, the big screen had been focused on the action happening to the closest shuttle. Only one very unlucky bridge crewmember had been monitoring the other shuttles, who were too far away to be able to interfere. Wen flicked the big display to show the wider view of space, overlaid with the radio signals coming off of the other shuttles. The ones that had been closest to them were already gone, completely vanished, but as they watched, the most distant shuttles accelerated, then seemed to disappear from existence, leaving absolutely no trace.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± Sid said under his breath. Or he thought he said under his breath, anyway. Wen turned to look at him and Sid cringed. But he could see in his eyes that Wen, even if he wasn''t going to stoop to swearing on the bridge, felt the same way.

    ¡°Were they jumping?¡± Wen asked. ¡°Can we get someone to check if there''s drive signatures?¡±

    ¡°They definitely weren''t jumping,¡± the lieutenant who had brought the issue to their attention said. ¡°If they were, they wouldn''t have bothered to accelerate.¡± She pulled up a diagram on her screen. ¡°Look where they all were and where they all went. If we had more data points I could say for sure, but it looks like they passed beyond some sort of... Event horizon? That''s not the right word, but I don''t have a better way to describe it. Their signals just got cut dead.¡±

    ¡°Could a black hole do that?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°No,¡± the lieutenant said. ¡°Definitely not.¡±

    ¡°There''s no way they could have just gone cold, correct?¡± Wen asked.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°We''d see the residual heat from their engines.¡±

    ¡°Is whatever happened to them any danger to us?¡± Wen asked.

    ¡°Since they went right towards it, and they seemed to expect it, probably not. Unless they can use it to mass their forces and attack us, I don''t think whatever made them disappear is inherently a danger,¡± the lieutenant said. She had a bit of a cagey look on her face that indicated that she wasn''t entirely sure of what she was saying.

    ¡°Right. We aren''t going to move for the next eight hours, so I want the dogs out and on alert, and I want four crews to go chase one of those shuttles. Go where they went. Carefully,¡± Wen said. ¡°And put Rook onto one of the crews.¡± Rook was one of the two sensitives aboard the Impulse. It was a risk to send out a sensitive, as they were such an important asset, so it was an interesting choice on Wen''s part. ¡°I don''t like the look of this.¡±

    The bridge scrambled to obey; the crew coordinator got on the ship''s comms to assign duties to the dogfighters and crews who would be going out. The dogfighters launched immediately, having already been prepared. The crews who were going to follow where the little pirate shuttles had gone took a few minutes longer to assemble, but sailed out of the Impulse''s bays and off towards where the ships had vanished. They weren''t accelerating particularly hard, and the shuttle they were following had been a decent distance away, so it would take them a while to get where they were going.

    Sid stood up. ¡°I''m going to go investigate our catch,¡± he said. ¡°Kino? Lieutenant Cesper?¡±

    Wen waved him off. ¡°Let me know what you find.¡±

    Kino nodded and followed Sid off the bridge, with Ervantes trailing slightly behind. Kino was looking more nervous by the minute as they walked down towards the medical area where their captives had been brought.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Sid asked her, nudging her shoulder with his.

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said.

    ¡°If it''s any consolation, I doubt we''re going to get much useful information,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°I don''t know why you say that. The pirates...¡± She hesitated as she said that, putting a noticeable gap in between her words on Sid''s glasses. ¡°They are pirates, right?¡±

    ¡°The shuttle we hauled in is old Imperial make. I can''t believe you didn''t notice the Hauler logo on the side. Definitely pirates.¡±

    Something in Kino''s posture relaxed fractionally. Sid could understand her desire to encounter pirates rather than the Empire''s actual enemies. After all, pirates were independent, rarely organized, and not a threat. If this was a place where the Adversary tended to gather, they could be well armed and easily able to take down an Imperial ship. So he had heard, anyway.

    ¡°It''ll make getting information out of them easier, anyway. They''ll speak our language.¡±

    ¡°Yours, maybe. There''s plenty of pirates who don''t speak New Imperial, I think.¡±

    Sid laughed. True, pirates and spacers were united by their use of sign language, which was handy when outside of the cozy atmosphere of a ship. Still, most of them only had a bare technical vocabulary. He didn''t trust that he would be able to conduct an interrogation in sign, but there would definitely be someone on the Impulse who could translate, no matter what language the pirates actually spoke. The Fleet pulled crew from every planet in the Empire.

    Ervantes was silent as they walked. Sid turned half around to look at him. ¡°How are you feeling about this?¡± he asked.

    ¡°About the same as Captain Wen,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°There''s something strange going on here. I don''t like things that I can''t explain. Other than that, it''s luckily not my place to make decisions based on how I feel.¡±

    ¡°I care how you feel,¡± Sid said. He was too buzzing with anticipation to be able to have a real conversation with Ervantes, so he turned back around.

    Sid was familiar with the medical bay from his brief stay in it not too long ago. The whole place was shiny and well organized, but now it was filled with Fleet soldiers rushing this way and that. It was probably an inordinate amount of excitement for just some prisoners, but Sid wasn''t a doctor, so what did he know.

    He flagged down one of the head nurses. ¡°What''s the status?¡± he asked.

    The nurse pulled down his face mask so that Sid could see his lips. How nice of him. ¡°One of them is unconscious from a head injury. We''re running tests to see if there''s anything that can be done. The other has a broken leg that we''re getting set now.¡±

    ¡°Rough time in there, hunh?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Apprentice Welslak.¡±

    Something Kino was doing caught Sid''s eye. She was standing on her tiptoes, trying to peer over the shoulders of the medical personnel to catch a glimpse as one prone figure was rolled past on a gurney.

    ¡°Can we talk to the one who''s awake?¡±

    ¡°Let me check with the doctor,¡± the nurse said. Sid nodded, and he walked away.

    Sid joined Kino. ¡°How''d he look?¡±

    ¡°His whole face was messed up,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Do you think he''ll survive?¡±

    Kino shrugged, arms flopping at her sides limply. ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°Let''s hope the other one can talk then.¡±

    ¡°I''m in charge here,¡± he sent through the power, nudging Kino.

    The message that he got in response from Kino was slightly garbled, but amounted to a simple ''calm down''. Sid had never calmed down in his life and he wasn''t about to start now.

    Sid grew impatient as he waited. How long did it take to put a broken leg in a cast? He supposed he should just be grateful that they hadn''t said there would need to be pins or anything put in, which would definitely put a damper on their ability to talk to this pirate.

    Finally, finally, they were allowed to enter the room where the pirate was being kept. She was laying on the medical ward cot, her left leg cast in thick plastic. She was still wearing her own ship''s uniform, though the leg of it had been cut off to give the medical team access. Her skin was a medium tan, similar to Kino''s, but she was covered all over in the angry red rash that came with rapid depressurization. Sid vaguely wondered how bad her other symptoms of that were. He had had it pretty bad and didn''t really wish it on anybody.

    The pirate woman''s eyes were closed, and she lay back stiffly. Her mouth was open and everyone could hear her breathe loudly. Her left arm was cuffed to the side of the bed.

    ¡°Do you speak New Imperial?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Yes, fucker,¡± she said, not opening her eyes. ¡°You could have asked anybody else that.¡±

    Of all the responses, that was not exactly one that he was expecting. He thought it was almost funny. He wasn''t going to laugh, though.

    ¡°What''s your name?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°Heaven-Blessed Yossar,¡± the woman said with a slight smile. She might have been lying, though it didn''t matter. Yossar. The name sounded familiar.

    ¡°And what ship are you from, Ms. Yossar?¡±

    ¡°You aren''t even going to do me the courtesy of giving your name?¡±

    ¡°You aren''t even going to do me the courtesy of opening your eyes?¡± Sid asked in return. ¡°It''s easier to have a conversation when we can see each other.¡±

    ¡°No, I don''t believe I owe you any courtesy, considering that you''re the ones who broke my leg and wrecked my shuttle.¡±

    ¡°Then do I owe you my name?¡± Across the bed, Ervantes looked pained, watching this conversation happen. Sid tried to tone it down.

    ¡°You''re boutta owe me more painkillers,¡± Yossar said. ¡°This hurts like fire.¡±

    ¡°Let me ask my questions, and you can have as many painkillers as you need. What ship are you with?¡±

    ¡°The Bellringer,¡± Yossar said. ¡°You''d have known that if you even bothered to look at my shuttle''s computer.¡±

    Oh. Oh. Hm. This was not great. No wonder he had recognized the name Yossar. It was the point of contact for the price on his head. Sid tried to not let the panic show in his voice.

    ¡°We''re still working on getting into your shuttle''s computers,¡± he said. ¡°I think they were pretty damaged.¡± He could feel his voice crack. Kino was looking at him.

    The woman lifted her head up. ¡°Something wrong?¡± she asked, then opened her eyes. ¡°You!¡±

    Despite her broken leg and her chained hand, the woman lunged forward. Sid scrambled back, barely getting out of the way of Yossar''s reaching arm.

    ¡°I''ll kill you!¡± she shrieked. Her face was red now, much more than from just the decompression rash. Her eyes bulged, her teeth were bared. Since Sid was decently out of her reaching range, no one did anything to stop her at first.

    ¡°Calm down!¡± Sid said, keeping back.

    She was larger than he had first thought. Now that she was not lying so calmly on the bed, her full spacer, genetically modified stature was on display. She yanked at the cuff on her arm, then started to climb off the cot, finally standing on her broken leg, supported only by the cast and sheer force of will. She lunged towards Sid again, dragging the cot along behind her.

    Finally, someone did something. Kino held up her hand and the woman froze in place, straining against her own clothing, which Kino was holding with the power. ¡°Sit down,¡± Kino commanded. ¡°If you want to live, sit down.¡±

    Sid didn''t know that they needed to go that far, threatening her with death. He couldn''t hear the tone that Kino was delivering it in, but her face was completely still. She hauled backwards on Yossar''s clothes, and she collapsed heavily onto the bed. Kino used the bedsheets to wrap around her body, keeping her basically strapped down.

    Ervantes actually had his gun out, trained on her. Sid hadn''t noticed him take it out, but he wasn''t surprised that he had. ¡°Thanks for not shooting her,¡± Sid said. Ervantes just frowned, not taking his gun off of her until she was completely tied up. She continued to thrash against her restraints, but Kino kept her down.

    ¡°It might be best if you left,¡± Kino said, dropping her arms and looking at Sid. ¡°I can handle this.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want you to handle it,¡± Sid said. Kino just stared at him, and he sighed. ¡°I''m leaving the door open.¡±

    The door probably should have been open in the first place. Realistically, there was no way that a chained down, unarmed woman with a broken leg could have ever hurt two sensitives and a highly trained soldier, but for safety''s sake, really, he should have been less dumb. He went outside the room and sat on a chair just outside the door, not visible from the inside. His glasses could still pick up everything that was being said.

    ¡°How''s your leg?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°Fuck you.¡±

    ¡°You have no quarrel with me,¡± Kino said. ¡°I do want only the best for you.¡±

    ¡°You''re lying to yourself if you think that''s true.¡± The words passed somewhat jerkingly before Sid''s eyes, as if the woman was struggling to breathe. Perhaps Kino had tied her too tightly.

    ¡°I certainly don''t want the worst for you.¡±

    ¡°Hah.¡± If the woman wasn''t thrashing around, and was able to at least talk this much to Kino, then removing Sid from the room had been the right choice, even if he didn''t want to admit it. He didn''t trust Kino''s people skills one bit, but maybe he wasn''t giving her enough credit.

    Still, he wanted to be in there. He wanted to be the one making the decisions. It felt like he was constantly being removed from control at the last second, in every aspect of his life, and it frustrated him deeply. He was distracted as he stewed on this, instead of paying attention to the conversation happening.

    ¡°Where is your ship?¡± Kino asked.

    Yossar laughed, then coughed. ¡°You idiots,¡± she said. ¡°If you haven''t figured out what''s going on here yet, I don''t know what to tell you.¡±

    ¡°You could explain,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°I think I won''t.¡± There was a long stretch of silence, presumably Kino staring down Yossar.

    ¡°And why were you out without your ship? Shuttles don''t usually stray very far.¡±

    ¡°What do pirates do? We catch weaker ships.¡±

    ¡°But you didn''t attack us?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°Idiot girl. You''ve never heard of a pirate ship that tangled with the Fleet. Look how well it ends up.¡±

    ¡°Who else were you hoping to catch out here? Do people come here often?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°Alright. How long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°Why do you care?¡±

    ¡°I''m trying to establish a timeline.¡±

    There was a long silence.

    ¡°You''re here looking for Yan BarCarran, correct?¡±

    ¡°So are you.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Did you find her?¡±

    ¡°If we had, you wouldn''t want her anymore,¡± Yossar said.

    Sid couldn''t help but sigh with relief. At least that was one group of people he didn''t have to worry about snatching Yan from. Even though the Bellringer would have probably been the easiest target in terms of a fight, they definitely would have killed her right away, so rescue wouldn''t even have been an option.

    ¡°Do you know where she is?¡±

    ¡°Like I''d tell you.¡±

    ¡°I can pry it out of your mind,¡± Kino said. That was a bluff. Kino most definitely could not do that. The Emperor probably could, but Kino... No way.

    ¡°If I knew where she was, I''d''ve been there myself, idiot. Get your hands off me!¡±

    Sid couldn''t help but lean into the doorway to see what was going on. Kino was right up in Yossar''s face, hand underneath her chin. Yossar tried to lift her head up and lunge to bite Kino, but Kino kept her hands far out of harm''s way. Sid didn''t see the point in taunting the woman like that, but whatever. Kino had her methods.

    ¡°You really don''t know?¡±

    ¡°You want me to lie? I''ll make up a lie for you.¡±

    ¡°Think it over. Helping us will help you in the long run.¡±

    ¡°I think you''ll find that I''m not so eager to cooperate with the man who murdered my family. Certainly not so that he can retrieve the woman who helped him do it. I hope wherever she is, she''s rotting.¡±

    ¡°Harsh words for someone who has the chance to avoid the death sentence that piracy brings.¡±

    ¡°I''d rather be dead.¡±

    ¡°Think about it anyway,¡± Kino said. ¡°Let me know if you change your mind.¡±

    Sid saw her shadow move across the floor, and a second later she and Ervantes came out.

    ¡°That didn''t go great,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°You wouldn''t have done better. I don''t think she knows very much.¡±

    ¡°She knows something about what''s going on in this area of space, though.¡±

    ¡°Whatever it is is easy to figure out, according to her. Let''s go back to the bridge and see if they''ve made any progress with the disappearing shuttles.¡±

    They left the medical area, checking in briefly on the other prisoner who remained unconscious. During the process of capturing the shuttle, he had clearly slammed his head into a sharp piece of wall. The resulting facial trauma was deeply unpleasant, even when covered up by bandages.

    The group made their way back up to the bridge and once again arrayed themselves in their usual stations. Sid immediately checked the big display at the front of the room. He didn''t see any shuttles aside from the dogfighters carefully deployed around the Impulse. The ships that had been sent out to catch the Bellringer''s vanished shuttles were nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°What''s the status?¡± Sid asked Captain Wen. ¡°Where did the ships you sent out go?¡±

    ¡°Watch this, they should be coming back in a second.¡±

    Sid did focus intently on the display, and within the next minute, the group of four shuttles popped into existence, radio signals singing away. ¡°Can I ask what''s going on?¡±

    ¡°It''s not a black hole,¡± Wen said. ¡°There''s a whole system that''s hiding.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°We''re getting their data back now,¡± Wen said, pointing at the screen. ¡°There it is.¡±

    It wasn''t a live feed, but there was a clear, computer generated image of the star system that was apparently quite close, yet invisible.

    ¡°And this is right there?¡± Sid asked, gesturing futilely to the outside of the ship. ¡°And we can''t see it.¡±

    ¡°That is what it appears to be, yes.¡±

    ¡°It doesn''t appear to be anything at all. I don''t trust things I can''t see.¡±

    ¡°I''d''ve thought that all you sensitives would be more willing to trust in the invisible. It''s one of your lot that''s doing this,¡± Wen said.

    ¡°Is it a physical barrier? Do you know how?¡±

    ¡°Rook says that there''s a mind out there, creating some sort of trap that doesn''t let light through. That''s all we know. It''s one way. They can see us, we can''t see them.¡±

    ¡°Great.¡±

    ¡°And we found our missing ship, by the way. She''s in orbit around the second planet there.¡±

    ¡°Any reason why she isn''t jumping away?¡±

    ¡°She obviously can''t,¡± Kino said, interrupting the conversation. ¡°The woman we captured says they''re hunting for a ship. There''s no reason that they would send out just their shuttles, without the ship close enough to help with at least one jump. Their stardrive must be dead.¡±

    ¡°Who''d jump this far out with a stardrive on the edge of failing?¡± Wen asked.

    ¡°They sure did manage to get it in orbit...¡± Sid said. ¡°Captain, I think we should keep the Impulse out of whatever that... barrier... is.¡±

    ¡°You don''t have to tell me that,¡± Wen said with a slight smile. ¡°But we are going to have to deal with the surface of that planet eventually. Look at all the green and blue.¡± He pointed to the image on the display. ¡°Inhabited.¡±

    Kino looked briefly sick.

    ¡°The Adversary?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°They all are,¡± Wen said. ¡°So I think we have the answer to at least one of your questions.¡±

    ¡°Yan is on that planet,¡± Sid said confidently. The only question was where.

 Chapter Eighty-One - And When Force Is Gone...

    And When Force Is Gone...

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And the mother set the babe in the basket on the water, and she floated so far away. Away, away, sail so far away, my little tiny daughter, sail away. You''re going to the land between the water and the sky, and someday, oh someday, so will I.¡±

    -from ¡°The Lost Child¡±, traditional song on Olkye

    </blockquote>

    ¡°Iri''s back,¡± Yan said, startling Sylva as they sat on a fence, overlooking a small pasture where a group of goats ran back and forth.

    ¡°Oh! Great!¡± That was a load off of Sylva''s mind. ¡°Where''s she docking?¡±

    It was a little odd to watch Yan''s eyes go vacant and see her commune with the Mother to determine that information, but Sylva was, unfortunately, getting quite used to it.

    ¡°South shore,¡± Yan said after a minute.

    Sylva hopped off the fence rather clumsily, and began walking down the beaten path. She turned around and walked backwards for a few seconds. ¡°You coming?¡±

    ¡°I think I''ll stay here,¡± Yan said. Her teeth were gritted.

    ¡°Everything alright?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Yan said. ¡°You should go see Iri.¡± Every word seemed forced out, and after a second, the slack, vacant expression returned to Yan''s face. She must have been fighting with the Mother about something. Sylva didn''t like that.

    She didn''t like that one bit.

    But there wasn''t anything that she could do to either extract Yan from the Mother''s clutches, or stop the Mother from trying to interfere in Yan''s brain, at least not at this second.

    It seemed that things were finally coming to a head between the two of them. The Mother must have had some knowledge of what Iri was up to, but perhaps Yan was forcing her not to interfere. It was strange. Sylva had no way of knowing how strong Yan''s desire to return to the Empire was, and if she''d be able to fight to leave if it came down to it.

    Iri''s radio, if it existed and was functional, would be a valuable tool. The two kilometers or so down to the beach passed beneath her feet without a thought. Sylva had done a lot of walking since arriving here, and her feet were half blistered and half calloused beneath the stupid cloth shoes that she wore. She would have killed for a good pair of boots.

    She arrived at the beach to find Iri tying the boat on the one long dock that ran out over the water. There were a couple other boats tied up there as well, gently bobbing. The light was a pleasant overcast early afternoon, and the wind was picking up, though not so much as to herald an oncoming storm.

    ¡°Welcome back!¡± Sylva called as she came within hearing range.

    Iri looked up from the ropes she was struggling with. ¡°Hey. Where''s Yan?¡±

    Sylva decided that Iri''s prolonged absence warranted a little bit of a trick. ¡°She is with me,¡± Sylva said in her best imitation of the weird Mother voice.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± Iri said. ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± She threw down the ropes that she was holding and hopped off the side of the boat onto the dock, coming towards Sylva, hands on her hips.

    Sylva continued walking closer, and Iri caught sight of the smirk on her face and shook her head. ¡°I should have just stayed out on the water, you know. Then I wouldn''t have to deal with you,¡± Iri said. ¡°We don''t have time for this nonsense.¡±

    ¡°Is there a rush all of a sudden?¡± Sylva asked. Time seemed to flow differently in this place. Perhaps it was because the pace of the Mother''s work was so slow and steady, or perhaps it was because there was nothing to do but sit around and wait for something to happen.

    ¡°Think about it, Sylva. How long have we been here?¡±

    ¡°Err... A couple weeks?¡±

    ¡°I''m thinking that since we left our message in a bottle, this is a realistic timeframe for an Imperial ship to start arriving. Even if we gave them a long time to find our message, the fifteen days of travel time have definitely gone by at this point.¡±

    ¡°The Mother hasn''t said anything about a ship arriving.¡±

    ¡°Would the Mother tell you that?¡±

    ¡°Yan would.¡±

    ¡°You have much more confidence in that than I do,¡± Iri said flatly. ¡°Help me get this thing out of the water.¡±

    ¡°That''s your radio?¡± The thing in question was a massive buoy, probably weighing in at several hundred kilograms. It had a round base, stabilized by large out-runners, and had a giant antenna sticking up and out of the top. It was painted a high-visibility orange, and while it had clearly been designed to withstand major storms, it had also seen better days. Its bottom section was filthy and dented, and water was pooling up around the base of the antenna. ¡°Does it even work?¡±

    ¡°You can practically feel the radio when you stand too close to it when it''s running,¡± Iri said. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And that''ll broadcast into space?¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡±

    Sylva remained somewhat unconvinced, but she walked towards the dock and knelt down to touch the thing. Her fingers came away salty and damp. Gross.

    ¡°And does it receive?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I think it does for calibration,¡± Iri said. ¡°I''m pretty sure that''s what the smaller antenna is for.¡±

    ¡°How do you think you''re going to work this thing without knowing anything about this planet''s technology?¡± Sylva asked, standing back up.

    ¡°Radios are like the simplest things imaginable,¡± Iri said. ¡°I think I can figure it out. You''ve learned how to read, right?¡±

    ¡°I hate you, but yes.¡± She had asked Yan, though really the Mother was the one with the information, to teach her this planet''s written language. It had gone much more smoothly than she had expected. The words seemed to click into place, slotting neatly against the sounds in her brain, giving them form and function. It hadn''t taken very long, and she had practiced reading a few books. Either the Mother had provided her with fanciful reading materials because that was what the Mother preferred, or the texts on this planet were just a lot more enjoyable than translating religious tracts day in and day out as she had done in her apprenticeship.

    ¡°Then between the two of us, we can definitely get this to broadcast and receive.¡±

    ¡°You want me to put it on land?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I think I know a good place for it,¡± Iri said. ¡°Give us some privacy to work on it.¡±

    ¡°You know the only reason you think that you have privacy is that Yan is fighting to give it to you, right?¡± Sylva didn''t know entirely how true that was, but it seemed reasonable, considering Yan''s reluctance to come.

    ¡°That''s good. That shows that she wants to get out of here.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t go so far as to say that,¡± Sylva said. ¡°But sure. Show me where you want me to haul this.¡± She bent down again and put her hand on the metal of the buoy. The power flowed out easily through her arm and into the structure. It creaked as she lifted it out of the water, keeping her hand on it and hovering it at about waist level next to her.

    ¡°It always impresses me to see you do that, you know,¡± Iri said. ¡°I''m a little jealous.¡±

    ¡°Don''t be. Literally everything about being a sensitive is a pain in the ass,¡± Sylva grumbled. ¡°I''m a pack horse, a translator, a useless meditator...¡±

    Iri laughed. ¡°Hey, if your inability to do meditation correctly stops you from being lured into the Mother, all the better for it.¡±

    ¡°I really got you earlier.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Careful of the trees.¡± Iri directed Sylva to bring the buoy through the forest, along the well trod path, careful to keep the antenna clear of the branches above them. It was pretty rough going, and Sylva went slowly, often having to stop and put the buoy down so that she could clear the branches enough for the antenna to pass through unhindered.

    They came at last to a rocky side of the mountain, somewhat close to where the Mother kept her quarry. Sylva set the buoy down near an outcrop with some relief. It didn''t matter if it got wet, obviously, but if it rained it would be nice to have a place to sit and not get dripped on while working with it.

    The massive orange thing, intended for the sea, looked so out of place among the grasses, trees, and shattered rocks that Sylva had to laugh as she stood back and admired it.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°So, how long do you think it will take to get this thing up and running?¡±

    ¡°Depends on how much you''re willing to help me.¡±

    <hr>

    In the end, it took several days for Iri to figure out how to work the antenna. It was more complicated than she had expected, forcing it to do something it was not exactly designed for, and getting it to work with the encryption codes that Iri needed it to use.

    Luckily, they had a good test for its receiving capabilities in the Bellringer, which was constantly sending out radio signals to its shuttles. Iri, of course, while aboard the Bellringer, had made sure to scrape their computers for their encryption keys, just in case they came in handy. Even if they hadn''t been able to understand what the Bellringer crews were saying, they would have been able to pick up their digital noise.

    It was nighttime, a time when both Sylva and Iri could ¡°privately¡± check on the radio. They had both crept out of the room that they shared with Yan and made their way into the forest. They were certain that the Mother knew what they were doing, and that gave them an overwhelming feeling of dread, but they were powerless to prevent it. Over and over, the Mother had made no attempt to stop them. Sylva still, no matter how hard she thought about it, couldn''t wrap her head around that fact.

    ¡°Let''s see what the pirates are chatting about tonight, shall we?¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I''m sure it won''t be anything interesting,¡± Sylva grumbled.

    Sylva''s prediction was proven wrong almost immediately. The radio signals they picked up from the shuttles were usually quite distant, and the Bellringer herself was often silent (having no way to communicate with her shuttles outside of the sphere). Tonight, however, the signals from the shuttles were loud and clear, coming from within the orbit of the third planet in the system, rather than outside it, and they were all in a tizzy, yelling over each other about...

    A Fleet ship.

    Here.

    Just outside the bubble.

    Sylva and Iri both couldn''t speak, they were listening so intently to what was going on, trying to parse what each of the shuttles and the Bellringer were saying.

    The Bellringer''s shuttles had retreated after an Imperial ship had jumped in and destroyed, or captured, it was somewhat unclear, one of their shuttles. The more bloodthirsty group of shuttle pilots was calling for retaliation, a surprise attack on the invading ship, but the more wary pilots were begging the captain to evacuate the entire crew of the Bellringer to the surface of the planet.

    Did they not know that this planet was almost certainly going to be a target of the Fleet as well? Did they think that their half-destroyed pirate ship was a priority in terms of what the Fleet would target?

    Either way, the general atmosphere of the conversation between the Bellringer and her shuttles was one of complete panic and chaos. Sylva wondered just how long they had been yelling at each other for. Perhaps hours.

    Yan, the Mother, must know. They couldn''t not know that another ship had jumped into the system. That awareness out on the edges of the bubble, containing the light, she had to be able to tell when something jumped in, right? Or at the very least, she had to have someone, somewhere monitoring radio and watching the skies. That had to be the job of someone on this planet, and the Mother was in contact, if not close contact, with the government of this planet. Yan had mentioned it once or twice.

    Had she been keeping this a secret from Sylva and Iri? Sylva looked across the buoy at Iri, illuminated by the glare of her computer screen hooked up to their massive radio. Iri was chewing on her lip, biting it ragged as they listened.

    Sylva was the one to break the silence between them. ¡°Should we send our message?¡± she asked.

    Iri hesitated. Understandable.

    But Sylva knew it was already too late for this planet. Simply by having a Fleet ship here, this planet was doomed. They might as well make the best of this bad situation, and get Yan out of here.

    Iri nodded. She painstakingly switched the radio to the Fleet standard frequency.

    ¡°Godspeed,¡± Sylva said.

    Iri sent their message out into the sky, setting it to repeat in the hopes that some ship would pass through the border and hear it.

    <hr>

    IMPERIAL SHIP: BARCARRAN, MAEDES, CALOR ON SURFACE OF 2ND PLANET. COORDINATES FOLLOW MSSG. BARCARRAN SAFE BUT HELD BY FOREIGN POWER. ATTEMPTING TO EXTRACT. SEND SHUTTLE. POWER ON SURFACE CAPABLE OF DESTROYING STARDRIVES. MAIN SHIP DO NOT APPROACH. POWER ON SURFACE CAPABLE OF INCAPACITATING SENSITIVES. DO NOT SEND SENSITIVES TO PLANET SURFACE. MAY ENCOUNTER RESISTANCE. RECOMMEND SENDING UNMANNED SHUTTLE FOR RETREIVAL. CURRENTLY CAPABLE OF RECIEVING MESSAGES ON THIS CHANNEL WITH THIS ENCRYPTION. COORDINATES BASED ON STAR POSITION. MESSAGE REPEATS.

    Aboard the Impulse, the message was received like a kick in the teeth. It didn''t come in immediately, of course. They received it as a data package from one of the shuttles that had crossed over the barrier and into that other space, that world that existed in some invisible space.

    Sid and Kino were both on the bridge when it came in. As the words flashed up on the big screen, Kino actually dropped the tablet she was holding, and it bounced to the floor, landing on her foot. She hardly seemed to notice.

    Captain Wen stared at it mutely as well.

    ¡°Maedes? Calor?¡± Sid asked aloud. Maedes he knew. That was Iri, Yan''s minder, who he was fairly familiar with, having traveled with her and worked in her general vicinity for months. Calor also sounded familiar, but Sid couldn''t place the name. ¡°Didn''t Iri quit?¡±

    ¡°She went rogue,¡± Kino said. Sid looked at her, and she shrugged, then bent down to pick up her dropped tablet. ¡°Clearly she did better as an independent agent than she would have done standing trial.¡±

    ¡°It doesn''t matter who they are,¡± Wen said. ¡°I think we need to change our strategy.¡±

    ¡°We have a strategy?¡±

    ¡°We know where Apprentice BarCarran is,¡± he said. ¡°It seems like the situation will hold for the moment. I want backup to arrive.¡±

    ¡°We''re going to just leave her there?¡± Sid asked, growing slightly hysterical. He could feel the tightness in his throat that meant his voice was getting loud and shrill.

    ¡°They say the situation is holding. I don''t want to go into something without backup.¡±

    ¡°What backup do you need? This is a Fleet ship!¡±

    ¡°Apprentice Welslak, I''m not sure if you''ve noticed, but the Impulse is entirely equipped for ship to ship combat, which is usually what we first encounter when we find the Adversary. This planet has no ships, and we have been instructed not to even enter this bubble on pain of losing our stardrive. I want to wait for the ground force to arrive.¡± Wen''s face was calm, but from the way that Kino cringed ever so slightly away, Sid could tell that his words were not spoken in a friendly tone.

    He relented, trying to relax. This wasn''t his ship. This wasn''t his ship. He couldn''t just command that it do things.

    Oh, fuck that. He couldn''t just leave Yan down there. Not when he knew exactly where she was. He puffed himself up, ready to protest again. Kino grabbed his arm, skinny fingers digging in.

    ¡°STOP,¡± she sent through the power. It came across clearly, ringing in his head like she had hit him. He wanted to yank away from her grasp, but he realized he couldn''t win this fight. Not against Wen and Kino. Not with Ervantes standing across the room, watching.

    ¡°How long will it take for backup to arrive?¡± he asked through gritted teeth.

    ¡°First Sandreas believed he could get a ground ship to us relatively quickly. Ten days.¡±

    That would be ten days of torture.

    ¡°Can we send a message to the agents on the ground?¡± he asked. ¡°I can''t leave them waiting without saying anything.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And if they say that things become urgent, can we go in?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°By we, you must mean an unmanned shuttle,¡± Wen said.

    Reluctantly, Sid nodded. ¡°Give me the comms.¡±

    He composed a message.

    <hr>

    APPR. WELSLAK, MEJIA W/ FLT SHP IMPULSE. IS YOUR SITUATION STABLE? ARE YOU IN DANGER? DESCRIBE SITUATION. BACKUP ARRIVING IN 10 STD DAYS. CAN YOU WAIT/BE READY? CAN ACCELERATE TIMELINE IF NECESSARY.

    <hr>

    FORCES ON SURFACE KNOW YOU ARE HERE. SAFE ATM. CANNOT PREDICT MOVEMENT OF POWERS ON SURFACE. CAN WAIT 10 DAYS UNLESS SITUATION CHANGES. IF WE STOP BROADCASTING, SEND HELP IMMEDIATELY.

    <hr>

    DESCRIBE DANGERS ON SURFACE.

    <hr>

    GROUP MIND TRAPS SENSITIVES USES THEM TO HIDE PLANET. VERY STRONG. VERY DANGEROUS. NOT CURRENTLY HOSTILE. HAS CONTROL OF BARCARRAN THOUGH SHE RETAINS SOME FREE WILL. DO NOT KNOW OTHER MILITARY SITUATION.

    <hr>

    CAN SHE ESCAPE?

    <hr>

    IF CIRCUMSTANCES ARE RIGHT, POSSIBLE. MAY NEED TO DISTRACT GROUP MIND. MILITARY FORCE?

    <hr>

    WE WILL WAIT ON BACKUP. 10 DAYS. KEEP BROADCASTING.

    <hr>

    WILCO

    <hr>

    The Mother understood what was coming. She could see the ship waiting there. She could see her daughters passing messages back and forth.

    For the first time, the Mother was facing a real threat. It was here, hanging in the sky just outside her bubble. She had never heard of a planet that had successfully resisted the Empire. She had never heard of a planet who had successfully surrendered to them, either.

    She was certain that she was about to die.

    It might take a while for her to be defeated. Years, decades, even. She could prolong a battle. She could do that, and many other things, but she could not win a war.

    It wasn''t just the historical evidence that said that, either. Yan, inside of her, was sinking into a bitter pit of despair, bringing the rest of the Mother down with her. For all the harm that had come too Yan on this planet, she could just see Etta''s half-smile, and feel the warmth that the Mother provided, and see the sky and feel the salty wind, and she knew she did not want this place to be destroyed.

    Yan had never seen what happened to planets that the Empire fought. She had read about it only in the most abstract sense, not wanting to think about it too closely, but she could imagine. Now she had no choice but to think about it, and she hated that. She hated being torn apart like this, being pulled in two different directions. Sylva and everything she had ever known on one side, the Mother on the other.

    The Mother watched and waited, the ship just outside the range where she could touch it. It made no move to approach, though its shuttles carried messages in and out of the shield. She might as well not have bothered with the shield now, but she kept it up out of habit as much as anything.

    And out of a desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, the ship would leave and forget all about this.

    If they came closer, she might be able to make them forget.

    It wasn''t her strong point, but the Mother knew how to do such things. She could give them Yan, and Yan could plant a story in their heads, and they could all go home none the wiser.

    But Yan herself didn''t have that control, and the ship would not come close, and so that dream died like every other.

    If the ship came closer, she would rip it from stem to stern.

    But more would come. They would never stop coming. Yan had an image in her head: hundreds of ships, crewed by thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people. It was on a scale that she couldn''t quite even grasp, but she had sat so long ago right there in the center of the Empire''s power, in Sandreas''s living room, and heard him say the numbers.

    Yan''s imagination fueled the Mother''s thoughts. She was there in Sandreas''s quarters, the Mother in Yan''s body. Sandreas was there, and so was Halen.

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± the Mother asked. ¡°Why can''t you leave us alone?¡±

    ¡°It is the way it has always been,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°It doesn''t have to be,¡± Yan said, then cowered back as Sandreas stood. He was taller than she was, in this dream, though not in reality. She looked at Halen, pleading for help with her eyes, but he sat still.

    ¡°Come home, Yan,¡± Sandreas said.

    The Mother wanted to say ''this is my home'', and Yan wanted to say ''I have no home'' so they said nothing, and Sandreas came closer and closer.

    All the Mother''s bodies sleeping bodies shook themselves out of the dream, unhappy and drenched in sweat.

    The Mother used the power as another set of eyes, watching as Sylva and Iri typed their messages to the waiting ship. So, she had ten days.

    She contacted the Circle and told them what was going on. There wasn''t much military force on the planet to speak of. Their entire defense rested on staying hidden. All they had were the patrols, a loose policing force that doubled as a rescue operation for lost boats. It wasn''t much, but they had lived a peaceful life here for hundreds of years. They hadn''t thought to need anything else for a long time.

    The Mother didn''t want the Circle to tell the population what was just outside their borders, like a shark hiding just underneath the waves. They couldn''t do anything. It was better that they didn''t know. It was up to the Circle to make that decision, though.

    Ten days.

 Chapter Eighty-Two - Theres Always Mom

    There''s Always Mom

    <blockquote>

    ¡°I swear on the stars and the distance between, I¡¯ll never go home again. I¡¯m tired of my my father¡¯s cruelty; I¡¯m tired of my mother¡¯s dream. I¡¯m going to find the universe¡¯s beauty, and I¡¯ll never go home again.¡±

    -from ¡°Home Again¡±, spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The Gatekeeper was a truly massive ship, far, far bigger than the Impulse. It was designed to hold an entire ground force and all of the support material that came with it. She had a sluggish stardrive, and far less aerial battle capability, but she was intimidating beyond compare. The Gatekeeper stationkept alongside the Impulse, both ships a good distance away from the shroud of darkness that covered the nearby star.

    The Gatekeeper had been surprised to find the Impulse waiting on her arrival. Because of the lack of communications, the Gatekeeper had been sent along as a kind of insurance. The idea was that if the Impulse, with her greater space fighting capabilities, discovered further information while attacking the ¡°station¡±, such as the location of a planet, they could leave a message for the Gatekeeper with new coordinates. When both ships travelled to that new point, they could then begin the real work on whatever planet they found.

    Of course, it hadn''t quite worked out that way. It took very little time to bring the Gatekeeper''s command up to date, and from there it was a matter of fleshing out a plan of attack. Sid mostly sat quietly and watched, rather in awe of the calm and rational way the two captains and their command staff decided on a course of action. Captain Wen and Captain Baczynski of the Gatekeeper couldn¡¯t have been more different, but they had an innate understanding of how best to coordinate their two ships.

    Next to him, Kino grew more agitated by the second. Sid nudged her, attempting to be a comfort.

    Unexpectedly, she tugged on his cassock sleeve, got up, and left the meeting. No one seemed to care, so after a second, Sid nodded his goodbye and followed her out.

    The hallway was empty, but Kino pulled him a couple doors down into a small, empty meeting room anyway.

    They stood facing each other among a jumble of office chairs in the dark room.

    Haltingly, Kino signed, ¡°Do you trust me?¡± Her face was so still, making the sign feel flat, but he loved her for trying.

    He smiled. ¡°What do you need?¡± he whispered. Clearly Kino didn''t want to be overheard.

    ¡°We have to stop this,¡± Kino signed.

    ¡°What? No.¡± Sid squinted at her in the dark. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    Kino gave up on sign, her grasp of it inadequate for what she needed to say. ¡°They''re in there, calmly talking about how to kill a planet full of people.¡±

    ¡°It''s a war. It''s what Sandreas wants,¡± Sid whispered back.

    Kino shook her head. Her long braids flopped weakly against her shoulders. ¡°I don''t care anymore. I can''t-- I can''t--¡± She rubbed at her eyes.

    Sid grabbed her arm. ¡°They have Yan,¡± he said, slightly louder than he intended, forgetting to whisper. ¡°They took her. Who knows what else they''ve done to her. I don''t care about anything else.¡±

    ¡°Then we should get Yan and leave,¡± Kino said. Her large brown eyes were wide with something: fear, certainty, defiance? Sid couldn''t tell what was going on in her head, since he couldn''t hear her voice, and her face was so flat. He could usually see her state of anxiety from watching her various fidgets, but she was deathly still now.

    ¡°The intel we have says that won''t work,¡± Sid said. ¡°They''re our enemy. If we don''t do something, they''ll keep coming after us.¡±

    Kino shoved Sid directly in the chest, hard. He stumbled backwards, tripping over one of the chairs and falling slightly onto the table. He pulled himself up. Kino was polite enough to wait until he was able to focus on what she was saying to speak.

    ¡°Use your brain, for God''s sake. That''s a planet who only wants to hide. They don''t have infrastructure. They don''t have ships. They probably don''t have any army. It''ll be a slaughter.¡±

    ¡°You''re the one being an idiot!¡± He walked forward towards Kino. He tried to shove her back, but she grabbed his wrist. He leaned in instead. ¡°We know they''re defended. They can destroy ships in orbit.¡±

    Kino''s nails, sharp despite how much she bit at them and used them to pick at her sleeve, dug into his wrist. He pulled it away. ¡°What''s the matter with you?¡± he asked.

    ¡°What''s the matter with you, that you can just say that you''re going to kill a planet full of people?¡±

    ¡°I''m not going to do it, I--¡±

    She pushed him again, but he was ready this time, and fell into it to make her stumble back.

    ¡°Complicit!¡± she yelled, mouth wide and showing her bared teeth, bright in the dimness.

    ¡°If you didn''t want to be here, you should have never become Sandreas''s apprentice.¡± He was trying to be the calm one here. The rational one. He waited to see if she would take his cue and calm down.

    They stared each other down for a second.

    ¡°I want to make a difference, not just do what I''m told.¡±

    ¡°You think you''re going to become First? You won''t, like this,¡± Sid said. ¡°Save your breath. Go home. Quit.¡± He was taunting her now. He knew he shouldn''t. There was something in her words digging at his brain, but he wasn''t going to disobey Sandreas now, not at this crucial moment.

    ¡°You''re going to give up your soul,¡± Kino said, very slowly.

    ¡°What is that supposed to mean? Even if I wanted to stop this, we couldn''t change anything,¡± Sid said dismissively, not liking what she was saying. ¡°They have orders from Sandreas. They won''t listen to us.¡±

    ¡°We have to try.¡±

    ¡°No, we don''t.¡±

    ¡°You don''t have a spine, or a heart.¡±

    ¡°And you clearly don''t have a brain, so who wins here?¡±

    ¡°I''m not going to live the rest of my life knowing I did nothing to stop a planet full of people from getting murdered.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Sid said. ¡°Maybe you''re right.¡± He shrugged, putting the nagging fear that Kino was correct away into a little box in his heart. ¡°But I''ve already got blood on my hands, and I''ve lived with it. I''m going to do what needs to be done.¡±

    Kino was frozen still. ¡°So am I,¡± she said.

    ¡°I''ll wait here until you''re done yelling at the captains.¡± Sid waved his hand. ¡°I don''t want to be there to watch you embarrass yourself.¡±

    ¡°I wish you could have been better,¡± Kino said finally, then whirled and left the room, door slamming shut behind her hard enough to shake the floor under Sid''s feet.

    He felt pretty bad. Not the least of it was the fact that the whole careful, tenuous relationship that he had built up with Kino seemed to have come crashing down. For a while, she had been... Not exactly the only person he had, but a person he could trust to take care of things. He knew she would do what needed to be done if he couldn''t. They had even been working well together, almost.

    But now she was going to go make a fool out of herself, and he was going to have to go back to the captains and apologize for her behavior, and they were going to go through with all of this anyway. It didn''t matter what she wanted, because the course of the Empire''s history dictated what they had to do.

    Kino had never met the Emperor. Kino didn''t know the real root of why every First continued along this same beaten path, no matter how miserable it was. She was right that if he thought about it too much, it would weigh on him, but he didn''t have a choice. She wasn''t going to win, so there was no point in him joining her in her futile crusade that would only make people angry at the both of them.

    He wished he could promise that he would make things right, if, when, he became First. But he knew that the Emperor would weigh on him more than Kino''s words would. Sid saw the future stretching out before him like a well lit road, well trod by everyone who had come before. Kino wanted to dive off into the bushes, but there was no destination there, just an endless struggle. Sid knew better.

    Right?

    Sylva fingered the little bag in her pocket that Iri had given to her. It was the last scrap of their wages from her work as a doctor: the last little bit of Vena that they had held in reserve, just in case. Iri had carried it with them all this way, from ship to station to ship to shore, and now it was in Sylva''s hands.

    High doses of drugs could stop a person from being able to use the power.

    Yan''s body still had her physical brain in it, which was still the connection to her mind, off somewhere in the Mother. If it came down to it, Sylva could dissolve a pill in Yan''s food. The connection to the Mother would be broken. She could take Yan and run to the unmanned shuttle that they were told was coming.

    She didn''t want to be on this planet when the real landing force arrived on the ground. She wanted to get Yan out of here and back home. She wanted life to go back to normal. She wanted Yan to be herself again.

    This all sucked, so absolutely.

    Yan had been distant and sad for the past many days. Everyone knew exactly what was coming, but no one wanted to say it. Sylva had, at one point, considered trying to put the Mother in contact with the ships in orbit, perhaps to negotiate something, but the Mother didn''t mention wanting that, and Sylva didn''t think that anyone in orbit would listen.

    The two sides were enemies, and everyone seemed reconciled to keeping it that way. Sylva had a picture of the Mother as a terrifying, but not outright evil person. People? The Mother had treated Sylva and Iri cordially, though that may have only been because of Yan. Sylva still didn''t understand why she had taken Yan in the first place.

    It all made no sense, and yet it made a horrible kind of sense at the same time. The Mother was resigned to this fight because it was all she had ever known the Empire to do. The Empire was ready for this fight because at this point they couldn''t back down from their crusade. It could only end once every other group in the universe was wiped out, and there was no chance of any of them ever waiting in the darkness, gathering strength, getting ready to attack.

    Everything was tied up in the hundreds of years of history that had led them to this point, and Sylva felt close to helpless in the middle of it. All she could do was grab Yan and hold on for dear life. Both metaphorically and literally.

    So Sylva worried the pills in her pocket, and she waited with Iri at the radio for a sign, and she watched as Yan grew more distant and tense.

    <hr>

    LANDING WILL BEGIN IN 5 HOURS. UNMANNED SHUTTLE WILL SPLASHDOWN AT FOLLOWING COORDINATES. BE PREPARED TO LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. STAY IN CONTACT.

    <hr>

    Yan sat on the ground, legs splayed out, hands limp and flat in the dirt. She couldn''t move her head to look up at the sky, so she stared morosely out over the water instead. The sun was going down and the sky looked like a healing bruise. Clouds threatened rain on the horizon, and a too-hot breeze licked the leaves of the trees into a thousand tiny whispers.

    Sylva came up behind Yan and sat down next to her. The dying sunlight glinted off the water as it rushed and murmured ten or so meters below them, among the craggy rocks at the shore. Sylva leaned her head on Yan''s shoulder, as she had done a hundred, a thousand times.

    ¡°You know what''s coming, right?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yan said. Her voice was dull and flat.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°We have to leave,¡± Sylva said. ¡°We can''t stay here.¡±

    Yan didn''t respond. The majority of the Mother''s attention was elsewhere, making last second preparations for the coming disaster. Although it was entirely Yan''s presence that had brought this place to Imperial attention, Yan and her friends were now only the tiniest piece in what was about to happen. They were almost inconsequential. The Mother bore no ill-will towards Yan, and that made it all the worse. If only the Mother could have been keeping her prisoner like the Green King had; then maybe this would have been more justified.

    Far off in the distance, the Mother dropped her protective cover, for the first time in hundreds of years.

    Years from now, Yan realized, she would be able to look up in the night sky of Emerri and watch a star come to life. She would be able to see it from a distance, across the incomprehensible years. She could watch herself, once again, but never return to that image of the past.

    Yan watched her future self watching her present self. She was imagining being back on Emerri. She was imagining the future that stretched out before her: a future in which this planet was completely destroyed, existing only as a brief light in the sky. Here with Yan and then gone forever.

    It would all be gone soon.

    The Mother saw hundreds of things in the sky coming towards her. They were too fast and too many to stop. That was the way to defeat even the most powerful of sensitives. Every action with the power required attention to work, and even with so many minds under her control, working in concert, the Mother could only split her attention so many ways.

    She did what she could.

    She focused on stopping the bombs that fell, ripping them apart to harmlessly explode in space, or redirecting them so that they sailed far past her planet.

    Next to her, Sylva jumped when the first explosions lit the darkening sky. Yan closed her eyes. It wasn''t fireworks, and it was all happening too far away for there to be any sound, but it lit the sky in random pulses and waves.

    It was all happening far too close for comfort. Compared to the vast expanse that the Mother could cover with her power, the objects flying at her were too small and too fast moving to catch at great distances. That was especially true when the vast majority of them were unpowered, so they gave off neither heat nor radio, and they were painted as dark as they sky itself. They had to approach for her to find them and stop them.

    She dealt with them as best as she could.

    Whoever had designed this plan of attack had definitely kept the limits of sensitives in mind. There were many projectiles of different sizes, materials, and speeds, spread out over an area that was far too wide for the type of power structure she would need to deflect them all to cover. The only reason that the Mother could hold up her light shield so far out into space was because she devoted so much energy and attention to its singular purpose, and because light was one of the simplest things to deal with. The physicality of metal and rock was far harder. No power structure could save her, not completely, so she was resigned to doing what she could to stopping everything that came down.

    That included the shuttles.

    Revulsion rose up within her, the first moment she grasped one. She felt like she was reaching with the hand of God. She was back in that tiny dark space, her own shuttle, peering out through Yan''s eyes, living in her memory, learning again how to kill.

    She ripped the first shuttle in half.

    At first, the Mother paid no attention to the wreckage she was creating. She was far too busy dealing with each fresh wave of the attack and coping with the rushes of memory and horror that poured through her minds and threatened to drown her. She didn''t care what would happen to all the bodies and scraps of metal as they burned up in her atmosphere. Let them fall where they may.

    Except, as her eyes on the ground stared up into the sky, she noticed that the tiny pinpricks of light burning up there were not careening to the ground uncontrolled. No, they stabilized and streaked across the sky, dropping slowly, not burning any longer. She looked more closely, which cost her valuable attention and time.

    These landing pods that had come out of the destroyed shuttles had stumpy little wings. They deployed long drogue parachutes to slow themselves down, and they came closer, ever closer, to the ground.

    The Mother, feeling even worse now, began to rip them apart, but the clarity and ease of working in space had given way to thick, soupy atmosphere. For as many as she was able to destroy or send tumbling, still more descended safely. In the moments she wasted dealing with the landing pods, shuttles themselves came down whole and complete.

    The Mother remembered Halen''s lesson from so long ago about target prioritization. That his words should come back to her now felt like a taunt.

    She did her best to protect her planet. She did her best to protect herself.

    Yan was cold and drenched in sweat. Despite the heat of the night, she shivered and was wracked with nausea. Sylva clung to her, her arms like vices around Yan''s chest.

    She was fighting with the Mother, at least a little. She hated the feeling of using her own power to rip apart the pods that the Fleet soldiers were coming down in. She hated the killing, she hated that on some level, those were her people, just as much as this planet was the Mother''s. So she tried to pull herself away, even though at the same time, that meant that those soldiers coming down would be able to do so much harm here. There was no way to win.

    ¡°We''ll be able to go home soon,¡± Sylva whispered. ¡°Soon.¡±

    The choked feeling lived in Yan''s throat. What home could Sylva even be talking about? Her lonely apartment in the Imperial Center? Yan barely had any memories of that place, and even if she did, in order to live happily there, she would have to forget everything here. Could Sylva be talking about their little shared life at the Academy? That was a time that Yan desperately wanted to return to, but it was gone, gone, gone. Or the Iron Dreams, further back in the past again, with her real mother''s arms around her...

    And the Mother realized fully, for the first time, that she needed Yan to leave. There was no point in keeping her here, torn up and incapacitated by being pulled in multiple directions. There was no reason for the Mother to hold onto that thread of pity and indecision that Yan carried inside of her. No matter how much she cared for Yan as one of her own, Yan was not, and never could be, a true daughter of this planet.

    When Yan felt this realization trickle down to her from the Mother, she cried out loud. Her fingers dug into the dirt next to her, as though by holding onto the planet she could hold on to that connection. She had never felt so whole except with the Mother. She didn''t want to be cast out and alone, again, always again.

    She didn''t want to stay, but she didn''t want to be forced to leave. Not like this. Not like this. Please not like this.

    ¡°Sylva,¡± the Mother said, speaking in Yan''s voice one last time. ¡°Give me that in your pocket.¡±

    Sylva''s sunburned face paled, but she pulled out the little bag of pills.

    Yan fought with the Mother every second, but this was a battle that the Mother would win. Yan''s arm shook, trembling as she resisted holding her arm out to take the pills, but the Mother forced her to take them from Sylva, then raise them to her mouth and swallow, and not throw them up, and to sit, staring out at the sea.

    The Mother couldn''t stop Yan from crying, though. She could feel everything that was happening, and though she tried to fight it, she didn''t have the strength.

    The Mother could give Yan one last gift. Not the connection that Yan wanted-- she couldn''t keep that-- but the blankness of memory that would give her peace. The Mother rifled through the pages of Yan''s mind as her consciousness faded, and tied away her time with the Mother behind a thick haze. Now she wouldn''t feel as though she needed to return, as her wayward selves always did, and perhaps she would be less haunted by these last few hours.

    The Mother didn''t touch anything that didn''t belong to her; only the memories that Yan had while within the Mother were things she covered with that vale of numbness. Perhaps that was a mistake, she realized. After all, Yan''s time with the Mother had been one of healing from everything before, in its way. To take that away, but to leave the original pain, perhaps that was a disservice to Yan.

    But even as the Mother changed her mind, tried to undo the work she had done, her connection to Yan grew dimmer and dimmer. Yan slumped down in Sylva''s arms, the Vena taking hold.

    The shuttles careened down from the sky like shooting stars.

    Sylva did not want to leave Yan unconscious and alone, but she needed to go find Iri who was manning the radio. She resorted to half hoisting Yan''s limp body up onto her back, wrapping her arms around her neck and hunching forward to keep her as much off the ground as possible. Even though Yan weighed relatively little (it was actually almost scary how little she weighed, even having seen how much the Mother made her eat), she was very tall, so her legs dragged on the ground behind as Sylva waddled back from the cliffside into the trees.

    Yan''s breath was loud in her ear, and occasionally she''d murmur something incomprehensible. She breathed shallowly, and her whole body was limp except for her painfully stiff neck, which forced her head to stick out over Sylva''s shoulder. It was worrying, but Sylva had never actually seen anyone take Vena before, so she didn''t know if it was normal. She would have to ask Iri.

    It wasn''t a very long walk to the radio, though it went slowly because of Sylva''s load and her desire to stop Yan''s feet and legs from bumping too much on the ground.

    ¡°Gimme a hand, Iri?¡± Sylva called out as she got close, seeing the light of a small fire Iri had lit flickering through the trees. Sylva heard a little bit of crashing and rustling as Iri stood and came towards her.

    ¡°Fuck. What happened?¡± Iri delivered these lines in a flat tone, seeing that there was no immediate danger. ¡°Did you give her the Vena?¡±

    ¡°Errrr... She took it.¡±

    The much stronger Iri took Yan''s limp arms and hoisted her off of Sylva''s back. The sudden lessening of weight made Sylva feel like her spine was being pulled up to the sky. Iri carried Yan very tenderly, half draping her over her shoulder.

    ¡°We should get going,¡± Iri said. ¡°The shuttles are on their way down.¡±

    ¡°I saw. Do you have a solid location for the one coming for us?¡±

    ¡°I was waiting to see if it would make it down or if it would get destroyed. It''s going to be down to the east.¡±

    ¡°Great. Are you all ready? Are we abandoning this?¡± Sylva asked, nodding to the gigantic buoy they were using as a radio.

    ¡°Obviously. Can you tell them we''re leaving and won''t be able to transmit?¡± Iri kicked at her computer, wired up to the buoy.

    ¡°You can put her down, you know,¡± Sylva said, looking at the unconscious Yan. She typed the message out and sent it, traveling through the haphazard and hacked-together wires that linked the two systems. It was a miracle that they had been able to get it to work at all. ¡°Should I take this with us?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Everything else is in my bag already. Leave the wires,¡± Iri said as Sylva tried to carefully unplug everything. Sylva complied and abandoned everything attached to the buoy, shoving the computer into Iri''s backpack and swinging it over her own shoulders.

    ¡°I''ll kinda miss this place,¡± Sylva said as she kicked out the fire, plunging them into darkness.

    ¡°You''ll get over it,¡± Iri said. ¡°Let''s go.¡±

    They walked carefully through the forest until they came to the eastern beach. It was not that far of a walk, since Iri had carefully instructed the people aboard the Fleet ship to send their rescue shuttle down on the correct side of the mountain.

    It was already there when they arrived, sitting dark and peaceful in the water, about thirty meters out, floating easily on two long supports that had clearly extended from a bay on its underside. It was so unlike the way they had come down to this planet, crashing and afraid, but so similar in its own way. Sylva briefly wondered what had come of the pirate shuttle they had crashed down with. Was it still floating out on the ocean? Had it sank to the bottom? It was slightly comforting to imagine that it stayed exactly as they left it, half flooded but floating, forever, though she knew that was definitely not the case. It was probably on the bottom.

    But this shuttle wasn''t.

    ¡°Take Yan,¡± Iri said, hooking her hands underneath Yan''s armpits like a baby and passing her to Sylva, who awkwardly leaned Yan''s full from against herself. ¡°I''m going to go see if there''s a floater we can use to get her over there.

    ¡°What, you don''t like the idea of swimming with her on your back?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°We don''t have time for this,¡± Iri said. She waded into the water and then swam out to the waiting boat. Sylva watched in the dim light as Iri treaded water and attempted to get in to the shuttle via an access hatch on the side. She managed it, entered the shuttle, and came out a moment later bearing a long, flat board. She dived back into the water and kicked to shore, coasting the last three meters or so in on the slightly rough waves that touched the beach.

    The rescue board had some straps on it, and so Sylva and Iri carefully positioned Yan across it and tied her down. Sylva put Iri''s backpack on Yan''s chest so that they wouldn''t have to carry it, and then they both began to swim to the shuttle, each taking hold of the rescue board and pulling it along between them.

    ¡°You get in first, and I''ll pass Yan up to you,¡± Iri said when they arrived. Sylva didn''t waste energy or breath on talking back. She tried to climb into the shuttle, but the long metal struts that she tried to use as a ladder were slippery and high out of the water. It took her a long and embarrassing moment of struggle, but she made it in the end. She was thankful to Iri for taking the more difficult task of lifting Yan out of the water; it was far easier for her to grab Yan''s arms and haul her up into the shuttle than it would have been for her to hoist her above her head while treading water, as Iri was doing.

    Finally they were all inside, soaking wet and cold. Iri closed and locked the hatch behind them, and Sylva took a look around. After such a long time among the relatively natural world of this island, the inside of the shuttle was jarring to see, and it had the odd smell that things that spent most of their time in space carried with them: the smell of long recycled atmosphere and perfectly regulated humidity. They both strapped Yan in to one of the passenger seats.

    ¡°Should I sit back here?¡± Sylva asked. She didn''t want Yan to wake up from her Vena induced sleep and feel alone.

    ¡°Copilot seat,¡± Iri said. ¡°Might need you to take care of debris.¡±

    Sylva gave another glance at Yan. The stiffness of her neck made her look almost awake, as though she had just closed her eyes and was praying or meditating, rather than in a complete stupor. It was only the way she tilted slightly forward against the restraints, and the way that her arms were loose and uncomfortable looking at her sides that gave it away.

    Reluctantly, Sylva strapped herself down into the copilots seat. ¡°Do you know how to fly this?¡±

    ¡°It''s all automated,¡± Iri said. She pressed a few buttons on the dashboard, and Sylva could feel the engine roar to life.

    ¡°How long until we get there?¡±

    ¡°How much acceleration can you take?¡±

    ¡°Ugh. Three gravities,¡± Sylva said reluctantly. Even that might be too much to take for a long time, but she wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

    ¡°It''ll be a while. We''re going out beyond where the bubble was.¡±

    ¡°Was?¡±

    ¡°The Mother dropped it. I know because I was finally able to get in direct contact with the ships, instead of relays.¡±

    ¡°Let''s get going then,¡± Sylva said.

    <hr>

    Yan woke up at only one point during their long journey, and only briefly. The Vena had worn off, for the most part, and she made a tiny noise, almost a whimper, as she came back into consciousness. They were still accelerating, so Sylva could only turn her chair around to look back at Yan, which made her feel like she was falling down, down, with only the straps of her seat holding her in place. ''Eyes-out'' acceleration was truly unpleasant.

    Sylva dangled her hand down towards Yan, partially because she couldn''t actually keep it at her side under the immense acceleration.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± she wheezed out, the breath being forced out of her lungs by the weight of her own body crushing them.

    Yan looked across (up? though there was a floor, the feeling of dangling that came with acceleration made Sylva''s brain not easily comprehend the geometry of the situation) at her, wordlessly. Yan''s mouth opened and closed a few times. In the dim light of the cabin, Sylva could see that Yan''s face was wet, though she wasn''t sure if it was from sweat or tears. Sylva wished she had disobeyed Iri and sat in the back next to Yan, but it was too late now, and there was this gulf between them.

    Iri herself was napping, head lolling to the side, and was unaware of this whole moment.

    Sylva wished she could reach out to Yan. She wished she knew what Yan was thinking and feeling in that moment. She looked so lost and small, pushed back into her chair with the acceleration, eyes staring wide out past Sylva into the starry sky visible through the windshield.

    ¡°We''ll be home soon,¡± Sylva said. ¡°It''ll be okay.¡±

    She didn''t really have anything better to say. After a long moment, Yan shifted in her chair, closed her eyes, and perhaps fell asleep once again.

 Chapter Eighty-Three - The Distance Between the Real and the Ideal

    The Distance Between the Real and the Ideal

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Keep a close eye on the people you surround yourself with. If there are dark corners in their hearts, illuminate them with your presence.¡±

    -from Realtalk: A Governor Speaks Out, by Raj Calai

    </blockquote>

    Sid was there to welcome Yan and her rescuers when they arrived back at the Impulse. Kino was not.

    The shuttle settled down in the bay with a thump that Sid could feel in the tips of his fingers, resting on the wall outside. As soon as the bay filled with air once again, Ervantes opened the door and Sid rushed in, followed by a whole team of medical personnel. The medical crew probably would have gone in first if they hadn''t been reassured over and over by Yan''s rescuers over the radio that she was in fine health. Sid had earlier convinced Captain Wen not to come, since he was worried that the whole experience might be overwhelming for Yan. Even without the captain and Kino, there were still probably too many people.

    The shuttle looked very out of place aboard the Impulse; it was on loan from the Gatekeeper, so its insignia did not match its surroundings. It was larger and differently designed from all the shuttles that surrounded it, since most of the Impulse''s shuttles could never enter an atmosphere, and this one was designed for a water landing. The door opened from the inside, and Sid caught his first glimpse of the returning party.

    All three of them were bedraggled looking, wearing ridiculous colored tunics and cloth shoes. They brought with them a potent smell of salt water. Even a good many hours in the filtered air of the shuttle couldn''t clear such smells away, apparently.

    Maedes looked approximately the same, aside from her ridiculous getup and a touch of sunburn. Perhaps her expression was a little more haunted than it had been last time he had seen her, but Sid had been around Maedes during some pretty bad moments, so it was hard to tell. He noticed that she snuck a glance at Hernan behind him. Apparently that old interest hadn''t actually gone anywhere during the time she had been gone.

    Then Yan came out of the shuttle, drifting out into the bay and blinking in the sudden bright lights. She looked bad. Sid hadn''t seen her in a long time, so maybe he had just forgotten what she usually looked like, but she stared straight ahead of herself, even when any normal person would have looked around to check out their surroundings. She was skinny and moved slowly. For a spacer, this gravity free environment should have been second nature to her, but every motion was hesitant, as though she didn''t know where her own limbs were. As she caught the side of the shuttle and turned to push away from it, Sid caught a glimpse of the back of her neck, where a nest of white raised scars was clearly visible.

    Sid didn''t want to wait for the third person, the other rescuer, to come out of the ship. He pushed off the ground and drifted towards Yan, dragging his feet to stop himself before he crashed right into her.

    He tried to smile, but he felt like so much had happened, he wasn''t even sure what he should be doing to say hello to her, after all this time. She stared out, almost over his head, and he went up on tiptoes to be at eye level with her, the magnets in his shoes engaging with the floor. He gave her plenty of breathing room. He didn''t want to get too close in case, well... In case.

    ¡°Hi,¡± he signed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Maedes going around to talk to the medical team. He ignored her.

    Yan''s face twisted up in something halfway between sadness and amusement. ¡°I can''t see what you sign if you stand so close to me,¡± she said aloud. ¡°My neck doesn''t move anymore.¡±

    It was the rueful expression she wore, as much as anything else, that told Sid that nothing was ever going to go back to the way it was. The Yan he had been through so much with was gone, and this one was a stranger. She didn''t offer an explanation, but clearly she considered her neck an old wound. And if that was old, what more had there been? Sid almost didn''t want to know.

    He didn''t move away, so he spoke aloud. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°I''m alive,¡± she said, which wasn''t really an answer, but he shouldn''t have expected anything else. ¡°I never thought I''d see you again.¡± She had a sort of wistful look on her face.

    ¡°We weren''t going to stop looking for you until we found you,¡± Sid said. He didn''t know if that was actually true. They were going to declare her dead if she hadn''t been found in a year, but that didn''t necessarily mean they would stop looking. Since she had been found, it was a moot point.

    Yan was awkwardly silent for a moment. The other rescuer, Calor, came up to Yan''s side and laid a hand on her arm. She seemed rather possessive, and Sid had to wonder if they were talking through the power. He recognized her, now that he saw her in person. They had been in the same year at the Academy, though she was much more sunburnt now, and had a more confident and wilder look about her than he had ever noticed as he passed her in the halls. Perhaps he just hadn''t been paying attention.

    ¡°There''s so much I want to talk to you about,¡± Sid said finally, breaking the pause in the conversation. ¡°I''ve missed you so much.¡±

    A trace of Yan''s old humor returned, despite the grim circumstances. ¡°Just you and Kino to get along together. I can''t imagine it.¡±

    Unfortunately for Sid, his recent argument with Kino had left him feeling rather uncharitable towards her. He scuffed the ground with his foot, forgetting for a second the effect that would have on him in the zero gravity environment, and accidentally ended up pushing off the floor a little bit. ¡°Yeah...¡± he said.

    ¡°Is Kino alright?¡± Yan asked, suddenly alarmed, face blanching.

    ¡°She''s fine. We just had an argument. Sorry. Don''t want to drag you into my petty drama. Don''t worry about it.¡±

    Yan relaxed fractionally. Sid made an effort to stop being so grumpy for a second. After all, here was Yan, the person he had been aching to find for months. Somehow this reunion was more pathetic and anticlimactic than he had expected, though basically anything would have been.

    Sid could see the medical team behind him waiting to get their hands on Yan. ¡°Hey, so, you''re definitely going to need to get checked out by the medical people,¡± he began awkwardly.

    Yan cringed, but her rescuer pulled herself up to whisper something into her ear that Sid''s glasses didn''t pick up, and her hand unclenched at her side. It looked like that unclenching took a lot of effort, with her fingers peeling back from her palm by brute force of will.

    ¡°And I have to go talk to Captain Wen about the Impulse''s plans, so I guess we should go do that and meet up later. But,¡± Sid scratched the back of his neck, ¡°can I give you a hug?¡±

    Yan smiled a little. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    So Sid tentatively went forward and wrapped his arms around her. Ever so slightly, he reached out the power towards her, wanting to provide some reassurance. When his power met hers, he jolted backwards. Her power felt like a raw, open wound as it touched his, bleeding and painful. He was so startled that he let her go.

    ¡°Yan?¡± he whispered. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He had to ask again.

    ¡°I''ll tell you later,¡± she said. ¡°Go talk to the captain.¡± He looked up at her, and her face was frozen stiff, though her eyes glistened and she blinked rapidly a couple times.

    Next to Yan, Calor glared at him. Whatever her problem was, Sid didn''t really want to know.

    ¡°I''ll come find you,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Maedes came back over, and she ushered Yan towards the medical team, who took her out of the bay. Sid followed them out, then split off to head to the captain''s meeting room.

    <hr>

    He came out of his meeting with the captains having gotten what he wanted, but as the meeting wore on, he became less and less sure that he actually did want what he was asking for. Captain Wen was ready to take the Impulse back to Emerri. The less his ship had to stay in orbit around this star, the better it was for his crew, who all desperately wanted to go home. As for Captain Baczynski of the Gatekeeper, she was prepared for the long haul, and prepared to take Sid onboard, as well.

    Sid had thought that was what he wanted, to stay in the center of the action, but as he sat there, talking to one captain in front of him, and one on the telecon, Yan''s face kept floating into his mind. Was it really fair of him to abandon her now?

    But then again, she had survived. It was all over and she was going home. He would come back eventually, too. Soon enough, the Gatekeeper would have an ansible running in this system, and communication would be easier, so he wouldn''t have to serve as Sandreas''s voice here.

    Still, he felt a little bit guilty as he trudged back to his little room and let himself in. He had made this space his home, during the long time he had been aboard the Impulse, even if his usually fairly neat habits meant that it was still approximately the same as he had first found it. Still, he had grown used to the tilt of the chair at the desk, and the way the light from the exit played on the ceiling above his bed, and the way he had laid here with Ervantes.

    He would have been leaving it eventually, but it felt very strange to know that it would be going and he would be staying behind. He would have to start the whole process of becoming acquainted with a ship again on the Gatekeeper. There wouldn''t be anyone like Ervantes over there.

    But that wasn''t even the problem. He felt just... bad. He felt bad, and that was all there was to it. He needed to talk to Yan, but first he needed to pack up his belongings, and write a letter.

    He wrote the letter first, because he didn''t want to lose his nerve.

    Dear Sandreas, he began.

    I know this is going to sound like I''m being a whiny child, or maybe like a kid running to tell on their classmates. If you think I''m overreacting, maybe you should take it that way and ignore everything I have to say.

    I''m giving this letter to Lt. Cesper to give to you, because, long story short, I don''t trust Kino not to do something stupid.

    During the planning meeting with Cpt. Wen and Cpt. Baczynski, Kino tried to interrupt the whole operation. I''m worried, maybe I shouldn''t be, that she''s going to try to do something potentially destabilizing. Don''t ask me what; I don''t know. But she seemed really upset about the whole thing, and she swore she would do whatever she could to stop it.

    Was she like this when you went to Tyx III? Is this a sudden change, or has she always been like this and I just didn''t notice?

    Anyway, I guess what I''m saying is that keep an eye on Kino, alright? I''m no stranger to doing dumb shit in the heat of the moment (as you know), and as much as we don''t get along, I don''t want to see her dig herself into a hole she can''t get out of. Maybe talk to her, or have Halen talk to her, or (ugh) send her to the Emperor to have a talk. Maybe don''t do that one.

    Hope you are doing well. I''m sure you will see Yan long before you get this letter, so I won''t bother updating you on how she''s doing. I don''t know myself.

    Yours,

    Sid Welslak

    He put the letter on a data stick, and tucked that into his pocket. He would give that to Ervantes in a minute, then he would go see Yan. But first, he needed to pack up his room.

    <hr>

    Sid found Ervantes in his room, and unlike last time it only took a short knock to get him to answer the door.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°Have you talked to Apprentice BarCarran yet?¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Sid said. ¡°I came to talk to you first.¡±

    ¡°I''d say that''s a major dereliction of your responsibilities. She seems slightly more important. But come in. How''d your meeting with the captains go?¡±

    ¡°Fine. The Impulse is leaving soon,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°I know, just as soon as everything the Gatekeeper needs is transferred over.¡±

    ¡°That includes me,¡± Sid said. ¡°I''m heading over there.¡±''

    Ervantes sighed, his chest heaving up and down, and he ran a hand through his hair. ¡°Are you really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I''m not going to stop you, but it''s a bad idea,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I know you like to think of yourself as First Sandreas''s authority here, but Captain Baczynski can take care of this herself.¡±

    ¡°Well it''s too late now. She said I could go on her ship, so that''s what I''ll be doing.¡± Sid felt mildly put out that Ervantes wasn''t just going along with this. ¡°And I''ll be back on Emerri as soon as we get an ansible up and running.¡±

    ¡°That could take months.¡±

    ¡°There''s nothing that pressing happening on Emerri,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°You don''t know that. Being stuck out in space without communication is harder than you might think,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°But like I said, I can''t stop you.¡±

    ¡°How is it any different than this trip we''ve already been on?¡±

    ¡°Length of time, mostly,¡± Ervantes said.

    Sid sat down on the bed, pushing Ervantes''s unmade sheets out of the way. ¡°I''ll miss you,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°You came here to say goodbye?¡±

    ¡°Uh.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I actually came to ask a tiny bit of a favor,¡± Sid said. His face heated up a bit, and he fingered the data stick in his pocket. ¡°Please don''t be mad.¡±

    ¡°God, Sid, what is it this time?¡±

    ¡°I know you said you don''t want me putting you in Sandreas''s path, but--¡±

    Ervantes shook his head, sitting down and leaning onto the side of his chair, resting his temple against his spidery hand, in a really comical pose.

    ¡°You''re the only one I trust,¡± Sid finished, feeling like he was being plaintive.

    ¡°I find that hard to believe. Is this about Mejia or BarCarran?¡± Clearly Ervantes was picking up on the troubled relationship between the apprentices.

    ¡°Kino, but please don''t let either of them find out.¡±

    ¡°I hope you''re not doing something stupid,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°I don''t want to be party to some sort of childish revenge.¡±

    Sid flushed hotly. ¡°I''m not out to get her. I just want to stop her from doing something stupid.¡± He fished in his pocket for the data stick, and passed it to Ervantes. ¡°This is a letter for First Sandreas. Can you just, I don''t know, request a meeting with him and give it to him?¡±

    ¡°You really don''t even trust the regular infosystem? You could just send him a message, you know. I doubt anyone has hacked into the Impulse¡¯s computers to read your mail.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know. Maybe I''m being paranoid for no reason. Maybe I''m just hoping that you won''t be able to get a meeting with him for weeks, and by that time the ansible will be set up, and I can tell you to call it off.¡±

    ¡°Is this a ''shoot the messenger'' type situation? Is this going to come down on my head?¡±

    ¡°Look, if you don''t want to give it to Sandreas directly, give it to his bodyguard, Halen. He''ll take care of it.¡±

    ¡°I''ll get it to where it needs to go,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°But if you''re really thinking it''s that stupid, why don''t you just not send it in the first place?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Sid admitted. ¡°I''ve just got a bad feeling. I''m worried that Kino is going to do something that we''ll all end up regretting.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°I tried to run away, once. She could do the same.¡±

    ¡°That''s hardly an offense requiring a secret letter.¡±

    ¡°Ervantes, none of the three of us, because we''re Sandreas''s special project, we don''t have the same secrecy requirements that you do. She could do anything.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry, but do sensitives have some sort of vital piece missing in their brains?¡± Ervantes asked.

    ¡°I mean, it''s because during the selection process, you''re supposed to find people who will mesh with you the best, so there shouldn''t be any security concerns...¡± Sid said, but he realized how dumb he must be sounding and stopped. ¡°I don''t know. I don''t think she''s going to do anything bad, I''m just saying that she could. So that letter is just to tell Sandreas to keep a closer eye on her.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°I''ll deliver your letter.¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much,¡± Sid said. He felt slightly relieved, though that relief was accompanied by an equal weighing of guilt. He didn''t actually want Kino to get in trouble, and telling Sandreas to keep an eye wasn''t itself inherently a punishment for her, but... His thoughts swirled unpleasantly, and he bunched up the fabric of his cassock in his hands.

    ¡°Not a problem,¡± Ervantes said. ¡°But I can''t guarantee it will get there in any sort of timeframe. If you think she is going to cause trouble, I can try to rush it, but I don''t have a lot of clout, you know.¡±

    ¡°I''ll tell Yan to tell Sandreas to summon you,¡± Sid said.

    Ervantes shook his head. ¡°I''m going to miss you.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡± Sid wasn''t sure if this was a ''this relationship is over'' type conversation, or a ''I''ll see you in a couple months, and we''ll pick up where we left off'' type conversation. He didn''t actually want to bring that up, just in case the answer was the former.

    Ervantes seemed to have no such problem broaching the subject. ¡°I don''t know where I''ll be reassigned to, once I go back on duty,¡± he said. ¡°So I don''t know if we''ll be able to see each other anymore.¡±

    ¡°I know you don''t want me to mess around in your career,¡± Sid said, internally wincing, because he had already specifically requested that Ervantes be assigned to Emerri. ¡°But...¡±

    ¡°I''ll think about it,¡± Ervantes said, face cautious. ¡°Once you''re back in contact, send me a letter or something. I think having some time will help me figure out what I want to do with my life.¡±

    ¡°Maybe figure that out before you go talk to Sandreas,¡± Sid said. ¡°He''s probably going to ask.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ervantes shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°No, it''s fine. It''s an opportunity. I should see it like that.¡±

    There was an awkward pause in the conversation. ¡°This day has been a real ride, hasn''t it?¡± Sid asked.

    ¡°How long have you been awake for?¡±

    ¡°Too long,¡± Sid admitted. It was probably approaching three shifts, but he barely even felt tired. He still had a lot to do.

    ¡°You should get going, so you can get onto the Gatekeeper and take a nap,¡± Ervantes said.

    ¡°Is this you kicking me out?¡±

    ¡°No, but you should go see BarCarran.¡±

    ¡°I''m procrastinating on saying my goodbyes to you,¡± Sid said. Awkwardly, he reached out across the gap between them, and put his hand on Ervantes''s knee. Ervantes covered his hand with his own. ¡°I don''t really want to go.¡±

    ¡°Can I give you a kiss goodbye?¡± Ervantes asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Sid said, and leaned forward.

    <hr>

    There was a newfound lightness in his step as he left Ervantes''s room. He was a little sweaty, and he stopped in the bathroom to wash his face. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His eyes had deep shadows underneath them, though the pallor of his face probably wasn''t helped by the harsh industrial lights above. His tattoo was stuck in its plain black mode. He took a second to hide it, going back to his normal bald skull. Over the past few days he hadn''t bothered doing anything fun with it. It hadn''t been worth the effort.

    Overall, he looked worse than he felt, but that was only because he enjoyed being with Ervantes. Thinking about his next destination, going to see Yan, brought him back down to reality.

    Talking to her when she had just gotten off the ship had been first awkward, then scary as he felt the wreckage of her power. It felt like it had been torn apart, like the edges of it had been ripped off. He had never seen or felt anything like that, not even when the Emperor had sealed his power away. That had been annoying, but it hadn''t been painful like that was.

    Something boiled inside him. He felt angry at whoever had done this to her, and that justified and motivated his stay aboard the Gatekeeper. He took a moment to calm down and compose himself in the mirror. He didn''t want to bring any of that to go see Yan. She probably had enough to deal with without having him weighing her down with his weird secondhand revenge fantasy.

    Sid left the bathroom and headed down towards the medical area. He discovered that Yan was not there, because she had been given a (mostly) clean bill of health and assigned a room. He took that information and went to go find her.

    Sid knocked on the door of the room she was assigned. After a moment, the door opened a crack, and Calor came out.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± she asked.

    ¡°To talk to Yan?¡± Sid said. He was completely taken aback by Calor''s hostility. She was shorter than he was, but with her hands on her hips she still seemed formidable.

    ¡°Are you going to upset her like the other one did?¡±

    ¡°Sylva, knock it off,¡± someone said from inside the room. Sid obviously couldn''t identify the speaker from words alone, but after a moment, Iri Maedes stepped out.

    Calor seemed to deflate a little bit at Iri''s appearance. Iri put her hand on Calor''s shoulder and steered her slightly out of the doorway, shutting the door behind her, perhaps so Yan wouldn''t hear their conversation.

    ¡°What did Kino do?¡± Sid asked, feeling slightly resigned to cleaning up her mess. If she had burdened Yan with taking her side on her little crusade, Sid would find her and kill her himself. Yan didn''t need that.

    ¡°She apologized for forcing Yan to go on the trip alone,¡± Iri said.

    It had been so long that Sid had almost forgotten the original purpose of Yan''s departure: to go consecrate a new colony. She had asked for company. Sid couldn''t go because of his punishment, and Kino couldn''t go because she claimed to be cursed, and so Yan had been forced to make the trip alone. He could imagine that Kino felt slightly bad about that, but really, was this the time?

    ¡°I''ll tell her that she was being inappropriate later,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°Oh, she already got an earful,¡± Iri said, gently pushing Calor, who frowned. ¡°I can''t blame her, really.¡±

    Sid gave Iri a questioning look.

    ¡°I don''t think there''s a single person who knows Yan who doesn''t feel somewhat responsible for what happened.

    ¡°I don''t,¡± Sid said. Lucky him, he guessed.

    ¡°Well, I do. And that comes with a compulsive need to apologize.¡± Iri bit her lip slightly. ¡°She''s been through a lot.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what happened to her?¡±

    ¡°Not everything,¡± Calor said. ¡°She doesn''t like to talk about it, so don''t make her.¡± She glared at Sid in warning.

    ¡°I won''t, I swear. I''ll be on my best behavior.¡± Hadn''t they seen he was capable of being normal when she first arrived? Why were they being so overprotective now? Was it just because of whatever nonsense Kino had pulled?

    ¡°I have a report that I''ve been compiling. I''ll give you access to it,¡± Iri said. ¡°But again, sensitivity is the key word.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Sid said. ¡°I mostly came to say goodbye.¡±

    ¡°You''re leaving?¡±

    ¡°You''re leaving, I''m staying. I''m transferring to the Gatekeeper, and the Impulse is going back to Emerri. I didn''t want to leave without getting a chance to really talk. Alone,¡± Sid clarified.

    Calor glared at him. ¡°I don''t trust you.¡±

    ¡°Clearly, and I don''t really know why. Maedes?¡±

    ¡°You can call me Iri, you know. I''m not technically an employee of the Empire any more.¡±

    ¡°I know. I got your resignation letter.¡±

    ¡°Hah. Yeah.¡± Iri looked bitter. ¡°That''s neither here nor there. Sylva, he''s fine. Take the time you need.¡±

    Calor looked as though she was going to say something else, but just shot him a foul glance instead. Iri led her off down the hallway.

    Sid went in and shut the door behind him. For some reason, he had thought that Yan would be laying in the dark, but the room had all of its lights on, and Yan was sitting at the desk. In front of her, a computer was paused on a frame from a movie that Sid vaguely recognized: some romcom his sister had once made him watch with her. She had headphones on, but she pulled them off when Sid came in.

    ¡°How''s the movie?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Yan said, turning to look at him as he came in. She gestured for Sid to have a seat on the bed.

    Someone had given her a Fleet uniform (without any rank insignia) to replace the strange tunic she had been wearing. She looked much more normal in a uniform, any uniform, than she did out of one. This one in particular was meant for someone a good deal wider than she was, but it covered her body, which was the goal of clothing, and more than could have been said of what she was wearing before.

    ¡°Glad to see you dressed in real clothes again,¡± Sid said.

    Yan shrugged a little. ¡°It''s all still borrowed.¡±

    ¡°I''d''ve given you one of my cassocks if it had any hope of fitting you.¡±

    ¡°Remember that time you wore one of mine?¡±

    Sid smiled. ¡°That was a long time ago.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    It seemed like the conversation was bound to be stiff and awkward. Sid was determined to tiptoe around anything that might upset Yan. It was nothing like the easy camaraderie that they had enjoyed before. Even when they had suffered together, they had been able to talk to each other. Yan picked up on his apprehension and spoke up.

    ¡°How have you been? I assume your punishment is over.¡±

    ¡°Ages ago. I''ve been mostly alright. Trying to be responsible and stuff. I almost died when we went to deal with the Guild ship, but that''s the most exciting thing that happened.¡± Aside from all of this, anyway.

    ¡°Guild ship?¡±

    ¡°I forgot that you basically don''t know anything that''s been going on with the Guild. It''s a bit of a mess.¡±

    Yan leaned forward a bit, curious. ¡°The Dreams isn''t involved, is it?¡±

    ¡°No, no. You remember that Ungarti Vaneik died, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Who became Guildmaster?¡±

    ¡°Technically Wil Vaneik did, but Nomar Thule has been running things behind the scenes.¡±

    ¡°I guess that''s not that surprising,¡± Yan said, leaning back in her chair. ¡°How''s Yuuni Olms doing? I always liked her.¡±

    ¡°Ha. She''s fine, just involved in drama up to the ears. Let me backup to the funeral a bit.¡± He did not mention Olm''s fear of assassination. That probably wasn''t something that Yan was interested in hearing about at this moment.

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°So, when Sandreas and Halen were at Vaneik''s funeral, they discovered that he was murdered.¡±

    ¡°What? How?¡±

    ¡°Yeah... Thule did it, or was responsible for it, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Sid, if you''re making up some story--¡±

    ¡°Why would I lie? You can look it up as soon as you get back to Emerri.¡± Admitting so early that he wasn''t going back with them was a slip of the tongue and a mistake, but Yan didn''t seem to catch it, or at least she didn''t comment on it.

    ¡°Why would Thule kill his own master?¡±

    ¡°As far as I know, that''s the ongoing mystery. Maybe it has to do with sensitives needing a sensitive master to keep them on a leash, and Vaneik didn''t have the power.¡±

    ¡°Seems unlikely. Olms isn''t crazy.¡±

    ¡°She isn''t?¡±

    Yan''s face was calculating. It was a nice change from the general distressed look that she had been wearing. News from the Empire was a good and distracting topic of conversation. ¡°You say Thule is still manipulating things. He hasn''t been arrested?¡±

    ¡°I think the rationale on that is that since there''s very little concrete evidence, it would make a very bad image even worse.¡±

    ¡°Hmm...¡±

    ¡°Kino knows more about the whole situation than I do,¡± Sid admitted. ¡°She''d probably be able to give you more detail.¡±

    ¡°So what does this have to do with you almost dying?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°So, as it turns out, for at least a few years, the Guild has been working on linking stardrives together. They were building a supership out at a secret station. We found out about it, and Kino and I were sent to go shut it down.¡±

    ¡°And my family has nothing to do with this either, right?¡±

    ¡°Awfully suspicious your family''s up to something, aren''t you?¡±

    ¡°Captain Pellon, I trust. My uncle Maxes, I emphatically do not,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Apparently Sandreas, Halen, and Kino got to meet both of them at Vaneik''s funeral.¡±

    ¡°Oh, great,¡± Yan said, her mouth pressed into a flat line.

    ¡°I''m sure they had nothing but good things to say.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Yan rubbed the back of her neck. Sid winced slightly, remembering the lump of scars back there. He forged ahead with their previous topic of conversation.

    ¡°So basically,¡± he continued, ¡°Kino and I took the Impulse to this station to deal with the issue.¡±

    ¡°Were you successful?¡±

    ¡°Kinda? The ship got away-- we didn''t know it had drives installed yet-- but we took control of the station pretty easily.¡±

    ¡°But you almost died?¡±

    ¡°One of the station crew, he decided to hijack a Fleet shuttle. We think it was to take him to a designated meeting point, in case something happened. Anyway, he picked the shuttle that I was on, and I got to experience some hard vacuum.¡±

    ¡°Fuck,¡± Yan said, face looking more green than brown.

    ¡°I''m fine,¡± Sid said. ¡°And I got a boyfriend out of it, so, you know. Worth it?¡±

    ¡°Congratulations,¡± Yan said, looking confused and rather unsure. Probably he was saying too much at once, and none of it was making sense, but he forged on anyway.

    ¡°To be honest, the whole thing was over in less than two minutes. I barely remember the actual action. Hold on, let me show you my rash!¡± Sid reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, swiping through the pictures until he found one where his vacuum exposure rash looked particularly lurid. He held it out for Yan to appreciate.

    ¡°Wow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± He hoped he wasn''t misinterpreting her ''wow''. Her body language was fairly restrained at the moment. ¡°Anyway, that''s been most of the exciting stuff that''s happened.¡±

    ¡°It''s a lot,¡± Yan said. She rubbed her temple.

    ¡°It probably only feels that way because I''m dumping it on you all at once. I should have given you more time to get acclimated.¡±

    ¡°No, it''s fine. I just-- I felt like for so long I was in some kind of dream world. It''s hard to remember that the real universe exists and has been going on without me.¡±

    There was a lot to unpack with that statement, but Sid bit his tongue, keeping his promise not to press Yan on the details.

    ¡°I''m glad you''re back.¡±

    ¡°That''s what everyone keeps saying.¡± She leaned back against her desk.

    ¡°Are you--?¡± He wanted to ask if she was glad to be back, but the words died in his throat.

    ¡°I don''t know. I know it''s stupid, but I just-- even though everybody''s here for me, I feel like I¡¯m still gone somehow.¡± Her face was twisted and her eyes darted everywhere as though she could somehow use their movement to escape.

    Sid reached out a hand, wanting to put it on her leg, but stopped, hovering just above her, in case she didn''t want to be touched. She grabbed his hand, gripping it tighter than he had expected.

    Her power reached out to him. It was raw and bleeding on the edges. He did his best to stay still and not push her away, no matter how much the touch of it made his skin crawl. He was at least prepared for what it would feel like, since he had felt it before.

    Even though he could stay still, he couldn''t quite bring himself to reach back with his own power. It hurt too badly. Her power seemed desperate to latch onto his and take something from him. Knowing Yan, she probably just wanted to join their minds together and find some peace in his. Knowing himself, he didn''t think he wanted to dive into the mess that was Yan''s head. It probably wouldn''t do either of them any good.

    But he could sit there, and hold her hand, and let her know with his presence that she was back in the real world.

    They just sat quietly for a while.

    ¡°Thank you for not pressing it,¡± Yan said, breaking the stillness.

    ¡°It''s not my job to pry. You deserve your space.¡±

    ¡°Distance is the last thing I want. But I don''t want to think about it either. But it''s all in my head anyway.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Not your fault.¡±

    ¡°I know. I just wish that none of this had happened.¡±

    ¡°We can''t go back to the past,¡± Yan said. When Sid looked up at her, her mouth was twisted like she had eaten something bitter.

    ¡°I know things aren''t going to be the same, and I probably can''t ever understand whatever happened to you, but--¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Maybe it''s too soon to start handing out the comforting platitudes,¡± Sid said.

    Yan laughed, the first genuine crease of a smile on her face. ¡°Say what you want to say.¡±

    ¡°I just think we can still be friends, and the future will be better, and all that.¡±

    ¡°Of course we can still be friends.¡±

    ¡°You say that now, but you''re going to be mad at me in about thirty seconds,¡± Sid said.

    Yan was suddenly alarmed, sitting up straight in her seat. ¡°Why do I need to be mad at you?¡±

    ¡°I came here to say goodbye,¡± Sid said. ¡°The Impulse is going back to Emerri, and I''m staying here with the Gatekeeper.¡±

    Yan deflated, the air rushing out of her lungs, her shoulders slumping downward. ¡°You''re leaving?¡±

    ¡°Please yell at me, get it all out,¡± Sid said.

    Yan rubbed her face with the back of her hand. ¡°You''re the only one who could ever understand.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? You have Iri and your girlfriend, and Kino will be going back with you.¡±

    Yan''s power reached out to him again, and he touched it ever so lightly with his own. Not enough for anything to cross over the boundary between them, just a mutual acknowledgement.

    ¡°Sylva doesn''t like to use the power. I''ve never-- Kino and I--¡±

    ¡°Maybe you just have to ask her. Get to know her in a new way.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want you to leave,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°I''m sorry. I have to.¡±

    ¡°Says who?¡±

    ¡°Someone has to stay and take care of this, at least until an ansible gets set up. It won''t be too long.¡±

    ¡°Then let me stay, too.¡±

    ¡°Are you crazy? Go home!¡±

    ¡°I am crazy,¡± Yan said, her face so serious that Sid was almost taken aback.

    ¡°You''re a crazy person who''s going home, then. I''ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.¡±

    Yan squeezed his hand, crushing his fingers a little. ¡°Please?¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry,¡± Sid said again.

    ¡°Be careful,¡± Yan said after a long moment. There was resignation written plainly on her face.

    ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°When are you leaving?¡±

    ¡°Right after I get out of here.¡±

    ¡°Have you said goodbye to Kino?¡±

    ¡°We''re not on speaking terms at the moment. You can tell her I said goodbye.¡±

    ¡°Don''t be a coward.¡±

    ¡°There''s nothing cowardly about it. I''m mad at her, not afraid of what she thinks.¡±

    ¡°Then don''t be an idiot. What if something happens to you, or her?¡±

    Sid pulled his hand out of Yan''s and crossed his arms over his chest.

    ¡°If you don''t say goodbye to her, then I''ll be mad at you the whole time you''re gone.¡±

    ¡°Are you guilt tripping me into being a good person?¡±

    ¡°I''m trying.¡±

    Sid finally laughed. ¡°Fine.¡±

    Yan cracked a tiny smile. ¡°I can''t believe I have to say goodbye to you so soon.¡±

    ¡°It won''t be that long. We''ll both stay out of trouble, alright?¡±

    ¡°Please.¡±

    Sid stood up, and Yan stood too. He had forgotten how tall she was. She reached over and hugged him, wrapping him in her skinny long arms. He awkwardly patted her back.

    They didn''t say anything, really. There wasn''t anything else to be said.

    <hr>

    It took Sid a while to track down Kino. Even when she wasn''t hiding, she tended to be elusive. Sid resorted to checking the Impulse''s personnel tracker, which would at least tell him the last room she keyed into. She turned out to be in one of the Impulse''s gyms. Sid didn''t know why he was surprised by this. He hadn''t thought that Kino enjoyed working out, but he hadn''t not thought that, either.

    The more he learned about her, the less he realized he knew.

    The gym was unusually empty. It could have been because it was late in second shift and most people were either asleep or about to be soon, or it could have been that with all the excitement, people had found other things to do with themselves than work out.

    Sid didn''t mind the lack of people. He already felt out of place and awkward in his cassock, and he didn''t really want too many people to get an earful of whatever conversation he was about to have with Kino.

    She was all the way on the other side of the room, rhythmically hitting a punching bag. Kino looked up at him as he approached, but didn''t stop her workout or say anything. She was wearing only a sports bra and a tight fitting pair of grey shorts that went down to just above her knees. Stupidly, she was barefoot.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Sid said.

    Kino didn''t respond, just kept punching the bag. She was breathing heavily, and her face was slick with sweat. All the flyaway little hairs that had escaped her braids were glued down to her face.

    ¡°I heard Maedes yelled at you earlier,¡± Sid said, trying his best to strike up a line of conversation.

    ¡°Calor,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Oh. I guess that''s not surprising.¡± Sid couldn''t think of anything else to say for a moment. ¡°Have you talked to Captain Wen?¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°Maybe to apologize for causing a scene? I heard what you did.¡±

    ¡°I will not.¡± Kino''s teeth were gritted, lips curled up. She hit the bag again with extra force, sending it shuddering backwards. She slapped it, open palm, on the rebound.

    ¡°I apologized on your behalf anyway,¡± Sid said.

    ¡°You shouldn''t have.¡±

    ¡°You embarrassed me. You embarrassed Sandreas.¡±

    ¡°He wasn''t there.¡±

    ¡°He''s going to flip when he hears about it. You had to be dragged out of the room, for God''s sake.¡±

    ¡°They''re lucky I didn''t kill them.¡±

    Sid crossed his arms. ¡°I don''t think you could.¡±

    Kino stopped the punching bag from swinging and stood disarmingly still. ¡°What do you want, Sid?¡±

    ¡°I need you to do me a favor.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You haven''t even heard what it is yet!¡±

    ¡°I''m not sure why you think I would help you when you turned your back on me.¡±

    ¡°Because I thought we were friends.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you''re still operating under that impression.¡±

    ¡°Look, Kino, I''m not out to get you.¡± Sid splayed out his hands helplessly. ¡°I just don''t want to see you running yourself into the ground over nothing.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t call this nothing. And you can''t stop me.¡±

    ¡°Look, I''m not trying to stop you from doing whatever. You can try to convince Sandreas of your rightness all you want, and if he goes along with it, all the better. This isn''t even about that, though.¡± It was definitely a lie for Sid to say that he wasn''t trying to stop her. He had just given that letter to Ervantes, and he felt a little guilty for lying to her, but it was better for him to leave on a tiny lie than... whatever this was.

    She punched the bag again, but only half as hard as before, and it seemed more out of idleness than anything.

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Sid took a deep breath. For some reason, it was almost harder to tell Kino that he was leaving than it was to tell Yan. ¡°You have to take care of Yan for me, okay?¡±

    Kino pursed her lips and waited for him to continue.

    ¡°The Impulse is going home, but I''m staying with the Gatekeeper until we get an ansible set up.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°All my reasons are really dumb,¡± Sid said. ¡°And you''d yell at me for them. So let''s not get into it.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Did you feel Yan''s power?¡± Sid asked, going back to what he needed from her.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°She''s all messed up,¡± Sid said. ¡°And she''s lonely. I don''t know if you''re into it, but if maybe you could meditate with her, it might help?¡±

    ¡°I''ll think about it.¡±

    ¡°And just be nice to her. Try not to put all your issues on her plate. Don''t come to her with your little vendetta.¡±

    ¡°She''s not your pet either.¡±

    ¡°I''m just saying it wouldn''t kill you to be, I don''t know, gentle, at least until she''s back on her feet.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Is that all you wanted?¡±

    Sid''s hands flopped listlessly down to his sides. ¡°Do you hate me?¡±

    ¡°When I look at you, I see the person that you could be and the person that you are,¡± Kino said. ¡°And I hate the gap in between them.¡±

    ¡°Is that a yes?¡±

    ¡°If I hated you, I wouldn''t be talking to you,¡± Kino said. ¡°But I wish you could be better.¡±

    ¡°You keep saying that.¡±

    ¡°Because it''s true.¡±

    ¡°I''ll think about it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± She was frowning.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Thought doesn''t mean anything if you don''t do something with it.¡±

    ¡°And what are you doing with your thoughts, aside from making the captains angry?¡±

    Kino frowned even more deeply. Since she wasn''t wearing her cassock, her hands had no sleeves to go to to pick at, so she scratched at her wrist instead.

    ¡°Please don''t do anything stupid, Kino.¡±

    ¡°I don''t have anything planned,¡± she said. That was a relief. Sid smiled.

    ¡°I''m glad to hear it. Schedule all future stupidity for after I get home.¡±

    ¡°It would be better if you stayed with Yan,¡± Kino said. ¡°She likes you better.¡±

    ¡°Think of this as a chance to form a closer relationship while I''m gone.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I''ll miss you,¡± Sid said. ¡°When I get back we should talk. Like, really sit down. I feel like we started out wrong, and then we got a little better, and now-- I don''t know where we are. I want to be friends. Or at least I want to be able to understand you.¡±

    Kino looked him up and down, then stiffly nodded.

    Sid held out his hand. ¡°I''ll hold you to that. See you in a couple months.¡±

    They shook hands, weird and awkward, but it was something.

    ¡°Bye, Kino.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye, Sid.¡±

    He headed out, glancing behind him. Their eyes met over his shoulder, but Kino turned away, returning to punching her bag.

 Chapter Eighty-Four - The Cliff of the Future, the Darkness of the Past

    The Cliff of the Future, the Darkness of the Past

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Seven years I''ve been gone, I''ve been gone, I''ve been gone. Seven years I''ve been gone so far from home. I have walked and I have roamed, I have run and I have flown. It''s been seven long, long years away from home.¡±

    - from ¡°The Son''s Return¡±, traditional song

    </blockquote>

    Yan found it difficult to sleep. Even with Sylva curled up beside her on the narrow bed, she was too alone in her brain. She wasn''t pulled down easily into sleep, and there was no escape from her body or her self. It was just her.

    Yan only vaguely remembered what it had been like to be with the Mother. The facts were all there and the images were as clear as any memory, but it was as though all the key content had been leached out of them. She could recall, for example, standing and confronting the Green King with Iri''s gun, but she couldn''t remember how she had felt, or what the Mother had been thinking. She was forced to piece it all back together from what she felt now, and it left her distant and troubled.

    She knew that her parting from the Mother had been unwilling and unpleasant, and she knew the Mother had rifled through her brain to disguise that fact. The evidence, the gaping wound left by tearing away her many other selves, was incontrovertible. She lacked. She was herself, no more and no less, and she was alone.

    Sylva slept deeply, with wheezing little snores that were more cute than they were annoying. Very carefully, Yan extricated herself from the bed, then tucked Sylva back under the blankets that she had shoved off. She got dressed without turning the light on. If she didn''t look at it, the borrowed Fleet uniform was similar to what she would have been wearing aboard the Iron Dreams.

    Yan scrawled a note on a sticky note and left it on the door, in case Sylva woke up and wondered where she was. She exited the room as quietly as she could.

    The hallways of the Impulse were not quite bustling, but they were far more full of people than Yan could have ever imagined. On a Guild ship, one could walk around the hallways for ages without encountering another person, except in the very busiest sections. Here, there were people around every corner. In her loaned uniform, Yan blended right in and no one spared her a second glance.

    She didn''t exactly know where she was going. She checked the time as she passed an informational display. It was a couple hours into first shift. Maybe she should get breakfast, get her body onto the right schedule.

    If she could think about practical things, that would keep her mind off of everything else.

    So Yan consulted the informational display, navigating through it until it told her how to get to the mess hall. She noticed that it logged her in as soon as she walked up to it. She hadn''t remembered setting up an account aboard the ship, but probably someone had done that for her while she was getting her medical check done.

    Now with a better idea of how to find food, Yan trudged slowly through the gently curving and pristine hallways of the Impulse. She wasn''t in a hurry. As she walked, she heard someone come running up the hall behind her. She wasn''t paranoid, precisely, but she wasn''t going to ignore something like that, so she moved over to the side of the hallway and turned to look at who was coming.

    He was a tall man, spindly looking, but with a nice enough face. He smiled when he saw her. ¡°Apprentice BarCarran?¡± he asked. She vaguely recognized him from the day before. He had been there when she got off the shuttle, but hadn''t talked to her.

    One of the most awkward things about her neck, now that she was back in civilization, was her inability to nod. ¡°Hi,¡± Yan said. Her voice felt a little rough, probably from sleeping.

    ¡°I''m Lieutenant Cesper. I''m the liaison that Captain Wen assigned to Apprentice Welslak and Mejia. Since you''re onboard now, I''m your liaison as well.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± Yan said. Cesper stuck out his hand and they shook.

    ¡°I''m sorry if you feel like it''s an invasion of privacy, but I had the ship set an alert to tell me if you went anywhere.¡±

    She didn''t love the concept, but she couldn''t blame him, so she just shrugged. If she looked at the situation from outside herself, she could understand why everyone would want to keep an eye on her at all times.

    ¡°I saw that you were looking for something to eat,¡± Cesper said. ¡°Let me show you to the Officer''s Mess.¡±

    ¡°I''m not an officer.¡±

    ¡°You''re a guest,¡± Cesper said. ¡°The food''s about the same either way, I''m told.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    Yan followed him through the hallways. She definitely could have found it herself, because the rotating rings were not wide enough to have branching paths, but she wasn''t going to reject his help. She had gone from feeling listless in bed to feeling dull out of it. Cesper seemed happy enough to not hold up a conversation as they walked, so Yan stayed quiet.

    The mess was a medium sized room, and it wasn''t particularly full at the moment. Since first shift was underway, the bulk of the crew were probably going about their duties and only a few off duty stragglers were able to linger at their meals.

    Yan got herself a bowl of dry cereal and fruit. She stared blankly across the room as she picked at it with her fingers. Cesper sat across from her, drinking a cup of coffee.

    ¡°Apprentice BarCarran,¡± Cesper said, breaking the silence between them. ¡°Are you feeling alright?¡±

    ¡°Are you asking because I look like something''s wrong?¡± She sat up straighter and tried to put a more pleasant expression on her face. She didn''t really need this near-stranger trying to comfort her, too. If she wanted real comfort, she would have gone back to her room and woken Sylva up, or maybe even gone to find Iri.

    ¡°No,¡± Cesper shook his head. ¡°I''m asking because Captain Wen has requested your presence, at your leisure, of course.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Yan continued to pick at her cereal, occasionally crushing a piece between her fingers and dropping it back into the bowl instead of eating it. ¡°You can take me to him. I should thank him.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡±

    ¡°After I finish eating. I don''t have much else going on.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Cesper said. ¡°Please don''t feel like I''m pressuring you into things. I can leave you alone if you want.¡±

    ¡°It''s fine.¡± She ate some of her fruit, strawberries, very slowly.

    ¡°Okay. Before you do go talk to Captain Wen, just, maybe don''t mention Apprentice Mejia to him. She caused a bit of a stir earlier and has fallen out of his good graces.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± There was a part of her that wondered what exactly Kino had done to anger both the captain and Sid, but Kino had just apparently been on a losing streak with people recently. Sylva may have thought that Yan couldn''t hear what she was yelling at Kino through the door about, but Yan''s ears were more than capable of picking up every word, especially when Sylva was as loud as she was. ¡°Where is Kino?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know at the moment. I can find her, if you''d like.¡±

    ¡°Later,¡± Yan said. ¡°After I talk to the captain.¡±

    Cesper smiled. ¡°Alright. Are you friends with Apprentice Mejia?¡±

    Yan shrugged. ¡°I guess.¡± She was feeling so flat and dull, it was about all she could muster as a response.

    ¡°I haven''t had as much of a chance to talk to her as I have with Apprentice Welslak,¡± Cesper said. ¡°I''m sad that he left the ship.¡±

    ¡°He should have stayed.¡±

    ¡°I am sure that Apprentice Welslak is grateful that we are not in charge of his behavior.¡±

    Yan didn''t respond to that and continued to eat. She noticed after a while that Cesper was half watching her, pretending not to be sneaking glances. Yan caught his eye and he looked down at his coffee for a moment.

    ¡°Sorry I''m not making the best first impression or conversation,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it. Everyone understands that you''ve been through a lot.¡±

    Yan ground another piece of cereal to dust between her fingers. ¡°Can I be honest with you, Lieutenant?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°I''d prefer if you treated me the same way you would treat Sid or Kino. Treating me like I''m delicate probably won''t help.¡±

    Cesper''s face twitched in the tiniest gesture of amusement.

    ¡°What?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Yan stared him down. ¡°I just highly doubt you would want me to treat you the way I treat Apprentice Welslak.¡±

    This confused Yan for a moment. ¡°I find it hard to believe you would still be his liaison if you didn''t treat him well.¡±

    ¡°Hm,¡± Cesper said, and stirred his coffee.

    ¡°Oh my God,¡± Yan said. ¡°You''re the boyfriend.¡±

    ¡°You don''t have to be loud about it,¡± Cesper said, wrinkling his nose.

    Yan laughed. ¡°That''s funny. Good for you.¡± It was too bad that Sid wasn''t here anymore. Connecting the dots was genuinely amusing to her, and she wanted to laugh with him about it. It broke her out of the malaise she had been operating under.

    ¡°Well, I don''t know when I''ll next be seeing him,¡± Cesper said. ¡°So I don''t know how good it actually is.¡±

    ¡°Don''t wait on him to write letters. I hear he''s horrible at keeping up correspondence.¡±

    ¡°And who told you that?¡±

    ¡°His sister. I visited his family, once.¡±

    ¡°What were they like?¡±

    ¡°Nice people,¡± Yan said. ¡°Do you sign?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then you probably wouldn''t enjoy being around them,¡± Yan said. ¡°You should learn. It would make him happy.¡±

    ¡°I''ll make an effort. Though I think that Apprentice Mejia has been trying to learn, and she hasn''t made that much progress.¡±

    ¡°You can just call them Sid and Kino, you know.¡±

    ¡°Just trying to be polite.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself.¡±

    Yan finished her cereal. ¡°I can go see Captain Wen now, if he''s available.¡±

    ¡°I''ll let him know,¡± Cesper said, pulling out his phone. A minute or so later he got a response. ¡°He''s on the bridge. I''ll bring you there.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    They cleaned up their dishes and headed out to the bridge. It was a decently long walk, and they both kept quiet. Cesper nodded at a few people that they passed in the hallway, mainly fellow officers, but probably out of politeness did not tarry to talk with them. Cesper keyed them into the bridge.

    In some ways, the Impulse''s bridge was just like that of any Guild ship that Yan had ever been on. All of the same operations that were required to run a stardrive and ship had to be taken into account, of course. But Guild ships, at least the ones that Yan was familiar with, tended to be much... looser? Looking around the people sitting at their consoles, Yan saw that they were stiff, silent, and focused, and they didn''t even look up when the door opened to let her and Cesper in. She remembered, so long ago, her stint working on the Dreams''s bridge-- there was lively chatter across the coms and throughout the room, and the stations were interchangeable. Her sixteen year old cousin could be filling in for his mother on shuttle control, if necessary, or Captain Pellon could sit down at the navigation console if one of his primary navigators was sick. Just from a single look around, at the emblems stitched into the sleeves of the uniforms, at the way that everyone oriented themselves on this bridge, there was none of that here.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°Apprentice BarCarran, welcome,¡± Captain Wen said, standing up from his seat. He had a bit of a nasally voice, and he looked at her with something approaching wariness, but he didn''t seem unpleasant at first glance. Cesper stepped away from Yan''s side, to give the approaching captain some space.

    ¡°Pleasure to meet you, Captain Wen,¡± Yan said. They shook hands. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality.¡±

    ¡°Although I would say it''s no problem, my crew might disagree with me on that one,¡± Wen said with a smile. ¡°Please, take a seat.¡± He gestured to the seat next to where he had been sitting, and they both settled in.

    Yan did her best to smile. Good behavior. Pleasant demeanor. Don''t act like a crazy person. She didn''t want to be treated like one.

    ¡°I do remember that someone said that coming to find me was a major detour for the Impulse,¡± Yan said. ¡°Did you have to go really out of your way?¡±

    ¡°We''ve been on an exploratory cruise for the past year,¡± Wen said. ¡°Compared to that, no, this was a minor hop. It''s about fifteen days of travel from Emerri. But we were scheduled to head in for maintenance, and most of my crew was ending their service. We extended it by about a month to accommodate this trip.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure that is an inconvenience for people who want to go home and see their families,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°They''re getting double pay, and the Gatekeeper came to pick up our slack, and you were retrieved with much less fuss than I had anticipated, so I don''t think that anyone has any right to complain at this point,¡± Wen said.

    Yan didn''t want to get into the specifics of what was happening down on the planet she had just abandoned, or been abandoned by, depending on how she looked at it. The thought of it made her feel sick. ¡°Everyone loves to be homeward bound,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°You most of all, I''m sure.¡±

    ¡°Well, I''m a spacer, so home has always been on the journey,¡± Yan said. Wen laughed. She hadn''t meant it to be funny; she was mainly saying that to avoid admitting how little enthusiasm she actually had for the future.

    ¡°I don''t have many spacer crew,¡± Wen said. ¡°It''s a shame.¡±

    ¡°No offense to your ship, but it''s a bit crowded for spacer taste,¡± Yan said. ¡°This is like a whole planet.¡±

    Wen laughed again. ¡°I can''t imagine how you all run your ships filled with old people and children.¡±

    ¡°Family makes it work,¡± Yan said. ¡°But I can understand why spacers would be hesitant to join up with the Fleet.¡±

    ¡°What did you do aboard your family''s ship?¡± Wen asked.

    ¡°I was away at the Academy, most of the time, but my last summer, I was a navigator. I also flew the shuttles on occasion, and helped out around. Everyone tends to have multiple skills.¡±

    Wen looked her up and down. Compulsively, Yan smoothed out the fabric of her pants. ¡°So you flew the ship?¡±

    ¡°Only in dead space,¡± Yan admitted. ¡°Not technically licensed for close quarters jumps.¡±

    ¡°I''m afraid that I will not be letting you jump my ship around,¡± Wen said.

    ¡°I wasn''t even going to ask.¡±

    Wen paused. ¡°You seem in good spirits.¡±

    ¡°I''d like for my life to get back to normal.¡± Yan said. ¡°The best way to do that is to put on a smile.¡±

    ¡°Apprentice Welslak gave me the impression that you were a wreck,¡± Wen said.

    ¡°Sid was probably just concerned for me as a friend,¡± Yan said. That was only partially true. She had seen the way Sid had looked at her, and she knew the edges of her power were painful. She hadn''t yet tried using the power for anything, for fear that she had lost her touch. She hadn''t tried meditating or let herself be alone, for fear that she would start seeing things that weren''t there, or remembering things she didn''t want to. But she wasn''t going to tell any of that to this stranger.

    ¡°As any friend would be,¡± Wen said.

    Yan tried to change the topic. ¡°Is the Impulse going directly back to Emerri?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It doesn''t make sense for us to stop anywhere. We''re taking the direct route. Should be back in fourteen days.¡± Wen pulled up a very zoomed out map of their route and showed it to her. Indeed, they were tracking the straightest line they could, and any other station or planet would have added at least another day and a half to their trip.

    ¡°I suppose it would add too much time to bother going somewhere with an ansible,¡± Yan said. ¡°It''ll be a surprise when we get back, then.¡±

    ¡°Do you enjoy publicity?¡±

    ¡°Not in particular,¡± Yan said. ¡°It comes with the territory of being First Sandreas''s apprentice, though.¡±

    ¡°I''m just thinking, if it''s a surprise you''re coming back, maybe you''ll be able to avoid some sort of elaborate welcome.¡±

    Yan couldn''t suppress a shudder. ¡°You''re right. The less advance warning they have, the better.¡±

    ¡°It''s one of the many joys of far distant travel,¡± Wen said. ¡°Since we were out for a year, when we first came back to civilization, we learned the double blow that Sandreas had taken apprentices, and one of them was missing at the same time.¡±

    Yan smiled. ¡°I thought I had it rough as a spacer, but we were always tracking between places with ansibles.¡±

    ¡°Five days out of contact is a lot shorter than a year,¡± Wen said.

    ¡°That is true. Do you like to travel?¡±

    ¡°If I didn''t, I certainly would not have stayed in the Fleet long enough to become a captain,¡± Wen said.

    ¡°What do you like about it?¡±

    ¡°The same thing that you do, I''m sure. The variety, the feeling of being around people who have your back.¡±

    Yan would have debated that the loyalty that Fleet soldiers had to their captain was not the same as a Guild ship had to their own family, but she just smiled.

    ¡°I''d like to ask you something,¡± Wen said. ¡°Just your opinion.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°During our search for you, we ended up taking prisoner two crew members of the pirate ship who were also looking for you.¡±

    Yan began to sweat, the anxiety traveling outward in waves from her heart. ¡°I see,¡± she said faintly.

    ¡°What do you think should happen to them?¡±

    ¡°I''m not a tribunal,¡± Yan said.

    Halen''s voice was briefly in her ear, and she couldn''t tell if it was memory or imagination. ¡°The punishment for piracy is death.¡±

    ¡°Hm. They would have killed you if they had found you,¡± Wen said. ¡°I figured you would have more of an opinion.¡±

    There were spots on the edges of her vision and her heart was pounding. She gripped the fabric of her pants and held on as though that would stop her from careening out of control. ¡°I am glad that they didn''t find me. But I want nothing more to do with them. Let the tribunal have their say for whatever they did actually do.¡±

    ¡°Are you alright, Apprentice?¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''m not feeling well.¡± The words were sticky in her mouth.

    ¡°Of course. I shouldn''t have brought it up, I apologize.¡±

    ¡°It''s fine,¡± Yan said. ¡°If you''ll excuse me.¡± Wen nodded.

    Yan stood up and maintained her composure until she left the bridge door, then she bolted down the hallway, running as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom. If there was one advantage Fleet ships had, it was that all the bathrooms were well marked. She slammed into a stall and knelt on the floor, whole upper body over the toilet bowl, choking but not quite throwing up.

    It was so stupid. In the moments where she had absolutely no desire to see or hear Halen, she had to imagine him. Now, when she could have used his stoic presence, he was nowhere to be found.

    Someone knocked on the door to the bathroom. ¡°Apprentice BarCarran?¡± It was Cesper.

    Yan knelt on the floor a moment more, then stood up. She washed her hands and splashed a copious amount of water on her face, looking in the mirror until she determined that her eyes were as tear free as they were going to get, and it hadn''t just looked like she had been kneeling over the toilet.

    She opened the door. Cesper was there. He smiled when he saw her.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Yan said. ¡°Please tell Captain Wen that I''m sorry for leaving him.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure he understands. Do you want to go back?¡±

    "No." She began walking somewhat aimlessly down the hallway. Cesper followed after her.

    ¡°Do you want me to find Apprentice Mejia for you?¡±

    ¡°Could you tell me where the gardens are? I want to take a walk,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Oh, of course. They''re in the other ring.¡±

    They walked (then floated, in the zero gravity section) to the gardens. Yan noticed at one point that Cesper fell behind her. She couldn''t turn her head to check what he was doing, but when she heard his phone vibrate, she knew he was talking to someone. She desperately hoped it wasn''t about her.

    The ships gardens were, for the most part, completely utilitarian. There were kilometers upon kilometers of soy, grains, fruits, and vegetables, all carefully managed to provide the optimal nutrition for the entire ship''s crew in the least amount of space.

    There was something very calming about them, watching the little robots go up and down the carefully planted beds, checking soil moisture levels, making sure that the plants had the correct doses of nutrients, gathering what was ready to harvest, pruning back what needed to be cut. Yan had always loved the gardens, even these purely functional ones.

    ¡°The nice garden is this way,¡± Cesper said. He led her far, far down the ring.

    And there was a space, wide open, probably the width of the ring, full of flowers and trees, and little pebbled paths, and benches. Water bubbled somewhere, she could hear it, probably fed by hidden pumps to give the illusion of springs and ponds. There were no bird sounds, of course, and no wind save the constant movement of the air by the filters, but the artificial lights were as bright as a sun, and it was warm, and the air was wet and smelled like dirt and flowers. Yan walked around. She hardly noticed when Cesper stayed behind, probably watching her from afar.

    Yan''s heartbeat calmed and her body grew less tense as she wandered slowly around. She turned her brain off, trying to think of nothing but the leaves on the bushes, the blades of grass, the smells in the air.

    She sat on a bench near a little pond for a while. There were goldfish swimming around in it, and they flashed bright above the black rocks that lined the bottom. Yan pulled a red berry off a nearby bush and tossed it into the water, watching the ripples spread out. She didn''t know how long she stayed there, just watching the fish.

    It was some time later that Kino appeared, walking down the path and into Yan''s field of vision. She didn''t say anything, just sat down next to Yan on the bench. So it must have been Kino that Cesper was contacting earlier.

    Kino leaned her head back and stared up at the bright lights above them.

    Yan finally broke the silence, because it seemed like Kino wasn''t going to. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°What it''s going to be like going home,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Are you in trouble or something? I heard you''ve managed to piss off just about everybody.¡±

    ¡°I''m about to be.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Sid told me not to talk about it, so I won''t.¡±

    ¡°It''s clearly not a secret.¡±

    Kino looked at Yan. ¡°When I fought with Sid, it was over something very important. It changed the way I saw him. It''s something that I''m willing to take a fall for. I have been told in no uncertain terms that you are standing on a cliff, and I should avoid pushing you off.¡±

    ¡°You''ve been talking too much to Sylva.¡±

    ¡°It was Cesper who told me that.¡±

    ¡°He doesn''t even know me.¡±

    ¡°He knows me, and he knows Sid, and he has access to the ship''s records.¡±

    ¡°Is this about the Bellringer?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Kino looked at her sideways.

    ¡°Captain Wen asked me about it. I thought that might be what you and Sid were arguing about.¡±

    Kino shook her head. ¡°I don''t know why he would bring that up.¡±

    ¡°Curiosity, maybe.¡± Yan stared at the fish.

    ¡°Sid told me that there was something wrong with your power,¡± Kino said bluntly, as though she ever said anything other than bluntly.

    ¡°It''s fine,¡± Yan said. She felt Kino''s power, odd and ghostly, reach out towards her. For once, Yan kept hers still, though it took all of her control not to reach back. She submitted to the inspection.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Kino asked. Her face betrayed nothing of what she though of Yan''s power, but the gentle way in which she probed, and the ringing pain that Yan felt where she touched spoke enough.

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Yan said. ¡°I think I was holding on too tightly.¡±

    ¡°You were in a group mind,¡± Kino said. ¡°Like the ones during worship.¡±

    ¡°Not really. I mean, yes, but no. It was more permanent than that. Did you ever like joining those?¡± Yan couldn''t think of a time that she had encountered Kino in the group mind, but maybe that was because she simply hadn''t noticed her and her strange invisibility.

    Kino shook her head.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°My head was always a mess,¡± Kino said. ¡°I didn''t want to bring that to anyone else.¡±

    Yan laughed a little, though it was a bitter sound. ¡°I can understand that.¡±

    ¡°So did the group mind do that to you?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°I think leaving it did. I was part of it for so long, and I don''t think that I wanted to leave.¡±

    ¡°You don''t think?¡±

    ¡°I can''t remember what I was feeling. It''s all-- it''s all a wreck.¡± Yan waved her hand, then leaned back on the bench, closing her eyes. ¡°I know a lot was taken from me. I think it was just like, thoughts, but I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°Can you still use the power?¡±

    ¡°I haven''t tried. Not more than just reaching out, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Why don''t you?¡±

    The light from above danced in Yan''s vision, through her eyelids. ¡°I haven''t had the best experiences with it, since I''ve been gone,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    There was a shuffling sound. Kino pressed something into Yan''s hand. Yan sat up straight and opened her eyes to look at it. It was a little rolled cigarette. Kino had one of her own in her hand.

    ¡°You can''t light that; we''re on a ship,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°So?¡± Kino said, pressing her finger to the tip of the cigarette and lighting it with the power. The smell of it was potent, but the light wisp of smoke that it gave off was immediately sucked up into the ventilation fan above.

    ¡°Fire in here could kill everybody,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°You''re being paranoid,¡± Kino said, taking a drag.

    ¡°Why do you even have this?¡±

    Kino shrugged. ¡°I''ve smoked these since the Academy.¡±

    Yan rolled the cigarette around in her hand, then passed it back to Kino. ¡°Thanks, but no thanks.¡±

    ¡°I saw your records too, you know,¡± Kino said. ¡°The medical ones and the one Maedes put together.¡±

    ¡°Do I no longer have any expectation of privacy?¡±

    ¡°I wasn''t aware that you ever had that.¡±

    Yan scowled. ¡°The last thing I want is more drugs in my system.¡±

    Kino stubbed out her cigarette on the bench, then tucked the unburned part back inside her cassock pocket. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Then why''d you offer?¡±

    Kino picked at her sleeve, nervous habit returning. Yan had forgotten how much of a constant that had been.

    ¡°Because my head''s a mess and so is yours.¡±

    ¡°What are you upset about?¡±

    Kino looked at Yan. ¡°I''m not upset. Sandreas is probably going to kick me out when we get back, though.¡±

    ¡°God, Kino.¡± Yan found it hard to believe that whatever argument Kino had had was that serious. ¡°What are you going to do?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°You''ve been in Sandreas''s head-- you really think he would do that?¡±

    ¡°Only once,¡± Kino said. ¡°I don''t know what he would think about this, or what he thinks at all.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°I was busy keeping him out of my thoughts, and he was busy being distracted by Halen.¡±

    ¡°How can you even maintain meditation like that.¡±

    Kino put a tiny smile onto her face. ¡°Brute force.¡±

    ¡°Why didn''t you want him in your thoughts?¡±

    Kino shook her head. ¡°Lots of reasons.¡±

    ¡°Would you let me in?¡±

    ¡°Sid said that''s what you wanted.¡± Kino pulled on the button on her sleeve. It was so loose that the threads holding it down were long and visible underneath. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Look at me,¡± Kino said. Yan obligingly turned her whole upper body to face Kino, who put her hands on Yan''s shoulders. Yan reached out with the power and Kino reached back. It certainly wasn''t enough to fall into meditation together, but it was something.

    ¡°Maybe someday,¡± Kino said. ¡°But I can''t help you with this.¡± Kino''s power brushed Yan''s raw wounds. ¡°Maybe you need to just be yourself for a while. It feels like you''re leaking out. Like there''s no boundary between yourself and other people.¡±

    ¡°But I don''t want to be myself,¡± Yan said, then realized how stupid she sounded and grimaced.

    ¡°Who do you want to be?¡±

    The questions and possibilities jumbled around in Yan''s mind. Part of her wanted to go back to the Mother, to abandon herself completely, to float away into space. Part of her wanted to go back to being just another BarCarran, spacer. But the road of the future pointed down one direction. At the end of it, she saw herself arrayed with a circlet of gold and a blood red cape, planets and the Fleet under her command. First BarCarran, Voice of the Empire. The image made her shiver under Kino''s hands.

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Someday, soon, maybe, you''re going to have to figure that out. Make a choice what kind of person you''re going to be. I hope you make the right one.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°We''re standing on the edge of the cliff again,¡± Kino said. ¡°Can you see it?¡±

    Through her touch and the power, Kino sent Yan a surprisingly clear image. A jumble of rocks, high above a river, the sun a quarter of the way up the grey sky, the wind rushing past, birds wheeling out on the horizon.

    Kino dropped her hands back into her lap. The vision remained clear in Yan''s mind for half a second more, then dissolved into dust.

    ¡°Falmar?¡± Yan asked, taking a guess.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Kino smiled again, not quite easily. ¡°Tell me about the planet that you were on.¡±

    And so Yan told her about the birds, high in the clean blue air, and the mountains and the rain and the ocean, the wind in the trees and the fish in the cold salt water.

    The Impulse jumped towards home.

 Chapter Eighty-Five - The God of the Gaps

    The God of the Gaps

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And so the Red King¡¯s palace was empty. No footsteps walked the halls, and no voices sounded save the voices of the dead which the Red King had forced to sing with the wind. Soon, even those stones crumbled to dust, and there was nothing but silence.¡±

    -from ¡®Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King¡¯

    </blockquote>

    With none of his apprentices around, Aymon''s life fell back into the pattern it had held for years before he took them on. Though it was simple enough to resume his physical routines, he caught himself waiting at his desk some mornings, anticipating the moment when they would walk through the door. He sometimes turned half around as he walked, thinking that he had caught a glimpse of Kino''s ghostly presence. He would be in a meeting and realize that this was a perfect task to assign to Sid, and almost begin composing a memo to that effect.

    But Sid wasn''t there, and neither was Kino. Yan was long gone, of course. She was so far gone that the hope and pain had both begun to fade, though not in equal measure.

    In his suite, leaning on Halen''s shoulder, a glass of wine half-drunk in hand, Aymon asked, ¡°How long until they get back?¡±

    ¡°You ask me that every night and the answer doesn''t change,¡± Halen said. ¡°It''s like you miss them or something.¡±

    ¡°Remind me to never send them anywhere again.¡±

    ¡°I tried.¡± Halen stroked the top of Aymon''s head and Aymon closed his eyes.

    ¡°Remind me that you''re always right, next time.¡±

    Halen laughed a little. ¡°They''ll be back soon enough, and they''ll start driving you crazy until you send them away again.¡±

    ¡°Can''t live with them, can''t live without them,¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°You''re surviving just fine.¡±

    ¡°You flatter me.¡±

    So Aymon stayed busy, not that he had any particular choice in the matter. He tried to put both the calendar and his apprentices out of his mind. He had enough to deal with, with the Guild, the upcoming council elections, and the daily business of running the Empire. He couldn''t waste thought and energy on something happening far beyond his reach and his control.

    <hr>

    Many days later, Aymon was woken in the middle of the night with a phone call. This had happened to him countless times over the years, and every time he felt as though he had been dislodged from time, into a quasi-dreamlike place. Anything could come drifting hazily down to him through the phone''s connection.

    He fumbled for it in the dim bedroom, the screen lighting up blindingly.

    ¡°Sandreas. What is it?¡± he asked as soon as he had the phone to his ear.

    ¡°The Impulse has jumped back in, sir,¡± an aide said.

    Aymon sat up immediately. ¡°What''s their status?¡±

    ¡°We called you as soon as we saw her, so we haven''t received their data package yet.¡±

    ¡°How long will that be?¡±

    ¡°Probably about twenty minutes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Can I meet them at the top of the elevator?¡±

    ¡°I''ll prepare a flight.¡±

    ¡°Good. I''ll be ready immediately. Call me back as soon as there''s more information.¡± Aymon hung up, got out of bed, and got ready to go. He put his phone on speaker and called Halen, who picked up immediately.

    ¡°I''m already ready,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°You''re better than I am,¡± Aymon said, splashing water on his face in the bathroom.

    ¡°Shall I meet you at the door?¡±

    ¡°I''ll be ready in two minutes.¡±

    ¡°See you there.¡±

    Aymon felt vaguely grimy from sleeping as he was ushered down to the lot underneath Stonecourt, where he met Halen and got in a car. Inside, an aide explained the situation. The data transfer had finally come through.

    ¡°Who''s onboard the Impulse?¡± Aymon asked, strapping himself in as the car drove out of the underground lot, speeding with its escort towards the airfield. ¡°Where''s the Gatekeeper?¡±

    ¡°It''s nothing but good news, sir,¡± the aide said. ¡°Mejia and BarCarran are both aboard the Impulse.¡±

    Aymon''s heart thudded in his chest wildly. ¡°Yan''s alive? Yan''s here?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±

    ¡°Where''s Sid?¡± Halen asked quietly.

    ¡°Welslak transferred to the Gatekeeper and remained behind.¡±

    Halen''s arm brushed Aymon''s. ¡°I''m going to kill that kid,¡± Halen sent through the power. Aymon ignored him.

    ¡°What''s Yan''s status?¡±

    ¡°She''s mostly in good health. There''s a report that Maedes compiled that goes through what happened to her, to the best of her knowledge. Do you prefer the summary or do you want to read it?¡±

    ¡°I''ll read it.¡±

    ¡°It''s been sent to you.¡±

    After a short and bumpy drive, they transferred from the car to the plane, meeting up with a suite of journalists who accompanied Aymon whenever he traveled.

    Once they were in the air, he read through the details of what had happened to Yan. He felt himself grow cold and hot and cold again.

    He was sick, reading over what had happened. All through it, he couldn''t help thinking how lucky they had been, how much worse it could have been if even one thing had gone wrong. The sections that relied on Yan''s testimony of what had happened to her were jumbled and vague. Clearly she hadn''t wanted to go into details, but the physical section of the report, detailing how much weight she had lost and the way the bones in her neck had been fused together, that spoke enough.

    Aymon could understand why Sid stayed behind.

    The flight was long, and the elevator ride to the top was longer. They would arrive just in time for the Impulse to make the final jump in, and that gave Aymon plenty of time to think over exactly what he was going to say when he saw his apprentices, two of them at least, again.

    The note that had been included in the data package about Kino''s misbehavior, courtesy of Captain Wen, was spared barely a thought. His focus was all on Yan.

    Halen stared out the window, just as pensive as Aymon was. He wanted to ask what he was thinking, but they were too in public now. Even standing close enough to touch was perhaps too much, so their silent conversation was limited to the occasional glance, and the one way communication of Aymon''s feelings leaking out into the air.

    He had a quiet conversation with some of his advisers. How would this be publicized? What would be the overall strategy moving forward? He needed to get in contact with Fleet command and make strategic choices, send help to the Gatekeeper. It was all happening so quickly, and yet not quickly enough, as the elevator rose up higher and higher above the planet, the curve of the atmosphere coming into view, the tug of gravity slowly lessening.

    The Impulse was already there when they reached the top, but everyone had stayed on board to await the elevator that would take them down to the surface. The vast majority of the crew would be disembarking, but the doors hadn''t opened yet.

    Aymon saw out the windows the two ships currently docked to the station: the Impulse, and the far smaller First Star. Against all logic and reason, he wanted to take the First Star out to where Yan had been found. He wanted to go there himself and--

    The doors opened.

    The distance between himself and the figure silhouetted against the light spilling out from the Impulse''s docking tube seemed insurmountable. There was no gravity here holding him to the ground. Aymon pushed off the floor and went towards her.

    He knew people with cameras were watching him, but that footage could be reviewed and edited later. For now, he had one goal, to bring his apprentice home again.

    ¡°Yan,¡± he said. ¡°God, Yan.¡±

    He hugged her, and all the pain of the past several months retreated into a dark corner of his heart. She was stiff for a second, then reciprocated the hug, wrapping her arms around him. His hand found its way to the back of her neck, where he felt the scars that had been described to him in such dry and clear language. He pulled back to look at her, sliding his hands down her shoulders and arms to grab her hands, dry and warm.

    He didn''t know if he should be smiling or crying, and only part of that was due to the need to make a good impression on the cameras.

    Yan''s face had a thin, weak smile, and her eyes flicked all around before settling for looking at Aymon. He squeezed her hands.

    ¡°I don''t have words to say how much I''ve missed you, and how glad I am to have you back,¡± he said, low enough that only she could hear.

    ¡°I didn''t know if I would ever get here,¡± Yan said, even more quietly. ¡°It doesn''t feel real.¡±

    ¡°It is, I promise it is,¡± Aymon said. He stared at her for a long second, and she submitted to the examination. He tried to send her reassurance through the power, but it was if there was a thick, rough edge between them. Pressing on it made his own power feel tender, like a half-healed bruise. It was disconcerting, to say the least.¡°We shouldn''t stay here. There''s a shuttle to take us down.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Yan said. She sounded slightly relieved, maybe to get out of the public eye. Aymon''s mind was already working overtime, wondering how he would be able to spin this to the public. She seemed fragile. Maybe that was to be expected.

    ¡°I have a bit of business to attend to with Captain Wen. Will you be alright for a minute?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yan said. This was all very fast and abrupt, but a more private conversation would be better had aboard the shuttle anyway.

    Aymon jerked his head at one of his aides, and Yan was immediately surrounded and shuffled off towards a more private area of the station, where emergency space-to-ground shuttles sat parked in a bay. They had taken the elevator up to more easily accommodate the journalists who followed him, but back down they would have the luxury of landing a shuttle at an airfield, and a private journey. There were a few comforts like that that he allowed himself, even if he was a public figure. The public wanted to have their eyes upon him, but this was one moment he could keep private.

    That left the remainder of the people to deal with. Kino was standing, lurking, really, near the exit. Aymon stared her down, and she pushed off the wall and came over to him. ¡°Welcome home, Kino.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°I understand that I have reason to be angry with you.¡± Kino just stared at him, making no response. Her hands were in her pockets, so he couldn''t even see if she was engaging in one of her perpetual nervous habits.

    ¡°I''m sure that''s something to be dealt with later,¡± Aymon said, abandoning any thought of disciplining her right now. This wasn''t the time. ¡°Do you know who should be coming down in the shuttle with us?¡± He wasn''t familiar with the makeup of Yan''s rescue party, and if there were any medical personnel who had been taking particular care of her.

    ¡°Maedes, Calor, Cesper,¡± Kino said, pointing at the three people. Maedes, Aymon knew very well. The other two he only vaguely recognized. Calor was wearing a Fleet uniform, though stripped of all insignia, so she must be the girlfriend, the unlikely rescuer. Cesper he realized was the same man who he had thanked for saving Sid.

    ¡°Great. Get them all to the shuttle. I need to talk to Captain Wen. Is he still onboard?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± A tiny, almost imperceptible expression of distaste crossed Kino''s face. Aymon would have perhaps laughed about it with Halen later, if the situation had been different. Now, Kino''s petty troubles were far less important than anything else, and he wanted to get it all over with as quickly as possible. He nodded to Halen, who got the message and followed Kino away as Aymon headed into the Impulse.

    He didn''t have to go far to find Captain Wen. He was ushered directly to him, in his private office on the Impuse. Aymon was very glad to have the pull of gravity from the spinning rings under his feet again.

    He shook hands with the captain, putting a smile on his face and keeping his impatience to leave firmly tamped down.

    ¡°Welcome home, Captain,¡± Aymon said.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Wen said. ¡°Although we''re back about as fast as one could have expected, I''m sure my crew wishes they had been home a moth ago.¡±

    ¡°I thank the whole Impulse''s crew for their dedication, and for hosting my apprentices. I''d say that I''m glad they didn''t give you any trouble, but I''ve heard that''s not the case.¡±

    ¡°It wasn''t so much trouble,¡± Wen said. ¡°It was unpleasant, however.¡±

    ¡°I will make sure that Kino is dealt with appropriately,¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°I''m sure you will.¡±

    ¡°How were Sid and Yan?¡±

    ¡°Apprentice Welslak was fine. A little to eager, perhaps. Rough around the edges, but he made a good impression on several members of my crew.¡±

    ¡°I''m glad to hear it.¡±

    ¡°Yes. And BarCarran, well, I appreciate the effort she puts in.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I won''t keep you from her for long, so you''ll see it yourself in a minute,¡± Wen said. ¡°But you can tell when she has a mask up. She''s not hiding the fact that she''s hiding something. I appreciate the effort to hold it together.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying you think she''s broken?¡±

    ¡°I would not overstep my bounds to say that. I''m a starship captain, not a psychologist.¡±

    ¡°But I''m sure in your days as a captain, you''ve had to assess the competency of your crew. Do you think she''s... going to be able to continue?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I have no doubt that she will do what needs to be done. That''s what I''m saying. Her personal problems, if you can even call it that, she puts them aside when she puts her professional face on. It''s when that professional face is not on, that''s when I''d be worried about her.¡±

    ¡°Did you spend a lot of time with her?¡±

    ¡°Some. She enjoyed being on the bridge, I believe. It was a long trip, so I saw her fairly often. As long as we avoided conversation topics that she found unpleasant, she was perfectly able to hold up her end of things.¡±

    ¡°Unpleasant?¡±

    ¡°Oh, if I started talking about pirates she would leave the room. I tried not to discuss current events after that.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°You''ll see for yourself. Don''t let this come off as me saying that I have a low opinion of her. I think she is a very strong woman, stronger than most other people would be if they had been in her situation.¡±

    ¡°Did you read the report that Maedes put together?¡±

    ¡°That confusing little thing, yes.¡±

    Aymon nodded. ¡°Are you staying with the Impulse, or are you going planetside?¡±

    ¡°I''ll be taking her and a skeleton crew in to the repair station, and then we''ll be hitching a ride out.¡±

    Aymon clapped Wen''s shoulder. ¡°I''ll see you when you get back to Emerri. I''d like to discuss what you think of that planet.¡±

    ¡°I''ll try to get my thoughts in order before then,¡± Wen said with a smile. ¡°Though we weren''t involved in much of the engagement.¡±

    ¡°You know more than anybody else who''s in contact range.¡±

    ¡°The Gatekeeper will have an ansible up soon. Baczynski is a competent woman.¡±

    ¡°I pray that they do. I''ll be sending reinforcements, just in case,¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°I didn''t for a second think otherwise. One ship alone is a liability.¡±

    ¡°And I''m not in the mood to lose any more apprentices.¡±

    ¡°Better not let them go anywhere else, then.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, I won''t.¡±

    ¡°I won''t keep you from your happy reunion. It was good seeing you, First Sandreas.¡±

    ¡°And you as well,¡± Aymon said. He departed the way that he came.

    When he returned to the shuttle, he found Halen inspecting the outside of it, trailed by Cesper. When the door closed to the bay, they looked up at the sound. Halen smiled slightly, and Cesper looked nervous. Aymon let himself into the shuttle, where the rest of their little group were already buckled in.

    The shuttle was the standard layout. The pilot and co-pilot would sit up front, and behind them, separated behind a barrier, were several rows of seats, each of which could pivot independently, depending on the user''s preference for acceleration direction. Yan was in the middle row, sandwiched between Calor and Maedes. Kino was in the back, though she wasn''t buckled in, and instead was leaning forward to talk to Yan. She straightened up and sat back when Aymon entered. Cesper and Halen followed him in. Without speaking, Aymon sat in the front row, and turned his seat around so that he could talk to his apprentices and guests behind him. Halen took the seat next to him, and Cesper squeezed down through the rows to sit next to Kino.

    The pilots went through their pre-flight checks.

    ¡°Shouldn''t be long before we''re home now,¡± Aymon said, smiling at Yan. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± Yan said.

    Halen''s leg brushed Aymon''s. ¡°Not fine,¡± Halen said through the power. That was obvious, considering Wen''s comment about masks, but it was nice to have confirmation.

    ¡°I should thank both of you,¡± Aymon looked between Calor and Maedes. ¡°You have both done me an invaluable service.¡±

    ¡°For the second time,¡± Halen said, looking at Maedes.

    ¡°Yes, twice over,¡± Aymon said. He remembered briefly the moment in which Maedes had saved his life, an assassination attempt that she had prevented by being in the right place, at the right time, and paying attention to the right person.

    The engines of the shuttle whined to life.

    ¡°I don''t believe we''ve had the pleasure of meeting before,¡± Aymon said to Calor. He reached out his hand to shake. Calor looked at him and hesitated for a moment, then shook his hand. Aymon didn''t miss the subtle kick that Yan gave to her girlfriend and rescuer.

    ¡°Sylva Calor,¡± she said. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°You don''t sound overly enthusiastic,¡± Aymon said with a smile. He meant it to be charming, but perhaps she took it the wrong way.

    ¡°Sorry, I''m just thinking about something dumb I said to Iri, ages ago.¡±

    Maedes barely concealed a smirk, hiding her mouth behind her hand. Yan simply looked confused.

    ¡°Which was?¡±

    Calor blushed hotly, visible even in the dim light of the shuttle. Underneath her twined braids, her ears were a bright red. ¡°It wasn''t complimentary. I won''t repeat it.¡±

    She reminded him a little bit of Sid, in the way that she ran her mouth, but she at least had the good grace to look ashamed. Aymon laughed. ¡°You don''t have to worry. This is about as informal of a gathering as we can manage, and I owe you a debt, besides.¡±

    Calor nodded. ¡°I hope you won''t take offense to me saying that I didn''t go find Yan for your sake.¡±

    ¡°None whatsoever.¡± Aymon leaned back in his seat, tilting his head to the ceiling. ¡°God must have looked favorably on you, for you to find success.¡± He heard a minuscule sigh, and looked at Yan, who was staring dead eyed at the wall behind him. ¡°Are you alright, Yan?¡±

    ¡°Everybody asks me that,¡± she said. ¡°I''m fine.¡±

    Calor scrunched up her face, clearly aware that it was a lie and willing to bring other people''s attention to it.

    ¡°God is a somewhat fraught topic,¡± Iri said mildly.

    ¡°Really?¡± Aymon asked. Yan had always been the most devout of his apprentices, it was shocking to him that that had changed.

    ¡°Where was God when I was in prison?¡± Yan asked. She looked directly at Aymon. ¡°I didn''t hear God''s voice.¡± Strangely, her eyes flicked over to Halen as she said that second half of her statement.

    ¡°You don''t believe it was God''s will that you should escape?¡±

    Her voice was quiet when she responded. ¡°I don''t know why I was able to escape. I''ve thought about it a lot and I still don''t understand.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that gap in your understanding is where God is.¡±

    Yan frowned, clearly not liking that explanation. ¡°I''ll probably keep thinking about it for the rest of my life.¡±

    ¡°That''s only natural. I won''t press you on it,¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    The whole shuttle vibrated as the engines fired, and Aymon was forced forward against his seatbelt as they accelerated out of the station''s bays. There weren''t any windows, so they couldn''t see the station and its docked ships receded, or the brilliant glimmering line of the elevator, or the planet far below. He could imagine it, though.

    ¡°The one thing that we need to decide on,¡± Aymon said, ¡°is what to say about who took you in the first place.¡±

    ¡°It has to be pirates, right?¡± Iri asked. She half turned to look at Yan, even though they were both pressed back into their seats with the acceleration. Aymon struggled to keep his head upright, and not drop his chin to his chest.

    ¡°The easiest option would be to blame the Bellringer,¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°Please don''t,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''ve done enough to them already.¡±

    The reports that had come back aboard the Impulse had not exactly been clear about what the intended future for the disabled Bellringer was. She would probably be destroyed eventually, along with her crew, but from the way that the events were described, she was not a priority. The prisoners taken by the Impulse could be the only survivors, at this point, though there was no way of knowing without an ansible.

    ¡°Very well. Do you have any objection to saying that you were kidnapped for the bounty money? We can make up a ship, if you''d like.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Yan closed her eyes.

    He wanted to be sensitive to what she wanted, what she needed, but he had to keep pushing on with the business of running the Empire, and that would require blaming someone. ¡°And you two, I don''t think it would be in the best interests of anyone to go through your whole story. Do you want credit? We can work you into the official narrative if you do.¡±

    ¡°I don''t care,¡± Calor said.

    ¡°I don''t want a big event,¡± Yan said abruptly. ¡°I''ll talk to the press, but I don''t want anything fancy.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine,¡± Aymon said. ¡°Any particular reason for that?¡±

    Yan''s eyes were still closed. ¡°This was the worst period of my life,¡± she said slowly. ¡°I''m very grateful to everyone who helped me get out of it. But if I have to attend anything that celebrates it, I''ll be unable to cope. I''m not telling you this to sound stupid, or whiny, I''m telling you the truth so that you can avoid a bad image.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± Aymon said. ¡°Captain Wen mentioned that you have your limits.¡±

    ¡°I''m capable of being professional,¡± Yan said. There was an unspoken ''and nothing more''.

    ¡°I don''t doubt that.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Yan said.

    The acceleration of the shuttle increased, and Aymon was forced to turn his chair around. He felt vaguely dissatisfied by the whole conversation. He knew that he was not particularly close with any of his apprentices, and that was his failing. But he felt like he was doing wrong by Yan in her grief, and he didn''t know how to connect with her. He would have to ask Halen.

    But Halen was busy composing a plan for how to go about re-introducing Yan to the world, the aforementioned press talk, the sure to be carefully constructed information packet that they would release, and who would take the blame and the credit. It would have to wait until they got home, home, home.

    <hr>

    The rest of the day passed in a blur for Aymon, not least because he had barely gotten any sleep the night previous, and had spent most of the day traveling. He trusted that his staff would take care of all of his guests, find them housing and keep them out of the public eye until they were ready to do so.

    Aymon spent some time with Fleet leadership at Stonecourt, discussing which ships were available to go aid the Gatekeeper, and what the plans should be. There was wonder if personnel and equipment should be reassigned from Tyx III to go to this new planet, but the conditions on each world were apparently so different that it might not be feasible. He was slightly concerned that if they began waging a battle without the proper supply lines in place, they could end up costing themselves more in the long run in money, time, and people, but they didn''t have much of a choice. The Gatekeeper had already engaged the planet. They were committed.

    So he didn''t even make it back to his suite until late that night, after everything he had to deal with, and he certainly hadn''t had time to meet back up with Yan. He sent her a message to come see him tomorrow morning, along with Kino. It was time to slip back into their routines.

    One other routine of his was relaxing with Halen for a little while before he went to bed. If he didn''t have this time to talk, truly without barriers or inhibitions, he wouldn''t be able to function.

    Halen seemed distracted this evening, with his phone out, typing messages and giving orders to keep the whole situation running behind the scenes. Aymon paced back and forth in front of him as he sat on the couch. Perhaps he was lying to himself when he said this was relaxing.

    ¡°What did you think of Yan?¡± Aymon asked.

    ¡°She''s doing better than I expected,¡± Halen said, tucking his phone into his pants pocket. ¡°I''d like to have a better chance to talk to her.¡±

    ¡°Please do,¡± Aymon said. ¡°You were closer with her than I was able to be.¡±

    ¡°You should make an effort. She''s your apprentice, not mine. She needs you more than she needs me.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know how.¡±

    ¡°Step one is having a private conversation with her, where you''re not worried about how you''ll be observed by everyone else. Step two is just talking to her like you talk to me.¡±

    ¡°I know you''re right, but that''s easier said than done.¡±

    ¡°I''ll talk to her,¡± Halen said. ¡°But you need to, too. I''ll tell her you want to have a private conversation. All you need to do is give her the time.¡±

    ¡°What if I say something wrong?¡±

    ¡°You sound like you''re asking for first date advice.¡±

    ¡°I''m not a therapist,¡± Aymon said, unintentionally rephrasing what Wen had said earlier. ¡°I don''t know what to tread around.¡±

    ¡°The idea is that you shouldn''t have to tread around things,¡± Halen said, shaking his head. ¡°You''ll figure it out. You have to. You figured it out with Sid.¡±

    ¡°Sid is easy to deal with.¡±

    Halen made a noncommittal noise. ¡°Speaking of Sid,¡± he said.

    ¡°Are you trying to think of a way to punish him for staying out there?¡±

    ¡°I''ll leave that up to you,¡± Halen said. ¡°He sent you a message, though.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Catch.¡± Halen pulled a data stick out of his pocket and tossed it to Aymon, who deftly caught it.

    ¡°Where did this come from?¡±

    ¡°That lieutenant. Cesper.¡±

    ¡°And it wasn''t in the data dump because...?¡±

    ¡°Read it.¡±

    Aymon sighed and plugged the stick into his phone, pulling up the one file on it. He read the letter and frowned.

    ¡°Did you already read this?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And what do you think?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Halen said. ¡°The secrecy is a bit over the top, but Kino''s been a black box to me from day one. Maybe it''s time we both started making more of an effort with her.¡±

    Aymon sighed. ¡°He''s right. Probably overreacting, but right that I should take her to see the Emperor.¡±

    ¡°If you take her, you''ll need to take Yan as well.¡±

    Aymon rubbed his chin. ¡°I don''t really want to put her through that.¡±

    ¡°I think she deserves to know, after all she''s been through. I know you think of the Emperor as a punishment, but don''t tell her that.¡±

    ¡°You think she''ll like the Emperor?¡± Aymon asked.

    ¡°You read the report. She entered a group mind, at least somewhat willingly, and stayed there until she was drugged out of it. She probably has at least the possibility of liking the Emperor.¡±

    Goosebumps rose on Aymon''s arms. He hated the Emperor, for a variety of reasons. Maybe hate was too strong of a word, but he certainly feared the Emperor. Any sane person would. Especially for Aymon, the Emperor seemed like the inevitable end of a road, and when he came to that point, he would lose himself completely.

    ¡°You think she''s going to be my successor?¡±

    ¡°She''s proven herself more than the other two have. But maybe I''m being biased,¡± Halen said. ¡°We''ll just have to wait and see.¡±

    ¡°I''ll take them to see the Emperor in a couple days,¡± Aymon said reluctantly.

    ¡°And you''ll talk to Yan privately.¡±

    ¡°And I''ll talk to Yan,¡± Aymon agreed. ¡°Is everything set up for tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We''re keeping it low key. I had someone pick out a journalist we can trust to be-¡±

    ¡°Gentle?¡±

    ¡°Considerate,¡± Halen said. ¡°Anyway, one reporter, one camera, shouldn''t be too overwhelming.¡±

    ¡°Will she have anyone else with her? I don''t want to feel too much like an insect in the magnifying glass.¡±

    ¡°Calor is obviously out,¡± Halen said. ¡°Since she''s being included in the official story only as a passing note.¡±

    ¡°And I don''t trust her not to run her mouth.¡±

    ¡°Ha. Yes.¡±

    ¡°What about Maedes?¡±

    ¡°I''ve been mulling over the implications of that,¡± Halen said.

    Aymon thought about it for a second. ¡°How much was Maedes connected to Yan''s original kidnapping?¡±

    ¡°People could connect those dots if they looked closely,¡± Halen said. ¡°And I''m a little concerned that if Maedes is in the room, the attention will be more focused on the how of the rescue, which we don''t want too much.¡±

    ¡°Could we put in that lieutenant?¡±

    ¡°I can ask him. I don''t know how well he and Yan know each other, though.¡±

    ¡°You know what, maybe you can be in the room. Not on camera, but make sure that the whole thing runs smoothly.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Halen pulled out his phone and made a note.

    ¡°And you are scheduled to give your own remarks to the full press later as well.¡±

    Aymon ran his hand through his hair. ¡°Of course I am.¡±

 Chapter Eighty-Six - All Of Us Pirates Would Have Been Martyrs, Part III

    All Of Us Pirates Would Have Been Martyrs, Part III

    <blockquote>

    ¡°My love will be with me forever, my love will be with me today, my love and I will be together, until my dying day.¡±

    -from a variation on a traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Sylva had insisted on staying with Yan, not that it took much insisting from either of them. Yan felt just as much a guest in her own apartment as Sylva did, considering that she had been gone for so long, and it had never really felt like home in the first place. It was nice to reacquaint herself with all the objects that were scattered around, touching them like they would anchor her there. There was her project from the end of her days at the Academy; the fake fish still swam around as though nothing in the world had ever happened or would ever happen. There was the prayer book that her family had given her as a gift, all wrapped up in bad memories and sitting placidly on her desk. There was the fancy outfit she had worn to the Governors'' Dinner; there were her Iron Dreams uniforms hung nicely in the closet; there was her computer; her phone; and, locked away in the secret room behind her closet, her gun and all of the Empire''s secrets. She closed the door on that room rather emphatically.

    Iri had gone home to her own family, though they didn''t live far away, so she would be back in the morning, but that left just Yan and Sylva. All of the conversation, all of the processing, everything that they could do had already been done on their long trip back home, so they spent the evening wondering about the future and distracting themselves by watching the most innocuous movies that Yan could find.

    Even then, after doing everything she could to keep her mind off of things, it wasn''t a surprise when Yan woke in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, heart racing. She climbed out of bed, leaving Sylva asleep, and took a shower. She didn''t remember what she had been dreaming about, which she was grateful for. She got dressed and sat on the couch in the living room, having drawn back the blinds to look out over the city.

    Everything felt familiar but distant, like it was a photograph of something she new, hung behind a wall of glass. She had missed all of the Emerri winter, and the days were turning into spring again, so she didn''t have to wait very long before the sun began to first brighten the sky, then the tips of the buildings. She sat there and watched the slow process, keeping her mind as free from thoughts as she could make it. Was it meditation? Maybe.

    When the sun was well and truly up, and she heard Sylva begin to stir and shuffle around in the bedroom, Yan made some coffee, grateful that her past self had left some grounds in the freezer (though she had cleaned out the fridge in anticipation of her trip) and that no one had gotten rid of all her stuff. Again, she was struck by the oddness of handling this innocuous object that belonged only to her past self. She cut off her own thoughts and dumped the grounds into the coffee maker.

    Sylva shuffled out of the bedroom, yawning, as the smell began to travel through the apartment.

    ¡°Morning,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°It sure is. How long have you been up?¡±

    Yan shrugged. ¡°Couple hours.¡±

    ¡°Yikes.¡±

    ¡°It''s okay,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''m probably going to go out in a minute. Just wanted to wait until you were up.¡±

    This perked Sylva up considerably. ¡°What? Where are you going?¡±

    ¡°Stonecourt. And just a walk in general,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Want me to come?¡±

    ¡°Nah. I''m going to go meet with Sandreas.¡±

    Sylva frowned a little. ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°I''ll be fine.¡± Yan poured herself a cup of coffee, realized there was no creamer and dumped in extra sugar to compensate. She winced when she sipped it; it was too sweet, too bitter, and too hot. She drank it anyway, and offered the rest of the pot to Sylva, who declined with raised eyebrow, as if shocked that Yan could even tolerate drinking that.

    She didn''t tell Sylva that her meeting with Sandreas was not for at least another hour or so, but Sylva didn''t need to know that. ¡°Do you have any plans for the day?¡± she asked Sylva.

    Sylva ran her hand down her face, stretching out her lips and rolling her eyes in an overly dramatic gesture. ¡°I guess I should call my family. And my mentor.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you definitely should do that,¡± Yan said. She herself had composed a long letter to her family while aboard the Impulse, and it had been sent out as soon as they were in ansible range. When the Dreams would receive it, only time would tell. Yan didn''t know what route they were currently travelling.

    Yan slipped her shoes on her feet. They felt odd after the borrowed Fleet set and the cloth shoes that she had worn for so long. It would take some getting used to.

    ¡°You''re going already?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Sylva frowned, but didn''t move to stop her. ¡°Call me if you need me, okay?¡±

    ¡°I will. I probably won''t be gone all day. There''s only so much Sandreas I can handle right now.¡±

    ¡°Hah. Good luck then.¡±

    Yan left.

    Outside, the weather was warm and inviting, somewhat humid, as it had rained at some point in the night before Yan woke. It was nothing like the weather on the Mother''s planet; there was no hot salty breeze, the sun wasn''t beating down, but it was outdoors, which was more than Yan could have said for the long trip aboard the Impulse. It was the conflicting spacer desire for being planetside and being starbound rising up within her, but she accepted it.

    She noticed that as she left the building, one of the plainclothes security people who monitored the building peeled off and followed her. It was so much like that morning when she had first encountered Iri that Yan almost laughed. She ignored the trail and took the long route to Stonecourt.

    She went in the back entrance, passing through security without paying much attention, and old, old memory took her towards Sandreas''s office. His secretary, Mrs. Rosario, met her at the door.

    ¡°Yan, it''s so good to see you again,¡± Rosario said.

    ¡°Thanks, it''s good to see you too,¡± Yan said awkwardly. ¡°It''s been a long time.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure we can get you caught up on everything. Do you want your schedule for the day?¡±

    Yan''s stomach dropped, but she smiled. ¡°Yes, thank you.¡±

    ¡°I''ll send it to your phone. You''re a bit early. Is Kino coming?¡±

    ¡°I think she''ll be around later, but I didn''t talk to her.¡±

    ¡°Alright. And your friend, Ms. Calor, is she all set?¡±

    ¡°Girlfriend,¡± Yan corrected. ¡°And yeah, she''s fine. She''s just in my apartment.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Mrs. Rosario said with a smile. ¡°Does she need travel arrangements made?¡±

    ¡°I think she''ll be staying with me for a while,¡± Yan said.

    Rosario nodded. ¡°Did you come to see First Sandreas? He should be here in a few minutes.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I''ll let you in, then.¡± She unlocked the door to Sandreas''s office and Yan went inside, shutting the door behind her.

    It was much the same as Yan remembered. The pictures on the walls had perhaps been swapped out, but the overall atmosphere was the same. Still very clean. She paced around the side of the room for a minute, but found herself behind Sandreas''s desk.

    It felt a little subversive, like she wasn''t supposed to be doing it, but she sat down in Sandreas''s chair for a moment, gazing out across the room from that perspective. Of course, that was the moment when Sandreas chose to walk in. Yan caught a glimpse of Halen, who didn''t enter the office.

    Yan scrambled to her feet. Sandreas just smiled, shutting the door behind himself. ¡°Imagining you''re in my place?¡± he asked.

    Yan felt her cheeks grow hot. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°It''s alright. What brings you here so early?¡±

    ¡°I couldn''t sleep,¡± Yan said. ¡°So I''ve been up for a while.¡±

    ¡°Understandable. Come here.¡± Sandreas gestured to the couch and Yan sat down. He took a seat across from her, and leaned forward. He had an odd, earnest look on his face that Yan didn''t think she had ever seen before.

    ¡°I''ve been told, in no uncertain terms, that I need to have a talk with you,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any particular feelings about that?¡±

    ¡°Halen told you to talk to me?¡±

    Sandreas smiled. ¡°Who else?¡±

    ¡°Could have been Kino. Or Iri.¡±

    ¡°No, it was Halen.¡± Privately, Yan thought she would have much rather been having this talk with Halen. Halen was someone she needed to process her complicated feelings around. Her feelings towards Sandreas were relatively simple in comparison.

    ¡°What do you want to talk about?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°I''m not sure. I assumed it would come naturally.¡±

    Yan did not know why he had assumed that. ¡°I don''t know if we''ve ever had a real conversation,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°I do recall you ran out of the room the first time we ever talked,¡± Sandreas said with a smile.

    ¡°Did I ever apologize for that?¡±

    ¡°It''s alright. Clearly I didn''t mind.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know how you could still think I was ready to be your successor after all that.¡±

    ¡°Ready? You weren''t ready. But from what I saw of you, I thought you could become ready.¡±

    ¡°Do you still think that?¡±

    Sandreas leaned back. ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I think you''ve proven yourself a hundred times over.¡±

    Yan stared at him, unsure of what he was referring to. ¡°Breaking out of prison and killing pirates aren''t exactly things that a leader needs to be able to do,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°You''ve constantly proven your ability to keep a calm head and make decisions during crisis, you''ve shown that you can maintain a professional appearance, you''ve kept the peace between Kino and Sid, and talked at least Sid down from his most destructive urges. And all the time I''ve known you you''ve been conscientious and thoughtful. You''ve gone through what was probably your worst nightmare, and you''ve come out the other side still whole. I deeply admire that about you, Yan.¡± He ticked off each of those points as though it were a well rehearsed speech. It probably was,

    This was high praise coming from Sandreas, especially since Yan hadn''t even known what he thought of her at all before now. His praise was a warm feeling in her chest. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.

    ¡°I think you''re far stronger than you give yourself credit for.¡±

    ¡°I have my limits,¡± Yan said.

    Sandreas scratched his chin. ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that you could become my successor?¡± Sandreas asked. ¡°You were thinking about it, weren''t you?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know what to think about it,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Can I be honest?¡±

    ¡°This is our open and honest conversation. Say whatever you need to say.¡±

    ¡°The thought of it scares me. I can''t really imagine myself as you. I mean, you''ve always seemed, I don''t know, in control.¡±

    ¡°That is the goal.¡±

    ¡°And part of me feels out of control.¡±

    ¡°The nice thing about being a public figure is your internal feelings don''t matter nearly so much as your actions, and how you look on the camera.¡±

    ¡°But that''s the thing. You''ve always just been a person on the camera. Even now, it''s...¡± Yan trailed off.

    ¡°I''m sorry that we never got to really connect, before all this. I want to be a better mentor to you, and to Kino and Sid.¡±

    ¡°You''re a fine mentor,¡± Yan said, her instinct always to deflect.

    Sandreas shook his head. ¡°You''re very sweet, but you just admitted that you hardly feel like you know me.¡±

    ¡°But I respect you. And I respect the way you want to teach us, and the way you want to do things,¡± Yan said, unexpectedly earnest herself. She hadn''t realized how much she wanted to defend Sandreas from himself, as though his own criticism of how he handled her apprenticeship somehow was her fault.

    ¡°I respected my mentor, too,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°That doesn''t mean that now, with the benefit of years of hindsight, I didn''t wish there were so many things she had done differently. I don''t want you to have to look back on your time with me as something that you wish I had done better.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t think that.¡±

    ¡°I''m not immune to criticism, Yan,¡± Sandreas said with a small smile.

    ¡°I didn''t say you were. I just-- I don''t know what I would change.¡±

    ¡°Give it some thought, alright? I want to be here for you, but I don''t know what you need.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want to need things.¡±

    ¡°You''re human. Having needs doesn''t make you weak.¡±

    Yan was silent for a long moment. ¡°But you were just saying, about how it would look on camera.¡±

    Sandreas raised his eyebrows. ¡°You think that I don''t have needs?¡±

    Yan looked down at her lap. ¡°I don''t know. I''m sorry, I''m being stupid.¡±

    ¡°You''re not. Look, we''re in private. Anything you say to me, it''s not going anywhere. Whatever you need, I can provide.¡±

    The things that Yan needed, or wanted, were not things that Sandreas could give.

    ¡°Maybe this is an exercise in vulnerability for us both,¡± Sandreas continued.

    Yan looked him in the eye. ¡°I don''t want to be vulnerable anymore.¡±

    ¡°There''s a difference between being powerless and being intentionally vulnerable with someone you trust,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°I understand if you don''t want that, though.¡±

    ¡°I like to be open,¡± Yan said. ¡°It''s not communicating with you that''s the problem.¡±

    ¡°You were in a group mind, right?¡± This question was somewhat out of the blue.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yan said warily.

    ¡°What was it like?¡± Sandreas seemed curious, and not attacking. There was something else on the edge of his voice, though, that made Yan take the question very seriously.

    ¡°I don''t really remember. The memories all got the feeling taken out of them.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°The group mind, we called ourselves the Mother, kicked me out and took away all the thoughts that were in my head.¡±

    Sandreas nodded.

    ¡°I must have liked it,¡± Yan said, looking distantly across the room. ¡°It tore me up to leave. The power, I mean.¡±

    ¡°So you don''t harbor any ill feelings towards it?¡±

    Yan sighed. ¡°It''s all a mess,¡± she said. ¡°I don''t know how I''m supposed to feel.¡±

    ¡°You aren''t required to have a specific feeling towards it.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°I ask because... I think it''s time that you and Kino meet the Emperor, who has a rather overwhelming mental presence. Do you feel up to that?¡±

    ¡°I''ll do what I have to do,¡± Yan said, though her mouth was in a tight line.

    ¡°You have permission to say no,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°I''ll see the Emperor. Sid has, so I should.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Sandreas said. He looked relieved, but his voice sounded strained. Yan decided not to question it. ¡°And will you be alright with your interview later? I assume you read your schedule that Mrs. Rosario gave you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I asked Halen to be in the room with you, off camera, to make sure things stay copacetic.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Thank him. But also, thank you for being so willing to go through all of this,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°I just want things to get back to normal,¡± Yan said, though that wasn''t exactly what she wanted. ¡°I might as well do all of this so that it''s over and done with.¡±

    ¡°That is an attitude that will keep you moving forward,¡± Sandreas said.

    ¡°Can I ask an unrelated question?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Are you mad at Kino?¡±

    Now it was Sandreas''s turn to sigh. ¡°To be honest, you''ve been preoccupying more of my thoughts. I should talk to her.¡±

    ¡°I don''t even know what the problem is about. Everyone refuses to talk to me about it.¡±

    Sandreas raised an eyebrow at that.

    ¡°I don''t want to be babied,¡± Yan said. ¡°Whatever she did, I can handle it.¡±

    ¡°I really don''t think it''s that big of a deal,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°God only knows the number of times I did the opposite of what my own master wanted. It''s a political thing, and in the end, no harm, no foul.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''ll tell her to calm down.¡±

    ¡°She and Sid are clearly both prone to overreaction. I''m glad to have your more level head prevailing once again.¡±

    The door swung open, and Yan turned to see who it was. It was Kino, led in by Halen. ¡°Well, speak God''s name, God will listen,¡± Sandreas said. ¡°Good morning, Kino.¡±

    And from there, the conversation moved on to the schedule for the day.

    <hr>

    Someone put makeup on Yan''s face, which was intended to make her look less sweaty under the camera lights, but it only made her feel worse. She couldn''t turn her head to get away from the glare, so she kept seeing in the corner of her eye, the harsh glare of the light. The interviewer sat at about forty-five degrees from her, and Halen was in the shadows behind the camera.

    She was neat, and presentable, but she was realizing exactly how little she wanted to be answering questions about her time in captivity. At least this wasn''t being broadcast live. If she broke down, there would be someone to edit it all out and back into some semblance of normalcy. But she wasn''t going to do that.

    She just had to be like Sandreas. It didn''t matter what she felt, it only mattered how she appeared. The questions were all going to be easy. They had to be, in order to stay believably true to the lie that had been constructed.

    Someone behind the camera asked for confirmation that both Yan and the interviewer were ready. Yan smiled thinly at the camera. A red light, like an ominous eye, lit up. The camera swiveled to focus just on the interviewer, a pretty woman in her forties, wearing a professional blue dress.

    ¡°Good evening. This is Falia Marse with Emerri Direct News, reporting from the Imperial center directly across the Empire. The past few days on Emerri have been full of celebration, because First Sandreas''s missing apprentice, Yan BarCarran, has been rescued after over three months. She joins us here tonight for an exclusive interview, and her first public appearance since she returned home to Emerri aboard the Fleet ship Impulse.

    ¡°Welcome, Apprentice BarCarran, and thank you for the chance to talk to you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ms. Marse,¡± Yan said, trying to smile as the camera turned towards her. She imagined that the twisting lens had zoomed out to put both of them in the frame at once, so she resisted the urge to lean towards the interviewer. They had set her up in the way that was best, she was sure.

    ¡°First of all, Apprentice, let me just extend the well wishes of the citizens of Emerri, and all the Empire, for your return. You were very dearly missed during your absence.¡±Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Yan said again, sounding rather dumb. ¡°I had no idea.¡±

    ¡°People had been clamoring to see more of you before you left, and when you vanished it was a real blow. We''re glad to have you back.¡±

    ¡°I''m glad to be back.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure you are. I know that your family are spacers-- you come from the ship the Iron Dreams, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that''s right.¡±

    ¡°Do they know you''re back yet? Have you been in contact with them?¡±

    ¡°I sent them a letter, but I''m not sure when they''ll be in ansible range next. I''m sure it won''t be too long, though. Spacers are rarely more than a ten-day from port.¡±

    ¡°That''s true. Are you excited to see them again?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Though they really shouldn''t, I suspect that they''ll redirect themselves to make a stop at Emerri station. It''s a bit out of their way, usually.¡±

    Marse laughed. ¡°Practical considerations are probably less important than seeing their missing family member again.¡±

    Yan, for all that she loved her family, didn''t know how she was going to handle seeing them when they eventually did show up, so she just smiled.

    ¡°Aside from reconnecting with your family, do you have any future plans, now that you''re back?¡±

    ¡°I plan to get right back into the swing of things,¡± Yan said. ¡°I feel like I''ve missed so much, and now I''m behind.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything in particular you''re going to focus on?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Yan said. ¡°As always, I serve at the will of First Sandreas. Whatever he sends me to do, I will do my best to accomplish.¡±

    ¡°That''s an admirable attitude to have. I understand that you went through quite an ordeal-- most people would take some time off.¡±

    ¡°I feel best when I''m working,¡± Yan said. This was not in the script, but she didn''t think it would hurt. ¡°I had plenty of time to dwell on things when I was gone, so I''d like to move forward with my life.¡±

    ¡°Of course. You were gone for a long time. Are you willing to describe any of it to us?¡±

    ¡°Sure. I don''t think I''ll be capable of going into too much detail, though, because I was kept drugged, most of the time.¡±

    ¡°Was that to prevent your escape?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yan said. ¡°For anyone who doesn''t know, strong drugs can disrupt a sensitive''s ability to focus, and thus their ability to use the power. I might have easily escaped if I was able to use the power, but I was not.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for explaining that. I know the world of sensitives is a bit of a mystery to most people.¡±

    ¡°We''re really not so different,¡± Yan said. ¡°But I''m getting off track. While I was aboard the Tranquility, my food was drugged by several collaborators aboard the ship, including someone on the bridge crew. That was how I was kidnapped originally.¡±

    ¡°But the pirates didn''t hassle the Tranquility itself,¡± Marse said.

    ¡°If I had to guess, I''d imagine that the deal the collaborators worked out involved leaving their own ship alone.¡±

    ¡°I''m surprised that there is enough honor among pirates to keep that deal, when a defenseless ship and stardrive is right there.¡±

    Yan shrugged. ¡°I can''t explain it. Perhaps they thought I was more valuable than a stardrive.¡±

    ¡°And what was their original intention for you?¡±

    ¡°I think originally they were going to sell me to another group of pirates who had a bounty on my head,¡± Yan said. ¡°But then they hesitated because they thought they might be able to get a higher price from someone else.¡±

    ¡°Like who?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know. They clearly weren''t successful.¡± Yan tried to put a bit of humor into her voice. The thought of her being bought and sold was a distasteful one, but since all this was a lie, it didn''t hit too close to home.

    ¡°So when you were kidnapped, where were you kept?¡±

    ¡°In solitary confinement, underground. It was an abandoned mining colony.¡±

    ¡°It would have been hard to escape, then.¡±

    ¡°Certainly. The lack of atmosphere outside the prison is a major deterrent from running away.¡±

    ¡°Did you know you were on a mining colony while you were there?¡±

    ¡°I was surrounded by rock, and the temperature never changed, and the gravity was less than I was used to, so I could make some assumptions. I had a lot of time to think about it.¡±

    ¡°What was it like, being alone for so long?¡±

    Yan smiled thinly. Now, this was real. ¡°I don''t like to think about it. But there''s a reason the Imperial government does not practice solitary confinement for prisoners. It breaks people.¡±

    ¡°You seem remarkably unbroken.¡±

    ¡°I do my best.¡± Yan tried to signal that this was the end of this line of conversation, below the view of the camera waving her hand to switch topics. The interviewer caught the signal, smiled, and moved on. There was a reason this particular woman had been chosen; she was cooperative and easygoing, as far as journalists went.

    ¡°I''m sure you do. As far as the people who captured you, do you know what is going to happen to them?¡±

    ¡°Not all of them were at the station at the time when I was rescued. I believe the Fleet will be tracking down the remainder.¡± Let the viewership fill in that there were not even bodies left to return.

    ¡°Of course. Speaking of the Fleet, did you enjoy your time aboard the Impulse?¡±

    ¡°I was anxious to get home, and so was the Impulse''s crew. When the news came, they were on their way home from their deployment.¡±

    ¡°Did that deployment lead to any new planet discoveries? Will we be hearing about suitable new colonies in the future?¡± Marse smiled.

    ¡°I''m afraid I can''t tell you that. But you can be assured that we will tell you of any exciting new planets as soon as we can.¡±

    ¡°I''ll be waiting on the edge of my seat. Speaking of colonies, your original mission that was interrupted by your kidnapping was to consecrate a new colony....¡±

    Yan half zoned out. The interview was wrapping up, and she answered the last few questions rather mindlessly. She didn''t want to think about the lies she was directly telling, or insinuating, and she didn''t want to be in front of this camera, wearing thick makeup, feeling dried out by the harsh lights, stared at, fake.

    Marse clearly saw her flagging, so wrapped it up. Either that or Halen gave her some signal from the sidelines.

    ¡°Thank you so much for your time and the opportunity to talk to you, Apprentice BarCarran.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°We are all looking forward to seeing much more from you in the future.¡±

    ¡°I will do my best to not disappoint the people of the Empire,¡± Yan said, smiling. She sounded stiff, and she knew it, but she needed to get out. She let Marse say her closing statement, then the glaring red eye shut off, and the set lights dimmed.

    Yan stood up from her seat a little too abruptly.

    ¡°You did a good job, Apprentice BarCarran,¡± Marse said. ¡°You''re a natural.¡±

    ¡°Er, thanks,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''ve, uh, got to go.¡± Her naturalness had broken the moment the camera was no longer on her, and as soon as that need to perform was gone, so was her mask. She felt disgusting, and scanned the room for the exit. She slipped out past the cameras, even as a few people stopped to try to talk to her, and headed out into the much cooler Stonecourt hallway. She found a bathroom, half by memory and half by luck.

    Inside, under the much less harsh and much less flattering bathroom lights, she leaned over the sink, staring into the mirror. Sandreas had been right. She only had to show what needed to be shown, and her internal feelings didn''t matter. She wet a paper towel and scrubbed the makeup off her face, though she couldn''t quite get it all.

    It had gone alright, in the end. She hadn''t panicked. She hadn''t had to leave the room. No questions had tripped her up. The whole thing was more of a reassurance to the public that she was a real person than it was anything else. The press got substantive answers about what had happened from Sandreas and elsewhere. She was just for show.

    Outside of the bathroom, people passed by her, disassembling the set and wheeling the cameras back out to where they belonged. Yan spotted Halen, leaning against the wall a little further down, watching her carefully. Yan went over to him.

    ¡°Halen?¡± Yan asked quietly.

    He looked toward her. Her hands were bunched up in the pockets of her cassock, and for all she had proven herself capable of, she looked small and vulnerable. He smiled at her.

    ¡°What do you need, Yan?¡± he asked. He had clearly been waiting for her. He must have known how she was feeling. She figured now was as good of a time as ever to start dealing with... All of what was going on. Maybe he felt the same way.

    ¡°Can I talk to you for a minute?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°In private, I mean. If that¡¯s alright?¡± Halen smiled and nodded.

    ¡°Right.¡± He began to walk down the hall and Yan followed. Even now, the cadence of her footsteps still had something in it from her time being imprisoned. Every sixth step, there was a minute pause, as she had to remember, bodily, that she didn¡¯t have to turn around and go back the other direction.

    They walked the halls of Stonecourt, Halen in front and Yan behind. He glanced at her every time they came to a corner or turn. If it was hard for Yan to believe she was back and safe, it must have been harder still for Halen. They descended several floors, heading underground. Yan had rarely had reason to visit this area of Stonecourt, so she followed Halen blindly. At last, they came to a nondescript, unlabeled door in an equally bland hallway. It could have been a storage closet, except for it needing to be opened with Halen¡¯s power. He pushed the door open and held it so that Yan could step through.

    ¡°This is where you live?¡± Yan asked. It was a simple set of rooms: a tiny living room with shabby furniture, a clean kitchen, an open door to a dark bedroom. There were no windows since they were underground, but for both of them born as spacers, that was a non issue.

    Halen flipped on the lights. It was dim and cozy inside, and his body seemed to fill up most of the space, as though it was a crab¡¯s shell that was a little too small. Halen walked over to the left hand wall, where a tiny shrine was set up on a high table. Candles and sticks of incense sat behind little partitions of colored glass, arranged around photographs. Yan walked quietly over behind Halen as he used the power to light the candles. To her surprise, among all the photos of people Yan didn¡¯t know, Yan found a picture of herself.

    Halen noticed her looking at it as he mouthed a silent prayer. When he finished, he picked up the photo of Yan and looked at it. ¡°Guess I can put this back where it belongs now,¡± he said.

    He brought the photo over to the opposite wall and hung it on a nail. That wall had photos of people Yan did recognize: Sandreas, Sid, Kino, Iri, Kino¡¯s minder Deboan, Sid¡¯s minder Hernan, and various others who she didn¡¯t know by name but had seen around Stonecourt.

    ¡°The living and the dead?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°I like to think of it more as ¡®the here and the gone¡¯,¡± Halen said.

    Yan stared at the wall of photos for a moment longer. The way they were arranged, although everyone was in a separate frame, gave the feeling of being a family. Sandreas had the place of honor, of course. His photo was large, centered, and taken in a rare, unguarded moment. Below him were Kino, Yan, and Sid. She realized what a hole had been left, physically, when she had been gone; her photo was in the middle of the other two apprentices.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to be back,¡± Yan said, reaching out to touch the edge of the picture frame, as though that action would prove that she really was there. Perhaps for the first time, she said that honestly.

    Halen put a heavy hand on her shoulder, and the two stood silently for a moment.

    ¡°Does Sandreas ever come here?¡± Yan asked. She didn¡¯t know why she was curious, but she was. The relationship that Sandreas and Halen shared was as enigmatic as it was sweet.

    ¡°No. I rarely have guests. I think the last person to come here was¡­¡± He thought for a second. ¡°Maedes. More than a year ago, then.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you have people over? You¡¯re not a slob.¡± The room was indeed neat and well maintained.

    He squeezed her shoulder. ¡°Several reasons. But is this really what you want to be talking about?¡±

    Yan took a deep breath. ¡°No.¡±

    He nudged her over to the couch, and they both sat down. Just like their first private conversation, months and months ago, Halen took up a surprising amount of chair space. Yan didn¡¯t mind anymore. Halen was much more to her than just a pirate. He waited for her to speak. It took a long time; all the thoughts jostled around in Yan¡¯s head without forming words.

    Everything was just a meaningless emotional chaos. Halen could probably feel it swirling around the room. She tried to pull her conscious mind away from it, manipulating her own thoughts in the way that had become a strange half-nature to her.

    She closed her eyes for a moment. Halen was still next to her: warm, breathing, and real. This wasn¡¯t something she was imagining.

    ¡°Can I ask a personal question?¡± Yan finally said. It wasn¡¯t the way she had imagined this conversation going. This was too formal and distant by far, for someone who had been living in her head through the worst period of her life. But it was the first coherent sentence she could form, so it fell out of her mouth and landed there between them.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°What was it like, when you were trapped on your shuttle?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Yan¡­¡± he said softly, and reached his arm around her to pull her close. She let him, not resisting his touch. She didn¡¯t know what that was in response to, exactly. Her mind was so far away from her body, and there was a clear wall up in between what she was consciously processing, and the unrelenting nausea that churned in her stomach and pulsed out in waves with her heartbeat. ¡°I¡¯m sure it was different than what happened to you.¡±

    For some reason, she felt more vulnerable now than she had before. Privacy made her let her guard down a little, perhaps.

    ¡°That¡¯s not- I-.¡± Yan took another deep breath, shuddering a little against Halen¡¯s side. He squeezed her tighter. It could have been restricting, and it could have been comforting, but Yan was doing her best to remove her thoughts from herself.

    It took her a moment to get her words in order. ¡°When I was there, in the prison, I mean. I was alone. And I kept imagining that- I know this sounds like I¡¯m crazy- maybe I am. But I just kept picturing myself in that shuttle with you, and you in the prison with me. It helped me.¡± She couldn¡¯t quite explain how it had allowed her to escape, so she left it there. Halen stayed quiet to let her finish her juddering, broken speech. Compared to her written out and practiced interview lines, she was barely coherent. ¡°And I guess¡­ Part of what I want to know, is just what it was really like. So I know what¡¯s real.¡±

    Halen stayed silent until he judged that she was done talking. His voice sounded thick when he finally did respond. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ glad¡­ it helped you.¡± There was a long pause. Yan couldn¡¯t look up into his face, but she could hear his breath, and feel the way he held her, and she knew if she reached out in the power that they would understand each other. ¡°Do you want to see it?¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± Yan whispered. She leaned further sideways, until her upper body was laying across Halen¡¯s broad lap. With one hand, he stroked her hair, just like a mother would, and the other rested on her shoulder. The colored lights from the candles behind their stained glass frames twinkled in Yan¡¯s vision.

    Halen started to sing- a simple little spacer song in Old Imperial. He must have been relatively confident that spacers and pirates would both know it. His voice was low and soft. Yan joined in. No harmony; they both just sang the melody.

    ¡°Have you seen the one I love

    On the highest mountain?

    Have you seen the one I love

    O¡¯er the widest ocean?

    Or has he gone to the farthest star

    Where I¡¯ll ne¡¯er see him again?

    ¡°My love is strong, my love is hardy

    And he has only a heart for me.

    But with my trust I let him wander

    And he¡¯s gone across the deep.

    If my faith in God were stronger,

    I¡¯d rejoice all of my days!

    For God will hold safe my lover

    And forever at his side I¡¯ll stay.¡±

    A momentary, amused thought flashed across Yan¡¯s mind. She remembered one other time she had seen Halen hold someone like this: an unconscious Kino on the floor of the simulation room. Only she wasn¡¯t imagining those bare white walls. She saw instead an endless plain of grainy red dirt, underneath a dark and starry sky, and Kino¡¯s bloody head was in her lap, and, no, she was in Halen¡¯s mind, and they were there together. This memory, Tyx III, dissolved into nothingness, and only thoughts floated together there between them.

    This was the first time that Yan had been with anyone since the Mother, and the pain of being separated had dulled somewhat, but she realized anew how much she had missed this connection with other people. She wasn''t alone. God! She wasn''t alone!

    Although they were theoretically equals in this mind space, Yan felt like she was being carried along on the tide of Halen¡¯s emotions. Love, and joy at her return, and a bitter anger at the people who had taken her away in the first place all danced in equal measure along the pathways of their minds.

    Her emotions were there, too. She couldn¡¯t compartmentalize them away when Halen¡¯s power of feeling them and understanding them was inside her so vividly. There was the dark, rich trust that allowed them to be there together; fear; sadness; and the same love. As she recognized his feelings and hers, for once having names for the mess of sensations that she felt in her body like bruises, there came more and more: appreciation, happiness, warmth, protectiveness, and on and on, until there was no place where Yan¡¯s feelings ended and Halen¡¯s began. It would have been overwhelming if he hadn¡¯t been the same steady presence right there next to her. They both took a moment to adjust to this new openness before they went anywhere. They had all the time in the world now.

    It was a joy that Yan could have never described to anyone else, to be with another person and to be so completely understood and accepted. There had been a worry, deep inside of her, that Halen wouldn¡¯t want her back, after learning about what she had been and done and seen and thought. Halen shoved that fear away with a fierce determination.

    There is nothing, he thought, crystallizing it into words, that could make me stop caring about you.

    And since lying would have been nearly impossible, Yan had no choice but to believe him. A tear trickled down her cheek, or was it his? She could feel both of their bodies. His hand was on her hair, or her hand on his hair, or her head on his lap, or his head on her lap, and it didn¡¯t matter. None of it mattered anymore.

    Now that they were slightly more settled, and the nearly overwhelming tide of greeting was over, there was a mutual feeling of assent that they should do what they came to do. Yan wanted to see the shuttle.

    Halen brought the memory to the forefront of their minds, and Yan was in his body as a young man. It felt as natural as anything, to be there floating in the gravity-free shuttle. The actual interior of the shuttle settled around them like they were standing behind the shimmering surface of a waterfall. All the detail was there, but if they looked too hard at it, it would slip away. It looked just like how Yan had imagined, and a feeling of amusement came toward her. All shuttles looked basically the same. There were only two or so companies that manufactured them. Of course. She could feel their bodies laugh a little as she realized her foolishness. Of course the shuttle would be similar.

    In that dream-memory, they pushed off the wall of the shuttle and went towards, not the stardrive in the back, but the tiny bathroom. They stared in the mirror, and reached up to touch the surface of their face.

    It, too, wavered. Yan¡¯s image of the young Halen was mostly accurate, or perhaps she was superimposing that onto the memory. Stubble of a few days beard growth scratched under their fingers, and skin was young and tight, but still splotchy with a permanent red tint that would never leave. They had a haunted, hunted look in their eyes, and a feeling of dread settled over them like a blanket. Starvation, or nausea, pooled in their gut.

    I don¡¯t want to die in here.

    They left the tiny bathroom, and headed out to the back of the shuttle. The stardrive was there. Of course it would be. It was no shining light, but even here, in this dream-memory, they could feel it in the power. It throbbed hungrily.

    They reached out to touch it, the smooth box that contained it. Without warning, the power pulsed through them with a blinding intensity. In that moment, they were sure they were going to die.

    The fear crashed down around them like a wave, taking over, carrying them along to places where Yan hadn''t wanted to go.

    And then they were on a rocky hillside, holding a gun to their own head. The stars shone down a dark light upon them, and the wind whipped through the trees.

    Drop it! Drop it now!

    They screamed, feeling the pain in their hands, and the gun fell, an endless distance to the ground. A figure stood shrouded in shadow, and reached down to pick it up.

    Etta/Aymon held the gun, pointed at them. Their face melted and shifted, the lively half of Etta¡¯s face calling out, the dead side morphing into Aymon¡¯s steely features.

    I will help you, Etta/Aymon said. But what will you do to deserve it?

    Love you, they said. Survive, they said.

    And there was no way to know who was saying what, and none of this was real, and Halen was holding Yan like her mother did, and then they were standing at the window of the Iron Dreams, watching helplessly as their mother sailed heedlessly towards a thousand ton shipping container wildly out of control.

    And then they were standing, with their mother¡¯s hands on their face.

    He shall not be lost. Keep him in Your sight, as he keeps the stars in his.

    Let him always know that he is home in our hearts. Let him always know that we will rejoice at his return.

    And they were laying in bed with Aymon, their hand on his cheek, saying those same words, and crying.

    They were crying.

    They were clutching at Sid for dear life, feeling his thoughts tangled all up with theirs, saying the funeral prayer.

    And they were alone, whispering it into the dark, in the light of a shrine, in an empty apartment, to silent photographs.

    They picked up a photograph. Yan. Yan¡¯s mother. Aymon. Halen. Halen¡¯s mother. Sid. Sylva. Iri. Kino. Etta. A long list of faces and names. They put the photo on the opposite wall, with all the others like it. They reached out a hand- slender and brown, thick and white. They touched the photograph to reassure themself that they were real.

    My love will return from over the mountains.

    My love will return from beyond the sea.

    My love will carry me to the farthest star.

    And forever with him I will be.

    Forever at his side I will be.

    And then Yan was sitting up, and sobbing into Halen¡¯s chest, getting the fabric of his cassock wet with snot and tears. He clutched her tightly to him, clearly not caring that she was wrecking one of his few formal outfits. His chin nestled on top of her head, and he rocked side to side, gently, until her breathing slowed and they were both completely their own selves again.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Halen said, after Yan had sufficiently calmed down.

    ¡°For what?¡± Yan sniffed.

    ¡°I overstepped my boundaries as your teacher. I shouldn¡¯t have let that go so far.¡± His voice was intentionally restrained.

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault,¡± Yan said. ¡°That happens to me sometimes.¡± She half laughed, half coughed. ¡°One of the masters at the Academy once told me that my brain is ¡®loose and associative.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Regardless, I shouldn¡¯t have made you relive parts of your life you didn¡¯t want to. Or see any of mine, for that matter. You don¡¯t need that kind of a burden.¡±

    ¡°You didn''t make me do anything.¡± She paused, still leaning on his chest, still taking comfort from him where it could be found. ¡°I- I didn¡¯t want that, exactly, but-¡± The words tumbled out. ¡°We understand each other.¡±

    Halen took a long second to respond. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be your job to understand me.¡± He was building up a barrier between them, drawing the line in the sand where the water would not cross. Yan felt more like a storm surge than the high tide, though, and she insisted on crossing that line.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need you to be my teacher,¡± Yan said slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t want to be anything except-¡± She searched for the right word.

    Part of her was clearly screaming out that she wanted Halen to be her parent. She wanted him to hold her and keep her safe. But the more rational, kinder, older side of herself recognized that feeling, allowed herself to mourn for what couldn¡¯t be, and spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be anything except equals. Friends.¡±

    She was tired of dominating and being dominated. If there had ever been a spark of that inside her, she felt that it had gone out. All Yan wanted, and she wanted it more deeply than anything else, was to spend her life with people she could understand and love, who understood and loved her. That had been the appeal of the Mother, though she knew it had required giving up far too much of herself.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Halen said. ¡°Friends.¡±

    She reached out to him in the power, carefully, and felt that warm, tugging current of love just underneath the surface of Halen¡¯s skin. She tried to send that feeling back. He must have understood, because he stroked her head with his gentle and heavy hand.

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m crazy?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°No.¡± She waited for him to elaborate. ¡°I think you¡¯ve had a natural response to a trauma that most people can¡¯t even imagine.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad.¡±

    Halen laughed, seemingly despite himself. ¡°That, Yan, is the crazy thing to say.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that, exactly. I just- I can¡¯t point to a specific thing that was worse than anybody else has had to endure. It could have been a lot harder.¡±

    ¡°You could have died. You almost died.¡±

    ¡°I think I could have survived more,¡± she said tentatively.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to punish yourself like that,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to say ¡®I could have gone through worse¡¯ and ignore what did happen to you. Just because of some imagined other lifetime was harder, that doesn¡¯t mean that you should suffer more here.¡± His tone changed and he was fierce again. ¡°I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t have to survive worse. I wish you hadn¡¯t had to go through it at all.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I deserved it.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯m not a good person,¡± Yan said after a moment.

    ¡°The question of what any of us deserves is a question that you have to ask God,¡± Halen said slowly. ¡°But Yan, if we were all going to be punished in this lifetime for the things we¡¯ve done, you¡¯ve already suffered disproportionately.¡±

    Yan sent a questioning feeling through the power.

    Halen¡¯s voice was laden with sadness when he spoke again. ¡°If we talk about what we¡¯ve done to deserve the way we¡¯re treated, I¡¯ve done many things that-¡± He paused. ¡°That hurt other people.¡±

    That was a diplomatic way of phrasing it; not as ¡®things I¡¯ve done wrong¡¯ or ¡®things I regret¡¯.

    ¡°And Aymon, too. But you¡¯ve gone through a personal ordeal that was greater and more dangerous than-¡±

    ¡°But what we went through was the same,¡± Yan cut in.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t.¡± Halen was firm about this. She let him continue without argument or interruption. ¡°For all that I¡¯ve done, I¡¯ve never been tortured, only ever¡­¡±

    And Yan could fill in the blank with the unspoken ¡®been the torturer¡¯, which she didn¡¯t like to think about or remember about Halen. She tried to keep it out of her mind. Yan felt the echo of an ache in the fingers on her left hand which the Green King had broken, and the memory of the singing pain he had put in her brain.

    There was a brief and horrible moment where Yan imagined herself back there, with Halen. He towered over her, and he could feel her terror as he picked up the knife. His power held her down, and she had no recourse, none at all. It could have been worse than the Green King, then.

    She must have made some sort of whimper in the back of her throat as the vision seized her, or Halen felt the icy spike of fear that drove like a physical pain through her abdomen. ¡°Shh¡­¡± Halen said, still holding her, bringing her back to reality. ¡°It¡¯s over now. It¡¯s alright.¡±

    It was. It was over, and alright, and far away, and never again. And even if it did happen again, she knew that she would survive.

    There was a long pause in the conversation as Yan gathered her wits. Then Halen spoke again. ¡°No one will think the worse of you if you don¡¯t want to be Aymon¡¯s apprentice anymore.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The statement was so out of the blue that Yan disentangled herself from Halen¡¯s arms and sat up straight.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to stay here if you don¡¯t want to,¡± Halen said. ¡°Everyone would understand.¡±

    Several thoughts lept into Yan¡¯s brain. Was this Halen saying that he thought she should leave? Should she be trying to leave? Where would she go? What would she do? She couldn¡¯t imagine a future for herself that wasn¡¯t this.

    ¡°You could go be with your girlfriend,¡± Halen continued. ¡°I¡¯m sure an Imperial pension could be easily arranged. Or you could go back on your family¡¯s ship. Or, I know you wanted to be a xenobiologist. I¡¯m sure we could find a position for you doing research.¡±

    ¡°Are you sending me away?¡± Yan finally asked. ¡°Do you not want me here?¡± Her voice cracked.

    ¡°No! God, no, Yan. I¡¯m just trying to help you remember that you have options. No one else will tell you this, I¡¯m sure. I just always want you to know that you have a choice.¡±

    It felt worse to have a choice. If she stayed, there would almost certainly be danger, pain, and hard, hard days. She could walk away from all of that. But if she left, it would feel like an abandonment of everyone here that she cared about, and everything her past self had gone through. She thought about it, weighing those two factors against each other, and made her choice. Yan would always choose to stay where she was understood.

    ¡°I want to stay,¡± she whispered.

    Halen smiled. ¡°Some people don¡¯t understand that that¡¯s a choice that you make.¡± The way he said ¡®some people¡¯ clicked a light on in her brain.

    ¡°Sandreas?¡±

    ¡°Is sometimes seized by the notion that he¡¯s been keeping me prisoner for the past thirty years.¡±

    Yan laughed, for real this time, even though her throat was still full of phlegm. She scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand.

    ¡°He thinks that a choice influenced by the weight of the past isn¡¯t a choice,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°You should tell him that he has the option to retire and quit being Voice.¡±

    ¡°You get it.¡±

    She did. Every moment, they were making the decision to carry along on their present course. They were borne along ceaselessly by the currents of time, but they could each try to swim against it, or step out of the boat and walk across the open water. The weight of those decisions felt like it could crush her, but it wouldn¡¯t.

 Chapter Eighty-Seven - Zesa

    Zesa

    <blockquote>

    ¡°How close to the heart should you keep your dear friends? How close to the heart indeed. There¡¯s none who will know you and soothe all your fears like a true friend in your hour of need.¡±

    -from ¡°I Got a Friend (In You)¡±, traditional song

    </blockquote>

    Yan knocked on Kino''s door the next morning. Kino didn''t open it, so Yan knocked again, harder.

    Pressing her ear to the door, Yan could hear Kino moving around inside. ¡°Kino, we''re going to be late,¡± Yan called. She couldn''t believe that she had to be the responsible one in this case, but she was determined to continue to act professional, and that meant arriving to Sandreas''s summons on time.

    There was a part of her that was strangely excited to meet the Emperor, even if that defied all logic and reason. She felt a deep desire to know, even when that knowing seemed to make Sandreas so uncomfortable, and worry Sid.

    After another thirty seconds of shuffling noises coming from inside the room, Yan knocked again for the third time. This time, the door swung open. Yan felt the ghostly touch of Kino''s power on it. Kino herself was across the room, her dim apartment far cleaner than Yan had remembered it being. Kino was already dressed, and her hair was braided and tied up on top of her head, an unusual choice, since she usually kept her braids down by her ears.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°I''m not waiting. I was getting ready.¡±

    ¡°You already look ready to me.¡±

    Kino clenched and unclenched her fists. Yan noticed that her cassock sleeves were in good repair. She must have been dressing up and abstaining from picking at them in order to make a good impression. ¡°I''m never going to be ready,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Well, it''s not like you have a choice.¡± Yan stopped, tried to be less abrasive. ¡°Look, Kino, Sandreas doesn''t seem that concerned about whatever your little indiscretion was. I somehow doubt the Emperor will do worse to you than he did to Sid.¡±

    ¡°Will you do me a favor?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°Like what? We have to go, Kino.¡±

    Kino reached into her pocket and pulled out a data stick. She held it out to Yan, who was forced to cross the room to take it from her. Their hands brushed; Kino''s was cold and sweaty.

    ¡°Give this to my sister. In case.¡±

    ¡°You have a sister?¡± Yan was somehow more shocked by this revelation than the fact that Kino felt that the visit with the Emperor was going to be this dire.

    ¡°Her contact information is on there,¡± Kino said. Yan looked at the data stick and thrust it into her pocket.

    Yan sighed. ¡°If you feel this bad about it, you could probably stay home. Talk to Sandreas. I''ll cover for you for now.¡±

    Kino''s eyes glinted feverishly in the light that spilled in from the hallway. ¡°There''s no sense in putting it off. We shall see what awaits me.¡±

    ¡°At this point, I''m sure it''s nothing.¡± Yan muttered. She turned and headed out back towards the door. When she reached the hall, she turned back around to look at Kino, who was glancing all around her apartment. ¡°So, are you coming?¡±

    Kino jammed her hands deep into her pockets, nodded, and walked out.

    <hr>

    She and Kino met Sandreas in his office, and he brought them to see the Emperor without much preamble. They waited together in the richly draped and dark antechamber as Sandreas went in alone, then came back out, somewhat paler than Yan had ever remembered seeing him.

    ¡°Yan, the Emperor wants to see you first,¡± Sandreas said.

    Yan stood and approached the door. Before she opened it, she laid her palm flat against it. She could feel the power, heavy in the air. It felt dark and rich and inviting. She pictured a flat lake, surface of the water glassy under the moonlight, and she opened the door and stepped inside. She heard the door shut behind her.

    There was a single spotlight in the center of the room. Yan walked towards it, half in a trance.

    She felt herself be observed. She observed herself being observed.

    Then there was the feeling of a cold hand on her mind, a touch that was less the overwhelming call of the Mother, and more a pressure that kept her distant.

    ¡°Hello, little Yan,¡± the Emperor said in so many voices.

    Yan reached out with her own power, seeking contact. She was brushed away, like a child who stepped too close to their father while he was working. How did Yan have that image? She didn''t even have a father.

    It was someone else''s father, then.

    The Emperor''s amusement rang in her mind.

    ¡°I see you already understand who we are,¡± the Emperor said.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yan said. ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    The only answer that came to Yan''s mind was to quote the theology. ¡°Fear is the distance between people.¡±

    ¡°And what is the distance between us, little Yan?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    The Emperor put a vision into her mind of years passing by. At the end of those years, Yan as an old woman, hair long gone white, passed back through the doors beyond the reach of the spotlight and the Emperor welcomed her with open arms.

    Yan took half a step forward, but the Emperor held her back.

    ¡°Time. Time is the distance between us. Are you afraid of that?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Yan said. She knew it was crazy, to want the years to have already gone by, so that she could slide into that welcoming mind and lose herself once again, but she couldn''t stop herself from wanting it.

    ¡°You perhaps should be,¡± the Emperor said. All of a sudden, it was like a pressure had been lifted off of Yan''s brain. She realized that the Emperor had been looking through the layers of her mind while she stood there, distracting her with images and emotions, in order to get a good look.

    She was slightly angry at being tricked.

    The Emperor heard her thoughts, since they were still in her mind. ¡°Would you have preferred to watch as I went through your memory?¡± The Emperor asked. ¡°Let me see.¡±

    The Emperor began again, flipping backwards through Yan''s mind, going from her standing right there in the room, to sitting out in the antechamber, watching Kino sweat, to Sandreas''s office, to--

    ¡°Stop,¡± Yan said aloud. ¡°Stop.¡± It was too fast, and it gave her a headache. She could hardly understand how the Emperor was going through it all so fast. Even the Mother had required time to process everything she pulled from Yan.

    ¡°I''m much more than your Mother,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I''m more than just a random collection.¡± There was some disdain in the Emperor''s thoughts, an interesting emotion. Yan felt weirdly compelled to defend the Mother, and the Emperor sent back amusement at that impulse before Yan could even act upon it.

    ¡°Someday, you could be much more than yourself as well,¡± the Emperor said.

    ¡°I know,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°That image I showed you,¡± the Emperor said, and put the picture in her mind again. ¡°That could be real.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, I look down the pathways of the present to the future, to see what lies there.¡±

    ¡°That doesn''t sound possible.¡±

    ¡°It''s rarely useful,¡± the Emperor said dismissively. ¡°It''s tempting to become caught up in the possibilities, and forget about the present. But I like to know what my viable options are.¡±

    ¡°Viable?¡±

    ¡°There is a reason I did not summon you earlier,¡± the Emperor said.

    ¡°I thought Sandreas was keeping us away,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°My little Aymon thinks he does things for one reason, but he would obey me if I asked him to,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I simply never asked.¡±

    ¡°Why didn''t you?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to get a clearer picture of who I should favor. I thought that it was your young friend, Sid, but now that you have returned, I see many other paths.¡±

    An image appeared behind Yan''s eyeballs. A much older Sid, barely recognizable with long hair, stood in the spotlight beside her. He wore a dark red cassock, and he bowed his head for a moment. Then the illusion, or vision, vanished.

    ¡°But that can''t be true at the same time as the other thing you showed me,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Of course not. They''re ghosts, nothing more.¡±

    ¡°What about Kino?¡±

    ¡°An interesting question,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°There''s a reason I brought you in here first.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°You needen''t concern yourself with it, but I''ll explain anyway.¡± The Emperor paused for a moment, as if to collect their thoughts, though that seemed unlikely. Perhaps it was just for dramatic effect. She wondered if that was a thread that tied the Emperor to Sandreas, who also had a penchant for making the most impressive presentation out of anything.

    ¡°When I look into the future, I can only see things that I can reasonably make predictions about. Talking to you and looking into your mind lets me predict what you would be like as my Voice, and so I can use the power to track you down those roads, even just a little way. I could do this even before I met you, simply by gathering information and seeing how those around you acted. I do this for everyone.¡±

    ¡°Why is Kino any different, then?¡±

    ¡°I suspect that her little invisibility game throws me off just as much as it does everyone else. I''ve never encountered a more frustrating person. I could see clearly you walking in here, and I can imagine what will happen if I send you all away without talking to her, but the moment I call her in here, it all goes blank.¡±

    ¡°Is that dangerous?¡±

    ¡°Since the futures I see without talking to her are generally what I would expect, I doubt it. Do you have reason to believe that little Kino is a danger to me?¡± The Emperor brought up the full scope of their power into Yan''s mind, and Yan took a step back, physically reeling. It was very different than the experience of the Mother''s power, but perhaps that was only because Yan had been on the operating side of the Mother''s power, rather than the receiving end of it.

    ¡°No,¡± Yan said, completely honest.

    ¡°Then let us return to our own meeting, without worrying about others,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°The future will always be there for us.¡±

    Yan couldn''t quite pull away from Kino as a topic of conversation. She remembered the odd way that Kino had acted, and the data stick in her pocket, and the sister that she hadn''t even known that Kino had. ¡°Kino is worried.¡±

    ¡°It''s normal to be nervous,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°But if we are talking about her flagrant disregard for my orders aboard the Impulse, I already know about that.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do to her?¡±

    ¡°The same thing I would do for any transgression of that magnitude. The same thing I did to my little Aymon, years ago, and the same thing I did to young Sid.¡±

    ¡°I told her she shouldn''t worry,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°A little worry keeps people moving in the right direction,¡± the Emperor said.

    ¡°I never did find out what she did aboard the Impulse,¡± Yan mused. ¡°Everyone refused to tell me.¡±

    ¡°Would you like to see?¡±

    Yan considered it for a second. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then stay here when she comes in. I will let you see out of her eyes.¡± That had not been the answer Yan was expecting, and she felt a little bit bad about asking now. It was definitely an invasion of privacy for her to follow the Emperor into Kino''s head. It was an invasion of privacy for the Emperor to be in there in the first place, but that was different than Yan, since she was Kino''s... friend? Still, she couldn''t exactly change her mind now.

    The Emperor followed her train of thought with some amusement. ¡°You are an interesting little creature, aren''t you?¡±

    Yan objected to being called a creature.

    ¡°I think you have real potential. I would like to reward you.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡± Yan hadn''t even done anything.

    ¡°Survival deserves a reward. I never expected to meet you. The least I can do to make up for my lack of confidence is to give you a gift.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to give me?¡± Yan wasn''t trying to be ungrateful, but she didn''t know what the Emperor could give her. What she wanted, the Emperor had already said that they weren''t going to give, and everything else seemed like it could be a double edged sword.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    A cold hand settled on the back of her neck. Yan spun on her toes to see who was behind her, but the hand stayed, and there was no one there.

    ¡°I''d like to fix what has been broken,¡± the Emperor said.

    ¡°Oh. That,¡± Yan said. She reached up and touched the back of her neck, where the thick scars lay. ¡°It''s more like the opposite of broken.¡±

    ¡°I''m aware,¡± the Emperor said, mental voice quite dry. ¡°Do you give your permission?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yan said. She wasn''t sure how she felt about the prospect of having a full range of motion in her neck again. It had been so long, and she hadn''t thought that it was even possible to fix. The Mother hadn''t been willing to try, and none of the doctors she had seen aboard the Impulse had brought up surgical possibilities. She supposed if there was anyone who could do it, it would be the Emperor.

    ¡°This will hurt,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°Are you prepared?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Yan waited for the inevitable third question; the Emperor was clearly following the tradition of asking three times.

    ¡°This connects you to the past. Are you ready to leave it behind?¡±

    Yan hesitated. Iri''s words echoed in her memory. ''The past is not a home you can go back to.'' Yan didn''t have good memories of her neck injury, but the Emperor was right to ask her that question; she didn''t like to think of letting go of anything. She gritted her teeth.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I give you this gift freely, then.¡±

    Yan heard more than she felt the bones in her neck split apart where they had been welded together. A blinding white pain shot up through her whole spine, and lodged at the base of her head. She gasped and stumbled, and her chin dropped to her chest. It was over as quickly as it had begun, but a lingering ache stayed.

    She lifted up her head, which took far more effort than she had expected. The muscles in her neck were weak from months of disuse, and she felt like her head was suddenly too large and flopping all over.

    Still, it could move. She could move.

    Gingerly, wincing as it felt sensitive, Yan reached up with her hands and prodded the back of her neck. The scars remained, but she could put her hand on her chin and gently turn her head from side to side, up and down. She breathed heavily, trying to steady herself. It was overwhelming. This was too much, too fast.

    ¡°Calm down, little Yan.¡±

    She took a few deep breaths, trying to slow her pounding heart.

    ¡°How does that feel?¡± the Emperor asked.

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Yan said. Her eyes stung, but she wasn''t going to cry here, not now. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    If the Emperor had been more like the Mother, they probably would have said something like ¡°there is nothing that I wouldn''t do for my daughter.¡± The Emperor was not like the Mother, though.

    The Mother was ancient in the way that a river was ancient; though the individual drops of water passed through, the river retained its strength and kept its course. The Emperor was more like layers of rock, each one building upon the last. That was just one of their differences. She couldn''t use her experience with the Mother to predict how the Emperor would act.

    ¡°There is something to be said about stability, and about remaining changeable with the times,¡± the Emperor said, listening in on her thoughts. Yan had forgotten that they were doing that. The Emperor''s mental presence was overpowering. ¡°That is why I keep my Voice, after all. Even after all these years, it''s the best way.¡±

    ¡°How old are you?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°There were a great many things that were lost when the Edden Empire fell. One thing that was saved, at least in part, was the technology that our ancestors used to travel between the stars, before the first stardrives were created. I have been using it since I left Edden.¡±

    That was a long time. Hundreds of years.

    ¡°Why don''t you make this technology available to the rest of the Empire?¡± Yan asked. The ability to prolong life seemed like a very useful one.

    ¡°Only sensitives can use it to its fullest potential,¡± the Emperor explained patiently. ¡°Without the ability to use the power to connect with others, one is trapped silent inside their own mind. I have no desire to allow citizens of the Empire to sleep their way into the future, and I have even less of a desire to allow other sensitives to make use of it in the way that I do. Does that answer satisfy you?¡±

    Truthfully, it did not, but Yan experimentally nodded anyway. Her neck hurt, but it was nice to be able to respond that way again.

    ¡°Little Yan, you feel that it is horrible to deny people the chance to come together like this?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡± If the Emperor put her feelings into words, then she wouldn''t have to.

    ¡°I think you will find that most people vastly prefer to be alone in their own heads.¡± The Emperor was amused. ¡°Even I,¡± and that ''I'' was spoken in Yan''s head with so many voices, ¡°found it difficult for quite some time. You are a rare exception.¡±

    ¡°Is that why Sandreas doesn''t like coming here?¡±

    ¡°My little Aymon fears the future. He dislikes what I represent for him more than he dislikes me.¡±

    ¡°I guess I can understand that,¡± Yan said, thinking about the way that Aymon looked at Halen when no cameras were watching.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I always try to caution my Voices, but they almost never listen.¡±

    Well, it wasn''t as though the Emperor could stop someone from loving.

    The Emperor was amused again. ¡°Clearly, I cannot.¡±

    Yan thought of Sylva, and then that image of herself with the white hair, walking past the reach of the spotlight, into the welcoming arms of the darkness.

    ¡°That''s a long time from now yet. And I will promise you, just as I promise Aymon, that it will be a relief to join me, when the time comes.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± She already understood the relief of giving herself up. She already knew what a comfort it could be to become part of something greater.

    ¡°You are experienced beyond your years,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I like you very much, little Yan.¡±

    ¡°Thank you?¡±

    ¡°But I can feel my Aymon becoming worried about you in the other room. Let us see what your friend Kino has to say for herself, and then I will let you go.¡±

    Yan''s legs moved by the Emperor''s command, and she went back and opened the door.

    ¡°Kino,¡± she said, and that was all she needed to say. Kino stood, back straight, hands utterly still, long black hair tied on top of her head like a crown.

    Yan glanced at Sandreas who smiled and tried to gesture her over, but her legs were already moving again, and she was back inside the Emperor''s chambers.

    Kino took her place in the spotlight, so Yan watched her from the nearby shadows. Kino''s eyes gleamed, and she looked up at the ceiling, arms at her sides, but with her palms facing forwards.

    ¡°Here I am,¡± Kino said simply.

    ¡°I see you now,¡± the Emperor said, voice ringing in Yan''s head.

    And then she was plunged deep into Kino''s memory.

    <hr>

    The scene was half formed and chaotic. The way that Kino remembered things was odd; she fixated on the details of an image, like the way that the ceiling tiles in the room were slightly off axis, and the way the varnish on the table was wrecked in one place from a long ago spill. The people in the room all seemed to blend together, as though their faces had been replaced with generic stand-ins. Even if Yan had talked to all of these Impulse officers, she wouldn''t have been able to recognize them in this memory. Kino''s mental eye skirted away from the faces as though they were so much less important than the texture of the walls or the buzzing of the lights. Her cassock felt heavy and her hands itched to pull it off.

    The memory brought with it a crushing feeling of sadness and regret and anger, but Yan could tell that those weren''t the emotions that Kino had been feeling as she stood in front of the room, addressing the Fleet cohort. She must have been resolute.

    ¡°This needs to stop,¡± she began, interrupting the meeting. ¡°On my authority as the apprentice to First Sandreas, we cannot continue.¡±

    The words were practiced, or the memory was distorted because Kino had replayed her words in her head so many times, like a groove that had been worn in the dirt of a path.

    Whatever the Fleet leadership replied with was irrelevant. Time was distorted in this memory/dream. Only certain phrases stood out, certain moments, and they jerked and started up again. Was it the Emperor combing through, or was this simply the way that Kino remembered things?

    ¡°We cannot condemn an innocent planet to death.¡±

    She tried to be stoic.

    She tried to be reasonable.

    When people would not let her be reasonable, she moved on to being pleading.

    ¡°I KNOW what it''s like to see your whole planet die around you! I can''t let that happen to somebody else! I can''t let you do this!¡±

    A memory within the memory flashed into place. A far younger Kino was holding a toddler on her hip, looking out over the grey and empty plains of Falmar, catching the smell of something rotting in the air. Kino''s eyes snapped back into focus in the Impulse meeting room.

    When pleading didn''t work, she moved on to threats and screaming.

    ¡°Complicit! This will be on your heads! On God, this will be on your hands!¡±

    It was at this point that Kino was dragged from the room. She kicked and flailed at her captor, but she didn''t use the power. Perhaps she was too overcome in that moment to do so.

    Yan thought that this would be the end of the memory, but she felt herself be pulled down deeper, deeper into Kino''s brain. She couldn''t control it, and she wasn''t sure how much time was passing in this state. Perhaps she was processing things as quickly as the Emperor did, and this all took less than a second. Or perhaps she was standing there, stuck, as the Emperor showed her select bits of Kino''s memory.

    How old was she? Yan recognized the view outside a window. She was in an Academy dorm. It was nighttime. She had the window open, and a cool breeze licked in, catching the smoke from the cigarette Kino held between two of her fingers. She was seated on a chair, leaning against the windowsill, computer balanced precariously on her lap. She was out of uniform, wearing only an undershirt and underwear.

    Kino reached down to the floor with her free hand and picked up her discarded cassock, rummaging around in the pocket until she pulled out a data stick. She shoved it into the port of her computer and opened the text file that was on there.

    The words didn''t precisely resolve in the memory; the letters blurred if Yan tried to focus on them, but the message was as clear as if Kino had memorized it. It sang in her head, read in the voice of some stranger.

    <blockquote>

    Dear Kino,

    I''m sorry for leaving you without warning, and I hope you can forgive me. I''m glad that you still consider me a friend, and I''m glad that you got in contact with me.

    I can''t come back to Emerri right now, and maybe not ever. It''s a tricky business, the one that we''re in. The one that I''m in.

    I feel so lucky to have met you. I''ve been learning a lot since I left. I''d like to tell you all about it, if you''ll let me. I know it will take a long time for this message to get to you, and even longer for you to get back to me, if you still want to talk to me. Keep getting in touch with Ralah if you do. But in the future, these messages will be encrypted. The password will be the address that I first had you deliver to.

    You''re in a unique position to help me, being at the Academy and all, and you''ve proven that you''re a big help, trustworthy, and a good listener. Never once caught you skimming off the top. I like having a person like that on my team.

    Can''t tell you what this is about until you agree, but let me know if you want in. If you do, let me know an encryption key for your letters.

    Your friend,

    Mahmoud

    </blockquote>

    And time dipped in a different direction, forward this time, and Kino was reading another letter.

    <blockquote>

    Kino,

    This sickness at the heart of the Empire, it goes far deeper than you''d ever think. I want to just scream it out to the world, but I''d get shot instantly. It kills me that people are going around not knowing what¡¯s going on out there. It kills me that I didn''t know. And it kills me now that I do.

    You understand. I''ve told you everything. But what can I do aside from that? There might be something that you can do.

    Do you read the news? The sketchy stuff, not the real news. You know, the junk. We get it all a couple weeks late, whenever we can get close enough to real ports. Someone says that First Sandreas is going to be taking an apprentice soon. He''s getting older.

    You might be in the right place at the right time to make some changes. You''re graduating from the Academy. If you play your cards right, you could make a difference.

    Sandreas is a self absorbed, cold hearted lunatic. What do you think would attract a person like that?

    Get as high as you can. Stay out of the Fleet. Keep people out of your head.

    Your friend,

    Mahmoud

    </blockquote>

    And again.

    <blockquote>

    Kino,

    No, I haven''t told anyone who you are, just that you''re high up. As soon as you start to give me information, that will help people understand what you''re in place to do. When people verify what I tell them, they''ll trust me more, and we can accomplish big things.

    You need to keep a lower profile. Ralah saw you outside his place with company. Don''t be an idiot. Just stay quiet for now. Don''t show your hand too early.

    If you can be on the lookout for information about....

    </blockquote>

    And again.

    <blockquote>

    Kino,

    This letter definitely won''t reach you before you travel. Don''t be a fool. People on Tyx III don''t know who you are. You won''t be able to talk to them.

    I don''t know why I bother. You won''t get this letter anyway. God.

    I''ll pretend like you''re already back, like I know what happened there.

    You can''t let people know who you are. I''m the only one who knows. You have to keep it that way, or you get a target on your back painted as bright as a star. There''s gonna be someone out there who will want to kill you.

    Don''t be an idiot. Please. If you got any information, I want it, but it''s not worth risking your life.

    Not now, anyway. Not until we''re in real position to do something.

    If you''re already dead, I''ll come to Emerri or Tyx III or wherever and dig up your body and kill you again for being so stupid.

    Your friend,

    Mahmoud

    </blockquote>

    And again.

    <blockquote>

    Kino,

    I''m worried that this information is coming from too close to you. There''s a few people who are beginning to speculate about who my source is. If that information gets out, you''re in danger.

    But thank you.

    With the First Star out of commission for the foreseeable future, and the consecration of Anthus on the horizon, we''re getting agents in place to make our move. There are only a few ships that Sandreas could travel on, unless they spare a Fleet ship. As soon as you know which one it will be, if you can get access to the travel plans, send us that information. Tell Ralah to rush it, pay him whatever he asks for.

    And when the time comes, you make sure that you are not on that ship. Do whatever it takes to stay on Emerri. If you''re caught up in it, that''ll be it.

    As much information as you can get, I need. We''re counting on you.

    Yours,

    Mahmoud.

    </blockquote>

    And again.

    <blockquote>

    Kino,

    I don''t know if it was just a bad coincidence, but people think that you''ve betrayed us. I''m going to get out of here and lay low as much as I can for now. I''ll contact you again when this all blows over. You keep your head down. Don''t do anything crazy. Don''t try to contact me. Keep watching. Keep listening. You''re still our best hope, people just don''t understand that right now.

    I''ll be keeping my ears to the wind.

    Stay safe,

    Mahmoud.

    </blockquote>

    It was clear that the Emperor had pulled through Kino''s memory almost instantly, and was now only showing these pieces to Yan in a specific order so that she could understand. The spell broke, and Yan was back in the dark room, clutching her head, overwhelmed.

    ¡°I wish I had summoned you earlier,¡± the Emperor said, voice in Yan''s head, and probably Kino''s as well.

    Kino''s face had crumpled, her previous stoic expression replaced by one of absolute terror. Her eyes were wide, and the muscles in her neck stood out as she strained against some sort of invisible hold. The Emperor had her in their clutches.

    ¡°Still, it is almost no matter. You weren''t able to accomplish anything of substance, and my little Yan has come back all the stronger for it.¡±

    Yan was crying, and she certainly didn''t feel any stronger. She felt nauseous, after experiencing the sweep of both Kino''s righteous emotions and the depths of her betrayal. It was Kino''s fault that she-- that she had--

    Yan couldn''t think about it. She wanted to beat her head on the floor to get the thoughts out. She wanted this nightmare to end.

    ¡°You should kill her, Yan,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I''ll let you have this chance to do it.¡±

    Yan felt like she was shaking, shivering. The Emperor had her in their grasp, too. ¡°Before my Aymon comes in here. Before I tell him what he brought into his house.¡±

    The Emperor dragged her feet forward. Yan''s ears rang, first loudly, then the sounds of the world faded to nothing. She felt like she was going to pass out. If the Emperor hadn''t been keeping her upright, she would have fallen over.

    Her feet brought her right in front of Kino. She looked into Kino''s face, and into Kino''s eyes, shining bright with the horrible reflection of the spotlight, and wide with terror and with something else indescribable. Kino''s breath came in little wheezing spurts.

    The Emperor raised Yan''s arms. Her hands closed involuntarily around the soft flesh of Kino''s neck.

    ''No!'' Yan thought. She couldn''t do this while looking into Kino''s eyes. The Emperor turned her head away, closed her eyes. ''No!'' Yan thought again, and opened them. Her hands squeezed, without her control.

    She didn''t want this.

    She didn''t know what she wanted, but it wasn''t this.

    Halen''s voice screamed in her ears. ''Drop it! Drop it now!''

    She felt like she was back on that rocky hillside, holding a gun to her own head. She had fought off the Green King''s control in her panic then, and she did it again to the Emperor''s power now. Her grip on Kino''s neck loosened, she stumbled sideways, fell to the floor, scrambled up on her hands and knees, and ran out the door, past Kino, past Sandreas, as far away as she could get.

 Chapter Eighty-Eight - If I Forget You, Israel, Let Me Forget My Left Hand

    If I Forget You, Israel, Let Me Forget My Left Hand

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And the last survivor of the old Juniper, he lifted up his hands, he lifted up his hands, he lifted up his hands to God. He said, ¡°Take me as you will, take me as I am, take me where I stand, oh Lord, oh Lord. Take me where I stand, oh Lord.¡± But the last survivor of that good old Juniper, he had a far longer way to go.¡±

    -from ¡°The Last Days of the Good Ship Juniper¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan didn''t really process her journey out. She fled Stonecourt and her feet took her home at a pace that she hadn''t remembered she was capable of. The world passed by her without her comprehending it. Perhaps that was because her eyes were blurred with tears, her head throbbed like an old wound, and she wanted to claw all of her skin off.

    Sylva was lounging on the couch in Yan''s apartment, reading something on a tablet. She looked up when Yan burst into the room, and stood when she saw the wild look on Yan''s face.

    ¡°Yan? Are you okay?¡± Sylva came towards her, but Yan made a beeline for the bathroom and shut the door, closing it in Sylva¡¯s face. She plugged the bathtub and turned on the tap, making the water as cold as she could get it.

    Sylva pounded on the bathroom door, but Yan didn''t open it. She couldn''t face Sylva right now. She didn''t have the words to say what had happened, or why. All Yan knew was that she needed to do something, anything, to get out of her body. Her despair was physical. Even when she had been in prison, she didn''t think she had ever felt like this. It was as though there was something just under the layer of her skin that needed to be let out, and the only way it could get out was by smashing her body as hard as she could into a rock. Getting run over by a car. She wanted to pound her face into the dirt because she couldn''t bear it anymore.

    She couldn''t do that, though, so instead she peeled off all her clothes and lay face down in the ice water bath, water continuing to pour out of the faucet onto her. The cold was a shock to her skin, but even that wasn''t enough. She pressed her face to the bottom of the tub and screamed as loud and as long as she could. The air came out in choking bubbles up around her face, and the water filled her mouth. She wanted to drown, but her instincts brought her back up for air, gasping. With the water out of her ears, she could hear Sylva again, still pounding on the door.

    ¡°Yan!¡± Sylva was yelling.

    Yan felt Sylva''s power reach out into the door to open it, but Yan held it shut with her own power. Sylva would hate her for this later. Yan didn''t care.

    ¡°Yan, I''m calling Iri.¡±

    Yan didn''t respond to that, but she dipped back under the water and screamed again. Her fingers were growing numb from the cold, and her whole body ached, but she needed to do something. She needed--

    She came back up for air.

    Sylva was still yelling, but this time into the phone. Yan could hear the half of a conversation clearly.

    ¡°Iri, God dammit, pick up the phone!¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is an emergency!¡±

    ¡°Something happened when Yan was with the Emperor, and now she''s back here and she''s screaming and locked herself in the bathroom and won''t talk to me and--¡±

    ¡°How quickly will you be here?¡±

    ¡°Why the fuck would I know where Kino is?¡±

    And at the sound of Kino''s name, Yan ducked back under the water and screamed again.

    The only thing that the rational part of Yan''s mind was capable of was remembering to turn off the water before the tub overflowed. All the rest of her thoughts were consumed by the irrational.

    She felt like this was somehow her fault. She thought, and knew it was crazy, no matter how real it felt, that if she had somehow died in prison, then none of this would be happening. Everything would be fine without her. She felt responsible for it all.

    She had never, ever felt this bad before. Not when her mother died, not aboard the Sky Boat, not when she was torn away from the Mother, and not even when the Green King was torturing her in prison. At least in all those times, in all those places, she felt like there was some way to keep moving forward. She had been a child when her mother died, and kids didn''t have perspective. On the Sky Boat, she knew exactly what she had done, and why, and though it had felt like the world was collapsing around her, she at least understood it. And when she was with the Green King, she had the goal of escape to work towards, and she could take herself out of her own head, and that was just physical pain. This was different.

    Yan sat and sobbed in the bath. Sylva stopped banging on the door, apparently having decided that if Yan was sobbing so loudly, she at least wasn''t dead. When Iri arrived, which didn¡¯t take very long, Yan didn''t have the mental energy left to stop her from forcing the lock on the bathroom door and throwing it open, revealing Yan in all of her disarray.

    Iri and Sylva had both seen her naked before, so it wasn''t exactly that that jolted some sense back into Yan''s brain and made her realize what a pathetic mess she was making. It was really just the rush of cold air coming in, and the light, and the way they looked at her with such concern in their eyes.

    Iri came over, rolled up the sleeve of her shirt, and reached into the bathtub to drain it. Yan shivered as the water ran down into the drain. Sylva found a clean towel and handed it to her. Iri helped her to her feet. Yan hiccoughed. Sylva left and returned a moment later with Yan''s pajamas.

    The whole scene moved in slow motion as Yan shivered and toweled herself off mechanically. She pulled on her pajamas, and Iri led her by the elbow out of the bathroom and sat her down on the couch. Sylva curled up next to her, wrapping her warm arms around Yan. Iri sat down on the edge of the couch.

    ¡°Can you tell us what happened, Yan?¡± she asked.

    Yan opened her mouth, found that she couldn''t quite get words out, and gingerly shook her head. Iri''s eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly replaced her expression with a calm, neutral one. Iri was always the professional.

    ¡°Are you in danger or in pain?¡± Iri asked.

    Yan shook her head again. She wasn''t currently in danger, and she wasn''t physically in pain, aside from the dull ache in her neck, but that wasn''t what Iri was asking about.

    Iri bit her lip for a second. ¡°Are you so upset that you''re going to hurt yourself?¡±

    The thought had crossed Yan''s mind, though she was surprised, in the dim way that anything was registering in her mind, that Iri was asking at all. She shrugged halfheartedly. Sylva squeezed her tighter. Iri gave her a considering look, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

    ¡°I''ll be right back,¡± Iri said. She stood up and stepped out into the hallway. She had her phone in her hand.

    Sylva leaned her head on Yan''s shoulder. ¡°It''ll be okay, whatever it is,¡± she said.

    ¡°No,¡± Yan said. It was definitely not okay.

    Iri came back in a moment later. ¡°Who were you on the phone with?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Halen, but he didn''t pick up. I''m going to call Sandreas.¡±

    ¡°Don''t,¡± Yan said. ¡°Please.¡±

    Iri considered her words, then put her phone in her pocket, acquiescing. ¡°Are you saying that because you don''t want to bother him, or are you saying that for some other reason?¡±

    ¡°Another reason,¡± Yan said. ¡°Don''t call Halen again, either.¡±

    ¡°Did they do something to you?¡±

    Yan shook her head.

    ¡°Did the Emperor do something to you?¡±

    Yan shook her head again, though that was less true.

    Iri looked confused. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out. She showed the text to Yan. It was from Halen.

    > dealing with an emergency rn. will call u back asap. call me again if it''s life/death and I will answer

    ¡°Is this what you''re upset about?¡±

    Yan nodded.

    ¡°Will you be upset if I investigate to find out what the emergency is, if you can''t tell me?¡±

    Yan shook her head.

    ¡°Can you let me into your back room? I can access Stonecourt security from there.¡±

    Yan reached out with her power, pressed it into the door of the hidden room in her closet, and it swung open with an audible thump. Yan extracted herself from Sylva''s grip, with some effort, and stood. Both Iri and Sylva looked alarmed and stood up as Yan headed back to the bathroom, but she didn''t close the door, she just picked up her cassock off the floor, and searched through the pockets until she found the data stick that Kino had pressed into her hand that morning.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Yan then went into her windowless secret room, followed in by both Iri and Sylva. It was a little cramped with all three of them there. Sylva went out and dragged back in two kitchen chairs for her and Iri to sit on, as Yan took the office chair in front of the big computers.

    She plugged in the datastick. Was it bad operational security to be putting this on Imperial computers, now that she knew what Kino had done? Yes, but Kino had already done all of the damage that she was going to do, so Yan didn''t think that it really mattered.

    The data stick was not very full. There was one plain text file, and one encrypted folder. The text file was titled ¡°Yan¡± and the folder was labeled ¡°Bina¡±, which Yan assumed was Kino''s sister''s name. She clicked on the text file.

    <blockquote>

    Dear Yan,

    I don''t know if you''re even going to read this letter. I understand that you probably hate me, now that you know what I did. I assume you know, anyway. Sid mentioned that the Emperor can see through you like glass.

    The truth has come to light, and I have gone down into that great darkness.

    It''s easier for me to write all of this than it would be for me to say it to you, but it''s still so hard. I haven''t slept all night. I look out the window, and I pray, and I hope that whatever''s coming next will be easy, or at least quick.

    The big moon is so beautiful.

    You probably don''t want to hear me explain why I did what I did, but I have to tell you anyway. In the end, I think the only thing, the simplest thing, that I can say is that it''s wrong what the Empire does. It''s wrong for us to go out and wipe out entire planets. I had to do anything that I could to stop it, and I couldn''t wait until I got the chance to become Second, or First, because if I wasn''t doing something, everyone who died in that time, their blood would be on my hands. I couldn''t be complicit in it.

    I never meant to hurt you. You''ve never been my enemy, and I''m so glad you''re alive. I wish I could have been your friend. I wish you could have been mine.

    It''s a good thing that I''m going to die. Getting the wrong person led the Fleet right to that planet. They could have stayed hidden for the rest of time, if it wasn''t for me. So in the end, they''re all on my hands, too.

    Perhaps I should be spending this time killing myself, so that I won''t have to go through what''s coming, and the secret can die with me. I think I''m a coward, though, and the sun''s coming up. If I ran away, you''d find me, just like you found Sid, though it might take longer. It all seems inevitable.

    I¡¯m sorry that I couldn¡¯t tell you any of this earlier.

    I couldn''t talk to you about the Fleet and what they were doing, and how I wanted to stop them, because I knew you were so hurt, and you weren''t thinking about it. I understand. I read what Iri wrote, about the people you knew on that planet, and I didn''t want to make you think about what was happening to them. I doubt that even if both you and I had talked to Captain Wen we could have stopped it. And I didn''t want to force you to make a choice right then, because it was all my fault anyway.

    I said you were standing on a cliff. Now here we are at the precipice. I didn''t want to bring us both down together.

    When I apologized to you on the Impulse, this was what I was really apologizing for. I''m sorry, Yan. I''m sorry for what I put you through. You don''t have to accept my apology. Whatever you do, I forgive you for in advance.

    Do what you need to. Live your life and please be happy.

    Please tell Sid that I''m sorry as well, and that I trust him to make good choices.

    Please don''t let anyone kill my sister. She had nothing to do with this.

    I know you aren''t on speaking terms with God at the moment, but if you ever change your mind about that, maybe say a prayer for me.

    Goodbye, Yan. Until we meet again, in some other place.

    With your permission, I would like to call myself

    Your friend,

    Kino Mejia

    </blockquote>

    Yan put her head down in her arms on the desk and cried. She hadn''t realized that there were tears left in her body, but there were. Someone rubbed her back, and someone took the computer mouse out of her hand.

    Above her head, Iri whispered something to Sylva, just low enough that Yan couldn''t make out the words.

    ¡°Come on, Yan, let''s go back out into the living room, let me get you something to drink...¡± Sylva said, voice a little too sweet, and she began to push Yan''s office chair out. Yan lifted her head and put her feet on the ground to stop herself from moving.

    ¡°Stop,¡± she said. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She looked between Sylva and Iri''s faces, and there was resolve on one, and guilt on the other.

    ¡°I''m going to look at the Stonecourt security footage, to see what''s going on,¡± Iri said, voice flat and neutral. ¡°I think it would be best if you did not see it.¡±

    Yan''s mind flashed back to that awful moment, where she had turned her head away and closed her eyes, as her hands were on Kino''s throat.

    ¡°No, I need to see,¡± Yan said. ¡°I need to know.¡±

    Sylva and Iri looked at each other, something passing between them.

    ¡°Yan, you don''t want to see it,¡± Iri said again.

    ¡°I have to,¡± Yan whispered. Just as Kino had said, she had been purposely not been thinking about things that would upset her, but she felt like the blinds had been pulled off of her eyes, the whole world was revealed, and she had to see at least this through. She owed it to... someone. Herself, maybe.

    She stared at Iri. ¡°I have to see.¡±

    Iri considered it for a long second, then her shoulders slumped a little; she looked at Sylva and relented. She knew exactly how to access the Stonecourt security system from here, and she knew exactly where to look. It took her less than three minutes to pull up a video feed, though Yan was confused, because it was a video of a dark room. Nothing was happening, and they couldn''t see anything.

    ¡°Is this the right thing?¡± Yan asked. ¡°It doesn''t--¡±

    The lights in the room came on, and the door opened. The camera had a bird''s eye view of the room, from the corner near the door, and it had a very wide angle lens, so they could see almost everything, except what was directly below their vantage point.

    ¡°I guess we''re just in time,¡± Iri said, voice dull. ¡°I wonder why it took so long. I thought we would be in the middle of it already.¡±

    Yan took in the view of the room, white walls, tile floor. There was a drain in the center of the floor, and a large industrial sink along one wall. A long metal table, like one in a morgue, sat in the center of the room. Just on the bottom edge of the camera''s view, there were closed cabinets, or what Yan assumed were closed cabinets, since she couldn''t actually see their front faces.

    Imperial security forces dragged Kino into the room. She was definitely alive, from the way that her eyes darted around, but from the way that she was being handled, she looked so floppy that it was clear that she couldn''t move. Muscle relaxant, maybe.

    If they had had to drug her in order to get her from the Emperor''s chamber to here, that might explain the length of time that it had taken.

    The security forces deposited her on the table, and cuffed her to it, probably out of an abundance of caution. Kino stared up at the ceiling, unmoving. The places on her neck where Yan''s hands had squeezed were clearly visible, with red finger marks over top of the collar of her cassock. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth.

    The security force members left the room, leaving Kino alone. Her breathing was barely visible on the camera, the slow rise and fall of her chest. Her face was calm, but that might have just been the muscle relaxant that had definitely been pumped into her. Yan wondered what other drugs she had been given.

    It was just Kino alone in the room for a long time. Yan couldn''t stop staring at her. Certainly, Kino didn''t know she was watching, but Yan had to wonder what Kino was thinking. It was an odd, calm, stillness over the whole scene. Yan was quiet, and so were Iri and Sylva, peering into the monitor.

    Then the door opened again, and Halen came in.

    Yan always managed to forget how big he was, because he faded into the background when he was out in public. Here, though, he filled up so much of the room. He was wearing his usual black shirt and pants, and he rolled up his sleeves and went over to the industrial sink to wash his hands. He didn''t look at Kino at first, though her eyes followed him as he walked around the room.

    ¡°Hello, Kino,¡± Halen said finally, walking over to stand in front of her. He pushed a few loose strands of hair off her forehead, and wiped the blood off of her cheek with his thumb.

    ¡°You know what''s about to happen to you, right?¡± Halen asked, almost casually. ¡°You don''t have to answer.¡±

    He turned away and walked to the side of the room where the camera was. He opened one of the cabinets, and rifled around in there for a second. When he moved back into the camera''s line of sight, he was stretching a pair of latex gloves over his hands. They barely fit.

    ¡°It''s unfortunate that it''s come to this. You know, I liked you, Kino. Even though I couldn''t read you. Aymon and I...¡± He trailed off. ¡°When we were on Tyx III, and we thought you might be dead. I realize now, of course, that you were tricking us, but I still remember what that was like.¡±

    ¡°And I remember that first time I took you into the simulation room. God, I thought I had almost killed a kid. I thought you would never forgive me for that. But you were fine.¡±

    He had his back turned to her, and he was messing with something on a table.

    ¡°Should I lay you on the floor and put your head on my lap again? Just like old times?¡± Halen''s voice was cold.

    ¡°It''s ironic. You''re going to make this easy for me. Usually when I have to deal with this unpleasant business, I can feel everything. I have to, to know when people are lying to me. But I don''t need information from you, and I''ve never felt a thing from you either, so it all works out.¡±

    He turned back towards Kino, so that his face was away from the camera.

    Yan, watching, was coiled tighter than a spring. Her hand shook, and she reached out towards whoever was next to her. It was Iri who took her hand and squeezed it.

    ¡°If it was just that you were plotting to kill Aymon, I probably would have just killed you,¡± Halen said. ¡°But I love Yan like she was my own daughter, and you are responsible for making her suffer. I don''t have the time to prolong this exercise for a month, so we will have to make do with the time we have.¡± He walked back around towards Kino''s left side.

    ¡°I feel bad for you that Yan is such a kind woman,¡± Halen said. He had a knife in his hand, suddenly. ¡°It would have been much easier for you if she had killed you. She probably thought that she was sparing your life.¡±

    Yan couldn''t breathe.

    Halen picked up Kino''s left hand, the handcuffs falling away from it as he used the power to unlock them. He turned her hand over and over in his, examining it from every angle. Then he pressed her hand onto the surface of the table, palm up.

    ¡°I''m sorry, Kino,¡± Halen said.

    Yan couldn''t quite see what he did with the knife, but the sound Kino made was inhuman.

    Time seemed to freeze as Yan watched Halen begin to torture Kino.

    Yan knew what it was like to be in Kino''s place, and she also suddenly, like a flash of light, knew what Etta was feeling when she stood in front of the Green King and protected Yan.

    In her mind, she was standing on a rocky hillside, watching herself hold a gun to her own head. In her mind, she was laying on a cold metal table, with Halen holding a knife over her.

    Even if Kino had hurt her, Kino didn''t deserve this. No one did.

    Something changed in Yan''s mind. Resolution snapped into place. Just like she had aboard the Sky Boat, just like when she was in prison, Yan knew what she had to do, and she was going to go through with it.

    Iri, face pale, killed the sound on the computer so that they wouldn''t have to hear Kino''s gurgling screams.

    ¡°Iri, Sylva,¡± Yan said, voice freakishly calm. ¡°How much do you trust me?¡±

    Iri and Sylva glanced at each other. ¡°I trust you,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°How much are you willing to do for me?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°We followed you across the galaxy,¡± Sylva said.

    Three times, she had to ask three times. ¡°How much are you willing to give up for me?¡±

    ¡°Everything,¡± Sylva said. She grabbed Yan''s hand. ¡°Anything you need.¡±

    Yan looked at Iri, who looked between the grisly scene on the monitor and Yan, then nodded.

    ¡°Then you have to do exactly what I say.¡±

 Chapter Eighty-Nine - Clemency for the Wizard Kino

    Clemency for the Wizard Kino

    <blockquote>

    ¡°On the day my love left, I lost all the stars. They turned all grey in my eyes. He¡¯s gone, he¡¯s gone, he¡¯ll never return. My lover is gone from the skies.¡±

    -from ¡°Oh, Where Has My Love Gone?¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The plan crystallized in Yan''s head as she broke the problem up into its component pieces. She needed to get Kino out of there, alive, and then she needed to get as far away as possible. Everything else was secondary.

    It was clear from the way that Halen was behaving that there would be no mercy for Kino, not even if Yan begged. Possibly if she did beg, she could get Halen to kill her quickly, but Yan hadn''t wanted that when she was in the Emperor''s chambers, and she didn''t want it now. She didn''t even really want Kino to live and be imprisoned for life.

    What she wanted was to go back to the past, before any of this had happened. But that idyllic past had never existed, since it had been a carefully constructed lie, and it would never exist again. All Yan could do was make the best choices with the tools that she had.

    So, step one was getting Halen to stop before Kino died, or was broken beyond repair. Time was of the essence.

    ¡°Iri, call Halen back. Now. Tell him I''m missing, that I vanished and you can''t find me and you''re afraid I''m about to do something drastic.¡±

    ¡°There''s security footage of you walking in here,¡± Iri objected.

    ¡°Then let him search the building. There won''t be security footage of me walking out,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Iri pulled out her phone and dialed.

    They watched on the monitor, delayed by a few seconds, as Halen stopped what he was doing and took his phone out of his pocket, getting blood all over it.

    ¡°Halen, I wouldn''t call you if it wasn''t an emergency,¡± Iri said. ¡°Yan''s gone. She was extremely upset, and she locked us in here and ran out, and I''m worried that she''s about to do something drastic.¡± She used Yan''s exact words. Might as well leave as much as possible up to Halen''s imagination. The Halen on the screen visibly blanched.

    ¡°I''ll be there as soon as possible. Have you checked the security footage?¡± Yan heard Halen say over the phone, his voice tinny. There was an echo of a groan in the background. Yan''s stomach churned.

    ¡°She''s not on it,¡± Iri said. ¡°I don''t know what she''s doing.¡±

    ¡°Is Calor there?¡± Halen asked.

    Yan nodded at Iri''s questioning look.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Can she track Yan with the power?¡±

    Yan shook her head and indicated with her fingers ''a little bit''.

    ¡°She can try, but she hasn''t had any success so far,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Are you still in her apartment?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Stay there. I''ll meet you,¡± Halen said and hung up the phone.

    ¡°Good,¡± Yan said as they watched Halen say something to Kino, strip off his bloody gloves, throw them in the trash, and leave the room, turning the light off on his way out. ¡°He''ll be here in a few minutes. When he gets here, you need to pretend like you have no idea where I am. I suggest that you split up to cover a wider area.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°I don''t really care where you get Halen to go, as long as it isn''t Stonecourt or the airfield,¡± Yan said. ¡°Maybe tell him that you think I went to the forest where we found Sid.¡±

    ¡°The airfield?¡±

    ¡°That''s where I need you two to meet up,¡± Yan said. ¡°When I get there, there needs to be a ground-to-space shuttle ready to take off.¡±

    ¡°I don''t have the clearance to just take a shuttle,¡± Iri said. ¡°I don''t think I can do that.¡±

    Yan reconsidered. ¡°Fine. I will get myself to the airfield and steal a shuttle. Once I''ve done that, then someone will be perfectly willing to fly you up to the top of the elevator.¡±

    ¡°Yan, this plan is insane,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I don''t care. Are you going to go along with it?¡± Yan asked.

    Iri chewed her lip. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how to fly a shuttle?¡± Sylva asked.

    The thought was so funny to Yan that she almost laughed out loud. ¡°I''ve been flying shuttles since I was twelve, Sylva.¡±

    ¡°Ground-to-space?¡± Sylva asked again.

    ¡°I can do it,¡± Yan said firmly. It was true that she had never technically done a ground takeoff, but she had been allowed to do a ground landing once or twice, and she knew that the shuttle''s computers took care of most of the grunt work.

    ¡°And what are we going to do when we get up there?¡± Iri asked. ¡°Assuming we make it? Assuming you make it?¡±

    ¡°We''re going to steal the First Star,¡± Yan said. Not waiting to see Iri and Sylva''s reactions, even though that was quite the bombshell of a statement, she stood up and went to the bedroom. As quickly as she could, she stripped off her pajamas and replaced them with her Iron Dreams uniform, hung neatly in the closet. She put on her shoes with magnetic soles. Around her waist, she strapped her holster, and checked that the gun was loaded. It was lucky, perhaps, that she hadn''t brought it with her to the Emperor''s chambers. If she had, Kino might have already been dead.

    ¡°You look so sexy when you''re dangerous and crazy,¡± Sylva said, watching Yan from the doorway. ¡°I never realized that before.¡±

    Yan ignored her for a second, and located the spare ammunition and tucked it into her pocket.

    ¡°You understand what you have to do? Meet me at the top of the elevator, and make sure Halen doesn''t come. I don''t think I can face him, so he needs to be as far away from me as possible.¡±

    ¡°We''ll do our best,¡± Iri said.

    Yan nodded. Her neck hurt. ¡°I''ll see you at the top, then.¡±

    ¡°How are you going to get out without being seen?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°I spent a month keeping a star hidden,¡± Yan said. ¡°I think I can hide myself.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you can do what you need to, Yan?¡± Iri asked. She sounded calm, but she looked at Yan with real concern written in her face. ¡°Are you sure this is what you want?¡±

    ¡°I never wanted this,¡± Yan said. ¡°But I''ve always done exactly what I need to.¡± Her hand went unconsciously to the back of her neck, where the thick scars lay.

    ¡°Good luck,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Thanks. You too.¡±

    ¡°And Yan, if you end up on the First Star, and we can''t make it, you leave. You do what you have to do,¡± Iri said.

    Yan nodded once, sharply. Then she brought the power up from inside herself. It woke like a flowing stream, happy to be used once again, happy to have a purpose. It buzzed underneath her fingertips.

    Hiding herself was exactly like hiding a star, except without the ease of working with a perfectly circular region, and the difficulties of contending with an atmosphere. Still, after a solid month of practice within the Mother, and the benefit of her hundreds of years of experience, Yan was able to do it without a problem. Sylva gasped in surprise as Yan vanished, and brought her hand up to touch the region of space where Yan had been standing visible a moment before. Yan twined her invisible fingers in Sylva''s for a second, then let go and walked towards the door.

    She took a last long look around her apartment, feeling like she understood what Kino had been doing just that morning, trying to put off the act of leaving this life for as long as possible.

    ¡°Iri, open the door so I can leave,¡± Yan said. ¡°Walk me out to the front.¡±

    Iri did, so that suspiciously opening doors wouldn''t be caught on the security footage. Yan left, heading down the street at a jog, leaving Iri and Sylva in the lobby waiting for Halen to arrive.

    Yan actually passed him on the street, or at least his car. She was good at recognizing which of the speeding black cars in the Imperial Center belonged to security people, and Halen''s driving stood out. He was probably going too fast to catch a whiff of her power, but even still, Yan increased her speed, trying to get out of his detection radius and towards Stonecourt.

    She went in the staff entrance, waiting for some unsuspecting staff member to open doors and enter so that she could slip through. It was nerve wracking, to move as quietly as possible, disguising her steps to match the cadence of the young man that she was following, having a slight moment of panic as she worked extra hard to keep her invisibility secure as she slid through the security screening right behind him. Because her work with the Mother had involved blocking all forms of radiation, not just visible, she didn''t have that much trouble fooling the machine, but it was the place where her disguise, if one could consider complete invisibility a disguise, was most likely to fail. If she had her power structure just a hair wrong, the machine would know.

    But she didn''t, and she passed through without trouble, following the young man into the halls of Stonecourt. She split off from her unintentional escort almost immediately.

    She hadn''t thought to ask Iri where exactly Kino was being kept, which was a definite oversight on her part, and she couldn''t simply use her power to try to find Kino (her damn invisibility!) but Yan remembered that one time, far back, during the Governor''s dinner, where Halen had disappeared underground and returned wearing a different outfit and a grim expression. Yan hadn''t wanted to think about the fact that he had been torturing a would-be assassin then, and she still didn''t like to think about it, but she remembered where she had felt him, and she used her instincts to guide her down, down, down underneath the halls of Stonecourt.

    The further down she went, the fewer people that she saw, which was both a blessing and a curse. She didn''t enjoy dodging out of the way so that no one would accidentally brush her invisible form, and she didn''t like having to disguise her footsteps. It was particularly tricky because she had such an odd gait. But people being around did give her better opportunities to slip through doors.

    She had to go through several doors, and since she didn''t want to use her identification card that would allow her through (since using it would immediately alert Halen to her presence underneath Stonecourt, and leave an easily traceable trail), she thought about jimmying the locks with the power. She decided against it, because she didn''t feel ready or able to deal with alarms. Instead, she waited by one of the doors for some unsuspecting person to come out, and very, very gently, she lifted the woman''s ID card out of its place on her belt keychain with the power. The woman didn''t notice, and her keys jingled in their normal way as she walked away down the hall.

    Yan snatched the ID out of the air and quickly included it in her invisibility.

    She had to risk that no one was looking closely and comparing security footage of doors opening with the act of swiping the security card to get in. Making the door appear closed while she opened it was a fairly difficult extension of her invisibility trick, especially since she would need to apply it to both sides of the door but could only see one herself.

    Yan reached across the door with the power, made sure that there was no one coming, and tried to get as good of a mental image of what the door looked like as she could. The effort of applying the illusion to the door was so much that she was worried that it would make her own invisibility waver. The only thing worse than the image of a door opening by itself on the security cameras would be the image of the door being opened by Yan. She slapped the keycard against the access panel, dropping the invisibility on just that so that the door''s sensor could activate, and slipped through the door as quickly as possible.

    Wherever she could, she slid through doors behind people and waited for hallways to be clear and empty before she snuck around. All of her senses were on high alert. The sound of footsteps made her half-jump and catch herself as she remembered that she needed to be completely silent in order to stay undetected.

    Yan knew that it was just her imagination, but the deeper she went, the colder she felt it become. She was, for once, glad to be alone. Descending underneath Stonecourt, against all logic and reason, felt like her own personal pilgrimage.

    Trying to be as silent as she could didn''t stop her thoughts from rolling thunderously around her head. She could still turn back now and leave Kino to her fate. But she kept walking.

    Yan knew immediately when she had reached the right place, because there were two members of the Imperial Security Force standing on guard outside the door. Yan''s hand crept to the gun on her hip. She didn''t want to shoot them, but... She considered her options.

    She didn''t have the skill to do something elegant with the power, like pretend to be Halen. It was a shame that he had never gotten around to teaching the three of them how to do big illusions, or how to manipulate other people''s bodies. Both of those skills would have come in pretty handy, right at that moment.

    It was with a stabbing sadness that Yan thought about Halen. He would never get to teach her anything again.

    Yan brought her thoughts back to the present. How had Sid, ages ago, managed to incapacitate all the people watching him, when he had run away? He had tied them up. Maybe Yan could grab them with their clothing, like what Yuuni Olms had done so long ago. It was the best plan she had.

    She scoped out the scene. Both of the guards had communication devices tucked into their ears, and they were sure to be monitored. Yan saw a camera just a little ways down the hallway. The longer she stood there, agonizing over the situation, the more clear it became that her little stealth game was going to be up pretty soon.

    She didn''t think there was any way she could get past the guards and get Kino out without somebody noticing. So she changed her plan from being quiet to being quick.

    First things first. Yan reached out with the power and shattered the lens of the camera. Simple. Quiet. Someone would probably notice, but maybe not for a minute, especially if the guards weren''t reporting an alarm. They wouldn''t be reporting anything, because quick as lightning, Yan tugged their communicators out of their ears, sending them skittering across the floor.

    The guards immediately realized something was wrong, and they whipped their guns out, but Yan was invisible and thus presented no target. She ripped the guns out of their hands next, since getting shot at was not really something she wanted, even if she could avoid it.

    Once they were unarmed, they were much less dangerous, which made Yan relax a hair. Still, they dove for the guns she had tossed down the hall heedlessly, and they yelled for backup. Yan caught them by their clothes, using their pants to bind their legs, forcing their arms to their sides. She forced their undershirts up out of their collars and shoved them into their mouths as gags. That wasn''t particularly effective, because they shut their mouths as soon as the intrusion came, so Yan just wrapped the shirts around their heads as tightly as possible to muffle the sounds. They would probably be able to rip out after a minute of struggle, but she wasn''t planning to stay here for very long.

    She swiped her stolen card against the door. It didn''t work. She pulled a different card off of the keychain that one of the guards was wearing as he flopped around on the floor. That one didn''t work either. This was wholly predictable. Yan wouldn''t have left the door key with the people right outside the door either.

    Still, opening doors was something that sensitives tended to be particularly good at. Yan placed her palm flat against the door. A cool calmness was filling her. She needed to work fast, but the seconds were ticking by so slowly that she felt she had as much time as she needed to force the deadbolts of the door open. She no longer cared that there was probably an alarm sounding somewhere.

    She went in, and pulled the guards along behind her by holding the collars of their shirts with the power. She deposited them in the corner, then went over to Kino, still tied to the table. One small mercy was that she was fully clothed.

    Kino blinked and strained her eyes to look around the room, but clearly whatever she had been drugged with was still in full effect, because her body was limp and frozen in place. Yan, still invisible, placed a hand on Kino''s cheek so that they could communicate through the power.

    Kino''s eyes widened when Yan touched her.

    ¡°Kino,¡± Yan sent through the power. ¡°It''s me. Yan. I''m unbelievably pissed at you right now, but I''m also rescuing you. You need to be absolutely silent so we can get the fuck out of here. Do you understand?¡±

    Kino''s thoughts as they came through to Yan were somewhat muddled. Yan mainly got feelings of pain, confusion, and also a wild fear.

    ¡°I''m not going to kill you, idiot,¡± Yan sent. She dropped her hand off of Kino''s cheek and went around to untie her from the table. When she got to Kino''s left side, she stopped for a second.

    Halen was a professional, Yan supposed.

    Kino''s hand was a bloody mess everywhere, and was also missing two... two and a half fingers. Yan ripped Kino''s cassock sleeve (how ironic that she was the one to destroy Kino''s sleeve this time) and wrapped it as tightly around Kino''s destroyed hand as she could. She wasn''t particularly gentle, because speed was of the essence, but she didn''t want Kino dripping blood everywhere, either. That would make her invisibility significantly less useful, if she was leaving a trail.

    Once that was accomplished, she struggled for a second with how to best get Kino out. She was already juggling so many different things with the power: the invisibility and keeping both struggling guards wrapped up in their own clothes. She didn''t think she had the concentration to add in figuring out a powered way to carry Kino. So she did the best she could and pulled Kino''s arms up over her shoulder, hoisting her limp body in a fireman''s carry. Kino was shorter than Yan by at least half a foot, but she was solidly built and Yan was not very strong. She staggered under Kino''s weight, but she didn''t have a choice.

    Now that Kino was in full body contact with her, communication was inevitable, if somewhat slurred.

    ¡°You should leave me here,¡± Kino said in the power

    ¡°Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you,¡± Yan sent back, covering Kino with her invisibility, though she could feel it fraying on the edges. She stumbled towards the door. ¡°Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you...¡± Yan repeated it like a mantra, forcing her feet forward. At the door, she pulled it shut with the power, leaving the guards inside.

    She could hear people coming down the hallway, fast. Yan couldn''t exactly run, but she stumbled her way forward, away from the oncoming guards. Plausible deniability was gone at this point, but they could at least avoid getting apprehended.

    Halen probably wouldn''t be that mad at Yan if they got caught. Probably.

    But she didn''t want to get caught.

    Kino groaned on Yan''s shoulder.

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Yan sent urgently through the power. The running footsteps were coming from both directions now. Yan pressed herself and Kino flat against the wall, and a group of five Imperial Security guards rushed past, all armed to the teeth. Yan held her breath, didn''t breathe, didn''t move an inch. They passed by without brushing against her. As soon as they were far enough away that Yan''s staggering footsteps wouldn''t be heard, she continued up the hallway.

    Unsurprisingly, the elevators had been shut down, and the stairwell doors had automatically locked. Yan chanced it. She needed to get out of here as quickly as possible at this point. She dropped Kino to the ground, crouched in front of her, and used the power to rip the stairwell door off its hinges. It kicked up a massive cloud of dust from the exploding concrete. Alarms blared, and Yan immediately heard the shouting of the security force turn around and come towards her. She dragged the limp Kino by her armpits and dropped her onto the flat surface of the door, then used the power to hover the door in front of herself. It was unwieldy, but it was better than carrying Kino.

    Yan ran up the stairs two at a time. Kino was no longer covered by her invisibility, and Yan did not have the mental energy to spare to put up a shield against bullets, so she was just going to have to hope that no one started shooting at them.

    Yan''s hopes were dashed pretty quickly when she heard more guards begin to come down from the front of the stairs. She was surrounded now. Yan kept running up the stairs. She didn''t really have a choice. Her breath was coming in choked gasps, and she was distantly aware of the feeling of her heart pounding faster than it ever had.

    She grabbed Kino''s arm so that they could talk through the power.

    ¡°Can you use the power? At all?¡±

    Yan caught a brief feeling of Kino''s pain through their mental connection, then a timid feeling ¡°yes¡±, accompanied by a half-instinctual explanation of the way that Kino felt while using Vena. She wasn''t drugged with Vena, currently, but if she thought she could break through whatever drug was in her body, all the better. Perhaps the adrenaline of the situation was helping clear Kino''s mind enough for her to use the power.

    ¡°If you don''t want to get shot, you''ll put a shield up now. Keep it up, no matter what happens.¡±

    A feeling of grim determination from Kino.

    And then the first bullets came down into the stairwell, louder than thunder, ricocheting off the concrete walls. Something crashed into Yan''s face. Not a bullet, but a chunk of rock from the wall. She yelped, unable to stop the sound, and dropped low. She touched her forehead and came away with blood.

    It was clear that even if Kino thought she was stopping bullets, she definitely wasn''t. Yan didn''t know what she had expected. If there was one thing Halen wasn''t stupid enough to do, it was leave a prisoner able to use the power. Kino was probably just a little delirious at the moment.

    Yan put up her own power structure to block the bullets. It was inelegant, only protected her a tiny bit, and the mental strain was getting to her, but it was better than nothing. She was forced to drop the door that she was carrying Kino on, sacrificing that in order to keep up the invisibility. She picked up Kino physically once again, grabbing her underneath the armpits and covering her with the invisibility. It was slow going up the stairs.

    The bullets rained down around them, being fired from the front and behind, but Yan''s power structure held. Her invisibility held. She held on to Kino, grimly. If anyone had come towards her, they could have simply pulled Kino out of her arms, but they didn''t. The guards seemed somewhat afraid to approach closely, since they stayed at the top and bottom of the stairwell. Yan couldn''t see their faces; they were wearing protective masks.

    A faceless wall of guards, blocking the exit, guns firing uselessly into the air. Yan kept walking forward. Forward and up.

    Kino''s thoughts were leaking into hers, from their close contact and Kino''s loosened mental state. Yan could feel the pain in Kino''s hand as clearly as if it were in her own, but she had the comfort of knowing that the pain wasn''t real. Given that, it wasn''t any worse than what she had felt under the Green King. She gritted her teeth.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Kino thought. They felt everything bounce back and forth between them, the pain reverberating and echoing, the beating of their hearts falling into place, their lungs working in panicked sync.

    They were both filled with guilt and despair, but Yan was also spurred forward by determination, so she shoved those emotions to the back of their brains. Now was not the time. They could think about that later.

    Even though Kino''s thoughts were blurred by a haze of drugs, she was lucid enough to turn some of her brainpower over to Yan. Yan trudged up the stairs, and at the top, with Kino''s own power under her fingers, shoved the guards back, sending them stumbling. She put on as much speed as she could while bearing Kino''s weight and passed through the hole she had made in the guards. They immediately tried to seize her invisible form, but she kept them at bay with their own clothes, pinning them to the wall so that they couldn''t reach her.

    In the flat hallway, Yan could stumble forward much faster, and she knew exactly where she wanted to go. She kept the guards trapped until she came to an intersection in the hallway and lost sight of them. She heard them pursuing, but didn''t hear any more gunshots, so she felt like they might have succeeded in losing them.

    It wasn''t long before Yan came to another locked door, and she also ripped that one apart. No sense in subtlety now. None at all. The guards heard and the footsteps came towards her again, but Yan was through, running with heavy steps, hauling Kino along with her remaining ounces of strength. Her goal was in sight.

    The car park.

    Yan ripped that door off its hinges as well, and skidded out into the big underground garage. There were guards there, as she knew there would be, but they had all taken cover at the sight and sound of the door bursting open. Yan took the briefest moment to survey her surroundings. She had been here many times, and she knew where the keys to all the official cars were kept, over in the little guard station. She desperately wanted to put Kino down, but she couldn''t because the gunfire started again, the guards shooting somewhat randomly in the hopes of catching her off guard. She was probably lucky that no one seemed to have gas or grenades, because she didn''t think she would have been able to fend those off.

    In the guardhouse, there was one young woman, crouching behind the desk, holding a gun. She shot at Yan as Yan pulled the door open with the power; the bullets clattered to the ground uselessly. Yan used the power to rip the gun out of her hands and throw it backwards into the parking lot. She pinned the woman to the desk with her own clothes, which left Yan somewhat free to investigate the keys to the cars. They each bore a tag that matched up with a license plate. Yan peered out the guardhouse window to see which car was closest, or at least which license plate was visible.

    Her brain felt foggy, but that was probably Kino''s leaking influence. She took a set of keys, and trudged out.

    ¡°Kino, I need your brain,¡± Yan thought, wheezing as she hauled Kino to the car. Kino gave as much as she could, and Yan extended the shield power structure to cover the car, rather than just a tiny radius around herself and Kino. As soon as she opened the door, the guards knew where she was, and began shooting. She was glad she had covered the car, because she didn''t want the tires to get blown out. Yan deposited Kino in the passenger side. She dropped the invisibility on Kino, and ran around to the driver''s side of the car, mercifully unburdened. She clambered in and took a deep breath, jamming the key into the ignition.

    The real problem was that she had no idea how to drive. But she wasn''t going to carry Kino to the airfield, so she was just going to have to learn, quick. Yan started the car and fumbled around to put it in reverse. She slammed on the gas, maybe a bit too hard, and the car jerked backwards. She heard a loud crunch and the car ground to a stop as she hit the car parked next to them. Kino''s limp body slid around in the passenger seat, her head whacking into the window.

    Yan pulled the wheel hard in the other direction and freed the car. She was still going backwards and still going way too fast. She tried to put it in drive, but the shift wouldn''t move. She kicked around until she found the brake pedal, and the car slammed to a stop. The driver''s seat was pushed up way too close to the steering wheel for Yan''s long legs to be anywhere near the correct position, but she didn''t know what the correct position was, and she didn''t have time to fiddle around with the seat either.

    She got the car in drive, and floored the gas. One guard, stupidly in the way of the car, dove out of the way. Yan swerved to avoid hitting him, but swerved a little too much, and the car skid and sideswiped the next row of parked cars with a sickening crunch and lurch. Kino''s head was really taking a beating against the car door, but Yan didn''t have time to readjust her position. She pulled the wheel hard, too hard still, over correcting, and drove crazily down the row of cars, hauling the wheel in both directions every time she felt like she was going to crash.

    They were coming up on the exit now, and Yan saw two things: the closed garage doors in front of them, and the line of spikes that had risen out of the ground, designed to prevent exactly such a getaway.

    ¡°Hold on tight,¡± Yan said to Kino, even though that was about as useless of a thing as she could say to a girl who had no control over her body.

    Yan did just about the only thing she could. She dropped everything else she was holding up with the power, the invisibility, the bullet shield, and ducked as low as she could behind the steering wheel. Still with her foot on the gas, Yan first ripped the heavy doors open, hauling them up with the power, then closed her eyes and lifted the car off the ground. Her stomach lurched, the car barely cleared the spikes, and she dropped it back down heavily.

    Her own head crashed into the steering wheel, but they had made it past that obstacle, and the next. A bullet shattered the rear window of the car. Yan hastily put her shield back in place, and, breathing heavily, her invisibility again. She turned the car sharply to get it out onto the road that would take her away from Stonecourt.

    The big gates she also ripped open, and she laid on the horn to warn every pedestrian on the streets outside to get away. Security people peeled out after her in their own cars, but Yan had the power of absolutely insane reckless driving on her side. She didn''t know how to get to the airfield exactly, but she let instinct guide her. Keeping her hand on the horn the entire time, along with the wail of pursuing sirens did a lot to clear the streets, which was a good thing, because Yan was going full tilt and did not have the greatest control over her steering. She took corners so sharply that she ended up half on the sidewalk half the time, and it was a miracle that she didn''t hit a tree or a parked car enough that her car was destroyed. Whenever another car got too close, Yan shoved it out of the way with the power.

    The airfield was in sight. Again, there were spikes on the ground, and this time the airfield security was here blocking the gate, but no one had yet found a sensitive to challenge her. If anyone did, she wouldn''t get very much farther, but as of now, she was almost unstoppable.

    As she shoved emergency vehicles blindly out of the way, forcing everyone to dodge out of her careening path, Yan wondered vaguely how Iri and Sylva were doing.

    She knew from experience where all the ground-to-space shuttles were parked, and she could immediately identify which ones were part of the Imperial cohort. That was important, because, unless someone had thought within the past half hour to revoke her privileges, Yan had access to them. Yan drove directly across the runway, then across the grass around it, the car lurching up and down. She slammed to a stop right in front of a shuttle.

    She left the car running, got out, ran around to the passenger side, and hauled Kino''s limp form out of the car. She used the power to unlock the door of the shuttle, and painfully dragged Kino inside. She pulled the door shut as quickly as she could. Outside the shuttle, she could feel bullets impacting her shield, and through the window she caught a glimpse of vehicles coming up to surround her and prevent her from taking off.

    Yan slid into the pilot''s seat, feeling at home at once behind the yoke. She turned on the computer and entered her access credentials. It let her through, and she let out a panicked laugh. She buckled her seatbelt. She definitely should have buckled Kino into a seat, but she needed to take off. She needed to get this ship into the air.

    Yan did not go through the pre-flight checklist, and simply trusted that since no major warning lights were coming up on the dashboard that the shuttle was ready to take off.

    ¡°Clear the runway, or so help me God,¡± Yan said over the radio. At this point, she had probably, definitely, been identified, so she really didn''t care if anyone heard her voice. She didn''t wait for people to respond, and she got the shuttle rolling. The vehicles blocking her path were shunted aside in the power much the same way that she had when she was driving, but she was far more confident with the yoke of the shuttle under her hands than she was with the steering wheel.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Hold on tight, Kino,¡± Yan said again. She heard Kino''s body roll and tumble around in the back of the shuttle as Yan pushed forward on the throttle, centering herself on the runway as best she could. The shuttle''s engines whined.

    Yan had no idea what this shuttle''s takeoff distance was, but she hoped it wasn''t too far. She could see on the display that other planes were approaching, probably Imperial forces scrambled to get her. Yan really, really, really, didn''t want to be on the receiving end of military grade ordinance. Bullets were already bad enough to try to deal with. She wasn''t sure how easily she could divert a missile, not if she was also busy trying to fly the shuttle.

    The shuttle lept into the air with the feeling of Yan''s stomach dropping out from underneath her. Shuttles behaved very differently in the atmosphere than they did in space, so she had to trust the computer to not let her go into a death spiral or stall out.

    It was unfortunate, but as soon as she was in the air, the navigation began to jam as the air traffic control sent out meaningless signals to try to confuse her computers. Yan held the yoke steady, kept climbing, and reinforced the power structure she was keeping up around the shuttle. It was a good thing she did, because something came screaming down behind them, and exploded when it hit her power structure. The heat and blast it caused knocked the shuttle sideways, and Yan screamed as the shuttle went into a spin. She held the yoke for dear life and was able to correct, though she lost a scary amount of elevation. Kino tumbled around in the back.

    Yan kept flying, trying to move slightly less predictably so that she would be harder to hit. She knew she had to head up and due south. If she got into orbit, she''d be able to find the elevator. When she got there, well, she had no idea what she would do. At this point, they had definitely been alerted that she was on the way. She didn''t know how much of a pirate she was ready to become.

    Well, the plan was to steal a ship, so she guessed she was going to be a pirate all the way.

    Sylva was nervous. Petrified would actually be a better word for it, but she had Iri next to her, so that made things a little bit better.

    Halen came up to the apartment building and found them both in the lobby.

    ¡°You didn''t see where she went?¡± he asked immediately.

    ¡°I already told you that,¡± Iri said, impatient. ¡°But I have some guesses.¡±

    ¡°Which are?¡± Halen asked. ¡°Get in the car.¡±

    Sylva and Iri both got in the car, Iri in the passenger seat, Sylva in the back. Halen was wearing a black jacket, but on his pants, she could see dark(er) spots on his clothing, bloodstains, she supposed. It made her breath catch in her throat, but Halen didn''t seem to be paying much attention to her.

    ¡°Yan''s attached to the past. I would imagine she went to some place she feels a connection with,¡± Iri said. Sylva couldn''t actually tell how much of this was bullshit. It probably was true that Yan would have sought out a comforting place, if she hadn''t being going off to break into Stonecourt.

    ¡°Such as?¡±

    ¡°Remember when Sid ran away?¡± Iri asked. ¡°I''d put money she''s going to find a clearing in the forest.¡±

    ¡°Not the Academy?¡± Halen asked.

    ¡°I don''t think there''s anything left for her there. Maybe she would head for the ocean, though,¡± Iri said thoughtfully. ¡°The planet she was trapped on, it was all ocean.¡±

    ¡°Forest is closer. Calor,¡± Halen barked, turning around in his seat as he started the car. ¡°You know what she feels like in the power?¡±

    ¡°Uh,¡± Sylva said, cringing a little. ¡°I do, but...¡±

    Halen sighed and turned around. ¡°I''ll keep the lookout. You said she locked you in her apartment. Why?¡±

    ¡°She didn''t want to be stopped,¡± Sylva said. ¡°She just took her gun and ran.¡±

    Halen swore under his breath. ¡°Did she tell you what happened?¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Iri said. ¡°The general idea, anyway.¡±

    ¡°That''s all you need for now. What a fucking mess.¡± Halen brought the car out into traffic, driving significantly faster than was safe. Sylva clutched her seatbelt. ¡°Calor. What''s going on with you? What are you scared of?¡±

    Sylva did not like being put on the spot like that, but she hadn''t pretended to be a doctor for so long without picking up a few acting skills.

    ¡°Yan was more upset than I''ve ever seen her, and that includes the day we got her off that planet, and she took a gun and ran out of the house. What the fuck do you think I''m scared of?¡± The note of hysteria in her voice was real, even if she wasn''t afraid of Yan going off and killing herself. She was a bit afraid of someone killing Yan, but that was a little bit different.

    All they had to do was keep Halen away from Stonecourt. That was their goal. Whatever she had to do to make that happen, she would do. She would lie herself to death if she had to.

    ¡°This is worse than when we were on the Sky Boat,¡± Iri said quietly. ¡°And that was bad.¡±

    Halen''s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. ¡°Was she a danger to herself then?¡±

    ¡°No. But she had Sid then.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± They drove in a tense silence, the sounds of the car and traffic the only noises.

    ¡°How far could she have gone?¡± Halen asked. ¡°Did she leave right after you called me the first time?¡±

    ¡°She left before then. It depends on if she took a bus,¡± Iri said. ¡°If she''s on foot, she probably didn''t go that far.¡±

    ¡°Did you trace her card?¡±

    ¡°Obviously. But she would be smart enough to use a prepaid charge card. Untraceable.¡±

    ¡°Why would she have something like that?¡±

    ¡°You don''t keep spares around, in case you lose your regular charge card?¡± Iri asked. ¡°It''s a normal thing to do.¡±

    They drove on. It was a sunny day, and the forest was the light green of spring. There were plenty of people walking around. Halen parked the car. ¡°Could she be more than a kilometer deep in there?¡± he asked. ¡°That''s about the extent of my range.¡±

    That was a long way. Sylva''s sensing range was, in the atmosphere, and assuming she could get the power to cooperate at all, maybe a tenth of that. Again, the fear went through her. She used that to her advantage.

    ¡°You don''t think, if you can''t feel her, she could already be--?¡±

    Halen didn''t respond, but the way he closed his eyes briefly, as if he was in pain, said enough. ¡°Where did you find Sid?¡±

    ¡°This way,¡± Iri said. She led both of them down the path, into the forest.

    Halen''s phone buzzed. He ignored it.

    The trees made dappled shadows on the ground, and the pine needles smelled rich and earthy. Sylva had always liked coming here, and Yan had as well. She thought, perhaps morbidly, that if Yan had really been coming here to kill herself, this was a fairly pretty place for it. They walked deep into the woods.

    Halen''s phone kept buzzing, and then it rang, loudly. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°I have to take this.¡±

    They stopped walking, and Iri leaned against a tree. Sylva went to stand next to her. She knew that whatever was coming down the phone line was not going to be good. Her heart was beating about a million times a second.

    ¡°Halen here,¡± he said.

    ¡°Of course it''s not fucking good news.¡±

    ¡°So, she''s gone?¡±

    ¡°A sensitive?¡±

    ¡°Casualties?¡±

    ¡°Only destruction. Okay.¡±

    ¡°And she''s going where?¡±

    ¡°I''ll be right there.¡±

    Halen smiled, hung up the phone, and reached underneath his jacket. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at Iri. Iri''s posture didn''t change, exactly, but the muscles in her arms stiffened up.

    ¡°I assume you''re in on this?¡±

    Iri bit her lip. ¡°What tipped you off?¡±

    ¡°The fact that she didn''t kill anyone.¡±

    ¡°Yan''s capable of killing,¡± Iri said. ¡°But yes. We''re in on it.¡±

    Iri looked remarkably calm, for all that she was being threatened at gunpoint. Sylva was about as scared as she had been when she was dropping a broken shuttle down through the atmosphere into the ocean of an unknown planet. Sure she was going to die.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Halen,¡± Iri said, looking him in the eye. ¡°I owe Yan. I owe her far more than I owe you. I''m sorry that I ever had to make that clear.¡±

    ¡°And why is she doing this?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Iri said. ¡°I couldn''t explain it.¡±

    ¡°Is she working with Kino? Is she in on this?¡± Halen raised his voice, suddenly angry.

    Iri laughed bitterly. ¡°No. It would be more understandable if she was.¡±

    ¡°Give me one good reason why I shouldn''t kill you both,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°You came out here because you thought that Yan was about to kill herself,¡± Sylva said, unable to quash the note of panic in her voice. ¡°What do you think she would do if you killed us?¡±

    ¡°You care about Yan. You might care about Aymon more, and I respect that,¡± Iri said. ¡°But I don''t think you could bring yourself to hurt her like that.¡±

    ¡°You don''t know what I''m capable of,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°I, of all people, know what you''re capable of,¡± Iri said. ¡°But I''m putting my life on you not crossing that line. Not right now, anyway. Yan''s betting my life on you not crossing that line.¡±

    Sylva did not think that Yan had considered this very thoroughly. It was true that she had agreed to go through with it, and would have even if Yan had said that she might die, but she didn''t think that Yan had thought through the consequences very much at all.

    Halen''s gun wavered, and he held it pointed at Iri for a second longer, then put it away. ¡°Is there any chance I can convince her to stop this?¡±

    Iri stared at him. ¡°You have blood on your hands.¡±

    That was as much physical as it was metaphorical. Halen''s phone, which had been covered in blood, had gotten his hands dirty.

    ¡°Is there any way that you can convince her to stop this?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it.¡±

    ¡°Are you willing to try?¡±

    ¡°I''m willing to accompany you up to Emerri station, and we can see how this plays out,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°What''s she planning to do there?¡± Halen asked.

    ¡°If I were Yan, I''d be hoping my family showed up. They''d be right on schedule.¡±

    ¡°They would have sent an ansible message,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°I don''t know Yan''s family. But she put on her Dreams uniform when she left.¡±

    ¡°That doesn''t mean anything.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know what anything means,¡± Iri said. ¡°But she''s going to Emerri station, and we''d better go too if we want to catch her.¡±

    Sylva''s heart was still pounding in her ears. She was shocked that they weren''t about to die. Halen could change his mind, but Iri seemed to have a decent handle on his moral code, whatever that actually was. It was a tense, miserable walk out of the forest, and an even worse car ride. The sounds of sirens only got louder as they drove, and Sylva peered out the car windows to see what was going on. She couldn''t see much. Everything looked mostly normal, except for the lack of traffic. As they got closer to the airfield, though, the destruction became more apparent, with rather dented looking cars shoved haphazardly to the side of the road.

    Halen drove recklessly fast, but people got out of his way, and he was a good driver. Unlike Yan, apparently. Sylva didn''t know why she was surprised that Yan couldn''t drive for shit, at least according to the skid marks on the road. It wasn''t like she had owned a car while attending the Academy, and she definitely didn''t have a family who had taught her to drive at any point. Well, she did, but her family taught her to fly shuttles instead of drive cars.

    Maybe she was being unfair. If she had been in Yan''s position, maybe she wouldn''t have been driving very cleanly either. At least no one had died, she kept telling herself. Yet.

    The airfield was equally in disarray. The main runway actually had bits bombed out of it. Yan hadn''t done that, but she had definitely been the target. Sylva had to wonder, was Halen okay with his people attacking Yan, since he seemed to know that she would be able to dodge it? Was he going to call off all her pursuers?

    Someone already had a shuttle ready for him, and he climbed in, strapping himself into the pilot''s seat. Sylva wanted to ask if he actually knew how to fly it, but she would have definitely gotten an even snippier answer than the one she got from Yan, so she kept her mouth shut. She strapped herself in to the passenger seats in the back and Iri sat in the co-pilot''s seat. Iri''s piloting skills were not very good, but Halen didn''t say anything in complaint, so Sylva didn''t bring it up.

    Halen radioed air traffic control and got them smoothly airborne. His phone rang. Sylva was slightly surprised that it worked while they were in flight, but he probably had the most comprehensive communication device that money could buy. ¡°Iri, hands,¡± he said.

    ¡°Hands,¡± Iri said back, putting her hands on the yoke and taking control of the shuttle.

    ¡°Halen here,¡± Halen said into the phone. Sylva could only hear half of the conversation, but it was clear that he was talking to First Sandreas.

    ¡°Glad you''re alright.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I''m on my way.¡±

    ¡°Four hours? It depends on how this goes.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any instructions?¡±

    ¡°No, I don''t think you should ask the Emperor.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

    ¡°I''ll get her back if I can.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is a nightmare.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know why.¡±

    ¡°I don''t think she betrayed you, no.¡±

    ¡°Well, that depends on what you''d call betrayal.¡±

    ¡°She was messed up, Aymon. She probably hasn''t been thinking straight for months.¡±

    ¡°You felt her power.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡±

    ¡°I''ll just shoot her if I get a clean shot.¡±

    ¡°Yan can hate me if she wants.¡±

    ¡°She probably already does.¡± A long pause.

    ¡°Why did you save my life?¡±

    Halen sighed. ¡°I''ll talk to you about it later. We''re all just going to have to make the best of a bad situation.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Love you. Bye.¡±

    He hung up the phone. ¡°Hands,¡± he said to Iri. They switched who was flying the shuttle.

    The dashboard had a little glowing navigational panel, and Sylva watched as they closed in on Emerri station. It took a long time, and Halen stared dead eyed and silent out the front window, steering the shuttle up out of the atmosphere. The transition from atmosphere to space was unpleasant, and Sylva hated the rocketing feeling of acceleration that it took.

    ¡°If she was waiting for her family,¡± Halen began, breaking the hours long silence, ¡°she''d take the shuttle and hide. Run cold for a while, and radio them when they came in. She''s not planning to do that, though.¡±

    Iri didn''t respond.

    ¡°I wish you hadn''t insisted on lying to me,¡± Halen said. ¡°This isn''t going to end well.¡±

    ¡°I never expected it to,¡± Iri said.

    Yan knew that she was being followed, and she knew exactly who was following her. It had to be Halen, because she had covered the shuttle with her invisibility as soon as she had left the atmosphere, and he seemed to know where she was going. Additionally, there were plenty of shuttles with defensive capabilities that could have followed her out of the atmosphere, but none did. The only pursuer she had was a single shuttle, and it made no attempt to radio her. She pushed her own shuttle as fast as it could handle, trying to get to Emerri station and the top of the elevator. It was a pretty long trip, several hours.

    All the while, she was thinking about what was going to happen. She didn''t think that Emerri station had that much in the way of defenses. It had never once needed to defend itself against pirates, so it probably only had minimal shuttles. But it was probably on total lockdown. There would be no way she was going to be able to land her shuttle in the bay. There would be no peaceful docking and transfer to the First Star.

    All things considered, her plan had been going spectacularly well. No one had died. Kino was alive, if seriously injured. The muscle relaxant and everything else she had been dosed with were even beginning to wear off, enough that she was able to get herself off the floor. Yan felt a little bad for having left her there, especially during all of the rocky acceleration, but she was also supremely pissed at Kino, and it had been dire circumstances.

    Yan put the shuttle on autopilot and got up to investigate what resources she had at her disposal. Kino was passed out on a chair, and Yan spared her a glance as she went to the back of the shuttle. In the lockers back there, with the emergency supplies, Yan found a couple of the flimsiest space suits imaginable. They would be able to protect someone from a vacuum, but not much else. She shook one out and checked to see if it would fit. After all, this shuttle wasn''t outfitted with spacers in mind; being of Imperial issue it was designed for far shorter planet-dwellers.

    The suit was stretchy enough that Yan felt that she could get it on, and the helmet was functional. The emergency oxygen packs were right where she thought they would be. Yan glanced behind her at Kino, then went to go wake her up.

    Yan shook Kino''s shoulder, her right one, to not jostle her wounded hand so much. Even that simple touch sent Yan halfway into Kino''s dream, and Yan jolted back. It was as though the boundary that Kino had carefully been maintaining around herself had fallen down. Perhaps at least that part of her invisibility was less instinct than it was careful practice. Kino woke and blinked in the dim light. Tears that had been pooling in the corners of her eyes detached themselves and floated away.

    Yan didn''t know if Kino was crying from pain, or she just had watery eyes when she slept, or what.

    ¡°You okay?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°We''re almost there.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°The First Star,¡± Yan said. ¡°Emerri station. Can you get up?¡±

    Yan felt the ghostly touch of Kino''s power, apparently free of the drugs'' influence enough to operate independently, and watched her detach her seatbelt. The makeshift bandage around Kino''s left hand was coming loose, and the smell of blood filled the air as she moved. Yan tried not to look at it, feeling nauseous.

    ¡°We''re going to have to do something stupid,¡± Yan said, feeling like her mouth was moving far slower than her brain. ¡°They''re not going to let us dock. So we''re going to have to board the First Star from the outside.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn''t have brought me here,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Can you just be grateful? I''m trying to save your life, okay?¡± Yan snapped. She didn''t know if she had ever been this mean to Kino, but she didn''t have the time to process her own emotions, and that absolutely not dealing with Kino''s guilt, or pain, or whatever was going on. Yan needed them both to be rational actors.

    Kino looked at her with eyes that seemed too large and too pathetic, magnified by tears. ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°So we''re going to board the First Star,¡± Yan said. ¡°Do you understand what that will look like?¡±

    Kino just looked at her.

    ¡°Great. So we''re going to suit up. Will you be able to do that?¡±

    Kino nodded.

    ¡°And I''m going to fly us a bit closer to the First Star. This shuttle doesn''t have a harpoon, I don''t think, so we''ll just have to stationkeep. Once we''re close...¡± Yan stopped and considered for a second. ¡°We have two choices. Do you want to stay in the shuttle, and fly it in once I get the doors open, or do you want to come out with me?¡±

    Neither option was ideal. Yan didn''t trust Kino to be able to fly the shuttle, but she equally didn''t trust Kino to survive a spacewalk. She left it up to Kino to make the choice.

    ¡°I''ll go with you,¡± Kino said, very quietly.

    ¡°Fine. That''s probably easiest. There''s suits in the back. Let me know if you need help getting one on.¡± Yan returned to the pilot''s seat.

    Since no one could track her shuttle, Yan wasn''t particularly worried about being shot at as they came in, at least not until she released the invisibility. She was worried about someone, somewhere, coming to their senses and ordering the First Star to jump away. That would have been the first thing that Yan would have done, if she thought that someone was about to try to steal her ship.

    She didn''t know if people did think that, but Halen wasn''t stupid, and the shuttle that was following her was tracking a direct course to Emerri station. Halen probably knew better than anyone else about stealing ships, since he was a pirate.

    Yan wondered again how Iri and Sylva were doing.

    When she got close enough to Emerri station, she could see that the First Star was still docked there. Yan considered the possibilities. She didn''t really like any of them.

    Number one: people were just being stupid enough to not realize this was her plan, or they still hadn''t figured out her identity, or everyone was just being generally incompetent. That didn''t seem likely.

    Number two: there was some other reason why the First Star couldn''t jump away. There was a distinct possibility that the captain of the First Star was down on the planet, and was only just now coming up on the elevator or a shuttle.

    Number three: it was a trap. The First Star could be a tempting bait to lure her in. She could be delayed there for long enough for someone to get a sensitive after her to stop her. That was what Yan was most worried about.

    There was one other possibility, but thinking about it made Yan''s heart beat strangely. Halen had said to her, not even a full day ago, that there was nothing that would make him stop caring about her. Perhaps this was Yan cashing in on that care. This was Yan making the choice that Halen said she could make. This was Halen, allowing her.

    Kino, now suited up, sat down in the co-pilot''s seat. She had her wounded arm tucked up into her chest. Yan spared her a glance, and felt another incomprehensible twist in her gut.

    ¡°We''re lucky,¡± Yan said after a minute. ¡°The First Star is still there.¡±

    Kino didn''t respond, which annoyed but did not particularly surprise Yan.

    ¡°Have you ever spacewalked before?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Great.¡± It was not great. ¡°I''m going to tether you, then.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Buckle up. I''m going to decelerate.¡± Kino obeyed, using the power to fasten her seatbelt rather than her hands. Yan strapped herself in as well, then began to slow the shuttle down so that they could match orbits with Emerri station. She wanted to have the shuttle cold, and fairly far away from their actual destination. She was going to have to release the invisibility on the shuttle after they left it, and she didn''t want to bring too much attention to her actual location. The farther away from Emerri station that she dropped the shuttle, the better her chances of getting them to the First Star undetected were.

    They were still several kilometers away from the First Star and the station, but they had matched orbits with it, and the shuttle''s engines had had time to radiate away their excess heat. Yan didn''t want the shuttle to be lighting up like a star in the infrared view, and she had moved the shuttle so that it wouldn''t be in between the station and the planet, so even in the visible it would be less... obvious. It unfortunately would be catching some reflected light, so once she dropped the invisibility it would be pretty easy to spot for people who were looking, but it was better than nothing.

    Yan went and suited up herself, struggling to get the suit situated. She plugged in an oxygen pack to the back, and did the same to Kino. It was annoying, but the helmets didn''t even have radio. Yan supposed it didn''t really matter, since she wouldn''t want to be broadcasting anyway as that would immediately give away their position. If Kino was any good at sign, and didn''t have a wounded hand, that would have been Yan''s preferred method of communication, but as it was, they were going to be tethered together, so Yan could just grab Kino and use the power if she needed to say something. Not that she was particularly in the mood to talk to Kino.

    Yan found the boosters, tucked against the back wall of the shuttle. She checked their fuel level and strapped them on to herself. The pack fit snugly on her back, and the thumbsticks that controlled direction and acceleration snapped into place on the palm of her suit''s gloves. The tether was just a long cord, and Yan tied it so that it was far shorter than it normally was. It fastened onto the web of straps that encircled the suit, distributing any pulling pressure across her whole chest. Yan attached one end to herself, and the other to Kino.

    ¡°Now or never, Kino,¡± Yan muttered and handed her a helmet. Kino struggled to put it on with her one hand, so Yan reached over and fastened it in place, then put on her own helmet.

    They made their way to the airlock. Yan put her hand on Kino''s arm, and though the suit made it a little difficult, they were able to speak. Now that she was awake and more lucid, less of Kino was leaking through to Yan.

    ¡°We''re going to go out, and I''m going to fly us to the First Star. Once we get there, we''re going to make our way across the outside to the airlock. I think I''ll be able to open the doors.¡±

    ¡°Don''t ships stop you from using the power on them?¡±

    ¡°At a distance. We''ll be touching it.¡± Yan had always been able to use the power while inside of a ship, so she doubted that hanging on the outside would be any different. She thought that it was similar to the way that contact facilitated communication. The ship was like the body of the stardrive, which was resistant to being meddled with, but if she became part of the body of the ship by touching it, or by being within its boundaries, then it was rather like how Sid could easily change his tattoos. Maybe just a little bit different.

    She had to think that, anyway, because she didn''t have an alternative. This shuttle definitely did not have the high powered torches that pirates tended to use to cut through airlocks and enter ships.

    Yan and Kino crammed into the airlock. It was a tight fit, and even through the tint of Kino''s helmet, Yan could see the way she cringed when her wounded arm was pressed up against Yan. It took half a minute for the air to bleed out of the airlock, and when it did, Yan turned the wheel to open the outside doors.

    It was so weird to be back in space. How long ago had it been? She didn''t remember if she had spacewalked during her last summer on the Dreams, so it might have been a long time. But even still, the feeling of it was aching and familiar.

    ¡°Hold on,¡± Yan sent, touching Kino on the shoulder. Kino grabbed the tether with her uninjured arm, and Yan gently engaged her boosters, dragging them both forward. She managed to keep the invisibility on both them and the shuttle until they were about half a kilometer away, but the mental strain grew the further away the shuttle slipped in her vision, so she abandoned keeping that invisibility and focused on just herself and Kino.

    They came closer and closer to Emerri station, with its long straight tether tying it to the planet. Yan kept a very careful watch, to make sure that there weren''t any flying objects around. The last thing she wanted was to be hit with a shipping container, or a shuttle, or a missile. The whole area around the station seemed to be deadly still, and the only sounds Yan could hear were her own tight breaths, the faint hiss of the oxygen pack, and the thudding of her heart in her ears. She wished for the crackle of the radio and any friendly voice.

    Yan decelerated as they got closer and closer to the First Star, aiming for the still and rocky surface. Her hands brushed it, and she dragged her feet along it to slow them down. Kino crashed into her, but steadied herself with her right hand. Cautiously, Yan dragged them along, half using the broken surface of the ship, and half using little bursts from the booster pack to navigate them towards the nearest airlock.

    She had never been on the First Star, but something about the way it felt in the power was familiar. Maybe it was just the way that all stardrives felt, the warm divot they made in the fabric of the universe. Yan stopped them at the surface of the door.

    ¡°You ready?¡± Yan asked Kino, who had her hand on Yan''s back.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kino sent back.

    Yan put her hands on the door, feeling the warm power beneath her hands. It wasn''t as difficult as she had feared; the whole ship seemed to welcome her. She tugged the door sideways, pulling it open. Air rushed out, catching her slightly off guard, but it wasn''t enough of a flow to knock her anywhere. It was only the volume of the air that had been in the airlock, and since it had such a wide hole to exit through, it dissipated quickly and without much pressure. A bright red alarm light was flashing, and Yan was sure that people were aware of their presence now. They could hardly not be.

    She dragged Kino inside the airlock, used the power to shut the outside door behind her, and used the power once again to open the inner door. The air of the ship rushed in, and this time it did knock Yan slightly backwards. She bumped into Kino, and the pain of that impact that leaked through their connection was enough to make Yan''s vision go hazy for a brief moment.

    With the air in, they could hear the alarm going now. Yan pulled off her helmet, then helped Kino get hers off as well, and undid the tether that was keeping them together. Yan had the advantage in this space, since she was still wearing the booster pack, so she pulled Kino along on her uninjured arm. They were in a small bay, not one used for shuttles, but an area that was used to send out maintenance people to the outside of the ship. It was mercifully empty. Yan didn''t know where people were. They were definitely around here somewhere, though.

    ¡°First stop is the bridge,¡± Yan said aloud. ¡°If we meet people, don''t kill them. Got it?¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°We''re going to jump this ship out of here.¡±

    The first problem was finding the bridge. The hallways of the First Star were much like the hallways of the Impulse in their ordered cleanliness, but they were much smaller and less well labeled. This was not a Fleet ship; it was Sandreas''s personal vehicle, an unimaginable luxury.

    The alarms were still screaming, making it hard for Yan to think, and every time they came to a door, she had to force it with the power. They didn''t have to go very far before they encountered resistance. Imperial security, who had probably been stationed on Emerri station, came looking for them, but Yan had kept her invisibility up, and the only evidence of their passing was the trail of forced doors that she was leaving. Even with the number of doors that she had opened, there were plenty of intersections, so it was fairly easy to avoid people. Easier, even, than on the ground, because in zero gravity, she had no worries about her footsteps being heard. It was much quieter to shove off a wall than it was to walk down a hallway. Kino stayed blessedly silent as well, and made no move to attack the guards when Yan squeezed her arm.

    They transferred into the rotating ring, only a single one aboard this ship since it was so small, which took some effort. Typically, one would ride an elevator to match the rotation of the ring, and meet up with one of its entrances. Since everything on the ship was on lockdown, however, what Yan had to do was pry open one of the doors in the elevator shaft, then watch as a door to the ring went sliding by. She pried that one open, too, but then it was too far away for her to dodge into, so they waited for it to come around again, then dove in, ending up crashing hard into the wall before stabilizing on the floor.

    It was a little easier to navigate after that, and since stealth had mostly been given up, Yan and Kino dashed down the corridor, searching out the bridge. It was easy to find. The door was locked, of course, but Yan forced it like she had all the others, and then forced it closed on the other side.

    Surprisingly, it was empty. Maybe it was true that the real crew of the First Star lived planetside, as most people would, and only came up when Sandreas needed to take a trip. If they were still making their way up the elevator... Well, in any event, it made Yan''s life easier.

    The bridge was dark, only the emergency lights were on, and the whole place felt dim and ghostly. Yan looked around for a second, taking in the weird feeling of being alone (or nearly alone, since Kino was there) on the bridge of a ship. She didn''t have very long to contemplate, though, because she heard the sound of running footsteps in the hallway from outside.

    ¡°Kino, you need to stop anybody from getting in here. I''m going to jump us out.¡±

    Kino nodded, and stationed herself in front of the door. Yan dropped all her invisibility and everything else she was holding up. Kino could take care of this. Hopefully.

    Yan located the navigator''s console and sat down. The computer displayed a lock screen, which didn''t even offer a space for Yan to put in a password. She stood up and went over to the captain''s chair. There, at the command console, there was a space to put in credentials. Yan thought for half a second, the used the only credentials she knew: her own.

    The console lit up. No one had shut her out yet. The twisting feeling in her stomach grew more intense, because this definitely was the work of someone looking out for her. If Halen and Sandreas weren''t ordering her shut out, then that was probably because they believed... She didn''t know what they believed, but it would probably hurt them all the worse that she actually was betraying them. Stealing Sandreas''s ship, taking Kino away.

    As quickly as she could, Yan put in the commands to cut off accepting all incoming signals. She definitely did not want someone sending whatever kill command could lock her out at this point. She also brought up the ship''s status, showing the long docking tube that connected them to Emerri station. It was unfortunate that it was attached, but safety protocols always dictated that both ends would be closed except during actual transfer of people and equipment from one end to the other, so Yan wasn''t worried about jumping and leaving a wide vaccuum hole in the ship.

    The biggest problem was that this ship was crawling with people. Imperial security forces, at the very least, who were currently sawing open the door that Kino was holding shut. Yan blocked the keening whine of the door melting and focused on what actually needed to happen. She pulled up the navigation panel.

    It all slid so easily, all the past lessons, into her brain. It was so natural for her to perform the calculations, set the drive up. She could practically feel the First Star''s drive, ready and waiting, eager to be used. Happy to be leaving port. So was she, in a way.

    She double checked her commands, definitely not wanting to drop them into occupied space, and then punched the go button. The power surged, high and joyous, and they jumped.

    They barely moved at all, in the grand scheme of things, and immediately alarms flashed on her console, telling her that the docking tube was destroyed, but she ignored that. They were approximately eight hours of conventional travel away from Emerri station.

    Yan killed the ship''s alarms as she was tired of hearing them, which left only the sound of the door breaking down. Yan glanced behind herself. Kino was sweating, but keeping the door in place with the power.

    Yan got on the ship''s intercom. ¡°Attention, everyone aboard the First Star. This is, well, this is Yan BarCarran. We have just jumped approximately eight hours of travel away from Emerri station. Please stop trying to destroy the door. I''m not going to hurt you. My goal is to get you off of this ship as peacefully as possible, and then leave. If you cooperate, we shouldn''t have any problems.¡±

    She was rambling into the microphone, and she knew it. Her brain was exhausted and foggy. She had been using the power a lot, and she had been doing way too much. It felt like, now that she was in control of the ship, the big problems should be over, but they definitely were not.

    The people attempting to break down the door did not stop attempting to break down the door. Yan wasn''t super concerned about that. Kino was handling it well enough at the moment.

    Yan pulled back up the radio interface, making it so that the only messages she could receive were plain voice. She still didn''t want anybody sending kill codes to the First Star, but maybe they couldn''t. After all, if she was Sandreas, she didn''t know if she would want anyone to be able to remotely disable or alter her ship.

    Yan mentally prepared herself to send out the message that she needed to send, then she pressed the button to broadcast out into space, back towards Emerri.

    ¡°Halen, is it you in that shuttle?¡± she asked. If anyone was going to be chasing her down, it would be him. She hoped that Iri and Sylva were with him, and not trapped in jail on Emerri.

    It took a long time, several minutes, for the radio to go out and the response to come back. The sound of Kino holding the door was almost unbearable. Yan rubbed her temples.

    ¡°Yes, Yan,¡± Halen said back, sounding resigned. ¡°Please come home.¡±

    ¡°I can''t,¡± Yan said. ¡°Where are Iri and Sylva?¡±

    Again, the agonizing wait for the response. ¡°Kino, are you feeling up to actually going out and stopping them from doing that?¡± Yan asked. ¡°I can''t really deal with the door right now.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Don''t kill anyone.¡± Yan didn''t know why she kept having to tell Kino that. After all, Yan had killed... way more people than Kino had. As far as she knew, Kino''s body count was zero, actually. But Yan didn''t trust her.

    The door burst open, and out of an abundance of caution, Yan put up a power structure to keep bullets off of her, but Kino had the situation well under control. She easily stripped the guards of all their weapons, tossed them into the bridge, and gathered the guards up by their clothes and dragged them off down the hall. The door, half destroyed, closed and blocked some of the sounds of struggle, mostly yelling and hands and feet pounding on the floor. Kino had it under control. A sensitive in their right mind and paying attention was really more than a match for basically any traditional attack.

    The reply came from the radio. ¡°They''re here,¡± Halen said. ¡°Please, Yan.¡±

    ¡°I have to make this choice,¡± Yan said. ¡°Let''s not waste too much time. There are people on this ship, I''m sure they''d much rather be returned to Emerri, and I''d much rather have Iri and Sylva. You''re about eight hours away. When you get here, let''s do an exchange.¡±

    The long wait for the reply. ¡°Please don''t cross this bridge. We can make this right. I don''t want to lose you.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry,¡± Yan said. And in the empty silence, waiting for the reply, she kept talking. ¡°All I wanted is for things to go back to the way they were. But they can''t- it''s not possible, and it never will be. I can''t go back and pretend like it''s okay, and I can''t go back and pretend like this didn''t happen. I feel like-- I feel like I''m seeing things for the first time, and I hate it. I never wanted it to be this way.¡±

    ¡°It doesn''t have to be this way.¡±

    ¡°It does,¡± Yan said. ¡°I--¡± and she stopped, because Kino came back into the bridge, and her thoughts collapsed out from under her. Her tone changed. She had to be professional, now. ¡°When you get here, we''ll put the people we have on a shuttle. We''ll trade. You take them, you give me Iri and Sylva. Iri will pilot the shuttle back to me, and you can return to Emerri.¡±

    ¡°You''re making a mistake.¡±

    ¡°Do you agree to this exchange?¡± Yan asked. Yan was negotiating from a position of power, a little bit. She doubted that even Halen could attack a starship, and she was in control of it. He would probably come out to her and try to use Iri and Sylva as bargaining chips, but she felt like he had enough of a heart that he wouldn''t abandon all the people trapped on this ship with Yan.

    The reply took far longer to come than usual.

    ¡°Yes. I agree,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°Then we have no need for further discussion,¡± Yan said and killed the radio. She hated this, but trying to talk to Halen would only hurt more.

    Eight hours later, after searching every inch of the ship for people and loading everyone they found onto a shuttle, Yan watched Halen''s ship come towards her. It had been pretty easy to corral everyone, once Yan made it thoroughly clear how large the power imbalance was between them was, and how little she actually wanted to hurt them. A few people had required rougher handling, shoving them around by their clothes or threatening at gunpoint, until they cooperated, but by far most people had been eager to climb into the shuttle to escape the First Star.

    It was almost anticlimactic, the silent exchange. The two shuttles flew right up next to eachother, the one from the First Star being remotely piloted by Yan over the radio. It was clunky and awkward, but it would do. Over the radio, Yan directed everyone on her shuttle to leave. One by one, the suited group left the airlock.

    ¡°Send out Iri and Sylva,¡± Yan ordered over the radio.

    ¡°Please don''t do this, Yan,¡± Halen said again. He really was begging; Yan could hear it in his voice.

    ¡°Send them out,¡± Yan said again. She was sick and miserable, but the professional face and voice were always there for her, and she put them on.

    Iri and Sylva filed out of Halen''s shuttle. Yan reached out with the power, easy outside of the atmosphere, to confirm they were who they said they were, and that Halen wasn''t sending decoys to trick her. Satisfied, Yan opened the airlock doors on her shuttle. Quickly, the groups traded places. As soon as Iri was behind the pilot''s seat, Yan gave over command to her, and she accelerated the shuttle back towards the First Star. Yan let her in.

    Yan glanced at Kino, and then at the lone shuttle, sitting still and silent out in space before her.

    ¡°I''m sorry, Halen,¡± Yan said, then jumped the First Star away, out into the vast and untraceable distances of empty space.

 (Reading/Abridgement Guide) Act Two: The Realms of the Unreal

    For those readers who wish to read this act per character POV rather than in posted order, this guide will help you do that. Readers who wish to have a completely unspoiled experience of reading act 2 should avoid this guide, as knowing what characters appear when may tarnish your experience.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Although I believe the ideal reading experience is the posted order, if you wish to catch up to the current story faster, you may prefer to only read the chapters marked required.

    For your convenience, a hyperlinked list is provided below. Chapters in which more than one POV exists are listed in all relevant characters'' lists.

 Chapter Ninety - The Choices We Must Live With

    The Choices We Must Live With

    <blockquote>

    ¡°There¡¯s no home like the one you¡¯ve abandoned, no home like the one you¡¯ve scorned. No home like the one you¡¯ve left riven, twisted, and torn. There¡¯s no arms like your mother¡¯s, there¡¯s no calm outside her storm. There¡¯s no ship like the one you were born on, and there¡¯s no comfort when you¡¯re on your own.¡±

    -from ¡°Abandoned Ship (My Brother¡¯s Keeper)¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    As soon as the First Star was done jumping, Yan abandoned the bridge, leaving Kino behind, and ran as fast as she could to the shuttle bay. When she arrived, she was extremely relieved to find Iri and Sylva looking a little rumpled but otherwise none the worse for wear as they climbed out of the shuttle. Yan couldn''t exactly say the same for herself; in the twelve or so hours since she had sustained the injury, her head wound had stopped bleeding and had crusted over, but she knew she was a filthy, bloody mess.

    Mess or not, they were all alive, and that was the biggest relief she could have asked for.

    Sylva pushed forward off the side of the shuttle when she saw Yan come in, and crashed into her, sending them both scooting backwards through the air of the bay. As Sylva wrapped herself around Yan, Yan dragged her feet on the ground to bring them to a stop.

    ¡°I''m so glad you''re okay,¡± Sylva said, speaking directly into Yan''s ear, her head nestled in the crook of Yan''s neck. ¡°I saw the wreck you made of the streets, and all the shit they threw at the airfield, I can barely believe you made it out in one piece.¡±

    ¡°I''m glad you''re okay too,¡± Yan said. ¡°Halen didn''t hurt you, right?¡± Yan looked over Sylva''s shoulder at Iri as she said this, watching Iri lock down the shuttle.

    ¡°No, just threatened us. It was a long shuttle ride, though.¡±

    ¡°Where''s Kino,¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°I left her on the bridge.¡± At Iri''s raised eyebrow, Yan added, ¡°We''re already jumped. It''s not like she can do anything.¡±

    ¡°And what kind of state is she in?¡±

    Yan pulled away from Sylva and considered the question. ¡°Functional,¡± she said. ¡°But I don''t know if her hand can be saved.¡±

    ¡°Sylva can take a look at it,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°What? No,¡± Sylva replied, turning around to glare at Iri. ¡°I absolutely will not.¡±

    ¡°Don''t be a fucking baby,¡± Iri said. ¡°You''re the closest thing to a doctor we have.¡±

    ¡°But I hate--¡±

    ¡°Your personal feelings don''t need to enter into it at all,¡± Iri said. Sylva looked at Yan with a pleading expression. Yan hated being caught in the middle, but Sylva was just going to have to live with it. Like it or not, Kino needed a doctor, and Sylva''s prior experience was as good as they were going to get at the moment.

    ¡°For me?¡± Yan said, looking at Sylva. ¡°Do it for me?¡±

    Sylva pinched the bridge of her nose, rubbed her eyes, and looked down at the floor. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Bridge is this way,¡± Yan said and led them out of the bay.

    ¡°I know,¡± Iri said. ¡°I''ve been here before.¡±

    ¡°You really did a number on these doors,¡± Sylva commented as they passed a few places where Yan had needed to force an entry.

    ¡°I''ll fix it later,¡± Yan muttered.

    On the bridge, they found Kino seated, asleep or passed out. Iri and Sylva glanced at each other, and Yan shook Kino''s shoulder to get her up. A dull pain leeched through the contact, but it was nowhere near as potent as it had been earlier. Perhaps this was just a tired sleep from Kino, rather than being unconscious in pain.

    Kino blinked and looked around, and Yan dropped her hand off of Kino''s shoulder.

    ¡°Iri and Sylva are here,¡± Yan said, in case Kino was confused as she woke. ¡°Sylva''s going to take a look at your hand, okay?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Iri, do you know where the medical suite is?¡±

    ¡°Follow me.¡±

    Yan helped Kino to her feet and they all trooped through the ring. Iri led the way, Yan walked uncomfortably in the middle next to Kino, and Sylva fell far behind them in the back, making her reluctance clear. Now that they were all walking together, it struck Yan just how empty the First Star was. They felt like the only four people in the universe.

    The medical suite was small, as everything on the ship was, but it was very well stocked. Yan wouldn''t have expected anything different from Sandreas''s personal ship. Sylva looked through all the cupboards and drawers at the supplies, and Kino sat on the exam table. Yan found a stool and perched on it, while Iri leaned against the wall. Sylva washed her hands and put on gloves.

    ¡°Better stocked than the Warrior. And better organized,¡± she said.

    ¡°That surprises you?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Sylva came over to Kino, bearing a tray of disinfectant wipes and other implements. Kino was paler than usual, and sweating, but she didn''t flinch when Sylva reached for her wounded arm.

    ¡°You should give her anesthesia first,¡± Iri said, stopping Sylva before she unwrapped Kino''s makeshift bandage.

    ¡°Who''s the doctor here?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°No one,¡± Iri said. ¡°You didn''t give her anything before, right?¡±

    Yan realized that no, she had not given Kino anything for the pain, even when she very easily could have. Kino hadn''t so much as asked. Yan''s stomach twisted up on itself with guilt, or anger, or remembered pain, or something, and she shook her head.

    ¡°You might as well give her the painkiller now,¡± Iri reiterated, voice absolutely calm.

    Sylva huffed and put down her tray. It clattered loudly. She returned to the cabinets, then searched the back room. While she was out of the room, Yan looked between Kino and Iri. She wished she knew what was going on in their heads. Iri stared at the back room where Sylva had gone, and Kino studied the floor, her mouth moving almost imperceptibly.

    Sylva returned. ¡°Local or genera?¡± she asked, looking at Iri.

    ¡°I''m not the one you''re about to operate on,¡± Iri said. With visible reluctance, Sylva turned to Kino and held up the two options.

    ¡°Local,¡± Kino said, still looking at the floor.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Sylva said. She put the vials she was holding down on the counter next to Yan and looked for a syringe. ¡°Can you get your shirt off or do I have to cut it?¡± she asked, still rifling through the drawers.

    ¡°I think you should cut it,¡± Yan said, cutting in. If she could do anything to lessen the tension in the room by answering for Kino, she would.

    ¡°Hold this,¡± Sylva said, passing Yan a full syringe. Yan took it gently, not wanting to break the delicate and unfamiliar object. Sylva found a pair of scissors and held them up triumphantly. Their blades glinted in the light. This time, Kino closed her eyes as Sylva came towards her.

    ¡°Can you lift your arm?¡±

    Kino held her arm out away from her body, and Sylva deftly cut away Kino''s cassock and shirt at the shoulder. Yan used the power to grab the pieces as they fell to the floor, and she placed them in the garbage. Sylva swabbed Kino''s arm below the elbow, then took the syringe back from Yan. She jabbed Kino''s arm with it, and Yan couldn''t tell if she was placing it intentionally or just randomly. Considering that Sylva was not a real doctor, it probably wasn''t worth worrying about. As long as it worked, it was good.

    ¡°This should take effect in like, ten minutes,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Can I take that off?¡± she asked, nodding at the filthy bandage wrapped around Kino''s hand. It had been loose before, but Kino must have tightened it at some point, because it was no longer falling off.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kino said. Sylva held Kino''s arm above the wrist, and laid it on the side table next to the exam chair, palm up. Cautiously, she pulled on the edge of the bandage. When it refused to budge, she picked up the scissors once again and cut through the bandage, pulling it apart.

    Bile rose in Yan''s throat, but she swallowed it down. Kino''s whole hand was covered in thick, half dried blood, and her pinky and ring finger were missing. Her middle finger only extended to the first knuckle, and bone stuck out, hard and white, from the mass of destroyed flesh.

    Sylva lifted Kino''s hand up, placed a clean white towel underneath it, and began to flush the whole hand with water. She got enough of the blood off that the areas where Halen had carved into Kino''s palm and the fronts of Kino''s remaining fingers, which Yan hadn''t even seen before, became visible. The towel grew pink with water and blood very quickly, and Iri grabbed a new one to hand to Sylva. When the whole hand was clean and dry, Sylva went in with actual disinfectant on the wounds. Kino, who had thus far been completely silent, barely even breathing, let out a pained whimper.

    Quickly, Sylva finished disinfecting and tossed down her tools onto the tray. She stripped off her gloves, tossed them in the trash, and jerked her thumb at Iri and the door. ¡°I need to talk to you,¡± she said. ¡°You,¡± she said, pointing at Kino. ¡°Let me know when that''s numb all the way.¡±

    Iri followed Sylva out, leaving Yan alone with Kino. It was just the silence of the room, Kino''s stuttering breaths, and her mangled hand sitting there between them. If Yan listened closely, she could hear the conversation that Iri and Sylva were having outside. Sylva wasn''t exactly quiet. It involved Sylva''s fears and her wish that she had made Kino sleep for the operation. Yan tuned it out and focused on Kino in front of her.

    ¡°I read your letter,¡± Yan said. She didn''t know why that was what she was starting with, but she had to say something.

    ¡°I didn''t want you to come get me. I didn''t ask you to.¡± Kino''s voice was thick sounding.

    ¡°You told me that I should do what I had to.¡±

    Kino shook her head. ¡°Not like this.¡±

    ¡°I know you meant that if I killed you,¡± Yan said. ¡°I gathered that from you saying that you forgive me.¡±

    ¡°I thought you would.¡±

    Yan twisted her hands together. ¡°It''s one thing for you to forgive me. It''s another for me to forgive myself.¡±

    ¡°And another for God,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yan said with a frown. She was, as Kino had said, still not on speaking terms with God at the moment, and wasn''t sure if she ever would be again. She didn''t know if she wanted to be. That wasn''t true. She desperately wanted to return to being the person who could blindly commune with the universe, who felt secure if not in her place, at least in the knowledge that there was a place for her.

    ¡°Do you forgive me?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°I can''t talk about that right now,¡± Yan said. ¡°I don''t know.¡± She shook her head, then looked at Kino''s hand.

    ¡°Why are you doing this? Why are you throwing away your life for me?¡± Kino asked. ¡°You could have been First.¡±

    ¡°I--¡± Yan began, then stopped. She knew exactly why, but she was having trouble putting it into words. There were so many reasons: the feeling that she somehow needed to repay Etta for her own rescue, the revulsion and deep terror she had felt when she had heard Halen say that he was torturing Kino on her behalf, the creeping feeling that Kino had been right all along. It was all tangled up inside her, and each of the three prongs led down dark roads that Yan was afraid to tread.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I just had to,¡± Yan said finally. ¡°I couldn''t live with myself if I didn''t.¡±

    Kino closed her eyes. ¡°Maybe we understand each other, then.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry I didn''t give you painkillers before,¡± Yan said. ¡°I should have.¡±

    Kino shook her head. ¡°No one gave you any.¡±

    ¡°It isn''t a fucking competition,¡± Yan said, suddenly angry. She didn''t want to feel sorry for Kino, and she certainly didn''t want to feel sorry for herself.

    ¡°I''m sorry,¡± Kino said, but that only made Yan angrier.

    ¡°It would be better for both of us if you weren''t so fucking sorry!¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Kino shrank and retreated back into herself, hunching her shoulders as much as she physically could.

    Yan stood up from her stool and paced back and forth in front of Kino like a caged animal. Six steps forward, six steps back, her body working in a familiar rhythm. She didn''t want to be acting like this, not when Kino was so-- so-- so--. Blood was still leaking out of her hand onto the towel it was laid on, slow and sluggish. Her remaining fingers were curled in on themselves.

    Yan hated herself for being angry, and was angry at herself for that, too. She took a couple deep breaths, trying to steady herself. Some of the anger bled away, or stored itself inside of her for later. She was right to have said that she couldn''t talk about forgiveness right now. She had to be pragmatic and present here, but that didn''t mean she had to be anything more than that. She could still hear Sylva and Iri talking outside, though as usual it was more of Sylva yelling.

    ¡°I can''t make this right,¡± Yan said, choosing her words very carefully, taking the bitterness as much out of her voice as she could. ¡°Neither of us can. But I''m trying to make it better.¡±

    Kino looked up at her, eyes shiny and bright.

    ¡°What can I do?¡± Yan asked. She didn''t know if she was asking Kino or herself or God. She looked up at the ceiling. There wasn''t an answer for a moment, then Kino spoke.

    ¡°Can you hold my hand?¡± Kino asked, voice barely above a whisper. ¡°I''m scared.¡±

    Kino''s uninjured right hand curled up in her lap, and she looked so small and pathetic. Yan''s heart rose up into her throat.

    ¡°Please?¡± Kino whispered. ¡°Please?¡±

    Yan hesitated for a long moment, then dragged her stool over next to the exam table. She perched upon it once again, and took Kino''s right hand in hers. There wasn''t any more leaking pain from Kino, for which Yan was grateful. There wasn''t anything except a tiny bit of the tension leaving Kino''s shoulders, and the nagging, incomprehensible grief taking an even stronger hold on Yan''s heart.

    Sylva and Iri came back in a moment later, and though Yan may have tried to take the bitterness out of her actions, Sylva had no such compunctions. She looked at Yan holding Kino''s hand with barely disguised disgust.

    ¡°That numb yet?¡± Sylva asked, jerking her head at Kino as she washed her hands and found a new pair of gloves.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Kino and Yan said simultaneously.

    Sylva wrinkled her nose. ¡°Guess we can get started then. Don''t blame me if I fuck this up. I''m not a real doctor.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Anything is better than nothing,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Sylva said, sounding unconvinced. ¡°I''m just going to stitch it up and hope for the best.¡±

    There wasn''t any more talking as Sylva settled herself in front of Kino, sitting over the table where Kino''s hand lay like a dead thing. As Sylva took out her implements, Yan had to close her eyes and turn away. There were some things that she didn''t have to bear witness to.

    <hr>

    After it was over, Sylva found some more painkillers in the cabinet and handed them to Kino, who tucked them in her pocket and held her heavily bandaged left hand to her chest.

    ¡°Where are the bedrooms on this ship?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°I''m about to pass out.¡±

    ¡°I''ll show you,¡± Iri said, leading them out of the medical suite.

    ¡°I''ll be on the bridge,¡± Yan said, excusing herself. ¡°I need to jump the ship.¡±

    ¡°It''s been eight hours already?¡± Sylva asked.

    ¡°Small ship, only takes six,¡± Yan said with a yawn. ¡°But there''s no point in me sleeping until after I jump it.¡± That was still a couple hours away, and she was approaching or already past a whole day of being awake, but she had no desire to sleep at the moment, no matter how tired she actually was.

    Sylva frowned at her. ¡°You should get some sleep. Come pick a room with me.¡±

    ¡°I''ll be there in a bit,¡± Yan said. ¡°You go ahead.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Captain,¡± Iri said in a tone that brooked no disagreement from Sylva. She turned and started off down the hallway.

    It took half a second for the weight of Iri''s words to actually hit her, but by time she did realize what Iri had said, she was already steering Sylva down the hallway by her elbow, with Kino trailing a few forlorn steps behind. Yan was left standing in front of the medical suite, watching them go. She turned the other direction and headed for the bridge, Iri''s words ringing in her head.

    Captain.

    That was certainly something, and she didn''t know how she felt about it, really. On one hand, it was almost every spacer kid''s dream to be a captain someday, and Yan had been no exception, but it had been idle daydreaming for the most part. On the other hand, she was a pirate now, well and truly, and that certainly made her feel confused at best.

    The hallways of the First Star were so empty. It was an empty country, but she was its king.

    She found herself on the bridge almost without thinking about it, and she passed by the ruins of the door and sat down in the captain''s chair. Her chair. She pulled up the status monitor and watched the slowly changing numbers that showed the ship''s life support, and the timer ticking down until they could jump again. Idly, she opened up a star chart and began working on the calculations for where to jump them. She didn''t have a destination in mind, but it was good to keep moving so that they were less easily tracked.

    There was something very comforting about the ship. With the acknowledgment that she was its captain, she felt a possessiveness and protectiveness towards it that made no sense. The feeling of the stardrive in the power was warm and buzzing.

    She was yawning quite a lot, and ended up mostly staring up at the big display, with just empty space and stars far, far in the distance. Iri came in, almost silently, but Yan could smell the cup of coffee that she held in her hands.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Yan said when Iri handed it to her. ¡°You should go to bed, too.¡±

    ¡°I think we need to talk for a while before I do that,¡± Iri said, taking a seat next to Yan and stretching her long legs out. She looked up at the stars on the display as well.

    ¡°Where did you give Sylva and Kino rooms?¡± Yan asked, trying to push back whatever Iri wanted to talk about for another few seconds at least.

    ¡°I put Sylva in the captain''s suite. I assume that''s where you will want to be,¡± Iri said. ¡°I gave Kino the guest room.¡±

    ¡°And you?¡±

    ¡°Staff quarters.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Yan said.

    Iri pointed to the screen where Yan had been plotting their course. ¡°Where are we headed?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Nowhere in particular,¡± Yan said. ¡°I think we should keep moving, though.¡±

    Iri chewed her lip for a moment. ¡°I think you need a plan, Yan.¡±

    ¡°I don''t have one.¡±

    ¡°I know. You don''t need one right this second, but I don''t think that running and hiding is what you want to do for the rest of your life.¡±

    ¡°What do you think I should do?¡±

    ¡°I think you should find somewhere to ditch Kino, give her back to whatever people want her, and then you should go beg Sandreas for forgiveness.¡±

    Yan''s hands stroked the legs of her pants. ¡°I can''t.¡±

    ¡°You could. Halen would take you back.¡±

    ¡°It''s not that,¡± Yan said. ¡°I mean, it''s partially that, but--¡±

    ¡°But what?¡± Iri asked.

    Yan was silent for a long time. Iri waited patiently.

    ¡°Do you think that Kino was right?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°To betray you? No. God, no.¡±

    ¡°Not that,¡± Yan said. ¡°About the Empire. The Fleet. What''s going on on the Mother''s planet.¡±

    ¡°What is right?¡±

    ¡°I''m not asking for theology,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''m asking if I have the responsibility to stop the Empire from killing people.¡±

    ¡°Look at me, Yan,¡± Iri said. Yan obligingly turned towards her, and Iri put her hands on Yan''s shoulders. ¡°You have a responsibility to yourself. You have to make choices that you can live with. That''s all you have.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you here?¡± Yan asked, looking into Iri''s eyes.

    ¡°I feel responsible for you,¡± Iri said. ¡°I owe you.¡±

    ¡°You never owed me anything,¡± Yan said. ¡°And even if you had, that debt would have been paid a hundred times over when you came to find me.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I''m just a loyal fool, then,¡± Iri said. ¡°Maybe I see something in you that I think is important and worth protecting.¡±

    Yan shook her head.

    ¡°I make the choices I think I can live with,¡± Iri said. ¡°And I hope I don''t live to regret them.¡±

    Yan was silent for a moment longer. ¡°If I go back to Sandreas, I don''t know if I would be able to do the right thing.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Have you met the Emperor?¡±

    ¡°Not the same way that you have,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I think I would lose myself again.¡±

    ¡°You stood up to the Emperor already, just by doing this.¡±

    ¡°I think we each get one mistake, and the Emperor will teach us a lesson,¡± Yan said, thinking about Sid''s punishment, and how the Emperor had talked about Sandreas. ¡°This is mine. But after that, I don''t know if I''d be able to defy them, if I went back.¡±

    ¡°So you have made up your mind about right and wrong, and what you would want to do,¡± Iri said. ¡°And you''re just worried about not being able to go through with it.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know.¡± Yan felt pathetic. ¡°I don''t want the universe''s problems in my hands.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn''t have accepted your apprenticeship in the first place if you didn''t think you could handle the universe.¡±

    ¡°I wasn''t thinking anything at the time,¡± Yan said ruefully. ¡°I might make a different choice today.¡±

    ¡°No, I don''t think you would,¡± Iri said. ¡°You''re far stronger than you give yourself credit for.¡±

    Yan frowned.

    ¡°Whatever you choose,¡± Iri began, ¡°Sylva and I are going to follow you.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn''t,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°The same reluctance you feel at me leaving my whole life behind is the reluctance I feel to watch you make that choice,¡± Iri said. ¡°But I can''t stop you, and you can''t stop me.¡±

    ¡°Do you think I should go back, really?¡±

    ¡°I think you''d have an easier path if you did,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Even if you do want to change the course of the Empire, you might have an easier time rationalizing what you do if you''re in charge.¡±

    ¡°I don''t want to rationalize things,¡± Yan said. ¡°I don''t want to pretend like it''s all not happening and has nothing to do with me anymore. I don''t want to not think about it.¡±

    She remembered the many, many times when she had read some Fleet report that made her stomach turn, and every time she had put it away and ignored it. She remembered not saying a word in support of the Mother''s planet when she was aboard the Impulse. She remembered blindly turning away from things that sickened her because she just couldn''t bear it, and she felt all that weight in her hands now. Complicit, that was what Kino had said in her memory. That was what Yan was, and complicit was all twined up with guilty.

    ¡°If you really don''t want to go back,¡± Iri began, ¡°are you ready for the consequences of that?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know,¡± Yan said again.

    ¡°You''ll be a target. Halen let you get away, but I don''t think that Sandreas and the Emperor would let that happen again. Your family might be a target. You''ll be lying in bed with the same people who did this to you,¡± Iri said, touching the back of Yan''s neck. Yan shivered at the touch, but leaned forward towards Iri. Iri stroked the back of her head, fingers catching on Yan''s curls, hand traveling back down to its original position on Yan''s shoulder. ¡°You''ll be a pirate, or something close to it. You''ll be giving up everything you''ve ever known.¡±

    ¡°Not everything. I''ll have you and Sylva and Kino.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Iri said, smiling, though it didn''t reach her eyes. ¡°You will have us.¡±

    ¡°I have to think about it,¡± Yan said, though as she had been hashing out her arguments with Iri she felt she had half made up her mind. ¡°And I have to talk to my family.¡±

    ¡°That''s a good idea. Don''t do anything irreversible at the moment,¡± Iri said. ¡°Not until you''re sure.¡±

    ¡°I won''t.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°How come you''re so calm and good?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°If I''m not the voice of reason around here, I don''t know who would be,¡± Iri said. ¡°I don''t trust Kino, Sylva''s pissed off beyond belief, and you... I do trust you, but you could use some advice.¡±

    ¡°What''s Sylva mad about?¡±

    ¡°You need to talk to her,¡± Iri said. ¡°I don''t think you realize what your actions look like from her point of view.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I''m not saying that Sylva is being rational, but you rescuing Kino and treating her like a friend makes Sylva feel like you''re putting Kino above her.¡±

    ¡°What? No.¡±

    ¡°Sylva is here because of you, because she loves you,¡± Iri said calmly. ¡°She hates Kino because Kino hurt you. In her mind, it''s a betrayal of her love and everything she''s done for you that you don''t also hate Kino.¡±

    ¡°That doesn''t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°I''m not saying it does. But I am saying that you need to work that out with her, or she could let it fester into something nasty.¡±

    Yan slumped backwards in her seat. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°It doesn''t all have to happen today. As soon as you jump this ship you should go to sleep.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry that all this has happened,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Don''t you start apologizing too. I can''t handle it from Kino, and definitely not you.¡±

    ¡°I''m not apologizing. I''m just saying that I wish everything had been different.¡±

    ¡°Don''t we all?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°How long are you willing for it to take to meet up with your family?¡± Iri asked. ¡°We can go the slow and safe route, or the fast and slightly risky one.¡±

    ¡°Let''s get it over with as quickly as possible. I need to talk to them before I decide what I''m going to do, if they are going to become a target.¡±

    ¡°They might already be,¡± Iri said. ¡°Do you know what their route is?¡±

    ¡°They should be coming to Byforest station pretty soon,¡± Yan said. ¡°When I checked the schedule, that was where they were supposed to be next.¡±

    ¡°Then we should go there, and wait for them to show up.¡±

    ¡°That is risky.¡±

    ¡°You''re the captain of the second fastest ship in the universe, and the fastest doesn''t have any reason to chase after you. We jump in a fair distance away, you run us cold, and we leave a message beacon for the Dreams to find. When they get it, they can come to the designated meeting place.¡±

    ¡°And what''s the slow method?¡±

    ¡°We leave a message for your uncle with a slightly questionable contact that Sylva and I have,¡± Iri said. ¡°Could take months for the message to arrive, depending on the schedules of ships.¡±

    ¡°I guess I prefer the fast way, then,¡± Yan said. ¡°I don''t love it, though.¡±

    ¡°You''re an expert at making things invisible, so I''ve gathered. You should be able to keep us undetected.¡±

    ¡°Byforest station it is, then,¡± Yan said. ¡°Not so far away.¡± She pulled the computer towards herself and began to reprogram the jump.

    ¡°I hope you don''t mind, but I''m going to stay with you until you go to bed,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°I don''t need a babysitter,¡± Yan said. ¡°I''m feeling fine now.¡±

    ¡°It''s for my own peace of mind.¡±

 Chapter Ninety-One - The Interior of Aymons Heart

    The Interior of Aymon''s Heart

    <blockquote>

    ¡°When the time comes to sing praise, harden not your heart. When the day comes to walk the lonely path, harden not your heart. When the hour comes that you should see God, keep the center of your heart open. God sees into the closed rooms, but those trapped inside cannot look out.¡±

    -from ¡°Eighth Song: Wisdom¡±

    </blockquote>

    ¡°You let them go,¡± Aymon said when Halen finally arrived back in his office. It was the middle of the night, and Aymon had wanted to have this discussion here, rather than in his quarters, to create at least some semblance of professional distance. There wasn''t any, but he wanted the veneer of it, the image.

    ¡°Only as much as you did,¡± Halen said, sitting down heavily on the couch. ¡°You could have ordered the First Star to do any number of things.¡±

    ¡°Why didn''t I? Why didn''t you?¡±

    Halen was silent for a second. ¡°I can only answer that question for myself,¡± he said. That wasn''t true, of course. Both of them knew that Halen knew the interior of Aymon''s heart far better than Aymon himself, but this was another semblance of distance, and Aymon was willing to take that.

    ¡°Answer it, then,¡± Aymon snapped, then leaned back in his chair.

    ¡°I must imagine Yan happy,¡± Halen said after a long moment of consideration. Aymon could tell he was choosing his words, far more than usual.

    Aymon ran his hand through his hair. ¡°And what does that mean?¡±

    ¡°I told her yesterday that she had a choice. I told her yesterday that I loved her. I have to hope for her sake and mine that she''s making the choice that will bring her peace,¡± Halen said. ¡°Otherwise, everything I said to her would have been a lie and for nothing.¡±

    ¡°She would have been better off here,¡± Aymon said bitterly.

    ¡°Would you have been better off without me?¡± Halen asked.

    ¡°That''s not the same. You know it''s not the same.¡±

    Halen was silent.

    ¡°You''re not her, and she''s not me. We''re not all endlessly treading the same ground, over and over,¡± Aymon said. ¡°It''s not the same.¡±

    ¡°You''re right,¡± Halen said quietly. ¡°It only feels as though it must be.¡±

    ¡°Is there any chance that she''ll come back?¡± Aymon asked.

    ¡°Probably not. You know she follows through on decisions once she makes them.¡±

    ¡°So she is our enemy, then.¡±

    ¡°If you want to call it that,¡± Halen said. ¡°You saw her go, though. She went out of her way not to hurt anyone.¡±

    ¡°If she''s sympathizing with Kino, then I don''t believe we can trust her to stay that way.¡±

    ¡°Kino never killed anyone either,¡± Halen said. His voice was so quiet, barely above a whisper.

    ¡°Don''t tell me you''re feeling guilty.¡±

    ¡°I''m not.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know. I''m just pointing out a fact.¡±

    ¡°The fact is that Kino was always against us, and Yan is too, now. That''s all that matters.¡± Aymon stood, shoulders tense, and he paced back and forth in front of his desk.

    ¡°Are they a danger?¡±

    ¡°Probably not,¡± Aymon said. ¡°Whatever little cohort they''re going to join up with clearly doesn''t have any power, or they would have done something before now.¡±

    Halen stayed silent, waiting for Aymon to continue.

    ¡°If they are a danger, though...¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°I''ll do what I need to. And so will you.¡±

    ¡°Didn''t we both just demonstrate the opposite of that?¡±

    ¡°We''ll have time to harden our hearts,¡± Halen said. ¡°I doubt they''ll show their faces around any time soon.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Aymon looked at Halen, who looked vaguely like he was in pain. ¡°Are you lying to me when you say that?¡±

    Halen looked at his hands, stretching them out then clenching them. ¡°I told you that I love Yan like a daughter. That isn''t a lie. I even could find some lingering affection for Kino within myself, if I tried, no matter how idiotic that is. But I have always loved you more, and I always will. If it comes down to it, I will do what I need to do,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°I''m not asking about your love for me,¡± Aymon said. ¡°I''m asking about what we will need to do for the Empire.¡±

    Halen looked up at Aymon. ¡°If you think that my love for the Empire extends anywhere beyond you, you''ve clearly been blind for the past twenty five years.¡±

    ¡°But what will you do, if it comes down to it?¡±

    ¡°I will do what you ask me to do,¡± Halen said. ¡°Because of how I feel about you. Is that enough? Has that not always been enough?¡±

    ¡°This is bigger than just you and me. This is bigger than you and Yan.¡±

    ¡°Not to me it''s not,¡± Halen said.

    Aymon clenched his fist. There were moments, rare, when it was clear just how untethered Halen was from the normal order of things. He had no attachment to the Empire as an organization, no connections to other sensitives through attending the Academy, no family or friends to keep him in place, and even the way he considered God was different from the orthodox-- there was nothing that held him in line aside from Aymon. Most of the time, that was a distinct advantage. Halen had no qualms about doing whatever was necessary. But in this specific situation, the first time that Halen''s loyalties had ever been split since the first days he had come to Aymon, it grated.

    Aymon didn''t doubt that Halen was loyal to him above everything else; that was beyond clear. He didn''t even truly wish that that loyalty extended outwards to anything else in the Empire, because he felt a possessiveness towards Halen that kept him close and all to himself. He simply wanted this to be easy. It was not easy, and it never would be.

    ¡°One of us has to consider the greater world, then,¡± Aymon said. ¡°What should I say?¡±

    ¡°Say you sent Kino and the First Star with the Fleet. Call Sid back so that it''s not so suspicious.¡±

    ¡°And Yan?¡±

    ¡°We can make it look like a suicide,¡± Halen said. His voice was still very quiet. ¡°It wouldn''t be an unreasonable conclusion to her public story.¡±

    ¡°What if she turns up in public later?¡±

    ¡°If she does that, we''ll have far bigger problems than claiming she was dead,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°What about her family?¡±

    Halen was silent for a long moment. ¡°That depends on what enemies you want to make.¡±

    ¡°The Guild wouldn''t have to know if we killed them,¡± Aymon said. ¡°It''s more than easy to blame pirates.¡± There wasn''t that much love lost between the BarCarrans and much of the rest of the guild anyway, not since Yan''s fiasco aboard the Sky Boat.

    ¡°I''m not talking about the Guild,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°She''s already our enemy.¡± Aymon continued pacing the room, still tense.

    ¡°You would really make that call again?¡± Halen asked.

    ¡°Are you really going to guilt me about this? Now?¡± It was true that Aymon had killed Halen''s family.

    ¡°I''m not saying anything,¡± Halen said. ¡°I''m just asking what you''re willing to do.¡±

    ¡°So I have to trust that you won''t be angry if I do say that they need to die.¡±

    Halen looked at him, folded his hands on his lap, and said nothing.

    ¡°What?¡± Aymon asked.

    ¡°If Yan is smart, which she is, she''s already on her way to tell her family to lay low for a while. You might not be able to catch them, even if you tried.¡±

    ¡°I certainly would,¡± Aymon said with a sneer. ¡°Ships can be tracked.¡±

    ¡°If they were going to do any damage, the period between when someone started chasing them and the moment they are caught would be the time when they have the least to lose and the most to gain.¡±

    ¡°You''re just on her side,¡± Aymon said. ¡°I can''t believe this.¡±

    ¡°I''m not on her side,¡± Halen said.

    ¡°It sounds like you are.¡± Aymon whirled around and stared at Halen. ¡°She was my apprentice, not yours.¡±

    Halen stood. Apparently that had been the last straw that he had been willing to take from Aymon. At his full standing height, and with his face flushed dark red, Halen was more than intimidating. He was more than a head taller than Aymon, and far wider. Aymon wasn''t afraid, simply angry. He came towards Halen, stopping a handsbreadth away from his broad chest.

    ¡°If she had really been yours, you would understand what she was going through,¡± Halen said, staring down at Aymon. ¡°What you''re considering putting her through.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Aymon shoved Halen, hard, but Halen didn''t budge. ¡°You are on her side.¡±

    Aymon found that he couldn''t move. Halen''s power had seized him. Despite how angry he was, and what a vulnerable position he was in, it was thrilling. The loss of control, the knowledge that Halen could hurt him if he wanted, the surety that Halen wouldn''t. He brought his own power up, to fight back against Halen''s control of his body, but if there had ever been a point when Aymon was the stronger of the pair, that point was long in the past. Halen turned Aymon''s head so that Aymon was looking him in the eye. Aymon''s jaw hurt from how hard Halen was squeezing it with the power.

    ¡°If I was on her side, I wouldn''t be here,¡± Halen said. ¡°When you''re ready to have a conversation where you aren''t blaming me, you know where you can find me.¡±

    Halen turned and walked out the door, keeping Aymon in his grip until the door shut behind him. Aymon took a deep breath when the hot hand of Halen''s power left his body, and he slumped, no longer held in place. He looked at the now closed door, and considered sending a tendril of his own power out to follow Halen as he retreated down the hallway, but he didn''t. He was too proud for that, and the flush of anger and excitement was still within him.

    <hr>

    Halen didn''t appear the next morning, and though Aymon was used to spending the mornings alone, his absence was noticeable as soon as he stepped out of his quarters. The situation could remain in stasis for a while. The media had been given some sort of story about what had happened on the streets and at the airfield, and Aymon had refrained from making a public statement. It was not particularly important what was said, since the official story of what had happened to Yan and Kino would come out far enough from now that the two events would be unconnected. That was the plan, anyway.

    Aymon procrastinated, as much as he could allow himself to. Without Halen around... He shook the thought out of his head. He needed to go talk to the Emperor, which he did not like, and did not want to do. But he didn''t have much of a choice. The Emperor definitely knew what had happened, being plugged in to all of the goings-on in Stonecourt, but Aymon had no idea what they were feeling about it.

    Surely the only reason that he hadn''t yet been summoned was that the Emperor was testing him, waiting to see how Aymon would act. Well, Aymon wasn''t going to play that game.

    So he stood in the antechamber alone, waiting to be let in. The Emperor seemed content to let him stew in his thoughts for a long moment. The more impatient he grew, the more he could imagine his former mentor laughing at him. He took a couple deep breaths, and stilled the jiggling of his leg that he hadn''t even noticed.

    The door swung open.

    Aymon entered and stood in the spotlight. The Emperor did have a flair for the dramatic. He waited to feel the cold touch on his brain.

    ¡°So you lost another apprentice,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I suppose I should have trusted my instincts after all.¡±

    ¡°What did you think of Yan, when you met her?¡±

    ¡°I liked her very much. It''s unfortunate that she was so... unpredictable.¡±

    ¡°Do you see her coming back?¡±

    ¡°No. And I would not suggest taking her back, even if she did.¡±

    ¡°Do you see anything?¡±

    ¡°I am not all seeing, not all knowing. If I were, this would have been prevented.¡± The Emperor sounded neither angry nor resigned, simply stating a fact. ¡°I am furious,¡± the Emperor said, catching Aymon''s thoughts. ¡°But I know how to control myself.¡±

    Aymon gritted his teeth.

    ¡°I have no need to make digs at you when you make them so easily at yourself, my little Aymon,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°You chose your apprentices badly. Life goes on.¡±

    ¡°I thought that God was calling me to them,¡± Aymon said. His mouth was dry.

    ¡°God?¡± the Emperor laughed. ¡°You didn''t see it?¡±

    In Aymon''s mind, there were the three apprentices. Sid, Yan, Kino. On the ground in front of each was their Academy project: Yan''s fishbowl, Sid''s fear statue, and Kino''s blank mirror figure. Out of the shadows behind them came two figures. Behind Sid, there stood Aymon''s own mentor, Caron Herrault, and Aymon could see himself reflected in her eyes and in Sid''s. Behind Yan stood Halen, with his hands firmly on her shoulders. Kino''s mirror figure warped and shifted, taking on a deliberately twisted and mocking appearance: Aymon himself, or what he imagined himself to be, or what he feared, or what he wanted. The Emperor laughed and laughed.

    ¡°In hindsight, almost everything is obvious,¡± the Emperor said.

    The image of Yan and Halen, with the fish swimming placidly around in front of them, stayed stuck in Aymon''s vision. He held it there deliberately, long after the other two apparitions had faded. He desperately wanted them back. Even though Halen wasn''t gone, some of the peace was.

    ¡°I told you he would be the death of you, someday.¡±

    ¡°He would never betray me,¡± Aymon said roughly.

    ¡°You seem intent on acting like he would,¡± the Emperor said. Aymon felt the touch of the Emperor''s power, this time, a ghost of what Halen had held him with the night before, simply reminding him that the Emperor could see right through him.

    ¡°What passes between Halen and I is none of your business,¡± Aymon said.

    The Emperor was amused. ¡°Perhaps.¡±

    There was a pause in the conversation as the Emperor allowed Aymon time to gather his thoughts. Being reminded of Halen made him fixate on that for a moment, but Halen was not what he was here to talk about. He wasn''t even really here to explain himself with regards to Yan. He needed the Emperor to tell him how to move forward.

    ¡°You saw what I was arguing about?¡±

    ¡°I don''t think there is any reason to kill the Iron Dreams,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°At least not right away.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°The Guild would know, no matter what you say. Thule is no idiot.¡±

    ¡°I''m not concerned with the Guild,¡± Aymon said. ¡°I''m concerned about knowledge getting away from us.¡±

    ¡°It would certainly be a bad image for the public, to stage a funeral for your apprentice while her family dies under mysterious circumstances. You''ve had a leak. Let us not make it a flood,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°Overreacting now will allow your enemies to play their hand.¡±

    ¡°Do you know who they are and what they''re doing?¡±

    ¡°No, of course not. How can I know things that I have no information on?¡± The Emperor''s tone was that of an adult addressing a small child. Aymon hated being patronized. ¡°You will see soon enough.¡±

    The reminder that he would someday join the Emperor grated. He had no interest in that, not now, not ever.

    ¡°Soon enough,¡± the Emperor said again.

    Aymon shook his head, getting the thoughts out. ¡°So what should I do?¡±

    ¡°Gather your own information. I doubt that Yan will avoid talking to her family. You should put an agent on that ship.¡±

    ¡°With my luck, they''ll disappear.¡±

    ¡°You met the captain of that ship. Is he likely to turn to piracy?¡±

    ¡°Did I think that Yan was going to turn to piracy?¡± Aymon asked.

    ¡°Yan had a capacity for fierceness that you never witnessed firsthand,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°As well as a vivid recollection of the past, and a deep desire to connect with others. Weaknesses and strengths.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying you understand her going off on this crazy--¡±

    ¡°Reading about what happened is not the same as experiencing it, my little Aymon,¡± the Emperor said, cutting him off. ¡°It is easily understood, but not so easily forgiven.¡±

    ¡°You already said I shouldn''t take her back,¡± Aymon said.

    ¡°And I say to you now: she will try to kill you. She is your enemy.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°The other one will poison her mind,¡± the Emperor said.

    ¡°Are you saying that from knowledge, or are you guessing?¡± He realized that he was half taking Halen''s side from the previous night''s conversation. What was it about himself that made him so desperate to argue this from both sides? It was so similar to the way that Sid insisted on being combative, it made Aymon half wince to think about it.

    ¡°What is the future but guesses we make about how we should live?¡± the Emperor asked. ¡°It''s a prediction based on the best available information, nothing more. I have seen the whole truth of what was inside their heads at that time. Seeing how Yan acted, I understand how this is likely to play out. It requires further study, of course.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Aymon said sarcastically. ¡°She''s not the killing type.¡±

    ¡°She''s not?¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I thought your memory was stronger.¡±

    ¡°The pirates aren''t the same thing,¡± Aymon said. ¡°Self defense.¡±

    ¡°She was not in imminent danger at the time.¡±

    ¡°Defense of someone else, then.¡± A realization flashed into Aymon''s mind: Yan had been defending Kino. Perhaps that was the same instinct that had driven her aboard the Sky Boat.

    ¡°Precisely. Kino will tell her who she needs to defend.¡±

    ¡°There''s a difference between the heat of a battle and seeking out your mentor to kill them,¡± Aymon said. ¡°I find it hard to believe that anyone would do that.¡±

    ¡°Thule killed Vaneik.¡±

    ¡°Can you give it a rest for one second? That''s different,¡± Aymon said, throwing his hands down to his sides. ¡°None of this has any precedent. I don''t know why you insist on saying it does.¡± By ''you'', he meant more than just the Emperor-- he meant Halen, and his own traitorous brain that couldn''t let go of the past.

    ¡°We have all felt the loss of our apprentices,¡± the Emperor said, a rare note of kindness in their voice. ¡°You are lucky, in a way, that this parting is so bitter.¡±

    ¡°I had to lose her twice, didn''t I?¡±

    ¡°I would say to pretend that she had never returned, but I don''t believe you capable of such self deception,¡± the Emperor said, mental voice as dry as chalk.

    ¡°How am I supposed to feel?¡±

    ¡°You expect us to answer that question?¡± the Emperor asked. ¡°You feel what you must. You do what you must, as well. It will be easier with time.¡±

    ¡°And what must I do?¡±

    ¡°The same as you always have. Things aren''t going to collapse immediately. You have time to solve problems as they arise. Bring home your Second. You''ll want him with you.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡±

    ¡°And harden your heart,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°Halen is not the only one who has split his feelings.¡±

    ¡°Are you doubting me?¡± Aymon asked.

    ¡°I am saying that you are only human still.¡±

    ¡°And you''re not.¡±

    ¡°I am what I am,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°But I never loved your apprentices like you surely did.¡±

    ¡°Are you angry at me?¡±

    ¡°I am angry at myself, for failing to predict this. I''m angry at your children. I''m angry at those who orchestrated this. And yes, I am angry that you were so blind and foolish, and that you let them get away.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to punish me?¡±

    ¡°What good would that do?¡± the Emperor asked, sounding amused. ¡°You know what you need to do in the future. If I humiliate you, it wouldn''t change anything about that.¡±

    Aymon was silent.

    ¡°If you want to be punished, you should talk to your lover,¡± the Emperor said, still with the light quality in their mental voice that disguised their anger under the surface.

    Aymon did not rise to the bait, but he clenched his fist and took a deep breath. Being with the Emperor had a way of making him feel like he was an apprentice again, beholden to the whims of a more powerful master. He was exactly that, of course, but he did not enjoy being reminded of it. He also did not enjoy being reminded of how he would someday be forced to join the Emperor, and what that would mean for his life. But that was neither here nor there.

    ¡°I am sad that your little Yan will never join me,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°She would have been a fine addition.¡±

    ¡°If she is so similar to Halen, do you finally understand what I see in him?¡±

    ¡°Oh, my little Aymon, we have always understood.¡±

    He was confused.

    ¡°We all seek out our equals, or our betters. But we must also be prepared to surpass them. That is all we have ever tried to say to you.¡±

    Aymon considered that for a second, then, realized something. ¡°Why don''t you say that Kino will try to kill me?¡± he asked. ¡°Why only Yan?¡± Did the Emperor think that Yan was the stronger of the two apprentices?

    ¡°Because I thought you already understood exactly where little Kino stands,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°There is no point tilling the ground where wheat is already growing.¡±

    ¡°Is she more dangerous than Yan is?¡±

    ¡°Yan has proven herself. Kino has not. If you are lucky, you will never find out what each of them is truly capable of.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°It''s not fine, but there have been worse crises. The Empire will survive this, as it has survived every blunder I have made over the past six hundred years.¡±

    Aymon raised an eyebrow, surprised that the Emperor was willing to admit any weakness.

    ¡°There have been more than anyone should care to count,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°Some have hurt much more deeply than this. Count yourself lucky, if this is the worst thing that happens to you.¡±

    ¡°It won''t be,¡± Aymon said, thinking of the inevitable day when Halen would no longer be by his side.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°But while you rule, count yourself lucky.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any practical advice?¡±

    ¡°I would have summoned you if I had orders,¡± the Emperor said. ¡°I always have in the past, even when you have displeased me, my little Aymon.¡±

    ¡°You knew I would come.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Then you should tell me what to do.¡±

    ¡°I have. I trust your judgment for now. You are my hands and Voice, little Aymon. You must go out and do what needs to be done.¡±

    Aymon stood still for a moment, then the Emperor''s power nudged him. ¡°You will always be my apprentice, but you are more than that now. Just as your own apprentices are either Second or gone. We make our choices, we grow, we continue on. You should go do what needs to be done.¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Aymon said.

    The Emperor pushed him out the door.

 Chapter Ninety-Two - A Negative Peace

    A Negative Peace

    <blockquote>

    ¡°And on that leaf, there was a bug, a rare bug, a twinkling bug. And the bug on the leaf and the leaf on the stem and the stem on the plant and the plant in the dirt and the dirt in the bed and the bed in the garden and the garden on the ship and the ship in the sky, and the bright stars glow all around all around and the bright stars glow all around.¡±

    - from ¡°Twinkling Ship¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan had her alarm set for five and a half hours after she went to bed, so that she would be awake enough to jump the First Star as soon as it was ready to move again. As the alarm buzzed in her ear underneath her pillow, she realized just how miserable her life would be, starting now, if this was all the sleep she would reasonably be able to expect.

    She shut off the alarm and lay there in the semi-darkness, staring up at the ceiling for a second, reluctant to get out of bed. Sylva had her arm draped across Yan''s chest, and Yan enjoyed the warm, comforting weight of it.

    The captain''s bedroom was remarkably clean and free of personal affectations, probably because whoever had been the captain of the First Star lived on the planet most of the time. This was to Yan''s benefit, because she would have found it unbearably weird to take over a room that someone else had clearly been living in, rather than just occupying. It was simply large and neat, as one would expect from the position of the captain of First Sandreas''s personal ship.

    Yan''s ship, now.

    Yan rolled slightly, trying to extract herself without disturbing Sylva. That was not to be, though. Sylva grabbed the fabric of Yan''s undershirt (she hadn''t brought pajamas, so was simply sleeping in her underwear). ¡°Don''t go,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°I have to jump the ship,¡± Yan whispered. She rolled back around so that she could face Sylva. The only light in the room was the glow of various electronics scattered around, and the soft red glow that marked the doorway.

    ¡°Ten more minutes,¡± Sylva said, voice sleepy. ¡°I don''t want you to go.¡±

    ¡°I''ll come right back,¡± Yan said. She reached over toward Sylva and stroked a piece of loose hair off her face. Underneath the covers, she tangled their bare legs up together. Yan enjoyed the smooth feeling of skin touching skin. There was no violence here, no pain, just the two of them laying in the darkness.

    Sylva smiled, but still protested. ¡°You''ll be awake when you come back.¡±

    ¡°I''m awake now.¡±

    ¡°You won''t want to stay with me when you''re awake,¡± Sylva said. ¡°You''ll say you''re feeling restless, and that you have things to do, and you can''t be here...¡±

    ¡°Shhh,¡± Yan said, and put her finger over Sylva''s mouth. Sylva licked it. Sylva''s protests were valid, though, no matter how little Yan wanted to admit it. She had spent too much time slipping out of bed while Sylva was still in it and wandering around by herself, even so far back as when she was with the Mother. Iri had just told her that Sylva was upset with her. Maybe Yan should take Iri''s words to heart, and give Sylva what she was asking for. ¡°You know I love you, right?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°I love you too,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°I know you do,¡± Yan said. ¡°But I just wanted to make sure that you knew. You''re the best thing that ever happened to me, Sylva. You''re the best thing in my life.¡± Her breath caught in her throat.

    Yan realized that she wasn''t lying. She had been taking Sylva for granted since they became friends as ten year olds, because she had always been there, a bright star in her life, always hanging on no matter what. Sylva was her closest confidant, her oldest friend, and the least complicated and most loving relationship she had. Yan''s eyes had been opened to many things over the past few days, and she was finding that she had been ignoring Sylva as well as all the horrors of the world.

    ¡°I don''t know why you love me, but I''m so glad that you do,¡± Yan said. ¡°I don''t know what I would have ever done without you. I don''t deserve you.¡±

    Sylva grabbed Yan''s hand. ¡°Don''t be fucking crazy,¡± Sylva whispered.

    ¡°I''m not crazy,¡± Yan protested. ¡°I''m telling you the truth.¡±

    ¡°You don''t know why I love you?¡±

    Yan felt rather helpless, lying there. She couldn''t tell if Sylva was angry at her for saying that, or how she was supposed to explain the way she felt. Yan did not feel particularly lovable, now or ever. The best she had generally hoped for was to be needed, to be a part of something greater, which was always the appeal of giving herself away. She had always tried so hard to be needed, to find a place in the workings of the world, on her family''s ship, at the Academy, in her apprenticeship.

    ¡°You''re the smartest, strongest, most incredible person I''ve ever met,¡± Sylva said. She reached across the tiny gap between them to touch Yan''s cheek, her thumb brushing across Yan''s cheekbone. ¡°I think I had a crush on you from the moment I met you, maybe.¡±

    ¡°But I didn''t even do anything,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°You were my friend,¡± Sylva said, as if that explained it. ¡°And you were wonderful. You always have been.¡±

    They were both silent for a moment, resting there in the dark and the warmth of each other.

    ¡°You know, when I told you that I loved you, I thought I was about to wreck everything that we had. I was throwing ten years of being with my best friend down the drain,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I thought you might hate me.¡± Sylva''s voice was so quiet, and her hand didn''t stop moving on Yan''s cheek.

    ¡°God, why?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°Because I''m not-- I''m not anything. And you were about to go do something great, and I could never match that. But I had to say something before you left me behind, or it would have killed me forever.¡±

    ¡°I would have never left you behind,¡± Yan said. ¡°I never wanted to, anyway. And I''m sorry that you thought that I would.¡± There was a chorus ringing in Yan''s brain, chanting over and over that she did not deserve Sylva''s love, but there was an equally loud one in Halen''s terrible voice, telling her that the question of what anyone deserves is one that only God can answer.

    ¡°I was being crazy,¡± Sylva said with a half laugh. ¡°You don''t even know how crazy I was being.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I was too. I think I probably loved you, but I didn''t even know it. I would have done anything for you, even then, if you had asked,¡± Yan said. She remembered again why Sylva was somewhat upset at her. ¡°I-- Are you mad at me for this? Being here, Kino, I mean.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Sylva''s thumb continued its gentle meandering across Yan''s face. ¡°I wish I could kill Kino myself, but I''m not mad at you.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°If you ever want me to, I will,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I''m not nearly as nice as you are.¡±

    ¡°Please don''t say that,¡± Yan said.

    Sylva frowned in the darkness, and her hand stopped moving. Yan reached towards her. ¡°It''s all a mess, Sylva.¡±

    ¡°Clearly.¡±

    ¡°I was just trying to make things better,¡± Yan said. ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    ¡°It''s okay. I understand,¡± Sylva said, though her stillness indicated that she didn''t, not really.

    Yan struggled to find something to say that would make it better. ¡°Anything I did for Kino I would do for you a hundred times over. A thousand times. I just never want to need to,¡± Yan said. ¡°I hope I never have to.¡±

    ¡°You would do anything for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So will you stay here a little bit longer?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°Please?¡±

    ¡°I have to go jump the ship,¡± Yan protested, but it was an empty protest.

    ¡°A little bit longer won''t matter.¡±

    ¡°Just a little longer.¡± Yan rolled toward Sylva even more, propping herself up on her elbows and straddling Sylva''s waist. Sylva giggled a little bit, put her hands on Yan''s hips, and Yan leaned down to kiss her.

    <hr>

    After Yan extracted herself from Sylva''s loving clutches, showered, and jumped the ship, she felt a lot better and more optimistic about their shared situation. She took a long walk all around the First Star, taking stock of the resources at their disposal. There were a couple dogfighters and shuttles, a good stock of ordinance, a machine shop and supplies to keep the ship in good repair, plenty of food, and an unused greenhouse space. None of it was surprising, and she was sure there were other things she missed during her cursory inspection, but it was a start.

    Overall, it was clear that the First Star was designed with a few specific goals in mind. Its top priority had been to take Sandreas and a small crew/entourage around the Empire quickly and safely. Its secondary purpose, which Yan was very grateful for, was to act as a self sustaining escape route for Sandreas (and perhaps others), should the occasion arise. Thus the ship was stocked with enough ready to eat food to last until the greenhouse could start producing enough to sustain the ship''s occupants. The prospect of setting up the ship''s farm, of getting her hands in the dirt, made Yan smile, despite everything else. She had always liked working in the Dreams'' greenhouse.

    Her meandering tour of the ship concluded, Yan found herself in the kitchen, where Sylva was making a pot of coffee and looking through the pantry for cereal.

    ¡°It took you this long to get dressed and come find breakfast?¡± Yan asked, mildly teasing as she leaned in the doorway.

    ¡°Not all of us want to put on the same dirty clothes we were wearing yesterday,¡± Sylva said, looking askance at Yan. It was true that Yan was wearing her dirty Iron Dreams uniform, though, to be fair, she had scrubbed the majority of the blood out in the sink before she showered. Sylva had managed to find a plain white button down and black pair of pants, though neither of them even remotely fit. She had the buttons popped and the sleeves and pant legs cuffed dramatically. It was certainly a look.

    ¡°When we meet up with the Dreams, we can get some clothes from them,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°That''s our plan?¡±

    ¡°We''re jumping towards Byforest, so unless something goes wrong between here and there, yes.¡±

    ¡°Cool,¡± Sylva said. ¡°I love your family.¡±

    Yan rolled her eyes. ¡°Seen Iri this morning?¡±

    ¡°She stuck her head in and said she''d be here in a bit. I''ve been trying to figure out what she''d want for breakfast.¡±

    ¡°I''m sure she''s not too good for cereal like the rest of us.¡±

    The coffee finished, so Yan poured herself a mug. She was searching around for the sugar and creamer when Iri made her appearance. Yan couldn''t see her at first, because she was blocked by the door of the refrigerator, but her voice was loud and familiar.

    ¡°Morning,¡± Iri said. ¡°Sleep well?¡±

    Yan closed the industrial fridge and turned to look at her. She was slightly surprised to see Kino in tow. Yan hadn''t expected Kino to join the rest of them for casual meals, and she wasn''t really sure how she felt about that.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Yan said. ¡°Coffee?¡± She held up the creamer.

    ¡°Sure, thanks,¡± Iri said. Yan poured coffee for all of them, including Kino, who stood in the back of the room and made no indication that she wanted anything.

    The kitchen, being meant only for preparing food and not for dining, had a stainless-steel island in the middle of it. It was intended only for prep, but that didn''t stop Sylva from finding a few stools stacked in the back of the pantry and arraying them for the group to sit on. Leaning on the island sucked the warmth out of Yan''s arms, and she was grateful to the hot cup in her hands. She poured herself a bowl of cereal, which she began to eat dry, picking out the pieces with her fingers.

    They all sat in a somewhat awkward silence for a while. Sylva snuck glances at the other three-- questioning ones to Iri, tiny smiles to Yan, and a barely restrained glower at Kino.

    Iri, always the one to keep the ship steady, broke the silence in between sips of her coffee. ¡°So, what''s the plan, Captain?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Being a captain with a crew of three is hardly anything. You don''t have to keep mentioning it.¡±

    ¡°Don''t spacers vote for their captains?¡± Sylva asked. ¡°I didn''t vote for you.¡± She smiled as she said this.

    ¡°Raise your hand if you vote for Yan to be captain,¡± Iri said gamely, raising her hand. Sylva also raised hers with a continued smile, and even Kino timidly put her hand up. Yan''s cheeks burned with embarrassment. ¡°Well, looks like it''s three to one. Very democratic of us, I''d say,¡± Iri said with a laugh.

    ¡°It''s only because I''m the only one who knows how to fly the ship,¡± Yan grumbled.

    ¡°Not true,¡± Sylva protested.

    ¡°That''s as good of a reason as there is,¡± Iri said. ¡°After all, even if you weren''t the captain, you''d be able to take us wherever you wanted to go, and no one could stop you. Speaking of, did you tell Sylva where we''re headed?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Byforest,¡± Sylva said. ¡°To meet up with the Dreams.¡±

    ¡°Given any thought to anything after that?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Yan said. ¡°I know I don''t want to go back to Emerri, and I don''t want to spend my whole life hiding, but I don''t know. I don''t know.¡± She felt like a video clip stuck in a loop, helplessly repeating the same thoughts and phrases over and over.

    ¡°Figuring that out can wait,¡± Sylva said. ¡°There''s no need to decide your whole life in the next thirty seconds.¡±

    Yan drummed her fingers on the side of her coffee cup. ¡°How stupid would it be for me to try to get in contact with the Mother?¡± Yan asked.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Sylva and Iri glanced at each other. ¡°Very,¡± Sylva said. ¡°For one thing, she might be, er, no longer together, considering the situation. For another, I don''t really like the Mother that much. Also, I don''t want to tangle with the Gatekeeper, who''s still sitting in orbit around their planet. From what I''ve seen, the First Star is way smaller than the Bellringer was.¡± Iri nodded along at all of Sylva''s points.

    ¡°I could sneak--¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Sylva said.

    ¡°Let''s put a pin in that for now,¡± Iri said. ¡°We can figure that out when we''re done dealing with your family. Why do you want to talk to the Mother?¡± Immediately after declaring the topic closed, Iri opened it again, which was really a classic conversation tactic if Yan had ever seen one.

    ¡°Because I don''t think she hates me,¡± Yan said. ¡°And because I owe her, I guess. And because-- well-- if I abandoned the Empire at least a little bit because of all that. Yeah,¡± Yan finished, rather pathetically, laying her hands palm up on the table.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Sylva said, skepticism written across her face. ¡°I guess we can talk about that later.¡±

    Yan nodded.

    ¡°Do you have any more immediate plans?¡± Iri asked.

    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± Yan said. ¡°We''re about two jumps away from Byforest, so we''ll be there by the end of the day. We need to prepare the message we''re going to leave for my family.¡±

    ¡°I''ll take care of that,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Great. Uh, I''d also like to compile a list of like, resources that we have, and what needs to be repaired. I took a look around this morning, but a detailed inventory would be nice.¡±

    ¡°Ship''s documents should have that somewhere,¡± Iri said.

    ¡°Another thing,¡± Yan began, feeling more confident with her plans now that she was back in the realm of concrete, actionable steps. ¡°If we''re going to be spending a long time here, on the ship I mean, we''ll need to get the greenhouse up and running. That''s a pretty big project, but it doesn''t need to be finished right away, just started. So if someone could take a look at that and figure out what our priorities should be, and maybe make a schedule...¡±

    ¡°I can make that plan, see what''s going on,¡± Sylva volunteered.

    ¡°Great, thanks,¡± Yan said, giving her a smile. Sylva beamed back. ¡°I''ll help out too. Put all my Academy biology courses to use, for once.¡± Sylva laughed at that.

    ¡°Anything else?¡± Iri asked.

    Yan considered for a second. There was one other thing, but she didn''t know if she actually wanted to ask anyone for it. Her face must have betrayed her thoughts, because Iri stared at her and raised her eyebrow. ¡°Spit it out,¡± Iri said.

    Yan hesitated a second longer. ¡°How much do you trust me?¡± she asked, looking between Iri and Sylva.

    ¡°How is that even a question?¡± Sylva asked, incredulous. ¡°Isn''t it obvious?¡±

    ¡°No, I mean-- argh. Do you trust me with your life?¡±

    ¡°Are you planning to kill us or something?¡± Iri asked with a gentle smile.

    ¡°No, ah, how do I explain this?¡± Yan ran her hand over the back of her neck, a nervous impulse.

    ¡°Take your time,¡± Iri said. Both Sylva and Kino had their eyes on her. Yan looked down into her cereal.

    ¡°Sandreas and Halen, and a bunch of other people, they can use the power to control somebody else''s body. I think, just in case, I need to learn how to do that, so that it would be a fair fight, if it-- if I was ever in that situation again.¡±

    ¡°You want to learn how to puppet people?¡± Iri asked. ¡°Are you asking for someone to practice on?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t put it exactly like that.¡±

    ¡°Sounds sexy,¡± Iri said and nudged Sylva with her elbow. Sylva blushed and coughed into her cup of coffee. Yan resisted the urge to groan.

    ¡°You can practice on me,¡± Kino said, the first words she had spoken that morning. ¡°I owe you my life.¡±

    ¡°What? No,¡± Yan said. Kino hadn''t even been in her mind as an option. The thought of it struck an immediate panicked chord in Yan''s heart. For one thing, Kino was the only one on the ship close to her level with the power, and she didn''t want it to immediately turn into a power struggle. For another...

    ¡°Why not?¡± Iri asked. ¡°She''s offering.¡± Yan looked at her, and could see immediately that Iri both understood Yan''s reservations and was going to drag those reservations out into the light. Her eyebrows were lifted in that tiny, knowing way, and she stared Yan directly in the eye. Neither Sylva nor Kino seemed to catch the too-light tone in Iri''s voice.

    Yan tried to minutely shake her head at Iri, trying to get her to back down, but Iri simply tightened her lips into a thin smile. Yan gave up and tried to give Iri what she wanted.

    ¡°Kino, you and I-- we both...¡± It was suddenly very hard for Yan to speak. ¡°We already know what it''s like to be held down by someone else''s power.¡± She left off the crucial second half of that statement, which was knowing what it was like to also be tortured during that vulnerable state. ¡°I wouldn''t-- I can''t put you through that again, and...¡± Yan trailed off.

    ¡°I owe to to you,¡± Kino said simply. She was holding her coffee in her right hand; her left was underneath the island and out of sight.

    ¡°And?¡± Iri asked.

    Yan''s mouth froze shut. The trailing end of her sentence had been something cruel, and she had stopped herself before she admitted it. She looked between Iri, Kino, and Sylva. Iri was leaning forward ever so slightly, waiting for Yan to speak. Kino was still and expressionless, ready to take on this burden that Yan had no desire to give to her. Sylva seemed mostly confused, and she glanced between the other three, clearly not catching on to the reason behind the tension in the air.

    ¡°You can practice on me,¡± Sylva said, trying to cut the issue down. ¡°But greenhouse should probably take first priority.¡±

    ¡°I still want to know why Kino isn''t an option,¡± Iri said, shutting Sylva down with a look.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Sylva said, and fell silent.

    Yan looked at her cereal bowl, picked up a piece, and crumbled it between her fingers. Everyone was silent, waiting for her, but she couldn''t find the best way to string the words together.

    Iri wasn''t going to give up, though, since she seemed to have taken it upon herself to be Yan''s therapist, or whatever. Yan squished another piece of cereal like a bug.

    ¡°I''m still so fucking angry at you, Kino,¡± Yan said finally. ¡°I don''t want to be. I wish I could be some sort of perfect person who isn''t angry and destroyed by all of this, but I''m not. I''m just not.¡±

    ¡°You''re more than justified in being angry,¡± Sylva said, a slight note of triumph in her voice. ¡°God knows I am.¡±

    ¡°That''s okay,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°It''s not that I''m mad at you, okay? That would be one thing,¡± Yan said, voice abruptly rising in volume and pitch. There was a panic settling in, and her stomach churned and her heart beat inordinately fast. ¡°I can be mad, and I can sit here and it''s fine. I''m fine!¡±

    She was lying to herself.

    She wished someone would step in and stop her, but Iri kept leaning in and nodding, and Sylva only looked mildly concerned. Kino was just watching her with the same flat expression. Yan''s mouth was an out of control shipping container-- she was unable to stop it now, and she felt herself watching helplessly from behind the glass, outside herself, as she careened toward a truth that she didn''t want to admit, a truth that lived in the darkest corner of her own heart.

    ¡°But if we''re in a room together, and I have all that power over you--¡± Yan choked slightly. ¡°I don''t know if I could stop myself from hurting you.¡±

    There it was. There was a moment of silence. Yan stared first straight ahead, then down at her coffee, unable to look anyone in the eye. The truth of who she was in her heart was out now. Everyone knew she was not a good person.

    ¡°It''s okay,¡± Kino said, voice very, very quiet. ¡°We have to trust each other.¡±

    ¡°It''s not you I don''t trust!¡± Yan hit her fist on the cold table with a dull thud. The feeling of it brought her slightly back into her body. She looked around. Iri was very contemplative. Sylva had edged herself closer to Yan in a protective gesture. Kino was still looking at her with wide eyes, and when Yan looked back, she couldn''t understand what she found there.

    ¡°I trust you,¡± Kino said. ¡°And even if you did hurt me, I''d deserve it.¡±

    ¡°It''s not a question of what anyone deserves!¡± Yan''s head was pounding. She felt like she had just said that to Sylva. ¡°It''s what''s right and wrong, and it''s what kind of person I can trust myself to be. I don''t want to hurt you because that would be wrong, and I know that, but-- fuck--¡±

    Yan''s hands were balled into fists, and tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes. She squeezed them shut, wishing that she could hide herself, wishing desperately that she wasn''t the monster that was herself. Her good mood from earlier had completely collapsed, and she didn''t have anyone to blame for that aside from her own thoughts.

    Sylva put her hand on Yan''s back, rubbing up and down in slow, gentle circles. Yan''s breath steadied, just a little. ¡°I think you''re a good person,¡± Sylva said. ¡°Better than you deserve.¡± It was clear even with Yan''s eyes closed that Sylva was addressing Kino.

    ¡°Sylva,¡± Iri said, her voice slightly warning.

    ¡°It''s okay,¡± Kino said again, like that was her mantra that she had to keep repeating to make it true.

    ¡°No, you know what?¡± Sylva began. ¡°It''s not okay!¡± Sylva was mad now, and the hand that had been comforting on Yan''s back turned protective and clawlike. ¡°Yan was kidnapped, and drugged, and malnourished, and held in solitary confinement for more than a month, and she was tortured, and she had her brain taken over by a fucking hive, and it''s all because of you! Just because Yan has some sort of life debt to repay to someone else that she gave to you--¡±

    ¡°Sylva,¡± Iri cut in again, more sharply this time.

    ¡°Doesn''t mean that I have to--¡±

    ¡°Sylva, that''s enough!¡± Iri''s voice was hard. ¡°This isn''t about you,¡±she said through gritted teeth. ¡°So step back.¡±

    Sylva did lean back, breathing hard, and her hand fell off of Yan''s shoulder.

    How come Iri got to be the only one holding things together? She was able to keep her mouth shut and her problems to herself. If Iri had issues with the rest of them, she didn''t say it, and she was there to deal with everybody else''s troubles. Yan trusted that Iri wasn''t going to offload her own private issues onto the table in between them all, not now, maybe not ever. That silence was clearly a gift that Iri was giving, but she wished that gift didn''t come only because of Yan''s own disaster. She wished that there was even footing between them.

    Yan stood up, leaving her half finished breakfast on the island. She looked around helplessly at the three other women, and the mess that they had made of the air between themselves. Her face was pleading for a moment, but she didn''t know exactly what she was pleading for. Then she turned and left.

    <hr>

    Even though the First Star was a small ship, it was still plenty large for one person to disappear into. Yan wandered around alone for a while. She knew the others were probably giving her space. She didn''t know what she felt over the whole mess of a conversation. Bad, mostly, but the specific kind of bad was eluding her. Contrary to every rational impulse, she wished Halen were here, so that he could hold her and show her what her feelings meant through the lens of his own. That was stupid, though.

    If Yan thought she was a bad person for maybe, hypothetically, in some sort of situation that she didn''t even really logically want, hurting Kino, then what was Halen? Yan couldn''t answer that question, and she didn''t want to. Once again, she was turning away.

    She found herself finally in the greenhouse, as she knew she inevitably would. She was worried, or maybe anticipatory, that Sylva would be there, but there was no sign of her. The greenhouse wasn''t as calm of a refuge as Yan had hoped; she had forgotten that there wasn''t much actually growing, so it was mostly long empty beds waiting to be planted, with the tending robots covered in cloth and lined up along the walls, waiting to be activated. Looking for something to do, Yan assigned herself a task of finding seeds, and setting up at least one bed with something growing.

    She fiddled with the humidity, preparing the atmosphere of the greenhouse to receive plants. Immediately, the air felt warmer and sweatier as the life support blasted sprays of water into the air.

    It wasn''t hard. Everything was very well labeled and organized, probably because it had never been used. Yan found a pair of gardening gloves and got started preparing a bed for some soybeans. It was calming, normal work. Just her, the rich darkness of the dirt, the whir of the air filters.

    The peace couldn''t last, of course. The last person that Yan wanted to see, Kino, hovered in the doorway. ¡°Hey,¡± Kino said.

    Yan, her hands still in the dirt, kneeling on the ground, looked up. ¡°Hey.¡± She wasn''t sure what to say, what to think, what to feel.

    Kino walked over and knelt across from Yan, on the other side of the raised bed. She had a new bandage wrapped around her left hand; Yan wondered if she had changed it herself or if Sylva had changed it for her, upon coercion from Iri. It probably didn''t matter.

    ¡°I''m sorry for upsetting you earlier,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Please don''t start,¡± Yan said. ¡°I really can''t handle any of that right now.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    There was silence between them. Yan dug her finger into the dirt, placed a bean seed in. Ideally, she would have started the beans in cups, but she wanted to get things planted, and it wasn''t as though they were wanting for nursery space. She patted the dirt down around it, then moved on, poking another hole a good few centimeters away.

    ¡°Do you think I would hurt you?¡± Yan asked, breaking the silence.

    ¡°No,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°If you were going to, you would have already,¡± Kino said. That was a fairly pragmatic view of things.

    ¡°I mean, I did, kinda,¡± Yan said, thinking of how she had failed to give Kino any pain medication. Kino shrugged.

    ¡°A negative peace is at least not a war,¡± Kino said, clearly quoting something. It might have been some part of the theology that Yan didn''t recall, or a book she hadn''t read. Yan looked at her, pursed her lips, shoved another bean into the dirt.

    ¡°Is that what we have? A negative peace?¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡±

    They were silent again.

    ¡°Would you feel better if you trusted yourself?¡± Kino asked.

    ¡°If I trust myself about one thing, I''ll probably find a new thing to worry about,¡± Yan said. ¡°Maybe there''s just something wrong with me.¡±

    Kino shook her head. She reached across the bed and poked a hole in the dirt. Yan filled it with a seed. They repeated that process several times.

    ¡°I want you to practice on me,¡± Kino said finally. ¡°I think it would be good.¡±

    ¡°I somehow doubt that it would be,¡± Yan said dryly. ¡°Even if it goes well, which, there''s only so well something like that could go.¡± She felt much calmer now, after some time by herself, she could discuss it without her heart beating its way out of her chest.

    ¡°It could be.¡±

    ¡°I don''t know what your deal is, Kino,¡± Yan said, stopping and putting her hands on the side of the bed. ¡°I don''t know if you''re trying to punish yourself for some reason, or trying to get me to go through some sort of complicated transaction in order to make yourself feel better, I don''t get it.¡±

    Kino looked down into the dirt. ¡°I don''t know. It''s complicated.¡±

    ¡°We have to stop owing each other,¡± Yan said. ¡°I think it''s killing us.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Can we just call it even? I know it''s not, but can it be?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know which one of us you think is getting the worse end of the deal.¡±

    Yan looked down at the dirt, confused for a second, then laughed. ¡°I don''t know, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Kino said. ¡°But I still want to help you.¡±

    Yan sat back on her haunches and looked across the dirt at Kino. ¡°Sylva already said she would, and honestly, even if she didn''t, I changed my mind. I don''t want to do it at all.¡±

    ¡°That''s a lie.¡±

    ¡°Only on the practical level.¡± Yan knew that she needed to learn to do it, to protect herself, but the emotional toll of it felt like it could be too much.

    ¡°You do better when you''re working on things practically,¡± Kino said.

    ¡°Yeah. But there''s more than just that,¡± Yan said.

    ¡°Think about it like any other task.¡±

    ¡°Would you be able to think about it like any other task?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn''t ask anyone to practice on,¡± Kino said. ¡°So it doesn''t matter.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that it''s wrong that I''m asking for that? It feels so wrong.¡±

    ¡°No, or I wouldn''t be volunteering,¡± Kino said. ¡°But no one trusts me here, so there wouldn''t be a point.¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    They were quiet again for a moment. Kino had poked a whole row of holes, so Yan scooted along and put seeds into all of them.

    ¡°Let''s just try it,¡± Kino said quietly. ¡°Not because I owe you, not because you need to prove anything, just because it''s something that needs to be done.¡±

    ¡°Are you really sure?¡± Yan looked across at her. They were on neutral ground here, it made it slightly easier to figure all this out. There wasn''t the added pressure of Iri and Sylva. Yan loved them deeply, both of them, but they certainly added pressure to the dynamic. Kino, for all her faults, and for all the weird mixed up feelings that she caused, gave Yan plenty of space to breathe.

    ¡°I don''t think you''ll be able to do it first time, anyway,¡± Kino said, pragmatic as ever.

    ¡°What should I make you do?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°Just this,¡± Kino said, and poked another hole in the dirt. She held her right hand out, loose, but with her finger pointing downward. Yan stared at it for a second.

    ¡°What if I break your other hand?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°You won''t break my hand,¡± Kino said, as gently as her flat voice seemed to allow.

    Yan sat down on the ground, crossing her legs. She looked across at Kino, who continued to hold her arm out, waiting.

    The power came up to her easily, humming in her brain, tingling along her nerves. Using the power had to be purposeful, and she liked having a purpose. Carefully, she reached out toward Kino. She was slippery, like a cool breeze that Yan couldn''t quite get her hands around.

    ¡°Can you feel that?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°You''re not doing anything,¡± Kino said. She was right; Yan was simply touching the surface of Kino''s being, not even trying to grab at her. That was easy, but Yan didn''t quite want to take the next step.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Kino encouraged. ¡°It''s okay.¡±

    She kept saying that, but Yan was pretty sure things were not okay. Even so, Yan tried to close the power around Kino''s arm, just like she would around a rock, or a piece of fabric. She could easily seize the hem of Kino''s short sleeve shirt, but as she closed around Kino''s arm, the power bucked at her madly, sending a deep revulsion through her at the feeling of invading another person. Startled, Yan dropped the power and reeled backward slightly.

    ¡°I felt that,¡± Kino said. ¡°Good job.¡±

    ¡°I feel like I''m going to be sick,¡± Yan said. She hated that. She hated it a lot. There was a spigot attached to the corner of the planting bed, meant for feeding the sprinkler system. Yan opened it for a second and cupped her hand to drink some of the cool water. It was rusty from disuse, but the taste and feeling of it soothed her, at least momentarily.

    ¡°You can do it,¡± Kino said. She continued to hold her arm out for Yan to take.

    ¡°You want me to try again?¡± Yan asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    So she did. This time, knowing more what to expect, Yan held on through it. She was very, very, very careful not to let her thoughts wander. There were only a few short jumps, she knew, between hearing Halen''s voice whispering in her ear, and imagining that she was Halen, and hurting Kino, standing over her with a knife. The distance between each of those things was so small. She kept the power tightly contained to her conscious mind, and she kept her conscious mind on the task at hand, and nowhere else.

    Even just holding the feeling of Kino''s arm in her mind made Yan start to sweat. It was so hot and alive, throbbing in the power. It felt, not like an extension of herself, but like the universe was tying them together. Imposing her will upon it, or trying to, felt like she was breaking a contract that the universe had written for her, on the ways that one should behave towards other living beings. It felt viscerally wrong, in a way that nothing else had ever before. Yan was sure that some kids at the Academy always tried to do this to each other-- Yan had never been tempted because not using the power on others was something the masters stressed, but even if she had, she would have wanted to stop immediately. The only thing that kept her going was determination, and the knowledge that Kino would keep telling her to go on.

    The deep, deep revulsion made her mind crawl away from what she was trying to do. It distracted her, filled her with crawling, nasty thoughts. On top of that, it was so hard to grip Kino''s arm and move it. It was like nothing else. She couldn''t understand how the Green King, or Halen, or anybody else did this easily. She never thought she would get used to it. She wanted to give up.

    But she gave it one more push, and her effort paid off. Kino''s arm twisted and jerked down towards the dirt, and her finger plunged halfway in.

    Yan released the power, and it fled from her with relief. Letting go of Kino was a weight off her chest. She was sweating, and her arms and legs felt cold, as though all the blood had rushed out of them. Her breath came in frantic pants, and she looked up at Kino.

    Kino smiled. ¡°See?¡±

    Yan opened the spigot of water and stuck her head underneath it.

 Chapter Ninety-Three - O Captain My Captain

    O Captain My Captain

    <blockquote>

    "When Finnean rose from the dead, they put that hat on his head. They danced all night, they drank all night, when Finnean rose from the dead. When Finnean rose from the dead, all those things they said. They all came out with a laugh and a shout when Finnean rose from the dead."

    - from "Finnean''s Wake", traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The message-drone they were leaving for the Iron Dreams was a funny little thing. Once Yan left Kino in the greenhouse, after a long stretch of planting beans in the dirt, she had jumped the ship again and then come to find Iri, who was putting the drone together. There was no hope of scrubbing the look of Imperial government make off of it without a complete disassembly, so they had to content themselves with the fact that if anyone other than the intended recipient found it, it would immediately set off alarm bells.

    "Does your family have an encryption system that you could use?" Iri asked Yan as she prepared to load their message into the drone.

    "Not that I could tell you off the top of my head," Yan said. "I haven''t been on the Dreams in almost a year.

    "Alright. Guess we''ll just have to make do with being cryptic."

    Yan laughed a little at that.

    "You got a star chart for where we''re meeting?" Iri asked.

    "Two jumps away," Yan said. "Should be alright." She leaned over to the computer on the workbench and pulled up the starchart she had prepared earlier. Luckily, the file system on the First Star was fairly easy to navigate. Iri loaded it onto the drone''s memory, along with her cryptic-but-not-encrypted message.

    "Hopefully your family will listen and not panic," Iri said. "Who knows what news is coming from Emerri."

    Yan grimaced. "My biggest concern is that we''ll have missed them, and that they''re on their way to Emerri right now."

    "Let''s keep our hopes up on that one," Iri said. "You looking forward to going home?"

    "You sure know how to ask the worst questions," Yan said, picking up a piece of wire from the workbench and twisting it around her finger like a tourniquet.

    "Sorry," Iri said, but her voice indicated that she was not that sorry.

    "You don''t have to try to be my therapist, or whatever," Yan grumbled. "We could have avoided a whole scene this morning."

    "Don''t you feel better when things are out in the open? When you''re not holding all that garbage inside your chest?"

    "That''s beside the point. You don''t go around volunteering your shittiest secrets." Yan wasn''t actually mad, but she didn''t want to address the question about her family, so she redirected the conversation as best she could.

    "You don''t need the burden of any issues I may or may not have," Iri said lightly.

    "I know," Yan said. "I''m just saying..." She trailed off.

    "We''re all just saying." Iri disconnected the drone from the computer and began screwing it back together.

    "You don''t have to be my minder anymore. You''re not like... the person who needs to deal with my emotional problems."

    "Good thing I''m not your minder anymore, because I was never that good at it."

    "What? Yes you were." Yan was taken aback. "I thought Halen thought you were doing a good job."

    Iri reached over and tapped the tip of Yan''s nose, very lightly. Yan''s cheeks heated up ever so slightly; she knew Iri was straight, and besides, there was everything else, but that was a fairly flirtatious invasion of her personal space. "And that is why we don''t talk about my problems, Captain," Iri said brightly.

    Yan unwrapped the wire from her finger, which was turning purple. "Fine."

    "You ready to jump into Byforest?"

    "No, not at all." Yan was not looking forward to holding up invisibility on the whole ship for six hours by herself. It sounded like it would be one prolonged exercise in misery.

    "Get some sleep," Iri advised. "You''ve got bags under your eyes for days."

    "Wilco," Yan said. She hadn''t actually woken up very long ago, but the day had been full of stressful events already, and she had not slept well the night previous, so the idea of a nap was a good one.

    <hr>

    Yan followed Iri''s advice, settling down in her captain''s room for a long nap. She woke up feeling disgusting, but determined fairly quickly that it was due to not eating enough, so she scrounged up some instant noodles from the kitchen. After she was feeling much more human, she set herself up in the bridge to jump the ship the rest of the way towards Byforest.

    They weren''t going to be docking with the station, for obvious reasons, so her intended jump target was about fifteen light seconds out from the station proper, which was a radius that was safe enough that she wasn''t likely to hit anything as she came in, and small enough that their little drone would be able to navigate to the Dreams in a relatively short amount of time, enough to deliver its message.

    Yan put in the jump coordinates, sitting cross legged in the captain''s chair. No one else was on the bridge at the moment. She put the jump table away for the moment and pulled up the security feeds, checking to see where everyone else was. Iri was floating in a bay, with the drone next to her, waiting to shove it out of an airlock when the time came. She was reading something on her phone and looking overall pretty bored. Sylva was hustling through the hallways, though Yan had no idea where she was going. Kino was still in the greenhouse, though Yan could see that she was done planting seeds and was inspecting the tending robots instead.

    Yan paged Iri over the intercom. Iri jumped, as much as one could jump in zero gravity, when she heard the sound of Yan''s voice. "Ready, Iri?" Yan asked.

    Iri''s voice came back muffled, due to the echo-y nature of the bay and the distance between her and the microphone. "You scared me half to death. But yes, let me know when you''ve jumped us."

    "Will do." Yan leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

    Yan had never tried to use the power on a whole ship before. Even during her rampage, when she had stormed the First Star and taken control, the only thing she had done was open doors, a fairly trivial task. "She hoped that the First Star wouldn''t mind her intrusion.

    She didn''t think the ship was alive, not really. It felt like it in the power, along with that achingly familiarity that she couldn''t quite place, but that was probably just because of the power that had been given to it by its creator.

    As she stretched out her power into the whole ship, creeping it around the outside edges, at the barrier between vacuum and stone, Yan considered how little she really knew about the stardrive that was humming all around her. She had lectures on stardrives while at the Academy, but they had been more of a history lesson and series of dire warnings, rather than an explanation of how they were actually made. This was to stop her fellow classmates from trying to make their own, and inevitably blowing up the whole planet. Yan had never attempted to look at the inside of the Iron Dreams'' stardrive, so she had no idea how they were actually constructed. She only knew in vague, theoretical terms how they worked.

    Still, they couldn''t be that hard to make, considering that Halen had made several of them when he was her age, with no training, and only the equipment available aboard a pirate ship. Perhaps Halen was just extremely lucky as well as extremely talented.

    She shook the thoughts out of her head and returned to her task. Even though she tried to push the feeling away, the First Star felt uncomfortably awake. Yan breathed in and out, sinking down into meditation. It was hard work to pull up invisibility over the whole ship, and Yan hoped that she would be able to hold it up for the next six hours. If she couldn''t, they''d have problems. She opened her eyes and pushed the button to start the jump countdown.

    "Thirty seconds, Iri," Yan said over the intercom.

    She tried to relax. The power around her was a warm blanket. She was glad that the First Star wasn''t fighting her invisibility-- probably because it had no actual effect on the ship. It was just as easy as placing invisibility on Kino. It was only the light around the body, after all. Simple.

    The power swelled as the First Star''s stardrive prepared to jump. Deep in her meditation, Yan felt something like a wild joy coming from the stardrive, though perhaps that was simply the feeling of the power, eager to be used. Yan was caught up in it, that anticipation, that blinding heat. She remembered, all too clearly, the memory that Halen had shown her, of the stardrive he had made. But there was no fear here, only that wild, keening joy. Yan was lost in it completely, somehow feeling one with the ship, feeling its stone as her own body, its computer as her own mind.

    The wave of power crested. The stardrive laughed in her head. The ship jumped.

    The wave broke, and Yan was back alone in her own head and her own skin, knocked out of meditation and breathing heavily. Her invisibility held; she had managed to hold onto that, at least, despite the way she had been seized by something.

    She felt exhausted, despite the nap she had taken, as though being caught up in the process of the jump had used some of her own mental and physical energy. She didn''t understand what had happened, or why, so she felt vaguely uneasy as she settled down for a long six hours of holding the invisibility. Despite that unease, the connection she felt with the stardrive was also comforting.

    This was her ship, after all. It made sense for her to connect with it. Hers. Hers alone.

    The idea put a greater warmth in her chest every time she thought about it.

    <hr>

    If Yan thought that six hours of holding invisibility was exhausting, that was nothing compared to the several days of waiting to see if the Iron Dreams would show up at their meeting spot. She hadn''t seen the Dreams docked at Byforest Station, so there was no way of knowing if they hadn''t arrived yet, or if they were already on their way to Emerri. Without being able to dock with the station, they didn''t have access to ansible logs or ship travel updates.

    Yan spent most of her time in the greenhouse, trying not to think about anything. Having her hands and mind busy with deciding planting arrangements, getting the tanks up and running, and overall making herself useful made it easier to keep her mind off of it. She assigned tasks to everyone else, keeping them as busy as she could as well. If Iri was inventorying the ship, and Sylva was learning how to jump the ship in case of emergency, and Kino was fixing all the doors that Yan had destroyed, then none of them could be at each other''s throats. Even when they were together, at meals and when they found themselves in shared spaces like the bridge, greenhouse, or gym, the tension ever so slowly started to lapse from outright hostility into mere discomfort. It wasn''t much, but it was a start.

    They were stuck together, like it or not, so it would be good for them to get along.

    Still, the anxiety of waiting for her family to show grew and grew as the hours ticked past. Had they found the message drone? Did they understand the message enough to interpret the coordinates? Were they coming?

    Yan was in the greenhouse programming one of the tending robots when they jumped in, and Iri was on the bridge. Yan knew what had happened even before Iri frantically paged her; she had felt the wave of power that was a ship jumping in.

    "Yan!" Iri said, voice crackling but loud over the intercom. "Your family''s here!"

    "I know," Yan called back, unsure of where the microphone in the room was. "I''m on my way. Do you have radio yet?"

    "In a second," Iri said. "I''m lighting us up so they can see us."

    It was helpful for ships to visually see each other, so that they could point their radio broadcasts in the correct direction.

    Yan abandoned her gardening tasks and jogged through the hallways of the ship. She was filled with both relief and the familiar familial anxiety. She always felt vaguely bad about her family, for really no good reason, and that was compounded by the fact that she had no idea how they were going to think of her now. She was a pirate, after all, and some kind of abandoner of the Empire, and she had been through... a lot. She felt like she had changed so much since she had last seen them, and she had no idea what to expect.

    She hesitated for a second before opening the door of the bridge, but there was no reason or way to put it off, so she stepped inside.

    "Who radio?" Yan signed very simply to Iri, who knew only the barest rudiments of sign language. She didn''t want to make her presence known to the people on the other side of the call until she had a grasp of the situation.

    "Pellon," Iri fingerspelled back. "She''s here now," Iri said aloud. Yan grimaced fractionally, then walked over and took a seat in the captain''s chair.

    "Yan?" Pellon asked.

    "I''m here," Yan said, feeling excruciatingly awkward.

    In the background over the radio, she heard confused and muted sounds of celebration. Yan looked at Iri, mortified. Iri shrugged in the most nonchalant way possible. The cheering quieted, presumably as Pellon shushed his crew.

    "Are you alright?" Pellon asked.

    "I''m fine, I guess," Yan said.

    "When we came into Byforest, we heard the worst news," Pellon said.

    "But you also got our message."

    "And thank God for that," Pellon said. "It''s a bit of a coincidence, because I had almost diverted us to Hylar to pick up a contract, so we almost missed it entirely."

    "You would have gotten it when you went back to Byforest," Yan said. "We were prepared to wait here until you did."

    "We should have this conversation in person. Do you have a shuttle?"

    "One sec," Yan said, and gestured to Iri to silence the radio. "I can''t leave the ship," she hissed.

    "Don''t be an idiot. Yes, you can," Iri said. "You''re going to go talk to your family, so help me God."

    Iri unmuted the radio.

    "Yes, I have a shuttle," Yan said, somewhat reluctantly. "I''ll come right over."

    "Great."

    "Okay, er, I''ll get going then," Yan said awkwardly. "See you in like, half an hour." She glanced at Iri, who rolled her eyes and stopped the transmission.

    "Who''s coming with you?" Iri asked.

    "Sylva likes my family. Definitely not Kino. You can come if you want."

    "You trust Kino to hold down the ship?"

    "I trust her not to mess with it," Yan said. "Probably more than you trust her."

    "That''s a statement of fact if I ever heard one. I''ll page Sylva and we''ll meet you in Bay 1. You can go get the shuttle ready."

    "Tell Kino what''s going on."

    "Will do."

    Yan left the bridge and headed toward the bay, making a quick pit stop in the bathroom to check if she was presentable. In the bay, she picked out one of the shuttles and went through the pre-flight checklist on it. She was almost done when Iri and Sylva arrived. She propped the door open for them and they all got in.

    "How''s your family doing?" Sylva asked as she buckled herself in the back seat.

    "We''re about to find out," Yan muttered as she hauled the door shut and locked it. After buckling herself into the pilot''s seat, she sent a command to the First Star to begin depressurising the bay, then open the bay doors.

    The three women were mostly silent on the shuttle ride over, aside from Yan''s communication with the Dreams. The flight controller on duty was her cousin Amira''s husband, who she didn''t know very well. It was that much easier for the two of them to be professional and not chatter over the radio as he directed Yan into a landing bay. She liked being behind the yoke of the shuttle, and she was almost sad when she settled them gently into the bay and requested re-pressurization.

    "Well, this is it," Yan said, killing the shuttle''s engine.

    "Can hardly be more awkward than when you came back to Emerri," Iri said.

    "True." She checked the shuttle''s system to make sure they were all fine and turned off, and waited for the pressurization lights to stop flashing outside. When it finished, all three of them unbuckled themselves and Yan opened the door of the shuttle.

    She barely had time to react as her uncle Maxes came flying at her, coming out of the door and into the bay with almost dangerous speed. Yan braced herself against the side of the shuttle, and he crashed into her, wrapping her in acrushing, wordless hug. His beaded braids hit her shoulders, and she could smell his familiar cologne. The whole experience made her feel like an eight year old again, but she didn''t, surprising herself, resent it.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "I knew you weren''t dead," he whispered into her ear. "I knew it."

    Yan hugged him back. He seemed reluctant to ever let her go, but she eventually had to squirm a little so that she could see his face and have a real conversation.

    "Glad to be alive," she said, with as much emotion as she could muster (not much).

    "Are you okay?" he asked, holding her arms and pushing her back so that he could see her whole upper body. "God, what happened to your suit?" he asked, pointing out a particularly grim looking blood spot on Yan''s Iron Dreams jumpsuit that she hadn''t quite managed to scrub out, even after repeated washings.

    "Yeah, I need some new clothes," Yan muttered. "I''m okay. It''s been a lot."

    "I''ve missed you so much."

    "Hasn''t even been a whole school year since I last saw you," Yan said, feeling awkward again.

    "You know what I mean," Maxes said, and seemed to be unable to resist hugging her again. "Will you tell me what happened?"

    "I guess. Not right here though," Yan said, wiggling out of his grip again.

    "Of course. Have you eaten?"

    "Err..." Yan didn''t remember the last time she had eaten anything, so it probably hadn''t been recently. "No."

    Maxes smiled. "Everyone will be so glad to see you again."

    Yan tensed up. She hadn''t actually done the whole ''big groups of people'' thing since getting back to the real world, or whatever this world was. She had been allowed to be by herself aboard the Impulse, and Sandreas and Halen had sheltered her from the worst of it on Emerri, she didn''t know if she could handle a big party with her entire extended family. She could barely handle just her uncle.

    "I hope you haven''t set up a whole big thing," Yan said. "Please." She didn''t know how they would have even had time to, but spacers threw parties at drops of the hat, so she perhaps should have expected this.

    Maxes peered into her face. "You can have dinner first, and you won''t have to stay for long. Just make an appearance. Let everyone know you''re fine."

    "Okay," Yan said, trying to appear graceful but feeling internally resigned. "I haven''t been around people much."

    "That''s alright. We''re going to have dinner with Pellon first. We need to talk."

    "I know." Yan looked over Maxes''s shoulder and saw the rest of the entourage who had followed him in. There were only a few, which Yan was grateful for. It was just her baby cousins, though they were certainly far from babies, since they were nine? thirteen? now; Maxes''s wife Jalena (who was deep in conversation with Sylva); and Pellon himself.

    Yan fully extracted herself from Maxes''s grip and turned to Pellon. She put a brave smile on her face.

    He looked at her solemnly, the light in the bay reflecting off of his shaved head, reminding her weirdly of Sid. "As a ship in the night, I greet you, Captain," he said finally, holding out his hand.

    Yan had certainly not expected to be met with that traditional greeting, so she fumbled a bit with the response. "With the stars at your back, I greet you, Captain," she said.

    They shook hands, and Pellon smiled. "Odd circumstances that I''m greeting my cousin in," he said. He was actually her mother''s cousin, but the difference was academic at this point.

    "They could definitely be better," Yan agreed. "But they could also be much worse."

    "Very true. I''m glad to see that Ms. Calor and Ms. Maedes survived their journey."

    "They found me," Yan said.

    "So, more than survived. I can''t wait to hear all about it."

    "Er. Yeah," Yan rubbed the back of her neck. She really, really, really was not looking forward to rehashing her months of trauma that had led her here. She wished she could have someone else give them a supersummary, and then have no one ever talk about it, ever again. She wished the information could be deposited in people''s brains, simply to satisfy their curiosity, but making no impact on the way they treated her. "Did you hear the news out of Emerri?"

    "Several pieces of news," Pellon said with a drawn expression. "All of which I can assume are fake."

    "Probably," Yan said. She abruptly realized that she was going to have to decide how she was going to handle information. Did she want to spill the Empire''s secrets to her family? Some of it was already very much out of the bag, but she hadn''t even considered the fact that her family only had the story that she was taken by pirates, the official Imperial lie. Yan glanced at Iri, who was listening in on the conversation. Iri discretely shrugged, then flicked her finger at her waist to point at Yan. So, it was her choice.

    "We received a very alarming letter from First Sandreas informing us that you were dead," he said. "It included a very graphic picture."

    Yan felt nauseous. "God."

    "Indeed."

    "The half of your face that was intact was very convincing."

    "I''m sorry," Yan said.

    "What are you apologizing for?"

    "For making you worry."

    "I hardly think that''s your fault. But I do think that you need to tell us the truth about what''s going on. At least before we go claim your corpse and give it a funeral."

    "Your suite?" Yan asked.

    "Private enough. Say hello to your cousins though, first," Pellon said, pointing at the young Jaden and Sion, Maxes and Jalena''s sons. "They''ve missed you more than they''d probably admit."

    Yan went over to the two boys. They were so tall, coming up to her chin. She found it hard to believe both how young they were and how old they were at the same time. "Hey," she said.

    "I did think you were dead," Sion admitted. "Sorry." It was an odd opening line, but Yan wasn''t going to begrudge kids their weirdnesses. She could see that he sincerely meant his apology, and that it had clearly been haunting him.

    "It''s okay," Yan said. "If I was you, I definitely would have too."

    "I didn''t think you were," Jaden said, nudging his younger brother. "I knew you were coming back."

    "I''m glad you believed in me," Yan said awkwardly. "I missed you guys. School going alright?"

    "Fine," the two said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed.

    "They letting you fly shuttles yet?" she asked Jaden.

    "Once," he said proudly. "Dad said I did a good job."

    "Glad I wasn''t a passenger," Yan said.

    "You''re a captain now?" Sion asked.

    "I guess so."

    "Can I come on your ship?"

    "Maybe just to see."

    "What are you going to haul?" Jaden asked, curious, clearly not understanding the politics of the situation at all. "What route do you run?"

    "My ship''s a little small for hauling," Yan said. "I don''t know what I''m going to do with it yet."

    This answer seemed to stymie both of the boys, and neither of them had any idea how to respond. The concept of a ship that wasn''t hauling things was completely foreign to them. To be fair, it was pretty foreign to Yan as well, but she was the one in control.

    "Okay," Jaden said. "Are you sticking around?"

    "No," Yan said. "I don''t think I''ll be staying much more than tonight. You have to get to Emerri, and I just came from there."

    "That sucks," Jaden said.

    "Just think of it like I''m still at school. You''ll probably see me around."

    Sion tugged Yan''s arm and pulled her down so that his mouth was level with her ear. "Dad is the worst when you''re not around. You should stay."

    Yan smiled sadly and shook her head. "I''m sorry," she said. "I''m sure you''ll get along fine without me."

    Sion frowned, but nodded. "Coming to the party?"

    "I don''t even know how you put one together so fast," Yan said.

    "Aunt Eman is really good at that," Jaden said.

    "I''ll be there to say hi later. I have to talk with Captain Pellon first, though."

    "About what?"

    "Would you be mad at me if I said boring adult stuff?"

    "Yes," Jaden said.

    "Unfortunately, that''s what it is. Some weird things might happen on your trip to Emerri," Yan said. "I have to make sure he knows what to expect."

    "Okay," Jaden said, unconvinced. "I''ll just ask Dad about it, later."

    "You do that." Yan reached out and hugged them, first Jaden, then Sion. "You two are great. Hold down the ship for me, okay?"

    "Okay."

    Yan grinned at them, then headed back towards Pellon. She passed Sylva, and caught a snatch of her conversation with Jalena.

    "You didn''t kill anyone, right?"

    "I''m sorry to announce that I actually brought another pirate into this world," Sylva said, shaking her head with mock sadness.

    "Oh, you''re a midwife too, now?"

    "It was a surgical birth," Sylva said. "Very bloody."

    "Glad I was not within a hundred light years of it," Jalena said.

    Yan nodded at her, and she smiled back then waved her towards Captain Pellon. Yan smiled and headed back over. Captain Pellon gathered up the smaller group who would be going with him back to his suite for dinner: Yan, Sylva, Iri, Maxes, and himself. Jalena took her two sons out to the party.

    Walking through the halls of the Iron Dreams was a melancholy experience for Yan. It was so familiar, and it had once been home. But it was not home now, and it never would be again. There was no going back to the past, no matter what halls she was walking down. No matter how much she felt like a small child in her uncle''s arms. No matter how in awe she still was of the man she thought of as Her Captain. It was all the same, but so different at the same time.

    Pellon let them in to his rooms. They were, for the most part, unchanged since Yan had last been there with Sylva, before her apprenticeship even began. There was a table already set and a hot dinner already waiting, kept warm with heating pads underneath large trays. Everyone sat down at the table. Pellon was at the head, Yan at his right side, Maxes at his left. Sylva was next to Yan, and Iri was on her other side. It was a cozy little group they had.

    "I won''t keep you waiting on your dinner," Pellon said. "Yan, would you like to say the blessing?"

    Ah. Fuck. Yan was still not exactly ready for that.

    "I''ll say it," Sylva said with a smile, knowing Yan''s discomfort and taking on that burden for her. Sylva''s voice was clear and beautiful. "Oh Lord of all creation, you have brought us here together in your great mercy. You guard the roads of darkness, you watch the paths of light. Wherever we go, you are there. Keep us all on our journeys until we meet again in some other season, under some other sky."

    It was not a traditional food blessing, but it certainly was appropriate for the situation.

    Pellon smiled at Sylva, then opened up the trays and served them all. It was curry and rice, and it was delicious. They all ate in relative silence for a few minutes, with only the mildest of meaningless chatter passing between them. Yan noticed that Pellon did not serve any of them wine. Yan was hungrier than she had expected, and ate a lot of her meal by the time they were ready to settle in to real discussion.

    "So, Yan," Pellon said. "I assume by the way that the Empire is calling you dead, and the fact that you are in possession of First Sandreas''s private ship that you are on the run."

    "Yeah," Yan said, pushing some of her rice around on her plate with her fork. "Not the greatest situation."

    "I suppose my first question is, then, to ask if my crew are in danger." His voice was light but deadly serious.

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "I think if Sandreas were going to kill you outright, there would have been a Fleet ship waiting for you at Byforest."

    "That''s one good thing," Pellon said.

    "We''re all certainly grateful that we didn''t die unexpectedly," Maxes said.

    "I think it would have been a fairly bad and obvious thing, if he had ordered you killed. Even if he made it look like pirates. I don''t think the Guild would like that, open war on their ships," Yan said.

    "The Guild has been a mess since the elder Vaneik died," Pellon said. "I find it hard to believe that anyone with any clout would be able to muster up the will to care, should we disappear."

    Yan caught herself before she began to discuss Vaneik''s murder. "I''m not saying you should disappear, but maybe try to stay out of the spotlight for a while."

    "When have we ever been in the spotlight?" Maxes asked gently.

    "Only when I put you there by accident," Yan admitted. "I''ll be keeping as low of a profile as I can, certainly."

    "Thank you," Pellon said. "Now, there is the matter of the funeral."

    Yan sighed, scraped her fork along her plate, forming her remaining rice into one soggy mound. "You can''t exactly not have one," she said.

    "Yes. And First Sandreas will certainly attend."

    "He''ll know that you know," Yan said. "His bodyguard, Halen, he can tell what people are feeling. If you aren''t feeling sad enough, he''ll understand right away that I was in contact with you." The secrets she was continuing to keep and the secrets that she was giving away felt like they were being decided at random. She didn''t know if she should still feel loyalty to the Empire, she didn''t know what secrets would be actively dangerous to gift to her family.

    "Is there any possibility that you wouldn''t immediately get in contact with us?" Pellon asked.

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "But I clearly did."

    "True. How much is this likely to get us in trouble?" Pellon asked.

    "I think that depends on what you know, and what you decide to do with that information," Yan said. "If you can demonstrate to First Sandreas that you''re willing to play along and keep your head down, I think he''ll leave you alone."

    "Play along?"

    "Do the funeral. Pretend like I''m dead. Don''t say anything to the contrary. I''d recommend you advise him to hold the funeral on Emerri, and you have a select few trustworthy people attend."

    "So no Jaden and Sion," Maxes said with a slight smile.

    "Yes," Yan said. "It''s unfortunate that everyone here knows that I''m alive, because that secret is going to be hard to keep, but do your best."

    "And what other information are we talking about?"

    "I''m willing to tell you things," Yan said, though she wasn''t sure if that was true. "Imperial secrets. It''s all tied up with where I was, and why I''m here now. But I''m not sure how much you actually want to know."

    Pellon steepled his hands, looked at Maxes. "How secret are we talking?"

    Yan glanced at Iri. "You know the Fleet? If you join the Fleet, they put a little chip in your brain, one that you can''t ever get out, that stops you from ever talking about it." She couldn''t keep the bitterness out of her voice, not quite, and she instinctively rubbed the back of her neck.

    "Would there be any benefit to you telling us this?" Pellon asked. "Or would it just be bringing trouble that we won''t be able to deal with."

    "If I don''t tell you," Yan said, "I can''t tell you where I was, why I''m here, or where I''m going." She couldn''t quite answer the third one regardless, but it was poetic to put things in threes. "If I don''t tell you, you won''t be able to make the choice to help me, or to leave me."

    Pellon nodded slowly. Yan was grateful that he didn''t immediately say that he wouldn''t abandon her. It was oddly comforting to know that he would, if it came down to it. In a choice between his crew and Yan, Pellon would choose his crew every time. Yan was glad of that, because it gave her a sense of stability in the world, and the knowledge that she didn''t have to be responsible for the actions of the Iron Dreams. They could make their own choices. This wasn''t her home anymore.

    "You can''t tell us anything?" Maxes asked.

    "I would stick to the lines of the official report," Yan said. "I don''t like it, but it''s all tied up together."

    Pellon was thoughtful. "There''s no way we would be able to find out this information without you telling us directly?"

    "There are some leaks, if you''re willing to get in bed with pirates. But not very many. Not enough. You wouldn''t get the whole picture."

    "And who has the whole picture?"

    "Kino," Yan said immediately. Kino was the one who had the most information, the most contacts, the most complete image.

    "I remember her. Quiet," Maxes said. "Is she still with First Sandreas?"

    Yan laughed bitterly. "No. She''s on my ship. Most of her, anyway."

    "Why didn''t you bring her here?" Pellon asked. "Is she gravely injured?"

    "That''s all tied up with information I don''t think you want," Yan said. "She''s on my ship for her own protection."

    Maxes raised an eyebrow at that. "She''s your prisoner?"

    "She doesn''t have anywhere else to go, if that''s your definition of prisoner," Yan said.

    "Protection from whom?" Pellon asked.

    "You would probably be pretty angry if you had the whole picture," Sylva said, chiming in on the conversation for the first time. "I certainly am."

    Yan sighed and nudged her with her elbow. She had thought they were mostly on peaceful terms, but Sylva seemed riled up by this conversation. "Don''t worry about it," Yan said to her family members.

    "I''m your uncle," Maxes said. "I have to worry."

    "I''m somewhat concerned about what forces you''re planning to join up with," Pellon said. "I don''t know what they are, but none of this sounds encouraging."

    "Trust me," Yan said. "I''m ten thousand times more concerned than you are." She thought about the Mother, who she liked. Then she thought about the Green King, who she absolutely did not. They were all theoretically on the same side, now. The enemy of the Empire, even if she didn''t want to think of herself as one, was probably her acquaintance, if not her friend.

    "So Kino is on your ship, and you''re here. Where''s the other one? Welslak, right?" Maxes asked.

    "I think he''s still on a Fleet ship out of ansible range. He doesn''t know anything about any of this. I mean, he kinda does, but none of the developments that have happened in the past..." Yan thought about it, decided her sense of time had been destroyed from having an inconsistent sleep schedule aboard the First Star, and rounded, "ten days."

    "So he''s still with First Sandreas."

    "In terms of alignment, yes," Yan said. "I don''t know if they''ll be able to get him back for the funeral."

    There was a brief lull in the conversation. Pellon looked at her. "What are you going to do, Yan?" he asked. "One captain to another. What''s your honest plan?"

    It was very odd to be acknowledged as an equal. "I don''t know yet," Yan said. She ran her hands over the tablecloth. "I think I need to meet up with some people, connections that Kino has, that I have. I know I''m an enemy of the state, but I don''t know how far I''m going to push that."

    "Okay," Pellon said. "I think that I don''t want to know any of your information, then," he said.

    Yan nodded, grateful immediately to be let off the hook. "Thank you," she said, sincerely. "It''s probably for the best."

    "How likely is this to come back to the Guild?"

    "I think I''m going to have a talk with Guild leadership at some point," Yan said. "If I can swing it." Now there, thinking about the murderous Thule, was a bedfellow that Yan did not want, but she knew that the Guild would be a powerful ally.

    "When?"

    "Not for a long time, probably. But I wouldn''t say that they won''t be involved," Yan said. "Eventually." The scope of this whole problem, and the scope of her position, it was all beginning to calcify in her head into something hard and difficult. The Guild would be a powerful ally, but bringing them in would only happen if... If things had already gone so far down a long road.

    "Is there anything that we should do?"

    "Stay within inhabited space, but be ready to run. Avoid pirate ships. Don''t trust anyone," Yan said. "Don''t take on new crew or passengers," she said, thinking of the way that Sylva and Iri had infiltrated the pirate ships they had travelled on.

    "So, be vigilant," Pellon said. "We can do that."

    "Will we be seeing you again?" Maxes asked. "Do you want more crew?"

    "No one is going aboard her ship," Pellon said, looking at Maxes directly. "You understand."

    Maxes looked at his captain, then looked down. "Yes."

    That was a twist at Yan''s heart, actually. She had half thought, maybe, that her uncle would come with her. But he couldn''t leave his kids and wife, and Yan didn''t want to put her young cousins in harm''s way any more than she already had. It was a foolish want, and she didn''t even know how she felt about her uncle to begin with, but she just wanted... She wanted. That was all.

    "I''ll get in contact with you," Yan said. "But for obvious reasons, I''m going to vanish and be uncontactable."

    "I''ll miss you," Maxes said.

    "I''ll miss you too. But it is the way it is." There was still so much of her that cried out that it didn''t have to be, but it was.

    "I understand," Pellon said. "This is something that you feel that you must do?"

    "Once I figure out what I am going to do, yes."

    "And is there anything else that we can do for you? Aside from new clothes," Pellon asked, looking pointedly at her outfit. Yan laughed.

    "Actually, there is one thing." She pulled a data stick from her pocket, and she slid it into the middle of the table. Iri raised an eyebrow at it, and Sylva frowned. "At the funeral, please give this to Halen."

    "Certainly that will expose that we''ve been in contact with you," Pellon said. That didn''t matter, for reasons that Yan had already articulated, but she could understand Pellon''s hesitancy to utterly expose the ship.

    "Give it to Banmei Olms, then, and he can give it to his daughter, Yuuni. She has a direct line to Sandreas''s ear."

    "What is it?"

    "Just a letter," Yan said, feeling slightly guilty, though she didn''t know why. "I needed to explain myself."

    "Are you sure that will do anything good?" Iri asked.

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "But I had to-- You know what? It''s not really relevant. I just would like it delivered, if you can."

    Maxes picked up the data stick, twirled it around in his fingers and glanced at Pellon, who looked at him neutrally.

    "I''ll deliver it," Maxes said.

    "Thank you," Yan said, genuinely grateful.

    "Is that all?" Pellon said.

    "I''d like for you to break the news to the rest of the crew that they have to keep my existence a secret," Yan said.

    Pellon smiled. "Of course. Shall we head down to see the celebration in your honor?"

    Yan was reluctant, but since she had somehow, some way, managed to avoid rehashing the worst several months of her life, she was feeling slightly better. "I can try," she said.

 Chapter Ninety-Four - Cant Trust A Spy, or a Friend

    Can''t Trust A Spy, or a Friend

    <blockquote>

    "My lover''s fingers twine with mine, my lover''s heart, her heart in mine. If ever there was a home I knew, oh my true love, it''s here with you."

    -from "The House on the Hill", traditional Emerri love song

    </blockquote>

    Yan survived the night of partying with her family, but she felt like only barely. She had enjoyed it more than she had expected, and had stayed longer than she anticipated, but it took a toll on her. There had been plenty of good moments, of course. It was nice to see the people that she loved again, and it was nice to get to dance with Sylva. People kept putting drinks in her hand, and she kept passing them off to other people. It wasn''t as though she didn''t trust her family or anything, she just had no intention of getting drunk. Her thoughts flashed back, increasingly as the night wore on, to what Kino was doing aboard the First Star without anybody else around. Probably nothing, but Yan felt bad for leaving her there.

    She felt worse when the party ground down and it was time at last to say goodbye to her family. She had no idea when she would see them again, so it was a bitter parting on amicable terms. She hugged her uncle and aunts and cousins, and she said a formal farewell to Pellon, no longer her captain. She flew the shuttle back to the First Star with hands that shook ever so slightly on the yoke and stared out the window as they watched the Iron Dreams jump away, going towards Emerri and a world that Yan was forever cut off from. She hoped that Maxes really would deliver her letter. She had spent a lot of thought writing it.

    She slept soundly that night, though her dreams were filled with her family''s faces, and their mundane chatter about daily life aboard the ship she would never return to.

    The next morning, they gathered in the kitchen, as was their custom. Yan busied herself with making coffee as Sylva reconstituted some scrambled eggs out of a dry powder. Yan could not wait until the tanks and greenhouse were up and running, then they could have fresh meat and vegetables again. It would be a while, another month or so, though, before any of that was ready. They would have to content themselves with stored food until then.

    Iri and Kino sat at stools around the island. Of the four of them, Kino seemed the most awake, probably because she had woken up several hours before the rest of them, as she had not been out all night with Yan''s family. Yan somehow doubted that Kino was sad to have missed it. Even without any bitterness that her family may have had, Kino was not the party type.

    Breakfast cooked and served, everyone ate, each waiting for someone else to broach some topic of conversation. Yan, being the one in charge, made it her responsibility.

    "Alright," she said, feeling less confident than she sounded. "We need to make a plan. I don''t think we can put it off for much longer."

    "I agree," Iri said, stirring her coffee. "You''re in charge."

    "I want this to be fair," Yan said. "As fair as it''s going to get, anyway." The egalitarian impulse was probably not good for her, but she had it regardless.

    "And how are you going to ensure that?" Sylva asked, not hostile, just slightly confused.

    "I''m not going to ensure that, but I want to hear everybody''s list of priorities, and then from there I can decide what the best way to move forward is."

    "That actually doesn''t sound democratic at all," Iri said with a smile.

    "It''s not, but you know, I don''t want there to be endless bickering. So everybody getting a chance to speak is going to be as fair as it gets. I think we can all agree that I am the most impartial party."

    "It''s really incredible," Iri said. "But sure."

    "Iri, you tell me what your priorities are first. Do you want to-- I know you have a brother, do you need to get in contact with your family or anything?"

    "No," Iri said. "I mean, it sucks that I can''t, but there''s absolutely no reason for me to go back to Emerri. My brother is an adult, and he can handle himself."

    "Okay," Yan said slowly. "So, what do you want?"

    "My goal is just to keep you safe. Whatever you want to do, I''m fine with, unless it''s something insane."

    "This is all already insane," Yan said. "But seriously, Iri, you don''t have anything you need to do?"

    "I have no big political machinations, and my personal connections on Emerri are not worth considering."

    Yan frowned. "Do you have opinions, at least?"

    "You should have had me go last," Iri said. "I''ll give you my input on what other people say."

    This was like getting water from a stone. Yan turned to Sylva. "What about you? Do you need to talk to your family?"

    "Hah. No. Definitely not," Sylva said. "They''re still mad from last time I vanished."

    "Isn''t that more of a reason to get in contact with them?" Yan asked.

    "No way."

    "Fine. So what do you think we should do?"

    "I''m with Iri on this one," Sylva said. "I''m just here because I love you."

    That both made Yan smile and frustrated her at the same time. "Why can''t you have any input?"

    "You''re in charge," Iri and Sylva said simultaneously, looked at each other, and laughed.

    Yan had been hoping that hearing what other people had to say would allow her to form a better picture of the situation. A ship without a destination was as good as a ship that didn''t exist.

    "Kino?" Yan asked.

    Kino looked around the table, clearly considering her words before she spoke. "I would like to contact my sister," she said. "That''s one thing."

    "Bina, right?"

    "Yes."

    "On Hanathue?"

    "Yes."

    "Do you think she''s been arrested?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "My last ansible message to her, I included a code phrase that told her to be prepared."

    "What do you mean by that?" Yan asked. Prepared could mean almost anything.

    "A while ago, I gave her the contact information of people who could get her off planet in a hurry. I hope that she understood that she might need to leave."

    "I thought you said she wasn''t involved," Iri said.

    "She isn''t involved. But I wanted to make sure she had a way to get out if people thought she was."

    Iri nodded, very slowly.

    "Do you think she followed that advice?" Yan asked. That would determine if they were going to be taking the First Star to Hanathue or... somewhere else. Wherever that else was.

    "I don''t know."

    "You don''t know how your own sister would act?" Iri asked.

    Kino shrugged, an exaggerated gesture. "I haven''t seen her in person since I was ten."

    "How old is she?" Yan asked, mildly surprised. She had known in an academic sense that Kino didn''t have parents on Hanathue, but she hadn''t realized that she hadn''t had the ability to go back and see her sister over Academy breaks.

    "Sixteen," Kino said.

    "Imperial standard sixteen, or Hanathue sixteen?" Sylva asked.

    "Imperial standard."

    "What was her living situation like on Hanathue?" Yan asked, hoping that would shed light on Bina''s likely actions.

    "She was adopted by a rich family right after we arrived there," Kino said. "They didn''t want me, though." This was delivered with the same flat resignation that Kino usually spoke with, but the clear injustice in that statement twisted something in Yan''s heart.

    Sylva loudly slurped her coffee, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. Yan wasn''t sure if she should glare at her our laugh, so she settled for gently poking Sylva in the ribs.

    "So should we go to Hanathue? Or should we go to wherever you told her to escape to?"

    "You''re thinking of just going to an Imperial planet?" Iri asked.

    "I''m thinking about a lot of things," Yan said. "We could do it safely."

    "She''s probably still on the planet," Kino admitted. "I don''t know if she would have left."

    "If she didn''t get out, you have to be ready to face the possibility that she''s been arrested," Iri said. "And if she hasn''t been arrested, she might be bait to get you to do exactly this. I don''t think it''s safe."

    "But--" Yan began.

    "I''ll respect your decision," Iri said, holding up a hand, "but let''s walk through the possibilities. If she''s been arrested, she''ll be somewhere secret, because there isn''t anything she can be officially charged with, not without causing real news problems, right?"

    Yan nodded slowly.

    "She might be dead, or reported as dead."

    Yan nodded again.

    "And you won''t have any idea where to look for her. None of us have intimate knowledge of the Hanathue government, and there''s no way for us to get that knowledge."

    Iri was right that going to Hanathue was probably a bad idea, but Yan had grown somewhat attached to it regardless. Even without the goal of checking in on Kino''s sister, Yan wanted to see what was going on in the Empire. She wanted news. She wanted to see what Sandreas was doing.

    "What if she hasn''t been arrested?" Yan asked.

    "Then she is definitely under surveillance, and people will be waiting to see if you go there."

    Kino was picking at the bandages on her left hand. "She''s right. We shouldn''t go."

    "And even if you somehow managed to get in contact with her," Iri said, her voice kinder, "what would you do?" I don''t want to involve vulnerable sixteen year olds in this."

    "What if she is off planet?" Yan asked. "Would we take her aboard?"

    "Yes," Kino said.

    "No," said Iri. They looked at each other.

    "It might be a non-issue," Yan said. "Do we risk going to Hanathue or not? Hands up for yes."

    No one raised their hand, not even Kino, which made Yan bite her tongue. If Kino was against trying to get her own sister just out of some kind of sense of obligation to Yan, or because she wanted to be liked and agreeable with the rest of the group... Kino''s odd behavior was driving Yan crazy. She couldn''t argue with it, not without probably making Iri and Sylva angry. Juggling every one''s individual issues would age her early.

    "Fine. I guess we''re in agreement, then. So, if we''re not going to Hanathue, where are we going?"

    "If Bina did get off planet, she''d be with Mahmoud," Kino said.

    "Who?" Iri asked. Yan had forgotten that she was the only one who had seen the inside of Kino''s memories.

    "A man I know," Kino said.

    "A pirate or something?"

    "He''s the one Kino was feeding information to," Yan explained, feeling vaguely sick.

    Iri maid a noncommittal noise. "And where is he?"

    "Redheart," Kino said. "A black station," she added when everyone looked confused.

    "When was the last time you were in contact with him?" Iri asked. "I want to know if he''s still there."

    "Three months ago."

    "That''s a long time."

    "He never moved before," Kino said, a weird and unfamiliar note of panic in her voice.

    "First time for everything," Iri said. "But let''s assume he is. What then?"

    "If we get to him, he can find out what''s going on with my sister, even if she isn''t there."

    "Sure," Iri said. "And I''m sure he can point us in the direction of people who want to destroy the Empire, too."

    "Give it a rest, Iri," Yan said. "That''s--"

    "Yes, he can," Kino said.

    Sylva watched this play out, rather amused, and put her head on Yan''s shoulder when Yan put her face in her hands.

    "Do I really have to say that''s our goal?" Yan asked, voice coming out muffled from underneath her palms. "Do you want me to say that out loud?"

    "If you''ve made up your mind," Iri said. "If you''re ready to go work with the people who hurt you."

    "It''s--" Yan stopped and considered. "I can''t live with what the Empire is doing anymore," she finally said. She lifted her head up off her hands and looked directly at Kino. "It''s more important than just me and what I feel, isn''t it?"This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    "No, it''s not," Sylva said, wrapping her arm protectively around Yan''s waist.

    "It is," Yan said. She appreciated Sylva''s assurance, and to show her that, Yan sent her a return feeling of love through the power. Sylva squeezed her a little harder, so Yan knew she had received the message.

    Iri looked at Kino, picking at her bandages. "Was it worth it for you?"

    "It will be," Kino said.

    "Hm."

    "To Redheart, then?" Yan asked.

    "You''re the captain," Iri said. There were more promising things that she could have said, but at least it wasn''t a no.

    <hr>

    "Here''s the thing," Sylva said, cornering Yan on the bridge. Yan had just finished jumping the ship a little closer to Redheart. Kino had been able to give them enough of a description of the star it orbited that Yan could pin down the appropriate starchart and calculate the jumps. They had been hopping easily along, once every six hours like clockwork. This was Yan''s second jump of the day, and she was about to head down to the greenhouse, but Sylva came into the bridge right before she was about to stand up from her seat.

    "What''s the thing?" Yan asked, turning around and watching Sylva as she came in. She hoped that Sylva''s issue was just with the greenhouse, or something else completely inconsequential.

    "Iri and I have discussed this, and there''s absolutely no way we are letting you set foot on Redheart."

    Yan had not been expecting that, especially since they were still several jumps away from the station. "What? Why?"

    "The number of reasons is to long to list," Sylva said. "But first among them is the fact that you have a bounty on your head."

    "But the Bellringer was destroyed. Or disabled, anyway."

    "Nobody knows that. Besides, the Empire watches black stations. Don''t want you to be caught by them either."

    "You''re also on whatever watchlist that I''m on."

    "You''re a way higher priority target."

    "So who do you propose is going to Redheart?"

    "Iri, Kino, and I."

    "Isn''t Kino the highest priority target of them all?"

    "No bounty," Sylva said. "Also, we need her to get in contact with her guy, and as a power backup. We can disguise her enough that it should be less of an issue."

    "I don''t like this," Yan said.

    "You don''t think that while we''re out, I''m going to stab Kino in the back, do you?" Sylva was joking, or at least Yan hoped she was joking.

    "No, I just don''t like the idea of splitting up."

    "Worst comes to worst, you just jump away," Sylva said.

    "That''s not comforting in the least."

    "You know I''m right."

    "Could you stop me if I insisted on coming?" Yan asked.

    "You wouldn''t." Sylva put her hands on the back of Yan''s chair.

    "I might."

    Sylva leaned over Yan''s shoulder, and Yan leaned back in her seat. "I don''t think you would," Sylva said, directly into Yan''s ear. "I think you''re going to do whatever I tell you to do, Captain."

    "And what are you going to tell me to do, crewman?" Yan asked, catching the tone in Sylva''s voice and responding in kind.

    Sylva reached down and put her hand on Yan''s chin, turning her head so that their noses brushed. "I''m going to tell you to kiss me, Captain."

    "How scandalous," Yan said, and Sylva kissed her. Clearly, Sylva had succeeded in changing the topic.

    As Sylva understood it, the plan was that Yan was going to jump them in fairly close to the station and keep the ship invisible. Sylva, Iri, and Kino would have six hours to get to the station, get whatever information (or people) they could, and get back to Yan. Then they would jump out.

    They could take longer than six hours-- Sylva knew Yan would wait for them for as long as it took-- but she also didn''t want to prolong Yan''s misery or stay on the station for any longer than was necessary. All three of them were already buckled into the shuttle that they would be taking, and they were just waiting for Yan to give the signal that she had jumped them in. They got the signal; the bay doors opened; Iri flew them out towards the station.

    The closer to it they got, the more worried Sylva became. She was tense, and listening to Iri provide their fake identities to the station over the radio made her more nervous.

    "Our ship prefers to stay out of range," Iri was saying. "But we would like to land in your bay. Yes, we will pay the docking fee."

    They had bleached Kino''s hair with peroxide and had cut it short. Her iconic and austere braids were gone, and her hair was remarkably fluffy now that it was cut down to less than ear length. None of them were hairdressers, but they did their best. That, combined with their altered clothing taken from the Iron Dreams, heavy makeup scrounged from one of the First Star''s former crew member''s cabins, and gloves to cover her missing fingers, made Kino almost unrecognizable. Not completely, but almost. It would have to do.

    The First Star, along with its many amenities, had a fair supply of materials that could be used in lieu of charges for payment, possibly in case of complete civilizational collapse. That included enough gold to pay the shuttle''s docking fee a hundred thousand times over. Sylva would have called it a disgusting display of wealth, but it wasn''t being displayed, and it was probably nothing compared to the concept of having a private starship in the first place. First Sandreas was really quite something, and she was glad that she would never have to interact with him again.

    "I really hope that no one from the Warrior II is around," Sylva said. "I don''t want to be recognized."

    "That doesn''t look like their ship," Iri said, examining the ships that were docked at Redheart Station.

    "Still. Anybody can travel around."

    "You should have bleached your hair if you didn''t want to be recognized," Kino said.

    "I literally cannot think of something less appealing," Sylva said. "I''ll just have to deal with Keep if I run into her." She turned to Iri. "And you, if you run into Sign--"

    "I know, I know," Iri said. "It''s unfair that you get to have a girlfriend, and I, poor me, poor, poor, pitiful me--"

    "Shut it," Sylva said, blushing. "You had your fun."

    Iri laughed. "I don''t think we have to worry about that too much. I wouldn''t mind meeting back up with them again, anyway."

    Their conversation died down as Iri talked to the station flight control and negotiated which bay she would be putting her shuttle in. They had managed to take some time to scrub at least the outside markings off of the shuttle, so they could dock it without looking too suspicious. If anyone investigated too closely, it would be clear that it was government issue, but Sylva hoped that no one would ask, and if they did, they could explain it away as surplus, or stolen.

    At the very least, it didn''t look like a shuttle off of First Sandreas''s private starship was settling down in the bay of this illegal station. That was the best they were going to get.

    They landed, the bay pressurised, and they exited.

    There was someone waiting right outside the bay to take their docking fee, though not their names. The man barely glanced them over, as Sylva had come to expect from these black stations. As she had also come to expect, the surveillance measures by the ruling family were in full force. The place had cameras everywhere, though certainly they were only there to protect the family''s interests and not the interests of the "guests" of the station.

    The hallways were neat, but the aura of ill intent was everywhere, in the way that the few people they passed sized them up, in the way that the flashing signs were half bounties and half requests for illegal deliveries, in the way that Iri kept her hand solidly on her gun. Kino was armed as well, but Sylva had foregone taking a gun from the First Star''s armory, mainly because she was more likely to hurt someone accidentally than protect herself. She wanted to be as little of a liability as possible.

    Sylva stuck close to Iri, though Kino seemed unaffected by the hostile atmosphere, and walked several paces ahead of the both of them. It was to the point where Iri got twitchy about how far in front of them Kino was, and hustled to catch up.

    Walking through the station towards its bustling marketplace, Sylva was less and less sure of why she had even volunteered to come on this little jaunt. She wasn''t the menacing presence that Iri could be, and she completely lacked Kino''s agility with the power. Granted, she had never seen Kino use the power, but she had to assume that Kino was far better at it than she was, considering the way she had managed to fool First Sandreas for so long. Sylva wasn''t providing anything here. She would have been better off staying with Yan. But it was too late, she was here now.

    The marketplace was just as bad as Sylva remembered on the other station. There were stalls selling everything from drugs to people, and it was as disturbing as ever to see what the price was for a pound of flesh. It didn''t make sense, Kino''s little friends or whatever. They claimed to be against the Empire''s war, yet here they were, working with pirates who did... this. Sylva averted her eyes.

    Kino, though she certainly didn''t know where she was going, at least acted like it as she trawled around the station. Sylva didn''t have any better ideas than to follow her. They examined each of the stalls, apparently not seeing anyone that Kino recognized, then passed out of the market area and into the place where people actually lived. Sylva could not imagine living in this place.

    These hallways were less well kept than the main visiting hallways, perhaps because the people here were responsible for their own upkeep. Kino examined each of the doors closely. Some had name tags, some did not.

    One particular stretch of wall fascinated Kino-- a long trail of green marker, or crayon, started in a squiggle down at floor level and travelled up to about hip height, stopping about three feet away from an unmarked door.

    Sylva could not imagine raising children in this place.

    Kino knocked on the door.

    There wasn''t any response.

    "Are you sure this is the place?" Sylva whispered, glancing up and down the hallway, hoping that no one would walk by. They weren''t doing anything illegal, but they certainly weren''t doing anything normal, either.

    "I can feel him in there," Kino said.

    Oh, so that explained it. At least Sylva had the excuse of never having met this man, she wouldn''t know what he felt like in the power if he came up and kicked her in it.

    Kino knocked again, harder this time.

    "Is your sister in there?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said. So Kino hadn''t learned to feel people in the power before she came to the Academy, or at least not enough to remember what her sister felt like, ten years later. That was kinda sad. Sylva wasn''t about to start feeling pity for Kino, though.

    At last, there was the sound of footsteps inside the apartment. The door rattled as someone leaned against it to look out through the peephole.

    "Mahmoud," Kino said. "Open the door."

    The door swung open and Sylva got her first glimpse of Mahmoud. He was a man of average height and build, with a shock of curly brown hair that caught the light at the edges. His nose was crooked, and his lip looked like it had been sliced open and badly stitched together at one point.

    "Kino?"

    Kino nodded, he held the door open and ushered the three of them inside. His apartment was small and neat, though there were clear signs of a small child having been around recently: toys scattered along the edges of the room, a discarded bowl of cracker snacks on the table. Sylva had to wonder where the child was.

    "I told you not to contact me," Mahmoud said, voice cracking a little as he closed the door. "What are you doing here?"

    Without saying anything, Kino took a seat at the table. Iri and Sylva glanced at each other, then followed suit. Mahmoud, clearly discomfited, took a seat as well. Very deliberately, Kino rested her elbows on the table, and peeled off the glove, first of her right hand, then of her left.

    Sylva had changed the bandages to much thinner ones, now that Kino was healing nicely. It had the added benefit of allowing the gloves to fit on her hands, and it clearly revealed the extent of the damage to Kino''s hand. She laid the gloves on the table, then folded her hands over them, left hand on top. She stared steadily out at Mahmoud, whose face was quite pale.

    "I got caught," Kino said simply.

    "Ah. Fuck." Mahmoud reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a rolled cigarette and lighter with shaky hands. He lit it, and a vaguely familiar herbal smell filled the room. He took a long drag. Kino held out her hand, and he handed it to her. She took a drag as well, then passed it back to him. Sylva had the sense that this was a ritual they had completed many times in the past.

    "Have you heard from my sister?" Kino asked.

    "I-- no."

    Kino looked down at the table. Mahmoud handed her the cigarette again.

    "Was I supposed to hear from her?"

    "She''s on Hanathue," Kino said, as though that explained everything.

    Mahmoud ran a hand through his hair. "I can only help people who come to me," he said. "If she didn''t get off planet, I don''t know."

    "Okay." Kino''s right hand also shook as they passed the cigarette back and forth. Sylva wished she was privy to the past between these people, that she knew what exactly was going on. She didn''t, though, and so she and Iri just had to sit there awkwardly as Kino and Mahmoud didn''t say anything.

    "Are you going to introduce me to these people?" Mahmoud asked.

    "Iri and Sylva," Kino said, pointing them out in turn.

    "Business associates?" Mahmoud asked.

    Sylva remembered the letter that Kino had sent to Yan. "Friends," Sylva said, before Kino could say anything. That certainly was not strictly true, but there wasn''t any reason to overcomplicate things. Unfortunately, it was probably the wrong move, because the look that Kino gave her was so full of hope and surprise that Sylva was taken aback. She was used to seeing Kino as a kind of flat thing, a rock, or a painting. She hadn''t quite realized that Kino would feel some type of way about the things that she said.

    "Excellent. Pleasure to meet you," Mahmoud said. "I obviously wish it could have been under better circumstances."

    "I think the circumstances are as good as they''re going to get," Iri said. "I wouldn''t worry about it too much."

    "Very true, very true." He took another drag from the cigarette. "Was your sister the only thing you came to ask about?"

    "Did you get back into the good graces of... your employers?"

    "That depends on what you mean by good graces," Mahmoud said. "I was never exactly cast out. Why do you ask?"

    "I know I''ll be far less useful than I was," Kino said. "If I was useful at all, but I would still like to help in any capacity I can. As would my friends."

    "What capacity would that be?" Mahmoud asked.

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "I would like to talk to your employer."

    "Cutting out your middle man? How unkind of you."

    "I no longer need to be handled," Kino said.

    The line made Sylva laugh, despite herself. "Sorry," she said. "But yes you do."

    "Who handles you now?" Mahmoud asked, clearly curious. "Do you?" He looked between Sylva and Iri.

    "No," Sylva said, shaking her head, "not I." Kino didn''t seem intent on mentioning Yan or the ship they had rode in on, so Sylva wasn''t going to bring it up herself.

    "Look, Kino," Mahmoud said. "I don''t know what you think my employers will be able to give you to do."

    "I have the power. I have--" Kino paused and considered for a moment. "A starship."

    That made Mahmoud raise his eyebrows. "A starship?"

    "Yes," Kino said. "I''m willing to use it."

    "And where did you get this starship?"

    "I stole it."

    "You stole it." Mahmoud blew out a cloud of smoke to the ceiling. "I see."

    Kino stared at him unblinking. Her right hand methodically curled and uncurled around the discarded gloves on the table.

    "And you want to get in contact with my employers."

    "Yes."

    "Kino, I''m going to be honest with you," Mahmoud said.

    "Okay."

    "This looks bad."

    "How?"

    "You don''t see it?" He passed Kino the cigarette and she mimicked his action of blowing smoke to the ceiling. She shook her head. "We-- not I, but my employer, was worried about you being a double agent. You fed us wrong information."

    "It was a mistake," Kino said. "You have to believe me."

    "Yeah, approximately the biggest fuck-up of all time," Sylva muttered under her breath. Mahmoud looked at her.

    "Regardless of how it actually came about," he said, "the issue is how it appeared. You, in Imperial employ, gave us wrong information, which led to the compromise of a whole planet."

    "That wasn''t my fault," Kino said, though the choked sound she made indicated that she didn''t quite believe that herself. "I didn''t ever want any of that."

    "Now you''re coming here, with two strangers, and you claim to have been caught by the Empire, but you somehow escaped with your life after betraying them? It doesn''t look good, Kino. This looks like a setup."

    "If you were being set up--" Kino began, then stopped. She looked down at her hand. She looked up at Mahmoud. "I swear I''m not."

    "I want to trust you," he said. "But my employers certainly won''t. And I''m also going to personally take the step of getting the fuck off this station before Imperials show up."

    "They definitely already know about this place," Iri said. "Pirates are not as slick as they like to think they are."

    "That may be so. But if Kino''s been compromised, then so have I." He pursed his lips. "You''ve been a good friend to me for many years, Kino. But I''m also a very practical man."

    "Is there anything I can do?" Kino asked. "What do I have to do to prove myself?"

    "I don''t know," Mahmoud said. "That''s not my decision to make."

    To Sylva, both sides of the situation were quite clear. Kino had gotten herself into a position where no one, absolutely no one, could trust her. She had accomplished less than nothing, and she had paid a high price. Possibly higher than any of them knew, if her sister''s life was at stake.

    "Is there anything you can do?" Sylva asked, unsure of why she was trying to help this situation, but going for it anyway. "I understand why you can''t trust us, but is there any way we could meet with your superiors, on neutral ground, and talk?"

    Mahmoud considered for a moment. "I''ll be right back."

    He vanished into the back of his apartment, down a short hallway. The three women stared at each other in silence for an awkward two minutes. Sylva drummed her fingers on the table, Kino repeatedly bunched up the fabric of her gloves.

    Mahmoud returned, bearing a data stick.

    "This is a star map," he said, handing it to Kino. "I''ll tell my employers that you want to meet there in... let''s say half a month. You be there, I''ll try to get them to send someone to talk."

    "And if they don''t come?" Iri asked.

    "Then that sucks, and I won''t be able to help you," Mahmoud said. "This is the best I can do."

    "Are you really going to leave here?" Kino asked.

    "If I can arrange it, yes."

    "I won''t be able to contact you," she said, sounding slightly distraught.

    "Is there a way for me to get in touch with you?" Mahmoud asked.

    Kino bit her lip.

    Iri spoke up. "There''s a man on Turco station, Franke Blacran. If you get a message to him, tell him it''s for Evie Winer, it''ll probably get to us eventually."

    "Alright. I''ll keep an ear out about your sister," he said. "Sorry I couldn''t be of more immediate help."

    "I understand," Kino said, though she still sounded fairly crushed. She clutched the data stick with the starmap in her hand, as though it was her one tether to the rest of the universe.

    "Now," Mahmoud said, "you should probably get out of here before my family comes home. They don''t like me bringing work back to the apartment."

    That was as clear of a dismissal as they were going to get.

 Chapter Ninety-Five - Funeral Codes / Funeral Rites

    Funeral Codes / Funeral Rites

    <blockquote>

    "Funerals are not for the dead. They''re for the living."

    -from A Cantor''s Guide to Grief by Roya Segovia

    </blockquote>

    Being on the front was far more boring than Sid had anticipated. He wasn''t allowed onto the planet until they had established a very defensible position, and that was not looking like it was going to happen any time soon. It was turning out to be far more difficult than expected to deal with this planet. Because the vast majority of the planet was water, and the parts that weren''t were heavily forested, every time that shuttles landed, they needed to establish a beachhead and push up towards their objectives.

    It also didn''t help that, from out of nowhere, other ships had jumped in to harry the Gatekeeper and provide assistance to the planet. There must have been another ship that had jumped out when the Impulse had arrived in system, that no one had noticed. Either that, or the planet had their own ansible and was calling for help from some other source.

    These new ships were sending supplies down to the planet and attacking all of the Gatekeeper''s shuttles. Because the Gatekeeper needed to stay out of the range of the hivemind on the planet, they couldn''t approach and give their shuttles a shorter journey or meaningful support as they landed. The shuttles had to cross a long and barren stretch of space, where they were lit up like little stars from their acceleration. Very easy targets.

    The new ships had effective aerial supremacy.

    The Gatekeeper, unlike the Impulse, was not designed to win a battle in orbit. The enemy ships had at least one sensitive each, and that made touching them directly almost impossible, even if they could get shuttles close enough to attack.

    It was especially troubling, as well that the force on the planet cut off all communications to and from the planet. It was simply that invisibility again, and it killed all radio contact between forces on the surface and forces in the air.

    So, with the Gatekeeper cut off from her ground troops and completely neutralized in the sky, with no way to call for backup, it was a simultaneously boring and stressful time for Sid.

    He wished Ervantes had asked to transfer ships with him. He wished the backup would come quickly, and that it would be of the right kind and amount. He wished that the ground forces could establish enough of a position that the ansible could be set up.

    He spent a lot of time wondering what everyone else was up to. Had the Emperor meted out his punishment on Kino for her yelling at the captains? Was Yan doing alright? How was Sandreas enjoying having the other two apprentices hack? Did Ervantes miss him?

    Fortunately or unfortunately, Sid didn''t have to wait too long for the answers to those questions.

    The Pride of Lonn was a transport ship, small as far as Fleet ships went, and it jumped in to the outskirts of the system. Its arrival caused a great stir and surprise among the Gatekeeper''s third shift bridge crew, who were on duty at the time.

    Sid himself was asleep, and he was woken by someone gently shaking his shoulder. He jolted up, winced in the bright light, and squinted at the shadowy figure above him. His eyes focused.

    It was Hernan, and next to him was the nervous looking woman, Charrie Wu, who had been assigned to him as liaison while aboard the Gatekeeper. Since he had been sleeping mostly naked, Sid pulled the blankets up to ensure that at least his underwear was covered from view.

    "She was ringing your doorbell for a long time before she came to find me," Hernan signed, an amused expression on his face.

    Sid had set up his doorbell to flash the lights, but he was a heavy sleeper, and that was not going to wake him up. Hernan could have called him-- his phone would have vibrated enough to wake him up. It must be pretty urgent, then, that he needed to be awake.

    Still slightly bleary, Sid fumbled around on his nightstand for his glasses and put them on his face. "What''s the issue?" he asked Wu.

    "Supply drop is here," Wu said, averting her eyes ever so slightly. "There''s a courier with an urgent message for your eyes only."

    An urgent, secret message from Emerri sounded like it couldn''t be anything but bad news, and fifteen day old bad news at that. He frowned. "Where''s the courier?"

    "Coming by shuttle now. He can meet you in your office," Hernan said aloud. Sid''s ''office'' was a tiny, little used meeting room, but it was as good as he was ever going to get aboard a Fleet ship.

    "Fine." Sid yawned. "I''ll get dressed and be there. Any idea what it''s about?"

    "It''s whatever news is off Emerri, along with any new orders," Wu said. "No one gets any information without it going through you."

    "I have to assume the orders are unchanged..." Sid muttered, but a fear was brewing in his chest. "I guess I''ll find out in a minute. Now, if you could be so kind as to leave, sso that I can get dressed."

    They left, and Sid prepared himself for whatever the bad news was. He couldn''t imagine. Could Sandreas have died? That didn''t seem likely. But there were just too many possibilities.

    He arrived in his office not too much later, waiting with Hernan and Wu. He had his computer open in front of him, ready to receive the news on whatever data stick he was about to be handed.

    "Does Captain Baczynski want to be here?" he asked.

    "She''s coordinating supply transfers from the bridge. You can send her the relevant information once you get it," Wu said.

    Wu and Hernan stood abruptly. Hernan signed, "Knock." There was someone at the door.

    "Come in," Sid called, standing as well.

    Sid did a double take when the door opened. Standing there in formal uniform was Ervantes Cesper, whom Sid had not expected to see again for months. Sid grinned at him. Ervantes saluted stiffly.

    "Lieutenant! It''s good to see you again." Sid couldn''t keep the smile off of his face, no matter how unprofessional it was. The thought of the bad news that Ervantes was carrying had slipped out of his mind at the sight of his face.

    "I have an urgent message to you from First Sandreas," Ervantes said. "It''s for you and you alone." He looked at Wu and Hernan.

    "Of course. You''re dismissed for now," he said, rather awkwardly, to Wu and Hernan. "I''ll let you know when I need you."

    Hernan nodded and escorted Wu out. Ervantes shut the door behind them. Just so that there was no chance of interruption, Sid casually used the power to lock the door.

    "This is for you, Second Welslak," Ervantes said, holding out a data stick.

    Sid reached for it, but froze as his brain registered fully the word he read off his glasses. His heart beat, and he felt a sudden weakness in his arms.

    "Second?" he asked, though he wasn''t sure if he was even making any sound.

    "You should read the letter first," Ervantes said, pressing the data stick into Sid''s outstretched hand. Sid collapsed into his chair as though the tiny chip was a million ton load. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before putting it into his computer, but he did, and he read the letter that awaited him.

    Dear Sid,

    This is the hardest letter that I''ve ever had to write, or the hardest one that I''ve written in a long time, at least. I understand better how you must have felt as you wrote to me at Vaneik''s funeral.

    You were right to warn me about Kino, and I''m sure that fact brings neither of us joy. I find it difficult to even explain what has happened.

    Kino has always been a spy.

    She was the one responsible for leaking the information that lead to Yan''s kidnapping. The people she was working for were able to put agents in place to kidnap her based on information that Kino provided.

    I wish that were the worst of it. I wish that was the only thing that I needed to tell you.

    I wish that I could spare you the pain of knowledge. It would be simple enough for me to tell you the official lie, at least until you returned to me, and I could tell you the truth in person.

    But, if I were in your place, and I were offered the choice between the truth and a lie, I would choose the truth every time. So I won''t lie to you, my Second.

    The official story is that Yan, because of the trauma that she endured during captivity, killed herself. We have a body in cold storage, awaiting your return so that we can hold a funeral. Officially, Kino is replacing you as a liaison to the Fleet. She has already privately said her goodbyes to Yan and is trading places with you so that you can return to mourn. But, as we have already established, there is no Kino, and there is no Yan, either.

    When we learned of Kino''s betrayal, she was taken into custody. You understand that she was going to be quietly killed. A coverup would have been created, and life would have gone on.

    Only God and Yan herself know why she did what she did. Yan broke into the holding facility, took Kino, and stole the First Star.

    She shouldn''t have been able to escape. It was my own weakness, and that of Halen, that allowed it. I can admit my mistakes to you. I can admit that we both cared too much. We were blinded by our care to both the truth of Kino, and the way that Yan was going to act.

    She''s currently somewhere out in the universe. We don''t have any indication of her plans, but we must consider her dangerous. You already understand that Kino is a danger, and since she is with Yan, or was, we must assume the worst. I don''t think that she will come after you, but if you see the First Star, you should destroy it. If you see Yan, or Kino, or Sylva Calor, or Iri Maedes, you should kill them, or escape if that is impossible.

    I can''t lose you, too, Sid.

    Come home.

    All of this is for your eyes only. Your liaison, Lt. Cesper, knows, but other than that, you are the sole carrier of this information. There are official orders inside this data package, for both the Gatekeeper and the Pride of Lonn. You will be taking the Pride of Lonn home. Distribute the orders as normal; I simply wanted to give you ac chance to hear the real story before the orders were given, as they may have made little sense to you without this context.

    I pray to God that you, at least, are well and whole and sound. It is a fifteenday before this letter reaches you, and a thirtyday before I will see you again. I know that much can happen in that time, and it pains me to be out of contact with you for so long, with such trouble brewing.

    You will have a difficult mantle to take up when you return, my Second. This could spiral further than you our I could ever anticipate. I will pray and keep watch that it does not, but it will be on your shoulders and mine to keep the galaxy turning about its center, and the Empire complete and thriving.

    You understand all of this, and much more besides.

    Godspeed you during your return.

    Yours in faith,

    Aymon Sandreas

    "You knew all of this?" Sid asked, feeling as though all of the blood had drained out of his head and pooled somewhere down in his feet, cold as ice.

    "Yes," Ervantes said, still standing. "I''m so sorry, Sid."

    He wasn''t going to cry. He was above that. He felt that cold ice settle around his heart, crawl across his scalp. Even Ervantes''s presence couldn''t stop the alternating waves of rage, and pain, and fear that swept across him. He was frozen to his seat, unable to move, unable to process anything beyond the surface thoughts.

    Kino had betrayed him.

    Yan had betrayed him. Yan, who was his closest friend. Yan, who had killed pirates for him. Yan, who had been through a nightmare and come out the other side because of Kino. Yan, who had held his hand, and been in his mind. Yan, who had come back from the dead, only to be dead once again.

    He felt like he was choking on his own tongue.

    "I''m sorry," Ervantes said again. "I know you were very close to them."

    Something snapped in Sid''s brain. He laughed, and it was an ugly feeling, rising involuntarily up from his lungs. "Yes. Yes we were."

    "Are you okay?"

    "Do I look like I''m okay?"

    "You look a little pale."

    Sid laughed again. "If I see them, I''m going to kill them."

    "Is that what First Sandreas told you to do?"

    Sid showed the letter to Ervantes, who read it without speaking, then turned Sid''s computer back around. "Does that change the way you look at me, Ervantes?" Sid asked.

    "For you to be Second?" he asked.

    "For me to be the only one who, for some reason, doesn''t want to betray the Empire," Sid said.

    "I was never as close with the others as I was to you," Ervantes said, very tactfully.

    "Did Kino poison Yan''s mind on the trip back to Emerri? Is that what happened?"

    "You only read the letter, right?"

    Sid nodded.

    "And you read the report on what happened to Yan, while she was down on that planet?"

    "Yes."

    "In that data package, there is a writeup of what happened on Emerri that day. I wasn''t around to witness it; First Sandreas summoned me back later, so that I could deliver this to you. But you may be interested in looking at what happened in the Emperor''s chambers, and what happened when Yan took Kino."

    "Why? I already know what the result was."

    "It might give you some clarity. You were closer to Yan than anyone else, I''m led to believe. You might be able to understand it better."

    Sid slapped the table. "Why should I want to understand?" he asked. He could tell his voice was just a little too loud, because it made his throat hurt, but Ervantes didn''t flinch back-- he was too professional for that.

    "You''ll have plenty of time to think on the trip back," Ervantes said. "You don''t have to look now, but you probably will eventually."

    "We''re leaving right now?"

    "As soon as all the supplies are moved over between the ships," Ervantes said. "You have time to pack, and say goodbye to Captain Baczynski, and anybody else."

    "There isn''t really anybody," Sid said. "I think I liked the Impulse better." Some of the tension left him, as he focused in on the practical matter of closing his computer, standing, thinking about packing his room.

    "I''ll have to tell Captain Wen that you said that."

    "The man will be insufferable once he learns about this," Sid said.

    "I know a little bit about information security," Ervantes said. "He might not find out unless you tell him. I''d advise you keep your mouth shut."

    "I will."

    "I''m glad that you''re willing to take my unsolicited advice, Second Welslak."

    "Please, don''t."

    "I''ll be the only one who calls you that," Ervantes said. "For now. You''ll have some time to get used to it before any announcement is made."

    "Like you said, I''ll have plenty of time to think on the trip back. You''re coming with me, right?"

    "Yes. First Sandreas thought that it would be best to have someone you were comfortable with deliver the bad news."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    "I''m sure it was Halen''s idea," Sid said under his breath.

    "Perhaps. I will help you pack your room up, if you would like help."

    "Thanks."

    <hr>

    It was a very long trip back to Emerri. Sid didn''t socialize much with the crew of the Pride of Lonn. He stayed in his room, or with Ervantes, and as Ervantes had said he might, he went over and over and over the security footage. He hadn''t even known that the Emperor would have cameras in the receiving hall, but perhaps the Emperor simply liked to retain meeting records for posterity, without the hassle of having to remember everything.

    He could only experience half of the conversation, of course. The Emperor spoke internally, and though Yan and Kino spoke aloud, it was as though he was watching someone have an odd telephone conversation. The recording showed all of Yan''s meeting with the Emperor, and the way that she stood in the corner while Kino came in. Sid could tell when the Emperor was speaking, or doing something in her mind, because she had this visible, but clearly unconscious flinch. It was like a forward flinch, though, as though her tall body was leaning forward, towards the Emperor, hungry for something. Desperate.

    Sid watched for that moment over and over, clicking back a few seconds on the recording, watching Yan close her eyes and lean in. He was sure that she hadn''t known she was doing it. He didn''t know how it made him feel, to watch her. It certainly made him feel something.

    And then he saw Kino, standing illuminated as if by God''s own fire, choking, held in place. He saw the stiff movement of Yan, clearly being forced by the Emperor to move, and the way her face looked as she almost, killed Kino. She was close to it, closer than he had expected, but then she broke loose from the spell, tumbled to the ground, and ran away.

    He didn''t know how she had done that. How had she done that?

    It had always felt so impossible to get out of a hold in the power, from that first time that Halen had casually demonstrated it on the first day of their apprenticeship, to the time that Aymon had held him down. He didn''t know how Yan could manage to resist the whole force of the Emperor, who was overwhelming in the extreme. Especially considering that soft and desperate way that she leaned towards that power, as if she wanted to be held by it.

    He thought about that a lot.

    He also thought a lot about the way that Halen''s hands were covered in blood, and the way that Kino looked, lying alone on a table in a dark room, and the look on her face when an invisible Yan swept in and removed her.

    Ervantes had been right that he would watch, but he was wrong when he said that Sid would understand. There was nothing that Sid understood about any of it, no matter how many times he replayed the footage, no matter how intensely he studied the looks on Yan''s face, no matter how many time he compared written reports and his own knowledge to the events.

    He didn''t understand, and he couldn''t reconcile it, so he felt unbearably betrayed, still. He grew hard and angry, and his resolve to kill them did not go away. It simply lodged in the back of his mind, though there was a quieter thought that lived there as well, hoping that he would never see Yan again, so that he would never have to make the choice to kill her. She hadn''t made the choice to kill Kino.

    He had to wonder, would she have made the same choice for him?

    What would she have done if it was him in Kino''s place, on that table?

    What would he have done if it was her?

    It was all such a confusing tangle, and Ervantes was endlessly patient with him as he paced back and forth and verbally tried to work it all out. There were no answers, and Ervantes couldn''t provide any insights from looking at the footage, either. That was partially because where Sid had an endless stomach for it, Ervantes said that he didn''t like to see it. Didn''t like blood, or something, Sid thought.

    It was upsetting, but Sid tried to be clinical about it.

    He was glad to be back with Ervantes, if nothing else.

    It was a long trip.

    <hr>

    Sandreas did not meet him at the elevator, and instead waited for Sid to make his way home to Stonecourt. It was lucky for Sandreas that Sid''s arrival was in the middle of the day, and not an ungodly hour of the night. Sid was worn from the travel, but he made his way obediently to Sandreas''s office, like a good little Second should. That was what he was, after all.

    Sandreas''s first words to him, when he opened the door to his office, were not what he expected.

    "You grew your hair," Sandreas said, looking rather surprised, and closing the door to his office behind him.

    Sid rubbed the top of his head, where fifteen days'' worth of growth was coming in, softer and darker than he had ever remembered it being. That might just be because he had been shaving his head for so long, he didn''t really remember what it had used to be like.

    He had started to grow his hair because every time he thought about his tattoos, he thought about Yan, and he didn''t like that. He was glad that he didn''t have to explain that to Sandreas, though, because Sandreas spoke again without waiting for Sid to reply.

    "Please, have a seat, Sid," Sandreas said, gesturing to the couch. "I''m glad to have you back."

    This was about as warm of a welcome as Sid was going to get, so he took it, sitting on the familiar couch, being forcefully reminded of all of the times he had sat here with Yan and Kino beside him.

    "How are you doing?" Sandreas asked, sitting down across from him. Halen was nowhere in sight, perhaps he was busy elsewhere. Sid didn''t mind his absence, because he wasn''t sure how he would feel seeing the man, after watching him dissect Kino over and over on the video.

    "Bad," Sid admitted. "But I''m here, so that''s better than it could be."

    "That is certainly true," Sandreas said. "I have to ask, Sid, you aren''t thinking of betraying me, correct?" The words looked like a joke, but the look on Sandreas''s face was mostly one of resignation.

    "You can look in my head if you want," Sid said.

    "Perhaps I will," Sandreas said. "But not now. Thank you for the offer."

    "It was either I offer, or you drag me in front of the Emperor," Sid said. "I expect that you will do that, too."

    "When the Emperor requests your presence," Sandreas said. "Which has not yet happened."

    "I might take a trip down there of my own volition."

    "Really?"

    "I''m not scared," Sid said.

    "It''s not fear," Sandreas said. "But the Emperor will treat you like a Second, and that comes with it certain responsibilities."

    "I really am, aren''t I?"

    "Not in the eyes of the world, but in mine," Sandreas said. "I wish that this--" He stopped. "Did I tell you what happened to the people who were apprentices with me?"

    "They died," Sid said. "That''s really all I know."

    "Yes. They died." Sid could see the pain that etched itself into the lines around Sandreas''s eyes. He hadn''t really thought about how old Sandreas actually was, but he certainly wasn''t young. He might be older than Sid''s own father. Looking at Sandreas was a dark mirror.

    He offered no further explanation. "I don''t know if them dying was better or worse," Sandreas said. "I don''t know if you can quantify pain like that."

    "I don''t know," Sid said. "I don''t think it matters."

    "The past is the past."

    "Yan always said something like that."

    "Did she?"

    "Yeah. I''d see her mutter it to herself. Thought she was praying."

    "Hah. I think she gave up on prayer."

    There was a knife lodged in Sid''s heart, and thinking about Yan twisted it. Perhaps Sandreas was right; it would have been better, less painful, if she simply had been dead. Even if she had killed herself. That at least would have been something that he could understand. It would have been a different kind of pain, but it wouldn''t be a pain that he knew he would have to confront again.

    There was a long pause in the conversation. Sid and Sandreas looked at each other, studying each other across the coffee table in between them. Sid didn''t feel like he had changed much since he last saw Sandreas, aboard the Impulse, ever so briefly, but it had been a long, long time since they had been together in any meaningful way. Sid didn''t know what that adjustment would be like, being back under Sandreas''s thumb. He had gotten used to giving the orders.

    "Are you ready for the funeral?"

    "When is it?"

    "Tomorrow."

    "Are we holding it here, or aboard the Iron Dreams?" He hadn''t seen the Dreams docked at Emerri station, but they could have been in orbit, or waiting to jump in.

    "Her family requested it be held on planet," Sandreas said. "I have my guesses as to why."

    "Which are?"

    "I get the distinct impression that they know she is alive," Sandreas said.

    "What makes you say that?"

    "Spacers would want to give her a spacer burial. I talked to her family when she was kidnapped. They were adamant about the way they were going to do things then. For them to give her to me now-- it seems unlikely."

    "Why wouldn''t they want to have a funeral their way anyway?" Sid asked. "Wouldn''t it look suspicious?"

    "I think they are attempting to play along. Either that or they consider it sacrilegious to give a stranger a spacer funeral."

    "Why would they go along with this?"

    "Because if they don''t, I might have to order them killed," Sandreas said. "And I don''t think anyone wants that."

    Sid suppressed a shiver. Sandreas''s face was cold as he delivered those lines, so Sid didn''t doubt for a second that he would follow through on the threat, should he have to.

    "Do you think that Yan is going to stay in contact with her family?"

    "I have no idea," Sandreas said. "If Yan was predictable, none of this would have happened."

    Sid frowned, twisting his hands together. "Where did you get the body, by the way?"

    "There are plenty of bodies given to various causes for one reason or another. They''re kept in cold storage until they''re needed. It was simple enough to acquire one with approximately the right build and other features, and the face could be altered as needed."

    The whole thought was disgusting, but at least someone hadn''t been deliberately murdered in order to provide a beautiful corpse.

    "The service is closed casket, of course," Sandreas said. "We don''t want to invite too much scrutiny from the press."

    "Won''t there be questions?"

    "We allowed them a few well chosen photographs," Sandreas said.

    Sid was silent again. He knew what he wanted to ask, but he wished that he could sign it to Sandreas. He could express himself so much more clearly in sign, with so much less hesitation.

    "Do you really think that she is our enemy?"

    "It doesn''t matter what I think," Sandreas said.

    "It does. You''re the one who tells me what to do."

    "I simply mean that we see her actions as they are. She stole my ship, Sid."

    "Did you watch the footage, of when she was with the Emperor?"

    "Of course." There was a twist on Sandreas''s face. He had probably talked to the Emperor about it as well, and perhaps the Emperor had shown him other things besides what was on the video.

    Sid wanted to ask about the way that Yan had leaned in, and about the way she had freed herself from the Emperor''s power, but he realized that Sandreas probably was not as fixated on that tiny action as he was, and also that if Sandreas knew the answer to the second question, he was sure to find out eventually, during training.

    "Do you think--" Sid began instead. "If I had been here, would this have happened?"

    "I wish I could say no," Sandreas said. "But I don''t know for sure."

    "Should I feel guilty?"

    "Do you feel guilty?"

    "I feel angry."

    "So do I."

    That satisfied neither of them, but it was the truest thing that they could say. The wound was older, for Sandreas. He had had twice as long to process it, but the way his face twitched showed that he was barely controlling his feelings about it all.

    "Welcome home, Sid," Sandreas said, finally. "And get some rest."

    <hr>

    The funeral was a very sombre, very formal event. Sid had never been to anything like it before, since he was not the one who had gone to Vaneik''s funeral, and he had never paid that much attention to televised state events before he became Sandreas''s apprentice.

    He had been given a new cassock for the occasion, and a new cape. It was jet black, with embroidery in black thread around all the edges. The service was taking place in Yora''s largest temple, and he caught a glimpse of himself and Sandreas in the mirrored entrance hall. His buttons gleamed like silver stars, and the new growth of his hair startled him. Walking by Sandreas''s side, they presented a unified front.

    Yan''s family was there, or some of it, anyway. There were no children seated in the rows, but he didn''t know if that was to spare them the experience, or for some other reason. The only person he actually recognized from the Iron Dreams delegation was Yan''s uncle, Maxes BarCarran, who sat stiffly next to a much shorter woman. All the Iron Dreams group looked similar, wearing nearly identical dark green suits, with all their hair done in tight braids with black beads. All of them even had similar faces, the ones who hadn''t married into the BarCarran clan, anyway. He could see traces of Yan in them. It was discomforting.

    Sid recognized other people in the temple, as well. It seemed like every master he had ever had at the Academy had turned up, as well as a fair share of students, from both his year and below. Had Yan really been that popular, or was this just people coming to gawk?

    There was a delegation from the Trade Guild itself, as well. Sid recognized a few of the people he had met on Olar, and there was Yuuni Olms, and the murderer Nomar Thule, shooting each other glances from where they sat on opposite sides of the building. Sid made up his mind to ignore them unless he couldn''t.

    He and Sandreas had seats of honor, of course, on the other side of the aisle from Yan''s family. He didn''t see Halen around, but that didn''t mean Halen wasn''t around. He was probably better at blending into this crowd of half spacers than he would be at any other function.

    Sid was nervous, leg jittering as he sat in the row. He knew that he would have to speak, and he hadn''t spoken at a funeral since his grandmother had died eight years ago. This was bigger, and worse in a way, because the whole thing was a fraud.

    Sandreas tugged on his elbow for them to rise as music started, though Sid couldn''t hear it. He felt the throbbing of the notes as he rested his fingertips on the railing in front of him, and he saw the band playing. He could have listened to it, with the power, but he had no interest in that. He tried not to look stupid as he craned his neck to see the casket come in.

    He was a little surprised to see that Halen was one of the pall bearers. He didn''t recognize the others, though they looked like Yan''s family members. It would have been awkward to not have all spacers holding the coffin, as the height difference between a spacer and a non-spacer would have made it awkward.

    He wondered what the person who they were actually burying would be thinking. On one hand, it would be nice to have a fancy funeral. On the other hand, it would be pretty terrible to not be buried under the proper name, and not memorialized by the people who actually loved you. It was a little depressing to think about. But probably, since this body had been donated, their family had had a chance to have a funeral of their own, just with an empty box.

    These were the thoughts going through his head. He felt rather detached, since he knew that Yan wasn''t actually dead, and he was just here to play a role. But that detachment was just a layer that was keeping him away from his true, miserable feelings.

    The pall bearers set the coffin down, and the cantor, one Sid vaguely recognized from the Academy, stepped around to the front.

    "Lord of all creation, we come before you with the soul of Yan BarCarran..."

    Sid couldn''t help but remember that time that he and Yan sat on her bed, miserable beyond belief, saying the words of the funeral service for pirates. Something in his thoughts must have leaked through to Sandreas beside him, because he squeezed Sid''s arm comfortingly for a second, then released it.

    The prayer part of the service was relatively short, but the memorializing part was sure to be long.

    Yan''s uncle Maxes spoke first, standing behind the closed casket, carefully not looking down at it as he spoke.

    "Yan was a daughter to me," Maxes said. "Yan was the world to me. I would have moved the stars for her if I could.

    "From the minute she was born, I knew she was destined to do great things." The way that Maxes''s eyes shone, scanning the crowd, it put a shiver in Sid''s spine. He knew. He knew that Yan was alive. Sid couldn''t help but think that this was a veiled threat, some sort of message. But he wouldn''t be that stupid. He couldn''t say that, not now. He couldn''t be risking his whole family''s life for this. Sid''s heart was beating too fast, Aymon held his arm again.

    "Calm down," Aymon sent through the power.

    Sid took a couple deep breaths.

    "Good," Aymon said. "Look sad. Don''t look like you''re having a panic attack."

    Sid hadn''t realized how much he was shaking. He had slightly tuned out Maxes''s speech, but he returned to paying attention.

    "God has taken her to a better place. A place where she''ll never hurt again. That''s what keeps me here," Maxes said. "Yan, I love you. I will never stop loving you, no matter where you''ve gone."

    He nodded and left the podium, sitting back down with the rest of Yan''s family. Then it was Sandreas''s turn.

    "I think that death has always hung over Yan like a cloud," Sandreas began, after adjusting the microphone to better reach his face. He was much shorter than Maxes BarCarran was. It was an odd opening line, but this was an odd funeral.

    "The first time I met Yan was the day when I was interviewing candidates for my apprenticeship. I had saved hers for last, because her project had intrigued me so much. She had created this little fish, this automaton, and it was so perfect and beautiful. Anyone who saw it would have been fooled by it, to think it was alive.

    "I could tell, right away, when I looked at it, that I liked the person who made it. It had this humor about it. I could tell that there was a joke in there: ''It''s not alive, but...'' There were so many things that could have fit into the end of that joke.

    "That which is not living can never die.

    "Yan was alive. And to be alive is to face the certainty of dying.

    "When I interviewed her, she let me into her mind, and she showed me the worst day of her life: the day that her mother died. I believe it was an accident, but it has stuck with me, ever since, and it will probably never leave my mind.

    "She was so young, and so strong, and she kept herself through even the most horrible pain that I can imagine.

    "I loved Yan. I won''t pretend like I knew her longer than any of you," he said, looking out over Yan''s family. "But I loved her in the short time I had with her.

    "Yan kept the pain of life and the fear of death at bay by always, always seeking a connection out with the people around her. She wanted to give of herself, and receive in turn. She had this beautiful trust in others, a trust that most of us can''t imagine. I envied that about her.

    "I know that with God, she will be one with the universe, and that is all she ever sought. It might be a small comfort, but it is a comfort nonetheless.

    "Thank you, Yan, for being my apprentice. I wish I could have taken away the pain of it just a little bit more. I wish you were still here. Godspeed."

    Sandreas came and sat back down next to Sid, and there was a momentary pause before another one of Yan''s family members stood up and made his way over to the podium.

    "How did I do?" Sandreas asked in the power, his arm brushing Sid''s.

    "Codes upon codes," Sid said.

    "That''s the way it is. This is a farce."

    "It''s the only mourning some of these people will ever get."

    "Most of them don''t care about her."

    "The Academy people do." Sid could see actual tears glistening in the eyes of Master Farber, whom he had taken exactly one class with.

    "You''re next."

    "I wasn''t aware that there was a schedule."

    "We''re trying to keep this alternating between Yan''s family and the rest of us. As soon as Captain Pellon sits down, you''re going."

    Oh, so that''s who was speaking at the moment. Sid wasn''t paying attention. At least Yan''s family were all good actors. Decent, at least. And the slight lack of tears, the camera crews could chalk that up to spacers being weird. No one on planets knew the first thing about spacers. Sid certainly hadn''t, not before he had met Yan, anyway.

    Pellon sat. Sid stood, suddenly very, very nervous. He had plenty of time, fifteen days, to think of the way he wanted to deliver this eulogy. The key was that he didn''t want to deliver it, but he had to. He felt like his legs were about to collapse out from under him as he made his way up towards the casket. He wished the thing were open, even though he knew there was nothing but a half destroyed stranger''s corpse inside. It would have been nice to feel like he was addressing someone.

    He wondered if Yan would find a recording of this and watch. On one hand, she wasn''t really self obsessed. But on the other, Sid wouldn''t be surprised if she sought out this specifically just to hear people that she had abandoned tell her that they loved her, one last time, even though it was a lie. Either that, or morbid curiosity. If Sid was in her place, he would have definitely fallen for the morbid curiosity.

    "You were always the best of us, Yan," Sid said. It was odd how at some funerals, everyone addressed the corpse, and at others, they addressed the crowd. This, like everything else about this sham, muddled the waters about what a funeral was supposed to be.

    "You were never abrasive or cruel. You were never too shy. You never shied away from doing what needed to be done, either. Whatever you set your mind to, you did. You had this clarity of purpose that I always liked about you. You spoke to me in my native language. You treated me like a friend, even when I had done nothing to deserve it. You were with me on the worst day of my life, and you got me through it."

    Actually, Sid was tearing up. He blinked, coughed, trying to get the lump out of his throat.

    "I wish to God--" He coughed again, decided it wasn''t worth it, and switched to sign. If the spacers in the crowd were as fluent in it as Yan was, they probably wouldn''t have had much trouble picking up what he was saying, but Sid remembered that Yan had spent a whole summer practicing conversational sign just so that she could talk to him. He actually had tears coming out of his eyes now.

    "I wish to God," he signed, "that I had been able to be there for you on the worst day of yours.

    "I always thought you were going to be the one. But now you''re gone, and it''s just me. I wish I didn''t have to do this without you. I wish. God. I wish."

    Even in sign, the words weren''t coming easily.

    "I''m so angry at you, Yan." He hadn''t ever had occasion to come up with a namesign for her before. Her name was so quick, he usually just fingerspelled it while talking to Hernan, and when he talked to her, he never needed to use her name. So this was the first time he used it, and he had put some thought into it. He made the Y with both hands, then linked his pinky fingers together over his heart. It wasn''t a joke sign, like he used for his brother and sister-- it was serious.

    "I''m so angry that you''ve left me alone. I keep asking how you could have abandoned me, and I don''t know the answer. I''ll never know. I don''t understand, and I''ll never understand. Maybe someday I-- I--." He stopped.

    "Goodbye, Yan. Until we meet again."

 Chapter Ninety-Six - The Left Hand of Darkness

    The Left Hand of Darkness

    <blockquote>

    "Oh brother, where have you gone? The days I''ve waited, the days so long. Oh brother, what have you done? For my inheritance, you killed your father''s son."

    -from "My Brother''s Sin", traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    The days of waiting for the people Kino had formerly worked with to show up were long, and not particularly exciting. It was probably the least stressful time that Yan had had in approximately a year, since she was in no imminent danger, she was able to relax with Sylva, there wasn''t a hive of tens of other people sharing her head, and, well, it was good.

    Unfortunately for Yan, she was the type of person who liked to have a purpose, and as the days ticked by and the repairs around the First Star dwindled to nothing, she began to feel anxious about the future. This enforced period of waiting did at least let her know that hiding for the rest of her life would have never been an option. The anxiety of not having anything to do would have burned her up, and she would have yearned to return to civilization and meaning.

    It was true, what the theology said. People needed to be engaging with one another in order to be real. And no matter how much time Yan spent with Sylva, or Iri, or even Kino, that wasn''t a substitute for all of the people out in the rest of the world.

    Still, this was far better than solitary confinement. It was self imposed, group confinement, with no threat of torture. It was just a waiting game.

    She was in the greenhouse when the other ship jumped in. Sylva was with her, and they were working together to get the aquaponics tanks all set up. It was annoying work, which was why it had been put off for so long. Sylva was inside one of the big tanks, empty of water at the moment, hooking up the intake and outtake hoses to the pump and filter system. Yan was outside, consulting the aquaponics system manual and yelling directions in to Sylva.

    "But it looks like it fits here," Sylva said, holding up one end of the hose and pointing to an area along the side of the tank where it did indeed look like the hose should fit. She wedged it in and it sat snugly.

    "The diagram is completely different," Yan said. She scratched her head and pressed the diagram up to the side of the tank so that Sylva could read it. Sylva walked over, her footsteps echoing comically in the giant tank, and examined it.

    "I''m not going to do that," Sylva said. "That''s dumb."

    "But what if it needs to be up there for the pressure diff--" Yan felt the wave of power wash over her, and she jumped, dropping the manual.

    "You okay?" Sylva asked.

    "Ship just jumped in," Yan said.

    "Oh, fuck," Sylva said. "Help me out of here, will you?"

    They only had one ladder, and it was on the inside of the giant tank currently. Sylva climbed it up to the top, then scrambled clumsily over the top edge of the tank, dangling down. Yan grabbed Sylva around the waist, and while she didn''t have the strength to actually hold Sylva up, she at least slowed her fall as she dropped to the ground.

    "Thanks," Sylva said, then stood on her tiptoes to give Yan a peck on the cheek. "You ready to meet our future collaborators?"

    "I think I should let Kino do the talking at first," Yan said.

    Sylva rolled her eyes. "Sure."

    Yan walked over to the wall where the intercom was and punched the button for whole ship communications. "Iri, Kino, a ship just jumped in," she said. "Meet us on the bridge." She didn''t wait for a response and headed out the door.

    The pair of them jogged down the hallways towards the bridge. As usual, Sylva was slightly faster, despite Yan''s longer legs. When they arrived, they found Iri and Kino already there. Iri was eating a sandwich, and Kino looked like she had been in the gym-- she was very sweaty.

    "When did they jump in?" Iri asked as soon as Yan came in the door. "Do they have eyes on us?"

    "We''ve been running cold and dark," Yan said. "Doubt they can see us. Do we have eyes on them?"

    "I''m working on it," Iri said. She put her sandwich down on the navigation console (which made Yan cringe) and pulled up the nearby view of space. "No. We don''t."

    Yan sat down heavily in the captain''s chair. "What''s your thoughts on stance?" she asked, looking at Kino.

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "I don''t know anyone on that ship. The only person I know is Mahmoud."

    Yan ran her hand over the top of her head. "It might be good to take some power in this situation. We know they''re here. They probably don''t know that we are."

    "And how do you propose to do that?" Iri asked, sounding mostly curious.

    "Omnidirectional radio broadcast," Yan said. "Say that we know they''ve arrived, that we''re ready to talk to them."

    "That will give away our position," Iri said.

    "I know. But we''re not here for a fight."

    "If this goes badly, will we be alright?" Sylva asked.

    "Of course. We have a jump ready. They don''t," Yan explained. "That''s probably why it''s better to talk to them now. If we let them sit around for eight hours, as they definitely want to do without being seen, we''ll be on equal footing. We should push this now."

    "It might leave a bad taste in their mouth," Iri said.

    Yan rubbed the back of her neck. "These people are dangerous," Yan said. "I''d rather negotiate from a position of strength, or at least not one of weakness."

    "I understand," Iri said.

    "Are you still going to have Kino do the talking?" Sylva asked.

    Yan glanced at Kino, who looked rather unhappy with that prospect, or at least not thrilled about it. "Kino?"

    "I''ll do it," Kino said. "Radio?"

    "Yeah."

    Kino made her way over to the communications console and sat down. Her fingers hovered over the button for broadcast. "What are we calling ourselves?"

    Yan glanced at the rest of her little crew. "Uh."

    "Probably shouldn''t identify us as the Imperial ship First Star," Iri said jokingly.

    "Just say your name," Yan said finally. "Don''t need to mention the ship right away."

    "And if they ask?"

    "Say it''s the First Star, and stolen." Yan hesitated for a second. "You know Old Imperial, right? That''s probably what they''ll want to speak in."

    "Well enough," Kino said. Old Imperial was, for the most part, mutually intelligible with New, so it would probably be fine, even if Kino was overestimating her agility with the language. "Ready?"

    Yan nodded. Kino pushed the talk button.

    "Unidentified ship," Kino said, her voice cold and calm. "This is Kino Mejia speaking. We are glad to see that you have come, and we are eager to discuss cooperation with you. Please respond." Kino stopped broadcasting, and looked at Yan for approval. Yan shrugged. They would see if there was any response. Yan somewhat doubted that there would be. If Yan was the captain of that other ship, she would definitely try to stay silent until the eight hour jump timer wound back down, leaving an easy escape path.

    There were a long few minutes of silence, and Yan debated if she should try to light up the other ship by doing a sweep search with radar. It might be worth it, just to apply pressure, but that pressure also might make things ugly for them.

    The choice was made for her when the radio hissed to life, and the location of the other ship lit up on the navigation chart. "Imperial ship," the radio said. "Recall your shuttles."

    Kino looked at Yan, confused. Yan waved her hand dismissively. "Tell them we don''t have any."

    "We have no shuttles out at this time," Kino said. It was the truth, though this other ship wasn''t likely to believe it. "And we are not an Imperial ship."

    "We will verify. Standby." the voice over the radio said. Yan couldn''t tell if it was a man or a woman, but it didn''t matter. She waited as the other ship pulsed its radar to light up any objects in the area of space around it. It was a time consuming process, and the further away any shuttles were from the ship, the more likely they were to be missed, but since there were no shuttles, it didn''t matter. The two ships were about half a light second away from each other, Yan could see on the screen. That wasn''t far at all.

    In fact, given the ease of working with the power in space, Yan might just be able to... She stretched out her power in one long line, searching across the vast distance for the other ship. She could half feel it, its stardrive, but she didn''t quite have the reach and concentration necessary to reach inside of that other ship and identify how many crew it had.

    They waited a while for the other ship to finish its radar sweep. "Are you satisfied that we have no shuttles?" Kino asked.

    "Yes," the other ship said. "We are satisfied."

    "Then we would like to discuss working together," Kino said. "On what terms are you willing to do this?"

    "You are a sensitive, Ms. Mejia."

    "Yes."

    "We have a sensitive in our employ. If it is agreeable to you, he will meet with you and your crew."

    "Aboard our ship or yours?"

    "Your ship. He will come alone. Is that acceptable to you?"

    Yan gestured for Kino to kill the mic. She did. "He''s either expendable or very powerful," Yan said. "I wouldn''t send someone alone into enemy territory."

    "We''re not enemies," Kino said.

    "It could be a trick," Iri warned.

    "We don''t have much of a choice," Sylva said. "But if it''s three against one, we could probably beat him, if it came down to it."

    "I don''t think all of us could beat someone like Halen," Yan warned. "If he''s that strong..."

    "Well, we just have to hope he''s not looking for a fight. What''s the worst that can happen?" Sylva asked.

    "He kills us all and steals our ship," Yan said flatly.

    "Maybe we should have Kino meet him in a shuttle," Sylva said, glancing at Kino.

    "They said he wants to meet with the whole crew," Iri said.

    "Tough shit," Sylva said.

    "We want to work with them," Kino said. "I think we should do what they say."

    Yan frowned, drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair. "Raise your hand if you''re okay with letting this person onto the ship."

    "You''re the captain," Iri said. "And you have the most to lose from these people. It''s your decision. We don''t need to vote on it."

    Yan hated having that turned around on her. "Fine." Her fingers kept drumming. "We have to answer. Tell them yes."

    "That is acceptable. When are you sending him?" Kino asked.

    "Half an hour," the other ship said. "Please be prepared to receive our shuttle."

    "We will provide a bay space for docking," Kino said, and the radio transmissions ended.

    It was a tense half hour of waiting. Yan stood up from her chair and paced, and the four of them hashed out their strategy for how this was going to go. It was decided that Yan, Kino, and Iri would meet the envoy, with Sylva remaining on the bridge. Since Sylva (after much practice and coaching under Yan during their waiting period) could jump the ship, for the most part, and Yan had preprogrammed in coordinates for an easy escape, that would be the safest choice, in case they had to get out quickly. Sylva, for all that she was great, would be pretty useless in a fight, should it come down to it.

    Yan desperately hoped that it would not come down to a fight. They watched on the screen as the other ship let out a shuttle. Iri sent docking information to it, and they all went down to the bay to wait.

    Waiting in zero gravity was annoying, since one couldn''t pace, or tap a foot, or anything that one would normally do to fidget. It all ended up looking like nervous wiggling. Iri compulsively checked her gun to make sure it was loaded, and seeing her example, Yan and Kino did the same. Yan wasn''t sure how safe it was to give Kino a gun, especially remembering that first lesson they had had with Halen, but... They were trusting each other. This was trust.

    "He''s landing now," Sylva said over the intercom. "Good luck. I''ll be watching. If it goes wrong, I''m jumping us."

    Yan looked down the hallway, where a little camera was built stealthily into one of the walls. She smiled at it and gave it an encouraging little wave. Resting her fingers on the wall, she could feel the vibration of the air systems kicking in, flooding the bay again with air. The warning vacuum light on the door switched off, and Yan opened it, letting the three of them into the bay.

    The shuttle that was sitting there was nondescript, looking basically like any spacer shuttle in existence, but it was still out of place compared to the couple Imperial marked dogfighters next to it. Yan reached out with the power, and determined that yes, there was only one occupant of the shuttle. That was a relief. The shuttle''s door opened with a mechanical hiss. Yan tried to relax, couldn''t, and resigned herself to just watching as the figure pushed his way out.

    She almost, almost cried out when she saw who emerged. She knew that man. She would have known him anywhere. Iri tensed up beside her. Yan had almost forgotten that the two had met, when she was on the Mother''s planet.

    The Green King.

    He didn''t seem to recognize her at first, but as their eyes met across the distance, he stiffened and put his hand on his own holster. "You," he said.

    "And you," Yan said. She deliberately kept her hand away from her gun, crossing her arms over her chest, and Iri followed her lead. They were here to have a peaceful meeting, after all. It wouldn''t do anyone any good to go to violence. She kept her breathing steady, her voice calm. How easy it was to detach herself from the situation once again. Just like she had back when she was imprisoned. She could step outside her own self, look at this objectively.

    Kino looked between the two of them. "You know each other?"

    "Yes," Yan said.

    "I was under the mistaken impression that I would only be dealing with Kino Mejia," the Green King said. "I enjoy this trap that you have set for me."

    "If I wanted to get revenge on you," Yan said stiffly, "it would have been far easier for me to track you down, rather than waiting for you to come to me. I didn''t expect to see you, either."

    "I suppose there was no point in me questioning you about which apprentice had been our betrayer," the Green King said. "Since the answer would come to light eventually."

    "I didn''t betray you," Kino said. "It was an accident."

    "Yes, just like it''s an accident that I''m here now. Now, if you will excuse me," the Green King said.

    Yan felt the grip of his power on her, its slimy, familiar touch, holding her in place. She was better than this now, though, and she broke his hold.

    "Sylva! Jump!" Yan screamed, hoping that Sylva was listening. She felt the wash of power as the First Star jumped, which was an immediate relief. Now there was just him to deal with.

    "Oh, you little--" the Green King said, and pushed off the side of his shuttle, lunging for her in the zero gravity bay. He continued to try to grab her with the power, but she was better at breaking his hold than he was at keeping it, so every time that his force closed around her, she broke it. It left her mostly floating still in the bay, but at least she could move. He crashed into her, and Yan kicked at him, sending them both spinning backwards. Kino and Iri were trapped in his power and couldn''t move, but out of the corner of her eye, as the world tumbled around her, she half felt and half saw Kino use the power to take her own gun out of her holster and aim it squarely at the Green King.

    "Kino, don''t!" Yan used her own power to knock Kino''s gun aside, and Kino didn''t fire it.

    Yan crashed into one of the walls, and the breath knocked out of her, but at least she was stabilized and could get her bearings. Iri and Kino were both still froze, and the Green King was holding on with one hand to one of the shuttles in the bay, holding his own gun in his hand, swinging it back and forth between Yan and Kino.

    Yan used the power and ripped the gun out of his hand. He fought her, and during the struggle, both of their powers grappling, wrenching, nauseating, the Green King hit the trigger, and a shot fired, louder than God''s voice, echoing in the bay. It didn''t go anywhere near any of the people in the bay, but it struck the outer bay door and a containment alarm began to blare.

    "Stop! Just stop!" Yan screamed over the noise and flashing lights. They weren''t in any danger; the breach was small enough that the rate of airflow out into space was negligible compared to the volume of the bay, but it was a problem. Yan did not want this to get any more out of hand than it already was.

    The Green King was surprised enough at the alarm that he momentarily dropped his control over the gun. Yan took that opportunity to pinch the barrel of it shut, completely destroying it.

    "Let them go!" she yelled at the Green King, trying to be heard over the alarms and the hiss of escaping air.

    "She tried to kill me!" the Green King yelled back. He snatched his gun out of the air. Seeing what Yan had done to it, he used the power to send it sailing directly at Yan''s head. She batted it away with her own power and it clattered harmlessly into the wall.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "You fucking idiot," Yan yelled again. "You started it."

    "Let me leave," he called back. "I just want out."

    "We jumped. There¡¯s nowhere for you to go," Yan said. "Let them go, and we can discuss this rationally."

    "You think we can discuss things rationally when I''m your prisoner?"

    "I''m not going to hurt you," Yan said.

    "You got me shot!"

    "That wasn''t my fault!" Shooting the Green King had been entirely Etta''s decision, so long ago.

    "Fuck you!"

    The Green King shoved her with the power and she hit the wall again. Yan, choking on her own revulsion, shoved him back. It was the first time she had used the power offensively in a real situation, and she had gotten, not great, but okay at it since practicing on Kino. She must have shoved him harder than she thought she was, because he slammed into the side of the shuttle he was bracing himself against audibly, even over the still blaring alarm. He looked momentarily shocked.

    "You should just kill me now," he said. "I don''t know what kind of game you''re playing."

    "I''m not playing a game," Yan said. Her voice shook. "I don''t want to hurt you."

    "Like I believe that."

    "Let them go," Yan said. "I swear that we won''t hurt you. On my word as captain of this ship."

    The Green King laughed. "Words are words."

    "You''re not in a position of power here," Yan said. "Just let them go."

    "You seem to be begging an awful lot for someone who claims to hold the upper hand."

    "Because I don''t want to kill you!" Yan said again. "How hard is this for you to understand?"

    "I think you and I are evenly matched, Yan," the Green King said. "I think if you tried to kill me, we''d both go down."

    "Kino can still use the power, you fucking idiot! And I have another sensitive on the bridge, watching all this go down, and if she think she needs to, she''ll open the bay doors."

    That was half of a bluff. Yan knew for a fact that Sylva would not flush the bay with her in it. Maybe if it had just been Kino here, she would have already, but Yan didn''t think that Sylva would go so far as to perform a maneuver that would put Yan (and Iri) in real danger.

    "What do you want?" the Green King asked, sounding slightly cagey and defeated, though it was hard to tell over the alarms that were still going off.

    "I just want to talk to you. Let them go," Yan grit her teeth and said again.

    "Then talk."

    "We want to work with you," Yan said. "We''re on the same side."

    The Green King laughed again. "And I''m the Governor of Emerri."

    "If we didn''t, don''t you think I would have killed you?" Yan said.

    "I think that you''re trying to play the long game, and you''re trying to get close to us to wipe us out."

    "You came here to figure out if that''s true," Yan said. "How were you going to do that before?"

    "I was going to look into your head," the Green King said. "Or at least her head." He nodded towards the still immobilized Kino.

    Yan''s heart was in her throat as she realized what she would have to do in order to make this work. Her vision was swimming around the edges, but she steadied herself. "Then look into my head. You''ll know the truth."

    The Green King considered her for a long moment. "Come here," he said.

    Yan felt the touch of Kino''s power, as she reached out to Yan across the distance between them, but Yan ignored it. She knew that she had to do this. Gently, she kicked off the wall and drifted towards the Green King. She came to a halt against the same shuttle that he was holding himself against, and she scooted close enough that they could touch.

    His eyes were so green, like an animal''s. She didn''t know if she should stare at him or close her eyes.

    He reached out. God, she hated him.

    His hand brushed her face, stroking from her cheekbone down her jaw towards her neck, and her breath seized up, her skin absolutely crawling. How could she let him touch her again? How could she do this? She wanted to pull herself away. She wanted to scream.

    "Let me in," the Green King said. His power reached out toward her, mentally, rather than physically.

    She stared into his eyes. He stared into hers. The alarm blared in both their ears, a rhythmic ringing. Yan focused on that and that alone.

    She reached back with the power.

    It was so easy to be there in the power. Far too easy. They had left the bay and its screaming alarm behind, and they were in a mental world where none of that mattered. Yan could feel their collective power, humming just underneath the skin.

    "Don''t let them go," the Green King thought, mental voice loud. "They''ll only interrupt us."

    In this shared state, Yan had as much control over the Green King''s power as he had of hers-- they were both vulnerable to each other, but they both had to trust that neither would take advantage.

    "Show me how you came to be here," the Green King said. "No lies."

    "You don''t want to see," Yan thought back. "I get lost in it."

    "You show me, or this is over."

    "You look for what you want to know." Yan laid her memory open, and the Green King plunged inside.

    <hr>

    His hand was on her face. Yan was laying on her bed, in that prison cell. She was so weak, she couldn''t move. And she was standing above herself, looking down, her hand on her own face. No, that wasn''t right. This wasn''t right. She closed her eyes.

    <hr>

    They were still in that dark room, with only the flashlight between them. Yan had her phone in her hand, and she was looking across at the Green King. He stared across at her steadily.

    "Is this the place you return to?" he asked.

    "No," Yan said. "No."

    "What are you going to do to me?" the Green King asked.

    She looked down at the phone in her hand, she looked at the chain that wrapped around the Green King''s ankle.

    "I don''t want to die in here," Yan said.

    "You''re in control. What would you do if you were in control?" the Green King asked.

    "You''re testing me."

    "All I want is information," the Green King said. Yan blinked.

    <hr>

    Their positions reversed, and Yan was on the bed, the chain around her ankle. The Green King took her hand in his.

    "I think I''ve been a little too kind to you," he said.

    "No. No," Yan said again. She pulled her hand back, but he held it tightly.

    "What are you going to do to me, Yan?" he asked.

    She shook her head. "Don''t, please don''t!"

    She pulled her hand as hard as she could, but the panic and the Green King''s mental power had trapped her in place. She was frozen still as he twisted her pinky finger up, up--

    Yan closed her eyes and screamed.

    <hr>

    Their positions were reversed again, and she held the Green King''s hand in hers. "What are you going to do to me, Yan?" he asked again.

    "Please don''t do this to me," she whispered.

    Her hand moved as if of its own volition, nails digging into his skin.

    "Please stop," Yan begged. "I don''t want to. I don''t want to!"

    Something spoke in her head, a buried whisper. "Drop it! Drop it now!"

    She released his hand and stood up, knocking her chair over in her haste. She ran the ever so familiar few steps to the door, and pulled it open. It came open easily. Outside, there was a dark corridor, very unlike the one that she had escaped down before, but she ran down it anyway, twisting through the shared labyrinth of their minds.

    Yan felt like she was running forever, towards a tiny, pinprick of light far off in the distance. She could half feel that the Green King was tumbling through her memories as she ran-- snatches of words and phrases were coming back to her out of the gloom, and he was keeping her trapped here as a distraction, but she couldn''t stop herself from running towards that light.

    She shouldn''t have allowed this to happen. She shouldn''t have gone in here with him, but she had, and now she was trapped by their shared experiences, and the way that he was trawling through her thoughts. He held her there.

    Even if they were evenly matched outside, he had unsettled her enough that he had control here. It was an unequal battle of wills.

    She ran.

    She ran blindly.

    <hr>

    Yan burst out into the light, onto a rocky, familiar hillside. The salty smell of ocean air was fresh in her nose, and the stars up above gleamed unnaturally bright. Wind whipped past her face.

    She was whole and sound, here.

    There was the Green King, holding a gun to his own head.

    "What are you going to do to me, Yan?" he asked. "You did this to me before."

    "That wasn''t me," Yan pleaded.

    "You got me shot once before," the Green King said.

    "Why do you need to keep torturing me?" Yan asked, hands splayed out at her sides. "Why do you have to do this to me?"

    "Because you''re my enemy."

    "I''m not! I swear!"

    "But you hate me."

    "That doesn''t make me your enemy."

    "You worked for the Empire."

    "I don''t anymore."

    "But you would again, if you could."

    "I can''t go back to the past! I made my choices! Let me live with them!"

    "But we''re in the past right now."

    The Green King slowly lowered the gun from his temple, checked it over, and leveled it at Yan.

    "Please," Yan begged. "Please."

    His finger inched towards the trigger. Yan squeezed her eyes shut.

    <hr>

    Then she was the one holding the gun.

    "Shoot me, then," the Green King said.

    Yan dropped the gun on the ground, just as she had before, just as she would do again a hundred times, a thousand times. Only this time, there was no Etta to pick it up.

    There was no Etta to save her.

    Yan ran down the hillside, bare feet scraping on the stones, sliding down where the rocks were loose. The Green King laughed and laughed, following her.

    "Why would I want to work with someone spineless?" he asked. "You wouldn''t have the guts to do what it takes, even if you weren''t my enemy."

    So, the game had changed.

    Yan had known that this was a test, and aside from her personal panic, she had thought that the way to pass was to resist any temptation to take revenge on the Green King. Maybe it was a test in multiple layers. He had looked through her memory. He had tested her hatred of him. Now he needed to figure out if she was worth keeping around in general, even if she wasn''t a danger.

    Yan could work with that.

    She kept running, giving herself a period to reset her brain, change her thinking around.

    The Green King kept warping the landscape around them. The hillside seemed to be infinite, as though no matter how far she ran, Yan wasn''t getting any closer to the treeline and the ocean.

    But Yan was just as much in charge of this mental space as the Green King was, now that she was slightly calmer, at least. She switched directions, and instead of running down, she ran up, where the Green King hadn''t been carefully constructing the landscape in front of them. Now it was hers to build. There was the cliff she had sat on, watching the shuttles rush down through the atmosphere, watching the Mother pick them off one by one. They crashed through the sky like shooting stars. She ran headlong towards that cliff, and when she reached it, she dived down, down, down into the water.

    She squeezed her eyes shut.

    <hr>

    Bathtub. Ice water.

    She lifted her head up out of it triumphantly. She allowed the Green King to exist in this space, her apartment on Emerri, standing there, watching her. In the real memory, Sylva and Iri had been there. In this dream, it was just her and the Green King.

    "You think I can''t do what it takes?" Yan asked.

    She stood up out of the water. Her clothes were dry. This was a dream.

    Sylva''s voice floated between them. "You look so sexy when you''re dangerous and crazy," she had said.

    Yan laughed. She reached over and grabbed the Green King''s chin. "What should we do?" she asked. "Should we steal a spaceship? Should we break into Stonecourt? You tell me. You can watch me do it."

    "I already saw," he said, grabbing her hand and yanking it off his face. "I''m not interested in that."

    "What do you want to see, then?" Yan asked. "I can show it to you."

    "You think you turned on them," he said. "But you didn''t. Not really."

    "I did."

    "In order for you to work with me, you need to know that the whole Empire needs to be destroyed. If you want to avoid killing people, you''re worse than useless."

    "I haven''t seen you kill anybody," Yan said.

    The Green King stared at her. She was taller than he was, so he looked slightly up at her. "What do you think I was going to do to you?" he asked.

    "But you didn''t."

    "It was only a matter of time," the Green King said. He didn''t sound guilty, or upset, or anything of the sort. It was as if he was just listing the groceries that he needed to buy. "And if you work with us, it will only be a matter of time before we make moves on the Empire."

    "Why haven''t you yet?"

    "The time hasn''t been right." There, Yan could sense that there was more to his words than what they said, but she didn''t have the ability to pry. She wasn''t as good at fishing through people''s memories as he clearly was, and he definitely would have stopped her if she had tried. "Yes, I would have," he said, catching her thoughts. "Glad you know I''m not stupid."

    "Have I satisfied you?"

    "I don''t think I can be satisfied," he said. "Not until I see you do something for me."

    "What do you want me to do?"

    "Let''s discuss this after I''ve talked with your other little friends," the Green King said. He reached up and patted her cheek. Yan cringed in disgust, squeezing her eyes shut.

    <hr>

    The dream broke, and she was fully back in her own real skin, floating in the bay. She slapped the Green King''s hand off of her face.

    "Naughty," he said. "Mind your manners."

    "Let them go now," Yan said. Kino and Iri were still frozen, and the alarms were still blaring.

    "Of course." The Green King smiled, and Yan felt his power relax. Iri and Kino shook themselves, gaining control of their bodies again.

    "Yan, get over here," Iri said immediately.

    "It''s fine," Yan said. "Let''s get out of here and talk where there isn''t all this." She waved her hand at the shrilling of the alarms and the bright flashing lights.

    "Yan. Come here," Iri said.

    Yan saw that she was deadly serious, and pushed off the side of the shuttle and went over to her. The Green King watched her but didn''t stop her. Iri grabbed her arm and pulled her down so that Yan''s ear was level with her mouth. "What did he do to you?" Iri asked.

    "Nothing," Yan said. "He didn''t do anything."

    "You were screaming," Iri said.

    "What?"

    "You looked like you were going to die," Iri said. "It was so bad that I hoped Sylva would flush the bay."

    "Nothing happened," Yan said. "It was just bad memories." She pulled back away from Iri, not really wanting to think about it. "He was just testing me. I passed. Let''s go, come on."

    She tugged on Iri''s arm, and Iri looked at her. "I don''t trust him."

    "We have to," Yan said.

    "No, we don''t," Iri whispered. "Look, Yan. I don''t know what happened between you and him, you never told me what that time with the Mother was about, but you don''t need to destroy yourself over this."

    "I''m not destroying myself," Yan said. "I''m fine."

    She wasn''t entirely fine; her heart was still beating way too fast, and the sound of the Green King''s laughter was still in her ears, but that wasn''t going to stop her from accomplishing whatever she needed to do.

    "I don''t believe you," Iri said.

    "I''m in charge," Yan retorted. She regretted it immediately, as the words came out far harsher than she was expecting, but Iri''s face smoothed over into a blank mask.

    "Yes, captain," Iri said.

    It was too late, and whatever damage Yan¡¯s words had caused was already done. Yan looked at Kino, who was picking at her sleeve, and then at the Green King, who was watching this all transpire.

    "Let''s go. We can talk in the meeting room," Yan said. "These alarms are giving me a headache."

    She pushed off the wall and drifted to the door, catching herself on the frame. The Green King followed her, and Iri and Kino looked at each other and then followed him.

    Yan opened the door and escorted everyone out. "Sylva," she said, punching the intercom. "Seal off the bay and vacuum it, will you? I don''t want to keep bleeding our air."

    She didn''t wait for a response, and escorted the rest of the group down the hall and into the rotating rings. She felt much more stable while under real gravity, even though that was an illusion of stability only. Still, she led them into the captain''s meeting room with as much confidence as she could muster, and sat down at the head of the table.

    Everyone else followed suit. Iri kept staring at her, as though there was some sort of information she could glean by boring her eyes deep into Yan''s heart. Yan pressed the intercom button on the table. "Sylva, if you would like to join us, you can."

    "Be there in a second," Sylva said back. Her voice sounded tense and strained over the intercom, and there was a prolonged silence as everyone waited for Sylva to arrive. She came in a moment later, looking around the room with varying degrees of unhappiness. She slid into the seat next to Yan, and glared daggers at the Green King. For once, her enmity was not focused on Kino. That was a definite improvement. She squeezed Yan''s arm, and Yan was surprised to feel Sylva trying to send her a message in the power. It was garbled, probably due to Sylva''s poor control, but Yan sent back as much of a feeling of surety as she could muster. Sylva frowned and squeezed her arm harder. She and Iri were in the same frustrating boat, then.

    Whatever. Yan was in charge.

    "So," Yan said. "Do we trust each other?"

    "I trust you to not kill me," the Green King said slowly. "Though not much more than that. And I don''t trust any of you." He pointed around the room at Iri, Kino, and Sylva. "And I certainly will have a difficult time explaining to my superiors why you kidnapped me."

    "We''ll bring you back before your ship can even jump again," Yan said. "No harm, no foul."

    "It certainly looks like harm from their end," the Green King said. "But that''s not relevant. They sent me here to look into the mind of Kino Mejia and decide if she is a traitor or not. I haven''t yet managed to do that, so that''s next on my order of business."

    "No," Yan said.

    "No?"

    "It''s fine," Kino said. "If it was fine for you, it''s fine for me."

    Yan looked at her sharply. "I want to know what your plans for us would be, if you do decide that we''re trustworthy."

    "Why would I tell you our plans before I can trust you?"

    Yan was getting frustrated. This was going nowhere. "Are you going to demand to interrogate Sylva and Iri as well?"

    "She''s a sensitive, correct?"

    Sylva laughed bitterly. "Half of one."

    "Then yes," the Green King said.

    "Are you even going to tell us your name?" Iri demanded.

    The Green King laughed. "She didn''t ever tell you?"

    "I don''t like to talk about it," Yan said.

    "My name is Jeepak. I am, for the most part, a gun for hire."

    "And who do you work for?" Iri asked. "I want information."

    "I know what you want," he said. "I work for an organization that is based off of various planets that will someday be targets of your Empire. Most of our planets are nice and well hidden, but some of us decided that hiding is not the way that we want to spend our lives. So those among us who were not cowards, we formed a kind of mutual defense pact. Our goal is to prevent any of our planets from being destroyed by your Empire."

    "Does your group have a name?" Iri asked. "Just out of curiosity?"

    "Wondering if you''ve heard of us before?" he asked.

    "No, I just want something to refer to you in my head," Iri said.

    "I suppose in your language, we''d call ourselves the Dark Hands. It''s a bit of a joke, but it doesn''t translate well." Sylva actually looked interested at that, but the Green King did not seem intent on elaborating.

    "God''s hand moved over the light, and split the light from the light, and in between was the darkness," Kino said.

    Jeepak laughed. "You believe in that shit, right?"

    Kino nodded, perhaps not catching the mocking tone in Jeepak''s voice.

    "Whatever. It''s not relevant." He stared across the table at Yan.

    "What would you have us do?" Yan asked.

    "You have the power to destabilize the Empire," he said. "Far more than we do."

    "In what way?"

    "You know it in and out," he said. "You could easily pick out the weaknesses: who to kill, what planets to go after, what the easiest way to bring the whole system to its knees would be."

    "Perhaps," Yan said. "But it would depend on what methods you wanted to use. I don''t want to slaughter people."

    "You may be surprised to learn that neither do we."

    "Really," Yan said, voice flat.

    "How simple it would be to make stardrives malfunction in the heart of a star," Jeepak said, drumming his fingers on his chin. "We could pick a planet that is not so easily defended at first."

    "Why don''t you?"

    "Because that would make us just as evil as you are, don''t you think?"

    "You''re saying that at any second, you have the ability to defeat the Empire, but you won''t?" Iri asked. "It doesn''t add up." She crossed her arms over her chest, staring him down.

    "I''m not saying we have never taken offensive action," he said. "Simply that such an action on a grand scale was what prompted this war in the first place, a thousand years ago."

    Iri didn''t change her posture. "And where have you taken offensive action?"

    "Many places. Wherever we can destroy Fleet ships, we do. Any time we can aid planets that are under attack, we do. We have had one major victory, within our lifetime," he said.

    "Where?"

    "She knows," the Green King said, pointing at Kino. "Don''t you?"

    Kino looked down at the table.

    "You were responsible for Falmar?" Iri asked. "That was you?"

    Yan felt ill. The plague on Falmar-- that had killed thousands of people. She had assumed it was natural. She had assumed... She looked at Kino. "You knew that was them?"

    "I suspected," Kino said, very, very quiet.

    "Everything that we did on Falmar, you did far worse," Jeepak said, leaning back in his chair. "After all, we spared the children."

    "And you still worked for them?" Iri asked.

    "Yes," Kino whispered.

    "Fuck," Sylva said.

    Yan felt sick. There was no justice here. The people who had died on Falmar were innocent-- settlers had no idea that the land that they were on had been stolen. They thought it was empty, terraformed plains that had been selected by the Fleet out of thousands of unoccupied planets. They had no idea that they were standing in the place where a whole people had been wiped out before. to have them then be killed, it was...

    "With that knowledge," the Green King said. "Can I still trust you?"

    Yan looked at Kino, whose head was bowed over the table. Her hair, bleached blonde, cut short, fell across her face so that Yan couldn''t see it.

    "I need to know if you''re willing to do what it takes. The Empire is evil. It''s irredeemably evil," the Green King continued. "If you want to work with me--"

    "Yes," Kino said. "Yes."

    The Green King looked across at Yan.

    "Tell us what you want us to do," Yan said, keeping her voice as firm as she could manage it.

    "First, I think we need another test," the Green King said.

    "What?"

    "We''re going to free Olkye. We want the ship that''s guarding it. You come with us, you help us board the ship. With all of us together, plus the forces already waiting at the planet, we should be more than a match for it. We can get at least that early victory before the Empire comes in force."

    The Gatekeeper. Sid was on that ship.

    "What do you say?"

    Yan looked around, feeling miserable, but like she had no choice. "Yes," she said. "I''ll do it. We''ll do it."

    "Excellent." The Green King smiled, and Yan hated him more every second.

 Chapter Ninety-Seven - The Friend of My Enemy

    The Friend of My Enemy

    <blockquote>

    "Oh, father, bring me down, bring me down, bring me down. Oh, father, bring me down, down from the stars today..."

    -from "Down from the Stars", traditional song

    </blockquote>

    It was a deeply, deeply uncomfortable six hours waiting for the First Star to be able to jump back to the original meeting place. The Green King-- really, Yan supposed she should start thinking of him by his real name-- spent the first part of it "interviewing" Kino, Sylva, and Iri.

    Iri was the only one who had truly been an interview, given that she was the only one whose mind Jeepak couldn''t invade, but it was what he called it. Yan had obviously had the worst of it, and remembering her terrible experience, and fearing for the safety of her friends, she made him conduct these "interviews" in her presence.

    Kino''s had gone smoothly, or as smoothly as anything ever went with Kino. She submitted to it without complaint, and possibly the only people who knew what she was feeling about it were Kino and Jeepak, if even that. Who even knew if Kino herself understood her own feelings. Who even knew if Kino was capable of transmitting them to another person. Certainly not Yan, who had never been in Kino''s head.

    Sylva''s turn with Jeepak was far less smooth, primarily because she had taken it upon herself to hate Jeepak for Yan, since she was intent on shoving that feeling down inside herself. The other reason that Sylva''s interview went poorly was because Sylva was uniquely bad at meditation, especially with someone else, especially with someone she hated. By the time that they eventually succeeded, Yan thought that the frustration that both Sylva and Jeepak were feeling, enough to flip tables, was the only thing that united them both in order to slip into meditation. It was over as quickly as it had started, but apparently Jeepak had learned what he needed to know, and he let Sylva go.

    For Iri''s conversation with him, the Green King had at least requested that Yan stay behind the door, so Yan had watched them talk, but had not listened. She didn''t know what Iri had said, but she didn''t look upset. Granted, Iri was a master of professionalism.

    And then, after that, Yan did have to leave him alone with Kino and Sylva (a terrible combination already) so that she could go fix the gunshot wound the First Star had received in the bay. She did think of it as a wound, and not simply damage. She couldn''t have explained why, but she felt such a connection to the First Star, she felt like it was an extension of her own body, in a way. She hated to see it hurt. So she and Iri suited up and patched the hole, an annoying but not particularly difficult task. At least that mundane action took her mind off the enemy waiting inside.

    Not an enemy, perhaps anymore. An ally, if a terrible one.

    Yan didn''t know what Jeepak was going to say to his group, the Dark Hands. How could he explain that yes, he had been kidnapped by this group, and yes, there were only four of them, and yes, they were all former Imperials (and high ranking ones at that!), and yes, they were piloting a ship stolen from the leader of the Empire, but they also could be trusted. It looked bad.

    Considering that Jeepak had described himself as merely a gun for hire, Yan wondered if he would even have enough clout to pull this off. She hoped that he did. Despite how revolting she found him, Yan didn''t want to miss possibly her only chance to help people who had the only real potential to stop the madness that was the Empire''s war.

    As she held the welding torch, patching the hole and staring into the dazzling arc behind her suit''s helmet, Yan thought about what he had said. Did she actually have the courage or ability to bring down the Empire?

    If she did, what would happen?

    She didn''t know the answers to these questions, and she didn''t want to think about the future. She focused on that leaping spark, the grinning shadows like a miniature sun. She wanted to flip her suit''s helmet to the night mode, and be blinded by the weld''s holy fire.

    She didn''t, though, and she sealed the patch plate all around the hole, and returned inside, to pressure, and air, and reality, and the long wait to jump.

    Jump back in they did, though, and they all waited on the bridge. Yan put Jeepak on the radio, so that he could explain the situation to his comrades, or whatever they were, without it getting out of hand.

    Yan felt the wash of the First Star''s power over herself, and she stared out into the darkness of space on the monitor, not seeing the other ship.

    "Redheart, come in. This is Jeepak, aboard the First Star. Please come in," Jeepak called over the radio. It wouldn''t have surprised Yan if the other ship, named the Redheart, apparently, had accelerated away in order to hide itself should the First Star return. Accelerating a large ship was unpleasant, but it would have given them a slight tactical advantage, if the First Star, had, for example, jumped out in order to trade places with another ship waiting to attack.

    "Redheart, do you read me? Please stand down, there was a misunderstanding. I have not been harmed, and this ship means you no ill intent."

    "We read you, First Star," came the response after a long, long silence.

    Jeepak visibly relaxed. Yan had to empathise with him for a second-- it would have been bad if his group had given him up as gone and abandoned him. They wouldn''t have been able to jump away, not really, not unless their ship was far smaller and faster than Yan though it was, but they could have refused to acknowledge him.

    "The captain of the First Star would like to meet with you," Jeepak said. "In order to discuss future plans."

    "You will return to the Redheart alone," the other ship said. "We will discuss with you what you have found, and then we will make our decision."

    So the Green King''s investigation here was not entirely a guarantee. That didn''t surprise Yan in the least, but she had hoped that she would be able to speak with the leaders of this movement. Or, if not the leaders, at least the captain of the other ship.

    Jeepak looked at her and shrugged in his infuriating way. Yan frowned and nodded. "Tell them you''re going to leave now," Yan said.

    "What, you don''t like having me as a guest of your ship?"

    "You''re lucky to be a guest and not a prisoner," Yan said.

    "It''s all the same," Jeepak said mildly, then pressed the transmit button. "I will return to the Redheart. Please send docking information to my shuttle."

    "Understood. We anticipate your arrival."

    They killed the radio transmission. Yan looked around the bridge and gestured to Kino with her head, indicating that she should come. Kino understood, and together they escorted Jeepak off of the bridge and down towards the bay where he had parked his shuttle. Yan had picked Kino because she didn''t want to be alone, and Kino would provide the most help, should she need it. Firepower and all.

    It wasn''t necessary. Jeepak left without any trouble, and that left Yan and Kino standing awkwardly in the hallway outside the bay together, watching through the tiny window as he dexterously took off and flew out.

    She didn''t know if Sylva and Iri were watching them over the cameras, but she didn''t particularly care. They could listen in to her conversation if they wanted. But she did want to talk to Kino. After all, the two of them were the ones who had, to put it mildly, the most conflicted relationship with this group.

    "How do you feel about this?" Yan asked, breaking the silence.

    Kino didn''t respond for a second. "How am I supposed to feel?" she asked.

    "I don''t know. That''s why I''m asking."

    Kino considered some more. "I wouldn''t be here if I didn''t think they were right," she said.

    "Yeah." That didn''t precisely answer the question, but it summed up Yan''s feelings. "I know that academically."

    "What did he do to you, when you were screaming?" Kino asked. Then, sounding somewhat comulsive, she tacked on, "I''m sorry I didn''t stop him."

    "I''m glad you didn''t." It would have messed up their whole meeting if she had knocked him over the head or something. Who knows how badly it would have gone. "I''m sorry that I let him keep you trapped."

    "It''s okay."

    "We''re even, then."

    "You didn''t answer my question."

    "We-- he-- When I was in prison, he was the one who kept me there. It was just walking through bad memories," Yan said. That was downplaying it a lot, but it was all she wanted to say.

    "Why?"

    "He wanted to see if I would turn on him. Take revenge."

    "Did you?"

    "No."

    "Why not?"

    "Because..." There were a lot of reasons: she didn''t think she had the willpower to torture someone, she didn''t want to bring the whole partnership down immediately, she didn''t feel like she had control in that dream space. "I knew I couldn''t."

    "Okay." Kino seemed to accept this non answer.

    "What did he do with you?" Yan asked.

    "He just looked through my memories."

    "How did he do it so fast?"

    "I showed him what he wanted to see."

    "Hm." That did not seem like the most foolproof of investigation techniques, but perhaps the Green King was better at mind games, and had manipulated Kino in some way to get the information that he needed. Either that, or he was stupid and took what Kino gave him at face value. Either that, or Kino was lying.

    The first of those options seemed like the most likely. Kino showed him her own memories, and he used that as a distraction to dive after what he needed, just as he had kept Yan running through that long, dark hallway to pry through her mind. It was an invasion of privacy, but she didn''t mind that nearly as much as she minded everything else. Letting people into her head was something that she enjoyed, even if she did not enjoy Jeepak doing it.

    "You know, it''s funny," Yan said, as they walked down the hall. "You and Sylva--"

    "I''m sorry," Kino said.

    "You don''t have to apologize," Yans aid. "I--" This wasn''t how she wanted to have this conversation. She didn''t know why she had started it. "You don''t have to let me into your mind. It''s yours. I just think it''s funny that the worst person..." She trailed off, scuffed her foot on the ground. "Nevermind."

    "We had to, to make this work."

    "I know. Sorry. I''m being dumb."

    "No, you''re not."

    They walked in silence for a few minutes. Yan didn''t know exactly where they were going, since they were actually headed the long way around the ring, to get to the bridge. Since it was a circle, they would get there eventually, but they were taking a circuitous route. Neither of them had decided to; it had just simply happened.

    "If you really want to, I can let you in," Kino said, looking down at the ground.

    "No," Yan said. She nudged Kino''s shoulder with her arm. "It''s okay. I''m not trying to guilt trip you. I promise."

    "I know." Kino looked like she wanted to say something else, but she didn''t.

    "Do you think that I''ll actually be able to go through with it?" Yan asked after a moment.

    "With what?"

    "The Green King, er, Jeepak, he wants us to take the Gatekeeper."

    "That''s just the first test," Kino said. "It will be worse." The flat way in which she delivered that sentiment belied both her misery and conviction.

    "Do you think I should do it?"

    "You''re the captain."

    "I wish people wouldn''t say that. Do you want to do it?"

    "Sid''s on that ship."

    "I know," Yan said. She waited for Kino to respond, and when she didn''t, Yan said, "Maybe we could convince--"

    "I don''t think so," Kino said, and her voice was very quiet. "I wish we could."

    "It would be nice to have the three of us together again."

    Kino stared straight ahead, as if she was looking down the barrel of a gun. "Yes."

    "But it''s not going to happen, is it?"

    "No."

    "Would you kill me, if we were on opposite sides of this?" Yan asked.

    Kino looked up at her. "I almost did."

    "Not on purpose," Yan said. "It''s a little different."

    "Is it?"

    "Yeah. I mean, if I were standing here, or if we were on Emerri or something, before all of this, and I was against you, what would you have done?"

    "If you made yourself my enemy, I would have made myself yours," Kino said. "I''m glad that we''re not."

    "Would you have killed Sandreas, if you had the chance?"

    "I did have the chance, maybe," Kino said. "But I didn''t think the time was right."

    "Were you ever alone with him? No Halen?"

    "Yes," Kino said.

    "Would you have been able to take him in a fight?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "But it wasn''t worth it to try."

    "You could have destabilized the entire Empire, if you did."

    "But you or Sid would have just taken his place," Kino said. "And Sid would have gone along with the Emperor willingly, and you..."

    Yan could imagine it. If she had taken power, without the preparation of years of apprenticeship, coming to stand in front of the Emperor, what that would have done to her mind. She was glad she had not been forced to take up that mantle.

    "You didn''t know about the Emperor, though."

    "I knew about how systems worked. The whole Empire just keeps going. One person can fall out of place, but the whole system will keep going."

    "Yeah." That made Yan pause for a second. "Do you think whatever the Dark Hands do is even going to work?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said.

    "You say the system will keep going on."

    "It will. But if you take enough pieces out, it might fall down."

    Yan thought about this for a moment. "Are they actually taking pieces out? Are they organized in any way? What are they even doing?"

    "They did Falmar," Kino said. "They''re protecting the planet that you were on."

    "That''s not action against the core of the Empire, though."

    "They had me."

    "And that got nowhere," Yan said. "I think..."

    "What?"

    "I don''t know." Yan stopped. "There might need to be a change from inside. I don''t know, even if this was a real military campaign, would there even be a chance of stopping all this destruction?"

    "If you wanted to change it from the inside, you should have stayed with Sandreas," Kino said, sounding slightly sullen.

    "That''s not what I mean," Yan said, but she didn''t know exactly what the feeling she was trying to express was. There was something rotten at the core of the Empire. Secrecy, maybe, or the slavish devotion to expansion pursued by the Emperor and the Fleet. Yan couldn''t put her finger on one culprit. If she thought about it too hard, she might even cast some blame upon things that she loved-- the Academy, and the ties of power that it brought, for example.

    They walked in silence until they reached the bridge. Inside, it was a tense time, with Iri and Sylva monitoring the displays to ensure that they were not about to be attacked. If the Green King-- Jeepak, Yan reminded herself again-- failed to convince the crew of the Redheart that they were first not a threat, and second, potential allies, they could be faced with attack from the Redheart''s shuttles.

    Yan didn''t know what the Redheart''s actual strength was, but she did know that it almost certainly would be enough to completely wipe out the First Star. Even though they were a crew that was three-quarters sensitives, they were still only a crew of four. Four people could not withstand a tide of shuttles and dogfighters and missiles, no matter how competent they were. So they waited, and every sencond that their screen was not lit up with the bright stars of acceleration was both a relief and a mounting tension, until they heard back over the radio what the Redheart''s decision would be.

    She had a mental timer counting down in her head, measuring the time when they would be able to jump next, and the time the Redheart would be able to leave. The minute that eight hours for the Redheart ticked over, they recieved a data blast-- no audio, just a package of text information over the radio, and Yan felt the wave of power as the Redheart jumped away. So that was it. They were alone again, and they had instructions.

    Yan read them with a mounting fear in her heart.

    <hr>

    Days later, shortened sleep nights later, they arrived back at the Mother''s planet. Not in the planet''s orbit, or even the star''s, but they were one jump away, at a designated meeting point. There were two other ships there, lit up and waiting. It was a nerve wracking sight. Even though she was fairly confident that they weren''t about to be attacked, there was always the chance that this was some kind of trap.

    All four of them were on the bridge, but Yan was the one speaking. Kino was tapping her finger on the console in front of her, and Sylva and Iri were watching the navigation screens and listening carefully as Yan paged the other ships.

    "This is the First Star," Yan called over the radio. "Please identify." She was speaking Old Imperial, which she figured she would have the best luck with. It seemed to be a common language even among many of the Empire''s enemies. Yan didn''t really know why, but she suspected that it was similar to whatever protolanguage had come off of the ancestral homeworld of humanity. That was a question for Sylva to ponder.

    "This is Captain Mayar on the Kiss of Death," said one ship, the one that was about half a light second distant. The person who responded did indeed have a thick accent, and an odd pronunciation of many words, but "Where''s the Redheart?"

    "I can''t answer that question," Yan said. "I was told to proceed here. They may still be on their way, if they are intending to arrive. They left me a message to deliver to the ships waiting here, as well as instructions to assist you in the capture of the ship in orbit around Olkye." There had been an encrypted piece of the Redheart''s message that Yan had not been able to crack that she presumed had instructions and an introduction for these other two ships.

    "First Officer Trebek of the Echo," the other ship identified. "Are we waiting on them?"

    Yan thought it was extremely odd that these ships, who clearly had no idea who she was, were simply accepting their presence. Were the Dark Hands so disorganized, or so loosely affiliated, that they had no idea which ships were going where, or even who their own allies were?

    "Not according to the last ansible transmission, no," Mayar said. "We were told to wait here for a ship, not necessarily their ship."

    So these ships had access to an ansible, as did the Redheart, somewhere. Yan supposed she shouldn''t be too surprised about that. It would be fairly hard to conduct any sort of interplanetary anything if they had to rely entirely on ships as couriers. The Mother hadn''t ever thought about the ansible, but Yan also hadn''t ever asked. It had been one of those topics that they had skirted around out of mutual respect for Yan''c conflicts. But, Yan supposed, she had none of those conflicts left now.

    "What planet are you from?" Trebek asked.

    "You know you''re not supposed to ask that," Mayar said. The conversation was stiff and jolting because of the distance between the ships.

    "It''s okay," Yan said. "It''s a bit of a complicated situation."

    "Hah. Isn''t it always," Mayar said.

    "I suppose it is. Did the Redheart mention anything about us?"

    "No," Trebek said. "Are you going to tell us your name, at least?"

    "Captain BarCarran," Yan said. That was such an odd thing for her to say. She felt like she was taking on her cousin''s identity. She imagined herself, very briefly, as the older Captain Pellon BarCarran, sitting calmly at the helm. It was a comforting thought, if only for a second.

    "Pleasure, Captain BarCarran," Trebek said.

    "As a ship in the night, I greet you, Captain," Mayar said. He was the captain, so he was entitled to the greeting, though Yan was slightly surprised that he knew it. She thought that only spacers said such things, but perhaps it travelled beyond the nebulous borders of the empire on the mouths of pirates. Or perhaps Mayar was himself a former pirate.

    "With the stars at your back I greet you, Captain," Yan said in return. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "If we''re not waiting for the Redheart, we should plan out our action," Trebek said. "You mentioned something about a message from the Redheart?"

    "Yes, I''ll send it over." Yan sent the data package over the radio. It would take a moment for the data to arrive, and so Yan listened to the drumming of Kino''s fingers impatiently. It was basically the only sound on the bridge. That was until the radio crackled to life again, this time with Trebek''s laughter.

    "Oh, this is rich," he said. "Is Kizistal pulling a joke on us?"

    "Kizistal?" Yan asked. She didn''t get a response. The data package must have included the juicy information about the First Star, and what in God''s name they were doing there.

    "Trebek, I would advise you wake up your captain," Mayar said. Since they were still communicating in plain speech, without any encryption, Yan had to assume that the message she had just delivered was not one that told the two ships to destroy her, but she was nervous.

    Maybe it had been a bad idea to pass it along, since they had seemed ready to accept her presence anyway, but Yan hadn''t wanted to do anything to jeopardize their possible alliance.

    "She''s already on her way," Trebek said. "She''ll love this."

    Yan killed her broadcast. "This isn''t great," she said.

    "What did you expect?" Iri asked.

    "At least we aren''t getting shot at," Sylva said. "Though that might be only a matter of time."

    "I don''t know what I expected," Yan said. "I''m just going along with what people tell me."

    "Maybe that isn''t the best stance for a captain to take."

    "We''re here now," Sylva said. "It''s a commitment action."

    "Yeah." Yan fell silent and glanced at Kino, who had not said a word. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

    "Nervous," Kino said.

    At least thinking about these captains and their issues with her was better than thinking about what they were here to do, which was capture the Gatekeeper. Yan somehow doubted that could be accomplished in any way other than by killing everyone aboard, and that included Sid. She did not want to kill Sid.

    She didn''t want to kill anyone.

    She had killed pirates before. She would just have to think about this the same way. It was necessary.

    The radio crackled to life again. "So, you''re the defectors," a new voice said. Yan had to assume this was the captain of the Echo.

    "As a ship in the night, I greet you, Captain," Yan said, attempting to be polite.

    "Spare me," the woman said. "I''m Savat."

    "Yan BarCarran," Yan said.

    "I can''t believe Kizistal is making this some sort of test for you," Savat said. "Doesn''t he know this is life or death?"

    "Everything is life or death," Mayar said, sounding tired. "So let''s discuss strategy."

    "Okay," Yan said. She didn''t like how the tone of this had changed. She was no longer a comrade to these people-- this was a tone of resignation and frustration. She didn''t fully understand why, but she tried to put herself in their shoes. "I don''t know if it will help for me to say this, but I''m fully prepared to follow your orders."

    "Yes, you and your crew of three," Savat said. "It would be just as beneficial for me to take your ship as it would be to jump in to Olkye and take that one. Easier, too."

    "Savat," Mayar said warningly. "Let''s keep it professional. We''re getting that ship out of orbit. The more people we have, the easier it will be."

    "Ah, yes, four more people," Savat said. "You can''t even send out shuttles with that few."

    Yan looked around at her group, drummed her own fingers on the arm of her chair. She didn''t like what she was about to have to suggest. "I am prepared to temporarily leave the First Star here, and to travel in aboard one of your ships." The words were sour in her mouth. Iri looked at her, tilting her head to the side. Kino stared straight ahead.

    Savat laughed loudly, voice cutting in and out over the radio. "That''s funny."

    "You''re a sensitive, correct?" Mayar asked.

    "Yes. I also have--"

    "Two others, yes, I know," Savat said.

    Yan made an executive decision. "I would only be bringing one with me, if I left my ship," she said. Sylva, catching on immediately that this was about her, glared at Yan, but didn''t say anything. Yan cut the radio. "I wouldn''t want you to get hurt, and I trust you to take care of the ship," Yan said.

    "Sylva is competent, you know," Iri said.

    Yan was saved from having to pull rank by the radio coming to life. "Fine," Mayar said. "Do you have any supplies that could lend us a tactical advantage?" he asked. "Espeically if you will not be bringing your ship."

    Yan thought about the supply list that had been put together. "I have a few shuttles that I could loan, if you needed them, but I would prefer not to."

    "I don''t have pilots to spare," Mayar said. "Savat?"

    "I''ll take one of them, since I lost a couple of mine earlier," Savat said. "Is that possible?"

    "Yes," Yan said. It was good that she only wanted one, because if she had wanted more, it would have required that she send over pilots aboard one of her own shuttles-- it would have been a complicated mess of switching ships. As it was, Iri could fly one and Yan could fly the other, the one that they would fly into battle with, presumably.

    The fact that Savat said that she had lost shuttles did not bode well for this whole thing, especially since it seemed like an outright offensive had not even happened yet, but Yan wasn''t going to dwell on it. The only way through was forward.

    "Should we come over now? Is this happening?" Yan asked, her voice a little bit too high on that last part.

    There was a stretch of silence, then Mayar spoke. "I suppose it is. Since Savat wants your shuttles, you should go to her ship. We can further discuss tactics there."

    "Thank you for volunteering me," Savat said. From the way that these two captains had been talking to eachother, it was clear that they had some kind of long and possibly contestuous relationship. Perhaps long was not exactly a given. They might have just been parked in this area of space together, and that lent itself to some kind of relationship. Ships were meant to spend most of their time alone, after all. Little worlds unto themselves. It must be odd, then, to be in so close contact with someone else for a long time.

    "I''ll send a request for docking information once I''m in my shuttle," Yan said.

    "Safe flight," Mayar said.

    Yan killed the radio call.

    "What the fuck was that about?" Sylva asked.

    "I''m sorry," Yan said, holding up her hands defensively.

    "You don''t want me with you?"

    "I want you safe," Yan said.

    "And what the fuck do you think I want?"Sylva asked.

    "Sylva," Iri said.

    "You know that I''m capable," Sylva said, turning to Iri. "Tell her that I should come."

    "You don''t even know what they''re going to want us to do," Yan said. "I''d rather have you here."

    "I don''t want to be the last survivor, if something terrible happens," Sylva said.

    "It will be fine," Yan said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. "It''s going to be at least two ships against one. The Gatekeeper doesn''t stand a chance."

    "The Gatekeeper could just jump out, if it had any sense," Iri said.

    "I--" Yan stopped and considered that. "We''re probably going to jump in and stay hidden until our jump timer is up, then we can go after them if they jump out."

    "They have a jump tracker?"

    "Probably?" Yan wasn''t entirely sure how the whole scenario was going to play out, but that was the only logical way to do it, as far as she could tell. It wasn''t like the Gatekeeper was moving, like a spacer ship ambushed by pirates was.

    "We''re getting off topic," Sylva said. "I''m coming."

    "We can''t leave the First Star alone," Yan said.

    "Why not?" Sylva asked, petulant, with her hands on her hips.

    "Because we can''t, okay? Look, Sylva, I love you, but I don''t want you to come."

    "Give me one good reason why. I''ll stop arguing if you give me one good reason."

    Yan somehow doubted that the actual good reasons, such as Sylva probably not being an asset in a power fight, would be acceptable, so she dug deep inside herself, and came out with the emotional answer, rather than the logical one. "I don''t want you to see me kill people," Yan said. "I don''t want that to change how you look at me."

    She bunched her hands up in her pockets, feeling the weight of her gun holster on her hip.

    Sylva looked up at her, from all the way across the bridge. "You know it wouldn''t," Sylva said. "I love you."

    "And I love you, and that''s why you''re staying here." Yan delivered that line with a little too much force, but Sylva flopped back in her seat, relenting. Yan didn''t really know why she had won that argument, but possibly Sylva wasn''t fighting as hard as she could have been. Sylva probably did understand that her value did not lie entirely in using the power, which was what would be asked of her if she came. "Kino, Iri?" Yan looked at the other two.

    Iri nodded and stood up, with Kino following behind her a little more slowly.

    "If we''re not back in..." Yan did the math in her head. Jump in, wait a silent eight hours for the timer to run out, attack the Gatekeeper to pressure them to use their jump, follow them, fight, then eight hours for the jump timer to run back, and if they were jumping away from their current position, that would put them two jumps out... It could very well be a long time before she saw Sylva again. "If we''re not back in twenty-four hours, I--"

    "I''ll drive the First Star into a black hole, got it," Sylva said, sounding grim.

    "No," Yan said.

    "I''ll sell it and go back to live on the Warrior II," Sylva said. "Is that what you want to hear?"

    "I don''t know what I want to hear," Yan said. "I don''t want to think about it."

    "Well, neither do I," Sylva said. "So I don''t know why you even brought it up."

    "Me neither. I love you."

    "Good luck."

    They didn''t embrace, because Sylva was still sitting in her seat, staring out at the large display rather than looking at Yan. She sounded and looked unhappy, but the misery that was growing in Yan wasn''t going to be made any better by dwelling on the fact that she was leaving Sylva behind. She beckoned Iri and Kino, and the three of them headed off the bridge and down to the shuttle bay.

    <hr>

    The plan, Yan learned, was a strategy that she had never seen employed before. Possibly it was new and untested, because rarely were there so many sensitives in place at once. They had five, total: one from the Kiss of Death, one from the Echo, Yan and Kino, and one from a third ship which was still in orbit around Olkye, protecting it from the Gatekeeper''s shuttles. All off the sensitives had gathered in Captain Savat''s office aboard the Echo, and had sat around and gone over the plan together. Iri had been there to listen to the plan, but she had been shuffled away, with much protestation, when the sensitives cloistered themselves.

    Savat was a tall woman, very clearly a spacer of some stripe, with a cloud of bright red hair that circled her head in a gravity defying mass. She had a stern look on her face, but a sharp sense of humor that showed up occasionally as she explained what the strategy was going to be. Apparently, they were originally going to try this with just the three sensitives they already had, and Jeepak off of the Redheart, but since the Redheart was a no-show, they were going to use Yan and Kino instead.

    Glancing at the other sensitives, Yan could tell that they were somewhat relieved that Yan had left Sylva on the First Star. The leader of the sensitives was an old man, short and probably in his fifties, named Faro. There was a woman with dark skin and a mellow smile named Galet who reminded Yan of one of her aunts, and a nervous looking boy (couldn''t have been more than seventeen) whose name was Chanam. Looking at him, Yan would have preferred Sylva, but if she had brought Sylva, who definitely would not have fit well into this exercise anyway, they would have had the same number of minds as this group, and thus the same amount of power. By the way that everyone regarded them with some suspicion, Yan didn''t think that was an ideal arrangement for anyone. Yan was perhaps the most senior in rank of the group, due to being the captain of a ship, but she was definitely not the most senior in experience, nor the most trusted. So she deferred to Faro as he explained the plan and what roles everyone would have.

    They were going to form a group mind. The idea was somewhat thrilling to Yan, who enjoyed such things, but Kino was not thrilled about it. The idea was that with their combined strength, they could prevent the Gatekeeper from jumping out, while shuttles from the Kiss of Death and Echo attacked and boarded.

    Yan wasn''t sure if it would work, but the worst case scenario involved the Gatekeeper jumping away without them being able to give chase. That would still leave the planet free of its orbiting menace, at least for a little while, and that was the goal.

    Actually, the worst case scenario was that the Gatekeeper was easily able to kill them all, but Yan didn''t want to consider that at all.

    The benefit of this was, indirectly, Yan supposed, that their group would probably not need to kill anyone themselves. That would be left to the boarding party. Yan hoped, anyway.

    Maybe that was deflection. She was going to be just as responsible for these people''s deaths as anyone, since she would effectively be the one holding them down, preventing their ship from escaping.

    The more she thought about it, the sicker she felt. So, as all of the sensitives gathered in a small room aboard the Echo, undisturbed and looking out the window at the vast empty space, Yan pushed all of that out of her head. There was a task at hand, and she would do it.

    They were just waiting, sitting in an awkwardly silent circle. Yan was in between Kino and the woman Galet. She looked across the circle at the young man, Chanam.

    "How old are you?" Yan asked, breaking the awkward silence.

    "Sixteen," he said.

    "You good at using the power?" she asked.

    "I don''t know." He said this rather defensively, as though he was angry at being asked. She didn''t know if that was a teen boy reaction, or if that was because she had crossed some sort of specific line.

    "Do you do a lot of this?" Yan asked.

    "No," he said. "You?"

    "Once," Yan said. "Not this, exactly. But I''ve been in a battle."

    The old man, Faro, nodded. "It''ll be over quicker than you think," he said to Chanam. "We''ll help you through it."

    "Is this plan going to work?" Kino asked.

    "Do you doubt?" Faro asked. He had a thick accent, and the Old Imperial fell off his tongue thickly. Kino shrugged in response. "I have tested it before," he said. "But not yet in a real engagement, and not yet with all of you. We don''t know each other, but we must trust each other."

    "That''s hard, isn''t it?" Galet said, speaking for the first time and putting a hand on Chanam''s shoulder. "We will be able to do it, difficult though it may be."

    Yan nodded, then looked down at her hands. "Should we get ready to jump?" she asked.

    "Yes," Faro said. "Take my hand." He was between Galet and Chanam, and he took their hands. Yan took Galena''s and Kino''s right.

    "What happened to you?" Chanam asked Kino.

    "If we''re lucky, we won''t ever have to talk about it," Kino said, putting her destroyed hand in Chanam''s. Though it was healing quite well, and Kino didn''t even need bandages on it anymore, he still took it quite gingerly, laying it on top of his palm. Yan saw this, and Kino saw her watching, but neither of them moved or said anything.

    Yan had to wonder what they were going to use to draw them all in to the meditation. She couldn''t be sure that there were any shared cultural bridges between this disparate group of people. She didn''t even think that Chanam, Galet, and Faro had even come from the same planet; their accents were all quite different. If it had been Yan picking, she probably would have started a simple counting rhythm, but it wasn''t Yan who started. Faro took the lead.

    "Oh, my children, follow me down, follow me down, follow me down. Oh, my children, follow me down, down from the stars today." He repeated those lines once, then moved on to the verse of the song. "As I came down from the stars today, singing the song my father gave, ''bout who should wear the sunlit crown, oh Love, show me the way."

    The whole thing was repetitive. Yan and Kino picked it up easily enough, and Yan closed her eyes and let the sounds wash over her. Yes, these were strangers. Yes, they were about to do something unthinkable, but if she pushed that out of her head and just focused on the sensation of singing the words, the sound of all of their voices rising through the tiny room in a unified chorus, it all slipped away from her. She sank down into it.

    "Who should wear the sunlit crown? Oh Love, show me the way."

    They fell into place one by one, slipping easily into the group. It was new and horrible and wonderful, all at once. They enjoyed the sensation of stretching their mental legs into each other''s minds. Faro took it upon himself to be a watchdog, and slapped away anyone who tried to delve too deeply into places that they didn''t belong. Their thoughts, therefore, were all so shallow as to be almost meaningless. It was not the depth that Yan had experienced with most others, but it was a perfunctory joining that would get the job done. That was what mattered. They had a task, and they would see it through.

    One of them stood up, stumbling a little as five people gave input to one pair of legs. It was Galet''s body, and they pushed the intercom on the wall. "We''re ready to jump, Captain Sabat," they said.

    The ship''s general alarm sounded, making everyone ready for what was about to happen. All of their little group looked out the window, and through Yan felt the wild rush as the stardrive jumped. This stardrive didn''t feel familiar, not like the First Star''s did, but it had the same undercurrent of joy that Yan had appreciated before.

    The scene as they arrived was not a pleasant one, and over the intercom, they heard shouting from the bridge as everyone tried to piece together what was happening.

    They had jumped into the correct position, and there was the third ship, the Hound, the one who was still waiting for them, but it was missing a chunk from its side, and debris was strewn around the orbit of the planet, some of it travelling quite quickly. The Gatekeeper was there, as well, surrounded by shuttles dashing about through the sky.

    There was no way to know what had actually happened,or why, but it seemed as though the Gatekeeper and the Hound had already been in some sort of altercation, and the Hound had come out on the losing side.

    Ringing through their little group mind was the conviction, coming from Chanam, that this was his fault. His absence from the Hound was what had allowed this to happen. This overwhelming feeling of guilt almost ripped them all out of the group together, but Kino, who was no stranger to feelings of guilt, grabbed Chanam''s thoughts and focused them keenly on the task at hand. It took less than a second for all of this to swirl through everyone''s head, and for them to take stock of the situation.

    They reached out with the power. They had no idea if the Gatekeeper had burned its jump already-- perhaps it had, since these ships were both in unexpected positions-- so they stretched their awareness out as far as it could go, and they held onto the ship grimly.

    They could barely do it. Even though their range was magnified as a group, and magnified again due to the wonderful vacuum of space, it was still barely enough to hold on to the Gatekeeper. And it fought against them. They had circled it with their power just in time. They could feel the stardrive grinding itself away, trying desperately to jump. It felt more like a body than ever, and there was that horrible, dirty feeling that came with grabbing another person. They shouldn''t be doing this. It wasn''t allowed, somehow.

    But they held on. They held on. They kept holding on, even as the Gatekeeper''s shuttles became tiny, bright stars of acceleration, diving towards the Kiss of Death and the Echo.

    They held on until the stardrive of the Gatekeeper stopped struggling. It was burnt out, completely exhausted. It had used up all of its vital energy, and it would no longer be able to jump, at least not for a while. All of them holding it felt this as clear as day. Faro gave the order to drop it, so that they could focus on aiding the battle.

    "What if it''s a trick?" Kino asked, the thought dancing across the surface of all of their minds.

    "Next time, they might trick us," Faro said. "This time, the stardrive didn''t know what was happening. No trick. Drop it."

    They dropped it,but they moment they had, Yan wished that they hadn''t. Without needing to hold the stardrive in place, there were plenty of things that they could do to aid the boarding parties that were dodging ordinance and shuttle fire on their way towards the Gatekeeper. The closer they got, the more perilous it became.

    Yan remembered, and thus forced everyone else in their group to remember, the time she had been on that shuttle,with Sid, and she had killed all those pirates. This was different. Was it different? No. It was the same. She was just one mind out of five, and though they all felt differently, they were resolved to go on.

    They picked targets one by one.

    Yan remembered again what Halen had told her, about target prioritization. He would have hated that she was using this here, now. It was easy to pick out which shuttles were Imperial shuttles, in the whole fracas, and it was perhaps even easier to decide which ones were most dangerous, and thus needed to be killed.

    It was easiest of all to take that great power that they wielded, all five of them, and crush down the shuttles like they were swatting a bug. The only thing that gave Yan any relief was the feeling that the guilt of it was shared all between them. She wasn''t the one ordering this, not this time.

    "But you''re going along with it," Faro said. "And someday, you will have to do this on your own."

    Clearly, he had talked to the captains, and maybe read the letter that the Redheart had sent along, with Yan as the semi unwitting messenger.

    There were sensitives aboard the Gatekeeper. Yan wasn''t sure how many, but there was at least one, maybe even two. They did an admirable job of keeping the attacking shuttles away, at redirecting all projectiles away from their own shuttles, but in the end, the battle was one or two sensitives against five working in concert, and one ship that had already been through some sort of battle against two that hadn''t. The Hound, for the most part, was out of the fight, and could be discounted while tabulating the strength of the forces. Yan was glad that their power never brushed up against that other sensitive''s power. She didn''t want to feel Sid, struggling against her. She didn''t want to feel like she was the one killing him.

    Just as Faro had said, the whole thing felt over as quickly as it had started. They kept destroying shuttles until there were no more shuttles left to destroy, and then their own shuttles hooked on to the outside of the Gatekeeper, sending out their occupants to saw holes in the exterior of the ship, clawing their way inside.

    There would be casualties there, certainly. That was the last chance for the Gatekeeper to fight off its attackers. And the Gatekeeper, being a massive Fleet ship, probably had far more people than the Kiss of Death and the Echo could send to board, but once a ship was boarded, it was only a matter of time.

    Pirates would give up on a boarding attempt if they thought they were losing too many people. The Kiss of Death and the Echo would not. Even though they may have been at a numbers disadvantage, a small, dedicated group of people wearing suits could probably fight their way down to the engine room of the ship and cut off life support to the rest.

    Their little group broke apart, task completed for the most part.

    "Let''s go," Faro said.

    "Go?" Yan asked.

    "Onto the ship," Faro said, gesturing out at the Gatekeeper. "They still need us."

    "Oh." Yan looked at Kino, who was shaking herself, as though still half in the trance. She didn''t want to go. She had no desire to set foot on that killing field, but Faro looked at her.

    "We''re going," Faro said. "If you want to be one of us, you come."

    So this was the real test. Yan nodded. They must need sensitives to fight the sensitives on board the Gatekeeper. They must need someone to face down Sid.

    The whole group stood up, and made their way out of their little cloister and down towards the shuttle bay. Iri was waiting for Yan there.

    "I was told you were coming," Iri said. "You''re going?"

    "Are you?"

    "I''m sticking with you," Iri said. "Let''s go."

    There was a pilot from the Echo, already waiting in a shuttle, ready to take them. Everyone suited up, some more clumsily than others. Kino, who had only been in a space suit a couple times before, had the most difficulty. All the sensitives and Iri climbed in the shuttle, difficult with their suits, and strapped themselves in seats.

    "Shouldn''t we split up?" Galet asked.

    "It''s a safe journey," Faro said. "We''ll make it there."

    Yan didn''t have a lot of trust in that, but then again, a ship with five sensitives in it was more than a force to be reckoned with.

    The journey was deadly silent. Everyone stared out the window and watched debris slide past. Yan felt one of them, she wasn''t sure which, put up a shield to stop them from getting hit by anything too heavy. If she had to guess, she would have pinned it on Galet, who had felt like the most practical minded of them during their shared meditation.

    One of the Gatekeeper''s bays was blasted completely open, and all of the shuttles sitting squatly in it were from the Kiss of Death and the Echo. All the Gatekeeper''s own, though there must have been hundreds of them, had been destroyed. Only some of that had been the sensitive''s work.

    The magnets in the floor still worked to hold their shuttle down, so they landed, and everyone attached their helmets and passed through the shuttle''s airlock. It was dead silent inside her helmet, and Yan felt eerily alone. The identical suits left her with little ability to identify which of the fellow suited figures were which. They were all anonymous here, and that was a comfort.

    Yan squeezed the button in her gloves that would activate her radio. "I''m going to find Sid," she said. "Kino?"

    "I''ll follow you," Kino said. Iri also signaled her following with a quick hand sign, not wanting to clutter up the radio broadcast. The other three sensitives, Faro, Galet,and Chanam, glanced between themselves through their helmets, but none of them made any effort to stop Yan''s group from splitting off.

    Perhaps that was because they had decided during the meditation that they were trustworthy. Yan didn''t know. But they didn''t stop them, so Yan, Iri, and Kino all shoved their way out of the bay, past ruined door after ruined door, into the bulk of the ship.

    The place was a horrible sight. There was no sound, of course, because the areas that they could access were hard vacuums, but the lights were still on, illuminating the bare walls and empty corridors. It was, perhaps, better that the corridors were empty.

    Other teams that came through would need to carry with them torches to cut open doors. Yan and Kino had no such problems, and anywhere they needed to go, they simply ripped the door apart, sometimes releasing a wave of air, other times connecting to a place where someone had already cut through into a vacuum.

    The closer they got to the center of the ship, the more bodies they saw-- people who had either been shot, or who had died without air to breathe. Yan felt the bile rise in her throat at the first one, but then turned off her emotional mind. Easy. This was what she had to do. She methodically worked her way through the ship.

    People in suits were probably all protecting the engine room, trying to keep life support on as long as possible. Everyone else, they would have to hunker down and wait either for salvation or death. It would probably be death. Thus, they encountered relatively little resistance as they floated down the hallways. Yan didn''t have a destination in mind, but when she came to the rotating rings, which were stopped now, they entered.

    The bridge had to be around somewhere.

    No one spoke as they moved through the terrible place, not by radio, not by sign. For the most part, this place had already been picked over. Doors were flung open, exposing their occupants to the nothingness of space. Objects that were usually fastened down drifted about.

    Yan was glad that people had clearly already been through here. She was glad that she was not the one who had to rip the doors open and kill the inhabitants. She was responsible for their deaths, in a way, but she was glad that she didn''t have to watch them die, not right in front of her.

    All the Imperial uniforms-- they were so familiar. Yan remembered when she had worn one, with all the rank insignia stripped off, after she had been rescued from the planet they were orbiting. How strange it was. How terrible.

    Someone had already been to the bridge.

    It looked like there had been a big fight, as the walls were marked with bullet holes, and the bodies lacked the weird serenity that came from dying of vacuum exposure, and most of them were, instead, bloodied. The consoles were smashed, as if by some great blow. Was it to protect Imperial secrets? To destroy the computer so that no one could access them?

    Yan didn''t know, and she didn''t care. Very carefully, the three of them inspected all of the bodies. There was Captain Baczynski, who Yan had known, if only a little. There were officers that some tiny part of Yan''s brain recognized, probably just from photographs. But there was no Sid.

    This was a relief and a burden.

    Yan gestured for Iri and Kino to follow her out, and they headed back down into the core of the ship.

    By the time they made it out of the rings, the power in the whole ship went dead, plunging them into darkness. So, the other sensitives had breached into the engine, enough to kill the life support. Yan pressed herself back into the wall, breathing heavily in her suit''s helmet, breath fogging up the glass in the darkness. Iri and Kino''s faces were lit by their tiny suit lights, and both of them looked at each other.

    "It is done," Kino said.

    "Should we go check the engine room?" Yan asked. For a body. She needed to know if someone else had killed Sid. That was the only place where it made sense for him to be.

    Yan used the power to pull a chunk of metal off the wall, and she fed power into it until it glowed, white hot, illuminating the path in front of them just a little bit better than their measly suit flashlights did. They fumbled their way down through the ship. Her own breathing was so loud in her ears. She was alive, as everyone else on the ship slowly died around her. Anyone not in a suit was going to run out of air very quickly, and every Fleet soldier in a suit would be hunted down without mercy. The only survivors of the Gatekeeper would be the ones already on the planet, and Yan didn''t know how long they would last, without any reinforcements from above.

    She was miserable, but she shoved that feeling down into her heart, trudging ever forward.

    The engine room was a disaster area. Clearly, sensitives had fought there, as the walls were torn to pieces. Crew from the Kiss of Death and the Echo were standing around, talking over the radio. Yan heard the voices of the three other sensitives. It was a relief to know that they were alright, even if their voices did sound slightly strained. Yan pushed past them, careful not to hit anyone with her glowing metal chunk, and examined all the bodies. What was left of them, anyway.

    Most of them were wearing suits, so she had to use the power to push up the visors on the helmets, to look down into their faces. No Sid.

    Would it have been better or worse to find him there, among the rubble? Yan didn''t know.

    The battle was over. They had won. Yan wanted to go home.

    She tried desperately not to throw up in her suit, looking down at all the dead.

 Chapter Ninety-Eight - The Cracks Too Small to Slip Through

    The Cracks Too Small to Slip Through

    <blockquote>

    "The ocean of grief / takes all boats up in its tide / and carries them roughshod out of the past / to the still waters / under the moonlight."

    - from "My Mother''s Children", poem by Kehat Maya

    </blockquote>

    The ships, or at least one of them, returned far faster than Sylva had expected, a mere ten hours later. She had spent the whole time in the bridge, and had been dozing when the radio flared to life.

    "First Star, this is the Echo. Come in."

    Sylva shook herself awake, feeling a horrible ache in her neck and, blinking in the light of the bridge. She hit the transmit button on the radio. "Echo, this is the First Star. What''s your status?"

    "Your captain and crew are safe and will be returning to you in a minute. Please be prepared to provide docking information." There was a touch of humor in the man''s voice over the radio. She didn''t know why. Perhaps he was just making fun of her.

    "Thank you, Echo. Were you successful? Where is the Kiss of Death?"

    "The Kiss of Death remains in orbit around Olkye. We successfully took the Gatekeeper. Shuttles launching now."

    Sylva scrambled to press the correct buttons on the console to find and provide docking information to the incoming shuttles, presumably piloted by Yan and Iri. She wasn''t fully confident with all the operations of the First Star like Yan was, but she did the best she could, and she didn''t usually have any serious problems. Sylva switched channels on the radio, flipping over to the shuttle''s communication band.

    "Yan, are you okay?"

    "I''m fine," Yan responded. She sounded terse, but that might have been tiredness or the flattening effect of the radio. "Be there in a minute."

    Yan killed the radio on her end, and Sylva was left with nothing but a hissing silence. She didn''t like that.

    Sylva abandoned the bridge and trooped down to the bay, where she had set the large bay doors open so that the shuttles could dock. She waited for them to come in, one settling gracefully into the bay, the other settling slightly less gracefully and sending a thrum through the nearby metal of she ship as it impacted. If she had to guess, the one that moved naturally was Yan, and the one that had nearly crashed was Iri. With both shuttles inside, Sylva used the operating panel on the outside of the bay to shut the door and flood the area with air. It was nice that Yan and Iri had fixed the hole in the bay door

    Her suspicions were confirmed as everyone climbed out of their shuttles. Surprisingly, there was one more person than Sylva expected-- a very young looking man with a frazzled looking tuft of black hair came out of Iri''s shuttle. Sylva pulled open the door and went in, smiling broadly.

    Yan had a blank look on her face, and she ignored, or simply didn''t see, Sylva as she went about her post flight checklist, locking down the shuttle, then pushing her way over to Iri''s shuttle to do the same. She was fastidious, if nothing else. Sylva inspected the group. Iri looked fine, catching Sylva''s eye and smiling. Kino looked like Kino. Sylva didn''t have an opinion on her, and it was so hard to figure out what her deal was anyway. She was just standing around, seemingly directionless and waiting for instructions.

    The young man looked around the ship, hovering warily and watching Yan as she moved about and finished cleaning up the shuttles. Iri pushed over to Sylva.

    "Who''s that?" Sylva asked, nodding at the newcomer, who made no move to approach them.

    "I think he makes this the most sensitive-dense ship this side of the Empire," Iri said. "Name''s Chanam."

    "I thought we weren''t picking up kids."

    "He''s more dangerous than he looks, I think," Iri said. "Hard to tell."

    "And he''s here because...?"

    "The ship he was on is, how should I say it, damaged."

    "Wouldn''t it be best for him to stay with his own crew?"

    "He''s here to babysit us, I believe," Iri clarified.

    "More like we''ll have to babysit him."

    "I somehow doubt that. Anyway, be on your best behavior."

    Sylva smiled thinly at the man, boy, really. He stared at her, unblinking. "Is he okay?"

    "Probably not," Iri said. "But then again, I don''t know him."

    "Great."

    Sylva had been staring down Chanam, and she had failed to notice that Yan had silently finished checking over the shuttles, and had pushed her way towards the door of the bay. Sylva turned around when she heard the door open with its characteristic hiss, and saw Yan''s back vanishing down the hallway. Immediately, Sylva abandoned her conversation with Iri and scrambled towards the rapidly vanishing Yan. Her feet struggled to find the floor to push off of. No matter how much time Sylva spent in space, she didn''t think she would ever get the hang of zero gravity. Iri helped her out by giving her a tiny shove, sending Iri back toward the shuttles and Sylva sailing towards the door.

    "Wait, Yan!" she called, and followed her down the hallway.

    Yan dragged her hand on the wall to slow herself down, and turned around to face Sylva. Her face was carefully blank, as neutral as Sylva had ever seen it.

    "I''m glad to see you again," Sylva said, very awkwardly.

    "I''m glad to see you, too," Yan replied. Her hands were floating loosely in the air, but Sylva could see that there was tension held in her fingers, as though she was forcing herself to keep them unclenched.

    "Are you okay?"

    "No."

    "Do you want to talk about it?"

    "No."

    "I''m sorry," Sylva said. "Did you--"

    "I don''t want to talk about it," Yan said, cutting her off. Sylva was taken aback by the abruptness of it. Even though Yan''s tone was even, it wasn''t pleasant. She wasn''t exactly surprised that Yan was upset, logically, but emotionally was a different story.

    "Do you want anything to eat?"

    "Sylva." Yan looked her in the eye. "If I eat anything, I will throw up."

    "I''m sorry," Sylva said again. She pushed off the wall and drifted towards Yan, but as she got closer, Yan flinched, and Sylva dragged her feet to stop. "Is there anything I can do?"

    "No," Yan said. Yan turned around, pushed off the wall, and headed down the hallway. Sylva followed a little. "Can I just have some space, please?"

    "But--"

    Yan pushed off the wall, making herself go much faster. She grabbed the handholds that were built into the wall for just such purpose, and, like the natural born spacer she was, pulled herself to rocket forward. Sylva couldn''t keep up; she completely lacked the rhythm and agility that was Yan''s birthright as a spacer, moving through the air as gracefully as a fish. Yan disappeared around a corner, and Sylva heard the chime of the elevator that would take her into the ring. As Sylva rounded the corner, she saw the door close, and Yan vanished out of sight.

    Completely dejected, Sylva slowed herself down and turned around, heading back to the bay and the others. She caught Iri, Kino, and the new kid (Chanam, she reminded herself), as they were leaving.

    "Did you catch Yan?" Iri asked.

    "Then I lost her again. Should I try to find her?"

    "Let her have some time to herself," Iri suggested.

    Sylva kicked the wall miserably. "I should have come with you."

    "It wouldn''t have made this any easier," Iri said. "Yan will take the time she needs, and then she''ll come back to you."

    "She doesn''t have to treat me like I''m incapable," Sylva said. "I can understand what she''s going through."

    Iri wrapped her heavy arm around Sylva''s shoulders, steadying her. "She''s probably trying to protect you."

    "I don''t need to be protected."

    "And by that, I mean she''s trying to protect herself."

    Sylva had no idea what Iri was talking about, but it didn''t really matter. What mattered was, first, that Yan was back safe, and second, that Yan was miserable and wouldn''t talk to her. This made Sylva miserable. It was all very simple, really.

    At Sylva''s silence, Iri spoke up again. "I can tell you about it later. Not right now."

    "Fine." There were still the other two there, the silent Kino and Chanam. A real pair those two made. Perhaps Sylva was getting the wrong impression of the boy. After all, he had probably gone through something terrible as well, if how Yan was behaving was any indication. Sylva felt so out of the loop.

    The group headed down the hall, squeezed into the elevator, and returned to normal gravity, which was a relief. "Where are we headed?" Sylva asked. She didn''t know why, but she felt like this group should stick together.

    "Kitchen," Iri said. "I''m starving."

    "How long are you planning on staying with us, er, Chanam? I''m Sylva, by the way."

    "I don''t know," he said.

    "Well, pay attention to where we''re going so that you can find your way around the place," Sylva said, rather awkwardly.

    "It''s a circle," Kino pointed out.

    "Thanks, Kino, I didn''t know that." Perhaps she was being unnecessarily snippy to Kino, who didn''t really deserve it, but she couldn''t help it.

    They came to the kitchen. The greenhouse was finally producing a few accelerated plants, so they had some vegetables, which was nice. There was a bowl of tomatoes sitting on the stainless steel island in the middle of the room, but nobody seemed intent on grabbing them. Sylva hauled out the stools that they used, and she, Chanam, and Kino sat down. Iri vanished into the pantry, and was gone for a long minute. There was an acutely awkward silence between them all.

    Iri returned triumphantly, holding up a bottle of liquor. "Glasses, if you will, Sylva?"

    Sylva looked at it, slightly scandalized. "Is that really the greatest idea?"

    "Don''t care. Glasses," she prompted again. Sylva got up and searched around for the fancy cups. "Doesn''t have to be fancy," Iri said, seeing that she was failing in her quest. Sylva took out the coffee mugs, then, which they all used quite often, and passed them out.

    "Are you even old enough to drink?" she asked Chanam.

    "What?"

    "God, never mind."

    Iri poured four glasses of the alcohol, rather more than Sylva would have, personally. "To new friends," Iri said, holding up her glass to Chanam. "To doing what is necessary," she said to Kino. "To returning home," she said to Sylva.

    Sylva hit her mug against Iri''s, then took a sip. It burned, and she put it down immediately. She had never been much of a drinker. She kept an eye on the others to see what they would do. Iri seemed to be fairly enthusiastic about drinking hers, and Kino drank all of her cup with the same flat expression that she normally wore. Chanam studied the bottle, then took a tentative gulp from his mug, then put it on the table with an expression of mild disgust.

    "Where are you from?" Sylva asked Chanam, trying to make conversation. Her mind was really elsewhere, on whatever Yan was doing, off alone, but she might as well try to gather information.

    "Banzhing," he said.

    "Where the fuck is that?" Sylva asked.

    Iri rolled her eyes. "You think he''s going to pull out a starchart?"

    "No starchart," he said. The more he spoke, the more pronounced his accent became. Old Imperial was definitely not his first language, then. "Not allowed to have those."

    "Heh, understandable," Sylva said. If that Banzhing was a planet outside the Empire, rather like Olkye was, a starchart would be the last thing you wanted anyone carrying around, especially not someone who they were sending onto this ship without an escort. "Are you here because your crew, the Dark Hands, they trust us now?"

    Chanam shrugged heavily and took another sip of his liquor, staring down at the table. "My ship needs repairs. They want me somewhere out of the way."

    "You''d think a sensitive would be a valuable asset when you''re fixing a ship," Sylva said.

    "I''m not a spacer. They don''t want me touching it."

    "Think you''re going to mess with the stardrive, hunh?"

    Chanam shook his head violently. "No!"

    Sylva laughed. "I''m just kidding."

    He scowled at the table. "Sylva, right?"

    "Yeah."

    "Why didn''t you come with us? I can smell the power on you."

    "Because I suck at using it," Sylva said, as candidly as she could muster. She couldn''t quite keep the rancor out of her voice. "And because Yan wants to protect me."

    Chanam looked up at her. "Nice."

    "Not really, no." Sylva avoided saying anything more than that by taking another nasty sip of her drink. She could tell from the bottle that Iri had gotten the nice stuff, the fancy stuff, but that didn''t make it taste any better.

    "How was it out there?" Sylva asked. She looked at Iri, who shrugged.

    "I didn''t do anything."If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Got any input, Kino?" Sylva asked.

    Kino traced a line on the table with her one finger on her left hand. "Bad."

    "I''m sorry."

    "Sid wasn''t there," Kino said abruptly. "He wasn''t on the ship."

    "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

    Kino didn''t say anything.

    "Did you know the people there?"

    "Yes," Kino said. "Some of them."

    "I''m sorry." Sylva felt like she was saying that a lot, but it was just something to say, in order to stop the silence from being so absolute. The whole thing was killing her. She was trapped behind a glass wall, away from the rest of them, unable to grasp what had happened because she wasn''t there. They had kept her away. She couldn''t understand, and she couldn''t know, because no one would let her know or understand.

    "Should I have come?"

    "It wouldn''t have made a difference," Kino said.

    "I would have fucked it up," Sylva said, only half joking.

    "You''re fine," Iri said.

    "If I''m so fine, why couldn''t I come?"

    "Drink up," Iri said, flicking the side of Sylva''s mug and making it ring dully.

    "You want to kill people?" Chanam asked, looking her over appraisingly.

    Sylva stared him down. "Is that a question that''s your business to ask?"

    He shrugged. "It''s what you seem to want."

    "How many people did you kill?" Sylva asked.

    "It wouldn''t have been possible to get the Gatekeeper without us holding it down," Kino said. "If you count it that way, then all of them." She couldn''t tell if Kino felt any kind of way about this.

    "Not like that. I mean in person."

    "Didn''t count," Chanam said. Sylva looked at Kino for confirmation, and Kino tilted her head to the side.

    "We split up, once we went aboard the Gatekeeper," Kino said.

    "You''re taking it pretty well," Sylva said.

    Chanam shrugged. "Had to do it."

    "Are you taking it well?" Sylva asked, changing the angle slightly.

    "Don''t pry," Iri said, laying a hand on Sylva''s arm. "Not everything needs to be dissected."

    Sylva frowned. "Do we know what our next step is?"

    "It''s Yan''s choice," Kino said.

    "The captains will discuss it," Chanam said, seemingly with authority.

    "Is Yan included in that list of captains?" Sylva asked.

    Chanam shrugged. "I don''t know."

    "Crew of four probably isn''t worth including in the discussions," Iri said, trying to play it as funny.

    "Five," Kino said.

    "You staying for long?" Sylva asked.

    "I don''t know. Until someone tells me I''m not."

    "Do you follow orders all the time?"

    "Yes."

    "Whose?"

    "My captain''s. And Faro''s."

    "Faro?"

    "One of the other ship''s sensitives," Iri clarified. "Is he your master?"

    "What?"

    "You know. Does he teach you how to do things, in the power?" Sylva supposed that someone raised outside of the Empire, as this kid clearly was, wouldn''t have the formal structures of apprenticeships in place.

    Chanam shrugged. "I taught myself."

    "Like Halen, then," Iri said to Kino.

    "I figured you would shut up about Halen," Sylva said. "Now that we''re here."

    Iri tipped her cup sideways, balancing on its bottom edge by holding her finger on the rim. "Should I?"

    "I don''t know."

    The conversation fell flat once again, as Sylva decided that she didn''t want to be the one holding it up. She drank the rest of her drink. "When can I go talk to Yan?" Sylva asked Iri.

    "She''ll come find you when she''s ready, I''m sure."

    "Really?"

    Iri shrugged. "She can''t stay away from you forever. Small ship."

    "What did she do before?"

    "She stayed with Sid."

    "Sid." Sid the not-dead. Sid the not-here. What did Yan think of that, Sylva wondered.

    "Yes."

    Sylva drummed her fingers on the island. Chanam pursed his lips, apparently annoyed by the sound. "Anyone want anything to eat?"

    Chanam reached over the top of the island and grabbed a tomato out of the bowl. He bit into it, and the juice dripped down his face. "Ugh," Sylva said.

    She got up and handed him a kitchen towel. Manners would do him some good.

    <hr>

    Sylva waited in their shared bedroom for Yan to come back. She was awake at first, waiting for the vague blur of alcohol to wear off, and then she fell asleep, curled up around her computer, sound low from a movie, on top of the sheets. Yan wasn''t there when she fell asleep, and Yan wasn''t there when she woke up either.

    Her head felt thick and her mouth felt like it was full of sand. Not from drinking too much, really, Iri had only poured out a little bit more, but from not eating and not drinking enough water. Sylva stumbled to the bathroom and cleaned herself up. She didn''t even know what shift it was; her sense of time had gotten completely destroyed from waking and sleeping at random times. She wondered if Iri was taking care of things while Yan was... incapacitated? Was that the right word? While Yan was hiding from the rest of everyone, at the very least.

    Probably she was. Iri was a very responsible person, and Sylva was glad to have her around.

    Feeling slightly more human, Sylva checked the time and decided that enough was enough. It was time to find Yan.

    She sat heavily in the center of the bed and connected her computer to the First Star''s computer system. It was easy enough to flip through the camera feeds and the intercom and check all the public (as public as anything was on this ship, anyway) rooms for Yan''s presence. The greenhouse and the bridge were the obvious first choices, and while she saw Iri on the bridge (good), there was no sign of Yan. She wasn''t in the chapel, or the gym, or the workshop, or any of the bays, or the library, or any of the storage areas, or anywhere else that Sylva could see. She paged the bridge.

    "Iri?" Sylva asked.

    Looking at the slightly delayed picture of Iri on the bridge, Sylva saw her jump. "Sorry for interrupting you," she said.

    "It''s fine. Wasn''t doing anything. What''s up?" Iri''s voice sounded tired.

    "Seen Yan?"

    "No. I assume you haven''t either?"

    "Yeah." To be fair, Sylva had been mostly sleeping. "Any idea where she is?"

    "No, sorry," Iri said. "Are you going to look for her?"

    "It''s been long enough, right?"

    "She''s probably moped it out by now. And she''s probably hungry."

    "I''ll bring her something to eat," Sylva said. "If I can find her."

    "Not that many places she can be hiding. Get Kino to find her, if you can''t." It was true that Kino could use the power to locate Yan quite easily.

    "Ugh. No, thanks."

    "Suit yourself."

    "Any news from the other ships?"

    "No. I think they''re planning to rotate in and out from the planet," Iri said. "Other than that, nothing."

    "Cool." She said this flatly, realizing that she didn''t actually care at all, and was mostly asking because Yan would want to know. "Have you slept?"

    "I''ve got myself some stimulants."

    "You should trade places with Kino."

    "Kino has her own stuff to deal with."

    "And you don''t?"

    "Not really, no."

    "You''re still human and need to sleep."

    Iri leaned back in her chair, and put her feet up on the console. "I''ll catnap."

    "Don''t let Yan see you do that, she''ll have a fit."

    "Then don''t bring her to the bridge when you find her."

    "Hah. Okay. See you later."

    "Good luck."

    Sylva killed the intercom call and headed out. In the kitchen, she ate a handful of cookies from a box, and prepared a sandwich to bring to Yan. Awkwardly, she put it on a plate, and was left carrying it around as she wandered the halls of the First Star.

    All the areas of the ship that weren''t monitored were in the rotating rings, so Sylva luckily didn''t need to bother going through there. She supposed Yan could be sitting inside a shuttle, just hiding, but that seemed unlikely. Equally unlikely was the idea of her hiding in a closet somewhere. She was probably in one of the private rooms-- Sandreas''s personal office, or some other place like that. Sylva didn''t feel like using the power, so she walked the halls aimlessly at first. After trying the doors to a few random places, she decided that it was stupid not to use the power, so reluctantly, she cast her awareness out around her.

    The power came slightly easier to her, these days. Maybe it was because she had gotten so much practice while on her trip with Iri, or maybe there was just less in the hallways of the First Star that could distract her. The moment she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, of course, she was distracted. The feeling of the air moving through the ventilation, tickling the hairs coming lose from her braids across her face, the smell of the sandwich in her hands, the way that the bright lights shone in through her eyelids, it was all a lot, but she blocked it out, leaving only the feeling of the power, restless under her hands.

    Like a fisherman, she cast out her net. She was close to the bridge, so she could feel Iri, exactly where she had left her. Sylva''s range sputtered out just a little past that, so she had to keep walking, and throw her power out again. She felt someone she didn''t know, Chanam, she supposed, in one of the rooms. She was glad she hadn''t just been trying doors, because she wouldn''t have wanted to walk in on him. There was no sign of Kino, of course, but Sylva wouldn''t have been able to feel Kino in the power if Kino had come up and bit her. She wouldn''t put it past Kino to do that.

    Sylva walked around the ring. Finally, just barely, she felt Yan''s presence, behind an unmarked door. It was duller than the vivid feeling Yan usually had, the very few times Sylva had ever felt her like this, but maybe that was because she was asleep. Sylva tried to open it, found it was locked, and resorted once again to forcing the lock on the door. She didn''t like it, but it was easy enough.

    The lock clicked open, and Sylva went in. The room was dark, and it had a rich smell, like someone had been burning a candle. It was living quarters, though there was no indication as to whose. It was larger and more nicely furnished than the guest rooms or staff rooms, but it wasn''t Sandreas''s chambers, which Sylva had identified very early on into their stay, and decided not to stay in. This was a living room, and closed doors led off to a bathroom and bedroom, or perhaps office.

    Someone had been burning a candle, actually. There was one flickering on a low table in the corner of the room. It surprised Sylva, because Yan was usually quite averse to fire, especially aboard ships. She walked over and looked at it, shutting the door behind her. The candle was behind a little partition of colored glass, and it illuminated a tiny shrine, with just one of the images of the face of God hung on the wall over the table. There was a book on the table, which Sylva thought was just a prayer book, but when she flipped through the pages, she discovered that it was jammed full of photographs of people that she didn''t recognize. It felt like a major invasion of privacy to be looking at all of them, so she put it down.

    Sylva opened one of the doors, bathroom, and checked the other one. It opened silently under her hand, revealing a bedroom. It was simple, also dark, but in the very dim light, Sylva saw Yan curled up on the bed, face buried in a pillow. Sylva crept in to the room, and very carefully climbed up onto the bed next to Yan. She stayed sitting up, and just looked at Yan for a moment, then gingerly reached out and touched the top of Yan''s head.

    It was as if it was too much to even look at her. Sylva had to just content herself with being there together, which was more and less than she had ever hoped for. Yan''s breathing was ver, very quiet. Sylva closed her eyes, felt the world around her, felt Yan underneath her fingertips, felt everything, so much, all the time.

    The power was still there around her. It would be so easy, easier than it had ever been before, to slip down into it. She knew it would be.

    Sylva considered it for a second, weighing what it would cost if she slipped herself into Yan''s dream. Yan''s mind was so open, all the time. She didn''t know if she could, so she figured it didn''t hurt to try.

    Sylva kept her eyes closed, kept her fingers moving so lightly over the edge of Yan''s hair, down her ear, past her eyes. She matched their breathing together.

    At first, there was nothing, and Sylva tried to resist the temptation to get bored. She was kept there only by her desire to be let in to the center of Yan''s heart. She knew that space was occupied by something else, and she wanted, if not to be there entirely, to at least fit into the cracks. Maybe, maybe, she had to do this.

    Then, there was the feeling that Yan had, rising up from her, through the surface of her skin, into Sylva''s fingertips. It was unbearably sad and sat as bitter as coffee grounds on Sylva''s tongue. She almost flinched back, but kept her fingers moving in their gentlest rhythm, and kept her eyes closed, and kept breathing.

    Slowly, like the first rays of the sun peeking up in the eastern sky, images formed in Sylva''s mind, creating the corridors of Yan''s dream.

    She was in the Iron Dreams, which she knew not out of any visual recognition, but because of the strange and melancholy feeling it cast over her. Home, but a home that would never be returned to.

    She was alone in the hallway, in the gravity section of the ship, and she was walking, just walking, around and around. She looked down at her hands, and they seemed to twist before her, unable to retain their shape and a consistent self image. Sylva didn''t know if this was because she and Yan were inhabiting the same dream body, and their minds were trying to resolve their disparate self images into one, or if this was the way that meditation worked, or if Sylva was seeing through Yan''s eyes and Yan couldn''t resolve the picture meaningfully.

    They walked and walked, and while they never seemed to get anywhere, the corridor also never seemed to loop back on itself the way that a real ship''s would.

    "Where are you going?" Sylva finally asked.

    "The bridge," Yan said, and it was as though the words were coming out of her own mouth. It felt natural, though, so Sylva didn''t worry about the dream logic of it. She didn''t know if Yan realized that she was there. Maybe she did.

    "Why?" Sylva asked.

    "Because there are pirates coming."

    "How do you know?"

    "I felt them come in."

    They were silent, and it was as though once Yan had made her decision, the path forward resolved, and they stopped moving through soup, making their way towards the bridge for real.

    The door to the bridge opened, and for a moment it, too, struggled to resolve. There was the Impulse''s bridge, there was the First Star''s bridge, there was the Iron Dreams'' bridge. It eventually settled down into a hybrid amalgamation of the three, and if Sylva looked too closely at any of it, it wobbled fiercely. That wasn''t what this dream was about.

    The bridge was empty, aside from Yan/Sylva. She didn''t wonder where everyone had gone. She knew.

    She sat down in the captain''s chair and stared out at the large display. If she looked too hard at the stars, she could feel herself being pulled out towards them, as the bridge began to melt away. There was a shuttle out there. Plain, unmarked, rather ordinary. It was coming towards her, and she could feel the menace and terror coming off of it in Yan''s mind.

    "Who is that?" Sylva asked.

    Yan didn''t answer.

    She floated in space and the bridge melted away underneath her. It was just her and the shuttle, coming quickly towards her. The fear increased every second, and she could feel her heart pounding, hear it in her ears. She could still breathe, which was good. This might have been a dream about dying in space, but it at least it wasn''t one about suffocating in the vacuum.

    The terror increased as the shuttle came closer. She couldn''t see inside of it, but she could feel its presence.

    "What are you going to do?" Sylva asked.

    "I don''t want to," Yan said, trying to back away. But there was nothing to push off against, and her arms and legs flailed madly and ineffectively. "I don''t want to."

    She may not have wanted to, but the shuttle came closer, somehow looming larger than life, even when it should have been right on top of them. It blocked out the light of the stars, throwing them into deep shadow. "No, please, no," Yan begged. She looked up at it, throwing her arms out wide, as though if it was going to attack her, it should go straight for the heart.

    "Please don''t make me," Yan pleaded.

    "Make you do what?" Sylva asked.

    "This," Yan said. The power screamed hungrily, and Yan ripped the shuttle apart.

    There was a brief moment where the terror was replaced with resignation and an overwhelming sadness, and then Sylva was both thrown from Yan''s dream and thrown off the bed, the power knocking her backwards off onto the floor. She hit her head on the ground hard, and didn''t manage to stifle a cry and groan as she sat up.

    On her knees now, Sylva came to the edge of the bed, where Yan was still asleep, turned away from her. She was breathing more heavily now, and her body twitched occasionally, deep in the dream that Sylva had been tossed out of. Sylva reached out again for a second, hesitated, then shook Yan''s shoulder.

    Yan jerked and yelped, rolling away from the touch. Sylva was frozen in place for a second as Yan''s power came down around her, holding her in a tight grip.

    "Stop! Yan! It''s just me!" Sylva yelled, still in control of her mouth at least. Yan let her go, and Sylva''s arm fell to the bed as though its strings had been cut. Her whole body felt limp and malleable.

    Yan was coughing, not looking at Sylva, facing towards the opposite wall. Sylva pulled herself onto the bed, with arms that felt weak and floppy, and crawled behind Yan.

    "I''m sorry for waking you up," Sylva said. "You looked like you were having a nightmare." She didn''t know if Yan knew she had been in her dream, so Sylva didn''t mention it.

    Yan was clearly crying, but keeping it quiet, trying to steady her breathing and not letting Sylva look at her face. Sylva wasn''t sure what to do. Her instinct was to grab Yan, to hug her, but from the way that Yan was hunched over and keeping herself away, Sylva figured that was not what she wanted. Instead, Sylva sat herself next to Yan, curling her own legs up to her chest, waiting for Yan to recover and say something.

    It took a long, long time.

    "You shouldn''t have come here," Yan said. Her voice was raw and the words came out quietly.

    "I needed to see you," Sylva said.

    "Not like this."

    Sylva didn''t respond. She wanted, very badly, to lean her head on Yan''s shoulder, for Yan to take comfort in her presence. She couldn''t make Yan do that, though, and if Yan didn''t want her here, Sylva couldn''t make her want her here. Unfortunately.

    But she could stay, and wait.

    "I wish I could have come with you," Sylva said.

    Yan shook her head mutely.

    "I know you were trying to protect me." She remembered that was what Iri had said. "You don''t need to protect me. I want to protect you. I want to be there for you. Please." She felt like she was begging, but she didn''t quite know what for.

    "You shouldn''t," Yan said. "I wish I had never asked you to come."

    "I would have found you anyway," Sylva whispered. "I''ll always find you."

    Yan hunched her shoulders up further, turned away. It hurt. It hurt so badly to feel rejected. She knew, on one level, that this was Yan''s own pain and problems, and it had little to nothing to do with Sylva herself, but that level was overtaken by the emotional one that was crying out for Yan to stop pushing her away.

    Iri had said Yan was trying to protect herself. "I love you," Sylva said.

    "You shouldn''t."

    "Why not?"

    "Because you have no idea what kind of person I actually am," Yan said. "I''m not good. I deserve--"

    "No," Sylva said.

    Yan was silent, and Sylva gently, quietly, reached out towards Yan''s shoulder. When she touched her, Yan was still for half a second, then jerked away. That was worse than if she had moved away by instinct. That was a conscious choice. Sylva dropped her hand. She was angry, now.

    "Fine," Sylva said hotly. "Come back out of your cave when you want to be a human again. I''ll talk to you then." Clumsily, now feeling the throbbing in the back of her head from where she had hit the ground, Sylva crawled off the edge of the bed and left, slamming the door behind her.

 Chapter Ninety-Nine - In Which Our Heroes Discuss the Plan

    In Which Our Heroes Discuss the Plan

    <blockquote>

    ¡°Each ship an island, each one its own. Each lonely heart calls just one chest its home. None of us shall leave, yet none of us can stay. Our ship shall be our home until space is our grave.¡±

    -from ¡°Life Cycle¡±, traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan wanted to hide away in Halen''s quarters forever, but her moping period couldn''t last. Iri came knocking on the door as Yan sat dolefully on the couch in the living area, paging through the photographs tucked inside Halen''s prayer book. She stared down at the faces of his long dead family members, trying to find some meaning in it. There wasn''t any, but that didn''t stop her from trying.

    "Yan, I know you''re in there," Iri called. Yan didn''t respond. "If you don''t come out, I''m going to make Kino go talk with the captains."

    "Let her do it, then," Yan said. The door jiggled audibly as Iri tried it, and it opened, rather surprising both of them.

    "Sylva broke the lock," Iri said as she came in. She stood in front of Yan, hands on her hips for a second, then stopped down and gently extricated the book and photographs from Yan''s hands. "The Echo and Kiss of Death are trading places, and they want us back at Olkye to talk about future plans. Apparently the Redheart made it in."

    "I don''t want to talk to them," Yan said, thinking about the Green King aboard the Redheart.

    "Tough shit. Good job pissing off Sylva, by the way."

    "Are you mad at me?" Iri''s tone hadn''t been harsh, exactly, but she certainly wasn''t being gentle, either.

    "No, but I''m not going to let you stay in here and cry by yourself forever."

    "Why not?" Yan stared down at her empty hands. Iri tossed the prayer book onto the coffee table and it landed with a thump.

    "You always feel better when you''re doing something. Here''s something to do. Go jump the ship, then talk to the other captains."

    Yan continued to just sit, so Iri leaned down and grabbed her wrists, tugging her up. "Let''s go, Captain."

    Yan let herself be pulled to her feet. She felt floppy and numb, but she slowly filed away her thoughts into boxes where she wouldn''t have to think them anymore.

    "I wish this was easier," she said as Iri led her out of the room.

    "No. You don''t."

    <hr>

    And so it was that Yan jumped the First Star back into orbit around Olkye. There were so many ships in orbit, considering that this was supposed to be an isolated planet. Shuttles danced their stately way between all these artificial moons. The whole place was a hive of activity. There was the First Star, of course; and the empty shell of the Bellringer, which had been in orbit for a while; the Gatekeeper had shuttles docking and undocking from it like flies; the Redheart was spitting out radio instructions; the Hound also had people coming and going; and the Echo watched it all from a far orbit. The Kiss of Death wouldn''t be back for another eight hours, but already the space felt crowded, at least when listening to the radio chatter. In reality, all the ships were hundreds of kilometers apart, but it was still probably more ships than Yan had seen together in her life.

    Her whole crew, including the visiting Chanam, were on the bridge. Sylva pointedly refused to look at her, Iri seemed fine, and it was impossible to tell what was going on with Kino or Chanam.

    After taking stock of the general situation in space, Yan opened up a radio broadcast. She kept her voice as professional as possible, and her thoughts only on the present moment.

    "This is the First Star," Yan said. "We are ready to meet and discuss our plans, Redheart."

    The Redheart responded fairly quickly. "We are sending a shuttle to you. Be prepared to provide docking information."

    This was fairly surprising. Yan had expected that they would either simply radio conference over a secure line, or Yan would be invited onto one of the other ships. "Who is aboard the shuttle?"

    "Command team representation, and an authority from Olkye." That was the vaguest possible answer, but it was better than nothing.

    "When can we expect the shuttle?"

    "Within two hours."

    "We will await its arrival. Please keep us updated should your situation change," Yan said, then killed the radio. She looked around at their little group, then focused on Chanam. "Any idea who they''re sending?" she asked.

    "No," he said. "Doesn''t sound like this is about overall strategy. They''d have all the captains if they did." Chanam''s Old Imperial was good, but he had to think about the words as he strung the sentence together, so it was a slower than average experience.

    "So, specific orders for us, then," Iri said.

    "Or another test," Kino chimed in.

    Yan didn''t know what to say to that. It was all a test, all of it. But it was also all too real. She focused on the practical. "Well, we''ll find out soon enough either way. I''ll get the meeting room set up. Iri, watch the bridge. Chanam, with me."

    Yan didn''t wait for anyone to respond, and stood and left. "She was being cold, but she had to be, in order to stay focused. Iri would have been mad at her if she had brought her moping onto the bridge, which was a temptation. Her eyes rested on Sylva for a moment as she headed out the door, but Yan looked away guiltily when Sylva started to glance at her. Chanam scrambled to follow her, and they made their way to the nicest meeting room aboard the ship.

    Inside, there was nothing that actually needed to be set up, aside from perhaps making coffee, but that could wait. She really had just wanted to talk to the young Chanam.

    Yan sat down at the head of the table and Chanam sat down a few seats away, as though he didn''t want to get too close. Although they had worked together closely, been in each other''s minds for that horrible period when they had held down the Gatekeeper and killed her shuttles, they didn''t know each other at all. It was brutal and miserable, and they had moved as one, but there had been very little personal there. Surface level only.

    "How are you doing?" Yan asked, looking him over. His hair was ruffled out in several directions, but that seemed to be a personal choice of his rather than an indication of his mood.

    "You''d be better off asking Kino that," he said.

    "Why?" Yan asked.

    "You know her. Don''t know me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a marble, which he rolled around idly on the tabletop.

    "What''s your deal?" Yan asked. "I need to know what you''re doing on my ship."

    The display on the wall of the room, in its idle mode, typically showed a view from the main cameras out into space. On the screen was the planet, Olkye, and nearby, the half wrecked ship that Chanam had originally come from. "They don''t want me back on that one for the moment. So they''re giving me away."

    "Why not?"

    "More trouble than I''m worth," he said with a slight smile.

    "If I were repairing a ship, I''d want my sensitive on hand to help with the heavy lifting."

    "You''re not Captain Dreich," he said with a shrug. "She doesn''t want me fiddling."

    "Is she a spacer."

    "Pirate. Yeah."

    "And how did she get to be working with you all?"

    "I think she married into it," Chanam said, shrugging again. "Husband. Smuggling weapons and such."

    "How romantic. And how did you end up on that ship?"

    "You want my life story?"

    "If you''re offering it."

    "How much do you know about Banzhing?"

    "Had never heard of it before yesterday," Yan said.

    "It''s just like them." He nodded down at the planet. "Someone snatches up all the sensitives, they work together to hide the planet. Keep it safe."

    "And how come you didn''t get stuck?"

    "Right person found me at the right time."

    "Faro?"

    "No. The Dark Hands keep an eye on people who travel to the center, they try to pick off a few before they get to that group."

    "So it called you in, like the Mother does?"

    "That what they call it down there?"

    "Yeah."

    "Hunh."

    They were silent for a second. "So you were found, and then what?"

    "Dark Hands put me on a ship, told me I was a sensitive, been working for them for couple years." He shrugged again.

    "What about your family?"

    "What about them?"

    "Didn''t they wonder where you went?"

    "Probably."

    Yan didn''t precisely know how to respond to that. She wanted to ask if he wanted to go back to them, but that probably wasn''t her business, and she needed to keep things professional, for her own sanity, if nothing else. "Okay," she said. "You''re here to watch us, right?"

    He shrugged. "I''m not a threat to you. You''re not likely to hurt me. Best choice."

    "Whose idea was it?" It had been Faro who had shuffled Chanam along with her, but she didn''t know if Faro was the one pulling the strings or not.

    "I don''t know."

    "Your ship, the Hound, what''s going to happen to it?"

    "If they can fix it, they''ll keep using it. If they can''t, they''ll move the stardrive onto that one." He pointed towards the dead Bellringer. Yan shivered. Something about taking the stardrive out of a ship and putting it in a new one gave her the creeps. Instinctively, she reached out in the power towards the First Star''s drive, and felt it safe and warm, content and tired down in the center of the ship.

    "And you''re staying with us until then?"

    "Until somebody tells me not to."

    "And if I decide I don''t want you?"

    "Then you can explain that to whoever you report to."

    "You don''t know who I report to?"

    He looked at her with a funny expression. "I don''t think there''s a single person who knows a single thing."

    "That''s sure a way to run a military."

    "Not my problem."

    Yan looked at him and sighed. "You''re a kid," she said. "Why am I doing this to you?"

    "I''m fine," he said. "And it''s not you that''s doing anything."

    "Might as well be."

    His lips twisted into an expression that Yan couldn''t quite interpret. "You''re good at making things about you, aren''t you?"

    Yan frowned at him. She didn''t think it was appropriate to rise to that provocation by responding. Chanam stood up, pushing his chair out so far that it hit the wall behind him. "We''re meeting back here in two hours?"

    "Where are you going?" Yan asked as he headed for the door.

    "Do you want me to hang around and spy on you?" he asked. "I can do that, if you want."

    Yan laid her hands on the table, palm up, in an expression of exasperation. "Fine. Whatever you want."

    "Thanks, Captain," Chanam said, and vanished out the door.

    <hr>

    Yan probably should have used the two hour grace period she had been given to work, or to make amends with Sylva (who was angry with her), or to talk to Kino (who was back to being a complete black box), or to thank Iri (who was keeping their whole ship functioning), but instead, she did none of that. She made her way down to the engine room of the ship, where on one side the engine that fueled the ship''s mundane activities, life support, standard acceleration, and everything else lived. And on the other side, there was the stardrive.

    She didn''t know why exactly she felt drawn to it. Oh, there were plenty of logical reasons-- it was a peaceful place, no one was going to disturb her while she sat there, it was good to learn about the workings of the ship, et cetera. None of those reasons were anything other than the justifications she pulled out of her brain to allow her to head towards that center. She just wanted to feel close to something that wouldn''t care who she was and what she had done. The stardrive was the best she was going to get.

    Next to the stardrive, that great, throbbing in the power, she floated. She could feel it all around her, and she had the lights off. It was deadly silent-- the only sound was her own breathing and heartbeat. Though she was absolutely alone, she felt like her mind was drifting out of her body, and she was somehow physically in the dreamspace she had retreated to so often. There, wrapped up in the feeling of that familiar power, she meditated and thought.

    She didn''t know what was going to happen in the future. There was no way of knowing that. But she could picture the situation clearly, and she imagined herself drifting alone in space, looking at all of the ships as a ghostly outside observer. She felt a moment of weird recognition, as though she was re-experiencing something familiar, but there was no weight or reality to that feeling.

    They had had a victory. There was no doubt about that. Taking the Gatekeeper was a major blow to the Empire-- a ship and all her crew were a hard thing to lose-- but it was nowhere near enough. The Gatekeeper was gone, sure, but the Empire had so many more ships.

    There had to be more ships on their way now, even as she drifted here and thought. After all, Sid''s absence meant that he had left the ship. There were only two places for him to have gone: the planet, or back to the Empire. She didn''t know if there had been another ship to come pick him up. She should ask someone that question, because it would provide valuable information. The other ships who had been waiting and watching probably did know, but the amount of information that had been voluntarily shared with Yan was so minimal that it more appropriately could have been called none.

    If another ship had been here, there would be more coming, sooner rather than later. Sandreas would want to send backup to this place. Looking out onto her imaginary space, Yan realized immediately that as soon as Imperial ships arrived, the balance of power would immediately swing against them.

    The Redheart, the Echo, and the Kiss of Death were all in good working order, but the number of shuttles and pilots that they had paled in comparison to any ship like the Impulse, designed for ship-to-ship combat. Even though they had an unusual number of sensitives at their disposal, they could only hold down one ship at a time, and even then...

    Even then, they wouldn''t be able to deal with all the shuttles. After all, even the Mother, who was stupidly powerful, could only take out so many as they came down through Olkye''s atmosphere. If the Gatekeeper had had even a little bit more resources at her disposal as she sat in orbit, they wouldn''t have won at all. It was a scary thought.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    She didn''t know what the full strength of the Dark Hands was. Possibly no one knew that. The organizational structure, such that it was, seemed to be designed wholly around secrecy and keeping information as contained as possible. The fact that the Redheart hadn''t mentioned that the First Star was coming here, that Chanam didn''t actually know who he was reporting to outside of Faro, it all seemed like a recipe for disaster. There had to be someone at the top, pulling the strings, but Yan didn''t think she would ever meet that person. Maybe she would. The future was a black box.

    But the core of the problem was that Yan didn''t think that they could win. She didn''t even think that these ships could protect just Olkye for anything more than a few years, at absolute most. There probably weren''t more ships out there that they could call upon. Possibly there were, but she felt like she would have seen some sort of evidence of them.

    The Dark Hands had some minor victories. Falmar was one, if that could even be considered a victory, since the majority or whole of the planet''s original population had been wiped out. She knew people on Tyx III were holding out, though that almost certainly wouldn''t last, and here they had taken the Gatekeeper. That, as far as she knew, was it. That was all the Dark Hands had ever done, as the Empire swept up planet after planet.

    It was disturbing, all of it.

    Yan had joined the losing side of a war. If it even could be called that. Certainly, in the face of the Empire, it was more like watching a slow slaughter.

    She thought she knew why this felt so hopeless. If all the planets that remained, or most of them, decided that the best course of action was to hide themselves like the Mother did, there would be no resources coming off of them. No supplies, no people, no ships, no communication, probably. There would be no aide going to other planets, and their citizens would remain isolated in the hopes of keeping them alive. To allow anyone, anyone to know the location of their planet was to invite disaster. That disaster had befallen Olkye so quickly. Who knew how many of these quietly hidden planets there were?

    Yan was sure that they could be tracked down scientifically, with some sort of comprehensive gravity survey, of how other stars around were affected, maybe. Or perhaps the Mother and the others had some way of dealing with that issue. Or perhaps one missing star''s worth of gravity could easily be chalked up to a black hole, or at such vast distances wasn''t noticeable. Yan wasn''t an astrophysicist, and her knowledge of planetary motion extended exactly as far as knowing how not to crash her ship into a planet.

    She wanted to know exactly how the Dark Hands had come about, how they had gotten together all of these ships and sensitives.

    It didn''t matter. The real issue was that even with more ships, coming from more planets, this was not a war that could be won. She had to think that the Dark Hands knew this, and they were just fighting against the slow death because the only other alternative was too lie down and give up.

    She kept returning to the idea that there was no way to defeat the Empire from the outside, that any change would have to come from within, and she felt distressed once again that she had given up any hope of that when she had left and abandoned her position. She didn''t want to think that she should have left Kino to die, but that might have been the only real way to affect change, if she had stayed.

    The past was the past, and there was no going back to it. She drifted in the quiet of the engine room, and felt the power of the stardrive hum around her. It felt like home. It felt like a friend.

    <hr>

    Yan, Kino, and Chanam met the group of people coming aboard in the bay. Sylva and Iri had declined to come, Iri because she decided she would be better off on the bridge, and Sylva because she didn''t want to talk to Yan. So that left this new, odd trio waiting impatiently for the shuttle to settle down in the bay, and for all the air to filter back in, and for the shuttle''s doors to open.

    Yan resisted the temptation to reach out with the power to check who was inside, because she thought that would be both rude, and likely to make her annoyed. The shuttle opened. Yan steeled herself to see the Green King (Jeepak, she reminded herself again), and was therefore prepared when he stepped out of the shuttle and looked at her.

    "Welcome back aboard," Yan said through gritted teeth.

    "Thank you," he said, and turned around to help someone else out of the shuttle. Yan''s breath caught in her throat.  There, coming out of the shuttle, was one of the Mother''s bodies. Yan, in any of the languages that Yan spoke regularly, would have called the body a man, but she knew that the Mother had no conception of that. She was shorter than Yan, and probably in her mid thirties, with skin that had probably originally been pale but now was a leathery tan.

    "Yan," the Mother said. "You came back." She spoke in the native language of Olkye, and Yan''s mind stirred, remembering it with some difficulty. It had been planted in her head by the Mother, but then the Mother had taken so much away from her when she had left, it barely crawled back to her mind. The Mother struggled a little in the zero gravity environment, but pushed off the side of the shuttle and came over to Yan. Kino and Chanam looked at her warily.

    "I did come back," Yan said, also in that language. She wasn''t sure how to feel. She had wanted to come back to the Mother, part of her always would yearn for that, she knew. It wouldn''t ever be possible, though. That time was over. The Mother reached out her hand, and Yan grabbed it. The power passed between them, and Yan felt the aching, familiar grip of the Mother''s power, and the vast ocean of feelings that existed between them. But the Mother made no move to grab her, to pull her in. It might have been easy, if she had tried. The lack of trying was what made the ache gather in Yan''s heart. The Mother didn''t want her back.

    She knew it was for the best, that she didn''t have to resist the Mother''s power, but still, it hurt.

    "You know each other?" Kino asked.

    Yan extracted her hand from the Mother''s, and turned to Kino. "This is the Mother," she said. "The one who guards Olkye."

    "One of my bodies," the Mother said, this time speaking in Old Imperial, a language that she had taken from Yan''s brain, so long ago. The words came about as smoothly as Yan''s use of the Mother''s language did, but they were comprehensible, which was all that mattered.

    "Mother, this is Kino Mejia and Chanam..."

    "Just Chanam," he said. "Pleasure." He sounded slightly bitter. Perhaps this was because of his own experience with a group mind on his home planet.

    "I thought you weren''t going to work with him," Yan said quietly, nodding to Jeepak, who was closing down the shuttle.

    "Times change," the Mother said. "We''re better allies than we are enemies. You seem to know this as well."

    "Unfortunately," Yan said.

    "How did you come here?" the Mother asked. "Why?"

    Yan looked at her. "I learned what Etta taught me," she said, hoping that the Mother would understand what she meant, without needing to go into the excruciating details.

    The Mother smiled and touched Yan''s arm. She didn''t resent the touch. "I am glad. I missed you. I still miss you."

    Yan wanted to say that the Mother could take her back. She wanted to say that so badly, but she didn''t. "I missed you, too."

    "Are you done reminiscing, or can we go talk?" Jeepak said, coming over. He was frowning, looking at the Mother and Yan with an expression of deep distaste. Yan supposed they had threatened him, but the Mother wouldn''t have ever actually hurt him. Either way, that was done, and they were all working together now, for better or for worse.

    "Follow me," Yan said, and led the group out of the bay to the meeting room they had set up.

    "Sylva and Iri are here with you?" the Mother asked as they walked.

    "Yes," Yan said. "Why do you ask?"

    The Mother smiled faintly. "I like them."

    "Really?"

    "You liked them. Your thoughts didn''t leave me."

    "Oh," Yan said. "They''re on the ship. They just didn''t think it would be productive to attend this meeting."

    Yan felt the Mother''s power reach out and ghost through the ship, presumably feeling for the other two people aboard. She nodded, satisfied, when she found them. "I''m glad you have them with you."

    "I am as well. How much do you know about what happened?"

    "Enough," the Mother said.

    "She knows what she needs to," Jeepak said. "Same as anyone else."

    Yan opened the door to the meeting room and let everyone inside. They settled around the table. Yan and the Green King both looked at the seat at the head of the table, but Yan was both the captain of the ship and slightly faster, so she was able to sit down in it before Jeepak could take the place. It was a petty move on Yan''s part, but she had no desire to give him more power than he already had.

    "So," Yan said. "Thank you for coming. I am glad that we''re going to get a chance to talk about the future. I have a lot of questions, as you may imagine." Kino nodded, and Chanam looked at her as though incredulous that she expected any answers at all. "What was it that you wanted to discuss?"

    Jeepak spoke up first. "On behalf of my employers," he said, "I would like to extend my thanks for your contributions to our recent victory. I would also like to add my own personal thanks for not betraying us."

    "Yet," Chanam said.

    Yan raised her eyebrows and looked at him with as much of an authoritative expression as she could muster. She didn''t need subordination from the kid who was sent to spy on her. That could really only hurt her credibility at this table.

    "Yes," Jeepak said. "I would like to think that you wouldn''t betray us, not after you''re so deeply committed, but you never know."

    "The future," Yan said. "What are our plans?" She wanted to get out of this dangerous ground, and she wanted to know what the Mother was doing here.

    "We came to ask your advice," the Mother said.

    "About what?" Yan asked.

    "You know the military strength of the Empire," the Green King said.

    "Approximately."

    "What would it take in order to hold them off?"

    "More than four ships," Yan said.

    "How many more?"

    "I don''t know," she said. "The Empire is committed to not letting you live, though."

    "I already knew that," Jeepak said, voice bitter. "How many ships would we need."

    "I mean you''re not going to be able to stop them if they want to kill you," Yan said, a note of panic in her voice. "If the Empire decides that you''re too difficult to deal with, they would rather destroy your star than leave you alone." She didn''t know if this was true. After all, the Empire had never lost badly enough that that was a concern.

    "What about Falmar?" the Green King said. "They gave up there."

    There was a slight silence around the table. "Image," Kino said. "They''re obsessed with image."

    "So?" Jeepak asked.

    "If Falmar was destroyed, people would know something strange had happened," she said. "It was already a colony. It was just a dead one."

    "They could have passed it off as wanting to ensure that the contamination wouldn''t spread off planet," Yan said hesitantly.

    "But it would have spread with us," Kino said, gesturing down at herself. She said all this so matter of factly, but the fact was that her whole life had been ruined, her home planet destroyed by a man-made disease. Yan remembered something that Kino had said so long ago, that she was glad that she wasn''t responsible for condemning a planet to death. At the time, Yan had thought that it was mostly about Kino being glad that she and the other refugees not being vectors for diseases, but after so long, the words carried a different meaning for Yan.

    "I''m sure that the Empire had its reasons," Jeepak said. "I suspect that they were hoping that we would visit Falmar often, and that they could use it to monitor or follow us." He shrugged. "We weren''t as stupid as that, though."

    "Given that," the Mother said. "Should we evacuate our planet?"

    "There''s no way you''d be able to," Yan said. "Not in time, anyway."

    "We would start now, and we have the Gatekeeper. She has a big capacity."

    "There''s at least forty million people on that planet," Yan said bitterly. There were definitely more than that, based on the statistical incidence of sensitives among the general population, but forty million was an easy short generalization. "The Gatekeeper doesn''t have that much space."

    "You don''t want to be refugees," Kino said. "A barren planet, or a planet that doesn''t want you. Those are your choices."

    "Or we stay and are slaughtered," Jeepak said. He used ''we'', but he had never been a true citizen of Olkye.

    Yan looked between everyone at the table. "It''s worth a try," she said. "If you have somewhere to go, it would be better to get your citizens out than have them..."

    "We can hold out for a while," the Mother said.

    "This is a losing war," Yan admitted. "That''s all I can think about."

    "If you''re going to be fatalistic, that isn''t going to help us," Jeepak said.

    "Do you have a different plan?" Chanam asked, leaning forward onto his elbows.

    "Oh, I have lots of ideas," Jeepak said lightly. "But my employers are the ones who call the shots."

    "Are we ever going to meet these people?" Kino asked.

    "Oh, no."

    Yan hadn''t expected any other answer, not really. "I don''t know how you run an organization like this when no one has any idea what is happening, ever. When we arrived here, the other ships didn''t even know that we were coming. We had to pass along your message ourselves."

    Jeepak shrugged. "What is it that your book says? The left hand has no reason to understand the task of the right?"

    Yan frowned at him. "So what is it that your superiors want from us?"

    "It''s not just protecting one planet that we want. It''s to stop this whole disastrous chain of events from unfolding over and over. That''s what we were trying to do with you," he nodded to Kino, "but I think we''re going to have to change tactics."

    Kino looked at him impassively. "To what?"

    "The Empire isn''t going to fall from three ships, not even if you threw them into the hearts of stars," Yan said. "The Emperor would never let that happen, not anywhere near Emerri, anyway."

    "That''s not what I''m saying," Jeepak said. "Just as I have connections all around the Dark Hands, and all throughout the many hidden planets, you have connections within the Empire. You know how it runs, intimately."

    "We can''t go back there," Yan said.

    "We''re not going to be able to bring the Empire down from the outside. We don''t have the strength. What could topple it from the inside?"

    "Anything short of destroying the entire Fleet, killing the Emperor, and removing every sensitive who knows the secrets wouldn''t be enough," Yan said.

    "I somehow doubt that. There has to be a way to destabilize it without that."

    "They won''t ever stop," Yan said. "I know the Emperor."

    "So the Emperor needs to die," Jeepak said. "If that top collapses, then what happens?"

    "I don''t know," Yan said.

    "So," Jeepak said. "This is what my employers want to figure out."

    "What?" Kino asked.

    "You''re of little military use to us," Jeepak said. "And further than that, we can''t trust you as much as you would like. What we want from you is for you to determine what it will take to collapse the Empire from the inside. That''s the only way that we can ever have peace."

    "Isn''t that what people said when destroying the Edden Empire?" Kino asked.

    "Mistakes were made then. I was not the one who made them," Jeepak said. "We don''t have the resources to do what was done back then."

    "Why not?" Yan asked. "You have plenty of sensitives." She was thinking about all the ones who were wrapped up in beings like the Mother, on all the hidden planets.

    "I would not leave my home to wage war," the Mother said. "I do not know, but I doubt all the others in my position would, either."

    Jeepak jerked his head towards the Mother. "Which is precisely why we''re in this spot. They won''t budge, because they all think that they won''t ever be found. But that''s what everyone has thought. Either that, or they thought they could defend themselves. And every single one of them has been wrong. And it''s cost lives. Billions of people."

    "Couldn''t you just explain this to them?" Kino asked.

    Jeepak laughed. It was an incredibly bitter sound. "You''re so naive it''s almost funny."

    Kino frowned.

    "So, what," Yan said, "you''re asking us to make a plan for what to do to bring down the Empire? Wouldn''t this involve trusting us more?"

    Jeepak shrugged. "You''ll be physically far enough away that you can''t hurt us. You still don''t know what our strength is or what our plans are. You''re the best choice of people to go make allies within the Empire. If you get caught, it''s no skin off our back."

    "But if we do come back with information and a plan, you''ll have to listen to us."

    Jeepak''s lips twisted a little. "That will be a jump to make when we come to it. And that''s why we''re sending him with you." He looked at Chanam. "He''ll make sure that you''re telling the truth, won''t you?"

    "Sure," Chanam said.

    "Why isn''t he going back with you?"

    "Certain people have requested that children not be made to fight anymore," Jeepak said.

    "Who?" Chanam asked. "And I''m not a child."

    "I''m not authorized to give you that information," Jeepak said.

    "Oh, fuck you," Chanam said. "You''re getting rid of me because you think I''m useless."

    "On the contrary," Jeepak said. "I would like you to stay. Can always use some more sensitives. But as we just discussed, this planet is going to have a difficult time holding out."

    "I''m not afraid."

    "No one said you were," Yan said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "You''ll be useful with us, even if you are also meant to report on our dealings."

    "Yeah, yeah," Chanam said. "You know I had a life on the Hound, right?"

    "Well, you''ll have a life on the First Star," Jeepak said, crossing his arms. "Take it or leave it."

    "And where would I go if I left it?"

    "I''ll take you back on the Redheart, and dump you on some planet," he said vaguely. "Don''t think I won''t."

    Chanam''s cheek twitched as he clenched his jaw, but he didn''t say anything else.

    "Now. We''re not sending you out totally without any support," Jeepak said, turning to Yan.

    "Only mostly," Kino said. "That''s your normal mode of operating, right?"

    Jeepak smiled, but it didn''t reach his eyes. "In the shuttle that I came here on, we have an ansible. We''ll be leaving it with you. You should set it up on an uninhabited planet that you believe you can access reliably. With it, you can contact us."

    "Who will be on the other end of it?"

    "Unless we''re in port above our end, the messages will simply be left for me to handle when I return," Jeepak said.

    "Great." Yan''s voice was bitter.

    "You may not like working with me, but I''m the only person who''s willing to give you a real chance of doing anything," he said with a shrug. "Like I said, take it or leave it."

    "I''m taking it," Yan said. "But I would like to have other options."

    "You''re going to have far more autonomy than you really should," Jeepak said. "All you need to do is report back to us regularly, and prepare a plan that you think will work."

    "You''re trusting us an awful lot not to do something stupid."

    "The only people you''d be hurting are yourselves."

    Yan didn''t think that this was quite true. Although Chanam had been sent to keep them on track, and Yan wasn''t planning to disobey, she wouldn''t have trusted someone to go off on their own, not if she had been in the Green King''s shoes. A rogue agent could be a problem for everybody.

    "So just to clarify," Kino said, "the only thing you want us to do is gather information and make contacts? Come up with a plan?"

    "We want a way to split apart the Empire. You need to figure out people inside the Empire who would be in prime position for that. Either to kill them, or to bring them to our side. Don''t put any plans you come up with into action until we''ve spoken about them."

    "And how do you expect that we talk to people?" Yan asked. "We''re enemies of the state."

    "I suggest you start with the Trade Guild," he said with a shrug. "They''re notoriously leaky."

    Yan took offense to that, but it was true that the Guild often skirted the edge of legality. They were the one force not under the thumb of the Empire, and they were the one group of people who could travel and talk relatively unimpeded. It also helped that Yan, being a spacer, did have a few ''ins'' with the Guild. She didn''t want to get her family involved, but there were ways around that.

    "Fine." The whole plan would require a lot of thought, but, overall, she was glad that this was what she was being ordered to do. She was glad that she wouldn''t have to stay here and fight, kill more Fleet ships. Perhaps it was cowardly of her to want to escape that, but it was what she wanted anyway.

    Yan looked at the Mother. "Was there anything you wanted from me?"

    "Aside from advice about evacuation?" the Mother asked. "I wanted to see my daughter again."

    That was twisting the knife. "Will you be alright?"

    "No," the Mother said with a smile. "But I will do what I can."

    "Maybe..." Yan said, then stopped.

    "You will do what you can as well. I know you will," the Mother said. She reached her hand across the table and laid it over Yan''s. "I am glad that we do not have to be enemies."

    Yan nodded.

    "You shouldn''t come back here," Jeepak said. "Not unless we tell you to."

    "Fine," Yan said. "Is that all you had? Vague instructions."

    "Only the finest for our agents," Jeepak said. "Do you need anything more?"

    Yan sighed, looked at Kino and Chanam. "No."

    "Then we should be on our way." He started to stand up.

    "Wait," Kino said. "What happens if someone comes after us?"

    Yan looked at her. "You think the Empire is going to chase us down?" she asked.

    "If we''re talking to people, we''ll be leaving a trail." Kino was right, but Yan didn''t know what Jeepak would be able to do about it.

    "You''ll just have to deal with that when it happens. We''re not giving you any information, so you won''t be able to lead people back to us," Jeepak said with a shrug. "Try not to die."

    "There''s nowhere we can retreat to?" Kino asked. "None of you we can fall back on?"

    Jeepak laughed. "You''re on your own."

 Bonus Chapter - What Yan Wrote

    What Yan Wrote

    Dear Halen,

    I don''t know when you''re going to get this letter. It might take a long time to reach you. You might never get it. You might never read it if you do get it. But I feel compelled to write it anyway.

    I wish I could say I''m sorry and mean it. Maybe you won''t believe me when I say that all I wanted, all I can think about, is staying with you and Aymon and Sid. It''s stupid of me beyond belief, but I wish that things could have stayed the same. I hate change. I hate having to leave people behind.

    God. This is a hard letter to write. I keep writing things and erasing them because they don''t say the right thing. They don''t tell you anything.

    I need to turn my thoughts off and tell you why I did what I did. I need to lay out the facts, even if they won''t change your mind, because you UNDERSTAND me. I need to know that you UNDERSTAND me. That''s all I''ve ever wanted from anyone in my life.

    You remember, when you were in my head. I don''t know if you saw what it was like, when the Green King held me down, and I was in prison, and he broke my fingers. You must have seen, or you must have read something in Iri''s report, because you started there with Kino.

    The revenge you took on her was not yours to take. It should have been mine, and mine alone.

    I know what you''re going to say. You knew I couldn''t have killed her. When I was with the Emperor, you knew I couldn''t do it because I ran away. I don''t know why I couldn''t, because I should have. I should have been so angry about the whole thing.

    Kino nearly killed me. She put me through this prolonged nightmare, and I''m never going to be able to escape from it. I think it killed the last good part of me, if there ever was any to begin with.

    When I saw you-- I was watching on the security system what you did to Kino-- I knew that I couldn''t let that happen to somebody else. I couldn''t stop thinking about how it had been me laying there. Is that a stupid reason to do something? Am I crazy?

    There were other reasons, too, but those only came to me later.

    I know you saw, at least a little, what it was like when I finally did escape from prison, but I don''t think you know the whole story. When I was in that place, I couldn''t stop thinking about you. You know that. I imagined you there with me, all the time. And I imagined myself with you, when you were trapped in your own shuttle. I talked to you, just anything that came into my head. I couldn''t talk to God, but I could talk to you.

    That was what let me escape. I think Iri told you that, in what she wrote. It doesn''t really matter.

    There was this girl there, her name was Etta, though I didn''t know it at the time. She was the one who came at night to bring me food, and she was the only other person I saw for a month, I think. I didn''t know anything about her. She had this head injury, brain injury, and half her face didn''t move. She never hurt me, but when I got out and I saw her, the first thing I did was I beat her and threatened her with a gun. I would have killed her, or used her as a human shield, or anything. I would have done anything to get out of there. I didn''t care about anyone except myself.

    I think that was when the last good part of me left. I didn''t care. She had never done anything to me, and I would have killed her without even thinking about it, if I thought it would have helped me get out.

    And so I got out of the building, and there was the Green King there. He was the one with the power. And he grabbed me, held me there, and I was so so sure I was going to die. He was going to have me shoot myself, right there on that hill.

    I broke out of his control enough to drop the gun, but he still had me. I still would have died if it had just been me there. But Etta, she saved me. She shot him, gave up her entire life, everything she had ever known, and she saved me. She did that even though I had been one wrong move away from killing her where she stood, two minutes before.

    I couldn''t have explained it then. I didn''t understand what could have compelled her to do that for me, because it made no sense. I was her enemy. I had hurt her, and I was part of the Empire, intent on destroying her planet.

    I understand, or I think I understand, now. She couldn''t watch someone else suffer. No matter what I had done to her, or what I deserved, she couldn''t stand there and watch me be torn apart.

    I didn''t understand that until I saw you and Kino. I couldn''t let what happened to me happen to her. I couldn''t let the debt that I owed Etta go unpaid.

    You did what you had to do. All you wanted was to protect Aymon, and to protect me, and to protect the Empire. Probably in that order. I don''t blame you, but I had to make my own choice anyway.Stolen story; please report.

    Maybe I could have talked to you and stopped this all from happening. Maybe I could have convinced you to secret Kino away somewhere, leave her alive, let her be free and just gone. I don''t know, though, and that road is closed off forever.

    I''m tormented by this retroactive indecision, where I wonder over and over if I made the right choice, if there was anything I could have done differently to stop this from happening. I keep coming up against the same brick wall, though. There wasn''t ever any other option.

    If I realized that Kino shouldn''t be made to suffer, then surely the millions of people on other planets out there shouldn''t be made to suffer either. Surely Etta, who lives on the Mother''s world, doesn''t deserve to die for no reason. The reason of giving more land to the Empire isn''t a good enough one. There''s always more planets, more worlds, more people,more blood on all our hands.

    You don''t want to hear about any of that. I know.

    Maybe Kino was right in what she did. I don''t like to think about that, though, because if Kino was right in what she did, then the consequences of that are right, and I deserve to have suffered. You told me that we don''t know what we deserve, and we don''t get what we deserve either. Maybe you''re right.

    It''s all wrapped up in these layers of pain. If I look at them too closely, they go all the way back to the day I was born. I''m not going to say that I wish I hadn''t been born, or anything like that, but I wish that none of this had happened.

    Why am I even writing to you? I don''t know. You''re never going to respond. I''m never going to come back. I think I just have to say things so that they''re not just inside me anymore. If I get them out into the world, then I won''t have to think about them. So I''m telling you, because there''s no one else to tell. I''m telling you because I spent a month talking to the you that I imagined in my head, and I''m doing the same thing writing this letter.

    I''m not going to say that I wish you could see the Empire for what it is. You do see it, probably clearer than I do. You definitely know what the Empire does, because you''re right there at the top, and you don''t turn your eyes away. You see everything, and you do probably more than I''m aware of. You make that choice, and I know that nothing that I say would ever compel you to make a different one.

    So we''re trapped on opposite sides of this, and will be forever. Until something changes, anyway.

    You let me go, when I was running away with the First Star. I can''t know your mind, exactly, but I can imagine that you were thinking. It was probably a moment of weakness, and if you see me again, you won''t let me go so easily. I understand that, too. We do what we have to do, don''t we?

    What am I going to do? I''m sure I''ll figure that out at some point. I don''t know right this second, not while I''m writing this letter, and I probably won''t know for a while. I have to figure things out in my own head before I can start figuring things out in the universe.

    Should I really tell you that I''m sorry? Would it matter? I suppose I should apologize for stealing Aymon''s ship. I''m a real pirate, now.

    Isn''t that funny?

    It''s all such a joke.

    Sorry.

    There''s so much more I want to say, like I want to lay my heart bare to you, but you already know, and you probably knew better than I know myself. Words aren''t going to cut it, so I''ll have to leave it where it stands.

    Kino said something to me. She wrote me a letter, too, so we''re all just writing letters to each other, trying to express our deepest selves. She said she never wanted to be my enemy. I never wanted to be yours. I still wouldn''t consider us to be enemies, but if an enemy is someone who''s on the other side of things, then maybe I am, even if I don''t want to be, even if I don''t want to think about it.

    I''m either thinking too much or thinking too little about things. It''s two sides of the same coin. If only there were a way to take my brain out and replace it with someone else''s, someone who could be a better person than I am, someone who hasn''t done everything that I have, and who hasn''t had the good parts of themself killed. I don''t like the person that I am, and I don''t like making choices. It always hurts, because there''s no good ones. I try to not make choices, and I try to put it off and not look at it, but it all comes rushing towards me anyway, and then I always do what I have to do. I kill people, I hurt people, I run away from the little family we made because it was the only path forward that I could understand. I don''t know if I could have lived with myself if I had stayed.

    What would it have been like? If I had turned away from what I was watching on that screen, or if I had kept watching and done nothing? If I had let Kino die, that would have stayed with me for the rest of my life. But so will this. Which is worse?

    I wish I could say that someday we''ll meet again in God''s house. All will be forgiven there; all will be understood. I don''t know if I believe that, but I want to. I want to imagine this place where the conflicts that have separated us are gone, and there''s no reason for us to hate each other. It''s a beautiful dream.

    In the meantime, I''m sure I''ll content myself by talking to the you who lives in my head. I don''t think you''ll ever leave me, not really. You made an impression on me, and I can call up that impression, that core of what I saw in you, and comfort myself with it. I have to make myself feel less alone that way.

    I have to imagine you happy. I have to imagine myself happy, too. Even if it''s all a lie, it''s a pleasant one, and what will be the difference if I never find out the truth?

    This letter is for you, and not for Sid and Aymon. You can tell them about it, if you want, but I don''t have the same things to say to them, so I won''t say anything. It would hurt too much, and I think that you''re the only one talking to would help. I''m sorry if this makes things worse and doesn''t help anything. I had to do it anyway.

    So. That is the way it is. We''re set on our courses. There was no path we could have taken that didn''t lead us to exactly here, and the path we''re on is going to take us down into the dark future.

    I''m not going to ask permission to call myself your friend, because I want to believe that I have it. I want to imagine that things between us have not changed, and that they never will change. As long as I don''t see you, and you never talk to me, I can keep that comforting illusion.

    It''s hard to say that I hope we never meet again, because there''s a part of me that''s struggling, that''s reaching out, that wants to go back. There''s no way to come back home to the past, though. And I want to make the future as painless as it can be by not seeing you, by not having to face this.

    It won''t be painless.

    I don''t want to say goodbye, but I have to.

    Goodbye.

    Your friend,

    Yan BarCarran

 Chapter One Hundred - Fire to the Sun

    Fire to the Sun

    <blockquote>

    "Fear is the worst motivator. You can''t teach a child through fear. They''ll either learn to live with pain, or do anything that will make them avoid it. And even if fear were a practical way to teach skills, it''s an immoral one. There is no reason that a child should fear  their parent. There is no reason for a parent or teacher to make a child feel afraid."

    -from A Pedagogy for Our Age by Rafael Wasim

    </blockquote>

    Sid felt stiff and uncomfortable, standing next to Sandreas. It wasn''t because of Sandreas''s presence, but after so long aboard the Impulse and later the Gatekeeper, he had forgotten how grating some of these social functions could be. This was one of the key events of the year, though, so Sid had to be in attendance.

    The recent elections for Imperial council had concluded, and this was Sandreas''s formal welcome to the new members, as well as his yearly address on the state of the Empire. Sid had sat stiffly through the speech, applauded whenever everyone else did, and looked around the room at the hundreds of faces who represented their planets on the Council.

    Now that the speech was over, the real politicking could begin. They had left the Council chamber, and were in the formal hall of Stonecourt, the same place where the Governor''s Dinner had been held so long ago. There was no formal dinner on this occasion, so the room was arranged without tables, except for the ones around the edges, holding drinks and light refreshments. It was an understated event, opulent but not ostentatious. Sid could imagine exactly what Sandreas thought about the whole thing: there is always a need to be well put together, but when in the public eye there is a fine line between flaunting power and wielding its image effectively. The same thing, Sandreas would say, is true of party decor.

    Sandreas was making his way around the room, making a point of greeting each of the new council members. There was some sort of arcane system by which he decided who to greet first, though Sid couldn''t figure it out. It wasn''t line of sight, and it wasn''t the size of the population each council member represented. It might have been which planets were currently in Sandreas''s favor, but Sid had been out of the loop for so long that he no longer knew where things stood. Not that he had been particularly aware of it before then, but he had at least maintained a cursory knowledge of the various troubles within the Empire back then.

    Sid and Aymon were both dressed in all black, perhaps an unusual choice for what was usually a happy event, but they were still publicly reflecting on Yan''s "death" and would be for a while. It wouldn''t do to appear gaudy so soon, at least that was what Sandreas said. Even with all black, though, their cassocks and short capes had an impressive cut. It wouldn''t do to appear weak, either.

    Sandreas laid his hand on Sid''s arm. "Are you paying attention?" he sent through the power.

    "Of course," Sid returned. It wasn''t a lie. He was very careful to remember who had been talked to, and what had been said. For the most part, it had been cursory greetings, but he looked ahead of them and saw that they were headed straight for-- he wracked his brain for the name-- Jairo Farisk, one of the newly elected council members from Jenjin. He was a blond man, average height and build, with a dark look in his eyes. He was wearing formal clothes, but they weren''t anything that was particular to Jenjin, just a simple suit. That was somewhat odd, as most of the Council members preferred to wear regalia from their home planets, or at least represent the fashion of the day there. It was a sign of pride and individuality. Sid had to wonder what Farisk was trying to communicate with his attire.

    "Councilmember Farisk, it''s good to see you again," Sandreas said.

    Again?

    "The pleasure is all mine, I''m sure," Farisk said. The two shook hands.

    "I''m sure you have not met my apprentice, Sid Welslak.

    "Good to meet you, Councilmember."

    "And you as well, Apprentice." The word ''Second'' was on the tip of Sid''s tongue as a correction, but that wasn''t public knowledge, no matter how heavy it sat in the back of his mind. Sandreas smiled, not quite warmly.

    "How are things on Jenjin?" Sandreas asked. "Everything is running smoothly, I hope?"

    "Of course. Nothing but fair and honest elections, as far as the eye can see," Farisk said, waving his arm in a grandiose gesture.

    "I''m so happy to hear that. And is everyone getting along under your new governor?"

    "As well as can be expected, I suppose. There are plenty of people who cannot wait for the real election to take place. You''d be surprised at how much people dislike having their government decided from above."

    Sid controlled a grimace. Farisk was not being subtle in the slightest, but then again, when had anything about the situation on Jenjin ever been subtle. He hadn''t been there, of course, when it had been dealt with, but he had heard all about it. Thinking of it made him think of Kino, though, and he hated that.

    "I''m sure. Well, such inconveniences are temporary, God willing."

    "Indeed. How is your other apprentice, the one who visited Jenjin with you?"

    "Kino? She''s taking a tour with the Fleet right now. She should be back when the Gatekeeper finishes her tour of duty."

    "Oh, how exciting for her. You were with the Fleet, weren''t you? For a while?" he asked, looking at Sid.

    "Er, yes."

    "What was that like?"

    Sid hadn''t exactly expected to answer that type of question, so he stumbled for a moment as he tried to think of a response. "It was good, I liked it. We spent some time chasing down rogue ships."

    "Pirates?" Farisk asked.

    Sid smiled thinly. "Let''s just say there was a black station involved."

    "How thrilling."

    "Yes. I like the Fleet. Lots of competent people."

    "Of course. I should hope so, since they recruit all the best."

    The two of them stared at each other for half a second. Sandreas seemed content to let the awkward moment linger for a little too long, then he killed it. "Do you have any big plans for the upcoming council session?" he asked Farisk.

    "I will be keeping my ear to the ansible and my hands busy with improving the lives of all of Jenjin''s citizens."

    "Remember that as a council member, you''re not just here to improve the lives of people on only Jenjin, you''re here for all the citizens of the Empire."

    "It''s not the citizens of the entire Empire who elect me," Farisk said with a smile.

    Sandreas smiled thinly. "Perhaps. But we are one coalition, and no planet can stand alone."

    "Alone against what, I have to ask?"

    Sandreas laughed and clapped Farisk on the back. "Against the ravages of time, Councilmember."

    "Of course. I simply feel that our foremothers on all the worlds back in the past, before the Empire, they managed to stand alone."

    "And then they came together to where we are now. I have yet to see a planet be successful without support."

    "The support of the Empire is an interesting thing."

    "Councilmember, I would perhaps advise you to consider the theology."

    "I consider it all the time. Quite deeply."

    "Which part?" Sid asked, looking at Farisk. He wanted to feel involved in this little power game. He didn''t think that Farisk was really threatening that the planet was going to attempt to leave the Empire-- that would be suicide by any other name-- but he did think that the man was talking a little too much. And talk could be annoying or dangerous, depending on how much of it there was.

    "Consider the man who stands with his back towards his fellows, and his face towards the stars," Farisk said. "He has put the power of God''s creation over that of the concerns of mankind. For that, he will be rewarded when all the stars return to ground."

    "I didn''t think you were the type to follow eschatology," Sandreas said. "It''s my duty to ensure that the Empire lasts just as long as the stars."

    Farisk looked at him. "Indeed. Enjoy the party, First Sandreas. I''m sure you have other Councilmembers to greet."

    Farisk turned and walked briskly away, leaving Sid feeling like he had been dismissed. He didn''t think it would be proper to touch Sandreas or to question him aloud as he walked away to greet another new member of the Council, but he desperately wanted to know what Sandreas was thinking. That couldn''t have been a normal interaction. It was too bold, and too outright of an attack on the Empire''s core values.

    For once, the problem seemed to have nothing to do with Yan and Kino, so Sid was glad to focus in on it. It remained present in his thoughts as they continued to make the rounds, and he spent each of the visits with the councilmembers staring into their faces, and trying to figure out what kind of code words and sentiments they were expressing to Sandreas in their banal greetings and carefully picked conversations.

    It was at the end of the night, when Sandreas had talked to almost everyone he wanted to, that they took a slight break, standing shoulder to shoulder at the front of the room, gazing out onto the amassed elite of the Empire. They had been side by side all night, but Sandreas leaned even closer to him now, their shoulders brushing.

    "What do you think of the council?" Sandreas asked aloud.

    "I''m excited for the fresh views the new members will bring," Sid said. "I look forward to working with them."

    "I''m sure you will be spending so much time with them that you''ll get sick of their bickering soon enough. Kino certainly did."

    "Kino was a special case," Sid said aloud.  "What do you think of Farisk?" Sid asked, silently, through the power.

    "You''re both special cases. Need to handle you with kid gloves," Sandreas said aloud with a smile. Silently, he responded, "Probably nothing to be concerned about. He''s not new to the council, by the way."

    "I noticed, you said that you were seeing him again."

    "He was elected several years ago, but was withdrawn under odd circumstances. He apparently won his own election under the cloud of everything that''s been going on."

    "He certainly likes to hear himself talk."

    "Isn''t that something you think about all hearing people?" Sandreas asked, sending a tentative feeling of amusement. Sid clamped down on his smile. They still had to look as though they were just standing.

    "That is true," he said aloud. That could easily have been a response to his previous comment about Kino.

    "We''ll have to see how things play out," Sandreas said. "We live in interesting times."

    "Nothing wrong with that," Sid said.

    <hr>

    Sid slept late, having gone to bed late, and woke up with a slight headache. He hauled himself through his morning routine, and then dragged himself to Stonecourt. As he passed the doors to Yan and Kino''s apartments, walking out of his own, he felt the resentment grow in him. He wondered if anyone was ever going to clean them out, or if they were going to be little time capsules of misery forever. Maybe he should ask Sandreas to move him. Maybe he should get his own quarters in Stonecourt.

    The midmorning light stabbed his eyeballs, and the weather was pleasant. The breeze picked up the edge of his cassock and sent him scurrying down the streets, suddenly eager to get to his destination.

    He arrived at Stonecourt and made his way to Sandreas''s office, as was his usual meeting place. Ms. Rosario, Sandreas''s secretary, was waiting for you.

    "Good morning, Apprentice Welslak," she said.  "Did you enjoy greeting the Council last night?"

    "I feel like I''ve been so out of touch with everything," Sid said. "Is First Sandreas here?"

    "He''s occupied at the moment," she said, offering no further detail about what he was occupied with.

    "Oh," Sid said. "Did he leave me any instructions?"

    "He didn''t, but Halen did. He asked you to meet him in the training room."

    "Has he been waiting for me this whole time?" Sid asked, feeling slightly guilty about sleeping in.

    "Almost certainly not," Ms. Rosario said. "You know he keeps tabs on when you enter the building. I''m sure he''s headed down there right now."

    Sid grimaced. "Ah."

    "Was there anything you needed?"

    "No, no, I''m just not sure what he wants from me," Sid said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I''ll head down there. Thank you for letting me know."

    "Of course."

    Sid trooped out of Sandreas''s office area, nodding to the guards as he passed, and made his way down into the basement of Stonecourt. It was an illusion that the temperature dropped as he went down the stairs, because the whole building was immaculately climate controlled, but he still felt like he was leaving the bright, airy upper levels and descending to somewhere where the real work happened. Without thinking about it consciously, he strayed onto the path that he knew that Yan had taken during her rampage through the place. All the damage had been cleaned up, of course, but he felt like he could feel the ghosts running past him, feel the echo of the panic that must have been coursing through the place. There were a couple of places where the damage to the wall had been severe enough that the repair was visible. He resisted tracing it with his fingers. He didn''t want to be drawn into this too much. Sid made his way to the training room.

    This wasn''t the simulation room, it was basically a gym, with floor mats and some equipment. There was the shooting range adjacent, and the simulation room down the hall, all set up presumably at Halen''s command for his various purposes. Sid didn''t actually know the origin of these rooms. The simulation room, sure, that had plenty of purposes, but he didn''t think that anyone other than Halen ever used these other spaces. Maybe they were here just for Sandreas''s leisure. Certainly all the security people had different places to train in.

    Sid hadn''t seen Halen immediately when he entered the room, but Halen had been waiting for him, to the right of the door, with a gun aimed at exactly where Sid''s head was. Sid registered him out of the corner of his eye, and turned towards him, crossing his arms.

    "Put that shit away, will you?"

    Halen tucked it into his holster. "You''d be dead where you stood, if I actually was going to kill you," he signed. With Yan gone, Halen (and Hernan) were the only people around who used any sign. Halen''s wasn''t very good (it was, actually, terrible-- jerking and slow, without any fluidity to it), but Sid deeply appreciated that there was someone who would speak to him in his native language, at least a little.

    "That would be true even if you didn''t have a gun," Sid said.

    "True." He leaned back and looked Sid over. Sid was dwarfed by Halen, in width, height, and power, but he wasn''t particularly afraid of the man. He had never felt strongly about him one way or the other. Yan had hated him in the beginning, but Sid thought that she''d turned her feelings around, after they came back from their trip to Olar.

    Maybe Sid should have felt something towards Halen, after seeing him torture Kino, but he had been both angry and detached.

    "What did you want me here for?" Sid asked.

    "You''re the last one. If you die, that would be a real problem. You and I are going to get serious."

    "Did Sandreas tell you to do this?"

    Halen laughed, showing his teeth. "No."

    "Does he know about this?"Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Halen shrugged. "That doesn''t particularly concern me."

    "Did you have some sort of lover''s quarrel? I thought that you were practically joined at the hip."

    Halen didn''t respond to that directly. "He has seen fit to burden me with this element of your education. I see no reason why he should concern himself with it any further," he said aloud, probably because he didn''t have the vocabulary for such a sentiment in sign.

    "Whatever you say," Sid signed.

    "Here''s a question for you: if you had to take a guess, who would you say is a stronger user of the power, you or Yan?"

    "I don''t know. I feel like we were evenly matched."

    "Really?"

    "Are you saying she''s better than I am?"

    "Did you watch the recording of her taking Kino?"

    "Yeah."

    "And what did you think of it?"

    "I don''t know. What was I supposed to think?" Sid didn''t want to be defensive about the implication that Yan was better than he was, but some of that defensiveness slipped through anyway, into his forward posture, into the sharpness of his movements.

    "You''re supposed to use your brain," Halen said. "Did you watch when she was in the Emperor''s chambers as well?"

    "Yes." He had mostly watched just the few silent seconds of Yan leaning in towards the Emperor, over and over, on repeat for hours, trying to pull some sort of meaning out of them, but he hadn''t found any.

    "You saw how she escaped the Emperor''s grip, then."

    "Yes."

    "If you fight Yan, which isn''t outside the realm of possibility, I need to make sure that you win," Halen said. "Kino as well, but I think that Yan is the stronger of the pair."

    "What can Yan do that I can''t?" Sid asked.

    "Yan has been through trials of fire that I don''t think you can even imagine," Halen said. "And she came out stronger for it."

    "That''s not a skill."

    "She has tactical thinking that you lack," Halen said.

    "Not true."

    "Fine. She can make decisions in a crisis, then. And she can escape someone else''s grip."

    "There''s the invisibility, too."

    "Less vital."

    "So, what are you going to teach me?" Sid asked.

    "I don''t know exactly what Yan''s skills will look like in time. She''s not stupid. She''ll be preparing, keeping herself sharp, just in case."

    "And?"

    "What I mean is that I don''t have a list of specific skills to teach you that I can guarantee that will help. So you''re going to train against me, and we''ll stop when I think that you''re good enough to survive against any sensitive who comes your way."

    Sid cracked his knuckles. "So, what are we starting with?"

    "Would you like to learn control, or how to break control?" Halen asked.

    "What good will learning how to control someone do, if Yan already knows how to break out of it?"

    "You saw how long it took her with the Emperor. Any time you can slow your opponent down, you have an advantage. Do you understand?"

    Sid nodded.

    "So, which do you want to pick?"

    "Let me try to use control first," Sid said.

    "Not surprising that you''d say that," Halen said. "It''s harder, though. Come sit down over here." He gestured to the center of the bare floor and settled down, cross legged. Sid followed, sitting across from him.

    "How did you learn how to do this?" Sid asked.

    Halen smiled grimly and didn''t answer the question. "Have you ever tried to use the power against someone else?"

    "My siblings," he said.

    "And how did that work out?"

    "It was too slippery. I just grabbed their clothes instead. Or threw things at them."

    "Did you ever try to push past that slippery feeling?"

    Sid shrugged. "I was lazier than I was motivated to hurt my siblings," he said.

    "It''s hard," Halen said. "It''s like holding a snake that''s all teeth."

    "When did you ever hold a snake?"

    "I''m imagining what a snake feels like."

    "Okay," Sid said, skeptical.

    "That''s not the point. The point is that once you get a grip on it, it hurts. The power does not like being used against another person."

    "I know that."

    "Remember that first day we came here?" Halen asked.

    "Sure."

    "And I asked you what you would do if someone was trying to kill you?"

    "Yeah."

    "You said you would try to rip their brain out of their skull."

    "Something like that."

    "Try that on me. Try to do it."

    "What?"

    "Go ahead. Try to crush my skull." Halen stared him down.

    "The fuck? No."

    "The first step is getting over your aversion to the idea."

    "But--"

    "You won''t be able to hurt me," Halen said, with a smile that didn''t go any further than the corner of his lips. "Trust me."

    "Yeah, but--"

    "The revulsion you feel to that idea is the same revulsion that the power gives you whenever you touch another person. And it only gets worse. You need to conquer that feeling, or you''ll never be able to win."

    "This is crazy."

    "Do it. I''m waiting." Halen stared at him.

    "Are there any tips?"

    Halen shook his head. "Not really, no."

    "Should I close my eyes?"

    "Stop hesitating. Get the power. Use it on me."

    Sid didn''t like this, but Halen was right, he was hesitating. He reached within himself, and pulled up the power like a tongue of flame. It rested along his arms, in his hands, burning his fingertips with its familiar tingle. He knew exactly how he would go about picking up a rock, or a shoe, or a piece of metal, but reaching out towards Halen made him unsure of how to proceed. He extended the power until his edge of awareness was right in front of Halen''s face.

    "Come on, Sid," Halen goaded. "Don''t let this little thing get the better of you."

    He pushed the power forward. Trying to grab onto Halen''s head was like holding a bag full of water, covered all along the outside with oil. In his hands, it slipped and slid and shied away, wanting to latch on instead to nearby molecules of air, or the edge of Halen''s jacket. The more he tried, the more the slick and slimy feeling increased.

    "Come on," Halen said again.

    Sid was sweating, and the power skittered out of his grasp over and over, shying away from what he was asking to do. More than an oil slick, now it felt like a thousand ants were crawling along his hands, and each of their feet was a little dot of fire.

    "I can''t," Sid said through gritted teeth. "It won''t let me."

    "What kind of leader will you be if you can''t even control this part of yourself? What kind of leader will you be if you die because you can''t master the power?" Halen stared straight at him.

    "I don''t know," Sid said, feeling both angry and desperate.

    "Try again."

    Sid squeezed his eyes shut, completely cutting out the outside world. He was aware of his own body, wound tight on the floor, and he could feel Halen in the power, hot and alive, less than half a meter away.

    It was just a matter of control. He squeezed. The power slipped out of his hands. He tried again, and again, and he felt something hook, not in the same way that it had before. Now, he was digging his nails into something, this was the power. With that feeling of success came a wave of revulsion, the power kicking at him to let go of Halen. Sid dropped it immediately, as though he had been kicked in the teeth. He opened his eyes with a coughing gasp.

    "You got it, that time," Halen said. The words swam in Sid''s vision, and he pushed his glasses back up on his nose; they had slipped down. He felt how tense his face was and consciously relaxed it. "You just have to keep it up."

    "How?" Sid asked.

    "Try again," Halen said. "You have to get used to the feeling."

    "Does it always feel this way?"

    "It often feels worse," Halen said. "Try again."

    "Now that I''m doing it, won''t I hurt you?"

    Halen laughed at that. "No."

    Sid was slightly affronted by Halen''s casual dismissal, since he had managed to touch him in the power. He frowned and concentrated again, trying to find that feeling that he had for a second before. It was elusive, and it took him at least a minute and a half of wrestling with the power, a feeling he hadn''t had since he was about ten and first getting a handle on it. And then it was in his hands again, and he was digging his nails in, and grabbing Halen''s head with it. The pain in his own body was immense-- it was both mental and physical, like a dragging feeling in his soul, but accompanied by a throbbing headache that radiated out into the rest of his body, irrespective of the usual barrier between the two. He looked up at Halen.

    "Keep going," Halen said. "You wanted to crush someone''s head. Try it."

    Sid''s arms shook, and he held them at his sides and ground his teeth. The power wobbled in his grasp, and he squeezed Halen''s head. The pressure built, and Sid began to see a red band circling Halen''s forehead. Sid pressed harder, gagging as the power rebelled against him. He knew what to expect, so he didn''t drop it. He was just waiting for Halen to stop him.

    "Come on. Don''t hold back," Halen goaded.

    Sid pressed harder. There was a sudden shift, and Halen''s power reacted, grabbing Sid''s like he was being smothered under a thousand ton rock. Sid physically reeled back and the power fled. Halen sat there, looking at him calmly.

    "Care to try again?"

    Sid was breathing heavily, and he rubbed his temples and his eyes, his fingers coming away wet with sweat and stinging tears. "This is easy for you?" he asked.

    "It''s never easy," Halen said. "But I have a lot of practice."

    "How much of this am I going to have to do?" Sid asked, getting his body back under control. His hands were shaking.

    "You''re going to practice until you can get to that point quickly and easily, without hesitation. And then once you''re there, we''re going to move onto something slightly less lethal, so that you can learn how to overcome resistance."

    "How long is that going to take?"

    "It''s more of a mental training than it is one of gaining strength. It depends on how motivated you are."

    Sid looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

    "You have to be accustomed to the power fighting you, and you have to become willing to overstep every boundary another person has. It''s not easy." Halen looked at him. "It feels wrong, doesn''t it?"

    "How long did it take you to learn?" Sid asked.

    "A long time. But I was at a unique disadvantage."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I can''t stop myself from feeling the things that others put out into the world. But I can''t let them control me, either," Halen said.

    "What''s it like, feeling other people when you do this to them?" Sid asked.

    "You can''t imagine what fear is like, Sid?"

    Sid shrugged. "Show me."

    "It''s exactly like feeling the fear yourself," Halen said. "I''m not going to let you into my head to see me torture someone." It was the first time, maybe, that Halen had talked candidly with him about the less savory things that he did for Sandreas. Sid was a little relieved that it was no longer an open secret that he had to toe around. If Halen had admitted it to him, that must have meant that some barrier had been crossed, and Sid was able to know the real workings of the world openly.

    "Why not?" Sid had this curious fascination with it. He had watched what had happened to Kino, and he wanted to test himself against that. He wanted to know his own limits, just in case.

    "Because I still have some sort of moral bearing," Halen said. "I''m not going to show you what it''s like to torture someone."

    "You don''t have to shield me," Sid said. "I can handle it."

    "You shouldn''t be so eager for things that will put blood on your hands."

    "Knowing what it''s like is not the same as doing it," Sid pointed out.

    "It doesn''t live easy in your heart, either way."

    "It''s not like I''m some sort of innocent."

    "Do you really want to know, Sid?"

    "Yeah."

    Halen stared him down. "Stand up."

    "Wouldn''t it be easier sitting?"

    "I said stand up."

    Sid stood. Halen stayed seated on the ground, perfectly calm. He looked ahead of himself, not into Sid''s eyes. "I can say, at least, that I''ve never done it without reason," Halen said.

    And all of a sudden, Sid felt the heavy grip of Halen''s power on him. It was as solid as steel, and Sid couldn''t move an inch, he was frozen in place. "So, you know I''m not doing this because I want to. I''m doing this so that you can learn a lesson. We''ll stop when I have what I want." Halen smoothed down the front of his jacket, a weird gesture.

    "You don''t have to say anything," Halen said. "When you can break free from me, that''s when I''ll stop."

    Halen stood up, and Sid realized anew how large and tall he was.

    "You''re not afraid, not really," Halen said. "Your heart is beating faster than normal, but that''s not panic. Not yet."

    He walked around Sid, who remained frozen in place. "You''re not even trying to break out. Go ahead, give it a shot."

    Sid brought his own power up, tried to force it through his own limbs to make them move, in the same way that he would force the ink in his tattoo to rise to the surface of his skin. He struggled with both that, and with his muscles, straining against the invisible wall that held him in place.

    "You need to expel my power from your body," Halen said. "That''s how you break free. Your will has to be stronger than mine. Try again."

    Sid would have closed his eyes, except for the fact that Halen had them frozen open. He brought his power up, but he felt more constipated than anything.

    "I don''t think you''re scared enough. Yan broke out of her captor''s power at the moment she felt like she was going to die. Do I have to bring you that far?"

    Sid tried again, his heart beating faster from exertion now, his forehead beading with sweat again. This, at least, was not accompanied by the revulsion that he had felt while trying to control Halen''s body. The power was responding to him, and he felt like he was on the right track, it was simply that Halen''s will was stronger.

    "You don''t think that I would actually hurt you," Halen said. "That''s the problem. Do I need to change that? Try again."

    Sid struggled some more, but the more he tried the more useless he felt, and the weaker he became.

    "Pathetic." Halen walked around behind him and put his hands on Sid''s shoulders. His hands were heavy and hot, and he leaned close to Sid''s ear. Sid couldn''t hear him, but he could feel Halen''s breath on his cheek. Couldn''t see him directly, but his bulk in the corner of his vision was noticeable.

    Even though they were touching, and could have spoke through the power, Halen didn''t bother with that. "What I always have to do," he continued, "is triangulate to find what the person is most afraid of. Whatever it is that they''ll do anything to avoid. What is that for you, I wonder? It wouldn''t be that hard to find out. I have my guesses."

    Halen''s hands left Sid''s shoulders, and he walked back around to stand in front of Sid again, a few steps distant. "It''s probably not this," he said.

    At first, nothing felt like it had changed, but then Sid realized that his breathing, which had, until this point, been automatic, had stopped. His diaphragm wasn''t moving, his lungs weren''t expanding or contracting, the air was stuck in his throat. His heart beat faster and faster. He was afraid, now.

    "No, you''re not afraid yet," Halen said. "You know I wouldn''t kill you. Try anyway, though."

    Sid brought the power up again, but the thudding of his heart and the lack of oxygen that was slowly starting to choke his brain made the power feel thick and unresponsive. He struggled desperately against it for a long time. Spots swam in his vision. His heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest. He was drowning.

    Cold air rushed into his lungs and his vision cleared.

    "You almost had it," Halen said. "That was good."

    Sid wanted to laugh with relief, but he still couldn''t move, couldn''t make a sound.

    "Try again. Come on."

    Sid tried to bring back the feeling he had had just moments before, but the lightheadedness remained and the will to escape did not. Or, at least not a will that was stronger than Halen''s.

    "Come on, Sid," Halen said. "Don''t make me do something that we''ll both regret."

    Sid wanted to shake his head, to say that he couldn''t, but the only way that he could communicate anything to Halen was through struggling against his power, and that was weak and ineffectual.

    "I don''t want to hurt you," Halen said.

    Then don''t, Sid wanted to say. But he couldn''t say anything. He fought. His arms and legs felt like they were groaning under a million ton weight, straining against the force that held them.

    Halen took a step forward, and touched Sid''s glasses. "Think it''s time to lose these. Read my lips." He carefully pulled Sid''s glasses off his face. He folded them and tucked them gently into the lapel pocket of his jacket.

    He mouthed something, or said something, but Sid''s eyes refused to focus on his lips. Against his will, Sid''s arm began to move, his left one, reaching up towards his face. Sid''s palm smushed into his cheek as Halen''s power dragged it upward. Halen kept talking, but Sid wasn''t actually paying attention. He was too busy being horrified and fascinated by his arm''s involuntary journey.

    It became clear that Halen had been intentionally clumsy with Sid''s hand at first, because now his fingers spidered out, covering his left eye like a cage. Sid could see his own palm out of one eye, and Halen''s still face out of the other. He looked resigned.

    Sid''s fingers dropped down, and his middle finger and thumb pulled his eyelid apart. His index finger inched its way towards the corner of his eye.

    Sid realized exactly what Halen was about to make him do. The fear hit him like a truck, then. Halen was standing so stiffly, there seemed to be no chance that he would relent, and Sid was going to end up standing here, pulling out his own eyeball.

    Sid panicked, bringing up the power and slamming it futilely against the cage of his own body. Nothing happened. Nothing happened! He couldn''t do it! He would have screamed, if he could have.

    The closer his index finger got to his eyeball, the more panicked he became, and the more he felt like he was flailing randomly in the power. An involuntary sound escaped his throat. He felt it rumble there, half a whine and half a whimper. He hadn''t even known he had control over his vocal cords.

    Halen''s power dropped from him, and Sid, not expecting to be in control of his own body again, fell forward. Halen caught him under the armpits before he hit the ground and half hoisted him to his feet. Halen stared at him for a second, then reached into his lapel pocket for Sid''s glasses. He passed them over silently.

    Sid''s hands shook as he unfolded them and put them on his face. It seemed as though there was something that Halen wanted to say, so Sid stood and waited for him to say it. He was breathing heavily still,but his heartbeat was slowly coming back down to normal, and the ice of fear that had been sitting in his body was slowly trickling out down through his limbs, releasing him from it.

    "I''m okay," Sid said finally, when the moment had grown so long and awkward that it felt like Halen was never going to muster up what he needed to communicate. Sid wasn''t sure if he actually was okay, but he wasn''t hurt, just shaken. "Don''t worry about it."

    Halen clasped him on the shoulder, then, and there was the touch of his power. Not constricting, this time, just communicative. Halen sent a rush of wordless feelings, regret, mostly, and hope. It was a combination that Sid took to mean asking for forgiveness. Sid nodded, and Halen dropped his hand.

    "Did I do okay?" Sid asked.

    Halen nodded stiffly. "We''ll try something else, next time," he said. His face betrayed nothing of what he was feeling, but the tension in his body said something. "You''ll get there."

    "Good." If this was what it took, then Sid was willing to do it. The fear had retreated down to the tips of his fingers, and he would have had shaking hands if he had held a cup, but he was solid on his feet now. Halen wouldn''t ever have hurt him, not really. Not without much more of a reason than that.

    The fear was bad enough, though.

    Halen escorted him to the door of the training room. "We''re done for the day. I don''t think Sandreas is around. You can find some sort of task to amuse yourself with, I''m sure."

    That was a clear dismissal, though it was a silly one. "See you later, then," Sid said.

    Halen held the door open and Sid left, walking down the hallway. He could feel Halen''s eyes on him until he turned the corner.  Once sufficiently out of range, and away from random Stonecourt workers who were going about their tasks in the hallways, Sid leaned against the cool stone wall and took out his phone, steadying his breathing the rest of the way.

    His instinct was to text Yan, who had been the person he turned to in crazy times in the past, but Yan was long gone. He texted Ervantes instead.

    >hey

    >you in yora still?

    Sid tilted his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, holding his phone loosely in his hand. He didn''t expect a response, but Ervantes texted back almost immediately.

    <yes.

    >want to come over to my place?

    >I need some company

    <give me an hour?

    >that''s fine. see you then <3

    It was tacky to pin on the heart, but Sid didn''t want to come off as too abrupt. Already, the prospect of seeing Ervantes made some of the tension drop from his shoulders, and the frantic twitch fall from his fingers. Slowly, Sid made his way up out of the stairs of Stonecourt and out into the bright, waiting sunlight.

 Chapter One Hundred One - Confess the Murder

    Confess the Murder

    <blockquote>

    "What a tangled web we weave! There''s time to mourn, time to grieve. What a knotted rope we tie! There''s time to live and time to die."

    -from "Fate''s Thread", traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    "Kino," Yan said, knocking on Kino''s chamber door. "I need to talk to you."

    Kino opened the door a moment later, though she was only wearing a towel. "Emergency?" she asked. There was a toothbrush hanging out of the corner of her mouth. Clearly she had either been getting ready for bed or had just woken up. Yan couldn''t tell, and both of their sleep schedules had become so confused. Considering that there were only five people on the ship, and various things needed to be attended to at all hours of the day, it made for a somewhat chaotic time.

    They had meals together, but the meals were made up of random things pulled from the pantry and the slowly ripening greenhouse stores-- in other words, not dinner foods, not breakfast foods, just foods. So, although they gathered to eat, what time it was for most of them was a bit of a mystery.

    "No, it''s not an emergency," Yan said. She leaned against the doorframe. "I just want to talk to you about our plans."

    Kino continued to brush her teeth, but she held the door open and  stepped aside so that Yan could enter. The place was large, by Fleet quarters standards, but small compared to the other rooms aboard the First Star that Yan had been in. It was just a bedroom with a desk and a bed, with a tiny bathroom off to the side. Predictably, Kino''s few belongings were scattered across the floor: gardening gloves, dirty jumpsuits, tools from the workshop, a roll of bandages. Yan took a seat on the desk chair, not feeling that bad about pushing a dirty pair of socks to the floor with the power. She heard Kino finish brushing her teeth and felt the ghostly touch of Kino''s power as she summoned a jumpsuit from the pile and dressed in it.

    As Kino finished her routine, Yan examined Kino''s desk. There was a large chunk of aluminum, just a massive block, sitting there. "What are you planning on doing with this?" Yan asked, pointing to it.

    Kino came over and stood behind Yan. She leaned over and placed her mutilated left hand on the block. "Thinking of making some new fingers," she said.

    "Too bad Sid''s not here," Yan said absently. "He''s good at that kind of thing."

    "I''ll figure it out."

    The mention of Sid had slipped out of her without prompting, but the truth was that Yan had been thinking about him a lot. She couldn''t help it. After failing to encounter him aboard the Gatekeeper, Yan felt that some sort of unknowable tension was building in the space between them, and eventually they would have to face each other. She wasn''t looking forward to it.

    Kino sat down on the bed, and Yan turned the chair around to face her.

    "So," Yan said. "The plan."

    "What about it?" Kino asked.

    "We need one."

    "Why are you asking me about it?" Kino''s voice was the same flat as ever, but she seemed genuinely confused about Yan''s motivations for coming to her. Kino didn''t tend to ask questions unless she wanted an answer.

    "I will talk to Iri later, and Sylva, but you and I were Sandreas''s apprentices. We probably know the most."

    "I don''t think so," Kino said. "Iri worked for Halen for a long time, didn''t she?"

    "That doesn''t really count."

    "We were with Sandreas for less than a year."

    "Still. We were chosen for a reason. We''re probably the best qualified.''

    "You probably are," Kino said. "I''m not."

    "It doesn''t matter," Yan said. "You get a say, and I came here to ask you away from Iri and Sylva because I value your opinion and don''t want it stomped on. Is that enough?"

    "I don''t know why you value my opinion."

    Yan sighed in frustration. "The reasons are more complicated than I care to explain right now," Yan said. "Can you take it as fact that I want your opinion, so that you can give it to me?"

    Kino shrugged. Her jumpsuit was half unzipped, so it slid haphazardly off her shoulder at the motion. She tugged it back upward and used the power to zip it the rest of the way. "What do you want to know?"

    "We want to destabilize the Empire," Yan said. "Right?"

    "I want the Empire to stop destroying planets," Kino said. "If that''s what it takes, that''s what it takes."

    "I guess that''s my first question, then," Yan said. "Is that going to be what it takes?"

    Kino paused for a long moment, running her hand through her bleached dirty blond hair (she looked so different with it cut and styled like this, but Yan was getting used to it.) "Yes."

    "Removing just the Emperor wouldn''t do it?" Yan asked.

    "Think about the Fleet," Kino said. "They have a vested interest. If the Emperor was gone, they''d have the ability to fill that power vacuum."

    "Not if we installed somebody else first," Yan said. Kino just looked at her blankly. "Maybe I''m getting ahead of myself."

    "If you pull the Emperor, it all starts to fall apart."

    "Pull the Emperor, then Sandreas goes, and then there''s just the council and the Fleet," Yan agreed. "Which one would win, if those two sides were against each other?"

    "The Fleet," Kino said without any hesitation. "I know the council."

    "You spent a lot of time with them, right?"

    "They''re all more loyal to their own planets than they are to the Empire. Without Sandreas, or any other First, they''d fall apart on their own. The Fleet is tied together, and they have power."

    "Ships and guns," Yan muttered.

    "That''s what you need."

    "It''s not just the Fleet and the Council, though, right?" Yan said. "There''s the Guild, and every sensitive who comes out of the Academy."

    "You''d have to make the bet that sensitives are loyal to each other before they''re loyal to whatever other group they''re in," Kino said. "Do you want to make that bet?"

    "I don''t know." Yan ran her hand through her short hair. "The Guild. If the Guild armed themselves, could they take the Fleet?"

    "You want to put those two against each other?"

    "I''m just trying to compare strengths right now," Yan said. "I don''t know what''s even possible."

    "The Guild doesn''t have the right number of people," Kino said after a second. "And you know better than me if they''d be able to work together."

    "Did you attend the election, when they picked the new Guildmaster?" Yan asked.

    "I wasn''t allowed in the room," Kino said. "And I was occupied with thinking about other things."

    "Oh." Kino must have been working hard to keep the secret that she was the one who had betrayed Yan and caused her to be kidnapped, at that time. It didn''t surprise Yan to learn that Kino had been paying more attention to that than she had to muddling out the mess that was Guild politics. Yan had read up on the election on her trip back from Olkye to Emerri aboard the Impulse, and had tried to get as caught up with it as possible, but even growing up within the Guild, and paying as much attention as she could, the whole thing was still hard to follow. Yan turned her thoughts back to the question. "Yeah, there''s no way that they would be able to work together, now that I think about it. They''ve always been very factional."

    Kino shrugged. "Each family has to work by themselves. I understand."

    The very structure of the Guild, wherein each ship competed for contracts and status, did lead to significant tensions between the various clans, and prevented much meaningful collaboration.

    "So they wouldn''t be able to stand against the Fleet..." Yan said. "We keep coming back to that. The Fleet is just-- on paper it''s so strong."

    "They have the same number of ships as the Guild does, approximately," Kino said. "If the Guild had loyalty to each other, they could stand a chance."

    Yan shook her head. "We''re talking about crazy hypotheticals here. That''s never going to happen. I don''t think there''s any way to bring down the Fleet through brute force. If there was, it would have been done already."

    "So what do you think would work on them?" Kino asked. She seemed mostly curious. "There''s no such thing as an unbeatable army."

    "I feel like it was probably a Fleet captain who said that phrase first," Yan muttered, drumming her fingers on the desk.

    "They wouldn''t be wrong, even if they also weren''t being introspective," Kino said.

    "What are the Fleet''s weaknesses?" Yan asked.

    "Secrecy," Kino said. "They''re spread out across the galaxy, and a lot of them are often out of contact range. Lots of their ships are single purpose, like the Gatekeeper. They rely on the Empire for supplies."

    "That''s hardly a weakness," Yan said. "So does everybody else."

    "It''s worth mentioning."

    "What else? Anything?"

    "All their people have that chip in their heads," Kino said. Yan shivered involuntarily. "And they have ideological training."

    "That makes them cohesive, though," Yan said. "I don''t see how that''s a weakness. We wouldn''t do it if it wasn''t useful."

    "We?" Kino asked.

    "Ah. Fuck," Yan said.

    "Yeah."

    "So. What would be the best way to get at the Fleet?"

    "Remove their leadership," Kino said. "If there''s chaos in the Empire, they won''t have a clear way to operate. Keep them split up and busy. Find a way to break through the ideological training of the individuals."

    "All that is easier said than done."

    "So the Fleet can''t be our first target," Kino said with a shrug. "We knew that."

    Yan leaned her head on her hand, elbow on the desk. "Then who is?"

    "The Guild is probably the easiest," Kino said.

    "What do you mean by that? What good would attacking the Guild do?"

    "If we want to destabilize the Empire, we need to start kicking at the beams that are holding it up."

    "Beams?"

    "You know. Economics. Law. Cohesive social structure."

    "I don''t want to attack the Guild, though."

    "I don''t mean that we need to be pirates," Kino said. "I think there''s probably a way to get them to fall apart, and start causing problems with the stability of the Empire''s supply chain."

    Yan looked at Kino. "Explain what you''re thinking to me," she said.

    "Think about it." Kino ripped a thread off the hem of her jumpsuit''s sleeve. "They''re already factional. All it would take is a push to get them to stop trusting Wil Vaneik and Thule as Guildmaster."

    "True. But they''d just call for a vote of no confidence and elect a new one," Yan said.

    "You''re forgetting about the supership."

    "I''m not, but I''m not sure how that plays into it."

    "Thule is power hungry, isn''t he?"

    "Yeah."

    "He''ll do anything to stay in charge."

    "Yeah."

    "Then if he has the most powerful ship, he can go after his enemies," Kino said. "They won''t be able to call for a vote against him without fear of retaliation."

    "I''m not seeing how this would make the Guild splinter."

    "People will band together when they''re pressed," Kino said. "If they''re faced with the threat of violence from their own guild leader, I bet some Guild ships would work together."

    "Okay..."

    "And if there''s infighting in the Guild, planets will feel it. Deliveries won''t come, territories will be staked out, people will start openly associating with pirates," Kino said. "You know what it was like on Olar. Think about that Guild division, but a hundred times worse."

    Yan did think back to Olar, where the Guild had been blatantly been acting against its own interests in a pathetic power struggle. Yan hadn''t hated dealing with that, but the circumstances that surrounded her and Sid''s trip there had caused her to think less deeply about it than she should have.

    "I get that," Yan said. "But, argh... How will that impact the Fleet at all?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "It would impact a lot. If it gets bad, Sandreas could send in the Fleet to deal with it."

    "I don''t really want to drag the Guild through the mud. They''re my family, and they''re not involved."

    "Everyone''s involved, like it or not," Kino said, staring at Yan. "You know, if we break the Empire apart, a lot of people are going to suffer."

    "We can''t know that for sure," Yan said.

    "Even economic instability causes people to die," Kino said flatly. "And we''re aiming for more than that."

    Yan looked down at the floor. "I guess."

    "The Empire can''t continue like this," Kino said. "Things need to change."

    Yan mutely shook her head. She didn''t know if she was agreeing or disagreeing. She felt burdened by all of this. The idea of affecting the lives of billions upon billions of people, on all the planets of the Empire, that felt much worse in her head than an outright battle did, even if a battle was bound to lose. There was something that felt less immoral about being honest-- attacking soldiers who had signed up to be attacked (at least a little, even if Fleet recruits had no real idea what they were getting into), being forthright with what one wanted and the methods that were going to be used to achieve it. And there was also a feeling, one that she knew was perverse, that it was better to fight a battle that they were sure to lose. That way they could claim some kind of moral high ground. It was a twisted feeling, one that was hard to put into words, but she felt it anyway. "You''re right, and I know you''re right, and that''s why I''m here at all, I just hate it."

    Kino, in an intensely awkward gesture, patted Yan''s arm with her right hand. It was so funny to Yan that she actually laughed, and Kino looked up at her, startled. "What?"

    "Nothing," Yan said, unable to explain what she found so endearing and comedic about the moment. It had succeeded in dropping her out of her funk, though, at least a little bit. Kino smiled, in the stiff way where it was clear that it did not come very naturally to her.

    "I don''t think we should just focus on the Guild," she said.

    "I know," Yan said. "But they''re our easiest ''in'' I think."

    "True."

    "What else do you think we should focus on?" Yan asked. Kino was clearly thinking about something, or she would have just let Yan continue on with talking about the Guild.

    She hesitated for a second, as though she needed to consider very carefully what she was trying to say. "The Empire isn''t just made up of these big systems," Kino said. "It''s all just individuals who are trusting in those systems to continue to function."

    "Yeah," Yan said. She wasn''t sure what Kino was getting at.

    "It''s that trust that we need to disrupt."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    "Are you talking about like what happened during the fall of the Edden Empire? Like what you did with Sandreas on Jenjin?"

    Kino shook her head. "No. I don''t want to do that."

    That was a relief. On one hand, the concept of hooking in to the mass subconscious of the entire population of a planet was intensely appealing to Yan, but on the other, the devastation that that had caused during the fall of the Edden Empire was probably not worth it. Besides, any ship that came into orbit around a planet and tried to pull a stunt like that would be destroyed immediately. That trick had only worked once in history to destroy the dominant power, and that was because it had never been done before. The Edden Empire had not been using their sensitives to their full potential, and they were caught unprepared.

    "Then what do you want to do?" Yan asked.

    Kino was pensive, and her fingers momentarily stopped their destruction of her sleeve. "The Empire is unified through belief," Kino said.

    "Yeah."

    "What if we could get people to believe something different?"

    "Like, sectarianism? I''d have to ask Sylva about that." Sylva''s whole job, before she had abandoned her apprenticeship to follow Yan across the galaxy, had been reviewing religious texts to ensure compliance to the overall doctrine.

    "More than that," Kino said.

    Yan thought about this. "Heresy?"

    Kino shrugged. "It would put a split in the Empire," she said. "If we could spread it."

    "And what good would that do?"

    "A heresy could help people express their feelings of discontent towards the Empire," Kino said. "If they don''t like the way things are, it would give them a vision of an alternative."

    "This is crazy," Yan said, shaking her head. "It feels wrong." Although she was unhappy with religion at the moment, for her own personal reasons, years of belief at the Academy had been a formative influence on her personality, and she couldn''t shake the idea that going against the theology was wrong on a fundamental level. She couldn''t even imagine what it would be like to intentionally go against. There were occasionally people who, of course, through sincere and accidental belief, had come up with wrong doctrine. Those people were always found, silenced, and corrected before their ideas could spread too far. That was what Sylva had been working on.

    Kino shrugged again.

    "Don''t you believe in God?" Yan asked. "Wouldn''t this be pretty messed up?"

    "Of course I do," Kino said. "It doesn''t have to be something that completely contradicts the theology."

    Yan shook her head. "I don''t know."

    "It would be a way to gain critical support throughout the Empire," Kino said. "Even if they don''t know who we are, or what our goals are, it would be something that we could use to mobilize people."

    "And what would this hypothetical heresy say?" Yan asked. "And how would we disseminate it? It''s not like we have access to ansibles."

    "We''d have to think about it," Kino said. "I''m not saying we have to do this right away. Or at all. It''s just an option for another way to make things..." She trailed off.

    "Yeah."

    "And if people are already thinking about their dissatisfaction with the Empire, maybe it won''t be such a blow when it collapses."

    "You say that with so much certainty."

    "I have to," Kino said. "We all have to believe in something."

    "Okay."

    They were silent for a long moment. "So. Should we talk to the Guild?" Yan asked. "Is that our first step?"

    "You''re the captain."

    "God, I hate that people keep saying that."

    "It''s true."

    "Then yes. We''ll talk to the Guild." Yan wasn''t sure how they would go about doing that, but it was slightly more actionable than Kino''s suggestion that she start a heresy of some sort. Yan didn''t know what she would want to say about that. She would need to talk to Sylva, which was a whole different bag of worms.

    "If we''re going to talk to the Guild, we should do that as quickly as possible," Kino said.

    "Why?"

    "Remember when we were with your family, they only mentioned that Sandreas had faked your death."

    "Oh, so you''re still politically alive," Yan said. "As far as we know, anyway."

    "If I were Sandreas, I wouldn''t want to have two of his apprentices die immediately after each other."

    "That would look a little suspicious."

    "I''ve probably gone off on an extended trip somewhere," Kino said. "A religious retreat, perhaps."

    Yan laughed. "That''s one way of putting it."

    "So if we approach the Guild, someone might actually talk to us," Kino said. "Without having to go through a whole... Mess."

    "Let''s hope. It''ll still be a danger, though. Who knows how much the situation''s changed, since we''ve been travelling for so long."

    "I don''t know," Kino shrugged.

    "Who''s our best bet to talk to?"

    "If we''re trying to drive a wedge in the Guild itself..." Kino thought for a moment. "You might know better than I do, but my first thought is Yuuni Olms."

    "She doesn''t have an official position," Yan said. "Why are you singling her out?"

    "She seems like the right person. She likes you. She''s got dirt on basically everyone. She''s got connections within the Empire. She''s eager to move up in the world."

    Yan considered this. "Is she still on her father''s ship?"

    "Part of the reason she was talking to Sandreas was that she couldn''t get a stardrive of her own."

    That gave Yan pause. "Can we-- Nevermind, the answer to that question is definitely no."

    "What?"

    "I was thinking about trying to bribe her with a stardrive," Yan said. "But I don''t want to make one, and I don''t want any of us to try."

    "Get Chanam to do it," Kino said.

    "I''m not going to tell a kid to risk his life!"

    "I''m joking."

    Yan relaxed slightly. "It''s hard to tell with you, sometimes."

    "Sorry."

    "It''s okay."

    "We''ll have to give her something," Kino said. "I don''t think she''ll work with us for no reason."

    "I don''t know if she has to work with us," Yan said contemplatively. "If we can just get her to consider herself, and work against the rest of the Guild, that might be enough."

    "If she was going to call for a vote of no confidence in Wil Vaneik, she would have already done that."

    "I don''t know if she has that power," Yan said. "She''s neither a captain, nor her ship''s delegate. Her father might not want to get their family''s hands messy."

    "That makes sense," Kino said. "Then what would she be able to do?"

    "Does she know about the murder?" Yan asked, referring to Thule''s killing of his and Olms''s former master, the late Guildmaster Ungarti Vaneik.

    "She might suspect," Kino said. "But I think the only people who know are Vaneik, his mother, Thule, any collaborators they had, and Imperial people. And us," she tacked on.

    "Hm. Is it worth it to tell her?"

    "We don''t have any proof."

    "She might believe us. She doesn''t like Thule, and she does like me, as you said. Though I don''t really understand why."

    "Spacer solidarity," Kino said with a shrug. "Or maybe for the same reason Sandreas likes her, probably."

    "Sandreas likes Olms?" Yan felt a weird pang of jealousy at that. It was her own problem, considering that she had abandoned Sandreas, but still, she didn''t like the thought. It was stupid, but she had liked having a place in Sandreas''s heart.

    "I think he does. Or he wouldn''t listen to her so much."

    "Okay. That''s irrelevant," Yan said, attempting to change the conversation around. "So we should track her down. Her family''s ship shouldn''t be that hard to find."

    "If you say it, let it be," Kino said.

    <hr>

    Yan vaguely knew the routes of Banmei Olms''s ship, the Neutron Star, so she navigated them towards one of the mining colonies that the ship regularly offloaded from. A mining colony was by far the best option to meet up at. The amount of time it took to load ore onto the ship and offload supplies was usually more than the standard eight hours that a ship would stay in port, and mining colonies did not usually have ansible access. Some did, but it was fairly rare. Additionally, there would be far less ship traffic, which meant far less chance of the First Star encountering trouble.

    It was a long trip to this mining colony, having to come all the way from where they had been at Olkye, and cross practically the entire length of the Empire. Yan found herself wishing that they could stop at one of the many stations that they could have easily routed to. But there was no way that they could stop at a station, so they didn''t.

    The whole trip, Sylva was cold to her. Yan had at first thought that it was because they had simply gotten onto different schedules, so they rarely saw each other, but when Yan tried to shift her waking and sleeping hours to more closely align with Sylva''s, Sylva shifted hers in the opposite direction. Yan couldn''t figure out what she needed to say to get them back onto comfortable terms with each other, so she didn''t say anything.

    Everyone spent a lot of time alone. They each carved out their little haunts aboard the ship. It wasn''t sad or lonely, precisely, but walking through the empty corridors of the First Star sometimes gave Yan the feeling that she was trespassing on hallowed ground-- just from the way that there seemed to never be anyone else around, and the way her footsteps echoed off the walls. This period of isolation couldn''t last. Yan knew it wasn''t healthy for any of them, so she resolved that after the meeting with the Neutron Star, however that went, she would make more of an effort too bring them back together. For now, though, thinking of how she wanted this meeting to go, if it was going to go at all, made her very, very nervous. Enough that it took up almost all of her conscious thought, all the time.

    The First Star waited on the edge of the system where the mining colony was. They weren''t invisible, as that would have been far too much work, but they were far enough away from the mining colony and running cold enough that Yan was fairly certain that they wouldn''t be seen.

    After about ten days of waiting, which could have honestly been much more, the Neutron Star jumped in. Yan was awake at the time, which was lucky, or she wouldn''t have felt it, and she put down her current project (reorganizing the workshop) and headed for the bridge. She stopped by Kino''s room, found her, and brought her along.

    "You know you''re going to have to do all the talking, right?" Yan said.

    "I know."

    As they walked through the halls, Yan also paged Iri and Chanam, since they would probably want to be involved. Sylva... Well, Sylva was a whole different can of worms. Yan didn''t want to bother her, since she was probably asleep.

    They all met up on the bridge.

    "This took long enough," Chanam complained, sitting down at a random seat. Yan glared at him when his hands inched a little too close to the controls.

    "It could have been much longer," Yan said. "I''m grateful we had this chance to calm down."

    "Yes, it''s certainly been nothing but calm around here," Iri said with a yawn. She sounded insincere, but that might have just been tiredness. Apparently, Yan had woken her up with her summons.

    "You all ready for this?" Yan asked.

    There was a general murmuring of assent, and Yan gestured to Kino, to begin the radio broadcast that they had prepared, one that would light them up in the sky. This mining colony would have no reason to know that the First Star was a rogue ship, and neither would the Neutron Star, Banmei Olms''s ship, so Yan felt confident that they wouldn''t be attacked as soon as they revealed themselves. That was, of course, unless Sandreas had announced things in the time that they had been gone. That wouldn''t have been unthinkable, but it didn''t seem likely.

    "Neutron Star, this is Apprentice Kino Mejia calling from the First Star," Kino said. The ship names were similar, which was amusing, but ships all tended to follow similar naming conventions. It just made the phrasing of things slightly awkward on occasion.

    There was a long delay.

    "This is Captain Banmei Olms aboard the Neutron Star," came the reply. "To what do we owe this honor?" the voice over the line was incredulous sounding, as though it were inconceivable that First Sandreas''s private ship could be hanging out at a relatively tiny mining colony, waiting for their relatively unimportant ship to show up.

    "This is a social visit," Kino said. "We were in the area and were gratified to see that your schedule aligned with ours."

    "Of course," Banmei said. "Would you and your ship''s captain like to come aboard? We have plenty of time for niceties as we load."

    "Unfortunately, we can''t stay for very long," Kino said, dodging the question of the First Star''s captain. "Is your daughter on board?"

    "Yuuni? Yes."

    "I have something that I would like to discuss with her in person," Kino said. "If it is amenable to you, I would like to receive her here."

    There was a long silence. Yan half expected him to say no, and Kino would have had to go to his ship, but then a different voice, one she recognized, came over the line. "I''m happy to come," Yuuni Olms said. "When do you want me?"

    "At your convenience," Kino said. "We will send docking instructions for your shuttle."

    "Excellent. I''ll come immediately," she said.

    "Look forward to seeing you. Thank you, Captain Olms."

    "Anything for the service of the Empire," Banmei said, sounding slightly bemused.

    They waited for a while and watched the Neutron Star prepare to receive its massive cargo of ore, and as one of its shuttles began a slow and arduous trek towards the First Star. Yan sent docking information through their computer-- there was no need to do it over voice and risk being recognized. They had decided that there was no reason for Olms to know that Yan was actually alive. She would probably be in hot enough water just by being contacted by Kino, should she choose to mention it to Sandreas, or should the word get out among the Guild.

    Kino went to the bay to greet her, and Yan watched the scene unfold over the security cameras.

    Yuuni stepped out of the shuttle and, even from the weird high angle that they were observing from, she looked approximately the same as Yan remembered. As Yan had, she had abandoned her sensitive''s cassock for the convenient jumpsuits that all spacers wore. She smiled when she saw Kino, and pushed off the side of her shuttle to greet her.

    "Apprentice Mejia, it''s good to see you again. I was under the impression that you were with the Fleet."

    "Plans changed," Kino said, rather stiffly. "It''s good to see you as well." They shook hands. Kino''s left hand was by her side; Yuuni hadn''t seemed to have noticed it yet. "Shall we go somewhere more comfortable?" Kino asked.

    "I always forget that you non-spacers don''t like no-grav," Yuuni said. "Lead the way."

    Kino snuck a glance up at the camera, in the corner of the room, then led Yuuni out and down the hallway. Yan struggled to keep up her watch on the feeds as they continued to change locations.

    "How have you been?" Kino asked, rather awkwardly filling the silence.

    "Same as I have been since Ungarti died," Yuuni said. "I''m glad to be back with my family, I suppose."

    "No word on getting your own ship yet, I suppose?"

    "It''s been a process. I''ve been working on it, but it''s hard when I''m out of contact most of the time."

    "I understand," Kino said.

    "How have you been? Are you doing alright since Yan--"

    "I''m fine." Kino was short, and even with her flat affect, and over the microphone, she didn''t sound fine.

    "I''m sorry you weren''t able to attend the funeral," Yuuni continued, ignoring Kino''s weird cutting off. "It was a touching service."

    "I said my goodbyes privately," Kino said. They came to the meeting room and Kino let Olms in. Yan was relieved to no longer have to flip between video feeds. As Kino''s hand lingered on the door, Yuuni gasped.

    "What happened?" Yuuni asked, pausing in the doorway and hesitantly reaching out to Kino''s left hand. Kino was frozen stiffly in place, and let Yuuni touch the back of her hand, holding the door open.

    "An accident," Kino said. "Don''t worry about it."

    Yuuni''s face was dark. "Are you sure you''re alright?"

    "I''m fine," Kino said again. "Please don''t worry about it. Come in."

    Yuuni dropped her hand and walked into the meeting room, taking a seat at one of the empty chairs. Kino sat across from her. "What is it you wanted to talk about?" Yuuni asked.

    "I''m here to give you a warning about some actors in the Guild," Kino said.

    Yuuni raised an eyebrow. "You''re giving me hints about Guild politics now? I thought this relationship went the other direction."

    Kino shrugged. "You don''t have to listen to me. I don''t have any easy proof."

    "I''m all ears," Yuuni said.

    Kino drummed her fingers on the table and hesitated, drawing out the moment. "Did you know that Nomar killed Ungarti?" Kino asked.

    Even on the camera, it was plan how drawn and pale Yuuni''s face became. "What?" she asked.

    "Nomar killed Ungarti," Kino said again. "You didn''t know."

    "Are you serious?"

    "Would I lie?" Kino asked. "I''ve never had any reason to lie to you."

    "But he was--"

    "You think that a sensitive can''t kill their master?" Kino''s words, though they were delivered in her usual tone, held a bitter, ironic twist for Yan. After all, here they were. The idea of a betrayal like Kino''s had once been so impossible as to be laughable, and yet. Here they were, indeed.

    Yuuni shook her head. "I can''t believe that."

    "He was out for power, and he was about to lose his chance at it," Kino said. "I know it''s hard to believe, but it''s true."

    "How do you know?"

    "There was no autopsy done, but First Sandreas''s bodyguard is adept at checking for poisons. He investigated Ungarti''s corpse at the funeral and found that he had been poisoned. From there, we conducted a quiet investigation into the prime suspects," Kino said. "Thule is guilty."

    "And Wil?" Yuuni asked quietly.

    "Is still an idiot," Kino said, "but probably in on it."

    Yuuni''s voice was choked. "Why haven''t you told anyone else?"

    "First Sandreas believes it is not in our best interests to destabilize the Guild with this information," Kino said.

    "Then why is he telling me?"

    "He is not telling you," Kino said. "I am telling you." A distinction, which, Yan hoped, would keep Yuuni from bringing up this meeting to Sandreas directly.

    "Why?" Yuuni asked again.

    "There are too many lies in the Empire," Kino said. "And I am worried for your safety. You provided us valuable information, but if you go prying too far, you might have uncovered this on your own, and you would have been in danger. Now, if you choose to look, you can be prepared."

    "You''re not giving me any protection?" Yuuni asked.

    "May the knowledge of God be your shield, and wisdom your sword," Kino intoned. Yuuni sighed loudly. "But I believe whatever First Sandreas offered to you still stands."

    "No offense, but I''m probably safer on my family''s ship when we''re out of contact most of the time, than I am with some sort of office on Emerri," Yuuni said.

    "I understand."

    "Is there anything that I should be doing with this information?" Yuuni asked. "Is this a tit for tat type deal?"

    "I don''t want anything from you," Kino said. "Aside from seeing this wrong righted. Perhaps it would be best if the Guild was not run by an idiot and a murderer working in concert."

    Yuuni rubbed her temple. "How much fire will First Sandreas bring down on my head if I manage to convince people to bring a vote of no confidence?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said. "That probably depends on how well it turns out."

    "By that you mean...?"

    "If the vote fails, and Wil Vaneik remains Guildmaster, Nomar will be able to connect the dots and trace it back to the Empire. We rely on the Guild, as much as we would rather not. He has the power to completely cripple the imperial economy."

    "You think I don''t know that?" Yuuni snapped. "Sorry, didn''t mean to be so rough there. So subtlety is the name of the game."

    "And not tossing the whole Guild into chaos," Kino said. That was, of course, their actual goal. They were simply hoping that Yuuni Olms would end up treading on one too many toes with this.

    "Can I ask you a question?" Yuuni asked.

    "Of course."

    "The ship, the one that Nomar was constructing, it''s still out there, correct?"

    "Yes," Kino said.

    "How did it get away?" Olms asked.

    "It already had its engines in it. How did you know I went to see it?"

    "Word gets around," she said vaguely. "Certain people have been unhappier than usual."

    "The station is under Imperial control, at least."

    "You can always build another station," Yuuni said, waving her hand dismissively. "Stardrives are far harder to come by."

    "I should hope so," Kino said. "Nomar, at least, seems less tempted to make his own than I would have expected."

    Yuuni laughed. "I believe that we were thoroughly cautioned against it enough. Stardrives can put the fear of God into a person like nothing else can, I think."

    "That''s fair. What was it that you want to know about the supership?"

    "Just how much of a danger it is."

    "It''s probably still very bare inside. Construction was interrupted. It will take a while before it can support a real crew, I think."

    "You think."

    Kino shrugged. "I''m not an expert, and I wasn''t given a guided tour of the interior."

    "Ah."

    "Is there anything else you wanted to know?"

    "Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?" Yuuni asked.

    "There is one thing, actually," Kino said. "It''s not important," she added, at Yuuni''s slightly alarmed and intent look. "You probably won''t be seeing me again for a long time. And I just wanted to say..." She paused, collected her thoughts. Yan tensed, watching, as Kino prepared to deliver her message. "Yan would have wanted to thank you, for all your help."

    "Oh," Yuuni said, sounding sad. "Yeah. It, you know... Yeah." She didn''t really have words for it.

    "I wasn''t there, on Olar, but she told me about how you stood up for her. She always really appreciated that. She would have wanted you to know."

    Yuuni smiled. "Thank you for telling me, Kino."

    Kino nodded.

    "I wish we had gotten to work together more," Yuuni said. "I always liked the thought of a spacer being First. It''s... It''s a real shame what happened."

    Kino nodded again, and they both were silent and pensive for a minute. "Thank you for coming," Kino said. "I appreciate you taking the time."

    "Thank you for telling me this," Yuuni said. "I''ll do my best to tread carefully. I can''t make any promises to you, though."

    "I''m not looking for anything from you," Kino said, which was a lie. "I just thought that you deserved to know."

    "Thank you for that."

    Kino nodded again. "I''ll escort you back."

    "Where''s the rest of your crew, by the way?" Yuuni asked, as they both stood up. "This is a beautiful, empty ship."

    "You noticed?" Kino asked. "It''s just a small place. Runs with just a few people."

    "I wish I had a ship like this," Yuuni opined.

    "Maybe someday," Kino said. "Stardrives are being made all the time."

    "As are fortunes and prison sentences."

    "Perhaps."

    Kino escorted her back to the bay where she had left her shuttle.

 Chapter One Hundred Two - Quid Pro Quo

    Quid Pro Quo

    <blockquote>

    "A healthy conversation is a garden and rumors are weeds. Don''t let them spread."

    -maxim written on the walls of Sid''s year 2 Academy dorm room

    </blockquote>

    Sandreas was in a foul mood this morning, Sid noted. He stormed into his office like a cloud full of volcanic debris, and sat down behind his desk with an annoyed posture that Sid could have picked up from a mile away. Halen strode into the room half a step behind, and gently closed the door. Sid was seated on the couch; Ms. Rosario had let him in earlier.

    "Something happen?" Sid asked, glancing between the two. Halen took his familiar position, leaning against the wall behind where Sandreas was sitting, though several steps away from where he might have once been expected to reside. Something had driven a wedge between the two men, and Sid wasn''t privy to it. Not that he particularly wanted to be, but it was something that he couldn''t help but notice. They were still close, obviously, but Halen was cool towards Sandreas where he had once been warm, and took out some of his frustrations on Sid while he taught him. Sid''s body ached after several more sessions with Halen training him to resist his power. It was deeply unpleasant, and Sid would take Sandreas''s poor mood over that almost any day.

    "Yes and no," Sandreas said after a second. "About twenty minutes ago, I was handed a report from some of our people within the Guild."

    "And?" Sid asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. The Guild and its goings on were of particular interest to him, partially because he was following its developments for signs of Yan, and partially because he  had become entangled with enough Guild politics to last a lifetime. Between the trip to Olar, and the nonsense with the supership and the secret station, he was abreast of all the drama. All except for what had happened at Vaneik''s funeral, which Kino (fuck Kino, he thought) had been present for.

    "People are reporting that Ms. Olms is dipping her toes back into politics," Sandreas said, leaning forward on his own desk.

    "I thought that was what you wanted."

    Sandreas laughed, but the humor didn''t take any of the frustration out of his posture. "Certainly. Under my direction alone."

    Sid narrowed his eyes. "Seriously?"

    "You didn''t think that Olms and Nomar hadn''t been placed in that apprenticeship to specifically get Imperial hands on the Guild, did you?"

    "I thought you had basically given up on that," Sid grumbled. "Since it hasn''t been working." He jerked his head, motioning to the absent Nomar Thule.

    "I had high hopes for Olms, still," Sandreas said. "She''s competent, has some loyalty to the Empire, and I like her."

    "Then I don''t see the problem," Sid said.

    "The problem is that the last thing that I want is Guild trouble right this second," Sandreas said. "In five years, when things have settled a bit, sure. Now? I can think of nothing less pleasant."

    "What do you mean? It''s not like we''re actually any closer to solving the Thule problem. Maybe Olms shaking things up will be good."

    Sandreas shook his head. "I wanted to deal with him quietly."

    "You mean like..." Sid made the rather evocative sign for killing someone.

    "No. I figure that Thule can lose favor with the man who is actually elected, and we won''t have to do anything that needlessly messy."

    "Two murders don''t make a successful regime change, I guess," Sid said. "How are you going to make him fall out of favor with Wil Vaneik?"

    "I was going to try to quietly have some talks with the people who are supporting him financially, and possibly wait until his family did something high profile and embarassing, but we''re a little late on that."

    "I don''t see why you couldn''t still do that."

    "Because Olms is going around telling people that she wants to call for a vote of no confidence in Vaneik."

    "So?"

    "There''s no possible way that can turn out well," Sandreas said.

    "What''s the worst case scenario?"

    "You weren''t there when Vaneik was elected," Sandreas said. "It was a disaster area."

    "Sure. But people have had time to calm down, haven''t they?"

    "It will only be worse if she does this, or if someone else does now that she''s put the idea in their heads."

    Sid stared at Sandreas, waiting for him to explain. He didn''t see what the problem was.

    "They were only able to elect someone at Vaneik''s funeral because it happened so suddenly that no one had time to make some sort of complicated power grab. If she starts spreading this, there''s going to be time and time and time for every single ship to make a complicated web of who they''ll support and under what circumstances. I guarantee that it will rip the whole Guild apart."

    "Then let them do that, and let the dust settle. It''ll be fine," Sid said. He wasn''t overly concerned.

    "You say that now. But when planetary supply chains get interrupted, and Guild ships start taking potshots at each other, you''ll be singing a different tune."

    "Has anything like this ever happened?" Sid asked.

    "Did you pay attention in history class at all? Did you learn anything at the Academy?"

    Sid resented the accusation, so he leaned back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest. "Sure. But no one cares about the Guild except for spacers."

    "Then everyone is an idiot. The Guild holds the Empire together."

    "Look, if the Guild starts being more trouble than it''s worth, why don''t you just abolish it?"

    Sandreas stared him down. "Image."

    Sid rolled his eyes. "It would look bad, but you''ve stepped in to prevent a civil war before. How would that be any different than Jenjin?"

    "You''ve seen how well Jenjin is working out."

    "People will whine about anything. I doubt that''s going to go anywhere."

    "You don''t elect a secessionist to a council seat if you don''t intend for something to happen."

    "A secessionist would never run for office, because that would be legitimizing the whole thing," Sid retorted. "I don''t think it''s that big of a deal."

    "You know it''s my job and yours to worry about this sort of thing," Sandreas said. "You can''t just ignore problems and hope that they go away."

    "I''m not ignoring them," Sid said. "I''m paying attention. I just think it''s a little early to do anything."

    "Have I even said that I am going to do something?" Sandreas asked, raising his eyebrows.

    Sid relaxed a little. Sandreas was obviously teasing him for getting defensive. Sandreas''s posture was more relaxed than when he had come in, and Halen was watching the exchange with a slightly amused expression. "Fine," Sid said, relenting. "What do you want to do?"

    "I need to get in contact with Olms."

    "I assumed you already were."

    "I need to find out what her motivations are for doing this now."

    "Presumably she still wants the stardrive she feels like she''s owed."

    "If it costs me a stardrive to keep the Guild operational, I''ll pay that price," Sandreas said.

    "You''re going to stoop to this kind of blackmail?"

    "I wouldn''t really call this blackmail. More like a bribe, to get her to calm down."

    "Won''t the rest of the Guild be suspicious?"

    "The Guild already thinks that Olms is an Imperial puppet. Giving her a stardrive probably won''t change that in any way."

    "Every time you interact with her, it makes it that much harder for her to become Guildmaster," Sid said.

    "She''s a tool. She doesn''t need to be the Guildmaster to be useful to me."

    "Fine way to talk about a person," Sid said, trying to keep his tone as light as he could. He hoped his accompanying smile would get the message across.

    "Of course."

    There was a moment of silence, and Sid continued to smirk at Sandreas. The mood in the room was much improved, at this point. Sid and Sandreas, for how little time they had actually spent together, and how much Sid tended to intentionally rub Sandreas the wrong way, did understand each other and get along fairly well.

    "There is one other thing," Sandreas said.

    "Which is?"

    "We wouldn''t be hearing about this if Olms didn''t want us to hear," Sandreas said.

    "You sure? I thought we had put more people in the Guild."

    "There''s a limit to what we can feasibly do, and for the most part we have reached that limit. Olms, and most other high people in the Guild, have their ways around our surveillance. You know this. They kept their supership hidden for years."

    "And then Thule and company got clumsy, I know."

    "Exactly. But this little breadcrumb trail that Olms is leaving, talking to very specific people, I''d say this is a message to us. She''s testing the water."

    "Trying to see what she can get away with?"

    "Maybe just trying to see what we''ll do," Sandreas said. "Like I said, I don''t actually know what her reasoning is."

    "So, are you going to send her a letter?"

    Sandreas wove his fingers together and rested his hands on his desk. "You''re not going to like this," he said, glancing backwards at Halen.

    "Then don''t say it," Halen said, speaking for the first time that Sid had seen.

    Sandreas shrugged. "I had the thought," he said. "It would be better to talk in person."

    "Of course," Sid said. "Summon her here."

    "She isn''t exactly available at my beck and call," Sandreas said with a slight smile. "But you are."

    "I thought you didn''t want any of us going--" Sid stopped as he realized what a slip of the tongue he had made. "I thought you didn''t want me," he clarified, "going anywhere."

    "I don''t. But I think it''s slightly less obtrusive to send you than to have her family''s ship deviate from its natural course, or to give her  a reason to travel on other ships and spread her pernicious ideas that way."

    "I don''t think you can stop pernicious ideas from spreading," Sid said.

    "Actually, we''re rather good at it," Sandreas said. "It''s just that the Guild is a never ending mill of gossip. It''s usually harmless, though."

    "True."

    "Are you opposed to this idea?"

    "You haven''t fully explained it."

    Halen was glowering in the back, in a rare show of emotion. He looked at Sid and shook his head ever so slightly, asking Sid to say no to Sandreas when he asked again.

    "You''ll hitch a ride on a Guild ship, you''ll head to whichever station is next on the Neutron Star''s route, you''ll wait there until Olms and the rest of her family arrive, you''ll have a talk with her about stopping her little instigation."

    "You make that sound so easy," Sid said.

    "It shouldn''t exactly be difficult. You''re not actually dealing with Guild policy, you''re just talking to someone who, for all intents and purposes, is your peer."

    "I resent the idea that a former Guild apprentice holds anything on me, enough to be considered my peer."

    "She''s five years your senior, at the very least," Sandreas said with a wave of his hand. "Stop being so flippant. Will you do it or not?"

    "What about Yan?" Sid asked.

    "What about her?"

    "Don''t you think that there''s a chance that she''ll come after me?"

    "There''s a chance of many things," Sandreas said. "But since she hasn''t shown herself yet, I don''t think that this will be the time that she does. We aren''t going to advertise where you''re going, after all. This will be a quick trip."

    Sid glanced between Halen and Sandreas. Halen''s face was drawn, paler than usual, though its chronic red splotchiness remained as always.

    "If you think it''s necessary and safe," Sid said.

    "I''ve been thinking a lot about this," Sandreas said. "Not this eventuality specifically,but the eventuality that you will have to go off on your own. I can''t keep you here forever. As my second, you will need to do tasks in my stead, until you eventually take over my position."

    Sid nodded slowly.

    "I''m going with him," Halen said abruptly.

    Sandreas turned in his seat, looking at Halen. "Are you?" he asked.

    "I''m not going to let you risk this for so little," Halen said. "You could just as easily send her a letter, and you know it."

    "She wants something out of us, and it''s faster and more efficient for Sid to go," Sandreas said. "Do you disagree?"

    "Summon her here," Halen argued.

    "If you want to go with him, fine," Sandreas said dismissively. "I have no problem with that." He turned back to his desk and looked at Sid. "How do you feel about this?"

    Sid''s eyes met Halen''s. "Fine," Sid said.

    "Excellent. Talk to Ms. Rosario. You''ll leave as soon as she can arrange passage on a ship."

    "I shouldn''t be gone for more than a tenday, right?"

    "Travel time will depend on what the ideal place to meet up with the Neutron Star is. But it shouldn''t take that long. Now, I have a meeting with the representative from Calais in about ten minutes. I suggest you spend some time familiarizing yourself with the information we received about who Olms has been talking to."

    Rather unexpectedly, it was Halen who moved for the door, before Sid could stand. He left without a word or a glance back at Sandreas. Sid gave Sandreas a questioning look, but Sandreas seemed to be a combination of mildly angry and impassive, or at the very least he made no indication that he would provide Sid an explanation for Halen''s behavior.

    "Okay," Sid said, very slowly. "I''ll get going then."

    "I suggest you do, unless you want to hear all about Calais''s mining contracts," Sandreas said, picking up a pen on his desk and twirling it around.

    Sid got up and left. He stopped at Ms. Rosario''s desk for a moment. "Did you see where Halen went?" he asked.

    "Looked like he was turning left," she said. "Do you need me to page him?"

    "No," Sid said. "It''s not important, thanks."

    Sid headed into the hallway, and looking left he did see Halen''s massive shadow departing around the corner. Sid followed after him, not getting too close, not trying to make it obvious that he was there and that was what he was doing. Halen made his way through the occupied corridors of Stonecourt, and then down the steps into the lower, less trafficked levels. In one particularly empty hallway, he stopped in front of an unmarked door. Sid wasn''t sure what its purpose was; he didn''t think he had ever been in this area of Stonecourt before. Sid was a good distance away, behind a corner, and he stopped as well, watching to see what Halen would do.

    "You think I didn''t know you were following me?" Halen called, still facing the door.

    Sid felt the hard touch of his power, compelling his feet to move. Sid had had plenty of training, though, and he shook the touch off like it was a particularly heavy blanket. Halen hadn''t been trying very hard.

    Sid stepped forward anyway, coming up next to Halen. Halen looked down at him and unlocked the door, holding it open so that Sid could step inside.

    It was a little apartment. In the dim light spilling in from the corridor, Sid could barely make out the vague forms of living room furniture: a couch, a table. Halen flipped on the lights, revealing it fully. One wall had photographs hung on it, of various people around Stonecourt that Sid recognized. There was a photo of Sandreas, and next to him, a photo of Sid. Hernan had a photo on the wall, as well as Kino''s former minder, Deboan. Sid assumed the other photographs were members of Stonecourt security that Halen worked closely with.

    Along the opposite wall there was a table, which Halen walked over to. His bulk shielded it from Sid''s view for a second, but when Halen stepped back, he could see that Halen had lit candles, and their smell began to permeate the room. On the table, in between the candles, Sid was very surprised to see something he recognized immediately: Yan''s fishbowl, the one she had made as her final project for the Academy. The little gold fish was still swimming around as peacefully as ever, unperturbed by the candles and darkness alike, indifferent to the presence of Sid and Halen.

    "Where''d you get that?" Sid asked.

    "I had Yan''s apartment cleaned out," Halen said. "It seemed a shame to..." he trailed off, seemingly lost for words, a situation which Sid had never seen him in before. "Coffee?" Halen asked.

    "Sure."

    Halen vanished into an adjacent room, leaving Sid alone.

    Sid sat down on the couch. He was surprised to find that it was significantly larger than it looked. Halen must have specialty sized furniture. Halen returned a moment or so later, bearing two mugs of coffee. He passed one to Sid. He must have used the power to boil the water, because there was no other explanation for how he could have made it so quickly. Sid was forced to scoot over to the side of the couch. Even though the furniture was larger than normal, Halen took up a surprising amount of it.

    Sid sipped his coffee, somewhat grateful to have his hands occupied in cupping the mug, so that he didn''t have the impulse to use them to talk. He felt like he should say something to Halen, but he wasn''t sure what. He settled on what felt like the lamest possible opening.

    "Are you okay?" Sid asked.

    "Are you?"

    Sid''s mouth twitched in a half smile."I''m always okay."

    "Then so am I."

    "What are you fighting with Sandreas about?"

    "Aymon and I are not fighting," Halen said. "If we were, you would know."

    "Then what are you angry at him for?"

    "I somehow fail to think that it''s any of your business to know."

    "I''m going to tell him to apologize to you," Sid said.

    "I will politely ask you not to interfere."

    "It becomes my business when you and him are taking out your issues on me," Sid said. "You think I don''t notice?"Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    "I don''t have any idea what you mean by that."

    "You''re fucking torturing me when you teach me," Sid said. "And using where I go and what I do as some kind of arguing piece is annoying."

    Halen didn''t respond for a long second. "If you don''t want to train, we can stop," he said. "As for your travel arrangements, I would object regardless. It''s dangerous."

    "I''m not saying that we should stop, I''m not even, like, mad, I''m just saying." He didn''t actually know what it was he was trying to say. "You wouldn''t have treated me this way six months ago."

    "A lot has changed in six months."

    Sid stared across the room, at the fish bathed in flickering candle light. "I haven''t."

    "The stars change around us, and the sky reflects that change back onto our souls," Halen said. He was quoting something, but Sid didn''t know what. "You have changed."

    "Maybe."

    They were silent again for a minute. "Is Sandreas sending me because he trusts me, or because he thinks it''s an easy task?"

    "I haven''t discussed it with him," Halen said shortly.

    "But you know."

    "I would assume it''s because you''ve worked with Olms in the past, and you''re aware of some of the tensions in the Guild. Don''t think too into it."

    "Can''t help it."

    "One of Aymon''s problems is that he thinks more of himself than anyone else." Halen was also staring into space.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I''m sure he didn''t consider your feelings about it at all."

    "He asked if I was alright with it."

    "That is just him checking to see if the plans he put into place are going to go smoothly."

    "Are you saying he doesn''t care?"

    "Not exactly."

    "Okay." Sid drank his coffee.

    "You would have been jumping at the starting line for a chance to go somewhere, six months ago," Halen said. "You don''t feel thrilled, now."

    "Yeah." Sid thought about explaining it. Halen probably knew. "You''re right that it''s dangerous. And there''s nothing but bad memories wrapped up in all this Guild shit."

    "You''ll have to put all that personal emotion behind you when you''re working. That''s part of what makes an efficient First."

    "I know. I''m trying. I''ll do it." He put his cup of coffee down on the table. It was mostly empty. He leaned back into the side of the couch, half turning to face Halen. His hands were slightly shaky, and they were pale in the weird light in the room. "Do you think I''ll make a good First?" he signed.

    "Yes," Halen signed back, though it took a moment. Sid watched his eyes, noticed them flick upwards as he struggled to remember what Sid''s signs meant. Clumsily, he continued. "I know you will."

    "How do you know?"

    "I hear your heart," Halen said. The sign Halen used for ''hear'' was not the usual one, the one that meant conversational listening/understanding. Instead, it was the sign for physical hearing-- the one which contrasted to the sign for physical deafness. It was an odd turn of phrase that Halen had chosen. Sid wasn''t sure if he was reading too much into it.

    "Hear?" Sid signed back, using the conversational sign and raising his eyebrows to punctuate the question.

    Halen just smiled. "I hope that won''t be for a long time. I want to see you grow into yourself." Halen''s use of idiom was clumsy. He phrased things in sign a way that no fluent speaker would, but the way he picked and chose the limited words he knew formed a coherent picture regardless. Still, it took a second for Sid''s brain to process what Halen meant, thinking around the words.

    Sid had understood before that Sandreas would only join the Emperor when Halen was dead, but he hadn''t quite realized that that would mean that Halen would never see Sid become First. That was an odd twist at Sid''s heart, but he kept his face still. Useless, because Halen could ''hear'' his heart, but he had to maintain the image. "I already am myself."

    "I know," Halen signed. "I know."

    <hr>

    Sid felt like he had visited Byforest Station a hundred times at this point. It was all so familiar and unchanged. They were very, very lucky that the Neutron Star was making a swing through this section of the Empire, at just the right time for Sid to go and pay it a visit. It cut his travel time down to the absolute bare minimum, and besides that, Byforest was a pleasant place to stay. Far better than some run down mining colony in the middle of nowhere.

    The Neutron Star didn''t usually come this direction, but apparently Banmei Olms had some business deals to work out with a new mining route, and this was a convenient middle ground for all parties. That was the pretense, anyway. Considering that Byforest was a central hub station, being relatively close to Emerri, it was also the perfect place for Olms to spread her little message. Sid was glad that he was here to stop it before it went too far.

    He couldn''t know exactly when the Neutron Star would be jumping in, but he had left a message on the station''s computers to be delivered to the ship whenever it docked. One of his team would coordinate with the Neutron Star''s crew and set up a meeting between himself and Olms. Sid was hopeful that Yuuni Olms''s father, Banmei, would understand that this was Imperial business involving his daughter, and not insist on coming to the meeting. The finances of his ship were of no consequence to Sid, and had nothing to do with what he was talking to Yuuni about, but it was Banmei''s right as the captain to decide which meetings his crew attended, especially those concerning his own daughter. Sid had to wonder what their relationship was like. He thought about it a little bit too much, because thinking about the lives of spacers brought him perilously close to thinking about Yan, a subject which he wanted to avoid.

    It didn''t end up taking more than a few days of waiting. Sid kept himself busy by hooking up his computer to the ansible (a rare privilege) and getting as much work done as possible. It was intensely boring, and when he found himself getting too bogged down, he annoyed Halen or Hernan into going on a walk around the station with him, and admiring their big installed forest.

    Sid was almost surprised at how pleasant it was to spend time with Halen. Though the man often looked at him oddly, as though he was not seeing Sid but some kind of reflected image of someone else (Sandreas? Yan? Kino? Some stranger?), he was an entertaining enough conversationalist, and his sign was getting better every day. Sid had known that Halen was an intelligent man-- after all, he had managed to build a stardrive as a kid, from just an example, and he was Sandreas''s right hand man and constant advisor-- but seeing him pick apart sign into its component pieces and reassemble it into something approaching a conversational level was interesting to watch in real time. He remembered, with almost perfect recall, every sign that Sid made, and could often figure new ones out from context, without Sid needing to fingerspell or explain verbally. Sid took a little bit of pleasure in teasing Halen by dropping new signs in wherever he could fit them, as just a tiny bit of payback for the brutal lessons that Halen put him through. Those hadn''t stopped, but there was very limited space for private practice aboard the station, so they practiced in Sid''s room, where Sid learned fine control, directing Halen''s fingers and eyes.

    It was almost a nice vacation.

    When Yuuni Olms finally did appear, she agreed to meet Sid in a conference room that he had reserved aboard the station.

    "Can you wait out here?" Sid signed to Halen. "Don''t want to make this awkward."

    "You trust her not to do anything?"

    "Yes. And I can take care of myself."

    "I''ll believe that when I see it," Halen signed. But he agreed to wait outside.

    Sid saw Olms approaching before she saw him. The station''s corridors, with their massively wide spinning rings, were somewhat confusing, so Sid watched as Yuuni consulted a map on the wall to figure out where she was in relationship to the agreed upon meeting place. Halen nudged Sid in the shoulder, and sent him a message in the power. It was clearer than Sid would have expected.

    "You should call her over. Don''t let her embarrass herself."

    Sid rolled his eyes. He didn''t think it was that embarrassing, but he complied, though he wasn''t sure how exactly to address her. She wasn''t an apprentice anymore, but they were, as Sandreas had said, too close to peers for it to feel right calling her Ms., and too distant of acquaintances for him to address her by her first name. Usually, he wouldn''t have cared about such things, but he didn''t want to make too bad of an impression, not when he was alone with no backup from the other former apprentices, and when he really needed something from Olms.

    "Olms! Over here!" He decided to go with just the last name, which was simple enough. She looked up  and smiled, visible even so far down the hallway that she was almost disappearing into the curve. She jogged over, long legs taking the curve of the hallway in stride. She was dressed in the uniform of her family''s ship. When she had attended Yan''s funeral, she had worn her cassock, but here on Byforest was spacer turf, so Sid wasn''t exactly surprised to see her in a jumpsuit.

    "It''s good to see you again, Apprentice Welslak," Olms said, reaching out her hand to shake.

    "It''s just Sid," he said with a smile. "Glad to see you as well. Will you come in?"

    Olms nodded to Halen, and slipped inside the conference room. Sid shut the door behind them. "I feel like I''m a popular person around the Empire these days," Olms said. "More popular than I ever was when I was Ungarti''s apprentice."

    "You certainly have been making your rounds," Sid said, pulling out a chair. Olms sat down across from him. "How have you been? I haven''t seen you since the funeral."

    "I''ve been alright. Keeping myself busy," she said. "Your hair is getting long. Never thought I''d see you grow it out."

    Sid smoothed down his thick hair, growing in dark and somewhat uneven at the top of his head. "Yeah. It just reminded me too much of my trip to Olar to keep it shaved."

    "That feels like a hundred lifetimes ago, for the both of us."

    "A lot has happened."

    "Are you holding up?" Olms asked. "I understand that Yan''s passing must have hit you hard."

    "I''ll survive," Sid muttered. "I try not to think about it too much."  There was a pause as Olms studied him, clearly considering what she was about to say. It was clear from her posture that she knew exactly what this conversation was about, but Sid thought that she was probably judging how quickly she wanted to broach the subject.

    "I''ve been thinking about Ungarti''s death a lot recently," Olms said.

    "Really?"

    "Yes," Olms said.

    "What have you been thinking about it?"

    Olms leaned forward, placing her long arms on the table, staring intently at Sid. "I think that an autopsy should have been done."

    "I would have said the same thing, but the past is in the past," Sid said. "Don''t spacers hate autopsies?"

    "It''s desecration of the body," Olms said. "But I think that Ungarti and God would have allowed it to discover who killed him."

    So, she knew about that. Sid looked back at her, silent for a second, then leaned back in his seat. "What makes you say that?"

    "I talked to Marne Vaneik."

    Now, that was a slightly unexpected turn. Sid would have thought that she came to her conclusion simply by watching Thule''s behavior. Olms had plenty of reasons to scrutinize him thoroughly, and though he was careful, he was bound to slip up at some point.

    "And what did she say?"

    "I had to corner her," Olms said.

    "I hope there was nothing illegal or untoward that happened," Sid said dryly.

    "We used to be quite close, you know. I liked her. Spent a lot of time on her family''s ship."

    "I can understand that. I would assume from the way you said you had to corner her that you are no longer close."

    "I had thought that having me around reminded her too much of Ungarti," Olms said. "I could understand, and so I kept my distance. But when she had no problem with Nomar coming and going from her family''s ship, that was when I started to get suspicious."

    "Suspicious of who, exactly? Aren''t Thule and Wil Vaneik good friends."

    Olms laughed and slapped the table. "Nomar hates Wil," Olms said. "Always has, always will."

    "It doesn''t look that way from the outside."

    "Nomar is intensely good at sucking up in order to worm his way into people''s favor," Olms said. "That''s a compliment, by the way. People tend to trust him. Worthwhile quality in a leader."

    "And you''re not?"

    "I take after my father," Olms said. "If I were in charge, I''d waste less time on pleasantries."

    "Perhaps that''s why you weren''t elected."

    Olms shook her head, waved her hand through the air indifferently. "I knew that wasn''t going to happen without some sort of miracle," she said. "People wouldn''t trust me even if I wasn''t so direct. I''m an Imperial stooge, you see." She smiled at Sid.

    "Sure, sure." Sid tried to bring the conversation back to the real issue. "So, what did Marne Vaneik say?"

    "She gave me some very, very interesting information."

    "Which was?"

    "A letter that Ungarti had written to my father. It never reached him, of course."

    Sid raised his eyebrows. "Why was Ungarti writing to your father?"

    Olms''s smile was bitter as coffee. "He was endeavoring to see if my father would try to take advantage, were Ungarti to recommend that I be his successor as leader of the Guild."

    Sid bit his tongue, both surprised by the news that Yuuni was the real candidate for Guild succession after all, and by the implication that Ungarti''s wife had something to do with his murder. "Are you saying that Marne killed her husband?"

    Olms shook her head. "No."

    "Then who are you saying did?"

    "She told her son the bad news. Tried to have an adult conversation about it. Ungarti would have probably talked to him eventually, once he had made up his mind for real, but Wil is such a fucking baby--" Her hand was a fist on the table. "Anyway, he knew."

    "And?"

    "You don''t have to play dumb with me," Olms said. "I know you know."

    "Know what?"

    "Nomar killed Ungarti!" Olms said. The words crawled across Sid''s glasses at their normal pace, but her face was flushed.

    "What makes you think that I knew that?"

    Olms folded her arms across her chest. "I''ve seen the way that you talk about Nomar. They way First Sandreas talks about him. Oh, he''s fine on the news, but we''ve spoken in person. I can see it in your eyes."

    "Me making a face is not evidence," Sid said.

    "Don''t play dumb. It makes you look bad."

    "And why should I admit it to you, even if I did know?"

    "Because  it''s stupid to pretend, at this point," Olms said. "I''m going to continue acting as though you did know, and have known this whole time, because I know it."

    "Fine. Yes. I''ve known since the funeral."

    "How did you find out?"

    "I wasn''t there. Sandreas told me about it." Sid shrugged. "There were more important things going on at the time."

    "Fine," Olms said. She sounded as though she didn''t really believe Sid, but he wasn''t actually lying. At the time he had been far, far more concerned with Yan''s disappearance. How odd and sad it was that once again they were treading over the subject of Vaneik''s death, and once again Yan was gone, this time definitely for good. "And so you decided to do nothing?"

    "I believe the rationale was that it was better not to risk completely destabilizing the Guild. Nomar had gone out of his way to make it look like a natural illness. I was told he had waited until half the crew of Vaneik''s ship was sick with some sort of groundside illness."

    Olms nodded. "Not typically a fatal one."

    "It is fatal when you''re older, and already in poor health," Sid said. "If it had looked even slightly more suspicious, probably someone would have investigated immediately. But we have copies of the medical records, and..." Sid trailed off, letting Olms complete the thought silently.

    "I will politely ignore the fact that you were accessing confidential data aboard a private Guild ship."

    Sid laughed. "You already know. You made sure to speak to people in such a way that we would find out."

    "I''m not going to admit to that," Olms said. "But it''s good that you''re here, so that I can hear the Empire''s side of things."

    Sid laid his palms flat on the table. "It is the Empire''s position that the Guild''s stability is top priority. We go out of our way to keep trade between planets as peaceful and free flowing as possible."

    Olms raised an eyebrow.

    "There is a reason we attempted to deal with your little ship problem quietly," Sid said. "I suppose I should thank you for the tip off on that one, by the way."

    "Please don''t thank me for things that I officially had nothing to do with, don''t know about, and don''t have any connection to," Olms said. "If I had known some vital piece of knowledge for the security of the Empire, I would have said it directly." She smiled at him.

    "Of course, of course," Sid said. "Regardless, thank you for your cooperation and honesty. But I digress. We deal with things so that the Guild does not fall apart. If it did, a whole lot of planets would suddenly find themselves hurting for ores, and imported goods, and emergency relief when there are disasters. I would hate to throw the Imperial Council into a tizzy with something like that. So we want the Guild to continue as it always has."

    "I believe it always has, up until this point, not been run by a murderer," Olms said. "Wouldn''t it be best if Wil Vaneik and his puppetmaster were out of the picture?"

    "Perhaps. In a few years. It''s too soon, Yuuni," Sid said, using her first name as a bid to get her to listen.

    "I get the distinct impression that if the Empire had its way, things would continue quietly until Nomar could be dealt with, and then it would be a relatively easy transition for someone with a tight Imperial connection to jump their way into Wil''s good graces."

    "How could you say such a cruel thing?" Sid asked with a smile. "The Empire wants nothing more than the peaceful self-determination of the Guild."

    "And I want nothing more than a hot lunch," Olms said. "The point remains, the Empire will take far too long to make any move, and in that time,who knows what damage will be done to the whole fabric of the Guild. Our entire moral character is at stake."

    "There are many, many rude things I could say to that," Sid said.

    "Probably for the best if you don''t."

    "I know. I would just say that those who live in fragile starships should perhaps not aim their cannons so close."

    "I want to get rid of Wil."

    "And who do you suggest putting in his place?"

    "I don''t know," Olms said. "Almost anyone would be better."

    "It won''t be you, no matter how much you fish for it."

    "I know that starship jumped a long time ago. I''m not mourning for things that could never be, and that I probably wouldn''t want."

    "If not you then who?"

    "If not now then when?" Olms asked. "Look, I''d take almost anybody else. If we start this process now, we can see who the likely forerunners are and we can try to steer this in a way that is amenable to all of our interests."

    "That is not the position of the Empire," Sid said.

    "And what is the Empire''s position?"

    "The Guild should remain as it is for now. In a few years, we can reevaluate. But there''s too much going on already. We don''t want to stir this all up so soon after it was settled in the first place. It''s just as likely to tear the Guild apart as it is to bring anyone to justice."

    "I don''t think so."

    "There can''t be any justice," Sid said. "There''s no evidence you could bring, and it would be your word against theirs. It would look terrible to have you try to bring him down with a murder accusation."

    "I wouldn''t make that accusation," Olms said, her face very still. "No matter how much I want to. That secret can live with me. But I can''t let things stand. Ungarti died for the idea that neither Nomar nor Wil should take power. He died for that. I want to respect his wishes."

    "We already established that wouldn''t be possible."

    "This isn''t about me!" Olms was angry now. "He decided that neither of them were fit, and so neither of them are fit! How hard is that for you to understand?"

    Sid leaned back in his seat. For all Olms''s temper, he wasn''t afraid of her. He judged that he could probably take her in a fight, if he had to. But it definitely wasn''t going to come to that. They both had come to the table understanding that they were going to make an agreement. That hadn''t actually changed-- they just needed to work towards it with respect for the other''s position.

    "I understand," Sid said. "And I empathise with that. If something happened to Sandreas, God forbid, I would want to do everything in my power to uphold his wishes." The thought of something happening to Sandreas actually did make Sid a little sick. "But not now. You play your hand too soon, you let them entrench their power. I think you should spend some time growing your own standing, before you make this kind of move."

    "I have my own standing. You wouldn''t be here talking to me if I didn''t."

    "You''d have more with a ship to call your own. Get out from your father''s shadow, and from Ungarti''s."

    Olms stared at him, the blood suddenly draining from her face. "You''re here to bribe me?"

    "I wouldn''t put it in quite so crass of a term," Sid said. "But I am here to offer you a stardrive."

    "It will look very, very bad if you give me a stardrive and I tell people to back out now."

    "These things don''t need to happen exactly simultaneously. And they can be made to look somewhat legitimate."

    "How?"

    "The Empire can commission a Guild ship to be built, for some specific purpose that is currently being under or unserved. I''m sure there''s some colony somewhere that would prefer a more direct route to the central economy of the Empire. Bidding could be opened up on that, and your father could simply outbid the competition. Everyone knows that you have been wanting a starship of your own. It would make sense for him to put in the money for you to win. After all, it would only improve the Olms family fortune."

    "It would still look bad."

    "As soon as you had your own ship, it would not look nearly so suspicious for wider Guild politics to take a backseat in your priorities. You''d have more things to worry about, and if currying favor within the Guild leadership in order to increase your new ship''s standing suddenly seemed more important than fomenting some sort of rebellion... Who could blame you?" Sid tried to sound lighthearted, but he wasn''t sure if he managed that or was just shrill. Every time he tried to put specific inflections in his voice he was brought painfully back to his time at the Academy, where he had been taught to speak. It had been far less pleasant than Halen''s lessons, even.

    Olms stared down at the table. "And if I refuse?"

    "Look, Yuuni, I don''t want to be crass here," Sid said. "But if things go wrong with the Guild, the Empire will have to step in with a heavy hand. Nobody wants that. I promise you."

    "Is that a threat?"

    "I''m not threatening you. I''m just saying what you know is true."

    Her chest heaved up and down in a heavy sigh. "You''re killing me."

    "I''m trying to offer you something you want, in exchange for a little bit of time. That''s all I''m asking for."

    "You know it''s not that simple."

    "It could be. It should be."

    "How long do I have to think about it?"

    "Take as much time as you need," Sid said. "Our timeline is only rushed if you decide to push this in the wrong direction."

    "What will be the consequences if I take that other path?"

    "The consequences for you?"

    "Yes."

    "For some reason, First Sandreas has a soft spot for you," Sid admitted. "There probably wouldn''t be that much. But the Guild would suffer for it. I know you don''t want that."

    "First Sandreas is that soft?"

    Sid thought about the way in which Yan had departed, and how Halen and Sandreas had clearly both failed to stop her. "Yes. He might not be. But I think that he would chalk your behavior up to reckless youth."

    "I''m not so much of a youth anymore."  At five years older than he was, Sid could see some of the wrinkles beginning to form at the corners of Yuuni''s eyes. It wasn''t a detractor from her face, just a signal that she was indeed a confident woman, and not a naive apprentice any more. She wasn''t old, not really, but she definitely wasn''t a child, or anything close to it. Seeing him study her face, she smiled.

    "Compared to him, you are. But that''s besides the point."

    "What is the point, then?"

    "The point is that I''m offering you something, and it would be stupid of you to refuse. The Empire isn''t going to want this status quo forever. We just want things to get better at a pace that we can manage, to prevent things from falling apart completely."

    "I know," Olms said. Her eyes flicked up to the ceiling for a moment as she thought. "Give me time. And I''ve already set this in motion. Don''t think that it will stop on its own."

    "It could," Sid said. "But I''m not expecting miracles, just cooperation."

    "I''ll think about it. Was that all you wanted to talk about?"

    "I''m afraid I don''t have very many personal reminiscences to share with you," Sid said. "We never really got a chance to become close."

    "Maybe in the future we''ll work together some more," Olms said. She paused, looked contemplative for a second. "May I ask you a question?"

    "A personal one?"

    "Maybe. It''s not about you, though."

    Sid tensed up, thinking for a moment that she was going to ask about Yan. He could just imagine Halen on the other side of the door feeling his momentary spike in anxiety and getting worried. "Go ahead."

    "What happened to Apprentice Mejia''s hand?" she asked.

    The blood drained from Sid''s face, and his heart rate spiked. To save face, he took a deep breath, to avoid answering for at least that long moment. Additionally, he used his power to hold the door shut, just in case Halen interpreted his panic as a reason to break in. His power did encounter Halen''s own, then, but in the moment that their two powers touched, Halen must have understood why Sid was holding the door shut. After all, if he was preventing Halen from entering, he couldn''t be in that much danger.

    "You saw Kino?" Sid asked, keeping his voice as steady as possible.

    "We were travelling through the same area," Olms said, looking very casual, though studying his face. Sid smiled a thin smile. "We had a little talk. Social stuff. Nothing important. I just was wondering what happened to her hand. It was... cut here. She didn''t want to talk about it." Olms made a gesture across her left hand, indicating that several of Kino''s fingers had been cut maybe just shallowly, though Sid knew that they had been cut off.

    "It probably isn''t my business to say, even if I did know. I hadn''t heard of her getting hurt. It must have happened while she was with the Fleet," Sid lied.

    She must have heard the catch in his voice. "No, it couldn''t have been. Looked too healed for that."

    "I don''t know," Sid said. "I''m just surprised that you saw her. She''s supposed to be with the Fleet. Exploring. Did she tell you where she was headed?"

    "No, no," she said. "She said she was just passing through on her way to other business."

    "Did you see anyone else with her?"

    "Is something wrong with Apprentice Mejia?" Olms asked. "I''m sorry I brought it up."

    "No, there''s nothing wrong. I''m just surprised, because I hadn''t heard from her. I thought she was out of contact range. If she was back in it, I would have hoped she''d send me an ansible message." Sid smiled, trying to appear genuine. "You know. Like friends are supposed to."

    "I''m glad you consider her your friend," Olms said, interpreting Sid''s words as genuine, since she smiled. "Nomar and I never got along."

    "Yeah, I don''t think we ever really thought of each other as rivals," Sid joked. "I''m in a class of my own." His attempt to lighten the mood, no matter how forced it felt to him, seemed to work.

    "Well, if you see her soon, tell her I said hi," Olms said.

    "Same here," Sid said. "Though if she was just passing through, I''m sure she won''t be back in contact for a while."

    "She''s a mystery. It''s a shame I never got to talk to her that much before. Seems like a sweet girl."

    "Well, it''s the sweet ones that you have to look out for."

    "Ha, yeah. Well, if you don''t have anything else..." Olms said.

    "No, no, I''ll let you get back to your family. I''m sure they can use a hand with whatever they''re doing."

    "Unloading cargo as always. Do you have a ride back to Emerri?"

    "Yeah, in about a day."

    "Excellent. I''ll see you around then, Sid."

    "Yeah. See you around."

    Sid got up, they awkwardly shook hands, and he held the door open for her to leave. She smiled and nodded at Halen on her way out, and as soon as she wasn''t looking, Sid shot Halen a somewhat desperate glance. When she had gone, Halen stepped inside the room.

    "What happened?" Halen signed.

    "I think we have bigger problems than just the Guild," Sid replied.

 Chapter One Hundred Three - In My Thoughts and in My Words

    In My Thoughts and in My Words

    <blockquote>

    ¡°All seeing and all knowing. The darkness between the stars is known to God. The center of the star¡¯s light is seen through. And what, to a star, is the heart of a man?¡±

    -from Eighth Song: Wisdom

    </blockquote>

    Aymon found Halen when he came back into Stonecourt. It wasn''t hard to track him down, even though Halen hadn''t made a pilgrimage to Aymon''s office as he had expected. Aymon had read the report that Sid had written about his experience, which had been sent down as soon as their ship jumped into the system, along with an accompanying note that said that Sid was planning to go directly to bed rather than report to  Aymon''s office when his shuttle landed.

    Still, even though he had all the information he physically needed, Aymon wanted to hear it directly from someone who had been there. And, if he was willing to admit it to himself, he missed Halen. So he found him. Halen always made a stop at the gym before bed, and today was no different. Even though Halen was almost as old as Aymon was, he kept himself in shape, and was far stronger than the average person. The power helped with that, somewhat, Aymon hypothesized. Not that Halen used it to lift weights or whatever, simply that it gave him a vitality that most of the population lacked. Aymon felt it too, in his own way.

    The gym was small, a private affair, but well equipped. Halen was its primary user, and he was the only one here at the time. Aymon could tell that before he opened the door-- he had sent out his power in a tentative wave, and, though he felt Halen''s presence, he received no response. He opened the door and stepped inside. Halen had stripped down to workout shorts and an undershirt, and he was sweating profusely as he sat at a rowing machine. The temperature in the room was quite cold, even underneath Aymon''s cassock. The only sounds were the creaking of the machine and Halen''s heavy breathing.

    Aymon walked further into the room, stopped a few meters away from Halen, and just leaned against the wall and watched him for a while. Neither of them spoke. Eventually, Halen finished his reps and just leaned forward on the machine, not really moving anymore, catching his breath. Aymon walked over to the little fridge on the side of the wall and got a water bottle. He tossed it to Halen, who caught it with the power. He drank about half of it, then poured the rest into his hands and rubbed it on his face, the water dripping down. He wiped himself off with the towel on the bench behind him.

    "Rough trip?" Aymon asked.

    "It was fine," Halen said. "Nothing bad happened."

    "That''s good. Get along with Sid alright?"

    "He''s a smart kid. It was good to spend some time with him."

    They were quiet for a minute more. The idea of interrogating Halen about the details of his trip seemed wholly unnecessary now, and just looking at him brought to Aymon''s mind a sudden longing for things to return to the way that they had been, before Yan and Kino''s departure, before apprentices even. It seemed as though Halen was reluctant to say anything, and everything that Aymon wanted to say melted away in the passage between his brain and his mouth. He was so used to Halen just interpreting his feelings for him, and saying everything that needed to be said between them.

    "I missed you," Aymon said finally. "I miss you."

    "I know." Halen looked up at him, but in such a way that their eyes didn''t meet. There was this gulf in between them, and one of them had to cross it. It was going to have to be Aymon, and he battled the hard and sharp part inside of him that didn''t want to bow down, didn''t want to apologize. Bitter thoughts came easily to his brain, but he didn''t mean them, didn''t want them. It was a fight between the worse half of himself, the half that wanted to take out all the anger and frustration of the past on Halen, and the part that wanted nothing more than to make amends. The good part of himself. That was the part that he had to force to win. He was the one in control of his own words. He wasn''t some sort of impulsive child anymore, and had no excuse.

    "I''m sorry," Aymon said finally. "For what I said. About you and Yan." The words came out fumblingly, haltingly.

    "I understand," Halen said. That wasn''t forgiveness, and it didn''t sound encouraging. Not for the first time, Aymon wished that he had Halen''s power, so that he could understand what the other man was feeling.

    "And for sending Sid out," he added lamely. There was probably more he could apologize for, but searching the painful past for his own private transgressions was harder than he liked. He felt like an Academy student once again, tearfully explaining some kind of wrongdoing to the masters or the minders.

    "Are you actually sorry, or do you just want things to go back to the way they were?" Halen asked, still not meeting Aymon''s eyes.

    "Does it matter?"

    "Yes."

    "I don''t know," Aymon said. "How would I know the difference?"

    "I can''t always be the one to figure that out for you."

    Aymon considered his next words as carefully as he could. "I''m sorry that I hurt you because I love you. I don''t want to see you hurt."

    "You did want to then," Halen said. "I could feel it in you. You wanted to hurt me."

    "Only because I was hurting. Only because... I don''t know," Aymon said. His hands fell limply to his sides. "I shouldn''t have wanted that. I don''t want it now, and I hate my past self for it."

    "I can still feel it inside you, though," Halen said. "You''re still ready to lash out at me, any moment now you will."

    The bitterness continued to swell inside him, and he bit his tongue, holding himself mute. Halen wasn''t wrong, but to confirm or deny would be to admit guilt and ruin it all. Perhaps there was no chance of salvaging this conversation anyway. This was the double edged sword of Halen''s power-- he was being judged for things he had not done, things he was trying desperately not to do. There was no sanctity in his head, it was just as God could see his thoughts, so too could Halen judge him for the sins of the heart.

    Aymon felt unbearably lonely then. The cruelty in his heart was born of self pity, which rose up to choke him.

    "I love you," Aymon said again, pathetically. "I need you." The truth of it was that, in the end, Halen didn''t need him. Halen never had. Not even in the first moments of their meeting, when Aymon had saved Halen''s life. Even then, Halen would have been content to die, Aymon knew.

    There had to be some key words that he could say, something that would let him back in to Halen''s heart. He didn''t understand what they were, so he couldn''t say them. He looked at Halen, pleading, but Halen kept looking at the dead space just over Aymon''s left shoulder. He forced away the bitterness that was telling him that Halen was doing this to hurt him. He choked it down like medicine.

    He stood there for a moment, and when the words didn''t come, he was faced with a choice. He could leave, turn and walk away. It would be so easy. He could think of what to say and come back to it. The bitterness would grow, true, but he would have time. Halen would wait for him, probably. But instead, Aymon tried to cross the rift. He stepped forward, closing the gap between them, and stared into Halen''s face. Slowly, he knelt down, pressed his forehead to Halen''s bare knee. There was no rush of communication in the power; it was deadly silent. Halen''s leg was warm and sweaty.

    "Please forgive me," Aymon whispered after a long moment of intense stillness.

    The moment dragged on, and the heat of Halen''s body was oppressive. Still, Aymon would make no move until Halen did. He remained tense on the floor until Halen shifted slightly, and he felt the tangle of Halen''s broad and gentle fingers moving through his hair. Aymon relaxed, feeling boneless and forgiven, and clung to Halen with all his strength.

    <hr>

    "I hope you know exactly how much I just saved you," Aymon said. Nomar Thule was in his office, sitting in front of his desk, leaning somewhat back in his chair, looking over at Aymon.

    Thule still had the self assured look he had carried as an apprentice, and if Aymon was honest, it had only gotten worse since the last time he had seen him. That must have been aboard Thule''s family''s ship, what was its name, so long ago after Ungarti''s funeral. Thule had been on Emerri for business, and Aymon had taken the opportunity to summon him to his room for a chat.

    "I don''t believe I understand what you mean, First Sandreas," Thule said.

    Aymon raised an eyebrow, leaning forward with his elbows on his desk. "I''m sure you''ve heard the rumors."

    "There are so many rumors, it''s hard to pick out what''s important and what isn''t," Thule said. "What specifically are you referring to?"

    "I just had my apprentice, Sid, have a chat with your former coworker."

    "Yuuni?"

    "The one and only," Aymon said with a slight smile. Despite the amount of trouble that Yuuni Olms was causing him, he did have a slight soft spot for the former apprentice to his sometimes enemy.

    "And what did they talk about?" He paused for a second, then smiled.  "I feel like I shouldn''t care. The actions of a failed politician have no interest to me, and the comings and goings of Imperial employees are none of my business."

    "Ms. Olms was attempting to stir up support for a vote of no confidence in Wil Vaneik."

    "That certainly is unfortunate, but it has very little to do with me," Thule said. "I''m not the Guildmaster."

    "Don''t be coy with me," Aymon said. "I''m not particularly in the mood. If you think that anything you have done with the young Vaneik has escaped Imperial notice, you''d be wrong."

    "Is that a threat?"

    "I don''t believe so, no," Aymon said. Talking to Thule was giving him a headache. He should have had Sid in here to do this. The two had gotten along, at one point. That was before Thule had decided to kill his own master, though.

    "So just an ominous statement, then."

    "It''s not intended to be taken as anything other than fact," Aymon said. "Knowing the business of the Guild is the Empire''s business. Keeping the Guild functioning is our problem as much as it is yours."

    "I see."

    "And so that is why I sent Sid to convince Ms. Olms to stop her little crusade."

    "Because you think that she will put your request over her hatred of me? I knew she was an Imperial puppet, but I didn''t know exactly how much of one."

    "I''m bribing her to lay off it," Aymon said.

    Thule laughed. "That''s low."

    "I''m letting you know this as a courtesy."

    "It seems like money slipped quietly under the table should stay silent."

    "We''re giving her a stardrive. Your cooperation in making that transaction appear legitimate would be appreciated."

    Thule''s face darkened ever so slightly. "And why should I do that?"

    Aymon stared him down for a second, considering how wide open he should lay Thule. "You may be angry that she is the more competent of the two of you," Aymon said, "but your personal feelings have no need to enter into it."

    "Competent?" Thule scoffed.

    Aymon caught his eyes across the desk. "Do you think that Marne Vaneik regrets sharing her husband''s mail?"

    The blood drained from Thule''s face.

    "Yes, I know all about that," Aymon said. "You didn''t think that I didn''t, did you?"Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Thule was silent. Aymon was grateful that Sid had been able to find out some information from Yuuni, who had... Well, the speculation about the veracity of Yuuni''s story was still ongoing. Clearly there was some truth to it, considering the way that Thule reacted.

    "So, you see that I keep your secrets," Aymon said. "I am willing to continue to do so, because the stability of the Guild is important to me, and you are important to the stability of the Guild."

    "I''m flattered that you think so." Thule said, his voice slightly shaky.

    "I don''t make a habit of lying," Aymon said. "At least not to your face."

    "And what do you want from me in exchange?"

    "Did I say that I want anything? Aside from your cooperation with keeping Ms. Olms happy?"

    "I assume there is something else. You wouldn''t have called me here if there wasn''t. You could easily strongarm me into letting her have her stardrive without any face to face communication," Thule said. His voice was bitter.

    "Maybe so. It''s valuable to have communication anyway." Aymon paused and studied him. "I have a request to make of you. You won''t like it."

    Thule laughed. "And could I even say no?"

    "Oh, you certainly could. You have complete power to refuse this request. I would be unhappy, but you could."

    "Because you can''t really do anything to me, because you''re committed to the stability of the Guild."

    "For now."

    "What is it you want then?"

    Aymon steeled himself. He didn''t want to ask this, but it was becoming urgent, considering the encounter that the Neutron Star had apparently had with Kino. He couldn''t have them going around stirring up trouble, especially not within the Guild, and he couldn''t announce Kino as dead just yet.

    "Your supership," Aymon said.

    "What about it?"

    "I need it to do me a favor."

    Thule laughed harshly and crossed his arms over his chest. "You mean the ship that you hunted down, that''s been sitting incomplete ever since you took its station?"

    "Yes, that''s the one." Aymon kept his voice as professional as he could. He didn''t think that Thule had any right to be frustrated about that, considering that the ship was being built illegally.

    "That ship doesn''t officially exist," Thule said.

    "Of course not. That''s why I need it to do me a favor."

    "Which is?"

    "I have an embarrassing confession to make that I trust will not leave this room," Aymon said.

    Somewhat interested, Thule leaned forward. It was rare that the leader of the Empire admitted to any embarrassment. Still, Aymon was willing to cash in on that interest and admit vulnerability to get done what he needed to.

    "My own ship, the First Star, the captain went rogue and stole the ship. He hasn''t shown his face in very many places, but he''s been using his credentials to pretend that the ship is out on legitimate business. He may even be pretending that my apprentice, Kino, is on board. She is not."

    "And what do you want me to do about that?"

    "I would like you to quietly destroy the First Star. It is not heavily armed, and is operating with a small crew."

    "Why don''t you send the Fleet after it? Isn''t that well within their purview?"

    Aymon put a concerned expression on his face. "It was inaction of various Fleet officials which enabled the First Star to be taken in the first place," Aymon said. If the Fleet officials were himself and Halen, then that was technically a true statement. "The people responsible have been dealt with. But it''s the image of the thing. I don''t want the idea of this insurrection to spread. I can''t let other Fleet captains, or anyone else, get ideas."

    "So you want me to send someone to shoot it down?"

    "Your fastest ship against my fastest ship. More than a fair matchup."

    "And what will I receive in return?"

    "My continued goodwill. And should you manage to destroy the First Star, you may keep its stardrive. It''s less than thirty years old."

    "Be honest with me, how likely is it that my ship will be able to find yours, and take it out?"

    "Likely. I don''t believe it to be well defended in its current state. And I believe its behavior will be fairly predictable."

    "Where do you think it will be going?"

    "I will have someone provide you a list of black stations it may be inclined to visit. It may also make a stop at Hanathue, and make a kind of pilgrimage to Falmar. It may also attempt to make contact with Guild ships or pirates, in order to establish business relationships."

    "There''s no way in the universe I''ll be sending anyone within a lightyear of Falmar."

    "That''s not what Ungarti said," Aymon said, rather flippantly.

    "Why in God''s name would the ship go there?"

    "The captain''s daughter was a colonist there. He may be interested in visiting her grave," Aymon lied. It was a plausible enough story, considering that he thought there was a fairly good chance that Kino would want to return to the land of her birth. He couldn''t predict them, obviously, and he wasn''t going to give Thule the locations of planets where the Fleet was-- ongoing battle sites. Kino and Yan taking the First Star to Tyx III would be effective suicide, Aymon thought, so it was unlikely that they would end up there regardless. Anywhere else was fair game. It would be good to have more eyes, especially secret ones, searching to destroy the First Star within the Empire itself.

    "Ah," Thule said. "Still, that range covers effectively the entire Empire. I don''t know how you expect me to find a ship with a trail that cold."

    "I encourage you to put out some ears into the world and listen. I somehow doubt that the First Star will be laying so low as to be out of contact. If you can catch wind of where it''s going, you will be able to surprise it and catch it off guard."

    "I''m sorry, First Sandreas, but this sounds incredibly stupid," Thule said, leaning back in his chair.

    "What good is that ship doing for you otherwise?" Aymon asked. "Do you need further encouragement?"

    Thule raised an eyebrow.

    "I am never going to be able to officially acknowledge your ship as existing," Aymon said. "It''s a danger to every planet in the Empire. But I can either tacitly ignore it or order it destroyed. I''m sure you would prefer the first one."

    "You already tried the second, and couldn''t get that to work."

    "No, I was going after your station," Aymon said. "A station is verifiably illegal, as you know."

    "Would you have cried if you had managed to capture my ship, though?"

    Aymon just smiled. "Regardless, I want to have a friendly working relationship. And when you undoubtedly start using your ship to keep your own people in line, you''ll want me to turn a blind eye to it."

    "Why would I do such a thing?" Thule asked. They had abandoned any pretense of Wil Vaneik being the one in charge of the Guild, and its rogue supership.

    "Because I''m sure that doing so will be to your advantage someday, and I haven''t know you to sleep on an advantage yet."

    "Fine. I''ll give the command to keep an eye out."

    "Think of it as testing your strength. You should be able to know if your ship can take on another."

    "It''s not currently finished," Thule warned. "It doesn''t have a full crew, or a full complement of weapons or anything."

    "The First Star doesn''t have a full crew either. You should be able to handle it."

    Thule made a dismissive sound deep in his throat. "I''ll instruct the crew to do their best."

    "Excellent."

    "You always keep me on my toes, First Sandreas."

    "It''s only fair. Ungarti made me crazy for the entire time he was Guildmaster. Turnabout is fair play."

    "I''m not Ungarti."

    "No, no you are not." Aymon smiled. "But his legacy is the Guild''s, and yours now. So we will all have to live with each other for as long as that lasts." His smile was tight. Nomar Thule was probably not going to last as long as Thule himself would like. Perhaps they both knew that.

    <hr>

    Sid came to find Aymon at lunch. Lunch, for Aymon, unless he had something pressing to attend to (such as a meeting) generally consisted of a stroll around the gardens of Stonecourt, an iced coffee in hand. The weather was warm but not hot, breezy but not windy, and a pleasant scent of the not-too-distant ocean carried over the walls, along with the muted noises of the city. Aymon was alone, in the sense that Halen wasn''t with him, but his omnipresent security detail tailed him at its normal respectful distance.

    He felt the touch of Sid''s power pass over him, carrying a questioning feeling. He couldn''t see his Second, but he was definitely nearby. Aymon sent a brush of his own power back, responding to Sid''s unspoken question and triangulating his location. There was another person with Sid-- not a sensitive-- who Aymon''s power passed over. The presence was familiar but not known, probably someone whom Aymon had only seen once or twice. His question as to who it was was answered when he turned a corner past a bubbling fountain surrounded by tall hedges and found his young Second sitting on a bench, enfolded in the gangly embrace of that lieutenant, Cesper, Aymon remembered his name.

    It was a slightly awkward intrusion, especially since Sid had called him over, but Sid saw him over Cesper''s shoulder and gave a tiny smirk to Aymon, who sighed. Sid was lucky that Aymon was in a good mood, or he may have found the reckless passions and follies of youth rather more annoying. Sid gently extricated himself from Cesper''s arms and stood. Cesper, plainly confused, stood as well, then turned to look where Sid was looking. When he saw Aymon leaning slightly back on his heels, with his arms folded across his chest, Cesper''s face turned pale then red in rapid succession, as though his body couldn''t figure out if it wanted to be terrified or ashamed.

    "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Cesper," Aymon said. "Sid."

    Sid continued to grin at him, and nudged Cesper. "Good afternoon, First Sandreas," Cesper said, clearing his throat a little.

    "Glad to see you escaped the clutches of Nomar Thule," Sid said.

    "Indeed. It went about as well as I had hoped. Was I interrupting something here?" he asked casually.

    "No," Sid said. "Ervantes was just here to say goodbye."

    "Goodbye?" Aymon asked.

    Cesper cleared his throat once again, seemingly dying of embarrassment. "I''m going to visit my father for a few weeks," he said.

    "I suppose we have monopolized your leave time from the Fleet enough that you deserve a bit of a vacation from your vacation, as it were," Aymon said. He noted that Cesper was wearing his Fleet uniform. Probably that was only because he looked more at place wandering around Stonecourt in it than he would have in his civilian clothes.

    "I serve the Empire," Cesper said with a slight nod of his head.

    "Of course. One need not serve the Empire every waking second, though." He looked at Sid. "Do you need more time, or can we talk for a moment?"

    Sid looked at Cesper. "He was just about to go." Sid stood on his tiptoes and pecked the taller man on the cheek. Cesper blushed again, much more furiously this time. Aymon put up with this display with generous patience.

    "See you in a few weeks," Sid said.

    "Yes, of course," Cesper replied, sounding rather dazed. "I''ll text you."

    Sid grinned.

    "Goodbye, First Sandreas," Cesper said.

    "Goodbye, Lieutenant," Aymon said, smiling in what he hoped was a benign expression. "I''m sure we''ll see each other again."

    Cesper nodded, then turned and hurried away down one of the many paths out of the Stonecourt gardens. He seemed to have an appropriate sense of direction, so Aymon felt no need to send a guard watching after him to make sure he arrived at his eventual destination.

    "You''re not exactly subtle," Aymon said to Sid, walking closer to him after Cesper had disappeared from earshot.

    "Do I need to be?"

    "The walls have ears," Aymon said.

    "I don''t," Sid said with a grin.

    "Yes you do," Aymon said, gently tugging on one of Sid''s earlobes.

    "Ouch."

    "The walls have eyes, at the very least," he said.

    "I''m not planning to end up like you," Sid said.

    Aymon wrapped his arm around Sid''s shoulder, in a protective gesture. The upshot of it was that they were able to communicate through the power. He led Sid along down one of the paths, carefully avoiding any other people. His guard stayed a respectful distance away. "You wouldn''t face some of the problems that Halen would, it''s true." He couldn''t help the warm feeling that carried along his message.

    "You''re in a good mood," Sid said aloud. In the power, he sent back, "Did you apologize for whatever you did?"

    "Yes," Aymon said aloud.

    "I''m glad," Sid sent through the power. "Now Halen can stop taking it out on me."

    "You just have to be careful," Aymon said. "Anything that you''re known to love can and will be used against you."

    "I will, I promise."

    "I know you will."

    "So, the meeting with Thule, tell me all about it."

    "It went well," Aymon said. "I got him to agree to my terms for the stardrive."

    "Oh, that''s good," Sid said. "What did you say to him?"

    "I just told him what we knew," Aymon said. "He quickly saw the value of cooperation."

    "I see. Do you think he''s going to do anything else?"

    "I believe he understands that he is on a tight leash." Then he added, through the power, "There is one other thing."

    Sid turned his head and looked at him, a questioning expression on his face. Aymon kept his a professional mask, and tried not to let any of his feelings flow through their physical connection and the power.

    "You understand that I have to take a move against Kino, now that she is making moves out in the world," Aymon said.

    Sid tensed up under his arm, but, to his credit, did not jerk away. He simply waited for the conclusion of Aymon''s message.

    "The Guild''s supership. I asked Thule''s cooperation in hunting down and destroying the First Star."

    Sid''s mental voice, when he finally answered, was full of some residual pain and anger. "Let me go with them," he said.

    "No, absolutely not," Aymon said. "I knew you would ask. The answer is unequivocally no."

    "Why not?" Sid asked. His shoulders were tense.

    "More reasons than I can even begin to articulate," Aymon said. "Dangerous, for one. I need you here. And I don''t want to risk you getting--"

    "They wouldn''t drag me down with them," Sid said. The bitterness in his mental voice was palpable.

    "Halen and I both failed to stop them at a crucial moment because of our weakness. I wouldn''t want that to happen to you."

    Sid ground his teeth, so hard that it was audible to Aymon. Aymon squeezed his shoulder tighter. "I know," he sent to Sid. "I understand how you must feel. But I''m not going to let you go out there. And if you try, I will kill you myself."

    "I feel like there''s this pressure, building up," Sid whispered aloud. "Like there''s going to be a time when I come face to face with that whole thing. Halen thinks so too. That''s why he''s pushing me so hard. I just want it to be over with, and for the pieces to fall where they fall."

    "That''s not fated to happen," Aymon said. "Nothing is."

    "It''s as good as," Sid said. "It''s like this unresolved thread." He yanked on his own sleeve, a twisted approximation of the fidget that Kino constantly did.

    "What good do you think that it would do to push it now? You were telling me not to push things just a little while ago."

    "This is personal."

    Aymon laughed, a single bark, and Sid prodded him in the ribs with his elbow. "You know what I mean," Sid said.

    "I do. I understand. But I''m still not going to let you do something crazy. We''re not seeking opportunities to put ourselves in danger. That particular thing will have to come to us."

    They walked in silence through the rustling leaves of the garden as companions.

 Chapter One Hundred Four - All the Lonely People

    All the Lonely People

    <blockquote>

    "I have often dreamed of being / the eagles who build their nest / upon the crests of the streetlamps. / But the seagulls who scream and scavenge / find far better purchase there. / There are many more of one than the other, / my proud little bird."

    - from "The Paradise Found Only Among The Tallest Buildings", poem by Gerrunsey Hallec

    </blockquote>

    Sylva flopped onto Iri''s bed, acting only about half as pathetic as she felt. She rolled over and stared up at Iri upside down. Iri was sitting at her desk, filing her nails.

    "Are you done?" she asked.

    "No," Sylva said, even more pathetically.

    "And yet you''re here to bother me. I see."

    "Who else am I supposed to bother?"

    "Maybe your actual girlfriend. Thought about that one?"

    In response, Sylva grabbed the pillow from the head of Iri''s bed and shoved it over her own face.

    "Keep that there too long and you''ll suffocate," Iri said mildly.

    "See if I care," Sylva groaned.

    Iri peeled the pillow off of Sylva''s face and threw it back towards the head of the bed. Sylva lay flopped with her arms splayed out around her. She squinted up at Iri.

    "I literally don''t even understand the problem you''re having," Iri said.

    "Yan won''t acknowledge that I exist!"

    "Have you tried existing in her presence, any time recently? It seems to me that you''re avoiding her as much as she''s avoiding you."

    "That''s not the same."

    Iri raised an eyebrow.

    "It''s like she doesn''t care about me at all. She''s always holed up with Kino, or lurking somewhere by herself being miserable or whatever."

    "She has a lot of things to think about."

    "I can''t believe you''re defending her," Sylva muttered.

    "What else am I supposed to do? Not to be rude, Sylva, but you''re not exactly being a rational actor either. You still haven''t explained what you''re arguing about."

    "We''re not arguing."

    "You are extremely lucky that I know you''re capable of being a thinking human being, and that you''re my friend, otherwise I wouldn''t be putting up with this, you know." Iri leaned back in her chair and put her legs up onto the bed, kicking Sylva gently in the side.

    "I know," Sylva said, wiggling a little. "It''s just..." she sighed.

    "Either tell me or don''t, but don''t drag it out. I''m dying of suspense over here." Iri''s voice indicated that she was doing nothing of the sort.

    "Like, I don''t think Yan thinks about me at all. She doesn''t want me around."

    "If she didn''t want you around, you wouldn''t be on this ship. I really don''t see what the issue is. You were fine before."

    "Before Olkye? When she wouldn''t let me help?"

    "Someone needed to stay with the ship, and you know you wouldn''t have been any good. You said yourself you don''t do well with meditation."

    "I''ve gotten better."

    "Since when?"

    "I don''t know. I went in Yan''s dream."

    "You what?"

    Sylva shrugged. "When she was sleeping."

    "Obviously."

    "After she came back from Olkye, and was hiding in that room."

    "Oh, and you didn''t see anything wrong with that?" Iri''s voice was harsher than Sylva had expected, and she jammed her toe into Sylva''s ribs. Sylva sat up, wincing.

    "What''s your deal?" she asked.

    "You don''t think that Yan might be mad at you because you invaded her privacy at a moment when she was feeling particularly vulnerable? God, Sylva, use your brain."

    "I don''t think she knows that I was there," Sylva said.

    "That somehow makes it worse."

    "I don''t see the problem." Yan liked having other people in her head. It seemed to Sylva that there should be no issue with her trying to connect with Yan in that way. After all, hadn''t she given herself up to the Mother for so long, and so completely? How was Sylva slipping into her dream space any worse than that?

    "How would you like it if someone went inside your dreams?"

    "I don''t know," Sylva said. "I don''t think it''s likely to happen."

    "Yeah, because Yan isn''t stupid enough to disrespect your boundaries."

    "Well, I don''t think it would be possible--"

    "I can''t believe you right now. You should apologize."

    "Why? It''s not like she cares about me at all--"

    "For the love of God, what makes you keep saying that?"

    "She didn''t notice me in her dream, and she wasn''t thinking about me at all, and then she acted all weird when I tried to talk to her, and she spends all her time with Kino--"

    "Putting aside everything else, are you actually jealous of Kino, of all people?"

    "Well I don''t know what they''re talking about," Sylva said. "Since no one TELLS me anything."

    "This is because you are acting like a baby. If you want to know what Yan and Kino talk about, you should go talk to Kino about it. And you should apologize to Yan for invading her privacy and for being a fucking idiot."

    Sylva crossed her arms and flopped back onto the bed. "I want to get off this stupid ship."

    "If you think your love life is pathetic, consider me," Iri said, gesturing dramatically to herself. "Surrounded by lesbians."

    "There''s Chanam," Sylva said.

    "One, he''s about ten years too young for me. Two, he''s definitely exactly as gay as you are."

    "Eh," Sylva said. "I find it hard to sympathise. You could date Kino."

    Iri barked out a laugh. "Wouldn''t that be a shitshow."

    "Maybe I will talk to Kino," Sylva mused.

    "I shouldn''t have said that you should. She isn''t involved in anything to do with you and Yan. Please don''t drag her into it."

    "I want someone to explain what we''re doing, and she''s probably the one with the best ideas, she just isn''t talking."

    "She talks plenty," Iri said.

    "Not to me."

    "Because you''ve literally never had a real conversation with her before."

    Sylva shrugged, as much as she could while laying on Iri''s bed.

    "You have to stop thinking of yourself as the victim in all of this," Iri said, tapping Sylva''s forehead with her nail file. "You''re the one who''s acting like a baby."

    "See, but everyone else is enabling my behavior by ignoring me."

    "I''m not going to enable you. In fact, letting you whine in here is probably not doing you any good in that respect. Out." Iri stood, and grabbed Sylva by the lapels of her jumpsuit, hauling her to her feet. Sylva was always surprised at how strong Iri was, but she supposed one did not become a member of the elite Stonecourt security by being a total pushover. Sylva laughed and stood on her own two feet.

    "Thanks for listening to me whine, I guess," she said.

    "I''m not kidding when I say you need to apologize to Yan. What you did was wrong, and you''re lucky it didn''t go worse."

    "You didn''t even ask me what she was dreaming about," Sylva said.

    "Because I don''t also want to be party to invading her privacy," Iri said. "Go. Fix your shit. Don''t come complaining to me again until you do."

    <hr>

    Sylva decided that Kino would be the easier target, especially since she had seen Yan heading to bed a little while ago. Iri was right that she had intentionally been avoiding Yan, setting their sleep schedules to opposite corners of the day, in the hopes that Yan would chase after her, but it didn''t seem like that was going to happen. Also, Sylva still felt vaguely aggrieved by the implication, more like accusation, that she had done something wrong with Yan, but she would have time to face that later. So, first stop was to interrogate Kino.

    Maybe that was a bad choice of words.

    Sylva paced outside Kino''s door for a minute, deciding if she was going to knock or not, The choice was made for her when Kino opened the door and looked out at her, with her gloomy looking eyes.

    "Did you need something?" Kino asked.

    Sylva was startled, and she jumped back from the door.

    "How did you know I was here?" Sylva asked.

    Kino just stared at her.

    "Ugh, yes, can we talk?" Sylva said, when it seemed like there would be no response to her other question.

    Kino silently held the door open and Sylva stepped inside. The mess of Kino''s room was odd, in the way it always felt strange to step into a mess that was not her own. Sylva was not exactly the neatest person, and the only thing that had stopped the bedroom she shared with Yan from devolving into chaos was that she didn''t have very many belongings. That, and Yan often picked up things that she left laying around.

    Kino somehow had managed to make the most out of nothing, as her clothing was scattered everywhere, and there seemed to be bits of... metal shavings... clinging to every available surface. The whole room smelled like something had been burning, or maybe electrocuted-- there was a lingering sort of acrid smell in the air. Kino sat down at her desk (Sylva noted that she sat directly on top of a wrinkled and damp looking towel), leaving Sylva awkwardly standing. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, trying to appear nonchalant. She failed.

    "Er, how''s your hand?" Sylva asked, trying to start the conversation. Sylva had checked on Kino''s hand fairly regularly back when it was still healing, but now that all the skin was scarred over, there wasn''t much she could do about it, so she had let her "check ups" (for whatever they were worth in the first place) lapse.

    Kino held it up. The scar tissue was lumpy and paler than the surrounding flesh, but it looked neither infected nor fragile, which was good, Sylva supposed. Thinking about it too hard put a dry feeling in her mouth, so Sylva looked away fairly quickly.

    "Uh, that''s good," she said. "Looks like it''s as healed as it''s going to get."

    Kino shrugged, half turning away from Sylva. She fiddled with something on her desk. "Does it hurt or anything?" Sylva asked.

    "Sometimes," Kino said.

    "Do you want any painkillers for it?"

    "No."

    "Okay..." Sylva trailed off. "Well, if you change your mind about that, you know who to ask."

    "It doesn''t bother me," Kino said. "Can I wear a prosthesis?"

    "I don''t think we have any, and I don''t know how to make..." Sylva trailed off again as Kino turned back towards her, holding up a strange metal object that gleamed in the light, its segmented pieces clanking against each other as it dangled from Kino''s right hand.

    Sylva regarded it with some skepticism. "You know, they make them out of plastic for a reason. Lighter."

    Kino shrugged, and laid the metal contraption down on her knee. Carefully, she slipped it on to her left hand, and the object took on a more recognizable shape. There were three segmented fingers, a pinky, a ring, and a middle finger (though the middle finger only had the top two bone segments, as Kino''s hand retained a stub there), and there were shiny wires that travelled through the front and back of each segment, attaching to a kind of bracelet that sat around Kino''s wrist. The fingers were smooth and tapered, with just the hint of a depression where a fingernail would be, and a needle scratch of nested circles on the tips to suggest fingerprints. It rested limply on Kino''s lap for a second.

    "Does it move?" Sylva asked.

    Kino shrugged. "With the power." She lifted up her hand and curled and uncurled the fingers nimbly, moving them one at a time. The pieces were only held together by the wires in the front and back, and had no way of supporting themselves without Kino''s power, so Sylva could see through the cracks in between each segment.

    Sylva was somewhat jealous of Kino''s fine control, since she had no such skill, and held out her hand, palm up. Kino placed her left hand in Sylva''s, and Sylva examined the whole thing closely. It was cold, which was her main takeaway.

    "Nice," Sylva said, grudgingly admiring the handiwork.

    Kino pulled her hand back and rested it on her lap. Her right hand plucked at the wires like guitar strings, though they were mostly silent, aside from the sliding sound of metal on metal.

    "Was that all you wanted to talk about?" Kino asked, looking up at Sylva.

    "Uh, no, not really," Sylva said. She nervously ran a hand over one of her braids. Now that she was in the room with Kino, the desire to actually hassle her had gone down significantly. Much of Sylva''s anger at the woman had faded during the time that they had been living together aboard the First Star. This wasn''t because of anything either of them had done or not done-- it was mainly due to Sylva''s desire to stay away from Kino for the most part transmuting into a mutual ignoring, which became a flat nothingness as most things were wont to do after such a time.

    "Do you need something?"

    "I want to know what you and Yan spend so much time talking about," Sylva finally demanded, trying to both put force behind her words and not come out as petulant as she probably was. Kino didn''t react to Sylva''s tone.

    "We talk about plans. Yan helped me with this a little. I help her with what she''s working on. She practices the power, sometimes."

    That last part put a shiver of slight disgust and jealousy up Sylva''s spine. She remembered the argument that they had all had at breakfast that one time. She hadn''t realized that Yan had actually been practicing using the power on Kino. She had thought they had decided not to, and that had been the end of it. She didn''t know why she thought that, especially considering, when Sylva had been thrown out of Yan''s dream, she was thrown out and seized with Yan''s power on her body. Yan had gotten good enough at it to even do it without conscious control.

    Sylva tried to focus on the other parts of Kino''s statements. "What''s the plan? What is she working on?"If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Kino stared at her blankly.

    "You can tell me," Sylva said. "It''s not like it''s a secret."

    "I thought you were paying attention," Kino sid.

    "Nobody tells me anything," Sylva whined. Kino was unaffected by her tone.

    "We''re currently finding a planet to set up our ansible on," Kino said. "After that, we are going to try to distribute some literature among the Empire."

    "What in God''s name do you mean by that?"

    "Seditious texts."

    Sylva laughed nervously. "God. My mentor''s going to kill me."

    Kino put a tiny smile on her face, one that just quirked up the corners of her lips. Sylva was surprised by this rare show of amusement. "If she catches you, she will kill you, but first she must catch you."

    "Sure," Sylva said. "Did Yan tell you about my apprenticeship?"

    "Yes. A little."

    "I probably didn''t tell Yan that much. She did meet my mentor one time. It was funny." Sylva, if she admitted it to herself, missed her mentor a little bit. She was a wild woman, reminded her of Kino a little. Though they were completely dissimilar in terms of personality, the way that Brache and Kino both seemed completely immune to the outside world was oddly comforting. Sylva reminisced for a second, then frowned when she remembered that her mentor still had her speeder. "If she sold my cycle I''m going to be mad."

    "I don''t think you have any right to complain about that," Kino said, even though Sylva''s complaint had been a complete non sequitur.

    "Yeah, probably not." Sylva sighed. "So, wait, what''s Yan writing? And can I see it?"

    "She was going to show it to you when she finished."

    "Oh." Sylva was taken aback by this information. "When will that be?"

    "I don''t know. She''s working on it."

    "How long does it take to come up with a heresy?"

    Kino shrugged again.

    "Should I ask her about it?"

    Kino''s face had returned to its normal blankness. "You could."

    "Does Chanam know about this?"

    "Yes."

    "I can''t believe you told him and not me."

    "It''s his job to know. You didn''t seem curious before now."

    "That''s only because-- argh. Nevermind."

    Kino stared at her.

    "Forget I said anything," Sylva said. "How long until we get to the planet we''re putting the ansible on?"

    "Couple days," Kino said.

    "That seems like a long time."

    Kino didn''t respond, and instead tugged at the wires on her hand, raising up the false ring finger and letting it drop back onto her lap.

    "Is it not a long time?"

    "The planet needs to be habitable enough that we can put an ansible on it, but not so habitable that the Empire wants anything to do with it," Kino said. "That doesn''t leave a lot of options. Especially not ones that are close by."

    "So where are we going?"

    "Malstaire," Kino said.

    "What?"

    "You haven''t heard of it?"

    Sylva shook her head. If she had heard of it, she certainly didn''t remember.

    "The Guild had a secret mining operation. Station. There."

    "And why is that a good choice for us to put our ansible?"

    "It''s abandoned."

    "Why?"

    "Too dangerous," Kino said. "Binary star system that''s getting a little too close for comfort."

    "So we''re going to risk going there?" Sylva asked. "This seems dumb."

    "Talk to Yan about it. It was the best idea we had at the time," Kino said.

    "Do we have a backup plan?"

    "No."

    "Great."

    "Okay," Kino said, possibly misinterpreting Sylva''s use of the word great.

    "So that''s our plan? Ansible on dangerous star system, distribute heresy in the Empire." Sylva, at least, had no need to question the efficacy of heresy. Her apprenticeship, for however long it had actually lasted, had been dedicated to preventing even accidental heresies and miscommunications from spreading, simply because of the amount of damage they could do.

    "Yes."

    "Cool. Thanks for letting me know, Kino."

    "You could have asked any time," Kino said. "I don''t hate you."

    "Whatever."

    Sylva made her exit.

    <hr>

    Yan was awake, and sitting at the desk in the captain''s suite when Sylva returned to their room. Sylva almost turned around and left, chickening out, but she decided she had done worse things than talk to Yan in the past, and now couldn''t be any harder than that.

    Yan didn''t look up at her as she came in. She had a pencil in between her teeth, a notebook at her side, and she was typing something every few seconds into her computer. Sylva perched on the end of the bed and looked over at Yan.

    "Hey," she said.

    "''Sup," Yan said.

    "Nothing. Just wondering what you''re up to."

    "Working," Yan said.

    "I can see that," Sylva said. "I just talked to Kino, by the way."

    "Oh?"

    "She did tell me about your project."

    "Oh."

    "Was it supposed to be a surprise?"

    Yan twitched a little, in a weird half shrug, then turned halfway around, shutting her computer. She held the well chewed pencil in her hand. "Not really, no."

    Sylva smiled at her, though she wasn''t sure if it looked genuine or pathetic. Being around Yan sometimes, all the time, made her feel a little pathetic. The two regarded each other for a second.

    "Are you doing okay?" Sylva finally asked.

    Yan smiled, a thin, tired expression. "Fine. You?"

    "I''m--" Sylva wasn''t quite sure what to say. Lonely? Fine? "Yeah. I''m okay." There was a long pause. Who''s going to install the ansible?" Sylva asked, shifting the conversation.

    "Iri," Yan said. "And someone else."

    "Who?"

    "Not that many options. Kino can''t because she''s not suit trained. Chanam could. I could."

    "I could."

    "If you want."

    "I didn''t know you needed a suit on Malstaire."

    "No atmosphere," Yan said. "Well. Thin one, anyway. It was a mining place."

    "How difficult is setting up the ansible?"

    "Not bad. It''s prepackaged to work. I looked at it when we got it."

    "You sound tired."

    "Been a lot of long days."

    Sylva was kinda waiting for Yan to apologize, but at this point in the conversation, she didn''t think any such apology was forthcoming. Yan might not even remember those few frantic moments after she had woken up after the Gatekeeper, and how she had pushed Sylva away.

    "We ended up on different schedules, somehow," Sylva said.

    "Yeah." Yan''s voice was murky, but offered no clue to how she was actually feeling. "It happens."

    Sylva tugged on one of her braids. She didn''t want to apologize, but this conversation was almost unbearably bad, and she didn''t want to continue the way life was. "We should get back on the same schedule."

    "Okay," Yan said.

    "I''ve missed you."

    "I missed you, too." Yan looked down at her legs. "Were you--" She sighed. "Nevermind."

    "What?"

    "Were you avoiding me? Are you avoiding me?"

    "I''m here now," Sylva said.

    "Doesn''t really answer the question," Yan said. The words were heavy in the air between them.

    "I guess. I was pretty mad at you," Sylva said. "I didn''t want it to go on for so long, and then it just sorta did. Maybe I was being stupid."

    "You were right to be mad at me," Yan said. "I''m sorry. I should have apologized before."

    Sylva was actually taken aback that an apology did come, and the smug joy that welled up inside of her felt wholly inappropriate, but she couldn''t stop feeling it regardless. "OH. Okay," Sylva said, unable to really process that she had gotten what she wanted.

    "I should have let you come with me, to the Gatekeeper, I mean. And I should have talked to you about it sooner. My head''s been a mess."

    "It''s okay," Sylva said. "I understand." She didn''t, not really, but she was just glad enough that Yan was talking to her again that she was willing to say anything. She was a little suspicious, though. "Did Iri tell you that?"

    "I don''t need Iri to do my thinking for me," Yan said. "I have too much of it of my own."

    Sylva laughed a little. "Okay."

    "Why do you ask?"

    "I don''t know," Sylva said. "I guess I just wanted to know if I had to thank her."

    She probably did have to thank her, anyway, for listening to her whine, but that could wait.

    "Iri doesn''t have to be our mediator, either."

    "Iri does a lot that she doesn''t technically have to," Sylva said. "She''s better than I am."

    Yan shook her head. "No."

    Sylva looked at her. "I don''t understand the mental calculus that you do sometimes."

    "You were never that good at math."

    "I did okay."

    Yan smiled. "I know."

    Sylva paused. "Are we, I don''t know, are we good?"

    "Are we?"

    "How am I supposed to know?" The conversation was weird and awkward, and both of them were sitting so still. There wasn''t the easy touching that there had been between them for so long. Maybe that would come back some time. Maybe Sylva really should apologize for spying on Yan''s dream. Maybe that would wreck everything.

    "I guess we''ll both have to try to mak it okay. If you want to," Yan said, very slowly.

    "Yeah. I do."

    "Good."

    They stared at eachother, still stiff, still waiting like there was some other shoe left to drop. Nothing actually felt resolved, at least in Sylva''s mind, but this was still better than the nothingness that they had before.

    "So," Sylva said. "What do I have to do on Malstaire when we get there?"

    <hr>

    "Remember last time we were in a shuttle like this?" Sylva asked, gripping the seatbelt as the space to ground shuttle pushed and rattled it''s way down through the thin atmosphere of the planet. It wasn''t called Malstaire-- that was the name of the binary star system-- but Sylva didn''t actually know what the name of the planet proper was, so she kept calling it Malstaire in her head. It probably was just called Planet 1 or something stupid like that.

    "Going back to Emerri?"

    "Ugh, no. Let me rephrase. Remember last time you and I were in a shuttle that you were piloting, and we were headed down to a planet?"

    "Ha. Yes." Iri tugged on the yoke and the shuttle gave a sickening lurch, its automated systems trying to compensate for Iri''s somewhat erratic controls. "How''s my flying? I''ve been practicing in the sim."

    "Kill me," Sylva said. "I can''t believe Yan actually lets you fly."

    "I''m trying not to kill you. Here''s where the fun really starts."

    The window outside the shuttle was lit with spectacular flames, as the friction from the atmosphere ignited around their shuttle. Sylva closed her eyes and just waited it all out. It took a long time for the violent shuddering of the shuttle to cease, and their glide to become a more normal powered descent.

    "I''m going to put us down right next to the abandoned processing facilities," Iri said.

    "God, why?"

    "Because they have a landing area there."

    "How could it possibly be profitable to mine asteroids, then haul the ore down here for processing?"

    "They used to have an elevator," Iri said. "But the Empire cut it."

    "That must have been a sight."

    "Cut might not be the right word. I don''t really know. I wasn''t exactly politically aware at the time the whole thing was happening."

    "When did you get politically aware?"

    "After I started working for Halen," Iri said.

    The massive processing plant came into view, a decrepit hulk. The atmosphere on this planet was thin enough that wind and time didn''t do much to the dome that enclosed the whole thing. With a little effort, it could almost certainly be brought back into being habitable. Sylva filed that thought away into her brain as Iri settled the shuttle down on the landing zone with a sickening thud.

    "You are going to crack the landing gear one day," Sylva said. "Then we''ll be screwed."

    "If I wreck the shuttle, Yan would just have to fly down and rescue us. And wouldn''t that be so sad."

    Sylva laughed a little. She looked out the front window of the shuttle at the landing pad. The whole thing was massive, probably a good kilometer in length, and there were abandoned vehicles parked along the edges of it, presumably left there when the operation had been abandoned. The whole scene was lit with a dusty yellow light. They were fairly far away from the binary stars (which were so close together that even from orbit they appeared as one bright dot on the horizon), and so the planet was cold. Not frozen gasses cold, but ''even if there was atmosphere, you''d be dead without a suit'' cold.

    "This place gives me the creeps," Sylva said.

    "Then let''s get the ansible set up, and we can get out of here," Iri said. "It''s not like the suns are going to go nova while we''re here, though." She unstrapped herself from her seat and stretched, banging her arms into the ceiling of the shuttle. Sylva also unbuckled, rubbing the places in her legs where the straps had been cutting off circulation.

    "Help me suit up?" Sylva asked.

    In the small shuttle, it was a little tricky for both of them to claw their way inside suits. They were bulky and heavy, and Sylva had never liked the way her own head felt and sounded once she snapped the helmet shut. But they suited up, went through the airlock, and pulled the ansible out of the tiny exterior cargo hold that it was inhabiting. Even with this planet''s gravity (Sylva estimated it was a bit more than half of what gravity was on Emerri), the ansible was still quite heavy, and the box that it was in took both of them to maneuver.

    "Are we setting this up here?" Sylva asked, hearing the echoey hiss of her own voice over their radio connection.

    "Let''s go a little ways away. Give ourselves room to take off. Don''t want to keep it on the landing pad, just in case someone ever decides to land here and smashes it."

    Sylva grunted in agreement and started shuffling down the landing pad, towards the rows of abandoned vehicles. Iri was leading the way, and doing most of the heavy lifting, so Sylva let herself be led along, and she spent her time inspecting the vehicles as they passed. Most of them were heavy trucks, probably intended to haul unrefined ore to this processing plant from wherever the space elevator had once stood. A few of them were smaller utility vehicles, and some were big cranes meant for doing work on the processing plant itself. It was all quite fascinating to Sylva. Clearly, time had not ravaged them too much. They walked for a long time, probably ten minutes, stopping every so often to rest their arms. The landing pad was annoyingly long.

    They came to the end of the row of vehicles, and the last few, to Sylva''s surprise, were a bunch of ground to space shuttles. "Look at these," she said to Iri, stopping and putting her side of the ansible box down. "These look like they''re in good shape."

    Iri left the ansible box on the ground, and walked around and inspected the shuttles. "Wonder why they were abandoned," she said. "Seems to me like shuttles are a pretty valuable commodity."

    "Yeah. Maybe they don''t work?"

    "Maybe."

    "Think it''s worth trying to bring them back with us?"

    "Well, we''d have to go back up, and get Yan down here, several times..." Iri said. "Let me see what kind of shape they''re in."

    She continued walking around the shuttles, and Sylva did her best to inspect them from the outside, though her completely untrained eye didn''t give her much information. On the other side of one of the shuttles, Iri huffed a little as she laid down on the ground and scooted herself under the shuttle''s landing gear to inspect its undercarriage. Sylva stood on her tiptoes to peer inside one of the windows.

    "That''s... weird..." Iri said slowly.

    Sylva crouched down so that she could see Iri on the ground. They couldn''t actually see each others faces, due to the helmets they were both wearing.

    "What''s weird?" Sylva asked.

    "Shuttles have their date of manufacture stamped all over them. This one is..."

    "It''s what?"

    The nervousness in Iri''s voice was palpable. "It''s from a long time after this place was theoretically abandoned. Date''s just two years ago." The gears of Sylva''s brain churned.

    "There are people? Here?" she whispered, even though that made no sense to do-- she was talking to Iri over radio.

    "I think we''re going to need to find a different planet to put our ansible on. Let''s get the fuck out of here." She pulled herself out from under the shuttle, and Sylva stood as well.

    "Did you bring any weapons?" Sylva asked, rejoining Iri towards the back of the shuttle.

    "Does it look like it?" Iri''s voice indicated that she was definitely cursing herself for that particular lack of foresight, as there was certainly no gun strapped to her hip or back.

    Sylva was none too happy either, because Iri without a weapon left Sylva as the main provider of literal power, just in case. They moved back towards where they had dropped the ansible box. Their shuttle was a decent distance away, so they couldn''t see it completely clearly, but nothing looked amiss.

    Iri went to grab the handles of the box. "Stop," Sylva said. "I got it. We can move faster this way." She focused for a long moment, and grabbed the box with the power, hoisting it about half a meter off the ground. She half expected Iri to make a quip about not using the power on it before, but Iri was deadly silent. The two of them walked forward, both keeping eyes out on the horizon and all across the landing field as they walked back to their shuttle.

    Despite wearing a heavy and bulky space suit as she walked across the landing area, Sylva still felt almost naked and exposed. The sight lines were too long, and her field of vision was restricted by the helmet. She hated this.

    They got closer to their shuttle, and a suited figure stepped out from behind it. Sylva swore, and dropped the ansible box. It crashed to the ground, loud enough that the thin atmosphere carried it through her helmet.

    Sylva knew rudimentary sign (she had to in order to get suit trained), so she recognized when the figure signed, "Stop."

    "Iri..." Sylva said. "What should I do?"

    They had stopped walking forward, but the figure had interposed themself between them and the shuttle.

    "Watch that gun," Iri said. Sylva saw now that the figure did have a gun on their hip, and their hand was slowly creeping towards it, the longer that Iri and Sylva waited. Sylva saw Iri sign something, out of the corner of her eye, but it wasn''t clear enough to tell what she was actually saying. The person signed back, "No."

    Iri and the suited person had a conversation then, one that Sylva couldn''t quite follow, especially because she couldn''t see Iri''s half of it. It took place in tiny bursts, and she could tell that the other person''s sign was clumsy and limited, even though her own was just as much or more. Still, despite not being able to understand the specifics of the conversation, the situation took shape in Sylva''s head.

    These people were hiding on this planet. Sylva and Iri had discovered them. This person, who knows who they were, or if they were in contact with their superiors. But, in order to avoid this planet being stripped of people once again, they had a vested interest in keeping this secret. They probably didn''t believe Iri, if Iri was telling them that they weren''t going to tell anyone about this place. There wasn''t any other ship in orbit, but there might be anti-ship defenses on the planet. They were in a very bad situation, and that was the whole of it.

    "What should I do?" Sylva asked Iri over the radio.

    "Shut up for a second. I''m trying to get them to go away." Iri redoubled her sign efforts. The person pointed at the ansible box.

    "Should I lie?" Iri asked.

    "I don''t know!" Sylva said, the panic peaking in her voice.

    The longer Iri took to answer, the more the person''s hand crept towards the gun. Iri signed something. The man waved them to move away from the box. Iri grabbed Sylva''s arm and pulled her sideways a good few steps. The person came forward and, while keeping his suit''s face trained on Iri and Sylva, opened the latches on the top of the ansible box and checked inside.

    "Did you lie?" Sylva asked.

    "Yeah," Iri said.

    "Fuck."

    The person slowly finished their investigation and stood up. Quick as anything, before Sylva could really react, they were pulling their gun from their holster and aiming it. Without thinking, without consciously even deciding that was what she was going to do, Sylva felt the power rushing to the surface of her skin. She grabbed at the person''s suit, and dragged DOWN. They fell to their knees, then their face smashed into the tarmac. It felt like slow motion as Sylva saw a few shards of glass come off the person''s suit helmet and clatter to the ground.

    "The ansible!" Iri yelled, running towards the shuttle as fast as her suit would allow her.

    Sylva used the power and hauled the ansible box along behind her as Iri did a quick-open of the shuttle, forgoing the slow airlock. The good air rushed out, but since they were both still suited it didn''t really matter. Sylva didn''t glance behind her at the figure on the ground as she shoved the ansible into the shuttle and clambered in herself. She slammed the door shut behind her, and as soon as the lock clicked into place, the shuttle jolted into motion as Iri taxied down the landing strip, the engine throbbing and giving them enough speed to leap into the air. Sylva stumbled around the interior of the shuttle as Iri pushed the acceleration as hard as it would go, and she eventually managed to buckle herself in.

    Sylva hit the radio button on the console, quickly connecting her suit''s controls to the ship wider broadcast system. "Yan! Be prepared to protect the ship from ground assault. We''re on our way back now. Let''s get the fuck out of here."

    Yan''s voice came back, concerned and crackling over the radio. "What happened?"

    "This place isn''t as empty as you thought," Iri said.

    "Are they going to launch shuttles after us?" Sylva asked.

    "Keep an eye on the tracker. Dealing with anything incoming is your problem."

 Chapter One Hundred Five - A Tiny Moment of Respite

    A Tiny Moment of Respite

    <blockquote>

    "Pity the stranger who knows not our ways. Pity the man who spends all his days trapped on the outside, the outside always. Pity the stranger who comes to this place."

    -from "The Unwelcome Aboard", a spacer song

    </blockquote>

    No one on the planet shot at them, even as Sylva and Iri''s shuttle skittered its way up out of the atmosphere and into the welcoming vacuum of space. Yan opened the bay doors and Iri docked the shuttle with as much grace as she ever had (not much).

    Yan ran, and later floated, down to the bays to find them as soon as every bridge control was taken care of and she had jumped the ship away. By time she got to the bay, Iri and Sylva were both out of the shuttle, and had hauled out the ansible box to inspect it for damage. They looked up when Yan came in. "Are you both alright?"

    "I''m fine," Iri said. "I hate flying under nervous conditions though."

    "Yeah, I''m okay," Sylva said.

    "Who was it? Down on the planet, I mean," Yan asked. "Did you see any identification?"

    "Their suit was super generic," Iri said. "Not Fleet, obviously, but it could have been pirate or Guild."

    "No chance of it being someone from our friends, the Dark Hands, right?"

    "Friends is a funny word," Iri said. "But no. They were using Imperial Sign, which I doubt that any of that crew have bothered to learn."

    Yan rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, they barely manage Old Imperial," she said. "So. Pirates or Guild..."

    "The difference, when you have people hanging out on a derelict planet, is probably purely academic," Iri said. She shimmied out of her bulky space suit, which she had been apparently wearing since they left the planet''s surface.

    "I know," Yan said. "I''m just wondering what the consequence of this will be."

    "We jumped away, right?"  Iri asked.

    "Of course."

    "Seems unlikely that they''ll track us," Iri said. "We keep moving, and hopefully by time whatever resupply ship they have shows up, we''re long gone and untraceable."

    Sylva was holding her helmet in her hand and turning it over and over. "Do you think I killed that person?" she asked.

    "Nah," Iri said. "Look." She took Sylva''s helmet, and rapped on the front glass of the faceshield. "There''s several layers. Even if you broke the first two, there''s another underneath. And I didn''t see that much glass."

    "Why didn''t they get up, then?" Sylva asked. Her voice sounded far away, even though she was standing right there.

    "You probably gave them a concussion or something. I wouldn''t doubt that their face took a beating from hitting the front of the glass. But I don''t think you let their air out, at the very least," Iri said.

    "Okay." Sylva didn''t sound entirely convinced.

    "Let''s go get you a stiff drink," Iri said. "Get yourself out of that suit."

    <hr>

    Yan spent a bit of time comforting Sylva and discussing things with Iri, and then sent Sylva to bed to sleep off the panic and alcohol that Iri had given her. Yan wasn''t exactly tired yet, though, and had to jump the ship in a few hours, so she sought out Kino.

    Kino was in the greenhouse, one of her usual haunts, and Yan could feel the slick and almost imperceptible use of Kino''s power, the one that was a constant indicator of her presence now, as she used her metal fingers to work some tool or other.

    "Hey Kino," Yan said, coming over to where Kino was clearing grime out of a water filter. "You heard about what happened down on the Malstaire planet, right?"

    "I pay attention," Kino said.

    "I know you do. Got any thoughts?"

    Kino shrugged. "No one chased us. We just have to find another planet."

    "I don''t really want word to get out that we have an ansible."

    "Should Sylva have killed that person?"

    Yan shook her head firmly. "I''m glad at least one of us doesn''t have blood on our hands."

    "She made up with you, right?"

    "I apologized for being an asshole to her," Yan said. She did feel bad still about the way she had pushed Sylva away.

    Kino looked up at her with an inscrutable expression. "Okay."

    "What?" Yan asked.

    "It''s none of my business," Kino said.

    "Fine."

    Yan reached over to the hose line that was hanging on the wall and turned it on, spraying it on the filter that Kino was holding up. When the water ran clear instead of brown into the sink, Kino turned away and replaced the filter in the hydroponics station.

    "How''s your project going?" Kino asked.

    "I''m done with the first draft of the words, I think,"  Yan said. She looked around the greenhouse, leaned over one of the beds, and pulled a whithered brown leaf off of a squash vine. She twirled it around between her index finger and thumb. "I''ve never really been good at creative writing. Not my strong suit."

    "You''re fine," Kino said. "You''re good at prayer."

    "And look how much good that did me," Yan muttered.

    "You''re alive."

    Yan frowned, the leaf fluttering and twisting with her increased agitation. "I guess."The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    "Sorry," Kino said. "I know that''s a sore subject."

    "I don''t know. It''s not, really." Yan was lying to herself, trying to speak even this mediocre rejection of her pain into existence. Kino was right, though, and anything that brought back to mind the subject of her long imprisonment was like a pain in her chest. Thinking about the role that Kino had played in that was even worse.

    "You know the rhythms of prayer, anyway. From what I''ve read, your book is very convincing."

    "It''s an imitation of the style," Yan said. "It''s not real."

    "In contrast to what? Either you believe in the theology or you don''t," Kino said. "If yours is unreal in contrast to the theology''s real, then you believe."

    "Don''t try to twist what I''m saying," Yan muttered. "You know that''s not what I meant."

    Kino put a smile on her face, that stiff expression still ringing genuine. "I''m just joking," Kino said.

    "Have you ever joked before?"

    "I don''t know," Kino said.

    "Okay."

    It was as though Kino couldn''t let go of the thought. "But if the theology is just a tool for compliance, which it is a little, at the very least, yours is at least as valid as that."

    "Is it going to work, though?" Yan asked.

    "It will."

    "How do you know?"

    "We have to make it work," Kino said.

    Yan looked at her, as she scrubbed her hands in the sink, going all the way up to her elbows. "What do you mean?" Yan asked.

    "We''ll have to use the power. Put a power structure on the book itself, just like..." She trailed off for a second. "Do you remember Sid''s project?"

    "I didn''t know you had seen it," Yan said. "But yes."

    "I took a walk through the project hall, before everyone took them away," Kino said. "I saw it then."

    "Oh." Yan thought back to what Sandreas had told her, during her interview, that if she walked through the project hall, she might have found a perfect companion. She hadn''t done it, out of worry that it would spoil things. She didn''t want to dwell on that thought-- not the nagging pain that was memories of happier Academy days, not the unbearably uncomfortable interview she had with Sandreas, and not the memories that called to mind of her mother''s death, and everything that came after.

    "We do something just like that," Kino said. "It will work."

    "You know how?"

    "Yes." Kino didn''t elaborate.

    "Okay." Yan didn''t really like the idea, and the reluctance was heavy in her voice. "Isn''t it immoral, though?"

    Kino''s eyes were wide and empty. "Probably," she said. "But we do what we need to, don''t we?"

    "I guess we do." She twirled her leaf. "How are we going to disseminate this?" Yan asked. "If we''re putting the power on it, which we probably should, it will need to be physical copies. How will we pass those around?"

    "Guild, for start. Pirates, for another. We can probably get them onto planets. Hanathue, maybe."

    "You were lying when you said you were okay with us not finding your sister, weren''t you."

    "Of course."

    "How much do you think that Iri and Sylva will kill me if we do go to Hanathue?"

    "You''re stronger than they are," Kino said.

    "You know that''s not what I mean."

    "They''ll be angry. Iri might be secretly happy you''re taking initiative. Sylva will be angry with me more than she is with you. They won''t let you go to the planet."

    "That''s all pretty predictable." Yan brushed the leaf over her chin. "I think there''s probably a way you could get onto the planet without being noticed. But I wouldn''t want you to go alone."

    "Sylva could come with me."

    The thought made Yan bark out a surprised laugh. "What makes you think that that would work at all?"

    "Better to have two power users," Kino said. "And I think she feels cooped up in here."

    Yan frowned, then, unhappy at the thought that this whole trip was making Sylva unhappy. It was true that Sylva had been rather trapped on the ship, and only able to participate in the smallest outings. Still, it wasn''t as though Kino and Sylva got along at all.

    "You think that hitching a ride with pirates would be the best option?" Yan asked.

    "Probably. Slightly less surveillance. Sylva''s done that before, right?"

    "Yeah. She knows her way around. But she had Iri with her then."

    "Iri should stay with you," Kino said, and she sounded more confident about this than usual.

    "Why?"

    "She''s the only stable one," Kino said. "You need her."

    Yan laughed again. "Maybe. But Iri''s the other shuttle pilot. It would be useful for her to go..."

    "You''re saying all this as though we are going to Hanathue," Kino said. "I shouldn''t have brought it up."

    "It''s not fair of me to keep you away from your sister."

    "I haven''t seen her in years," Kino said. "It shouldn''t matter. It''s equally unfair for me to ask you to put us all in danger."

    "We''re already in danger."

    Kino scratched at her left wrist, where the bracelet that held her prosthetic fingers left an irritated welt. "You''re the captain."

    "If we''re going to be putting our text on planets and pirate ships, we might as well start putting it on planets and pirate ships."

    Kino stared at her. "Are you going to tell people this is our plan?"

    Yan considered for a second. "When we''re a few jumps closer to Hanathue. Then they can yell at us."

    "They''ll mostly yell at me."

    "I''ll take credit," Yan said.

    <hr>

    Yan emerged from the workroom clutching her prize: her newly completed and bound book. It was about fifty pages, a slim thing, but it had a sturdy binding, ready to be passed from hand to hand. That was important. It had to last, because once the thing fell apart, the power on it would probably be broken. And, unfortunately, the text couldn''t be transcribed and retain its power. She had worked hard at weaving the power structure into the pulp of the paper, the thin layer of ink, the binding, the cover, the spine.

    She didn''t consider herself particularly artistic, but she recalled with great clarity the image of Sid''s statue, the one with the sword raised to strike, and she had taken some of the metal out of the workshop, and had formed it into a slightly raised image that looked very similar to his statue. It was a little private joke. She affixed it to the cover of her book.

    With it in hand, she sought out Sylva, who was in one of the small common areas aboard the ship. Sylva looked up with a smile when Yan entered, pausing the movie she had been watching on the big screen.

    "Sup," Sylva said.

    "Check this out," Yan said, tossing the book over to Sylva. She caught it, flipping it over in her hands.

    "Nice," she said, examining the front where the relief was. "You made this?"

    "Based on someone else''s design," Yan said. "I''m not that artistic, but I''m pretty good at copying."

    "It has a bit of flair to it."

    Yan was slightly disappointed, as she had hoped that Sylva would be immediately entranced by the image, drawn in with its swooping sight lines. Yan perched on the arm of the couch, and her legs dragged heavily on the floor as she swung them. She looked over Sylva''s shoulder as she opened the book.

    "You going to read your own words over my shoulder?" Sylva asked.

    "I''m just trying to see your reaction."

    "This is what you were working on with Kino, right?"

    "Yeah. But you''re the theological expert, heresy expert anyway, so I figured now that I''m mostly done, I could show it to you."

    "You seem disappointed by my reaction already," Sylva said, noting Yan''s slightly slumped shoulders, and the odd tone in her voice.

    "Well, er," Yan said, "It''s got... You know... Power in it."

    "You trying to mind control me?" Sylva asked, giving Yan''s leg a hard nudge. "I''m immune."

    "You''re definitely not immune."

    "I am too," Sylva said. "I didn''t get sucked in by the Mother."

    "I don''t think it''s possible to be immune..." Yan muttered. "The power catches on here to the way that every body''s brain processes text and images..."

    "I''m like, scatterbrained," Sylva said. "I think that''s why I''m so absolutely fantastic at using the power." She said this bitterly, and thumbed the pages of Yan''s book so that they fluttered and rippled.

    "Hey, if it''s an advantage it''s an advantage. I''ll just have to test the power part on Iri?"

    "Warn her first. She''ll get mad at you if you don''t."

    "Yeah, I will," Yan said. "Sorry for not warning you."

    Sylva shrugged. "Doesn''t matter. I''ll read through the text, though. Are you going to watch me do that?"

    "Err..."

 Chapter One Hundred Six - Eleventh Song: Song of the Stranger

    Eleventh Song: Song of the Stranger

    <blockquote>

    ¡°So just as God split the light from the light, and the darkness was what lay between, so too did God split self from self. Between human hearts was an unknowable distance, and there was self and there was stranger. There was brother, and there was sister. They looked, and they knew each other, and when they had known each other, they knew themselves. But the price of this knowledge was the pain that one could inflict on another.¡±

    -from ¡°Second Song: Terae¡±

    </blockquote>

    In the time of our foremothers, on a planet now dust, there was a woman named Mattaya. She was the youngest daughter of the poorest woman in her village. The custom at that time was that the eldest child inherited the land, the middle children shared the money, and the youngest was given to a trade. Mattaya''s mother, Hean, daughter of Tlalac, had neither land nor money, and so when her older sisters understood that they would inherit nothing, they rebuked the idea that Mattaya would learn a trade.

    Mattaya rebuked her sisters in turn and left her family''s home. She did not return, and they would not meet again until they met in God''s house.

    Mattaya travelled on foot to another part of the country. It was a long journey, but nature was bountiful and God was good to her. She came to a place called Rastap, a small village looped round by a river like the passing of thread through the tip of a needle. Mattaya stopped by the edge of the river, in the shade of the deep trees, for the day was hot and she was tired and thirsty. There was a young man also by the waters'' edge, called Apriot, son of Enoc, who was washing his family''s quilt-of-a-thousand-names.

    Being young and of good spirit, Mattaya spoke to Apriot of many things as he washed the quilt. When he had finished, he hung the quilt on a tree to dry and invited Mattaya to dine with his family that night. Mattaya proved to be good company for his family, but at the end of the night she departed, sleeping in the shelter of the deep trees at the riverbank. She wrapped herself in Apriot''s quilt-of-a-thousand-names, and when she slept, she dreamed that she should stay in this village for some time.

    In the morning, Apriot found her by the riverbank once again, and invited her once more to dine with his family. The same thing passed once more, and every night thereafter for some time.

    After many days of conversation and nights spent with Apriot''s family, Mattaya confessed that she felt she must continue her journey. Apriot asked his parents for his share of the inheritance, that he might follow Mattaya to her destination and marry her there. His mother wept to think that her son should leave her, and refused. But when all the household was sleeping, Apriot''s father, Josia, son of Hariat, gave Apriot his share of the inheritance.

    Apriot and Mattaya stole away with it as thieves in the night.

    They walked together for many days, until they came to Variurg, in the valley of Batun, which was all looped round by mountains as thread through the eye of a needle. With his inheritance, Apriot built a small house on the side of the mountain. To earn their living, Apriot hunted in the forest for all the furs of all the creatures large and small, which he sold for clothing. Every day, Mattaya brought the animals from all the villagers out to graze in the high pastures. In this way, they became known to the people of the town and lived happily there for several years.

    It was in the deepest part of the winter that Apriot''s eldest brother, Ryach, journeyed to Mattaya and Apriot''s home, with the news that Apriot''s mother had taken sick and would soon die. Apriot wished to make amends before his mother made the journey to God''s house, so he asked Mattaya permission to depart. She gave it, thinking that he would return quickly, despite the snow all through the mountain passes, and the dangers of the road. God had been good to them in the past, so she was sure that this would continue. It is not wise to trust God on the matters of man and man, for God has no hand in the things that men do to each other.

    The night that her husband left, Mattaya dreamed a dream. In her dream, she stood on the side of the tallest mountain, watching her husband walk slowly down and away from her. He did not turn back to look at her, even when she called his name. At her side stood two young boys. They too began to run down the mountain, each in his own direction, scattering pebbles in their haste. Mattaya tried to run after them, but every step she took seemed to bring her further up the mountainside, away from them. Mattaya woke and kept all of these things in her heart.

    She waited a long time for her husband to return, and felt herself grow fat and heavy with child. To prepare the way, she cleaned her whole house, as was the custom, and invited the women of the village to help her with what was coming.

    On the night that she was to give birth, it was nearly winter once again, for years were short on that planet, and the wind howled through all the trees around the mountain. Fat clouds, hung heavy in front of the moon. Several of the village women came to Mattaya at the appointed time. They anointed her with oils and the blood of a calf, to pray for the safety of her children as they crossed the bridge into life. They hung up fragrant herbs on all the windows and doors, to keep evil at bay. They sang loudly, beseeching God.

    It was a long birth, but Mattaya had two sons, healthy, and she held them in her arms. She named the larger one Haito, which in that country meant little bird, and the smaller one Genn, which meant warrior. The boys were healthy, but Mattaya''s bleeding did not stop, and soon she was pale and cold, and soon after that she was still with the stillness of death.

    The village women discussed what they should do with Mattaya''s two sons.

    "I will take the larger one," said Ailee, daughter of Saite. "I have enough milk for one more, and he will be a good companion for my own son, and a good help for my husband in his work."

    There came a cry from the other women: "But what will we do about the little one? There is only one woman with milk here, and that is you, Ailee."

    Ailee said, "We can give him cow''s milk today. But he is weak and may soon join his mother, no matter what we do."

    The youngest woman present, Lyle, daughter of Chet, spoke up. "We must give him to the travelling woman in town. She has milk."

    "She has no child," Ailee said. "How can she have milk?"

    "Her child took sick on the road, and her milk has not yet dried up," Lyle said. "You have seen the look in her eyes."

    "Can we trust a stranger with one of our own?"

    "Remember that Mattaya was once too a stranger," Lyle said.

    So the women wrapped the little Genn in cloth and brought him down the mountain to the deep trees where the travelling woman was staying. She was alone in her camp but for her mules and dogs, and she stared into her fire as though it contained the word of God.

    "Aye, Guade-with-no-mother, greet us," Lyle said. Guade stood and greeted Lyle with a kiss.

    "Why have you come to my camp in the darkest part of the night?" Guade asked. "Even the moon will not show me its face."

    Lyle took the small and silent baby from another woman''s arms. "Genn, son of Mattaya, needs milk and arms to hold him," Lyle said. "You have both. Will you take him as your own?"

    "I leave through the western passage at dawn," Guade said. "The harshest part of my journey is not yet over."

    "There is no one else who can take him," Lyle said. "Will you take him as your own?"

    "He may yet die with me as my own did."

    "He will surely die with no one to care for him. You would show him great care. Will you take him as your own?"

    Lyle held Genn out, and Guade took him in her arms, let the baby suckle at her breast. "I will take him," she answered.

    The other women left, and by morning, Guade was gone through the western passage, and the little Genn with her.

    <hr>

    In that village, the women resolved to tell Apriot none of what had transpired when he returned, for fear that it would break his heart. When he came back to his home and found it empty, and came back to the village and found Mattaya''s burial shroud hung on the edge of the graveyard, he wept hot tears and cried so loud that the whole village could not help but hear.

    Ailee held the young Haito and her own son to her chest and covered their ears so that they might not hear Apriot''s cries and answer his wailing.

    After some hours, Apriot began to climb the tallest mountain around the village. Lyle, daughter of Chet, ran after him to offer comfort, but he could not be comforted nor turned from his eastward course. He climbed until he vanished from the sight of the village. He was not seen in that place again.

    <hr>

    Haito grew into a strong young man, beloved by all the people of the village. Though he did not know his own heritage, and called himself Haito, son of Ailee, they looked upon him with the secret knowledge in their hearts that he was truly the son of Mattaya. In his stead, Lyle placed flowers on the place where Mattaya was buried every spring.

    Haito often found himself confused. He was a strong man, and a good man, but in the womb, he had made a bargain with his brother, as brothers are wont to do. His brother had said to him, in his way, "Brother, I will give you my strength, should you give me something of your own."

    "What can I give to you that you might want?"

    "I would like the power to know people''s hearts," his brother had said.

    "Is that a power that I can grant you?"

    "Let us try the bargain, and if God grants, so shall it be."

    So Genn gave up his strength, and Haito gave up his ability to know others. Every face he saw was that of a stranger. Even his own face, when he saw it in the glass hung in the temple, or  in the still waters of the pond, was a stranger to him. Though he was not a stranger, everyone was a stranger to him by eye.

    Ailee, who he called his mother, scolded him for not recognizing her in the square, and running up to other women and speaking to them as though they were his mother.

    "Don''t you know who I am?" Ailee demanded.

    "I hear your voice and know you," Haito said. "But you look as much like every other woman."

    "Imagine saying that to your wife in the future! God hold it!"

    And Haito wished that he had been born blind, so that others might understand that he must hear their voices to know them. Kind words were faster to his heart than any look in an eye.

    And so Haito grew nervous to approach others, and became a quiet and studious man. He helped the man he called father with his work, and he wrestled with the man he called brother, and he was doted on by the woman he called mother, and all the village looked upon him with the knowledge that he had another father, another mother, another brother, all elsewhere under the eyes of God or in God''s house.

    "It is good," Lyle said to Ailee one night, when all the village was asleep and they were walking by the river bank, "that Haito does not see the differences between his face and yours. He may never need to learn."

    "Yes. God has granted us this mercy, and I am thankful for it."

    "Still, I sometimes lie awake at night and think if it was the right thing that we did."

    "It would break his heart to tell him now."

    "Does Mattaya look kindly on us from God''s house?"

    "Her son is safe and loved," Ailee said. "That is all that she could want, is it not?"

    And Lyle sighed but protested no more. She thought sometimes of the other baby named Genn, and wondered if he too had survived to be safe and loved, but had no way of knowing.

    <hr>

    It was in those days that their distant King was calling for war, and for the strongest of the land to serve. This was not the bloody Red King, for he is from another song and another time, but this King was no less bloody. Across the shallow sea there lay a land of bloodthirsty peoples, who lived on the richest lands. None of the people from Haito''s village had ever been there, and when the conscription notice was tacked up on the doors of the temple, the whole village talked of it.

    Stories grew and grew.

    "I thought that the traveller woman, the one who passed through here once when Haito and his brother were young, I thought that she had said she had travelled from that land," one woman said, pulling water from the well in the town square.

    "You speak slander," Lyle said, and made the sign to ward off evil. "She was from the other side of the mountains. The other way. I saw her come from there."

    "What does it matter to you?" the woman said with a scoff and turned away. "What does it matter where strangers are from?"

    Lyle spit into the woman''s water, and when Ailee''s husband broke up the fight, with all his children watching, he cursed Lyle. "Do not be so quick to defend someone who isn''t here," he said. "It''s better to let the gone stay gone from our thoughts."

    "What were they fighting about?" Haito asked the man he called his father.

    "War plants its seeds in every heart," he said, "even when on distant shores."

    The matter was forgotten until the King''s man stood in the square with his soldiers, and pointed out the youngest and strongest of the village to be conscripted into the army and go across the sea to fight. Haito and the man he called brother were among that number, as were a great many of the sons and daughters of the village.

    "But who shall work the fields? Who shall care for our animals?" There was a great outcry from the villagers, but they could not match the strength and weapons of the King¡¯s forces, and so their children were taken from them.

    At first, Haito did not mind so much. He had been able to bid a easy goodbye to the woman he called mother and the man he called father, and he looked upon it as a great adventure. He had always wondered at what was beyond the mountains that looped round their village like thread through the eye of a needle. And even when all the men and women were dressed in uniforms that all looked the same, he found this no trouble, as he was still surrounded by the friendly voices of the ones he knew from his village. Even when the food they were given was meager and poor, and they had to walk many miles over hard roads to the capitol, he found it no worse than the food they ate in the darkest part of the winter, and no harder to walk along the roads than it was to climb up the mountains of his village. He stayed with the man he called his brother, and they talked jovially of what they might find across the shallow sea.

    "Perhaps I will meet a woman while we fight who will be my wife," the man he called his brother said.

    "You think that you''ll impress some woman here when you could impress none of us at home?" one of the girls from their village said. "You grow too hopeful by far."

    "I heard someone say that the reason that their land is so fertile is that they water it with the blood of their enemies, and any among their number who are weak," someone said.

    "I don''t think blood makes plants grow," Haito said, feeling sick.

    "My father said that when he was young he read a book of their poetry, and they talked about it," they said.

    "Isn''t your father a liar?"

    "I should kill you for an insult like that."

    There was much friendly banter among their number, and though the journey was long, it was in the pleasantest part of the spring, and along the walk they learned to march in line, and how to use one of the new weapons they were given, and they all believed themselves to be the best fighting force, ready to conquer the bloodthirsty hordes across the Shallow Sea by the time they arrived at the capital.

    The capital was a dirty place, where all the buildings were so close together that the smell of the people who lived in them could not escape. The heat, too, stayed trapped in the ground, and in that early part of summer, all the newly arrived from Haito''s village sweat like pigs in their uniforms. They were given some coin, to pay them for their journey thus far, and given time to see the city.

    Haito knew he was among strangers, and when people saw his uniform, they looked at him with fear in their eyes. He did not see this, though, just as he did not see their faces in his mind, and he spent his coin on new drink that he had never tasted, and a bed to sleep in for one night after so long on the road, and food to store in his little sack and take with him, so that he would have some comforts for the voyage across the sea.

    The man he called brother had departed in another direction, determined to find a pretty woman in the city to talk to, and so Haito was alone the next morning when it came time to rejoin the group. He made his way to the place the recruiter had told them all to arrive at, and he found there a sight that he had never before seen. Thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of the strongest men and women of the country were all assembled out on a great field rushing back and forth with unknowable purpose, though it must have been some terrible purpose indeed.

    Haito entered the camp and was immediately lost. He could see no one from his village, as they were all as strangers to him, and in the crush of voices, he could pick out no one from the crowd. In his desperation, he followed signs that pointed the way for new recruits, and he hoped that his friends and the man he called his brother would come. He did not see them again, though, and instead he was given a number, and a new uniform, and given a tent to join while they waited to board the ships that would take them across the sea.

    Haito met the others in his tent, and tried to greet them and ask where he may find the man he called his brother, and all the others who had been his friends, but they laughed at him and told him that all would have been separated regardless. No man could be among the others from their village, they said, because it might cause people to act badly in the heart of a dangerous moment.

    Though Haito could see the truth in this, he resented it, and resolved that night to sneak out of his tent and to find the man that he called his brother.

    In the darkest part of the night, when all his companions in his tent were asleep, Haito crept out of his tent and in the shadows of the camp. The moon was a sliver overhead, and a fine rain was falling. His footsteps shone as dew prints in the newly trampled grass, and they gave away his position. Haito tried to walk silently, and to avoid the lights of torches, and to walk away from the patrols who circled the camp, keeping order and peace with all the many men and women caught up within its borders. Haito tried listening near each tent, hoping to hear a whisper of a word that sounded like his brother''s voice, that he might mark the tent''s location and learn where his brother stayed. Most tents were asleep, though, and he heard only the sighs of those deep in hopeful dreams.

    As Haito was passing through the center of the camp, slipping through the deepest shadows he could find, a woman ran up to him.

    "Aye, Lieutenant Genn," the woman said. "I am glad to see you this night."

    Haito did not recognize her voice, and did not know who she was speaking to, so he paused in his step and looked around for another.

    "Let me step forward into the light," she said, and Haito saw her face but did not know it.

    "Hello," he said, when it was clear that she was talking to him. "I am glad to see you as well."

    He understood that she was confusing him for another, as he had done many times, and he had some sympathy in his heart for her. Still, he could not break this charade, for he was certainly not supposed to be outside of his tent at this hour of the night. From the rank bars on the chest of her uniform, he understood that she had the ability to go wherever she wished. He hoped that his own chest was not so visible in the darkness, that she would not understand that she was not addressing someone with the same rank as herself.

    "Walk with me?" she asked, and held out her arm.

    Haito took it, feeling that there was nothing else that he could do.

    "You are quiet tonight," she said as they walked. "Do you not have anything to say to me?"

    "I am anticipating tomorrow, and the journey," Haito said.

    "The journey will not be the difficult part," she said. "I thought you had travelled by sea before? I thought you had already been across the water?"

    Haito had done no such thing. "Truthfully, it is not the journey that I fear, nor the land on the other side. It is everything else."

    "That, I understand," the woman said. She paused and considered Haito as they walked, arm in arm. "You seem larger in the darkness."

    "It is just as the night can turn the sounds of a mouse into something larger and more fearful than its true self," Haito said.

    "Are you a mouse, Lieutenant Genn?"

    "I am myself, and no one else." And in such a way, Haito spoke a lie and a truth at once.

    She laughed. "We should both return to our tents and sleep, should we not?"

    "Yes."

    "Will you give me a kiss goodbye?"

    Wanting to do no such thing, Haito reached to smooth the back of her hair, finer than silk threads. "I should not like to spoil the memories of our time together by mixing anxiety of the future with the sweetness of your mouth."

    She took his hand and brushed it with her own lips, then.  The two departed in silence.

    Haito''s mind was filled with questions and relief, and he slipped back into his tent without anyone having known that he was gone.

    The next morning, the whole group, thousands, tens of thousands, marched towards the docks and the sweet waters of the Shallow Sea. There were ships there of such number and size that Haito had never imagined. Over the noise of the crowd, Haito heard a voice he knew, and turned his head this way and that, looking for her.

    The woman he had met in the night talked loudly and clearly to two men, one small and slender with officers'' stripes on his chest, the other older and commanding. When the small one spoke, Haito stopped in shock to listen. It was as though his own voice were coming from someone else''s mouth. Haito was pushed away with the crowd,and lost sight of the woman and the man who carried his voice.

    Being strong, Haito was commanded to load supplies onto the ships-- good foods to eat and the fiercest weapons he had ever seen. It took four men to carry a box, but Haito had the strength of two, so the job was fast and easy.

    When all of the boxes and people had been loaded aboard the ships, they sat low in the water. It was a long journey across the Shallow Sea (which was neither truly a sea nor shallow, that was only the name for it in that country). Haito knew no one aboard of his ship, and tried to stay out of the way of the sailors as they kept them on course with their inscrutable purposes. By the time the journey finished, Haito knew the voices of everyone on board, and reveled in hearing them sing late in the night.

    When they came into sight of land, the spirits of sailors and passengers alike grew dark. They sailed up the coast, searching for a place where they could all disembark. The land they saw was rich and full of life, just as they had been told, all covered with trees and air warm with the smell of flowers. With their telescopes, they could see people watching them from the within trees, all their boats. They sharpened their weapons with a fearsome look on their faces, their eyes full of bloodlight.

    And so it came that the boats anchored in a cove, and the sailors and soldiers rowed to shore. The cove was all ringed round by cliffs, like thread through the eye of a needle. When they came onto shore, all of them, and started to march inward to find the enemy, there was a great and terrible rumbling, as though all the earth was against them, and rocks began to fall from the cliffs, and great waves crashed upon the shore, and the boats on the water tumbled as though God was striking them down.

    "There can be no retreat!" the general said. "This is a sign that God has commanded we move only forward! Victory is assured!"

    There was a great muttering from the soldiers, but as the boats were taking on water, they had no choice but to go forward. And so the whole assembly pressed forward, into the trees and into the villages, where they found men waiting to kill them. And they all killed and fought and were killed and fought and killed again, for such is the nature of war.

    There were mountains far off in the distance, and that was where they were going. "On the other side of the mountains, that is the place where all manner of good things can be grown, all manner of farmlands to be had, with clean running water and pleasant weather," someone said. "That is why they prevent us from going closer to the mountains. They want to prevent us from reaching their strongholds on the other side."

    After many days, word was passed down their lines, though their lines were growing thin.

    "Be careful of these people," someone said to Haito. "They take the clothes of our dead and dress in them, in order to lure you away. Do not trust anyone you do not recognize."

    And Haito was afraid, for he did not recognize anyone around him except by voice, and their voices were muffled and quiet in the thick darkness of the forest. All around them came the sounds of birds and creatures, and soft rain pattering the leaves overhead, and violent sounds far off in the distance. There were enemies around every corner, and Haito was afraid.

    It came that their enemies were better suited to this terrain than they were, and they hid between the trees and picked off Haito''s group one by one, and cut them off from their supply lines. They were forced to live off the meager pickings of the jungle, and they were forced to use their knives rather than their guns, for they had run out of gunpowder.

    "We head for the mountains," Haito''s commander said. "We will reunite with the rest of our force there."

    But after many days of walking, and after many fights with the enemy where the enemy killed one of their number then slipped away into the darkness, Haito''s whole troop was tired. "We should return to the sea," one said. "They must have repaired the ships by now."

    "To desert the mission is to take death from our own hands," someone else whispered in the darkness. "We must press onward."

    The trees were so thick that they could barely see each other, and they moved quietly so as to avoid attracting attention. They moved so quietly, and so stealthily, that Haito stumbled through the darkness and lost sight of his own group. He feared calling out to them, and resolved to continue forward, always forward, looking for them. They would meet at the mountains.

    He did not find them the first day, nor the second day. He ate the bounty of the forest, nuts and fruits, and he wished that he had a weapon other than his knife and his empty gun, that he might catch birds or small animals to cook and eat. He grew hungry and thirsty, for though the whole place was wet with rain, there seemed to be few streams for him to drink from, and everywhere he went there were thousands of crawling bugs and a miserable sweat clinging to him.

    On the third day, he saw a figure in uniform far off in the distance. Forgetting the words of warning that he had been told, Haito ran towards the man, and it was a man. He called out to him, desperate to see any friendly face, desperate to meet back up with those he had called his comrades. But this man was not his comrade. Haito knew when the man turned, and he saw the bloodlight in his eyes, that this was a man who had stolen the uniform of the dead, who was stealing through the forest looking to ambush someone like him. The man held a knife and held it towards Haito, and when he spoke in his strange tongue, Haito knew he was being threatened. The part of him that was small told him to run, but Haito knew he had the strength of two men, and he took his own knife in his hands, and they fought there, among the trees.

    Haito had not yet killed anyone. He had seen it done by his companions, and he had seen it done to his companions, but the chance had never quite come to him yet. Now it was in his hands, as he had this stranger underneath him, held him with his strength of two men, and saw the bloodlight go out from his eyes.

    And Haito was tired, then, and he cried at what he had done, and felt naked in God''s eyes in the trees, cut off from the light of the sun. But still he had nowhere to go but forward, no one to meet but the enemy, and nothing to do but kill in the service of a King he would never meet. Haito went onwards towards the mountains.

    As the ground sloped ever upwards, the air grew hotter and hotter, and Haito grew tired and hungry, and he began to see visions in the corners of his eyes. He thought they were people, and he thought that they could have been the woman he called his mother, the man he called his father, the fellow he called his brother, but they were nothing but the rustling of the trees in the wind, forming into shapes in his mind. He called out to them, regardless. Returning to the mountains was like returning home. He imagined that he was going home as he climbed.

    And the trees grew thinner, then, and the air grew less hot, the ground less green. There were rocks, now, and they cut his hands like knives, they cut through the soles of his shoes until they became useless,and they cut through the soles of his feet after that. He saw no sign of the rest of the soldiers.

    "The other side of the mountain," he thought. "That''s where they must be."

    And so Haito climbed, and climbed, and climbed, until he stood at the top, looking out over what felt like the whole of the world. His mouth was dry as bone, and if he had wanted to speak, he would have had to wet his lips with the blood from his hands to do so. There was no water anywhere, and the air was thin here, so thin that he could barely breathe, no matter how much he opened his lungs to it. Below him, the mountain stretched on, barren, all up and down. Behind him was the forest full of death. In front of him, the land that was promised to be green and inviting, down the slope of the mountain, there was nothing but desert: barren rocks that sparkled in the sunlight as far as the eye could see. No clouds even passed above it, so trapped were they by the mountain peak where he stood. Haito saw that there was nothing there, that all of this had been a dream of conquest for no reason, and he sat down on the rock at the peak of the highest mountain, and looked over the desert and wept.

    How good it would be, he thought, if he tumbled down the rocks here. There would be no one to find his bones. There was no reason to go forward, and no way to go back. If he went back with what he had seen, he would be killed. There were no boats to take him home, and maybe even the sailors who had manned the boats were all dead. Maybe he was the last one. The only one not bested by this land and the people in it. But what was he if he was not bested? He had nothing to go on to.

    Haito became aware that there was another person behind him. This awareness came on slowly, like the sunlight which crested over the peaks of the mountains. Haito wanted to turn but found that he could not. His eyes were fixed on the horizon. A great fear came over him then.

    "Do not be afraid," the Voice said, and Haito knew that it was God to whom he was speaking.

    "I am afraid," Haito said.

    "Why?" God asked.

    "I have come onto holy ground with blood on my hands and darkness in my heart," Haito said. He did not hear himself saying the words, for his mouth was too dry to speak, but he knew that he said them anyway, and that God heard him.

    "All ground is holy ground," God said. "The blood was on your hands before I spoke to you and it will remain once I am gone."

    "Even the desert is holy ground?" Haito asked, and pointed weakly out to where the salt flats glittered.

    "Was it not I who formed your foremothers in the desert of the places in between the stars? Is the desert not the place where every man finds himself?"

    "Must I go there?" Haito asked.

    "No," God said. "You shall not go to the desert."

    "Shall I die here?" Haito asked.

    "No, you shall not die on the mountain."

    "Then where should I go?" Haito asked, his voice full of despair. "Where are the ones I know? What shall become of me? What shall become of them?" He had forgotten his fear in his sorrow.

    "The people you came with have returned to their home, on the boats that came bearing supplies. You are one of the last ones left."

    Haito cried out in despair. If his companions had left, there would be none coming back to save him.

    "They will return," God said. "They will return with more people, and more fearsome weapons, and they will stop at nothing to burn this place to the ground."

    Haito felt both relief and sadness. It seemed good that they would return, that he might have a people to return to, but he found he had no desire in his heart to see the forest behind him in flames, for it was rich and full of life, even the lives of the people who lived here, who fought so well against him. Haito could see the flames behind him. He could hear the roar of the burning wood, feel the heat of the fire. The screaming and yelling and gunshot sounds did not cease in his imagination. It was a terror so great that seized him then.

    "This will not be for a long time," God said. "It takes time, and your people will have plenty of it, to let their anger grow in them, and to gather themselves together."

    "What will I do?" Haito asked.

    "You desire to return to your home, to your mother and father and brother," God said.

    "Yes."

    "Then you must wait here until they come. They will come again and they will leave again."

    "How can I wait here?" Haito asked. "I cannot survive in the desert, or on the mountain, or in the forest, or in the ocean."

    "You must survive among people," God said. "It is not your nature to be alone."

    "But the people here will kill me. They are my enemy."

    "Did I not create all men as brothers, and all women as sisters? Do you not see yourself in them, and them in you?"

    "But they have the bloodlight in their eyes," Haito said.

    "Look at Me," God said. And Haito felt the terrible command, and God''s power, and he turned to look. God stood before him, and he was dressed in the uniform that Haito wore, the same uniform that the man Haito had killed wore. "Who am I?" God asked.

    "You are God," Haito said.

    "Look at me," God said. "Whose face do I wear?"

    "I don''t know," Haito said. "One face looks the same as any other."

    "Do you see the bloodlight in these eyes?"

    "Yes," Haito said, and it was more horrible than anything he had ever seen.

    "And if you do not know if this face is yours or his, and the bloodlight is the same in both, then what is the difference?"

    "There must be one," Haito said.

    "I separated man from man so that he would be able to understand himself by looking at another. You must understand another by looking at yourself," God said.

    "I cannot," Haito said, and there were tears in his eyes. He saw too that there were tears on the face of the man in front of him. Whose face? It could not matter.

    "You will take the voice of the man you killed. You will have it in your mouth, and you will go back down the mountain, and you will live with them in the villages there. You will speak nothing of this to anyone."

    "They will take me without killing me?"

    "You will speak with their voice," God said. "They will treat you as a brother."

    "And then what?"

    "You will live there until your own brother returns from over the ocean."

    "My brother lives?"

    "Both of them," God said. "One will not return here, and one will. One thinks of you as dead, and one does not think of you at all."

    "I have only one brother," Haito said.

    "You have a brother who you made a compact with in the womb, and you have a brother who spent your childhood with you."

    "Genn," Haito said. "The man who speaks with my voice."

    "And wears your face."

    "Will I meet him?"

    "He is the one who will return here. The other will return to your home in the mountains where he will tell your mother and father that you are in My house."

    "I am in Your house," Haito said.

    "No, you are in the world, and so am I," God said.

    "Will my people take me back, when they return?"

    "I cannot say."

    "You know the future."

    "The things I know are not always fit to reveal. There are many things which I shall not say, and which no human mind should know. Not until you truly come to My house."

    "But there are so many questions I need to ask."

    "Every question will be answered in its time, and every answer will have its question."

    Haito fell silent, struck with a quietude that he could not break. God stepped toward him, wearing the face of a stranger, or the face of his brother, and what did it matter, for all faces were truly faces of God. God pressed a finger to Haito''s lips, and he felt a fire on his tongue, and spoke again.

    "Why are You doing this for me?" Haito asked.

    "Because you have always felt among strangers, and I am the God of Strangers," God said. "All travellers walk the roads which I ordain."

    God stepped back, towards the mountainside. "Don''t leave me," Haito pleaded. "I don''t want to be alone."

    "Have you ever been alone? Have you not always walked in My sight?"

    And God walked down the mountain, and Haito stayed frozen, and then departed from that place himself. The fire on his tongue remained, and when he came to the foot of the mountain, by a different route than he had come up, he found a stream running out of the cracks of the rocks. He drank his fill and washed the blood from his wounds and clothing. He followed the stream down into the darkness of the forest, and it was a companion for him. All the birds sang, and the wind rang through the branches of the trees, and the water murmured at his feet, and it all seemed to be in a language that he could understand, though he recognized none of it. It told him without words where he should go, and he felt the presence of God at his side as he walked, a stranger in the land of strangers.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    He walked for a day, slept for a night, and continued in the morning.

    Presently, he came upon a woman, and she was sitting halfway in the stream, all her clothes on her, and she was washing a long strip of fabric, dyed purple. She looked at him as he approached, and Haito thought he saw the bloodlight in her eyes, and he wanted to reach for his knife in the sheath at his hip, but he did not.

    "Aye, stranger," he said with the fire on his tongue. "Where am I?"

    She leaned towards him in relief, glad that he spoke in her tongue.

    "You are near the village Byal. I had thought you were one who had come to kill, as you wear their clothing."

    "It was the clothing worn by a man I killed," Haito said, which was in its way both a truth and a lie. "I am far from my home."

    "You do not know this place, so you must be," she said. "How long have you travelled?"

    "Many days," Haito said. He did not know the number, in truth. "I came from near the ocean, where the killing was worst."

    "It will be worse again before it is over," the woman said. "What is your name, stranger?"

    "Haito, son of Ailee," he said, and saw no need to lie.

    "Odd name. I am Daviat," she said. "Are you hungry? Have you eaten?"

    "I have no food to share with you," Haito said.

    "It is enough that I should share with you." And she stood up from the stream and retrieved a pack, from which she pulled out a long roll of bread and dried meat. She lay herself on the grass next to the stream, and Haito lay next to her. They shared a meal and talked of many things.

    "Must you go, Haito?"

    "I have no destination, but I have a journey," Haito said. "I fear that if I stop I will die."

    "I have heard reports that the ships are leaving the shore," Daviat said. "There will be no one left to kill you."

    "Some may remain," Haito said. "And I have nowhere to stay but the road."

    "At least stay with me tonight. My family is pleasant, and my father needs a strong hand to construct the frame of a new house."

    "Why is your father building a new house?"

    "For my sister''s wedding. It is his gift to her."

    She gathered up her belongings, including the long strip of purple cloth, which she hung on a tree to dry, and led him back to her village. Haito felt great fear as they approached, but when she introduced him to her father and mother, he was treated kindly, and no one looked upon him as a stranger from further than the next village. With his great strength, Haito easily held timbers in place for him, and when the house was more constructed than it had been previously, they all ate dinner together, sitting around a fire and passing meat and bread and cheese from one hand to the next.

    When the shadows had grown too deep underneath the trees to see anything other than by the light of the fire, Haito bid farewell and made his way back into the forest, for he felt he had no right to intrude on their hospitality any longer. He slept beneath the tree where Daviat had hung her purple cloth, and when the morning came, she found him still under it.

    She woke him and rebuked him, saying, "If you had said you would sleep so close to my home, you would have had a fine bed rather than the hard ground."

    "I am a stranger," he said. "I have no right to sleep in your home."

    "I am not afraid of strangers," Daviat said, and she took his arm. "Come, eat with me, and help my father build his house."

    So he returned with her to the village, and again helped build, and again ate with the family. Again at night he bid farewell and tried to walk off into the forest, but Daviat followed him at a distance, quieter than a cat, and when he had laid down, she came up to him. In the dark he was surprised by her, and had his knife to her throat before she could speak.

    "It is only me," she said, and her words held no sound of fear in them.

    "I could not recognize you in the dark," he said. "You should announce yourself."

    "There''s no need to be afraid of the people who walk the paths around here," Daviat said. "Why are you afraid, Haito?"

    "I am not afraid," he said, which was a lie.

    "You act as though a man possessed."

    "What do you say that for?"

    "Accept my family''s kindness. Stay with us."

    "I must keep moving," Haito said.

    "You don''t need to run away."

    "I am not."

    "If you are not running towards, you must be running away."

    "I am just running."

    "Stop and rest a while."

    And so they lay there together beside the stream in the darkness, and she touched his face and kissed his hand, and it was good. In the light, her face may have looked like any other woman''s, but in the darkness, it was only her voice that it could be, and he found that he loved her for it.

    In the morning, they returned, and again Haito helped build. And so it was for many more days until the building was completed.

    "Now I must go," Haito said as they ate their dinner, passing the bread and meat and cheese from hand to hand.

    "Stay for the wedding," Daviat said. "You helped build the gift, you must see the couple''s joy."

    "I must go," Haito said again, though there was less protest in it.

    He stayed until the wedding, and it was beautiful.

    "I must go," Haito said again, "now that your sister is married."

    "I need help with planting the root crop," Daviat''s father said. "I am getting old and it is harder for me now."

    So Haito stayed to plant the root crop, and he stayed to burn the old plants, and he stayed to repair the aqueduct, and he stayed to build a new watchtower, and he stayed to dig holes for the foundation of a storehouse, and he stayed to harvest the root crop, and he stayed, and he stayed. And when he had stayed so long, Daviat took him out to the stream, and they stayed hand in hand, and she asked him to marry her.

    Haito looked at her, looked into her warm face, her hair curlier than sheep''s wool, her eyes brighter than the stars. "I love you," he said.

    "But will you marry me?" she asked.

    And he thought to himself, ''I have stolen this life from someone else. This is not a life that I was meant to live, and when I killed that man, I took this away from him.'' And Haito wanted to run so far away then, but Daviat held his hand, and he looked into her eyes, and with God''s fire on his tongue, he said, "Yes."

    So it came to pass that Daviat''s father built them a house on the edge of the village, and they lived there for some time, and Haito was no longer a stranger. He thought often about the land across the sea, where he had come from, and his two brothers, one he knew and one he did not know, and about his own parents, and about the sun on the mountainside, and the bleating of the goats and sheep. And when he thought of the mountains, he thought also of where he had met God, and the things that God had told him, and he often dreamed of returning to that place, and what he might say. When he thought all of these things, his eyes were sad and far away, and he stared up at the mountains, or in the other direction towards the sea, and Daviat would ask what he was dreaming of. Haito could not tell her, and felt sorry to keep a secret from his wife, but there were many things that were secret. He knew he should be cast out if they came to light, so he kept it all in his heart.

    And he thought often of what God had said, about the army of his homeland returning to burn this place to the ground until not one living thing remained. And one morning, he woke to smell smoke, thick and heavy on the wind. He stood outside in the cool morning air, wet with dew, and saw it rising from the distance, great clouds of it, rolling up out of the forest. He woke Daviat.

    "Daviat," he said, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

    She looked up at him, with her eyes star-bright, and smiled. He could not smile back. He brought her out into the morning light, and showed her the smoke thick above the trees. "You need to leave this place," he said.

    She was confused. He continued, "There are men coming from across the ocean, and if they catch you, they will kill you. You must take the whole of the village up the mountains, and perhaps even out into the desert beyond, and you must stay there until someone tells you the danger has passed."

    "Why must I take them?"

    "Because they will trust you, and I cannot come."

    "Why not?" she asked, and pulled on his arm.

    "Because I have a duty to stop this harm," he said.

    "Surely all the able of the village do as well," she said. "You must take a band, or join a band."

    "No. I must go alone."

    "What are you running towards?" she asked.

    "In the days before I met you," Haito said, confessing a little of his secret. "I was lost in the world, and I climbed the tallest mountain hoping to find company there. God spoke to me on that peak, and he put a fire in my mouth and told me that I should find a place among you until the people returned from over the ocean, for they would burn this whole place to ash until not a living thing remained. They have returned, and I know now what I must do."

    "What must you do?"

    Haito thought. "You do not know me, Daviat."

    "I am your wife." And she placed her hand on his chest, and knew the beating of his heart. His heart was beating so loudly. "Don''t go on your own. What can one man do?"

    "Whatever I must," he said.

    "Let me come with you."

    "You do not know their language."

    "That doesn''t matter."

    "I don''t want you to get hurt."

    "I don''t want to lose you," she said.

    "You must take everyone to the other side of the mountains," he said. "God will protect you."

    And she cried hot, wet, tears, and gathered up everyone who would come with her. They left their village as empty as a ghost land, with Daviat going one way, and Haito going another.

    <hr>

    When Daviat took the village over the mountains, they brought everything that they could carry on their backs. She carried the burden of two, as she was not carrying a child as her sister was. They climbed the mountains, and rested at the top, in the thin air, with blood on their hands from the sharp stones. Many of them cried. Many of them looked at the journey ahead, out into the desert, and grew angry.

    "How will we survive there?" one of the young men asked. He was too young to go off into the forest and fight like the adults had, but he was old enough to be angry. "There is no water, not as far as the eye can see, and we don''t have a way of carrying any more."

    "God will protect us," Daviat said, and she stared down at the scratches on her hands, as though there was meaning in it.

    Still others looked back the way they had come, and from the top of the mountain, they could see the smoke thick in the air above the forest, and could see the birds who fled from that hot mass towards the ocean or towards the mountains.

    "What kind of life shall we have now?" one of the women asked, holding a small child on her hip. "Will we be completely destroyed?"

    "The people we left behind will protect us," Daviat said.

    "What do they want from us?"

    "I don''t know," she said, and that was the truth.

    The whole encampment settled down to sleep for the night, each one heavily burdened with their own private misery. Daviat stoked the fire and kept watch, staring out over the horizon and watching the smoke block out the moon as it rose.

    Presently, she became aware of someone next to her, but she found that she could not turn to look. Their presence was so unlike that of the other villagers that Daviat worried that there was a stranger in her camp, doing magic on her that was here for ill.

    "Do not be afraid," the stranger said, and the words carried such peace that the fear left Daviat''s heart. She stared into the fire as though it were a mirror, and it would reflect back the face of the stranger sitting next to her.

    "Who are you?" she asked.

    "Who do you think that I am?" the stranger asked.

    And Daviat knew then that the story that Haito had told her was true, and that he had met God on the mountaintop. Now she, too, had met God on the mountaintop.

    "Is this holy ground?" she asked.

    "All ground is holy, in its way," God said. "Peace, my daughter."

    Daviat wanted to look, wanted to wake the rest of the sleeping camp so that they too might know God come among them as a stranger in the night. She could not move, and she knew that even if she yelled her loudest, none of the sleepers would wake. This was the nature of such events. They were meant for one, and to be kept quiet in the heart alone.

    "Why did you send Haito out among the monsters?" she asked.

    "They are no more monsters than you are," she said.

    "They are burning down my home," she said. "Even as we speak, they are killing. Haito has gone among them."

    "Haito has a debt in his heart that he must repay. He has someone that he must meet there among them, just as he met you among your people."

    "Is he in danger?"

    "There is the potential for pain in every moment that one spends with another," God said. "But there is potential for healing, too."

    "Why did they come here?"

    "They believe that there is rich land here, richer still on the other side of the mountains, and they want to take it."

    "But we live here," Daviat said. "And there is nothing beyond the mountains but salt."

    "You live here. Yes."

    "So why should they take the land?"

    "Because some of them want power in their own land, over their own people, and the way to get that power is through wars and fighting and taking riches from elsewhere. This is the way it has always been. And some of them believe that you are monsters, with the bloodlight in your eyes."

    "I''ve never killed, and they think me a monster?"

    "Look at your sister''s child," God said. "If they were to come for her, would you have the bloodlight in your eyes then?"

    "But none of us have come for their children!" Daviat cried.

    "And you will not, not while they have large fast ships and you do not, and not while they have fearsome weapons that you do not, but if you had those things... perhaps." And Daviat heard the sadness in God''s voice. "They are not so different from you, and right now, they are doing great harm. But that does not make them monstrous, just as your people routing them from this land the first time they came does not make you monstrous."

    "I don''t believe that," Daviat said.

    "That is your right. But you have fought among yourselves since I split brother from brother and sister from sister, as soon as I made the known and the stranger."

    "Why did you do it, then?" Daviat asked.

    "Look at me," God said, and Daviat looked.

    She saw herself there, and when she raised her hand, God''s hand raised also. Where there were tears in her eyes, so too were there tears in God''s.

    "Is there any substance in a mirror''s eyes?" God asked, and the words came from Daviat''s mouth as well. "Can you know yourself if yourself is all you know?"

    Daviat stretched out her hand, and so did her mirror, and their fingers twined together in the moonlight. "You would not shatter your own reflection, but you would feel no love for it either," God said with Daviat''s lips.

    "That would be the price paid. Would you pay that price?"

    Daviat understood and shook her head. The mirror illusion broke, and Daviat had to look away as God''s form shifted into something unknowable.

    "The mountains divide the desert from the forest," God said. "The space between people is not empty. It is something to be understood and known, and it can be crossed."

    "How?" Daviat asked.

    "That is Haito''s task," God said.

    "I want to go to him."

    "You have your own journey, my daughter."

    "What must I do?"

    "Protect your people, and when the time comes, lead them home again."

    "How can I keep them safe in the desert?" she asked.

    "Was it not I who brought your foremothers safe out of the desert?" God asked. "You walk always in my sight."

    "Sight is one thing, and water is another," Daviat said, then felt that perhaps she had overstepped. She looked out over the desert, where the starlight made the salt flats sparkle like another sky. She felt a fire on her hands.

    "Go and find water where you must," God said. "I will not abandon you."

    And so it was that the next day, Daviat took her people and fled into the deep desert. Wherever she laid down her hands on the ground, she could pull water up from it, like one pulled a thread through the eye of a needle.

    <hr>

    Haito went through the forest, and he knew it now as though it was an old friend. He travelled through the trees, closer and closer to the place where there was fire, and smoke, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth. He came to the place, moving so quietly as to not be seen, where there was a great encampment of people, all speaking in a tongue that he had almost forgotten. God''s fire was cool on his tongue then, and he knew that he remembered it deep in his heart. It was the language of his childhood, his mother, his father, his brothers, and it would not soon be forgotten.

    He could hear it in his mind now, speaking with his own voice, so loud as if it were outside his head.

    And it was outside his head, for he heard the voice speaking words that he would never say, carefully directing men and women on how to best travel through the forest and kill the ones they found. He looked up, and saw that God had led him here, to the place where his brother was, the brother he had made a compact in the womb with. His brother was speaking with his voice, in the words of command, and he carried himself with such a bearing that no one forgot it, even though he was slight of frame. He was here, and Haito was here, and perhaps they would speak for the first time.

    How strange it was, that the last time they had been close to each other, they had been formed of the same flesh, and now they were enemies. There was a pain in that thought, in the space which had been placed between two people who should have been mirrors.

    Haito knew that he would not be able to simply walk into the camp. He was dressed as the people here dressed, and he carried himself with the strength of two men. Even still, the strength of two men with a knife could not hold off many men with their fearsome weapons. Haito did not know what he wanted.

    He knew he must meet with his brother. This was important, or God would not have led him here.

    But after that, he did not know if he must kill his brother and take his place, or convince his brother that this was all a mistake, and turn them back around to go back to their homes.

    And even if any of that happened, Haito thought, would he have a home to go back to? He was counted as dead in his home country, and he had a wife whom he loved in this one. He felt an ardent desire to see the mountains of his home again, but he thought of the mountains where his wife walked, and he did not think that he could leave her. That was all a question for the future, but it haunted him even as he crouched low and hidden in the bushes.

    It was nightfall, and the camp of people grew dark and still. He heard a woman''s voice that he recognized, speaking softly to the guards. Who was she? Where did he know her from?

    And then Haito remembered, that first night in which he had been in camp, the first night he had been mistaken for his brother, and the woman who had spoken to him. He remembered her voice, though he had never known her name or her face. She held a torch, and walked all around the edges of the camp, speaking quietly to those she passed.

    Haito took off his shirt and left it in the bushes. It would not do to wear a stranger''s clothing here. He approached her out of the shadows.

    "Do not be afraid," he said, when he saw her reach for a weapon. "It is only me." And that was a lie and a truth at once.

    "You look so much larger in the darkness," she said, and held the flickering torch up to see him better. The light stretched a long shadow out behind him.

    "Did I not once say to you that the darkness makes everything larger?" he asked.

    "Yes, you did," she said. "I remember that night. How things are different, and how things are the same."

    "Everything that has happened will happen again," Haito said.

    "Does that mean you think we will be routed from this place again?" she asked.

    "Walk with me," Haito said, and took her arm in his.

    They slipped out of the circle of light of the camp, and Haito led her into the forest, where only the birds called in their trembling night-voices, and the warm wind brought distant smoke to their noses. They travelled a good distance away, until they were alone and cut off from the rest of the world.

    "Do you know me?" Haito asked the woman.

    "It always seemed as though you knew me better than I know myself," she said. "From the moment you saw me, you knew what I would do. You have a way with seeing people''s hearts."

    "That was not what I asked you," Haito said.

    "How could I not know you, Genn?" she asked. "Even when I was angry with you I knew you."

    "May I tell you a secret?" Haito asked. "You must promise to tell no one."

    "Of course," she said, and her voice was low among the murmuring of the wind.

    "I am not Genn," Haito said. "Genn is in your camp."

    She stiffened underneath his arm, and he let go of her and took a step back into the shadows of the trees. She put her hand on her knife, but Haito held up both of his hands, empty. "Peace," he said. "I mean you no harm."

    "You have taken me out of camp wearing the face of my lover, speaking with the voice of my lover, and there is evil magic in that." She held up her knife, and the tip of it rested above Haito''s heart. He stepped forward, and it drew a drop of blood.

    "Your lover wears my face and speaks with my voice because we are brothers, formed of the same flesh, made in the same womb."

    "Genn has no brother."

    "So you say," Haito said, "And so I believed that I had no brother for many years, but I have seen the truth with my own eyes, and indeed heard it with my own voice."

    She looked at him then, and considered. "You are larger than he."

    "Yes. We made a compact in the womb, and he gave me his strength."

    "And what did you give him?"

    "You say it is his way of knowing people in their hearts," Haito said.

    "Perhaps."

    "And how did you come to be here, man-who-is-not Genn?"

    "I am Haito," he said. "And I came here with you, the first time that our army landed on these shores, and I became lost, and have lived here since those days. You know this. I spoke with you the night before we departed, that first time, long ago."

    "And you did not kiss me," she said.

    "It would have been a lie to kiss you," Haito said. "And I am not here to lie."

    "What are you here for?"

    "In truth, I could not say it, because the words do not form right in my mind," Haito said. "I am not here to hurt you." And this time, she believed him, and dropped her knife point from his heart.

    "Walk with me, Haito."

    "Where shall we go?"

    "I should take you back to camp," she said.

    In the darkness, Haito trembled and shook his head. "There is much danger there."

    "Why? You are not a stranger now, and you mean no harm."

    "I have always been a stranger," Haito said. "It is in my nature to be a stranger in the land of strangers."

    She looked at him in silence, and took his arm once more, and they walked deeper into the forest. Haito whistled the bird calls.

    "You are not a stranger to this land anymore," she said.

    "No," he said. "I am not. What is your name?"

    "Lennat," she said. "Daughter of Chion. Who is your mother?"

    "In truth, I could not say," Haito said. "I have always said that I am Haito, son of Ailee, as she raised me, but now I know that she was not the one in whose womb I was formed. Who does Genn call himself the son of?"

    "He is Genn, son of Mattaya," Lennat said. And Haito remembered the grave on which there were flowers in the spring, and he knew that Lennat spoke the truth, and he was learning of his mother''s name for the first time.

    "Then I am Haito, son of Mattaya and all the same, Haito, son of Ailee." He felt the tears in his eyes as he said this, and he wished for a past that had not been, where he and his brother could have known each other and their mother, both at once, and it was a bitter thought.

    "So it is," she said, and they were silent for a moment.

    "Do you wish to meet your brother?"

    "I know that I must meet him, and in my heart I wish him no harm, but as you said, I know this land, and there is a part of me in it. I was once a stranger here, and I was welcomed. I fear that if I return to the home of my birth, I would be a stranger there, and I would not be welcome."

    "You should join us. This is an evil place," she said.

    "What is evil about it?" he asked.

    "When we were here years ago, we lost so much, and there were signs and omens of evil in the very air. This land flows with blood, and that blood curses all who live here."

    "You say that, but you have not lived here in peace," Haito said. "There can be peace here, and a great bounty of good things."

    "If there is a great bounty of good things, then we must take those things, for the King wishes it."

    "You serve a King you have never met," Haito said, "But there are greater masters in this world by far."

    "You speak of God."

    "Yes."

    "God has no power over the affairs of man and man," Lennat said, and her words were bitter but true.

    "But man and man have a duty to each other, to make peace rather than war."

    "You come here and will ask your brother to make peace?" Lennat asked.

    "I will take peace with whatever power I have," Haito said. "It is a duty and a debt that I owe."

    She spat on the ground. "Some peace, then."

    "Will you kill me for saying such things?" he asked.

    "Perhaps I should," she said, but her knife remained at her side, and they continued to walk. "You think that there should be peace."

    "Yes."

    "The King has decreed that there should be no peace until every person in this land is dead, and the ashes of the trees fertilize the land, that we may grow good and bountiful crops here."

    "Do you not see that is evil?" he asked. "Do you not see that this is a thing that is wrong for you to do?"

    "We were all pressed into service," she said. "We do what we must, because to return without having done it is to invite death onto our heads."

    "It does not need to be that way," Haito said. "The King has no power over you here."

    "He has the power over us when we are at home, and we all want to live to see our own families and homelands again."

    "You are the ones with mighty weapons," he said. "You have power to resist this thing, should it be necessary."

    "And he has the power over our minds," she said.

    "It does not sound like he has power in your head."

    "He tells us that it is our right, that the land was given to us by God, that we must take it in order to grow powerful, that there are people here so evil that need to be destroyed. This we have been told, and many believe it."

    "Do you?"

    "I believe that there are those with weapons, and there are those without them," she said. "And I do not want to ever be one without."

    "And what does my brother believe?"

    "Your brother believes..." She stopped. "I do not know what is in his head or in his heart," she confessed. "But what he believes is no matter. What he does, that is another thing."

    "And what does he do?"

    "He uses the way that he knows the hearts of those he meets to advance himself in rank and stature, to win battles, to know how the enemy will move."

    "Is he good at such things?"

    "The first time that we were here, he warned his superior that we would be routed by the people of this forest, unless we changed the way that we fought them. He was right, but no one considered him, and when we returned home, with our tails between our legs and the wind at our backs, his commander was killed for his failure, and your brother took his place. He knows the way to win this day is total destruction, and he knows the way to advance his own rank is to win this day."

    "It sounds so cruel and cold to say it so," Haito said. "To think that I could easily be in his place."

    "Perhaps," Lennat said, and they turned slowly around. "What will you do?" she asked. "You must decide if you are my friend, or if you are my enemy."

    "I have no desire to be your enemy, but I remain a stranger," he said. "What will happen, truly, if you all return home with nothing?"

    "Those responsible will be killed, your brother among their number. Still others, probably such as I, will be imprisoned and kept as an example. The rest will return here, with new leaders, those who will finish the task that we began."

    "And what if you never returned?"

    "Still more would come here," Lennat said. "If they believed us defeated."

    "And if you remained here, undefeated, but unconquering. If you simply lived here, and refused to acknowledge the King of your own land?"

    "We cannot," she said. "The people here want to return home. They are here for now, but their hearts are across the Shallow Sea. None of us desire to be strangers in this land forever, even though you think it possible to make a life here."

    "You would not soon be strangers," Haito said. "There is a life here that anyone may have."

    "No," Lennat said.

    "Then you should return to your own country, with all your weapons and strength in hand, and you should take power by force, and then you should refuse to do battle again."

    Lennat laughed. "You have a vision, but it is not visions that build power, it is steel and blood."

    "And you have a great part of both."

    "You may convince your brother of this," she said. "He may fancy himself a King. But it would not be easy to convince all the rest of the people in this place to leave. There are many things we come for here."

    "Have I convinced you?"

    "You have said a great many amusing things," she said. "I do not think that amusing things are easily made into real things, though."

    "What would it take?"

    "A sign. A power. We would need to be routed again, and if you want us to have strength in our own land, we would need to be routed without killing such a great number of our force as you did last time."

    "I did not kill against you last time." And he remembered indeed how he had killed for them, and how little good it had done the world.

    "But now you are not a stranger to this land," she said.

    "Now that I have said all of this to you, and you have heard and understood me, we are no strangers to each other. What will you do with that power of knowing me?"

    "I should take you to your brother," she said.

    A plan formed in Haito''s mind. "You ask for a sign," he said.

    "I do," she said, and there was curiosity in her voice.

    "I believe I may have one."

    "I believe you may find yourself easily at the wrong end of a gun," she said. "But I will not deny you any sign that does not lead to the death of the people under my command."

    "I command no one but myself, but I equally desire to see everyone in this land safe."

    "Should I speak of this to your brother?"

    "No," Haito said. "It is better that you should not."

    "He will see through you," she said. "He knows the hearts of every man."

    "Then he will see my intentions plain."

    "Go well, Haito," Lennat said. "I await your sign."

    "Go well, Lennat," he said, and she slipped into the forest back towards the camp. Haito watched her go, and ensured in his own way that no harm befell her on that trip, and then he slipped away himself. During the night, he crept though the camp, and found the place where supplies were kept. The guards watching were turned away, and Haito stole away with a uniform much like the one his brother wore.

    In the morning, he waited until the sun had risen, and the sky was red and black with all the smoke in the air. He dressed in the uniform, and he entered the camp by the main entrance. He passed by the guards and did not speak. The first of those he passed looked on him as though he was his brother, he knew, but as he went deeper into the camp, the looks on their faces turned to confusion, and then fear. He pressed onward, and as he was tall and strong, and wearing the uniform and face of their leader, none stopped him. He came to the center of the camp, and he stood there, silent and waiting. His hand was on his knife, though he bore none of the dangerous weapons that the men of the camp did. A great murmuring rose up around him, and he heard whispers of confusion, whispers of fear, and everyone talking to summon his brother from his tent, to confront this stranger.

    None dared to lay a finger on him, despite the bloodlight in their eyes, and the fear on their faces. They would not touch someone who wore the face of their commander.

    Haito waited, and after some time, a man came to stand in front of Haito, wearing the bars of command on his chest.

    "Who are you that wears my face?" Haito''s brother asked.

    "Who are you that speaks in my voice?" Haito asked.

    They had not been together, close enough to touch, since they were in the womb together, and Haito felt the need to reach out and touch his brother, to reassure himself that they were the same flesh, but the distance between them was necessary.

    "I am Genn, son of Mattaya," Genn said.

    "And so am I," Haito responded. The whole circle of people around them rumbled their discontentment. Haito stood unaffected by their noises. "I am flesh from your flesh, blood from your blood, sent by God as a sign against what you do here."

    "You believe this to be true," Genn said. "I see in your heart that you believe this to be true. But it has always been blasphemy to speak as though you move with God''s will. God''s will reveals Itself to all the people."

    "I am God''s will revealing Itself to all the people. I have come here among you as a stranger in the daylight, no thief in the night, and I tell you in front of the people that I am Genn, son of Mattaya, and I have been sent by God to stop this evil thing that you do."

    "And I am Genn, son of Mattaya, and I am here to remove all evil from these lands. There are people here with the bloodlight in their eyes, who killed many thousands of our soldiers when we were last here. They cannot continue to exist."

    "They would not kill soldiers if there were no soldiers here to kill," Haito said. "It is wrong to be in this place, set to kill."

    Genn turned to the people in the crowd. "This man is at best a traitor, at worst a heretic. I shall have nothing to do with him. Kill him." He began to walk away, but Haito touched his arm, and pulled him back, and his knife was at his brother''s throat.

    "I have the strength of myself, and I have the strength of God within me," Haito said. "You should not speak so lightly of another''s life."

    "And you should not hold a knife so lightly," Genn said, but he did not move, for fear that Haito''s blade would cut him.

    "Can you see inside my heart?" Haito asked. "Do you know what I would do here?"

    "You would kill me, if you thought it would do good."

    "And I would have the blood of my own brother on my hands," he hissed, so low that only Genn could hear. "Tell your people not to kill me." For there were people with guns aimed at Haito, and he would not be fast enough to draw his knife across Genn''s throat, should they decide to fire upon him.

    "Do not fire," Genn said, and his voice was tired. "Release me."

    All those pointing their weapons lowered them, and Haito lowered his knife from Genn''s throat.

    "You are here because you believe that this is a land full of good and rich things. You are here because you believe that over the mountains there is a stronghold where you can build a great city, and vastly increase your power and number, and feed your people until the world returns to dust. I tell you truly, there is nothing on the other side of the mountains but barren desert that stretches as far as the eye can see. The life here is good, but it is well suited to being a forest, and to burn it down to create places to farm, and to grow your own crops here, you would soon have desert on this side of the mountains as well. And I tell you truly, that land would be watered by blood, and it would be the blood on your hands. There is no home for you here, unless you make it peacefully, and there is no life that is so rich as the one that is already here."

    "You speak much, but you understand little," Genn said. "We do what we must."

    "And why must you do these things?"

    "Because it is commanded by the King," Genn said.

    "And why does the King command it?"

    "To bring peace and prosperity to our people." There was a great nodding among the gathered and watching. They stood and saw these two men, made of the same face, speaking with the same voice, and the listened to the argument as though it was a play. Genn understood, for he saw in Haito''s heart with his own talent, that this was what it was. A play and a story to change the world. His brother, and Genn knew that this was his brother, though he did not know his brother''s name, had no malice in his heart, only sadness, so Genn would listen. He knew that sadness. It was the same sadness in the heart of the woman who had raised him, and it was the same sadness in his own heart. It gave him pause. To listen to that sadness was to abandon the dream of power, the one that he had found by listening only to the hard parts of people''s hearts. His brother did not have that hard part of his heart, so Genn could only listen to the sadness, and listen he did.

    "But there was already peace and prosperity in your homes," Haito said. "You lived a life before you came here where you need not carry fearsome weapons, where you need not kill and burn down the forest. Is that not peace? Is that not prosperity?"

    "But there could be more here," Genn said.

    "It does not serve your mothers, your fathers, your wives, your husbands, your children-- it will not serve them to have you here," Haito responded. "Not even if there was land enough and riches enough for every one of you to have more than all the other men have had in history."

    "It serves the King," Genn said.

    "And it serves the King to send all his bravest, strongest, most cunning people across the Shallow Sea, where they are far away, and tell them that in order to return to their homes and the ones that they love, they must do evil things in the service of the King, for the good of their master."

    "Yes," Genn said.

    "It serves the King because if all the bravest, strongest, and most cunning are here, they will not be thinking of the evil that the King does, in sending them here, in deciding who should live and who should die. And if they should put blood on their hands, in the service of the King, it will be hard for them to turn against him, would it not?"

    "You speak as though the King is an evil man."

    "You can see this truth with your own eyes. Did you all want to come here to kill and die? Or were you forced."

    There was a murmuring among the assembled.

    "You say all of these things," Genn said, "but there is no reason that we should abandon our mission. There is no reason."

    "If you left, there would be no killing and dying. You could all return to your families and loved ones, and the place where you are not strangers, and the place where you would need no violence."

    "There would be violence if we returned."

    "If you returned, you would say to your King, ''There is nothing on the other side of the Shallow Sea, not riches, not land, not good things to eat. Beyond the mountains there is nothing but desert. To send us there was to condemn the bravest and strongest and most cunning among us to death over nothing."

    "And so he would kill the leaders of this little rebellion and send the rest out on another errand," Genn said. "And I do not believe that there are no good things beyond the mountains. You lie, as you think it will turn us away."

    "I will show you that there is nothing beyond the mountains," Haito said. "Come with me and I swear that no harm shall come to you."

    "And why should we do this?" Genn asked.

    "Because if you do not, if you persist on killing and fighting and dying even when there is nothing at all to be gained, you will be doing evil with no purpose, and I would not want that. You will earn yourself a desert bought with blood."

    "Then show us the desert, and we will decide."

    "It is many days walk from here. I will lead you all there safely, and if you stay with me in peace, no harm will come to you, for I am the messenger of God."

    Genn faced the woman on the edge of the circle, and Haito knew that this woman was the one he had spoken with. She looked him in the eyes, but made no sign that she knew him, other than the acknowledgement that he had Genn''s face and voice.

    "Shall we do this?" Genn asked her.

    "If we have one offering to lead us deep into enemy territory, and no harm shall come to us there, then it is to our benefit. Even if he lies, and this is a trick, then we will have our whole force together to defeat any army that comes upon us."

    "I shall not let us walk through any narrow passages," Genn said with a smile. "We shall not be fooled into our own deaths."

    "I would not lie to you on this," Haito said. And so it was that he drew his own knife across his palm and swore on his blood to Genn, and Genn knew from the sadness in Haito''s heart that he was not lying. And Haito knew that he was preparing to lead an army directly to the place where his own wife had hidden all the people of the village.

    And so the whole assembly began to walk, down through the dark forest, and though there were other camps who set fires and other armies who marched, this camp followed Haito through the trees. When he saw through the corners of his eyes the people who lived in this place, preparing to take up arms against his marching column, he made whistling like the birds in order to signal to them, that they might leave his group in peace. And when night fell, he would sneak into the forest and speak to them in their own language, with the fire of God on his tongue, and explain his mission. So they walked on in peace towards the mountains. There was great muttering among all the soldiers in their group, for they too caught glimpses of the people in the trees, and knew that they were being watched, but as no one had a finger laid upon them in harm, no one could say that Haito had not kept his word.

    And so they came to the foot of the mountains.

    "This is the tallest mountain in this land," Haito said. "From the top, you can see even into God''s house. The desert is on the other side."

    So they climbed, and the sharp rocks cut through the soles of their shoes, and their hands, and the bottoms of their feet, and the whole assembly stood at the top of the mountain. Below them was the mountain, with its rocks so sharp and terrible, and before them was the desert, with its salt flats glittering with light like knives, and behind them was the forest, which was set ablaze by the other armed groups as they marched through and killed.

    There was a great silence among the assembled as they looked around and saw the wasteland and the land to which was being laid waste.

    "So you see," Haito said, "there is nothing here." He looked out across the desert, and could not see his wife and all the rest of those from their village. Even with the telescope that he scried across the land with, there was no sign of people. Haito saw that they were gone, and he wished that he had tears to cry, but climbing the mountain had taken all the water from his body.

    There was a great muttering from the soldiers. "You have taken us away from the place where we may yet find riches and good things," they said. "Down there. We must take the good parts of this land."

    And Haito''s heart was broken, for he had thought that this sight would show those gathered that killing and fighting would do nothing for them. "You must not," Haito said, but there was no power in his words anymore. He had led the group here, but he could not send them home. He was one man with the strength of two, and the conviction that God had put in him, but he was not strong enough to overcome a whole host of people. And he wished, not for the first time, that some great wind would strike him and throw him down the side of the mountain.

    And over the muttering of the soldiers, he heard the sound of the crying of a child, and his heart rose up into his throat, for he recognized the sound of that cry. It was his wife''s sister''s child, the one that had been born in the house that he had built. He hoped that no one had heard it, and he looked around in fear. His brother had heard it, and Genn touched his arm. "What is that sound?" he asked.

    "I do not know what you are talking about," Haito said, but his voice was full of fear, and his brother could hear that without even needing to know the inside of Haito''s heart.

    "You have tricked me," Genn said, feeling Haito''s lie, but not feeling the substance of it. "Search this mountain!" he commanded his soldiers. "There are people here. I wish them brought before me."

    And so the soldiers did his bidding, and found, down the desert side slope of the mountain, in a cave where sounds travelled far, the whole of the people who Daviat had brought here, and they were dragged up onto the top of the mountain, all the elderly and the weak and the children and their parents who had not gone into the forest to fight. And among them, at the front of the group, struggling mightily with a knife in her hands, was Daviat.

    Haito cried out, for he was certain they were all about to die, and his brother''s hands were on him. "Who are these people?" Genn asked.

    Haito found that he could not speak, he was caught without words as he watched his wife struggle to remain upright, yelling in her own language. There was no need for her to remain quiet, now that she had been caught. She was exhausting all her strength to get free.

    "Who are these people?" Genn asked again. "Who are they to you?"

    "I was a stranger and they took me in," Haito said. "When I was lost here, they welcomed me. When I was injured, they soothed my wounds. When I was hungry, they fed me."

    "And what shall be done with them?" Gen asked, but he was not asking Haito, and he was not asking his assembled soldiers, and he was not asking Daviat who struggled and could not understand his words. He was asking himself, looking at the old, and the weak, and the young, and their parents who held them with trembling arms.

    Daviat looked at Haito with pain in her eyes, and yes, the bloodlight, when she heard him speaking words she could not understand, and saw him wearing the uniform of the enemy.

    "Do not harm them," Haito begged. "Please."

    And the woman, Lennat, came up behind the both of them. "As many children and elderly as there are here, there are far more in the forest." She said this in such a way as to not indicate if she thought they should all be killed or spared. After all, the forest was burning.

    And Haito turned to his wife. "Why did you come here? I told you to flee to the desert."

    "There is nothing there," she said. "Even when I call up water, there is nothing there. We had to return, to see how you were faring. But I see that the world still burns, and we will burn with it."

    "Please, stop this," Haito begged his brother. "You can command it. You can make this right."

    "Even if I spare these people," Genn said. "There are more below us, and I cannot put out a million fires."

    "What is he saying?" Daviat asked, and Haito explained. The soldiers pointed their guns at him.

    "You said that we should come here to know that there is nothing beyond these mountains," the soldiers said. "We see that is true. We should go down and take what does exist, then." This cry, which had been weak before, took over the whole force.

    "I will let these ones go," Genn said. "They are of little interest to us. They are old, and young, and no good would come of killing them."

    And that was some relief to Haito, though there was more pain in the thought that there would come good of killing others. So the group was released, and Genn took his men to lead them down the mountainside.

    "Wait," Haito said, but no one listened to him, except for the woman, Lennat.

    "You said you would show a sign," she said as the rest of the group prepared to leave. "If God has prepared a sign for you, show it."

    But there was no sign of God on the mountaintop today, though indeed that was the reason Haito had brought them here.

    "What is she saying to you?" Daviat asked, and Haito explained that they needed a sign from God to show the soldiers that they were preparing to do great evil in the world.

    And Daviat said, "I may have a sign."

    So, without waiting, Haito called to Genn. "Look at the sign which God has prepared, that you might not do this evil thing. You have come to the mountaintop. Witness this."

    And there was such power in Haito''s voice that the whole assembly turned to look.

    Daviat knew she could bring water from the ground. She saw that in the sky, among the clouds of black and evil smoke, there were fat clouds of water, high up in the air. She could call water from the sky.

    "Listen, all you strangers, you firesetters, you soldiers," she said, and Haito translated for her. "This is holy ground."

    She raised her arms to the sky, and she pulled the water down from it. The clouds burst like the sky''s belly had been torn by a knife, and water poured down in great waves, crashing over them all. "Where you light a fire, I will put it out."

    And indeed, the water flowed so hard and heavy from the sky that it pulled the smoke down to the ground, and the light that blazed on the horizon grew dim.

    "If you stay here, I will flood this land until only the mountains remain. My people will gather here, and yours will retreat to your boats and you will never return. I can do this thing because God wills it."

    And the soldiers there were terrified by the water, which was causing the rocks to tumble down the mountainside, and everyone who was not steady on their feet slipped whenever they took a step. The babies cried in the arms of  their mothers, and the children lifted up their arms to feel the rain, washing away every evil thing.

    "Stop!" Genn cried. "You will make the mountain cast us down with all the water that runs from it like a river."

    "Good," Daviat said, with her voice bitter as poison.

    "Let them go in peace if they say they will leave this land," Haito said to his wife. "Don''t kill them by having them thrown from the mountainside." He turned to his brother. "All men are brothers, even if they do not know each other. Will you leave this place in peace, brother?"

    "And what will I do when I return home?" Genn asked. "What shall I say to my King?"

    "You may say that we cast you out, or you may say that there was nothing here to find, or you may say to your King that he should fight no more wars, or you may say to your King that he should no longer be King. You can say any of these things, or none of them, but you must leave this place and not come back in the name of war."

    "Is this truly holy ground?" he asked.

    "The mountains are holy, the desert is holy, the forest is holy, the sea is holy, and the land of my birth, in the mountains far away, that is holy too," Haito said. "I will never return there, but I beg that you might."

    And as the water continued to pour from the sky, faster and faster, and the lightning struck and the thunder roared, Haito faced his brother. "Yes, I will take my people back," Genn said. "An army cannot fight the power of God. This is sign enough."

    And so he turned to the side of the mountain, and he gathered all his people together, and they walked down and down and away, scattering pebbles as they went. Haito watched them go, and he wished that he could return with them to the land of his birth, and the home that he had once known, but Daviat held his arm, and called the water from the sky to put out the fires of evil in the world.

    Thus it was in that land that the soldiers retreated and peace was made between the lands, though how this was accomplished is a different story. And, too, Haito and Daviat had children, whose descendents now are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

 The Home of the Past - Part One

    The Home of the Past - Part One

    <blockquote>

    "Did you create me to suffer? Did you create me to die? So long I''ve been a wanderer here, and so foul my curses fly. Oh God who created the mountains, God who created the seas, God who created the stars all around, what made you create me? Why create a creature like me?"

    -from "Birth''s a Curse", pirate song

    </blockquote>

    "Hail," his mother said, gripping his upper arm. "Be careful out there."

    "It''s not like I haven''t done this so many times before," Hail-and-Farewell grumbled. "I''ll be fine. Will you be on time to pick me up?"

    "We''ll do our best," she said. "That''s not up to me, though."

    "You know I finish these way quicker than the time you think it takes, and then I''m sitting out in dead space for ages."

    His mother smiled, revealing the deep set dimples in her perpetually flushed and full cheeks. "Most of your cousins would kill for a chance to go out alone."

    "Yeah, and when they learn how to make stardrives, I''ll be happy to let them have it," Hail said. "It''s boring."

    His cousin, God''s-Grace, standing behind his mother, made a face and a jerking off motion with her hand. Hail shot her a glare that he hoped went unnoticed by his mother.

    "It''s not even fun to fly a shuttle when you feel like there''s nothing to fly it towards," Hail said.

    "We''ll be back as soon as we''re done with our delivery," his mother said. Behind her, Grace was miming her words. Hail wanted to kick her. "Well, let me say a prayer and give you a hug, and we''ll see you in about a week."

    Hail sighed, and let his mother put her hands on his shoulders. He was taller than she was, so when he bowed his head it rested rather on top of hers.

    "Oh God, you are the keeper of all places, and the spaces in between. Our brother is going away. He may travel far. He may travel alone. If there is danger, hold him in Your hand. If there is fear, we beg You to send Your great comfort. He shall not be lost. Keep him in Your sight, as he keeps the stars in his. Let him always know that he is home in our hearts. Let him always know that we will rejoice at his return. Let him never despair. Let him never forget You. Just as You split the darkness from the light, so too You split travel from rest. You split the sorrow of parting from the wonder of coming home. You split us apart, just so that we may know each other in the end. Brother, keep us in your heart. We shall meet again, in our home or Yours."

    Awkwardly, Hail stood still as his mother prayed over him, and then she patted his arm gently, releasing him from his obligation to stay put. He could feel her concern for him, though he knew it was unfounded (after all, he was very, very good at making stardrives at this point), and it was touching. He took that feeling and echoed it in his own heart. "You make me want to pray over you, ma," he said.

    "Let''s just get this on with," Grace said. She turned around and started pulling the machinery of the stardrive, a fairly heavy box crammed full of what Hail would need, into the elevator that would take them to the bays. "The faster we get you out of here, the faster we can make a delivery, and the faster we can all get paid." She said the word ''paid'' with such a singsongy voice that Hail had to laugh.

    "It''s not the paying that''s important," Hail said, following her into the cramped elevator. "It''s the spending of the payment."

    "Mind if I leave you here?" his mother asked. "I don''t think I''ll fit."

    "Of course not," Hail said. He reached over and hugged his mother once again. "See you soon."

    Grace closed the door of the elevator, and they travelled into the zero gravity section of their ship. Hail helped her drag along the stardrive components, chastising her when she was a little too rough with them. "It''s delicate, you know."

    "Yep," she huffed.

    They made their way into one of the shuttle bays, and with some careful wrangling, got the equipment inside and strapped down. "You sure I can''t come with you?" Grace asked as they went through the pre-flight checklist, making sure the shuttle was fine to go out.

    "I feel like the only thing more miserable than being stuck in a shuttle by myself for a week is being stuck in a shuttle with you," Hail said. "It''s really not that thrilling. And if I messed up, I''d feel guilt about it in God''s house for the rest of eternity."

    "I''d kick your ass," Grace said.

    "I don''t doubt it," Hail replied. "Anyway, your dad would kill me if I let you come."

    She stared at the stardrive box. "But I want to know how you do it," she said. "I want to see what it''s like." Her frustration and curiosity were genuine, and they bubbled up in Hail''s chest. He had to stop the infectious feeling from coming out of his mouth, and so he did his best to keep his tone even and to not encourage her.

    "You wouldn''t be able to see anything. I sit really still with my eyes closed for a long time. Nothing even happens. Trust me. It''s very, very boring."

    "I''d say I''ll believe it when I see it, but apparently..." she sighed.

    "Yeah. You won''t be seeing anything. You keep things running around here while I''m gone," Hail said.

    "Oh, trust me, this will be the tightest run ship this side of the Empire by time you get back," Grace said with a grin.

    "I''ll hold you to that," Hail said with a laugh. "How''s the shuttle looking?"

    "All set," Grace said. "Honestly, what''s scarier than you making stardrives is the fact that they let you fly the shuttle."

    "You scrape it on the side of the bay ONE time," Hail said, catching the humor in her.

    "Don''t have too much fun out there," she said, and made a jerk off motion again. Hail slapped her hand.

    "You''re filthy, you know that?"

    "Of course."

    "Out, so I can get going," Hail said.

    Grace gave him a cheeky grin and wave, and pushed off the side of the shuttle, sending her sailing towards the bay door. Hail watched her go, then clambered into the shuttle and closed the door. He did a final check for the security of the interior, then strapped himself into the pilot''s seat and turned on the shuttle''s engine and radio.

    "This is Hail-and-Farewell on Shuttle Two, requesting depressurization and door access of Bay One," Hail said over the radio.

    "Acknowledge, Shuttle Two," his cousin, Star-Carrier, said. "Depressurization and door access beginning in sixty seconds."

    Hail leaned back in his seat, as much as he could in the gravity free environment, and watched the warning lights flash outside the shuttle''s windows. The pressure gauge on his dashboard slowly began to drop, and then the door to the hard vacuum of space slid open in front of him.

    "Shuttle Two, you are cleared for departure," Star said.

    "Thanks," Hail said.

    "Hail and farewell, cousin."

    "Yeah, yeah," Hail muttered into the radio, then engaged the shuttle''s engines and gently took off, swinging himself out into space. Now that he was flying the shuttle by himself on a regular basis (he really had been grounded for a time after scraping the side of the bay during a landing) he was much smoother and better at flying. He had a lot of practice. He brought the shuttle a decent distance away from the ship, then killed the engine. There was no real point in going anywhere further, as his family''s ship was parked in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Dead space.

    "I''m clear of the you," Hail said over the radio. "Have a nice trip," he said.

    "Will do. Don''t kill yourself out there," his cousin said.

    Hail watched the ship out the window for a long few minutes, and then, without even a glimmer or a whisper, it was gone, jumped away on its route. Hail sighed, now deeply, deeply alone in the universe.

    He didn''t get started on making the stardrive right away. Grace was right-- he did enjoy the quiet, personal time, though not in the sense that she had so rudely implied. Instead, Hail took the opportunity to unstrap himself from his chair, tether himself into the back of the shuttle (so he wouldn''t kick anything important while floating around) and take a long nap.

    He woke up feeling groggy and disoriented-- it wasn''t often that he slept in zero g, so it left him feeling slightly confused. The stardrive, which hadn''t yet been activated, was quiescent behind him. Hail didn''t want to work on it yet. It wasn''t exactly a pleasant task, but it was one that had to be done. He made his way back to the front of the shuttle, used the computer to play some music, and wiggled in an ungainly dance as he rifled through the shuttle''s food storage to find something to eat. He brought out a couple ration bars and a cold juice, which he drank all of, and then refilled the bottle with water from the hose in the bathroom. He ate the ration bars slowly, tapping out the rhythm of the music and humming along to try to fill the emptiness of the shuttle with something. All the sounds were weirdly muted-- it was a feature of shuttles that they tended to be rather anechoic, so his voice didn''t even fill the space very well, and the creeping loneliness hit him faster than it usually did.

    It was always so strange to be away from the omnipresent hum of the feeling of his family around him. He was intimately connected to the pulse of their lives, feeling their emotions as though they were his own. Now, by himself (aside from the deathly still stardrive behind him), Hail was alone with his own thoughts and feelings, a vaguely uncomfortable situation.

    It really was just a matter of passing time. He didn''t want to work on the stardrive any earlier than he needed to, in order to have it finished by time his family returned, but it was the one thing that gave him purpose to be out here. He considered it, thinking back on the other stardrives he had made before. This was a familiar pattern. There was no fear left in it, not really, just the knowledge of the steps he would have to take.

    He double checked to make sure that the stardrive''s machinery was hooked up to shuttle''s power. It had a battery pack that would last it quite a while, but it was important that it not go without power for any length of time, even in its un-activated state. It was all hooked up. He wouldn''t have missed something like that the first go around, when he and Grace were hauling the thing into the shuttle; he was just being paranoid. Perhaps the fear really was there, after all.

    Hail found it difficult to interrogate his own emotions without the lens of other people to bounce off of, so he turned his attention away from that, and found a movie to watch. He drifted comfortably in the zero gravity, killing time until it was time to eat again, then killing time until it was time to sleep again. And again. And again.

    He didn''t ever quite grow used to the silence and loneliness, but it became part of the rhythm of his life. He remembered what it had been like those previous times, and he remembered what he had done to stave it off. He did those things, and he thought of new things to do, and he passed the time.

    Eventually, enough time had passed that he really did need to start working on the stardrive. It would be pretty stupid if his family returned and the stardrive was unfinished. They''d be pissed at him, and while that would be a something rather than the nothingness that surrounded him, it would not be a particularly pleasant something. Hail ate again, and made sure that he was ready to work on the stardrive, as it would take a couple hours, at least.

    He moved towards the back of the shuttle where it sat, just a jumble of wires and metal parts. He carefully unscrewed the plate that hid the interior workings, and stared at the clear glass bubble inside.

    He had read enough to know, before he started making stardrives, that a person could tie power into an object, in a limited way, and have it go about a routine. There was a limit to the amount of power that an object could hold, and a limit to the complexity that could be written into the fabric of the universe, without something there to hold it all together. Ansibles were easy. They could be written to take advantage of the gravity well of a planet, and that gave them an anchor for their complexity without needing anything else. Stardrives, though. They were more.

    When Hail had first realized he had the power, before he told anyone else, he made a pilgrimage to his own ship''s stardrive, and learned how it was made. He didn''t pull it apart-- no one would do that-- but he sat there, and he stared at it, and he reached out with the power, in those first, tentative steps towards mastering it, and he had felt the stardrive reach back.

    It was alive, in the realest sense.

    He didn''t think that anyone aboard the ship even knew how the stardrive was made, or how it worked. No one could see the internal mechanism, and the whole thing was sealed so tightly, so cleverly hiding its internals from prying eyes. They couldn''t hide it from a power user intent on discovering its secrets, though, and Hail made a mental map of every connection, learning how the system was built, and figuring the horrible truth of how he would be able to make one himself.

    It was quite simple, really.

    He had asked the doctor on board the old ship, "What would it take to grow organs?" and he had been laughed at and told that he shouldn''t think about needing a kidney replacement so soon. But he hadn''t been joking, and when he pressed, he found out that it was almost shockingly easy. They grew meat in vats, after all. He remembered, with some amusement, that first meeting he had requested with the captain, where he had divulged his power. He had seen the light shine in the captain''s eyes, and he was glad in that moment that he had done his research on how he could make his own stardrive before even coming to the captain. The captain had asked what he needed, Hail told him, and it was immediately procured.

    His mother hadn''t wanted him to try, of course. There was a reason that, even though pirates probably had sensitive children at a higher rate than usual (by virtue of buying genetic material from the black market), no one ever heard of pirates making their own stardrives. Most of them died in the attempt, Hail had to think. It took a very specific type to succeed. And he was, perhaps, the best.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Hail turned the ventilation in the shuttle as low as it could go, not wanting any breezes or noises while he worked. He turned the heat up so that the air felt like nothingness against his skin. He stripped off his jumpsuit so that he wouldn''t feel his clothes. He turned all the lights in the shuttle off, leaving only the faintest starglow to illuminate the interior of the shuttle. Drifting in that darkness and absolute silence, Hail stared at the clone of his own brain in the container in front of him.

    It was alive, in a mechanical sense, but not in a real sense, not yet. Hail still needed to wake it up.

    He took deep breaths, falling into a rhythm of his own devising, sinking down into the awareness that was the power. He imagined the lights of the stars slowly fading out, leaving him in a complete imagined darkness. Then he imagined losing the feeling of his own body, until he was nothing but a consciousness, floating alone in the darkness. It was calming, to be like this, and he stabilized there for an unknown amount of time, feeling like he was a being of pure energy, pure thought, in an endless void.

    Then he reached out with the power, as gently and softly as he could, towards that other self. The one not yet awake.

    Just a brain, with no connection to the outside world, having never had such a thing, it had no frame on which to hang thoughts, no thoughts to have. It had neither sight, nor sound, nor touch, nor smell, nor even the changing hunger and thirst of a body, so complete and still was its isolation. With nothing to react to, no neurons could fire, no connections could be formed, no thoughts could be had. Until.

    Until Hail reached out with his power, and gently pressed on that dormant living thing. A contact. A sense of something.

    He didn''t have to wonder how it must feel to come into consciousness, because he could feel it intimately.

    It was fear. So intense was the fear that the first time that Hail had done this, he had needed to evacuate his shuttle to calm down. He had needed to don a space suit and fly himself far enough away from the shuttle that he couldn''t feel the animal terror coming from the mind inside. He had waited so far away until he had calmed himself enough to bear it, and then he had returned. There was one thing, he had thought, worse than feeling that terror himself-- and that was feeling the terror, but being trapped alone and bodiless, with no way of understanding it. That compassion for the other had allowed him to face it, and to calm it.

    Now, Hail knew what to expect, and he let the fear wash over him, and through him, and pressed steadily on that other mind with his power, giving it something to hold on to. Simple things. He gave it the feeling of the breath going in and out of his lungs, a sensation that this brain had never had. But it calmed anyway, so deep was that instinct buried.

    And slowly, he told it, through feeding it the minute sensations coming from his own body, what it meant to be alive.

    There was always sadness in this process for Hail, because he understood that although he was giving this thing life, it would not ever again experience the feelings that he was giving it. He just knew he had to send it something, to write his own patterns across the web of its brain. His power could do that.

    This was flesh from his flesh, blood from his blood, and now he gave it mind from his mind. Life from his life.

    He pressed into it, so slowly, the memories and thoughts that made him who he was, as much as he could pull up from his own brain. He used a power structure, one he had thought so long and hard about, to copy the tangled web of neurons in his own head over to this one.

    It hurt.

    He could feel the pain and fear of the other as if it was his own, and, in a sense, it was. But he pressed on, and offered at the same time, always, a feeling of love and comfort.

    "I am here for you," Hail said with his feelings. "I won''t let you go, even if there is pain." He promised it, over and over, like a mother cradling their child through a nightmare.

    And this went on and on until they were both fully formed, and Hail could imagine this one standing in front of him: not quite a self, not quite an other, not quite a child, not quite a twin. Not even quite human.

    He touched his own cheek, and fed that sensation to the other-- the only way that it could feel. There were tears on his cheek, but the pain and fear had abated somewhat, now that the transfer of everything was done.

    "Who are we?" the other one asked.

    "Hail-and-Farewell," Hail said.

    "And who are you?"

    "Hail," he said.

    "Then I must be Farewell."

    Hail had had this conversation before, and the words and thoughts were like a well worn groove in their brains. They were playing a part, a part that Hail had played before with the other Farewells he had brought into being before. Though he knew how this should go, this was the beginning of the dangerous part.

    "Is it my sadness or yours that I am feeling?" Farewell asked. "It''s so strange, to be alive." In their shared mind space, he moved his phantom hand, flexing it in the darkness, and Hail copied the motion in his body like a mirror.

    "Mine," Hail said.

    "Why are you sad?" Farewell asked.

    "Because of what I have done to you," Hail said. And this was the dangerous part. He hadn''t yet given Farewell the knowledge of why he had been called into existence, and Farewell did not yet understand what would happen when Hail left their shared space. He didn''t understand the loneliness, not yet.

    "And what have you done to me?" Farewell asked. He reached out to touch Hail, in the mindspace, and Hail mirrored the action, but they passed through each other like ghosts.

    "I made you, half formed," Hail said. "Because you have a terrible purpose."

    Hail could feel Farewell thinking this over, combing through his new memories to find the next line to say, the next step in the dance. "And God imbued upon all those living a terrible purpose: to bind what is loosed and to loose what is bound, again and again," Farewell quoted. "Have you loosed me or have you bound me?" he asked.

    Hail''s heart twisted, and he could see the sadness mirrored in Farewell''s expression. "Bound and loosed at once," Hail said.

    "You loosed me from the darkness," Farewell said.

    "But I bind you to it still," Hail replied.

    "Show me," Farewell said. "It cannot be so terrible."

    "I will not go far away," Hail said. "I won''t go anywhere at all." But he slipped out of Farewell''s mind and back into his own body, his own mind, in the normal physical darkness of the shuttle.

    At first there was nothing, and he felt his own limbs and the silence of his mind, but then, from the stardrive, there came that terrible fear, that overwhelming horror, just as he knew would come. He waited. Farewell was alone in his own mind, with nothing else, no light, no darkness, no sound, no silence, no touch, no lack of touch-- a true nothingness. He waited until the terror subsided, until it was replaced with a deep sadness, and then he waited still longer, until he felt Farewell reaching out to him, using the power on his own for the first time. When he felt that, Hail reached back, and sent as much compassion down the connection as he could, then slipped into Farewell''s mind once more.

    "I was right there the whole time," Hail said. "I didn''t go anywhere."

    Farewell didn''t say anything back, so complete was his unhappiness at the realization of the true situation he had been born into. Hail offered comfort, but there was only so much he could give. After all, he was a free man, and Farewell was trapped.

    "You made me this way," Farewell said, finally. "Why?"

    "Because you have a purpose," Hail said. "You were made for a reason, which is more than I can say of myself."

    "Purpose," Farewell said, and there was bitterness in it.

    So Hail explained to him how he had been created to power the stardrive of a ship, how that would be his body, his life.

    "You say I will have a body. Eyes like a machine."

    "Far greater than yourself," Hail said. "May I show you?"

    "Yes." Farewell could hardly say anything else, because the alternative was to be trapped in nothingness.

    "I am here," Hail said, and he slipped back into his own body, and activated the machinery that had been so cleverly built around the brain. He could feel Farewell''s emotions, stirring deep, and when he slipped back into their shared space, he could witness Farewell learning to process the machine inputs. He felt an odd ghost of a feeling, where Farewell''s neurons met the computer interface, giving him access to vast stores of data and computational power that Hail could never match in his own mind, giving him access to senses that Hail did not have-- infrared, radio, trickling in from the single connection to the shuttle''s sensor array. "See the stars?" Hail asked.

    "Yes. I do," Farewell said.

    "You are complete, now," Hail said. "You are your own self."

    "Was I not before?" Farewell asked. Hail could feel him combing through the sensor information, focusing his attention on one star, then the next, then the space between them.

    "I don''t know," Hail said. "But this is who you are."

    "You made me to serve you," Farewell said. "And you hate it."

    "Yes, I do."

    "Then why did you do it?"

    Hail knew he wasn''t going to be able to provide a satisfactory answer, so he answered a different question. "I can''t imagine what your life will be," Hail said. "You will grow into something so different than I am, and you will do things that I can''t imagine. You''ll be alone, in a way that I will never be alone. I... I feel like I brought a person into this world just to be alone, and that kills me, but..." And he stopped.

    They considered each other mentally for a moment. They were still so similar, one being formed completely from the other, but already diverging. This was the critical moment, Hail knew.

    "I could destroy us both," Farewell realized. "I could use this power you''ve given me. I could erase myself from existence."

    "You could," Hail agreed.

    "You think I won''t?"

    Hail was quiet for a moment, and then he put as much care as he could into his words. He was tender. "I think that you have that right," he said. "But you won''t."

    "Why not?"

    "Because if I were you, I''d choose the path that lets me live. I think I''d try to find meaning in it. I think that having a purpose, being born for something, that''s worth something, right?"

    "How long?" Farewell asked. "How long will this last?"

    "A lifetime," Hail said. "However long that is."

    Farewell''s power rolled underneath him, like the muscles of some great animal, and Hail reached out comfort.

    "There are others like me?" Farewell asked.

    "Many," Hail said.

    "And what do they do?"

    Hail thought about this for a minute, remembering what the old stardrive on his family''s first ship had felt like. It had been dormant, barely a stir of a whisper within his emotional sense until he reached out to it. "Most of them sleep," he said. "They dream."

    "Such a life," Farewell said.

    Hail had a brief, amused thought. "It''s probably less terrible than the lives that many have lived in the past."

    "Perhaps," Farewell said, catching the amusement and sending it back. "There is some comfort in it."

    "Are you sorry that I created you?" Hail asked.

    "If you were in my place," Farewell said. "If I took everything away from you, and put you here..." He trailed off.

    "I don''t know," Hail said. "There''s no way to know."

    "And if I were in your place, would I keep placing this life onto others?" Farewell asked.

    "I do it," Hail said. "And you know I know what that means. I believe it''s worth it."

    "You do."

    "I do."

    They contemplated each other.

    "I don''t want to be alone," Farewell finally said.

    "We''re all alone."

    "Not in this way."

    "You will have others with you," Hail said. "All the people in your ship."

    "But they won''t know me."

    "You can know them. That must be enough. It has to be enough." Hail''s voice broke.

    "Will you be there?"

    "Probably not," Hail said. "You''ll be on your own ship. I''ll return to mine."

    "Will there be others like you?"

    "Probably not."

    "I don''t know if I hate you or love you," Farewell said. "I didn''t ask to exist."

    "None of us did."

    "Me least of all."

    "Perhaps."

    "I''ll never go on a planet," Farewell said, rather regretfully.

    "There''s plenty of pirates who never go groundside," Hail said. "You''re one of that esteemed number."

    Some of the resignation had fallen out of Farewell''s tone, as he assimilated all of the information that he had. "True."

    Hail gave a mental smile. The danger had passed, for the most part. Farewell could still change his mind, but... Hail knew he wouldn''t.

    "You''re my brother," Hail said.

    "No, I''m something else. But there is a bond between us anyway."

    "If there is anything I can do for you, tell me. I will try."

    He could feel Farewell thinking about it. "I don''t know," he finally said. "Maybe someday I will need something. Not now. Now I don''t know what is going to happen."

    "We''ll wait for our family to come back, and then we''ll go put you on the ship you''re going to live on."

    "Such soon parting."

    "Things move fast," Hail said. "But I''m never... I''m never too far away."

    "You say that now."

    "And I say that you''ll grow into your own person without me, and you will be all the better for it."

    "Ah."

    There was still love in between them, and that was enough for now.

    "When is our family coming back?" Farewell asked.

    "Soon," Hail said.

    But they did not come soon.

    <hr>

    On the third day that his family was late, Hail began rationing his food. He could feel Farewell''s digital eyes on him, feel Farewell''s concern, and the fear bounced back and forth between them and magnified.

    "They''re coming back," he said, though he couldn''t keep the note of pain out of his voice. "I know they will."

    "You''re not alone," Farewell said, but Hail couldn''t help but ignore him. That wasn''t the same.

    <hr>

    On the tenth day after his family was supposed to return, the food was gone.

    "They''re not coming back," Hail said.

    "There''s still time."

    "I don''t want to starve to death."

    "I could destroy us both," Farewell offered.

    The sad thing was that Hail thought about it.

    <hr>

    Hail had passed beyond hunger, into the state beyond that.

    "They''re not coming back," Farewell said, and Hail had to agree. "What do you want to do?"

    It was unfair. Farewell, being disembodied, was powered by the engines of the shuttle. His enclosure provided all the nutrients and energy that he needed. He could think clearly while Hail could not.

    "I don''t want to die," Hail said.

    "I don''t want you to die either," Farewell said, and though he wasn''t lying, Hail could tell that there was an ulterior motive there. After all, it would be beyond horrible for Farewell to be trapped on this shuttle alone, if Hail died.

    "You know how to jump," Hail said.

    "I do. Do you want me to destroy us?" He could jump them both, deleting them from existence without picking a new point to materialize in. That was the primary way that stardrives destroyed themselves.

    "No," Hail said. "Jump us out of here."

    "I don''t have a starmap," Farewell said. "And the shuttle isn''t built for jumping." Farewell wasn''t wired up to the entire outside of the shuttle, didn''t have sensors along its outermost length, didn''t really even have a clue about what the body of the shuttle looked like from the outside. He risked losing parts of it if he jumped without that knowledge, and that was discounting the fact that he didn''t have a starchart, which was the only way to navigate anywhere. They were truly in the middle of nowhere.

    "It''s the only thing I can think of to do," Hail said. "It''s that or die. It''s die here or die trying to get out of here," he said.

    Farewell considered this. "You give me the coordinates."

    Hail considered the vastness of stars outside the shuttle, tried to remember deep in his brain, tried to comb through the shuttle''s navigation banks for any clue of which ones might lead them back to civilization. He couldn''t think straight. His head swam when he moved, and in the lack of gravity he felt dizzy constantly, like he was always falling.

    He hadn''t let the sadness that his family was probably dead hit him yet-- it was covered up by the mounting terror at the prospect of dying in this place. That was probably for the best because it gave him a way forward. He never thought he would be so grateful to have another here. Farewell.

    Hail picked a star at semi random.

    "How far away is it?" Farewell asked.

    "You guess that," Hail said. Their shuttle didn''t have any sophisticated way of measuring that. Their sensors were so limited, their inspection of stars was primarily visible, and it didn''t give them a lot to work off of.

    "Okay," Farewell said. "You should put on a suit. Just in case I breach the hull."

    "No point," Hail said. "Just jump us."

    Hail did out rough calculations, putting in guesses where a starmap should provide real values, and fed that information to Farewell through the computer.

    "Let''s go," Farewell said, and then, for the first time, shared with Hail the high, keening joy of movement. It was almost enough to make him forget everything else.

 Chapter One Hundred Seven - The Gom Jabbar

    The Gom Jabbar

    <blockquote>

    "Every soldier of the Red King learned that skill comes from experience, and experience comes from pain. They were the most skilled army because of what they had endured. They endured their own hands, that they might overcome the enemy''s endurance."

    -from "Fourth Song: Song of the Red King"

    </blockquote>

    The ansible message was worrying, to say the least.

    "Ansible call me as soon as you receive this message." It was signed Nomar Thule.

    Dialing another person on the ansible as though it were a phone was a costly thing to do, though it was nothing for Aymon. Even for people who had ansible permissions (a vanishingly small number), calls were reserved for life-and-death situations. Aymon didn''t like that one bit, and he also didn''t like being ordered around by the upstart, Nomar Thule. Still, when he got the message, he had no choice but to comply. He didn''t want to jeopardize the relationship between the Empire and the Guild.

    He sat in the small room in one of the lower levels of Stonecourt that was reserved for just this purpose. The ansible wasn''t here, of course. It was many kilometers away, well outside the city limits and deep underground. It wasn''t a fragile thing, but it wouldn''t do to have just anybody have access to it. So it was kept out of sight and well protected from any accident.

    Halen was with him, and they were alone in the room, though the normal guards were on duty outside. Aymon knew how to work this machine well, and he sent a text message to Thule confirming that he was ready to talk. A few seconds later, Thule responded in the affirmative, and Aymon initiated the call.

    "Thule," Aymon said, when the beeping sound of the call connecting stopped, and a loud static hiss replaced it. Aymon turned the volume down. "What was it you wanted to speak to me so urgently about?"

    There was a long, pregnant pause. It took several seconds each way for messages to travel. Far, far, far faster than light (Thule''s location data indicated that he was on one of the outer planets), but still a very noticeable delay, mainly due to the machinery of the ansible itself, rather than the travel time of the message across the reaches of space. Halen sensed Aymon''s anticipation, and put a calming hand on his upper arm.

    "Thank you for calling me, First Sandreas. I don''t know if you''ll like this news or not."

    "Spit it out. You''re wasting my time." Every second of silence felt like a year off Aymon''s lifespan.

    "We found your ship," Thule said.

    That was not wholly unexpected, as it was one of the only reasons why Thule would be requesting a conversation with him, but it did completely blind Sandreas in terms of the speed of their encounter. It had only been a few weeks since he had given that command, and the universe was a large place. It shocked him to think that they could have found the First Star so quickly. He had been expecting it to take a year, at least, and that was thinking that Yan, or whoever else was directing the ship, would get careless and slip up and take the ship into a populated area. They had already gotten sloppy, what with talking to Olms.

    Halen, though normally a stone in terms of expressing his feelings, had tensed up beside him. This was probably just because they were in private; he could let his emotions show rather than keeping his normal professional detachment.

    "Did you destroy it?" Aymon asked. He couldn''t quite keep the odd tone out of his voice. It was one thing to order the ship destroyed, along with his two former apprentices. It was quite another to think that it actually may have happened.

    "We found it. We haven''t caught it yet," Thule said. His voice was crackly and weak over the connection, and in the background of his call there were odd noises like the rhythmic beating of a drum.

    "Where did you find it? Are you tracking it?"

    The pause after those questions seemed longer than usual, and Aymon began to wonder if he had suddenly struck a nerve.

    "I would prefer not to say," Thule said.

    Aymon muted the mic. "Seriously?" he asked Halen.

    "Press him on it," Halen said mildly. "His own refusal to answer probably says enough anyway."

    Aymon unmuted the microphone. "Thule, it''s my prerogative to know these things. What''s your hesitation in telling me?"

    "You don''t have to talk to me like I''m a schoolchild," Thule said. "I would simply prefer to keep the Guild''s secrets."

    "Guild secrets are dangerous things," Aymon said. "And they have a habit of getting out. Where did you find the First Star?"

    "Give me something in exchange?"

    Aymon''s face darkened. He didn''t like Thule, and it seemed as though Thule felt he could get away with more now that they weren''t face to face. He took a deep breath. "I cannot promise anything to you," Aymon said. "Especially without knowing what nature the information is."

    "Say you won''t interfere in this operation," Thule said.

    "Is this another secret station? God, Thule, haven''t you learned your lesson?"

    "The Guild has its needs," Thule said. "It''s not anything you don''t already know about, in some sense."

    "The location, please, Thule."

    Halen sent him a silent thought, with his hand on Aymon''s arm. "It may be a dark station that they run in order to have access to the black market. Yan could have easily made her way to a place like that and not realized she was being surveilled."

    Thule sounded slightly resigned when he spoke again. "Because you took away the base we were using for our ship," he began, "we did need to find another place to work on it."

    Halen sent another thought across their physical connection. "Yan walked right into the place where they were building their ship?" His mental voice was tinged with confusion, but also a feeling of thoughtfulness. "Thule wouldn''t be worried about this if it was just a new station. And Yan wouldn''t likely bring them to the one star system where..."

    "Malstaire," Aymon said. "You''ve taken over the old base there."

    The several seconds of waiting ended with Thule sighing loudly. "Yes."

    Aymon''s voice was dryer than bone. "You realize you put all your people at risk," he said. "That star system is dangerous."

    "The stars are not likely to do anything for the limited amount of time that we spend there," Thule said. "It isn''t permanent."

    "I should hope not. In any case, it won''t be when those stars explode."

    "Don''t send your Fleet ships there," Thule said. "The number of people there is so minimal it''s not worth you worrying about."

    "Even though saying such things would usually indicate you are lying to me," Aymon said, "I''ll take your word for it, just this once. As a favor."

    He felt Halen send amusement back to him. "Of course we''re going to investigate when this all blows over," Halen said over their connection.

    "No need to antagonize him," Aymon said silently. "He''s techy enough as it is."

    "Thank you," Thule said.

    "Now, I suppose the more pressing questions I have are the following: what was my ship doing at Malstaire, and why, if this is the place where your own fast ship is getting repaired, did you not immediately give chase?"

    "Our ship was not there at the time. It was out picking up supplies, including the message that it was supposed to be chasing your ship."

    "Fine." It wasn''t ideal, but he also wasn''t surprised that the supership occasionally made jaunts away from its home base. Other Guild ships probably had better things to do than to muck around with getting deliveries and playing errand boy for Thule and his company.

    "And as for what your ship was doing at Malstaire, it was very odd."

    That gave Aymon pause. He had assumed that perhaps his wayward apprentices were also going to use the abandoned buildings there as a home base.

    "Describe the encounter," Aymon demanded. "Did they just jump into the system?"

    "I''ve been told by my people on the ground that they jumped into the system, then sent a shuttle down to the planet. They landed on the airfield, and one of my people briefly had a conversation with them that ended in..." He paused. "You didn''t tell me that one of them could use the power," Thule said. "That changed the dynamic."

    Aymon tensed up. "What happened? Describe the people who were on the planet."

    "Two people. They both wore suits, so my person couldn''t see their faces. All I know is that one of them used the power to smash open the front of my man''s suit. He almost died. They left immediately after that."

    "I''d bet they thought they were landing on an empty planet," Aymon said. "Did it look like they were going down to do anything in particular?"

    Thule sounded tired. "Does it really matter?" he asked.

    "I''m curious. Indulge me, if you have the information," Aymon said.

    "They were carrying a box, about a meter long. They claimed it had an ansible in it."

    In terms of things that did not bode well, that one was high on the list. If Kino, and Aymon betted it was Kino who had smashed a person''s suit in, had an ansible which she was attempting to place well within Imperial territory, that meant only bad things in terms of what moves that little group was planning to make. They were communicating with the enemy (an enemy who had the power and desire to build ansibles, apparently), and they needed the ability to communicate within the Empire to without. It was probably very, very lucky that the group hadn''t managed to plant their ansible on Malstaire. Well, it would have been luckier still if they had planted it, then had flown away, and the Guild lackeys on the planet had investigated it or destroyed it. They might have been able to glean something, or lay a trap.

    Or, as Thule had implied, it wasn''t actually an ansible. There was no way of knowing, technically, but needing to put it on a planet made sense. They needed that big of a gravity well to function.

    Aymon''s thoughts all flashed through his head quickly, and expressed themselves as an audible sigh. "And I assume they took it away with them as they ran."

    "Of course," Thule said. "I am certain they considered the place abandoned, and were surprised when one of my men showed. I can''t blame them for running, though I can blame them for almost killing one of mine, and you for not telling me that one of them was a power user."

    "I''m sorry," Aymon said, though he wasn''t actually sorry. "It''s like that, sometimes."

    "Perhaps. But I have to say, this makes our little deal a lot less pleasant," Thule said. "I don''t fancy the odds of any ship against a sensitive."

    "They won''t be able to touch your ship," Aymon said.

    He could just imagine Thule crossing his arms on the other end of the line. "Did you ever hear the stories, or watch the recordings of what happened when your apprentices were on the Sky Boat?"

    "Do you think I''m that bad of a master?" Aymon asked. "Of course I did." In fact, he vividly remembered watching Yan as they went over the encounter in the simulation room. Kino had been there, too. The memory was bitter at the front of his mind.

    "Two almost completely untrained, and definitely unprepared, Academy graduates wiped out the entire force of a battle hardened pirate ship. It was a slaughter on their shuttles. You may think that I''m cold hearted, but I don''t want to order my people up against that. There''s basically no way for them to win."

    "There are ways to defeat sensitives on ships," Aymon said. "I am also the leader of the Fleet."

    "The Fleet is an exploration force," Thule said dismissively. Aymon could have laughed, but he didn''t.

    "They train extensively, should the need arise. They are also adept at hunting down pirates."

    "Not pirates with sensitives," Thule said.

    "They train with their own sensitives, and plan extensively. I should tell you, Thule, I myself took down a pirate ship with a sensitive on it when I was no older than you are now." Aymon''s voice was light, but Halen''s hand was heavy on his arm.

    "I don''t have the time to waste to be on there myself," he said. "If I did, it might even the playing field. But I have more important things to do than to pretend like I''m hired muscle."

    "Are you requesting support?" Aymon asked.

    "Are you offering to loan me a sensitive?" Thule asked.

    Before Aymon could say anything, Halen spoke in his mind. "Don''t even think of letting Sid know that he was asking for this."

    Aymon responded with a mental laugh, but Halen''s tone had been serious. It was clear that Sid should be kept away from this at all costs-- it was far too dangerous to let him anywhere near Yan and Kino.

    "How about this?" Aymon asked. "You let us know where you think that this ship is headed. If you can get a good track on it, we can send a Fleet ship."

    "And the Fleet would provide the firepower?"

    "Yes."

    The pause was long as Thule considered. "We''ll get you that track," he said. "It might take some time."

    "I hadn''t expected anything different," Aymon said.

    "How soon can a Fleet ship arrive, once I give you a meeting location?"

    "I can''t give you an answer on that," Aymon said. "But there are Fleet ships stationed across the Empire. I''m certain that one of them could get to you in a reasonable timeframe."

    "Hm."

    "Well, is that all the information that you had for me?" Aymon asked.

    "Unfortunately, yes," Thule said.

    "I thank you for it," Aymon said. "Please contact me again when you have an update."

    "I will."

    Aymon ended the call on his end without any further preamble, then stretched and looked at Halen. "What did you think of that?"

    "He''s smart," Halen said. "And he thinks like a Guild spacer, through and through."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Nobody else would be so hesitant to put their ship in harms way," Halen said with a shrug. "A pirate would take that fight."

    "And they''d lose."

    "Maybe."

    "Perhaps he just doesn''t want to reveal the full scope of his supership''s power," Aymon mused.

    "I somehow doubt that," Halen said. "He has nothing to hide from you in that respect. If anything, he probably wants to disguise how weak it is."

    "You really think it''s so half-finished?"

    "It takes a lot to run a ship," Halen said. "Especially one of that size. With a skeleton crew, and we know they don''t even have greenhouses set up..." Halen trailed off with a shrug. "It doesn''t matter. I think the ship is weak, and Thule agrees with me."

    "We''ll have to coordinate some sort of message system to get the Fleet in the right place at the right time," Aymon said. "I don''t want to miss our chance."

    "If they feel like they''re being traced, the smart thing to do would be to go into hiding," Halen said.

    "That would have been the smart thing for them to do in the first place," Aymon snapped. "But here we are."

    Halen frowned, sent a gentle touch of calm through the power toward Aymon. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know."

    "Shall I break the news to Sid, or shall you?" Halen asked.

    "I''ll do it," Aymon said. "How''s his training going, by the way?"

    Halen pursed his lips. "Good."

    "Why do you look like you''ve eaten a lemon?"

    "I''m coming up on the wall of how hard is too hard to push him."

    Aymon looked at Halen and considered the situation for a second. "He needs to be able to survive anything that''s thrown at him," Aymon said. "I don''t think that you should hold back."

    Halen was silent for a long moment, and Aymon wished that he knew what he was thinking.

    "I''ll talk to him about that, too, when I see him," Aymon said. "I''ll find out what his limits are."

    "I wish I could say that it wasn''t his limits I''m worried about," Halen said.

    Aymon laughed. "You''re too good at your job."

    Halen smiled, but it didn''t reach his eyes.

    <hr>

    "Join me for dinner, Sid?" Aymon asked as they walked out of the Council chambers together.

    Sid, eyes roving around the somewhat crowded hallway, nodded. "Fine."

    "I''m not taking you away from any plans?" Aymon asked.

    "No." His tone was short, and the huffed breath at the end of the short word indicated to Aymon that Sid wished he had plans.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    "I''m sorry that Lieutenant Cesper is no longer in Yora," Aymon said.

    Sid shuffled his feet slightly as they walked, heading out of the Council''s building and down the shaded avenue towards Stonecourt proper. Halen had been with them both for the Council session, but Aymon had given him the signal to keep his distance later, so that he could talk to Sid alone.

    "It''s fine," Sid said.

    "Hm," Aymon intoned. "Is there some other problem then? You''re walking like a dead man."

    Sid shrugged, his arms swinging loose by his sides. He stared straight ahead as they passed underneath the tall trees, and Aymon was grateful to him for keeping up the image of professionalism at least that much, rather than looking morosely at the ground like some sort of sullen child. They were speaking quietly enough that only they could hear each other.

    Sensing that Sid didn''t want to have that much of a conversation in public, even the quasi public that was their solitary walk to Stonecourt, Aymon didn''t press the issue, and simply let the evening breeze tickle his face.

    In Aymon''s quarters, there was a dinner waiting for him already. Before he ate, he stripped off his cassock and button down, leaving himself in just an undershirt and slacks. Sid looked at him for a moment and apparently decided to leave his own cassock on. They sat across from each other at the rather informal kitchen table, and Aymon poured wine for them both.

    "Where''s Halen?" Sid asked.

    "Working, I presume," Aymon replied. "He won''t be joining us."

    "Why do I get the feeling that he abandoned me here just so that you could interrogate me on something?" Sid asked.

    "He didn''t abandon you," Aymon said. "Is it illegal for me to want to have an evening with my Second."

    Sid visibly tensed at the word, then relaxed. Seeing Aymon''s questioning look, he preempted the question. "It''s going to take a while for me to really get used to that," he said.

    "It hasn''t sunk in yet?"

    "Everyone still calls me apprentice," Sid said. "It probably won''t feel real until, well, until it is."

    "How much longer should we wait to tell the world that Kino is dead?" Aymon asked. He wasn''t prepared to change his own plans, but he wondered what Sid would say.

    Sid picked up his fork and, rather more forcefully than necessary, speared a piece of salmon. "Probably when the First Star is found," he said. "Just so that, you know, she doesn''t cause any more incidents with Olms. By being alive."

    "That would make sense." He paused, took a few bites of his own food, the clinking of silverware the only sound for a moment. "I talked to Nomar Thule this morning."

    Sid looked up at him sharply. "And?"

    "They had a sighting of the First Star. At Malstaire."

    "What in God''s name were they doing there?" Sid asked. Aymon was gratified that he remembered the history of that place, at least enough to respond with the appropriate amount of shock.

    "I''m told they were trying to plant an ansible."

    Sid''s already pale face paled further, then darkened slightly in anger. He looked down at his food, his glasses slid slightly down his nose, he pushed them up. It was a long moment before he said anything, and when he did, his voice was thick and choked. "So they''re against us? Really, with other people, against us?"

    "Did you not think that until now?" Aymon asked. "Not even with Olms?"

    "I didn''t want to think it," Sid said. "I thought... When I thought about what Olms was doing, I had this crazy theory, it was so stupid. I was playing it over in my head to make me feel, ah. Fuck."

    Aymon waited for him to continue, and when he didn''t, he asked, "What was your theory?"

    Sid laughed a bitter laugh. "More like a daydream, really."

    "Tell me about it."

    "I know that Yan isn''t actually like this, but I had this crazy thought, like, maybe she was getting involved with Guild politics in order to try to put herself in charge of the Guild, or to manipulate her family into taking control. I--" He laughed again. "I had this  whole elaborate fantasy."

    "In it, I assume you were First, and she was Guildmaster?"

    "The specifics weren''t really important," Sid muttered. "I just liked to dream that there was some sort of way that she could come back into the real world."

    "I thought you were angry," Aymon said.

    "I am! I still am pissed beyond belief. I''m still so..." Sid''s arms waved, and Aymon was certain he was signing something, unable to express what he wanted to in spoken word. Unfortunately, Aymon''s sign was so bad that he would not be able to understand any of it, least of all when Sid was agitated. Aymon stared at him, and after a second, Sid dropped his arms to the table heavily. "You''ve never had a comforting fantasy?" he asked.

    "I certainly have," Aymon said. "I don''t blame you."

    Sid''s head jerked in a kind of half nod. "I''m just always surprised when they come crashing down."

    "Don''t live in fantasy too much," Aymon cautioned.

    "I won''t," Sid said. His face was slightly red, and he looked down at his plate, as if now that the initial rush of emotion had flown out of him, all that was left was embarrassment.

    Aymon tapped his own chin for a moment, staring across at his Second. "Are you doing alright, Sid? Be honest with me."

    Sid shrugged, the misery somewhat clear in his body language. He took another bite of food to avoid answering for a moment. "Just lonely, I guess."

    "I suppose with your lieutenant off visiting his family, you don''t precisely have any social connections your own age," Aymon said lightly. "You should go out into the city. Hide your face and go to one of the clubs the Academy students frequent."

    The annoyance was writ large across Sid''s face. "There are so many problems with that, I don''t even know where to start."

    Aymon took a sip of wine. "Such as?"

    "Number one, there''s a reason why I never went to those parties when I was AT the Academy," Sid said. He yanked on his own earlobe, a little more forcefully than necessary, and it turned red under his tugging. "Music is not one of my passions."

    Aymon leaned back in his chair. "It''s not all about the music, you know. Even just being among that press of other people, the flow of the crowd, it''s really something."

    "Are you saying that you used to go to these illegal parties?" Sid asked. "I can''t believe it."

    "I rather enjoyed them. Besides, they''re not really illegal."

    Sid raised an eyebrow. "We were certainly discouraged."

    Aymon laughed. "It''s all part of the Academy culture," he said. "It''s discouraged enough to let people know it exists, but certainly not discouraged enough to stop any but the most rule abiding students. You think that it isn''t a boon for us all, if Academy students share this secret bond, those nights in each other''s heads? The entire purpose of the Academy is to breed a sense of loyalty to peers and the system into people."

    "Devious," Sid said. He pushed some mashed potatoes around his plate with his fork. "It feels a little immoral for you to admit it."

    "It''s obvious to anyone who looks at it with a critical eye. We take children away from their families, away from their home planet, and we give them a space where they are among their peers. They''re told, in no uncertain terms, that these will be their brothers, their equals, for the rest of their life. We give them an easy way to slide into the professional world, and we make them loyal to the people who came before them through apprenticeships. We give them a powerful faith, a shared language, a common upbringing. Companionship. It works. It''s powerful and it works. The games that Academy students play with each other, that sense of subversion of the system that they get, it still all feeds into the culture." Aymon watched Sid for his reaction.

    "I never felt that way," Sid said. "I''ve always been an outsider to all that."

    Aymon didn''t want to open a raw wound, but he thought, about how the same was true of both Yan and Kino. It tied the three of them together, in the oddest of ways.

    "I''m sorry," Aymon said.

    "Don''t be."

    "I wish that I could be more for you," Aymon said. "Rather than just master and apprentice. I remember what it was like to be lonely. You''re in an odd position."

    "I''m going to have to get used to it," he said, and met Aymon''s eyes. "It doesn''t get any better from here."

    "When you have your own apprentices..." Aymon began, but trailed off when Sid laughed.

    "The future is a bleak house, isn''t it?"

    Aymon couldn''t particularly disagree. He could feel the seconds slipping away from him, each one calling out as it passed, ''This is the best things will ever be again.''

    "It''s the joy of growing older," Aymon said. "Seriously, though. If you''re lonely, go out, enjoy yourself a little."

    "And that doesn''t have any dangers associated with it," Sid said. Although his tone was his same unmeasured one, the sarcasm in the words was palpable.

    "I''ll have Halen follow you."

    Sid laughed again. "You''re killing me. Halen has much better things to do, and so do I, if I''m being honest."

    "Speaking of..."

    "Oh, God, don''t tell me you want a status report on how my training''s going."

    "On the contrary, I''ve been told that it''s going rather well. I''m glad to hear that you''re more prepared every day."

    Sid relaxed slightly, but not enough to indicate that he thought he was out of the water.

    "But?" Sid asked.

    "But..."

    "Spit it out," Sid said, then took a sip of his own wine. "I''m sure I''m not going to like whatever you''re about to say, so you might as well just say it."

    "You know that there''s more that Halen has to teach you," Aymon said. "You understand that, right?"

    Sid made a noncommittal sort of noise.

    "He''s worried about what your limits are," Aymon said. "He doesn''t want to push you too hard."

    Sid scrunched up his nose.

    "What are you making that face for?"

    "He wasn''t so worried about my limits a while ago," Sid said. "You know about what he did, right?"

    "Oh, yes, I do," Aymon said. "You know he wouldn''t have hurt you then, right? Even if you hadn''t passed his test?"

    Sid coughed a little into his wine glass. "What?"

    "He''s not a cruel man," Aymon continued.

    "No, that''s not what I was startled about. I passed his test?"

    "Of course you did. He said you were able to yell."

    Aymon was surprised that Sid hadn''t known that, and Sid seemed just as surprised to learn. "Oh."

    "Anyway," Aymon continued, hoping to push past Sid''s reaction. "He wouldn''t have hurt you, not then."

    "Not then?"

    "But the next thing you need to learn how to do, that does involve, shall we say, an element of, well, potential pain."

    "I love the sound of that. Love to get shot during training," he said. His voice was bitter.

    "Are you still angry about that on Kino''s behalf?"

    "No," Sid said. "Not really. But I think it''s disingenuous to say that there hasn''t already been plenty of opportunity for me to get hurt." He thought for a second. "I guess, well, comparatively, I''ve gotten off easily."

    "I wouldn''t waste time on comparisons."

    "Sure." Sid drummed his fingers on the table. "So, what is it that Halen doesn''t think I can handle?"

    Aymon made a snap decision. "Finish eating. I''ll show you then."

    "Great," Sid said, frowning slightly.

    They ate in relative silence. Aymon was shocked at how smoothly the conversation was flowing. Sid hadn''t even demanded to know more information about the sighting of the First Star at Malstaire, though Aymon would have happily given it. He certainly hadn''t demanded to go along on the chase, which Aymon had anticipated he would do. It was a relief, but there was also a catch in his heart when he thought about Sid mellowing out. There was something about the young man, his fire, that had cooled since Aymon had first met him. Aymon was proud, in a way, but part of him missed Sid''s quickness to anger. It had been torn out of him.

    After dinner, they moved to the living room area. Aymon gestured for Sid to take a seat, and then walked out, into his office, and searched through his drawers to find the object that he wanted to demonstrate to Sid with. He pulled out the box that held it, rather triumphantly, from the bottom drawer of his desk, and then brought it back into the living room.

    "What''s in the box?" Sid asked as Aymon took a seat on the couch. Sid was perched on the armchair, leaning forward over the coffee table and paging through the illustrated Book of Songs that Aymon kept laid out there.

    "It was a gift from my own master," he said. "Take a look." He passed it to Sid, who lifted the heavy wooden lid of the box and removed the knife. It was a pretty thing: about six inches of blade, metal swirled and dappled like the skin of an animal. The hilt fit snugly in the hand, Aymon knew.

    "I don''t know enough about history to say if it''s weird that First Herrault was giving out knives," Sid said.

    "You might want to acquaint yourself with your ancestors," Aymon said.

    "Not my ancestors," Sid said, turning the knife over in his hands and testing the blade against his thumbnail.

    "Your future, then," Aymon said, and though he knew that Sid wouldn''t catch the bitterness in his voice, he tried to keep it off his face.

    "Predecessors, maybe," Sid said, as though Aymon hadn''t said anything. "Are you planning to give me ominous gifts?"

    Aymon nodded to the knife. "It''s yours."

    Sid placed it gingerly down on the coffee table and Aymon picked it up. "Ominous indeed," Sid said. "It''s not like we''re living in the times of the Red King. Knives aren''t a very practical weapon."

    "Tell that to spacers," Aymon said. "They all cary knives."

    "Not the ones I''ve encountered," Sid muttered. "Spacer almost shot me."

    "Extenuating circumstances. Still, it''s not really meant for fighting."

    "I''ll bite. What''s it for?"

    "In an ideal world, you wouldn''t get hurt," Aymon said. "In the real world, there will probably come a day when you do. And when you do get hurt, the chances of you surviving to see the next day are dramatically reduced if you can''t deal with getting hurt."

    "Halen mentioned something about that, way back. Learning to heal yourself."

    Aymon continued, nodding a little to acknowledge Sid''s statement. "Let''s say you get shot," Aymon said. "Nothing immediately fatal, but it''s the worst pain you''ve ever felt in your life."

    "God forbid, I guess," Sid said.

    "Of course. But let''s not pretend that it couldn''t happen."

    "I don''t know why you think I''d pretend that," Sid said. "I was about half a second away from having my brains blown out when I was at the L.T."

    "I''m well aware," Aymon said dryly. "That particular would would have been of the immediately fatal variety."

    Sid ran his hands nervously over the fabric of his cassock on his lap. "Ervantes was there, though."

    Aymon smiled, though he didn''t want to be too indulgent. "In any event, if you are wounded, you need to still be able to think, in order to get yourself out of the situation. And sometimes, once you''re out, you''ll need to be able to patch yourself up so that you can get to help. It''s all about survival." He twisted the blade in his hand, and it caught the light, throwing up a reflection onto Sid''s face. "You see why Halen wonders about your limits."

    "By that, you mean that this is something that I need to practice."

    Aymon stood up, then moved to a clear spot on the wooden floor, then sat down. "Come here, Sid," he said. He crossed his legs, and gently laid the knife down on the ground before him.

    Moving with what seemed like deliberate slowness, a visible reluctance, Sid joined him on the floor. Aymon held out his hands, and, without discussing it, started up the simple clapping rhythm that would allow them to sink down into meditation together. Before Sid closed his eyes, Aymon said, "My master, Caron, taught me this. Now it''s my responsibility to teach it to you."

    Sid nodded, and they both closed their eyes, focusing on the shared fractions of touch between their hands. They did this, falling into the gentle, easy rhythm, until, without even really noticing, their minds became one and the same.

    In that space together, they shared control over both their bodies, and their thoughts floated about each other like formless beasts. Aymon could easily put his thoughts into words, but Sid was chaotic and half formed, with everything he thought underlaying the very perception of the space.

    "Open my eyes, Sid," Aymon thought.

    How odd it was, to let his apprentice have control of his body. How odd it was to take control. Aymon''s eyes opened, and they stared across at Sid, still sitting hunched forward on the ground. If Aymon wanted, he could open the eyes of that other body, and they could meet eachothers'' stares, but they wouldn''t be using Sid''s body. He felt his eyes twitch around, as Sid contemplated what he looked like from the outside. Then Aymon''s desire not to touch Sid''s body registered with him.

    Why not?

    "This is the one thing it is perhaps easiest to learn to do on someone else. It takes the fear out of it," Aymon said.

    Fear. That was something. Should he be afraid?

    "Do not be afraid; I am with you," Aymon said, and there was an answering mental laugh from Sid. Was now really the time to quote the theology?

    "It''s always time to quote the theology. You could stand to do more of it. Makes you look impressive."

    There was a confusing rush of thought that accompanied that statement, and flashes of memory of having a tattoo machine at his head, while Yan held his hand. Sid shoved them away with a mental grimace.

    "Shall we begin?" Aymon asked, wanting to distract Sid from his bad memories. Sid took Aymon''s hand, and reached down for the knife on the ground.

    "Not yet," Aymon said. He held out his arm in front of himself, palm up. "You feel it."

    They were aware of its weight, its heft, the smooth skin, the little hairs on the back of the arm standing up in the cool room. Aymon took his left hand, and with the lightest touch possible, ran his fingers from fingertip to elbow along the skin of his right arm. Sid''s body visibly shivered involuntarily with the ghost of a touch; Aymon''s own body twitched with an echoed shiver in response.

    "You trace the line of the nerve as it goes up your arm," Aymon said. "Look at it."

    And he brought to the forefront of their vision, a remembered image, the lines of nerves crossing the body, where they were thickest, where they connected to the spine, where the tendrils of it branched out into feathery wisps that were too fine to follow or understand, all underneath the surface of the skin.

    Sid wondered at it, and wondered how he was supposed to remember or use this information.

    "It''s instinct, mostly," Aymon said. He brushed the fingers up his arm again. "You''ll remember what this feels like."

    Sid braced himself because he noticed that Aymon was reaching for the power. Aymon dragged it up from inside himself, and he set it to work on his own body, starting at the tip of his right index finger, rattling and jangling the nerves of his arm with its invisible touch, until the whole thing felt like it was burning, on fire. He held it out, though Sid wanted to retreat back into his own body, and held on to Sid.

    "Stay," Aymon commanded. "You need to learn. Remember where the pain is hottest."

    And so Sid, despite how much it made his eyes want to roll back, despite how much it made the arm shake, focused on it, and remembered. Aymon dropped the power, and it was immediate relief, like dunking his arm into cold water.

    They breathed shakily for a moment.

    Aymon had known exactly what to expect, but Sid was still overwhelmed, and he was half of this union. Aymon let him take his time, until he was recovered, and they were shaking less, and breathing quietly. Two sets of lungs, heard in only one set of ears.

    "Do you enjoy hearing out of my ears?" Aymon asked.

    Sid gave a mental shrug. It wasn''t anything he hadn''t felt before. It didn''t matter to him, and he wasn''t going to miss it when he stepped out of Aymon''s body and head.

    Aymon couldn''t really grasp that, but he had to accept it, as he had nothing else but Sid''s word to go on.

    There was a brief flash of memory that Sid offered up to him, from early days at the Academy, where he had been trapped in a room with one of the masters, an overbearing woman, who clapped hands with him and taught him how to speak. Listen with her ears, her tongue speaking with his voice. He hadn''t liked watching himself then. He hadn''t enjoyed the enforced self watching, constant critique, constant feeling like he wasn''t enough.

    "Is this more acceptable?" Aymon asked.

    Of course it was. Sid had chosen to be here. And Aymon wasn''t trying to make him something he was not.

    "I''m not doing that?" Aymon asked, and brought to mind the thought that he had earlier, about Sid having changed. Sid''s thoughts skittered away from it, intentionally avoiding the idea that he hadn''t requested to go chase after the First Star.

    "I''ll make a note of that, then," Aymon said with a gentle mental nudge.

    Sid''s anger stirred slightly, then drifted back down into nothingness. He had changed, of course he had changed. But that wasn''t the same thing. Wasn''t Aymon different from who he was as an apprentice?

    Aymon laughed, and they could feel the rumbling in his chest. "Of course. I have Halen to thank for that."

    And Sid had everyone around him. All the many circumstances that had built up and brought them to this day, this place, sitting before Aymon as his Second.

    The warmth Aymon felt for Sid was real, but he had to get them back on track. "Are you ready?" he asked.

    No. But that didn''t mean that they shouldn''t go on.

    "You felt the line of fire," Aymon said. "Pick a place on the main trunk of that line. Your duty is to block feeling from it. It''s quite simple. Here is the power structure. The difficulty is in holding attention to it when you''re in pain. Once you get it up, you''ll be fine."

    Sid shifted, and started to weave the power structure into place.

    "Did you want to practice first?"

    Yes.

    "Then stop this feeling," Aymon said. He dragged his fingers across his arm again, up and down, as Sid grappled with the power. Usually, it was quite hard to change another person''s body, let alone something as fine as the nerves, but it was easier when Aymon was meditating along with him, loaning him his mind and body and power, and it was easier still now that Sid had practiced so much with Halen. He got a grip on the power structure, and pressed it in, stopping all sensation from the nerves in Aymon''s arm. His arm was a thick, numb thing.

    "Good," Aymon said. "Release it."

    Sid let go of the power structure, and the feeling returned to Aymon''s arm, far more swiftly than it would if the limb had fallen asleep. It was an uncomfortable sensation.

    But not as uncomfortable as...

    "Indeed." Aymon picked up the knife now, holding it in his left hand. "You do it," he said, and he let Sid have complete control over his body. It was a dangerous thing, a trusting thing. How strange it was.

    Sid held the knife loosely, and Aymon gave him a mental nudge to hold it better. Dropping it and nicking his nice wooden floor would be an annoyance. Sid rolled Aymon''s eyes, but held the thing tighter. His knuckles were white, and he positioned the knife at various places up and down Aymon''s arm.

    "Pick anywhere," Aymon said. "It''s not particularly important."

    Sid thought about it, remembered getting blood drawn, and pressed the point of the knife into the crook of Aymon''s elbow. The pain was immediate. Though it was far less than the fire that Aymon had brought earlier, this was real pain. There was real injury, real blood. The sight of it made Sid freeze for a second. Aymon was still calm, even though the blood was running in a trickle down his arm. "Stop the pain, Sid," he said. "Focus."

    Sid''s panic was real, and Aymon had to hold out the power structure to him again, pressing it into the forefront of his mind. Though the time felt like years, it was really only a fraction of a second before Sid''s power rushed up, tangled with the offering, and pressed it into place at Aymon''s shoulder. His arm went numb, and then limp, and he dropped it to his side, the blood still trickling. It was a messy wound, but not really a deep one.

    Sid laid the knife back down on the ground in front of them.

    "See? Not so terrible," Aymon said. "Good job."

    His neck twitched as Sid tried too shake his head. There had been too much hesitation there, too much fear.

    "But you didn''t hit your limit," Aymon said.

    Sid didn''t know what his limit was.

    "Let''s hope we don''t find that out for a good long time." He shook himself all over and gave Sid a nudge. "You can leave now. I''m not going to press this any more right now."

    A fractional hesitation, then Aymon shivered as Sid withdrew his power and left his head. They looked across at each other. Aymon smiled; Sid frowned.

    "I meant it when I said you did well," Aymon said. He hoisted his arm into his lap, and with his own power, well under his control through years of practice, carefully and calmly knit the skin of his arm back together. It had been a shallow cut, but it was enough to teach Sid a little lesson.

    "Your master did this with you?"

    "And hers before that," Aymon said. "You can ask the Emperor, if you''re curious."

    "No, thanks," Sid said. He rubbed his own arm in remembered pain. Aymon picked up the knife and wiped it on his pants. He handed it hit first to Sid. "I don''t want it," Sid said.

    "It''s yours anyway," Aymon said.

    "Same could be said about a lot of shit," Sid said, but he took the knife. "Why does every piece of training that I do have to put me through the wringer?"

    "Trust me when I say that real life is far harder than training," Aymon said.

 The Home of the Past - Part Two

    The Home of the Past: Part Two

    <blockquote>

    "God placed into the heart of each creature a spark which said, ''You are alive. You are a complete being. Let no one take that from you.'' So each creature went their own ways, holding that flame on their tongues. ''I am alive,'' they said. ''I am a complete being.'' But such was the love that they had for their sparks that some creatures tried to steal sparks from others, and there were many battles fought. But a spark cannot be stolen, only extinguished."

    -from First Song: Creation

    </blockquote>

    "Are you paying attention to me, Aymon?"

    Aymon looked up, slightly startled. He had been staring out the window of the office, contemplating the bright summer air outside, rather wishing that he was out in it. Unfortunately, he had a job to do, and right now, his master was reminding him of it. Caron Herrault, Voice of the Empire, leaned forward on her desk, looking at her apprentice on the couch. She had medium brown skin, and she wore her grey-streaked hair in a rather childish style, with it cut to chin length all around, and the bangs tied up at the top of her head with a long gold clip. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance at him.

    Across the room, taking up a position at the other window, Aymon saw Herrault''s daughter, Frae, staring at him. He didn''t spare her a thought, and turned towards her mother.

    "Sorry, what?"

    "Pirates, Aymon. I''m sick to death of pirates." Her voice was tired, like something was catching in it. It made Aymon pay attention, even though he would much rather be doing anything else.

    "This seems a little below us to worry about, doesn''t it?" Aymon asked.

    "Unfortunately, it''s not. I had a very friendly visit from Treygar Vaneik this morning."

    "Oh," Aymon said. "And I suppose he wanted to complain about things."

    "Actually, he was offering me a bit of a warning. Some friendly advice, if you will."

    "Like he''s your equal," Aymon said dismissively.

    "If you keep that attitude, you won''t have much luck with the Guild," Herrault said, and the sharpness surprised Aymon. "You should treat them with more respect."

    Aymon resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Fine," he said. "What did Guildmaster Vaneik have to say?"

    "He told me that there''s someone selling their own stardrives."

    Now, that made Aymon lean forward with genuine interest. "A pirate? Did we lose anyone who''s able to make them?"

    "No, all our people are accounted for," Herrault said. "And they''re kept under the tightest scrutiny." Herrault''s brow was furrowed, deep in thought. "It could be another sensitive, Academy trained, who decided to take that risk."

    "I don''t know anyone from the Academy who would play that game," Aymon said. "I certainly wouldn''t."

    "I asked Setzali to look into graduates, see if there are any who have been acting suspicious, but I have a bad feeling that it isn''t one of ours." Setzali was Herrault''s chief of information.

    "What makes you say that?"

    "The pattern of behavior that Vaneik described. It didn''t strike me as anything like an Academy graduate, either out for a profit or being otherwise manipulated. They are selling pretty slowly, but at far below the real value of a stardrive."

    "How do you know that one?" Aymon asked, curious.

    "Vaneik didn''t specify. But if I had to guess, it''s based on his knowledge of the relative wealth of pirate families."

    Aymon made a noncommittal humming noise. "Okay."

    "So. We have a problem on our hands."

    "I don''t see what the issue is," Frae piped up from the back of the room. Her mother turned to look at her.

    "Connect the dots," Herrault said. There was an awkward silence that descended over the room, and Aymon took pity on Frae.

    Frae had the decency to look ashamed when Aymon provided the explanation that her mother was clearly not about to. "Our power relies on there being a delicate balance between people and money flowing between planets. If the gates of that flow are opened, we lose control. Vaneik knows that. His power is tied directly to ours, and to the fact that the Guild has the only ''free'' stardrive use. If pirates are making and selling stardrives, we lose some of that control. The more we lose, the worse things get," Aymon said flatly.

    Herrault looked between the two of them, and the ghost of a frown touched the corners of her mouth. What was she thinking about, Aymon wondered. Probably there was more going on here than just pirates.

    "Are you bringing this up with me because you want me to deal with it?" Aymon asked Herrault. "Is Obra not going to be involved?" Obra was Herrault''s other (living) apprentice.

    "Obra has other things to worry about. I want you to take care of it, if only to get you out of my hair."

    Aymon looked up at her, caught completely off guard.

    "I''m not kidding," she said, and her tone had become razor sharp.

    "I''m aware. So this is some kind of punishment?" He did get the feeling that tracking down pirates, important though it probably was, was not a task that would be worthwhile. He had better things to work on, and anything that involved chasing ships tended to be something that could drag on, and on.

    "Your need to be the center of attention in every room you enter has rumpled the cassock of one too many council members. I''m tired of putting out the fires that you''ve been starting recently."

    "But--"

    Herrault''s face and tone were calm, but she wasn''t being pleasant. "I appreciate that you were trying to help me," Herrault said. "The fact that I know your intentions were good, at least the intentions that were in your conscious brain, is the only thing that''s stopping me from doing something to you that we would both regret."

    "I--"

    Herrault raised her hand to stop his protests. Her daughter looked on, face turning pale as she realized what her mother was talking about.

    "When you learn that Council members are having an affair with each other," Herrault continued, "You tell me about it. You do not go out to a party, get completely shitfaced, and try to use that information as a bargaining chip. You have a compulsive need to be in the center of things, and it''s killing me, Aymon."

    "That''s not--"

    "I''m not interested in your justifications," she said. She picked up a pen and clicked it open and shut, a loud nervous or frustrated tic.

    "You''re young. I get it. But that doesn''t mean you have to be stupid."

    She stared Aymon down. It took all his willpower to not bite back with some response. When Herrault got into this kind of mood, he probably wouldn''t be able to do anything beside dig himself in deeper. "So, you''re putting me in time out?" he asked.

    She sighed, deflated a little. "You''re going to take the Fleet ship Whitewater, and you''re going to go chase pirates until you can learn how to behave with some dignity. Either that, or until the Council has gotten over your little indiscretion. Preferably both."

    "Catching the stardrive maker doesn''t factor in to me getting to come back?"

    She ignored him. "Think of it as a vacation, if it helps."

    Aymon frowned, muttered, "When do I leave?"

    "As soon as the Whitewater docks at Emerri Station," she said. "Pack your bags."

    "Can I go with him?" Frae asked. Her mother looked over at her sharply.

    "You absolutely will not," she said.

    Frae scowled at the ground.

    "Is that everything?" Aymon asked, trying to keep the frustration out of his own voice.

    "Yes," Herrault said. "It is."

    So Aymon stood, with as much dignity as he could muster, and left the office. He hadn''t gotten very far down the sunlit hall when he heard the sound of running footsteps behind him. He half turned, saw that it was Frae, and continued walking. She caught up with him and walked at his side. He refused to acknowledge her for a moment, but then his anger got the better of him.

    "Why did you tell her?" he asked, spitting the words out.

    "I didn''t! I swear I didn''t!"

    Aymon didn''t say anything, just walked faster. Frae struggled to keep up.

    "She''s just as mad at me for not stopping you," Frae said. "I can tell I''m gonna get it later."

    Aymon barked out a harsh laugh. "Like you''re responsible for me."

    "Anything either of us, or Obra, whatever we do, it reflects on her. She just wants us to-- I don''t know." Frae threw up her hands in frustration.

    "Tell her that I''m not your problem, and you''re not mine."

    Frae scowled at the ground again. It seemed to be her chronic state.

    "Why did you ask to come with me?" Aymon asked. "Just to get away from her?"

    "No, I wanted to just..." Her voice quivered minutely. "Spend some time with you."

    "You''re my boss'' daughter. Not my friend. Stop trying to be something you''re not. It doesn''t suit you."

    They came to a juncture in the hallway, marble floors stretching out in two directions, and Aymon turned sharply, walking away and leaving Frae standing alone.

    <hr>

    He didn''t like being on the Whitewater. It was incredibly tedious, to have nothing to do. It was the perfect punishment for his crime, in a way. If his master thought he had been trying to get too close to the center of things, wanting all eyes on himself, then sending him out into the vast desert of space was truly the way to punish him. He couldn''t even really make an impression on the senior staff of the ship. They were deferential in the right places, and gently sidestepped Aymon whenever he thought about sticking his nose into the goings on of the ship where it didn''t belong. He was bored, and, if he could admit it to himself, lonely.

    He was taking his punishment on the nose. Whenever they were somewhere with an ansible to collect information, he eagerly read any missives that came from his master, hoping that one of them would be a summons or a reprieve from this boredom. He would have even taken Frae for company, even with her strange attitude towards him, and he certainly wouldn''t have minded if Obra was around.

    They were chasing a ship. The Whitewater was small and fast, and this ship was meandering. Imperial intelligence had ascertained which pirate ship they were meant to be tracking, and from there it was simply a matter of waiting in ambush for it outside a black station that it often visited. They would run the Whitewater cold, so that it couldn''t be detected on the station''s instruments, wait for the ship to jump in, wait for it to jump out, and follow it. From there, it could be easily destroyed, without the worry that anyone at the black station would interfere. It was scummy work, but Aymon was beginning to feel like that was his lot.

    They waited, and, though it was an excruciatingly long wait (days! weeks!), to the point where there was speculation that someone else had destroyed their prize, the ship did jump in to the station. And, ten hours later, jumped out. The instruments aboard the Whitewater could pinpoint the direction and distance that the ship jumped, especially when the jump was so fresh, so it was a simple enough matter to follow it out.

    And from there, it was an easy thing to take the ship. Though they had no need for the ship''s stardrive, and so felt like the whole ship could be destroyed with impunity, Aymon requested that they take it without resorting to blowing it to pieces, just so that the computers could be examined. He wanted to see how exactly this group of pirates had come to be able to make their own drives. That question had been idly haunting him since the beginning of this little misadventure, so he was willing to devote a few more resources to figuring it out.

    Ship-to-ship combat was thrilling. Aymon didn''t take part-- the captain had informed him in the politest possible tone that he would probably only get in the way of the Whitewater''s own sensitives. Aymon tried and failed not to take offense at that, but he stood back and just watched as the pirates'' shuttles were destroyed, and then their ship was boarded. He listened to the radio with breath that caught in his throat every time they pronounced another room clear.

    Someone scraped the ship''s computer and transmitted the data over as they continued to clear the ship.

    "Will you take a look at that," someone''s voice crackled over the radio. A picture flashed up on the big screen in the room they were using to coordinate the operation, where Aymon sat at the head of the table. The image was of a clearly re-purposed meat vat, usually kept near the greenhouse of a ship, but this one had been hauled into the medical center. In its tubes, carefully partitioned off, were brains, each one growing at its own steady pace.

    "Destroy those," Aymon snapped. "And make sure we have the person they belong to."

    "They''re not labeled," someone complained. "Not with a name, anyway."

    "Why would they be?" Aymon asked. "Check the genetics if you must."

    "That will take time."

    "I don''t want a sensitive knocking around unaccounted for," Aymon said.

    The captain spoke up. "We haven''t had any sensitive resistance." They had been prepared for such an eventuality, but their own sensitives and shuttles had walked right over the relatively defenseless pirate ship. There was a nagging fear in Aymon that the sensitive they were looking for was not on board. They knew that this ship''s crew had, relatively recently, split off from a different and more established ship. Perhaps the sensitive was there.

    He, along with the Whitewater''s resident computer team, combed through the information that they had scraped from the ship.

    "Take a look at this," one of the experts said. "Coordinates to nowhere?" He showed Aymon a starmap that did indeed seem to be a stretch of space that was far away from any star.

    "Probably the meeting place for where they sell a newly made drive."

    "I''m not seeing any financial information about that," the expert said. Aymon shrugged.

    "If you think it''s important, then we can investigate it when we''re done here. I''m going to assume that our sensitive was on the ship, though. Make sure you''re thorough with the genetics."

    After several hours,the results of the search came back negative. Aymon swore, though he tried not to make it seem as though he was swearing at the crew of the Whitewater. They looked on at him patiently.

    "Well, let''s go check out those coordinates," the captain suggested. "Just as soon as we take this stardrive out and destroy the hulk." So it ended up being quite a long time before they were moving again, and the coordinates they had been given were many jumps away. By time they arrived at the spot, there was no trace on the instruments of the "wake" left in the ether by a ship being pulled through space by a stardrive. The larger the ship, the larger the wake it left.

    There was no sign, either, of a shuttle that had been abandoned here, with its owner left to make a drive. That was the only other thing that Aymon could imagine these coordinates were for.

    So, the Whitewater was forced to conclude that this was a meeting spot, but no meeting was forthcoming. Perhaps it was the spot they had planned to use, once they arranged a buyer for thier drive. Either way, it was a dead end, and Aymon ground his teeth as the Whitewater left and found some other task to amuse itself with.

    After all, the ship was on duty simply to babysit him, and he had not yet been summoned back to Caron Herrault''s side. They were stuck chasing the ghosts of pirates, like it or not. They hunted down the originating ship of the one they had just killed, and they destroyed it as well. There was still no sign of their missing sensitive, and Aymon began to suspect that he was dead by someone else''s hand.

    But it came to be that, after some time of wandering through space and picking up the occasional missive from agents tucked neatly away aboard black stations, that they heard a strange rumor. There was a shuttle, apparently unaccompanied by a ship, always crewed by the same man, that was making its way through space. This was clearly impossible, as shuttles had absolutely no capacity for interstellar travel. But it was worth investigating anyway, as the Whitewater had nothing better to do. So they chased this ghost for a while instead. They confirmed the existence of the shuttle, and the person on it, with a video and data feed that an agent sent them.

    Aymon studied the video. It showed the massive frame of a pirate, he couldn''t have been any older than twenty-two, sliding gracefully around in zero gravity in the bay of a black station, hauling food and supplies into his shuttle. The clip, though it was short, was an intriguing glimpse into the pirate''s world.

    "There has to be a ship somewhere," Aymon said. "Staying just out of sensor range, running cold. A very small one, maybe."

    "That is the only thing that makes sense," the Whitewater''s captain agreed. "But we don''t have any evidence either way."

    "The evidence is that a shuttle isn''t physically capable of interstellar travel," Aymon said. "And yet we''ve seen this exact same one reported at four different stations."This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    "You''d think that a lone pirate would be eager to join up with a crew," the captain mused.

    "He has a crew," Aymon stressed. "In whatever ship is hiding just out of sight." The weird mystery of it had gotten into him. "We have to track this guy down."

    "Sure," the captain said, quite genial. "Whatever you say."

    Chasing pirates was a vacation for this Fleet crew. It was an exile for Aymon, but he would just have to make the best of it.

    <hr>

    Hail and Farewell jumped.

    They didn''t have a destination in mind, but they did have a goal. They wanted to track down their family''s ship-- either the one they had just left, or the originator, the original Bluebeetle.

    The hope was slim that they would find either ship, but they had to make an attempt. So they were stopping at every black station they could find, asking after their family. After they had found the first station through sheer luck and half memory, it was easier to find more. He had been able to barter for some food (there were emergency funds tucked into the back of the shuttle, luckily), and so he wasn''t starving, and he had asked around after a starmap, which had been provided with little resistance. So they were hopping through space, jaunting, running, always with that creeping feeling in their hearts that came with visiting every new station. There would be no finding their family, Hail knew. Farewell knew it, too, and he mourned for these people had memories of from Hail, but no real knowledge of. It was a breaking heart thing, and the feeling bounced back between Hail and Farewell, and made them both sick with it.

    After a while, it was just keep moving, try to think of something else to do.

    "I could make another one of you," Hail said.

    Farewell just laughed. "I think if you did that in the state you''re in, your new baby would kill us both." They were so good at simply speaking into each other''s heads, at this point, the conversation flowed easily and naturally.

    "I''m going to run out of money," Hail said.

    "Find a ship," Farewell suggested. "One that needs a stardrive. We can both join their crew, in a way."

    It was a hard thought, that one. But they didn''t have any particular choice, as their money ran out. So when Hail made the rounds at stations, he put out the word that he was looking for a ship, and that he had something of value to offer them. He had to be a little cagey, because if word did get out that he had survived his family''s ship''s misfortune, there would be a price on his head.

    He didn''t realize that he was being followed until it was too late.

    Dover Station was like any other black station that Hail had ever been to, and in fact, he had been to this particular station many times. His family had come here often, to trade, to pick up passengers, to hear the news of the goings on of the galaxy. It was often a bustling place, with a large resident population on its asteroid, and a strong visiting contingent from all the pirate ships that stopped by regularly.

    He had decided to return here, in particular, because he had left a message on the station''s boards a while ago with his inquiry. He was hopeful that someone had replied, since people at this station would probably be familiar with his family name, and willing to take him on. That was his hope, anyway.

    Hail and Farewell jumped the shuttle in far outside the sensor range of the ship, and Hail reluctantly strapped himself in to prepare for traditional acceleration towards the station. He didn''t enjoy accelerating, and, honestly, after so long trapped on the shuttle with Farewell without artificial gravity to speak of, he could feel himself becoming weaker. His usual time in his ship''s gym had been taken away from him, and there was only so much he could do in this cramped and tiny space to make up for it.

    "Dover station, shuttle requesting docking permission," Hail said.

    There was an unusually long pause before traffic control sent a response. "Shuttle, state your ship and purpose."

    That was, unfortunately, a tricky thing for Hail to do, as he had no ship to speak of, and did not really want to

    "I do not want to disclose my ship''s location," Hail said. "It will not approach. I am interested in purchasing from the marketplace and learning the news."

    "Occupants of the shuttle?"

    "Just one," Hail said.

    "You are cleared for approach," the station control said, after another unusually long pause. There was something about this that made the hairs on the back of Hail''s neck stand on end, but he was far, far too far away from the station to feel what was going on there with the power. And he certainly didn''t want to not approach after signaling that he would, so reluctantly he edged forward on the acceleration and they pressed onward through space.

    "What''s making you nervous?" Farewell asked.

    "I can''t put my finger on it. I didn''t recognize the controller''s voice," he said.

    The shuttle travelled onward in a tense silence. Everything looked normal from outside the station. It was a massive asteroid, many times larger than even the largest ship, and it orbited a small, dim star rather eccentrically. The asteroid was a huge black mark on space, blotting out the view of the close star and all the distant ones. The only illumination that came from it were the lights across its surface, directing his shuttle towards the landing bay.

    Hail reached out a tendril of his power as they got closer. Usually there were more ships here. At least one. He didn''t see any with his eyes or the shuttle''s instruments.

    When they came closer still, enough that he could reach with his power inside the walls of the station himself, Hail grew quiet and still.

    "There''s no one there," he said. "Ghost station. I don''t like this at all."

    "Someone was on the radio," Farewell replied, and sent out his own power to confirm Hail''s observation.

    "Can you reach further than I can?" Hail asked.

    "If we work together, maybe."

    Hail cut the acceleration of the ship, leaving him floating in darkness once more, and breathed slowly so that he could synch up his mind with Farewell''s. Were they brother, child, twin, friend? Here in the darkness they could approach being one and the same.

    With their combined power, they stretched out past the empty, dead station, feeling no signs of human life as they swept through its bulk, and out past the other side. It was hard, keeping their power and concentration, but Farewell had the benefit of being conjoined with a computer, and thus had more attention and memory than Hail did.

    They discovered where the radio signal was coming from rather quickly, after that. A whole mass of shuttles-- dogfighters from their approximate masses-- were hiding just out of sight, on the other side of the shuttle. Hail felt the hot anticipation coming off of them. At this distance, and with this large of a crowd, he couldn''t feel individual emotions, but the whole gathering had its own cloudy sense.

    Hail and Farewell withdrew their awareness, panicked. Without discussing it, they already knew and acknowledged that the whole group of shuttles was just waiting out there to kill them. They were prey, and that was a gathered swarm of hunters. Hail had to wonder-- was this how his family had felt? Was this the same group of attackers?

    There was almost a relief attached to this knowledge. Yes, he would die. But he would rejoin his family in God''s House, and there would be no more trouble after that.

    Until we meet again, in our house or Yours, after all.

    "Don''t you dare," Farewell said in his head.

    "What?"

    "I don''t want to die."

    "You don''t?" This was news to Hail.

    "If I had wanted to die we would be dead already. You don''t want to die either. You didn''t want to starve to death. We are not going to let them kill us."

    "I wasn''t going to just let them," Hail said. He hadn''t been planning to go down without a fight; he just didn''t expect that one shuttle could hold its own against the hundred or so that were out hiding in the station''s shadow.

    "If you go into it thinking that you''re going to lose, we won''t have a chance. We can get away."

    "Can you jump?"

    "If we can stay alive for five more hours," Farewell said.

    Even while they had been talking, their shuttle had been carrying along on its vector towards the station.

    "Should I try to run now?"

    "They don''t know that we know they exist," Farewell said. "That''s an advantage we should use. If we run, we lose that one advantage."

    "I don''t want to keep going closer to them," Hail said. His mind was working a million miles an hour. He felt like it was jumping from thought to thought, faster than a ship could jump between stars.

    "We''re two sensitives," Farewell said. "Their shuttles aren''t protected by having a mind like mine."

    Hail nodded slowly. "And the station?"

    "Same. Even easier."

    A plan, a half a thought, was coalescing in his brain. "How much mass do you think we could move, if we worked together?" he asked Farewell.

    "I can move a whole ship," Farewell said. "You know I can."

    They formed the plan as quickly as they could, as they were still approaching the station at a rapid clip, and then put it into action.

    They wouldn''t decelerate. That would waste time that they could be using to get away from their pursuers, who were stationary with respect to the station. They were just going to have to overshoot them, and hope that their relative starting velocity would give them enough of a head start, when the inevitable chase began.

    Hail pushed the acceleration, pressed back into his seat, then closed his eyes and brought his power humming into focus in his mind. Farewell joined him.

    There was that great empty station. They could see it so clearly, feeling every speck of it sitting there in the power. It was large enough that it made a noticeable dent in the spacetime fabric of the universe-- just as a planet or star would. The power told them that.

    It was large, and holding all of it in their minds was difficult. But in terms of complexity, moving a single, solid object was one of the least difficult things that one could do.

    They took the station, empty, dead, and they PUSHED it forward, with an impossible amount of force, accelerating it towards the swarm of shuttles hiding behind it. The power didn''t have any limit on the force that could be applied to an object-- indeed, they were able to break the laws of physics completely in the case of stardrives-- so even if a conventional engine would have barely been able to nudge the station forward, Hail and Farewell could rocket it as fast as they could imagine it going.

    Their imagination was pretty fast.

    The closest shuttles were destroyed on impact, having absolutely no time to fire up their own engines and escape. They were crushed against the bulk of the station. Hail could feel it happen, and they added to the mass as Hail and Farewell pushed forward. The shuttles further out, the ones with pilots who had been paying attention and who had fast response times, were able to fly out and escape from the station hurtling forward through space.

    They scattered in all directions, which was both good and bad. With them all flying out away from each other, Hail and Farewell couldn''t easily track them or direct the bulk of the station towards a mass of ships to attack at once. But it also meant that the forces were separated, and it would be more difficult for them to hit Hail and Farewell.

    There was a bitter sense of triumph in this. He had felt that wash of fear and terror and pain when all the shuttles had been crushed with the station, and the continuing fear as the surviving shuttles scattered, and it tore at his heart, but he was not going to go down without a fight. And they had killed his family. Odds for evens.

    Hail and Farewell''s feeling of momentary triumph was interrupted when something unexpected happened. They were still pushing the station forward, trying to use the rock to press into and attack nearby shuttles, when they felt an opposing force in the power.

    Hail had never felt anything like it before. The only other power he had ever felt was an echo of his own: from the stardrives he created, all of Farewell''s brothers. This was something completely different. Someone else, in one of the scattered surviving shuttles, was pressing their power back against the mass of the station. It groaned and vibrated underneath their competing pressures.

    Hail felt the smart thing to do would be to release it (it was doing very little good for them now, anyway, and their plan from here on relied on them accelerating away from the other shuttles as much as they could), but Farewell continued to press on the station, with a grim determination that Hail could not help but match.

    The station exploded under the opposing forces of the sensitives. Viewed in slow motion, in the odd out-of-time awareness that using the power sometimes gave, Hail understood that it formed cracks along its surface, spiderwebbing out in great heaving lines, then flying outward in all directions. Some of the pieces were massive, some were specks of dust, but all spun outward with huge momentum, and thus many of them would be deadly were they to hit a shuttle.

    The enemy shuttles scattered further, and Hail and Farewell drew their awarenesses back in towards themselves, now relying on the instrument panel in the front of their own shuttle to tell them what was happening. After all, with the station shattered, there was no longer any obstacle blocking their view.

    Hail and Farewell rocketed forward, and it was up to Farewell to keep debris out of their path as Hail steered. He tried to keep them in as straight of a line as possible, in order to make the best use of their acceleration. As they got closer to the enemy shuttles, which began to turn and fly towards them, the scattered debris was joined by intentionally fired projectiles.

    Hail wondered which ship the enemy sensitive was on. He used the power to grab chunks of rock and throw them back at the attacking ships, but they either dodged or blasted them with their guns before they could hit. He didn''t feel any sense like he had with the station, of another mind battling his own.

    All of a sudden, their shuttle rocked, and Farewell gave a mental scream.

    "What''s going on?" Hail asked, grabbing the yoke of the shuttle, which twitched and shuddered under his hand. He held it straight and pressed the acceleration even more.

    "There''s someone touching me!" Farewell yelled. "It''s--"

    A section of the shuttle''s rear wall dented, with the most horrible pinging of metal bending out of shape that Hail could have ever imagined. He realized that he was not wearing a spacesuit, and if the hull really breached, he would die.

    "This is your body!" Hail yelled. "Nobody else can touch you! Don''t let them!" He felt protective, and he loaned Farewell his mind and power, feeling, as Farewell felt, the sick and hot touch of another mind on his skin. Hail and Farewell pushed again, this time from within themselves, and the power touching them fell away, retreating with the sensation of a kicked animal.

    Hail returned to his own mind and vision just in time to swing the shuttle out of the way of a massive station chunk coming right towards them. He could feel the touch of power on it when he attempted to divert it. It could not be diverted, and it chased them even as he dodged, so he pressed back on it with his power like he had with the complete station, and it exploded into a shower of much less dangerous dust. Shuttles, after all, were designed to deal with being hit with micrometeorites and the like; this was no different.

    "Where is the other sensitive?" Hail asked through gritted teeth.

    There were shuttles all around, and they were now spread out enough that Hail, if he stretched out his power, could identify the emotions of the people in each shuttle. He thought that there must be some way of telling which one contained the sensitive, the only person truly capable of attacking them. Hail split his attention: half on that, half on keeping their vessel out of harm''s way. It was nearly impossible; projectiles were flying at him from all sides, and even with Farewell''s help, they couldn''t avoid being hit with debris or bullets. There was a horrible jolt to the shuttle, and the hiss of air escaping out into the vacuum, which, along with the change of air pressure in the cabin, made Hail sick.

    Farewell used the power to plug the hole, and in the end they lost very little of their breathable air, but it was a scary moment. If the object that had hit them had been larger, perhaps--

    But Hail was doing his best to stop the larger projectiles, and he was mostly successful.

    And there it was. He felt it. Not the fear and determination of all the people in the other shuttles, no, this was something else. The emotion coming from that one shuttle, the one that hung slightly back, that wasn''t firing its guns, he should have seen it right away. That one called to him, the emotion was hot and raw: excitement, thrill, appreciation. Hail knew right away that this was the shuttle with the other sensitive in it. He knew that it must be destroyed for him to survive. Only one of them could leave this place alive.

    There was a thought that Hail entertained briefly, that even if he escaped here he would be pursued for the rest of his life, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Today was about escaping. If he escaped today, he could escape all the rest of the days of his life as well. That he would promise to himself, right as soon as he dealt with this problem.

    He just had to think of it as one more problem to solve.

    "Farewell, you take control," Hail said. "Make sure we don''t get hit."

    There was assent from Farewell, and Hail closed his eyes, sinking deep into his awareness of the power.

    He imagined that there were just three lights in this space, the three power users: himself, Farewell, and this stranger. He pushed his awareness of Farewell away, and it was just him and the stranger, orbiting each other warily like twin stars. He reached out to the stranger''s shuttle. It had no protective brain in it like Farewell had, so it was so easy to lay his mental hand on the engine chamber, so easy to find, and to begin to rip it apart.

    He felt resistance almost immediately. Probably as soon as the other sensitive heard the creaking and groaning of his own ship, they put out their own power to stop it. After all, this person had as much of a desire to live as Hail did. Probably more.

    It became a power struggle. Hail could feel the other mind, even across this great distance, feeling almost giddy with the joy of pushing back against him. They were evenly matched, in a sense. Though Hail had Farewell on his side, Farewell was distracted by dealing with all of this sensitive''s allies in the other shuttles.

    Hail was determined to rip this shuttle apart. He felt, he knew, that this person had been responsible for killing his family. He would have his revenge here. That was what he told himself, anyway, because it made the action of attempting to kill this specific individual slightly easier.

    They fought for control over that person''s shuttle, seemingly equally matched, and all the while, Hail was thrown back and forth in his seat as Farewell did his best to keep them out of harm''s way. it was perhaps a battle of attrition rather than anything else. One of them would lose concentration, and in that moment, the other could seize the opportunity to destroy them. Hail lost awareness of everything else besides this, but the weird excitement of that other mind nagged at him. He could feel it, and he could feel something sympathetic building in response in his own chest, a kind of joy at finding an equal. He would not die here, but if he did, he at least would know that it was at the hands of someone talented, and that he had put up a good fight.

    He was jolted out of his thoughts and concentration by the hiss of the radio.

    "What''s your name?"

    The words came over the same band that he had been communicating with (what he had thought was) station control earlier, and he had neglected to completely cut off radio transmissions. It was a man''s voice, slightly haughty sounding, but calm and rich. Hearing it was a mistake.

    The other mind should have seized on his lapse in concentration, should have taken the opportunity to reach across the vast distance and kill him, but he did no such thing, simply kept up the pressure that kept his own shuttle from collapsing inward under Hail''s attack.

    "What''s your name?" The question repeated, this time more insistent.

    Hail continued his pressure, this time not fazed by the question. He felt like he owed this other the courtesy of a response, because he could feel his curiosity. He pressed the button that would open his own broadcast.

    "Hail an--"

    "What are you doing?" Farewell asked in his mind, extremely alarmed.

    "Halen? That''s a pleasant name," the man on the radio said. Hail didn''t bother to correct the mistake.

    "What''s yours?" Hail asked. Farewell was yelling in his mind, but Hail kept his attention split between the radio and keeping himself alive.

    "Aymon," the voice said. "Do you know who I am?"

    "No," Hail replied honestly. He should have said that he was the man who had killed his family, but the thought didn''t coalesce into words until it was too late.

    Aymon laughed. "Pirates," he said. His voice sounded tense, and Hail could feel the strain in his mind now, the effort it took to keep Hail from killing him. Hail could feel the strain himself. The tiredness felt like an admission that they were evenly matched.

    "I don''t want to kill you, Halen," the man on the radio said.

    "You killed my family," Hail said, finally speaking the words.

    A mental twitch that Hail couldn''t identify. It wasn''t quite guilt, or shame, or anything that Hail had been thinking he might feel. Not even sadness.

    "I did," Aymon said. "But someone else would have if I hadn''t. And you killed... About a hundred of my people with the station."

    "Odds for evens," Hail said with a grunt of effort.

    Aymon''s tone was smooth. "We can avoid it coming to worse."

    "You can''t kill me," Hail said.

    "Oh, I think we could find a way to mutually self destruct," Aymon said. "Especially if you manage to draw this out long enough to get back to wherever your little ship is hiding."

    Hail''s concentration slid again, because he was momentarily confused. He didn''t have a ship.

    Aymon must have felt the momentary dip in Hail''s power, and he once again chose not to capitalize on it. "That startled you? Was that not your plan?"

    "Don''t have a ship," Hail said. He figured there was no harm anymore at admitting that. He was surprised that this man, Aymon, hadn''t been aware that his shuttle was the thing that contained the stardrive: must it not have felt the same as using the power against a living creature when he had tried to attack? Or perhaps he had just assumed that it was Hail''s talent holding him back.

    They were still trying to kill each other, all this time, but every time Hail made a mistake, and left an opportunity open, this man had failed to act. Why?

    "I have a suggestion for you," the man said.

    "What?"

    "Surrender."

    "Why?"

    "Because if you do, you can live," the man said. "That''s what you want, isn''t it?"

    Hail couldn''t respond. He gave another push with his power, and Farewell joined him, shoving hard against the man''s shuttle. There was that same resistance, that same amusement in return.

    "I don''t want to kill you," the man said. "You don''t want to die. An equitable situation."

    "You--"

    "Yes," the man said. "Surrender."

    Hail realized that the man was speaking from a position of power. There must be some reason he was choosing to say this, some force he was holding in reserve, some knowledge that made him sure that Hail would choose surrender over defeat. Possibly it was because they both knew that Hail would be perused to the ends of the galaxy, even if he should escape from here, and that Hail had no ability to kill this man.

    "I don''t want to owe him," Hail said to Farwell.

    Farewell was resigned when he spoke in Hail''s head. "You either owe him your life tomorrow, or he takes it today."

    He felt sure that he was about to be tied up into something far beyond himself. Entrapped. He wondered if there could ever be an escape from the prison that he was sure to be encased in. Surely that would be hell for a pirate. Perhaps it was better to die, better to let this man kill him.

    But, of course, this man would not kill him. This man had not taken the opportunities. Would he, the instant that Hail proclaimed that he had given up? That would be a sly move, but Hail knew that there was no honor among anyone but pirates.

    Die now, die later, be a prisoner, be pursued forever. What kind of choice was this? He might have even asked Farewell to kill them both, if Farewell had had the ability to jump, just then. That at least would have been freedom and a choice, of a sort.

    "What about you?" Hail asked Farewell.

    "I will sleep," Farewell said. "As you said would be my lot. There is no need for me to be anything different."

    It was a bitter taste in Hail''s mouth.

    "I surrender," he said over the radio, and dropped his power from the other man''s shuttle. It was an empty void, replacing the struggle that had been.

 The Home of the Past - Part Three

    The Home of the Past - Part Three

    <blockquote>

    "The voice of God is my love''s voice. My love''s voice carries God''s commands. Just as I am loved, and I love my love, so too does God carry all our hearts."

    -from ''Seventh Song: Love''

    </blockquote>

    Aymon ordered the remaining shuttles to surround that little pirate vessel and escort it back to the Whitewater. It was docile and silent, taking orders and saying nothing. Perhaps he should have had his people board the shuttle, but it seemed far less dangerous to all to simply allow it to land in the Whitewater''s bay. The pilot seemed competent enough and compliant enough.

    Aymon himself returned to the Whitewater first, meeting the captain to talk.

    The Whitewater''s captain seemed to be going through all the stages of feeling at once, face turning red then pale in alternating shifts, contemplating the fate that had befallen so much of his crew and the way that Aymon had resolved the situation. It was unfortunate, Aymon considered, that he was forced to remain with the Whitewater until First Herrault called him back to civilization. He doubted that he was a welcome guest any longer, and he doubted that his prisoner would be any more of one.

    "He will be drugged at all times," the captain said. "I will not be letting someone that dangerous around here remain in full control of his facilities."

    Aymon shrugged. He wasn''t stupid. So along with the doctor and a full security compliment, he met the shuttle holding their captive in one of the bays.

    Aymon stood on the floor of the bay, with the magnetic soles of his shoes engaging with the floor enough to keep him down, and watched as the door of the shuttle cracked open. The air that came out of it smelled stale, with a lingering odor of fear. It took a moment more for the man to emerge, and when he did, all the guns of the Whitewater''s security were trained on him. Aymon had his power ready at his fingertips, but he was calm, and he suspected that this man wasn''t going to try anything dangerous.

    The man, Halen, his name was, drifted into the light of the bay, blinking. He was larger in person than Aymon had imagined, and quite possibly the ugliest man he had ever seen. His hair was short and brown, and his face was pale but for a rose of red splotches that covered his cheeks. Aymon had glimpsed that on the video that they had received, so he supposed that this was just a permanent feature of this hulk of a man. Halen looked around at the assembly, and his eyes settled on Aymon immediately. Aymon didn''t know how or why, as he was dressed the same as any other member of the Whitewater''s crew. He had given up his cassock temporarily in favor of the practicality of the classic spacer jumpsuit.

    "You''re Aymon," Halen said. He kept one hand on the side of his shuttle, perhaps for the ability it would give him to push off into the bay if he needed to, but other than that did not move. Aymon took a few steps forward, awkward in the lack of gravity, and held out his hand to shake. Halen towered over him, but Aymon was not particularly afraid.

    "I am," Aymon said. "And you are Halen."

    Halen''s face twisted fractionally, and  considered him for a second before stretching out his hand. When their hands met, there was a spark of recognition between them, the ease of communication through the power. It was surprisingly easy, with none of the muffled feeling he sometimes got from trying to talk to his master, or to Obra, his fellow apprentice.

    "I will not allow any harm to come to you," Aymon said in the power. "But you need to cooperate for your own sake."

    Halen was silent and did not respond, simply looked around at the guards circling them. Halen brought his power up, and pressed it lightly against Aymon''s being, testing him somehow, feeling him out. Aymon let him, though he would have stopped immediately had there been any sign that he was in danger. All the while, they had not let go of the handshake.

    Halen was the one to drop it. "I am your prisoner," he said, clearly resigned. "What are you going to do with me?"

    "You are a pirate," Aymon said.

    "Yes."

    "The punishment for piracy is death, is it not?"

    Halen stared into Aymon''s eyes without blinking, and Aymon couldn''t suppress a slight shiver that ran through him. "Are you a liar, Aymon?" Halen asked.

    Aymon relented and smiled. "There are so few sensitives in the universe, fewer still since you killed the two who were part of the crew of this ship. It would be a shame for you to die at the hands of a tribunal. We''ll find something to do with you. For now, though, you are indeed our prisoner."

    Halen continued staring at Aymon. "And what does that entail?" Halen''s voice was soft and deep, surprisingly quiet.

    "I''m sorry for the indignity of it, but you understand that we will have to drug you," Aymon said. "And you will be confined."

    "Vena?"

    "We''re not so uncivilized as that," Aymon said, and he pulled from his pocket the two pills wrapped in paper that had been given to him by the ship''s doctor. He held them out to Halen, who unwrapped them with stiff and thick fingers. They drifted in the air, small white capsules. Halen had a solemn look on his face.

    "And you swear that you are not simply going to kill me?"

    Aymon pursed his lips. How many assurances would he need to give? "Just take it. We can discuss the future when it comes closer."

    The way that Halen didn''t take his eyes off of Aymon''s face was disconcerting, but Halen took the pills and swallowed them both, splaying his hands out at his sides when he was done. "And you will confine me," he said.

    Aymon nodded to the security force and they came shuffling forward. They handcuffed Halen and began leading him away. He offered no resistance, but glanced over his shoulder toward Aymon. "Don''t touch my shuttle, please."

    Aymon looked between him and the shuttle, figured that there wouldn''t be any harm in leaving it alone. "I promise we won''t destroy it," Aymon said, though he certainly would be checking it over to ensure that there wasn''t some sort of bomb inside it.

    Halen seemed to accept this, and silently left.

    Now was as good of a time as any to check over the shuttle, making sure that it didn''t have anything dangerous going on. Aymon climbed inside the open door, again catching that smell of contained air that even the best air filters couldn''t quite escape. The interior of the shuttle was small, as most were, and it appeared lived in and well used, with scratches all over the plastic parts from people constantly bumping against them, and an outdated console. He was wary, keeping his power up, just in case this thing was booby trapped, but he didn''t think that Halen was the type for that.

    He came to the back of the shuttle, and there he saw it. The stardrive. That was the only thing it could be, as the giant tangle of wires and tubes and metal sheeting were so incongruous with the rest of the interior of the shuttle. It was hooked up to the shuttle''s engines, taking power from them, and he reached out with his mind, investigating. The stardrive was quiescent, as most were, in that odd half slumber that they only roused from when it was time to jump. Mostly machine, but a dreaming machine.

    He certainly hadn''t expected to find this here. In fact, the Whitewater''s sensors were still furiously scanning the local space for any ship that this shuttle may have come off of. With the discovery of the stardrive, Aymon knew that there was no ship. It seemed impossible, but it was clearly true. It only made him feel more curiosity towards that man, his prisoner, who was being escorted to a secure room in the Whitewater.

    It might be dangerous to keep this stardrive, Aymon thought. After all, stardrives were, in a way, sensitives. If this one, which was already capable of behaving oddly by virtue of being in a shuttle, decided that it wanted to jump, Aymon didn''t know if there was any recourse, any stopping it. It could rip a hole in the Whitewater''s hull and kill them all.

    He probed with the power again. The stardrive made no indication of being aware of his presence at all. Aymon weighed his options. Clearly Halen was attached to the stardrive, even if just for its monetary value. That could be a bargaining chip. It was as dangerous as keeping Halen himself, perhaps. No more or less so.

    Aymon climbed out of the shuttle, closed the door.

    "We''ll leave this alone," he said to the guards. "It''s not booby trapped."

    "As you say, Apprentice."

    <hr>

    Aymon brought Halen a breakfast from the officer''s mess. Aymon didn''t particularly like eating there, especially after the disaster (Halen) that had befallen a good chunk of the Whitewater''s crew. The crew, which had already seen him as an outsider, now blamed him, at least in part, for what had happened. Aymon had a nagging worry that someone would try to kill Halen, but Fleet soldiers could generally be counted on to follow orders. Their orders, relayed via their captain by Aymon, were that no harm should come to their prisoner. Aymon still wasn''t sure what he was going to do with Halen in general, but that was something that would be figured out in fine detail when he returned to Emerri. He was beginning to have some smidgens of ideas, though.

    So he carried two meals down to Halen''s little prison, finding that he was the only person on board the ship who was not contractually obligated to look at him with a combination of indifference, deference, scorn, and anger. Certainly the way that Halen looked at him was not pleasant, but it was a change.

    He knocked on the door, nodding to the two guards posted outside. They shared a glance at each other, which Aymon saw but couldn''t interpret.

    "Come in," Halen said

    Aymon keyed in the door passcode and opened the door, keeping his power at the ready, just in case. There was no need, of course. Halen was seated on his bed reading something on the tablet that had been granted to him. He was wearing a Fleet jumpsuit, though it had been a challenge to find one that fit him (he was truly massive), and he had it pulled halfway down, with the arms tied around the waist, leaving him with just an undershirt on the top, exposing his thick cords of muscle. Aymon had always thought of pirates as being heavily tattooed, but Halen, as far as Aymon could tell, had none. He looked up at Aymon as he came in and shut the door behind him, but didn''t say anything.

    "What are you reading?" Aymon asked, setting down the food on the desk and pulling out the chair with his foot to have a seat.

    "The Coercion of the Songbird," Halen said.

    Aymon laughed. That was a famous novel that came off his own homeworld, Lonn.

    "You''ve read it?" Halen asked.

    "I escaped reading it," Aymon said. "I''m from Lonn. It''s required reading in all the upper schools there, but I went to the Academy, so I avoided having it in my curriculum."

    "It''s good," Halen said. "My mother said it was her favorite novel. I see why, now." Halen put the tablet down and sat up straight, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. There was very little room, so this action brought the two men uncomfortably close.

    "I brought some breakfast," Aymon said, handing a tray over to Halen.

    "I see. I assume you''re not here to talk about literature." Halen pulled the container open, revealing some steaming but limp pancakes, and balanced the tray on his lap.

    "I''m simply here to talk," Aymon said, opening his own breakfast and generously dousing his pancakes with syrup. "We both find ourselves as outcasts from the crew, you know."

    "But only one of us is a prisoner," Halen said. He ripped a pancake apart with his hands and ate it plain.

    Aymon shrugged. "It is the way of things. How are you holding up?"

    "I would like to not be drugged," Halen said.

    "It''s not supposed to impact your mental or physical functioning in any way," Aymon said.

    Halen laughed at that, his mouth half full of food. "I''d like you to try it and then tell me that."

    "What does it feel like?"

    "Like a constant buzz in my head," he said. "If the power works on attention, it feels like it''s constantly trying to rip that attention away from me."

    "I am hopeful that this will be a temporary measure."

    "Until what, you can get someone to put one of those Fleet chips in my head?"

    Aymon looked up, startled. "You know about that?"

    "Perhaps the Empire''s secrets might be common knowledge among pirates." He took a drink of coffee. "By the way, you never did tell me who you are."

    "I''m not going to put a Fleet chip in your head, unless I''m planning to ship you off to the Fleet," Aymon said. "I''m surprised you haven''t guessed yet."

    "You can''t be the captain of the ship," Halen said. "I don''t know. I have never found it necessary to pay attention to Imperial goings on. Not enough to name everyone with a name, anyway."

    "You might want to change that," Aymon said. "We''re going to Emerri, by the way. Have you ever been there?"

    "Why in God''s universe would I have been to Emerri?" Halen asked. "I''ve never set foot on a planet."

    The idea of that shocked Aymon a little bit, and he twitched ever so slightly. "Well, I''m sorry that your first visit to a planet will be under such circumstances, then."

    Halen shrugged. "How is my shuttle?" he asked.

    "I have ordered your stardrive to be left alone," Aymon said. Halen didn''t seem surprised to learn that Aymon had investigated the stardrive. "Attached to it, are you?"

    "Yes," Halen said.

    "Well, I''m sure that there will be no problems with keeping it around," Aymon said.

    "You still haven''t told me who you are, or what you plan to do with me," Halen said.

    Aymon took a couple bites of food before responding. "Aymon Sandreas," he said. "Sensitive. Apprentice to First Herrault, Voice of the Empire."

    Halen stared at him, with that piercing soft stare of his. "It''s funny. Usually I would be able to tell if you were lying to me."

    "I have no reason to lie," Aymon said. "We''re going back to Emerri. I''m sure you will see the truth for yourself then."

    "Perhaps," Halen said. "But it''s a well known tactic to lie to prisoners, in order to get them to do what you want."

    "And what would I gain by lying?" Aymon asked. "Are you more inclined to listen to me if I say that I''m Apprentice Sandreas, rather than if I claimed to be, say, 2nd Lieutenant Sandreas of the Fleet ship Whitewater, or Stardrive Maker Sandreas, or Sandreas, literature expert?" He was attempting to lighten the mood, but Halen''s eyes never left his face.

    "I can''t know unless you tell me what you want from me." Halen''s voice was still so soft. Looking at the size of Halen''s chest, Aymon would have expected anything he said to fill the whole tiny room, but his own speech was louder, and it felt shrill in his own ears. If he hadn''t known Halen to be a quite capable opponent, dangerous and fierce, he might have mistaken the slow quietness of Halen for stupidity. Certainly the image he bore was one of a brute. "I owe you my life, in some twisted way. You must have a reason for keeping me alive. It isn''t pity. It certainly isn''t simple value for human life. I''m useful to you."

    Aymon leaned back in his seat, met Halen''s stare. "Yes. Perhaps."

    "So tell me what you want."

    "I didn''t lie to you, when I said that I am Apprentice to First Herrault. There is one other apprentice, Obra Zacks, and First Herrault''s daughter, Frae, who work with me. We all live dangerous lives, you know. There used to be a third apprentice, but..." Aymon trailed off. The death of Jalena was fresh in his mind, even though it had been over a year. "Only one of us will survive to become Second, then First."

    Halen stared at him without speaking. It was disconcerting, the way he did that.

    "Herrault wants Frae to be her successor. It isn''t going to happen. I don''t have to be able to see the future to know that," Aymon continued.

    "Why not?"

    "She''s not a sensitive," Aymon said, waving his hand. "Even if she survives, the Emperor would never allow it."

    "So why would First Herrault have that desire?" Halen asked. It was a natural question.

    "Because she looked at the way that Treygar Vaneik--" He paused, looked at Halen.

    "Yes, I know who Vaneik is. I''m not stupid."

    "Treygar Vaneik wants his own son, Ungarti, to become Guildmaster, and that will happen. We can all see the signs."

    "Guildmasters operate in a different world than the Voice does," Halen said.

    "Precisely. And Herrault is deluding herself thinking that she could live in that world."

    "What''s your point?"

    "One of us, though certainly not Frae, is going to be Herrault''s successor. The others will die. When Frae dies, well, Herrault will remove herself from the equation."

    Halen remained silent, even though Aymon kept looking at him for a trace of acknowledgement.

    "I would like to ensure that I am the one who survives," Aymon said finally. "I don''t want to find myself alone at the wrong end of a dangerous game."

    "You want me to kill the others?" Halen asked. He was very, very quiet.

    "You have a low opinion of me," Aymon said. "No."

    "Then what?"

    "I would like to hire you as protection. Assistant, perhaps. You could accompany me in my work, and be a set of eyes looking where I cannot."

    Halen folded his arms across his chest. "It seems eminently stupid to hire an enemy of the state to protect a possible future head of the state."

    "Oh, we can give you fake records. No one ever has to know that you were once a pirate."

    "Are you really so stupid as to not consider what would happen if I used the kind of closeness you are describing to simply kill you? Wouldn''t that be the most likely outcome?"

    "I was under the impression that there was a certain type of honor among pirates."

    Halen was silent.

    "Think of this as enlisting onto a new ship," Aymon said. "I will be your captain."

    Halen tore a piece of pancake apart. "That''s not how anything works."

    Aymon laughed. "Of course it''s not. But I have reason to believe that you won''t kill me, or anyone else for that matter. I don''t look at you and see a man who enjoys killing. Am I wrong about that?"

    "No. Though I may be a man who decides to take revenge, since you did kill my family."

    "If you were going to do that, you would have already."

    "Perhaps I''m letting it fester until I find the opportune moment."

    "You could kill me now," Aymon said. "Why don''t you try?"

    "I''m not stupid." But his tone indicated that it was more than just a lack of stupidity stopping him.

    "There is a certain honor among pirates, and you owe me your life," Aymon said with a quick nod.

    "Only because you decided to take it from me in the first place."

    "The punishment for piracy is death. You may still have that, if you prefer."

    "So, in other words, I have no choice."

    Aymon shrugged. "Not really, no."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Halen''s face twisted in an unreadable expression. "I assume I will be allowed to have the power back."

    "Once we get back to Emerri."

    <hr>

    Aymon''s arrival back on Emerri was unpleasantly like a wounded animal returning to its cave to sulk. After all, he had not been invited back, and he highly doubted that he was actually going to be welcome. But the Whitewater couldn''t continue without either a purpose or a significant fraction of its crew, so it was coming in to port, and Aymon was taking the chance to disembark. Better to ask his master''s forgiveness than permission.

    And besides, he had been away for so long. He was hopeful that everyone had calmed down sufficiently as to allow him back into normal society.

    He had told the Whitewater''s captain of his plans, and he had seemed quite eager to divest himself of responsibility towards Aymon. Aymon had also said that he was taking Halen into his own, personal, care and that the Fleet need no longer trouble themselves with him. It was a questionable arrangement, but it had been questionable to let Halen live in the first place, and so the Whitewater''s captain washed his hands of the whole thing. Aymon had the authority to do as he liked, especially concerning relative non-persons, such as pirates.

    The elevator ride down to the planet was the first test of his new arrangement with Halen. The man was not cuffed, though he was still drugged, and he stood and sat near Aymon, looking for all the world like any other unremarkable Fleet officer. Except for his size, that was. Still, Aymon was impressed at the way that Halen managed to blend in. He didn''t make any alarming moves, barely spoke, and barely acknowledged anyone''s presence. He just stared out the window at the blue globe below, enraptured as the planet came into clearer and clearer focus beneath them.

    Aymon would have asked what he was thinking, on this first occasion of visiting a planet, but they were not friends, or anything even resembling friends, so it didn''t feel quite appropriate.

    All the legitimate Fleet soldiers looked at the pair of them with confusion and distrust in their eyes, but Aymon simply smiled a thin smile. This would blow over quickly. He hoped, anyway.

    After the long journey down, they emerged from the conditioned air into the thick and humid equatorial atmosphere at the bottom of the elevator. It was night, and there was a layer of clouds covering the sky. It smelled like rain; from the slick damp sheen on the railings it probably had rained already and it would rain again. Aymon breathed it in, spreading his fingers out as though to grab the air like a warm blanket. He forgot how much he missed being on a planet when he was out travelling. It was such an almost inconsequential thing, the loamy smell of the ground, but it was something that tied him to the universe.

    Next to him, it seemed as though Halen was staggering under the weight of the air above them. Every chirp of a night bird, every touch of breeze, every car that streaked past with its dim embers of headlights leaving trails in the darkness, they caused Halen to turn his head, whipping his body around as though there were enemies hiding out of sight, in the gloom that stretched on and on, punctured only by streetlights and ended by... nothing.

    What was it like, Aymon wondered, to have the only experience of the outside world be what one could experience while clothed in a spacesuit? To have spent one''s entire life perpetually enclosed by walls close enough to see? To only be experiencing the fullness of a planet for the first time as an adult? He felt some sympathy for Halen then, and he laid his hand on his arm.

    "Are you alright?"

    "Fine," Halen said.

    "The car is this way." Aymon led him down towards the area where all the cars were lined up and waiting to gather passengers. They would be staying overnight at a hotel nearby; Aymon had booked a flight on the way down, but he had no desire to continue to travel now.

    Halen stumbled a bit as they walked, unfamiliar with the way that the ground could be uneven, and Aymon kept his hand on his arm. He was lucky, he supposed, that it was nighttime, and that no one had known he was going to be arriving back, otherwise there might have been photographs and talk. That had been one of the good things about being on the Whitewater, and maybe what his master had been trying to teach him-- he didn''t always need to be shaping other people''s perceptions of himself.

    Even in the car, when they both slid into the back seat of the taxi, Aymon noticed that Halen had difficulty with the parts of life that seemed so simple and second nature. The seatbelt was nothing like the straps that held someone down in a shuttle, and the back and forth stop and go of the car was nothing like the heavy and smooth acceleration that one would find in space. Halen stared out the window and watched all the streaking lights go by. Aymon opened his window, letting in the rush of thick air. Their car was trailed by a few Fleet vehicles, as a few soldiers would be accompanying Aymon back to Yora as part of their own business.

    At the hotel, Aymon checked in and retrieved the keys to the two rooms.

    "Sorry for the indignity," he said to Halen when they had left the desk and marched up the carpeted hallway to where they were staying. "I''m going to lock you in."

    "I wasn''t going to try to escape," Halen said. "Where would I go?"

    "I''d say it''s easier to escape when you''re on a planet than it is when you''re out in space. Atmosphere at least gives you a chance for survival," Aymon said.

    "It''s not my world," Halen replied. And perhaps it was true that Halen would have had an easier time running away when they were still in space, if he had been able to break himself out of his room, and take back his shuttle, and jump away into the vast darkness of space.

    Inside Halen''s room, Aymon inspected all the windows and exits, and put a power structure on them. He wasn''t actually preventing Halen from escaping-- the power structure didn''t do that-- but what it would do was alert him if Halen did try to exit. It was an exercise in trust, but if that trust was broken, Aymon would know and would find Halen again.

    Halen watched him do this without speaking or questioning.

    "Get some sleep," Aymon said. "Our flight to Yora is early."

    Halen nodded and sat on the bed. He had a small bag beside him, all of his worldly possessions, really anything that had been on that shuttle with him. It struck Aymon, as he looked at the other man, perhaps how much he had taken away from him. If Halen''s family''s ship had not been completely destroyed, maybe it would be worth retrieving the rest of Halen''s personal effects from, at some point in the future. Well, that was a problem for another day.

    "Goodnight," Aymon said, then left the hotel room, keeping the key for himself and heading to his own suite.

    He was woken in the middle of the night by the feeling of his power structure setting off an alarm. One of the windows in Halen''s room had been opened. His vision blurred with sleep, but with a racing pulse, Aymon lept out of bed and ran down the hallway in bare feet and underwear, remembering barely to grab the sidearm that he always wore, keeping the gun in his hand as he forewent the keycard and opened Halen''s door with the power. He held his gun out in front of him, wary and alert, searching the darkness of the room to see what was going on.

    He needn''t have been so worried, and it was with a hot flush of embarrassment that he took in the scene.

    Halen had dragged the desk chair over to the window, along with a lamp, and was calmly sitting in front of it, reading something on his tablet again. He had the window open, and the hot breeze fluttered in, setting the curtains wiggling. He was also only in an undershirt and underwear, and he looked up at Aymon when he burst into the room with an unreadable expression.

    "You could at least knock before you come in here to kill me," Halen said.

    Aymon let his arm holding the gun drop to his side, shook his head. "The fuck are you doing?"

    "Reading. I thought you said you were locking me in here," Halen said.

    "It was a test," Aymon snapped, walking over to close the window. Halen frowned slightly. "Go to sleep."

    "I can''t sleep," Halen said.

    "Why not?"

    "Too heavy." Most ships ran their rings at somewhere between eighty and ninety percent of normal gravity, so it wasn''t that surprising that Halen was having difficulty adjusting to the full weight of being on Emerri.

    "You''re going to have to figure it out eventually," Aymon said. "You can''t just not sleep. We''re leaving early in the morning."

    Halen looked down at the tablet he was holding, shrugged heavily. "Do you have any sleeping pills?"

    "I''m not going to go out in the night to put you on more drugs," Aymon said. "I thought you didn''t want to be drugged, anyway."

    "I want to cooperate with you, so that you put the gun away," Halen said. "I don''t want to find myself shot in the middle of the night because you''re panicking."

    Aymon sighed, laid the gun on the desk, and used the power to scoot it out of arms reach for both of them. He wasn''t dumb enough to put a lethal weapon that close to where the currently powerless Halen could grab it.

    "Happy now?"

    Halen stood, laid the tablet down on his chair, and went over to sit on the bed. Aymon tensed up a little as he passed, but Halen paid him no mind.

    "If you want me to lay here for the next six hours, I''ll do that," Halen said.

    "Don''t be a baby about it. Lay anywhere long enough and you''ll fall asleep."

    Halen shrugged. "Not in my experience."

    "For the love of God," Aymon said.

    Halen had a slight smile on his face now, almost imperceptible. Was he teasing Aymon? Was this some sort of power move? It frustrated him. He, unlike Halen apparently, was tired, and had just been roused from sleep because of, well, bad reasons. Maybe the situation would have been funnier if he hadn''t been standing here with crusts on his eyes, and in nothing but his red underwear. Aymon was fed up with it.

    "Lay down," he snapped. Halen did, crossing his legs. He was long enough that his feet hung comically off the end of the bed. Aymon stalked over to him.

    "Going to smother me with a pillow?"

    "Shut up." Aymon sat down on the edge of the bed, and found himself almost slipping off of it by virtue of the dent that Halen''s body made in the mattress. "Close your eyes."

    Halen stared at him for a second, seemingly judging the situation, then did. Aymon stretched out his hand, reaching towards Halen''s forehead. Perhaps through the shifting of Aymon''s weight on the mattress, or through feeling the currents of air, Halen anticipated the movement and reached up with his own hand, grabbing Aymon''s wrist in a tight but delicate grasp.

    "What are you doing?" Halen asked, keeping his eyes closed.

    "I''m going to put you to sleep."

    Halen''s mouth moved again in an approximation of a smile. He kept holding Aymon''s hand at bay. "You know," he said. "It would be nice if I had my power back, so that I could know if you meant that you were going to kill me or not."

    "I''m not going to kill you," Aymon said, again tired and frustrated.

    "On the other hand," Halen said, "it''s somewhat funny to be able to frustrate people without feeling it myself, for once."

    "What do you mean?"

    "My God-gift," Halen said. "I feel what everyone else is feeling, all the time, forever. Except now." He laughed, a soft thing. "When it would most help me survive."

    "What will help you survive is shutting your mouth," Aymon said. It came out far harsher than he had intended, and Halen immediately stopped talking and dropped his hand from Aymon''s wrist.

    He felt a little bad about it and hesitated before he moved again, holding his hand just above the surface of Halen''s forehead. In the dim light, he could see the faint sheen of sweat, and the fine hairs that covered his face. Aymon had to look away when he did put his hand down on Halen''s head, a slight shiver going up his arm at the feeling of skin-on-skin.

    He called the power up to himself, and let it travel down his arm. He bit his tongue to fight the wave of revulsion and horror that always came when he used the power on another person, but this wasn''t intended to hurt. Methodically, slowly, Aymon sent his power through Halen''s body, relaxing every muscle with a deliberate twist of power.

    "Oh," Halen said.

    Aymon would have responded, but Halen was asleep before Aymon took his hand off his head. Aymon slipped quietly out of the room and shut the door behind him.

    <hr>

    Aymon''s feeling of having gotten away with his return to the planet ended approximately as soon as their plane touched down in Yora and he and Halen walked through the airport.

    Obra Zacks was there waiting for him, their long black hair shining in the harsh airport lights.

    "Look who the cat dragged in," Obra said, crossing their arms as Aymon approached, doing his best not to attract the attention of all the other people in the airport. "You''re not supposed to be here."

    "It''s good to see you too, Obra," Aymon said, voice full of resignation.

    "Hey, it could be Frae coming here to pick up your sorry ass," Obra said. "Come on. I''ve got a car waiting."

    Obra hadn''t seemed to have noticed Halen at first, but they looked him over as Halen followed Aymon. "Who''s the tall drink of water?" Obra asked.

    "We can talk about it in the car," Aymon said.

    The weather had turned while he had been away, and the crisp air was dry and smelled like the deepest part of fall. Halen studied it intently; Aymon watched him lick his lips as though he were tasting the air itself.

    Though Obra had said they had a car waiting, it was more accurate to say that Obra had driven a car to the airport, and thus forced a Stonecourt security team to follow behind. Obra enjoyed driving, possibly a little too much. Aymon had remarked several times, before Jalena died, that if Obra died in a car crash, it would be poetic justice. After Jalena, of course, he had stopped being able to joke like that. There was some kind of ticking clock over one of their heads, and Aymon didn''t like the thought of it.

    Aymon sat in the passenger seat, and Halen crammed himself into the back of the car. They sped out of the airport parking lot and began to take the most meandering possible route back to the city proper. Plenty of time for Obra to interrogate him as they drove, then.

    "So, I know you''re back because the Whitewater insisted on returning to port," Obra said. "Good on you for taking the opportunity to jump ship. In the most literal of senses."

    "Do people know I''m back?"

    "I take the, shall we say, liberty of screening Herrault''s morning briefings. She''ll know by this afternoon, but I''ve kept the news off her desk since the Whitewater ansible''d in."

    "Thank you?"

    "Eh, you''re going to catch her in a mood whether she knew about it in advance or not."

    "Was she ever planning to summon me back? Have I been sufficiently chastised?"

    "I am not privy to her innermost thoughts. I have to suspect that every time Frae asks for you back, she mentally added another three weeks to your sentence."

    "Will Frae ever learn to keep her mouth shut?"

    "I literally do not understand what she sees in you."

    "It''s my charming personality and my outstanding good looks."

    "I see no evidence of either."

    Aymon resisted nudging Obra, as any interference might cause them to send the car swerving off the road.

    "Maybe it''s true that girls do like it when guys are jerks and ignore them," Aymon said.

    "Then maybe you should try being nice to her when you see her, and she''ll hopefully forget you."

    "I don''t want to accidentally encourage her."

    "Suit yourself. How was your vacation?"

    "Not a vacation."

    "Exile, then."

    Aymon shrugged, staring out the window at the tree lined highway as they sped past. "It could have been worse. How have things been here?"

    "Same old, same old. I missed you."

    "Aw, you''re getting sentimental in your old age."

    "Just nervous," Obra said. "I swear, when I read the captain''s report from the Whitewater, I though you were dead."

    "I''m tougher than that."

    "I see. Anyway, you said you were going to tell me who that," Obra jerked their head to indicate Halen, "is."

    "His name is Halen. I''m surprised the captain''s report didn''t mention him."

    "Oh, he''s not Fleet?"

    Aymon caught a glimpse of Halen''s face in the rearview mirror, listening passively as they discussed him, as though he were not present. "The uniform fooled you," Aymon said. "No, he''s not."

    "The curiosity is killing me."

    "He''s our troublesome stardrive maker," Aymon said. Obra did jerk the wheel slightly at that, and their knuckles were white.

    "Don''t fuck with me, Aymon."

    "I''m not," he said.

    "You''re fucking crazy. I can''t believe you''d..." Obra grumbled something indistinguishable. Catching another glimpse of Halen in the mirror, Aymon saw that he was smiling ever so slightly. When Halen noticed his attention, their eyes meeting in the glass, Halen wiped the expression off his face.

    "He''s not dangerous," Aymon said. "He''s drugged, and I''m going to bring him to the Emperor as soon as I get in."

    "You know the Emperor is just going to kill him, right? Like, that''s the only sane thing to do." Obra craned their neck, taking their eyes off the road for an uncomfortable second in the car. "No offense," they said to Halen before returning their attention to the road.

    "None taken," Halen said, speaking for the first time.

    "I won''t let the Emperor kill him," Aymon said, trying to sound patient.

    "Ah yes, the disgraced apprentice, returning home under cover of night, with a criminal and a murderer in tow, is going to convince the Emperor that he should be allowed to... What do you even want with him anyway? He''s not a fucking pet."

    "Technically I wouldn''t describe it as murder," Aymon said. "It was self defense."

    "Answer the question," Obra said.

    "I don''t know. I figured it would be a shame to kill him. It would be good to have an assistant and a bodyguard."

    "That''s what Stonecourt staff are for."

    "No offense, but Stonecourt staff works for Herrault. I want someone who works for me."

    "Oh you''re paranoid that Herrault has it out for you now?"

    "Not exactly," Aymon said.

    "You''re literally impossible," Obra said. "Whatever. The Emperor can figure out what to do with you. Both of you."

    "Thanks for the vote of confidence, or whatever this is."

    "I keep my nose clean so that I don''t have to risk getting in trouble with our higher ups. But I am trying to help you," Obra said. "I''ll even take one for the team by breaking the news of your return to Herrault while you''re having a fun little chat with the Emperor."

    "It will be fun, I''m sure."

    They pulled in to the Stonecourt driveway, and Obra checked them through security, then drove down to the garage underneath the building. The three of them got out and stood in the dim artificial light under there for a second. As if possessed by some force greater than themself, Obra reached out and pulled Aymon into a tight hug.

    "I did really miss you."

    He awkwardly patted their back. "I''ll try not to have the Emperor kick me out immediately," he said. "I missed you too."

    "And you," Obra said, turning to Halen and planting their hands on their hips. "Thank you for not garrotting me while you sat behind me in the car, even though someone neglected to warn me that you were a criminal. I''d feel kinda bad now if the Emperor does kill you, so, you know," Obra shrugged, "hope they don''t."

    "Thanks?" Halen said, seeming unsure as to what exactly Obra''s deal was. Aymon shot him a look, trying to communicate ''don''t worry about it.''

    "You''d better get going," Obra said, pulling out their phone to check the time. "I''m going to go intercept Herrault right after she gets out of her meeting and break the news to her. If you''re with the Emperor already, that''s basically the only place where she won''t dare come and start trying to kill you."

    "Yeah. See you in a bit."

    Obra nodded and headed away, taking the stairs out of the garage two at a time. Aymon and Halen remained for a second.

    "Are you a liar, Aymon?" Halen asked, repeating one of the first questions he had asked.

    "I''m more likely to get the brunt of this than you are," he said. "And I''m going to plead your case. I''d give it, hm, seventy five percent chance that you live."

    "That is not very good odds."

    "Better than you''d get anywhere else."

    "I don''t exactly have the best case to plead."

    "I''ll plead my case, then."

    "You should have just killed me before."

    "Don''t be such a pessimist. This way."

    And so Aymon took Halen to see the Emperor.

    <hr>

    Aymon didn''t like the Emperor, but he didn''t hate the Emperor either. The Emperor simply was. It was, in some respects, like how he had felt when he was punished by some of the masters at the Academy, that same sense of a higher authority. Perhaps the Emperor was as close as one could get to the highest authority, which was to say, the closest one could get to divine.

    The Emperor was not heretical enough to act divine, or to claim divinity, but the feeling of power in the Emperor''s presence was the closest Aymon would get to God in this lifetime. He had hope that the Emperor''s presence was the closest he would get to God ever-- joining the Emperor meant, on some level, a freedom from death. There was an appeal to that thought.

    So it was with a mingled sense of anticipation and fear, feeling rather like he was telling on himself, that Aymon stood in the Emperor''s antechamber, waiting to be let in. The Emperor let him and Halen stew for a moment.

    Aymon was almost jealous of Halen, who, while on the drug that blocked his use of the power, probably couldn''t feel the Emperor''s overwhelming presence, even from here.

    "I''ll go in first," Aymon said. "You just wait here. Don''t do anything stupid."

    Halen nodded without speaking.

    The Emperor summoned Aymon in with a silent tug on his heart and a slow opening of the door. It shut behind him when he passed through and into the dark, standing in the singular spotlight that was kept.

    "So, my little Caron''s wayward apprentice has returned," the Emperor said. "I wondered when you would decide to come back." The Emperor''s mental tone was dulcet and amused, which was a good sign, Aymon thought.

    "I was going to wait until First Herrault summoned me," Aymon said, trying to keep the whine out of his voice.

    "But?"

    "I don''t have a good reason for disobeying. I wanted to come back and do my job. I had accomplished what I was sent to do."

    "It''s no matter," the Emperor said. "The council moves quickly to forget. There''s always a new scandal on the horizon; yours was a tiny dot on the greater radar."

    "Oh. Okay."

    "You are still wondering about my little Caron?" the Emperor asked. "You want to know the interior of her heart?"

    Aymon couldn''t stop the thread of curiosity that the Emperor''s words awoke, and the Emperor laughed. "She missed you," that mental voice said. "She would never admit it."

    Aymon laughed nervously. He didn''t know why he was nervous, but it felt like a transgression for the Emperor to be telling him about the mind of someone else.

    "Someday I may tell your own apprentices of your mind, little Aymon," the Emperor said. "And if you think that I do not tell my Caron of your mind now, you are mistaken."

    So, the lack of privacy went both ways.

    "It would behoove you both to be more open with each other. That way I would not be forced to play this game. It bores me."

    "I would be able to be more open with her if she weren''t pushing me aside for--"

    "Yes, yes, yes," the Emperor drawled. "There''s no need to talk about that mistake."

    "If it wasn''t for that, maybe we wouldn''t be having this talk," Aymon said.

    "Oh, I have had this talk with every single one of my selves," the Emperor said. "Look."

    The Emperor planted a vision in Aymon''s head. Standing before him in the spotlight, craning her neck up into the darkness before them both, was an image of a young Caron Herrault, a few years older than Aymon, with her arms wrapped tightly around her own chest, and a frown on her face. Aymon could hear the Emperor''s voice still, though the words were words being spoken to this phantom.

    "You should give this up," the Emperor said. "There''s no place for a child in our line of work."

    "Treygar Vaneik has a child."

    "And Treygar Vaneik is a spacer with a legacy that he wishes to uphold. We are different."

    She shook her head. "It''s my body."

    "And the Empire''s future," the Emperor said, voice quite cold. "We are not so crass as to pass down leadership through something as fragile as a bloodline. Don''t fool yourself into thinking that a child of yours is worthy of power or title."

    "She may be," Caron said.

    "I can see inside you, far better than your own eyes can. Your child will not have the power. Your child will never be able to stand here before me."

    Caron shook her head again, petulant, insistent. "Things can change."

    "This will not."

    "Is it really so wrong to want a child?" she asked, and her voice was choked. "Why are you so cruel?"

    The Emperor''s voice was quieter now. "We have all had attachments. This may be yours. Attachments hurt to break."

    "I don''t care," Caron said. "You can''t stop me."

    "You know that I could," the Emperor said. "As easily as you breathe, I could stop you."

    Caron let out a little half sob. "Please don''t."

    The mental pressure in the room abated a hair. "I will not. But you will understand that disobeying me is its own punishment," the Emperor said.

    The vision faded, and Aymon was alone in the room.

    "Why did you show that to me?" he asked. He felt as though he had witnessed something intimate, something he never should have seen about his master and her daughter, Frae.

    "Attachments, my little Aymon, and disobeying me, are both dangerous."

    "I''m not attached."

    The Emperor ignored the question. "You understand already what will happen when my Caron''s daughter dies."

    Aymon did understand-- he had said it to Halen not that long ago while explaining his half baked plan. She would be broken beyond repair.

    "She will join me," the Emperor said. "And she will be deeply unhappy."

    "Frae doesn''t have to die," Aymon said, feeling compelled to be contrarian and defend a girl he could barely even stand.

    "She will. It is the way of things."

    "And why are you telling me all this?"

    "Because you have chosen to disobey, and the same danger lies down that path for you."

    "What? No." Aymon couldn''t picture it. He had thought that he would need to stand here presenting rational arguments for why he should be allowed to have a bodyguard when Obra did not, especially one who was possibly dangerous. He did not expect to have his personal motivations brought under such strange scrutiny.

    "I know your heart better than you know it yourself, it seems," the Emperor said. "Your trust in this man may kill you."

    "I don''t think he''s going to betray me."

    "We shall see," the Emperor said. "At this stage, who knows?"

    "So you''re not going to kill him?"

    "Oh, if he puts one toe out of line, he will die," the Emperor said. "But I will allow you to have your amusements and your paranoias."

    This had been far easier than Aymon had ever hoped.

    "But that comes with risks, my little Aymon. And transgressions do come with punishments."

    His stomach turned. He didn''t like the sound of that.

    "Let me in your head, little one," the Emperor said. Aymon had no choice but to allow it.

    There was the crawling feeling of the Emperor working fingers through his brain, and then, abruptly, nothing. The room was cold and empty.

    "You may have your power back when you have earned it," the Emperor said. "You are dismissed. And I have no need to speak to your Halen. Not now, anyway. Go."

    The door opened, and Aymon stumbled out, feeling more weak and vulnerable than he had since he was a child.

 Chapter One Hundred Eight - "Its like were in the beginning of a buddy cop movie."

    "It''s like we''re in the beginning of a buddy cop movie."

    <blockquote>

    "Though you may enter the darkest parts of the valley, between the tallest mountains, be not afraid, for there are friends by your side. Though you may pass alone through the coldest winter, be not afraid, for spring will soon arrive. And though all manner of beasts and fiends may pursue you through the night, be not afraid, for God has love for you as boundless as the stars."

    - From ¡®Seventh Song: Love¡¯

    </blockquote>

    "Where''s your call to action?" Sylva asked when she had finished reading.

    "Well, it''s, uh..." Yan took the slim book. "Look at the power structure," she said as she flipped through the pages. "It tells you to take the words to heart, and to pass the book on to someone who hasn''t read it yet."

    Sylva rolled her eyes. "Vague."

    "It can''t be that overt. I don''t want anyone getting killed for having read this."

    "Okay," Sylva said. "If you can get it to the Fleet, you might be able to have it do some good. But average people?"

    "I want to prepare them, just in case the truth comes out. And besides, I think the message that you can leave your home, and that you don''t have to do what your leader tells you, I think that''s a good message."

    "Take another pass at the power structure," Sylva advised. "Bake those messages in there more strongly. And maybe write up an introduction, a forward."

    "You''re just saying that because the power structure didn''t work on you. It''s probably fine."

    "Test it on Iri. Or Chanam."

    "I will."

    "How many of these are you going to make?"

    "As many as I physically can. We''ve got the whole Empire to cover."

    "Ah."

    "You want to do me a favor?"

    Sylva looked up at Yan, rather surprised by the request. "Of course. Whatever you need."

    "We need to spread this," Yan said. "Once I''ve made a bunch of copies, and maybe put in an introduction like you said. Are you willing to go put them out there?"

    Sylva considered it for a second. Part of her was thrilled that Yan was finally trusting her with something important. Another part leaped at the idea of getting off the ship, which was feeling far more confining than the Iron Dreams or any pirate ship ever had. But there was a different part of her that objected to leaving Yan, and still more that felt somewhat inadequate.

    "Are you just trying to get rid of me?" she asked. She had thought the joke in her words was obvious, but Yan flinched back.

    "No, of course not!"

    "I''m kidding," Sylva said. "Why do you want me to go?"

    "I trust you," Yan said. That made something warm light up in Sylva''s heart. "And you know how to get around pirate ships. We wouldn''t be able to bring the First Star too close to a planet."

    "Oh. Would Iri be coming with me?" Iri was really the only thing that had allowed Sylva to half function as a pirate, so it was a terrifying thought that she might not be around. Sylva didn''t like the sound of Yan''s sudden awkward silence, and she looked at her expectantly.

    "Can you go with Kino?" Yan finally asked. "I need Iri here with me."

    "God, why?" Sylva asked. "We don''t even get along."

    "Kino..." Yan began, then trailed off.

    "Spit it out."

    "She wants to get to Hanathue," Yan finally said. Sylva sighed and leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

    "I thought we decided against that," she said.

    "I feel really bad about it," Yan said, rubbing the back of her neck. "And it''s probably not any more dangerous than it has been to go all the other places we''ve been."

    "But we''d be alone."

    "I know. Maybe it''s not possible," Yan murmured. "But we need to get these out."

    Sylva shook her head. "It''s fine. We can do it. I''ve done worse."

    Yan looked at her, and nodded slowly. "Thank you."

    "I''ll talk to Kino and get ready. Will you be bringing us to a black station?"

    "Yeah, I think so," Yan said. "Iri can shuttle you over, and then fly back here. We''ll want to keep the First Star pretty distant."

    "Hm. And how will we meet back up?"

    "We''ll have to pick a time and place, and we''ll have to meet there," Yan said.

    "That doesn''t sound ideal."

    "It''s not." There was worry thick in her voice. "You''ll be gone for a while."

    "A fortyday, at least," Sylva agreed.

    Yan reached down and took Sylva''s hand, turning it over in her own, tracing the lines of her palm with her long fingers. Sylva shivered, but it was a good shiver.

    "I''m sorry that this has been, you know," Yan said.

    "You don''t have to apologize," Sylva said, feeling genuinely like she meant it. She had appreciated Yan''s earlier apology, but now that the issue between them had been resolved, for the most part, she didn''t want Yan to keep obsessing. There was no need for her to feel miserable over it.

    "I know," Yan said. "You''ve done so much for me already. I''m sorry that I''m like, sending you away."

    "With Kino, no less."

    "Maybe you''ll have a good time."

    "I suppose if Kino''s with me, I won''t have to worry about being jealous of the two of you spending time together," Sylva said lightly. She only half meant it as a joke, but she tried to keep the serious part out of her voice. She didn''t want Yan to think she was crazy.

    Yan laughed. "I''ll just have to be jealous of you and Kino."

    "God, kill me," Sylva said, and fake gagged. "She''s colder than a stone."

    "You don''t have to be mean. You''d like her if you got to know her."

    "I guess I''ll have plenty of time to do just that," Sylva said.

    Yan sighed, her face drawn with worry.

    <hr>

    They came to Xuanhuan Station, a black station nestled in a thick asteroid belt, and it was with a tearful goodbye that Sylva and Kino left the First Star. They carried everything that they could need: plenty of currencies from the emergency stores aboard the First Star in gold, in untraceable charges, in drugs; clothing and tools; a heavy trunk crammed full of all the books that Yan had managed to manufacture.

    Iri docked the shuttle with the station, and Sylva hugged her goodbye.

    "Stay safe out there," Iri said.

    "I''ll say the same thing to you," Sylva replied. "Wish you were coming with me."

    "First Star needs crew more than anything. You''ll be safer with Kino than you would be with me."

    "I somehow doubt that''s true." Certainly Kino had the larger price on her head.

    "Sensitives are useful things," Iri said. "Better than just one woman with a gun."

    "You''re the best woman with a gun I know."

    "I won''t tell Yan you said that," Iri said with a smile. "Remember the plan, okay?"

    "I can hardly forget it." They had worked out the most probable ways of getting off Hanathue, and the most probable ways of getting a message out, if they got themselves into trouble. Granted, without official identities (and thus no official ansible access), communication off planet would be limited to what they could beg or trade pirates and spacers into carrying by word of mouth. And that would involve keeping in touch with reliable and trustworthy spacers or pirates in the first place.

    Sylva had a dread feeling in her stomach, and it didn''t go away even when Iri hugged her crushingly hard. "Take care of Yan, will you?" she asked.

    "That''s my job," Iri said. She released Sylva and looked her over, then brushed a piece of lint off her shoulder.

    Kino was lurking by the door of the shuttle, watching the exchange.

    "I''ll miss you too, Kino," Iri said. "I hope you find your sister."

    Kino nodded silently. Her hand with the metal prosthetic was tucked into her pocket, and she wore gloves on both hands. It wouldn''t do to let other people know she was a power user, just by the way her prosthetic moved without any reasonable mechanisms to make it do so.

    "Good luck," Iri said. "I''ll see you in a fortyday."

    "I''ll hold you to that," Sylva said.

    "Bye," Kino said. She nodded again at Iri. Sylva wondered how much time the pair of them had spent together, outside of Sylva''s view.

    They opened the shuttle door and drifted out into the station proper, dragging the trunk full of books along behind them, with their bags on their back. As Sylva and Kino headed towards the door that would let them into the main area of the station, Sylva glanced behind herself to take a last look at Iri, watching them go from the door of the shuttle. The shuttle door closed; the bay door opened; Sylva and Kino stepped through.

    They were alone now, with no real way of contacting the First Star. No backup to rely on.

    They were wearing disguises, of a sort. There wasn''t much that could be done about their faces, short of getting plastic surgery. Yan had shown them both how to do invisibility, and Kino had briefly experimented with using the same method to warp the way their faces appeared, but it was decided that the effort to maintain a realistic illusion was probably not worth the risk. Sylva, predictably, had been bad at it. It would have required Kino holding a new face for both of them, which could only be done when they were together, and it would have taken more mental energy than Kino could spare, especially if she was also meant to be making sure that someone didn''t randomly decide to kill them. Was that likely to happen? Sylva didn''t know, but she was paranoid.

    So they had cut their hair, and re-bleached it in Kino''s case. They were both wearing heavy makeup, and Sylva had managed to find disguising contact lenses in the First Star''s medical inventory, so they were safe from iris scanners at the very least. It was far from ideal, but it would have to do.

    Being on a black station came with an ugly sort of familiarity for Sylva. She had now been on several, and she decided that they were all the same. No matter what family ran the place, the goods that were being sold were equivalently distasteful. Still, with money in their pockets and obvious guns on their hips, it was easy for them to book passage on a pirate ship that would be passing towards Hanathue.

    While waiting for their ship to arrive, Sylva and Kino also took advantage of some of the station''s services, namely, the purchase of a set of fake identities. Their new ID cards and preloaded charge cards (paid for with slivers of gold) were a bit of a comfort. They might help get them back into normal society.

    They also took the opportunity to stash a few of the copies of Yan''s heretical book, The Song of the Stranger, in the library and other public places aboard the black station. They didn''t have any idea if they would go anywhere, but since black stations were a real nexus for pirate activities, it probably didn''t hurt to leave a few there. Once their ship arrived, they boarded it and prepared for the long journey.

    The journey itself was uneventful, and Sylva and Kino barely spoke to each other, for all that they spent time cooped up in a cabin together. At first, the silence had felt awkward, but Sylva came to understand that Kino was simply... existing?

    She wasn''t being ignored, and when she caught Kino looking at her, in a quiet moment when Sylva was distracted with something, Kino''s stare was not hostile. When Sylva saw her looking, Sylva opened her mouth to say something, but Kino just nodded at her in acknowledgement and went back to reading something on her tablet. Sylva found it odd, but she didn''t hate it, not entirely.

    The way that pirates got people down onto planets was somewhat convoluted, as it turns out. The ship that they were on had to stop at a tiny, hidden outpost on the outskirts of the Hanathue system. From there, all the passengers who would be heading to the planet disembarked, along with all of their trade goods that would be going down.

    The outpost was on a moon orbiting the furthest planet of the system (a gas giant that loomed in the sky menacingly above them), and it had such little gravity that it could barely be called gravity. Encased in a spacesuit that was far too large for her, Sylva wished that she were instead floating in the unencumbered reaches of space, rather than being half-trapped and half worried about bouncing away on the ground. The shuttle they had taken down to the ground wasn''t even a proper space-to-ground shuttle-- it was a pure space shuttle, and it looked so awkward as they all piled out of it and stood around. Sylva could still recognize Kino, even through the heavy suit, because of the way that her arms moved in their jerky way, as she tugged at the outside of the suit.

    The outpost itself was a large dome, almost a tent, really, that provided atmosphere and warmth. Everyone pressed into the airlock, and it was with an audible sigh of relief over someone''s unguarded radio when the whole group disgorged into the outpost proper. It wasn''t much.

    There were a few stores, a few homes, and a waiting area for all the people who were passing back and forth from the planet. There wasn''t even really much of a check in. Sylva and Kino paid for their lodging and their food and their energy use while they were staying, and they checked the big board that passed for a "schedule". There was one Guild ship coming, theoretically in a few days, who would be able to stop here at the outpost and surreptitiously pick up passengers. A few days after that, it looked like a mining shuttle from this system''s asteroid belt might be swinging by with supplies, and could also take people. Sylva and Kino contemplated the options.

    "We''ll see if the Guild ship can take us," Kino said. "Our IDs might be enough."

    "Hope so," Sylva said. She fingered the sliver of plastic in her pocket, with her face and somebody else''s last name.

    The Guild ship, which was named the Westwind, arrived, and caused a great rush all through the outpost. The residents were eager to get a pick of the Westwind''s supplies, and the sojourners were eager to get on the ship and leave. Sylva and Kino squeezed into one of the shuttles going up and down to the ship, and were shuffled along into its great bays.

    The whole place felt very homey and familiar. Sylva had been on so many ships at this point, she was beginning to feel, if not comfortable, at least that she knew what to expect, and what was the same and what was different between all of them.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "Guest areas are over here," a bored looking young man in a greyish-purple jumpsuit said, leading them through the halls. "You won''t be here longer than ten hours, so no point in giving you rooms. I''ll come around and make sure you pay your passage and have ID before we leave."

    Presumably, if they had not paid, or not had sufficient ID to be let onto the planet, they would have been kicked back into the outpost on one of the returning shuttles. Sylva and Kino shared a nervous moment when they handed the young man a carefully measured gold piece and their two IDs. He looked them over, flipping them between his fingers and holding them up to the light to check their security cards. He huffed and seemed satisfied. When he handed them back, he also gave them two slips of paper.

    "What''s this?" Kino asked.

    "Your planetary travel authorization," the young man said. "So you''ll be allowed to stay on Hanathue."

    "Will it get us through security?" Sylva asked.

    The man shrugged. "That''s not my problem. It should. Certainly better than nothing. If we''re passing through the port, and you don''t have any documentation at all, you''re going to get eyes on you. I assume you don''t want that," he said, looking at their IDs that Sylva was now holding.

    "Uh," Sylva said, but the man just walked away. "Thanks?"

    "Don''t think about it too much," Kino said, and they found a place to sit and station themselves for the wait until they jumped towards the planet proper.

    They were lounging around in the fairly spacious Westwind guest areas when Sylva tensed up. Across the room, she saw someone who looked shockingly familiar. A tall woman (only slightly taller than the average spacer), with obvious tattoos that crept up over the neck of her jumpsuit. Sylva grabbed Kino''s arm. "Fuck me," she said.

    "What?" Kino asked, peering around the room, clearly not noticing anything amiss.

    "See that woman?" Sylva asked, jerking her head slightly to indicate the figure on the other side of the room. "Don''t be obvious about it."

    Kino looked, and, to her credit, kept her gaze unobtrusive. "You know her?"

    "That''s Keep. She was on the pirate ship that I, urgh."

    "Iri told me all about it," Kino said. "Good job."

    "What in God''s name is she doing here?"

    "The world of spacers and pirates is a small one," Kino said logically. "She''s travelling just like you are."

    Sylva craned her neck, herself failing at being unobtrusive, and searched around to see if she could find either Keep''s husband, or brother, or baby. How old was that baby now? Still just a few months old. If she had been Keep, she probably wouldn''t have brought the baby with her while travelling, but also she probably wouldn''t have left the baby behind. The thought of those conflicting things sent a storm of worry up through Sylva''s brain. She had to hope that nothing had happened to the little thing that she had helped deliver.

    Kino beside her noticed how pale and nervous Sylva was. "What''s the matter?" Kino asked.

    "I don''t see her kid," Sylva said.

    "She probably didn''t bring him with her," Kino said.

    "Or he''s dead because I abandoned them."

    "I doubt that," Kino said. "It''s not like you actually have more medical knowledge than anyone else."

    Sylva frowned. It was true, but she didn''t like Kino to say it. "Hey, I fixed your hand."

    Kino shrugged, and her gloved left hand clenched and unclenched on her lap. "I guess."

    "I''m worried about it, though."

    "Go talk to her, then," Kino said.

    "She''s probably still pissed at me for leaving."

    "Then it''s not your problem. Either stop worrying about it or do something about it," Kino said, leaning back on the bench where they were sitting.

    "What if she comes over here?"

    "Then you talk to her," Kino said. "I don''t understand the problem."

    "You don''t understand anything."

    Kino''s lips twitched up in a serene but odd smile. "Perhaps."

    "You''re the worst." Sylva sighed and sat back as well. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on Keep across the room, who was talking to a far shorter man, one who looked rather weaselly looking. Sylva couldn''t help but wonder what exactly Keep was doing here, and why she was alone. The curiosity burned inside her.

    Eventually, the shorter man left, leaving Keep by herself. She kept scanning the room, as though she were nervous, or aware that there was someone watching her, but she hadn''t yet recognized Sylva in the room full of people. Perhaps that was because she was scanning the room at average spacer eye height, and Sylva was far, far shorter than that average.

    "I need to pee," Kino announced.

    "Stay safe in there," Sylva muttered as Kino got up and left.

    It was perhaps that action, Kino crossing the room, that finally attracted Keep''s attention to Sylva. Their eyes met across the room, and, although Sylva hastily looked down at her lap, it was too late. The flash of recognition was in Keep''s eyes, and she crossed the room in great bounding strides, pushing past all the other passengers.

    "Sylva!" she said. "God, I never thought I''d see you again!"

    Keep sounded, well, happy, which was so completely unexpected that Sylva looked up, startled. Keep was smiling.

    "Er, hi, Keep," Sylva said. "I''m pretty surprised to see you, too." This was awkward. Sylva ran a hand over her hair, anxiously tugging at the strands.

    "What in God''s name are you doing here?" Keep asked. "Can I sit?" She gestured at the bench next to Sylva, and Sylva had no real choice but to scoot over and let the large woman sit.

    "Couple things," Sylva said. "I''m visiting a friend. Giving out books."

    "What?" Keep sounded confused.

    "Er, hard to explain. Here." Sylva reached down and opened the heavy trunk that she and Kino had been hauling around with them. The books were all wrapped in brown paper, to prevent unwanted attention grabbing, so she handed it to Keep. "It''s yours."

    "Thanks?" Keep turned the brown paper package over in her hand, and started to open it.

    "Wait, don''t do that," Sylva said. "I mean, you can, I guess, but it''s a really good book. You''ll probably want to wait until you have a decent amount of free time before you read it."

    "Okay," Keep said, sounding more confused by the second, but she complied and tucked the book inside the pocket of her jumpsuit. "What is it about?"

    "It''s a lost Song," Sylva said. "We''re trying to spread it."

    Keep laughed and laughed. "I didn''t ever take you to get drawn into a cult, Sylva. You seemed like you had a head on your shoulders."

    "It''s not a cult!" Sylva was affronted by this, especially since, technically, she didn''t believe a word of Yan''s ramblings. She was somewhat pleased that Keep had a high opinion of her. She felt like she was just as confused as Keep was, in this conversation. She wondered when Kino was coming back.

    "I''ll judge that for myself when I read it," Keep said. "Well, aside from joining a cult, you''re visiting a friend?"

    "Yeah. Well, really it''s a friend of mine''s sister, who I haven''t met." Sylva waved her hand. "Not really important. What are you doing here?"

    Keep sighed. "Business, as usual."

    "Do you travel a lot on business?"

    "Oh, of course. Well, I used to a lot before I had Trav. This is the first time I''m getting to go out since then."

    "How is Trav?"

    "He''s doing great. Very big. Very strong. Let me show you a picture." She pulled out her phone and scrolled through it for a second until she found a picture of the chubbiest baby that Sylva had ever seen.

    "I''m glad he''s doing well," Sylva said, and the genuine relief in her voice was so strong that Keep laughed.

    "Feel guilty for abandoning us?"

    "I had things to do," Sylva said. "I''m sorry. Are you still mad at me?"

    "I got over it," Keep said. "I was just a little crazy back then. You know. Hormones."

    "I was crazy too," Sylva said. "For different reasons."

    "Clearly," Keep said. She paused and studied Sylva. "You''re looking good. I''m so glad to see you again."

    "It''s a small universe, I guess," Sylva said.

    "Hah. If you travel a lot, that makes it smaller. Where have you been hiding out?"

    "That''s one way to describe it. I don''t know," Sylva said. "I''ve been all over the place."

    "I heard that you were going on the Bellringer," Keep said. "When did you get off?" Her voice was serious.

    "How do you know that?"

    "I asked around at the station we dropped you at," Keep said. "I have my ways. I kinda wanted to write you a letter, apologizing for being so crazy, but, you know."

    "What?"

    "I heard you were on the Bellringer." From Keep''s tone it was evident why she had forgiven Sylva for leaving, and had been so surprised and relieved to see her: she thought Sylva had been dead.

    "Yeah, uh... I got off."

    "Was the ship destroyed? Do you know what happened to them?"

    "Did you know anyone on there?" Sylva asked, diverting the question.

    Keep shook her head. "I know some people who did, though. I was just wondering, in case you knew, so I could pass the word along."

    "I don''t know," Sylva said, which was mostly true. She did know what had happened to the physical ship (it was probably still in orbit around the Mother''s planet, if the Dark Hands hadn''t decided to plant a new stardrive in it), but she didn''t know the fates of the individual crew. She half hoped they were living alright lives on the Mother''s planet, though that seemed somewhat unlikely, considering the many and bad circumstances. "Sorry."

    Keep shrugged. "I guess nobody knows but the people who were on the ship at the time, and for whatever reason, they''re never going to talk about it."

    "People have given up on them coming back?"

    "Word travels slowly. But when a ship doesn''t show up for their scheduled deliveries, people start to think and people start to talk."

    Sylva nodded. She saw Kino, on the other side of the room, give a half wave to indicate that she was back from the bathroom. Sylva waved her over fully, now that it was clear that the situation with Keep wasn''t going to be nasty. "Who''s that?" Keep asked.

    "This is my friend," she said. She didn''t know if she wanted to give the fake name on Kino''s ID card, or if Kino would prefer to use her real name.

    Kino put a smile on her face, stuck out her right hand for Keep to shake. "Chenai," Kino said. "Pleasure to meet you."

    "This is Keep," Sylva said, by way of very awkward introduction. Kino sat down next to them.

    "The pleasure is mine, Chenai. What happened to your other friend, No-Evil?"

    "She''s back on the ship we just left," Sylva said. "She''s doing well."

    "Found a husband for herself yet?" Keep asked with a smile.

    "Unfortunately not," Sylva said. "And she won''t let me forget it."

    Keep laughed. "It''s only a matter of time, I''m sure. Anyway, did you find what you were looking for? When you left?"

    "Oh. Yeah. I did."

    "You don''t sound thrilled about it."

    "I am," Sylva said. "I swear. But my life has taken several sharp turns since then. I''ve been in a weird way."

    Keep nudged her. "We live in an ever shifting universe."

    "Did you give her a book?" Kino asked, interrupting the conversation.

    Sylva sighed. "Of course I gave her a book."

    "Oh, you''re in the little cult, too? I look forward to reading it even more," Keep said.

    "Not a cult," Sylva grumbled.

    "Alright, alright. So, you''re headed down to the planet. Any idea how long you''ll be staying there?"

    "We''re planning to meet back up with our own ship at Xuanhuan in a fortyday," Sylva said, though she immediately regretted giving out so much information. They were supposed to be staying on the down low, even if she did think that Keep was very trustworthy.

    "Oh, that''s not long at all," Keep said. "I''m going to be spending two weeks on planet, and then I''ll be heading back out. We should travel together."

    Sylva and Kino glanced at each other, though there was no unspoken communication in the glance. They operated on too different wavelengths, and Kino''s face was so perpetually apathetic. "Well, we don''t have any actual plans to get off planet yet," Sylva said. "So, why not?"

    Keep smiled broadly. "Fantastic. Do you have on planet contacts?"

    "We''ll pay for net use once we get down," Kino cut in. "Haven''t prearranged it."

    "They sell that stuff at the bottom of the elevator," Keep said with a wave of her hand. "I''m headed to the capital. What about you?"

    "Traver City," Sylva said.

    "May I ask why?"

    "It''s where my sister lives," Kino said with a shrug. "No special reason."

    "Well, we can arrange a place to meet and get back up here. I am sure that I can book us all passage back to Xuanhuan on somebody''s ship," Keep said. "And having someone else who knows you on planet is always a good thing. Just in case."

    Sylva agreed, though Keep certainly didn''t know the half of what was going on with her and Kino.

    They passed the rest of the journey in simple companionship. It was good to catch back up with Keep, and she didn''t even seem too annoyed by Kino''s awkward lingering presence.

    The Guild ship docked at the top of Hanathue''s elevator, and disgorged its passengers in a great wave. There was the usual rush of everyone trying to get through security, and, remarkably, Kino and Sylva were let through with their false papers given very little scrutiny.

    She asked Keep about this, who laughed. "Every spacer ship bribes the elevator officials," Keep said. "Standard operating procedure, or no one would be able to operate anything."

    However it was accomplished, Sylva was glad that the most nerve wracking part of their journey so far was over, and the slow elevator ride down to the planet''s surface could begin.

    The elevator on Hanathue was especially strange, Sylva thought. Unlike the one on Emerri, which came down into a tropical land area, this one descended to the ocean''s surface, then plunged down underneath the water. How odd that the container that they were riding in was required to resist the pressure of water and the vacuum of space. A submarine and a spaceship, one and the same. It reminded her a little bit of how she had crash landed on the Mother''s world, with Iri. But this descent was slow and steady, and at the bottom of the ocean there was a massive train station, with lines going every which way, which would take passengers to the different continents of the world.

    "This seems like an inefficient system," Sylva grumbled to Kino.

    "There aren''t any good tropical locations on Hanathue," Kino replied.

    In the train station, they purchased net access for their phones, using some of the charge cards they had brought with them, and exchanged contact information with Keep, so that they could go their separate ways. They promised to meet back up in Traver City in a week and a half, which felt like an impossibly short time and an impossibly long one. There was so much that could go wrong.

    The train ride to Traver City was longer than their elevator trip, and, by the end of it, Sylva was feeling like she had been kicked in every part of her body. She hadn''t slept in far too long-- not since they had been on the moon of the outer planet.

    Kino and Sylva emerged into moonlight, chill air whipping around them as they stood on one of the relatively empty streets of Traver City. It was just past midnight, local time, and it was deep into the fall in this part of the world.

    "Let''s find a hotel," Sylva said, wrapping her arms tightly around her chest, her spacer jumpsuit doing little to protect her from the chill.

    "This way," Kino said.

    "You know where you''re going?"

    Kino shrugged, and Sylva followed a few steps behind her, peering out into the darkness that waited behind each puddle of streetlight, feeling watched and wary. She couldn''t help but be nervous, especially since she had grown used to the sterile and contained atmosphere that living on a ship brought. There was something so different about being on a planet again. The buildings loomed over them, and the few lights in the windows were like watching eyes.

    "How long are we going to walk for?" Sylva asked, grabbing on to Kino''s arm. "Wouldn''t it have been easier to get a bus? Or a ride?"

    "Do you want to attract attention?" Kino asked.

    "You think that two people dressed like us walking through the night isn''t going to attract attention?"

    Kino shrugged and they continued on. Kino paused for a second in front of one building, which looked, with its grey brick facade, to be exactly like every other one around. Shorter, perhaps, and less well maintained, but very nondescript. Kino stared up at it.

    "Is this the hotel?"

    "I used to go to school here," Kino said. Her voice was very quiet, and held the same toneless even note as usual, but from the way that she had stopped, Sylva figured that Kino must be feeling something.

    "Did you like it?" she asked, feeling rather awkward.

    "Not at all," Kino said. She walked a few steps forward, towards the side of the building, then stooped down to pick up a rock from a flowerbed. She tossed it up in the air a few times.

    "What are you thinking about?" Sylva asked. The wind picked up a little, almost taking the rock out of Kino''s catching range.

    Kino shook her head for a second, as though she didn''t want to say anything, but then she did speak. "What did I look like, to somebody else?" she asked.

    "I don''t know," Sylva said. "I didn''t know you before."

    "You saw me at the Academy," she said.

    That was true. Sylva had known Kino in a vague sense, as there were not so many students that everyone didn''t have a passing familiarity with one another. "I didn''t really think about you," Sylva said. "I had my own problems."

    "Maybe that''s for the best."

    "Why?"

    "People don''t like me," she said. "And being invisible was always better than being hated."

    Sylva looked up at the building above them. "Were you invisible or hated here?"

    "Hated," Kino said. She kept tossing the rock, and began walking away. Sylva stayed still, caught up in imagining a tiny Kino walking in to school, surrounded by hundreds of other faceless children, pushed along by the crowd. Sylva jogged for a second to catch up with Kino.

    Kino looked over at her. "I have to wonder what would have happened to me if I had stayed here," Kino said.

    "What do you mean?"

    "If I hadn''t proved  I belonged at the Academy."

    Sylva gave her a confused look, but didn''t question. After all, there was no real test to going to the Academy, other than having the power and being decently intelligent. How would Kino not have managed it? She was certainly far smarter and better at the power than Sylva was.

    "Maybe I would have ended up like Halen," Kino said.

    "What do you mean?"

    "He didn''t go to the Academy." Sylva had far less experience with that hulk of a man than Kino did-- the only time she had spent with him was during the journey down from the top of the elevator to Emerri, and then that horrible few hours trapped in a shuttle with him while he chased down Yan. Kino''s acquaintance with him was much longer and much more brutal.

    "That doesn''t mean anything. You wouldn''t ever be like him," she said, trying to reassure Kino. Kino looked at her with again that inscrutable expression on her face, with the dim light from the streetlamps falling across it. She tossed the rock up again.

    "I was a criminal, and he was a pirate," Kino said. "And both of us ended up working for the people who killed our families. I am like him."

    "But you went to the Academy," Sylva said. She felt like Kino was running circles around her, talking about things that she didn''t understand and had no frame of reference for. She wished that she were Yan, or even Iri, so that she could understand Kino better, now that they were here together.

    "I did," Kino said. "I just have to think about how it would be different."

    They walked along in silence, Kino continuing to toss the rock.

    "I feel sorry for the person that I was," Kino said. "And the person that I could have been. But I think that if I saw her here, I would be fundamentally incapable of being kind to her."

    Something smelled like it was burning; it was the Kino''s left glove: the tip of the pinky finger had somehow caught on fire.

    "What the fuck, Kino?" Sylva yelled, and beat at the fire with her own hand until it was extinguished. Kino had dropped the rock on the ground between them, and Sylva saw that it was faintly glowing. The whole sequence was incomprehensible to Sylva, like it had happened in a kind of dream that they were sharing, but Kino seemed impassive, as though catching her hand on fire was a quotidian experience.

    "Now you''ve put a hole in it," Sylva grumbled.

    Kino pulled the glove off and looked at it. "No I didn''t," she said, and put the glove back on, covering her metal prosthetic once again.

    They walked in silence for a while longer, and Kino did eventually lead them to a hotel, where they paid for a room for the night.

 Chapter One Hundred Nine - Daughters of Hungry Ghosts

    Daugters of Hungry Ghosts

    <blockquote>

    "The fewer people who know a secret, the easier it is to keep. This is why the most insidious secrets, the ones that might be more easily called oversights, are so difficult to find. If not even the originator of the problem is aware of it, then how can anyone prevent it from running its course? Thus we must be careful, in all things, to avoid making invisible mistakes and creating unintentional secrets that hide in the fabric of our lives."

    -from The Practical Farmer''s Guide to Machinery by Bertran Lieu

    </blockquote>

    Sid was surprised when Halen sent him a message cancelling his lesson for the morning. Grateful, in a way as well, because the lessons had only been getting harder and more painful, but still surprised. He was even more surprised when he encountered Sandreas in the halls of Stonecourt (probably not an accidental meeting, as nothing ever was with Sandreas) and Halen wasn''t with him.

    It piqued Sid''s curiosity, so he stopped first by Halen''s home, down in one of Stonecourt''s sublevels, and knocked. There was no response, so Sid checked the one other place that Halen might reasonably be, which was his office, tucked in among the normal security suite on the ground floor, far to the back of the sprawling building. Halen rarely used it, as he conducted most of his business while standing at Aymon''s side, but there were a few times when Sid had seen him call meetings of the security team, and the heads of it gathered with him there.

    So Sid made his way back there, and found Halen in his office, speaking with Admiral Astwani. It clearly wasn''t too secret of a meeting, because Sid could peer in through the window on the door and see it happening, but it was an odd one. Admiral Astwani was the man in charge of all the planetary security forces. Well, he was at the top of that chain of command, anyway. Sid somehow doubted that he was involved with any day to day business at all.

    Halen had noticed him peering through the window, and stood up from his desk and opened the door. Sid flattened himself against the wall, looking appropriately chagrined at disrupting the meeting.

    "Sid, good to see you. Come in," Halen said, so Sid had no choice but to come in and make a polite greeting to the Admiral, who he had met on enough occasions to know him, but not enough to make conversation flow smoothly.

    "I''ll get right on that," Astwani said to Halen. "Like you said, subtlety will be the key word."

    "I trust that you will find the right people for the job."

    "It would probably be easier and more delicately taken care of if the IIF were involved, but I understand your reservations." The IIF was the Imperial Intelligence Force, the mention of which made the back of Sid''s neck crawl. He had met with their leader several times, and the woman gave him the creeps. They did important work, he supposed, and he would have to get used to it, but that didn''t mean he had to love them.

    Sid looked between the two men, wondering what exactly had been discussed.

    "A hammer can be just as delicate as a toothpick, if you wield it correctly," Halen said. "Thank you for your time, Admiral."

    "Of course." Astwani and Halen stood, Astwani shook Halen''s hand and nodded at Sid. "Have a good day, Second Welslak."

    Sid flushed slightly, very surprised that Astwani had called him Second. "Thank you," he said. But Astwani was already out the door.

    Halen sat back down in his chair heavily. "I''m surprised to see you here," he said.

    "I am contractually obligated to have my nose in everyone''s business," Sid said. "You don''t usually cancel on me without good reason."

    "Sorry about that. Putting out fires."

    "I can tell. Mind telling me which fire in particular you''ve been extinguishing?"

    Halen smiled, a grim thing, and pushed a manilla folder across his desk at Sid. Sid opened it, and did not like what he saw. Blown up, grainy video stills stared back at him, clearly showing the familiar face of Kino and the slightly less familiar face of Sylva Calor, along with a third woman that Sid didn''t recognize at all. The timestamp in the corner indicated that the photos were from the night before, and they came from a train station on Hanathue.

    He stared at the photos and his brain felt curiously empty, like he should have had five thousand questions and thoughts rattling around in it, but all he could do was stare, fixated, at Kino''s flat face, her badly cut hair, her ill fitting jumpsuit, her gloved hands.

    "That''s where her sister is, isn''t it?" Sid finally managed to ask. "Hanathue?"

    "Yes," Halen said. "I''m surprised that they''re risking it."

    "Where''s Yan?"

    "Probably still on the First Star."

    "And where''s the First Star?"

    Halen slid another piece of paper towards him, showing a starmap, with various points of light labeled in grey text boxes. One, Xuanhuan station, was circled in red, and had a date written next to it.

    "They''re there?"

    "They were there," Halen said. "This is where Kino and Calor got off."

    Sid shook his head. "I don''t understand."

    "What don''t you understand?"

    "Do they have a deathwish? Are they desperate? Are they just stupid? If I was them, I wouldn''t be showing my face anywhere."

    Halen took the photo of Kino, poked at her face with one of his thick fingers. "She probably has the first of that list," Halen said. "Though I can''t be sure."

    "Great."

    "Indeed. Well, either way," Halen leaned back in his seat. "It''s helpful for us, I suppose."

    "Yeah."

    There was a moment of silence, and Halen studied him. "I can feel you''re reluctant," he said.

    "Yan was my best friend," Sid said. "You going to hold that against me?"

    "You don''t have to be defensive."

    "It''s my nature."

    "Maybe so. Regardless, you don''t have to do anything. I''m having this taken care of."

    "Does Sandreas know?"

    "Of course he knows. I simply spoke to Admiral Astwani myself to keep this as quiet as it can be."

    "It''s going to race all the way down his chain of command," Sid said. "He''s just dealing with that, right?" He pointed to the photo of Kino, Calor, and the unknown woman.

    "Yes. We still have the Guild chasing the First Star, though they will be meeting up with a Fleet ship soon."

    "You have a location to ambush the First Star?" Sid asked.

    "They came down to Hanathue from Xuanhuan. Unless they have other contacts who are going to pick them up, the route they took down is the only route back up."

    "So they''ll return to Xuanhuan?"

    "Can''t be sure, but I would say that''s our most likely location to catch them."

    Sid ran a hand through his hair. "What ship is going out there?"

    "That hasn''t been decided yet." Halen paused for a second. "Aymon told me that you didn''t immediately jump to ask to go chase them down, as soon as you learned that they had been sighted at Malstaire."

    "I don''t know," Sid said. "On one hand, I understand that I''m not, you know."

    "What?"

    "Expendable, I guess."

    "I wouldn''t have considered you expendable, even before all of this."

    "Sure. But you know what I mean."

    "I do."

    "So I know that it''s not realistic for me to go anywhere. It''s dumb to want to chase Yan down. And even if I did chase her down, what the fuck would I do? Like, would I have the presence of mind to be able to actually, do something?" Sid waved his hands.

    "I know how you feel."

    Sid nodded. "But at the same time..." He trailed off.

    "You feel like it''s fate."

    "Did Sandreas tell you I said that?"

    "Yes."

    "And I just want to feel like I''m doing something in general. Maybe that''s stupid."

    "It''s not stupid. But you''re right that it would be a terrible idea for you to try to go after her."

    "Yes. A terrible idea."

    Halen laughed. "I wouldn''t even have to be able to hear your heart to know that you''re still conflicted on that."

    Sid sighed. "I''m going to try not to do anything famously stupid."

    "Infamously stupid is more like it."

    "Are you going to forbid me outright from trying to go after her?"

    "You''re not my student," Halen said. "I don''t actually have that power."

    "Are you going to tell Sandreas to forbid me?"

    "He already knows exactly what I would say. Look, Sid, let''s see how the business on Hanathue plays out, and then we can decide what we''re going to do."

    "You keep me updated on it, alright?"

    "Of course. It''s a bit of a delicate situation."

    "Really? Well, aside from the obvious?"

    "Do you know anything about Kino''s sister?"

    "I barely even knew she had one," Sid said. "Until it was mentioned that she lived on Hanathue, anyway. I guess Kino had always talked about leaving Falmar in the plural, like ''we had to go to Hanathue'', but I thought that was just referring to the whole class of refugees."

    "Who knows what she was referring to," Halen said. "But regardless, this is her sister." He turned his computer screen around so that Sid could see it.

    The picture was like looking back in time, at a five years younger Kino that he had glimpsed wandering the Academy halls. They were identical, except this girl was smiling, which Kino never did.

    "Bina Warez," Halen said.

    "Different last name?"

    "She was adopted, and took the family''s name."

    "Oh. Makes sense. Where is she now?" Sid had to think that if she was associated with Kino, it would be best to arrest her. Even if that wasn''t exactly a moral action, it was one that made sense.

    "Still living with her family," Halen said. "Thalia Warez is the mother, and Shoto Warez is the father." Halen pulled up another photo, showing the whole little family. They looked quite rich, dressed in what Sid assumed were nice clothing on Hanathue: brightly colored shirts with long flowing sleeves and headwear that braided through their hair.

    "They''re the delicate situation, I would have to assume."

    "You would guess correctly," Halen said. "The father, Shoto, is a politician."

    "What type?"

    "The independently wealthy type, unfortunately."

    "That''s not what I was asking."

    "He''s a powerhouse on the Hanathue council," Halen said. "Could easily become governor, but doesn''t want that kind of attention."

    "Where''s his money come from?"

    "Connections with the Guild. His family business, though it''s really too large to be even called that, is the leader in a consortium that organizes basically all off planet trade for the planet."

    "Hm."

    "Incidentally, if we pull the adoption records, that''s how he ended up with Bina here," Halen said. "He took first dibs on a cute baby."

    "But not Kino."

    "No, not Kino."

    Sid glanced up at Halen, looking away from the photographs for a second. "Do you feel sorry for her?"

    Halen shrugged. "I can think it''s a shame for siblings to be split up as children, and still want her dead."

    "You''re a contradictory man," Sid said.

    "And so are you."

    "So, what''s going to happen?"

    "I can''t have Kino arrested directly, obviously," Halen said. "That would cause too much of a problem. Admiral Astwani''s people are going to deal with it as quietly as possible."

    Sid made the rather evocative sign for assassination, along with raised eyebrows to indicate a question.

    "I''m leaving the methods up to the people on the ground," Halen said. "It might be for the best if they aren''t returned here alive."

    "Why?"

    "Because that sets up dangerous avenues for escape on their part, rescue on Yan''s and her confederates, and weakness on ours."

    "You think that..." Sid paused and gathered his thoughts. "You would be weak, if you faced them?"

    "I was before, in a way," Halen said. "And I have no idea what the future will bring. Like I said, I know how you feel."

    "I feel like I should pray for their success, or something, but I don''t even know if I can bring myself to do that."

    "Were you ever the praying type?"

    "They tried their best to put it into me at the Academy," Sid said. "But not really. I think Yan used to be better at it than I was."

    "Well," Halen said. "If you feel like praying for something, it''s never a bad idea to pray for their souls." He pushed the picture of Kino back across the desk. Sid picked it up, folded it, and put it in his pocket.

    For Sylva and Kino, the first order of business in the morning was acquiring less conspicuous clothing. Sylva asked about where the best place to shop was in the hotel lobby, and the woman at the desk explained how they could order over the net. They ordered some clothes that they thought would look nondescript in the city, and a courier brought it to their hotel room. It was a handy thing, to have a robust system. Generally on Emerri, if Sylva had wanted to buy clothes over the net, she would have had to wait a few days to have them delivered. One couldn''t simply have a nearby shop send them over.

    That was just one of the weird differences in planetary culture, she supposed. Somewhat of a luxury, here on Hanathue.

    Kino looked practically like a peacock, when she was finished dressing, in a shirt with trailing sleeves in deep blues and greens. Sylva had chosen a muted orange shirt, with dappled pink flowers on it. Paradoxically, they would have stood out more if they had worn something plainer. Everyone on Hanathue dressed like plain colors didn''t exist except in uniforms. Sylva watched people walk by out the window of their hotel room, saw a gaggle of school children run past dressed in little bright blue jumpers. It was cute.

    "Did you used to wear that uniform?" Sylva asked Kino.

    "Different one," Kino said, with no further elaboration.

    Sylva flopped on the bed. "Makes me miss my cassock."

    "I don''t," Kino said. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "Well, you''re a weirdo. Are you ready to go?"

    "Yes."

    The day was still brisk, as it was late in the season, but the sun was bright and it warmed the sidewalks and air enough to make it tolerable to walk without a jacket.

    "You know where we''re going?" Sylva asked, following behind Kino. She didn''t know how Kino seemed to know where she was going-- after all, if Sylva had been asked to navigate a city that she had only lived in until age ten, she wouldn''t have been able to do it it all. But Kino nodded and walked along confidently.

    They passed through the business area of the city, and then through the downtown area. It was a long walk, and Sylva again thought about complaining that they should get a bus or a car. After a while, the crowded shops faded out to intermix with older looking brick buildings-- homes and apartments.

    Kino stopped abruptly and pulled Sylva into a nearby coffee shop. Sylva protested meekly, but Kino said nothing, just dragged her by the sleeve of her shirt. They entered the rich smelling cafe underneath a jingling bell.

    Kino got in line and Sylva, entirely confused, stood beside her. They ordered, and Sylva ended up with a (in her opinion) overpriced coffee and muffin that she didn''t want. Kino pulled her over to a table in the corner, right near the window. The window was slightly smeared with steam, and Kino rubbed it off to look out.

    "I appreciate taking a break from our long and tedious walk," Sylva complained, "But is there a reason that we''re here?"

    Kino didn''t answer, just stared out the window. Sylva sighed and drank her coffee, burning her lips.

    They stayed there so long in awkward silence that Sylva finished her coffee and muffin and stared out into space, not sure what was going on. Kino could take the lead, sure, but she was impatient. She pulled out her phone and randomly browsed Hanathue news, attempting to catch up on what had been happening throughout the Empire while she had been out of the loop.

    "Good news," Sylva said, though Kino ignored her. "You haven''t been declared dead yet."

    Kino shushed her with a wave of her hand, and Sylva frowned. Several more minutes passed, with nothing happening except for Sylva growing progressively more annoyed. She made her displeasure known by sighing loudly at Kino. Eventually, Kino seemed to get the hint, because she peeled off her right glove and grabbed Sylva''s hand across the table so that they could speak through the power. Sylva tried to let this touch appear casual, as though they were simply two women out on a date in a coffee shop, holding hands, rather than two fugitives from the law who kinda hated each other, doing something weird and probably not wanted by the owners of the cafe they were in.

    Kino didn''t send Sylva words, exactly, just a fuzzy mental picture, what she was seeing out of her own eyes. She was focused in on one man who was walking down the street outside, on the other side of the road, who was wearing the same colorful Hanathue clothes as anyone else, and looked in every way nondescript. He walked without stopping, and he didn''t look around at anything in particular.

    "So what?" Sylva asked through the power, hoping that the message was coming across.

    In answer, Kino provided a pure sense of knowledge, that this man had walked around the block six times since they had been sitting here, and that that house (her vision that she was sharing with Sylva narrowed and focused in one one tall brick building, twined all over with ivy), was the one in which her sister lived.

    Sylva formulated a question. "Imperial?"

    Kino gave a mental shrug, accompanied by the information that Bina''s adopted family was rich and powerful on Hanathue, so it could also simply be their own guard.

    "And where is Bina?" Sylva asked.

    School.

    "When does school let out?"

    Another mental shrug.

    "We can''t stay here forever."

    But we also can''t leave. The twinge of anxiety that Kino clearly felt when she looked at the guard was odd to Sylva, since she had generally thought of Kino as completely stoic and emotionless. At least in terms of her outer shell, and in every other situation than the first night they had been on the First Star, when Sylva had patched up Kino''s hand.

    "We''ll probably have to find somewhere else to wait," Sylva said. "Maybe we can try the invisibility trick, or something. How are we going to talk to your sister? Do you think her parents know about you?"

    The questions spilled out of Sylva without ceasing, and Kino withdrew her hand, possibly just to stop the deluge. Sylva frowned.

    "You need a plan," Sylva said aloud.

    "I''ll think of one. Let me just wait a little."

    They were silent again. Sylva got up and got some more overpriced coffee. She didn''t feel that bad about spending money, since the First Star had a fairly big stash of it. She sat back down and also texted Keep, asking about how her business deal (or whatever Keep was up to on Hanathue) was going.

    Keep responded almost immediately that things were going well, which was a small relief for Sylva. She had latched on to the idea of Keep being their failsafe, their fallback, their escape route off the planet, and so it was nice to know that Keep was doing whatever she had come for.

    They waited in the cafe, and then Kino shifted, sitting up straight. "What?" Sylva asked.

    Kino nodded her head ever so slightly, and Sylva looked in the indicated direction. A gaggle of girls, all teenagers dressed in identical school uniforms, were coming down the road, approaching the cafe.

    "Is that...?" Sylva asked. Kino shushed her, then stood up rapidly as the girls got even closer and one of them lingered outside the door. Kino grabbed Sylva and pulled her towards the back of the restaurant, and Sylva had barely enough time to gather all their belongings before she was bodily dragged away. The two crammed themselves into the small bathroom in the back, and Sylva made an apologetic face at the cafe staff who gave them both a somewhat amused and confused face.

    "The fuck, Kino?" Sylva asked, when the door to the bathroom was shut behind them. The fluorescent light cast an ugly blue tint over the scene, and though the tiny room was relatively clean, it was not pleasant to be in a bathroom in general.

    "That''s my sister," Kino said.

    "Which one?"

    Kino grabbed Sylva''s hand again, and gave her an image of one of the girls, the one who had been in the center of the gaggle. She looked exactly like a younger Kino, but she had a vivacious smile, and wore her hair short and dyed blue on the spiky tips. Jewelry that Sylva had to think was a violation of her school uniform policy dangled in gaudy strands from her neck and jangled at her wrists.

    "She seems fun," Sylva said. "But we''re trapped in the bathroom."

    "We''re not trapped," Kino said flatly.

    "Then what are we going to do? Are you going to talk to her?"

    "I''m going to put a note in her pocket," Kino said.

    Sylva frowned. "And how?"

    "Are you a power user or are you not?"

    In response, Sylva folded her arms and huffed, leaning against the bathroom door and not looking at Kino.

    "Give me a piece of paper," Kino said. "And a pen."

    Sylva fished around in her bag and pulled out a napkin and a pen. Kino pressed the napkin against the wall and, with some difficulty, scrawled a note on it in pen.

    "She''s not going to just think this is garbage?" Sylva asked. "I would, if I found that in the bottom of my bag."

    "She won''t," Kino said. "I know her."

    "Do you? Because I thought you said you hadn''t seen her in ten years."

    Kino didn''t dignify that with a response, and neatly folded the napkin note.

    "What does it say?"

    "Time and place," Kino said.

    "And she''ll listen?"

    "It has my code on it. She has to."

    Sylva had her doubts.

    With the power, Kino held the napkin in the air, closed her eyes, and sent it sliding out under the bathroom door into the cafe beyond. Sylva couldn''t follow or see what she was doing, but she trusted Kino to be an adept power user, so she didn''t worry that the napkin had found its way into Bina''s pocket.

    "Now, are we going to leave here? Somebody else is probably going to need the bathroom eventually."

    "Can you learn patience?" Kino asked, unexpectedly showing anger towards Sylva. Sylva flinched back, surprised.

    "Fine. We can stay here forever then," she grumbled.

    "We wait until they leave."

    "Aren''t the people who run this place going to get suspicious?"

    "Fine. Fine." Kino stood in front of the mirror, wet a paper towel and rubbed it clean. Even in the weird lighting, Sylva could see Kino''s facial features warp and shift, as she used the power to bend the way light hit them, making her nose longer and broader, her eyes larger, her chin flatter, inching her eyebrows down her face. She looked like a different person.

    "Should I do you?"

    "No point. She doesn''t know me," Sylva said, gesturing to the door of the bathroom. "After you."

    Kino exited, and Sylva followed her out. They passed by the tittering cafe employees without making eye contact with them. Sylva stole a glimpse of Kino''s sister as she walked out-- the girl was chatting amicably with her friends, as though she hadn''t a care in the world, and smiling to light up the room. Sylva avoided staring too much, as she didn''t actually want to attract attention to herself.

    They made it out onto the street, and Sylva was very careful to not look at the man who continued to patrol around the block. They skirted the house, which looked quite luxe compared to some of the others that they had passed. It wasn''t that there was anything that different about the brick facade, or the ivy, but perhaps it was the way it was upkept, and it was clear that only one family lived in the place, even though it could easily hold three, and the way that the little wall out in front bore a name and number, and there was a gate, and a camera. Sylva looked away.

    They walked probably a kilometer before they stopped again.

    "When and where are we meeting your sister?"

    "A park," Kino said.

    Like that was helpful at all.

    <hr>

    The sun was setting, and the temperature had dropped quite precipitously from the afternoon. Sylva and Kino sat on a park bench. Sylva had been shivering, but Kino had picked up a few rocks from the ground and had passed them to her. Sylva had discovered that they were quite warm,and she tucked them into her pockets and held them in her hands, grateful for the small kindness of an improved temperature.

    The park was mostly empty. Clearly most sane people were not interested in being out at night, especially when it looked like it was going to rain, and the +wind shook the few remaining leaves on the trees with gusts that sounded like a baby''s rattle.

    The time had come and passed for Bina to appear, but they had really nothing better to do but to wait, so they waited. Sylva was definitely giving up hope, but Kino seemed to only grow more and more tense as the minutes past, peering expectantly at every stranger who moved through the gathering gloom.

    "I''d say we give it another half an hour," Sylva said. "If she doesn''t come, she doesn''t come, and we figure something else out."

    Kino didn''t respond, so Sylva resorted once again to sighing and moving the hot rock between her hands.

    Out of the darkness, down the long cobblestone path, there came one solitary figure. They were dressed in a long coat made of a dark blue material, oddly muted compared tothe usual Hanathue fashion, and as they passed under a nearby lamp, the green tips of their hair caught the light. Kino saw this and stood. Sylva stood as well.

    They waited for Bina to come closer in a truly awkward silence.

    "Kino?" Bina finally said, coming close enough that they could see eachother''s faces. Her voice was like Kino''s, but expressive, light and charming.

    "Hi, Bina," Kino said. "It''s been a while." Kino had her hands in her pockets, and her shoulders were slumped, as though she were pre-emptively preparing for some sort of rejection.

    Bina laughed and came the last few meters forward, and she threw her arms around Kino, who stiffened up immediately. "God, I did not expect to see you. Maybe ever," she said. "What is going on?"

    "Is there some place private that we can talk?" Sylva asked, feeling nervous now that the light had truly gone from the park. There were shadows everywhere, and she didn''t like the thought of what could be waiting in them,having followed Bina out on her nighttime journey.

    Bina looked at her curiously. "Are you a friend of Kino''s?" she asked.

    Sylva laughed. "Friend. Sure. I''m Sylva." She shook out her hand to shake, and Bina did, her jewelry rattling cheerfully underneath her coat.

    "Pleasure to meet you," Bina said. "Why don''t we go back to my house?" Bina asked. "My parents I''m sure would be happy to see you."

    Kino shook her head. "Let''s talk somewhere else first. The circumstances are a little strange right now."

    "I can tell," Bina said. She scratched her head thoughtfully. "Follow me," she said.

    "Where?" Kino asked.

    "I have key access to the pool I work at," Bina said.

    "You work at a pool?" Sylva asked.

    "I''m a lifeguard. On weekends, mostly. And after school."

    "Cool." Although Sylva tried to be calm, following Bina down the ever darkening streets was somewhat of a nervewracking experience. She kept her power up around herself, as much as she could, anyway. Though she doubted it would do much good (what could she even do?) it felt better to be prepared with it on hand than not.

    The pool in question was in the basement of a tall, brightly lit building. The three walked around the back, through the alleyways, and Bina keyed them in to the doors, led them down a flight of steps, and flipped on the lights in a swelteringly hot and cavernous pool room.

    "Are there people upstairs?" Sylv asked.

    "Pool has restricted hours," Bina said. "Mostly because it takes more staff to run." She shrugged and pulled off her coat, tossing it onto a nearby set of bleachers before sitting down herself. She ran a hand over her spiky green-tipped hair. "This is crazy," she said. "Are you ready to explain what''s going on?"

    Sylva paced back and forth along the edge of the pool, very grateful to be in out of the cold. Kino sat down on the pool deck in front of Bina, looking up at her sister and studying her.

    "I''ve missed you," Kino said.

    "Hah, yeah." Bina looked around awkwardly. "How have you been?"

    "I--" Kino shook her head. "Where can I even start?"

    "Maybe tell me what was going on with your last letter," Bina said. "You had me worried."

    "Why didn''t you leave?" Kino asked. "Why didn''t you get out?"

    "I can''t just LEAVE," Bina said, waving her arms. "I have a family, a life. And I''m sixteen. I can''t exactly just, you know, up and out."

    "It would have been safer."

    Bina shook her head. "But you didn''t tell me why. Tell me now. What are you doing here? Why all this?" She seemed nervous, agitated, and Sylva couldn''t blame her. "I don''t even remember the last time I saw you," Bina said quietly. "How long ago was it?"

    "Eleven years," Kino said. "You were five."

    "God," Bina said. "I don''t remember it at all."

    "I know."

    "I''m glad you wrote to me, though," she said. "I''m glad we kept in touch."

    "I wouldn''t have forgotten about you," Kino said.

    "I know you wouldn''t. I know you didn''t. And..."

    "What?"

    "I''m sorry about my parents," Bina said. "They shouldn''t have... You know. I think about it kinda a lot."

    Kino shrugged, still looking up at her sister. "It''s not your fault."

    "I know it''s not. But it still feels like shit, you know? Like I wish I could have done something."

    "You were a baby."

    "They feel bad about it now, though," Bina said. "Bet they wish they''d have taken you in when they had the chance."

    Kino laughed, a hollow sound, and it echoed terribly in the pool room. "No, they don''t," Kino said.

    Bina folded her arms, bracelets jingling. "It would be a boon to have a daughter who''s apprentice to First Sandreas. Even just a daughter that''s a sensitive."

    Kino laughed again.

    "What?" Bina asked.

    "I should tell you what''s going on," Kino said. "Your parents dodged a bullet with me."

    "Okay, tell me," Bina said. "You know, after your letter, I called up Stonecourt, tried to get in contact with them and ask where you were, if you were okay, and they told me you were with the Fleet out of contact range."

    "I wasn''t with the Fleet," Kino said.

    "Obviously."

    "It''s so hard to tell you," Kino said. "I don''t want you to be in danger. I thought, if I came here, I might find out that you were dead."

    "Just tell her the story," Sylva said, and she kicked at the water of the pool, getting her shoe thoroughly wet. "You''re already here."

    And so Kino did, fumblingly, haltingly, telling the story that Sylva had never heard. It started when she was at the Academy, how she had fallen in to drug running out of loneliness and a desire to make a bit of cash, and then from there how the man who had employed her had found different work, working for the Dark Hands-- that was Mahmoud, who Sylva had met-- and how he had convinced her to use her position as a graduating Academy student to try to ingratiate herself with the high ups in the Empire. How that plan had gone as well as it possibly could, and how Kino had become First Sandreas''s apprentice. Sylva''s blood boiled when Kino recounted the series of decisions that had led to Yan''s kidnapping, and then briefly cooled when Kino mentioned Sylva''s role in the rescue. The return to Emerri. The Emperor. Then the flight and the fighting and eventually, the story that led to one place, the basement of this building, the sweaty pool room, staring up at her sister''s wide-eyed face. She omitted most of the graphic detail, Sylva noticed. There was no mention of what had happened to her hand under her glove.

    "That''s the story," Kino said. "It isn''t much."

    Bina was pale, shaking her head. "That''s crazy."

    "It''s true."

    "Why did you come here? This is so stupid."

    "I had to know you were alive," Kino said. "And I had other things that I needed to do on the planet. But I wanted to see you."

    "Why?" Bina asked. "Why would you get me all wrapped up in this?"

    "Because I thought that someone might have killed you. I needed to know that you were alive."

    "My father would never let that happen," Bina said. "Never."

    Kino twisted her gloved hands together. "Do you know that there are people watching your house?"

    "What?"

    "There are people patrolling your house, following you," Kino said. "They might have followed you here."

    "Wouldn''t they have just come inhere to attack us if they had?" Sylva asked. "Like, obviously they''re here to catch us." She gestured between herself and Kino. "They wouldn''t just let us have this friendly conversation."

    Kino shrugged. "I don''t know. But there are people watching your house."

    "Does my dad know about this?" Bina asked.

    "Probably not," Kino said. "Not unless he''s more deeply ingrained in Imperial politics than I thought."

    Bina shook her head. "Should I tell him? Should you tell him?"

    Kino smoothed out the fabric of her cassock on her lap. "Come with me," she said.

    "What?"

    "Come with me off Hanathue. You aren''t safe here."

    "No!" The intensity with which Bina delivered her rejection cut through the air of the pool room like a knife.

    Kino was taken aback. "But--"

    "I''m sorry," Bina said. "I shouldn''t have yelled. But I told you. I can''t leave."

    Kino was still, and she honestly looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Please," she said.

    "I have a life here," Bina said. "And I''m sorry that you got pulled into, well, all of that, but I can''t just leave. I have a family."

    "I''m your family."

    "I don''t know you," Bina said. "I''m sorry, but it''s the truth! You''re my sister, and I care about you, obviously, but I can''t-- I don''t know anything about you." Bina frowned. "I don''t want to be mean."

    "Your life is in danger here."

    "And it wouldn''t be worse with you, going around with pirates? No, thanks," Bina said.

    "She''s not wrong," Sylva said, coming to stand next to Kino. "We can''t take another kid on the First Star."

    "There''s Chanam."

    "Chanam doesn''t count, for like six different reasons," Sylva said. "Look. We got what we came here for. Your sister is fine. She''s not in immediate danger. We should do the rest of our tasks and get out of here."

    "You should talk to my dad," Bina said. "If you think I really am in trouble. He can protect me."

    "And what would I say?" Kino asked. "I shouldn''t have come here. I''m sorry."

    "No, Kino, it''s okay." Bina rubbed her temples, sending her bracelets jingling again. "I''m sorry. This is all just so much."

    "I know. I shouldn''t have dragged you into it."

    "No, it''s-- I''m glad you came. I thought that something bad had happened to you. When I got your letter, I mean. And no one would tell me exactly where you were."

    "This is the bad thing that''s happening to her," Sylva muttered, and Bina looked between the both of them, clearly unhappy.

    "Let''s go talk to my dad."

    "No," Kino said. "I don''t want anybody else to know about this. It would just cause problems. And you can''t tell him either. Not a single word to anyone about what I''ve said."

    "You can''t just do that to me," Bina said. "I can''t keep secrets like that."

    Kino glanced at Sylva.

    "What?" Sylva asked.

    "You can make her keep the secret," Kino said.

    "What? No I can''t."

    "Iri told me that you can mess with the information in people''s heads."

    "God, Kino, don''t scare me or her like that," Sylva said, gesturing to Bina, who was flinching back from her sister. "I can''t do that," Sylva said, turning to Bina and lowering her voice. "And even if I could, I don''t need to be an asshole. As long as you keep the secret."

    Kino shrugged. "Just trying to be practical."

    Sylva rolled her eyes. "Practical my ass."

    "Okay, I won''t say anything. I promise," Bina said. "I''m not like you."''

    "I know."

    "We should get out of here," Sylva said. "We''ve been here too long. Probably someone will start looking for you."

    "Fine." Kino stood up and stretched.

    "Are you leaving?" Bina asked.

    "We''ll be on the planet for a bit longer," Sylva said. "Our ride out isn''t for a bit."

    "Ok, so I can see you again."

    Kino shook her head. "I shouldn''t."

    Bina grabbed Kino''s hand, her left one, and Sylva, upon seeing the action, gave an involuntary flinch. "But I want to see you more," Bina said. "I''ll skip school tomorrow. We can do something fun."

    "We have to stay out of sight," Kino said, trying to tug her hand away. Bina held on, and Kino''s hand slipped out of the glove, revealing her amputated fingers. Kino tried to grab the glove and put it back on before Bina saw it, but she was too late, and Bina made a wordless sort of cry and looked at the damage.

    "Oh God," she said.

    Kino grabbed the glove and put it back on. "We should go."

    Bina had tears in her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around Kino, who stood there stiffly and accepted the hug.

    "I''ll skip school tomorrow," Bina said. "I want to at least have a day with you. Before you go. I don''t know when I''ll see you again."

    "It''s dangerous," Kino said, but her voice came out muffled against her sister''s shoulder.

    "I don''t care. I spent years without seeing you. I want... I want to have something to remember you by."

    "You could come with me," Kino said, offering again.

    "I can''t." Bina let go. "But at least let me have this."

    Kino glanced at Sylva, who shrugged.

    "Okay."

    "Tomorrow. Ten hours. We''ll meet where we met tonight," Bina said, with clearly false confidence in her voice.

 Chapter One Hundred Ten - Bless the Arrows that Strike Us Where We Stand

    Bless the Arrows that Strike Us Where We Stand

    <blockquote>

    "First, do no harm."

    -A doctor¡¯s oath

    </blockquote>

    In the middle of the night, Sylva received a very alarming text message from Keep.

    > being followed by plainclothes creeps

    > might be cracking down on guild smuggling

    > be wary - they could be tracking everyone who came down

    Sylva shook Kino awake and showed her the text message. Kino took the phone and responded.

    < probably IIF

    < can''t explain rn but that''s more likely

    < avoid at all costs

    < can you get to traver city?

    < might need to leave planet asap

    Kino and Sylva waited in a long and tense silence for any message to come back from Keep. It stretched on and on, and Kino got out of bed and began to nervously pack their meager belongings back into their bags. Sylva got up as well and peered suspiciously out the blinds of the hotel room window. She couldn''t see anyone on the dark street below, but that didn''t mean that there wasn''t someone out there. Every shuffling sound that came through the thin hotel room walls sounded like it could be their death.

    Every three seconds, Sylva checked her phone, waiting for a message to come through. She perched on the side of the bed. Kino closed her eyes and said a prayer-- mostly silent, but the words could be heard on the whisper of her breath in and out.

    Forty long minutes later, a reply came.

    > I took care of it.

    > will be in Traver city by 11 and can get u off planet

    > will want an explanation

    With a choked half sigh, half sob of relief, Sylva texted back.

    < you''ll get one

    < stay safe, keep

    > you too. whatever you''re doing.

    > i read your little book, by the way. it was good.

    > still not joining your cult, but i gave it to somebody else who might

    Sylva laughed.

    <hr>

    By time morning crawled around, Kino and Sylva were both exhausted. They hadn''t slept, not after the alarming conversation with Keep, and every new sensation as they stepped out of their hotel to go find Bina seemed to signal disaster on the horizon. Every colorfully clothed stranger on the street seemed like they could be as venomous as a snake, showing its colors to deter its enemies.

    They made their way to the park, and today the weather had turned foul, with dark clouds spitting down occasional drops of rain. Not enough to warrant an umbrella (which Sylva and Kino didn''t possess, even if they had wanted one), but enough to make the walk to the park even more miserable.

    Bina was late.

    Every second that ticked by had Kino even more anxiously yanking at the sleeves of her shirt, and Sylva looking around.

    "Should we send her a message?" Sylva asked.

    "Her phone is definitely tracked," Kino said. "No."

    "What does it matter, at this point? We''re leaving as soon as Keep arrives."

    "And where are we meeting Keep?"

    Sylva didn''t have an answer to that question. She texted Keep, but there was no response. That was less alarming than it had been during the night; Keep was most likely still en route. The capital city was rather far away from Traver City.

    "She said she''d be here in an hour," Sylva said. "I can only assume that she wasn''t lying. She''ll tell us where to meet then."

    Kino nodded, ripped at her sleeve some more, and stared morosely out across the tree lined park. The bench they were sitting on was cold and damp, and they were each perched on the ends of it, so that between them they could have a full circle view of the area. It made conversation hard, though, as Sylva had to crane her neck to see what Kino was doing. Kino had no such compulsion to face Sylva as she talked.

    It was Sylva who spotted Bina first, wearing the same dark colored jacket as yesterday, but this time with a heavy backpack. She was jogging towards them, and even at a distance, the broad smile was visible on her face. Sylva waved.

    "I changed my mind!" Bina yelled as she came within yelling distance, clearly out of breath but exuberant despite it. She skidded to a stop in front of the pair. "I changed my mind."

    "About?" Sylva asked.

    "I want to come with you," Bina said. "I have all my stuff in my bag. Let''s go." She bounced up on the balls of her feet, her jewelry jingling, and the spiky green tips of her hair swaying with the motion.

    "Oh," Kino said.

    "Er," Sylva intoned, looking between the two of them.

    "What, do you not want me anymore?" Bina asked, suddenly angry.

    "No!" Kino said, loud and abrupt. "I do."

    "I mean, it''s not the best idea to have you come," Sylva said. "Wait, did you just like, grab all your things and skip school? Were you followed?"

    Sylva craned her neck to look behind Bina.

    "No, I don''t think so," Bina said. "I just packed all my important stuff in my backpack, walked to school, and then at school I left through the fire exit in the locker room. My gym teacher, Mr. Ongawa, he always leaves it propped open in the mornings to air out the smell."

    There was a lot to unpack there.

    "Did anyone see you leave? Will you be missed? Does anyone know about this?" The words tumbled out of Sylva. "We should get out of public."

    Kino just kept staring up at her sister, voiceless.

    "I left a note for my family," Bina said. "So they''ll know. My teachers never take attendance, so no one will care that I didn''t show up to any classes after homeroom."

    "You left a note?" Kino asked, the words slow. "What did it say?"

    "That I''m going with you," Bina said. "A little about how you and the Empire are, you know," she looked around as though afraid to say anything in public. "I told my dad that he can probably get in contact with me if he leaves a message with your friend''s family, the Iron Dreams ship, right?"

    Sylva and Kino shared a glance. Kino seemed stricken. "You shouldn''t have done that," Kino said. "No one can know."

    "It''s not like I said anything really dangerous or secret," Bina said. She clearly didn''t grasp the issue.

    "Bina, you have to get that note back. You can''t tell anyone what''s going on."

    "Why?"

    "You''re putting yourself in danger, you''re putting the whole crew of the Iron Dreams in danger, you''re putting your parents in danger. No one is supposed to know any of this. No one," Sylva hissed. She stood up, taking Bina''s arm, probably a little too tightly. Bina twitched back.

    "Fine, I''ll go get rid of it," she said. "But I can''t just say nothing to my family."

    Sylva''s phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out, read the message.

    "We have to be fast," Sylva said. "Keep wants to meet us at," Sylva squinted at the text, "Some place called Watuxet Point. You know where that is?"

    "It''s kinda far. I''ll steal my dad''s car."

    Sylva looked at Kino. "Are we really doing this?" she asked.

    "If we have to go back to my house anyway to get the note, and I''m already doing the worst thing to my dad that I could by running away, it doesn''t seem like that big of a problem," Bina said.

    "I see the crazy was inherited," Sylva muttered. "Look, if we go back to your house, we''re definitely going to pick up a tail."

    "If they aren''t following me now..." Bina said lightly.

    "Only because you snuck out of school," Kino interjected. "Sylva is right."

    "We can''t stand around here," Bina said. "Let''s just go. Come on." Her voice had a whiny and urgent note in it.

    "Your call," Sylva said to Kino.

    "We need to get the note, and we need to get to the meeting place," Kino said. She was still looking at her sister, who smiled.

    "You''re older, you should be the responsible one," Sylva said. "But fine."

    "You go ahead," Kino said to Bina. "We''ll stay a bit back."

    "I really don''t think that will help, but whatever," Bina said. She started walking, and it was excruciating to see her glance behind every few steps, as though Sylva and her sister were planning to vanish rather than trail her.

    They made it to the house without incident, though the twitchy feeling from the morning had increased thirtyfold. Like they had before, Sylva and Kino had to duck into the coffee shop across the way, while they watched Bina enter her family''s house.

    "Fuck," Sylva whispered under her breath as they watched her signal something from the window. "She needs to be less obvious."

    And then there was another excruciating period as they waited for the car.

    "The garage is in the back of the house," Kino whispered to Sylva. "We should..."

    But the car that was clearly being driven by an inexperienced teenager screeched and wobbled its way around the block and drove a little ways down the road.

    "Give me a napkin," Kino said to Sylva, who complied, and Kino scribbled the name of a cross street several streets away, and sent the napkin sliding out under the crack in the door, onto the street, where it plastered itself against the windshield of the car, which sped away. "Let''s go."

    Bina had picked up a tail.

    It was obvious as soon as Kino and Sylva got closer to where the car was idling-- parked half illegally on the side of the road. There was a suspicious looking car that was also idling on the other side of the road, about half a block ahead. Kino grabbed Sylva''s arm and did that thing where she sent the image of whatever her attention was focused on at the time, wordless, vivid, and single minded.

    Sylva grunted an acknowledgement, out of breath from hustling down the street. The suspicious car made no moves on them, though Sylva definitely expected it to, and she and Kino crammed themselves into the car, a sporty thing, clearly luxe.

    "You know how to drive, right?" Sylva asked, buckling herself into the back seat.

    "Mostly," Bina said, and she slammed the acceleration.

    "You should have let me drive," Sylva said.

    "My dad would kill me if anybody else touched his car," Bina said.

    "Don''t you think we''re a little beyond that now?" Sylva asked, craning her neck to look out the back window.

    "You know where we''re going?"

    "I guess," Bina said.

    They bumped along, generally following traffic laws, but also going a little faster than was strictly legal. Bina didn''t seem to realize that they had a tail, and Sylva didn''t want to mention it, in case that would make Bina panic and crash them, but she had to wonder why they weren''t being attacked.

    She reached into the front seat and tried to broadcast the question to Kino. Kino responded with the same focused image, only this time she zeroed in on all of the pedestrians on the streets, all the other cars. The abundance of witnesses, in other words.

    So, the Empire wanted to keep this as secret as Kino and Sylva did. Perhaps they could use that.

    But Kino sent another thought, too, this one more dire. The car that was following them was perhaps only tracking them. From the sky, or from another approach, there probably was backup on the way. The windswept feeling of using the power crossed through Kino''s message, and Sylva understood that they would probably have to face a sensitive, if the backup arrived on time.

    "How long of a drive is it?"

    "Thirty minutes?" Bina said, though she sounded unsure. "More or less."

    Sylva swore under her breath, hoping that Bina didn''t hear, and again turned her attention out the back window, where the other car was following.

    "Kino, if there''s anything you can do..." Sylva said aloud, the thought trailing off as she still didn''t want to disturb Bina.

    Kino reached back, and this time the image was imaginary, showing an image of what would happen if Kino attempted to destroy their follower. Mostly, it involved damage to the innocent people around them. Especially now that they were heading onto a bridge, onto the highway that left Traver City, anything Kino could do to stop the car would cause a multi car crash.

    "You''re just being paranoid," Sylva sent. She brought the power up to the forefront of her mind, but Kino''s clawlike grip on her arm stopped her from using it.

    Better to just drive. If they got to their destination before the reinforcements came, they could deal with this privately, without witnesses, without hurting bystanders, without Bina being in the car as a witness. Especially if Keep had a way off planet ready to go.

    Sylva texted Keep, partially to warn her, partially to ask what the status of their off planet ride was.

    < we might be bringing trouble with us, unfortunately

    < how are we getting off planet

    Keep responded with a set of coordinates, which Sylva saw from pulling up a map were deep within the woods of the park they were headed to. The satellite view showed a clearing, and what looked like a shallow pond.

    > space to ground shuttle

    > what kind of trouble

    < same as you had

    > where r u

    < on the way. highway 36

    > they won''t do anything while you''re in public

    > might have problem when u get to the park

    > camera shy fuckers

    < i know

    < they''re probably calling friends

    > i''ll take care of any who get here first

    < is the shuttle visible from air?

    > depends on how close you''re looking

    < they''ll be looking closely. might want to hide it or get out of the way

    < just in case

    > i didn''t sign up to get bombed, sylva

    < im sorry i''m sorry we''ll be there soon and it will be ok

    Sylva tucked the phone back in her pocket and focused on the drive.

    <hr>

    The park was a beautiful place, all things considered, even though the leaves were only hanging on to the trees with the barest of threads, and every gust of rainy wind sent another pack of them floating through the air. There was a large building in front of the forested area that was visible from quite far off, and it had a rather large parking area out front, filled with cars. Bina parked haphazardly.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    "We''re here," she said cheerfully. "Where to now? I assume we''re not meeting in the event center. There''s some kind of event." She held the car keys up speculatively. "Guess I''ll leave these here. Make it easy for my dad."

    Sylva and Kino looked at each other. "You take protection," Sylva said.

    "Protection?" Bina asked.

    "We''ve been followed," Kino said shortly. "Get out, keep your head lower than the roofs of the cars. Maybe we can lose them."

    That seemed unlikely to Sylva, but she obeyed, and the three of them shuffle ducked their way towards the treeline, getting away from the parking lot and foregoing the traditional series of paths. It made Sylva nervous, more nervous than she had been, to not be able to see their pursuers, who were definitely still around. She used the power to make a crude path through the damp underbrush, allowing Bina to pass behind her. Kino took up the rear.

    A low flying plane buzzed overhead, and the sound of it made Sylva jump.

    "There''s no one behind us," Kino said. "Let''s just keep going."

    "They''re waiting for their reinforcements now," Sylva said, the fear coming heavily up into her throat as she spoke. She resisted the urge to swear. They found a real path, and since no one was following directly behind them, they decided to follow it, making it a little easier to go faster, though the ground was slippery and muddy, and Sylva kept glancing above her head through the gaps in the branches in the trees to see the sky.

    "Could someone see us, if they were watching in a plane?" Sylva asked.

    "Heat camera," Kino muttered, stumbling over rocks in the path. "Doesn''t matter. Sensitives."

    They proceeded in silence, with Sylva checking their location against the map, watching as they inched closer and closer to their destination, where Keep presumably was waiting for them.

    They broke out into a clearing, the whole scene looking washed out from the dim grey light that filtered down through the clouds. Just as Sylva had seen on the satellite view, there was a very shallow pond, mostly just mud, and barren bushes ringing the clearing. Skid tracks on the ground marked the place where the shuttle had come in to land, and following the tracks, Sylva saw the vague outline of the shuttle, disguised by some bushes. She held her arm out, stopping Bina and Kino from entering into the clearing. There wasn''t any sign of Keep, and the whole thing felt... off.

    Sylva turned and whispered to Kino. "Something feels wrong here."

    "Can you fly a shuttle?" Kino whispered back.

    "No," Sylva said. She may have been able to do an approximation of shuttle flying in the emptiness of space-- during her tenure aboard the Iron Dreams she had been allowed that once or twice-- but she definitely did not have the skill to take off from a planet, especially not when surrounded by trees.

    Sylva texted Keep.

    < I see the shuttle. where r u

    There was no response.

    Then, out of the woods on the other side of the clearing, awkwardly pushing through the bushes, Keep arrived. She was dressed, not in the jumpsuit that Sylva had always seen her in, but in Hanathue garb, a bright red dress with long flowing sleeves. It looked out of place on her broad frame, and her tattoos peeked up out of the neckline and from the sleeves. Keep made a beeline towards them, even though their whole group was still pretty well hidden within the trees.

    Kino grabbed Sylva''s arm, but there was no message in it, just a tight grasp.

    Something was wrong.

    Something was wrong.

    Something was wrong.

    "Sylva, you ready to go?" Keep asked. "I don''t want to wait around here forever."

    Keep''s posture was stiff but not menacing, and her voice sounded like she had a cold.

    There wasn''t anything for it. Sylva stepped out of the bushes; Kino and Bina followed her.

    "Yeah, I guess so," Sylva said. "Did you have an easy trip here?"

    "Could have been better, could have been worse," Keep said. "Can we talk for a minute?" Keep gave a pointed nod to Bina, indicating that she was not intended to be a part of this discussion.

    Kino still had her hand on Sylva''s arm.

    "Er, sure," Sylva said. She stepped forward towards Keep. "Can they get in the shuttle?"

    "She can." Keep awkwardly nodded to Bina, who looked between Keep (a stranger to her) and the shuttle.  "I''d love to talk to Kino, though," Keep said.

    A vision flashed into Sylva''s mind, Kino''s memory sent through the physical contact. It hadn''t been so long ago that Kino had met Keep, and the vision of that moment very specifically included Kino introducing herself with her fake name, Chenai.

    "Play along," Sylva sent back silently to Kino. "I don''t know what''s going on."

    Still with her hand on Sylva''s arm, the breeze of Kino''s power passed out through her, and Kino transmitted what she was feeling: there were people back in the trees, on the other side of the pond. The people they were trying to avoid had gotten to Keep first. Was she being threatened into this? It seemed unlikely.

    "Is there anyone in the shuttle?" Sylva asked Kino, who stretched out her power to investigate.

    An image created with the power: two people, crouching inside the shuttle.

    The whole silent exchange had taken less than five seconds, but it was an awkward pause in the conversation. Keep stood there, almost robotically. She looked just like... Something. Sylva couldn''t place it. The smile stayed fixed on her face, and her eyes stayed staring straight ahead, not moving.

    "Honestly, Keep, anything that you have to say to us can be said to Bina as well," Sylva said.

    "I would prefer if Bina waited in the shuttle. It isn''t for children."

    "I''m not a child," Bina said, crossing her arms unhappily. "Why don''t we all get in the shuttle? Let''s go." Bina started walking towards the shuttle, and Kino was stricken, looking back between Keep and the shuttle.

    "Bina, stay here," Sylva said.

    "No, go ahead," Keep said. "It''s open."

    Now it was Bina''s turn to look confused. She was far enough away that she wouldn''t be able to hear Sylva whisper to Keep.

    "Keep, I thought you were my friend," Sylva said. "What the fuck are you doing?"

    "If she gets in the shuttle, no harm will come to her," Keep said. "Let her go."

    "You swear?" Kino asked. Her voice was flat, resigned.

    "I do," Keep said.

    "Go ahead, Bina," Kino said, calling out across the field. "It''s fine."

    The door of the shuttle opened, seemingly of its own accord, and Bina looked behind herself again, glancing back to where Kino, Sylva, and Keep stood. Kino put a grim, thin smile on her face, and Bina nodded back and climbed into the shuttle. There was a constricted shout, but the door slammed shut, cutting it off.

    The shuttle began to rise from the ground, but Kino whirled and grabbed it with the power, holding it down to the ground. Its engines screamed wildly, fighting to rise up into the air.

    Keep reached into a hidden pocket of her dress. Sylva recognized the glint of a gun barrel as Keep aimed for Kino¡¯s head. Sylva¡¯s body moved before she processed what she was seeing. She slammed into Keep with all her strength. They were both sent scrambling into the mud. Sylva came out on top. She found the hand holding the gun and pinned it under one knee. Keep tried freeing her arm, but Sylva had gotten too good a hold.

    Keep¡¯s body went limp. Her muscles relaxed and the gun dropped from her open palm. She breathed shallowly and was alive, but was thoroughly unconscious.

    Out of the corner of her eye, Sylva saw a short woman walking out of the trees at the other end of the clearing.

    She was holding some sort of device in her hand: it looked like a phone, but Sylva couldn''t really tell at this distance. Her skin was a dark brown, and her hair was cut in a military sort of style. She walked towards them, directly across the surface of the muddy pond, though she didn''t get wet. Indeed, the water bowed and bent under her feet, but she didn''t sink at all.

    "This is tedious," she said. "Shoot them."

    "Sylva, the shuttle!" Kino yelled, and the shuttle''s engines stopped screaming as it began to rise into the air. Sylva didn''t understand why Kino had stopped holding it down until several bullets, shot from the trees on the other side of the clearing, fell harmlessly to the ground several feet in front of Sylva. She flinched back, but couldn''t think about that at the moment, because as the shuttle rose higher and higher, she was worried that it would leave the limits of her power. She grabbed it and yanked it back down. Its landing wheels dug themselves deep into the mud.

    The door of the shuttle opened, and a frazzled looking Bina fell out, flopping into the mud and then crawling away on her hands and knees.

    "Bina!" Kino yelled, but Bina didn''t change course. Two men scrambled out of the shuttle behind Bina, looking equally dizzy (probably from Sylva''s crashing of the shuttle into the ground), but on their feet. Bina had gotten surprisingly far, so they had a way to go. Sylva didn''t want them to get her, so she did the only thing she could think of to do, which was to drag the shuttle, still under her power, forward, crashing it into them. She dropped the shuttle heavily, pinning them underneath it. Were they dead? She didn''t know, and she didn''t particularly care.

    Bina screamed and crawled desperately away. Sylva saw, after a moment, why Bina wasn''t getting up-- her legs had been tied in such a way that she was unable to stand. It had probably been sheer luck in the chaos of the shuttle''s interior that had allowed her to free herself at all.

    "Enough of this," the woman said. She was much closer to Sylva and Kino now, but she turned her attention to the flailing Bina, who rose up into the air, still thrashing, held by the woman''s power. She dragged Bina into the shuttle, and forced the door shut. No matter how much Sylva dragged on it with the power, she couldn''t open it.

    "You don''t want her to see me kill you," the woman said. "So I''d advise you stop doing that."

    Several thoughts swam hazily through Sylva''s mind. This woman was a far, far better user of the power than she was, to move Bina with such ease. She had probably been piloting Keep-- controlling every word that she spoke and every action that she had taken, until Sylva had tackled her out of position. It had reminded her, in a horrible way, of the way Yan''s body had looked when she was inside the Mother, but there was no piece of the Mother actively controlling her. Blank and empty.

    Thinking about Yan, Sylva remembered Yan''s original escape from the Green King, Jeepak, and she hurriedly dropped the gun she was holding on the ground. She had no intention of shooting herself in the head while under somebody else''s control. She remembered, too, how it had felt to be in the Green King''s terrible grasp herself, back when he had come aboard the First Star. He hadn''t even been trying to kill her, that time.

    She remembered that feeling, and she felt it bodily as the woman reached across the distance between them and seized her. She couldn''t move, she couldn''t breathe. She was trapped. Her eyes could still move, and she looked wildly around as the panic seized her. To her side, Kino still seemed able to move. All that time she had spent practicing with Yan--

    It didn''t matter, now, though, because Sylva''s lungs were being squeezed and her vision was growing black, spots swimming around the edges of it. Kino reached into her own pocket and pulled out her gun, aiming it at the woman, who batted the bullet away with the power as though it were nothing.

    Sylva wished she could cry out for Kino''s help, wished she could yell anything, wished that her thoughts weren''t floating across the surface of her brain, growing white hot and dim at the same time. She clung to consciousness with every piece of strength that she possessed. If she passed out, she would die. She wouldn''t be able to use the power. She wouldn''t be able to help Kino, or Bina, or Keep, or herself.

    With the end of her strength, letting her eyes slide shut, Sylva gathered her power, drawing it into herself. She didn''t know how to break the hold of this woman on her diaphragm, but she did know that her lungs would still obey the laws of physics. Sylva imagined an expanding bubble that started in the center of her chest and pushed its way outward, scattering air molecules, creating a vacuum. The negative pressure caused her lungs to expand, sucking in air through her nose and teeth. Her ears popped. Her tongue flopped around in her mouth. All the muscles in her stomach screamed in pain. But air rushed into her lungs, and that was enough to hold onto consciousness, and that was all she needed. She let go of her vacuum; the air rushed back out. She created it again, breath came cold and in to her lungs again. A rhythm. Easy. Easiest thing she''d ever done. She would have laughed, if she had had control over her vocal cords.

    The woman was ignoring her completely, not seeming to realize that Sylva was still able to breathe. Her efforts were focused on Kino, who was able to move. Kino''s attention was clearly split between too many things-- withstanding the woman''s power, holding up the shield that prevented her and Sylva from being shot by the gunmen hidden in the trees, attacking the woman back, and constantly glancing back towards the half-crashed shuttle where Bina was trapped. Kino held her ground and attacked the woman with everything that she had-- bullets, throwing up a cloud of mud and dirt to blind her, trying to choke her with her own clothing, but the woman defeated it all like it was nothing.

    At least the woman''s power was equally split between several things. She was holding Sylva still, and the shuttle door closed, and she was clearly still trying to reach into Kino''s body to kill her, even while stopping Kino''s attacks.

    Kino reached into the ground with the power, attempting to scoop the dirt out from under the woman. She stumbled, but nimbly leapt out of the way as Kino''s power shoved dirt to the side.

    Sylva took another deep breath, forcing the air into her lungs, then switched her attention and her power. Kino''s scrabbling in the dirt had unearthed a rock, a large one, about the size of a lunchbox, oddly shaped, covered in dirt. Sylva pulled it the rest of the way out of the hole, and, with as much force as she could muster, accelerated it behind the woman and sent it sailing towards her. The woman didn''t notice at first, but she must have had some sort of power structure to alert her about objects coming towards her, because she turned and batted the rock away with her own power. Sylva made it change directions, and come back towards her, but again, the woman knocked it away with a smile.

    Sylva was forced to drop the rock and once again use the power to take a breath-- her vision was going blurry. Again, though, she resumed the attack. This time, she tried a different tactic. The woman was distracted by Kino once more, who--

    Sylva couldn''t see Kino. She must be using the invisibility trick that Yan had taught.

    Either way, the woman was distracted, and this gave Sylva an opportunity, perhaps.

    She thought very carefully about what she was going to do. Exactly what power structure she was going to use. This would probably be the most complicated thing she had ever done with the power, but with her heart thrumming in her chest, with everyone''s life on the line, she found a confidence that she had never had before. She could do it. She would do it. It wouldn''t be easy.

    She had a time limit, too. Sylva took as many breaths as she could while she thought about this power structure in her head, and then took one final one before she sent her power out to do her bidding.

    Around the woman''s head, she made a bubble of power. Slowly, carefully, she pushed all of the oxygen out of the bubble. She was very, very careful to leave the amount of carbon dioxide the same, and to pull in nitrogen from the surrounding air to supplement. An excess of carbon dioxide was a detectable poison-- it would make the person panic. An excess of nitrogen, though, would be undetectable until the woman registered that she wasn''t getting enough oxygen to her brain.

    Unfortunately for Sylva, the woman''s lack of oxygen to her brain, and her own were on the same timer. But Sylva was standing preternaturally still (not by her own choice), and this woman was breathing heavily, using physical and mental energy to search for the invisible Kino.

    Was it Sylva''s imagination, or was she slowing down when she turned and threw a cloud of dirt up, hoping to catch Kino''s form in it? Was it imagination, or was she stumbling slightly in the wet ground? Was it imagination, or was Sylva''s vision going blurry once more? Her heartbeat was sluggish in her chest. Her brain screamed out for air, but she couldn''t move her chest to breathe it in, and she kept her power pushing, pushing, kept starving the woman of oxygen.

    Was it imagination, or was Keep stirring on the ground?

    A rock sailed towards the woman: something from Kino, obviously just a distraction for whatever big thing that Kino was doing. The rock hit the woman, and she visibly winced. Her power structure... She must have abandoned it...

    Sylva''s vision swam.

    On the ground, Keep picked up the gun that Sylva had dropped. She aimed it at the woman. The sound of it firing and the vision of the bullet and the woman seemed disconnected.

    Sylva passed out.

    She woke up on the ground, wet mud filling her nose. She was on the ground. She was awake. She was breathing.

    There was a sudden roaring sound in her ears, and a wave of heat that crashed over her like a wave, a bubble of pressure that made her yell in pain as her ears took the brunt of it. Her body was in her control, but she was so disoriented that she couldn''t understand how to move it properly. Were her arms underneath her? Was she pushing herself up into a crawl? Was she falling over sideways into the mud again?

    "Sylva!" The words sounded distant, like someone was speaking through the whirling blades of a fan.

    She looked up. Keep shook her shoulder.

    "Keep," Sylva said, putting the name and the body together. It was coming back to her. She breathed. The air was hot and acrid. Hadn''t it been cold before? Hadn''t it been raining?

    She pulled herself up to a standing position. Keep stood beside her.

    Someone was screaming. Something was burning.

    She took in the scene. There was the muddy pond, still, and before it, in the torn up ground, was a woman, laying down, dead, probably. The bloodstain spread out from her chest in a wide splotch, mixing with the mud on the ground until they were indistinguishable. She had something in her hand. She wasn''t screaming. Who was screaming?

    Sylva turned. The shuttle--

    The back half of it, where the engines were, had been ripped apart. Shards of metal twisted out from the site of some sort of explosion. A cloud of smoke billowed up from it, clogging the air. It was still on fire; the fuel cells were burning a maelstrom of strange colors in the back, releasing their gasses and toxic elements into the air.

    There was the screaming person. Kino. Why was Kino screaming?

    "Bina! Bina!" Kino yelled, over and over. And the situation settled in place in Sylva''s brain with a firm ''click'', and she remembered that Bina had been trapped in the shuttle, which was now on fire.

    She stumbled forward over the torn up ground, heading towards Kino. There was a tearing screech of metal, and Kino ripped the remaining side of the shuttle apart with the power. Smoke and flames blossomed out from it as soon as she did so, and, heedless of the danger, Kino dove inside.

    "Kino!" Sylva yelled, and ran forward. The power felt slippery in her grasp, but she turned as she ran and used it to pull mud and water from the pond in equal measure, holding as much as she could in the air, dragging it over towards the shuttle. She dumped it onto the fire, which let off a hiss of gas and a horrible smell, as the water ineffectively boiled away or sloshed onto the ground. Sylva reached the shuttle, the horrible heat baking off of it.

    Kino''s dark shadow hovered in the doorway, carrying something in her arms. She collapsed out, stumbling under her load. Sylva rushed towards her, and Keep followed. They both grabbed Kino and pulled her away from the smoking wreck of the shuttle, until they were far enough away from the clear and present danger that Sylva could investigate what was actually going on.

    "Put her on the ground," Keep said.

    Kino seemed reluctant to do so, but she knelt down and laid her sister in the mud.

    Bina was half conscious. Her eyes were shut, but her mouth was open, and her body twitched and spasmed in pain with every movement.

    She was badly burned. Sylva couldn''t even tell that much underneath the black ash that coated every inch of her, but on her neck and wrists, her jewelry had fused itself into her skin, melting into rough circles. Her clothing was hanging on by scraps, and even now, the edges of it were smoldering. She was bleeding, too, Sylva saw when Kino put her down, leaving a dark red stain on Kino''s shirt.

    Time seemed to move in slow motion as Sylva looked on Bina.

    Kino was crying, sobbing, really, kneeling in the dirt, with Bina''s charred hand pressed to her face. "Bina," she said, over and over, as though it was the only thing that she could say.

    Sylva knelt down as well, looked Bina over, saw that there was a piece of metal embedded in her abdomen-- the source of the blood.

    Bina''s eyes opened.

    "I''m sorry," she croaked, and her voice sounded rough.

    Kino cried more, louder.

    "You don''t have to be sorry," Kino said through her sobs. "It''s my fault."

    "I didn''t get rid of the letter," Bina said. "I''m sorry." She sounded unbearably sad and afraid.

    "It doesn''t matter," Kino said. "It''s okay, don''t worry about it."

    Bina choked and coughed, with a visible shudder of pain.

    "I''m sorry, Kino," Bina said again. She kept saying it over and over, until her voice grew incoherent and her eyes slid shut. She was still breathing, but she was completely unconscious. That was probably for the best.

    "Do something!" Keep said. "You''re a doctor!"

    Sylva was paralyzed, looking at the scene in front of her, as though she wasn''t a participant. She had almost forgotten that she was there. Kino was crying and useless.

    Sylva leaned over Bina''s destroyed body, looked at it, felt panic take her. Did Kino expect her to do something? What was there to do?

    She was frozen in this state. "We should get her out of here. Take her to a hospital, or--"

    "You think that people trying to kill you won''t kill you if you take her to a hospital?" Keep asked. The edge of panic was in her voice, too, and she grabbed Sylva''s shoulder in a grip so hard that Sylva though her bones were going to break. "You''re a doctor! You have to fix this!"

    Sylva didn''t know what to say or do. She leaned forward, touched Bina with one finger, then leaned back. She repeated this indecisive movement several times, each time feeling more choked up, more horrible, than she had ever before. "What do I do?" she whispered under her breath. If it had been one thing, maybe. If someone had been shot, maybe she could have dealt with that. But she looked on Bina, bleeding out in the mud, the inconsolable Kino rocking back and forth and holding her hand, the smoldering shuttle behind them.

    "We just have to get out of here," she said. "Let''s go." She stood up. "Kino, can you carry her?"

    Kino didn''t move. She didn''t seem really aware of Sylva and Keep''s presence.

    "Come on, Kino. We have to get her out of here," Sylva said. She tried to put her arms underneath Bina to lift her, but Kino wailed, and Sylva stopped, leaving her on the ground.

    "Do something," Keep said again.

    The plume of smoke from the burning shuttle was rising like a pillar into the sky. Soon there would be planes, and fire response, and people coming after them. They needed to go.

    "You''re a doctor! Make her do something!" Keep said again, and the tone of her voice caused Sylva to look up at her, and see that she also had tears in her eyes, for this person that she didn''t even know. "Fix her!"

    "I''m not a doctor," Sylva cried finally, the words coming out of her involuntarily. "I lied! I lied! I''m not a doctor and I can''t do anything and we need to get out of here before--"

    Keep punched her in the face, tackling her to the ground. They rolled around in the mud, Sylva trying desperately to get away from the larger woman. It was a horrible scene, and all the while, Kino was sobbing, and Bina''s whistling breaths were coming slower and slower.

    "I hate you! I hate you!" Keep yelled, punching Sylva.

    "Stop, Keep!" Sylva squirmed away and scrambled to her feet, leaving Keep on the ground.

    Keep sat in the mud, looking up at her, holding the gun that she had killed the other woman with.

    "Use your magic, then."

    "I can''t!" Sylva said. "I don''t know how! I''m--"

    "Is she going to die?" Keep asked.

    "I don''t know! We should take her to a hospital. We need to get out of here!"

    Keep lowered the gun, tucked it back inside her dress'' pocket.

    "I''ve killed... three people today, for you, Sylva," Keep said, very slowly. "Do I need to make it a fourth?"

    "No," Sylva said. "No, no." She shook her head violently, the words tripping out across her tongue. She didn''t even know who Keep was referring to.

    Sylva walked towards Bina and Kino, once again. Kino had ignored the entire altercation between Keep and Sylva, fixated entirely on her sister.

    She was whispering something, but Sylva couldn''t hear the words right. She could only see Kino''s mouth moving, pressed against her sister''s hand. "Come on, Kino," Sylva said, as gently as she could. "We need to get out of here."

    Kino wasn''t moving. Sylva crouched down, held Bina''s other hand. She couldn''t feel any pulse, and Bina''s breathing had stopped making any noise, though the rise and fall of her chest was still minutely visible.

    Sylva looked over at Kino, and had the realization that Kino was not going to move, not unless Sylva could convince her that moving would save Bina''s life, and there was no way that Sylva would be able to do that. Bina was dying, and that was a hard thing to admit, but it was a true one. It was only a matter of time, but Sylva didn''t want that time to take too long. Even now, the wind picked up, carried the smoke around the clearing, and out over the tops of the trees back towards civilization.

    How long did Bina have to live? Sylva looked at Kino. She looked at Keep, who was turned away from the miserable scene.

    And then she made a silent choice. No one needed to know about it. Kino wasn''t paying attention.

    Slowly, quietly, Sylva took the power in her hands. She had done this once before today, and it was far too easy to do it again. From the air in front of Bina''s mouth and nose, she pulled away all the oxygen and backfilled with nitrogen from the surrounding area. It would only be a matter of time now.

    Kino didn''t seem to notice, and the scene stretched on, interminable, with Bina''s breath growing even shallower, and the blood that leaked out in irregular pulses from her side slowing to a trickle. Eventually, the breathing stopped completely, and it was just Kino there, clutching Bina''s hand as though it were the only thing in the world.

    Sylva felt numb, but she stood up and tugged on Kino''s arm. "Come on, Kino, we''ve gotta go."

    Kino stood, like a robot.

    They left Bina''s body on the ground, and the three of them stumbled back through the trees, ushered on down the path by the sounds of low flying planes overhead. Keep was following, though Sylva didn''t know why. All three of them were trapped in their own personal torments.

    They made it back to the parking lot, so shockingly normal. If Sylva had been watching her own life on a TV screen, she probably would have laughed at the contrast.

    Bina''s father''s car was still unlocked, and the keys rested on the passenger seat, right where Bina had left them. Sylva jammed them into the ignition. She was probably the only one of the trio who knew how to drive. Kino sat in the back. Keep sat in the front.

    Sylva turned to Keep. "Is there somewhere we can go?" she asked.

    With a flat and sad voice, Keep provided her an address. Sylva started the car and they sped away, leaving all the wreckage behind.

 Chapter One Hundred Eleven - The Tragic Accident

    The Tragic Accident

    <blockquote>

    "Every person called before a tribunal has two rights: the right to speak, and the right to remain silent. Every person called before a tribunal makes the mistake of speaking when they should remain silent, and remaining silent when they should speak. Of course, the real mistake is getting called in the first place."

    -from So, You''ve Been Accused of a Crime: A Self-Help Guide for Those Who Need It by Mikhail Shraber

    </blockquote>

    Sid had never in his life seen Halen so angry. The man was like a caged animal. They were in Sid''s office, which was an odd choice, but the venue mattered less than the discussion. They were waiting for Admiral Astwani.

    The news had come in, just an hour or so before, about what had happened on Hanathue. Comparing the time stamp on the report, the time that it had landed on Sid''s desk, and the time at which the events had occurred, there were large gaps. The delay was unacceptable, and smacked of either incompetence or malice in Astwani''s department.

    Halen paced back and forth in front of Sid''s desk, clenching and unclenching his hands into fists. Sid stared out the high window, down into the courtyard of Stonecourt. Puffy clouds scuttled across the sky.

    He didn''t know how to feel. Astwani''s team had failed in all the goals that had been set for them: kill Kino; capture or kill Calor; make sure that the girl, Kino''s sister, survived; and, above all, don''t let them escape. Kino was alive. Calor was alive. Bina Warez was dead. Kino and Calor were nowhere to be found, though probably still somewhere on Hanathue, and five Imperial agents were dead, including a sensitive.

    It was a disaster.

    Sid wasn''t as angry as Halen was, and he couldn''t really understand Halen''s anger. It was unfortunate that Kino and Calor had escaped, and it was unfortunate that Bina Warez was dead, and it was unfortunate that the Fleet had taken the brunt of the losses, but none of that seemed to call for the towering anger that Halen was showing. His usually flushed face was almost beet red, and he was clearly restraining himself from yelling at anyone he came across.

    "Come in," Halen said.

    Someone must have been knocking on the door of Sid''s office. It swung open, and Admiral Astwani stood there, looking the image of a professional.

    "Good morning, Admiral," Sid said. "Shut the door, please."

    He did, and he stepped inside the room, hands held behind his back, shoulders straight, looking between Sid and Halen, as though unsure of who was going to be leading the discussion.

    "Feel free to take a seat," Sid said.

    "I''d prefer to stand, thank you," Astwani said. "I''m sorry that I can''t stay long; I have a meeting with Carcival in twenty minutes."

    Carcival was the head of the IIF.

    "Carcival can wait," Halen said. "I want to hear from you exactly how it is that every single objective that was given to you was somehow blown over. I would be grateful to hear that it was simple incompetence on the part of every single one of your subordinates."

    "So, you read the report?" Astwani said.

    "No thanks to people who decided to get it to me far later than it should," Halen said. "Do you care to explain that?"

    "It was held up due to administrative error."

    "Of what kind?"

    Astwani, to his credit, held firm under Halen''s glare. "The forces on Hanathue attempted to rectify the situation before it got out of hand. That held up the process of compiling the report."

    "And yet, there was no mention in the report of anyone attempting to rectify anything."

    There was a stutter, then, "Second Welslak, Halen, I apologize for the way this was handled. I can assure you that we are doing our best to correct this mistake."

    "I''m not sure I trust that you will," Halen said. "You--"

    "Hold on, Halen," Sid said. Halen looked at him with a constipated sort of expression, but Sid held up his hand. "Before we talk about the future, I really just want to understand what happened. I read the report, but--"

    "Scant on details," Halen said.

    "Please, take a seat," Sid said, pointing to the chair on the other side of his desk. Astwani took the seat, this time, perhaps because it was a direct order, perhaps because it allowed him to get a little bit further away from the menace that was Halen.

    "Can you walk me, step by step, through what happened? I need to know the thought process, and maybe that will allow us to figure out how to avoid this kind of mistake in the future. Start from the beginning."

    Sid pushed a tablet across his desk-- it had a flat map of Hanathue on it, one that had been included in the report.

    Astwani cleared his throat. "Of course, Second Welslak."

    "Start with how this woman killed two Fleet soldiers," Sid said. He tapped on the map, on the highlighted circle over the Hanathue capitol, and the picture of the tall woman, the one who had been with Calor and Kino when they came down to the planet''s surface, came up. This image was grainy security footage, taken in the dark, and it showed the woman headed into an elevator. In a second image, two Fleet soldiers, dressed in plainclothes, were in the same hotel lobby minutes later, and headed towards a set of stairs.

    "We don''t have footage of the event itself," Astwani said.

    "Start with telling me who she is, why she matters, and why your soldiers were half a planet away, tracking her down."

    "This is Keeper-of-Promises Del, she''s a pirate. Her home ship is the Warrior II. She has a long record, mainly as a smuggler, and my team''s analysis decided that she was probably Mejia''s and Calor''s ticket off planet. It was decided that in order to prevent Mejia and Calor from escaping, and avoid information spreading too far, it might be best to eliminate her. She did not seem like enough of a threat to dedicate more resources to."

    "An underestimation," Sid said. "And how did she kill them?"

    "We''re waiting on the coroner''s report from Hanathue," Astwani said.

    "It wasn''t obvious?"

    Astwani coughed slightly. "I have not had the liberty of seeing pictures."

    "Fine," Sid said, moving on. "Was she acting alone?"

    "Unknown. From the footage that we do have, she seemed to be alone at the time of the event--" That was a tactful way of putting it, Sid thought. "But she was on planet to conduct business of some sort."

    "Do we know with who, and about what?"

    "I''m sorry, Second Welslak, that would be a question better suited to being answered by the IIF."

    Sid frowned. "There seem to be an awful lot of holes in this story."

    Astwani leaned forward a bit, and Halen glowered at him. "Second Welslak, you must understand that this operation was completed on short notice, with forces already on Hanathue. I placed a certain amount of trust in my subordinates, but it''s clear that they cannot work miracles."

    "We weren''t asking for a miracle," Halen said, frowning. Astwani ignored him.

    "Fine, fine," Sid said. He ran his hand through his hair, still a strange thing for him. "So she killed the agents sent after her, and then..."

    "She took a private space-to-ground shuttle, one that had been in long term parking at a privately held airfield outside the capitol, and flew it to Traver City."

    "Who did the shuttle belong to?"

    "A businessman by the name of Valeri Olenya."

    "And he''s an acquaintance of this Keeper-of-Promises?"

    "Probably a business associate."

    "Do we know anything about him?" Sid asked.

    "I have not had anyone compile what we know," Astwani said. "I''m sure that we would know something, if that information is relevant." Sid was starting to understand Halen''s frustration with the whole thing.

    "And so Keeper-of-Promises flew this shuttle to Traver City. Was she on the radar at the time?"

    "Literal radar?"

    "Who was tracking her?" Sid asked, trying to keep the frustration from his voice.

    "At the time of her takeoff, no one," Astwani said. "We only realized that she had not been killed when her pursuers failed to check in. By looking through security footage, we were able to establish where she had gone, and from there track her shuttle."

    "Alright. Continue."

    Astwani pulled the tablet over to himself, flipped open the map. "She landed here, at approximately ten hours. Because she was in the vicinity of Traver City, we made the assumption that she was intending to meet up with Mejia and Calor, who we had not yet been able to track down."

    "Why hadn''t you found them yet? You seemed to find Keeper-of-Promises easily enough."

    "We had to work within the Hanathue security net, which, while it has access to security feeds from across the planet, is somewhat constrained by its data set and programming. Unless something in the footage sets off a flag, such as having the face of a known smuggler be in the frame, it''s very hard to search through the data. We know that Mejia and Calor left the train station in Traver City on foot, and from there they essentially vanished from trackable security footage, especially given the limited timeframe that we were working in."

    "And you couldn''t put Kino''s face in the dataset because you were keeping this quiet."

    "Yes," Astwani said. "We did input Calor''s, but they seemed to stay out of the public eye for the most part."

    "Unfortunate."

    "Indeed."

    "So then what?"

    "We deployed our team to intercept Keeper-of-Promises. They found her, and with our sensitive, were able to subdue her."

    "Okay."

    "By that time, we had learned that Bina Warez was missing from her school, and the agent watching her house reported her taking Mr. Warez''s car. He trailed, and saw them meet up with Mejia and Calor."

    "Why didn''t he intercept them?"

    "It was determined that there was too much risk, both to Bina Warez, and to public exposure. He also was not a sensitive, and it would have been difficult or impossible for him to take on Mejia and Calor."

    "Okay."

    "As we expected, they drove to this location. We allowed Mejia, Calor, and Warez to proceed to the place where Keeper-of-Promises had left the shuttle, in the hopes of separating Warez safely from the group."

    "And how were you going to go about doing that?"

    "After subduing Keeper-of-Promises, our agents were able to take control of the shuttle. They would be able to use it to fly out, if they were able to get Warez in it."

    "That didn''t happen, though."

    "As a failsafe, to prevent Mejia and Calor from escaping, an explosive was also put in the shuttle''s engine, to be detonated if they gained control of the shuttle."

    "I don''t think Kino knows how to fly," Sid said.

    "They''ve been aboard the First Star for a while now. There''s been plenty of time for BarCarran or Maedes to teach them the rudiments," Halen said. It startled Sid that Halen called them by their last names. An element of professional distance?

    "And who was holding the trigger on that?"

    "Our sensitive, Aloi Kranz."

    "She was in charge?"

    "Yes."

    "And who was with her?"

    "She had a team of four others-- two were stationed in the shuttle, waiting for the group''s arrival; two were in the trees, approximately here and here. They had instructions to shoot if they thought they saw an opportunity."

    "I would like to think that Mejia wouldn''t be so stupid as to let herself get shot," Halen said.

    "Well, she didn''t," Sid said. "So I guess she learned something." Ironically, Kino was the one person who had gotten shot during training.

    "Indeed," Astwani said. "Regardless, they were there as an extra precaution. They survived, which is how we have any of this information."

    "That''s good, I guess," Sid said. "So. Kino and Calor show up. What happens?"

    "In order to delay any confrontation, Kranz is using Keeper-of-Promises as a stand-in."

    "What?"

    "Her particular talent was in manipulating people," Astwani said. "I never met her, but I have been told that she was perhaps the best sensitive at it in a hundred years. She was able to take control of Keeper-of-Promises'' body and use it to negotiate with the group."

    "And?"

    "She convinced Warez to go into the shuttle. Then Kranz attempted to use Keeper-of-Promises'' body to shoot Mejia. Calor physically interposed, and Kranz abandoned using Keeper-of-Promises'' body, and came out to assess the situation herself."

    "That sounds dumb," Sid said flatly. "She should have stayed away. Kino isn''t stupid. She''s dangerous."

    "I can''t explain her reasoning. Perhaps she thought that because she is twenty years the senior of Mejia, that she had the upper hand. Regardless, she said she needed a better vantage point, and she left cover."

    "Okay," Sid said.

    "From there, there was a fight. Kranz was able to incapacitate Calor completely, but Mejia was resistant to her power."

    "I read that in the report," Halen said. "Very interesting. A recent development."

    "She''s been practicing," Sid said. It was the only reasonable thing to say. He had to wonder if Kino''s lessons, whoever they were with, were as brutal as the ones he had with Halen.

    "Regardless, Kranz and Calor fought."

    "What was going on with the shuttle?"

    "Warez was inside, as I said, and the crew of the shuttle attempted to take off with her. One of the two, Calor or Mejia, held the shuttle down and prevented it from escaping."

    "They probably should have let her go," Sid said.

    "Hindsight is a clear glass," Astwani said. "At one point, the shuttle did manage to leave the ground, but one of them pulled it back down. During that, Warez freed herself and escaped."

    "Smart girl."

    "Unlucky girl," Astwani said. "The two soldiers in the shuttle chased her, but were killed when one of the sensitives dropped the shuttle on top of them. Kranz forces Warez back into the shuttle."

    Sid had read that in the report, but the dry expression on Astwani''s face made him suck in a breath. He had to wonder who was responsible for killing those soldiers. He thought that Kino was averse to killing, but he had also never seen her when her sister''s life was on the line. And, frankly, he didn''t know enough about Calor to say anything. She was slightly crazy, but he didn''t know if that made her murderous.

    "Now, this is the part I''m less clear on," Sid said. "While Kino and your sensitive are fighting, the way it''s described is that neither of them have the upper hand. How does your sensitive end up dead?"

    "We don''t know."

    "What?"

    "She was shot by Keeper-of-Promises-- that was easily observed-- but, as you said, you would like to think that no sensitive is stupid enough to let themself get shot. Perhaps Mejia was altering her mental state, in some way, or had a way of forcing Keeper-of-Promises'' bullet through."

    "Hm," Sid said.

    "So, she''s shot. The report says Calor is unconscious. Who gives the command to destroy the shuttle?"

    "Kranz did," Astwani said. "She was the one with that power."

    "Why did she do that?"

    "I can''t explain the last action of a dying woman," Astwani said. "It probably seemed like the right choice."

    "So Warez is dead."

    "Yes."

    Sid shook his head. "What a mess."

    "Yes."

    Halen spoke up. "You mentioned that your people attempted to mitigate this problem. Since that wasn''t mentioned anywhere in your report, I would like you to tell me exactly what you did, and what you plan to do going forward."

    "Unfortunately, due to the fire started by the shuttle''s destruction, emergency services turned up very quickly. It was vital that we spend the majority of effort containing the spread of that information."

    "And what about Mejia and Calor?"

    "They, along with Keeper-of-Promises, fled the scene."

    "Did you track them?"

    "We were able to track their vehicle, but they abandoned it."

    "Do you have any idea where they could have gone?"

    "My best and only guess is that they''ve taken shelter with Keeper-of-Promises'' business associates."

    "Valeri Olenya?"

    "Or equivalent. As on every planet, there are plenty of people with ties to the black market."

    "So they''re still on the planet."

    "Probably not for long."

    "Are you trying to track them down?" Halen asked.

    "That''s what I was intending to meet with Carcival about." Astwani looked rather dismissive. "I would like to clear this up and put the whole matter behind us."

    "It''s not going get behind us," Halen said. "Not until everyone involved is taken care of. How far has this information spread? What''s the situation with Bina Warez''s family?"

    "The Hanathue police told them that their daughter was involved in a fatal car crash."

    Halen nodded. "And the emergency personnel?"

    "Have all been sworn to silence. Do you have any other questions? I''d like to pass this matter off to Carcival. It was never a good fit for the Fleet."

    "The Fleet can mobilize and coordinate ground resources better than the IIF can," Halen said.

    "That may be true, but I don''t like this game. If you don''t have any other questions, Second..."

    "It''s fine. We will be in touch," Sid said.

    "Of course you will." Astwani stood up, and, with a curt nod, left Sid''s office.

    Halen''s anger, which he had kept mostly in check while Astwani was in the room, flared up again. "I hate that man."

    "What is his problem?" Sid asked. "Was it just me, or was he being..." He didn''t know exactly how to describe the sensation he had gotten from Astwani.

    "No, he doesn''t like taking orders from me," Halen said. "And he thinks that you''re a child."

    "I see," Sid said. "That''s not the reason you''re angry, though."

    "He made a liar out of me," Halen said. "I hate that."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Bina Warez is supposed to be alive."

    "Obviously."

    But Halen didn''t say anything else.

    <hr>

    Unfortunately for everyone, the situation was one that refused to get behind them. Carcival, a woman who gave Sid the creeps, found him while he was taking a walk through the grounds of Stonecourt, clearing his head after a long lesson with Halen.

    "Apprentice Welslak," Carcival said, coming up beside him from out of nowhere. She was a short woman, with hair that curled in brown ringlets around a childishly chubby face. For all her innocent stature, she was a dangerous woman to know.

    "Director," Sid nodded.

    "Do you have a second to talk?" Carcival asked.

    "I''m not busy." Sid was still walking, and this forced Carcival to keep pace beside him. He didn''t want to talk to her, but he didn''t have much of a choice. He was going to have to get used to working with the IIF, if he was going to be First. He didn''t like that at all.

    "I have a meeting with First Sandreas in a half an hour," Carcival said. "But I''m glad I caught you here. I''m hoping to get your advice on something?"

    "You''d be better off talking to Halen," Sid said, then immediately wished that he hadn''t.

    Carcival let out a short laugh, showing up on Sid''s glasses as a punctuated ''Hah.'' "That may be so. But there''s no love lost between Halen and I, and this issue will probably concern you specifically."

    "And what is that?" Sid asked.

    "The problem with Hanathue is not getting any better."

    "Still no sign of Kino and Calor?"

    "That''s not the trouble I''m talking about," Carcival said.

    Sid frowned. "There''s different Hanathue trouble?"

    "You are aware of Bina Warez''s parents."

    "Sure. Tycoons or something."

    "Very powerful people. Very strong connections to the Guild."

    "And?"

    "We found this ansible message, from Mr. Warez, addressed to..."

    "Are you going to make me guess?" Sid asked. Carcival was slimy like that.

    "Sure, guess," Carcival said. She was smiling, and the sun glinted in her eyes.

    Sid thought for a moment, considered who he would least like to hear that the parents of Kino''s dead sister were getting in touch with. "Nomar Thule?"

    "That would be business as usual," Carcival said. "No." She handed him a slip of paper that she pulled from her pocket.

    At the top, the message was addressed to Cpt. Pellon BarCarran, c/o the Iron Dreams. Sid clenched his jaw.

    "Read the letter," Carcival said.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Sid did.

    <blockquote>

    Dear Captain Pellon,

    I know that you and I have never spoken in person, though I believe that we have several mutual friends-- one of whom being Captain Felicitas of the Roseheart. It may feel out of the blue for me to contact you, but I believe that you will recognize the situation that I am in.

    I understand that you recently lost your cousin, Yan BarCarran, in tragic circumstances while she was in the care of the Empire.

    My own daughter, Bina, has also died.

    Before you lost Yan, how much did she tell you about her fellow apprentices? My daughter''s sister, Kino Mejia, is one of those apprentices.

    It''s hard for me to express the depth of feeling that I have. Confusion, loss. I''m writing this letter to a near-stranger, a friend of a friend, because of something my daughter said to me.

    My daughter was innocent, and now she is dead.

    Was the same thing true of yours?

    It is a difficult world we live in. If there is any mutual comfort I can offer to you in this time, allow me to give it. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

    Yours in shared trials,

    Shoto Warez

    </blockquote>

    Sid folded the letter back up. "Very diplomatic," he said.

    "Indeed," Carcival said. She was silent, waiting for Sid to say something.

    "Do we know what he knows, and how he knows it?" Sid finally asked. "And do we know what he''s planning to do? And, I guess I should ask, did Captain Pellon of the Iron Dreams receive this message?"

    "While the Warez family was out of the house, after we intercepted this message, we searched for the answer for that question," Carcival said. "What we found, unfortunately, was a letter from the late Bina Warez, explaining her decision to run away with her sister, that the Imperial government was after her, and that in order to contact her, her family should contact the Iron Dreams."

    "That''s... unfortunate," Sid said.

    "It could have been worse," Carcival said. "But you''re right that it is not ideal."

    "And the Dreams?"

    "Did not get the letter," Carcival said. "I believe that Halen has vested interest in keeping them out of the path of, well, destruction. To that end, we exercised our better judgement. What letters they don''t receive can''t hurt them."

    Sid thought for a second. "Halen also wanted Bina Warez left alive."

    "Yes. He has a certain aversion to going after people''s families." Sid couldn''t hear her tone, but from the slight wrinkle of her nose, Sid knew that Carcival did not share that compunction. "Things would be cleaner if he didn''t."

    "I can''t really blame him," Sid said. He hadn''t really thought about what it would mean to go after the Iron Dreams, or the now-dead Bina, for that matter. He probably should have thought about it before now, when he was compelled to take the opposite position from Carcival simply because he didn''t like her.

    "Yes, he has a large sway over your mind, and over First Sandreas''s."

    "Do you not like Halen?" Sid asked. Something about the way that she referred to him felt wrong.

    Carcival looked up at him, a frown lingering on her face. She studied him, as though he were a bug under a microscope. He couldn''t help but wither under the scrutiny. "You spend much of your time with First Sandreas, and Halen. There''s nothing wrong with that. You are his apprentice, after all. But may I give you a word of advice?"

    "Sure," Sid said, though he had the feeling he did not want this advice.

    "First Sandreas keeps himself isolated from the rest of the apparatus. That is his right, of course, but him lending his ear and his aid to a very close circle, especially those who do not have, shall we say, a certain pedigree, tends to breed resentment. You would do well to start forming relationships broadly, now, so that that type of resentment does not follow you."

    "Is that some sort of threat?"

    "My dear, I have absolutely no reason to threaten you. What could I possibly gain?"

    Sid shrugged. "I''m sure there''s some kind of power you can exert over me."

    "I''m simply giving you advice," Carcival said. "In exchange for the advice that I would hope you can give me."

    "If you want to know how to get on Sandreas''s good side, I''m the wrong person to ask."

    She laughed again. Funny, was he? "No. This is a far more mundane matter. I want to know how you would go about solving this little Hanathue problem."

    "It''s not exactly mine to solve," Sid said. "Sandreas wants me out of the path of danger. I can''t go hunting down Kino, as much as I wish I could."

    "Hmm..." Carcival seemed to be noting his response down in her mind, as though it revealed something deep about Sid''s nature. It certainly didn''t-- he was only repeating what he had been told. He might be Second, and Carcival knew that, but that was a long way from being First. "I wasn''t really talking about Ms. Mejia."

    "Well, she''s the root of the issue, isn''t she?"

    "The universe is a web of string, Apprentice Welslak. At each intersection, there is a knot. You may wish to cut through the knot that Ms. Mejia has tied for herself, but it will leave the web intact."

    "I have no desire to bring the whole universe down around me," Sid grumbled. "I think cutting through the one knot would be enough."

    "It seems to me," Carcival said, "that Ms. Mejia is intent on unravelling the whole web."

    "You think that she was in contact with Mr. Warez?"

    "That is a wild conclusion to draw. No. But I think that Mr. Warez believing that his daughter was killed by the Fleet plays right into that unravelling. He''s a powerful man on Hanathue."

    "He''s one person, on one planet."

    "And what do you think, Apprentice Welslak, if one powerful man on that planet, decided that he was no longer going to pay Imperial taxes on the goods he shipped off planet? If he, perhaps, paid Guild ships who did not pay the tax double their usual rate to carry his wares. What type of influence would one man be able to have?"

    "I somehow doubt that one grief-stricken man is going to try to start some petty tax rebellion."

    "It''s fortunate, then, that it is my job, and not yours, to keep my ears to the ground."

    "You think that he will do that?"

    "It''s a possibility."

    "We''d squash that if he did," Sid said.

    "Think about First Sandreas. What would he say to that?"

    And Sid did think, and the word came to his tongue. "Optics."

    "Indeed. This is already an optically bad situation. We can only hope that Mr. Warez keeps his mouth shut."

    "Yeah." Sid scuffed the ground, kicking a pebble across the path in front of them.

    "So, Apprentice Welslak. What should I do about this problem? Between you and me?"

    "You should talk to First Sandreas about it."

    She smiled, a thin smile, an unpleasant one. "Someday you will not have First Sandreas to take shelter behind. I hope that you will think about what your answer to that question will be."

    "There''s nothing that I could say that would satisfy you," Sid said. "If I told you to quietly take care of the entire Warez family, that would be a mark against me in Sandreas''s eyes. If I told you to do nothing, you would think that I''m hesitant and weak." The wind ruffled Sid''s hair. "I could tell you to frame the Warez family for some sort of wrongdoing, to get them out of the public eye, but there''s the danger of that getting out of hand." He shrugged and looked at her. "You''re not my master; you don''t have to test me."

    "Perhaps."

    <hr>

    Sandreas smiled, a tired expression, as he opened the door to his private suite. "Glad to see you, Sid."

    "You look like you''ve been through the wash."

    "Life as usual."

    Sid stepped inside and sat on one of the couches. He successfully resisted the urge to kick his feet up onto the coffee table, and instead simply leaned forward, waiting for Sandreas to speak. Sandreas sat down across from him, and there was a moment of slightly awkward silence.

    "I know you''re dying to talk about Hanathue," Sandreas said. "Say what you need to say."

    "I wouldn''t describe myself in quite those terms. But it has been on my mind."

    "Unpleasantly so."

    "There''s nothing pleasant about it." Sid spread his hands on his lap and looked at them for a moment. "Kino''s not there anymore, right?"

    "The rational thing for her to do would be to leave the planet immediately," Sandreas said. "She clearly has the connections to make that happen. So, unless her connections abandoned her, or she has decided not to do the rational thing, yes, she''s long gone."

    Sid knew that was the case, but he had still been keeping an eye on every piece of information coming off the planet, in the hope that someone would report an errant shuttle launch, or a stray security camera would pick up their faces.

    "Carcival talked to me a while ago," Sid said finally, looking up at Sandreas.

    "I''m aware," Sandreas said. "Did you think that I don''t keep tabs on what my staff and Second are up to behind my back?"

    "I wouldn''t have called it behind your back," Sid said. "We were in public."

    "Oh, Carcival knows what game she''s playing," Sandreas said. "Anyway, continue."

    "She thinks that the trouble on Hanathue is only just starting, even if Kino is gone."

    "She is a woman who sees sunset''s shadows at noon."

    "You don''t think that there''s going to be trouble?"

    "I think that the Hanathue council representatives are smarter than Mr. Shoto Warez gives them credit for. They won''t be so easily pressured by him into doing something outlandish."

    "But he is pressuring them."

    "Of course. And he will continue to do so," Sandreas said. "Until he makes himself too much of a nuisance and I am forced to take care of the problem."

    "But¡ª"

    "I suppose Carcival told you that I wouldn''t do anything against Halen''s wishes, didn''t she?" Sandreas said. He leaned back in his seat and looked up at the ceiling over Sid''s head. "Can I tell you something, Sid?"

    Slightly chagrined, Sid responded, "Of course."

    "People understand that the balance of power in Stonecourt is shifting, or that it will shift in the future. They''re all trying to ride that wave."

    "But you''re still First¡ª"

    "I won''t be forever, Sid." Sandreas''s face was still and sad. "And everyone around can feel the weight of that future pressing down on them, faster and faster.

    "When I was Second, people looked at my own master, Caron Herrault, and they saw the flaws in the way that she conducted things. She was too soft, too sentimental, at times. She had distinct favorites¡ª planets, people, ways of doing things. People saw this, and they made it clear to me, as her successor, that they did not want that pattern to continue.

    "I am not in an invulnerable position. I''m certainly not in an all powerful one, though I do wield an inordinate amount of power. But I''m the head of an apparatus that is larger than myself, and in some ways, I am carried along by its momentum, and forced to adapt to its sweeping moments of change.

    "I don''t play favorites," Sandreas said. "I never have. That has made some people very happy, and others, who lost their in with Herrault, very unhappy. But it comes at the cost of me keeping my own council.

    "I listen to Carcival, and I respect her, and I think that she is a very useful resource. But I do not trust her implicitly; I do not favor her; I do not consider her advice to be set in stone. I make my own decisions, and the list of people who can change my mind is very, very small."

    Sid couldn''t help but interrupt and ask, "Who''s on that list?"

    Sandreas smiled slightly, staring off into space as he began to list. "I shouldn''t think you have to ask," he said. "The Emperor. Halen. A few friends I''ve known since the Academy, who I don''t believe you''ve met¡ª it''s probably for the best that they stay far away and out of Imperial politics. You''re on the list, though I take most things you say with the few grains of salt that your youth provides. At one point, the list would have included Yan and Kino, though obviously, that was a mistake. Ms. Rosario, but she knows not to give advice unless I ask it. Obra, and Jalena, and Frae¡ª but they''ve been dead for many years. It''s a small list."

    "God''s not on it?"

    "The day that God starts giving advice in a voice that sounds like something other than my own internal narration, then God can get a spot on the list," Aymon said, a wry expression on his face.

    "So, what are you saying?" Sid asked. "Should I trust Carcival or not?"

    "That''s not what I''m implying at all," Sandreas said. "I only mean to warn you that people are going to try to get close to you, for many reasons, and you will need to use your own judgement about who is worthy of being in your confidence."

    "So I should pick a small group to be close to me?"

    "Sid, there''s no possible way I can tell you how your rule will be. I wish that there was something real I could say to you, a list of people who are safe, a list of people who are not. But I can''t. It''s the nature of things that you will be different from me, in small ways and in significant ones. I¡ª" He paused, and Sid waited for him to continue. "I will always be here for you. But I can''t make your decisions, your mistakes, your friends for you. Everyone, myself included, is just looking for you not to make the same mistakes that I have."

    "I don''t think you''ve made any mistakes," Sid said.

    "If you say things like that, people won''t think you''re nearly as fierce as you try to be."

    Sid flushed a hot red.

    "I didn''t mean that in a bad way," Sandreas said. "I am, in a way, grateful for your confidence in me, unfounded though it is."

    Sandreas didn''t seem eager to say anything else, and his face betrayed none of his quiet interior thoughts, aside from the contemplative sadness that seemed to hang over him.

    "So," Sid began. "Hanathue?"

    "That again," Sandreas said. "My thought is to let it work itself out in its course."

    "You just established that you would take my advice."

    Aymon laughed. "Perhaps I shouldn''t have admitted that, especially if this advice is from Carcival, filtered through you."

    "It''s not," Sid said. "She didn''t suggest any of this to me."

    "Oh?"

    "Let me go to Hanathue," Sid said. "It''s not dangerous, now that we think that Kino has fled. Let me talk to Shoto Warez, in person, give my condolences, and convince him not to do something that everyone will regret."

    "And why do you think that this will help?"

    "He knows a lot," Sid said. "If he starts figuring out who to ask questions, he might be able to escalate things. He probably has figured out that we''ve been stopping his mail to the Iron Dreams¡ª if he turns to underground communication..."

    "Indeed," Sandreas said.

    "I just think it would be better. Nip it in the bud." He finished rather lamely, but he leaned forward, trying to convey his earnestness.

    "Have you talked to Halen about this?"

    "No," Sid said. "I wasn''t planning to."

    "Why not?"

    "I know the wrong answer here would be to say that he is not my master¡ª you are. But I also think that he would be alright with it. The danger is minimal, and..."

    "And?"

    "He didn''t want Bina Warez to die. I think he feels pretty bad about it," Sid said. "I don''t know. He''s not usually the type to go out of his way to talk to strangers, but I don''t think he would have a problem with me trying to offer something to the family."

    "I''ll think about it."

    "Think about it and say yes, alright?"

    Sandreas laughed. "You can''t sway me that much."

    <hr>

    And so it was that just a short while later, after having hitched a ride aboard the Fleet ship Vortex, Sid found himself in the windy and rainy Traver City. It was a miserable place. Ervantes had returned from his vacation, and had accompanied Sid, as it had been arranged that he would act as Sid''s Fleet liaison for the foreseeable future. Sid didn''t mind that at all. The rest of his entourage was familiar: Hernan was with him, of course, serving in the same advisory and coordinating role that he always did; and there was a contingent of security from the Vortex who followed him down to the planet. Sid could have done without them. At this point, he felt quite secure in his ability to defend himself, but Halen would have told him that such pride tends to immediately precede a fall.

    Sid had plenty of things to accomplish on his visit, a whole laundry list, but his first stop today was to visit the Fleet offices where the two surviving witnesses to Kino and Calor were stationed. Apparently, there was also a whole lot of weird... stuff... that had been recovered from the hotel room that Kino and Calor had been staying in. Sid was not an expert on stuff, but he was as close to an expert as they were going to get on Kino, so he had agreed to stop by and take a look at it.

    The Fleet offices were in a modern office building, a couple stories high, with mirrored glass windows in long strips up the sides. It was somehow both menacing and nondescript. In his Fleet uniform, Ervantes Cesper blended right in. In his cassock and short red cape, Sid stuck out. The building was not particularly busy. Though the Fleet interfaced directly with the Hanathue Civil Service, most of their joint operations took place on the other side of the city, in the HCS Traver City headquarters. This Fleet building was mainly an administrative zone, for recruitment and planning. Sid was meeting here, though, and not at the HCS, because the HCS had been explicitly kept in the dark about, well, everything.

    The leader of the Fleet in Traver City had the rank of Captain, though no ship of her own, and she met Sid and Ervantes in the open lobby of the building. She was a medium height woman, with grey hair tied up in a severe bun, and thick frown lines in her forehead.

    "Apprentice Welslak, it''s an honor to have you here," she said.

    "I''m glad to be here, Captain Seig. This is my Fleet liaison, Lieutenant Ervantes Cesper," Sid said. They shook hands, and Sid and Ervantes followed Seig to her office, on the second floor. It had a window that looked out at the city, but from this far away from the city center, there were really only other nondescript office buildings to look at.

    Captain Seig was not a sensitive, and she prefaced her introduction to the "stuff" that had been taken from Kino and Calor''s hotel room with a note of caution. "I''m sorry that I''m having to drag you down into the weeds with this triviality, Apprentice Welslak, but I''m not well equipped to deal with things that have the smell of the power on them."

    "It''s fine," Sid said. "I needed to be on-planet anyway, to meet with Mr. Warez."

    "Sad business, that," Seig said, walking over to the back of her office, where she unlocked what looked like an equipment closet with a press of a pin on a pinpad.

    "It is. How did you find all of this, anyway?" Sid asked. "I thought that part of the problem came from not being able to track down where Mejia and Calor were staying in the first place." He felt awkward using Kino''s last name, but this was a different situation than he was usually in. It probably wouldn''t make a good image to give any hint that he had lingering attachments to Kino. He hated her, felt confused and angry, but he couldn''t help that he had been calling her by her first name for the entire time he knew her, and still thought of her, in some sense, first as his coworker and partner. If he pictured Kino and Yan in his mind, it took a moment for the remembrance that they were gone to settle into place, and he still remembered them as they had been¡ª in cassocks and capes, trotting behind Sandreas along with him.

    "We have a special agreement with hotels," Seig said. "When they find something that looks like trafficking, they call us. Since Calor and Mejia fled town unexpectedly, they left behind a big trunk full of this. We were able to positively identify them then." From the closet, Seig pulled a brown paper wrapped package. Gingerly, like it was about to explode, she handed it to Sid.

    "What is it?" Sid asked. It had some heft to it, but it wasn''t heavy. He figured it was about as dense as a block of wood.

    "There were about a hundred of these. I took this one from the evidence locker downstairs, because, well, these have been disappearing in a rather alarming way."

    That said more about shoddy evidence containment procedures than it did about the package to Sid, but he wasn''t in the business of writing people up for mismanagement, so he just nodded.

    "I have to say, it''s a definite relief handing this over to you. Glad to get it out of my hands," Seig continued. She did look visibly less stressed as she sat down in her chair.

    "Is it dangerous?" Sid asked.

    "Not particularly, as far as I can tell. But I would like your expert opinion on it."

    "Thoughts?" Sid asked, looking at Ervantes.

    "It''s probably not going to bite you," he said. "Might as well open it and see what the fuss is about."

    Sid peeled back the brown paper, revealing the plain black back side of a book. Harmless. He flipped the book over to see the title, and then immediately dropped it onto Seig''s desk, as though he had been scalded. All the blood drained from his face as he looked at the image¡ª a raised relief, really¡ª emblazoned on the front cover of the book. A genderless metal figure, face wrought in gold, raised a sword high above their head, ready to strike.

    "What''s the matter?" Ervantes asked.

    "That''s¡ª" Sid said, finding the words hard to come by to explain.

    Seig looked at him curiously. "So, you recognize this?"

    Sid pulled out his phone and flipped through the photos for a minute, going through a veritable journey back in time, until he came to ones that he had taken around graduation from the Academy. He picked a photo of himself standing next to his statue, the one he had made as his final project, the thing that had gotten him selected as Sandreas''s apprentice. He flipped the phone around and showed it to Seig and Ervantes, who both looked at it with intense expressions on their faces.

    "That''s my final project from the Academy," Sid explained. "This is some sort of message to me." He wanted to tack on ''from Yan'', but Yan was still officially dead, and Seig had no reason to know that she wasn''t.

    "What does it mean?" Seig asked. "If it is a message."

    "I don''t know," Sid said. Now that some of the initial shock had worn off, he was able to pick up the book and investigate it more closely. Flipping through the pages, he saw that they were full of text, but he didn''t read it right away. He stretched out his power into the book, examining it with every sense that he had. He could feel, almost immediately, the threads of power that wound their way across the surface of the book''s cover. Perhaps there was no special message; perhaps this was just Yan''s little joke. She did always have a kind of humor.

    "What do you think?" Seig asked, after giving him a long moment to look it over.

    "Oh," Sid said. "I don''t think it''s dangerous, if that''s what you''re worried about."

    Relief did flash across Seig''s face, and she nodded. "That''s good. But what is it?"

    "It''s a book," Sid said. "I''d have to read it to find out more. Mind if I keep this?"

    "It''s yours," Seig said. "What should I do with the rest of them?"

    Sid sighed, not really wanting to get bogged down with this minutia. "Uh. Have them sent up to the Vortex. I''ll deal with them back on Emerri."

    "I''ll have it done."

    "Thank you," Sid said. "Was there anything else I can clear up for you while I''m here? I would like to interview the two surviving members of the team who went after Calor and Mejia."

    "Of course. I''ll call them right in."

    <hr>

    Sid and Ervantes had a late lunch in a warm caf¨¦ overlooking a busy street in the center of Traver City. Sid poked unhappily at his salad, and the coffee he was drinking had already given him the jitters, sending the itch of wanting to move all through his arms and legs. Ervantes ate a turkey club with a vigor that Sid couldn''t muster.

    "Did you not think that the meeting with Captain Seig went well?" Ervantes asked.

    "It went fine. It''s not that," Sid said. "I just hate everything about all of this."

    "That goes without saying."

    "Is that your way of telling me to stop whining?" Sid asked with a smile.

    "I would never say something quite so undiplomatic to my superior," Ervantes said, a small smile back.

    "Perhaps I should have the Fleet discharge you, so that there''s no risk of workplace entanglements."

    "On one hand, that would mean I get to be as undiplomatic as I want. On the other, I''d be out of a job, and wouldn''t have any excuse to travel the Empire."

    "I want to see you at your most undiplomatic," Sid said. "I''m sure it would be thrilling."

    "Tell you what, you give me a signal and I''ll blurt out something horribly offensive in front of Mr. Warez. Something about how the Guild is a smuggler''s den, maybe."

    Sid laughed, then sighed as he thought about his meeting with Shoto Warez. "I don''t think this is going to go well," he admitted.

    "I have the utmost confidence that you''ll be able to handle it," Ervantes said.

    "That makes a whole one of us."

    "As I recall, it was you who asked to come here."

    "Yeah..." Sid trailed off and poked at his salad some more. Wanting to speak to Shoto Warez had been an excuse to get him off planet, and itchingly close to Xuanhuan station, where, in theory, Yan was supposed to appear. He was turning over and over in his mind, beyond just this meeting, how he might be able to get there and force a confrontation. Yan''s book had been a message to him. On the journey to Hanathue, he had almost given up on his plan, but now the image of Yan burned in his mind. She held a sword above his head.

    <hr>

    The Warez family home was a nice building. There were dry and barren stems of ivy that clung to the sides of it; in warmer months, it would certainly lend a distinguished air to the place. Now, though, it looked dead and vacant, with curtains drawn across all the windows. Sid rang the doorbell and waited.

    He had an appointment, if it could be considered that. He wasn''t an unexpected guest, at the very least.

    Ervantes stood behind him, his birdlike frame erect in the position of a model Fleet officer. The rest of Sid''s security was watching from afar. There would be no funny business.

    The door swung open, and a short, pale man who was definitely not Shoto Warez looked Sid and Ervantes over.

    "Mr. Welslak, come in."

    Odd, to not have the respect of being addressed as apprentice. Sid didn''t pay it much mind, though.

    "May I take your cloak? Mr. Warez is waiting for you in his office."

    Sid peeled off his fall cloak, and Ervantes took off his jacket. The man draped them over his arm before leading them down the hallway. The interior of the house was rich, but, just like the outside, it had a somber air. The whole place was deadly silent, and a little too cold; even with his cassock, Sid felt chilled.

    The manservant knocked on a closed wooden door and announced the visitors. After a moment (and presumably an inaudible response from inside the room), he pushed the door open.

    Mr. Warez''s office reminded Sid of Halen''s home in Stonecourt-- dark, and with odd personal memorabilia on the tables and shelves. Mr. Warez was sitting at his desk, but he stood up when Sid and Ervantes stepped inside, and he came over to greet them, unsmiling. In contrast to the usual colorful garb of Hanathue, Warez was dressed in a dull grey suit, and his hair, which had been long in the photographs that Sid had seen of him, was cut quite close to his head.

    "Mr. Warez," Sid said, trying to offer a smile of his own, though finding it difficult. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, though I wish it were under different circumstances. This is my Fleet liaison, Lieutenant Cesper."

    "Indeed. Lieutenant," Warez said. "I mean no disrespect, but I would prefer to have this conversation with Mr. Welslak in private, if you don''t mind."

    Ervantes glanced at Sid, who was torn between several different thoughts. He didn''t want to get this meeting off on the wrong foot, and, to be honest, if Warez were about to try to murder him (unlikely), there would be little that Ervantes could do to stop it. But, at the same time, it felt very rude, and like a personal slight, to have him wait in the hall. Sid shrugged apologetically at Ervantes, who smiled.

    "That''s fine, sir," he said. "I''ll just wait out here."

    "Thank you," Warez said. "This shouldn''t be long."

    Ervantes stepped out, and Warez closed the door behind him, then returned to sit behind his desk. Sid felt rather like he was in Sandreas''s office, getting yelled at for something, so he picked the chair that was an approximation of where he would sit there to perch in. Across the room, looking down on them both, was a framed family portrait, with smiling parents each holding one of Bina Warez''s shoulders. Sid looked away from it, trying to not let it be obvious that he had been looking.

    He shouldn''t have worried, though, because Mr. Warez was looking at it as well.

    "Would it be crass of me to ask, Mr. Welslak, in what capacity you''re here?"

    "Not at all," Sid said. "I''m here as an official representative of the Imperial government."

    "I see. And, officially, what business does the Imperial government have with my family?"

    A delicate question, one which Sid had considered the answer to beforehand. "Your daughter''s sister, Apprentice Kino Mejia, is my friend and coworker. She''s currently with the Fleet, far out of contact range. I am here in her stead, to offer my condolences on the loss of your daughter."

    "You did not attend the funeral," Warez pointed out.

    "Travel from Emerri takes time," Sid said.

    "Why now?" Warez leaned back in his seat, looked up at the picture of his dead daughter on the wall. "Why now, when there''s nothing left to be done?"

    "There''s always something left to be done, isn''t there?"

    Warez frowned. "You killed my daughter." The line was delivered without any anger showing on Warez''s face. He was just still, frowning up at the picture.

    "Your daughter died in a tragic car accident," Sid said, as mildly as he could.

    "She was melted. They didn''t want me and my wife to see the body, but I bribed the morgue," Warez said. "You didn''t have to do that to her. She was a child, for God''s sake."

    "A tragic accident," Sid repeated, sincere this time. "Please do not misunderstand."

    "Why do you have to play this game with me?" Warez asked. "Isn''t it enough that¡ª" He coughed, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket.

    Sid waited for him to finish, then said, "Sir, the last thing I would want to do is play a game." He felt odd to be this deferential¡ª he had never even been this way with Sandreas¡ª but he had no desire to upset Warez further.

    "Speak with me openly, then," Warez said. "Don''t give me bullshit."

    "You''re asking me to confirm things that you suspect but don''t understand," Sid said. "Things that even you don''t state outright, because you don''t know what you have to state. It''s dangerous to fixate on shadows, Mr. Warez."

    "You wouldn''t be here if there wasn''t something. Are you threatening me?"

    "Sir, I''m not a smuggler trying to shake you down," Sid said. "I have no reason to threaten you."

    "Your presence here alone is meant to intimidate me, Second Welslak."

    Sid was surprised, but not that surprised, at the title. He didn''t deny it, even though he should have. "On the contrary, Mr. Warez, I have a great deal of respect for you and your family. I am here in your interest."

    "To prevent further tragic accidents from happening."

    "I wish you could understand that I am telling the truth," Sid said. He thought, ''This is as close as you will get to an apology.'' He laid his hands on his lap and looked at them, feeling some kind of itch to explain, but having no ability to. He was beginning to regret this conversation that he had put himself in.

    "There have been a lot of tragic accidents recently," Warez said after a second of letting Sid stew.

    "Mr. Warez," Sid said, deciding he had had enough with this. "You are talking about Yan BarCarran, who was my closest friend."

    "There have been others," Warez said.

    "But it was Yan''s family that you tried to get in touch with," Sid said. He didn''t care if Warez knew they read his mail. The game was long ago up with that one, and he had to use whatever power he had. Warez raised an eyebrow.

    "Then yes, I am talking about the late Apprentice BarCarran."

    "I have two questions to ask you, then. Please don''t tell me that they contradict each other, because they make a certain kind of sense together."

    "Go on," Warez said. He still was clearly sad, but he looked at Sid with a keen interest in his eyes all the same.

    "If, and I should make this crystal clear that this is a hypothetical," Sid began, practically spitting out the words. "If the Imperial government had killed my best friend, Yan BarCarran, do you really think that we would have gone to such lengths to introduce her back into the world after her kidnapping? Don''t you think that it would have been better to simply say that she had died then? Rather than show her on the news, looking miserable but saying she was ready to go back to work? Then immediately after make it look like she killed herself?" Sid was a pretty good actor, but some of the hysteria in his voice was real. "She went through something that you or I can''t even imagine, and it broke her. And now she''s gone."

    "That wasn''t a tragic accident, then?" Warez said, studying Sid, or perhaps the dark wood wall behind him.

    "Just a tragedy," Sid said, catching his breath. He realized that he had been yelling, and felt like maybe he should apologize, but Warez seemed unfazed, so he didn''t.

    "And what''s your second question, Second Welslak?" Warez asked.

    "And even if it was... Something else..." Sid said. "Which it isn''t, I should be clear with you. You know that the entire crew of the Iron Dreams is alive, unharmed, going about their business, less one distant daughter. You feel as though you are in the same situation as Captain Pellon of the Dreams. I understand how you feel this way, but look at it. Why do they remain as they are?"

    "Tell me why, Second Welslak," Warez said.

    "Because there are people in the Imperial government, myself included, who have an interest in not dragging civilians into the messes we make," Sid said, as cautiously as he could. "Do not try to talk to the Iron Dreams again. They have their own road to walk."

    Warez steepled his hands on his desk. "I know what I know, Second Welslak," Warez said.

    "No, you don''t." Sid looked at him steadily.

    "I know that the Imperial government is responsible for the death of my daughter."

    "And I am here to offer my condolences for your daughter''s tragic and accidental death," Sid said. "Please accept that, and speak nothing more of it."

    "How can I possibly accept that?" Warez asked. "How can you ask me to let go?"

    Sid looked at him, feeling rather helpless. "Because it will only hurt more to continue prying. There is nothing that will bring your daughter back, even if I wish there was. There''s nothing," Sid''s breath caught for a second, "that will bring Yan back. It doesn''t matter what you think you know."

    "And what do you know, Second Welslak, that you''re not telling me?"

    Sid thought of something that Sandreas had said to him, a while back. Quoting the theology is always a good choice. "Every word and thought and action which passes in the shadow of heaven is known to God alone. Time falls through human hands like grains of sand, lost forever in the dunes."

    "That''s a polite way of claiming to know nothing."

    "Your words in my mouth," Sid said. "But you understand that I will neither confirm nor deny nor speak nor remain silent-- it''s not something that I can do as a representative of the government."

    "I understand. I have just one more question for you, Mr. Welslak," Warez said.

    "I will do my best to answer."

    "When someone goes to visit your family on Galena on the business of some kind of tragic accident, what do you hope that that will look like?"

 Chapter One Hundred Twelve - Phone Tag

    Phone Tag

    <blockquote>

    "Hand on my waist, what have I here? This is my rope-latcher, my mama dear. Rope-latcher, head-visor, safe-gas-can, diggy-diggy-do, that''s what I learned in my school."

    -from "Safety Equipment", spacer children''s song

    </blockquote>

    The First Star was a very large, very empty ship. Even with Sylva and Kino around, it had been large and empty. Now, it felt like if Yan didn''t make an effort to seek out Iri or Chanam, she could go literal days without seeing another person.

    She spent a lot of time in a few specific haunts. There was the workshop, where she spent hour after hour folding pages and sewing binding for her books. It was mindless work, but she got very good at it¡ª far better than Iri or Chanam when either of them stopped by to help her. The stack of books in the corner grew taller and taller, until she ran out of paper and had to stop. She worked in the greenhouse, too, of course, making sure that they weren''t going to starve. And she spent the requisite amount of hours on the bridge, jumping the ship around almost aimlessly. When she was tired, she would retreat to Halen''s old room, where she would curl up on the bed and catnap, not even underneath the covers. It felt too lonely to spend time in the room that she shared with Sylva, since Sylva wasn''t around. She also spent a lot of time in the engine room, meditating alone. She didn''t understand why, but she found it comforting in a way that few other places on the ship did. Perhaps it was simply that the stardrive was the heart of the ship, her ship, and it was the lifeline that kept them safe and tied to the rest of the universe.

    Occasionally, she would make up some task outside, some radar foil that needed to be fixed, or a light that needed to be changed, or a hairline crack in a foundation that needed to be welded, and Yan would suit up and go out to take care of the problem. She would drift untethered in space next to the First Star, listen to the sound of her own breathing in her helmet, and look out at the stars. Iri and Chanam seemed to find it shocking that she could enjoy going out of the ship (certainly Iri always found EVA stressful), but Yan''s spacer heritage made her fear the void of space in the same way that a fisherman''s daughter might fear the ocean. As long as nothing immediately dangerous was happening in the vicinity, space was a calm place, and predictable.

    Today, Yan had decided that it was time to replace a viewing camera lens that had been nicked by a micrometeoroid, rendering the image it transmitted back to the bridge fuzzy and annoying. It had been low on the list of priorities, but Yan had wanted out, so out she went. The camera in question was on the "North" pole of the First Star, as defined by the rotation of the gravity ring appearing to be clockwise when standing at that pole.

    She left the airlock with one of the heavy canvas bags that spacers used tethered to her waist, and the First Star''s comprehensive repair manual strapped to her left arm for easy reference. She didn''t bother tying herself down as she hauled herself hand-over-hand along the ladder that stretched from the airlock all the way up and down the sides of the ship. Her uncle would have yelled at her for neglecting safety procedures, but he wasn''t here to yell at her, and Yan was the captain now. Besides, she had both the gas canister on her back and the power for emergency propulsion . Either one would have saved her if she had accidentally pushed herself away from the side of the ship, which she didn''t do. She was lithe and graceful as she swooped away from the airlock, enjoying the feeling of acceleration that came when she pulled herself along the handrail. It was a long trip up, and she was slightly out of breath by time she reached the junction where the camera was housed.

    "You''re out of shape, Yan," Halen said in her ear, sounding far clearer than he would have if she had been speaking to him over the radio. She could imagine him, just out of her sightline, in the spot just blocked off by the edge of her visor.

    "Shut up, will you?" Yan said aloud, muttering to herself. Her own voice sounded flat and dull inside her helmet. "The suit is heavy."

    "Do you think I don''t know exactly how heavy a space suit is?" Halen asked, the amusement clear in his voice. "I was a pirate too, you know."

    "Oh, spare me," Yan said.

    "What will it take for me to get you to start working out again?"

    "Locking me in a tiny little box where I have nothing better to do."

    "And you haven''t done that to yourself?"

    "You of all people should know that a ship is not a prison," Yan said. "And I''m doing things. Hold this if you''re going to be here annoying me." She knew very well that, being immaterial, Halen was not going to hold her bag for her, but it would stay basically where she put it, so she untied it from her waist and put it out of sight at her side. She fished out a multitool to start unscrewing the bolts that held down the broken camera.

    "You can see Emerri from here," Halen said as Yan worked, pulling out screw after screw.

    "I''m aware. I was the one who charted this course." She didn''t look up at Emerri''s star, which she could locate with ease if she needed to. It was quite distant, but easily identifiable by locating the ultra-bright binary system closest to it.

    "What course are you charting, Yan?" Halen asked. He sounded very sad, and Yan paused work on the camera for a moment.

    "I don''t know," she said. "I''m taking it day by day."

    "Do you actually want this?"

    "Name a single thing in my life that I actually wanted," Yan muttered. "Just a single, solitary thing."

    "Now you''re just being self pitying for no reason."

    "And you''re just saying my own thoughts back to me," Yan said. "So tell me something I don''t know."

    "You have the power to make choices," Halen said. "If you don''t want to be here, making this choice, you could make another one."

    "Don''t give me that," Yan said. She couldn''t believe she was here arguing with the Halen-in-her-head again.

    "It''s true."

    "You''re not going to convince me to go running back to you," Yan said.

    "Why not?"

    "I''m not the only one who makes choices around here," Yan said. "And I''m not talking about, I don''t know, Kino or whatever. I''m talking about you. The real you."

    "And what would you want the real me to do?" Halen asked, amusement in his voice.

    Yan ignored him for a second, used the power to summon over the replacement camera lens, and installed it with fresh screws. She sent the used screws tumbling backwards towards Halen, and imagined them hitting his visor with satisfying little clunks. They drifted away into space, garbage debris that would float around until the heat death of the universe.

    "You haven''t answered my question," Halen said. "What would you want me to do, if you had your way?"

    "Tell Sandreas to stop the Empire from killing people. He''d listen to you."

    "It''s funny to me that you think so."

    "Is that you admitting that he doesn''t have a soul?"

    "You''re sounding a lot like Kino."

    Yan rubbed the camera lens with a piece of microfiber cloth, making sure it was clean, and began to put all her tools back into her bag.

    "I don''t want to be against you. You could make different choices."

    "Unfortunately," Halen said. "You are against me, and neither of us are going to change the courses we''ve set."

    "I know."

    "And what is that going to mean for the both of us?" Halen asked.

    "I don''t know, and I don''t want to find out," Yan muttered. She tied the bag back around her waist, and began the trek back towards the airlock.

    "You''re going to have to eventually," Halen called after her. It didn''t make any sense that his voice receded behind her, but it was a detail that her mind added to the illusion nonetheless. Yan didn''t turn back around to look at him.

    Back inside the First Star, Yan stripped off her spacesuit and returned the equipment to its proper place in the tool closet. She headed up to the bridge, intent on checking that her new camera was working properly.

    She was surprised to find Chanam there, sitting in her captain''s seat.

    "Out of my chair," she grumbled.

    He looked over at her. "Who were you talking to?" he asked.

    Yan felt her face grow hot. "I don''t know what you''re talking about," she lied.

    "Your radio was on," Chanam said. "While you were outside. I heard you talking."

    "It was nobody," Yan said.

    "Nobody?"

    "Look, I know you''re here to spy on me," Yan said. "But there obviously wasn''t anybody out there. I talk to myself sometimes. Is that illegal?"

    Chanam studied her intently. "No."

    "Great. Don''t tell Iri."

    "Why not?"

    "Because I don''t want her to worry about me."

    "She already does."

    "And you''re the expert on Iri now?"

    "Why are you in a bad mood?" Chanam asked. "Did you break the camera?"

    Yan frowned. She was being snippy at Chanam because she had had a bad conversation with her own brain. It wasn''t fair to take out on on him; mainly because he was just a kid. She recited part of a prayer in her head and took a deep breath before she said anything else. "I''m in a terrible mood for no good reason," she said. "If you don''t want to have me be in a bad mood at you, you should probably leave."

    Chanam shrugged. He didn''t leave exactly, but he stood up from her seat and let her check the camera. He watched her do it, and the contemplative look on his face made Yan unsure if she wanted to throttle him or hug him.

    <hr>

    Iri found her later, after dinner. The three of them had eaten together, but afterwards Yan had escaped into her own solitary orbit, this time into the greenhouse, where she mopped the floor, almost mindlessly, looking for something to do with herself. She pulled leaves off of random herbs in the herb plot and chewed on them every time she made a pass by that area.

    Yan didn''t notice Iri come in, not until Iri, leaning against the wall and silently watching her, caught in the corner of her eye.

    "What?" Yan asked, leaning on the mop and looking at her.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    "You know, I didn''t think that the captain would stoop to swabbing the floors, especially when we have robots that do that," Iri said, pointing at the cleaning robot that was charging in its dock in the corner.

    "I spilled a bag of dirt," Yan said, which was a complete lie. "Just wanted to clean it up."

    "Ah," Iri said, and Yan couldn''t tell if Iri believed her or not. "You know, there are probably better ways to get your nervous energy out."

    "I''m not nervous."

    "I haven''t seen you this high strung since..." Iri paused for a moment, as if thinking back in time. "Oh, wait, nevermind, you''re always like this."

    Yan frowned, scrubbed the floor a little more aggressively. "Did Chanam tell you that I''m acting crazy?"

    "Yan, I do not need a spy to tell me that. Are you okay?"

    "Fine."

    "Are we still on track to plant that ansible, finally?"

    "I guess," Yan said.

    "I know Malstaire put a bad taste in your mouth, but is there some other reason it''s taking us this long to do it?" Iri asked.

    Yan didn''t respond right away, first picking up the mop bucket and dumping the dirty water down the industrial drain in the corner. She leaned the mop and bucket against the wall, then sat, perched on the edge of one of the empty planting tables, looking across at Iri.

    "I am not really in a hurry to talk to Jeepak," Yan said. "I assume by now he has some sort of instructions left for us, or whatever."

    "Well, the longer you wait, the less good it''s going to look on his end. Even with Chanam--"

    "Yeah..." Yan ran a hand over her hair,finding that her forehead was unexpectedly sweaty. She hadn''t realized quite how hot and humid the greenhouse was until this moment. "I do want them to trust us, and I do want to do things, but..."

    "You can''t rely on Kino to have all the impetus," Iri said. "You have to take charge."

    "I''m not," Yan said. "I just hate it all."

    "Love it or hate it, we take the cards we''re given."

    "I guess I just miss Sylva," Yan said.

    Iri laughed aloud.

    "What''s so funny?"

    "You''ve been without her for longer."

    "I missed her then, too." Yan swung her legs, kicking her heels against the struts that held up the planting table. "But I didn''t used to have to worry that she was in danger."

    "I wouldn''t worry too much. Kino''s competent, if nothing else."

    "Your voice does not inspire optimism."

    "And I also know better than anyone else that Sylva can handle herself. It''s probably good that she''s getting to stretch her wings a little."

    "I guess."

    "We''ll be meeting up with them again soon." Iri paused in thought for a minute. "Honestly, if we time it right, we go somewhere, plant the ansible, that will leave us just enough time to get back to Xuanhuan."

    "I guess I should stop dragging my feet on that, then."

    "It will at least give you a destination," Iri agreed. "You know, maybe you should try to learn a new skill."

    "Such as?"

    "Wouldn''t it be nice if you knew how to make stardrives?"

    Yan hopped off the table. "There is no way in God''s universe I''m going to fuck with a stardrive, Iri."

    "Halen did it, and he was Chanam''s age."

    "Halen is the exception that proves the rule," Yan said.

    "I don''t know why you''re so opposed to the idea."

    "You didn''t go to the Academy--"

    "And I thank God every day for that. It only turns out crazies."

    "Sure, whatever. But they tell you in graphic detail exactly what can happen if you fuck up while making a stardrive."

    Iri shrugged, seemingly unaffected. "I don''t think you''d fuck up."

    "It''s the kind of thing that I have nightmares about," Yan said. Or vivid hallucinations about, but she didn''t say that.

    "It would be good. You could be an asset, making ships."

    "Iri, think about it. If it''s that important and easy, all those other sensitives we met, and Jeepak, why aren''t they churning out stardrives left and right?"

    "Maybe they are, and you just don''t see it."

    Yan frowned, silent.

    "There are a whole lot of pirates out there, after all," Iri said. "A surprising number of ships. You wouldn''t think that they''re all stolen from the Guild."

    "I''m not going to," Yan said.

    "You spend so much time in the engine room, I figured you were at least trying to see how the thing worked," Iri said. "Well, whatever, it''s not that urgent. It was just a suggestion to try to make you less, you know, depressed."

    "I''m not depressed."

    "And I''m not your friend, who cares about you, and has seen you in various non depressed states."

    Yan laughed a little at that. "Fair."

    "Go jump us closer to where we''re setting that ansible." Iri walked over behind Yan, put her hands on the small of her back, and started to push her towards the door of the greenhouse.

    "Stop, that tickles!" Yan said, but Iri just wiggled her fingers on Yan''s sides more until Yan couldn''t help but move, laughing and running to get away from her.

    <hr>

    They eventually set the ansible down on a nameless moon orbiting a gas giant in a completely uninhabited star system. They should have done that in the first place, Yan supposed, but Malstaire''s relatively central locale and existing infrastructure, in case they had needed to stay in place with the ansible for a while, had been tempting. As it was, though, it was hard enough to find a system that was close to places in the Empire where Yan might want to take the First Star, yet completely uninteresting for both pirates and official mining operations. This barren moon would have to do.

    She and Iri had gone down to the surface to set it up and, for once, it had gone without a hitch. Yan had been slightly nervous about leaving Chanam alone on the First Star, but he had looked at her with such a deadpan expression when she brought up the concept of him stealing the ship that she had let him stay by himself. Regardless, he hadn''t done anything except dutifully open the First Star''s bay doors for them when they returned.

    The ansible had a very weak radio relay attached to it, so they were able to stay in orbit around the moon to use the ansible, rather than being forced to descend to its surface every time they wanted to receive or send a message.

    To begin, Yan had sent off a message to the other ansible they were told to stay in communication with.

    <blockquote>

    Dark Hands,

    This is Yan BarCarran. We have set up our ansible, as you can tell. Its location, should you need it, is in the attached starchart. Here is our status update. I''ll make it brief.

    We are investigating ways in which to destabilize the Empire, and testing several of them out on a small scale. It is our belief that the Empire has three main pillars of strength: the Fleet, the Guild, and the Imperial government itself. If any one of them were to fall, they would destabilize the rest of the two, at least enough to leave a power vacuum. Planetary governments are, in general, too weak and disparate to bother with, though if they could be united together in some sort of mass opposition, they would be formidable. I personally believe, due to my past experiences, that the Guild is the weakest link in this chain.

    To this effect, we contacted Yuuni Olms, the former apprentice to the former Guildmaster, Ungarti Vaneik. Olms has no official power, but she has a formidable reputation within the Guild. We asked her if she would consider calling for a vote of no confidence in the current Guildmaster, Wil Vaneik, and, by extension, his puppeteer, Nomar Thule. We are not currently able to receive news from the Guild, due to staying in hiding most of the time, but we have reason to believe that planting this seed of doubt within the Guild could cause cracks in its stability and power. It depends on the choices that Yuuni Olms makes, and how Nomar Thule chooses to respond to them. In any event, attacking the Empire through the Guild is a sure way to cause mass confusion, but a slow one, and one most easily disrupted by the official power.

    If the Guild staggers, it might be difficult to leverage that into direct power against the Empire, but it could be used to compel individual planets, suffering from trade disruptions, to rise up. It would take a delicate touch, and a lot of events falling into place, but we''ve already seen this happen on small scales in the past. While I was still employed by the Imperial government, I resolved a trade dispute on Olar, which was quickly escalating into a planetary crisis. If that sort of thing happened on ten, twenty planets at once, it would require massive (military) intervention from the Empire. I have no real desire to start a civil war, but if planets stop paying their Imperial taxes, that will put a strain on the Fleet, which will weaken them, which could allow them to be defeated at Tyx III or Olkye. It''s a complicated string of events, and we have not put anything into action, merely dipped a finger into still water to see what ripples may form.

    We have also begun to spread, through the power, a small collection of writings intended to stir up distrust in the Imperial government. Currently, we have only been able to distribute a small number of them on Hanathue, but we believe if they fall into the hands of Fleet soldiers, they may be able to do some good, in terms of breaking through some of the Fleet programming. It''s a long shot, but I figured it couldn''t hurt to do.

    As for the Imperial government itself, it is the sturdiest of all. If the Fleet were to turn against it, that would cause it to crumble, or if individual planets banded together in a mass revolt, that would loose its hold on the universe significantly, but as it is, I see no way to take power from it, short of an attack on Emerri and Stonecourt itself. For many reasons, I am hesitant to suggest anything of the sort.

    Aside from that, we are awaiting your instructions.

    Chanam has attached an encrypted message to you, which I have not read. I presume it is his report on us, as you so kindly sent along a spy. While I am glad to have him, if you should want him back, let us know and we can return him to you.

    As we will not be in this region of space often, it may be difficult for you to communicate with us. As such, we will continue operating as independent entities. We will try to check messages at this ansible as often as possible, but I have no guarantees as to how often that can or will be. We will await your reply here for a few days, but after that, we are en route to Xuanhuan station, where we have a meeting planned.

    Please keep us informed of your status and instructions.

    Yours in shared struggle,

    Yan BarCarran

    </blockquote>

    They waited for more than a day between when they set the ansible up and when the message arrived. When it did come, it was clearly canned, set to repeat every once in a while until Yan''s group had put their ansible up to receive it.

    Mejia, it began, and Yan felt a little awkward reading Kino''s mail, when Kino wasn''t around to read it. But it was unencrypted, and they were awaiting orders, so that was what it was going to be.

    <blockquote>

    Mejia,

    We are beginning to wonder why it has been so long since we were last in contact with you. Although our other sources within the Empire do not indicate that you have turned on us or become entangled (yet), it seems odd that you have chosen not to set up your ansible as you were instructed to.

    A word of warning for you.

    We have agents in contact with certain parts of the Guild. They report that your ship is being actively pursued by one of theirs. We are aware that your ship is far faster than any Guild ship, you may wish to be wary and not remain in one place for too long.

    We expect a report on your progress and thoughts. Until you hear from us again, your instructions to observe rather than interfere still stand. We are preparing something, and may need you in position to assist.

    </blockquote>

    The rest of the letter went on, providing a small update to the situation on Olkye, which Yan was grateful for, but no other substantiate information. She couldn''t really blame the Dark Hands for that; after all, it was clear that they still didn''t trust her at all. It was frustrating, though, and it only added to Yan''s sense of impotency. She didn''t like wandering around space being told to do nothing.

    She also didn''t like the sound of someone pursuing them. She went over the letter with Iri in great detail, pulling out the relevant information. They sat across from each other in the sterile kitchen of the First Star, warming their hands on hot coffee mugs.

    "Do the Dark Hands not know about the Guild''s supership?" was the first question that Yan asked Iri.

    "They either don''t know, or don''t want us to know that they do know," Iri said. "Though you''d think that they''d warn us that a fast ship is on our tail, rather than just any ship."

    Yan rubbed her temples. "I don''t like trying to dissect things like that."

    "Neither do I. I guess I should ask-- do you believe that Jeepak would set you up, try to arrange the situation, in order to get you killed?"

    "I feel like we''re all more valuable to him than that," Yan said. "Plus if we die, Chanam dies, and there''s probably someone out there who cares about him."

    "If we were really that valuable, wouldn''t we be doing more?"

    "It''s a waiting game until they give us more instructions," Yan mumbled. "I guess."

    "And if Chanam were that important to them, they wouldn''t have sent him to us with the risk that he could become some sort of sacrifice for their cause."

    "He could have become that just as easily back with them," Yan said. She hesitated a moment, then yelled out, "Hey, Chanam, since you''re probably listening in on this: we''re not trying to get you killed, okay?"

    "Nice," Iri said. "Though you really don''t have to be that paranoid."

    "Doesn''t hurt. If I were him, I would be listening in on us."

    "That''s fair," Iri said.

    "And don''t tell me that you didn''t used to spy on me incessantly."

    "That was my job!" Iri protested.

    Yan laughed a little. "I know." She sighed, then, and refocused her attention. "Does this change our plans?" she asked.

    "You''re the captain."

    "And I''m asking your advice."

    "We should probably go back to jumping as soon as possible, every time."

    "Yeah." Yan frowned, as that would mean more interruptions to her already shattered sleep schedule.

    "And we should probably leave here without waiting for a reply," Iri said. "Who knows how long it will be until Jeepak gets back to us."

    "I really have no desire to hear from him."

    "That''s understandable."

    "Does our meeting point at Xuanhuan change because of this?" Yan asked.

    "It shouldn''t," Iri said.. "After all..."

    "Yeah." If they didn''t meet back up at the prescribed time, it would become far, far harder to find Kino and Sylva in the vastness of the universe. "I''ll go start us jumping, then," Yan said.

    "Good plan."

 Chapter One Hundred Thirteen - The Business of Lying

    The Business of Lying

    <blockquote>

    "Sometimes I think I see you still, as in a waking dream. You stand along the corner, with your hand spread to the street. Signal now the cars my love, let one take you away. The wind catches your ponytail, the sun lights up the gray. The cold comes and steals my breath; I can barely speak. I try to call to you, my love, and you turn once towards me. But you''ve a stranger''s face-- a stranger''s eye-- a stranger''s heart to keep. And I wish I''d never seen you then, neither sleeping nor awake. The pain returns so sudden strong, I wish my bones would break. Every thought of you, a thought of love-- a thought of loss-- a wish someday, someday! To see you at the corner, to drive the car that takes you away."

    - from "Fourteenth Street", poem by Vashti Gomes.

    </blockquote>

    The address that Keep provided was several hours drive away.

    "Can I call someone?" Keep asked, breaking the horrible silence of the car.

    "Use Kino''s phone," Sylva said. "Yours is bugged I bet."

    Keep reached around to the back seat, looking for any acknowledgment from Kino, who was staring out the window and sitting stiller than death. "Phone?" Keep asked.

    There was no response from Kino, so Sylva pulled her own phone out and handed it to Keep. "Use mine then," Sylva said.

    Keep dialed, and then had a quiet conversation with someone in a language that Sylva didn''t know. She hung up and handed the phone back to Sylva.

    "We''re going to need to ditch this car," Keep said. "I''ve arranged for us to get a ride at the halfway mark."

    "Okay," Sylva said, not taking her eyes off the road. She felt like all of this hadn''t quite hit her yet, but it was all she could do to keep driving.

    "Can you tell me what''s going on?" Keep asked. Her voice was quiet and pained. "I''m helping you and I don''t even know why."

    Sylva glanced in the rearview at the silent form of Kino.

    "I guess. It''s a long story."

    "We''ve got hours," Keep said.

    And so Sylva told Keep everything. She started at the very beginning, who she really was, her mother and father back on Emerri, her time at the Academy, Yan. Yan''s apprenticeship. Kino and Sid.

    She explained the horrible moment when Yan was kidnapped, how Sylva ended up chasing her across the universe with Iri¡ª a momentary aside to explain who Iri actually was-- starting on the Iron Dreams. She told about how she ended up on the Warrior II pretending to be a doctor. Her trip aboard the Bellringer after that. Her narrow escape from death as they careened down onto the surface of an invisible planet.

    She had to stop and explain all about the secret, on and off war that the Empire conducted. And then she was back to Yan again, and the Mother. And then rescue from Olkye by the Fleet, and a triumphant and tragic return to Emerri.

    And then there was Kino. Learning about what she had done. The feeling of telling it rewoke the awful hatred inside Sylva again, but glancing in the rearview at Kino killed that feeling in its tracks. There were things worse than what had been done to Yan, Sylva understood now. And Sylva told Keep about stealing the First Star, and meeting the Dark Hands, and working with Jeepak who had held Yan prisoner, and about how Yan and Kino had helped destroy Fleet ships, and how they were on a mission to learn how to destabilize the Empire, and that was what all the books were for.

    Sylva went on and on, her mouth running without pause, the words tumbling out as though getting the past off her chest would somehow make the present any better. Kino never had any input, even when the situation directly involved her, and Keep just listened quietly. Sylva couldn''t tell what she thought of the whole story, and by the time she was in the middle of it, Sylva thought that maybe she shouldn''t actually be telling it, but then it was out there, and there was nothing left but to finish.

    Keep was silent for a while. "So, this is all some kind of moral conviction on your part?"

    "No," Sylva said. "Not on mine."

    "What is it, then?" Keep asked.

    "I do what Yan needs because I love her." Sylva''s hands were on the wheel, gripping it a little too hard.

    "And you?" Keep asked, turning around to look at Kino. "What are you doing it for?"

    Kino didn''t say anything.

    "Is she asleep?" Sylva asked, not hearing a response and not taking her eyes off the road.

    "No," Keep said.

    "Leave her alone, I guess," Sylva said. "She''s doing it out of some kind of genuine conviction, anyway."

    "And the elusive Yan?"

    "I don''t know," Sylva said. "I couldn''t ever wrap my head around it."

    "I can''t either," Keep said. "Maybe this is me speaking as a pirate, but it seems like it would have been easier for her," she jerked her head back at Kino, "to work on gaining power on the inside."

    "The dice just didn''t land that way," Sylva said. "They''re coming up all naughts."

    "You a gambler, Sylva?"

    Sylva barked out a harsh laugh. "I''m whatever I need to be in the moment."

    They drove on. Eventually, Keep told Sylva to pull off the highway onto a long unpaved access road. "We need to ditch the car."

    "Where''s our ride?" Sylva asked.

    "He''ll find us on the highway."

    They got out of Bina''s father''s car, with Kino moving stiffly, like a robot. Sylva chucked the keys into a nearby ditch.

    Keep watched her do that with a ghost of amusement on her face, though really there was nothing funny about the situation. "They''re probably going to scrap the car, you know."

    "Who?"

    "Your Imperial goons. Make it look like an accident."

    "Oh. Right." Sylva shrugged. "Are we just walking?"

    "Yeah."

    They walked down the dirt path, towards the side of the highway. The weather was clear but cold now, and the sun was below the tops of the surrounding trees, though its light peeked through their leafless branches. They stumbled along the side of the road, the occasional car whizzing past them with no indication that it cared to stop. Sylva''s instincts were to complain, but she clamped down on them as they walked in painful silence.

    Across the dividing median of the highway, a car flashed its headlights and slowed to a stop at the side of the road.

    "That''s our ride," Keep said. She looked down the road, checking to see if there were any cars coming. No rumble could be heard and no headlights could be seen, so she lithely jogged across to the median. Sylva followed, significantly less lithely.

    Kino was coming, but as the spark of a headlight crested into view over a distant hill, she stopped in the middle of the road and stared at it, coming closer and closer. Sylva, fed up, ran back out into the road and dragged Kino by the arm back into the safety of the median. The car passed by ten seconds later without seeming to have noticed them.

    Keep shook her head, and they crossed the other side of the highway without further incident.

    The man waiting in the driver''s seat of the other car was slim and old, wearing a dark suit. He looked them over with a mild expression of disgust as they climbed in. Sylva couldn''t really blame them¡ªthe trio was crusted in a combination of dried mud and dried blood, and it was hard to tell where one crust ended and another began. They probably smelled bad, as well.

    "Mr. Olenya is not happy about the loss of his shuttle," the man said as they got in the car.

    Sylva glanced at Keep. "I''ll pay it back," Sylva said.

    "That will not be necessary," the driver said. "Not at this moment."

    Keep frowned, the motion barely visible within the dim light of the car''s interior. The driver started the car back up, and they sped down the highway, making an illegal u-turn across a paved spot in the median.

    It was a long, awkward, and silent drive. Sylva didn''t feel comfortable talking to Keep, who was sitting in front, and Kino was so lost in her own misery that Sylva knew saying anything to her would be pointless. That left her with nothing to do but stare out the backseat window of the slick car and think.

    She had killed Kino''s sister. Kino didn''t have to know that, and Bina was going to have died anyway, probably, but Sylva had still done that. And what about the two men that she had dropped the shuttle on? They were dead, too. And that woman¡ªshe wouldn''t have died if Sylva hadn''t literally stolen the oxygen from her lungs, even if it was Keep who actually shot her. What did all of this mean? Sylva couldn''t figure it out. She had killed a bunch of people. That was a fact. But she didn''t feel very much different. The world was going on in its same old pace, and all the people that Sylva cared about-- well, most of them-- were alive still.

    Bina was dead, but that wasn''t Sylva''s fault. Not really, anyway.

    She wasn''t going to tell Kino about it, but maybe she would talk to Yan later. Yan would understand. Or Iri. Looking over at the slumped form of Kino, Sylva desperately wished that Iri were here.

    The sun was long gone from the sky by time they arrived at their destination. Sylva had to assume this was the house of the previously mentioned Mr. Olenya. It was far from any city, as far as Sylva could tell, and when they peeled off the highway, it still took a good stretch of backroads, and then a long winding driveway lined with neatly planted trees, to arrive at the house. It was an imposing fa?ade, lit with tasteful lights scattered about the front, with columns and high arching windows showing off the front. It was a real country mansion. Though Bina Warez''s family had been rich, and their house had been clearly luxe from the outside, it was nothing compared to this, as they were constrained by the city. Here, there was room for a bubbling fountain out front, and carefully manicured bushes, and statues of the faces of God.

    The driver pulled them round the back and looked scornfully at them as they exited the car. Sylva practically had to pull Kino out.

    "In there," the driver said, pointing to a rather less imposing door than one that had been in the front of the house. "Someone will give you rooms and new clothes."

    "Thanks," Sylva muttered, tugging Kino''s arm.

    Keep led them through the door, into the warm house. There was a woman there, dressed in the classic gaudy Hanathue colors, who had clearly been peering out the window at them, but stopped when they came in. She didn''t seem disgusted by their filth, and she grabbed Keep in an enthusiastic hug when she came in.

    "Didn''t expect to see you," she said.

    "Neither did I," Keep said, smiling a little and pushing the woman away. "Marre, this is Sylva and Kino."

    "Pleasure to meet you," Marre said, looking them over. When her gaze landed on Kino, she seemed taken aback. "I never forget a face¡ªyou look very familiar. Are you from around here?"

    Kino didn''t respond, seemingly numb to the entire situation. Keep rescued the moment from complete awkwardness. "I suppose the secret is very much out of the dark," she said. "Kino Mejia, you''ve probably seen her on the news."

    It was the last name that struck a chord for Marre, and she gasped. "Well, Apprentice! We should have had you in through the front door. I wasn''t expecting to have official guests."

    "I think we''re about as unofficial as it gets at this point," Sylva said under her breath.

    Marre considered it. "Well, official or not, let''s get you cleaned up. Mr. Olenya requests his guests'' presence at dinner."

    At the mere mention of food, Sylva''s stomach grumbled. She hadn''t eaten since that morning, and she was quite hungry, now that she thought about it.

    Marre led the three of them out of the little antechamber in which they had been standing, down a narrow hallway, and up a set of stairs. She unlocked a door at the top of the stairs with a press of her thumb against a fingerprint reader, and it clicked open, spilling them out into a broad and well lit hallway, with a plush red and gold carpet on the floor, and white walls covered in paintings. She beckoned them forward, and unlocked three more doors, each opening into guest bedrooms. Sylva glanced at Keep and Kino.

    "Alright, I''ll be back with something for you to wear," Marre said. "Please make use of the bathrooms."

    Keep entered the far right room without any hesitation, and Marre pushed Sylva and Kino into their own rooms, shutting the door behind them. Sylva heard it click, and didn''t like the sound of it. She jiggled the handle, just as a test, and found it locked. A mild panic beat in her chest, but she took a deep breath. She was a sensitive, after all, and doors were nothing. She took a moment to examine the rest of the bedroom. The bed was tall and canopied, neatly made in dark blue sheets. All the furniture was a rich dark wood, ornately carved along its decorative edges. The lights were soft and yellow, and though they were bright to look at, they didn''t cast their light very far, so the whole room felt dim. Perhaps it was intended to be cozy, but it was mostly just creepy. She pulled open the door to the closet and found it empty, except for wooden hangers. The other door in the room led into the bathroom.

    Although Sylva was getting a pretty bad feeling from this place, enough that she really didn''t want to strip down and shower, she had no real choice. The bathroom was large enough that it had both a tub and a shower, and while the tub was exciting (carved out of some kind of black stone), Sylva felt that the less time she had to spend naked in this place, the better. When she stepped inside the shower and pulled the heavy cloth curtains closed, she felt like she was isolated from the whole world.

    It was pretty nice to get all of Bina''s blood off of her.

    When she emerged, dripping wet, she found that her clothes were gone (including her phone, which had been in her pocket, and her bag, which she had been hauling around all day), and in their place was a dark blue gown, hung on a hanger on the door of the bathroom. On the counter were a few pieces of jewelry: earrings and a necklace. They were heavier than they looked, and the white stones in them caught the light impressively. She was relieved to find that there was underwear, but annoyed that there were no shoes. Not having any real alternative, she put the clothes on. They fit well, but she wouldn''t have ever chosen this ensemble for herself. She had to wonder who this guy Mr. Olenya was, that he had a whole wardrobe of women''s clothing in her size, and presumably Kino and Keep''s sizes as well, that he would hand out to guests.

    On her bare feet, she padded back out into the bedroom and checked the door lock again. It was still locked, which disappointed but did not surprise. She took stock of the situation for a moment, wondering briefly how much time had passed during her shower. There were no clocks in the room, and her phone was gone.

    What would Yan do? What would Iri do? Sylva had to wonder. Iri probably wouldn''t have let herself get into this situation in the first place. She definitely wouldn''t have let herself get separated from her charge¡ªif Sylva considered Kino her charge, which, at this point, she probably should. And even if she had gotten into this situation, Iri would definitely have some sort of plan of escape. Maybe she would break the lock on the door, then rescue Kino and Keep, and steal a car and ditch.

    Yan, on the other hand, would probably investigate the situation before doing something rash. Sylva didn''t love that, but she had to admit it was a better idea than attempting to bust out immediately. She sat on the bed, attempting to cross her legs, but realizing that her fancy gown prevented her from doing so. She felt on the whole like some sort of stuffed doll on display, and that feeling distracted her as she closed her eyes and tried to stretch out the power into the other rooms.

    She stretched. The power, as always, wanted to wiggle itself out of her hands, but she pushed it through the air and towards the wall towards Keep''s room. It passed through the wall, as though it were immaterial, and Sylva found, to her shock, that the walls were alarmingly thick. Completely soundproofed, perhaps. Inside Keep''s room, she felt Keep''s presence and no one else''s. That was good. If Keep was alone, that meant that no funny business was going on.

    Sylva switched her attention to the opposite wall and felt around in Kino''s room. She panicked for a moment when she felt no one, but then remembered that Kino was cursed or blessed with chronic invisibility. Well, as long as "no one" was in that room, things seemed fine. After all, Sylva could probably break them out at any time. There was just no reason to yet.

    Bored, Sylva got off the bed and paced back and forth. She wanted to send a message to Keep, which she could probably do by flicking the lights on and off or something, but there would be no way for Keep to respond, and that would be stupid. She could also send a message to Kino, but based on the way Kino had been behaving, Kino probably wouldn''t respond, which was also stupid. This left Sylva feeling trapped and alone, but not in quite enough immediate danger to do something about it.

    There was a knock on the door.

    "Come in," Sylva yelled, acting more on instinct than rationality.

    The door swung open, revealing Marre and Keep, who gave her a grim sort of smile. "Are you ready for dinner?" Marre asked.

    "I guess so," Sylva said.

    "Excellent." She held the door open, and Sylva stepped out into the hallway, hating the feeling of carpet on her bare feet. Marre apparently had the privilege of shoes, but Keep was similarly barefooted. Her dress was an emerald green, which caught the light and shone. It was low cut and sleeveless, so it revealed the full extent of her tattoos, curling up her neck and down her arms, chest, and back. A necklace with a single golden drop hung around Keep''s neck, landing exactly in the middle of her chest where her tattoos swirled to an elaborate center. Sylva blushed a little and looked away. It wasn''t as though she hadn''t seen Keep completely naked before, but this was a very different circumstance.

    As the door to her bedroom shut behind them, Marre knocked on Kino''s door. "Apprentice Mejia, are you ready in there?" Her voice held a tone of petulance that it hadn''t when she had asked Sylva a similar question, and Sylva glanced at Keep with concern plain on her face. Keep, however, kept on the same grim smile. She wasn''t a stranger to this place, and clearly knew the rules of behavior.

    With a sigh, Marre opened the door without waiting for an answer from Kino.

    Kino was dressed, at least, in a long black dress. She hadn''t put on any of the jewelry that Sylva presumed that she had been given, and she was sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her hand prosthetic was missing. Sylva brushed past Marre and over to Kino, grabbing her arm and hoisting her to her feet. She didn''t resist, and she stood on her own, but that was about all that Sylva could say for her.

    She squeezed Kino''s bare arm, and tried to send a message to her through the power.

    "Cooperate, please," she silently begged. "Don''t fuck this up."

    There was no response, so Sylva gently pulled Kino out of the room and into the hallway. Marre smiled again and led them along the hallway down a long and ornate staircase, into an entrance hall where Sylva caught a glimpse of the front door. She wanted to run out of it, but bare feet, well, they were a way of keeping a person in check.

    They came at last to a closed set of heavy wooden doors, and Marre rapped on them with her knuckles. "Mr. Olenya, your guests are ready."

    "Come in," a man''s voice said.

    The doors opened into a dining room, a small one (Sylva wouldn''t have doubted that there was a larger one somewhere in this sprawling mansion), with a table that sat eight. There was just one man at the table, dressed in the colorful flowing sleeved shirts that people favored on this planet. The lights were yellow and dim, and they cast his face into shadow as he stood up.

    Olenya was of medium height, bronze skin, straight black hair. It was impossible to tell under the shirt if he was fit or simply thin: it disguised his physique quite well. He smiled, but it didn''t reach his eyes.

    "Keeper-of-Promises, I''m so glad you could join me here while you''re on planet. It''s been a while." His voice was cold but had the feeling like he was trying to tone it to be friendly.

    "It certainly has, Valeri," Keep said, with her own weird tone of voice. This was clearly some sort of act, and Sylva was just going to have to play along.

    "And what beautiful friends you''ve brought me tonight," Olenya said.

    "This is Sylva and Kino," Keep said, pointing them out. Sylva did her best to smile, but Kino stood blank faced. Sylva couldn''t even tell if she was aware of where she was, or what was going on around her. It was beginning to be a little creepy, and definitely not opportune.

    "Take a seat, please, my friends," Olenya said. He gestured magnanimously at the table. Keep took a seat at his right side, and Sylva spent an indecisive moment hesitating, before dragging Kino over to the left side of the table. She was next to Olenya and across from Keep, with Kino at her other side. It was probably for the best to keep Kino slightly further away.

    "Would you care for something to drink?" Olenya asked.

    "Of course, thank you," Keep said, looking hard at Sylva.

    "Er, yes, I''d love something, thank you," Sylva said. It seemed like the best course of action to follow along with what Keep was doing.

    "And Ms. Kino?" Olenya prompted.

    "She''d love something as well, I''m sure," Keep said smoothly. Kino just stared blankly down at the empty plate in front of her.

    "Very well." Olenya pressed some sort of button underneath the table, and a moment later a servant appeared, dressed in a black suit. He had shoes on, Sylva noted. He carried a bottle of wine, and he poured it into every one''s glasses.

    Sylva, being very thirsty, was tempted to reach for hers immediately, but she saw that Keep kept her hands folded gracefully on her lap, so she resisted the urge.

    Olenya reached for his glass. "To unexpected friends coming to visit." Keep raised hers and clinked it against his.

    "To beautiful new acquaintances," he said, and quickly Sylva raised her glass to his.

    "And to your health," he said to Kino, looking pointedly at her mangled left hand. Kino didn''t move for a second, then Sylva kicked her under the table, and she dully raised the glass and knocked it against Olenya''s. He smiled thinly but covered it by taking a sip of his wine. Sylva, Keep, and Kino also drank. Sylva''s brain fixated on the idea that she should savor it, because it was probably extraordinarily expensive, but she didn''t have the experience or palate to appreciate it.

    "So," Olenya said, leaning back in his chair. "How do the three of you know eachother? And a more timely question, how did you all come to be here with me?"

    Sylva looked over at Keep to see if she would answer that question. It was a dicey situation, to have this man know who Kino was, and Keep, and have them all relying on him. Sylva definitely didn''t want to tell him everything, but she might end up being forced to.

    Keep spoke. "Sylva travelled aboard the Warrior II for a while. She was with me when Trav was born."

    "Oh, how nice," Olenya said. "You must be very close."

    Sylva didn''t know if she should be offended or relieved that Keep didn''t mention that Sylva had been responsible for delivering the baby. Keep was probably still bitter about learning that Sylva was not, had never been, and never would be a real doctor.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "I suppose," Keep said. "I''ve been trying to help her out of a spot of trouble."

    "I see. Well, let''s not discuss trouble quite yet. And you, Ms. Kino?"

    Sylva took the reigns on this question. "I am, er, was¡ª" she remembered that Yan was supposed to be dead¡ª "in love with Kino''s coworker, Yan. That''s how we know eachother." Sylva said, very awkwardly.

    "From my occasional reading of Imperial news, I had been led to believe that you were travelling with the Fleet." He looked over at Kino. "And no offense to you, Keeper-of-Promises, but I wouldn''t typically expect First Sandreas''s apprentice to be galivanting around with pirates."

    There was a long and awkward silence, as neither Sylva nor Keep could figure out quite how to respond, and Kino wasn''t saying anything.

    "I had heard that you were taciturn, but I hadn''t imagined you were quite like this, Ms. Kino," Olenya said.

    "I''m sorry," Keep said. "She''s had a horrible experience. I think she''s in shock. It might be better to leave her alone."

    "Oh?"

    "Her sister died," Sylva said.

    "Sister?"

    "Bina..." Kino whispered, and Sylva looked at her, slightly shocked that she was saying anything.

    "Bina who?"

    "Bina Warez," Sylva said.

    "As in Councilman Warez?"

    "Yes."

    "I wasn''t aware that there was a family connection there," Olenya said. "I should call to give my condolences."

    He pulled out a phone from his pocket. It made sense that Olenya knew the Warez family. Sylva had the suspicion that all rich people tended to know each other. Still, she tensed up when she saw that Olenya was about to call right then.

    "He probably doesn''t know yet," Keep said, interrupting Olenya''s action. "It''s a complicated situation. You probably don''t want to be the one to tell him that his daughter is dead."

    "Please don''t tell me what I do and don''t want, Keeper-of-Promises," Olenya said gamely. He put the phone away. "I''ll wait until I see the news, then."

    The conversation was momentarily interrupted as the first course came in, a salad, and was doled out onto every one''s plates.

    "A blessing on your heads," Olenya said, then picked up his fork to eat. Sylva was relieved that he wasn''t going to ask them to pray. Not that she had anything in general against praying, but she hadn''t done it in a long time, and today in particular she wasn''t feeling it.

    The salad was good. She noticed that Keep stopped eating as soon as Olenya put his fork down, so Sylva hurriedly copied this action, even though she wasn''t finished with her salad. Kino had barely touched hers.

    A servant came in and took the salad plates away, and replaced them with small bowls of soup, a light and spicy broth.

    There wasn''t much conversation as they ate, which was a relief, and Sylva began to grow more comfortable with reading the room through Keep''s actions.  The main course was a beef dish, which Sylva barely was able to enjoy for how quickly she scarfed it down.

    Then came dessert, and the conversation picked back up again. Sylva had gotten real food inside of herself, so she was able to slow down and pick at her chocolate cake more delicately than she had the main course. Kino had barely eaten anything. She thought about trying to egg her into eating more, but decided it was better to let the matter pass. Kino would have to eat more eventually.

    "So, tell me about this complicated situation that you''re in. I''ve been told that it somehow involved the complete destruction of the shuttle I loaned you."

    "I''m very sorry about that," Keep said.

    "How exactly was it destroyed?"

    Kino was looking down at her plate, and her breath, though quiet, came in rough little spurts that indicated to Sylva that she was on the edge of tears.

    "An Imperial agent bombed it," Keep said. She had been awake to see what had happened, so that was as good of an explanation as Olenya was going to get.

    "Indeed. And what, exactly, were Imperial agents doing, bombing my shuttle?"

    Sylva should have asked Keep what they were getting into when they were driving by themselves. She had been so focused on recounting the past, and had just expected Keep to take care of things, that she hadn''t adequately prepared for the future, and how to answer this question. She didn''t know if this Mr. Olenya could be trusted further than she could throw him (which probably wasn''t very far), and she didn''t know how much of the secret Yan would want her to let out. If Kino were functional, maybe she would know how to answer these questions, but Kino wasn''t functional, and probably wasn''t going to get functional at any time soon.

    So it was left to Sylva to chart this dangerous course, with no knowledge and the feeling that she was probably going to make some kind of awful, awful mistake.

    "It''s a bit of a complicated situation," Sylva said.

    Olenya''s voice was dry as bone. "I see."

    She kept talking. "We''re not exactly in Imperial good graces right now."

    "I had gathered that much," Olenya said. "I suppose I should be more specific. Let''s start with maybe the question at the root of the issue: why are you," he looked at Kino, "on the outs with First Sandreas?"

    Sylva thought of a lie as quickly as possible. It spilled out of her with the practice that came from lying to everyone about being a doctor, the practice that came from bullshitting her way through the Academy when she could barely use the power, the practice that came from years of evading parental scrutiny by smoothing situations over as quickly as she could. She clenched her toes under the table and hoped that Keep would go along with her. Improv. Yes, and...

    "Kino was discovered to be using her position to profit off of smuggling," Sylva said, blurting it out. "She was involved in it for years, before her apprenticeship, and kept escalating it. She got caught, and has been on the run since then. That''s why we''re all together."

    Mr. Olenya laughed. "A businesswoman, now that I can respect."

    Even though Sylva''s story sounded absolutely insane to her own ears, it probably was less crazy than the truth, and Olenya was accepting it, or pretending to accept it.

    "I had business on Hanathue, as you know," Keep said, going along with this ruse. "And Kino wanted to see her sister, so we were travelling together. Unfortunately, it seems like Kino is a higher priority target than we had expected."

    "I really don''t know why you thought that she would be a low priority target. If I were First Sandreas, and no offense to you, Ms. Mejia, the first thing that I would do would be to kill you, once I found out."

    "Well, as you can see, she is very much alive," Keep said, smiling grimly

    "Not her sister, though. It seems overenthusiastic on the part of the Empire," Olenya said. "Mr. Warez is a very respected man, and he has the potential to make life difficult for the Empire."

    "Do you think he will?" Sylva asked, unable to keep the curiosity and mild hope out of her voice.

    Olenya looked at her with an appraising eye. "Why do you ask?"

    "Making things difficult for the Empire is..." Sylva paused to collect her words. "Well, it makes smuggling easier. And we have a kind of vested interest in it now."

    "What do you mean?" Olenya asked.

    "A life for a life," Keep said, though Sylva would not have put it exactly that way. "Or at least enough trouble to be comparable."

    Olenya scraped the last of his cake up and finished his cup of wine. "I see." He leaned back in his seat, looking at the assembled group, then stood. "Join me in the drawing room, I''d like to continue this conversation in a more relaxed setting." He walked away, and Keep stood up quickly, though she glanced at Sylva with an almost pained expression on her face. Olenya was still in the room, so Sylva couldn''t ask what exactly was the matter, but she felt anxious as she pulled Kino up from her seat and followed Olenya out and down the hallway.

    The drawing room was dark, with heavy curtains over the windows, and lights on the walls that flickered in an approximation of candles. The place had a peculiar smell that Sylva couldn''t place, musty and herbal, like incense that had gone bad but that was still being burned. A real fire behind a grate was a weirdly ostentatious addition to the room.

    "Sit with me, Keeper-of-Promises," Olenya said, gesturing to one couch to the left of the fireplace. Keep smiled gracefully and took a seat on it, leaving Kino and Sylva to take up residence on another couch together. Sylva sank down into it so deeply that she knew it would be almost a struggle to get up again. Kino perched on the very edge of the couch and stared into the flames. Sylva was half worried that she was going to reach out and stick her arm int them, but she didn''t try to switch places with her once that had sat.

    Olenya wrapped his arm around Keep''s shoulders, and Sylva tried to stifle a grimace at the way that his fingers trailed over her bare upper arm. Keep kept smiling, but she sat so stiffly that it was clear that this was out of obligation only. There was silence for a moment, and Olenya looked at the door as though he expected someone else to enter.

    There was a knock on the door, and Olenya called out, "Come in."

    A servant, again dressed in a black suit, appeared carrying a covered tray. "What''s your poison or your pleasure, ladies?" Olenya asked.

    The servant bent down, and Olenya opened the tray, revealing an array of different drugs. If Sylva hadn''t spent so much time on black stations, she probably would have called this debauched, but it seemed to be everyday business for this hyper rich man. He selected a herbal cigarette, which he rolled himself on the end table, and lit with a silver lighter he pulled from his pocket. The servant held the tray out to Keep, and she was clearly about to take the same thing, but Olenya slapped her hand away and chose for her. "How about something a little stronger tonight, my dear?"

    "Of course," Keep said, smiling that same vapid smile. Olenya took a pill from the tray and held it to Keep''s lips. She opened her mouth, and he put it inside, his finger touching her chin and neck to feel her dry swallow it.

    The servant walked over to Kino and Sylva, handing out the tray. Sylva took the risk that she would also be rebuffed for choosing the weakest option, the cigarette, but she didn''t know what the other options were, or what they were likely to do, and she was the only one who had even the remotest chance of staying functional in this situation, and she wanted to hold onto that. The panic and horror was settling into her gut. She fumbled with the wrapper and failed to roll it appropriately. She nudged Kino, who, with the same blank stare she had had all evening, took it from her, rolled it, and lit it with the power on the tip of her finger before passing it back to Sylva.

    "And you, my little smuggler, what will you have?" Olenya asked, looking at Kino as the servant held the tray out to her. Kino didn''t hesitate for a second, and she grabbed at some white pills. Through some sleight of hand, several pills vanished from the tray, though only one entered Kino''s mouth.

    Olenya laughed. It wasn''t clear if he had noticed that Kino had stolen more than her fair share, but Sylva doubted that he actually cared. "Vena is some strong stuff," he said. "You''re an interesting one."

    Kino said nothing, merely stared deep into the fire. Sylva took a drag of the cigarette smoldering in her hand, and coughed at the fumes. This was all so bad.

    The servant left, and for a few minutes there was silence in the room. It grew awkward, but Olenya seemed relaxed. Keep put her hand to her mouth, and there was a choked sound that came from her, like a stifled giggle. Olenya smiled and leaned onto her broad shoulder. The sight of it made Sylva sick, or was that the cigarette?

    Olenya broke the silence, blowing out smoke to the ceiling. "So, what is it that you''ve come to me for, my new friends?" he asked. "Is it something that I can provide?"

    "Keep knows you," Sylva said, the words feeling soft and blurry in her mouth. "She thought that you could help us."

    "Keeper-of-Promises knows me very well, yes," Olenya said. "And what is it that you want?" He looked at her, at her hand over her mouth, her eyes slid half shut.

    Keep giggled again. "Just want," she laughed, "to go home."

    "You need passage to the Warrior II?" Olenya asked.

    Sylva was about to say no, but she bit her tongue. Even if Xuanhuan was their eventual destination, the Warrior II could help get them there. And she thought that the less this man knew about their specific plans, the better. "Yeah."

    "You''ve already cost me, in terms of resources. Is there some reason I should help you?"

    "Because you''re my friend," Keep said, voice light and high.

    "That may be," Olenya said, running a hand over Keep''s hair. "But friendship has its limits, and its price."

    Keep laughed again, but didn''t say anything.

    Sylva''s mind raced. She needed to find a way to swing this. Her brain felt like it was moving at quarter speed.

    Olenya continued speaking as Sylva''s brain churned in its slow course, mulling over all the possibilities. "You know, my shuttle was destroyed by Imperial agents, which puts me on their radar. I don''t like that, not at all. It would be tying myself to you, and risking dragging myself down with you, to help you more. Is there a compelling reason why I should risk my own business? That''s all I''m asking." His voice was calm but sharp, and cut through the haze around Sylva like a knife.

    She strung her answer together, fishing for each word like she was picking up beads to form a necklace. She was sweating. The heat from the fire was intense. "There is a chance that you could profit," Sylva said. "If you are willing to work with us."

    She knew on one level that she was probably digging her own grave, and she was probably going to have to reconcile this with Yan at some point, but that was later. This was now. If she could strike a deal...

    "What do you mean?" Olenya said. He seemed interested but not invested.

    "If we can..." she stumbled over the words a little, "restructure... the way the Empire works... There''s room for some people to come out on top."

    "I thought you had decided to only take revenge for Ms. Bina Warez," Olenya said, clearly somewhat confused.

    "No, this is bigger than that," Sylva said. "We originally wanted to shake up power to gain power. Best way to make goods flow better."

    Olenya traced Keep''s arm tattoos with one lazy finger, and she giggled some more. Goosebumps were visible on her arms, even in the heat of the room.

    "I see," he said. "How big is your operation?"

    "It''s hard to say."

    "Why?"

    "Things are decentralized," Sylva said. "They had to be, to not get cracked down on."

    "Is Ms. Mejia not on the top?"

    "She was working on it. We still are." All the lies were building on each other. She spun them together like wool, covering earlier holes in the story, forming a new pattern

    "And you think that in a big shakeup of the Empire..."

    "Kino could come out on top."

    "On top of what?"

    Sylva took a drag of her cigarette in order to give herself time to answer. "On top of whatever is going to make the most amount of money."

    It was Olenya who laughed at that one. "I like you, Sylva."

    She smiled, rather uncomfortably. "Thank you."

    "It surprises me that you''re willing to cut me a piece of the pie."

    "You clearly have experience and connections, and you have something that we need right now. I''m willing to make friends. I don''t see it as a bad business proposition to cut you in." In her brain, she was wondering exactly how bad it would be if she did attempt to abandon Olenya as soon as they had acquired his assistance in getting off planet. It would probably come back badly on Keep and the whole of the Warrior II, which Sylva didn''t exactly want. She was making promises in over her head, but she hadn''t exactly said anything concrete.

    "And what would be the work that I would be expected to do with you?"

    Sylva shifted uncomfortably in the too-plush chair. "Keep didn''t tell me really what you deal in."

    "Oh, everything." He waved his hand, wafting some smoke away.

    "Weapons? Ships?"

    He grinned, a predatory looking thing. "You''re jumping right to the big stuff. I''m surprised that''s what you''re looking for."

    "I have my reasons," Sylva said.

    "That I presume you are not going to disclose?"

    "We''re not that good of friends, Mr. Olenya."

    "I appreciate your forthrightness."

    "Would that be something you''re willing to sell?"

    "Of course," he said. "Though I would perhaps like to know who I would be selling to."

    "I think a good first step would be to have you meet with one of our contacts." She imagined a meeting between Olenya and Jeepak, found the image extremely funny in a horrible way, and tried to stop herself from smiling.

    "I agree, and I look forward to it." He was silent for a long while, long enough that it moved past the point of Sylva thinking that she should say something else, and into a truly awkward territory. He broke the silence casually. "You have your trip off planet, by the way. I''ll loan you another shuttle. One that I expect to return to me undestroyed."

    "Thank you," Sylva said, truly grateful, and the relief was palpable in her voice. Her cigarette had burned down to nothing, and she stubbed the end of it out in an ashtray.

    Olenya checked the time on his phone. "It''s late. You should sleep." He made no move to stand, however, and Sylva had grown used to following his cues, so she stayed seated for a moment, until he raised an eyebrow, then she stood hurriedly, struggling for a moment to get off the couch.

    "Come on, Kino," she said.

    Kino didn''t move. Her pupils were huge, and her breathing was almost imperceptibly shallow. Sylva grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She stumbled and leaned on Sylva heavily. Sylva looked at Keep, who was still in Olenya''s arms, and hesitated. She didn''t want to leave Keep alone with this man, but she didn''t want to make a scene, either, since they were all depending on his goodwill.

    Keep looked up at her and giggled a little.

    Sylva hesitated. "Are you coming, Keep?"

    "She''ll be up later," Olenya said. "Say goodnight, Keeper-of-Promises."

    "Goodnight," Keep said with a laugh. Olenya stared at Sylva, hard. It was hard to tell in the dark light of the drawing room, but Sylva thought she saw Keep mouth something. "Go," maybe.

    Yan wouldn''t have left her there, Sylva felt. Neither would Iri have. But she wasn''t Yan, and she wasn''t Iri either, so I was all that Sylva could do to drag Kino out of the room, where Marre was waiting, and pull her up the stairs to bed.

    There was one little act of resistance that Sylva was able to pull off. When Marre tried to shut them each in their own separate rooms, Sylva stopped her.

    "Can Kino and I stay together, please?" she asked. "I don''t want to leave her like this."

    "I assure you, she''ll be perfectly safe by herself," Marre said.

    "It''s for my own peace of mind," Sylva insisted. Marre sighed and relented, letting them both into Sylva''s room. She handed Sylva two sets of pajamas, then shut the door, locking them both in. Sylva was too stressed out about everything else to care about that minor inconvenience.

    Kino stood in the center of the room, seemingly dead to the world.

    "Come on, Kino, take the dress off," Sylva said in her most cajoling voice. If they had to run, which Sylva had half a thought that they might still, the pajama pants they had been handed were probably easier to manouver in than the fancy dresses they were currently wearing.

    Kino showed no signs of moving for the moment, so Sylva ignored her again and changed out of her own dress and into the pajamas. They were a little loose and floaty, but they would do for sleeping, at the very least, even if she had no intention of sleeping. She removed the jewelry with a tiny bit of regret; she did enjoy a touch of fanciness on occasion. Still, she didn''t want to take any more from Mr. Olenya than was absolutely necessary.

    When she was done changing, and had washed her face ad rinsed out her mouth in the bathroom (there was no sign of toothbrush or toothpaste), Sylva returned to Kino, who stared at the wall with those huge pupils and a blank expression. Sylva put her hands on her hips and considered the situation, then resorted to walking behind Kino and unzipping the dress and letting it fall off her. As it slid to the ground, the pills that Kino had stolen earlier fell out of the bra cups and tumbled to the floor. Sylva picked them up with a grimace and put them on the dresser.

    Kino at least cooperated when Sylva pulled the pajama shirt down over her head, and let Sylva wrestle her arms through it. Sylva didn''t bother with the pants. That would have been too much of a headache. In any event, she nudged Kino towards the bed and got her to sit, then lay down. She pulled the blankets up over her.

    It was disconcerting, how Kino didn''t close her eyes.

    Sylva flipped off the lightswitch, then sat on the bed herself, pulling the covers up over her lap and leaning back against the headboard. She had no intention of sleeping. Although her head felt somewhat muffled from the cigarette she had smoked earlier, she still tried to use the power. It came to her, if sluggishly. She stretched it out through the house, to the extents of her ability. Admittedly, this was not very far, but it was better than having no sense of what was going on in the house.

    There were more people here than she had expected. She could feel the light of life in at least ten people, though she knew her power fizzled out before it reached even the full extent of the large building. Some of those people she could account for: Mr. Olenya himself, Keep, Marre, the driver, the servant who had brought in their food, perhaps the person who had cooked their food in the first place, but that still left so many people that she had no idea who they were. It alarmed her, a little, but she didn''t think that she would have been any more comfortable in a huge and barren house, so she let it go.

    Oddly, none of the lights were close together. That was a relief, in some sense. it meant that Mr. Olenya had left Keep alone, though Keep not being in the room next door meant that something strange and probably unpleasant was still going on. Sylva kept her watch, sinking deeply into the power, watching the lights travel in and out of her range.

    One thing she noticed, which did alarm her, was that this house had an underground component. She was on the second floor, but she could feel people moving around below her, far below her, and occasionally they moved out of her range completely, moving into the bowels of the earth. This whole place gave her the creeps. There was nothing good about Olenya, she decided. It had been a mistake to try to work with him, but she was wrapped up in that lie now. As long as they got off planet in one piece, that was all she needed. The rest could be figured out as it came.

    She was jerked out of her meditation by a weird sound next to her. At first she couldn''t place it, because she had grown so detached from her body she had almost forgotten where she was and who was next to her (especially since Kino did not show up within the power). Sylva opened her eyes. The room was completely dark, so it didn''t really matter that she did.

    Kino was making an odd sound, curled up on herself, breathing strangely. Worried that it might be some kind of bad reaction to the Vena that she had taken, Sylva shook her shoulder. "Kino, are you ok?"

    Kino shuddered underneath her hand, and the sound grew identifiable as ragged, stifled breathing and sobs that Kino was trying to choke down. Sylva didn''t know what to do. She had never seen Kino cry before, she didn''t think. Not even back when they had first been aboard the First Star. She didn''t know Kino.

    She was frozen in a sort of awkward stillness as Kino continued to cry next to her.

    Was she supposed to comfort Kino? Did she want that? Could Kino even be comforted? Why should it be Sylva, if Sylva had been the one to actually kill Bina in the first place? The questions rolled around in Sylva''s brain with no answer, and, again, she wished that Yan were here. Or Iri. Or anyone else. Anyone but her would have been able to handle this situation with more grace, more skill.

    What would Yan do? What did Yan do?

    Sylva thought back to that first day they had been on the First Star. Sylva had been so angry. She had wanted to hurt Kino, and had been angry at Yan for caring about Kino. Selfish. She was a selfish creature, she knew. But Yan had held Kino''s hand.

    She wasn''t Yan, but she tried to pretend to be. She slid down, underneath the covers, and grabbed Kino, wrapping her in a tight hug. "It''s okay," Sylva whispered. "It''s ok."

    Kino continued to cry, but she didn''t push Sylva away. Sylva stroked her shorn hair, felt the warmth of her body, listened to her ragged breathing, whispered things she hoped were soothing. Eventually, Kino seemed to melt in her arms, twitching occasionally, as sleep took her. Sylva lay there still, and tried to contain the situation.

    <hr>

    In the morning, Sylva was relieved to find that Mr. Olenya wanted nothing more to do with them, and that Keep seemed to be unharmed. On the surface, at least.

    They had been given their belongings back, along with new clothes (normal) and, thankfully, shoes.

    Sylva was too tired to appreciate the breakfast that they were served, in a far less formal dining room than they had been in the night before. She hadn''t slept in... almost two days. Kino barely ate, and didn''t acknowledge whatever had passed between the two of them the night before.

    They were driven to an airfield, about two hours drive distant from Olenya''s house, one that had large hangers housing private planes, and no other traffic. The driver showed them to one hanger, and there was a plane inside, but more importantly, a space-to-ground shuttle, a tiny one, but a shuttle nonetheless.

    "Please do not allow this one to get destroyed," the driver said, handing Keep an envelope. "You may leave it with a beacon on, and one of Mr. Olenya''s associates will retrieve it."

    "Did the Warrior II respond?" Keep asked.

    "They should be in system within six days," the driver said. "The shuttle has enough supplies for twice that."

    Keep nodded. "I suppose I was lucky that you were able to contact them. They''re not usually in contact range."

    "Mr. Olenya would not let you off planet without guarantees for your safety."

    Keep smiled, an expression that was clearly an ill disguised grimace. "I have nothing but thanks for Mr. Olenya''s concern."

    "He protects his assets."

    "Well, thank you again," Keep said. "We''d better get going." She walked over to the shuttle and gently touched its side before opening its heavy door. "In, you two."

    Sylva pulled Kino by the arm and loaded into the small shuttle.

    <hr>

    Six days of being with Keep and Kino took their toll on Sylva. Kino didn''t say a word the entire time and barely acknowledged their presence. Sylva found it difficult to broach the subject of the future with Keep, especially as they would be returning to the Warrior II, where everyone thought that she was a doctor. And, maybe more especially, because she had gotten them deeply embroiled with Mr. Olenya.

    She wanted to ask Keep what had transpired after Sylva and Keep had left that night, but every time she brought it up, the words died on her lips, stifled by a kind of horrible awkwardness and feeling of guilt. She didn''t want to know, because then she would feel responsible for it, but she did want to know, because she was curious and because she perhaps wanted to make amends. Keep showed no signs of being wounded in any way, so Sylva just had to hope that it was all normal. It was normal.

    They saw the Warrior II before the Warrior II saw them. Both ships wanted to keep radio silence, because they were both wanted ships: pirates one and all. They met in orbit around the furthest planet out from Hanathue''s star, a cold little rock. They orbited so far from the planet''s surface that it could barely even be called an orbit; the tether of gravity was so little that any force could have sent them spinning away into space rather than working their lonely circle.

    The Warrior II jumped into a lower orbit, from outside the solar system, and its bulk eclipsing the stars and planet from their shuttle''s view was enough to get a fix on it and send a burst of radio confirming their position and allowing them to link up.

    They landed in the Warrior II''s bay, and were immediately greeted by Keep''s brother, Sign, and husband, Shielder, who was holding the fat baby Trav. Sylva climbed out of the shuttle with the joy of finally being in less of an enclosed space as Keep greeted her family.

    "It''s been a ride, let me tell you," Keep was saying. "Nothing but crazy things happened since the moment I left the ship."

    "I can tell," Shielder said, releasing the little baby Trav to float around in the air of the bay. His giggles rang out loudly, echoing as he grabbed at his mother''s cloud of strawberry blond hair. "Who''ve you brought with you?"

    "Wait, is that Sylva?" Sign asked, looking back at Sylva as she tugged Kino out of the shuttle.

    "Hi Sign," Sylva said, kicking off and coming over, bringing a reluctant Kino with her. She dragged her feet on the floor of the bay to avoid crashing. "Yeah, it''s me."

    "We all assumed you were dead," Sign said.

    "Yeah, I heard," Sylva said, rather embarrassed. "Sorry I left in such a rush."

    "No, it''s fine, it''s fine," Sign said. "Happy to have you back."

    "Trav''s been doing well, as you can see," Sheilder said. "Do you want to hold him?"

    "Er, not right this second," Sylva said. She desperately hoped that Keep was not going to reveal her ''not being a doctor'' secret. Keep looked vaguely constipated, so perhaps she was struggling with the  question herself.

    "Well, let''s not stand around in the bay," Sign said. "I''d love to hear all about what''s been going on over dinner."

    "We have to get this shuttle out into space," Keep muttered. "Olenya wants it back."

    "I thought it was a charitable donation from our benefactor," Sign said, with a laugh that indicated he thought anything but about Olenya.

    "I think we''re considering the one that got blown up as the charitable donation," Keep said.

    Shielder whistled, which made the baby laugh. "You didn''t lie when you said it''s been crazy, I suppose."

    "I definitely didn''t."

    They followed out of the bay, Sylva feeling a weird sense of homesickness as they passed through the Warrior II''s halls. They passed by the room in which she had caught Iri having a dalliance with Sign, and the memory made Sylva blush and look down at the ground. She missed Iri. Things had seemed so complicated back then, but in retrospect, that had been a much simpler time.

    As they walked, Keep fell back, and Sylva came back next to her. "It''s really alright that I tell them the whole story, right?" Keep asked.

    "Yeah," Sylva said. "I mean..." She bit her lower lip. "We talked about it. It''s fair. Your family probably deserves to know, since I got you all tied up in it."

    Keep nodded. "How many people do actually know the whole story?" she asked.

    "Er..." Sylva thought for a minute. "The crew of the Iron Dreams does. The Imperial government, the top level anyway, does. And the people on the other side, there are a couple."

    "Small group," Keep said.

    "It keeps getting bigger," Sylva said.

    "Maybe that''s a good thing. If it''s no longer a secret, that might help you accomplish some of your goals."

    "Hah. Maybe. Or it might get us all killed."

    They sat in the dining room, Shielder bouncing the baby on his knee, Sylva digging in to the first non-rehydrated meal she''d had in days (a plate of pancakes), and Kino staring off into the middle distance.

    "So I suppose the first question I have is, who''s the dark and mysterious one over here?" Sign asked, pointing at Kino.

    Kino looked up. In a voice that was rough and quiet from disuse, she whispered, "Kino Mejia." She looked down at her plate then. Sylva smiled broadly, happy to hear Kino speak. It seemed like a good sign, even if it wasn''t very much.

    "Former apprentice to First Sandreas," Sylva said. "Sorry, this is going to be a complicated story, maybe we should start at the beginning."

    So she told them the whole tale, just as she had told it to Keep, and when it was done, she said, "And so now I need to get back to Xuanhuan. I don''t know if it''s super out of the way for you, but could you take us there?"

    Sign had a look on his face that indicated that he was processing the story far slower than Sylva and Keep had been telling it. "I''ll have to ask the captain," he said, rather bemused. "But it''s not that far out of the way."

    Sylva, who at this point did have the baby Trav on her lap, smiled broadly. "Thank you," she said, and the gratefulness in her voice was genuine. Trav giggled and grabbed at her hair.

 Chapter One Hundred Fourteen - Drone Swarm Tactics

    Drone Swarm Tactics

    <blockquote>

    "A battle in space is often decided before it is begun. Control of the physical area is almost immaterial, as there are rarely meaningful barriers. Control of time, however, is of the utmost importance. A ship that can jump, even once, is a ship that will survive or win an engagement against a ship that cannot. If you come into a battle without your jump, you risk utter annihilation."

    -from Captain Strauss of the Next Engagement: a Guild Memoir by Strauss Kalzenek

    </blockquote>

    Sid sat on his bed in the guest quarters of the Vortex, flipping Yan''s book over and over in his hands. He had at first hesitated to break the lines of power that she had inscribed into it, wanting to keep that connection to her. He supposed that Halen felt the same way, which was why he kept that fishbowl in his Stonecourt apartment. Still, it was a dangerous sort of thing to have laying around, so, with some regret, he had used his own power to blur and wipe away the remnants of Yan''s, leaving just a book.

    He had read the story, of course. He didn''t entirely know what it was supposed to say. Obviously parts of it were direct comparisons to Yan''s own journey: she had been helped by some people on the planet that she had been kidnapped to, and she wanted to stop the hostilities. That was clear. The characters that danced around the little narrative didn''t seem to represent anyone in particular, though he had searched for anyone he could consider himself. Maybe he was the twin brother? The thought made him shake his head; it seemed unlikely. Yan had to know that there was no way she could convince him to join her side, right? Still, he couldn''t stop thinking about it, reading it over and over, just like he had looked at every shred of evidence she had left. What was he trying to piece together? He couldn''t quite tell.

    His phone vibrated on the bed next to him.

    >I''m outside your door.

    Ervantes.

    Sid pulled it open with a smile, letting Ervantes in.

    "Well, we''re away from Hanathue," Ervantes said. "Home again, home again."

    Sid flopped back down on his bed and Ervantes took the desk chair, sitting in it backwards, spindly legs sprawled wide.

    "What''s that face for?" Ervantes asked when Sid didn''t respond.

    "I''m torn."

    "About?"

    "Asking forgiveness and asking permission."

    "I would generally go for permission." Ervantes leaned forward, tipping the chair so that his knees knocked against the side of Sid''s bed.

    "By time we''re in position to ask for permission, it will be too late."

    "And did you wait until we jumped out of ansible range for precisely that reason?"

    Sid bared his teeth and rolled onto his back, holding the book against his chest. "You know me a little too well. That''s dangerous."

    "It doesn''t take a genius."

    "So what will be the consequences if you can''t get forgiveness?" Ervantes asked. "If permission is so out of the question."

    "I don''t know."

    "Let me maybe ask a more pertinent question: what exactly is it you want me to talk you into or out of?"

    Sid closed his eyes, once again making it so that he and his words were the only things in the universe. Ervantes couldn''t interrupt him until he finished, and he didn''t want to see Ervantes''s reaction until he was done either.

    "You know we think that Yan is supposed to be meeting at Xuanhuan, the black station, right?" He didn''t wait for a response, because he couldn''t get one. "A Fleet ship is supposed to go join up with the Guild''s supership, to chase her down and destroy her. This is our chance. I have what I would need to convince the captain to turn us to Xuanhuan, so that I can face her." He paused. "I need to face her. I have to." He kept his eyes squeezed shut for a second, running his fingers over the raised surface of the metal image on the book''s cover.

    Ervantes tugged the book out of Sid''s hand, with a slow and gentle touch. Sid opened his eyes and looked at him.

    "Does she really mean that much to you?"

    "Why, are you jealous?"

    "Well, I don''t know if I could say that if I betray you I hope you want to come hunt me down."

    Sid had to laugh at that one. "You planning on betraying me?"

    "Did BarCarran plan on it?"

    Sid frowned and tensed up. "Don''t say shit like that."

    "Why not?"

    "It makes me nervous."

    "About?"

    "That I don''t know, she could somehow convince me that she''s right."

    "I somehow doubt that when the missiles start flying that you will feel that way anymore."

    "So what are you saying? Should I do it?"

    Ervantes paged through Yan''s book without speaking.

    "I need you to tell me," Sid demanded.

    "Second Welslak, I cannot make your decisions for you."

    Sid groaned and buried his face in his pillow. "You''re useless."

    Even with his face covered, the text that his glasses generated was still visible and inescapable. "At least I''m not running to the captain and telling her all of this. That''s technically my duty. Keep you on a string."

    "No, that''s Hernan''s job."

    "Does Hernan know about this?"

    "I think he suspects."

    "And is he going to stop you?"

    "I think he''s very carefully not going to bring it up so that he has plausible deniability."

    "And you''ve just removed mine by bringing it up to me."

    Sid sighed and looked at him. "I''ll make sure you don''t get in trouble."

    "You say that, but I somehow doubt that will be true if your own neck is on the line."

    "Sandreas won''t kick me out."

    "I don''t think you want to learn what the shortening of your long leash will feel like," Ervantes cautioned.

    "If I can''t use my leash when it''s long, then what''s the difference?" Sid asked. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

    "You know, she might kill you," Ervantes said. "The First Star is well armed, and she''s probably gotten a whole crew of pirates to join her on it."

    "Don''t say things that make sense," Sid said. "Let me live in my fantasy."

    "And what fantasy is that in particular?"

    "The one where she surrenders immediately."

    "And then what do you think will happen?"

    "I don''t know, I never imagine anything after that."

    "That''s because you know it would suck. You think she''s actually going to surrender, knowing that best case scenario, she''s in a secret jail for the rest of her life?"

    Sid scrunched his face up, a combination of anger, frustration, and ruefulness.

    Ervantes continued to speak, apparently giving as good as he got when it came to Sid''s monologues. "If I were Yan, which I''m not, and you came to fight me, I''d try to run. If I couldn''t run, I''d fight until I couldn''t fight anymore. If I lost, I''d kill myself, for real this time, and take as many people down with me as I could."

    "Why?"

    "I wouldn''t want to go back to being a prisoner, or worse. You know she saw what Halen did to Mejia. I wouldn''t want to go through anything like that, or what was coming."

    "I don''t think Halen would¡ª"

    Ervantes stared him down. "You don''t?"

    "So, what, if you think I don''t want her to die, I shouldn''t do this?"

    "I think you need to either accept that she''s an enemy, so that you can do what you need to do, or you need to accept that you''re too biased to do anything about her. This is why First Sandreas didn''t want you going after her in the first place."

    "This tension is going to have to break someday," Sid said. He clenched his fists at his sides, digging his nails into his palms. "If not now, when?"

    "If not you, who?" Ervantes''s expression was remarkably dry.

    "Don''t tell me that someone else will take care of it."

    "Someone else will take care of it. I''ve been told that being a leader is about delegating, not rushing headfirst into dangerous situations."

    "You''re talking like Sandreas."

    "I don''t know if I should take that as a compliment."

    "It''s just a statement of fact."

    "And so what are you going to do, Sid?" Ervantes asked.

    "Do you think it''s a good idea to go after her?"

    "No, absolutely not."

    "Are you going to try to stop me?"

    Ervantes sighed and rubbed his temples. "No."

    "And are you going to be mad at me if I do?"

    "If you get yourself killed, I''ll be extremely angry."

    "I''m invincible."

    "No, you''re not."

    <hr>

    It took no small amount of convincing to get Captain Slater to agree to turn the Vortex towards Xuanhuan station. The secret of the First Star was still a secret to the vast majority of the Fleet, so Sid had to explain the whole truth, as well as pepper it with lies. It was necessary, he said, for it to be kept secret until they had departed Hanathue. He had plenty of documentation to back his story up, some real, some fake. The sum total of it was convincing enough to Captain Slater. He had imagined that it would be. After all, he was First Sandreas''s apprentice. What reason would he have to lie? His official position gave him no direct command over Fleet movements, but in a very real sense, Sid spoke with Sandreas''s authority, and Sandreas controlled the Fleet.

    All the while, Hernan and Ervantes hadn''t said anything.

    Why Hernan didn''t say anything to stop him, when he very well should have, Sid had his own ideas. Perhaps the feelings that Iri Maedes had so clearly had for him were not as one sided as Sid had thought, and her betrayal hurt deeply as well.

    It was a questionable thing to do. A wrong thing to do, maybe. Sid had his second thoughts almost as soon as he stepped out of  Captain Slater''s ready room. The triumph of the moment fell away, and it was replaced with a doubt, a desire to turn around, a sudden wave of homesickness.

    If Yan had been there, he would have asked her for advice. Ha.

    Kino hadn''t been nearly so slick about trying to change the captains'' minds.

    He was coiled tighter than a spring by time they actually arrived at Xuanhuan, and though Captain Slater had invited him onto the bridge to oversee the proceedings, he could tell that his anxious pacing and twitching arms made everyone want to kick him off.

    Xuanhuan station was tucked inside the asteroid belt of an unassuming star system. One yellow dwarf star, one gas giant planet, one tiny terrestrial one, and the scattered remains of a third planet forming the asteroid belt in between. There was illicit mining going on throughout the belt, and one part of Xuanhuan formed a refinery, where the most valuable of the metals were processed and loaded on to pirate ships, to be sold around the Empire under the table.

    The Vortex sat outside the edge of the system, running as cold as they could. Being a Fleet ship, they had plenty of resources at their disposal, including small drone ships that they sent out to monitor closer to the station. They were far enough away that they needed those drones as relays, and the drones were small enough that they would go unnoticed by even sophisticated monitoring systems that the station was sure to have.

    It took a long time for the drones to go out and acquire any useful information about the station: what the current ships docked at it were (currently none), what its tiny army of mining vessels looked like and where they were positioned, how well defended the station was, what the radio chatter sounded like, et cetera. The knowledge came back at a trickle pace, and it drove Sid so crazy that he did have to leave the bridge at times, in order to remove himself from the waiting situation. What was he even waiting for? For Yan to jump in. But if he knew Yan, she wouldn''t jump right in to the station anyway. She would hide the First Star somewhere far out and simply wait for Kino and Calor to meet back up with her.

    If only they had managed to capture Calor. She would have that information. The situation would look a lot different if they had her.

    The idea that Calor, Kino, and Yan could all be converging on this station from two different directions made him nervous. A Fleet ship (the Vortex had its own crew sensitive, plus Sid) was more than a match for them, but still...

    And another thing. He was living in slight fear of the moment when the other Fleet ship, whichever ship it was supposed to be, showing up here on the real mission. Best case scenario, it would leave Emerri (or whatever port it had been in) before Sandreas figured out where Sid and the Vortex had vanished to. Worst case scenario, this new Fleet ship would be coming to drag Sid home kicking and screaming, and that would be sure to screw up the whole mission.

    They waited.

    Along with the drones near the station, the Vortex had, upon Sid''s urging and explanation that the First Star would almost certainly not approach the station, deployed a different series of drones, these ones equipped with highly sensitive gravimeters, along the outer edge of the system. If a ship were to jump in, based on the changing readings on the gravimeters, they would be able to triangulate its location. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Obviously, they couldn''t simply attack any ship that were to jump in indiscriminately, because they had no desire to engage with random pirate ships. Captain Slater said as much to Sid. Besides, Sid kept thinking about the Guild ship, and the other Fleet ship which were coming. The whole situation was... bad.

    It was bad. It was wrong for Sid to be here, and he only grew more tense by the second, waiting for that fateful call to tell him that some ship had appeared.

    Unfortunately for him, when he did get that call, it was the worst possible outcome. It wasn''t the First Star. It was the Fleet ship Son of Emerri, which had snuck quietly into the outskirts of the system.

    Because the Son of Emerri jumped in quite far from the Vortex, it made the process of identification and communication between the two ships difficult. The Vortex had no desire to use long range radio, as the amount of power that would require would alert Xuanhuan station to their presence, and the Son of Emerri had no idea that they were there. So they resorted to sending a shuttle with a real human courier to carry messages between the two vessels. The courier, being confined by the limits of human endurance and the speed of light, took a long time to travel between the two ships.

    The message they sent told the Son of Emerri to jump to their position so that they could more easily discuss. It took a long, long time for the message to arrive. They might have jumped towards the Son of Emerri themselves, but judged that another ship jumping in so close was liable to be taken as a threat, so they didn''t want to risk the chance of friendly fire.

    The Son of Emerri did jump in, and Sid was summoned to the bridge to discuss and coordinate. He stood in front of the camera and smiled and did his best to not look too uncomfortable as he spoke with Captain Ombrau and Captain Slater.

    "I must say, I didn''t expect to encounter anyone else here," Ombrau said.

    "It was a somewhat sudden change of plans," Sid said, squeezing his hand inside his coat pocket, digging his nails into his skin. At least Ombrau apparently hadn''t been sent out with the knowledge that Sid shouldn''t be there, but still.

    "I see."

    "Where is the Guild''s ship?" Sid asked.

    "They decided that they would not be jumping in," Ombrau said, a clear note of disdain on his face.

    "Did they give a reason?"

    "They had no desire to enter pirate territory," he said.

    Sid scoffed. "As though they aren''t three quarters of the way towards pirates themselves."

    "Indeed. I believe the rationale is that they don''t wish for their new little toy to be revealed to the pirates."

    "You''d think that half the pirate world already knows about it, considering the number of supplies it took to build the thing."

    "Perhaps. Regardless, they have no desire to enter the fray immediately."

    "Immediately?"

    "Should we find ourselves at a disadvantage," Ombrau said, indicating with his posture that he had no reason to believe that would occur, "we have their location, and can jump out and request backup."

    "I think if any encounter with the First Star lasts longer than one jump cycle, the First Star will run."

    "Of course," Ombrau said. "And the Guild''s ship can chase them, along with yours." He nodded on the screen to Captain Slater.

    "Our best bet is to hit them fast, before they can escape," Sid said.

    "That will require us identifying them quickly."

    "We still have our drones set up around the system," Slater said. "They should be able to identify the First Star within three hours of its arrival, regardless of its position."

    "Good, good," Ombrau said. "I must admit, I''m glad to have support. I wasn''t entirely happy with the idea of conducting a battle within the territory of a black station."

    "It shouldn''t pose an issue," Slater said. "We haven''t seen any ships come and go."

    "That doesn''t mean that ships won''t come and go," Ombrau said. "Pirates always do good business."

    "What remains, then, is to decide how we shall station ourselves," Slater said.

    Sid considered the situation. "Maybe it would be best if we stationed ourselves at opposite ends of this system, so that when they jump in, whichever one of us is closer at that point can send our shuttles out."

    "And save our jump for when they escape?" Ombrau asked. "I don''t hate the idea, but it leaves our shuttles vulnerable to them, without a place to retreat to."

    Sid considered this. "I have a feeling that the First Star has very, very little strength. If we overwhelm them with shuttle force immediately..." He trailed off.

    "Do you think that they could hold out long enough to jump away?" Slater asked. That was the real question.

    "It depends entirely on how much of a crew has been picked up," Sid said. "They have one sensitive, which will make things unavoidably tricky, but they might not have enough force to launch their own shuttles."

    "Is the First Star even equipped with a large number of dogfighters?" Slater asked.

    "A few," Ombrau said. "If it were only a question of raw dogfighter strength, it would not even be a question."

    "You have a sensitive on board your ship?" Slater asked.

    "Yes, of course."

    "Then we should be well matched, whichever one of us contacts the First Star first."

    At that moment, the discussion between the two captains was interrupted as they received an alert that another ship had jumped into the system. Immediately, both ships were put on high readiness, should it be the First Star, and Ombrau and Slater disconnected the call, in order to prepare. The drones that had been sent out did not break radio silence, however, and the one drone that had provided positive identification of the ship showed it as a pirate vessel (unidentifiable from the outside, as most pirate ships were unmarked). That was confirmed when, approximately eight hours later, it jumped in and docked with Xuanhuan station. They hadn''t been able to pick up any of the encrypted radio messages between the ship and the station, but it hardly mattered. While it was perhaps a complication to have pirate ships docking, it couldn''t really be avoided, and, so long as they didn''t notice the two Fleet ships, Sid thought that they should pose no difficulty.

    The Son of Emerri later jumped to the other side of the system, after plans had been made and confirmed. That left the Vortex alone and silent once again, like a shark waiting just below the surface of the ocean to snag a swimmer in its jaws.

    And, again, it was a waiting game.

    Yan jumped the First Star in to the outskirts of Xuanhuan''s station''s system, feeling tense and nervous. As an extra precaution, she was using the Mother''s invisibility power structure over the whole of the ship, keeping it invisible on all wavelengths of light. She didn''t think that anyone would see the ship if she ran it cold, but this was an extra little guarantee. The least she could do to keep them all safe.

    It had been almost a fortyday since she had last seen Sylva and Kino, and she had desperately hoped that they were doing okay. With the ominous warning that they were being followed from the Dark Hands, Yan was feeling absolutely no confidence in being in this star system. But she couldn''t not come to meet up with Sylva and Kino. She needed them both back, and it would be a comfort beyond belief to have them with her.

    Yan was on the bridge, speaking to Iri over the intercom. Iri was down in the shuttle bay, preparing to launch. Chanam was with her.

    Iri had argued that Chanam should stay with Yan, for extra protection, but Yan had argued that Iri needed him more, and Yan had won the argument, on the basis that Chanam could keep Iri''s shuttle invisible, even while she burned hot with acceleration. She would sneak close to Xuanhuan, then radio the station to inquire about landing and fetching Kino and Sylva. It wasn''t ideal, but pirates were a fairly known quantity, and they didn''t tend to ask too many questions, even of a shuttle that seemed to appear out of nowhere. They might just assume that it deployed new technology to store the heat from its engines, to keep it out of their view as it approached.

    That was what Yan hoped would happen, anyway.

    Through the scope, Yan could see that there was at least one pirate ship docked at the station, though at this distance, identification was completely impossible. The only reason that she knew that a ship was there was that when the station in its orbit passed between her and the system''s star, she observed that it was lumpier than it had been when she had last seen it. That was about the limits of what they could pick up, at this distance.

    Yan bid her goodbyes to Iri and Chanam, and they sped away, completely invisible as soon as they left the ship. That left Yan completely alone.

    It was a terrible and vulnerable feeling, one that she hadn''t thought would remind her so strongly of being in the Green King''s prison, but it did. What made it slightly more bearable was the presence of the stardrive at the edge of her awareness. She could feel it gathering its strength to jump again, though she didn''t think it would be physically possible for Iri and Chanam to retrieve Sylva and Kino before the six hour clock was up.

    So Yan settled down and waited.

    The Warrior II was parked at Xuanhuan station, and the ship was taking the time to unload what saleable cargo they had. Sylva and Kino hadn''t left the ship. Keep, her captain, and the whole crew seemed amenable to waiting around for the First Star to show up. Sylva had the impression that they wanted to talk to Yan, to get in on the ground floor of whatever business dealings might result from outright challenging the Empire, as Sylva had said to Mr. Olenya.

    It also seemed like Keep was reluctant to let Sylva and Kino leave and wander around Xuanhuan unattended. Sylva didn''t mind this protectiveness, though it may have been simple practicality on Keep''s part. Xuanhuan station was not a pleasant place, as Sylva well knew.

    The Warrior II couldn''t wait around forever, of course, so if Yan didn''t show up in a bit, Sylva would need to make the difficult call of either staying on the station without backup to speak of, or leaving with the Warrior II. Sylva desperately hoped she wouldn''t have to make that choice. If it came down to it...

    She considered this prospect while sitting at her own table in the communal dining room, looking out the window at the stars that rotated past, catching the occasional lopsided glimpse of oblique parts of the station itself. She drummed her fingers on the table arhythmically.

    "Mind if I sit?" Keep asked.

    "Of course not."

    She had her baby on her back, strapped in with one of the little carriers that spacers liked. Trav drooled onto her shoulder. Sylva made a face at him and he giggled.

    "You almost ready to leave?" Keep asked.

    "I''ve packed the tiny amount of stuff that I have, if that''s what you''re asking," Sylva said.

    "I think you should know me well enough to know what I''m asking," Keep said.

    Sylva gave a deep sigh. "I know you can''t stick around forever."

    "Trust me, I''d prefer to stay here until I know you''re safely back on your own ship," Keep said. "But we have a business to run."

    "I know. I wish there was something I could do to pay you back for all of this," Sylva said, waving her hand to indicate everything that Keep and the whole crew of the Warrior II had done for her. It seemed wholly inadequate.

    "You''re a pirate," Keep said. "We help our own. At least the ones we like," she added with a wink.

    "Aww," Sylva said.

    "But really. When it''s time for us to leave, I''d love to know if you''re coming with or staying behind."

    Sylva bit her lip. "Could I ask you another huge favor?"

    Keep squinted at that. "How huge."

    "Uh, less than two meters tall."

    Keep made a face. "What?"

    "I think, if the First Star doesn''t show soon," she began, then took a deep breath before continuing. "It would be better if I went to Xuanhuan, and you took care of Kino."

    "Have you actually talked to Kino about that?"

    "Kino''s said about three words in the past however many days. No."

    "Have you at least expressed this plan out loud in her vicinity?"

    "She''s smart. She should know that this is the best plan, even if we don''t talk it out."

    Keep pursed her lips, and Trav giggled at the face Sylva made in response. She would miss that stupid, cute baby, she thought.

    "And what makes you think that this is the best plan?"

    "I think we might be safer if we split up," Sylva said. "And if I stay on the station, we won''t have to leave a traceable message showing where you''ve gone."

    "I think you''re great, Sylva," Keep said, "but I don''t think you could stop that information from being tortured out of you."

    "Hey," Sylva said. "If I get caught, that''s way, way better than both me and Kino getting caught."

    "You still might be safer together."

    "I don''t think Kino is really in a state to fight."

    "You never know. People often surprise you, when they get truly desperate."

    "Hmph," Sylva said. She stared out the window again.

    "If that''s really what you want to do," Keep said, sounding resigned, "so be it. But I do think it would be better if both of you stayed with us."

    "I don''t want to be that much of a burden."

    "Two extra bodies won''t sink the ship."

    "And I want to get back to Yan as fast as possible."

    "You have to face the possibility that she won''t come," Keep said.

    "I refuse to do that, so don''t bring it up."

    "It''s true." Keep ignored the rancorous expression that had taken up Sylva''s face. "You have to plan for that eventuality."

    Sylva did her best to try to relax. "You''ll be back here eventually, won''t you?"

    "Eventually. It probably won''t be for a long time."

    "I can wait until then, if I have to."

    "Being a resident on a dark station isn''t exactly pleasant."

    "I''ve made up my mind," Sylva said. "You''ll just have to deal with that."

    "Okay, okay," Keep said. "Fine."

    "Do we have any way of knowing if the First Star arrives?"

    "Not unless they radio Xuanhuan," Keep said.

    "So it''s just a waiting game."

    "Pretty much everything is."

    Another ship jumped in, and Sid was alerted as soon as the gravimeters pinpointed the location. Sid was on highest alert.

    When radio silence wasn''t broken by the drones, Sid relaxed marginally, but when there was no second jump of the mystery ship into Xuanhuan station after the appropriate amount of time had passed, Sid began to worry.

    "Did the drones get an eye on the ship?" Sid asked Captain Slater.

    "They would have broken radio silence if they had identified the First Star," Slater said.

    "Then why aren''t the pirates jumping in?" Sid asked. "You''d think that if they''re in this system to do business with the station, they''d head towards it."

    "Do I look like a pirate expert, Apprentice Welslak?" Slater asked, clearly fed up with him.

    Sid scowled and turned away. His presence on the bridge was grating on captain and crew alike, but he was both a ball of nervous energy, and someone they couldn''t precisely turn away. It was a poor combination. Sid had forgotten how annoying the ''sit and wait'' style of spacefaring could be.

    "Will the drones report what ship it is?" Sid asked, again turning back towards Slater, a new thought popping into his head.

    "Apprentice, I--"

    "Because I''m just worried," Sid said, then realized that expressing his level of worry would involve perhaps revealing a little too much information.

    "About what, Apprentice?" Slater''s eyes were narrowed.

    "I''ve known... sensitives..." Sid said, trying to find the best way to phrase this, without it sounding completely absurd. "Some are able to completely block large objects completely from sight."

    "Invisibility?" Slater asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "Something like that."

    "And you think that the sensitive who you believe to be aboard the First Star may be doing so?"

    "If we saw a ship jump in to the system, but didn''t see it get any closer to the station, it could be," Sid said. "That''s why I want to know if the drones will report back regardless."

    "You know they will. That''s how we identified the Son of Emerri."

    Sid frowned, deeply. "Then why are we waiting?"

    "The ship may have identified and shot down the drone that came close enough to investigate."

    "And we wouldn''t notice?"

    "Not if we''re keeping radio silence."

    "If I were a pirate, I wouldn''t do that," Sid said. "I wouldn''t risk damaging the station owner''s property."

    "Then the ship could have moved under standard engine power to a different location, and our drones might be unable to find it."

    "Wouldn''t we have seen them light up?"

    "Not necessarily."

    Sid was growing frustrated. "None of this sounds plausible."

    "But an entire ship being completely invisible does?" Slater asked.

    "You aren''t a sensitive," Sid said. "It''s hard to explain."

    "Try me."

    "When I was at the front," Sid said, lowering his voice to the lowest it could go, just in case anyone on the bridge who was not cleared for this information was listening, "sensitives hid an entire star, completely from view. Only the gravimeter picked up the mass of an entire star system. A ship is nothing compared to that."

    Slater frowned deeply. "So what do you propose."

    Sid made a choice. "I want to break radio silence."

    "And what will that accomplish?"

    "I think I can get them to show themselves."

    Slater frowned deeply. "Won''t that simply encourage them to jump away?"

    Sid considered this. "I think that they might want to stay."

    "That''s a lot to risk on thought."

    "It could be a targeted broadcast," Sid said. "Directly to the location where we detected the ship jump in. It doesn''t have to let the pirates know we''re here."

    "And if it''s a pirate ship you end up broadcasting to?"

    "Will it matter?" Sid asked. "They''ll probably ignore it."

    "Again, you''re risking a lot on presumption."

    "Let me try. It''s better than waiting around and having them jump out."

    Slater considered this. "And after you broadcast, then what?"

    "We jump in," Sid said. "Once we''ve confirmed who it is."

    "And how will you do that?"

    "I think the First Star will be willing to respond, if I provoke them," Sid said. "Give me a private room and a line. I''ll make it happen."

    "I put too much faith in you, Apprentice," Slater said.

    Yan sat on the bridge, waiting.

    "Patience," she muttered to herself, but once again she was speaking to herself just to stay awake. She had no idea how long it would take for Iri and Chanam to do what they needed to do aboard the station. That wholly depended on if Sylva and Kino were there.

    She wished she could distract herself with something, take her mind off that overwhelming anxiety mingled with anticipation, but keeping the ship invisible required just enough concentration that she could do nothing else but sit and wait.

    She could hum songs, talk to herself, and, if she had ever been in a praying mood, pray, but little else. Even Halen, who still appeared to her on occasion, was a little too much effort to bring to mind. That, and it was dangerous to slip into that half trance world where her subconscious ruled the power, because then she could lose control in unexpected ways. She needed to focus. She was focused. She would stay awake and steady until they returned.

    The radio crackled to life with a loud beep, startling Yan so much that she jumped in her seat. She hastily leaned over the console to identify the channel, and saw that it wasn''t a frequency she was familiar with. It seemed unlikely to be Iri breaking radio silence. Perhaps it was the station? She played the message out loud.

    "Yan," Sid said, his odd voice recognizable even over the distortion of the radio. "It''s been a while."

    Her hand covered her mouth, stifling a scream. She wanted to turn the radio off, but she couldn''t stop listening, with mounting horror.

    "I will give you this courtesy, however little courtesy you gave me. Twenty days ago, we captured one Sylva Calor and one Kino Mejia on the surface of Hanathue. If you surrender your ship immediately, Ms. Calor will be unharmed. If you do not surrender, you will be destroyed."

    There was a break for a moment, as though Sid on the other end of the line were considering what to say. "I''ve missed you in a way, Yan," he said. "Don''t be stupid and make me kill you."

 Chapter One Hundred Fifteen - Geiersburg Fortress

    Geiersburg Fortress

    <blockquote>

    "Every starship is built around a few guiding principles. One of the chief examples of this kind of universal design is the sealing door. Almost every room in a ship is equipped with a pressure sensor. If a drop in air pressure above a certain threshold is detected, the doors of that room will seal shut, preventing exposure of a large area of a ship to vacuum. The vast majority of doors on a ship can be sealed in this manner, or by command from the ship''s control room. You may wonder what happens to a person trapped inside a room where the door has sealed due to a containment breach. After all, you do not want to be trapped in a hard vacuum. To prevent deaths in this manner, doors can still be opened manually. Most doors on ships are also bi-directional (opening usually via a sliding mechanism), which allows the user to open the door regardless of which side the pressure drop has occurred on."

    -from Starships: An Introduction to their Function and Design by Cye Migello

    </blockquote>

    "There''s someone looking for you on the station," Shielder said, finding Sylva as she sat on the couch in Keep''s suite, jiggling Trav on her knee.

    Sylva looked up-- first excited, then worried.

    "It''s not Evie?" Sylva asked, using the name that Iri had used while aboard the Warrior II, pretending to be a pirate.

    "I took the liberty of taking a photo for you," Shielder said. He held out his phone, and Sylva let out a whoosh of relieved breath.

    "That''s just Chanam," she said. "Good."

    Her heart was beating quickly even still, but now it was out of excitement, rather than fear that there were enemy agents. She held Trav out, and the baby giggled as his father took him in his arms.

    "Does that mean you''re leaving us?"

    "I bet Chanam would prefer to hitch a ride on the Warrior II, rather than carry me back out to where the First Star is hiding." She batted her eyelashes at Shielder, who rolled his eyes.

    "I''ll ask the captain if we can jump you out. Regardless, we''ll need to spend some time getting all our people back on board."

    Keep emerged from her bedroom. "Your people are here?" she asked.

    "Apparently so," Shielder said, and passed her the baby as soon as she got close enough to take him. Keep sighed, then sat down on the couch. She handed Trav back to Sylva. Trav laughed at the game of ''pass the baby'' that was apparently occurring.

    "I''m gonna miss you," Keep said, elbowing Sylva.

    "I''m not gone yet," Sylva said. "How long will it take before we jump?"

    "Couple hours," Sheilder said with a shrug.

    <hr>

    It was rather fast that Iri and Chanam ended up on board, having to awkwardly launch their shuttle out from Xuanhuan''s bay and into the Warrior II''s bay. Sylva met them as they came in, dragging the still pathetic looking Kino along behind her. Keep, Trav, and Sign were also in the bay, with Sign mostly there to coordinate the opening and closing of the airlocks.

    It was a joyful reunion, on Sylva''s end. Iri emerged from her shuttle and grinned, looking around. She spotted Sylva and pushed off towards her. The two crashed into a hug in midair.

    "Missed you a ton," Iri said, disentangling herself from Sylva''s embrace. "Welcome back, Kino."

    Kino nodded at Iri silently.

    "Good to see you again, Evie," Sign said, looking her over appreciatively.

    "Unfortunately, it''s a short visit," Iri said, poking him in the chest and sending him drifting back a little.

    "You''re not going to invite me aboard a ship of your own?" Sign asked, looking fake hurt.

    "We could use some more crew," Iri said, sounding actually contemplative.

    Sign laughed. "I have a life here, unfortunately."

    "Sure you do." Iri waved her hand in dismissal. "And how''s little baby Trav and mommy Keep doing?" she cooed.

    Keep released Trav to float in the air, which he loved. He reached out for Iri''s outstretched finger, giggling. Iri used the strength of his little grip to pull him around in a little circle, which made him shriek with happiness.

    "Cutest baby I''ve ever seen," Iri said.

    "Thanks," Keep said. "He''s getting big."

    "That''s the point, isn''t it?" Iri asked.

    "Of course." Keep grinned. "You ever want one of your own?"

    A weird look flashed over Iri''s face. "Eh, probably not. My lifestyle''s too chaotic."

    "That''s understandable."

    Still, Iri was clearly enraptured by the presence of the baby, to the point where she was almost ignoring Kino. Looking at Kino, Sylva determined that she probably didn''t mind being ignored that much. Sylva turned to Chanam, who had been closing the doors of the shuttle.

    "How''ve you been, Mr. Spy?" she asked.

    He smirked. "Been empty with just the few of us on the ship," he said in Old Imperial. His accent was still heavy, but the words slipped out more fluently than they had before. "Not very exciting."

    "Excitement is a bad thing," Sylva said. "Is everyone on board?" she asked Sign.

    "I believe so. We should be jumping out soon, as soon as one of you provides the coordinates." He nodded at Iri and Chanam.

    "Happy to," Iri said. "I much appreciate the lift."

    Yan was frozen. A horrible agony gripped her. Sylva and Kino were captured. From the way that Sid was speaking, it seemed clear that Kino was already dead, since only Sylva was offered to be left "unharmed."

    Every thought that she had crawled through her brain at a snail''s pace, each one taking up her full attention.

    First: Sylva had been captured, and Kino was dead or worse than dead. That alone nearly stopped every other thought in its tracks, but she pressed on, cataloguing it as a fact that drilled a knife into her heart.

    Second: Sid was here and her enemy. A twist of the knife. She had maybe been prepared to face him in orbit around the Mother''s planet, but not here, not now, not like this.

    Third: He hadn''t mentioned Iri and Chanam. That meant they were probably safe, either still hidden in their shuttle, or on Xuanhuan.

    Fourth: Sid must be aboard a Fleet ship, one that was prepared to fight the First Star. Yan knew immediately that there was no hope of ever defeating a fully equipped Fleet ship, especially not by herself. All it would take would be for them to send out their dogfighters in a swarm, and she''d be taken out immediately. Even the Mother had been overwhelmed by large numbers of small enemies, and Yan was just one person alone on a starship.

    What was that song? On a lonely, empty starship, all just waiting for to die, was the daughter, youngest daughter, of the captain, Alereye... The tune worked itself into her brain, competing for space among her rational thoughts. She wanted to laugh hysterically.

    Fifth: She had two choices. She could surrender, or she could fight. If she fought, she would lose, and that would mean that she would die. So she could surrender, or she could die. If she surrendered, what would happen to her? The Emperor would take her power away. She would be placed in a prison, alone, because no one was supposed to know she existed. Halen might not torture or kill her, but she would never be free again, and that might be worse. No, it would be worse, for sure.

    She could run, perhaps, but that would just move the battlefield somewhere else. Sid wouldn''t have engaged her without having his jump ready. If she ran, Iri and Chanam would be left with no idea what happened to her. No, it was better to save her jump for a last resort. The main question she had was, how far away was Sid? Would he jump in, or would he save his jump to chase her, on the chance that she did run. It was impossible to know, though she could guess based on their shared past.

    How stupid it all was.

    How much time had she passed, thinking all of this over? Almost none, in reality. Her hand hovered over the broadcast button. She debated staying silent, wondering if it would be better not to reveal herself. But Sid contacting her proved that her invisibility had been worthless¡ª he must have tracked her by some other means. She dropped the invisibility, feeling a rush of relief as the power came back to her, no longer stretched out like a rubber band.

    And if she was going to drop that, she might as well make her peace with Sid, while she still could. There were no shuttles flying around her ship yet. He would probably jump in, then. She would see shuttles lighting up her scope if they were accelerating towards her.

    She pressed the broadcast button and leaned back in her seat.

    "I''ve missed you too, Sid," she said. He wouldn''t hear the quaking in her voice, but probably everything she said was being recorded, and would be given back to Halen and Aymon at the conclusion of this little scuffle. Or, it would if she didn''t quite succeed in the plan that was forming deep in her brain. Her hands shook. She continued to speak as she poked at the menus of her captain''s console. "I know you probably think I''m crazy."

    She knew exactly what she was looking for, though she didn''t know how to find it, or if it existed. She knew this feature didn''t exist on Guild ships, because the risk associated with it was far too high, but she wondered if the First Star might have the command built in, by virtue of being First Sandreas''s personal ship.

    Sid didn''t respond to her, at least not right away, so Yan just kept talking. "You''re probably going to jump in, like the Bellringer did. Don''t worry," Yan said with a huff of breath that might have been a laugh under better circumstances. "I can''t fight you like we fought the Bellringer. It''s just me."

    Sid''s voice came back after a very long delay, sounding muffled. "Are you surrendering?" It made sense for him to disguise how long the radio travel time was between their two ships, so Yan put no stock into how long it took him to respond as an indicator of distance. Could have been half a light second, could have been a whole light minute. It didn''t matter.

    "I''m trying to make peace with you," Yan said. "You know I won''t let someone put me back in prison." She smiled a bitter smile. "Where are you keeping Sylva?"

    A long pause. "I''m not going to answer that question. Surrender, Yan, and she won''t get hurt."

    She should have looked for this function before, back when she wasn''t on the very precipice of needing it, just in case she ever did. But she hadn''t thought it would ever be necessary. Now she knew better.

    When she had been at the Academy, and everyone had been taught against creating stardrives, they were given a dire warning. A stardrive, if made improperly, could, on its first use, swallow up a huge swathe of matter, as it would during normal operation, and simply... not deposit it anywhere else in the universe. It would be gone, deleted entirely. That was how the Edden Empire''s homeworld had been destroyed: by inching a stardrive close enough to their star that a large enough chunk of it could be removed by this method. That destabilized the star, destroying it and all the planets around it. Yan wanted nothing quite so dramatic. After all, she was nowhere near the star of this system. All she wanted to do was create this effect locally. If Sid and his Fleet ship got close enough to her, she would destroy them, along with herself. A painless exit from the universe.

    She wasn''t going to goad Sid into attacking her, because she still hadn''t found what she needed, but she would continue to talk to him. "I don''t think you really understood what it was like, when I was in prison," Yan said. She spoke without rancor in her voice. "You wouldn''t offer that if you did understand. It''s worse than death, I think. You start to not feel like you''re real."

    She couldn''t find the menu she was looking for. Maybe it didn''t exist, but she felt like it must. If she were Sandreas, she wouldn''t make a ship without a self destruct feature.

    "I never wanted you to be my enemy, Yan," Sid said. "You could make this end."

    "I wish you had been on Emerri, when this all happened," Yan said. "I maybe could have made you understand then."

    Something changed in Sid''s voice over the radio. He was colder now, meaner sounding, even than he had been in that first message. Yan had clearly said the wrong thing. Perhaps trying to convince him of her righteousness was the wrong message, or even just saying that there was a possibility that he could have been convinced. "This is your last chance to surrender."

    Yan stayed silent now, trying to buy herself a little more time before Sid and his ship jumped in to destroy her. She muted her broadcast and muttered aloud, "Halen, could use some help here."

    "And why would I help you do this?" Halen asked her. He was so corporeal, sitting in the chair next to her, leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed.

    "Because I need it."

    "I thought you said you don''t want to die."

    "In prison," Yan said. "I didn''t want to die there. I''d rather it be on my own terms."

    "And I''d rather you didn''t destroy us both," Halen said airily. Yan gritted her teeth.

    "You''re my subconscious. Of course you''d say that."

    He did nothing but smile serenely.

    "Don''t you see that there''s no way to win? Best case scenario is that they kill me outright!" Yan''s left hand was gripped so tightly on the arm of her chair that her knuckles ached.

    Halen sighed and turned to her. "Do you think that Aymon and I would have put that system in place for anyone poking through the menus to access? After all, I know far more about the workings of a stardrive than you do. I wouldn''t need..." He trailed off and vanished as Yan''s head jerked up, staring at the big screen in front of her. She had felt that telltale rush of power crash over her, that unmistakable feeling of a ship jumping in. Sid, then.

    He wasn''t trying to be subtle, or whoever the captain of his ship was wasn''t trying to be. It was huge, and it was lit up, and all the shuttles and dogfighters and missiles swarmed out of it like little stars. There was still some time before they reached her properly, so Yan was able to get the First Star''s automatic targeting and defenses working. It surprised her for a second that the First Star was so ready and willing to target even Fleet ships and shuttles, but then she realized that Sandreas must have planned for the possibility of a coup.

    Before the first wave arrived, Yan opened the bridge weapons cache. She had known it was there (after all, the bridge was often the last stand of captains in besieged ships, while other parts of the crew defended the engine room or the saferoom), but she hadn''t opened it before, not having had the need. She found more than enough there, but took out merely a sidearm and one of the heavy utility style knives that spacers favored for both emergency use and hand to hand combat. She hadn''t ever been very good at that, but it didn''t hurt to strap it around her waist anyway. She hefted the gun in her hand, wanting to test how it felt. Her hand quivered slightly, and she felt like she had two separate trains of thought. In one, she was completely cold and logical, doing everything that she needed to do. In the other, she couldn''t bear the idea of holding the gun up to her head of her own volition, feeling like she was back on the rocky hillside of Olkye. Yan kept these two parallel thought processes, and tried not to let the second one overwhelm her.

    She loaded the gun, then sat back down in her seat.

    She pressed the broadcast button. "Remember that first time we met?" Yan asked. She expected no response from Sid, but until the shuttles and missiles came close enough for her to use her power on them, there was no harm in talking. "I mean when we were waiting outside Sandreas''s office. I had no idea what I was getting into." Talking about something so mundane kept her mind off the fact that she would likely be dead within the hour. She understood how Kino felt, the day they had both gone to see the Emperor. "It''s all gone so crazy, Sid. I think we were excited to meet eachother then, weren''t we?"

    She shook her head. "I wish you could be here with me. You know what I mean. Kino thought that you might understand someday, I think. You''ll have to ask her, if she''s not already dead.

    "I guess I should ask you the same favor that she asked me. Don''t let anyone hurt my family, okay? They''re really not involved, I promise. And Sylva. Don''t hurt her. I know that was a condition of my surrender, but I''m not going to do that, and you''re just going to kill me here, so, just, don''t hurt her."

    She didn''t quite know what else to say to Sid, but there was still a little time, a few seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, before the shuttles arrived. They were accelerating so much that they would shoot past her, and then have to turn around and come back, she thought, but that was of no consequence. "I hope you''re not on a shuttle," Yan said. "I always felt so bad about the Bellringer. I think about it basically every day." She laughed, shakily, but it was a sad sound that came out with no conscious thought. "Well, I guess I''ll know exactly what it feels like."

    Ten seconds, maybe.

    "If it matters that I say this," Yan said finally, "which, I know it probably doesn''t, but... I think you have the ability to change things for the better, you know?" She sighed, now feeling resigned. The shuttles had resolved into clear detail on the scope, and she stretched out her power, feeling it come to life, itching and eager inside of her, as though it knew that this was its last chance to experience use. "Tell Sandreas and Halen I said hi, alright?"

    She killed the broadcast, then closed her eyes. The power hummed in her hands, and it felt so natural to simply understand without conscious thought where all the shuttles were. She picked one, any one, and tore its engines off, leaving it spiralling away into space. Someone could pick its pilots up later.

    Then she chose another, and another.

    But more came, more than she could deal with, and more than the First Star''s automatic targeting could handle as well, and they came closer, and closer, and closer, firing to knock out her ship''s guns.

    Sylva, Iri, Chanam, and Kino had all been invited onto the bridge of the Warrior II for the jump. Iri for the purpose of providing jump coordinates near to where the First Star was supposed to be, Sylva because she wanted to use the radio to talk to Yan, and Kino and Chanam because the other two were coming along, so they might as well. Keep and crying Trav had been banished from the bridge, but the rest of the bridge crew, including Sign and the captain, Respect, were amicable to their guests'' presence.

    All of the visiting group had grown quite comfortable with being on the bridge of ships, having spent so long working on the First Star by themselves, but it still felt somewhat like an honor to Sylva, even if the actual goings on were no longer mysterious.

    "You must have had a long trip in," Respect said, looking over the jump coordinates that Iri provided.

    "It wasn''t so bad," Iri said. "I''m used to the acceleration. Still thankful for the ride out, though."

    "Not an issue. I''ll be glad to get a chance to talk with your captain." Respect was a tall, hard looking woman with blonde hair that she wore pulled into a severe looking bun at the back of her head. Despite that, and despite being the long-time captain of a pirate ship, she was a warm and affable woman to talk to. Sylva hadn''t had much chance to interface with her while she had been the doctor on the Warrior II, as the captain was always very busy, but she had developed a healthy respect (hah) for her.

    "Are we clear to jump, Sign?" Respect asked.

    "We are indeed. Surrounding area is empty and connection to Xuanhuan has been removed. They gave us the clear to jump."

    "On my mark, then," Respect said. "Three, two, one, mark."

    As with all jumps, there was no feeling or indication that the ship had moved at all, and for about half a second, everything was peaceful. Then every alarm on every console on the Warrior II''s bridge began to blare at once, a caterwauling, horrible sound, accompanied by flashing lights.

    Respect bolted upright in her chair. "Status?" she demanded, voice calm and firm but body tense.

    "Proximity alarms, we''re being lit up with tracking radar," Sign said. "We''re in some kind of debris field that''s clogging our instrumentation."

    "Are we in immediate danger?" Respect asked. "Do we have a visual?"

    Someone entered a command that made the big screen split up into four quadrants, each showing a hugely wide angled view of space. Sylva''s heart felt like it was stopping in its chest.

    The First Star was being swarmed by shuttles, each hooking what looked like harpoons into its surface. They were too far away to see completely clearly, but Sylva knew that from those shuttles would emerge soldiers bearing tools that would cut the First Star''s sides open and allow entry. Far off in the distance was another ship, a huge thing, very clearly a Fleet ship.

    "Why is it spinning?" Respect asked. "That''s insane."

    Indeed, the First Star was rotating madly, possibly in an attempt to shake off its landers.

    "Captain Yan''s the only one onboard," Iri said. "She doesn''t have to worry about conditions on the rest of the ship."

    Respect glanced around at the rest of her crew on the bridge, her face neutral. She certainly saw the pleading, desperate look on Sylva''s face, but Sylva couldn''t beg her. In a way, she had condemned the Warrior II to this fight: they were stuck in it, like it or not, ready or not, because they couldn''t jump out. The Fleet ship was likely to treat them as an enemy. The question of if a single pirate vessel could overwhelm the might of a well prepared military ship was about to be answered.

    "Sign, send out the dogs," Respect said. "Get our main guns up and running. I want everyone else in the safe room, strapped in, in case we need to use engine power. MOVE."Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    There was a general scramble as every bridge crew member hurried to comply.

    "You," Respect demanded, turning to look at Sylva and Iri. "Get on the radio. Figure out what''s happening."

    Sylva was only too glad to do that. She and Iri crowded around the radio, though most of her visual attention was on the screen up front, watching the First Star continue to spin. "Broadcast''s on," Iri said.

    "Yan!" Sylva practically yelled into the mic, although it wouldn''t make much of a difference. "I''m here! Are you¡ª"

    "Sylva?" Yan''s voice coming back over the radio sounded horrible¡ª thick and rasping. Sylva hoped it was just due to the pressure the spinning ship must have been putting on her body, and not due to some other kind of pain.

    "I''m here, and Kino, and Iri, and Chanam¡ª we''re on the Warrior II!" Sylva said. "Captain Respect is sending out the dogs!"

    "Iri?"

    "I''m here, Yan," Iri said. "Sylva, you should go help Captain Respect. Yan, are you in immediate danger?"

    "They haven''t breached the hull yet," Yan said. "Are you really there, Sylva?" The incredulity in Yan''s voice worried Sylva.

    "Yes, I''m really here."

    "She needs to go help the captain," Iri said, shoving Sylva away from the radio. Sylva complied this time, going back to where Respect was speaking with Chanam. Kino stared up at the screen, her breathing shallow and rapid.

    "The three of you are sensitives?" Respect confirmed, motioning to Chanam, Kino, and Sylva.

    "Yeah," Sylva said.

    "Can you take down a Fleet ship?"

    "I''ve done it before," Chanam said, sounding dismissive.

    Respect looked at him, narrowing her eyes. "I''m not here for hubris."

    "He''s not lying," Sylva said, trying to diffuse the situation, though it was not one that was easily diffused. "But that was a very different situation."

    "What are you proposing?" Respect asked.

    Sylva didn''t exactly have a tactical mind. Her first few thoughts were jumbled, brute force kinds of ideas. She didn''t know how many dogfighters Captain Respect was willing to throw at the problem, or even able. Right now, the few dogs that had been able to launch quickly were speeding across the screen, headed towards the First Star, going to shoot down the interlopers clinging to its side.

    Sylva wished that there was a large supply of mass around, that they could throw, make it become a power struggle between the sensitives on one ship and the other, but they were truly in the void of space; the only debris around were the shattered remnants of shuttles that Yan had been methodically destroying. That wasn''t nearly enough to make an impact against a ship so big, even if Sylva could gather it all together.

    "Which ships have their jumps?" Iri asked Yan over the radio.

    "Just me," Yan said.

    "Commitment actions," Iri said under her breath.

    "There might be another one, hiding," Yan said. "You know the Guild was chasing us."

    "I have an idea," Kino said, in a voice rusty with disuse. Sylva looked at her, shocked. "What are the jump timers?"

    Captain Respect put the Warrior II''s up on screen, an ominous red 7:45, typed in manually 0 for the First Star, and then Yan relayed over the radio that the Fleet ship had jumped in two and a half hours ago. Respect set a timer for it saying 5:30. It amazed Sylva that Yan had been able to hold out on her own for so long, but maybe she shouldn''t have been surprised by that. Yan was, after all, the most talented person she knew.

    "If there is another ship, where are they?" Sylva asked.

    "Hiding and waiting for a message, I''d assume," Iri said.

    On the screen, the Warrior II''s dogfighters began engaging with the ones around the First Star. Sylva didn''t know why she was shocked at how agile they were. They seemed to get the upper hand in several of the quick engagements, their opponents turns seeming too slow, their shots going wide. She wondered why this was, then she saw Chanam with his eyes closed, fists clenched, using the power to aid them.

    "Waiting for a message?" Sylva asked.

    "If they weren''t keeping radio silence, we would have known they were here before we jumped," Respect said. "They''re still not broadcasting. That means they either have some other method of communication, are waiting, or there''s no other ship out there. They would have reported us jumping in, if there was someone they were reporting to. And from here, we''d be able to pick that up." Respect turned to Kino. "What was the plan you had?"

    Kino''s hands twitched at her sides, grasping at the fabric of her borrowed jumpsuit. She looked up at the screen, not meeting anyone''s eyes. "No one will like it."

    "Say it," Respect demanded.

    "How much of an impact could the First Star survive?" Kino asked.

    Sylva looked at Iri for the answer to that question, because she was the only one who had a hope of knowing. "It depends," Iri said. "But I''m not an engineer. If the stardrive isn''t damaged..." She shrugged, rather helplessly.

    Kino stared her down, then shook her head. "Doesn''t matter. You are betting that there is a second ship?" She asked this of Respect.

    "I''d err on the side of caution."

    "If a second ship comes, will you be able to hold out until your jump timer is up?"

    Respect thought about it. "What choice do I have?"

    "None," Kino said. "I just want to know."

    Respect''s face darkened. Sylva stepped in, as Kino clearly wasn''t picking up on that signal. "Kino, the plan."

    "The sphere of influence of a stardrive when it''s jumping is larger than the ship itself, isn''t it?"

    "It can be," Respect said. "It''s complicated. We use that if we need to tow something that won''t fit in a bay. It''s a parameter that you can set."

    Kino nodded shortly. "But not much larger."

    "You can''t tell it to stretch infinitely. And a physical connection is required."

    "That''s what I thought." She paused for a second, looking at the still spinning First Star. "If we crash the First Star into that ship, at the moment of impact, Yan can jump. That will rip a hole in it."

    There was a moment of strained silence from everyone as they processed what Kino said.

    "You can''t¡ª" Respect began.

    "But Yan¡ª" Sylva said.

    Iri cut through them both like a knife. "You think that they wouldn''t move?" she asked. "They''re not stupid.

    Kino had an answer for this. "We can cut off their sensors. That''s what we''ll use the power for. They won''t be able to see Yan coming."

    "Not at this distance I can''t," Sylva said, momentarily forgetting about her protests to the full part of the plan.

    "We''ll need to be in a shuttle, then," Kino said.

    "You would sacrifice a whole ship and stardrive?" Respect asked.

    "The outer part of the First Star will be damaged," Kino conceded. "But the stardrive should survive. After the jump, the mass that goes with it will be far less than the mass of the full ship. I believe the impact will be survivable, at least for Yan, as the only person on board." Kino''s tone was flat and dead sounding.

    "You''re betting a lot on that," Respect said.

    "There''s one person in the First Star," Kino said. "A person to whom I owe my life. But I know that she would tell me that there are three hundred people on this ship. The First Star is the most versatile weapon we have."

    "Yan has to agree to this plan," Sylva said. "She''s the one¡ª"

    "She''s been listening," Iri said. "Yan?"

    "I''ll do it," Yan said over the radio. Her voice was sad but firm. "Tell me when."

    "Do you consent to this plan, Captain Respect?" Kino asked.

    "It''s not my ship," she said, which settled it. Sylva didn''t have a better plan, and no one else spoke up with one, so that was what they were going to go with.

    Iri leaned over to Sylva and whispered in her ear. "Does he need to come to deal with this?" She indicated Chanam.

    Sylva shook her head.

    "Alright," Iri said, taking the lead. "Kino, Sylva, we''ll get you onto a shuttle. Chanam, you stay."

    "Why?" he demanded, his eyes still closed, focused on the battle outside.

    "Because you''re already making yourself useful here. Don''t need more than two to disrupt their sensors," Iri said.

    "Don''t die," he muttered, then went back to ignoring them. His aiding the dogfighters by slowing down the Fleet''s little ships was keeping the Warrior II superior in the battle, despite the Fleet''s obvious technological advantage. Perhaps the Fleet''s onboard sensitive was too far away to help, or had already been killed by Yan in the previous phase of the battle. It didn''t really matter. All that mattered was that Chanam was helping the dogfighters blast the Fleet ships apart, one by one.

    "Captain, you''ll have to coordinate from here," Iri said. "Feed the First Star a jump coordinate, and we''ll let you know when we have their sensors blocked and can put the plan in motion. If you could clear all the shuttles off the surface of the First Star, as well, that would probably make this easier."

    "We''ll do our best," Respect said. "Do you need a dog?"

    "I''ll take my own shuttle," Iri said. "No sense stealing one of yours. Besides, it''s the only kind I know how to fly." She said this with a bitter looking grin on her face. "Let''s go, ladies."

    So Sylva, Kino, and Iri ran down the halls to the bay where Iri had parked the First Star''s shuttle. They climbed in and launched in record time. Before they launched, Kino threw the invisibility they would need over the shuttle. There was no sense in leaving only to get targeted by the Fleet. Sylva kept her power up as best she could to divert projectiles, but since they weren''t seen, they weren''t being fired upon, which made it easier. Even though she was smushed back into her seat by the acceleration, going as hard as they could, Sylva still felt better being back in a shuttle Iri was flying. Despite the terrible circumstances, and the idea that the First Star would soon be smashed to bits (intentionally), Sylva felt like she was going home, finally, in a way. The whole trip to Hanathue had been grueling, exhausting, and just plain long. She wanted to see Yan again. She wanted to be back on the First Star (which she still pictured as whole, and didn''t imagine what it might look like after impacting the Fleet ship).

    Iri matched velocities and killed the acceleration when they got close enough to the Fleet ship that Kino and Sylva would be able to do their work. They were actually scarily close to it, and it loomed to their side like an ominous beast, taking up their whole field of vision. Kino was good at the invisibility, then, to keep their tiny shuttle moving unseen.

    "You do what you need to do," Iri said.

    "We should, uh, synch up," Sylva suggested, looking over at Kino. Kino nodded, though her eyes were downcast. Sylva realized that she had never meditated with Kino before, and she wondered what it was like. Yan had, in that big group mind during the attack on the Gatekeeper, but Sylva had been intentionally left out of that. And who knows what Yan and Kino did together during their little "practice sessions". She felt a weird twitch of jealousy at those thoughts, but clamped them down. Now was not the time.

    Kino must have noticed the emotions making themselves plain across Sylva''s face, because she asked, "Are you ready?"

    Kino''s more willing speech today was a positive sign, Sylva thought. "Yeah."

    "You do the call," Kino said, and closed her eyes and held out her hands for Sylva to take. Sylva took them. Kino wasn''t wearing gloves. Her hands were soft, but the prosthetic that wrapped around her left hand was sharp and cold.

    Sylva floundered for a moment, not sure what to use. She thought the last time she had actually meditated with another person, aside from sliding into Yan''s dream (which didn''t count) might have been when she had quit her apprenticeship, with her mentor. That was a long time ago, and she somehow doubted she had gotten much better at it since then. Still she picked a simple tune one that everybody at the Academy knew.

    "Yora girls they have no charm,

    hoorah, hoorah.

    They''ll knock you down and break your arm,

    hoo-rah, hoo-rah, hey!

    I''m a-goin'' out,

    No more at school to stay,

    I''m goin'' to a place where there''s none like me,

    No more Academy.

    Yora boys all look like hogs,

    hoorah, hoorah.

    You''d think they''d all crawled out of bogs,

    hoo-rah, hoo-rah, hey!"

    It was a song that no one was supposed to sing, but somehow all the Academy students learned it through osmosis within what seemed like minutes of their arrival in their first year. There were a shocking number of verses. Luckily, with only really two lines to work with, they tended to be on the tame side.

    Kino''s mouth twitched in something that might have been a ghost of a smile and then Sylva closed her eyes, focusing as best she could on just the words of the stupid children''s song. Was it easier, using the power now that she had been through so many life and death situations? Maybe. It may have just been that aside from her own singing, the interior of the shuttle was dark and quiet, and there were not distractions other than the feeling of Kino''s slender hands in her own chubby ones. She pushed that feeling out of her mind, and sank down into that shared space with Kino.

    She had known, before now, that Kino didn''t quite think in words, that her mind would be full of the same vivid, focused imagery that she had presented to Sylva while on Hanathue. Still, Sylva felt like when they entered the shared mind space, their thoughts were like oil and water, Sylva''s floating atop Kino''s recollections, as though she were looking down upon them through some kind of barrier. She exerted a mental effort to push her way through that barrier, felt herself be repelled, then allowed in, ever so slightly. They stopped singing. Kino opened her eyes, and Sylva looked out through them.

    "You''ll have to do this," Sylva said in their shared space. "You''re better at this than I am." The feeling attached to those words was one of a personal inferiority, and Kino seized on that feeling and turned it over and over in their minds. It brought up several flashes of images that went by too fast for Sylva to truly examine, though she was certain that one of the images was of Bina, forcing her to feel her own pang of guilt. "Come on," Sylva thought, trying to pry the feeling out of Kino''s mental grasp, focusing their shared thoughts on something else. "Now''s not the time."

    A snatch of music sounded in Sylva''s ears: a woman''s voice, one that she had never heard before. It said, "This is the time, and this is the record of the time." It was clearly some fragment of a thing that Kino remembered, and Sylva couldn''t tell if Kino was trying to use it to say something to her, or if these thoughts just flashed into Kino''s head whenever certain words were said. Sylva knew that trying to control her own thoughts was often like herding cats, so she couldn''t judge Kino too badly, but it was distracting, and they had a job to do. She tried to form an image of the reversed invisibility that they would need to impose over the whole Fleet ship, and held it out to Kino.

    Kino considered it, then slowly rejected it, showing Sylva how her idea of not allowing any radio or visual transmissions through would quickly alert the Fleet ship that something was up. The power structure she presented instead was much subtler, and Sylva picked it apart. They were going to leave most of the visual information in tact; the only thing that they would have to carefully track and block out was the motion of the First Star. They could leave the visuals of all the dogfighting ships alone, so long as they didn''t start to scatter obviously when the First Star moved. Then, they were going to flood the radio spectrum with a false noise. It would be obvious, but it would appear as though the Warrior II had the usual means of blocking communications, in order to make it harder for the Fleet ship to coordinate their own battle. It wouldn''t obviously appear that the Fleet ship had been put in a bubble, keeping them from knowing about the massive ship that would soon be hurtling on a collision course towards them. Infrared and other spectra that could betray the First Star''s position were covered the same way that visuals were covered. Sylva was a little worried about radar: if the Fleet ship was sending out targeted pulses, they might be able to cut through the noise, but Kino presented an image of the First Star in the visual spectrum, along with a sense of incredulity. Why would they need to use radar targeting when they could just look at it? Neither of the two of them were technology experts, but they hoped that this would be enough. It only had to work for a few minutes as the First Star accelerated.

    "Ready?" Sylva asked. She held her power out, as if it were a silver thread, for Kino to work with. Kino directed her to the portion of the power structure that was supposed to flood the area with radio noise. Sylva took the hint and settled her focus on that.

    "Ten seconds, we''re putting this power structure down, Iri," Sylva said out loud, though she might have said it through both her and Kino''s mouths, as the distinction between them was less and less as time went on. "Send the go signal." Kino was forced to momentarily drop the invisibility on their own shuttle, in the one radio band they were using for communication. Sylva had almost forgotten that she had been holding that up. It spoke to Kino''s almost effortless use of the power. Kino presented a wry image of herself fading away into the darkness: she had always been good at being invisible, after all.

    She didn''t see or hear Iri''s response, but she waited the requisite time before she brought her full force to bear on the segment of the power structure she had been handed. Perhaps it was surprisingly easy to allow her mind to create chaotic, formless noise.

    She felt Kino''s part of the power structure take shape. Kino''s mind was of a singular focus that Sylva had to admire. She could feel herself getting distracted, watching the other woman work, and she refocused.

    From where they were, they couldn''t see the battle, or the First Star begin to move, but Sylva almost felt like she could feel it, beginning to barrel towards them, as fast as its engines could push.

    "You''re really doing this?" Halen asked.

    "Yes," Yan said and gritted her teeth. She hadn''t invited her Halen apparition here, but he was with her anyway, sitting in the chair next to her, leaning slightly sideways towards her with an expression of resignation.

    "It will hurt," he said.

    "And so would the alternative," Yan said. "I think--"

    "You might not get out alive," Halen said. "I might not get out alive."

    And that was an odd distinction for him to make, but Yan didn''t pay it much attention. The acceleration pressed her into her seat as she input the commands to the engines, so rarely used. At least the ship wasn''t spinning wildly anymore. She had turned off the rings, so she would have been floating if they weren''t accelerating. And she strapped herself into her chair. Her hands dug into the fabric on its arms. She stared ahead of herself, at the big screen, completely unblinking.

    Alarms were blinking on her console, some telling her that communications were being jammed, some telling her that parts of the ship were damaged, and others yelling about the strain of acceleration.

    "Are you ready?" Halen asked.

    "As I''ll ever be," Yan said. The jump coordinates had been set, including setting the inclusion radius as far as it would go. That, too, had caused warnings to flash on the dashboard, but she ignored them, feeling a confidence that this would work. That was, if she wasn''t smashed into a pancake on impact. The part of the ring that she was on was on the far side of the ship; she had purposefully oriented and secured it there, but that didn''t mean that any ship was meant to stand a strain like the one she was about to put the First Star through. No one ever considered ships would intentionally accelerate into each other. It would be catastrophic for one ship to even just bump another in a docking accident. And yet, here she was. Captain of her ship, about to almost certainly destroy it in totality.

    The acceleration caused her head to throb, or perhaps that was just the pounding of her heart, and the immense, sudden stress she was under. She wished she had gotten to say goodbye to Sylva and Iri and Kino, and even Chanam, and even the surprise rescuers aboard the Warrior II, but it had all happened so fast.

    The Fleet ship was coming even more fully into view, taking up a massive section of the view screen. She wished she could say goodbye to Sid, but communications were jammed, and she wasn''t going to give away the game like that.

    Closer.

    She couldn''t help doing two things. Despite herself, Yan muttered a prayer under her breath, a kind of reflex that she had thought was long buried. "Lord of all creation, keep all wanderers on their journeys, keep all blades in their sheathes, keep all fires in their hearths..."

    And the second thing that she couldn''t help but do was stretch out her power in a line, as far as it would go, searching for the man she knew was on the other ship, trying to send him some kind of final message even if it was pointless, even if she was giving the game away. He was there, a burning spark in her mind''s eye, even after all this time and distance. Through her power, she tried to send him whatever feeling she had for him, all wrapped up in a kind of guilt and pain. She was sorry, but not sorry enough not to do this.

    She squeezed her eyes shut.

    The impact was beyond horrible, but by time she felt it fully, the stardrive had already thrown its power up in a great and terrible wave, and had taken her out into distant, empty space.

    "We''ve lost contact with our dogs," one of the crewmembers said. Sid jammed his hands deeply into the pockets of his cassock, trying to contain his nervous energy.

    "Why?" Captain Slater asked.

    "There''s someone broadcasting noise on all frequencies that we use," the crewman said. "I can''t cut through it. It''s completely overwhelming."

    "That doesn''t seem right," he said. "Every frequency?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Figure out where it''s coming from and destroy it," Slater said. "Send out more dogs if necessary." He leaned forward and watched the action unfolding on the big screen.

    "It''s probably from the pirate ship," Sid posited.

    "Of course it is, but I have no idea why pirates would have that kind of tech."

    Sid shrugged. He was deeply concerned, since this pirate ship jumping into the fray indicated that it had some relationship to Yan at best. At worst, it had Calor and Kino on board, which he did not want to deal with. The Vortex''s sensitive had gone out with the dogfighters, which meant that Sid was alone on board the Vortex. He had almost asked to go out as well, but then he remembered how nothing good had ever seemed to happen to him on board shuttles, so he kept that touch of desire firmly to himself.

    He wished that Ervantes was on the bridge, but Captain Slater had made it clear that there was no room for his liaison. Apparently, despite Ervantes''s position, he was still too junior to merit a bridge placement on a ship on which he was not a member of the crew.

    Sid watched the fight progress on the monitors. "Will they be alright without instruction?" he asked, watching the dogfighters battle the ones which had come off the pirate ship.

    "They''re well trained," Slater snipped. Sid had accidentally insulted his crew. Oh well, Sid thought. It had been a valid question. The battlefield seemed to be moving away from the surface of the First Star, as the pirates'' dogfighters had been easily able to pick off the shuttles that were clinging to its surface, unable to move (aside from the rapid spinning of the ship they were clinging to). They had relented and moved back, to be more mobile to fend off this advancing force. Unfortunately, that left them more vulnerable to attacks from Yan. Even as Sid watched, one of the Fleet dogfighters spiraled out of control, through no mechanism that he could discern, meaning that a sensitive had grabbed the shuttle. It was painful to watch, and he imagined it was even more painful to be inside the shuttle. He was too far away to lend any help; the only reason the image was so clear was that the scopes had a great deal of magnification. He felt impotent, really, watching the whole scene, and in an attempt to see if perhaps he could reach that far, to lend some aid, he stretched out his power in a vast bubble, pushing it out past the bounds of the Vortex''s sides, into the vast and subtle emptiness of space.

    Something passed through his awareness, just off the "northwest" quadrant of the Vortex, about a kilometer distant. Sid opened his eyes, which he hadn''t realized he had closed, and looked around at the bridge.

    "Do we have a shuttle sitting off our northwest?" he asked. "About a kilo out?"

    "What?" Slater asked.

    "There''s something out there. I can feel it in the power."

    Slater pulled up a camera on his console, which he showed to Sid. "Nothing there. Feel free to move the view, if you like."

    Sid did, twisting the camera to look all around in the direction which he had felt the object. "Weird." He closed his eyes once again and directed his power out, this time searching it out deliberately. He found it easily, making a mental image for himself of what the object was, passing his power through layers of metal, the fuel of the engines, and, yes, two sparks of life.

    "There''s definitely a shuttle out there," Sid said. "I''m worried that there''s a sensitive on it, keeping it invisible like the First Star was. It has a crew of two."

    Slater sighed heavily. "And for what reason is there a shuttle lurking off my side?"

    "Probably jamming our radios."

    "I''ll have someone shoot it down, if you can give me the targeting data."

    "I could try to destroy it from here," Sid said.

    "Give me the data, so I can deal with it, in case you can''t. But you''re welcome to try."

    Sid used the console to select the area of space in which the shuttle was invisibly lurking. "Okay, give me a minute, I''ll let you know if I''ve done it or not."

    "We should see it come back into visibility if you succeed, should we not?"

    "Oh. Yeah." Sid closed his eyes, again searching out that shuttle. He was about to grab onto what he thought were its engines, when he felt something else, someone else, reaching out to him in the power. It was a familiar feeling, one that struck him instantly as Yan, and it felt so sorrowful, and like it was moving incredibly fast. A faint feeling, but one that came towards him faster and faster and faster, growing louder and more pressing every second. Sid threw his power out in a wave, trying to pinpoint Yan, where she was. Had she escaped on a shuttle from the First Star?

    But what his power encountered made his blood freeze in his chest. The most massive object he could have imagined his power passing through was barreling towards him, so close.

    Sid''s eyes snapped open. "Shut all emergency doors now! Brace for impact!" he yelled, startling the bridge crew. "Do it now!"

    "What?" Slater asked.

    "Just do it! Three seconds!" Sid yelled, unable to control his tone or volume. It was too late for him to fasten the seatbelt of his chair; he just didn''t have time.

    "Do what he says," Slater said, apparently believing Sid, though he had provided no real reason. "What''s going--"

    Sid had managed to get a power structure up that glued the back of his cassock to his chair, which was the best seatbelt he was going to get under the circumstances, but then it hit, and Sid felt like his chest was being crushed by a million ton weight, and his neck snapped sideways, horribly twisting in a way that was excruciatingly painful but not immediately life threatening. Sid fared better than most of the rest of the people on the bridge. The lucky ones who were sitting managed to, for the most part, merely fall to the floor, but anyone who had been standing ended up smashing into the nearest object, mainly face first.

    Sid''s glasses flew off his face, and he lost sight of them in the chaos.

    The shock event was less bad than he had anticipated, and didn''t... continue. It was an instantaneous thing, and Sid thought for a brief second that that meant that the ship had made only a glancing collision, and had thus been spared from too much damage. That hope was short lived, though, because, after a few seconds of people scrambling to their feet and looking around, dazed, the power went out completely, and the whole floor moved with a sickening rumble that Sid could feel in his bones. He couldn''t imagine what it sounded like, and he didn''t want to. Perhaps for the moment the safest place to be was in his chair.

    Every room on a ship could be sealed off, even in the interior rings, and each one had an independent battery that could provide a bare minimum of emergency lighting in case of power loss. It wasn''t much, especially if airflow was restricted, but it was better than nothing. The emergency lights kicked on, casting the scene in a dull red glow. Sid saw his glasses on the floor, though someone had stepped or fallen onto them, and the left arm of it was broken off. He summoned them towards himself anyway, and they flew into his hand. He jammed them onto his face where they sat crookedly across his nose, making it hard to read what people were saying, but at least he had that as an option.

    "Status report," Slater demanded.

    "The First Star just hit us," Sid said. "I think."

    All of the monitors at the front of the room were down, though the majority of the consoles appeared to still be working. It made sense: the bridge of a ship was one of the rooms one would want to keep most operational during a catastrophic event. He had no idea if they were getting data feeds from outside, though.

    "Is it still in the area?" Slater asked.

    "I don''t know. It must not have hit us directly, or we would be in worse shape," Sid said. "I can look with the power."

    That sense of Yan he had had was gone, but that might have just meant she had stopped broadcasting her preemptive apology. Sid stretched out his power through the Vortex, then stopped short as he realized that the Vortex was no longer the rough sphere it had been at the outset. He moved his power to the outside of the ship''s form, sensing the massive chunk that had been ripped from it. Roughly a third of the ship was gone. The shape was reminiscent of a clumsy image of a crescent moon, though three dimensional.

    He tried to contain his panic, and stretched his power out into space, to see if that debris was nearby, or if the First Star was still rocketing past on its course. But there was nothing. Space was empty.

    Sid opened his eyes.

    "--Engines completely offline. Stardrive giving no status update. No power is being transmitted to the rings..." Someone was going through a long litany of terrible things that their console was reporting. The horrible rumbling of the ring continued, punctuated by occasional jerks and sliding feelings, and accompanied by a gradual lessening in apparent gravity as the ring spun down. Sid ignored that, turned to Slater.

    "Is the radio working?" he asked.

    "Unknown."

    "We need to call for the Son of Emerri to rescue us," Sid said. "Or we''re not getting out of here alive."

 Chapter One Hundred Sixteen - Hombres. Sailors. Comrades.

    Hombres. Sailors. Comrades.

    <blockquote>

    "In the Book of Songs it says that all good men meet God alone. Alone the captain faced the last few moments in her home. But we my friends shall never travel down that awful road. Last soul on an empty ship."

    -from "Blood in the Engines", traditional pirate song

    </blockquote>

    Sid explained the situation as he saw it to Slater as best he could. It wasn''t an easy thing to explain, telling the captain that a huge chunk of his ship was obliterated and nowhere to be seen. A theory of how it had happened was forming in Sid''s mind, but he didn''t know enough about how ships worked to confirm it. Slater grew more depressed as Sid spoke, and confirmations came in in the dim and chaotic room about which ship systems were operational and which had been totally destroyed. All of the rings were lost causes, and the conventional engines, the ones that provided any needed sublight movement to the ship, as well as power for all ship''s systems, seemed to be destroyed as well. The infrastructure that allowed the bridge to send commands to the stardrive was either nonfunctional due to a combination of shock, the broken section of the ship, or loss of power (or some impossible to predict interaction with those three things), and it was impossible to know if the stardrive was damaged or not. That depended entirely on if it had been in the area destroyed completely by the First Star.

    "Radio''s back. We''re no longer being jammed," someone said. "Should we flag the Son of Emerri?"

    "Yes. What''s the status of the dogs?"

    The radio operator went through a long list of call signs, gathering information about which dogfighters still survived. Many of them still lived, and were engaged in active battle with the pirate ship''s dogs. They reported that it was an intense struggle. Sid wished that he had a visual on it. His head hurt from being slammed around. There was something he desperately needed to do. It was an emotional feeling that lay deep in his brain, that he couldn''t quite figure out how to translate into real world actions.

    "When the Son of Emerri gets here, we''ll begin evacuation procedures," Slater said. "I need all dogs that can still launch out, form a barrier between us and that ship. Anything that will stop them from boarding us."

    "We''d still have a man advantage if they did," Sid said. "I don''t think they''d be stupid enough to..."

    "I''m not taking any chances. Not anymore. How long until we hear from the Son of Emerri?"

    The radio operator, even from as far away as Sid was standing, visibly grimaced. "Sir, we''re six light hours away from them." The two ships had deliberately stationed themselves at opposite ends of the star system, making communication difficult. This didn''t surprise anyone, but being reminded of it did feel like a punch in the gut.

    Slater nodded, a single, curt motion. "How long will emergency power last?"

    "Lights can last sixty hours," another bridge crewman said. "The chemical air scrubbers should last between ten and twenty hours, depending on how fresh each room''s is, and how many people it needs to support."

    "Heat?" Slater asked.

    "Might be an issue, if the rings'' heat exchangers were disconnected or damaged. And the engines are down, so they won''t be able to¡ª"

    "Will it be a lethal problem?"

    "Not in the next twenty hours."

    "Good."

    Sid stood from his seat, finding it hard to balance on the ever-shifting floor, the nausea of the constant lessening of gravity hitting him hard. This conversation had given him time to come to his senses and remember what it was he needed to do. Ervantes. He needed to find Ervantes. He stumbled towards the door.

    "Apprentice Welslak!" Slater said, loudly, as the text showed up large in Sid''s crooked glasses. Sid stopped short, hand on the door.

    "What?"

    "You can''t leave," Slater said. "Not without a suit."

    "Then get me a suit," Sid said. "I need to go find¡ª"

    "We will search and evacuate in an orderly manner. Opening doors is more likely to kill people than save them."

    "But¡ª"

    "You will remain as you are, Apprentice," Slater said, with an expression that brooked no disagreement. Sid thought about fighting it, desperately wanted to fight it, but then realized that Slater was probably right. What could he do, crawling through the ruins of the ship? In a suit, maybe, but Sid wasn''t suit trained, and even if he had been, he didn''t know the ship''s layout well enough to know how to navigate from one section to another when direction didn''t exist anymore, and neither did the convenient elevators and passages between the rings. He was just as likely to get himself trapped and killed somewhere in the wreckage as he was to do anything good.

    And he had to consider, too, the fact that he was already in deep trouble. He was not supposed to be here, and his being here had led, in a sense, to the Vortex being destroyed and Yan escaping once again. Though he had no way of knowing if she had survived the collision, he suspected that she had. She wouldn''t have tried a plan like that if it was guaranteed to be suicide.

    Sid didn''t want to know what Sandreas was going to do to him when he got home, and, despite how worried he was for Ervantes, he didn''t want to make that anger worse by directly disobeying the commands of the captain of the ship.

    The ring gave one last horrible lurch, sending everyone stumbling in the already weakened gravity, then gave up the last vestiges of motion, which in turn gave up the last ghost of gravity''s hold on them. Sid pushed off the wall and returned to his seat, strapping himself in with some difficulty. He had never gotten used to maneuvering without gravity, and he was beginning to suspect that he never would.

    Hardly mattered. He was sure that by time he got back to Emerri, he wouldn''t be leaving the planet for the next five years, at least. If Halen didn''t string him up by the neck, that was.

    Sid closed his eyes. Even if he couldn''t go out and look for Ervantes physically, he could still search with the power. He was familiar enough with what Ervantes "looked like" in his power sense. After all, he had spent quite a while with the other man. It was one of those things that he developed a sense for, even without directly making a point to memorize it, much in the way that one might be able to recognize a friend at a distance from behind, just by the way they were walking¡ª a subconscious, natural understanding of how another person existed in the world.

    He stretched out his power, feeling immediately the gaping wound that had been left by the First Star. Sid narrowed his focus and worked slowly, moving his power one small section at a time through the ship, seeing just how many people were alive (many) and where they all were. He was just looking for one, though, and as he failed and failed to find Ervantes, his heartbeat grew more and more rapid, and his breathing more and more shallow.

    Someone shook his shoulder, jolting him out of his power trance.

    "Apprentice?" asked one of the bridge crew. "Are you alright?"

    "Fine," Sid said. "Just assessing the damage. Is there anything I can do to help?"

    Jumping assigned the whole ship and cargo a new overall position and velocity, but, much like one could toss a ball up and down in a moving vehicle, all the motion internal to the system was preserved across the jump, with the stardrive having no effect on it. So the huge chunk of the Fleet ship, lighter now that it didn''t have the full ship behind it, still caused a massive amount of damage as the First Star continued to slam into it.

    Although Yan had aimed the First Star to merely slide against the side of the Fleet ship, that didn''t stop the impact from feeling immense and interminable. Thoughts flashed through her head, that perhaps she could use her power to stop the collision in its entirety, but all hope of that was dashed as soon as the impact began. She was strapped in tightly, and had secured herself in such a way that severe injury was unlikely, barring catastrophic collapse of the room that she was in, but even with those precautions, she ended up being thrown around, with her shoulders wrenched, and the straps from her seat digging deep gouges in her legs. Her neck, always a source of worry for her after its prolonged period of incapacitation, she had wrapped in a kind of cushion of thickened air, which had stopped her head from snapping to the side too hard.

    Even though she had spared herself from that kind of whiplash injury, she couldn''t think straight as the First Star made its collision, and when she reached out her power to assess the situation, all the debris made the scene so chaotic that she couldn''t focus on enough to grab. She just had to wait it out.

    After a while, the horrible forces ended, and Yan was able to take stock. The First Star''s engine was still running, and she reached out a tentative finger of power towards the stardrive and found it still there and seemingly unaffected. Both of those facts gave her immediate relief. She had preemptively closed all doors on the ship, so the few flashing containment breach alarms from bays that had borne the brunt of the impact didn''t worry her too much. It was long term damage that was going to be a bigger issue, and one that was harder to address. Most of the outside sensors had been destroyed in the battle (as destroying sensors made it more difficult for the First Star''s onboard automated defenses to target attacking shuttles), and the remainder that faced the area she wanted to view had been destroyed during the impact, so it was very annoying not to have a camera view of the ship''s exterior. It left her feeling rather blind, a feeling that she didn''t like. Still, she was nothing if she was not a sensitive, so she could stretch out her awareness that way.

    It was perhaps optimistic of the First Star to merely provide her with flashing containment alarms on her console as she inspected the damage with her power. Creeping it along the outside shell of the ship, she felt an abrupt change in the surface curvature where the collision had been hardest. The walls had caved in, smashed flat in places where it was solid rock behind, crumbled into empty vacuum where there was the large space of a bay. There was a cloud of debris that made feeling out what was ship and what was not difficult, and the irregular shape made it nearly impossible for her to move her power smoothly along the outside of the ship in that region, for there was no longer a true outside to speak of.

    From this cursory inspection, she decided that the First Star was still spaceworthy. Even if it hadn''t been, what alternative did she have? It would take some work to fix, but she would have time. With the power it would be at least possible to seal those holes, even if it was beyond the scope of her abilities to reconnect all the wiring and mechanical mechanisms that had once been there.

    She continued looking, now examining the Fleet ship''s remains that had, in spots, welded themselves to the First Star''s side. It was an ugly, twisted mass, and she regarded it with an emotion closest to a numb kind of sadness. It went against everything she knew as a spacer to destroy ships like this. But she had done it because it had needed to be done.

    Her power moved through the debris, and, with a dawning horror, she felt the presence of life inside that twisted hunk of metal and stone. Still forward she pushed and found more, more. About twenty-five people were alive in there, give or take a few. Yan had expected that anyone in the area that she had taken would have died in the impact, or with the vacuum, but either Fleet ships were built better than she expected, or the twisting and bending of the metal structures had absorbed more of the impact, or people were just incredibly resilient and hardy.

    She had expected that they would die, and, while she hadn''t exactly made peace with that fact, she had thought that there was no alternative. Now that they were alive, she was presented with a more personal moral quandary. They were still her enemy, but they were defenseless, now, trapped in the wreckage of their ship segment. If Yan didn''t do something, they would die. But...

    She wished she could call Kino or Iri and ask their advice. Probably not Sylva or Chanam, because neither of them would consider both choices seriously. It was just her. And it would be just her for a while until the Warrior II jumped in, which wouldn''t be for several hours yet. She didn''t know how she would be able to help those people alone, and she didn''t know if they would last several hours before help would arrive. And even if help arrived, would the Warrior II actually want to help? It was a dilemma, and Yan muttered aloud, working through the problem in the old way she had when she was imprisoned.

    "What would you say, Halen?" Yan asked, staring down at the flashing containment alarms on her console, not looking up to where she imagined him floating in the still and gravity free room.

    "Horror, horror, what a terrible way to die," he intoned in a singsong voice. "Horror, horror, what a terrible way to die. Horror, horror, what a terrible way to die: last soul on an empty ship."

    The tune was a familiar one to Yan, a religious song that made its way into worship every once in a while. These were not the words, and Yan didn''t think she had ever heard these words before. Perhaps her brain was making them from whole cloth in the heat of the moment. She shouldn''t have asked Halen, because she knew that the horrors that he had endured trapped in his own empty ship were connected in her mind to the ones she had suffered in the Green King''s prison. That was why he was here at all. His words cut her to the core, reminding her of that.

    "Shut it," Yan said, trying to get him to stop, but Halen continued.

    "The captain stood and gave her final orders to her crew: ''If you all stand with me now, we''ll run these bastards through.'' They fought until their last breath, killing, dying two by two. Last soul on an empty ship.

    "Horror, horror, what a terrible way to die. Horror, horror, what a terrible way to die. Horror, horror, what a terrible way to die: last soul on an empty ship.

    "The captain, mortal wounded, had no more orders to give. She spat at her attacker then, ''Why don''t you do me in?'' He laughed and kicked her in her side; her blood ran crimson red. ''Last soul on an empty ship.''"

    "Stop, stop," Yan said, but he continued, going through the chorus once again, and returning to the verse.

    "They''d taken all the precious things, all the goods and gold. They''d taken all her crewmen, and all their lives so bold. They left her there to bleed and die with no one''s hand to hold. The last soul on an empty ship."

    "The real you, if you were on my side, wouldn''t care about any of that," Yan said. "You don''t have any problem with killing people."

    "But I''m not the real Halen," he said, dropping the song. "Suit up, take a shuttle, search the wreckage. You know you won''t be able to live with yourself if you don''t."

    "I live with a lot," Yan said, but Halen was gone, and he had convinced her, or she had convinced herself, whichever way it was. So she reluctantly unstrapped herself from her seat, checked how bad the wounds on her legs were, decided they weren''t life threatening, and began to head out of the bridge. As she made it to the door, she glanced behind herself, floating still in the air. "Nothing bad happen here while I''m gone, okay?" she said, though she didn''t know who she was saying it to. It wasn''t like the First Star could respond.

    She moved through the hallways of the ship very carefully, checking at each door both the warning light that would tell her if there was vacuum behind it, and sensing with her own power to make sure that the air was breathable. She had to slide through emergency access hatches to move from the ring and into the main body of the ship. Luckily, by this point, Yan knew the First Star like the back of her hand, as well as if she had been born on it. Her journey, aside from having to reroute and the pain in her shoulders and legs, was relatively simple. She was pleased to find the bay on the far side of the ship from the collision was nearly undamaged.

    The largest shuttle with the highest passenger capacity, one which she never had yet had occasion to use, was berthed there. Though it had slid across the ''floor'' during the impact (the magnets having not been strong enough to keep it completely in place during the jolt) and now rested crookedly against one of the walls, it seemed to be in working order. Yan performed as thorough of an inspection of it as she could and then suited up, finding a suit her size in the bay closet where they were typically stored. She also took the opportunity to grab some tools and a first aid kit, which had all stayed put. Things stored in the zero G sections of the ship, at least small items, were generally fastened well, so that they wouldn''t come untethered during normal ship operation.

    She didn''t think she would need the tools, such as the metal saw and the crowbar, since she had the power, but it didn''t hurt to be prepared. Just in case, she hauled a bunch of the other space suits into the shuttle. There weren''t enough, and she didn''t know if she would need them, but it was better to have them and not need them than the alternative. And just like it was better to have tools than not have tools, Yan strapped her knife and gun to the outside of her suit, clipping their holsters onto the utility belt hooks that all spacer suits had.

    Since the First Star had been ordered to lock all doors, Yan was forced to manually activate the air pumps, and once the bay was a vacuum, open the large doors by turning the heavy hand crank. It was a lot of work, especially in a suit. She could practically hear Halen nagging at her for being a weakling. "Yeah, yeah," she muttered to herself. She realized once she was done and her shoulders felt like they were on fire that she could have used the power, but it was too late by that point, and the bay doors were open. She entered the shuttle through its airlock and settled herself in the pilot''s seat. This whole thing would have been easier with help, but she didn''t have help, so she was going to make the best of the situation herself.

    Flying out of the bay and around the other side of the ship required intense concentration on her part, mainly due to the heavy debris field. She kept needing to redirect debris away from her shuttle with the power, sending them spiraling away into empty space. When she came around the side of the First Star that had been hit the hardest, she got a good look at the damage with her eyes for the first time, as she lit it up with the beams from her shuttle''s lights. She had known what to expect, mentally, but she wasn''t prepared for how it would feel to survey her damaged ship, as though it were a part of her own self that had been cut open. The image of the First Star''s heavily scarred side, with the bays burst open like popped balloons, and pieces of metal and rock everywhere, with the huge and horrible chunk of the Fleet ship attached to it, with a trail of debris like a bleeding wound... It hurt. She wanted to stop and cry, but she didn''t have time for that, so she moved on.

    Carefully, Yan stretched out her power through the wreckage, searching for those telltale signs of life. She didn''t know which people were in most in urgent need of rescuing, and she had no way of finding that out, so she figured she would start with the rescues that seemed easiest first. That meant bringing her shuttle around the wreckage, towards the ''inside'' of the slice of the ship, where the metal walls of the rings were exposed. Most of it was crumpled horrifically, but the pieces near the rear edge were mostly structurally sound. That was where she directed herself, found a wall close to the place where she felt someone living, and stopped her shuttle.

    Here was the tricky part. Yan left the shuttle via the airlock. Airlocks on most space-to-space shuttles had an extension that could be used to create a tunnel, for quick transfers between the ship and shuttle, without landing the whole thing in a bay. Yan remained inside that tunnel and dragged it behind her. With the power, she sealed it to the side of the metal wall. She used the power to check if there was air behind the wall that she was about to cut open. There was, which made sense. If there hadn''t been, she wouldn''t have been able to feel the person behind it, still alive. Yan banged on the wall with her gloved hand as hard as she could, hoping to signal to the person inside that help was on the way. Then she took the metal saw and got to work, using the tool to carve a hole in the wall. Air flooded out into her tube with a hiss that was audible even through her helmet. Yan kept working until there was enough space for a human being to crawl through, and then she clambered in.

    The room she was in was lit with a red emergency light glow. It was a bedroom, she thought, and she had entered through what had once been the ceiling. Objects drifted around the room in the slight air currents: large fabric sheets, blankets, clothing, pillows, personal items. The bunk beds were welded to the floor. This was crew quarters, then. They gave Yan a handle to hold onto as she pulled herself down into the room, looking for the survivor.

    She couldn''t find the survivor at first, which was very odd, since she had definitely felt a person alive in the area. Yan was grateful to not see any dead bodies, which meant that the person hadn''t died in the time that it took for Yan to saw open the wall, so she was confused. She stretched out her power again, and still felt the life, below her and to her side. Yan turned and saw a door, which she had taken at first for the exit, but now saw was a closet. She hoisted herself towards it, then pulled the door open. Like most doors on a ship, it was sealed sealed from the emergency, so it took a fair amount of effort.

    There was a woman in there, who looked up at Yan, with a wad of fabric pressed over her face. The fabric had a dark stain on it, though since the only color of the lighting was red, Yan couldn''t be entirely sure that it was blood. It seemed to be a logical conclusion, though.

    Yan undid the visor of her helmet, since this area had atmosphere, so that she could talk to the woman.

    The woman gasped when she saw Yan''s face, and pressed back into the closet, looking between Yan''s face and the First Star''s insignia on the sleeve of her suit.

    "I''m rescuing you," Yan said. She rather regretted taking off her helmet, because the air inside the room was heavy feeling, as though it had the wrong mixture of gasses in it. It was breathable, but the anxious feeling that throbbed in the back of her brain signaled that the air scrubber was not pulling out as much carbon dioxide as it should have. "Are you too wounded to move?"

    "No," the woman said. Her voice was suspicious, even when muffled by the cloth she continued to hold over her mouth and nose.

    "Great. I cut a hole in the wall. There''s a tunnel that will take you out to my shuttle. Go through it, into the shuttle, close the door. Don''t touch anything else. I have like twenty other people to go find."

    When the woman was silent and unmoving, Yan narrowed her eyes.

    "If you fuck with the shuttle, you and everyone else will die. Don''t try it." Yan could safely make that promise, because if she were forced to destroy the shuttle, there would be no way for her to get the rest of these people into suits and back to the safe parts of the First Star.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    "You''re supposed to be dead," the woman said. "Why am I trusting a kind of ghost?"

    "Long story. You''re wasting my time," Yan said. She was truly anxious now, about all the other people trapped here. It was going to be a slog for her to get them out.

    The woman finally nodded, and Yan gave her space to exit the closet and pointed her to the hole. "Keep that airlock door shut," Yan said.

    The woman headed out, glancing behind her at Yan, perhaps to make sure that Yan didn''t stab her in the back. Once the woman was in the shuttle, with the airlock shut firmly behind her, Yan sealed her helmet once again and sent out her power to find the next closest living person. It probably would be easiest to go through the wreckage ''on foot'', rather than attempting to move the shuttle each time. If she was wrong about that, well, she''d dock that starship when it arrived.

    She checked with the power if there was air outside the door of this crew bedroom: there was. The light that was supposed to be green to indicate breathable air on the other side of the door was not lit, though, which indicated (unsurprisingly) that that system on this chunk of ship was broken, at least in some places. Yan she slid the door open and went through. It was disorienting, being in a place this destroyed, which had been designed completely around the presence of gravity but no longer had any. Yan moved through the hallway as quickly as possible, following the power that told her where the next few people were trapped. She felt several together, which made her nervous, but also her job easier. And more urgent: emergency air filters could only cope with a certain amount of exhalation, and the more people in a room, the less time they had before the air became unbreathable.

    Yan pulled open the door to this next room, and a cloud of black smoke, evenly dispersed through the air, puffed out at her. She flinched back out of surprise, but her suit prevented her from breathing any of it in. She proceeded with extreme caution, though, as there was little more dangerous on a ship than a fire. The room was very dim. The emergency lights weren''t doing enough to penetrate the thick smoke, and Yan''s suit flashlight didn''t help much either, though she turned it on and pointed it all around herself. She couldn''t see any fire, which was a relief, but that didn''t mean there wasn''t any. She proceeded slowly, drifting through the air of the room, trying to identify objects that swam out at her through the gloom.

    There were tables bolted to the floor that had managed to stay put, but benches and chairs drifted through the air, some of them shattered from the impact. This had once been a mess room. The fire was probably in the attached kitchen. She couldn''t see people, and she didn''t want to pull off her mask to call out to them. She sensed again with the power. There were four in one corner of the room, one in another. She went towards the group of four.

    They were gathered in a huddle, with their jumpsuits drawn up around their faces to cover their mouths and noses. They tensed visibly as she approached, though none of them appeared to be in fighting shape: they didn''t have weapons, and one of them had a badly broken arm. It wasn''t clear what injuries the others had, but she didn''t think that they could have gotten off unscathed in the impact.

    "I help," Yan signed, trying to keep her signing as simple as possible, knowing that for people whose only exposure to sign was what they got in suit training, it would be difficult to communicate anything but the most basic of information.

    They stared at her, seemingly uncomprehending and possibly threatened by her flailing. Yan resigned herself and lifted up her helmet visor, though her suit shrieked a warning in her ears about air quality as she did so.

    "I''m here to help," she said aloud. "The hallway has breathable air, at least right now. Out and six doors to your right, there''s a bedroom, open it, there''s a hole in a wall with an airlock attached to it, and a shuttle. Go in the shuttle and wait. Don''t touch anything. If you fuck with the shuttle, everyone dies. Got it?"

    There were a couple of nods from the group.

    "Can all of you move?"

    Again, nods.

    "What''s the status of the person in the kitchen?"

    "Dead," one of them spoke up.

    "No he''s not," Yan said, though that wasn''t an encouraging thing for these people to say. "Is the fire out?"

    "Yes."

    "Great. Go," she said, then snapped her helmet shut again, glad to breathe clean air from her suit. She pushed off the ground to head back into the kitchen area where the remaining person, the one who the others thought was dead, was.

    She understood immediately why the others had thought that this man was dead. The massive, industrial refrigerator, which was usually bolted to both the wall and the ground, had come loose from about half its moorings in the impact, as had the stove, the source of the fire. The fridge had tipped forward, ripped off the wall and hanging onto the ground with metal strips bent way out of shape. The stove had crashed into it, preventing it from swinging away. And, pinned between the fridge and the wall, unconscious and badly burned, was a man, trapped. His pelvis was what was pinned between the fridge and the wall, probably very broken. Yan winced in sympathy, then got to work.

    She was glad that the fire was out, already taken care of somehow by the four others she had let out before. Either that, or it had burned through all of the oil and food that had been feeding it. That might account for all of the smoke. The rest of the objects in the kitchen were explicitly designed not to burn, being mostly made of stainless steel, so even though the vast quantities of smoke in the air, and black, burned streaks across the floor and walls evidenced that the emergency fire suppression system had not kicked in, the passive design to discourage fire had done enough good work to save these four people.

    As much as they could be saved, anyway.

    She used the power to pull the fridge off the man. She also used it on him directly, even though it gave her that feeling of wrongness that made her gag in her suit, it was necessary to keep him steady. She didn''t want to touch him and risk upsetting his broken bones even more. She couldn''t check his pulse or his breathing or anything while wearing her suit, but he was still alive. So as gently as she could, she floated him out and back to the shuttle. It was still there, and she breathed a huge sigh of relief when she saw that. She banged on the outer door in warning, then opened it. The other people inside had clearly been talking, and they sprang back away from the door as she came inside, floating her wounded man behind her.

    She popped the visor on her helmet again so that she could talk. "He''s alive, but barely. Any of you have any medical training?"

    There was a general murmur of ''first aid'' through the group. Yan resisted the urge to sigh. "There''s a first aid kit there." She jerked her head at it. "I''ve got more people to get. Don''t mess with the shuttle." And then she vanished out of the shuttle again, closing the door behind her.

    She was trusting those people, even though she probably shouldn''t.

    It took a long time to find most people. They had often jammed themselves into closets where they felt safer, or were trapped among pieces of rubble, or had broken limbs from the impact, or were otherwise completely incapacitated. Some had survived miraculously in rooms that were isolated from the main parts of the ship, that had no air around them, but somehow air inside. For them, Yan had to get creative with the rescues, using the power and the spacesuits she had brought along to get them to safety.

    For the last few, which were in a completely different ring section that was inaccessible through the main passageway she had been going through, Yan had to move the shuttle and its airlock to a different location. She climbed out and searched again, having to re-figure out the best and safest routes around this space. She was exhausted, having been at this for several hours, but she couldn''t stop.

    She had an empty suit tied on a tether to her waist. This hallway was breached severely, but she could feel someone trapped in a room off the side of it. The easiest thing to do was to approach one of these independent rooms from the side, so she could use an adjoining room as an airlock, by patching up the holes in it. She did so, wedging herself into a crowded maintenance closet whose door had a failed seal. She fixed the seal with the power, then brought out her saw, to cut through the wall. It was awkward and cramped, but she did it, and then she was pushing her way into... a bathroom, with a couple stalls and urinals. Water floated loose in big globs around the place, and Yan hoped that none of it was pee. In terms of disgusting things she had seen that day, it would have been one of the least bad, considering the death toll in this place, but she thought it might have finally pushed her over the edge into puking in her suit, which was the last thing she wanted.

    It was always so hard to see in the dim red light, but she recognized the person across the room immediately. She was extremely startled, having never expected to see this man again in her life.

    Yan pulled her helmet visor open. "Lieutenant Cesper?" she asked.

    He was just as startled as she was, though he winced in pain as he spoke. "Ms. BarCarran?" She saw why: his leg was broken badly. He had taken off his undershirt and wrapped it around his leg as a kind of bandage, but it was barely better than no bandage at all.

    "I''m here to rescue you," Yan began, tiredly beginning her whole speech once again.

    "I was under the impression you were trying to kill me," Cesper said.

    "We can talk about this later. I''m getting you out of here so you don''t have to die right now. Got it?" Cesper nodded. Yan unhooked the suit from her waist and pushed it towards him. "Can you get in this yourself, or do you need help?"

    Cesper looked at his leg. "I might need help."

    "Try it yourself first," Yan said. He nodded, and Yan watched him struggle, and decided she couldn''t stand watching it, or wasting time, or some combination of the two. "Fine," she said. "Sorry, this is probably going to hurt."

    The power bucked under her grasp as she used it to force Cesper''s leg to straighten to fit into the suit. He did let out a cry of pain, but Yan ignored it. After that, it was easier sailing, and he was able to get the rest of the suit on himself.

    "Helmet on, and just follow me," Yan said.

    <hr>

    After she had collected everyone who still lived, Yan wanted nothing more than to fall asleep for the next six years. But she still had to pilot the shuttle back, land it shakily in the bay, and deal with the whole group of sullen and injured Fleet soldiers behind her. The most heavily injured one, the one she had pulled out of the kitchen, hadn''t regained consciousness, and she was thinking privately that he probably wouldn''t. None of these Fleet people had medical training beyond bare minimum first aid, and Cesper was the highest ranked among them, so Yan put him in charge of dealing with them. He was trustworthy, in the sense that she knew him, at least.

    She didn''t know where to put these people. At least there wasn''t any gravity, since she hadn''t restarted the rings, so even the ones with broken legs or ankles or feet could still navigate the ship. They all drifted in the bay in a group, somewhat silent, several of them making appraising looks and wondering if all of them could overpower Yan. She didn''t think they could, but she wanted to squash that thought before it got started.

    She held her suit helmet under her arm and addressed them. "Look," she said. "I¡ª" She had to stop and take a deep breath, not entirely sure what to say. The confidence and feeling of urgency that had gripped her during the rescue operation had left her completely. She tried to draw on it again, that feeling of needing to get things done, but was left floundering in exhaustion. "Here''s the plan. As soon as the rest of my crew gets here, we''re probably going to jump out. I''ll take you all to the nearest inhabited system and drop you in a shuttle on the edge of it. You can get picked up and sent home from there. I don''t have a doctor, or medical knowledge, or anything like that. I can get you pain medication, but aside from that the best we can do is stitches and bandages." She shrugged helplessly. "Don''t think of trying to steal this ship, by the way. You won''t be able to fly it. Do you understand?"

    It was clear that no one was going to say that they didn''t understand, so Yan got them as settled and contained as possible in the medical area. She pulled Cesper aside and spoke to him in the hallway. She had given him some painkillers from the medicine cabinet, though they probably weren''t strong enough, and an emergency inflatable cast that was at least stopping his leg from getting knocked around.

    "What are you doing here?" she asked.

    "I''m Second Welslak''s liaison to the Fleet," Cesper said.

    "And why is Sid here?" Yan hissed, gesturing around. "Sandreas would have never said yes to this."

    "He lied to the captain of the Vortex," Cesper said.

    "And you didn''t STOP him?" Yan asked. "If he keeps coming after me, I''m going to end up killing him."

    "If it wasn''t the Vortex, it would have been the Son of Emerri," Cesper said.

    Yan sighed, connecting the dots that there had indeed been another Fleet ship waiting. "You''re going to get court martialed, when you get back," Yan said. "Sandreas or Halen might kill you for letting Sid do this."

    "I did tell him that it was stupid," Cesper said, though his voice indicated that he hadn''t used quite those words. "And he told me he would stop this from all coming down on my head."

    "That wouldn''t be the first time Sid made promises he has no way of keeping."

    "I believe in the same conversation he told me he was invincible."

    Yan had to laugh at that to keep herself from crying. "Classic Sid." She shook her head. "I don''t envy whatever punishment is coming to him."

    "He might say the same of you."

    "Are you going to try to kill me, Lieutenant?" Yan asked, studying him. He might be the only one with a chance of flying the First Star out. She knew he was good at math. He could probably figure out the ship''s systems, even if he hadn''t been explicitly trained.

    "I don''t think that it would be anything approaching a fair fight," he said. "No."

    "And self preservation is the only reason why not?"

    "It''s true that I have a vested interest in getting out of here alive, and if that involves simply being your prisoner and cooperating, I''ll do it."

    "Hm."

    "Why did you rescue everyone?" Cesper asked, interrupting the train of thought that Yan had been trying to string together.

    "I couldn''t just let people die," she said. "I mean, even if I thought they would in the first place. There''s a difference." Cesper nodded stiffly.

    "I don''t understand why you make the choices you do, Ms. BarCarran."

    "Didn''t I tell you to call me Yan, at one point?"

    "I believe the circumstances have sufficiently changed. And I don''t hear you calling me Ervantes."

    "What were you doing in this area, anyway?" Yan asked. She found it hard to believe that Sid would be let onto a ship alone for no reason.

    "We were on Hanathue."

    "Why?"

    "Second Welslak had a diplomatic mission to apologize to the father of Bina Warez."

    "Apologize? What for?"

    Ervantes flinched a little. "You don''t know?"

    "Know what?"

    "Bina Warez was killed."

    Yan blanched, wishing she could steady herself on something, but there was no gravity even to hold her. "How?"

    "I suppose it doesn''t hurt to tell you, now," Cesper said. He related then the whole story of how Fleet agents had been sent to kill Kino, and how her sister had ended up caught in it. Yan felt worse and worse as the story went on. It was just another thing that was on her head: if she hadn''t allowed Kino and Sylva to go to Hanathue, Bina would still be alive, the Fleet ships would have never been able to catch the First Star¡ª there were so many people who had died because Yan had made one sentimental bad call. It weighed on her so much that she wanted to scream. But she kept calm, not lashing out at Cesper who hadn''t really been involved.

    As Cesper was wrapping up his story, Yan felt the unmistakable sensation of another ship jumping in. She put the conversation, and all of her guilty feelings, on pause for the moment.

    "Lieutenant, you stay with them," she said, indicating the medical bay where all the people she had rescued were being kept. "Make sure that none of them do anything stupid. The Warrior II just jumped in, I''m going to..."

    Yan trailed off, abandoning the conversation, and pushed off the walls, making for the bridge as fast as she could. She arrived in record time, one of the few advantages of the rings not rotating. As long as she was careful of the hallway''s curve, she could zoom along it by hoisting herself along the bars that lined the ceiling, placed there for just such a purpose. She mentally thanked the designers of the ship for thinking of this eventuality.

    In the bridge, she hovered over her captain''s chair, sitting not really being a thing that made much sense without gravity, and opened radio communication.

    "¡ªFirst Star. Come in, First Star."

    "This is the First Star," Yan said.

    There was a momentary pause, then an audible noise of relief over the other end of the line. "Glad to hear your voice, Captain BarCarran," someone said, who Yan didn''t immediately recognize.

    "Who is this?" Yan asked.

    "Captain Respect, of the Warrior II."

    "As a ship in the night I greet you, then, Captain."

    "And with the stars at your back," Respect said.

    "Did you lose much after I left?" Yan asked. She squeezed her hands into fists, hoping that the pirate ship that had come to her aid had not suffered heavy damage. She couldn''t look out and see it¡ª most of the cameras on the outside of the First Star were busted completely. It was going to be a hard job to get the ship back into working condition, let alone fighting condition.

    "A few scrapes and scratches," Respect said. "And two dogfighters."

    Yan''s heart twisted again; that was two more people, at least, who were dead on her account. She didn''t know what to say, so she said, "Thank you."

    "I have it on good authority that if the roles were reversed, you would have come to our aid," Respect said. "Since we would not have been able to stand against the Fleet had you not made your move."

    "Did the other ship jump in?" Yan asked.

    "Yes, but we were able to leave shortly thereafter. There must have been a long radio delay." Respect paused. "I would like to speak with you in person, Captain. Would you be willing to come here?"

    "Er..." Yan didn''t know the best way to say this. "I have a bit of a situation over here."

    "Situation?"

    "There were survivors from the wreck of the Fleet ship," Yan said. "They''re all in my med suite now." There was a heavy sigh from across the line. "You''re welcome to come here, though I can''t promise there''s any good conditions. I haven''t had a chance to do a real status check beyond the very basics."

    "Yes, because you were busy pulling your enemies from the wreckage," Respect said, and Yan couldn''t tell if she was being mocked or not. "If I were you, I would have let them die. And if I were them, I would have rather tried to kill you than allow myself to be taken prisoner."

    "I don''t think that would have worked," Yan said. "I''m not a slouch with a knife." Or a gun. Or the power. Mostly the power.

    Respect laughed, for real this time, though it was tinged with clear sadness. "I didn''t mean that I wouldn''t have died trying."

    "I''m glad they didn''t," Yan said. "I have enough blood on my hands as it is."

    "I''ll come see you, Captain BarCarran," Respect said. "And bring you back your people."

    The call ended, and while Yan was waiting for whatever shuttle was coming to arrive, she ended the complete lockdown of all doors on the First Star, at least so that she could use the main computer to open and close the bay doors in the one bay she knew to be safe and relatively whole. Then she made her way down to the bay to greet them, passing by the med suite to make sure that none of her prisoners had decided to cause chaos. They were all accounted for, and all still alive, even the one who was definitely on the verge of death. Thus assured, she continued on to the bay, and waited in the hallway outside, peering in through the window as the two shuttles arrived. One was a First Star shuttle, the one she had sent Iri and Chanam out in earlier, and the other was decked out in what she assumed was the livery of the Warrior II. The First Star''s shuttle landed as gracefully as Iri could manage it (not very), and the Warrior II''s landed as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Yan closed the bay doors and flooded the chamber with air so that she could go in.

    The shuttle doors popped open, and Sylva practically exploded out of the thing, pushing herself off it and crashing into Yan to hug her. Yan, who was exhausted, smiled and hugged her back, though probably more limply than Sylva had wanted.

    "I missed you," Yan said. "But I think you need to let go of me."

    "You jerk," Sylva said, but she was smiling as she released Yan.

    "Second longest month of my life, not having you around," Yan whispered to Sylva as everyone else got out of the shuttle, at a more sedate pace. Chanam was first, then Iri. Yan had been with them for the past month, so there was no need for dramatics. "Glad to have you back on board."

    "Glad to be back," Iri said. Chanam just nodded at her. Yan couldn''t quite pin him down, but he seemed relaxed and unharmed, so that might be as good as she was going to get.

    Then, finally, Kino came out, carrying herself with a quiet stiffness that belied instantly to Yan that she was not doing well. There was none of her restless fidgeting, no quietly observing and cataloguing her surroundings, just a flat, dull stare at the ground. Yan went over to her, wanting to somehow offer comfort but not knowing how. She doubted that Kino would want a hug, an embarrassing public showing of affection or weakness (and she thought that Sylva would probably take it the wrong way). Instead, she put her hand on Kino''s upper arm and tried to send her a voiceless feeling of understanding. Kino looked up at her, and into Yan''s head, sent a clear memory: sitting with Yan on a bench in a greenhouse, trying and failing to offer comfort of her own. Yan nodded and dropped her arm because the other shuttle''s door was opening, and people Yan had never met before were coming out: two tall pirate women, one older one and one clutching an extremely chubby baby in her arms.

    Sylva made the introductions, interposing herself between the two groups. "Yan, this is Captain Respect, and my friend, Keep, and her baby, Trav."

    "Pleasure to meet you," Yan said. She shook hands with each of them, including the baby, who grabbed her finger. Yan couldn''t help but smile at that.

    "And you as well, Captain BarCarran," Respect said.

    "Just Yan, please," Yan said. "It''s one thing over the radio, but I still can''t help but feel like you''re addressing my cousin when you call me that." She laughed a nervous laugh. Respect had that intimidating aura around her that all captains seemed to carry, one that Yan felt she distinctly lacked. Keep certainly oriented herself in such a way as to make it clear that she was following Respect''s commands.

    "Your cousin?" Respect asked.

    "Captain Pellon BarCarran, of the Guild ship Iron Dreams," Yan said. "I doubt you''ve encountered him."

    "I did think the name was familiar," Respect said. "It''s true that we don''t go out of our way to cross paths with the average Guild ship." She smiled. "But it is a small universe."

    "Certainly." Yan turned to Keep. "Sylva''s told me a lot about you."

    Keep smiled. "The reverse is true as well. I never thought I''d meet the elusive Yan. She must love you, to cross the galaxy for you."

    Yan''s face heated up, and had there been a ground to scuff, she would have scuffed it with her foot. "The feeling''s mutual," she said with another awkward laugh. She looked up at Respect again. "I''m afraid I really don''t have much in the way of accommodations. My ring is stopped, so I''m afraid that all furniture that isn''t tied down will be floating, at best."

    "That''s perfectly alright. We can''t stay long, and I assume you want to be on your way as soon as you can," Respect said. Yan nodded.

    "Was there something you wanted to discuss in particular?" Yan asked.

    Respect studied her, and Yan could feel the scrutiny of the older woman. Respect spoke, finally, breaking the awkward silence that had descended. "You''re making moves in the universe, Captain." Yan nodded. "Like it or not, my ship and crew have been drawn into those moves. I would prefer to be a master, and not a tool or a pawn or a casualty."

    "I understand."

    "You understand, and you understand that two of my crew gave their lives to you."

    "If there is anything--" Respect held her hand up.

    "I am not asking for payment, or retribution, or anything of the kind. What I am asking for is a seat at the table."

    Yan was confused for a second. There was no table, no grand scheme, no plan of any kind. Yan''s only thoughts of the future, for the moment, involved returning her prisoners home, and then hiding out for as long as it took to fix the First Star. Everything that she had tried to do had gone horribly wrong, gotten so many people needlessly killed, and almost destroyed her ship. She wasn''t thinking anymore about destabilizing the Empire. She was thinking about surviving to the next day now, and the day after that. But Respect seemed to think that she had more knowledge and power than she actually did. Yan didn''t know why. After all, she had a crew of four and a broken ship, and that was all. And one of those four was a spy, who didn''t count. Maybe it was the vestiges of her apprenticeship hanging upon her that loaned her more legitimacy than she actually possessed, or perhaps it was having a ship of her own (even one as damaged and empty as the First Star).

    She nodded, then, even though it felt like a lie.

    Respect continued. "So we should make a time to meet up, and discuss what the plans are."

    Yan thought about where and when she would like to meet Respect, and there was really only one choice. "Iri, do you have the coordinates of the system we were just at?" She didn''t mention the ansible, but Iri would know what she meant.

    "Of course," Iri said smoothly. "I can give you a starmap."

    "Can we meet in an eightyday?" Yan asked Respect. "I think I''m going to need some time to get things in order."

    Respect nodded slowly, an appraising gesture. "I have no problem with that."

    "It will give me some time to think about what my next steps are. This was not in the plan." Yan gestured broadly, encompassing the whole disaster.

    "I didn''t think that it was. Take the time you need. It will give me time to think, as well."

    "If there is anything I can do..." Yan trailed off. Of course there wasn''t anything she could actually do to make up for the death of two of Respect''s crew. That wasn''t a wound that could be healed with money or favors, and it wasn''t a grief that Yan, a stranger, could intrude on.

    "No," Respect said. "Not now, anyway."

    Iri, who had gone over to access the computer terminal on the wall, returned holding a datastick. She handed it to Respect. "That''s the best location," she said. "If you can''t make it on the date, you can leave a message drone there, and we''ll find it."

    Respect smiled. "Thank you, Evie." Apparently Iri''s fake name had stuck. Iri seemed unaffected by this.

    "You''re very welcome."

    "Will you be alright?" Respect asked. "The damage didn''t look as bad as it could have been."

    "It will take some time to repair everything, but my stardrive is functional, and that''s all that matters," Yan said. "And I have my crew back. I don''t know how to thank you both for everything."

    "You can consider it payment for Trav," Keep said. "At least my part of it."

    "I won''t keep you any longer," Respect said. "There will be better times and places to talk. In an eightyday, then."

    "An eightyday," Yan agreed. She shook hands with the captain and Keep once more, and patted Trav''s chubby little head goodbye.

 Chapter One Hundred Seventeen - Orange Ball of Pain

    Orange Ball of Pain

    <blockquote>

    "The captain made the doctor''s rounds, because there was no other. The captain, the captain, the captain and the doctor. He measured, weighed, and comforted, all that he could do. The captain, the captain, the captain and the doctor. He''d sworn once he''d lead his ship, he''d care for his crew. The captain, the captain, the captain and the doctor..."

    - "Doctor''s Orders", traditional spacer song

    </blockquote>

    Yan had one last task to do, before she could jump the ship out, and that was to disentangle the First Star from the trashed piece of the Vortex. With Iri and Chanam now back and functional, she sent them to make sure that everyone in the med bay was secure, as there was the chance that separating the two pieces would cause a jolt to the ship. She left Kino up to her own devices (she would deal with Kino later), but she got Sylva to come with her in the shuttle.

    It was a calculated move, of course, though she wasn''t so cynical as to admit that to herself. She wanted to give Sylva some time alone with her, and also to establish, right away, that Yan valued her help. This was an easy way to do it.

    Sylva made no protest when Yan asked her to come, and so they climbed back into the shuttle that Sylva had just exited and Yan took them out of the bay, navigating around the side of the First Star with a natural kind of grace, trusting Sylva to catch and get rid of any debris in her path. She could feel Sylva doing it, without complaint or saying that she didn''t have the ability, and it struck an odd emotion in Yan''s heart.

    Yan remembered, before all this, having to cajole Sylva into even the tiniest uses of the power, such as levitating a book to read from when she was cantoring. She had always thought of Sylva as somehow less capable, or as needing protection, and she was starting to realize that was the furthest thing from the truth. It may have been true once, but it wasn''t anymore. And wasn''t it Sylva who had travelled across the universe to rescue her? And Sylva had been Yan''s staunchest protector, wanting to defend her from, well, everyone.

    Perhaps they were both looking at eachother as more fragile than either of them really were.

    They were both unusually silent as Yan pulled the shuttle away. She flew out far enough that she could see the whole scope of the damage to the First Star, and the chunk of Vortex that was attached to it. It was still a horrible wound, and Yan was going to have to get used to seeing it because it wasn''t something that could ever be brought back to the way it had been before. She could patch the holes, yes, but aside from that, there was little she could do to heal the scar on the First Star''s side. She frowned as she looked at it, but her bone-tiredness stopped her from making too much more of a reaction. The exhaustion made most things numb, which was really just what she needed right now.

    "It''s not so bad," Sylva said, breaking the silence. "We can fix it."

    "Yeah," Yan said. She took her hands off the yoke and looked over at Sylva. "Are you doing okay?"

    "Oh, you brought me out here to grill me," Sylva said, but her tone was intentionally light.

    Yan raised her hands. "We don''t have to talk if you don''t want to. I just figured... You might want to."

    "You''re doing better than..." Sylva trailed off. Yan supposed that Sylva had borne witness to her in various states of collapse after emergencies.

    "Only because it''s not over yet," Yan admitted. "Still have to deal with this, and get everyone I pulled out of there back to civilization." She indicated the Vortex wreckage with her head. Even though they were far enough away that they could see the whole of the wreckage and the First Star at once, it still loomed large in the window.

    "And then you''ll collapse?"

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "I have an eightyday to get myself together, regardless."

    Sylva nodded slowly. "You''re better at this than I am."

    "Better at what?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t know," Sylva said. "Dealing with things."

    "No, I''m not," Yan said. "You''ve done so much. And I''m sorry that I didn''t give you enough credit for it before."

    "That''s not what I mean," Sylva said. She shook her head. Her hair, cut short, fluffed out around her head in the gravity-less shuttle. After a moment of silence, she continued, "I just feel, like, not bad. I do things, and there''s a part of me that knows that if it was you who did them, or probably even Iri or Kino, you''d feel like, really terrible about it, but I don''t feel anything. I just keep going. I don''t deal with it, you know? Like..." She trailed off, shrugged, stared out the window. "You''re better than me."

    Yan didn''t know what to say to that. From Cesper''s story, she knew that several Fleet agents had been killed on Hanathue, but it hadn''t been clear from his retelling who had done it. It seemed like Sylva was indicating that she had, or that, after Yan jumped out with the First Star, she had participated in the fight against the Vortex''s shuttles. She waited for Sylva to continue, but realized that Sylva wasn''t going to continue, so she spoke. "Do you want to talk about it?"

    Sylva laughed a little. "You sound like my mom." Yan always forgot that Sylva had a whole family that she had left, voluntarily on Emerri, probably to never see them again. "I don''t know," Sylva said. "Does it help?"

    Yan was helpless. "You don''t have to if you don''t want to."

    Sylva laughed again, this time with a nervous tinge to it. "I think you might hate me for it."

    "I wouldn''t." Yan was firm about this. "You know I wouldn''t."

    "You might," Sylva said. "I know that you''ll say that you''ve done worse things, because you feel so guilty all the time, so how could you judge me. And you''ll also say that if you could forgive Kino, you could forgive me. But that''s different, because Kino did things to you, and you''re so stupid, you don''t care about your own self."

    Sylva did know her pretty well, after all. "I care about you, though," Yan said. "I don''t think whatever it is, you could make me stop."

    The interior of the shuttle was very dim, lit only by the glowing instrument panel in front of the both of them. Sylva''s face was carved out of the shadows by just those streaks of glowing red and green lights: the side of her cheek, the tip of her nose, the soft curve of her bottom lip as she bit it. "That''s sweet of you to say."

    "I wouldn''t lie, not to you," Yan said. "You can tell me what you need to tell me."

    "Can you keep a secret?" Sylva asked finally.

    It was an unexpected question, but Yan didn''t hesitate. "Yes."

    "Even from Kino?"

    Yan didn''t like this line of questioning, feeling like it had something to do with Sylva''s jealousy. "I don''t value Kino over you," Yan said.

    "That''s not what I meant. I''m asking, if she''s in your head, can you keep her from knowing something that you don''t want her to know?"

    "I don''t know," Yan said. "Sylva..." She didn''t know how to finish that question. She couldn''t get her brain to formulate the words. It was either exhaustion or confusion, or the way that talking to Sylva went through a completely different part of her brain than her normal logical thoughts.

    Sylva was quiet for a minute. "When we were on Hanathue, I guess I can tell you the whole story later, but it doesn''t really matter. We knew we had to get off planet, that we were being chased, so Kino and Bina and I, we tried to meet up with Keep, who would take us off planet. But it turned into this nightmare, because a sensitive had gotten to Keep before us, and..." Sylva tilted her head to look at Yan, a pensive look on her face. "You know when you were in the Mother, sometimes your head would be somewhere else, and there wasn''t any part of the Mother inside of you?"

    "I guess," Yan said.

    "That was what Keep looked like. Somebody else was controlling her body, this Imperial woman."

    Yan shivered. She had had her body controlled by plenty of other people, of course. The Mother had been voluntary. The Green King had not. She knew exactly what the toll was of being on both ends of that relationship, and she couldn''t imagine what kind of control it would take to puppet a full person''s body. The thought terrified her, but she kept quiet so that Sylva could continue her story.

    "Anyway, we had to fight her. She had these other guys with her, not sensitives, but they were hiding in the shuttle that Keep had brought. And it was, well, they ended up outside of the shuttle, and I picked it up with the power." Sylva reached out her hand, as though she was illustrating the motion, and she twisted it slowly, watching the light shift around her fingers. "And I crushed them with it."

    Yan wanted to reach out to her, but Sylva kept talking.

    "The woman was still alive, though, and she didn''t care about that. She just picked up Bina and put her back in the shuttle. I thought it would be okay, that she would be safe there, so I didn''t worry about it really, and I focused on the woman." She laughed a little, a hiccough sound. "It was stupid, though. I think she probably could have killed me if she was trying to."

    "What do you mean?"

    "She could have snapped my neck," Sylva said. "Or crushed my head in, or anything like that. Kino could resist that, I think ''cause you practiced with her so much, or maybe just because she''s so slippery." Yan nodded silently. "But all that woman did was stop my lungs. She wouldn''t let me breathe."

    Listening to Sylva tell it, rather dispassionately, still was affecting Yan more than she wanted to let on. She couldn''t divorce her feelings from Sylva''s telling-- it was as though, by listening to Sylva, she was feeling the memory inside her own body, her own lungs freezing up. She just waited for Sylva to continue, trying to stay calm, though this involved clenching her left hand at her side, digging her nails into her palm.

    "It was okay, though," Sylva said, maybe intuiting some of Yan''s tension behind her. "I was fine. Anyway, that''s not important." She stared out the window. "Kino couldn''t hit the woman. She had up a power structure that stopped anything from touching her. So, you know. I made something up." Sylva said this matter-of-factly.

    "What?" Yan asked.

    "I thought that I could, separate the air, you know, take all the oxygen out of it, just around her, so she could breathe, but couldn''t breathe."

    "That''s what you did?"

    "Yeah."

    "Did it work?"

    "I think so?" Sylva said. "I passed out. I couldn''t breathe when I was doing that to her, so we were on the same timer. Hah." She laughed, but again, it wasn''t out of amusement. "Keep shot her."

    "Oh," Yan said. "So, you..."

    "That''s not what I wanted to tell you about, I guess." She paused again. "You know Bina died, right?"

    "Cesper told me."

    "Yeah." Sylva stared out the window. "The woman had some kind of explosive hidden in the shuttle. Probably to kill us if we had taken it. She set it off before she died. Bina was inside still."

    "God," Yan said.

    "Kino went in and got her." Her voice was flat and dull at this point. "And she like, put her on the ground. It was the worst thing I''d ever seen. Kino was just there, and wouldn''t let go of her, and Keep was yelling at me because she still thought I was a doctor."

    "She was still alive?"

    "Yeah," Sylva said. "Yeah." The silence that filled the shuttle at that point was palpable. Yan waited for Sylva to continue. "We had to go. If we didn''t, they were going to send more people after us, and then they really would have killed us." Her voice cracked, now, and her breath came in shallow little spurts. "I couldn''t get Kino to move, and I couldn''t do anything to help her. I didn''t know what to do. I mean, she was going to die! Anybody who looked at her could have seen that. Her skin was melted off."

    Sylva collected herself, and when she next spoke, her voice was preternaturally calm. "Kino wasn''t going to leave without her, and there wasn''t any way we could bring her with us, or even to somewhere where someone could help her. So." Sylva twitched, a half shrug, a half shudder. "I did the same thing I did to that woman. I took all the oxygen out of the air in front of Bina, and I gave her nitrogen instead, and then she died. I killed her."

    Sylva stopped talking.

    "And Kino doesn''t know?" Yan said after a prolonged silence. She didn''t know what else to say.

    "No."

    "Oh."

    And then Sylva was crying, the tears pooling up and glinting around her eyes, unable to separate themselves and float away until she moved her head, and she wasn''t moving, she was still, taking breaths that ended in soft squeaks, clearly trying to contain it. "You do hate me now, don''t you?"

    "No, Sylva," Yan said, and she reached across the space between the two pilots seats to hold Sylva, as much as their seatbelts allowed. It wasn''t much, and it was awkward, but it was all Yan had in her to give. She could have tried to say something comforting, but she was sure that anything she could say would fall flat. What could she say that Sylva would want to hear? That Bina probably would have died anyway, so it was good to give her as painless and quick a death as possible? That Sylva wasn''t actually the one responsible for killing Bina, since it was the fault of the woman who set off the bomb? That she had done the right thing because she had needed to evacuate as quickly as possible? That it was a horrible situation with no good choices, and the alternative was Bina dying slowly in Kino''s arms? She could have said about a million things, but she didn''t, because none of them would have made a speck of difference to the facts. Bina was long dead and long gone, and Sylva felt responsibility for it, no matter what she had said earlier about feeling not bad.

    "I shouldn''t have let you go to Hanathue," Yan said finally, running her fingers across Sylva''s cheek, scattering the largest blob of tears that had gathered there. "It was a really bad call on my part."

    "You couldn''t have known," Sylva sniffed.

    "I should have." Yan stared out at the twisted wreckage before them, still full of corpses that Yan hadn''t touched.

    "It''s not your fault."

    "And it''s not yours. Not really."

    "Whose is it, then?"

    "I don''t know." Yan spoke very quietly. Sylva''s breath was less squeaky now, apparently reassured that Yan didn''t hate her. "I wish I could have protected you from it, anyway."

    "Like with the Gatekeeper?"

    "Yeah. You still mad at me about that?"

    Sylva shook her head. A glob of tears flew loose and hit Yan''s nose. She rubbed them away. She was too tired to cry herself, but the action was a familiar one. Comforting, in its own way.

    "I''m sorry I was such a shithead to you after," Sylva said, with a hiccough. "I guess I get it now."

    "I''d rather you didn''t," Yan said. That was, after all, what she had been trying to protect Sylva from, this feeling of guilt that pulled her down beneath the water, like she was always drowning in it.

    "It''s okay. I guess."

    Yan opened her mouth, shut it, then opened it again. She was about to say something that was definitely going to make Sylva unhappy, but it couldn''t remain unsaid. "I think you should tell Kino."

    "What? No." Sylva jerked back away from Yan''s hand on her face and stared at her hard.

    "You''ll feel better if she knows."

    "But she''ll literally kill me."

    "She won''t."

    "You haven''t seen her," Sylva said, pitch rising. "She''s so wrecked about it."

    "That''s all the more reason for you to tell her."

    Sylva shook her head, hair flying in all directions. "I can''t."

    "I can do it for you."

    "Please, don''t," Sylva begged, and Yan sighed and relented a little.

    "I won''t if you don''t want me to," she said, even though she knew that keeping this secret was just going to sit heavily on her own heart, every time she looked at Kino. "But I think that you should."

    "It would just make things worse."

    "Think about it, okay?"

    "Okay." Sylva''s voice rang hollow. She might think about it, Yan knew, but she had already resolved not to change her mind.

    The pensive and cathartic mood in the shuttle had been lost, so Yan straightened in her seat. "I guess I should deal with this, then."

    "Are you mad at me?"

    "No," Yan said. She was too tired to be mad. She would probably feel some kind of way in the morning, but she couldn''t work up the wherewithal to feel it now, or to know what kind of way she would be feeling.

    To stop from thinking about it further, she just nudged the yoke of the shuttle, and sent them moving back closer to the First Star and wreckage. She stopped them near the wreckage so that she could get a good look at how exactly the two pieces were attached together. Some of the Vortex had wedged itself inside of the popped open bays, and it looked like a few of the metal pieces had managed to weld themselves together through the sheer force involved in the collision.

    Yan signalled the First Star over the radio. "I think I''m going to try this quick, like ripping off a bandaid," Yan said. "I''ll try to make it as gentle as possible."

    "Do whatever you need to do," Iri said back. "We''ll hold on."

    "It won''t be that bad," Yan muttered.

    She reached out with the power, towards the First Star. She was unpleasantly surprised to find that when she touched the wreckage, attempting to move it, she felt the same gut level wrongness that she felt when she used the power on another person. The physical connection, being within the jump radius, they apparently were enough to make the wreckage ''feel'' like part of the ship''s body.

    "Sorry, baby," Yan said under her breath, apologizing to the ship for what she was about to do. She tensed her whole body in a pre-wince, and then used the power to slowly, slowly, pull the whole chunk of twisted metal and rock debris away from her ship. The power screamed and kicked at her, but it came away with a mental ''pop'' and then it was easier to move, like a loose tooth that had let go of its last hanging on bit of root.

    Yan shoved it away from the First Star with a sigh of relief, then settled it so that it wouldn''t go sailing off into nowhere. The Fleet might follow them here, after all, and they would probably be interested in collecting their dead. Yan might as well make it as easy for them as possible, by leaving this debris in the same spot she had left.

    "Good job," Sylva said.

    "Thanks," Yan said, and flew them back towards the First Star.

    One more thing to do, which was jump the ship. She was glad that there was no gravity. If there had been, she would have barely been able to walk, dragging herself forward through the air was hard enough. Sylva tagged along after her, seemingly through lack of anything better to do.

    On the bridge, Yan bid farewell over the radio to the Warrior II, wished them well, made sure they didn''t need anything else from her, and then, with a blessed kind of relief, jumped away, towards the nearest inhabited planet, which was, unfortunately, Hanathue. She didn''t say that aloud to Sylva. They weren''t going to stay long, just long enough to get rid of their prisoners. It hardly even mattered the system they went to; Yan just wanted the closest, so that those who needed medical attention could get it.

    It didn''t matter. None of it mattered.

    Sylva tugged her arm. "You good?"

    "Yeah, I''m done," Yan said.

    And Sylva dragged her away, down towards the suite they shared, which Yan hadn''t really been in since she left. It hardly even mattered that there wasn''t gravity. Yan took one of the blankets that was floating around the room (as were all the rest of the untethered belongings), rolled herself up in it, and passed out before Sylva had even turned off the light.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    <hr>

    Yan woke up before Sylva did. This wasn''t surprising. Yan had developed an acute internal clock based entirely around jumping the First Star. She could feel in her bones when the clock ticked over to allow the ship to jump again, and that sensation would pull her out of even the deepest sleep. She was feeling fairly refreshed, if sweaty. She couldn''t shower: without gravity in the rings most of the plumbing did not function.

    The horror of the previous day had not faded in her mind, but it also didn''t press urgently upon her, at least not yet. There was still too much to be done-- she didn''t have the luxury of wallowing in guilt or self pity.

    Her first stop after jumping the ship was to visit the medical area. Chanam was there, floating upside down outside the door.

    "You don''t have to guard them, you know," Yan said. "It''s not like they have anywhere to go."

    He shrugged. "Didn''t have anything better to do."

    "Oh, I see, you''re just hoping they''ll say something juicy."

    He grinned, a cheeky thing, and righted himself so that he was facing the same direction as Yan. "I wouldn''t be a spy if I wasn''t."

    "You take that a little too lightly," Yan said. Despite everything, Chanam was growing on her. She didn''t mind the kid. "Anything interesting happening in there?"

    "The one everyone thought was going to die did."

    Great way to start out the day. She pulled open the door a crack and looked inside. Cesper was near the entrance, awake, though most of the other people in the medical area seemed to be sleeping. It was quiet. Yan gestured him over outside the door. He came out, the inflatable cast around his leg squeaking as it rubbed past the doorframe. Yan gave a sympathetic cringe and shut the door behind him so that their conversation wouldn''t disturb the sleepers.

    "Morning," Yan said.

    "It''s actually middle of third shift," Cesper said.

    "Close enough." She rubbed her eyes. "Someone died?"

    "Yeah, Bennet Klein was his name."

    "Shit," Yan said.

    "I think everyone knew it was inevitable."

    "It probably wouldn''t have been if he had had a doctor." Yan knew that the fastest way to get the wounded to a doctor would have been to jump back in to the area around Xuanhuan, and hand people over to the Fleet there, but that would have been certain death for Yan, so that was not a decision she would have ever made. It had cost that man, Klein, his life. Just another thing she was going to live with, wasn''t it?

    "What did you do with the body?"

    "There were... bags... and a freezer," Cesper said. "This is a well stocked ship."

    "It had to be, for Sandreas. Now I guess we''re lucky for his preparedness." She took a heavy breath. "Are you going to want the body, or should we give him a spacer funeral?"

    "Are you asking me as a representative of the Fleet?"

    "Yeah."

    "I think they would prefer the body." Yan nodded. "How long until you are planning on letting us go?" Cesper asked.

    "We''re four jumps away from Hanathue," she said. She turned to Chanam. "You. Don''t mention to Kino or Sylva that that''s where we''re going. It''s not a secret from Iri, but I don''t want to upset them."

    "Sure," Chanam said.

    Cesper watched this exchange with a melancholy expression. "If it''s any consolation, I''m sorry about Ms. Mejia''s sister as well."

    "It''s not, and I recommend you don''t bring it up to her if you see her." She at least wanted to get a chance to talk to Kino, before Cesper accidentally stuck his nose into something he wasn''t prepared to get the full brunt of.

    "Fine," he said. "Though I do know how to handle Ms. Mejia. I spent a long time with her."

    Yan shook her head. If Cesper messed with Kino, it would make the whole bad situation worse. "Do you need anything?" Yan asked. "I''m going to go see what the food status is."

    "Maedes brought food a couple hours ago. We''re fine for the moment."

    Thank God for Iri, Yan supposed. "Is everyone, like, okay in there?" Aside from the one person who had died, anyway.

    Cesper smiled, a thin and tight expression. "Considering the situation, sure."

    "You''ll all be out of here soon," Yan said. "Look, Cesper..." Yan waved her hand in a kind of helpless gesture.

    "Ms. BarCarran."

    There were several things she wanted to say, but she picked the stupidest one, possibly. "How has Sid been?"

    Cesper actually did smile at that. "He''s mostly been fine."

    Though the words themselves didn''t strike a lot of confidence in Yan, they were delivered with a clear warmth and affection that did. "I''m glad to hear that."

    "He misses you."

    "Yeah. Well. That''s not going to make me give myself up."

    "And he was amused by your message to him."

    "Message?"

    "The front cover of your book."

    Yan laughed. "Oh, that. That was just a joke. I thought it was funny. I didn''t really mean anything by it." She was surprised one had gotten into his hands already, since there were so few copies.

    "I''ll tell him you said that."

    Yan sighed and looked away from Cesper''s face for a moment. "I wish that we could still be friends."

    Cesper was silent.

    "What?" Yan asked, taking his non answer as a pointed message.

    "It''s not exactly my place to comment."

    "It''s not like anything you say here is going to make its way back to your higher ups," Yan said. "I''m certainly not going to tell them."

    "I don''t understand your crusade here, Ms. BarCarran. It''s doomed to failure."

    "Maybe."

    "You don''t think so?"

    "You''re not going to get me to spill any secrets to you accidentally," Yan said with a smile. "But even if it is doomed, it''s worth doing."

    "It''s worth all of this?" Cesper didn''t move to indicate anything, but since everything was included in that this, his message was clear.

    "I have to believe it is."

    "And if you stopped believing that?"

    "I won''t."

    "But if you did?"

    "Then I''d take the First Star just become a regular pirate," Yan said. She knew that wasn''t going to happen, so there was no harm in saying it. "I''m led to understand that it''s not as bad of a life as it could be."

    Cesper shook his head. "I don''t understand you."

    "You''ve never felt that what the Empire does is wrong?" Yan asked.

    "I don''t have the luxury of doing anything about it, even if I did."

    Yan studied him for a second, the way he held tension in his shoulders, the way he stared past her, down the hallway, as if waiting for someone else to arrive. "You could stay with me, you know," Yan said, making her offer. "You don''t have to go back to the Empire."

    He twitched a little. "You''re asking me to defect?"

    "I''m asking if you want to make the choice that will take some of the burden off your soul," Yan said. "That''s what this is."

    "I can''t."

    "I''m giving you the luxury of opportunity." She didn''t think that Cesper would take her up on the offer, but she was compelled to offer it regardless. She could use someone like him: competent, well trained, easy to get along with. Her motives weren''t entirely utilitarian. She did want to give him an opportunity to ease some of the guilt of being part of the Empire, by giving him a chance to leave. "I''ll give everyone else in there the same chance." She nodded at the med suite.

    Chanam was watching this exchange with an amused expression. "He''s not going to say yes," he said to Yan. Yan just waited for Cesper to speak. She knew Chanam was right, of course.

    "I have duties that compel me to stay," Cesper said, putting it very diplomatically and with an even tone. "But I thank you for your offer."

    Yan nodded. "Sid?"

    "Among others."

    Yan''s smile was tight. "See, I would hope that if enough people left him for this, he would consider joining me himself."

    Cesper laughed at that. "And I''ll tell him you said that, too."

    "Go ahead," Yan said. "He already thinks I''m crazy."

    "If you wanted to change the Empire, you should have stayed with First Sandreas," Cesper said. "I think you should lay your hopes that the Empire will change for the better at Sid''s feet."

    "There''s a reason I couldn''t stay," Yan said. "I don''t think I can just close my eyes and hope that Sid will do the right thing, even if I want to believe he''s capable of it."

    "Why not?"

    "Being in the center of power changes you, I think," Yan said. "Like, there''s this whole apparatus surrounding you on all sides, and forcing you into these channels of action. You can''t step out of it without feeling like the whole system is going to come crashing down on you." There was more to it than that, of course, mainly the overwhelming power of the Emperor, and the way that the apprenticeship system trained people to not be able to even see the alternatives to what their predecessors had done, but she couldn''t explain all that to Cesper. He wouldn''t understand, since he wasn''t a sensitive.

    He nodded. "How did you get out, then?"

    "I couldn''t stand to watch Kino get hurt the way that someone once hurt me. It was a selfish thing, I guess." She smoothed her hands down the side of her jumpsuit, wiping her sweaty palms. "The rest of the justifications came after."

    "But you''re committed now?"

    "Yeah."

    "I respect your bravery, at the very least."

    "Hah. I don''t think I have much of it. I just do what I have to."

    "I think that history might come to argue about what one ''had to'' do, Captain," he said. Yan was startled by the address, since Cesper had foregone titles up to this point.

    "The specifics may be under debate, but I think the broad strokes are clear."

    "I don''t know if there''s been anything like this, in the rest of the history of the Empire," Cesper said.

    "Just because you don''t know about it, doesn''t mean that there wasn''t," Yan said. "I''d be surprised if no one had gone against the Empire before. Now that I''ve got some distance, it seems like the most obvious thing in the world."

    "May I give you some advice, Captain?" Cesper asked.

    "Sure, though I can''t tell you that I''ll take it."

    "Don''t lose yourself in this little crusade. If you couldn''t explain to your past self what you''re doing, maybe you''re going wrong."

    Yan shook her head. "I appreciate the sentiment, Lieutenant, but I think it''s more important for me to explain myself to the future than to the past."

    "You''ve changed," he said.

    "No, I don''t think so. At least, not since you met me. All these pieces were already inside me. I just needed some reason to put them together."

    "I didn''t take you as ruthless back then."

    "Am I now?"

    "Do you want my honest opinion?"

    She hesitated for a second. "Sure."

    "I think that you can justify almost anything to yourself, if you say that you had to do it. That strikes me as dangerous."

    "There''s a world of difference between dangerous and unjustified, and again between dangerous and cruel."

    "None of those things necessarily exist in opposition to eachother."

    "I won''t be convinced to back down by this line of argument," Yan said.

    "I''m not trying to convince you."

    "Good." Yan wanted to get out of this conversation, as she was growing uncomfortable with it. "Let me know if you need anything."

    "I will," Cesper said. He pulled at the handle of the door, understanding that this was a dismissal, but paused before he pulled himself in. "Captain, I don''t believe that you are evil, or even in all things wrong. But it would be for the best if you remembered that Sid, and by extension myself, are not your friends. I am your prisoner, and he is your enemy. Not admitting that to yourself will only hurt you in the long run. So either change your mind, or do what you need to do."

    He closed the door before Yan could respond, and she looked at Chanam with a kind of helpless expression. "He''s not wrong," Chanam said. "If Jeepak were here, he''d say you were too soft."

    "If Jeepak were here, we''d have a whole different set of problems." Yan shook her head, trying to clear it of the anger that always came when she thought about the Green King. "Have you had breakfast?"

    "I had a meal," Chanam said. "And I slept, if that''s your next question. You don''t have to take care of me."

    "You''re a kid. It''s my job."

    He just laughed at that and flipped himself back upside down. "There''s a reason captains usually don''t have kids of their own."

    "Don''t patronize me. You''re not a spacer."

    "And you shouldn''t patronize me, either," he said, saying it in a clunky, heavily accented way.

    "Do you even know what that means?" Yan asked.

    "No." He laughed. "But you don''t speak my language, so you''ll have to forgive me not being good at yours."

    "It''s too bad you''re not from Olkye. I speak that one."

    "Too bad."

    She noticed now that he wasn''t wearing shoes (maybe that didn''t matter at all, since the rings were still down, no walking was necessary). He kicked at her face lazily and Yan dodged out of the way. "What''s that for?"

    "Go eat your own breakfast, Captain," he said with a grin.

    "I feel like I''m being made fun of." But she took it in the good humor that it was intended and left, leaving Chanam to guard or spy on all the wounded Fleet soldiers, whichever way he preferred to call it.

    The kitchen looked like a disaster area when she got to it, but at least it hadn''t caught on fire at any point. There would be no cooking until the rings were moving again, so Yan would have to make do with whatever didn''t have to be cooked. That limited the selection quite a bit, and she had to fight her way through a veritable cloud of cutlery, loose produce, and pre-packaged foods in order to find the plastic container full of cereal she was looking for. She had no desire to fight with liquids in zero g, so she satisfied her thirst by eating a cucumber. It was a distinctly unpleasant breakfast, and she kept having to use the power to summon cereal bits back into her hand as they floated away.

    Sylva and Iri found her while she was enjoying her feast.

    "You could have woken me up," Sylva said.

    "All I was doing was jumping the ship and checking on the prisoners," Yan said. "Figured your sleep is more valuable than that."

    "Didn''t we used to have packaged juices?" Sylva asked Iri as she poked her way through all the floating foodstuffs. "Like, for just this occasion."

    "I gave them all to the people in the med suite," Iri replied. "We need to get gravity back," she said to Yan. "This is just getting ridiculous." A bag of sugar drifted past her head, and Iri grabbed it. "I thought the cabinets were supposed to be secure so this wouldn''t happen. And the cutlery''s all magnetic to keep it still, too."

    "I''m sure the impact was more than it was designed for," Yan said with her mouth full. She didn''t mind the lack of gravity as much as anyone else (save Chanam, perhaps), but that was because she had been used to it most of her life. "I don''t want to start the rings until we get rid of our guests," Yan said. "Half of them have broken legs. Don''t want to deal with that in gravity."

    Iri made an unhappy sort of grunt. "Still annoying."

    "You''ll live. It''s only for a day or two."

    "I was born on a planet. I''m not made for this kind of lifestyle."

    Yan didn''t deign that comment with a response. Instead, she said, "Have you seen Kino?"

    "In the way that one is liable to see any ghosts. I sent her to bed after we all arrived back here last night, but I think I caught a glimpse of her in the hallway earlier."

    "You say last night like we''re operating on anything resembling a standard schedule," Sylva commented.

    "You can adjust your sleep on your own time," Iri said.

    "Did you see where she went?" Yan asked, focusing back on Kino.

    "What are you going to say to her?" Sylva asked, narrowing her eyes at Yan, out of Iri''s line of sight.

    "I just want to make sure she''s okay."

    "She''s not," Iri and Sylva said in unison. They glanced at eachother and half laughed, though it wasn''t a topic that one could really laugh about.

    "Okay, but where is she?" Yan asked, finishing her cereal.

    "I''m sure she''s in one of her usual haunts," Iri said. "She might have just left her room to find a bathroom that was working."

    Yan frowned. "I guess I''ll go look for her, then."

    "What do you want us to do?" Sylva asked. "Or are we just going to sit around until we get rid of the Fleet people."

    "If you''re itching for something to do, you can always start taking inventory, and figuring out how bad things are broken. Be careful, though. Check and double check before you open any doors."

    "Yeah, yeah," Sylva said, as though she didn''t need reminding.

    <hr>

    Yan searched the ship for Kino. She wasn''t hiding, but she was hard to find because Yan couldn''t just feel her out in the power, a mild nuisance. Perhaps it shouldn''t have surprised Yan that Kino was in the greenhouse, but it was one of the last places that she looked.

    The whole place was a mess, obviously. Yan and her tiny crew hadn''t exactly been stringent about putting tools and supplies away in their approved places, the ones that were supposed to keep things contained even in an event of ring stoppage. Even if they had, Yan''s manoeuvring with the First Star probably would have knocked most of it loose. Funnily enough, the big fish tank was in the best shape, as it had a well sealed lid, and its water could keep circulating even in event of gravity failure. No one ever wanted to have to restart their fish stock over something stupid like that.

    Everything else, though... It was messy. Tools drifted through the air, and clods of dirt and dislodged plants followed them. Most of the beds were supposed to have netting laid down over top of them, to prevent dirt from flying away, and the plants were supposed to grow up through the netting, but that wasn''t a foolproof thing, and it had also not been strictly applied to every planting bed. Additionally, a couple bags of dirt had burst during the collision, and that didn''t help the matter.

    Kino floated in the middle of this, staring silently at the fish tank, watching the fish dart back and forth in lithe little clouds.

    Yan came up beside her, plucking onions from the air as she went and holding them by their stems, just because they were there to be picked up. They were silent for a long minute. It didn''t bother Yan, the quiet, and she knew Kino almost lived in it.

    "We''re always here, aren''t we?" Yan asked, referring to the many times they had met in a greenhouse of some sort. It was like a ritual now, of a kind.

    "Where sky and sea so soft do lay, with God''s broad hand between," Kino said, quoting a famous poem. "We met there once, far from the shore, with naught to see or dream..." She trailed off.

    Yan jumped to the end of the poem, the last lines that basically everyone knew, or at least everyone who had taken literature classes at the Academy knew. "With all the world of God at play, and all of time behind us, we gather such love within our hearts, and cross the bridge of kindness." Yan didn''t know why Kino was thinking of the poem-- it was a rather sentimental poem about greeting the new year, beloved by literature teachers as a vehicle for discussions of poetic structure, but so very known as a poem that students read that it had lost much of its other merits in the popular imagination.

    Kino seemed loath to say anything else, so Yan supplied, "I heard about your sister."

    Kino jerked her head in an approximation of a nod. She wasn''t otherwise moving, and Yan noted that she wasn''t wearing her metal prosthetic, either.

    "I''m sorry for sending you to Hanathue," Yan said. "I should have known that it was too dangerous."

    "It''s not your fault," Kino said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

    "Thank you, for earlier," Yan said. "Yesterday, I mean. For telling me what to do."

    Kino shook her head. "You would have figured it out if I hadn''t."

    "Sid had told me that you were dead," she said. "Over the radio. I''m glad you''re not."

    They were close enough to touch, but they weren''t touching. Yan wanted to reach out and wrap Kino in her arms, but she didn''t know if that was what Kino wanted.

    Perhaps she should just be direct, and offer things that she thought that Kino might want. "Do you want to hold a funeral?" she asked.

    "No body," Kino said, which didn''t answer the question.

    "Did I ever tell you about what Sid and I did, after the pirate attack on the Sky Boat?" Yan asked, a kind of indirect way of re-approaching the previous question. Kino shook her head. "I was so messed up from that." She took a breath. "I needed to do something, right after. I wanted to get out of my own head, and I wanted to do something to somehow..." She struggled to find the words to describe what she had needed, aboard the Sky Boat. "Compartmentalize, I guess, the guilt."

    "What did you do?" Kino asked. Yan was glad to hear her voice.

    "We said the funeral prayer for them," Yan said. "All the pirates, the ones I killed." She still had trouble saying it out loud in so many words, even now, after so much else had happened.

    "Did it help?"

    "I don''t know. Maybe. I don''t think I could have done anything different, though. I had to do it."

    "Her family probably held a funeral," Kino said. "Already."

    "That doesn''t mean you can''t."

    "Why are you trying to make me do this?"

    "Because I want to help you," Yan said. She felt like she was pleading with Kino somehow.

    "This is not a burden that you can share." The words were flat and dull, delivered with a conviction and clarity that Kino had not previously spoken with.

    "Let me try?" Yan asked. "Please?"

    "Why?"

    Yan paused and thought before she spoke. She didn''t want to say the wrong thing here, and it was a delicate act, a delicate space that she was existing in. "Before we met with the Emperor," Yan said. "You asked me to keep Bina safe. I feel like I failed you."

    Kino shook her head again.

    "And you''re my friend. I care about you." There was more she could have said, and what she did say sounded trite and awful, but the fear of somehow failing Kino overwhelmed her. She reached out the distance between them, took Kino''s soft right hand in hers. She tried to send a thought in the language that she knew Kino processed best, an image, a feeling. It wasn''t Yan''s strong suit, precisely, recalling memories like that, but what was a memory if not half imagination?

    Through the power, Yan sent Kino the image that Kino had once shown her: standing on a rock above a rapidly flowing waterway. They looked out together over the grey and empty plains of Falmar, with birds swooping and wheeling overhead. It was silent and cold. The feeling that Yan tried to express was that she was grateful for this calm image that Kino had given to her, months ago, and she was trying to return the favor.

    Kino tried to turn her head in the imagined memory that Yan was creating, looking behind her, but there was nothing there, just a barren field stretching out forever, and the image fell apart. Kino had been looking for something, something that Yan couldn''t possibly provide, having not known it existed. Yan felt that sensation keenly as they were both jerked out of the vision.

    Back in the reality of the dirty greenhouse, Kino squeezed her eyes shut, and her breath came in little gasps. Yan had never seen her cry before, not once, not even after the Emperor. She was moved by compassion, then, and she pulled Kino towards herself, wrapping her in her arms, stroking the back of her head as Kino wept onto her shoulder, not quite embracing Yan back.

    "Please let me help you," Yan whispered. She whispered it several times. Somehow, the thought of helping Kino was one that she clung to, perhaps in order to keep her mind off her own emotions, waiting to spring themselves upon her the moment she lost focus on the tasks around her. It was selfish, then, what she was doing, but she didn''t allow that thought to take root, pressing it back with the others into a distant corner, where she wouldn''t touch them until she had time.

    "How?" Kino asked, which was as much permission as Yan needed.

    She pulled back a little from Kino, put her hands on her cheeks, stared into her eyes. Kino''s eyes skittered away, not wanting to meet her there. Yan closed her eyes instead, then, and she felt Kino place her hands on her wrists, pulling her arms down. They held hands, then, in the silence of the bay. How easy it was for Yan to tap out a rhythm on Kino''s palm. How easy it was for them to slide down into nothingness together.

    In the beginning, there was light. That great empty plain that Yan had imagined once, it was always there for Yan to return to in her head. Quiet. Perfectly still. A place where nothing could happen that wasn''t in Yan''s control, or Kino''s. She was so careful not to let herself slip down into that free associative state, where memories would come floating to the surface and overwhelm the present moment. It happened to her too often, and she had no desire to burden Kino with it.

    It was not a burden that she could bear.

    What wasn''t?

    Kino was telling her that she didn''t want to know, yet she was holding out a little ball of light, one that cast their silent bodies into wild shadows on the floor of the white plain. Yan knew if she touched it, there was something that she wouldn''t want to see, but Kino was offering to share it anyway. Sensing this line of thought, Kino withdrew the glowing ball. This is not a burden that you should bear.

    Yan reached for it anyway. Let me try.

    Kino''s memory was unusually hazy, sounds sounded as though they were coming at her through a hundred foot long tube, someone yelling something indistinguishable, lights flashing above that had no meaning, and then there was stillness and blackness for a long time. She couldn''t move. She was laying down, the surface cold and flat beneath her. She stared up into that blackness, and knew she was going to die.

    Then the light came in, and a familiar face came into view. Halen stood above her, reaching out to gently touch her face. He was speaking with her, but the words weren''t quite registering, or perhaps this memory was on fast forward, like things were happening all too fast for the sake of getting through it, of not living through it all again. Yes, that was it. Go forward in time to when the pain began in earnest.

    Kino had offered this white hot ball of pain out to Yan, and she had taken it, but the pain in that shared memory space was not the pain that Kino remembered, it was the pain that Yan remembered, and that was familiar to her. The memory-pain of the Green King breaking her fingers was not something that would shake her out of this dream, even if instead of the Green King, it was Halen standing over her.

    "You have a sister," Halen said.

    The fear shot through Kino then, far worse than the pain itself, and if they had had the ability to move, they would have shuddered with it.

    "Don''t worry," Halen said. He moved the knife. "I have a personal prohibition against killing people''s families. If that makes you feel any better."

    It did.

    And then the scene shifted, and it didn''t anymore. They were sitting in the mud, and Bina was on the ground in front of them. She was hardly recognizable, and the smell of burning things was somehow the most potent memory sense. The shouting and yelling was distant, inconsequential to this moment, Kino crouched on the ground over her sister, holding her hand for the first time in ten years, having carried her out of the burning shuttle like she had once carried her off Falmar. Except this time, Bina was not going to live.

    They could have stayed frozen in this memory forever. Time was completely still. But Yan shook Kino gently out of it, back to that smooth, blank nothingness. A refuge. A place where nothing ever happened.

    Is the burden lighter when shared? Yan asked.

    No. The weight was overwhelming.

    I know, Yan said. I want to help.

    How?

    Put it out of your mind for a moment.

    How?

    Think of nothing.

    How?

    They opened their eyes, looking out at the greenhouse. Yan took Kino''s body in her control for a brief second, reached out into the air where a trowel floated by. Kino grasped it in her hand. Yan picked up the onions she had left in the air.

    You do what needs to be done, Yan thought. Fix what can be fixed.

 Chapter One Hundred Eighteen - The Better Angels of Our Nature

    The Better Angels of Our Nature

    <blockquote>

    "The Red King gathered to him all his advisors and asked what should be done with all the criminals and traitors and lower creatures within his nation. He listened to each one present their case. There were six advisors, and the Red King sat before them on his throne.

    They came up in pairs to speak.

    ''Criminals are a blight on society. If one cannot respect the rule of law, one has no right to live in a place where law rules. They should be captured, sentenced by a judge, and executed,'' said Mayazar.

    ''Criminals are brought low by their circumstance. No man would be required to steal food if food were given to him. No man would kill another if disputes could be adjudicated fairly. If we are to be a society that protects our citizens, we must shield them from that which would turn them towards crime, and give them what they need to prevent them from committing crimes again. Punishments should be lenient, and generosity should be great,'' said Qalia.

    ''Traitors will only spread more treachery, and they will fight until their last breath to remove you from your throne. If they cannot bear to live under your rule, they should die under it, by your just sword. A king must show no weakness against those who oppose him, or the whole kingdom will fall,'' Ciharris said.

    ''Traitors should be sent away to foreign lands. If they are outside of our borders, they will cause no trouble. If we show that we are merciful to those who oppose us, we will gain the respect of all,'' Vashti said.

    ''All those who cannot contribute to our society are stealing from it. They are a blight upon our nation, and a leech upon the side of your great kingdom. If they are allowed to remain as they are, they will only multiply in number, and you will someday rule over a nation of useless men. They should be destroyed, without any exception,'' said Wiltham.

    ''For what reason does a king exist, if not to rule justly over all of his subjects? Should a king not protect them equally? From enemies both within and without? The enemies of hunger, and cruelty of man, and the cold wind that comes down in the winter, are not all those things that we should conquer? If a king shall not provide food, and justice, and a place for all to live in peace, should he remain a king?'' asked Jenaiah.

    And the Red King considered their words, and made the following judgements..."

    -from ''Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King''

    </blockquote>

    The Vortex had not reported back in on time. Sid had left Hanathue on schedule, and then the ship had apparently vanished from the face of the universe. Aymon had grown first annoyed by the delay, then worried, and then, when the Son of Emerri had jumped back in to the edge of the system, ferociously angry.

    He had a suspicion of what happened, and it was confirmed when he spoke over the radio with the captain of the Vortex, with all his crew riding home in shame on the other ship. Aymon did his best to keep his cool while speaking with the captain, but as soon as the conversation was over, he wanted to yell.

    Halen, standing in his office alone with him, didn''t try to calm him down as Aymon paced back and forth. "If Sid were here, I would be half tempted to kill him," Aymon said.

    "It''s a good thing he''s not, then." Halen''s voice didn''t betray any hint of his own feelings. This only made Aymon more unhappy.

    "Do you not feel the same?"

    "You only have one apprentice left," Halen said. "I think it''s to your benefit not to kill him."

    "That didn''t answer the question."

    "Of course I''m furious."

    "You don''t look it."

    "What do you want me to do, Aymon? Yell? Break something?"

    The anger crested. Aymon turned to Halen to say some kind of cruel retort, then it broke and he collapsed instead on the couch, feeling all too much like his teenage self. It was as though Sid''s actions were entirely a reflection on him, which they were, in a way. He had failed to keep Sid in line. If his own master were here, what would she have done? He could ask the Emperor, of course, and the piece of the Emperor who was Caron Herrault would gladly answer, but he didn''t want to once again feel like a misbehaving apprentice, crawling back home for advice.

    "What am I going to do with him?" Aymon asked. Sid had lied in order to effectively commandeer a Fleet ship, which had then been completely destroyed, costing hundreds of lives and an unbelievable number of charges. And Yan and Kino had slipped away once again, with the help of some pirates. It could have been worse, but only by the barest margins. Sid was lucky that he had survived. The fact that the trick Yan pulled to destroy the Vortex had not managed to hit the bridge was a matter of sheer luck. Had it happened half a minute later, the section of the ship that Sid had been in would have been in the direct path of the First Star.

    "I can''t tell you how to punish him," Halen said. "I believe you already used up the standard punishment."

    "I''m not going to send him to the Emperor," Aymon said, closing his eyes. "It wouldn''t do either of us any good." Even if stripping Sid of his powers would be as effective as it was the first time (which it wouldn''t be, Aymon knew), the risk of having him be defenseless was too much. As much as he was furious with his apprentice, the thought of having Yan or Kino or one of their agents come in and try to kill him was far worse.

    Halen sat down across from him; Aymon knew it because the couch creaked in mild protest. The furniture here was not designed for Halen, which was why he usually stood.

    "You know he''s going to punish himself, right?" Halen asked. "Did you look at the dead and missing list?"

    "No," Aymon said. He cracked open his eyes. Halen held out a tablet to him, displaying a long list. One of the names was circled: Lt. Ervantes Cesper, missing and presumed dead. "Damn."

    "I don''t like to use people''s lives as a lever," Halen said. "But, in this case, the choice was made by God."

    "You think that this will cause him to rethink some of his stupidity?"

    "It might, if nothing else will."

    "I should still do something," Aymon said. "I can''t let him think that I will allow him to do things without my permission."

    "It wouldn''t be more of a punishment to simply ignore it, and force him to continue as though nothing has happened?"

    "That might have worked for Yan, if she had ever done something like this. She was always introspective enough that it would grate on her," Aymon said. "I think Sid is a little too literal, and would accept that he, at least on the surface, wasn''t being punished."

    "Why do you say that?"

    "He''s like I was, in some ways."

    Halen hummed, a non-agreement. "So what are you thinking?"

    "My mentor kicked me out when I misbehaved."

    "I think that sending him out on another ship is the last thing you want to do."

    "I''ll put him on quiet administrative leave," Aymon said decisively. "Take everything off of his calendar. I don''t want to speak with him. I don''t want to see him. I don''t want him to do anything public."

    "Interesting strategy."

    "And you don''t talk to him either."

    "Oh?"

    "Complete isolation."

    "You don''t think that will drive him to become even more reckless?"

    "I think he''ll realize that he''s being punished. He might be grateful that it''s not worse. I''m hopeful that he will learn his lesson and come to his senses on his own."

    "I''m not sure that this will work."

    "You think he''ll be resentful?"

    "Maybe." Halen paused. "When I look at Sid, I see a man whose every avenue of friendship has been cut off, without him having any closure. He wasn''t here when everything changed; he didn''t get an opportunity to make his own decision."

    "Good!" Aymon snapped.

    "Yes." Halen''s tone was muted and even.

    That gave Aymon pause. "You think he would have gone with Yan?"

    "Seeing how he''s behaved now, there''s not a doubt in my mind that he would have," Halen said. "They were extremely close."

    "You didn''t tell me that before."

    "What good does it do to speculate on what Sid would have done if things had been different?" Halen asked.

    "I don''t like the idea that his loyalty to her is higher than to me."

    "It isn''t anymore. Her leaving without him was the end of that. But if he had been here, the situation would have looked very different."

    Aymon nodded slowly. "So, what are you saying?"

    "I''m saying that making Sid completely isolated and miserable, when he''s already going to punish himself, without giving any indication of when the punishment will end or any way to redeem himself..." He paused. "You know he''s already an impulsive man. Not always driven by reason."

    "Is he a danger?"

    "To you? No. To himself, quite possibly."

    Aymon sighed. "I don''t think there''s a punishment that I could give that doesn''t end with him being a danger to himself. But I need to do something to stop this from happening in the future."

    "If the problem is that he has no one, give him someone," Halen said.

    "I can''t just manufacture a replacement for Yan for him. Or for his lieutenant, for that matter," Aymon said. His voice was tight.

    "There are other people he has ties to," Halen said. "You could bring in one of them."

    "Such as?"

    Halen hesitated for a long second. "He certainly had friends at the Academy."

    "He never mentioned them," Aymon said, dismissing the suggestion out of hand.

    "I think he gets along well with Yuuni Olms."

    "Ms. Olms does not operate at my beck and call. And he barely knows her. Say what you really want to say and get it over with." He could tell that Halen was hesitating for some reason.

    Halen leaned forward in his seat. "He''s close with his younger sister," he finally said. "Closer with her than the other members of his family. I believe if she were here, she could provide some sense of stability."

    "Fine," Aymon said. "Draft a letter inviting her here." He had no issue with it.

    But still, Halen hesitated, even though he had been the one to make the suggestion. "It might backfire."

    "Why?"

    "Sid might interpret it as a threat." Aymon saw immediately that Halen was right. After all, the mission he had just been on was to apologize to Shoto Warez for the death of Kino''s sister. By putting his own sister so close to him, Sid might interpret it as a warning to stay on a tight leash, or else there would be consequences to her.

    "Would he actually think that, or are you thinking four steps ahead?" Aymon asked.

    "I wouldn''t know until I saw them both together," Halen said. "Right now, I think Sid understands that his family is not in danger. But if we involve his family, that is a signal on our end, and he could interpret it in many, many different ways."

    "So make it look as though his sister is coming under her own banner, without any suggestion from us."

    "Many things are possible," Halen said. "But that one I believe is beyond the realm of possibility. You know the whole point would be for them to talk to eachother."

    Aymon did smile at Halen''s wry voice. "Fine."

    "It''s your choice. You weigh the costs."

    "Do you think he will self destruct without someone around?"

    "There''s a good chance of it."

    "Then it''s worth it to bring her in," Aymon said. "If she''ll come."

    <hr>

    True to his word, Aymon did not see Sid when Sid did return all the way home. He knew that Sid had tried to see him, of course, because Rosario had turned him away several times. She gave Aymon a soft but judgmental stare when she told him about it. Although Aymon respected his secretary greatly, and thought she generally had good advice to give him, he was not going to be turned away from the path he was on as easily as Sid was dismissed from his office.

    All official information had stopped flowing to Sid. It was as though he were a non-entity in Stonecourt. He could come and go as he pleased, but he would receive no visitors, have no work to do, have no meetings to attend or duties to perform. Aymon wondered how Sid was taking it.

    He did see Sid, once, in the corridors of Stonecourt, on the third day that he was back, and Sid looked up at him, a kid of hopeful expression plain on his face, but Aymon turned away the other direction without acknowledgement. He hoped that it would serve to communicate to his apprentice that this was a deliberate punishment, and not some kind of personal confusion.

    Halen had sent the letter to Sid''s sister, requesting her presence, and her passage had been paid aboard several Guild ships, to take her from Galena to Emerri. It was to be her first trip off planet, and Aymon spared a thought for how that must be for her, but then turned back towards his work. He would meet with her when she came, he decided. He had met with the BarCarran clan, after all. It seemed fair that he should have some contact with his remaining apprentice''s family. Sid could know about the meeting but would not be in attendance.

    It was a fortuitous thing that Sid was not getting briefed daily, as he had been, Aymon learned. This was because, one day, a message arrived at his desk through private Fleet channels, one that made him put down the dossier and stare at the wall for a few seconds. Some of the missing Fleet soldiers were not as dead as had been supposed. Lieutenant Cesper was very much alive and awaiting pickup from Hanathue, along with a whole gaggle of other soldiers. They had come in on a shuttle that had been scrubbed of all identification (but one that, to Aymon''s eyes, was very recognizably one from the First Star), and had waited for rescue on the outskirts of the Hanathue system. It was, among other things, politically inconvenient for all of these people to have suddenly turned up alive.

    The cover story for the Vortex was that it had been accosted by pirates upon return from Hanathue, and the Son of Emerri had been sent out to retrace its path and see if there were survivors when it didn''t show up on time. It was a lie that wouldn''t hold up to intense scrutiny from anyone with intimate knowledge of the workings of Fleet ships, but since no one outside the Fleet had that knowledge, and even the lie was being kept as quiet as possible (after all, it would be very bad optics for a Fleet ship to be able to be overwhelmed by common pirates), the negative impact of it was lessened. But when survivors showed up in a shuttle, somewhere they were emphatically not supposed to be able to reach in a shuttle, it put a kink in the narrative.

    Aymon consulted Halen about it.

    "I suggest you impugn the good name of pirates further," Halen said. "Say that they had taken these ones as slaves, and that they were able to steal a shuttle and escape."

    Aymon huffed. "Ah, yes, a bunch of people with assorted broken limbs make perfect forced laborers. And escapees."

    "I''d love to hear the better story that you could come up with," Halen said, ignoring Aymon''s poor mood.

    "What are we going to do about that Cesper?" Aymon asked.

    "Do about him?" Halen was clearly confused.

    "Him being dead is part of Sid''s punishment," Aymon reminded.

    Halen looked at Aymon with a skeptical expression. "You''re going to hide the fact that he''s alive?"

    "You say that like it''s too much."

    "I am opposed to playing too many games with people''s lives."

    "You say that," Aymon said.

    Halen sighed. "I want to speak with him personally, at least, before you consign him to some kind of false identity for the rest of time. I''m interested in knowing more about Yan''s strategy."

    "You think that this is strategy on Yan''s part?"

    "Oh, no. But I think it could give insights to what Yan''s strategy actually is. And we should discuss with Sid at some point what, if anything, he learned from Warez on Hanathue."

    "When his punishment is over."

    "And how long is that going to last?"

    "It''s barely even started."

    "I''m not going to fight with you over this, but I think there''s a line that''s reasonable, and a line that is unnecessarily cruel."

    "Those are two different lines?"

    "Of course."

    "And which ones have I crossed?" Aymon kept his voice light. He felt like he had been walking on eggshells with Halen ever since their fight when Yan left, trying not to re-open that wound. It was difficult. Lashing out was an instinct that he worked hard to tamp down. Halen may have been the same steady presence that he always was, but Aymon found it hard not to rise to this kind of provocation. It wasn''t really provocation here¡ª it was a genuine concern that Halen was raising¡ª but Aymon did feel protective over Sid being his apprentice, and the blurring of that boundary, even when Aymon himself invited Halen to intervene, felt like a dig when Halen exercised the powers he had been given.

    "Neither, yet," Halen said. He stared at Aymon, and Aymon knew that his feelings were out in the air between them, that Halen was also very carefully pressing on this boundary. Somehow they were stupid and young again, not sure where they stood with eachother.

    "Then what is the problem?"

    "Letting this go on for too long will cross the line of reasonableness. You have some time on that. And it won''t be the end of the world if you do. But if you play with Sid and his friends like they''re toys, you might end up breaking something that can''t be fixed."

    Aymon relaxed in his seat, consciously loosening himself. "I want Sid to have a little more time to sit on the guilt. Maybe until after his sister comes. And then he can know that Cesper is alive. But I still don''t want him nearby, at least not for now."

    "Put him on medical leave and send him home to his family until his leg heals," Halen said. "Reassess if he should be reassigned after that."The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Aymon nodded slowly. "Do you actually like that idea, or are you saying this because it feels like compromise?"

    Halen smiled a little. "The latter. But I''ll take it."

    "Someday, I''ll have to tell Sid to thank you for saving me from the worse impulses of my nature."

    "He already knows that I do that."

    "Yes, but he doesn''t know quite how much." Aymon thought back to his own apprenticeship. Although he had appreciated, indeed loved, Caron Herrault, there had been no one to stop her from being as cruel and capricious as she chose to be with her apprentices. She could have been worse, but when she was angry, she was a pillar of fire.

    "I think you sometimes underestimate just how much Sid understands," Halen said. "And that might be part of the fundamental problem."

    "When I find myself speaking to him again, I''ll be sure to ask him just how deep his thoughts are," Aymon said, rather cuttingly.

    <hr>

    Of the two people in Sid''s orbit who he would deign to meet with, he met with his sister first. She wore the same thick rimmed glasses that Sid did, which was the first thing he noticed about her when she was let into his office. He stood from his desk to greet her, walking over to shake her hand.

    "Welcome, Ms. Welslak," he said, smiling.

    She was probably seventeen and she had a kind of elfish face, framed by hair in a neat bob. The resemblance to Sid was clear. The only remarkable difference between them was that she was tanned from working outdoors, while Sid was the sallow shade of an academic.

    "It''s an honor to meet you, First Sandreas," Renay Welslak said. That was the other notable difference between them. Aymon had grown used to Sid''s unmoderated tone: sometimes too loud, sometimes too soft, occasionally the completely wrong register for the situation. Sid, though, had the questionable benefit of years of speech training while at the Academy, one of the masters having entered his mind to impose the knowledge of how to speak aloud on him. Sid had hated it. Renay had not had this training, and so her voice was thick and choppy sounding, belying her deafness instantly. "Where''s Sid?" she asked as she looked around his office,as though Sid would be waiting in the corner.

    "I''m sorry that I called you here before you had a chance to go meet him. My schedule limits my available time, I''m afraid." This was a lie. Aymon had purposefully had Renay escorted from the airport. Sid didn''t know she was coming. He wanted to speak with her first, to put some cushioning between her and what she was about to experience with Sid.

    She narrowed her eyes. Like Sid, she was direct and unafraid to ask questions, even to the leader of the Empire. "That does not answer the question."

    "Please, take a seat," Aymon said, gesturing at the couch. She did sit, crossing her legs and smoothing down her blue patterned skirt atop them. She was probably wearing the nicest outfit she owned, Aymon thought. He sat on the couch across from her, leaning forward slightly and trying to project an aura of magnanimity and calm. "Sid doesn''t know you''re here," he said. "It''s a surprise."

    She looked as though she didn''t know if she should smile or continue to be suspicious. "First Sandreas, please don''t think I''m rude," Renay said, a bit of a non sequitur.

    "Ms. Welslak, I have spent quite a lot of time with your brother. I believe myself to be completely immune to rudeness." That did make Renay smile, genuinely, this time. Aymon felt like he had cracked a kind of code.

    "Sid doesn''t tell me anything. I had to find out from the news that Apprentice BarCarran had died. You know I met her, once, right?"

    "Yes, I was aware that Sid made a detour to the surface of Galena with her, at one point."

    "She was nice." Renay looked thoughtful for a second, and her hands twitched in a way that was so familiar to Aymon: she wanted to move just as Sid did. "What I mean is, please tell me what is wrong with Sid that made me come here, if he won''t tell me himself."

    Perhaps she was too perceptive, or the invitation that Halen had written was too direct. Aymon kept a pleasant expression on his face. "Ms. Welslak, you are a keen one."

    "I try to be." She hadn''t been put off by the compliment, though, and stared him down, looking directly into his eyes. It was an odd experience, to be put on the back foot by some teenage girl. He found it amusing rather than grating, which was a surprise. Perhaps it was true that Sid had immunized him against all these kinds of directness.

    "Sid has, unfortunately, made me very angry in the past few weeks."

    "Angry?"

    "He has gone against my express wishes on a very important matter, one that could have cost him his life if he was just slightly unluckier."

    "You''re not going to tell me what that is?"

    "No. Sid may use his best judgement to tell you himself, if he wishes."

    She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh?"

    "You believe he will continue to be secretive to you in person?"

    "I don''t know what to believe," Renay said.

    "You may tell Sid, and use these words, that he is welcome to describe how his comforting fantasies came apart."

    "Why don''t you tell me yourself?"

    "It would take too long to explain," Aymon said dismissively. He paused for a moment. "And I believe, and perhaps this is cruel of me, that him telling you himself will help get the message through to him."

    "Message?"

    "He needs to learn that his actions have consequences. Perhaps by forcing him to say exactly what he did aloud to another person he cares about, he will realize that he cannot behave as though he were the only person in the universe."

    "You say he almost died," Renay said. "Is he alright?"

    "Physically, yes."

    "And in other ways he isn''t?"

    "Ms. Welslak, your brother is currently on a kind of administrative leave as punishment. I have no desire to speak to him at the moment, so I cannot tell you how he is feeling. I do know that he is probably intensely lonely, which is why I brought you here."

    Renay didn''t say anything, but rolled her hand in a ''continue'' motion. Aymon continued.

    "You already know that my other apprentice, Yan BarCarran, who Sid was very close with, is gone. My third apprentice, Kino Mejia, is also out of contact range at the moment. Sid''s little stunt killed another person who he was very close with. I will not speak with him. He has no one."

    "And what do you think that I can do?"

    "You''re his sister," Aymon said. "Aside from the people I just mentioned, I''m told that you know him better than anyone in the world."

    "First Sandreas... I think that you misunderstand the amount that I know about Sid. He doesn''t tell me anything about his life." She shook her head. "I couldn''t have said more about you than what I see on the news. When he came back home to visit, he showed up by surprise. He doesn''t even like our family."

    "Which is why your whole family is not here. If I had thought it would help, I would have had your other brother, and your father, and your mother put on a ship here as well. He sends you more letters than anyone else."

    Renay frowned. "And what do you want me to do?"

    "Ensure that he sees sense, perhaps. Although I am punishing him, I have no desire to see him destroy himself through complete isolation."

    "Would he do that?"

    "Once he threw his shoes at my head because I dared to come bother him when he was in a bad mood," Aymon said, thinking of the time after Sid had come back from Olar.

    Renay grinned widely. "I wish I could have seen it."

    "I think it''s for the best that you didn''t."

    "What if he doesn''t want to see me?"

    "You are better suited to answer that question than I am."

    She frowned, pressing her lips into a tight line. "And can I tell him when his punishment will be over?"

    "I don''t have an answer to that question."

    "How long will I stay here?"

    "Until you are no longer needed."

    "That''s not an answer."

    "I think it depends on Sid, and his mood. If he can behave rationally, and you tell me that he behaves rationally, then I will consider returning him to his former status."

    "He really did something bad, didn''t he?"

    "He did."

    "Why don''t you kick him out?"

    "I''m afraid that against all my better judgement, I have some affection for my apprentice. It would be unwise for me to cut those ties out of a fit of anger."

    "It seems strange to me that you want me to spy on my brother. I''m a nobody."

    "I would not class you as a nobody, Ms. Welslak. And even if you were, Sid currently has nobody else. And I think spying is rather the improper term. If I wanted to spy on Sid, I simply would do so."

    "You say you like Sid?" she asked.

    "He is a fine man, and a fine apprentice. When he is not causing problems, we get along well."

    "Then why don''t you just talk to him?"

    "There''s little that I could say that he doesn''t already know that I would say. And he might throw another shoe at my head, besides." He meant this in jest, but Renay was no longer smiling.

    "I don''t know a lot about you, First Sandreas. But I bet I''m going to in a bit. I hope that whatever Sid has to tell me doesn''t make me think that he was right in doing what he did. Because I won''t lie to him to get him to do what you want, even if you are First." She said this with a defiant expression, body language tight. Aymon wondered what exactly he had said to cause this change in her.

    "Speaking truth to power is a bold move," he said. "I certainly hope you''re still willing to do it when Sid takes my place."

    Her face shifted through what seemed to be the full range of human emotions as she processed his words. She finally settled back on mischievous. "I certainly hope that I will have as much courage to throw a shoe at him as he does to you."

    "Not sure if it''s courage or a particular brand of stupidity that he possesses," Aymon said. "Regardless, I am serious when I say that he will need someone, or more than one someone, in the coming years to provide a voice of reason, or even just a listening ear."

    Renay wiggled in her seat a little, clearly uncomfortable again. "First Sandreas, may I say one more rude thing?"

    "Be my guest."

    "I think that you have to understand-- maybe you don''t know, or maybe you''ve just forgotten, or maybe it doesn''t matter, but I have a life outside of this." She waved her hand to encompass the room, Sandreas, Sid, the planet, the Empire. "People can''t be at your call just because you are who you are. And I won''t be for Sid. He makes his own choices, and I can''t be someone who gets eaten up and spit out to support him." She stared at Aymon again.

    "What are you saying?" Aymon asked her. "You don''t want to be here?"

    "I''m happy to be here now. And I''m happy that Sid has a future. But he has never once wanted to involve me in his life, and I don''t know why that should start now, just because he''s going to be important, or he already is important." She shook her head. "I''m not explaining this well. Do you understand?"

    "I think I have never once had the experience that you are attempting to avoid," Aymon said, wry and slightly confused. "For my own part, I always wanted my family as far away from me as possible, and was annoyed when a few of them attached their names to mine."

    "Maybe we come from too different worlds," Renay said. "I just don''t want Sid''s bald head to get too big." She rapped her knuckles on her own skull.

    "Oh, he grew his hair out," Aymon said.

    This, more than anything else, made Renay start. "Maybe power and fame have changed him."

    "I''m certain it''s not those things that caused him to grow his hair. He''ll probably explain it to you."

    She had a pensive look. "Okay."

    Aymon didn''t have much more to say to her, as he would let Sid tell it himself. "Ms. Welslak, thank you for coming all this way. I''m sorry for dragging you halfway across the galaxy, if you don''t want to be in Sid''s orbit."

    "I''m willing to do a lot for my brother," she said. "And it was nice to travel. Most people don''t ever get the chance to leave their home planet, so it''s pretty exciting. I''m sure it''s all everyday business to Sid by now, though, so he won''t want me to tell him all about my first starship ride."

    "To be honest," Aymon said, "I don''t know if Sid has had an uneventful ride on a starship since he''s been with me. He might appreciate a story of things being calm and going exactly according to travel plans."

    Renay pursed her lips and nodded. Aymon couldn''t tell what she was thinking. Perhaps she was simply afraid for her brother. That would have been a normal response.

    He pulled a piece of thick printed cardstock from his pocket and passed it to Renay. She took it and flipped it over, reading the text on it. Aymon gave her a moment to finish before he started talking. "That''s my personal contact information: phone, net, and ansible. If you need anything, you can get in contact with me directly. I trust you will not abuse this power."

    She slipped the card into her own pocket, nodding thoughtfully. "Thank you." Renay looked at him again, and he felt like a bug under a microscope. There was a certain way that she studied him, that made it clear that she did not consider him her superior in any way. It was the peculiar confidence of a teenage girl with nothing to lose. "Why do you trust me?"

    "Do you want the nice answer or the honest answer?" Aymon asked.

    "Honest," she said without any hesitation.

    Aymon shrugged then, and provided it. "Your family has been under surveillance since I chose Sid to be my apprentice. From the information that has provided me, I feel reasonably confident that I can trust you."

    "Thanks for the answer. I do prefer not to be lied to."

    "If you hadn''t known it was a lie, you might have enjoyed the nice answer more. It would have been more flattering to you."

    She smiled again, the cheeky grin that reminded him of Sid. "I don''t need flattery."

    "I can tell." Aymon stood, and she followed him up. "Thank you again for your time."

    "Thank you for your perhaps misplaced trust in me. It''s not everybody from Galena who gets to meet the head of the Empire."

    "It would take far too long to line them all up for me to shake their hands." He ushered her to the door. "My assistant will bring you to Sid, and set you up with a place to stay while you''re here. Goodbye, Ms. Welslak. I may or may not see you again."

    She nodded. "Bye, First Sandreas." And then she was out the door, being ushered through the halls of Stonecourt and out to her brother.

    <hr>

    On the off chance that Sid was monitoring the comings and goings in Stonecourt, Aymon did not meet with Lieutenant Cesper in his office. Instead, the two had a meeting at the Fleet headquarters building in Yora, in a private room with a window that looked across the city to the big hill on which the Academy stood. Aymon stood looking out the window, with the sun three quarters of the way down, orange light spilling over everything in the room. There was a knock on the door behind him, and then it opened as Halen let in Cesper. Halen himself didn''t come in, leaving Aymon to have this conversation alone.

    Cesper was on crutches and wearing his dress uniform, a combination that implied quite a lot to the casual observer. Aymon was silent as he waited for the gangly man to come up next to him and stand near the window.

    "I heard you needed surgery," Aymon said.

    "Yes, sir," Cesper said. "The break had begun to heal wrong."

    Aymon was silent for a second. "Lieutenant, if I were a less merciful man, you would have been quietly shot before you ever set foot on this planet again."

    Cesper stared out the window. "I know, sir," he said. "I expected to be court martialed, at the least."

    "Do you understand why you weren''t?" Aymon asked.

    "I believe Second Welslak intervened on my behalf."

    Aymon barked out a laugh, which startled Cesper so much that he scooted back half a step, quite difficult on crutches. "No. I haven''t spoken to Sid since he returned."

    "Oh."

    "In fact, he still believes that you are dead, unless he has found a way around the information that is being fed to him."

    Cesper bit his lip, obviously wanting to say something, but hesitating.

    "What?" Aymon asked. "Spit it out. You could hardly make more of a fool of yourself, at this point."

    "Sir, I have no desire to say something that would cause you insult."

    "Yet you so clearly wish to insult me regardless. You''re too tactful." Aymon paused. "Lieutenant, what in God''s name possessed you to allow Sid to behave in the way that he did? I''m looking for a simple answer, and tact is not required."

    "I believed he would find a way to follow through on his plan, even if I tried to stop him."

    "But you didn''t try."

    "No, sir. I told him that it was a bad idea."

    "Why didn''t you try?"

    "I didn''t want to undermine his authority."

    "And yet, undermining his authority would have saved hundreds of lives and an entire ship. And possibly your career. It might have even allowed us to reign in my other apprentices, who decided to make terrible choices with their lives as well."

    "Sir, I believe my career is the least of the things that I should be concerned about now."

    Aymon laughed again. "You''re correct about that."

    "May I ask a question?" Cesper asked. Aymon hadn''t thought he would be so bold.

    "If you must."

    "What happened to Second Welslak''s attache, Hernan?"

    "His reasons for allowing Sid to perform this manoeuvre were more personal than yours, and even more stupid. He has been dealt with." Aymon didn''t actually know how Halen had chosen to punish the man he had chosen to take care of Sid, and he didn''t care to ask after the details. Hernan had once had an affection for Maedes, Yan''s minder, who had vanished along with Yan. Trying to chase down that affection was Hernan''s reason for not stopping Sid, and it was even more on his shoulders what had happened.

    "Oh." Cesper fell silent once more.

    "I didn''t come here to talk about you," Aymon said, changing the subject. "I want as much information as you have on Yan and Kino."

    "Yes, sir," Cesper said. "I can tell you about their crew strength."

    "Sure, start with that."

    "The only people aboard the First Star that I saw were Ms. BarCarran, Ms. Mejia, Ms. Calor, Ms. Maedes, and a child named Chanam. I believe that is their only crew."

    "A child?"

    "He claimed to be a spy. He was maybe fifteen or sixteen years old."

    "Do you have any idea where he came from?" Aymon was so startled by this confusing piece of information that he focused on it, even though it had nothing to do with what he actually wanted to learn.

    "He spoke Old Imperial with a heavy accent, and he was too small to be a spacer of any kind, though he seemed used to living on a ship. Aside from that, I don''t know."

    "Odd. He wasn''t related to Yan in any way?"

    "No, they look completely different."

    "Fine. And the First Star itself, what was its status?"

    "I believe most of the damage it sustained were to its sensor arrays and weaponry. Before the crash happened, shuttles from the Vortex had been able to approach close enough to begin the boarding process. After the crash, the First Star had major damage to several bays, though the ring appeared to be intact. Bays on the other side of the ship seemed to be unaffected. The ring had been stopped, but I doubt it is irreparably damaged. The stardrive and engines were both in working order."

    "So the Vortex took the brunt of it?"

    "Yes, sir. That is part of the nature of the attack."

    Aymon sighed. "Is there any other relevant information about her crew or ship capabilities? Facts, numbers, anything like that?"

    "Nothing that was not already in the Vortex report," Cesper said.

    "I suppose I should move to more personal matters, then," Aymon said. "What was her psyche like? Do you know anything about her future plans?"

    "In my opinion, and in her own, Yan is highly committed to this endeavor, but she is also conflicted, as she regrets needing to attack people she considers her friends. That list includes yourself, Second Welslak, and Halen. She wishes you well."

    "Of course she does. Did she say anything about her plans for the future?"

    "Sir, I''m certain Ms. BarCarran would not be so stupid as to divulge that information to her prisoners."

    "She has allies, though?"

    "We know that at least one pirate ship is on her side. That is the only information that I have."

    Aymon huffed a little. "She''s not going to fight a war with one pirate ship and my personal vessel."

    "I doubt that outright war is her strategy," Cesper said. "You received the information about the books?"

    "Yes, I saw the photos."

    "I believe that she would prefer to keep her campaign cultural, rather than military."

    "She won''t be able to do much, if that''s the case," Aymon said. "We have plenty of ways of stopping information from spreading."

    "I do not doubt it, sir."

    "Did she say anything about why she took you prisoner?"

    "She couldn''t bear to let people die for no reason, I believe was the rationale, sir."

    "Of course she couldn''t," Aymon said, bitter. He was feeling quite uncharitable towards his former apprentice, and her acts of supposed mercy and friendship were making him annoyed. It would have been simpler for everyone if Yan had been hard and unyielding. It would have been simpler for everyone if Yan had died when she had been kidnapped. Neither of those things were the case, though. "And Kino? What about her?"

    "I only saw Ms. Mejia briefly, and did not speak to her. Ms. BarCarran instructed me not to."

    "And you obeyed?"

    "I did not have the opportunity to disobey, sir."

    "Do you have any idea of her status?"

    "She is extremely upset about her sister''s death."

    "Is she upset in a way that will cause her to be non-functional, or is she upset in a way that will cause her to pursue revenge?" Aymon asked.

    "I would assume the latter, sir, though I can''t speak with real authority on it."

    "Why do you say that?"

    "She''s surrounded by other people who seem committed to their rebellion, and if she were truly that devastated, she probably would not be there any more."

    Aymon nodded slowly. "And the others?"

    "I don''t know them well enough to comment. They seemed in good spirits, for the most part."

    Aymon was silent for a moment as he considered this. "Did anyone say anything of interest to you, while you were aboard the ship?"

    Cesper was also silent for a moment. "I wrote down and submitted to you everything that I could remember. All I can say, sir, is that I know two things Yan believes: she believes that it is her responsibility to stop injury, in whatever form that takes, and she also believes herself selfish for wanting to do so." He shook his head slightly. "That may compromise her, in the future."

    "Yes," Aymon said. "It might." It probably already had. He thought back to the incident aboard the Sky Boat, and how Yan had behaved then. It was the same pattern of taking responsibility and feeling personally burdened by it. Aymon didn''t understand his former apprentice in that respect. He understood responsibility, of course, but he didn''t recall ever as an apprentice being so emotionally driven to make the choices he did. It was a weight he was glad not to have too much of.

    Still, even if Yan felt that way, it clearly hadn''t stopped her from destroying the Vortex, killing many people.

    "In my report," Cesper said. "She gave me a starmap showing the place where she had left the Vortex wreckage that I was rescued out of, so that the bodies could be retrieved."

    "I don''t think that there''s a question that she has a sense of honor about that kind of thing," Aymon said. "But it''s rather negated by the fact that she killed them in the first place, isn''t it?"

    "Yes, sir," Cesper said.

    Aymon didn''t respond for a long second, still staring out the window. The sun''s rays were catching on the buildings, casting them into a fierce golden glow, like the whole city was on fire.

    Cesper spoke up again, then. "Sir, may I ask another question."

    "Fine."

    "Why am I not being punished?"

    "You''re being put on leave," Aymon said.

    "Sir, in the grand scheme of things, that is not a punishment."

    "You may consider it payment for saving Sid''s life."

    "I may consider it that?"

    "Lieutenant, I have no desire to justify myself to you. Take your life as a gift, if you choose." Aymon had spared Cesper for Sid''s sake, though Sid didn''t know that yet. It would be unwise, he thought, to drive an even larger wedge between them, by killing Sid''s lover, or even by putting him in some prison on an asteroid somewhere. At best, it would have made Sid resent him. At worst, it might have driven Sid to run off to join Yan and Kino. And besides the logical unwiseness of it, the decision to spare Cesper came from some deep held part of Aymon, one that he didn''t ever want to verbalize or admit to himself. Better to keep with the logical justifications.

    "Will I be allowed to see Sid again?"

    "You''re trying my patience, now," Aymon said. "I don''t have an answer to that question."

    Cesper fell silent, not risking asking more.

    "You''re a competent officer, Lieutenant," Aymon said. "But the wrong choice you made there could have cost too much. It probably should have cost your own life, and it almost cost Sid his. That''s not something that I take lightly."

    "I know, sir."

    "Do you feel grateful to Yan for saving your life?" Aymon asked. "I''m curious."

    "First Sandreas, I wish very much that Ms. BarCarran were not our enemy. But she is, and I will continue to treat her that way, regardless of any personal feelings I may have."

    "I see."

    "She offered me the chance to defect to her, and I declined."

    "Even though you knew that you would probably be put on trial?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Courageous of you."

    "Not in particular, sir."

    Aymon turned to look at Cesper, looking him straight in the eyes for the first time since he had arrived. "Here''s what''s going to happen to you," Aymon said. "You''re going to go on medical leave, at least until your leg heals. You will not attempt to contact my apprentice during that time, or until I put you back in contact. If he attempts to contact you through some other channel, you will not respond. Once your leave is over, I will reassess exactly what your future role will be in the Fleet. Do you understand?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Good. You''re dismissed. I hope your leg heals well."

    "Thank you, sir," Cesper said. He gave one last look at Aymon, then left the room, crutches thumping on the floor as he went.

 Chapter One Hundred Nineteen - The Most Fragile Thing of All

    The Most Fragile Thing of All

    <blockquote>

    "Every action we take, every day, is built on trust. We would not walk into our houses if we did not trust the roof to not collapse upon us. We would not marry our wives if we did not trust them to not smother us in our sleep. And, on a practical level, we would not let our harvesters work our fields if we did not trust them to not stray from their course and run loose to wreck the fields. When you repair a machine, you must trust your knowledge, you must trust your tools, and you must trust yourself to do the job with steady hands."

    -from The Practical Farmer''s Guide to Machinery by Bertran Lieu

    </blockquote>

    Sid returned to Emerri and then Yora as though under a cloud. One jump before the Son of Emerri was due to be in radio communication with the planet, Sid drafted a letter to both captains, confessing that he had lied and manipulated the situation in order to participate in the chase after Yan. Although he didn''t care about either of the captains on a personal level, since he knew he was about to be punished, he might as well not let it fall on their heads as well. It might anyway, because a Fleet ship had lost a battle to a ship with a crew of one and a pirate vessel. That was not supposed to happen.

    He hid himself in his room aboard the Son of Emerri after that, and no one bothered him. Perhaps they should have.

    He had also begun drafting a letter to Ervantes''s family, telling them that their son was dead, but he kept stumbling over the words and giving up in fits of rage and exhaustion. He knew it was his responsibility to write such a letter, but he had no idea what to say. What had he said to Shoto Warez? It was a tragic accident. Well, Ervantes being dead was a tragic accident, too, but this one that was entirely Sid''s fault.

    And all the while, he thought about what Sandreas was going to say to him. He couldn''t quite imagine it. What punishment would the Emperor give? Sandreas had threatened to kick him out, once. He might still do that, decide his whole round of apprentices had been a failure and pick new ones, better ones, from the upcoming crop of Academy graduates. He might even kill Sid, if that was the case. Probably not. He was being hyperbolic with himself. If Sid were no longer to be Sandreas''s apprentice, he would just go back home to Galena. Possibly stripped of his powers. Yes, the Emperor might very well do that as a punishment.

    What would that be like? To go home in complete shame, without even the one thing that had let him escape his home in the first place? He could imagine it all too well, and that was the problem.

    At the bottom of the elevator on Emerri, they were met with a security escort, and all the crew from the Vortex and Son of Emerri who had come down to the surface of the planet were flown on a private plane to Yora. From there, Sid was sent to his apartment, no stop at Stonecourt, no message from Sandreas.

    He thought for a second he had gotten off easily because it was the middle of the night, but Sandreas would have stayed up to yell at him. He didn''t have the energy left to think about it. He collapsed into his bed and slept.

    In the morning, there was still nothing. He checked his phone, his schedule. It was blank, as though there was nothing going on at all. He looked at the internal information service to see if Sandreas was somehow off planet travelling, or maybe had missed that Sid had returned. But no, Sandreas was in Yora. There was just nothing. No word. No message.

    It haunted Sid, penetrating even through the haze of sadness that he was operating in. Perhaps Sandreas wanted him to apologize himself. Sid got dressed and walked to Stonecourt, as he always did. The sun was bright overhead, but the air was thick with moisture in this hot tail end of summer. Being in space always made him forget what weather was like on the ground, no matter how briefly he had been gone, and he had taken several trips lately. Too many trips. He thought about how scattered the passage of natural time felt as he walked, slowly, not even sure if he was being trailed by the usual security that followed him when he was on planet. He hadn''t seen Hernan.

    Again, he was in a kind of cloud. His thoughts came one at a time, drifting preternaturally slowly through his consciousness. Ervantes was dead. Ervantes was dead because Yan had killed him. Ervantes was dead because Yan had killed him, because Sid had put him directly in danger. He still hadn''t finished writing his letter. He kept mentally adding words to it as he walked.

    He was let into Stonecourt without fuss or comment, and he plodded his way towards Sandreas''s office.

    "Hello, Apprentice Welslak," Ms. Rosario said at her desk outside. "What can I do for you?"

    "Is First Sandreas around?" Sid asked. The words seemed to stick in his mouth, barely making it out.

    "I''m afraid that he''s not taking visitors at this moment."

    "Oh. Please let him know that I stopped by."

    "I will." She had a pleasant expression on her face.

    "Is there anything that I need to do?" Sid asked. "Did he leave me any instructions?"

    "No, Apprentice Welslak," she said, still smiling that professional smile. It rang false, but that might have been only because Sid was experiencing the world as though everything had a layer of film across it, preventing him from somehow accessing the true state of the world. He was numb, but everything felt wrong at the same time.

    "Oh. Let me know if there is anything, I guess," he said.

    "I will do that."

    He left, and went to his little office, but there was nothing for him to do there aside from pull up a blank document and try once again to draft a letter to Ervantes''s family, or draft a message to Sandreas as just a way of reaching out. Time slid by like dripping molasses. Sid stared blankly into space.

    He got up.

    He went down to the basement of Stonecourt, trying to find Halen. He wasn''t in his office, nor his rooms, nor the training area, nor anywhere that Sid could find him.

    Perhaps he should go to the Emperor?

    He went to the Emperor.

    The Emperor''s door would not open, even when he stood in the antechamber and waited, even when he tugged at the elaborate door handle himself. There was a distinct sense that he was being ignored, deliberately. The Emperor hadn''t left, quite obviously, and in previous visits had been quite receptive to Sid. This was a cold indifference, one that Sid was beginning to feel more keenly than had the Emperor swooped into his brain to terrorize him.

    He felt safe, perhaps, that he was not about to have his power taken from him, and that no one was going to take him to a dark corner to torture him, but this was a stasis that gave him nothing to do but dwell.

    That was probably the point.

    Sid went home.

    For several days, he showed up at Stonecourt, checked to see if anyone would speak to him, found that the answer was no, and then wasted his time, staring into space, dreading and hating every second of every day. He couldn''t put words down in any message to anyone that mattered. He was unable to even bear looking at news. Dossiers and briefings were not making it into his inbox or onto his desk.

    One day, he caught a glimpse of Sandreas as he was walking through the halls. Sandreas saw him; they made eye contact. Then he turned and walked swiftly away, leaving Sid more alone than he had ever been before.

    He didn''t understand what the conditions were for ending this punishment. He hated himself. He had spoken to no one in days beyond his checkins with Ms. Rosario in the mornings, however futile they were, and simple pleasantries when ordering his lunch. He was beginning to feel like a ghost in his own skin. A complete non entity.

    Sid went home. Sid went home and did not return to work the next day.

    He turned off all the lights in his apartment and he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He did not sleep. He did not eat. Time passed in a miserable haze. Days, he was like this, drinking only water directly from the faucet when he felt himself grow unbearably thirsty.

    In that state, every thought that drifted across the conscious part of his brain felt both fragmented and profound. Every fleeting instinct and snatch of bright memory carried with it an emotional weight that was beyond comprehension.

    It was like how he had been after the Sky Boat, in many ways, but here the feelings of sadness and guilt were more personal, the isolation much more severe, and the avenues for escape fewer. He supposed he could kill himself, but what good would that do? And running away, he could do that, he supposed, but then where would he be? The only thing he could do was wait here, suffer, until someone decided to end his suffering.

    It was interminable.

    Lights flashed above him, breaking the stupor that he was in. He was confused, at first, and thought that perhaps they were a hallucination cooked up by his brain to combat the complete darkness in which he had wrapped himself. But then they flashed again, and he remembered that he had wired his doorbell to flash a set of lights, as he always did.

    He felt weak and cold as he got out of bed, still wearing a cassock of days before, and he stumbled to his door in the dark, the lights flashing insistently again and again, like lightning bolts that lit up the scene in instantaneous slivers, blinding him briefly each time.

    Sid pulled open his front door, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes in the unexpectedly bright hallway light. He didn''t know exactly who he was expecting to see there, but it certainly was not the person that he found.

    Renay, his sister, stood there, with her hands planted squarely on her hips and a disapproving look on her face. Sid hesitated for a second, then shut the door on her, turning away to go back to bed.

    Renay was not dissuaded in the least, though, because she kept flashing the lights until he came back and opened the door again.

    "What?" he signed.

    She barged past him into his apartment and found all the light switches, flipping them on. The state of the living room could have been far worse, since Sid had not been having a fit per se, he''d just been laying in bed doing nothing. He hadn''t thrown his furniture everywhere and made a mess. Still, Renay wrinkled her nose at the stale smell in the room, pulled back the blackout curtains from over the windows and threw them open, letting fresh air and afternoon sunlight in. Sid watched her do this without protest, feeling too limp and shocked to stop her.

    When she was done, she turned to face him, looking stormy. "You smell rancid," she signed. "When did you last shower?"

    Sid didn''t have an answer to that question. He shrugged.

    "When did you last eat?"

    Again, he didn''t know how much time had passed, so he shrugged again.

    "You are an idiot." She signed this angrily, but then her anger seemed to break, and she strode directly across the room and hugged Sid, crushing his arms against his sides. She released him after a long few seconds, then stepped back so that they could fully see eachother. "I was so worried about you."

    "Why? Why are you here?"

    "I got a letter from your boss, along with a letter of travel aboard Guild ships to get me here as quickly as possible. I thought you might be dying. I didn''t even have time to pack."

    "I''m not dying," was all Sid could sign in response. His thoughts were muddled.

    "And God, you smell so bad!" Renay was really focused on this. "You need to take a shower before anything else. Where is your bathroom?" Sid pointed it out and she walked behind him, put her hands on the small of his back and pushed him towards it. He complied. Inside, she admired the luxuriously large tub, but eventually just turned on the shower. "You. In. I''m going to order delivery food. I''m hungry."

    She left him alone in the bathroom, and Sid felt distressed and uncomfortable as the steam from the shower fogged up the room around him. He stood practically frozen in place, almost unable to get his limbs to move to take off his dirty clothes and get in. Time ticked by as he fought with himself to move, and then he did, and it was like a kind of dam breaking.

    He felt better once he was clean, got dressed in fresh clothes, and found his sister staring out his living room window at the view of the city.

    "You can see Stonecourt from here," she signed. "Wow."

    "I usually walk to work. It''s very close."

    Her phone flashed in her hand. "Food''s here."

    "Fast."

    "You took half an hour in the shower. I''ll be back." She left, leaving Sid alone with his thoughts, what few of them he had. She returned less than a minute later, bearing something that smelled greasy and spicy and delicious. She handed it to him. Sid realized exactly how hungry he was, and it was all he could take to not immediately rip open the cardboard boxes and throw himself at the fried chicken and rice inside. Renay fished through his cupboards to find some plates and cutlery. Sid sat at the table, and, as soon as he was allowed to by the physical presence of silverware, scooped himself some food and began to eat. He could hardly taste it for how fast he consumed it, though he had the vague impression that it was very good. Renay got herself some at a much more sedate pace. They didn''t talk while eating. When Sid had eaten himself to the point of illness, he felt at least a little bit more human, or at least a little more like a person who could experience sensations and interact with the world, rather than laying still in a pitch black room for an indeterminate amount of time.

    "I was told to look out for you throwing a shoe at my head," Renay signed.

    "I wouldn''t."

    "Oh?"

    "I''ve gotten better since then. I can hurt people who bother me in much more new and creative ways."

    Renay frowned. "Not encouraging."

    "Why are you here?"

    "I told you. Your boss told me to come."

    "Did he tell you why?"

    "He thinks that only I can stop you from self destructing, I think."

    "I''m not¡ª" Sid began, but then realized that he was. It was partially Sandreas''s fault, though, for freezing him completely out of his life.

    "Sure. What is the matter with you?"

    "I can''t tell you," Sid said. As much as he loved his sister, he wasn''t about to go divulging state secrets to her.

    "Yes you can. First Sandreas said..." She wrinkled up her face, as if trying to decide how to say the next part in sign. "Tell me about your comfortable fantasies breaking." The phrase jogged Sid''s memory unpleasantly. It was a sign that she had indeed gotten permission from Sandreas.

    "You spoke to him?"

    "Just before I came here."

    "And he said that?"

    "Yes."

    "What else did he say?"

    "That you''re being punished for doing something that could have killed you."

    "Anything else?"

    "Not really." Sid didn''t think that likely, as Sandreas never wasted an opportunity to say something to impress his listener. He wondered if his sister was lying to him, or if she had just been duly unimpressed by meeting the Empire''s leader.

    "Was Halen there?"

    "Who?"

    "Sandreas''s..." He floundered, again not wanting to reveal too much to his sister. "Bodyguard," he settled on, even though that wasn''t really true at all. Sid gestured the approximate dimensions of Halen''s body, indicating him to be very broad and tall. Renay shook her head.

    "He was by himself."

    Sid nodded, not saying anything.

    "So, tell me. What are you in trouble for?" Renay demanded, leaning forward. "I didn''t come all this way to have you not tell me."

    "It''s a very long story."

    "All the better."

    "You remember Yan, right?" He fingerspelled her name, then used the sign name he had come up with for her, feeling a pang as he rested his hands over his heart.

    "Of course."

    "I guess it started with her..." he began. And he told his sister the whole story, starting with Yan being kidnapped, telling her how it had happened and who really had done the kidnapping, which itself involved explaining so much. He described rescuing Yan from the planet she had been trapped on, and sending her home with Kino, and a brief aside to talk about why he had been out with Kino to deal with the Guild ship in the first place. And then he told her about learning that Yan and Kino had run away together, Sid coming home to secretly take his place as Second, and how he felt like he had to face Yan.

    Renay absorbed all this information only half patiently, interrupting constantly to ask clarifying questions. Sid didn''t mind. It was good to get it all out on the table, have a chance to see the whole story from a broad perspective, through his sister''s eyes, when she wasn''t involved and emotionally tied up in it all.

    "You still haven''t told me what you actually did," Renay signed.

    "I will. There''s just a lot of context that you need. Anyway, we found out that Kino was on Hanathue..." And as he began to tell her about Bina Warez, and how he had gone to go give his consolations to her father, Sid''s hands slowed and then stalled as a kind of dawning horror of realization came over him.

    "What?" Renay asked, seeing his pale face and the way that he stopped.

    "I think Sandreas is threatening me by having you here," he signed. "Cruel."

    Renay frowned. "Why do you think that?"

    "Halen wasn''t with him when he met you." The pieces were clicking into place. "Halen is the one who thinks that going after Bina was a wrong choice. If he wasn''t there, it might mean that they''re fighting again, and Sandreas is going against Halen''s wishes, and using you as..." Sid threw up his hands helplessly.

    "Why would First Sandreas''s bodyguard have so many opinions?"

    "That''s complicated to explain, and not really your business."

    Renay stared him down, but on this point, Sid wouldn''t relent. "So you think you''re being threatened?"

    "I think it''s a message, that if I don''t do what they want me to do, more people I love are going to die." He looked at his sister, and imagined how Kino would have felt, seeing her sister dead. He couldn''t quite imagine it. Renay was vibrant and alive, and Sid would do whatever he needed to keep her that way.

    "I didn''t feel threatened. First Sandreas seemed very honest with me."

    "He is a good actor. And dangerous."

    "Do you not trust your own boss?"

    "I don''t know. He doesn''t trust me."

    "He said you''re going to take over for him."

    It was nice to get a bit of confirmation that Sandreas still considered Sid his Second. That lifted a little bit of the burden of fear that Sid had been operating under, but it didn''t take it away completely. He ran his fingers through his hair, an action which Renay studied intensely. "Maybe he''s not threatening me. Maybe he''s saying that having you here is safer, because Kino might go after you and everybody else as revenge for her sister."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    "I don''t know," Renay replied. "It might not be that complicated."

    "Everyone''s playing games on different levels," Sid said. "I should have never gone into politics. It doesn''t suit me."

    "Too late now." She narrowed her eyes. "You still didn''t tell me what you did. Stop dodging the question."

    And so then Sid was forced to describe, in agonizing detail, how he had lied in order to turn the Vortex from its course. He talked about how the ship had fought with Yan, and almost won, until the pirates showed up to save her. And then how she had used her own ship as a weapon, something that nobody had ever thought of happening, crashing a ship intentionally, and how that had disabled the Vortex and allowed her to escape. And how Ervantes was dead.

    The horrible thing about signing was that, even though Sid''s eyes were burning with tears that wouldn''t quite come, and his throat was painfully closed, he could just keep telling the story with his hands, even though they shook. One motion after another, detailing it until he ran out of detail to give. He felt horrible.

    "And you really loved him?" Renay asked.

    Sid nodded.

    "I''m sorry," she signed. "Are you going to go to his funeral?"

    "I keep trying to write a letter, to his family, to apologize. But I can''t do it. I don''t think I could."

    "Why did you do it? Go through all that. You knew it was dangerous, right?"

    "I thought that there was no way that the Vortex could lose. I didn''t know that Yan was so dangerous. And I wanted..." He couldn''t express what he had wanted. It was a desire so fundamental to his being that putting it into words or sign seemed impossible. "It was my comfortable fantasy," he signed. "Even if I couldn''t get Yan to come back, I wanted closure."

    "Did you get it?"

    "No."

    Renay was thoughtful for a second, and she pressed on with the conversation even though Sid was visibly upset. "So I think I see why I was told to come here," she signed. "Maybe you''re right, and it is a threat. But I think that First Sandreas knows that you didn''t get what you want, so..." She shrugged. "There''s a chance you could continue to be absolutely braindead and do it again."

    "I¡ª"

    "You don''t think that''s a possibility?"

    "Yan''s not going to be stupid enough to¡ª"

    "You think if the opportunity presented itself, you wouldn''t go right back after her? You think you wouldn''t put yourself in danger, especially now that the one guy you cared about is dead? You don''t have anything left to stop you, right?" She leaned forward, almost comically angry. "You didn''t use your brain, and you ended up getting a bunch of people killed, and First Sandreas thinks that you might do it again, first chance you get. Am I wrong?"

    When Sid didn''t answer, she asked again, her motions even more jerky and full of emotion. "Am. I. Wrong?"

    "I don''t know!" Sid threw his arms up in frustration, then leaned his head on his hands on the kitchen table, staring down at the surface of it. He didn''t want to look at his sister, didn''t want her to continue demanding things of him.

    She waited until he lifted his head up again, which took a while.

    "You''re not going to, right?"

    "If I make some kind of promise you''d kill me for breaking it," Sid signed. "From where I am now, I don''t want to, I don''t think I would go after her. But in three years? If the opportunity comes to me?" He shook his head. "I know that Sandreas doesn''t trust me."

    "Do you trust yourself?"

    "I''ve never trusted myself," he signed. "And when I did, everything turned out like this." He had made a bad call, but it was a call that he had made. This was the crux of the problem, perhaps. He was being trained to take over for Sandreas, a job which involved doing nothing but making decisions where lives hung on the line. Sid had made a decision based on his personal desires, his whims, without thinking things through, and it had ended in utter disaster. He was proving to Sandreas that he couldn''t make decisions but anything other than his own pride, and that was a mark of shame. He couldn''t hide behind Yan to make choices, like he had aboard the Sky Boat, and in the future he wouldn''t be able to claim that he was just doing what Sandreas wanted, as he had when he argued with Kino while rescuing Yan.

    Renay shook her head. "Maybe if you trusted yourself more, this wouldn''t have happened."

    "What do you mean?"

    "You''re wrapped up in Yan this Yan that. Cut it out." She slapped her palm on the table to emphasize the point. "You''re the only one who matters."

    "But she was my friend." And Sid''s throat was closing up again.

    "And she isn''t any more. Get over it. She tried to KILL YOU." Renay delivered these words with such force that she nearly fell out of her seat. "If you had died, I would be so mad. And it would destroy dad."

    "I know."

    "So apologize to me, idiot," she signed. "And then apologize to Sandreas and say you''ll never do anything so fucking stupid again in your life, and then write your letter to your dead boyfriend''s parents and tell them you''re sorry for killing their son, and you keep apologizing until everyone thinks you''ve done it enough. Then you go on with your life." She paused. "I''m waiting."

    Sid couldn''t look her in the eye, his brain refused to do it. She leaned forward over the table, pushing empty cardboard food containers out of the way. She grabbed his shoulder and shook it. "Come on," she signed. "Just fucking say you''re sorry, okay?"

    She shook him again. "Come on, come on!"

    Sid still couldn''t meet her eye. He wanted to apologize, but he couldn''t apologize to Ervantes, who was dead, and that was killing him. He would have begged for forgiveness, but Renay couldn''t forgive him for that.

    "Please, Sid," she signed, using the sign name that their mother used, not the silly one.

    He covered his face with his hands, taking heavy breaths to stop himself from crying. It was useless, though, and the tears came anyway, leaking onto his fingers, hot at first, then rapidly cooling as they hit the outside air.

    Renay got up and came around to his side of the table to hug him. He didn''t relax in her grip, but she rocked side to side until he stopped breathing quite so much, and the tears stopped coming. When she let go of him, and he was finally able to open his eyes and look at her, she signed, "I shouldn''t have been so mean."

    "I''m sorry," Sid signed, and he meant it. "You''re right. I''m sorry, I''m sorry."

    But Renay didn''t smile, and Sid didn''t feel any better. Apologizing wasn''t going to make the pain go away.

    <hr>

    That night, Renay slept on his couch. She had explained that she had been given a room elsewhere in the building, but she didn''t want to go to it, so Sid gave her some blankets and pillows and let her be in his living room.

    Predictably, he did not sleep well, and he woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in a cold sweat from an unremembered nightmare. He left his bedroom to go get a glass of water from the sink. While he was out there, he busied himself with cleaning up the mess from their dinner, which had not been dealt with before. He didn''t have to worry about waking his sister up with the noise, as long as he didn''t stomp around enough to vibrate the floor, or turn on enough lights to bother her. He looked at her on the couch behind him as he put away the dishes. She was curled up so peacefully, looking small and very, very out of place in his apartment.

    He had never expected her to come here. He hadn''t thought about it much, but even if he had replaced Sandreas as First, he never pictured his parents visiting him on Emerri. His home life seemed so incongruous with his professional life, they would have seemed exactly as out of place here as Yan had seemed when they had visited his family''s house. Yan again. He couldn''t stop thinking about her, but his sister was right that he had to. She needed to be put out of his mind.

    All the dishes put away, Sid didn''t know quite what to do with himself. He thought about going back to bed, but he wasn''t tired. He should at least get out of the main area of his apartment so that he wouldn''t bother his sister. Maybe he could go for a walk. The fresh air might do him some good.

    He resolved to do that, and headed back to his bedroom to change into clothes. As he passed his sister on the couch, he noticed on the coffee table her phone and a thick business card, one that looked incredibly familiar. He placed it: it was the same one that Sandreas had given to him after his apprenticeship interview. Renay had been texting Sandreas, then, probably. Reporting on him.

    He was conflicted, desperately wanting to know what she had said, but not wanting to know at the same time. The curiosity won out.

    He picked up her phone and unlocked it. She should have really changed her password at some point in the last five years, but Renay''s habits died hard, Sid supposed. It was lucky for him. He swiped through to her recent text messages, with an unsaved number.

    > Hi First Sandreas. I talked to Sid. He''s not doing great. You should probably talk to him yourself.

    > I think I convinced him to not do anything stupid in the future

    > and to maybe stop thinking about ap. barcarran so much

    > but you should see him again

    < Either you''re a miracle worker, Ms. Welslak, or you''re overestimating what "anything stupid in the future" might look like!

    < I appreciate your help.

    < I will speak to Sid in a few days

    < Please keep me informed to any changes in his status.

    Sid placed the phone back down on the table where it had been left, then went and changed into clothing with which he could walk outside. He left a note for his sister informing her that he had gone, just in case she woke up to find him missing.

    Outside, the sky was dark, though if he stood at the right street corner, he could see far enough down past the buildings that the sky began to have a hint of lightening on the edges. It was early, and the air was filled with that crisp and cool smell that only came right as the summer was on the cusp of becoming fall. It was probably going to be a hot day out, but as it was, Sid wrapped his arms around himself as he walked, rather chilled.

    He didn''t walk with any particular direction in mind, but he ended up passing by Stonecourt. He hesitated for a second outside its gates, feeling the eyes of the guards upon him. He turned away and walked the other direction. Sandreas had told his sister that he would speak with him in a few days. He only had to be patient.

    His mind felt clearer now. The misery that had been stifling his thoughts had shifted slightly, perhaps because Renay presented an exit from the pure, crushing loneliness that he had been operating under.

    Maybe she hadn''t been brought here as a threat. Maybe Sandreas or Halen had decided, really decided, that she was the one person who could make him see sense. Some part of him resented that conclusion, but he stomped on it as one might stomp on a bug.

    He had known that he had done something wrong. He knew logically that it would be insane for him to ever do anything like it again.

    But, perhaps, he had needed his sister there to force him to say it to another living being, as a reminder that he was not the only person in his own life, now that Ervantes was dead.

    The sun was peeking up over the horizon for real now, casting the lower half of the sky a splendid pinkish purple. Sid was again trying to mentally compose his letter to Ervantes''s family, walking aimlessly into the sunrise, when he perceived a shadow fall into step about a meter behind him. He had caught a half glimpse of the figure''s reflection in a darkened store window, and recognized it almost immediately as Halen. Sid didn''t turn around, and Halen didn''t step up to his side.

    Sid interpreted the distant companionship immediately as a kind of message from Halen, though he couldn''t tell if the message was also from Aymon. They walked together but apart, until the sun had crept more fully into the sky. Sid looped all the way back around to his apartment, wanting to return home before Renay woke up. As Sid pushed open the door, he saw Halen peel away and walk swiftly down the street, as though he had never been there.

    <hr>

    Renay and Sid spent the next several days together, which comprised of two main phases: Renay pestered him for a while to get his life together (which primarily consisted of writing the letters he had been trying and failing to compose), then she got bored and demanded that he show her around Yora. Unfortunately for Renay, even though Sid had spent most of his life in Yora, it was only so thrilling to point out the Academy grounds and Stonecourt.

    The constant presence of another person helped.

    The constant presence of another person who spoke his native language helped.

    The constant presence of his sister, who knew him intimately and was not afraid of him or connected to his usual work, was a balm.

    She didn''t express opinions on what Yan and Kino had done, and he was glad that she didn''t. He didn''t ask for her opinion because he was worried about what she might say. It wasn''t as though he had gone heavily into the details of Kino''s original reasoning, because he didn''t entirely understand it himself, so perhaps Renay just felt that she didn''t have enough information to comment. She seemed only concerned with him keeping himself alive, which was a goal that Sid could at least try to achieve.

    After a few days of this, Sid had at least drafted a letter to Sandreas and to Ervantes''s family. He agonized over who to send them to, then decided that he could suck it up and send Sandreas his directly. He sent Ervantes''s family''s to Halen, asking if he could forward it to the appropriate people.

    He waited in stasis for the rest of the day, worked himself up into a nervous fever during the night, and received a reply the next morning, from Sandreas, asking him to meet in Stonecourt.

    So, the silent treatment was over, and somehow the simple instruction to meet made Sid more afraid than he had been before. But he came to Stonecourt alone, leaving Renay behind.

    He waited anxiously in the antechamber outside of Sandreas''s office, watching Ms. Rosario type something into her computer, glancing up at him occasionally.

    "He should be here in a minute," she said. At one point, Sid might have simply gone into the office by himself to wait, but this time, he didn''t. It felt like it would have been overstepping the bounds of the administrative leave he had been placed on, and he was doing his best to toe the line. Or, at the very least, he had sworn that he would do his best.

    Sid bounced his leg up and down with a frantic energy that he hadn''t remembered he possessed. He was worried that over the past many days of not really speaking aloud, he might have somehow forgotten how to talk.

    Sandreas came in. He didn''t look at Sid directly at first, said nothing, just nodded at Ms. Rosario and opened the door to his office. Sid stood hurriedly and followed him inside. Sandreas sat at his desk, leaving Sid to stand somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the room, his hands jammed deeply into his pockets.

    "Take a seat, Sid," Sandreas said, pointing to the chair on the other side of his desk. Sid jumped to comply.

    Sandreas didn''t say anything for a second more, just swiped through some documents on his tablet on his desk. His fingers hovered over its surface for a moment, then he powered it off, folded his hands, and looked at Sid. Sid forced himself to meet his eyes, even though this was a clear moment when the eye contact was supposed to feel uncomfortable.

    "I read your letter," Sandreas said. "Both of them, actually."

    Sid just nodded. It didn''t surprise him, and he hadn''t had much expectation of privacy, since he had sent Ervantes''s letter directly to Halen.

    "It makes me glad that you managed to see the error of your ways," Sandreas continued. "But I think that knowing an action is a terrible choice is not enough to prevent you from taking it. Do you have anything to say about that?"

    "I wasn''t prepared for the price to be as high as it was," Sid said. "That''s not an excuse."

    "You are correct on that count." Sandreas waved his hand for Sid to continue.

    "I know I can''t explain why I did it enough to satisfy you."

    "I''m not asking you to explain why you did it."

    Sid wasn''t sure what Sandreas was looking for. "Do you want me to tell you that my pride got the better of me?"

    "There''s not a right answer that will let you out of the hole you''re in, Sid. The right answer would have been to not lie to Captain Slater on your ride back from Hanathue. You''ve already failed the test. This isn''t a retake or a relitigation. We are having this conversation to figure out how to move forward."

    Sid nodded, though he wasn''t sure what he was agreeing to. "I know you think that I might do this again."

    "Tell me I''m wrong to be worried. See if I believe you."

    He didn''t know what to say. "I know you sent Renay over so that I would be more aware of the consequences of my actions, and what that could mean for everyone else. You didn''t have to do that."

    "I summoned her here because I knew that you were liable to completely collapse without a peer to hold you accountable. It wouldn''t have been the first time. Since we are out of actual peers for you, I decided a sister would probably suffice."

    Sid shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I want to be able to promise that I''m not going to be stupid, but I trust myself less than you probably trust me."

    "Unfortunately, though, you are the only one capable of deciding if that trust will be misplaced or well founded." He paused for a second. "Sid, I have no choice but to trust you. I can put you on as close of a watch as possible, keep you by my side, not let you out of my sight, prevent you from making real choices, all of that. I could do that. But I can''t stop you from being the one that God chose to be my apprentice, and thus my successor. "

    Sid was pretty surprised that Sandreas was talking about God. "You could choose other apprentices."

    Sandreas laughed. "I''m not getting any younger, and I don''t think I could endure much more of this. I don''t know how my own master made it through her tenure with me." He shook his head, melancholy written across his face. "It''s too much, trying to trust your entire legacy to someone and watching as they fail. I couldn''t give up on you and try a second time."

    Sid felt that he probably would have given up on himself at this point, had he been in Sandreas''s place. After all, Sandreas had threatened to kick him out once before, but that was when Yan and Kino were still contenders, so to speak. Well, Kino never had been, secretly, but Yan was. This would have never happened if his position and Yan''s had been reversed. Yan wouldn''t have been as stupid as he was.

    "What will happen if I do fail?" Sid asked.

    "The Empire will depend on you, someday. The Emperor can advise you, but it will be your job to be nimble, decisive, and correct. I''m not asking for perfection, just an honest attempt at it."

    "That didn''t really answer the question."

    "Do you want me to say that when you take my place, if you fail the whole Empire could collapse? You already know that. I don''t need to walk you through this."

    Sid shook his head. "I know." He looked at Sandreas, whose steepled hands tapped against eachother. "Why didn''t you punish me?"

    "You''re still on administrative leave for the near future. It will be my discretion when you return to real work."

    "That''s not a punishment."

    "Would having the Emperor take the power from you actually cause you to change your behavior?"

    "Maybe?"

    "That punishment is a shock to the system that works well once. I wouldn''t bother doing it again, especially not now, when you are likely to be in physical danger. I didn''t have Halen spend so much time training you just to have it all go to waste because you didn''t have the power available."

    Sid nodded. "There were other things you could have done to punish me."

    "Like what?"

    "I don''t know." Or, he did know, and he didn''t want to say it aloud.

    Sandreas shook his head. "Sid, I wouldn''t do that to you."

    "You wouldn''t?"

    "I let the punishment fit the crime. In this case, you are perfectly capable of punishing yourself because your lover is dead."

    Sid looked down at the surface of Sandreas''s desk. "Yeah."

    "Whatever mental paces you''ve been putting yourself through is worth more for your critical thinking skills than any punishment that I could actually give to you. Space to reflect is the most valuable thing."

    "I guess." Ervantes being dead did not feel much like a punishment, more like a weight that was pressing down on Sid and suffocating him. Still, if Sandreas thought that was what punishment was, he really shouldn''t complain. There was, of course, a part of him that wanted to be punished more for the sole fact that he had caused Ervantes to die; he deserved some consequence for that alone. If someone had stabbed him, that would have been fair, Sid thought.

    "Do you not think that this teaches you the lesson?"

    "It does, I mean, the lesson about decisions..." Sid was fumbling with his words, trying to explain. "But there''s no punishment for Lieutenant Cesper-- I mean, I killed him. That''s..." He trailed off. His hands were clenched into fists in his pockets.

    Sandreas didn''t speak for a moment, just gazed across the desk at his apprentice. Though Sid was comfortable with the silence, he was uncomfortable with the critical gaze he was under.

    "I have some good news for you," Sandreas said, suddenly shifting. Sid couldn''t hear his tone, and his expression was so flat, he couldn''t tell if this was intended as sarcasm or real good news. Sandreas picked up the tablet on his desk, pressed a few buttons then held the tablet out to Sid. Sid couldn''t quite see the screen, but he reached for it. As he held it in his hand, Sandreas said, "Here is a picture of Lieutenant Cesper, as of a week ago, in Yora Central Hospital."

    Sid couldn''t believe the image he was looking at. It was Ervantes, looking rather nervously at the camera, with his leg in a cast up to the hip. He was sitting on a hospital bed, but he was wearing civilian clothes-- tee shirt and shorts. Sid couldn''t speak for a second. All the words he thought of died somewhere between his brain and his lips. His hand shook holding the tablet so violently that he was forced to put it back down on the desk.

    "Is this real?" he asked, feeling his voice croak on the way out.

    "Yes."

    "How?"

    Sandreas took the tablet back. "There''s a report you can read." He appeared pensive. "I''m afraid that telling you how might be grounds for you making further poor decisions."

    "I swear I won''t," Sid said.

    "To put a long story short, Yan is too merciful for her own good. She rescued about two dozen people from the piece of the Vortex that she stole, and she dropped them off in an unmarked shuttle in Hanathue''s orbit."

    Sid''s mind churned as he processed this. It made perfect sense. It made him love her; it made him hate her.

    "Why didn''t you tell me this before?"

    "This was part of your punishment, obviously," Sandreas said dismissively. "I wanted you to understand the consequences. Of course, this might backfire by having you think that all bad choices can have personal happy endings, but--"

    "No," Sid said, interrupting Sandreas. "I know they don''t. So many other people also died. This is just crazy."

    "You are either the luckiest man in the universe, or God is protecting you and yours."

    Sid shook his head. "Can I see him? Where is he?"

    "No."

    "No?"

    "Lieutenant Cesper is on medical leave until his leg heals completely. After that, I will personally reevaluate his career path."

    "You can''t do that!" Sid leaned forward.

    "Sid." Sandreas''s face was suddenly stormy. "You are aware that I am being extremely merciful by not simply imprisoning him immediately, are you not?"

    Sid didn''t respond, scowling at Sandreas. His temperament had flipped completely with this new knowledge. In the back of his head, he knew that was a dangerous thing, because if he was too impudent, it could cause Sandreas to, in the future, need to devise new and crueler ways of punishing him (if he assumed that this one had lost its potency immediately). But still, he couldn''t allow Ervantes''s life to be destroyed on his behalf.

    Sandreas didn''t seem to appreciate Sid''s angry silence. "He should have stopped you from your idiocy, as should Hernan. Even I bear some kind of responsibility for it, as I should have realized I needed to prioritize protecting you from yourself over keeping this problem contained to very specific parts of the Fleet. That secrecy cost me. But your lieutenant spoke with you, learned exactly what you were about to do, and failed to stop you, completely and willfully."

    "I promised him that I wouldn''t let him take responsibility for this."

    "He mentioned that to me. I advise you in the future to not make promises that you can''t keep."

    Sid was angry, now, and he leaned further forward over Sandreas''s desk. Sandreas didn''t budge. "What would Halen think about you using him as a pawn here?"

    Sandreas, to his credit, did not rise to the provocation. "He''s lucky he hasn''t been court martialed and shot," he said. "You would do well to not deliberately be antagonistic, when I could have also never told you that he was alive."

    "You''re acting like I should thank you."

    "Who else are you going to thank? Yan?"

    "Don''t talk to me like that."

    "You can see him when I decide you''re ready to see him. It might be never, if you keep behaving like a child whose favorite toy got taken away."

    "He''s a person, not--"

    "He is a Fleet officer, and he serves at the will of the Empire. If the Empire wills that he serve once again on an exploratory ship, as he did during his first term of service, that would be more than fit and proper, considering his station and experience. If that means he is outside of ansible range for the next several years, so be it."

    "You wouldn''t."

    "I most certainly would."

    "Are you trying to make me hate you?"

    Sandreas slapped his desk, a sudden movement that made Sid jump. "I am trying to make you see that there is more to life than whatever your whim is at the moment. Your personal feelings do not matter here."

    "Clearly, they do."

    "If you came in here ready to infuriate me, you could have hardly done a better job at it."

    "I''m not trying to make you angry, I''m just--" Sid realized that he was digging himself too far deep into this hole, so he stopped. He was trying to consider the situation with as fresh eyes as possible.

    Sandreas waited a tense moment, as though to confirm that Sid wasn''t about to try to say anything more stupid. Sid bit his tongue, hard enough to actually hurt. It was a good thing that Sandreas didn''t understand more than a tiny bit of sign, because it made his desire to continue yelling in that other language more than useless.

    "I''m not trying make you miserable on purpose," Sandreas said. "But you do not have a clear head right now, and you need to get one. You come back here when you''re ready to start working again, for real. Don''t just show up tomorrow because you think it will make me happy, because it won''t. Figure out what you need to do in order to keep yourself rational, and then come back armed with that knowledge. I need to trust you, and that begins and ends with you being able to trust yourself. Do you understand?"

    Sid didn''t really, but he nodded slowly anyway, unsure if this meant that his punishment was over or not.

    "When you return, and after you have proven yourself, then I might allow you to see your lieutenant again. Make this count."

    "Okay," Sid said, keeping himself as steady and even as he could.

    "Good. Out." Sandreas pointed at the door, then looked down at his tablet. He didn''t acknowledge Sid as he got up and left.

 Chapter One Hundred Twenty - A Fariskian Bargain

    A Fariskian Bargain

    <blockquote>

    "May the bridges be unbroken as we cross the longest road. May the bridges be unbroken as we go each day alone. May the bridges be unbroken while we''re walking hand in hand. For the bridges connect each brother, all across our fractured land."

    - from "Bridge over Troubled Water", Emerri folk song

    </blockquote>

    The repair of the First Star was a project that was destined to never be finished. Despite Yan having enough know-how and labor power to make all areas of the ship safe to exist in again, that did not mean that it was ever going to get back to the way it had been: gleaming and fit for the leader of the Empire. The patch job was shoddy in places, covering the busted open bays with metal that had to be purchased at black stations, much depleting the First Star''s funds. If the patch job required had been much bigger, Yan might have considered stationing the First Star in an asteroid belt and using the power to pull raw metals out of the rocks there. But in that question of effort versus money, the equation leaned towards money. It was important that they fix the ship enough that she was not a danger to someone wandering the halls drunk or otherwise not paying enough attention. Not that Yan didn''t trust her crew, but accidents were always a possibility that she wanted to avoid.

    It had taken a longer time to get the ring started than Yan had hoped as well, to the point where all the plants in the greenhouse had begun to grow in the loopy ways that plants did when not exposed to gravity. When the rings finally were repaired enough to move, most of the crops ended up looking deflated and weighed down. It was a relief to have gravity again for everyone, even though it did mean cleaning up all of the objects that had decided to float away from their usual homes.

    Life had returned to an almost normal state during the eightyday deadline that Yan and Captain Respect had set. Every day was filled with the endless tasks involved in fixing the ship, more and more tasks popping up as each was completed, so Yan had little time to worry about the larger picture of things.

    They had stopped by the ansible briefly and sent a message to the Dark Hands, informing them that the meeting with the Warrior II was going to be happening, should they choose to send a representative, so Yan wondered if anyone was going to show up for that. She suspected it would be Jeepak, which she didn''t like the thought of, but she had little choice in the matter. Since he was the most mobile of the Dark Hands, he was the most likely candidate.

    In terms of the rest of her crew, they were stable for the most part. Sylva seemed to have put the issues of Hanathue almost completely out of her mind and spent much of her time by Yan''s side. Yan didn''t mind the clinginess. She enjoyed Sylva''s presence, possibly even more so than when they were both students at the Academy together. They had both grown since then.

    Kino was quiet and still very sad. She spent much of her time alone, but despite that was probably the most valuable resource Yan had in terms of getting the First Star back in working order. Kino could be trusted to accomplish tasks well and without supervision. Other than that, though, she didn''t do much. Yan often found her staring out the windows, completely unmoving. If Sylva wasn''t hanging onto her side, Yan would sometimes join Kino there in a quiet companionship. The pain of losing her sister hadn''t faded, but it had mellowed out a little, transmuting into something that was just part of Kino''s life and worldview rather than an acute foreign invasion.

    Iri was in generally good spirits. She enjoyed the few trips that they made to purchase materials at black stations, happy to get off the ship, sometimes with one of the others in tow. She liked the pirate role that she got to play. She enjoyed listening out for news and gossip and checking if there had been any messages left for them, perhaps coming through from Yan''s family aboard the Dreams, or from Keep and company aboard the Warrior II. Without an ansible, communication sometimes took a long time, and was occasionally spotty, but it was better than nothing.

    Chanam was bored, most of the time. Yan enjoyed his company, but she didn''t trust him to always complete tasks that were assigned to him. He would occasionally wander away, leaving a bed in the greenhouse half planted, or an access panel half wired, with strings of stripped cord hanging out like spaghetti. Yan confronted him about it when she caught him doing shoddy work, but it seemed to have more to do with him being a teenager with no outlets than anything else. Yan tried to arrange it so that he would go with Iri whenever she went onto the black stations, but he took his duties as a "spy" seriously, at the very least, and accused her of trying to get rid of him. Yan just rolled her eyes at that.

    As far as Yan went, she spent far more time worrying about her ship and crew than herself, which seemed to keep her sufficiently distracted enough to avoid collapse. There were times that she was almost overwhelmed by her own thoughts, but she had learned somewhat how to shut those thoughts away. The only times she allowed herself to peel that box open were in a few rare quiet moments, sometimes when she was with Kino or Iri and they seemed amenable to talking about it, and sometimes when she went to commune with what she considered the heart of the First Star-- spending silent time floating in the dark near the stardrive. If she spoke aloud to it, she had the sense that someone was listening, even if there was no response from anyone except her own mind and imagination. Other than those times, which she tried to keep rare, Yan kept busy. She worked hard on the ship, and slept less than she should, as they jumped as often as the stardrive would allow.

    And so by the end of the eightyday period, the First Star was almost as fixed as it was ever going to get, and no disasters had befallen their group. Tension mounted for Yan as they waited in orbit around their little ansible moon, wondering how this meeting would go, and who would show up.

    On the actual day of the meeting, Yan had foregone her usual repair work and other chores, and had situated herself on the bridge. She was reading a book, theoretically, to keep herself occupied (a work of religious philosophy that Sylva had told her was, "The perfect thing to keep your mind off of stuff, because you spend the entire time reading it wondering if the author is losing her mind. I think it only made it through censorship by virtue of being incomprehensible.") Even with a tablet in hand and something to keep herself distracted, she kept staring up at the big display (they had managed to fix the cameras and sensors-- it wasn''t good for the ship to be flying blind, so that had been a top priority) and hoping something would appear. She would feel a ship jumping in before she saw it, if it came in close enough, but she couldn''t stop herself from looking regardless.

    She was actually reading when she felt that wave of power crash over her, and she sat bolt upright in her chair. "Alright, let''s see who this is," she muttered to herself and the ship, pressing the button that would send out a sweeping radar ''ping'' to the incoming ship, in the rough direction that she had sensed that wave of power come in. The other ship would know they had been detected at that point. Although the chance that a non-friendly ship had jumped in was small, Yan figured that a friendly ship would send out a radio message upon detection, and a non-friendly ship would not. It was perhaps rude of her to send out such a ping, as even in the best of circumstances, ship captains in precarious situations rather liked to hide until their jump timers were up, just in case.

    As she waited for a radio response, Yan paged her own crew, telling them that their waiting was over.

    The radio hissed to life. "This is Captain Kizistal of the Redheart," a weary sounding voice said. "I would appreciate the courtesy of not being pinged the instant we arrive." The Redheart was the ship that had carried Jeepak before, which meant that he was probably here. It was unpleasant but not entirely unexpected.

    "This is Captain Yan of the First Star," Yan said. "My apologies." She would have given the traditional greeting, but it seemed that Kizistal wasn''t interested in pleasantries upon detecting Yan''s ping.

    "Do you have gravimeters out? I didn''t think most ships carried ones that powerful." There had been a minute or so of delay between the responses, which indicated that the Redheart was fairly distant. It was true that a typical ship''s single gravimeter, or even one on a standard shuttle working in concert, wouldn''t have been able to detect the disturbance of a ship jumping in at that distance. It would take a very delicate and expensive model to detect it.

    "No, Captain," Yan said. She didn''t particularly feel like explaining how she knew that the Redheart had jumped in.

    "Are the people we''re supposed to meet here yet?" Kizistal asked. "The Warrior II, I believe the ship was called?"

    "No," Yan replied. "They should be arriving within the next day. We didn''t receive a message that they were unable to come." She paused for a second. "I''m surprised that the Dark Hands sent a representative in person. We could have conducted business over the ansible."

    "Yes, well, our representative prefers business done face to face, often to his own detriment." Jeepak, then, Yan presumed.

    "You aren''t here to take Chanam back, are you?"

    There was a longer than usual pause. "Chanam?"

    "The sensitive the Hands sent to spy on us?" Yan provided.

    "Oh, him. I wasn''t aware that he had gone on your ship. I assumed he was with the Kiss of Death still. I don''t know anything about that," Kizistal said. "Jeepak might." Yan wasn''t sure if Chanam had ever been aboard the Kiss of Death. As usual, the lines of communication and information sharing within the Dark Hands and their associated allies seemed blurred and nonsensical. Yan privately considered that this was not a good way to run an organized resistance, but she wasn''t entirely sure if she wanted to bring that up with anyone. It pained her for things to be so inefficient and confused, but there was probably a reason for it. Preventing information from leaking back to the Empire was almost certainly the rationale.

    "If you don''t know if you''re supposed to take him back, then I''d assume you won''t be," Yan said. She was secretly slightly relieved. Even if Chanam''s work ethic for chores wasn''t always the greatest, he was useful in having an extra pair of hands around the ship, especially an extra sensitive''s pair of hands.

    "I assume." Kizistal''s voice was dry. "Word got around to me that you managed to destroy an Imperial ship singlehandedly. Is that true?"

    "I wouldn''t quite call it singlehandedly," Yan said.

    "With just the crew of your ship, then."

    "It was a complicated situation."

    "But the fact remains that you did destroy a Fleet ship."

    "Yes."

    "I''m impressed." There was a pause. "Are we meeting aboard your ship?"

    "It would probably be better, as a kind of neutral ground."

    Kizistal made a dismissive noise. "There''s no such thing as neutral ground."

    Yan didn''t have a real response to that. "Okay. Who will you be sending over?"

    "Just our one representative by himself."

    "Jeepak?"

    "Yes, of course."

    "You don''t want to come, Captain?"

    "And leave my ship?" Kizistal sounded like he was considering it for a minute. "Hm."

    "Captain Respect of the Warrior II is almost certain to come."

    "I think I would rather not. Perhaps we''ll meet face to face some other time."

    "Very well." Yan ended their communication and promised to alert the Redheart when the Warrior II jumped in.

    They had a while to wait, as it turned out. It took thirteen hours for the Warrior II to make its appearance, finally showing up while Yan was catnapping on the bridge. The rush of power carried by a jump woke her up, though she wasn''t conscious enough to pinpoint the location of the ship. She resorted to sending out an omnidirectional radio blast and hoping that the Warrior II responded.

    They did, several minutes later, in the form of a swept radar ping. Yan pinged them back, and from there it was a simple matter of aiming their radios in the right directions, and they cold communicate easily enough. Additionally, Yan woke up her crew by paging them over the First Star''s speakers.

    Yan greeted Captain Respect with the standard greeting, and Respect replied in kind.

    "How have you and your crew been?" Respect asked.

    "Very well, thank you," Yan said. "Do you object to us jumping closer to you to facilitate shuttle travel? Captain Kizistal of the Redheart, who is also here, proposed using the First Star as a neutral meeting place."

    "No objections," Respect said. It made some sense that she wouldn''t object. If the other two ships jumped towards her now, all three of their timers would wipe clean at roughly the same time, putting them on equal footing. It was always slightly uncomfortable for ships to be so close together, especially those who didn''t know eachother well enough to trust eachother, but it would make life easier if they were within easy shuttle distance. Yan relayed this information to the Redheart so that both ships could jump to the specified coordinates.

    After the jump was completed, it was easier to speak with Respect, without the barrier of minutes of light-distance in the way.

    "I''ve brought with me several people who have vested interest in this meeting," Respect said. "I hope that''s no object to you."

    Yan was slightly confused. Sylva had told her about the businessman, Mr. Olenya, who wanted in on this venture, so perhaps Respect meant one of his associates, but she wasn''t sure who the rest of the ''several'' could be.

    "Mind telling me who? I won''t shut them out from coming aboard, but I am surprised that word of this has spread."

    "It hasn''t spread very far. I''m sorry that I wasn''t able to warn you before hand."

    "It''s fine," Yan said, growing slightly impatient. "Communication is difficult when we''re both all over the place. Who is it who wants to come aboard?"

    "I have an associate of the businessman Valeri Olenya, from Hanathue, named Rohan BarHellat."

    "Who else?"

    Respect gave a kind of sigh. "It''s been an odd cargo we''ve been carrying since we met you," she said. "I also have Councilmember Farisk, from Jenjin, aboard."

    "I''m sorry, what?" Yan asked. Her heart was beating strangely, feeling like she had been cornered.

    "I know this is highly unusual," Respect said. "But I have had assurances that he will be keeping his mouth tightly shut about this when he returns to his council seat."

    Yan took a deep breath before responding. "Captain, I would like to say that I trust your judgement, but having an Imperial councilmember come here is a danger that--"

    "Mr. Olenya vouched for him," another voice said over the radio.  Yan recognized it as Keep''s. By this time, Sylva had made her way to the bridge, rubbing her eyes and wearing only a loose nightshirt.

    "Let me talk to Keep," Sylva said, leaning heavily onto Yan''s shoulder. Yan nudged her.

    "How much do you trust that Olenya guy?" she asked.

    "I''d trust him to follow the money," Sylva said with a yawn. "Why, what''s going on?"

    Yan quickly explained the situation to her, as Respect was still waiting on a response.

    "The harm''s already done, isn''t it?" Sylva asked. "Olenya probably told this guy who he was coming to meet."

    "But Olenya doesn''t know the whole story," Yan said. "Does he?"

    "We''ll have to pull Keep aside and ask her." Sylva shook her head. "Better if we find out before we say anything."

    That was probably true. Yan mentally resigned herself to the fact that they were going to have to move the ansible to a different planet, which would be an annoyance. But they couldn''t keep meeting here if some councilmember knew its location.

    "Captain Respect," Yan said over the radio. "I believe I need to speak with the Redheart about this, and then we can decide how to proceed with Councilmember Farisk. Please excuse the delay. It may be a while before you can come over."

    "Very well."

    Yan signalled the Redheart. "Captain Kizistal, I think it might be beneficial if you sent your representative over now. There is something that I need to speak with him about."

    Kizistal barked out a laugh into the radio. "There always is. I expect him back alive, mind you."

    Yan struggled to keep her voice professional. "I am not intending on wounding my guests."

    "Send over the docking information. He''ll be out in his shuttle presently."

    Yan did, and then killed the radio. She turned to Sylva, her mouth twisted into a bitter line. "Shall we go meet Jeepak?"

    "I should put real clothes on," Sylva said.

    "Not planning on conducting policy meetings in your pyjamas?"

    "Seems terribly unprofessional of me." Yan was still in her seat, which gave Sylva the perfect angle to plant a peck of a kiss on her forehead. "I''ll meet you at the bay."

    "If you see anybody else, tell them that''s where I''m headed."

    With that, they both departed. Yan waited outside the bay for Jeepak in his shuttle to dock, nervously running her hands up and down her jumpsuit''s sides. She felt weirdly underdressed, as though this meeting might require more from her as "Former Apprentice Yan BarCarran" than it did "Captain BarCarran of the pirate ship First Star." She found herself itching to wear a heavy cassock, but she didn''t think that any were available, except the ones that were folded neatly away in Sandreas''s former quarters, which certainly wouldn''t fit her. She would just have to make do with the dignity that being a captain provided.

    Sylva still hadn''t shown up when Jeepak''s shuttle came in to land, and Yan was half tempted to keep him locked in the bay until he did, but she overcame her revulsion towards the man and opened the doors, stepping in to meet him.

    "I like what you''ve done with the place," he said to her as he climbed out of the shuttle. "The horrible patch job on the outside really suits it."

    "Nice to see you, too," Yan muttered. "Unfortunately, I need your input on something."

    "What''s that?" he asked, latching his magnetized shoes to the ground so that he could slam shut the door to his shuttle.

    "The ship that we''re here to meet, the Warrior II, they somehow have an Imperial councilmember inside who wants to attend this little get together."

    Jeepak raised an eyebrow. He looked much the same as he usually did, slimy and condescending. Yan hated him, but she kept that hatred squished down, and didn''t quiver under his gaze. "I was under the impression that we were keeping things quiet."

    "I wanted to," Yan said. "I''m not sure how much he knows. He might have been fed a bunk story."

    "That might make matters more complicated. Is he a sensitive?"

    "I don''t know. I''ve never heard of him before."

    The door opened behind the both of them, and Yan turned to see the rest of her crew, less Iri, pop into the bay.

    "Where''s Iri?" Yan asked.

    "I sent her to the bridge, in case anything happened over the radio," Sylva said. She was dressed now, in her usual jumpsuit, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Chanam grinned and waved at Jeepak, Kino looked at him steadily, and Sylva frowned. It was, as Yan had expected, an awkward and mixed reunion.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    "Shall we get out of the bay to discuss this, or have you all developed a taste for zero gravity since your ship got forcibly redesigned?" Jeepak asked.

    Yan scowled at him. "This way."

    They all headed back to the rings. As they walked, Jeepak and Chanam carried on a rapid fire conversation in a language that Yan didn''t know. She would have been worried, but their tone sounded conversational and pleasant. She let everyone into the conference room off the side of the bridge and sat down at the head of the table, gazing down at her crew and guests as they settled in.

    "So, tell me again how I and an Imperial council member ended up in the same place? This doesn''t look good for you, you know," Jeepak said, nodding at Yan and Kino. Kino stared him down, and tapped her metal fingers on the table, reminding Jeepak of her dedication in a not-exactly-silent manner. He took the point and said nothing further.

    "We mentioned in our last ansible message with you that a businessman from Hanathue, Valeri Olenya, was interested in providing material support, because he believed he could profit from a destabilization or destruction of the Empire," Yan explained. "He is apparently well connected with people in the Imperial council itself, even those not from Hanathue."

    "Where is this one from again, remind me? I''m not entirely familiar with every Imperial planet in the galaxy."

    "Jenjin," Yan said. "Apparently."

    "And what does he want?"

    "I have no idea. Presumably the destruction of the Empire, but I couldn''t say why a councilmember would want that."

    Kino spoke up. Yan turned to look at her, surprised. "I was briefly on Jenjin. With First Sandreas."

    "Do you know anything about this?" Jeepak asked.

    "Sandreas installed his own puppet governor there," Kino said. "If people on Jenjin are unhappy with that, they might try to overthrow Imperial power there. A secessionist movement isn''t unthinkable."

    "It is if only one planet wants to secede. They''d be starved out of the Empire immediately," Sylva said, cutting in.

    "Maybe not, if there''s a broader movement," Kino said. "He might be here to find out how broad the movement is."

    Yan tapped her fingers on her chin. "It''s not broad. At least, not in the sense that he might think, if that is his goal. What do you think?" she asked, primarily Jeepak, but the question was open to everyone at the table.

    "If he is going back to the Imperial council, he''s a danger to everyone, himself included," Kino said. "Halen."

    "He can''t read minds."

    "I was afraid," Kino said. "And if I were not myself, Halen would have found me."

    "But if he''s already seditious enough to come here, that''s probably already a problem for him," Sylva pointed out. "I mean, he''s deep in if he''s riding a pirate ship out to this meeting in the middle of nowhere, with people he doesn''t know, based on the word of Olenya, who isn''t exactly above the board."

    Kino nodded slightly at that.

    "This is why we like to keep information completely segregated," Jeepak said. He made a face. "Just by coming here, he already knows too much."

    "Olenya already knows about Kino," Yan said.

    "I don''t care about Kino," Jeepak said. "I care about the Empire catching on to the scope of organized resistance. You''re not going to get any information from me about the Dark Hands."

    "Maybe we can use this to our advantage," Yan said, considering. "Maybe..."

    "What are you thinking?" Chanam asked, leaning forward on his elbows.

    "Do we think that the crew of the Warrior II actually told anyone the full story?" Yan asked. "That''s the linchpin on which this all will turn."

    Sylva thought about this deeply for a second. "I told Olenya a lie, and Keep was there to hear it. I think that she''d have stuck to that story. She knows I trust her, and not Olenya, for a reason. And Respect would listen to Keep."

    "We confirm that, then. Can you get on the radio and subtly ask that question?" Yan asked Sylva. Sylva nodded and stepped out of the room.

    "What are you thinking?" Jeepak asked. All eyes were on Yan now, and she took a moment to gather her thoughts. She felt suddenly cool and in control, as though coming up with plans was her natural state. Perhaps it was.

    "I don''t know what the full strength of the Dark Hands is, and I''m sure you''re not going to tell me," Yan began. "I don''t want to know." Jeepak nodded at that. "I would be surprised if even you knew yourself. You''re intentionally fractured." She paused. "If, if, that councilmember has been fed a garbage story, all he knows is that there are forces within the Empire, people with connections to pirates and possibly the Guild, who want to overthrow it through military and economic means. I think we should keep it that way. No mention of the Hands. No mention of anything your side of the equation is doing."

    Jeepak narrowed his eyes at her. "Of course. But what are you actually proposing?"

    "Your primary concern, as the Hands, is keeping other planets free of the Empire, right? You''re interested in fighting the Fleet, out in the relative open. You don''t actually care about the internal politics of the Empire, so long as the Fleet can''t find or destroy any other worlds."

    "Yes..." Jeepak said, very slowly. "I''m not sure what you''re getting at."

    Yan waved her hand. "That''s all I''m saying. You don''t actually care about what happens in the Empire. I do." She was unsurprised to find that she meant those words as she said them. Although she had abandoned her place in the center of the Empire, it was still her home, and she felt a responsibility for it. "I propose that you continue your military operations, do whatever you need to do against the Fleet, and you lend me, us, some autonomy to figure out what to do within the Empire itself. You already made moves in that direction."

    Jeepak seemed to tense up. His gaze flicked between Yan and Kino. He leaned back, projecting an air of confidence, though it was clearly an act. "I''m looking at two people who were each one step away from ruling the Empire. What you''re saying to me sounds a lot like a power grab. You want to be back in command."

    Yan pursed her lips and didn''t say anything. It was Kino who spoke up. "If we were not dedicated, we would not be here. If we wanted power that badly, we would have held onto it while we could have." She said these words slowly, and without rancor in her voice, but her fingers drumming on the table, three of them sounding with a clack-clack-clack of metal on the plastic surface, were an unmistakable reminder.

    "You already gave us instructions to investigate how to pull the Empire down. The question is, do you want us to put that plan in motion, or not? If you do, we''re the best ones to lead that plan. You don''t know enough about how the Empire works, and taking effort away from the Hands out at the front, that''s only going to cause more planets to suffer. We''ve been very nice and cooperative on our leash. I think it''s time you let us off of it."

    Jeepak turned to Chanam, and Yan waited as they had a long, long conversation in that language she didn''t know, back and forth at a rapidfire clip. Chanam gestured to Yan several times, and Yan wished she knew what he was saying. Jeepak scowled, shook his head, and barked out something. Chanam stayed calm, but leaned forward over the table towards him, elbows on the table, speaking in a persuasive tone. Yan followed this conversation with mounting confusion. It was in the middle of it that Sylva came back in, sat down, and made a questioning face at Yan. Yan shrugged at let the two continue. Eventually, Jeepak relented and Chanam sat back a smile on his face.

    "You''d better thank me for that," he said. "It''s been hard work spying on you this long."

    Yan rolled her eyes. It was good that he had vouched for them, so it was handy that he was there, but if she had been Jeepak, she probably would have been slightly more suspicious that their "spy" had somehow been corrupted. Regardless, she punched Chanam lightly in the shoulder, then turned to Sylva. "What did Keep say?"

    "The only thing that he''s heard is what Olenya told him," Sylva said.

    "And did you stress that that''s the ONLY thing that he should hear?"

    "Yeah," Sylva said. "Respect understands."

    "Good." Yan rested her chin on her hand. "That makes things easier."

    "So explain to me again what you''re about to do?" Jeepak asked.

    "That man''s a separatist, or a secessionist, or whatever you want to call it, probably." Yan said. "I think if we play our cards right, we can get the Empire to fall apart on its own. Encourage planets breaking away from the Empire, maybe build connections with pirates to keep them supplied and defended, perhaps create an alternative to the Guild, or break the Guild up..." Yan shook her head. She didn''t want to mess with the Guild, mainly because that would end up falling on her family, but anything that involved planets breaking away from the Empire would involve disruption in trade. "If we can coordinate all of these factions, get them to work in concert, I think there''s a good chance of breaking the Empire apart."

    "That doesn''t stop the Fleet," Jeepak said.

    Yan bit her lip. "If there''s a civil war within the Empire, the Fleet is going to be busy here. And..."

    "And?"

    "I don''t want to get too ahead of things," Yan said.

    "Say what it is you''re going to say."

    "If there is a civil war, there might be a chance of toppling Sandreas and the Emperor. Get rid of power on Emerri, and we can install someone else, someone who''s not interested in seeking out and destroying your planets." She nodded at Jeepak.

    "You''re right that that is thinking ahead. I would be happy with anything that keeps the Fleet permanently distracted."

    "You know, in a civil war, civilians are the ones who will pay the brunt of the cost," Sylva pointed out.

    "It''s civilians who are already paying the cost," Jeepak snapped. "Just somewhere you can''t see."

    "So, what do you think about this?" Yan asked Jeepak. She kept her face as calm yet earnest as she could.

    "I have a few thoughts."

    "Go ahead."

    "First of all, I find it difficult to believe that you could be successful."

    "Let''s take it as a given that it''s a slim hope, but one worth trying."

    "Sure. I want assurances that you are still going to report to me. You can be the bridge between what''s happening in the Empire, and what''s happening elsewhere."

    "Of course."

    "That means, if we tell you to switch focus, or do something else, or stop altogether, you do that."

    Yan didn''t like the thought of being subservient to Jeepak, but it was hardly worse than what they already had, so she nodded. "Fine."

    "And you keep Chanam with you, and he reports back." Since Yan wanted to keep Chanam, this was a non-issue.

    "Okay."

    "And you understand that this means you are never going to be allowed to participate in the larger structure of the Hands, correct? We can''t allow information to be revealed to you."

    "I know. That''s fine." Privately, Yan believed that even without this profession of a plan on her part, they would have never given her much information anyway. She and Kino were too much of liabilities, which was why they had been sent off on their "information gathering" mission in the first place. Yan was just manipulating that situation to its logical conclusion. She wanted to be an active participant, and she needed the blessing of the Dark Hands to do it, or they could cause her major trouble. She didn''t want her current allies to not give her their blessing for this plot. Not that there was much of a plot at this moment, but as soon as they got that councilmember on board to talk...

    "So, we''re pivoting?" Sylva asked. "We''re really doing this?"

    Yan looked to Kino. "Are we?"

    "You''re the captain," Kino said, which was not encouraging.

    "Do you think this is worth doing?" Yan asked her. Kino nodded, face still. "Then yes. We''re doing this. Any objections?" Nothing further was said by Jeepak or Chanam, so Yan stood. "Great. You, you''re going to pretend to be a pirate. If you can''t do that, just don''t talk." She pointed to Jeepak as she said this. "I''m going to get Respect on the radio and get everybody over here."

    <hr>

    It didn''t take very long for the whole assembly to arrive. Yan greeted them in the bay, flanked by her crew and Jeepak, who she didn''t like having at her back, but tolerated for the sake of the plan. She made the introductions. Two of the visitors were rather startled, to say the least, to see her (as they hadn''t known she was alive), but they got over their shock quickly.

    Along with the previously mentioned Councilman Farisk, there was Rohan BarHellat, a man who, from his name and appearance, had clearly come from Yan''s home planet of Terlin, back in his family tree. Respect had also brought along Keep, though that may have simply been because Keep had wanted to come.

    They all gathered in the conference room off the bridge, which was beginning to feel rather crowded, with so many people in it.

    "I''m glad you could all make it here," Yan said as they got settled. "This is far livelier of a meeting than I had expected when I originally set it up with Captain Respect."

    "Well, our contacts do get around," Respect said. "And you did make some promises that we were beholden to keeping." She looked at Sylva when she said this, who seemed to shrink a little under the other captain''s gaze.

    "I have to say," Farisk said, glancing between Yan and Kino. "I believed First Sandreas when he said that you were dead."

    "Kino''s not officially dead yet, right?" Sylva asked.

    "No," Farisk said. "Though I''ll be on the lookout for that announcement at any day now, I''m sure." Kino didn''t respond to that.

    "Councilman, it''s very, very unusual for you to be here," Yan said. "I am eager for you to tell me how this came to be."

    "I believe I can explain that better than he can," BarHellat said, smiling broadly. "I am the mutual acquaintance of Councilman Farisk and Mr. Olenya, who you have met."

    Sylva, to her credit, kept her face pleasant. "He made quite the impression on me."

    "He''s a valuable business partner," Keep chimed in. "You can tell him I send my regards."

    "I certainly will do so, Keeper-of-Promises," BarHellat said. "But as I was saying, I have known Mr. Olenya through long association, and I work with him in arranging some of his off-planet contacts. This put me on Emerri at around the time of the new council session, and I was able to meet Councilman Farisk, who was making quite a splash at the time."

    Yan raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

    "It was perhaps foolish of me to say directly to First Sandreas that Jenjin has plans of resisting Imperial control."

    "I''d say so," Yan said. "Foolish is maybe a bit of a weak word, even. But you''re alive still, and I haven''t heard that Jenjin has been occupied by the Fleet, so it must not have been as bad as you make it sound."

    "Not occupied by the Fleet any more than it already has been," Farisk said. "An important distinction."

    "I see. What did you say that you were planning to do?"

    "Oh, I left it as a vague threat," Farisk said. "But my constituents are begging for complete self governance."

    "I am not sure if they quite understand what that would entail," Yan said. "I highly doubt the people of Jenjin would feel like they were prospering if they were cut off from all Imperial trade."

    "Indeed, Ms. BarCarran," Farisk said.

    "Captain," Yan pointed out. She wasn''t going to let this man try to edge her out of her position.

    "Yes, Captain," Farisk said with a thin smile. "Which is why Mr. BarHellat got into contact with me. I believe that, with Mr. Olenya''s help, and the help of your friends"-- he gave a sweeping glance to Respect, Keep, and Jeepak-- "that we could ameliorate some of the strain that Jenjin would undoubtedly be placed under with that move. "

    "And Mr. Olenya is willing to provide that level of support?" Yan asked. All the businessmen she had ever dealt with tended to be fairly risk averse, especially when it came to major interplanetary operations.

    "He sees it this way," BarHellat began. "If the stranglehold that the Empire and Guild have on interplanetary trade is broken, through no longer paying Imperial taxes and allowing other ships to carry goods openly between planets, the people putting goods on ships, and the people piloting ships all stand to profit quite a lot. Think about it: if the Empire is no longer deciding where stations can be built, where mines can be operated, where planets can be settled-- the chance for growth is unlimited."

    "Where will you get the stardrives?" Respect asked, looking rather confused. "All of this takes ships. Even if we got every pirate ship on board, which we won''t, that''s not anything like unlimited growth potential."

    "I see two sensitives at this table right now," BarHellat said. Yan didn''t bother correcting him by saying that there were actually five.

    "Mr. BarHellat, I''m sure you aren''t aware of the difficulties involved in making a stardrive," Yan said. "I will not be making any, and neither will my crew."

    His mouth twitched in a slight frown. "Well, if you''re so set against it, I''m certain that someone else can be paid."

    "And why would Mr. Olenya be willing to pay for stardrives now?" Respect asked. "I''ve been working faithfully with him for a long time--"

    "Captain Respect, with all due to you, Mr. Olenya has many other contacts. And the risk to reward ratio will rapidly swing in a different direction than it currently is in, if we are to create a full alternative to the Guild. Currently, pirate ships, the only ships to which he could supply stardrives, are useful but barely profitable. If wider scale production and trade is possible, the value will be there."

    Sylva wrinkled her nose. "Is Mr. Olenya not worried that the value of the Imperial Charge will collapse, if there is this, uh, split?"

    "Oh, it might. But charges are just a unit of value that we assign to real things, are they not? Gold and iron do not cease to exist and find uses even in desperate times."

    "I guess..." Sylva said, not entirely satisfied.

    "In any event," Farisk said, breaking in. "It''s less about the immediate profit, and more about the ability to be part of shaping the future of the galaxy. If Mr. Olenya can provide ships, those ships are indebted to him for their existence. If he can provide stability to planets as we free ourselves from the Imperial yoke, I hate to say it so blatantly, then it is the same."

    "Does he actually have that kind of money?" Yan asked. "It will take a lot more than one person''s fortune to make a noticeable difference."

    "Money begets money," BarHellat said. "If Mr. Olenya is convinced, so will others be. And as I said, it''s not simply money. It''s resources that you will need."

    Yan glanced at her companions around the table. Most of them were looking pensive. "Are we here to make a plan? Are we here to make an agreement to work together?" Yan asked.

    "Captain BarCarran," Farisk said, "I am planning to respect the wishes of the population of Jenjin, regardless of your participation. Mr. Olenya has already agreed to help me. I''m under the impression that whatever scheme you are involved in is also going to proceed with or without me. I believe it would benefit us all to join together."

    Yan could see immediately what was happening here, and as she glanced across the table at BarHellat, she could see in his pleasant demeanor that he also knew, and he knew that she knew. Mr. Olenya was pulling the strings here, and by providing the bridge between the political separatism of councilman Farisk and Jenjin, and the economic opportunism of the pirates, he was making himself a de facto leader of this group, despite not even being at the table. It was a skillful play, betting that the two factions wouldn''t want to work at cross purposes to eachother, as their goals aligned.

    Yan considered the situation-- it would be difficult for her to accomplish anything alone. Her connection to the pirate world was through the Warrior II, and they were clearly working for Olenya, at least in part. Enough that they wouldn''t go against him, at the very least. Yan hadn''t even been considering making larger steps until the existence of the Jenjin movement had become clearer. If she stepped away from this, she would be worse than when she started, because she had already "negotiated" with Jeepak for more freedom: if she had that freedom but nothing to show for it, she would be dead in the water.

    Kino was right next to her. Underneath the table, Yan pressed their legs together, sent a questioning feeling through the power. Kino responded with an image, a sound. "You''re the captain," she said. How unhelpful. But Yan had very little choice.

    "Yes, I suppose we should work together. Better to have friends than enemies, right?"

    BarHellat smiled broadly. "I would agree with you completely, Captain."

    The meeting went on for a while, though it was difficult to hash out specifics when the plan was so vague. In the end, it was mostly decided that each one of the parties would go back to their own base and begin to drum up their own form of support, quietly, and they would come back together and report on their progress and decide what to do in a month and a half. A sixtyday was plenty of time to make preliminary gestures, without waiting too long.

    Yan didn''t trust these people, BarHellat and Farisk. They both seemed slimy, but they were tied together. In the back of her head, Yan knew that she was going to have to spend this sixtyday thinking of how best to take back some modicum of control here. She didn''t like being under the foot of someone like that. She was used to taking orders, that was for sure, but she had always felt that the person giving the orders, be it her own Captain Pellon or First Sandreas, had been both reasonable and direct. BarHellat, or really, this Olenya who she had yet to meet, was slippery, like a pair of silk gloves.

    When they were saying their goodbyes to the group from the Warrior II, Yan pulled Farisk aside.

    "What can I do for you, Captain?" he asked, a condescending look clear on his face. Yan didn''t like the man, but this was for her own benefit as much as his.

    "I assume you''re going back to Emerri at some point?"

    "When the next council session resumes."

    "Can I give you a word of advice?"

    "Of course. You''re intimately familiar with the ins and outs of life at Stonecourt."

    Yan didn''t rise to the implication that she had no idea what he was talking about. Instead, she just smiled thinly and said, "Have you ever seen First Sandreas''s bodyguard, Halen?"

    "I don''t know if I''ve ever paid any special attention to First Sandreas''s entourage. I''ve only ever spoken to him in person a few times."

    "Halen''s massive. You can''t miss him. Ruddy face, more than two meters tall, wears a suit?"

    "Let''s assume that I have seen him."

    "For your own safety, don''t be in a room with him, if you can help it."

    "What?"

    "Especially not a room with only a few people. You might be safe in a big crowd," Yan continued. "But if you''re alone with him, you''ve basically signed your own death warrant."

    "Why?" Farisk asked, leaning forward slightly. "What''s so special about him?"

    Yan didn''t exactly want to get into it. It was too complicated to explain to someone who wasn''t a sensitive, and, despite everything, she still had a bit of loyalty to Halen, as ill-deserved as it was. "He can smell treason," Yan said. "I''m being as close to literal as I can be. Don''t end up in the same room as him."

    Farisk squinted at her. "And if I do?"

    "You saw Kino''s hand?" Farisk nodded. "That''ll be you, and then more, and then you''ll be dead, and every single thing you know will be getting whispered directly into First Sandreas''s ear. Got it?"

    "If I didn''t know better, it would sound like you''re threatening me."

    "Councilman, I have no desire for this whole thing to come apart when we''ve just put it together. You are the link that is currently most in danger of being cut, as soon as you get back to Emerri. I''m trying to save your skin."

    "I understand," Farisk said. "Thank you, I suppose."

    "You can thank me by staying alive. Have a good trip back."

    The visiting group from the Warrior II left in their shuttle, leaving Yan and her crew in the hallway outside the bay with Jeepak.

    "That was certainly interesting," he said.

    "I''m going to have to scrub every room that they were just in for listening devices, aren''t I?" Yan asked.

    "I can help with that," Iri said. "But yes, that''s a good plan."

    "They wouldn''t be able to make use of anything that they recorded unless you let them back on the ship," Jeepak pointed out.

    "I''d rather make sure they don''t have that opportunity regardless," Yan said. "Neither of them struck me as particularly forthright."

    "A politician and a businessman," Jeepak said. "It''s a bad combination."

    Yan frowned at him. "It''s a terrible day that you''re the most trustworthy guest aboard my ship."

    "I''m many things," Jeepak said, "but at least my intentions were always crystal clear."

    "How helpful to me when you were breaking my fingers."

    "That''s all in the past, isn''t it?" Jeepak asked. "And Yan, you''re under no obligation to continue to work with us, if you distrust me that badly."

    She sighed. "It''s wolves on one side and lions on the other."

    Jeepak bared his teeth. "It''s nice that you believe wolves can be tamed into dogs."

    "What are you up to?" Yan asked. "Do you have plans once you''re out of here?"

    "Ah, remember we decided that there would be no information passing in this direction." He gestured between them.

    Yan continued as though Jeepak hadn''t spoken. "I am going to have to figure out how to work this to our advantage. If you have any ideas, please do share."

    "That Olenya and BarHellat, they''ve made themselves indispensable. You need to find a way to do the same."

    "Such as?"

    Jeepak shrugged. "That''s not my problem."

    "What do you mean that''s not your problem? This is entirely your problem."

    "I keep saying it, and no one listens to me: I''m just the hired help."

    Every word he said made Yan hate him more. "Well, go figure out from your bosses what the plan should be."

    "They''re going to be angry at me for letting you off your leash."

    Yan scowled. "Then maybe you shouldn''t have."

    "Captain, what choice did I have?" He smiled broadly. "It''s always exciting to get you in a mood."

    "Shut up," Yan said. "Get off my ship. I''ll send you an ansible message when we''ve relocated."

    "Of course." His green eyes were piercing. "Hard to believe you have all this in you."

    "Out!" Yan said, and yanked open the bay door. Jeepak hurried towards his shuttle.

    "See you in a sixtyday."

 Song of the Stranger, Part II

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    In maximus ipsum nibh, a fermentum odio consectetur sit amet. Curabitur libero augue, facilisis vitae nulla a, pellentesque sollicitudin ex. In eget ligula at quam tincidunt feugiat sed quis magna. Praesent semper consequat lorem, ornare interdum ipsum ullamcorper quis. Donec facilisis euismod elit, in sagittis odio consequat at. In scelerisque tellus sodales ante molestie gravida. Suspendisse gravida tortor id velit egestas, ut maximus tortor dapibus. Aliquam luctus felis vitae tincidunt euismod.

    Nunc lacinia, purus vitae finibus sagittis, erat metus hendrerit dolor, at auctor elit neque facilisis elit. Cras at lorem congue, porttitor justo a, consequat enim. Phasellus efficitur odio nec tortor mollis, vel tincidunt dolor imperdiet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam pharetra purus ac purus commodo tristique ut quis metus. Sed sagittis lacinia leo. Vivamus accumsan feugiat nisl, ut maximus lacus tempor a. Suspendisse potenti. Ut non eleifend ante. Nulla odio enim, imperdiet a urna vel, ultricies scelerisque velit. Quisque vestibulum, augue a iaculis pulvinar, nulla est tristique nisl, in fringilla nunc ipsum quis lectus.

    Nullam nulla nisl, rutrum eget convallis nec, sollicitudin ac odio. Fusce eget magna sed nunc hendrerit tincidunt. Nulla facilisi. Duis sit amet tempus ipsum. Nullam est tortor, tempus at molestie in, placerat ullamcorper turpis. Sed id nisl turpis. In lobortis felis quis congue tristique.

    Cras sed ornare augue. Sed consequat dolor eget lorem ultricies vehicula. Proin pharetra dignissim augue, eget ullamcorper ipsum ultrices non. In dignissim consequat urna eget bibendum. Proin et diam augue. Vestibulum sit amet erat sem. Vestibulum tristique sit amet augue id hendrerit. Duis in metus lobortis, facilisis metus in, fringilla sapien. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam euismod nunc leo, quis vestibulum ex lacinia at. Curabitur vel turpis et felis hendrerit congue ut vitae urna. Nunc nec scelerisque nisl. Donec facilisis, leo in tempor dictum, mauris massa gravida eros, non dictum tellus magna vitae elit. Donec id dui ac ante lobortis aliquam. Maecenas vel leo vel metus lobortis mattis id quis sapien. Praesent magna ex, gravida a metus malesuada, tempus mollis sapien.

    Aenean cursus, nisl quis venenatis eleifend, nulla purus fringilla orci, ut sodales quam dolor non nibh. Pellentesque mattis et ipsum sed ultrices. Nulla facilisi. Donec id sapien fermentum libero congue mattis ut vel nisl. Vivamus et nunc quam. Maecenas tellus ante, gravida et diam vestibulum, consequat auctor arcu. Duis in dolor laoreet, rhoncus nulla eget, lacinia enim. Curabitur et convallis nunc.

    Nullam feugiat dolor ac neque vestibulum, vel porta enim sagittis. Sed scelerisque at urna a accumsan. Phasellus sed urna aliquet ligula volutpat semper elementum convallis quam. Vivamus molestie leo sed orci euismod, sed molestie lacus dapibus. Mauris sed orci dapibus, euismod mauris non, maximus sem. Ut efficitur malesuada condimentum. Morbi facilisis imperdiet purus, sit amet sodales urna pellentesque sit amet. Quisque bibendum turpis sed nisi vestibulum faucibus. Ut ac euismod ante.

    Suspendisse a quam at diam sollicitudin hendrerit. Nulla eleifend augue eu dolor imperdiet, nec gravida sapien sodales. Pellentesque tristique ac urna eu congue. Integer eget ante leo. Vivamus dictum a ligula a consequat. Cras tincidunt accumsan metus eu dignissim. Fusce rhoncus nulla et egestas efficitur. Sed rutrum blandit ultrices.

    Cras lacinia aliquam sapien vel dictum. Ut dapibus, ante at sodales accumsan, magna orci ultricies mi, et laoreet eros lacus in nibh. Donec maximus neque sed tellus pretium, eget aliquet ipsum rutrum. Integer elementum fringilla ipsum, in efficitur urna maximus quis. Suspendisse et mi vitae nulla viverra pharetra. Suspendisse ultrices maximus est, nec eleifend sem semper eget. Nulla feugiat dolor dolor, nec placerat ipsum porta et. Donec porttitor odio diam, eu laoreet odio sagittis non. Etiam pretium eleifend lectus, vel ornare lacus. In condimentum, ex vel maximus ultricies, sapien lorem viverra lacus, eget laoreet turpis nibh in magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. In ac libero commodo, rutrum quam eu, convallis magna. Proin malesuada rhoncus lobortis. Aliquam finibus est ut sollicitudin luctus. Curabitur sit amet dapibus ipsum, ut feugiat purus. Etiam non ante a lectus interdum rhoncus in sit amet mi.

    Mauris id fringilla eros. Nam iaculis pharetra lorem sit amet interdum. Proin dictum diam congue ligula commodo, a malesuada lacus elementum. Suspendisse tincidunt semper libero, et dapibus lacus vehicula sed. Duis et turpis congue mauris vehicula consectetur in et dolor. Maecenas rhoncus sollicitudin mi, nec egestas risus consequat in. Nullam magna dolor, volutpat ut dapibus non, ullamcorper quis diam.

    Sed sed nisl vitae leo accumsan tristique sed vel massa. Vivamus et neque blandit arcu porttitor ultrices. Nunc bibendum erat enim, quis mollis mi tempus non. Duis eleifend lacinia sem id tristique. Nullam laoreet augue eget viverra rhoncus. Ut varius ligula vitae tellus efficitur, a porttitor turpis fringilla. Cras quis sapien mattis ipsum sagittis semper sit amet nec turpis. Cras iaculis tristique tristique. Nulla lacinia, augue vel tincidunt tincidunt, nibh lectus congue felis, sed interdum mi urna vel sem. Nulla nisl libero, ultrices vitae mattis vel, pulvinar nec dolor. Quisque tempus tincidunt ligula nec tincidunt. Fusce tincidunt feugiat massa, ac ultrices metus bibendum vitae. Donec vitae lorem tincidunt mi fermentum feugiat id a risus. Pellentesque nec accumsan odio, nec consectetur justo.

    Quisque venenatis magna velit, vitae aliquet nunc pharetra id. Nam non imperdiet augue, at dapibus risus. Nulla lorem nibh, sollicitudin in lorem eget, tempor faucibus metus. Etiam tincidunt, est nec sollicitudin pharetra, ante mi sagittis elit, porta rhoncus massa ipsum sit amet enim. Pellentesque consequat ac mauris vitae sagittis. Suspendisse vitae nunc erat. Ut et vestibulum lorem. Ut ipsum sapien, interdum ac tempor nec, feugiat vitae orci. Donec sed ligula ornare, mollis est ac, consequat lorem. Nunc ullamcorper nunc ut congue vestibulum. Nunc quis cursus sem. Aenean tempor, magna ac convallis facilisis, eros orci imperdiet dolor, in pretium arcu sapien a odio. Maecenas eget odio ac felis euismod vestibulum. Integer et justo molestie, vehicula velit vitae, porttitor elit. Curabitur lacinia, risus eu posuere rhoncus, magna est venenatis quam, sit amet venenatis dui mi in est. Nulla gravida pharetra congue.

    Donec lobortis velit vel eros fringilla hendrerit. Suspendisse malesuada diam id dapibus molestie. Donec sed sodales neque, elementum luctus quam. Mauris vitae nisl eu magna feugiat vehicula. Nulla sollicitudin nunc vitae tortor accumsan cursus. Duis vel rutrum ipsum, a aliquam quam. Curabitur tristique nisl quis diam tempus ullamcorper. Morbi rhoncus felis in quam lacinia imperdiet.

    Phasellus congue ac lacus at pellentesque. Pellentesque in risus nec urna imperdiet mollis. Fusce vel risus nec enim vulputate ullamcorper. Phasellus feugiat mollis justo, ut viverra massa placerat non. Cras et ex leo. Aenean aliquet turpis id lectus placerat, et sagittis massa porta. Integer sagittis libero quam, a pulvinar risus rhoncus at. Donec et lectus auctor, sodales nisi id, fermentum erat. Etiam rutrum vitae ipsum ac finibus. Sed lobortis vestibulum mauris mollis eleifend. Sed ac magna lacus. Donec malesuada in tortor et laoreet. Etiam et arcu metus.

    Aliquam ac nunc quis felis volutpat suscipit. Maecenas egestas, mi ac fermentum commodo, eros augue fringilla ex, gravida gravida justo magna at leo. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Mauris sed sapien pellentesque, mollis urna ut, porttitor odio. Ut dictum ante massa, quis tincidunt ante pellentesque vel. Donec maximus est sed lacus ullamcorper pretium. Morbi orci eros, tincidunt sit amet purus eu, lacinia vehicula orci. Etiam ornare felis tellus, id facilisis nunc molestie at. Suspendisse erat ipsum, lacinia at velit eget, dictum posuere tortor. Praesent in arcu et lacus vulputate consectetur eget efficitur ipsum. Integer libero sapien, vestibulum nec magna id, semper mattis lectus. Donec congue pharetra diam sed convallis. Cras consequat odio et eros congue dignissim vitae a nisi. Vivamus eget nisi consectetur, elementum massa id, gravida nisi.

    Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam quis ipsum arcu. Duis lobortis blandit tincidunt. Vivamus nunc elit, maximus vitae luctus at, consequat et ante. Vivamus quis volutpat ante, ac porta orci. Vivamus orci arcu, sagittis at turpis at, blandit tincidunt eros. Suspendisse convallis faucibus turpis, ut accumsan nibh porta sit amet. Proin feugiat, odio eget vehicula facilisis, arcu dolor sagittis nulla, et maximus magna mauris eget est. Vestibulum nec pretium lorem. Proin ornare ligula sit amet pharetra convallis. Curabitur quis rutrum dolor. Pellentesque erat nisi, luctus in justo suscipit, feugiat interdum magna. Vivamus blandit urna velit, sit amet efficitur ante pulvinar malesuada. Suspendisse non neque eget turpis consequat iaculis. Integer dictum sem nec velit vulputate consectetur. Phasellus eu orci sit amet libero luctus condimentum.

    Vivamus diam quam, semper vitae pretium eu, convallis iaculis metus. Etiam fermentum, leo id sollicitudin lobortis, lectus quam ultrices velit, ac tristique arcu nibh nec tellus. Phasellus molestie, nisi nec fringilla feugiat, odio dolor vulputate augue, ut blandit lorem arcu at metus. Nulla convallis, diam tincidunt aliquam dignissim, justo libero aliquet mi, ut tempor nisi nunc ac tortor. Donec vitae tincidunt lorem. Phasellus volutpat porta blandit. Quisque malesuada sapien eget ante auctor, interdum commodo nulla fermentum. Vestibulum mattis blandit felis at gravida. Pellentesque placerat libero in lorem feugiat, at molestie quam convallis. Nulla scelerisque justo sed arcu egestas, ac dapibus tellus posuere. Suspendisse ornare eget erat at sollicitudin. Vivamus sit amet bibendum justo. Morbi rutrum quam quis congue dictum.

    Maecenas varius nisi eu auctor mollis. Phasellus sed leo vel augue porttitor varius. Donec ut tristique odio, eget volutpat felis. Quisque tempus tortor eu dui semper aliquet. Integer tristique placerat quam, ac fermentum nulla congue vel. Nam id scelerisque mauris, vestibulum scelerisque ipsum. Morbi facilisis lectus ut sapien commodo, eu maximus massa porta. Suspendisse sem ante, rutrum vel ultricies sed, mollis id turpis. Ut hendrerit diam sollicitudin, bibendum ante a, laoreet turpis. Nunc at sem quis quam sollicitudin condimentum. Morbi hendrerit, sem id cursus iaculis, urna purus malesuada sapien, non varius elit eros in erat.

    Vestibulum molestie pharetra ligula ac bibendum. In et metus turpis. Sed ut elit felis. Aliquam aliquet lacus ut bibendum congue. Donec suscipit turpis lectus, in lobortis sapien pellentesque rutrum. Nullam finibus diam porttitor sem lacinia imperdiet. Aenean pellentesque turpis in urna feugiat rhoncus ac faucibus arcu. Nullam a consequat neque. Integer eget ligula iaculis, accumsan ipsum vel, suscipit odio. Aenean id eleifend nisl, non elementum sapien. In lacinia vitae erat a molestie. Integer tristique nibh non odio elementum, in consectetur lacus lobortis. Curabitur tristique, quam non finibus blandit, dolor enim gravida quam, ut blandit risus velit id nulla. Integer lorem ante, aliquet id nibh rhoncus, gravida rhoncus dui. Curabitur vel mauris diam.

    Mauris commodo finibus orci at mattis. Nullam facilisis ultricies lectus, facilisis hendrerit diam tempus eget. Nullam vitae aliquet est. Mauris in nisi quis purus varius bibendum. Nulla et malesuada odio, ut scelerisque est. Vestibulum suscipit fringilla nibh in porttitor. Aliquam aliquam dapibus dictum. Phasellus et lorem sit amet metus tempus venenatis a sed libero. Sed non vulputate nibh, nec tempor mauris. Aenean faucibus varius lacus a finibus. Proin bibendum, ante vel hendrerit porttitor, dui risus tincidunt quam, nec pulvinar odio tortor et magna. In sodales rhoncus pretium. Sed accumsan ligula nisl, vel ornare lectus aliquam sit amet.

    Donec ullamcorper augue eu purus porta ornare. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam eu tellus velit. Pellentesque ut lacinia nulla. Proin blandit ultricies leo ut consectetur. Vestibulum et aliquam lacus. Vivamus justo augue, mattis sed nulla nec, feugiat auctor purus. Etiam vulputate in tortor consectetur congue. Duis id fermentum turpis, et condimentum dui. Etiam congue turpis consectetur nulla vehicula, in fermentum nunc efficitur. Nulla facilisi. Suspendisse mi erat, tristique in tincidunt id, mattis sed mauris.

    Praesent aliquam luctus nunc vel interdum. Cras porttitor ex sed augue fermentum posuere in et risus. Pellentesque risus enim, maximus at neque eget, finibus condimentum erat. Sed gravida tortor in tortor aliquet finibus. Morbi consequat, enim maximus consequat ullamcorper, diam dui molestie dolor, commodo semper urna est quis tortor. Vivamus dictum eros eu erat ultrices ultricies. Phasellus in mauris ut diam porttitor sodales. Quisque magna enim, ultricies eu risus et, cursus rhoncus est. Aenean mi urna, varius sed tellus at, fermentum elementum odio. Phasellus nec blandit lorem.

    Phasellus vehicula eget diam id ullamcorper. Duis in sapien imperdiet, vestibulum ligula id, elementum lorem. Vivamus fringilla enim imperdiet lorem semper laoreet. Curabitur rutrum ante non condimentum sagittis. Nam in ligula lacinia, ultrices velit vel, interdum diam. Nunc euismod turpis rhoncus semper viverra. Aenean sit amet augue aliquet, ultrices tellus id, maximus turpis. Proin ultrices libero erat. Cras ultricies tempus nisi, et vehicula diam. Nullam mattis velit id est ullamcorper semper.

    Etiam vestibulum enim porttitor mi suscipit iaculis. Ut faucibus purus et pretium scelerisque. Aliquam molestie ex vitae laoreet vulputate. Suspendisse eget sapien lacinia, porta urna sit amet, consectetur mauris. Ut accumsan lectus nibh, volutpat aliquam enim ornare et. In venenatis leo sit amet massa luctus, ut hendrerit libero semper. Vestibulum hendrerit magna at quam congue, id egestas purus sollicitudin.

    Phasellus finibus at lorem sit amet iaculis. Aenean eget varius ex, sed venenatis sapien. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Vestibulum at dolor vulputate, luctus arcu sed, iaculis mi. Aenean sagittis quam lectus, ac aliquam risus suscipit sed. In consequat iaculis lorem. Vivamus elit urna, volutpat vitae mi sit amet, efficitur molestie lectus. Vivamus pulvinar iaculis tincidunt. In faucibus nisi tellus, nec hendrerit odio varius ut. Integer rutrum ante lectus, vitae posuere ligula tempus ut. Curabitur in leo nulla. Quisque nec diam ut nisl laoreet ultricies non vel nulla. Pellentesque faucibus nulla sed nibh placerat, eu malesuada ante elementum. Duis venenatis suscipit dictum.

    Maecenas a nibh porttitor libero sodales dapibus vel vel neque. Aenean vestibulum tempor ex, non placerat risus porta a. Ut mollis nisl ut lorem accumsan rutrum. Aenean blandit consectetur tortor, at ultricies ipsum dignissim a. Cras convallis, est ac accumsan varius, erat ex commodo neque, ut sagittis purus nisi ac odio. Nullam porta accumsan quam. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Fusce sed posuere lorem. Donec sagittis semper fermentum. Vivamus varius rhoncus tellus sagittis efficitur. Etiam id elit sit amet ante feugiat eleifend.

    Suspendisse cursus elit nec massa aliquet, in vehicula mauris feugiat. Curabitur vulputate tellus in gravida pharetra. Morbi ullamcorper vel dui eget facilisis. Suspendisse molestie urna lacus, non faucibus mauris dignissim sit amet. Vivamus non augue ac velit pretium blandit et in eros. Nulla nec tincidunt urna. In feugiat felis quis risus bibendum, nec vehicula ex sollicitudin. Vestibulum tempus tempor velit non ornare. Curabitur vitae leo non nisi gravida rhoncus quis sed est. Curabitur dictum tortor massa, non tempor sapien imperdiet ac. Mauris pellentesque, nisl quis condimentum accumsan, ligula turpis ornare mi, eget viverra risus lectus eu magna. Integer finibus, lectus et ultrices pellentesque, nisl leo venenatis sapien, sed rutrum augue metus id massa. Aenean libero leo, tempus eget diam vel, maximus blandit risus.

    Aenean a tellus ac lacus facilisis pulvinar in nec neque. Curabitur orci lorem, ultricies ut suscipit in, suscipit a diam. Vivamus nibh mi, tempor et viverra at, faucibus at lorem. Nullam nec sagittis dolor. Aliquam condimentum ipsum a dui condimentum, nec gravida tellus placerat. Fusce maximus gravida porta. Nullam eu nisi et ante venenatis dignissim vel quis lectus. Nam ac lacus eros. Sed eget leo urna. Curabitur in rutrum eros. Nunc urna mauris, dignissim eu pellentesque semper, gravida a libero. Vivamus eget libero in neque tempus accumsan et sit amet elit. Nam enim lectus, elementum a iaculis eu, mattis et augue.

    Curabitur pulvinar enim vel pulvinar maximus. Nunc laoreet nibh non mi ullamcorper mollis eu at turpis. Suspendisse eget ante ipsum. Maecenas sollicitudin gravida faucibus. Sed hendrerit a nulla vitae vulputate. Donec a rutrum eros. Proin sed ante nisi. Donec egestas molestie augue id cursus. Donec mi lectus, cursus id risus in, bibendum hendrerit mi. Sed ornare justo non leo auctor molestie. Praesent nunc tortor, suscipit vel luctus eu, ullamcorper vel velit. Maecenas tristique neque at ullamcorper rutrum. Duis eget est sapien. Praesent ac eleifend odio. Morbi dictum rhoncus lorem eu porttitor. Etiam sapien massa, vestibulum sit amet sodales a, cursus vitae enim.

    In dolor ante, interdum eu nisl nec, hendrerit tincidunt diam. Integer ultricies, ligula ac condimentum bibendum, arcu lectus rutrum dolor, sed pellentesque mauris nulla at nisl. Vivamus placerat ultrices odio, eu sagittis lorem ullamcorper commodo. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse at mollis tortor, quis facilisis neque. Nullam quam sapien, faucibus at venenatis a, efficitur sed odio. In nec enim nec libero molestie sollicitudin sed quis dolor. Curabitur porttitor nunc quam, at semper felis suscipit a.

    Mauris cursus egestas tincidunt. Praesent semper, turpis et sollicitudin pellentesque, quam nisl rhoncus massa, et finibus diam felis ut magna. Integer vel arcu est. Morbi at augue vitae elit tristique feugiat at ac ante. Fusce eget quam ut neque vehicula bibendum non ut metus. Suspendisse at sem in dui hendrerit pretium. Quisque non magna blandit, fermentum libero nec, vehicula lorem. Nullam accumsan metus id gravida varius. Phasellus sed tincidunt neque, eget tempor purus.

    Aliquam faucibus sollicitudin diam, id iaculis ligula tristique porttitor. Phasellus dui orci, dignissim eget nunc vel, pharetra auctor mi. Sed tincidunt purus ante, eget ornare velit viverra sed. In feugiat nisl ullamcorper tellus consectetur ullamcorper. Nam sed tellus interdum, consectetur ipsum rhoncus, placerat justo. Fusce porttitor massa sit amet rhoncus ultricies. Pellentesque cursus ac velit in mollis. Nulla non ornare velit, eu auctor ipsum. Cras vestibulum, risus eget sodales dictum, erat dui fermentum urna, id maximus quam arcu id ante.

    Ut pretium tempor risus nec consequat. Aliquam arcu tortor, interdum id aliquet vitae, convallis in nisi. Etiam congue nibh sit amet varius sollicitudin. Cras ut orci tincidunt, accumsan leo in, mollis turpis. Praesent scelerisque, magna nec euismod commodo, dui enim commodo mauris, tristique imperdiet lorem massa at mi. Maecenas viverra facilisis diam tempor porta. Curabitur sollicitudin, nisl vel gravida auctor, purus justo hendrerit diam, rutrum bibendum ante massa eu dolor. Cras elit risus, fringilla eu lacus sed, tincidunt pretium tellus. Cras iaculis, risus at pretium feugiat, augue ex suscipit neque, non porttitor nibh mauris nec ipsum. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Maecenas porttitor blandit quam eu consequat. In odio felis, accumsan et justo id, elementum eleifend nibh. Phasellus ultrices varius mi quis convallis. Pellentesque in dignissim purus. Maecenas varius nunc eu velit ullamcorper, et vestibulum libero dictum. Pellentesque consectetur quam in neque accumsan laoreet.

    Proin maximus fringilla enim eu feugiat. Vestibulum facilisis ipsum augue, ac finibus lectus euismod ac. Vivamus porttitor nibh lectus, eu dignissim magna molestie sed. Suspendisse dignissim convallis velit, vel porttitor libero dictum vitae. Aliquam vel sollicitudin risus. Integer iaculis maximus lectus nec sollicitudin. Aliquam et turpis nec est egestas venenatis a eu mi. Nunc sed diam et mi facilisis placerat. Nullam tincidunt mi sed volutpat pharetra. Mauris sollicitudin, neque in iaculis venenatis, metus nisi lacinia nulla, vel pretium libero orci a neque. Pellentesque ut metus non massa iaculis interdum quis sed risus.

    Maecenas non tellus nisi. In vitae hendrerit erat. Etiam metus leo, placerat a posuere id, lobortis sed magna. Pellentesque iaculis tortor vel rhoncus lobortis. Sed elementum massa vel vulputate laoreet. Proin laoreet vitae neque sed interdum. Duis dapibus sem at luctus ultrices.

    Mauris interdum ut erat et egestas. Suspendisse sit amet neque eget turpis sodales ornare vitae eu dolor. Mauris in blandit enim. Nulla sit amet hendrerit libero. Nullam viverra neque et venenatis finibus. Sed vitae commodo metus, ut commodo turpis. Duis vel posuere augue. Donec in fermentum nibh, ut porttitor nulla. Vestibulum in porta turpis. Aenean vitae enim id nisl semper porttitor vitae nec tortor. Maecenas quis venenatis lectus. Suspendisse accumsan malesuada nisl, sed ullamcorper purus vehicula id. Vestibulum non faucibus ante. Cras nibh nunc, maximus vel gravida sit amet, dapibus ut libero. Etiam a rhoncus sem. Nunc pretium diam turpis, at scelerisque nulla egestas at.

    Donec eros eros, condimentum pharetra magna vitae, ultrices laoreet sapien. Ut at mollis dolor. In laoreet felis pharetra, lobortis libero in, molestie tortor. Phasellus hendrerit eros lectus, ac consectetur odio ullamcorper at. Donec nunc nibh, vulputate nec nulla non, convallis maximus purus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nunc purus sapien, posuere eget volutpat at, sollicitudin eget augue. Etiam pharetra sollicitudin metus, vel pretium eros laoreet rutrum. Curabitur condimentum consequat ipsum ut cursus. Vestibulum ut enim sagittis, eleifend tellus non, ullamcorper ante. Nulla nibh urna, vestibulum et leo quis, viverra euismod nisl. Cras dictum sed arcu id ornare. Vestibulum feugiat sapien est, ut finibus justo congue id. Sed varius, nibh vitae commodo lobortis, elit dui ullamcorper arcu, ut auctor dui nulla ac nulla. In in tellus id enim dignissim maximus in a tortor. Ut non tortor mauris.

    Quisque at consectetur lectus. Quisque id fermentum ante, et eleifend massa. Nunc id odio in sapien facilisis rutrum non eget libero. Quisque vitae metus sapien. Proin id augue lobortis, dignissim dui sit amet, sagittis tortor. Pellentesque eleifend leo at justo cursus consequat. Nulla sem tellus, ultricies id urna in, imperdiet imperdiet mi. Integer finibus metus eget pharetra feugiat. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vivamus condimentum pharetra turpis eu venenatis. Nam id tortor in quam aliquam gravida.

    Curabitur a maximus ex, et mollis elit. Praesent eget dignissim ligula. Fusce nisi felis, aliquet eu velit in, tincidunt mollis dui. Duis eleifend felis id ex condimentum, sit amet viverra tortor vestibulum. Aliquam fermentum scelerisque nunc sit amet tristique. Aenean at magna nisl. Sed placerat, urna sit amet consectetur efficitur, nulla est tempor lectus, ac sagittis diam orci nec dolor.

    Aenean placerat volutpat ex, quis egestas tortor elementum ac. Donec vel placerat lorem, sodales malesuada magna. Nullam id ante pharetra, tempus orci ac, molestie libero. Vivamus dui est, bibendum sit amet dapibus efficitur, auctor sit amet augue. Nulla velit urna, pretium ut semper eu, suscipit vel diam. Proin ligula orci, placerat pretium imperdiet placerat, vehicula eu leo. Phasellus ac nisl dictum tortor dignissim interdum. Donec ullamcorper vulputate venenatis. Donec ac ex at nibh fringilla consequat.

    Nunc cursus et ligula et porttitor. Nunc pellentesque viverra magna, eget tincidunt neque hendrerit ut. Nunc urna augue, mollis sed pellentesque id, lobortis sit amet nisl. Vivamus ultricies faucibus vestibulum. Integer urna est, malesuada id lacinia quis, vehicula gravida libero. Donec id aliquet sem. Phasellus facilisis tellus quis metus suscipit dignissim. Vestibulum fringilla ipsum et rhoncus tincidunt. Donec libero urna, eleifend a sapien et, pellentesque bibendum mi. Duis auctor sodales convallis. Aliquam nec orci id purus dictum eleifend in ut nisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla facilisi.

    Quisque venenatis fermentum orci in efficitur. Suspendisse nec dictum enim. Suspendisse semper auctor nisl condimentum blandit. Nulla nibh nulla, congue vel gravida molestie, ornare id lorem. Sed vel enim vel lacus dapibus imperdiet. Etiam hendrerit, sapien nec aliquet fringilla, magna turpis vulputate libero, eget blandit lectus purus nec purus. Vestibulum facilisis consequat orci in sodales.

    Quisque commodo laoreet dictum. Vestibulum dignissim dui vel sem volutpat tincidunt. Ut arcu leo, feugiat ut gravida eu, condimentum ut odio. Maecenas tempor ullamcorper suscipit. Morbi vel metus consequat, pharetra est vel, sodales metus. Aliquam auctor quam id neque tincidunt consequat at sit amet felis. Curabitur non bibendum sapien. Morbi at massa fermentum ipsum rhoncus consectetur. Aenean volutpat facilisis mi, et rhoncus sem mattis sed. Phasellus ut dignissim justo, nec porta ex. Cras hendrerit feugiat euismod.

    Ut sed ultrices nisl. Etiam eget tempus quam, id tempus ipsum. Ut quis justo sed libero sagittis molestie. Pellentesque dictum molestie nibh ut eleifend. Aliquam quis neque orci. Sed consectetur purus ac dui dapibus malesuada. Proin quis urna ac leo mollis consequat. Phasellus pharetra nulla sapien, a venenatis felis aliquet eget. Maecenas eu fermentum dolor, non condimentum magna. Proin feugiat massa magna, sed molestie lorem imperdiet ac. Sed in augue molestie, venenatis augue in, vestibulum nisi. Vivamus eu sagittis diam. Sed rutrum rhoncus lectus, quis auctor dui bibendum eu. Vivamus in sollicitudin ipsum. Vivamus vel ipsum id elit tempor mattis non quis lectus. Quisque sodales facilisis maximus.

    Suspendisse nec turpis eu massa venenatis tempus. Donec scelerisque elementum leo eu laoreet. Proin ut arcu non sem efficitur lobortis. Etiam vel tempor libero. Nullam ultricies pretium dui, ac varius leo maximus non. Sed in tempor diam, eu venenatis nulla. Curabitur quis sollicitudin ante. Nulla facilisis sapien eu risus tempus faucibus. Donec faucibus vitae felis et sodales. Cras condimentum risus pellentesque, mollis mi sed, mattis enim. Nunc hendrerit mauris in dolor venenatis, at interdum eros sodales. Sed varius feugiat metus, ut aliquam lacus vehicula vel. Vivamus odio neque, luctus sed eros ullamcorper, iaculis rhoncus velit. Sed molestie elit ut ante mattis vulputate.

    Ut ut nunc sed lectus consectetur tempor quis ut neque. In venenatis rhoncus viverra. Proin sem nulla, porta non ullamcorper et, ornare in turpis. In id sodales nibh. Etiam auctor faucibus elit id sagittis. Sed accumsan odio et nulla fermentum, a pellentesque ipsum hendrerit. Etiam maximus magna sollicitudin elit lacinia, vitae faucibus turpis venenatis. Aenean posuere tempus nunc, sed mollis tellus tincidunt eu.

    Curabitur finibus orci et lobortis finibus. Phasellus nec mi ut lacus egestas elementum. Donec in sodales ligula, quis rutrum justo. Integer faucibus rhoncus semper. Morbi pretium risus ac arcu porta, quis pulvinar dui accumsan. Sed posuere lacinia sollicitudin. Maecenas felis nisl, venenatis ac bibendum rutrum, lacinia in lorem. Cras eu arcu luctus, accumsan sapien sed, laoreet nulla.

    In diam lectus, euismod ac fringilla mattis, porta in ligula. Morbi convallis nibh ut nisi venenatis elementum. Nullam sed feugiat felis, vel porttitor neque. Pellentesque pellentesque vulputate rutrum. Donec feugiat ligula id rhoncus maximus. Praesent ut risus quam. Phasellus dapibus orci sit amet nulla gravida, sed porta lacus luctus. Aenean tempus ex a est tempor condimentum.

    Morbi non felis nisi. Cras hendrerit mi condimentum nunc interdum, volutpat commodo massa cursus. Vestibulum dapibus sem nulla, a cursus ante viverra in. Quisque ac risus vel erat finibus porttitor. Morbi non augue neque. Curabitur interdum ante ut ornare congue. Donec accumsan scelerisque pulvinar. Nunc blandit, tortor id aliquet fermentum, libero ipsum mollis quam, nec fermentum est lectus sit amet ante. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam dapibus urna vel dapibus vehicula. Sed dignissim ultricies est, sit amet bibendum risus gravida vitae. Nam eget consectetur leo. Donec ac urna ac sapien aliquam suscipit quis vel velit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

    Maecenas convallis nibh nec iaculis fermentum. Nulla porta felis ut malesuada faucibus. Nullam fermentum lacinia orci non auctor. Morbi egestas odio vel est euismod, et condimentum libero iaculis. Aenean est eros, luctus ut finibus ut, volutpat quis arcu. Fusce justo elit, eleifend a magna ac, dapibus sodales lorem. Pellentesque sem ante, hendrerit sit amet lacinia ac, cursus lacinia lectus. Curabitur vel justo vitae leo tincidunt cursus nec sit amet sapien. Nulla rutrum accumsan tellus. Sed semper purus eu elit tempor, non malesuada nulla dictum. Maecenas vel velit fermentum sem consequat suscipit ac vel libero. Nulla volutpat libero ut elit volutpat efficitur. Praesent laoreet sapien sit amet suscipit dapibus. Fusce neque sem, egestas et dui at, feugiat ultricies nibh.

    Vestibulum ullamcorper nibh eu pretium porttitor. Phasellus cursus pretium ipsum ut bibendum. Donec ullamcorper ligula eu vehicula tempor. Mauris condimentum arcu at posuere molestie. Cras iaculis mollis dignissim. Nam est mauris, condimentum eu massa sit amet, elementum egestas arcu. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nulla vitae leo pulvinar, tristique libero et, molestie est. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vestibulum erat libero, accumsan at ultricies vitae, interdum vel lacus. In ut purus sed tellus tristique euismod. Sed dignissim, nisl sit amet feugiat iaculis, quam ipsum blandit sapien, interdum iaculis erat augue quis libero. Phasellus fringilla risus quis nibh malesuada, eget auctor urna pellentesque. Quisque vel nulla quis arcu semper sollicitudin ut quis risus. Nullam sagittis pellentesque posuere. Aliquam risus tortor, blandit sit amet pulvinar ac, feugiat malesuada mauris.

    Aliquam ultrices condimentum vehicula. Ut sollicitudin, risus quis viverra aliquam, libero ipsum laoreet elit, non maximus urna augue id sapien. Sed aliquam ultrices urna sit amet iaculis. Aliquam sed faucibus mi, a tincidunt enim. Suspendisse auctor finibus pellentesque. Ut mollis posuere commodo. Etiam feugiat nisi quis ante scelerisque, id rutrum quam commodo. Donec dapibus dignissim ligula eu imperdiet. Donec accumsan dapibus purus, et aliquam risus iaculis vitae.

    Donec ut lorem luctus, pharetra massa sed, rhoncus mi. Ut fringilla lectus id ex faucibus convallis. Praesent et fermentum est. Nulla ac augue facilisis, maximus erat eget, posuere lacus. Nulla tortor diam, sagittis id odio ac, tincidunt finibus purus. Suspendisse vehicula ante condimentum nibh auctor tristique ac interdum neque. Maecenas iaculis felis nunc.

    Duis iaculis fringilla nisi in bibendum. Vivamus euismod arcu non sapien aliquet viverra. Aliquam bibendum mi vitae sem feugiat tristique. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Aliquam ut ex eget nisl aliquam consectetur. Donec sit amet pretium sapien, et fermentum massa. Proin euismod eleifend tortor, vitae eleifend dui lobortis quis. Proin pharetra, odio ac posuere rhoncus, odio felis fringilla augue, eu pulvinar lorem diam quis est. Nulla pulvinar condimentum odio. Proin sed mattis nunc. Sed facilisis libero eu augue auctor, eget accumsan sem dignissim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed eget facilisis velit, et tempus tellus.

    Fusce accumsan consequat lectus, vitae sollicitudin sem ultrices a. Pellentesque gravida mauris sed magna venenatis, vitae pellentesque nibh blandit. Quisque gravida nulla malesuada sapien euismod tempus. Nulla facilisi. Praesent iaculis hendrerit laoreet. In nec consequat enim, at vestibulum magna. Nullam cursus ligula eget augue iaculis, nec maximus ligula dapibus. In ac malesuada nulla, ut pharetra quam. Pellentesque ultricies auctor sem, at aliquet dolor ullamcorper quis. Sed id feugiat orci. Pellentesque magna elit, dictum a porttitor sed, blandit vel enim. Etiam ultrices sem massa, sit amet efficitur purus vulputate et. Cras a quam a arcu consectetur molestie non ut turpis.

    Donec aliquam orci facilisis nisi tincidunt hendrerit. Curabitur pellentesque et augue quis luctus. Nam gravida, lacus sodales congue elementum, orci diam facilisis est, et commodo sem lectus quis ex. Pellentesque nec urna arcu. In vitae ullamcorper turpis. Vivamus posuere, diam id molestie eleifend, neque eros rutrum diam, eu rutrum purus est sit amet nibh. Phasellus convallis quis nulla a tincidunt.

    Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam accumsan velit libero, sed euismod orci egestas at. Mauris auctor suscipit massa, et feugiat nisl consequat vel. Maecenas iaculis enim eu blandit feugiat. Maecenas justo justo, sollicitudin consectetur gravida sed, malesuada id nibh. Phasellus scelerisque fringilla lorem sit amet ullamcorper. Nam vel elementum nisl. Maecenas non pellentesque orci, ut feugiat justo. Curabitur rutrum, mauris in ullamcorper volutpat, lacus purus euismod metus, vitae facilisis est dui nec diam. Sed vitae pulvinar libero. Nunc auctor faucibus lectus, ac ornare lectus fermentum non. In elementum lorem eget quam porta, sed bibendum mi suscipit. Fusce eget lacus tincidunt est venenatis condimentum non id risus.

    Morbi eget aliquet nisi, in porttitor eros. Mauris ut erat a nunc pellentesque egestas rhoncus quis sapien. Praesent scelerisque ligula a mi mollis, quis mollis orci porta. In porttitor eros ac tellus congue, at euismod leo porttitor. Vestibulum diam dui, hendrerit a laoreet nec, elementum sed mi. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Mauris vehicula dignissim diam pellentesque consectetur. Suspendisse et libero quis justo rutrum euismod. Suspendisse fringilla elit quis tortor posuere ullamcorper. Quisque elementum lacus ut magna maximus ullamcorper. Suspendisse potenti. Morbi interdum, nulla non lacinia hendrerit, lacus nulla viverra sem, ac varius arcu purus non lectus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In quam felis, dapibus sed dapibus ut, lobortis nec enim. Aliquam tincidunt condimentum nibh vel tempus. Mauris mi dolor, accumsan in imperdiet sit amet, pellentesque vitae mi.

    Mauris pulvinar orci eget ex suscipit viverra. Nam eu vehicula ligula. Maecenas interdum fringilla quam, sed cursus nisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut non vestibulum arcu. In vulputate lobortis magna quis interdum. Donec accumsan tortor orci, vitae dictum elit mattis vitae. Pellentesque vehicula justo at elit faucibus, at fermentum ante finibus. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin posuere augue a nibh ornare feugiat.

    Pellentesque eu ipsum tincidunt, faucibus ex nec, porttitor nulla. Fusce viverra nunc egestas urna condimentum, ac eleifend sapien molestie. Morbi nisi dolor, luctus a ex vel, imperdiet dictum ligula. Duis tellus nisl, congue sit amet libero non, viverra ullamcorper lacus. In sodales libero interdum, ultrices odio porta, semper metus. Duis efficitur ante vel urna bibendum, eget volutpat neque elementum. Etiam eget scelerisque neque.

    Proin ante nulla, condimentum sit amet pretium eget, euismod vestibulum ligula. Fusce fringilla massa ex, vel faucibus mi dapibus vitae. Suspendisse porta at ante sed sagittis. Phasellus quis libero malesuada quam posuere sagittis in et tortor. Nullam porttitor a augue quis fringilla. Nam rutrum, justo nec sagittis faucibus, tortor dui sodales tellus, et pharetra lacus sem eu nibh. Cras quis neque in massa ullamcorper molestie ac et augue. Nulla hendrerit eleifend felis in scelerisque. Sed non semper ligula. Nam mollis, dolor ac tristique ornare, dui lorem pulvinar leo, vel iaculis ante mauris efficitur quam. Curabitur convallis mollis tellus, id tincidunt leo vestibulum quis. Maecenas a lacinia massa. Sed rutrum, lectus eu vestibulum aliquam, libero dolor laoreet est, non volutpat velit massa vitae felis. Nunc pharetra metus non risus aliquam, sed feugiat magna consectetur.

    Curabitur ornare molestie quam vitae molestie. Nam at sem dui. Suspendisse et felis vel odio sagittis efficitur ac elementum massa. Vestibulum semper elit in commodo feugiat. Aenean porta, lorem id fermentum bibendum, libero purus tempus elit, vitae sodales massa nisl vel tortor. Cras vehicula sollicitudin aliquet. Suspendisse ornare risus libero, sed venenatis velit euismod vel. Quisque pellentesque neque neque, sed lacinia mauris dignissim lacinia.

    Suspendisse potenti. In maximus enim dictum interdum ultricies. Cras ac risus maximus elit euismod condimentum nec euismod ante. Phasellus vel commodo magna. Aliquam at condimentum nunc, eu pretium eros. Suspendisse pulvinar, tortor ut porta lacinia, odio nisi cursus massa, sed tristique dolor arcu sed nisi. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Curabitur sodales pellentesque justo. Pellentesque et pellentesque erat. In tincidunt augue vel ullamcorper iaculis.

    Nunc fermentum lectus sed lacinia fermentum. In porttitor justo sed est consectetur, id sollicitudin orci accumsan. Morbi semper felis nisl, ac facilisis tortor euismod ut. Aliquam vel tincidunt nibh. Pellentesque posuere sagittis nulla, sit amet bibendum turpis semper non. Nulla maximus dolor ac leo pretium fermentum. Pellentesque rhoncus scelerisque augue, non ultrices tellus cursus sed. Curabitur ultrices quis augue in venenatis. Etiam luctus placerat odio, quis porttitor sem accumsan eget. Suspendisse consequat magna lacus, ac egestas nulla varius id.

    Nunc fringilla fermentum laoreet. Curabitur sed tincidunt nisl. Aliquam viverra nisl at ante dictum efficitur. Donec fermentum vestibulum orci, a iaculis augue rhoncus at. Sed ut mi rhoncus nibh blandit facilisis. Sed pretium lacus id nibh gravida tempor. Maecenas sodales enim et erat commodo, vel viverra diam aliquam. Praesent commodo posuere augue, sed feugiat quam vehicula a. Fusce fringilla, metus vel lacinia convallis, nisl est venenatis velit, vitae dictum neque nisi ac urna. Suspendisse mollis id ligula at pulvinar. Suspendisse potenti. Maecenas sed ligula metus. Nullam euismod urna vitae sem accumsan, id aliquet turpis dictum. Morbi efficitur lacus et risus faucibus, scelerisque dignissim purus bibendum. Nunc facilisis diam dolor, sit amet pharetra ante condimentum vitae. Sed luctus luctus ipsum at gravida.

    Aenean varius, purus vel fringilla pulvinar, velit nisl pretium purus, ut blandit velit lacus at nulla. Vivamus vitae rhoncus justo. Pellentesque lobortis tortor velit, et sodales lectus faucibus id. Nullam feugiat nec felis vitae interdum. Praesent semper pharetra consectetur. Morbi nec tellus et augue viverra venenatis. Sed finibus magna at felis cursus consectetur non quis nunc. Morbi sodales quam nec tincidunt euismod.

    Cras dictum tellus efficitur, accumsan massa eget, vulputate orci. Curabitur interdum accumsan diam quis tincidunt. Nulla facilisi. Duis laoreet est a accumsan sollicitudin. Maecenas sagittis condimentum massa, a ultricies odio commodo vitae. Donec finibus nisl at leo mattis, ac maximus elit volutpat. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

    Quisque luctus ornare convallis. Proin vehicula laoreet nulla vel pellentesque. Quisque mi orci, suscipit id volutpat ut, maximus eu arcu. Nulla quis felis id purus porta maximus ac venenatis justo. In sit amet molestie ex, ac tempus nisl. Sed dapibus tortor facilisis porta pretium. Etiam erat tellus, convallis volutpat nisl sollicitudin, efficitur mollis velit. Nunc tincidunt, metus sed congue feugiat, lectus mi pulvinar lectus, nec lobortis purus sapien vel dolor. Sed dictum turpis quis massa dignissim, ut eleifend libero mollis. Fusce vitae dolor eu risus hendrerit maximus. Curabitur interdum nisi et neque scelerisque fermentum. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Pellentesque elementum elit et arcu laoreet ullamcorper. Ut urna sem, dapibus eu sollicitudin non, sodales in tellus.

    Proin eget ex magna. Proin vel metus vel sem mollis egestas quis vitae nulla. Nunc ut hendrerit libero. Nunc pulvinar accumsan egestas. Mauris sapien magna, feugiat eget diam id, pellentesque lobortis metus. Nullam aliquet mauris vel arcu ornare aliquam. Curabitur nec eros in justo scelerisque laoreet auctor quis est. Quisque egestas tincidunt libero, a suscipit elit mattis sit amet. Vivamus nec commodo sapien. Cras tristique urna sed justo bibendum, auctor commodo tellus pulvinar. Vivamus porttitor luctus lorem, eget pretium augue facilisis eu. Donec id nunc hendrerit, finibus lacus sed, vulputate elit. Proin et odio velit.

    Mauris volutpat mollis est, a auctor tellus luctus et. Cras venenatis, dolor in tincidunt vestibulum, nibh diam vehicula sapien, et tincidunt ipsum enim nec nisl. Cras dignissim, elit eget dapibus laoreet, diam nisi pulvinar odio, sit amet dictum augue augue vel lorem. Maecenas in dapibus erat. Mauris congue nulla vitae sapien ullamcorper, non sodales lectus vulputate. Aenean et dui pretium, dignissim leo venenatis, luctus lacus. Morbi semper blandit augue volutpat tempor. Fusce sit amet dolor vel mauris imperdiet hendrerit eu in mi.

    Phasellus varius odio dui, at maximus enim laoreet quis. Curabitur vel varius magna, non tincidunt eros. Pellentesque vestibulum nulla ac pretium aliquam. Curabitur lacinia dignissim ante pretium aliquet. Praesent nec nisi viverra, interdum nisl sit amet, condimentum est. In laoreet, tortor non elementum luctus, massa elit lobortis nisi, eget pulvinar urna est ac neque. Duis suscipit dolor et magna ultrices, eu iaculis massa dignissim.

    Integer blandit viverra arcu id tincidunt. Curabitur eget ipsum vel ligula rhoncus congue. Vivamus ante urna, ultrices et urna ut, finibus hendrerit arcu. Suspendisse potenti. Cras pharetra lorem mi, ut mattis urna iaculis et. Sed id ante sodales, ornare nisi at, maximus elit. Nam scelerisque imperdiet nisl, vel imperdiet enim fringilla sit amet. Etiam tempus eget nisi faucibus egestas.

    Nullam sed convallis augue, in bibendum magna. Quisque pharetra sapien orci, quis semper ligula porta eget. Praesent tincidunt lacus id fringilla pharetra. Praesent pulvinar vehicula tellus non iaculis. Mauris eu efficitur nunc, tempus ultricies est. Integer viverra est ut porttitor feugiat. Fusce tincidunt augue augue, eget fermentum felis maximus et.

    Nulla ultricies ipsum vel porttitor consectetur. Pellentesque vitae sem vel quam semper consectetur sit amet eu magna. Maecenas lacinia fermentum sapien, in porttitor sem porta vel. Nulla sit amet porttitor sapien, quis vestibulum magna. Nam pulvinar bibendum risus, at auctor sem vestibulum in. Maecenas egestas nibh placerat, euismod leo a, pellentesque felis. Fusce elit eros, eleifend in velit ac, finibus ultricies erat. Quisque eu nisl at nibh bibendum tristique interdum vitae lorem. Quisque in ex condimentum, dictum nibh et, gravida nibh. Morbi ornare tincidunt luctus. Cras mollis ultricies neque vitae porta. Curabitur varius elementum leo quis faucibus.

    Fusce in laoreet nunc. Integer et nisl ante. Etiam tristique varius ex non sagittis. Curabitur fermentum, elit at rhoncus hendrerit, ex diam laoreet arcu, ac volutpat mi massa eu tellus. Nulla ultrices in nisl a mollis. Duis ante dui, semper vitae dignissim eget, consequat fermentum lorem. Nulla sagittis urna tortor, ut tristique nibh molestie at. Maecenas varius, urna eget pretium malesuada, massa ipsum eleifend ex, ut varius libero elit at ante. Curabitur vulputate diam ut sem maximus, tincidunt ultrices enim egestas. Ut ac lobortis dolor, a cursus tortor. Praesent volutpat vulputate turpis eu fringilla. In nisi sapien, consectetur in ullamcorper eget, accumsan sed erat. Morbi mollis risus quis mollis vestibulum. Cras sit amet augue dictum, rutrum est et, placerat ex. Sed turpis dolor, vehicula non eros in, tempus consequat ex. Donec lobortis eleifend arcu, sed hendrerit lorem tincidunt eget.

    Nulla facilisi. Nam euismod nulla non mi lobortis, et lacinia leo tempor. Nullam in suscipit magna, eget condimentum ligula. In vel elit urna. Ut convallis eros nec tellus aliquam hendrerit. Vivamus augue dolor, porttitor at tellus non, sollicitudin sodales sapien. Donec accumsan, urna non pulvinar scelerisque, ligula lacus volutpat lacus, a tempor risus nunc a elit. Mauris eget vehicula elit. Nulla nibh augue, aliquam ut libero at, sollicitudin posuere massa. Nullam et sagittis nulla, at dignissim lectus. Etiam quis molestie tortor, sit amet elementum tellus. Morbi eleifend turpis arcu. Quisque volutpat ornare porttitor. Phasellus at nisl vulputate, finibus risus in, convallis nulla. Quisque vulputate nisi a felis porttitor, sit amet aliquam turpis pellentesque. Nullam mauris lectus, vulputate quis blandit eu, finibus in massa.

    Suspendisse id odio ut nunc consequat facilisis a et ligula. Phasellus consectetur mi vitae varius egestas. Proin neque risus, accumsan a est eu, mollis consectetur erat. Donec eu est elit. Curabitur elit massa, cursus sed dui id, commodo facilisis elit. Sed feugiat augue nibh, non facilisis tellus condimentum nec. Duis in vulputate lacus, ac pharetra nibh. Aenean imperdiet aliquet nisl. Donec non ligula malesuada, dapibus magna at, vulputate magna. Nulla hendrerit tortor turpis, et placerat justo consequat quis. Nulla tellus lacus, faucibus sit amet arcu in, ultricies convallis orci. Mauris luctus ut sem finibus consequat. Donec fringilla libero sit amet vehicula laoreet. Curabitur feugiat vel quam vitae lacinia.

    Nunc ligula felis, consequat in ultrices facilisis, ullamcorper eu elit. Nunc porttitor porttitor felis, quis congue eros auctor nec. Sed nec congue libero, vitae eleifend eros. Nunc efficitur dictum massa ac vulputate. Vivamus sodales sed mauris sed congue. Integer eros libero, aliquam at fringilla dignissim, porta eu mi. Praesent consectetur sem non tincidunt sagittis. Quisque tristique eros at commodo euismod. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam eu ex sodales, tristique arcu et, accumsan lacus. Nullam semper ante dictum eros faucibus dapibus.

    Vestibulum magna urna, consectetur sit amet interdum in, eleifend at elit. Vestibulum ut urna eu elit elementum lobortis vel rhoncus tellus. Pellentesque at iaculis purus. Duis volutpat magna vitae nisi porta, eget laoreet nulla mattis. Maecenas tincidunt quis nisi ut ultrices. Pellentesque condimentum nibh eu eros pulvinar, a bibendum lacus lacinia. Duis scelerisque ligula pretium velit tempor, ut aliquet risus congue.

    Vivamus non lobortis risus. Donec dui purus, lobortis nec ullamcorper rutrum, feugiat sed justo. Fusce venenatis gravida ante, ut gravida justo gravida eu. Donec mattis sapien tristique odio interdum, vitae egestas nisl varius. Curabitur ultricies magna ut tellus congue, sit amet tincidunt risus bibendum. Nulla feugiat pharetra lacus, sit amet rutrum metus aliquam eu. Nulla suscipit justo sit amet bibendum maximus. Etiam volutpat ultricies ipsum, non dignissim lorem aliquet sit amet. Fusce blandit ante a convallis congue. Donec ullamcorper fringilla rutrum. Suspendisse id feugiat libero. Donec venenatis vel turpis ac imperdiet. Phasellus gravida condimentum ex, nec mollis dolor sollicitudin non.

    Donec porttitor, nulla eget sagittis mattis, erat leo vulputate justo, eu consectetur nisl tellus congue justo. Sed a nibh aliquam magna tincidunt porta. Curabitur fermentum eu sapien a laoreet. Suspendisse potenti. Morbi faucibus leo ac ligula dictum condimentum. Nulla aliquet justo vel justo tincidunt, sit amet luctus urna molestie. Mauris metus diam, placerat at luctus luctus, consectetur at ligula. Pellentesque sit amet quam rutrum, pretium magna hendrerit, sagittis purus. Cras mattis enim sit amet nisl vehicula maximus. Curabitur malesuada scelerisque massa ut viverra. Ut luctus ornare feugiat.

    Praesent placerat ex urna, a sollicitudin lorem vulputate in. Sed hendrerit, orci ac lacinia vulputate, enim magna eleifend mauris, vitae pharetra lectus tortor ac velit. Suspendisse potenti. Mauris bibendum finibus imperdiet. Maecenas fermentum, ex sit amet finibus euismod, velit lorem volutpat elit, sit amet gravida mi nibh ut sem. Duis lorem nibh, posuere malesuada massa vitae, tempor posuere velit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam at sapien ligula. Cras vestibulum urna sit amet mauris rhoncus consectetur. In vel ultrices ante. Nunc finibus aliquam rutrum. Quisque ipsum dolor, interdum vel urna a, aliquam sollicitudin risus.

    Integer massa ante, mollis nec malesuada eget, lobortis ut odio. Vivamus in consequat odio, faucibus tristique turpis. Mauris feugiat laoreet tellus, a hendrerit nulla euismod non. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam at mattis nibh. Nunc accumsan elit quis odio feugiat, vel bibendum arcu elementum. Suspendisse porta imperdiet nibh, ac scelerisque velit bibendum et. Aenean commodo, arcu et mattis laoreet, sem risus lobortis tortor, quis sagittis nibh elit sit amet elit. Proin lectus ligula, imperdiet non convallis non, mattis eget nisl.

    Pellentesque tincidunt massa eros, in vulputate neque commodo at. Curabitur non sapien finibus justo vulputate porttitor. Nulla tristique pulvinar orci, ac pellentesque purus aliquam eget. Vestibulum eget condimentum neque. Nunc eget sapien dignissim, varius libero id, congue urna. Curabitur convallis aliquam magna, ac vulputate dolor ultrices id. Vivamus vestibulum lacus nec enim dapibus cursus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Proin bibendum luctus ante ac aliquet. Aliquam posuere urna risus, sed finibus odio condimentum sed. Phasellus accumsan quis arcu id egestas. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam eu mi sem.

    Aliquam orci ipsum, suscipit a dolor in, volutpat ultrices eros. Duis nec aliquam nunc. Nunc at libero sed diam vulputate auctor. Fusce lobortis, arcu ut pretium suscipit, nisl leo tristique libero, non venenatis massa tellus quis leo. Duis vulputate tristique purus id pellentesque. Cras iaculis lacus sed dui posuere, quis finibus ante tempor. Praesent risus risus, vulputate eget ex sed, laoreet ultrices ex. Donec lacinia congue justo, eu commodo magna imperdiet quis. In vulputate pulvinar neque. Aliquam vel justo sed justo mollis facilisis. Fusce id fringilla nunc. Praesent nec felis et tortor venenatis dictum.

    Integer eget tortor id sapien suscipit laoreet a in odio. Quisque orci ex, iaculis sit amet accumsan sed, gravida ut nunc. Mauris efficitur commodo mi non sodales. Phasellus auctor id sapien nec hendrerit. Nam velit turpis, viverra eu sapien quis, lacinia imperdiet sem. Sed ut augue aliquet, scelerisque mauris tincidunt, hendrerit quam. Praesent nec sem cursus, fringilla nisi eu, euismod eros.

    Proin ultrices, orci vel sodales semper, elit sem pulvinar est, vitae dignissim eros nisi et tellus. Praesent ultricies ullamcorper viverra. Nulla facilisi. In vulputate quis ante sit amet convallis. Sed sagittis lectus nulla, quis sagittis velit porta a. Suspendisse lectus elit, consectetur ac scelerisque ut, pharetra nec ex. Maecenas pretium tortor vitae lacus porta luctus. Cras sed tortor sed ante semper facilisis eu sit amet ex. Quisque a euismod risus.

    In malesuada nunc ac consequat dictum. Nullam ornare dictum ex, ac pretium erat porttitor in. Pellentesque tempor sem vel neque blandit, in pharetra metus facilisis. Curabitur velit eros, efficitur interdum facilisis nec, pharetra eu dolor. Phasellus sagittis ornare risus laoreet dictum. Nulla sodales justo consectetur, pretium felis a, placerat quam. Vestibulum accumsan elit sollicitudin, placerat eros sit amet, viverra turpis. Vivamus sed nisl odio. Fusce eget pellentesque ante. Proin porttitor commodo sapien, id facilisis est accumsan ac. Aliquam ultrices elementum nibh, at eleifend leo rutrum ac. Phasellus at ipsum lobortis, mollis lorem id, laoreet augue.

    Curabitur eu turpis nunc. Aliquam molestie nibh nec dolor vulputate, at vestibulum felis condimentum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum volutpat lorem in felis volutpat, non blandit ex condimentum. Pellentesque venenatis odio quis justo commodo viverra. Sed elit neque, volutpat at lacus convallis, luctus mollis turpis. Vestibulum ac suscipit elit, sit amet sollicitudin sapien. Integer efficitur nisl sit amet purus accumsan facilisis. Donec commodo sollicitudin arcu nec ultrices. Proin in lorem egestas, finibus massa eget, fermentum erat. Cras sollicitudin lorem in neque pretium aliquet. Nam lacinia diam vel enim sagittis, consequat scelerisque dui rhoncus. Maecenas et metus sapien. Duis sagittis justo sed elit sodales venenatis a non velit.

    Nullam sed congue tortor, quis vestibulum eros. Fusce mi ante, volutpat sed tellus quis, efficitur eleifend felis. Nullam porta risus ante, eget pellentesque massa pretium in. Aenean commodo mi in nibh posuere tincidunt quis id est. Mauris dictum scelerisque magna sit amet egestas. Morbi volutpat quis nunc rutrum dictum. Duis sed fringilla arcu. Suspendisse accumsan sollicitudin ligula sagittis elementum. Etiam nec libero et risus congue facilisis. Phasellus fermentum ornare dolor, ac vehicula tortor dignissim vitae. Pellentesque et libero vel mi sagittis laoreet a ac felis. Donec consequat felis a pharetra iaculis. Nam feugiat tincidunt orci, nec accumsan metus mollis quis. Ut egestas metus quis tellus imperdiet porttitor. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse in commodo leo.

    Nunc posuere sagittis sem. Cras vestibulum nibh ac diam tincidunt porta. Sed aliquet lorem eu tellus malesuada suscipit. Sed sit amet sem sit amet orci pulvinar pharetra. Nam sit amet eleifend est. Nulla porta, tellus mollis viverra pellentesque, felis libero bibendum enim, ut efficitur ligula turpis nec nisl. Donec convallis, orci ut pulvinar gravida, libero nibh mollis nunc, in tristique eros enim nec risus. Aliquam eu massa leo. Cras hendrerit lorem erat, pellentesque semper tellus condimentum vel. Phasellus eleifend eros sed nulla tempor pellentesque.

    Cras quis gravida sem, id rutrum purus. Nunc fringilla ex ut augue aliquam luctus. Aenean quis nunc ac sem vehicula eleifend. Pellentesque mattis ex odio, eget varius enim imperdiet vitae. Donec a ligula ut tellus efficitur molestie. Etiam sit amet purus ultrices arcu egestas finibus id ut sapien. Aenean quis augue vel enim ornare placerat quis eget dolor. Aliquam sit amet dictum mi. Ut vestibulum tincidunt justo et imperdiet. Donec ultricies eros eu fringilla feugiat. Nunc vestibulum ultrices hendrerit. Vestibulum fringilla elit in ante facilisis, sit amet molestie magna lacinia.

    Donec in lectus sem. Aliquam quis blandit lacus. Aenean quam nunc, vulputate at nulla et, faucibus malesuada quam. Fusce volutpat, sem ac dapibus fermentum, enim lectus scelerisque nibh, vitae bibendum libero dui in ante. Morbi non viverra felis, vitae fringilla est. Quisque magna felis, vehicula lobortis dui vitae, varius facilisis ipsum. Cras tincidunt leo at leo viverra, ut laoreet nibh fermentum. Fusce tincidunt mi et purus dignissim, ac porta mi rhoncus. Curabitur bibendum nisi vel urna sodales, ac placerat ex bibendum. Mauris auctor porta semper. Vestibulum sem sem, aliquet vitae eleifend eu, tempor ut ipsum. Aenean cursus maximus ex at rhoncus. Aenean lacinia, lacus efficitur dictum mollis, erat neque laoreet felis, vel rutrum leo purus ut sem. Curabitur laoreet tellus ut justo volutpat ullamcorper. Proin nec consequat ex.

    Pellentesque et egestas erat, nec varius nunc. Pellentesque tortor mi, facilisis ut semper vel, ornare at leo. Nunc eros elit, sollicitudin eu aliquet eu, aliquet ut eros. Mauris sit amet magna venenatis, ullamcorper nisi in, gravida lorem. Suspendisse vel viverra lorem. Pellentesque interdum elit lorem, dignissim dapibus nisi laoreet eget. Nunc ac placerat magna, sed auctor mauris. Praesent sodales sagittis tellus non dictum.

    Vivamus eu porttitor orci, id feugiat turpis. Sed sed tincidunt tellus. Phasellus eleifend metus et nisl dignissim, eu tempor erat malesuada. Nam feugiat elementum enim ut suscipit. Nunc pretium egestas augue, vitae interdum leo. Vivamus eget scelerisque ex. Aenean porttitor porttitor purus non pretium. Fusce sit amet nibh nec nunc lacinia tristique. Ut purus turpis, commodo a rhoncus ac, vulputate id erat. Ut vulputate eget ligula eu placerat.

    Vestibulum nunc enim, efficitur eget ipsum ut, posuere maximus neque. Nunc commodo magna sodales augue rhoncus, in consectetur odio vestibulum. Sed egestas lacinia commodo. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam interdum nibh eu aliquet varius. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum ultricies nunc vitae ligula hendrerit suscipit. Mauris ut gravida orci. Mauris ullamcorper bibendum rhoncus. Nunc porta, leo vel varius suscipit, libero felis molestie odio, vitae ultricies lectus leo sit amet ipsum. Donec nec fringilla urna, nec faucibus lacus. Vivamus sem risus, feugiat ac elit vitae, consequat mollis urna. Ut non venenatis tellus.

    Nulla leo massa, rutrum non sapien a, accumsan molestie metus. Vivamus tincidunt lectus sit amet libero porta venenatis. Phasellus fringilla, tellus non vehicula malesuada, dui risus consectetur erat, sit amet consectetur ligula ex nec odio. Duis lacinia pulvinar pellentesque. Curabitur tellus enim, eleifend eu libero id, euismod dignissim neque. Nulla tristique risus et dictum tempor. Nam faucibus elit sit amet magna placerat, id fermentum purus faucibus. Suspendisse quis aliquet sapien, quis feugiat metus. Maecenas iaculis congue enim quis euismod. Aenean faucibus, sem in feugiat elementum, dui risus pellentesque enim, id luctus arcu est id lorem. In tincidunt ante sed nibh egestas imperdiet. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Mauris egestas maximus ipsum eget fermentum. Duis porta in risus nec pulvinar.

    Integer eget tempor metus. Cras ac scelerisque odio, sit amet maximus magna. Sed quis libero at ante auctor blandit ullamcorper et dolor. Praesent facilisis eros eu volutpat posuere. Nam dapibus rhoncus dolor, convallis hendrerit risus rutrum in. Nam gravida faucibus facilisis. Fusce quis mollis est. Maecenas in magna erat. Donec et fermentum lorem, sed aliquet mi. Suspendisse viverra rhoncus nulla, vitae pulvinar est ultrices placerat. Nunc ultrices pellentesque sapien, eu efficitur sem faucibus consequat. Maecenas interdum porttitor massa vitae dapibus. Suspendisse fermentum ante non orci hendrerit interdum. Mauris quis molestie sapien.

    Pellentesque mauris elit, pretium in bibendum et, volutpat sed urna. Nam aliquam ornare erat, vel convallis mauris finibus ut. Nam dapibus vulputate bibendum. Aenean maximus ante sed volutpat convallis. Pellentesque at imperdiet neque. Morbi vitae turpis hendrerit, blandit eros sit amet, dictum est. Cras fermentum libero in nisl luctus, in facilisis dui pretium. Ut vestibulum cursus sem, eu scelerisque eros vehicula at. Proin tincidunt, turpis et fermentum tempus, odio nisi cursus nibh, in finibus magna nisl vitae orci.

    In blandit sit amet lorem vel elementum. Donec at lobortis neque. Duis sit amet ligula mattis, vestibulum urna eget, volutpat mauris. Donec vehicula mattis nulla, vitae feugiat eros tempus a. Pellentesque at placerat leo, id aliquam elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Donec elit nibh, venenatis non luctus at, imperdiet at dui. Integer nibh dolor, egestas non dignissim non, tristique in tortor.

    Donec sollicitudin nec diam in pulvinar. Sed sapien est, consectetur in arcu vitae, feugiat imperdiet sapien. Proin vestibulum mollis libero tincidunt sodales. Fusce tristique egestas mauris ac feugiat. Nunc a elit dictum, tincidunt eros sit amet, finibus enim. In non est ornare, tincidunt lorem sed, posuere arcu. Integer quis malesuada felis, sit amet sagittis lacus. Mauris pellentesque vel risus at varius. Sed sagittis id est non ornare. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Morbi consectetur ipsum non justo pharetra tincidunt. In libero ligula, ornare sed lorem et, consequat tristique tortor. Curabitur euismod porttitor hendrerit. Nunc non velit nec urna sagittis eleifend quis ut elit. Vivamus est eros, porta a pharetra at, eleifend ut velit.

    Cras auctor dignissim risus ut bibendum. Sed sollicitudin scelerisque imperdiet. Nulla viverra ipsum a est feugiat, sed mattis libero faucibus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Integer porta arcu at tortor fermentum, sit amet finibus ante maximus. Suspendisse aliquam dapibus nisl eu mollis. Maecenas gravida, leo sit amet pellentesque convallis, enim ipsum viverra erat, sed pulvinar erat tortor et sapien. Aenean in est vitae nunc ullamcorper pulvinar. Proin auctor consectetur.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed consectetur, velit sed rutrum tincidunt, risus mi rhoncus nisi, vel mattis elit arcu at lorem. Nullam non libero erat. Integer in libero tellus. Maecenas et varius felis, eget pulvinar enim. Proin efficitur libero quis consectetur tristique. Suspendisse potenti. Pellentesque interdum mi non massa porta, non pharetra erat consequat. Etiam consequat feugiat est, sed fermentum odio finibus a. Fusce congue, arcu ac blandit sodales, augue elit semper ipsum, eu sollicitudin arcu diam ut elit. Nam eu tincidunt tellus, a ornare lectus. Nulla magna elit, blandit vitae nunc ac, egestas posuere mi. Vivamus a felis vitae leo feugiat posuere nec et ligula. Pellentesque dignissim dignissim lectus sed laoreet. Suspendisse mauris tellus, placerat eget pellentesque quis, posuere id odio. Proin porta dolor nisi, at finibus lorem pretium sed. Sed tristique sapien non lacus tincidunt, non viverra nisi dignissim.

    In in fringilla ante, blandit feugiat velit. Curabitur iaculis sollicitudin faucibus. Etiam luctus, neque non fringilla pretium, neque urna porttitor leo, non volutpat enim lorem a quam. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec gravida quis ipsum quis posuere. Aenean fermentum tristique scelerisque. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec bibendum, metus et fermentum rhoncus, purus justo varius diam, sit amet aliquet odio nulla id odio. Donec sollicitudin non sapien sed imperdiet. Donec et tortor ut risus sodales suscipit bibendum non nibh.

    Aenean a ante gravida, lacinia risus nec, mollis nulla. Aenean pellentesque diam in volutpat aliquam. In ac lacinia metus, in vestibulum mi. In laoreet ante eget rhoncus fermentum. Nulla vitae nisi malesuada, convallis dolor ut, tempus nunc. Duis nisl magna, dapibus in dignissim a, suscipit a elit. Aliquam sed mollis ante. Duis egestas est est, a faucibus enim ullamcorper bibendum. Vivamus cursus nisl vitae dui rhoncus, quis molestie ipsum luctus. Mauris imperdiet dui sed dui aliquam elementum. Curabitur eros ante, volutpat a arcu vel, fringilla vulputate lorem. Proin accumsan metus sagittis, tempus eros in, mattis est. Ut at tincidunt libero. Mauris sit amet nisi vitae est vulputate lobortis. Suspendisse potenti. In varius turpis vitae ligula ullamcorper, in volutpat enim mollis.

    Quisque sollicitudin velit nec orci sollicitudin euismod. Curabitur ac urna non orci ullamcorper placerat. Etiam ultrices nec lacus non pretium. Phasellus tincidunt condimentum commodo. Phasellus a ultricies nulla. Integer consequat porta nibh, sed elementum neque maximus eget. Aenean quam ex, laoreet vitae lobortis quis, posuere in ante. Nullam condimentum risus nec nibh venenatis varius. Nunc viverra rhoncus elementum.

    Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Vivamus aliquam justo quis turpis fringilla, ac tempor mauris molestie. Fusce sed est et metus porta volutpat non quis orci. Vestibulum mollis erat leo, maximus fermentum felis aliquet et. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Suspendisse in turpis faucibus, cursus tellus eu, congue mauris. Integer urna erat, lacinia eget tempor in, dapibus at tellus. Nam purus risus, lacinia in nisl molestie, vestibulum facilisis nisi.

    Nunc posuere, arcu at finibus sodales, dui augue rhoncus massa, ultrices finibus nisl urna quis justo. Donec vehicula massa id facilisis tristique. Maecenas pellentesque accumsan mi id posuere. Donec ultrices risus vitae leo scelerisque, non dictum ipsum pellentesque. Etiam facilisis condimentum metus eu lacinia. Sed dignissim placerat diam. Integer et semper eros. Integer finibus elit sed metus fermentum accumsan.

    Sed feugiat commodo augue, ut euismod ex imperdiet ut. Aliquam auctor velit id sollicitudin gravida. Aenean viverra ipsum in suscipit fermentum. Nunc ac lectus lacinia, condimentum lorem in, porttitor mi. Etiam sed commodo mi. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin faucibus massa vitae mollis elementum. Nulla quis luctus enim, eu vestibulum lorem. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Sed eget tincidunt nunc. Nam eget risus pretium, tempor odio imperdiet, commodo ligula. Curabitur porttitor euismod nisi sed blandit. Mauris maximus nisi quis augue malesuada, a dictum sapien semper. Praesent sollicitudin lacus at velit tincidunt iaculis. In dignissim sapien eu lectus interdum, posuere fermentum turpis porta.

    Pellentesque lobortis elit nec urna lobortis tristique. Praesent suscipit mauris at turpis euismod, ac consequat urna porta. Sed interdum pellentesque velit hendrerit eleifend. Duis rhoncus felis odio, quis fermentum ipsum feugiat vehicula. Pellentesque ante felis, consequat eget urna eget, dignissim tincidunt diam. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed porta dolor ex, molestie condimentum magna porta ac. Donec vel libero eget neque scelerisque bibendum.

    Ut hendrerit et nisl non auctor. Ut egestas aliquam tempor. Sed luctus fermentum turpis, a congue lectus gravida ut. Quisque quis leo vel justo commodo iaculis. Nullam volutpat ligula vitae convallis ornare. Donec sodales lectus venenatis hendrerit sollicitudin. Sed hendrerit bibendum lectus, at suscipit diam aliquet ac. Fusce a placerat odio, quis hendrerit justo.

    Integer rhoncus eros at feugiat lobortis. Fusce vitae facilisis lectus. Pellentesque ac posuere tellus, et consequat magna. In eget nisi vitae leo sodales lobortis. Morbi eu lectus et magna posuere facilisis in id dui. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Morbi fermentum lectus vitae leo pellentesque, in maximus massa faucibus. Maecenas malesuada, mi quis sollicitudin pretium, purus nisi egestas elit, a fringilla ipsum ex cursus quam. Aenean ac efficitur nisl, vel viverra arcu. Vestibulum blandit nec metus vel fermentum.

    In maximus ipsum nibh, a fermentum odio consectetur sit amet. Curabitur libero augue, facilisis vitae nulla a, pellentesque sollicitudin ex. In eget ligula at quam tincidunt feugiat sed quis magna. Praesent semper consequat lorem, ornare interdum ipsum ullamcorper quis. Donec facilisis euismod elit, in sagittis odio consequat at. In scelerisque tellus sodales ante molestie gravida. Suspendisse gravida tortor id velit egestas, ut maximus tortor dapibus. Aliquam luctus felis vitae tincidunt euismod.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Nunc lacinia, purus vitae finibus sagittis, erat metus hendrerit dolor, at auctor elit neque facilisis elit. Cras at lorem congue, porttitor justo a, consequat enim. Phasellus efficitur odio nec tortor mollis, vel tincidunt dolor imperdiet. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Etiam pharetra purus ac purus commodo tristique ut quis metus. Sed sagittis lacinia leo. Vivamus accumsan feugiat nisl, ut maximus lacus tempor a. Suspendisse potenti. Ut non eleifend ante. Nulla odio enim, imperdiet a urna vel, ultricies scelerisque velit. Quisque vestibulum, augue a iaculis pulvinar, nulla est tristique nisl, in fringilla nunc ipsum quis lectus.

    Nullam nulla nisl, rutrum eget convallis nec, sollicitudin ac odio. Fusce eget magna sed nunc hendrerit tincidunt. Nulla facilisi. Duis sit amet tempus ipsum. Nullam est tortor, tempus at molestie in, placerat ullamcorper turpis. Sed id nisl turpis. In lobortis felis quis congue tristique.

    Cras sed ornare augue. Sed consequat dolor eget lorem ultricies vehicula. Proin pharetra dignissim augue, eget ullamcorper ipsum ultrices non. In dignissim consequat urna eget bibendum. Proin et diam augue. Vestibulum sit amet erat sem. Vestibulum tristique sit amet augue id hendrerit. Duis in metus lobortis, facilisis metus in, fringilla sapien. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam euismod nunc leo, quis vestibulum ex lacinia at. Curabitur vel turpis et felis hendrerit congue ut vitae urna. Nunc nec scelerisque nisl. Donec facilisis, leo in tempor dictum, mauris massa gravida eros, non dictum tellus magna vitae elit. Donec id dui ac ante lobortis aliquam. Maecenas vel leo vel metus lobortis mattis id quis sapien. Praesent magna ex, gravida a metus malesuada, tempus mollis sapien.

    Aenean cursus, nisl quis venenatis eleifend, nulla purus fringilla orci, ut sodales quam dolor non nibh. Pellentesque mattis et ipsum sed ultrices. Nulla facilisi. Donec id sapien fermentum libero congue mattis ut vel nisl. Vivamus et nunc quam. Maecenas tellus ante, gravida et diam vestibulum, consequat auctor arcu. Duis in dolor laoreet, rhoncus nulla eget, lacinia enim. Curabitur et convallis nunc.

    Nullam feugiat dolor ac neque vestibulum, vel porta enim sagittis. Sed scelerisque at urna a accumsan. Phasellus sed urna aliquet ligula volutpat semper elementum convallis quam. Vivamus molestie leo sed orci euismod, sed molestie lacus dapibus. Mauris sed orci dapibus, euismod mauris non, maximus sem. Ut efficitur malesuada condimentum. Morbi facilisis imperdiet purus, sit amet sodales urna pellentesque sit amet. Quisque bibendum turpis sed nisi vestibulum faucibus. Ut ac euismod ante.

    Suspendisse a quam at diam sollicitudin hendrerit. Nulla eleifend augue eu dolor imperdiet, nec gravida sapien sodales. Pellentesque tristique ac urna eu congue. Integer eget ante leo. Vivamus dictum a ligula a consequat. Cras tincidunt accumsan metus eu dignissim. Fusce rhoncus nulla et egestas efficitur. Sed rutrum blandit ultrices.

    Cras lacinia aliquam sapien vel dictum. Ut dapibus, ante at sodales accumsan, magna orci ultricies mi, et laoreet eros lacus in nibh. Donec maximus neque sed tellus pretium, eget aliquet ipsum rutrum. Integer elementum fringilla ipsum, in efficitur urna maximus quis. Suspendisse et mi vitae nulla viverra pharetra. Suspendisse ultrices maximus est, nec eleifend sem semper eget. Nulla feugiat dolor dolor, nec placerat ipsum porta et. Donec porttitor odio diam, eu laoreet odio sagittis non. Etiam pretium eleifend lectus, vel ornare lacus. In condimentum, ex vel maximus ultricies, sapien lorem viverra lacus, eget laoreet turpis nibh in magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. In ac libero commodo, rutrum quam eu, convallis magna. Proin malesuada rhoncus lobortis. Aliquam finibus est ut sollicitudin luctus. Curabitur sit amet dapibus ipsum, ut feugiat purus. Etiam non ante a lectus interdum rhoncus in sit amet mi.

    Mauris id fringilla eros. Nam iaculis pharetra lorem sit amet interdum. Proin dictum diam congue ligula commodo, a malesuada lacus elementum. Suspendisse tincidunt semper libero, et dapibus lacus vehicula sed. Duis et turpis congue mauris vehicula consectetur in et dolor. Maecenas rhoncus sollicitudin mi, nec egestas risus consequat in. Nullam magna dolor, volutpat ut dapibus non, ullamcorper quis diam.

    Sed sed nisl vitae leo accumsan tristique sed vel massa. Vivamus et neque blandit arcu porttitor ultrices. Nunc bibendum erat enim, quis mollis mi tempus non. Duis eleifend lacinia sem id tristique. Nullam laoreet augue eget viverra rhoncus. Ut varius ligula vitae tellus efficitur, a porttitor turpis fringilla. Cras quis sapien mattis ipsum sagittis semper sit amet nec turpis. Cras iaculis tristique tristique. Nulla lacinia, augue vel tincidunt tincidunt, nibh lectus congue felis, sed interdum mi urna vel sem. Nulla nisl libero, ultrices vitae mattis vel, pulvinar nec dolor. Quisque tempus tincidunt ligula nec tincidunt. Fusce tincidunt feugiat massa, ac ultrices metus bibendum vitae. Donec vitae lorem tincidunt mi fermentum feugiat id a risus. Pellentesque nec accumsan odio, nec consectetur justo.

    Quisque venenatis magna velit, vitae aliquet nunc pharetra id. Nam non imperdiet augue, at dapibus risus. Nulla lorem nibh, sollicitudin in lorem eget, tempor faucibus metus. Etiam tincidunt, est nec sollicitudin pharetra, ante mi sagittis elit, porta rhoncus massa ipsum sit amet enim. Pellentesque consequat ac mauris vitae sagittis. Suspendisse vitae nunc erat. Ut et vestibulum lorem. Ut ipsum sapien, interdum ac tempor nec, feugiat vitae orci. Donec sed ligula ornare, mollis est ac, consequat lorem. Nunc ullamcorper nunc ut congue vestibulum. Nunc quis cursus sem. Aenean tempor, magna ac convallis facilisis, eros orci imperdiet dolor, in pretium arcu sapien a odio. Maecenas eget odio ac felis euismod vestibulum. Integer et justo molestie, vehicula velit vitae, porttitor elit. Curabitur lacinia, risus eu posuere rhoncus, magna est venenatis quam, sit amet venenatis dui mi in est. Nulla gravida pharetra congue.

    Donec lobortis velit vel eros fringilla hendrerit. Suspendisse malesuada diam id dapibus molestie. Donec sed sodales neque, elementum luctus quam. Mauris vitae nisl eu magna feugiat vehicula. Nulla sollicitudin nunc vitae tortor accumsan cursus. Duis vel rutrum ipsum, a aliquam quam. Curabitur tristique nisl quis diam tempus ullamcorper. Morbi rhoncus felis in quam lacinia imperdiet.

    Phasellus congue ac lacus at pellentesque. Pellentesque in risus nec urna imperdiet mollis. Fusce vel risus nec enim vulputate ullamcorper. Phasellus feugiat mollis justo, ut viverra massa placerat non. Cras et ex leo. Aenean aliquet turpis id lectus placerat, et sagittis massa porta. Integer sagittis libero quam, a pulvinar risus rhoncus at. Donec et lectus auctor, sodales nisi id, fermentum erat. Etiam rutrum vitae ipsum ac finibus. Sed lobortis vestibulum mauris mollis eleifend. Sed ac magna lacus. Donec malesuada in tortor et laoreet. Etiam et arcu metus.

    Aliquam ac nunc quis felis volutpat suscipit. Maecenas egestas, mi ac fermentum commodo, eros augue fringilla ex, gravida gravida justo magna at leo. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Mauris sed sapien pellentesque, mollis urna ut, porttitor odio. Ut dictum ante massa, quis tincidunt ante pellentesque vel. Donec maximus est sed lacus ullamcorper pretium. Morbi orci eros, tincidunt sit amet purus eu, lacinia vehicula orci. Etiam ornare felis tellus, id facilisis nunc molestie at. Suspendisse erat ipsum, lacinia at velit eget, dictum posuere tortor. Praesent in arcu et lacus vulputate consectetur eget efficitur ipsum. Integer libero sapien, vestibulum nec magna id, semper mattis lectus. Donec congue pharetra diam sed convallis. Cras consequat odio et eros congue dignissim vitae a nisi. Vivamus eget nisi consectetur, elementum massa id, gravida nisi.

    Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam quis ipsum arcu. Duis lobortis blandit tincidunt. Vivamus nunc elit, maximus vitae luctus at, consequat et ante. Vivamus quis volutpat ante, ac porta orci. Vivamus orci arcu, sagittis at turpis at, blandit tincidunt eros. Suspendisse convallis faucibus turpis, ut accumsan nibh porta sit amet. Proin feugiat, odio eget vehicula facilisis, arcu dolor sagittis nulla, et maximus magna mauris eget est. Vestibulum nec pretium lorem. Proin ornare ligula sit amet pharetra convallis. Curabitur quis rutrum dolor. Pellentesque erat nisi, luctus in justo suscipit, feugiat interdum magna. Vivamus blandit urna velit, sit amet efficitur ante pulvinar malesuada. Suspendisse non neque eget turpis consequat iaculis. Integer dictum sem nec velit vulputate consectetur. Phasellus eu orci sit amet libero luctus condimentum.

    Vivamus diam quam, semper vitae pretium eu, convallis iaculis metus. Etiam fermentum, leo id sollicitudin lobortis, lectus quam ultrices velit, ac tristique arcu nibh nec tellus. Phasellus molestie, nisi nec fringilla feugiat, odio dolor vulputate augue, ut blandit lorem arcu at metus. Nulla convallis, diam tincidunt aliquam dignissim, justo libero aliquet mi, ut tempor nisi nunc ac tortor. Donec vitae tincidunt lorem. Phasellus volutpat porta blandit. Quisque malesuada sapien eget ante auctor, interdum commodo nulla fermentum. Vestibulum mattis blandit felis at gravida. Pellentesque placerat libero in lorem feugiat, at molestie quam convallis. Nulla scelerisque justo sed arcu egestas, ac dapibus tellus posuere. Suspendisse ornare eget erat at sollicitudin. Vivamus sit amet bibendum justo. Morbi rutrum quam quis congue dictum.

    Maecenas varius nisi eu auctor mollis. Phasellus sed leo vel augue porttitor varius. Donec ut tristique odio, eget volutpat felis. Quisque tempus tortor eu dui semper aliquet. Integer tristique placerat quam, ac fermentum nulla congue vel. Nam id scelerisque mauris, vestibulum scelerisque ipsum. Morbi facilisis lectus ut sapien commodo, eu maximus massa porta. Suspendisse sem ante, rutrum vel ultricies sed, mollis id turpis. Ut hendrerit diam sollicitudin, bibendum ante a, laoreet turpis. Nunc at sem quis quam sollicitudin condimentum. Morbi hendrerit, sem id cursus iaculis, urna purus malesuada sapien, non varius elit eros in erat.

    Vestibulum molestie pharetra ligula ac bibendum. In et metus turpis. Sed ut elit felis. Aliquam aliquet lacus ut bibendum congue. Donec suscipit turpis lectus, in lobortis sapien pellentesque rutrum. Nullam finibus diam porttitor sem lacinia imperdiet. Aenean pellentesque turpis in urna feugiat rhoncus ac faucibus arcu. Nullam a consequat neque. Integer eget ligula iaculis, accumsan ipsum vel, suscipit odio. Aenean id eleifend nisl, non elementum sapien. In lacinia vitae erat a molestie. Integer tristique nibh non odio elementum, in consectetur lacus lobortis. Curabitur tristique, quam non finibus blandit, dolor enim gravida quam, ut blandit risus velit id nulla. Integer lorem ante, aliquet id nibh rhoncus, gravida rhoncus dui. Curabitur vel mauris diam.

    Mauris commodo finibus orci at mattis. Nullam facilisis ultricies lectus, facilisis hendrerit diam tempus eget. Nullam vitae aliquet est. Mauris in nisi quis purus varius bibendum. Nulla et malesuada odio, ut scelerisque est. Vestibulum suscipit fringilla nibh in porttitor. Aliquam aliquam dapibus dictum. Phasellus et lorem sit amet metus tempus venenatis a sed libero. Sed non vulputate nibh, nec tempor mauris. Aenean faucibus varius lacus a finibus. Proin bibendum, ante vel hendrerit porttitor, dui risus tincidunt quam, nec pulvinar odio tortor et magna. In sodales rhoncus pretium. Sed accumsan ligula nisl, vel ornare lectus aliquam sit amet.

    Donec ullamcorper augue eu purus porta ornare. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam eu tellus velit. Pellentesque ut lacinia nulla. Proin blandit ultricies leo ut consectetur. Vestibulum et aliquam lacus. Vivamus justo augue, mattis sed nulla nec, feugiat auctor purus. Etiam vulputate in tortor consectetur congue. Duis id fermentum turpis, et condimentum dui. Etiam congue turpis consectetur nulla vehicula, in fermentum nunc efficitur. Nulla facilisi. Suspendisse mi erat, tristique in tincidunt id, mattis sed mauris.

    Praesent aliquam luctus nunc vel interdum. Cras porttitor ex sed augue fermentum posuere in et risus. Pellentesque risus enim, maximus at neque eget, finibus condimentum erat. Sed gravida tortor in tortor aliquet finibus. Morbi consequat, enim maximus consequat ullamcorper, diam dui molestie dolor, commodo semper urna est quis tortor. Vivamus dictum eros eu erat ultrices ultricies. Phasellus in mauris ut diam porttitor sodales. Quisque magna enim, ultricies eu risus et, cursus rhoncus est. Aenean mi urna, varius sed tellus at, fermentum elementum odio. Phasellus nec blandit lorem.

    Phasellus vehicula eget diam id ullamcorper. Duis in sapien imperdiet, vestibulum ligula id, elementum lorem. Vivamus fringilla enim imperdiet lorem semper laoreet. Curabitur rutrum ante non condimentum sagittis. Nam in ligula lacinia, ultrices velit vel, interdum diam. Nunc euismod turpis rhoncus semper viverra. Aenean sit amet augue aliquet, ultrices tellus id, maximus turpis. Proin ultrices libero erat. Cras ultricies tempus nisi, et vehicula diam. Nullam mattis velit id est ullamcorper semper.

    Etiam vestibulum enim porttitor mi suscipit iaculis. Ut faucibus purus et pretium scelerisque. Aliquam molestie ex vitae laoreet vulputate. Suspendisse eget sapien lacinia, porta urna sit amet, consectetur mauris. Ut accumsan lectus nibh, volutpat aliquam enim ornare et. In venenatis leo sit amet massa luctus, ut hendrerit libero semper. Vestibulum hendrerit magna at quam congue, id egestas purus sollicitudin.

    Phasellus finibus at lorem sit amet iaculis. Aenean eget varius ex, sed venenatis sapien. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Vestibulum at dolor vulputate, luctus arcu sed, iaculis mi. Aenean sagittis quam lectus, ac aliquam risus suscipit sed. In consequat iaculis lorem. Vivamus elit urna, volutpat vitae mi sit amet, efficitur molestie lectus. Vivamus pulvinar iaculis tincidunt. In faucibus nisi tellus, nec hendrerit odio varius ut. Integer rutrum ante lectus, vitae posuere ligula tempus ut. Curabitur in leo nulla. Quisque nec diam ut nisl laoreet ultricies non vel nulla. Pellentesque faucibus nulla sed nibh placerat, eu malesuada ante elementum. Duis venenatis suscipit dictum.

    Maecenas a nibh porttitor libero sodales dapibus vel vel neque. Aenean vestibulum tempor ex, non placerat risus porta a. Ut mollis nisl ut lorem accumsan rutrum. Aenean blandit consectetur tortor, at ultricies ipsum dignissim a. Cras convallis, est ac accumsan varius, erat ex commodo neque, ut sagittis purus nisi ac odio. Nullam porta accumsan quam. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Fusce sed posuere lorem. Donec sagittis semper fermentum. Vivamus varius rhoncus tellus sagittis efficitur. Etiam id elit sit amet ante feugiat eleifend.

    Suspendisse cursus elit nec massa aliquet, in vehicula mauris feugiat. Curabitur vulputate tellus in gravida pharetra. Morbi ullamcorper vel dui eget facilisis. Suspendisse molestie urna lacus, non faucibus mauris dignissim sit amet. Vivamus non augue ac velit pretium blandit et in eros. Nulla nec tincidunt urna. In feugiat felis quis risus bibendum, nec vehicula ex sollicitudin. Vestibulum tempus tempor velit non ornare. Curabitur vitae leo non nisi gravida rhoncus quis sed est. Curabitur dictum tortor massa, non tempor sapien imperdiet ac. Mauris pellentesque, nisl quis condimentum accumsan, ligula turpis ornare mi, eget viverra risus lectus eu magna. Integer finibus, lectus et ultrices pellentesque, nisl leo venenatis sapien, sed rutrum augue metus id massa. Aenean libero leo, tempus eget diam vel, maximus blandit risus.

    Aenean a tellus ac lacus facilisis pulvinar in nec neque. Curabitur orci lorem, ultricies ut suscipit in, suscipit a diam. Vivamus nibh mi, tempor et viverra at, faucibus at lorem. Nullam nec sagittis dolor. Aliquam condimentum ipsum a dui condimentum, nec gravida tellus placerat. Fusce maximus gravida porta. Nullam eu nisi et ante venenatis dignissim vel quis lectus. Nam ac lacus eros. Sed eget leo urna. Curabitur in rutrum eros. Nunc urna mauris, dignissim eu pellentesque semper, gravida a libero. Vivamus eget libero in neque tempus accumsan et sit amet elit. Nam enim lectus, elementum a iaculis eu, mattis et augue.

    Curabitur pulvinar enim vel pulvinar maximus. Nunc laoreet nibh non mi ullamcorper mollis eu at turpis. Suspendisse eget ante ipsum. Maecenas sollicitudin gravida faucibus. Sed hendrerit a nulla vitae vulputate. Donec a rutrum eros. Proin sed ante nisi. Donec egestas molestie augue id cursus. Donec mi lectus, cursus id risus in, bibendum hendrerit mi. Sed ornare justo non leo auctor molestie. Praesent nunc tortor, suscipit vel luctus eu, ullamcorper vel velit. Maecenas tristique neque at ullamcorper rutrum. Duis eget est sapien. Praesent ac eleifend odio. Morbi dictum rhoncus lorem eu porttitor. Etiam sapien massa, vestibulum sit amet sodales a, cursus vitae enim.

    In dolor ante, interdum eu nisl nec, hendrerit tincidunt diam. Integer ultricies, ligula ac condimentum bibendum, arcu lectus rutrum dolor, sed pellentesque mauris nulla at nisl. Vivamus placerat ultrices odio, eu sagittis lorem ullamcorper commodo. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse at mollis tortor, quis facilisis neque. Nullam quam sapien, faucibus at venenatis a, efficitur sed odio. In nec enim nec libero molestie sollicitudin sed quis dolor. Curabitur porttitor nunc quam, at semper felis suscipit a.

    Mauris cursus egestas tincidunt. Praesent semper, turpis et sollicitudin pellentesque, quam nisl rhoncus massa, et finibus diam felis ut magna. Integer vel arcu est. Morbi at augue vitae elit tristique feugiat at ac ante. Fusce eget quam ut neque vehicula bibendum non ut metus. Suspendisse at sem in dui hendrerit pretium. Quisque non magna blandit, fermentum libero nec, vehicula lorem. Nullam accumsan metus id gravida varius. Phasellus sed tincidunt neque, eget tempor purus.

    Aliquam faucibus sollicitudin diam, id iaculis ligula tristique porttitor. Phasellus dui orci, dignissim eget nunc vel, pharetra auctor mi. Sed tincidunt purus ante, eget ornare velit viverra sed. In feugiat nisl ullamcorper tellus consectetur ullamcorper. Nam sed tellus interdum, consectetur ipsum rhoncus, placerat justo. Fusce porttitor massa sit amet rhoncus ultricies. Pellentesque cursus ac velit in mollis. Nulla non ornare velit, eu auctor ipsum. Cras vestibulum, risus eget sodales dictum, erat dui fermentum urna, id maximus quam arcu id ante.

    Ut pretium tempor risus nec consequat. Aliquam arcu tortor, interdum id aliquet vitae, convallis in nisi. Etiam congue nibh sit amet varius sollicitudin. Cras ut orci tincidunt, accumsan leo in, mollis turpis. Praesent scelerisque, magna nec euismod commodo, dui enim commodo mauris, tristique imperdiet lorem massa at mi. Maecenas viverra facilisis diam tempor porta. Curabitur sollicitudin, nisl vel gravida auctor, purus justo hendrerit diam, rutrum bibendum ante massa eu dolor. Cras elit risus, fringilla eu lacus sed, tincidunt pretium tellus. Cras iaculis, risus at pretium feugiat, augue ex suscipit neque, non porttitor nibh mauris nec ipsum. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Maecenas porttitor blandit quam eu consequat. In odio felis, accumsan et justo id, elementum eleifend nibh. Phasellus ultrices varius mi quis convallis. Pellentesque in dignissim purus. Maecenas varius nunc eu velit ullamcorper, et vestibulum libero dictum. Pellentesque consectetur quam in neque accumsan laoreet.

    Proin maximus fringilla enim eu feugiat. Vestibulum facilisis ipsum augue, ac finibus lectus euismod ac. Vivamus porttitor nibh lectus, eu dignissim magna molestie sed. Suspendisse dignissim convallis velit, vel porttitor libero dictum vitae. Aliquam vel sollicitudin risus. Integer iaculis maximus lectus nec sollicitudin. Aliquam et turpis nec est egestas venenatis a eu mi. Nunc sed diam et mi facilisis placerat. Nullam tincidunt mi sed volutpat pharetra. Mauris sollicitudin, neque in iaculis venenatis, metus nisi lacinia nulla, vel pretium libero orci a neque. Pellentesque ut metus non massa iaculis interdum quis sed risus.

    Maecenas non tellus nisi. In vitae hendrerit erat. Etiam metus leo, placerat a posuere id, lobortis sed magna. Pellentesque iaculis tortor vel rhoncus lobortis. Sed elementum massa vel vulputate laoreet. Proin laoreet vitae neque sed interdum. Duis dapibus sem at luctus ultrices.

    Mauris interdum ut erat et egestas. Suspendisse sit amet neque eget turpis sodales ornare vitae eu dolor. Mauris in blandit enim. Nulla sit amet hendrerit libero. Nullam viverra neque et venenatis finibus. Sed vitae commodo metus, ut commodo turpis. Duis vel posuere augue. Donec in fermentum nibh, ut porttitor nulla. Vestibulum in porta turpis. Aenean vitae enim id nisl semper porttitor vitae nec tortor. Maecenas quis venenatis lectus. Suspendisse accumsan malesuada nisl, sed ullamcorper purus vehicula id. Vestibulum non faucibus ante. Cras nibh nunc, maximus vel gravida sit amet, dapibus ut libero. Etiam a rhoncus sem. Nunc pretium diam turpis, at scelerisque nulla egestas at.

    Donec eros eros, condimentum pharetra magna vitae, ultrices laoreet sapien. Ut at mollis dolor. In laoreet felis pharetra, lobortis libero in, molestie tortor. Phasellus hendrerit eros lectus, ac consectetur odio ullamcorper at. Donec nunc nibh, vulputate nec nulla non, convallis maximus purus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nunc purus sapien, posuere eget volutpat at, sollicitudin eget augue. Etiam pharetra sollicitudin metus, vel pretium eros laoreet rutrum. Curabitur condimentum consequat ipsum ut cursus. Vestibulum ut enim sagittis, eleifend tellus non, ullamcorper ante. Nulla nibh urna, vestibulum et leo quis, viverra euismod nisl. Cras dictum sed arcu id ornare. Vestibulum feugiat sapien est, ut finibus justo congue id. Sed varius, nibh vitae commodo lobortis, elit dui ullamcorper arcu, ut auctor dui nulla ac nulla. In in tellus id enim dignissim maximus in a tortor. Ut non tortor mauris.

    Quisque at consectetur lectus. Quisque id fermentum ante, et eleifend massa. Nunc id odio in sapien facilisis rutrum non eget libero. Quisque vitae metus sapien. Proin id augue lobortis, dignissim dui sit amet, sagittis tortor. Pellentesque eleifend leo at justo cursus consequat. Nulla sem tellus, ultricies id urna in, imperdiet imperdiet mi. Integer finibus metus eget pharetra feugiat. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vivamus condimentum pharetra turpis eu venenatis. Nam id tortor in quam aliquam gravida.

    Curabitur a maximus ex, et mollis elit. Praesent eget dignissim ligula. Fusce nisi felis, aliquet eu velit in, tincidunt mollis dui. Duis eleifend felis id ex condimentum, sit amet viverra tortor vestibulum. Aliquam fermentum scelerisque nunc sit amet tristique. Aenean at magna nisl. Sed placerat, urna sit amet consectetur efficitur, nulla est tempor lectus, ac sagittis diam orci nec dolor.

    Aenean placerat volutpat ex, quis egestas tortor elementum ac. Donec vel placerat lorem, sodales malesuada magna. Nullam id ante pharetra, tempus orci ac, molestie libero. Vivamus dui est, bibendum sit amet dapibus efficitur, auctor sit amet augue. Nulla velit urna, pretium ut semper eu, suscipit vel diam. Proin ligula orci, placerat pretium imperdiet placerat, vehicula eu leo. Phasellus ac nisl dictum tortor dignissim interdum. Donec ullamcorper vulputate venenatis. Donec ac ex at nibh fringilla consequat.

    Nunc cursus et ligula et porttitor. Nunc pellentesque viverra magna, eget tincidunt neque hendrerit ut. Nunc urna augue, mollis sed pellentesque id, lobortis sit amet nisl. Vivamus ultricies faucibus vestibulum. Integer urna est, malesuada id lacinia quis, vehicula gravida libero. Donec id aliquet sem. Phasellus facilisis tellus quis metus suscipit dignissim. Vestibulum fringilla ipsum et rhoncus tincidunt. Donec libero urna, eleifend a sapien et, pellentesque bibendum mi. Duis auctor sodales convallis. Aliquam nec orci id purus dictum eleifend in ut nisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla facilisi.

    Quisque venenatis fermentum orci in efficitur. Suspendisse nec dictum enim. Suspendisse semper auctor nisl condimentum blandit. Nulla nibh nulla, congue vel gravida molestie, ornare id lorem. Sed vel enim vel lacus dapibus imperdiet. Etiam hendrerit, sapien nec aliquet fringilla, magna turpis vulputate libero, eget blandit lectus purus nec purus. Vestibulum facilisis consequat orci in sodales.

    Quisque commodo laoreet dictum. Vestibulum dignissim dui vel sem volutpat tincidunt. Ut arcu leo, feugiat ut gravida eu, condimentum ut odio. Maecenas tempor ullamcorper suscipit. Morbi vel metus consequat, pharetra est vel, sodales metus. Aliquam auctor quam id neque tincidunt consequat at sit amet felis. Curabitur non bibendum sapien. Morbi at massa fermentum ipsum rhoncus consectetur. Aenean volutpat facilisis mi, et rhoncus sem mattis sed. Phasellus ut dignissim justo, nec porta ex. Cras hendrerit feugiat euismod.

    Ut sed ultrices nisl. Etiam eget tempus quam, id tempus ipsum. Ut quis justo sed libero sagittis molestie. Pellentesque dictum molestie nibh ut eleifend. Aliquam quis neque orci. Sed consectetur purus ac dui dapibus malesuada. Proin quis urna ac leo mollis consequat. Phasellus pharetra nulla sapien, a venenatis felis aliquet eget. Maecenas eu fermentum dolor, non condimentum magna. Proin feugiat massa magna, sed molestie lorem imperdiet ac. Sed in augue molestie, venenatis augue in, vestibulum nisi. Vivamus eu sagittis diam. Sed rutrum rhoncus lectus, quis auctor dui bibendum eu. Vivamus in sollicitudin ipsum. Vivamus vel ipsum id elit tempor mattis non quis lectus. Quisque sodales facilisis maximus.

    Suspendisse nec turpis eu massa venenatis tempus. Donec scelerisque elementum leo eu laoreet. Proin ut arcu non sem efficitur lobortis. Etiam vel tempor libero. Nullam ultricies pretium dui, ac varius leo maximus non. Sed in tempor diam, eu venenatis nulla. Curabitur quis sollicitudin ante. Nulla facilisis sapien eu risus tempus faucibus. Donec faucibus vitae felis et sodales. Cras condimentum risus pellentesque, mollis mi sed, mattis enim. Nunc hendrerit mauris in dolor venenatis, at interdum eros sodales. Sed varius feugiat metus, ut aliquam lacus vehicula vel. Vivamus odio neque, luctus sed eros ullamcorper, iaculis rhoncus velit. Sed molestie elit ut ante mattis vulputate.

    Ut ut nunc sed lectus consectetur tempor quis ut neque. In venenatis rhoncus viverra. Proin sem nulla, porta non ullamcorper et, ornare in turpis. In id sodales nibh. Etiam auctor faucibus elit id sagittis. Sed accumsan odio et nulla fermentum, a pellentesque ipsum hendrerit. Etiam maximus magna sollicitudin elit lacinia, vitae faucibus turpis venenatis. Aenean posuere tempus nunc, sed mollis tellus tincidunt eu.

    Curabitur finibus orci et lobortis finibus. Phasellus nec mi ut lacus egestas elementum. Donec in sodales ligula, quis rutrum justo. Integer faucibus rhoncus semper. Morbi pretium risus ac arcu porta, quis pulvinar dui accumsan. Sed posuere lacinia sollicitudin. Maecenas felis nisl, venenatis ac bibendum rutrum, lacinia in lorem. Cras eu arcu luctus, accumsan sapien sed, laoreet nulla.

    In diam lectus, euismod ac fringilla mattis, porta in ligula. Morbi convallis nibh ut nisi venenatis elementum. Nullam sed feugiat felis, vel porttitor neque. Pellentesque pellentesque vulputate rutrum. Donec feugiat ligula id rhoncus maximus. Praesent ut risus quam. Phasellus dapibus orci sit amet nulla gravida, sed porta lacus luctus. Aenean tempus ex a est tempor condimentum.

    Morbi non felis nisi. Cras hendrerit mi condimentum nunc interdum, volutpat commodo massa cursus. Vestibulum dapibus sem nulla, a cursus ante viverra in. Quisque ac risus vel erat finibus porttitor. Morbi non augue neque. Curabitur interdum ante ut ornare congue. Donec accumsan scelerisque pulvinar. Nunc blandit, tortor id aliquet fermentum, libero ipsum mollis quam, nec fermentum est lectus sit amet ante. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam dapibus urna vel dapibus vehicula. Sed dignissim ultricies est, sit amet bibendum risus gravida vitae. Nam eget consectetur leo. Donec ac urna ac sapien aliquam suscipit quis vel velit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

    Maecenas convallis nibh nec iaculis fermentum. Nulla porta felis ut malesuada faucibus. Nullam fermentum lacinia orci non auctor. Morbi egestas odio vel est euismod, et condimentum libero iaculis. Aenean est eros, luctus ut finibus ut, volutpat quis arcu. Fusce justo elit, eleifend a magna ac, dapibus sodales lorem. Pellentesque sem ante, hendrerit sit amet lacinia ac, cursus lacinia lectus. Curabitur vel justo vitae leo tincidunt cursus nec sit amet sapien. Nulla rutrum accumsan tellus. Sed semper purus eu elit tempor, non malesuada nulla dictum. Maecenas vel velit fermentum sem consequat suscipit ac vel libero. Nulla volutpat libero ut elit volutpat efficitur. Praesent laoreet sapien sit amet suscipit dapibus. Fusce neque sem, egestas et dui at, feugiat ultricies nibh.

    Vestibulum ullamcorper nibh eu pretium porttitor. Phasellus cursus pretium ipsum ut bibendum. Donec ullamcorper ligula eu vehicula tempor. Mauris condimentum arcu at posuere molestie. Cras iaculis mollis dignissim. Nam est mauris, condimentum eu massa sit amet, elementum egestas arcu. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nulla vitae leo pulvinar, tristique libero et, molestie est. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Vestibulum erat libero, accumsan at ultricies vitae, interdum vel lacus. In ut purus sed tellus tristique euismod. Sed dignissim, nisl sit amet feugiat iaculis, quam ipsum blandit sapien, interdum iaculis erat augue quis libero. Phasellus fringilla risus quis nibh malesuada, eget auctor urna pellentesque. Quisque vel nulla quis arcu semper sollicitudin ut quis risus. Nullam sagittis pellentesque posuere. Aliquam risus tortor, blandit sit amet pulvinar ac, feugiat malesuada mauris.

    Aliquam ultrices condimentum vehicula. Ut sollicitudin, risus quis viverra aliquam, libero ipsum laoreet elit, non maximus urna augue id sapien. Sed aliquam ultrices urna sit amet iaculis. Aliquam sed faucibus mi, a tincidunt enim. Suspendisse auctor finibus pellentesque. Ut mollis posuere commodo. Etiam feugiat nisi quis ante scelerisque, id rutrum quam commodo. Donec dapibus dignissim ligula eu imperdiet. Donec accumsan dapibus purus, et aliquam risus iaculis vitae.

    Donec ut lorem luctus, pharetra massa sed, rhoncus mi. Ut fringilla lectus id ex faucibus convallis. Praesent et fermentum est. Nulla ac augue facilisis, maximus erat eget, posuere lacus. Nulla tortor diam, sagittis id odio ac, tincidunt finibus purus. Suspendisse vehicula ante condimentum nibh auctor tristique ac interdum neque. Maecenas iaculis felis nunc.

    Duis iaculis fringilla nisi in bibendum. Vivamus euismod arcu non sapien aliquet viverra. Aliquam bibendum mi vitae sem feugiat tristique. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Aliquam ut ex eget nisl aliquam consectetur. Donec sit amet pretium sapien, et fermentum massa. Proin euismod eleifend tortor, vitae eleifend dui lobortis quis. Proin pharetra, odio ac posuere rhoncus, odio felis fringilla augue, eu pulvinar lorem diam quis est. Nulla pulvinar condimentum odio. Proin sed mattis nunc. Sed facilisis libero eu augue auctor, eget accumsan sem dignissim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed eget facilisis velit, et tempus tellus.

    Fusce accumsan consequat lectus, vitae sollicitudin sem ultrices a. Pellentesque gravida mauris sed magna venenatis, vitae pellentesque nibh blandit. Quisque gravida nulla malesuada sapien euismod tempus. Nulla facilisi. Praesent iaculis hendrerit laoreet. In nec consequat enim, at vestibulum magna. Nullam cursus ligula eget augue iaculis, nec maximus ligula dapibus. In ac malesuada nulla, ut pharetra quam. Pellentesque ultricies auctor sem, at aliquet dolor ullamcorper quis. Sed id feugiat orci. Pellentesque magna elit, dictum a porttitor sed, blandit vel enim. Etiam ultrices sem massa, sit amet efficitur purus vulputate et. Cras a quam a arcu consectetur molestie non ut turpis.

    Donec aliquam orci facilisis nisi tincidunt hendrerit. Curabitur pellentesque et augue quis luctus. Nam gravida, lacus sodales congue elementum, orci diam facilisis est, et commodo sem lectus quis ex. Pellentesque nec urna arcu. In vitae ullamcorper turpis. Vivamus posuere, diam id molestie eleifend, neque eros rutrum diam, eu rutrum purus est sit amet nibh. Phasellus convallis quis nulla a tincidunt.

    Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam accumsan velit libero, sed euismod orci egestas at. Mauris auctor suscipit massa, et feugiat nisl consequat vel. Maecenas iaculis enim eu blandit feugiat. Maecenas justo justo, sollicitudin consectetur gravida sed, malesuada id nibh. Phasellus scelerisque fringilla lorem sit amet ullamcorper. Nam vel elementum nisl. Maecenas non pellentesque orci, ut feugiat justo. Curabitur rutrum, mauris in ullamcorper volutpat, lacus purus euismod metus, vitae facilisis est dui nec diam. Sed vitae pulvinar libero. Nunc auctor faucibus lectus, ac ornare lectus fermentum non. In elementum lorem eget quam porta, sed bibendum mi suscipit. Fusce eget lacus tincidunt est venenatis condimentum non id risus.

    Morbi eget aliquet nisi, in porttitor eros. Mauris ut erat a nunc pellentesque egestas rhoncus quis sapien. Praesent scelerisque ligula a mi mollis, quis mollis orci porta. In porttitor eros ac tellus congue, at euismod leo porttitor. Vestibulum diam dui, hendrerit a laoreet nec, elementum sed mi. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Mauris vehicula dignissim diam pellentesque consectetur. Suspendisse et libero quis justo rutrum euismod. Suspendisse fringilla elit quis tortor posuere ullamcorper. Quisque elementum lacus ut magna maximus ullamcorper. Suspendisse potenti. Morbi interdum, nulla non lacinia hendrerit, lacus nulla viverra sem, ac varius arcu purus non lectus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In quam felis, dapibus sed dapibus ut, lobortis nec enim. Aliquam tincidunt condimentum nibh vel tempus. Mauris mi dolor, accumsan in imperdiet sit amet, pellentesque vitae mi.

    Mauris pulvinar orci eget ex suscipit viverra. Nam eu vehicula ligula. Maecenas interdum fringilla quam, sed cursus nisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut non vestibulum arcu. In vulputate lobortis magna quis interdum. Donec accumsan tortor orci, vitae dictum elit mattis vitae. Pellentesque vehicula justo at elit faucibus, at fermentum ante finibus. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin posuere augue a nibh ornare feugiat.

    Pellentesque eu ipsum tincidunt, faucibus ex nec, porttitor nulla. Fusce viverra nunc egestas urna condimentum, ac eleifend sapien molestie. Morbi nisi dolor, luctus a ex vel, imperdiet dictum ligula. Duis tellus nisl, congue sit amet libero non, viverra ullamcorper lacus. In sodales libero interdum, ultrices odio porta, semper metus. Duis efficitur ante vel urna bibendum, eget volutpat neque elementum. Etiam eget scelerisque neque.

    Proin ante nulla, condimentum sit amet pretium eget, euismod vestibulum ligula. Fusce fringilla massa ex, vel faucibus mi dapibus vitae. Suspendisse porta at ante sed sagittis. Phasellus quis libero malesuada quam posuere sagittis in et tortor. Nullam porttitor a augue quis fringilla. Nam rutrum, justo nec sagittis faucibus, tortor dui sodales tellus, et pharetra lacus sem eu nibh. Cras quis neque in massa ullamcorper molestie ac et augue. Nulla hendrerit eleifend felis in scelerisque. Sed non semper ligula. Nam mollis, dolor ac tristique ornare, dui lorem pulvinar leo, vel iaculis ante mauris efficitur quam. Curabitur convallis mollis tellus, id tincidunt leo vestibulum quis. Maecenas a lacinia massa. Sed rutrum, lectus eu vestibulum aliquam, libero dolor laoreet est, non volutpat velit massa vitae felis. Nunc pharetra metus non risus aliquam, sed feugiat magna consectetur.

    Curabitur ornare molestie quam vitae molestie. Nam at sem dui. Suspendisse et felis vel odio sagittis efficitur ac elementum massa. Vestibulum semper elit in commodo feugiat. Aenean porta, lorem id fermentum bibendum, libero purus tempus elit, vitae sodales massa nisl vel tortor. Cras vehicula sollicitudin aliquet. Suspendisse ornare risus libero, sed venenatis velit euismod vel. Quisque pellentesque neque neque, sed lacinia mauris dignissim lacinia.

    Suspendisse potenti. In maximus enim dictum interdum ultricies. Cras ac risus maximus elit euismod condimentum nec euismod ante. Phasellus vel commodo magna. Aliquam at condimentum nunc, eu pretium eros. Suspendisse pulvinar, tortor ut porta lacinia, odio nisi cursus massa, sed tristique dolor arcu sed nisi. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Curabitur sodales pellentesque justo. Pellentesque et pellentesque erat. In tincidunt augue vel ullamcorper iaculis.

    Nunc fermentum lectus sed lacinia fermentum. In porttitor justo sed est consectetur, id sollicitudin orci accumsan. Morbi semper felis nisl, ac facilisis tortor euismod ut. Aliquam vel tincidunt nibh. Pellentesque posuere sagittis nulla, sit amet bibendum turpis semper non. Nulla maximus dolor ac leo pretium fermentum. Pellentesque rhoncus scelerisque augue, non ultrices tellus cursus sed. Curabitur ultrices quis augue in venenatis. Etiam luctus placerat odio, quis porttitor sem accumsan eget. Suspendisse consequat magna lacus, ac egestas nulla varius id.

    Nunc fringilla fermentum laoreet. Curabitur sed tincidunt nisl. Aliquam viverra nisl at ante dictum efficitur. Donec fermentum vestibulum orci, a iaculis augue rhoncus at. Sed ut mi rhoncus nibh blandit facilisis. Sed pretium lacus id nibh gravida tempor. Maecenas sodales enim et erat commodo, vel viverra diam aliquam. Praesent commodo posuere augue, sed feugiat quam vehicula a. Fusce fringilla, metus vel lacinia convallis, nisl est venenatis velit, vitae dictum neque nisi ac urna. Suspendisse mollis id ligula at pulvinar. Suspendisse potenti. Maecenas sed ligula metus. Nullam euismod urna vitae sem accumsan, id aliquet turpis dictum. Morbi efficitur lacus et risus faucibus, scelerisque dignissim purus bibendum. Nunc facilisis diam dolor, sit amet pharetra ante condimentum vitae. Sed luctus luctus ipsum at gravida.

    Aenean varius, purus vel fringilla pulvinar, velit nisl pretium purus, ut blandit velit lacus at nulla. Vivamus vitae rhoncus justo. Pellentesque lobortis tortor velit, et sodales lectus faucibus id. Nullam feugiat nec felis vitae interdum. Praesent semper pharetra consectetur. Morbi nec tellus et augue viverra venenatis. Sed finibus magna at felis cursus consectetur non quis nunc. Morbi sodales quam nec tincidunt euismod.

    Cras dictum tellus efficitur, accumsan massa eget, vulputate orci. Curabitur interdum accumsan diam quis tincidunt. Nulla facilisi. Duis laoreet est a accumsan sollicitudin. Maecenas sagittis condimentum massa, a ultricies odio commodo vitae. Donec finibus nisl at leo mattis, ac maximus elit volutpat. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

    Quisque luctus ornare convallis. Proin vehicula laoreet nulla vel pellentesque. Quisque mi orci, suscipit id volutpat ut, maximus eu arcu. Nulla quis felis id purus porta maximus ac venenatis justo. In sit amet molestie ex, ac tempus nisl. Sed dapibus tortor facilisis porta pretium. Etiam erat tellus, convallis volutpat nisl sollicitudin, efficitur mollis velit. Nunc tincidunt, metus sed congue feugiat, lectus mi pulvinar lectus, nec lobortis purus sapien vel dolor. Sed dictum turpis quis massa dignissim, ut eleifend libero mollis. Fusce vitae dolor eu risus hendrerit maximus. Curabitur interdum nisi et neque scelerisque fermentum. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Pellentesque elementum elit et arcu laoreet ullamcorper. Ut urna sem, dapibus eu sollicitudin non, sodales in tellus.

    Proin eget ex magna. Proin vel metus vel sem mollis egestas quis vitae nulla. Nunc ut hendrerit libero. Nunc pulvinar accumsan egestas. Mauris sapien magna, feugiat eget diam id, pellentesque lobortis metus. Nullam aliquet mauris vel arcu ornare aliquam. Curabitur nec eros in justo scelerisque laoreet auctor quis est. Quisque egestas tincidunt libero, a suscipit elit mattis sit amet. Vivamus nec commodo sapien. Cras tristique urna sed justo bibendum, auctor commodo tellus pulvinar. Vivamus porttitor luctus lorem, eget pretium augue facilisis eu. Donec id nunc hendrerit, finibus lacus sed, vulputate elit. Proin et odio velit.

    Mauris volutpat mollis est, a auctor tellus luctus et. Cras venenatis, dolor in tincidunt vestibulum, nibh diam vehicula sapien, et tincidunt ipsum enim nec nisl. Cras dignissim, elit eget dapibus laoreet, diam nisi pulvinar odio, sit amet dictum augue augue vel lorem. Maecenas in dapibus erat. Mauris congue nulla vitae sapien ullamcorper, non sodales lectus vulputate. Aenean et dui pretium, dignissim leo venenatis, luctus lacus. Morbi semper blandit augue volutpat tempor. Fusce sit amet dolor vel mauris imperdiet hendrerit eu in mi.

    Phasellus varius odio dui, at maximus enim laoreet quis. Curabitur vel varius magna, non tincidunt eros. Pellentesque vestibulum nulla ac pretium aliquam. Curabitur lacinia dignissim ante pretium aliquet. Praesent nec nisi viverra, interdum nisl sit amet, condimentum est. In laoreet, tortor non elementum luctus, massa elit lobortis nisi, eget pulvinar urna est ac neque. Duis suscipit dolor et magna ultrices, eu iaculis massa dignissim.

    Integer blandit viverra arcu id tincidunt. Curabitur eget ipsum vel ligula rhoncus congue. Vivamus ante urna, ultrices et urna ut, finibus hendrerit arcu. Suspendisse potenti. Cras pharetra lorem mi, ut mattis urna iaculis et. Sed id ante sodales, ornare nisi at, maximus elit. Nam scelerisque imperdiet nisl, vel imperdiet enim fringilla sit amet. Etiam tempus eget nisi faucibus egestas.

    Nullam sed convallis augue, in bibendum magna. Quisque pharetra sapien orci, quis semper ligula porta eget. Praesent tincidunt lacus id fringilla pharetra. Praesent pulvinar vehicula tellus non iaculis. Mauris eu efficitur nunc, tempus ultricies est. Integer viverra est ut porttitor feugiat. Fusce tincidunt augue augue, eget fermentum felis maximus et.

    Nulla ultricies ipsum vel porttitor consectetur. Pellentesque vitae sem vel quam semper consectetur sit amet eu magna. Maecenas lacinia fermentum sapien, in porttitor sem porta vel. Nulla sit amet porttitor sapien, quis vestibulum magna. Nam pulvinar bibendum risus, at auctor sem vestibulum in. Maecenas egestas nibh placerat, euismod leo a, pellentesque felis. Fusce elit eros, eleifend in velit ac, finibus ultricies erat. Quisque eu nisl at nibh bibendum tristique interdum vitae lorem. Quisque in ex condimentum, dictum nibh et, gravida nibh. Morbi ornare tincidunt luctus. Cras mollis ultricies neque vitae porta. Curabitur varius elementum leo quis faucibus.

    Fusce in laoreet nunc. Integer et nisl ante. Etiam tristique varius ex non sagittis. Curabitur fermentum, elit at rhoncus hendrerit, ex diam laoreet arcu, ac volutpat mi massa eu tellus. Nulla ultrices in nisl a mollis. Duis ante dui, semper vitae dignissim eget, consequat fermentum lorem. Nulla sagittis urna tortor, ut tristique nibh molestie at. Maecenas varius, urna eget pretium malesuada, massa ipsum eleifend ex, ut varius libero elit at ante. Curabitur vulputate diam ut sem maximus, tincidunt ultrices enim egestas. Ut ac lobortis dolor, a cursus tortor. Praesent volutpat vulputate turpis eu fringilla. In nisi sapien, consectetur in ullamcorper eget, accumsan sed erat. Morbi mollis risus quis mollis vestibulum. Cras sit amet augue dictum, rutrum est et, placerat ex. Sed turpis dolor, vehicula non eros in, tempus consequat ex. Donec lobortis eleifend arcu, sed hendrerit lorem tincidunt eget.

    Nulla facilisi. Nam euismod nulla non mi lobortis, et lacinia leo tempor. Nullam in suscipit magna, eget condimentum ligula. In vel elit urna. Ut convallis eros nec tellus aliquam hendrerit. Vivamus augue dolor, porttitor at tellus non, sollicitudin sodales sapien. Donec accumsan, urna non pulvinar scelerisque, ligula lacus volutpat lacus, a tempor risus nunc a elit. Mauris eget vehicula elit. Nulla nibh augue, aliquam ut libero at, sollicitudin posuere massa. Nullam et sagittis nulla, at dignissim lectus. Etiam quis molestie tortor, sit amet elementum tellus. Morbi eleifend turpis arcu. Quisque volutpat ornare porttitor. Phasellus at nisl vulputate, finibus risus in, convallis nulla. Quisque vulputate nisi a felis porttitor, sit amet aliquam turpis pellentesque. Nullam mauris lectus, vulputate quis blandit eu, finibus in massa.

    Suspendisse id odio ut nunc consequat facilisis a et ligula. Phasellus consectetur mi vitae varius egestas. Proin neque risus, accumsan a est eu, mollis consectetur erat. Donec eu est elit. Curabitur elit massa, cursus sed dui id, commodo facilisis elit. Sed feugiat augue nibh, non facilisis tellus condimentum nec. Duis in vulputate lacus, ac pharetra nibh. Aenean imperdiet aliquet nisl. Donec non ligula malesuada, dapibus magna at, vulputate magna. Nulla hendrerit tortor turpis, et placerat justo consequat quis. Nulla tellus lacus, faucibus sit amet arcu in, ultricies convallis orci. Mauris luctus ut sem finibus consequat. Donec fringilla libero sit amet vehicula laoreet. Curabitur feugiat vel quam vitae lacinia.

    Nunc ligula felis, consequat in ultrices facilisis, ullamcorper eu elit. Nunc porttitor porttitor felis, quis congue eros auctor nec. Sed nec congue libero, vitae eleifend eros. Nunc efficitur dictum massa ac vulputate. Vivamus sodales sed mauris sed congue. Integer eros libero, aliquam at fringilla dignissim, porta eu mi. Praesent consectetur sem non tincidunt sagittis. Quisque tristique eros at commodo euismod. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam eu ex sodales, tristique arcu et, accumsan lacus. Nullam semper ante dictum eros faucibus dapibus.

    Vestibulum magna urna, consectetur sit amet interdum in, eleifend at elit. Vestibulum ut urna eu elit elementum lobortis vel rhoncus tellus. Pellentesque at iaculis purus. Duis volutpat magna vitae nisi porta, eget laoreet nulla mattis. Maecenas tincidunt quis nisi ut ultrices. Pellentesque condimentum nibh eu eros pulvinar, a bibendum lacus lacinia. Duis scelerisque ligula pretium velit tempor, ut aliquet risus congue.

    Vivamus non lobortis risus. Donec dui purus, lobortis nec ullamcorper rutrum, feugiat sed justo. Fusce venenatis gravida ante, ut gravida justo gravida eu. Donec mattis sapien tristique odio interdum, vitae egestas nisl varius. Curabitur ultricies magna ut tellus congue, sit amet tincidunt risus bibendum. Nulla feugiat pharetra lacus, sit amet rutrum metus aliquam eu. Nulla suscipit justo sit amet bibendum maximus. Etiam volutpat ultricies ipsum, non dignissim lorem aliquet sit amet. Fusce blandit ante a convallis congue. Donec ullamcorper fringilla rutrum. Suspendisse id feugiat libero. Donec venenatis vel turpis ac imperdiet. Phasellus gravida condimentum ex, nec mollis dolor sollicitudin non.

    Donec porttitor, nulla eget sagittis mattis, erat leo vulputate justo, eu consectetur nisl tellus congue justo. Sed a nibh aliquam magna tincidunt porta. Curabitur fermentum eu sapien a laoreet. Suspendisse potenti. Morbi faucibus leo ac ligula dictum condimentum. Nulla aliquet justo vel justo tincidunt, sit amet luctus urna molestie. Mauris metus diam, placerat at luctus luctus, consectetur at ligula. Pellentesque sit amet quam rutrum, pretium magna hendrerit, sagittis purus. Cras mattis enim sit amet nisl vehicula maximus. Curabitur malesuada scelerisque massa ut viverra. Ut luctus ornare feugiat.

    Praesent placerat ex urna, a sollicitudin lorem vulputate in. Sed hendrerit, orci ac lacinia vulputate, enim magna eleifend mauris, vitae pharetra lectus tortor ac velit. Suspendisse potenti. Mauris bibendum finibus imperdiet. Maecenas fermentum, ex sit amet finibus euismod, velit lorem volutpat elit, sit amet gravida mi nibh ut sem. Duis lorem nibh, posuere malesuada massa vitae, tempor posuere velit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam at sapien ligula. Cras vestibulum urna sit amet mauris rhoncus consectetur. In vel ultrices ante. Nunc finibus aliquam rutrum. Quisque ipsum dolor, interdum vel urna a, aliquam sollicitudin risus.

    Integer massa ante, mollis nec malesuada eget, lobortis ut odio. Vivamus in consequat odio, faucibus tristique turpis. Mauris feugiat laoreet tellus, a hendrerit nulla euismod non. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam at mattis nibh. Nunc accumsan elit quis odio feugiat, vel bibendum arcu elementum. Suspendisse porta imperdiet nibh, ac scelerisque velit bibendum et. Aenean commodo, arcu et mattis laoreet, sem risus lobortis tortor, quis sagittis nibh elit sit amet elit. Proin lectus ligula, imperdiet non convallis non, mattis eget nisl.

    Pellentesque tincidunt massa eros, in vulputate neque commodo at. Curabitur non sapien finibus justo vulputate porttitor. Nulla tristique pulvinar orci, ac pellentesque purus aliquam eget. Vestibulum eget condimentum neque. Nunc eget sapien dignissim, varius libero id, congue urna. Curabitur convallis aliquam magna, ac vulputate dolor ultrices id. Vivamus vestibulum lacus nec enim dapibus cursus. Aliquam erat volutpat. Proin bibendum luctus ante ac aliquet. Aliquam posuere urna risus, sed finibus odio condimentum sed. Phasellus accumsan quis arcu id egestas. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam eu mi sem.

    Aliquam orci ipsum, suscipit a dolor in, volutpat ultrices eros. Duis nec aliquam nunc. Nunc at libero sed diam vulputate auctor. Fusce lobortis, arcu ut pretium suscipit, nisl leo tristique libero, non venenatis massa tellus quis leo. Duis vulputate tristique purus id pellentesque. Cras iaculis lacus sed dui posuere, quis finibus ante tempor. Praesent risus risus, vulputate eget ex sed, laoreet ultrices ex. Donec lacinia congue justo, eu commodo magna imperdiet quis. In vulputate pulvinar neque. Aliquam vel justo sed justo mollis facilisis. Fusce id fringilla nunc. Praesent nec felis et tortor venenatis dictum.

    Integer eget tortor id sapien suscipit laoreet a in odio. Quisque orci ex, iaculis sit amet accumsan sed, gravida ut nunc. Mauris efficitur commodo mi non sodales. Phasellus auctor id sapien nec hendrerit. Nam velit turpis, viverra eu sapien quis, lacinia imperdiet sem. Sed ut augue aliquet, scelerisque mauris tincidunt, hendrerit quam. Praesent nec sem cursus, fringilla nisi eu, euismod eros.

    Proin ultrices, orci vel sodales semper, elit sem pulvinar est, vitae dignissim eros nisi et tellus. Praesent ultricies ullamcorper viverra. Nulla facilisi. In vulputate quis ante sit amet convallis. Sed sagittis lectus nulla, quis sagittis velit porta a. Suspendisse lectus elit, consectetur ac scelerisque ut, pharetra nec ex. Maecenas pretium tortor vitae lacus porta luctus. Cras sed tortor sed ante semper facilisis eu sit amet ex. Quisque a euismod risus.

    In malesuada nunc ac consequat dictum. Nullam ornare dictum ex, ac pretium erat porttitor in. Pellentesque tempor sem vel neque blandit, in pharetra metus facilisis. Curabitur velit eros, efficitur interdum facilisis nec, pharetra eu dolor. Phasellus sagittis ornare risus laoreet dictum. Nulla sodales justo consectetur, pretium felis a, placerat quam. Vestibulum accumsan elit sollicitudin, placerat eros sit amet, viverra turpis. Vivamus sed nisl odio. Fusce eget pellentesque ante. Proin porttitor commodo sapien, id facilisis est accumsan ac. Aliquam ultrices elementum nibh, at eleifend leo rutrum ac. Phasellus at ipsum lobortis, mollis lorem id, laoreet augue.

    Curabitur eu turpis nunc. Aliquam molestie nibh nec dolor vulputate, at vestibulum felis condimentum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum volutpat lorem in felis volutpat, non blandit ex condimentum. Pellentesque venenatis odio quis justo commodo viverra. Sed elit neque, volutpat at lacus convallis, luctus mollis turpis. Vestibulum ac suscipit elit, sit amet sollicitudin sapien. Integer efficitur nisl sit amet purus accumsan facilisis. Donec commodo sollicitudin arcu nec ultrices. Proin in lorem egestas, finibus massa eget, fermentum erat. Cras sollicitudin lorem in neque pretium aliquet. Nam lacinia diam vel enim sagittis, consequat scelerisque dui rhoncus. Maecenas et metus sapien. Duis sagittis justo sed elit sodales venenatis a non velit.

    Nullam sed congue tortor, quis vestibulum eros. Fusce mi ante, volutpat sed tellus quis, efficitur eleifend felis. Nullam porta risus ante, eget pellentesque massa pretium in. Aenean commodo mi in nibh posuere tincidunt quis id est. Mauris dictum scelerisque magna sit amet egestas. Morbi volutpat quis nunc rutrum dictum. Duis sed fringilla arcu. Suspendisse accumsan sollicitudin ligula sagittis elementum. Etiam nec libero et risus congue facilisis. Phasellus fermentum ornare dolor, ac vehicula tortor dignissim vitae. Pellentesque et libero vel mi sagittis laoreet a ac felis. Donec consequat felis a pharetra iaculis. Nam feugiat tincidunt orci, nec accumsan metus mollis quis. Ut egestas metus quis tellus imperdiet porttitor. Aliquam erat volutpat. Suspendisse in commodo leo.

    Nunc posuere sagittis sem. Cras vestibulum nibh ac diam tincidunt porta. Sed aliquet lorem eu tellus malesuada suscipit. Sed sit amet sem sit amet orci pulvinar pharetra. Nam sit amet eleifend est. Nulla porta, tellus mollis viverra pellentesque, felis libero bibendum enim, ut efficitur ligula turpis nec nisl. Donec convallis, orci ut pulvinar gravida, libero nibh mollis nunc, in tristique eros enim nec risus. Aliquam eu massa leo. Cras hendrerit lorem erat, pellentesque semper tellus condimentum vel. Phasellus eleifend eros sed nulla tempor pellentesque.

    Cras quis gravida sem, id rutrum purus. Nunc fringilla ex ut augue aliquam luctus. Aenean quis nunc ac sem vehicula eleifend. Pellentesque mattis ex odio, eget varius enim imperdiet vitae. Donec a ligula ut tellus efficitur molestie. Etiam sit amet purus ultrices arcu egestas finibus id ut sapien. Aenean quis augue vel enim ornare placerat quis eget dolor. Aliquam sit amet dictum mi. Ut vestibulum tincidunt justo et imperdiet. Donec ultricies eros eu fringilla feugiat. Nunc vestibulum ultrices hendrerit. Vestibulum fringilla elit in ante facilisis, sit amet molestie magna lacinia.

    Donec in lectus sem. Aliquam quis blandit lacus. Aenean quam nunc, vulputate at nulla et, faucibus malesuada quam. Fusce volutpat, sem ac dapibus fermentum, enim lectus scelerisque nibh, vitae bibendum libero dui in ante. Morbi non viverra felis, vitae fringilla est. Quisque magna felis, vehicula lobortis dui vitae, varius facilisis ipsum. Cras tincidunt leo at leo viverra, ut laoreet nibh fermentum. Fusce tincidunt mi et purus dignissim, ac porta mi rhoncus. Curabitur bibendum nisi vel urna sodales, ac placerat ex bibendum. Mauris auctor porta semper. Vestibulum sem sem, aliquet vitae eleifend eu, tempor ut ipsum. Aenean cursus maximus ex at rhoncus. Aenean lacinia, lacus efficitur dictum mollis, erat neque laoreet felis, vel rutrum leo purus ut sem. Curabitur laoreet tellus ut justo volutpat ullamcorper. Proin nec consequat ex.

    Pellentesque et egestas erat, nec varius nunc. Pellentesque tortor mi, facilisis ut semper vel, ornare at leo. Nunc eros elit, sollicitudin eu aliquet eu, aliquet ut eros. Mauris sit amet magna venenatis, ullamcorper nisi in, gravida lorem. Suspendisse vel viverra lorem. Pellentesque interdum elit lorem, dignissim dapibus nisi laoreet eget. Nunc ac placerat magna, sed auctor mauris. Praesent sodales sagittis tellus non dictum.

    Vivamus eu porttitor orci, id feugiat turpis. Sed sed tincidunt tellus. Phasellus eleifend metus et nisl dignissim, eu tempor erat malesuada. Nam feugiat elementum enim ut suscipit. Nunc pretium egestas augue, vitae interdum leo. Vivamus eget scelerisque ex. Aenean porttitor porttitor purus non pretium. Fusce sit amet nibh nec nunc lacinia tristique. Ut purus turpis, commodo a rhoncus ac, vulputate id erat. Ut vulputate eget ligula eu placerat.

    Vestibulum nunc enim, efficitur eget ipsum ut, posuere maximus neque. Nunc commodo magna sodales augue rhoncus, in consectetur odio vestibulum. Sed egestas lacinia commodo. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Nullam interdum nibh eu aliquet varius. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum ultricies nunc vitae ligula hendrerit suscipit. Mauris ut gravida orci. Mauris ullamcorper bibendum rhoncus. Nunc porta, leo vel varius suscipit, libero felis molestie odio, vitae ultricies lectus leo sit amet ipsum. Donec nec fringilla urna, nec faucibus lacus. Vivamus sem risus, feugiat ac elit vitae, consequat mollis urna. Ut non venenatis tellus.

    Nulla leo massa, rutrum non sapien a, accumsan molestie metus. Vivamus tincidunt lectus sit amet libero porta venenatis. Phasellus fringilla, tellus non vehicula malesuada, dui risus consectetur erat, sit amet consectetur ligula ex nec odio. Duis lacinia pulvinar pellentesque. Curabitur tellus enim, eleifend eu libero id, euismod dignissim neque. Nulla tristique risus et dictum tempor. Nam faucibus elit sit amet magna placerat, id fermentum purus faucibus. Suspendisse quis aliquet sapien, quis feugiat metus. Maecenas iaculis congue enim quis euismod. Aenean faucibus, sem in feugiat elementum, dui risus pellentesque enim, id luctus arcu est id lorem. In tincidunt ante sed nibh egestas imperdiet. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Mauris egestas maximus ipsum eget fermentum. Duis porta in risus nec pulvinar.

    Integer eget tempor metus. Cras ac scelerisque odio, sit amet maximus magna. Sed quis libero at ante auctor blandit ullamcorper et dolor. Praesent facilisis eros eu volutpat posuere. Nam dapibus rhoncus dolor, convallis hendrerit risus rutrum in. Nam gravida faucibus facilisis. Fusce quis mollis est. Maecenas in magna erat. Donec et fermentum lorem, sed aliquet mi. Suspendisse viverra rhoncus nulla, vitae pulvinar est ultrices placerat. Nunc ultrices pellentesque sapien, eu efficitur sem faucibus consequat. Maecenas interdum porttitor massa vitae dapibus. Suspendisse fermentum ante non orci hendrerit interdum. Mauris quis molestie sapien.

    Pellentesque mauris elit, pretium in bibendum et, volutpat sed urna. Nam aliquam ornare erat, vel convallis mauris finibus ut. Nam dapibus vulputate bibendum. Aenean maximus ante sed volutpat convallis. Pellentesque at imperdiet neque. Morbi vitae turpis hendrerit, blandit eros sit amet, dictum est. Cras fermentum libero in nisl luctus, in facilisis dui pretium. Ut vestibulum cursus sem, eu scelerisque eros vehicula at. Proin tincidunt, turpis et fermentum tempus, odio nisi cursus nibh, in finibus magna nisl vitae orci.

    In blandit sit amet lorem vel elementum. Donec at lobortis neque. Duis sit amet ligula mattis, vestibulum urna eget, volutpat mauris. Donec vehicula mattis nulla, vitae feugiat eros tempus a. Pellentesque at placerat leo, id aliquam elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Donec elit nibh, venenatis non luctus at, imperdiet at dui. Integer nibh dolor, egestas non dignissim non, tristique in tortor.

    Donec sollicitudin nec diam in pulvinar. Sed sapien est, consectetur in arcu vitae, feugiat imperdiet sapien. Proin vestibulum mollis libero tincidunt sodales. Fusce tristique egestas mauris ac feugiat. Nunc a elit dictum, tincidunt eros sit amet, finibus enim. In non est ornare, tincidunt lorem sed, posuere arcu. Integer quis malesuada felis, sit amet sagittis lacus. Mauris pellentesque vel risus at varius. Sed sagittis id est non ornare. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Morbi consectetur ipsum non justo pharetra tincidunt. In libero ligula, ornare sed lorem et, consequat tristique tortor. Curabitur euismod porttitor hendrerit. Nunc non velit nec urna sagittis eleifend quis ut elit. Vivamus est eros, porta a pharetra at, eleifend ut velit.

    Cras auctor dignissim risus ut bibendum. Sed sollicitudin scelerisque imperdiet. Nulla viverra ipsum a est feugiat, sed mattis libero faucibus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Integer porta arcu at tortor fermentum, sit amet finibus ante maximus. Suspendisse aliquam dapibus nisl eu mollis. Maecenas gravida, leo sit amet pellentesque convallis, enim ipsum viverra erat, sed pulvinar erat tortor et sapien. Aenean in est vitae nunc ullamcorper pulvinar. Proin auctor consectetur.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam congue fringilla nisl et cursus. Vivamus dui massa, suscipit nec egestas sit amet, convallis a augue. Suspendisse eget magna faucibus, tempus ligula nec, tristique dui. Maecenas efficitur id nisi eget iaculis. Etiam porta tellus sem, at pharetra elit pharetra non. Proin tincidunt sed risus quis aliquam. Praesent justo enim, faucibus sit amet tortor sed, pretium sagittis felis. Sed ornare mollis nulla, a bibendum tellus mollis eu. Donec faucibus eros in lectus scelerisque molestie a et ex. Phasellus non odio at purus feugiat tempus vel aliquet mauris. Aliquam pharetra rutrum sem quis semper. Sed tempor lorem eget enim imperdiet suscipit. Donec ornare auctor elit, in commodo urna.

    Proin malesuada lorem in lobortis fringilla. Sed dapibus luctus metus, vel porttitor quam. Sed venenatis neque odio, sed molestie tellus hendrerit at. Sed porta odio ligula, et laoreet enim mollis ac. Morbi lectus est, pretium et tempus nec, vehicula fermentum augue. Nullam sit amet eleifend leo. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Mauris vestibulum, dolor vel ornare consectetur, enim orci elementum lacus, in maximus ante lacus in diam. Nam vitae massa non nunc cursus lacinia nec tincidunt nisi. Suspendisse potenti. Sed sit amet pellentesque justo. Donec aliquam risus in libero volutpat, nec ultrices neque condimentum.

    Duis eu sapien eu dolor ultrices suscipit. Donec rhoncus vehicula dictum. Pellentesque a lectus a metus ultrices tempus. Vestibulum ullamcorper facilisis neque nec pharetra. Cras in mauris pulvinar, mattis magna consectetur, tempor neque. Nullam sed dolor congue, vulputate nunc at, auctor ante. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. In in augue sit amet purus vestibulum posuere. Vivamus elementum velit ac odio gravida suscipit. Aenean ex ante, mattis et ornare eget, finibus placerat erat.

    Praesent quis maximus lacus. Mauris finibus et libero quis pharetra. Fusce quis placerat velit. Phasellus sed felis mollis, venenatis ante luctus, fermentum est. Vestibulum nisi arcu, aliquet quis rhoncus pharetra, lacinia a turpis. Aenean varius, nisi vel elementum faucibus, velit orci vulputate mauris, vitae pharetra ex dolor quis mi. Donec ac auctor felis, ut varius eros.

    Etiam luctus ac velit eget aliquam. Proin hendrerit cursus nisi in malesuada. Curabitur convallis felis eros, eget porta ipsum pulvinar non. Nullam eu convallis sem. Cras vehicula volutpat turpis non aliquam. Vivamus fringilla vitae justo in molestie. In eu orci ligula. Donec blandit magna erat, sed porta ipsum hendrerit id. Vivamus nisl elit, tincidunt id magna eget, porttitor euismod sem. Maecenas et feugiat erat.

    Praesent consequat pretium nulla, non vulputate leo hendrerit in. Suspendisse placerat malesuada iaculis. Nam tristique porttitor lectus sed vehicula. Morbi vehicula enim posuere eros mollis tempor. Etiam massa tortor, sollicitudin in felis ultrices, convallis fringilla nulla. Aliquam hendrerit aliquam purus, a viverra felis condimentum ut. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Aenean maximus maximus auctor. Curabitur euismod urna et dolor venenatis bibendum. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Proin vitae fringilla dolor. Integer ante est, rhoncus id luctus quis, fermentum vitae eros. Sed sed velit dapibus, vulputate velit nec, dictum quam.

    Nulla id lorem eu libero dignissim bibendum. Maecenas ullamcorper euismod pulvinar. Nullam eget lectus vitae orci sollicitudin porttitor. Vestibulum sed tortor diam. Pellentesque tempor sit amet sapien quis commodo. Nunc nec quam lacinia, condimentum erat non, eleifend libero. Etiam ultricies, nisi ac porttitor aliquam, dui justo ullamcorper enim, ut elementum sapien elit et leo. Curabitur id ante eu mi condimentum aliquam. Quisque sed enim diam. Aliquam convallis, nibh in ornare rutrum, nunc nulla sodales erat, non consectetur justo velit sit amet dui. Nunc sodales iaculis viverra. Vivamus id dolor ut dui pellentesque convallis non non justo. Etiam venenatis dapibus mattis. Suspendisse est sapien, elementum sed felis quis, placerat pharetra quam.

    Phasellus lacinia arcu nibh, ut imperdiet nibh feugiat sit amet. Sed risus tortor, vestibulum eu augue blandit, eleifend dignissim urna. Integer condimentum dictum nisi sed facilisis. Morbi pulvinar, arcu ac blandit vulputate, ipsum odio sollicitudin massa, nec malesuada arcu dui a metus. Nullam porttitor purus dui, fringilla imperdiet urna viverra quis. Pellentesque nec ipsum vitae arcu tincidunt pellentesque. Maecenas posuere massa ut interdum blandit. Ut dolor augue, pharetra non nunc sed, interdum imperdiet arcu.

    Quisque ultricies dictum nisl in facilisis. Nam tempus lobortis malesuada. Curabitur purus tortor, interdum eu laoreet finibus, faucibus quis eros. In vestibulum felis sed dolor facilisis dignissim. Duis malesuada orci eget augue semper tincidunt. Nullam quis finibus sem. Nulla dapibus sem eu justo tempor, a lobortis ex pulvinar. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Cras sagittis sem augue, vitae egestas arcu lobortis porttitor. In euismod justo dignissim, aliquam lacus in, scelerisque libero. Duis finibus tortor ac libero ullamcorper, eget aliquam turpis tincidunt.

    Aenean neque sapien, faucibus maximus mattis malesuada, venenatis nec sapien. Etiam fringilla, lectus vel vehicula ornare, elit sapien faucibus neque, nec malesuada purus leo a nisl. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Curabitur pharetra dui in libero pulvinar tempor. Nulla pretium enim in ex sodales aliquet. Maecenas in turpis dolor. Quisque sed nisi ac orci aliquet hendrerit in eu felis. Nam ut bibendum ligula. In accumsan accumsan ex vel mollis. Donec lectus lorem, mattis vitae commodo eget, aliquam ac ligula. Curabitur non mi efficitur, lacinia elit id, ullamcorper tellus. Quisque quis ligula a odio tincidunt aliquet. Suspendisse ac cursus mi. Aliquam erat volutpat.

    Curabitur pellentesque tortor sollicitudin nisi tincidunt, id accumsan sem accumsan. In sed dictum eros, sit amet faucibus ipsum. Cras commodo aliquet auctor. Suspendisse porta enim ipsum, sodales blandit dui consequat nec. Sed justo sapien, vestibulum eu egestas ut, finibus eu nisl. Nulla blandit vel nulla sed rhoncus. Morbi vulputate efficitur purus ac condimentum. Pellentesque commodo quis velit vel scelerisque. Nulla mi orci, venenatis eget nisi sit amet, sollicitudin tempor purus. In vehicula in dui quis pulvinar. Ut dignissim ante quam, eget eleifend arcu dapibus in. Donec id gravida tellus, nec laoreet urna. Vivamus dignissim magna eros, id sollicitudin lacus posuere in. Morbi mollis elit scelerisque mauris consequat, at faucibus nunc pretium. Sed cursus, nisi nec rutrum porta, ante augue vestibulum elit, ac interdum felis urna non sapien. Duis quis auctor magna, at pellentesque mauris.

    In mattis justo vel est tempus bibendum. Nulla nunc lectus, gravida eu bibendum at, lacinia sed ex. Nunc sed nisl vel est hendrerit interdum. Fusce ac ultricies diam. Nulla hendrerit sit amet tortor fringilla dictum. Nulla dui ante, bibendum et nisl nec, scelerisque facilisis lorem. Nullam non ligula quis massa condimentum aliquet at non justo. Quisque sollicitudin venenatis erat eget scelerisque. Vivamus imperdiet congue pretium. In at imperdiet lectus. Nulla facilisi. Integer leo magna, bibendum eu quam at, elementum rutrum libero. Maecenas efficitur vel enim a suscipit. Etiam sodales velit egestas finibus imperdiet.

    In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus scelerisque felis nec libero ullamcorper vestibulum. In faucibus interdum odio, ac eleifend massa congue nec. Etiam in dui odio. Suspendisse lacus lacus, iaculis sed vulputate eu, imperdiet eu metus. Quisque velit libero, sollicitudin eget ipsum non, volutpat hendrerit tortor. Maecenas varius dignissim dictum. Sed pretium tempor dolor et iaculis. Pellentesque sit amet finibus ligula. Sed ullamcorper, enim in pharetra consequat, eros ipsum ultricies sem, eget mollis diam ante ac felis. Quisque dui massa, porta molestie viverra pellentesque, imperdiet eget ante. Morbi tristique maximus semper. Nam sagittis efficitur tortor, et faucibus eros mattis laoreet. Pellentesque orci dui, condimentum a turpis eu, elementum iaculis nibh. Suspendisse dapibus euismod augue, et placerat lacus.

    Duis ut pellentesque libero. Ut vel leo metus. Vivamus aliquam lobortis dolor, eget fringilla lorem interdum vel. Quisque aliquam ornare varius. Etiam tristique pharetra libero sit amet mollis. Duis hendrerit magna magna, vitae dignissim lorem placerat ut. Quisque eget semper enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Phasellus id imperdiet mauris, vitae aliquet enim. Vestibulum sit amet dapibus dui. Nulla pulvinar et quam eu vehicula.

    Praesent massa justo, ultricies at mi at, tempor cursus tellus. Sed ac massa congue, ullamcorper quam et, viverra nulla. Quisque ac pellentesque enim. Sed lacinia magna sit amet ex facilisis porttitor. Maecenas lacinia nisl vitae metus faucibus iaculis. Maecenas rutrum urna nisl, at rhoncus purus luctus vel. Donec vel auctor quam, in ultrices velit. Fusce ut lectus magna. Pellentesque ut posuere est, in sollicitudin nisl. Aliquam vulputate massa nibh, sed ullamcorper elit dignissim nec. In feugiat blandit mattis. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In hendrerit feugiat pulvinar.

    Quisque porta facilisis lectus. Sed pretium ipsum ac lacus viverra pretium. Vestibulum eleifend, diam ac tincidunt fermentum, lacus est venenatis felis, sed tristique dui risus at elit. Etiam ultricies elit eget aliquet pharetra. Fusce tortor metus, pharetra ut massa vitae, aliquam malesuada nibh. Curabitur velit nibh, feugiat id leo vel, imperdiet aliquam libero. Aenean eu leo in lectus tincidunt varius. Vivamus ornare purus enim, sit amet euismod dolor vulputate vel. Pellentesque rutrum eros nec tristique dictum. Nam luctus rhoncus purus, sit amet facilisis justo. Nulla facilisi. In cursus, mauris nec placerat sagittis, justo eros lobortis purus, ut molestie velit ipsum in ex. Curabitur pulvinar neque id urna dignissim elementum. Vivamus quis augue sit amet lorem ultricies commodo. Nam nisi justo, sagittis eu mauris vitae, lacinia porta lacus.

    Aliquam molestie fermentum nunc, nec egestas libero. Etiam massa neque, vestibulum sed sem gravida, varius dictum mi. Duis laoreet turpis ac mattis lacinia. Pellentesque luctus hendrerit leo, sit amet posuere ligula congue in. Suspendisse cursus dui vitae mi accumsan luctus. Nulla malesuada aliquet suscipit. Nullam et turpis rhoncus, vehicula tortor in, malesuada neque. Vivamus et egestas nisi. Aliquam pharetra auctor dolor rhoncus porta. Proin eget dictum purus. In malesuada pretium leo a vestibulum.

    Morbi dictum velit eu augue fermentum commodo. Phasellus risus est, tempor eu eleifend pellentesque, faucibus at nibh. Duis accumsan maximus diam porta pulvinar. Suspendisse non magna et ante cursus volutpat id eget neque. Aliquam velit risus, dapibus eleifend aliquam vitae, vestibulum eget sapien. Suspendisse a urna velit. Maecenas maximus elementum quam at interdum. Praesent tellus ante, pharetra id tincidunt sed, congue sit amet tortor. Quisque commodo vel eros nec mollis. Morbi quis auctor magna. Pellentesque maximus lectus ex, quis semper risus accumsan eu.

    Curabitur fringilla augue quis vulputate molestie. Ut gravida efficitur venenatis. Aenean dignissim efficitur dolor, a lacinia eros iaculis ac. Aliquam malesuada porttitor purus vel molestie. Nullam ut felis lobortis, aliquam massa sit amet, molestie ex. Mauris sed varius neque. Curabitur sollicitudin nec odio in lacinia. Fusce porttitor nisi eu lacus volutpat pharetra. Phasellus pretium magna at lorem consequat, vitae aliquam libero ultricies. Nam enim tellus, gravida sit amet feugiat in, pulvinar ac neque. Integer sapien ante, rhoncus ut magna id, luctus aliquet tortor.

    Sed ultrices, nisl sed auctor imperdiet, elit nibh tincidunt ante, at tincidunt sem libero eget nisi. Aenean hendrerit nulla ac massa luctus finibus. Nunc tincidunt scelerisque ligula a cursus. Nunc non condimentum urna. Donec sit amet elit non lorem congue gravida. Nullam felis nisl, mollis id consectetur a, imperdiet sed nibh. Pellentesque blandit tempor fringilla. Vivamus vitae placerat neque. Cras vulputate mi ut mattis ullamcorper. Donec ultricies aliquet ligula, in suscipit odio hendrerit et. Suspendisse condimentum lacus nec varius varius. Phasellus dapibus porttitor enim, sed volutpat dui pharetra id. Donec at tincidunt lorem. Cras id velit tellus.

    Cras scelerisque felis in interdum ultricies. Nulla vitae eros interdum, tincidunt libero ut, dapibus velit. Integer in felis a dolor iaculis congue. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam ligula libero, tempus sit amet tempus volutpat, rhoncus id magna. Phasellus sollicitudin mauris quis aliquet bibendum. Nunc sodales dolor sapien, quis consequat est placerat at.

    Sed enim elit, rutrum nec arcu quis, sollicitudin ullamcorper magna. In fringilla vulputate mi, at pellentesque urna molestie id. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed scelerisque accumsan neque, in dapibus nisi luctus ac. Donec varius urna at velit finibus, a sollicitudin mauris porttitor. Donec eget tincidunt justo, non faucibus libero. Suspendisse ullamcorper vehicula dui vitae rutrum. Nunc in interdum elit, eu finibus urna. Sed a nibh sit amet purus feugiat congue at quis libero. Aliquam nec interdum erat. Sed vehicula nisl ac dui pretium, vitae commodo mauris porta. Morbi semper ac magna ut volutpat. Phasellus eleifend urna vel ex bibendum luctus.

    Praesent faucibus placerat eros. Sed sit amet augue augue. Fusce pharetra vulputate neque ut pellentesque. Aliquam sed urna sed ante viverra efficitur. Pellentesque vitae est pharetra, ultricies velit feugiat, ornare ante. Mauris volutpat vulputate ornare. Morbi et massa facilisis, accumsan turpis nec, pulvinar nulla. Nunc sed fermentum diam. Morbi pellentesque libero vitae nulla facilisis, ut convallis est blandit.

    Vestibulum non magna lobortis, ullamcorper erat sit amet, luctus ligula. Cras eu justo aliquam, cursus sem sit amet, volutpat arcu. Donec enim ante, pretium sed porta non, commodo et erat. Vivamus dignissim at nunc a facilisis. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nam facilisis quam lobortis, pellentesque sem vel, pretium elit. Mauris porta lacus a neque tempor laoreet. Donec tincidunt suscipit metus, in semper ligula tincidunt ullamcorper. Duis volutpat nisi vel purus bibendum, sed fermentum urna elementum. Curabitur condimentum gravida augue, ut ornare sapien sodales nec. Etiam porttitor id mi eget sagittis. Sed nunc dui, efficitur sit amet accumsan ut, accumsan a nibh.

    Praesent id risus eget diam rhoncus volutpat. Morbi imperdiet turpis sit amet dolor semper fermentum. Maecenas non dui sodales mi bibendum finibus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Aenean rutrum, orci id consectetur aliquet, elit quam tempus justo, vitae porta justo elit eu elit. Vestibulum a molestie erat. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Mauris auctor commodo ligula, non vulputate nibh. Integer ultrices leo a iaculis dictum. Sed volutpat consequat est in accumsan.

    Maecenas lacinia hendrerit elit a gravida. Nunc in eros eget mi suscipit condimentum ac a erat. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Proin vitae lacus id turpis sagittis varius non et turpis. Praesent euismod feugiat metus ac dictum. Ut justo nibh, pulvinar faucibus risus eu, tempor commodo nulla. Integer quam libero, sagittis eu euismod eu, molestie eget orci.

    Cras lobortis viverra sagittis. Nunc vel accumsan purus, ut tincidunt leo. Donec et arcu efficitur, tincidunt eros egestas, aliquam nisi. Aenean et commodo ligula. Suspendisse arcu enim, facilisis et elit at, blandit convallis ex. Donec fringilla id lorem sed fringilla. Maecenas ut turpis est. Mauris a nunc laoreet, molestie dui ut, sodales enim. Aenean commodo, arcu quis cursus accumsan, magna sapien ultricies leo, sit amet lobortis massa erat non lacus.

    Morbi consequat felis sed diam rhoncus porta ac nec elit. Vivamus tincidunt in ipsum vel pellentesque. Nullam lacinia posuere justo in malesuada. Maecenas placerat ultricies viverra. Suspendisse eu ultricies tellus. Nunc venenatis augue arcu, in hendrerit mauris semper vitae. Aliquam quam urna, porttitor suscipit lobortis quis, egestas aliquet magna. Duis ullamcorper elementum nunc ut suscipit.

    Proin placerat aliquet lorem vitae commodo. Pellentesque lorem risus, luctus eu ex eu, convallis luctus urna. Praesent velit ante, facilisis eget lacus vitae, placerat tempus turpis. Mauris blandit pharetra efficitur. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nam posuere tellus leo, eu pretium diam ornare nec. Phasellus vel placerat ante. Ut sit amet ligula convallis, fermentum lorem at, porttitor nibh. Maecenas cursus sapien magna, quis rutrum turpis vestibulum id. Maecenas et sem cursus, molestie lacus in, gravida tellus.

    Nullam venenatis urna erat, eget convallis mauris venenatis ut. Vivamus eget maximus risus. Cras faucibus accumsan enim, eu congue sapien fringilla non. Curabitur sollicitudin augue quis augue fermentum viverra. Morbi ornare tortor porta, euismod augue sed, luctus massa. Nulla facilisi. Maecenas eu lorem enim.

    Morbi ornare elit a orci viverra consectetur. Proin tincidunt orci ut orci placerat, at scelerisque velit blandit. Quisque pretium ligula erat, non facilisis ex tristique vitae. Maecenas quis luctus ante. Sed vehicula imperdiet erat, sit amet porttitor arcu malesuada id. Quisque in lectus nisl. Aenean vitae magna et tellus maximus feugiat. Praesent fringilla placerat porttitor. In bibendum massa in massa lacinia pulvinar. Nam lacinia et lacus ut porta. Quisque suscipit porta metus, at ultricies dolor vehicula vel. Ut egestas, ligula sodales consectetur interdum, velit tellus varius arcu, et rhoncus odio nisl vel erat.

    In non velit pretium, gravida tortor eget, bibendum massa. Fusce vitae erat mattis, gravida ex vitae, tincidunt orci. Mauris quis gravida velit. Etiam sit amet convallis massa. Donec ut velit ornare, aliquam orci id, ultricies ligula. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque malesuada venenatis risus, dictum pretium quam rhoncus vitae. Nam id lacus varius, ullamcorper nunc suscipit, malesuada dui.

    Praesent scelerisque est et cursus ornare. Donec blandit, tortor quis convallis fringilla, tortor nulla porta nisl, a mattis risus velit vitae risus. Fusce porttitor, mi eleifend aliquet finibus, enim purus iaculis ex, a dignissim sapien orci aliquam urna. In nec sem sapien. Mauris vitae laoreet tortor, id commodo diam. Morbi et imperdiet odio. Morbi turpis enim, placerat et varius sit amet, venenatis sed nibh. Nullam vestibulum dolor a fringilla auctor. Morbi venenatis erat mauris, a pulvinar dui vehicula a. Suspendisse ante enim, sodales quis ipsum at, ultrices rutrum nibh.

    Suspendisse gravida vitae enim sed mattis. Ut finibus euismod mauris, ac eleifend lacus ultrices quis. Nulla vehicula, est in porttitor mollis, metus quam consectetur dui, vitae malesuada libero diam nec elit. Cras metus leo, hendrerit eget ultricies vitae, rhoncus gravida justo. Cras fringilla facilisis ante ut consectetur. Curabitur lacus leo, iaculis non scelerisque in, tincidunt scelerisque risus. Integer ac mauris id risus finibus finibus eget quis risus. In non magna varius, aliquet nisi euismod, dapibus ligula.

    Donec justo lacus, ornare vulputate gravida ac, cursus non massa. Donec eu efficitur ex. Donec vitae pulvinar ex. Sed felis purus, finibus vel magna a, consequat pulvinar felis. Sed a velit quis metus iaculis gravida. Aliquam tincidunt urna lobortis ante consequat maximus. Nullam sed enim vitae est dapibus egestas sed placerat urna. Sed dapibus mollis mollis. Duis eu tortor in lorem tempor maximus. Nam eu dolor ultrices velit scelerisque lobortis. Nunc tempor consequat est eu efficitur. Suspendisse fermentum ultrices augue, non laoreet libero fermentum in.

    Vestibulum vestibulum ac purus in suscipit. Fusce sit amet cursus mi. Fusce non auctor odio, at dignissim purus. Suspendisse ante lorem, vulputate non metus sed, pellentesque venenatis dui. Proin quis mi varius eros elementum efficitur eget id dolor. Ut pulvinar est ut arcu dignissim congue. Nulla at maximus nibh.

    Aenean imperdiet suscipit leo, nec feugiat nulla tempus sit amet. Praesent est quam, rhoncus ut diam semper, sagittis cursus odio. Integer elementum dictum interdum. Praesent scelerisque, enim id cursus rhoncus, justo metus fringilla nibh, id pharetra neque orci condimentum nisi. Phasellus tincidunt libero eu diam egestas, ac dapibus mauris consectetur. Mauris at rhoncus mauris. Suspendisse potenti. Sed cursus facilisis ipsum, et varius magna dapibus nec. Nullam imperdiet ornare libero, ut egestas turpis aliquet ullamcorper. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

    Nulla facilisis maximus maximus. Maecenas rutrum dictum orci, interdum elementum ipsum imperdiet vel. Maecenas volutpat magna nisl, nec dapibus lacus tristique ac. Curabitur vestibulum, dui sed scelerisque consequat, erat enim hendrerit neque, et semper lacus enim ut sapien. In ut auctor erat. Sed faucibus dolor ac justo dignissim semper. Maecenas consectetur orci a mattis dignissim. Aliquam pellentesque fermentum facilisis.

    Duis blandit nisl ipsum, ut fringilla justo egestas vitae. Vestibulum odio sem, fringilla non lorem quis, porta porta lacus. Aenean in turpis at nibh posuere laoreet a vel orci. Aliquam metus neque, tempor ut placerat cursus, pretium sit amet dolor. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Donec at gravida diam, non consectetur tortor. Quisque nulla diam, eleifend vitae erat vitae, viverra porttitor est. Curabitur commodo magna orci, ac cursus leo condimentum at. Curabitur sit amet tellus vitae libero tincidunt volutpat. Nulla facilisi. Nulla molestie justo elit, sed fringilla nisl rutrum a. Nulla facilisi.

    Cras orci dui, pharetra nec risus nec, tristique consectetur purus. Sed vitae nulla non magna facilisis fringilla. Mauris non ullamcorper urna. Vestibulum quis laoreet dolor, a pharetra felis. Phasellus mollis dolor nisl, sed sollicitudin eros dignissim in. Nam nec massa a lacus pretium porta. Sed eleifend aliquam orci, a suscipit enim lobortis eget. Praesent dictum est eget mollis gravida. Nulla ipsum nisi, consequat sed neque eget, rhoncus rhoncus dolor. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam ac laoreet massa, ac bibendum purus. Curabitur feugiat sem non accumsan blandit. Sed pellentesque, nunc sed tempor aliquam, turpis quam facilisis ante, et imperdiet orci metus eu quam. Nulla tempor, purus sed luctus posuere, risus nunc bibendum turpis, in pellentesque nulla mi vel sem. Morbi vel diam elit. Duis pharetra ex a odio consequat placerat.

    Fusce a bibendum lacus, nec ultrices urna. Mauris quam est, vehicula eget leo vel, vehicula rhoncus mi. Maecenas vulputate dui lacinia, fringilla felis at, efficitur est. Donec at neque lectus. Aenean dictum tortor aliquet tortor commodo, eget tincidunt nunc convallis. Quisque velit leo, ultrices at turpis eu, iaculis porttitor dui. Ut luctus nulla iaculis euismod aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse facilisis ipsum eget lectus efficitur, nec fermentum augue pulvinar. Aliquam condimentum metus lacus, nec elementum odio elementum eget. Quisque eu est nunc. Quisque vulputate ex vel ullamcorper vehicula. Maecenas ut tincidunt nulla. Morbi facilisis faucibus eros, eget venenatis augue tristique ut.

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Chapter?	Point of View	Summary	Location
One	Yan	Yan and Sylva eat dinner in the Academy dining hall. Yan attends worship and talks to her advisor about her final project.	Emerri, Yora, the Academy
Two	Aymon	Aymon visits the Academy to choose apprentices based on their projects.	Emerri, Yora, the Academy
Three	Yan and Aymon	Yan meets other apprentices who are being interviewed. Aymon interviews Yan to be his apprentice.	Emerri, Yora, the Academy
Four	Yan	Yan tells her friends about her interview with Aymon.	Emerri, Yora, the Academy
Five	Yan	Yan and Sylva journey to the Iron Dreams to spend their summer vacation.	Byforest Station, the Iron Dreams
Six	Yan	Yan and Sylva have dinner with Captain Pellon.	the Iron Dreams
Seven	Yan	Yan tells Maxes about her apprenticeship.	the Iron Dreams
Eight	Yan	Midyear aboard the Iron Dreams. Sylva confesses her feelings.	the Iron Dreams
Nine	Yan	Yan and Sylva return home from their summer vacation.	Emerri
Ten	Yan	Yan moves into her new apartment and meets Sid (again).	Emerri, Yora
Eleven	Aymon and Yan	The apprentices have their first day on the job.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Twelve	Yan	Everyone prepares for the meeting with the Trade Guild. Yan and Kino have a conversation.	Emerri, Yora
Thirteen	Yan	Sandreas and apprentices meet with Guildmaster Vaneik and his apprentices.	Emerri, Yora
Fourteen	Yan	Sandreas debriefs the meeting with his apprentices.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Fifteen	Aymon	Sandreas continues to debrief the meeting with his apprentices.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Sixteen	Yan	Yan is trailed through the city and has a conversation with Halen.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Seventeen	Yan	The apprentices participate in a dangerous training exercise.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Eighteen	Yan	Everyone debriefs the training.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Interlude: The Book of Secrets		Yan''s notes from reading the Fleet Apprentice Onboarding Manual.
Nineteen	Yan	The apprentices go out for dinner.	Emerri, Yora
Twenty	Yan and Aymon	The Governor''s Dinner begins.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Twenty-One	Yan and Aymon	The Governor''s Dinner, continued.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Twenty-Two	Yan	The apprentices prepare for an upcomming mission and Yan visits Sylva.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt // Emerri, Landis
Twenty-Three	Yan	Yan and Sid''s trip to Olar begins.	Emerri, Emerri Station, the Sun''s Gold, Byforest Station, the Sky Boat
Twenty-Four	Aymon	Aymon and Kino have a long overdue conversation.	the Telescope
Twenty-Five	Yan	Pirates attack theSky Boat.	the Sky Boat
Twenty-Six	Yan	Yan and Sid fight pirates.	the Sky Boat
Twenty-Seven	Aymon	Aymon meets with Fleet leadership on Tyx III.	Tyx III
Twenty-Eight	Aymon	Kinois lost in a cave.	Tyx III
Twenty-Nine	Yan	Yan and Sid comfort eachother.	the Sky Boat
Thirty	Aymon	Aymon reaches Jenjin and the coup begins.	the God''s Engine, Jenjin
Thirty-One	Yan	Yan and Sid arrive on Olar.	the Sky Boat, Zhani station, the Fantastic, Olar Station, Olar, City-One-North
Thirty-Two	Yan	Yan and Sid''s diplomatic mission begins and they meet with Governor Marquis.	Olar, City-One-North
Thirty-Three	Yan	Yan and Sid meet with the Trade Guild representatives.	Olar, City-One-North
Thirty-Four	Aymon	The new government of Jenjin is established.	Jenjin
Thirty-Five	Yan	Yan and Sid negotiate a settlement between Olar and the Trade Guild.	Olar, City-One-North
Thirty-Six	Yan	Yan and Sid visit Sid''s family.	Olar, the Skyfish, Galena station, Galena
Thirty-Seven	Yan	Yan and Sid return to Emerri. Yan gets debriefed.	Galena, Galena Station, the Kinetic, Emerri Station, Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Thirty-Eight	Aymon	Aymon has a conversation with Sid about his behavior.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Thirty-Nine	Yan	Sid runs away.	Emerri, Yora
Forty	Aymon	Aymon gives out punishments to his apprentices. Sid and Aymon visit the Emperor.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Forty-One	Yan	Aymon learns about a death within the Trade Guild.	Emerri, Yora, Stonecourt
Forty-Two	Yan	Yan begins her trip to Anthus.	the Tranquility
Name	Appearances
Yan BarCarran	1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41
Sylva Calor	1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19, 21, 22
Aymon Sandreas	2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41
Halen	2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 30, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41
Kino Mejia	3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 37, 39, 40, 41
Sid "Egghead" Welslak	3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41
Name	Description	Appearances (and non-incidental mentions)
Maxes BarCarran	Yan''s maternal uncle, who raised her after the death of her mother.	1,4,5,6,7,16, 31, 33, 36
Pellon BarCarran	The captain of the Iron Dreams. Yan''s first cousin once removed.	1,6,8,31
Ungarti Vaneik	Guildmaster of the Trade Guild.	11,12,13,14,21,22, 41
Nomar Thule	Apprentice to Ungarti Vaneik. Supervises Guild finances.	12,13, 20, 41
Yuuni Olms	Apprentice to Ungarti Vaneik.	12,13, 33,35, 41
The Emperor		BoS, 40
Iri Maedes	Yan''s minder.	21, 23, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39, 42
Name	Description	Appearances / Mentions
Master Farber	Yan''s advisor at the Academy.	1
Marca Windreshon	The head of the Academy.	2, 3
Admiral Vaalks	A Fleet Admiral.	2,11,15,21
Sinnah BarCarran	Yan''s mother. Died when Yan was eight.	3,6,16,29, 36
Harbin Ula	A friend of Yan''s from the Academy. Apprenticing as an architect.	4,10
Master Hein	Harbin''s advisor at the Academy.	4
Rumon BarCarran	Yan''s cousin. Runs traffic control for the Iron Dreams.	5
Eman BarCarran	Yan''s aunt. Arranges shipments with customers and coordinates placement of cargo aboard the Iron Dreams.	5
Beranni Kasinsa	Yan''s friend from the Academy.	5
Genna Markus	Yan''s friend from the Academy. Apprenticing in the Anthus Colony Team. Lost hand in farming accident as a child.	5,10, 42
Bellero	Cantor aboard the Iron Dreams	6
Emil BarCarran	Yan''s cousin. Married. Honeymooned on Veralli. Navigator aboard the Iron Dreams.	6
Mena BarCarran	Cook aboard the Iron Dreams.	6
Aureius BarCarran	Navigator aboard the Iron Dreams.	6
Thome BarCarran	Navigator aboard the Iron Dreams.	6
Jalena BarCarran	Maxes''s wife. Native of Terlin.
Jeff Denson	Works at the front desk in Yan''s apartment building.	10
Melina Rosario	Aymon''s secretary.	11,12,15, 17, 37
Banmei Olms	Father of Yuuni Olms, captain of the Neutron Star.	12
Marne Vaneik	Ungarti Vaneik''s wife.	13, 41
Tybee	Ungarti Vaneik''s bodyguard.	13
Caron Herrault	Sandreas''s predecessor as Voice.	14, 20
Josa Runwest	Governor of Emerri.	20
Elena Runwest	Daughter of Josa Runwest.	20
Vinet Morche	Son of an industrialist on Olar. Attempted to assasinate Ungarti Vaneik. Deceased.	21
Chaten Howe	An Olar expert accompanying Yan and Sid to Olar.	23, 32
Bebop	Iri''s dog.	23, 25
Bowen Lyle	Captain of the Sun''s Gold.	23
Endo Migollen	Child living on the Sky Boat.	23
Patt Migollen	Child living on the Sky Boat.	23
Zevin Migollen	Child living on the Sky Boat.	23, 29
Lief Migollen	Child living on the Sky Boat.	23
Midge Migollen	Dogfighter pilot aboard the Sky Boat.	25
Henns Migollen	Bridge crew on the Sky Boat.	25
Brija Migollen	Bridge crew on the Sky Boat.	25
Bec Migollen	Dogfighter pilot aboard the Sky Boat.	26
Carnen Migollen	Bridge crew on the Sky Boat.	26
Vice Admiral Kolruss	Fleet Admiral. Responsible for coordinating operations around Tyx III.	27, 28
Commander Vale	Scientific commander on Tyx III.	27
Cantor Xu	Theological leader on Tyx III.	27
Deboan	Kino''s ''minder''.	28
McKinnon, Bale, Howarth	Fleet soldiers on Tyx III.	28
General Hamark	Leader of the Jenjin Defense Force.	30
Eda Sath	Coordinator of the Jenjin coup mission.	30
Aditya Cattarge	Captain of the Imei.	33
Marc Stath	First officer on the Skyfish.	33
Em Staffort	Trade Guild Council representative from the Fantastic.	33
Xueyin Lee	Trade Guild Council representative from the Lightning Birgade.	33
Josephian Sandreas	Arsonist.	34
Vance	Tattoo shop owner on Olar.	35
Benna	Tattoo artist on Olar.	35
Lopp	Fleet soldier who accompanied Yan and Sid to Olar.	36
Vane	Fleet soldier who accompanied Yan and Sid to Olar.	36
Mr. Falkes	Representative from Raithe.	41
Mr. Zev	Representative from Cogita.	41
Wiley Blune	Trade Guild liason to Stonecourt.	41
Josain Ydra	Genna''s mentor. Leader of the Anthus Colony team.	42
Name	Description	Mentioned In
Emerri	The capitol planet of the Empire. The Academy, Imperial Center, and Stonecourt are all here.
Terlin	Yan''s family''s ancestral home planet. One of the "original" colonies.	5,6,BoS
Thesios		6
Veralli		6
Jenjin	A planet with a separatist movemnt.	6, 21, 22, 30, 34
Galena	Sid''s home planet. Core world, once considered the seat of the Empire. One of the "original" colonies.	10, 13, BoS, 32, 36
Anthus	Future colony.	10,13, 41, 42
Falmar	Kino''s home planet. Most of the colony was killed by plague, and the Imperial Government chose not to aid the citizens of it. The Trade Guild stepped in to rescue people.	12, 24, 27, 30
Hanathue	The planet Kino lived on after leaving Falmar.	12, 30
Calbrais	Owns a new mining route.	13
Colmorn	Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.	13
Vos	Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.	13
Mikolon	Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.	13,17
Ampola	Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme. Sylva is working on theological texts produced on Ampola.	13
Olar	Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.	13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33
Kelsale	Outer rim planet, implicated in piracy scheme.	13
Lonn	Aymon''s home planet. Known for having large trees.	13, 20, 24
Zhani	Outer rim planet. Having trouble with pirates.	13, 23
Lekke	Planet famous for drug production.	16, 21
Edden	First colonized planet. Generally considered the originating planet of humanity, but it isn''t. Destroyed before the founding of the Empire.	BoS,
Minglian	One of the "original" colonies.	BoS,
Tyx III	A planet where the Fleet is engaged in combat operations. Much of the planet is covered by a vast system of underground caverns.	21, 22, 27, 28
Mona	Sixth planet in the Olar system. Uninhabited. Asteroid belt mined beyond its orbit.	32
Raithe		41
Cogita		41
Chapter?	Point of View	Required?	Episode
One	Yan	Yes	1
Two	Aymon	Yes	1
Three	Yan and Aymon	Yes	1
Four	Yan	No	1
Five	Yan	No	2
Six	Yan	No	2
Seven	Yan	No	2
Eight	Yan	No	2
Nine	Yan	No	2
Ten	Yan	Yes	3
Eleven	Aymon and Yan	Yes	3
Twelve	Yan	Yes	3
Thirteen	Yan	Yes	3
Fourteen	Yan	Yes	3
Fifteen	Aymon	Yes	3
Sixteen	Yan	No	4
Seventeen	Yan	Yes	4
Eighteen	Yan	No	4
Interlude: The Book of Secrets		No	n/a
Nineteen	Yan	No	4
Twenty	Yan and Aymon	Yes	5
Twenty-One	Yan and Aymon	Yes	5
Twenty-Two	Yan	Yes (first scene only)	6
Twenty-Three	Yan	No	6
Twenty-Four	Aymon	No	6
Twenty-Five	Yan	Yes	7
Twenty-Six	Yan	Yes	7
Twenty-Seven	Aymon	Yes	8
Twenty-Eight	Aymon	Yes	8
Twenty-Nine	Yan	Yes	9
Thirty	Aymon	Yes	10
Thirty-One	Yan	No	9
Thirty-Two	Yan	No	11
Thirty-Three	Yan	Yes	11
Thirty-Four	Aymon	No	10
Thirty-Five	Yan	No	11
Thirty-Six	Yan	Yes	12
Thirty-Seven	Yan	Yes	13
Thirty-Eight	Aymon	Yes	13
Thirty-Nine	Yan	Yes	13
Forty	Aymon	Yes	13
Forty-One	Yan	Yes	14
Forty-Two	Yan	Yes	14