I WAS UNPREPARED for how it would feel to hover in the negative realm while the eyes fixed their penetrating stares elsewhere. Normally I had their full attention, but this time I was beneath their notice. It was a relief to hide, but it also felt a little insulting.
We emerged in a hallway of the humans’ platform immediately in front of Rig, who screamed.
“Scud!” he shouted. “That is terrifying when I’m not expecting it.”
“Shh!” FM said, and she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the nearest room. I took a look up and down the empty hall, then followed them. Into a storage closet from the look of it. There didn’t appear to be any alternate exits, but I supposed we could hyperjump out if we needed to.
“I thought you said you do that a lot,” I whispered at FM. “I didn’t expect him to be so loud.”
“Usually we arrange it beforehand,” Rig said. “Also, you told her we do that a lot?”
“It was Nedd’s fault,” FM said.
“Um, okay,” Rig said. “Well, hi. You should know there’s a warrant out for your immediate arrest. I could be held in contempt simply for talking to you.”
I’d thought Jorgen’s justifications sounded like a stretch. FM gripped Rig’s arm, and they stood close together. And I stood unfortunately close to them, because there wasn’t a lot of room between the shelves of… packaged algae strips, it looked like. We must be near their kitchen facilities.
“We need your help on ReDawn,” FM said. “We found something. A platform that used to move around the planet but now is in disrepair. It seems similar to the ones we have here, but we don’t really know what we’re looking at. Or how to use it.”
“So you decided to pop into the middle of the hallway? In a place where you’re wanted for desertion?”
“Is it only desertion?” FM asked. “We were worried they’d charge us with defection.”
“Also grand larceny,” I said. “For stealing eight starships.”
“Nine,” FM said. “Including yours.”
“I’m not sure they’ve decided what they’re going to officially charge you with. But it seems like a problem for you to get arrested for any of it.”
This was all beside the point. “Are you willing to come to ReDawn to help us with the platform?” I asked.
Rig blinked at me. “Am I willing to—”
“Come with us to look at the platform,” FM said. “If no one sees us leave, you might be able to come back without anyone knowing you were helping us.”
“Except I’d also like to take my ship,” I reminded her.
“Right,” FM said. “Well, you could tell them we kidnapped you or something.”
“And add that to our list of crimes,” I added.
Rig stared at us with wide eyes. “I’ll help you. But you should know, there’s a lot going on here too. Cobb and Jeshua met with some representatives from the Superiority.”
That was right. Cobb gave that as his reason for not wanting us to return to Detritus with the Independence flight. “Have they returned?” I asked.
Rig nodded. “It was a quick meeting. They used a hyperdrive to meet at a ship right outside the shield and exchanged terms. Then they came back, and they’ve been discussing what they want to do. I think they might be talking over the hypercomm to the Superiority people now.”
“Hold on,” I said, reaching into the negative realm, searching for nearby voices.
—understand your concerns— said a voice I didn’t recognize. —danger to themselves and others—learn proper safety measures to prevent disaster—send your cytonics to us for training—
“They’re asking your leaders to send your cytonics to the Superiority,” I said. “They’ve tried to get us to do the same thing on ReDawn, first by asking, and then by threatening us. I think Quilan believes he’ll have proven himself if he delivers me personally, and that if he does the Superiority will leave him and the other cytonics alone.”
“Jorgen’s parents aren’t considering that, are they?” FM asked Rig. “Turning their own son over to the Superiority?”
“My own parents argued I might be better off being trained by the Superiority,” I said. “You’d be surprised what people will believe.”
“Is it possible that would be better?” Rig asked. “We’re in the dark when it comes to cytonic potential. You can obviously do a lot more than Jorgen can, and the Superiority cytonics might know even more.”
“They do,” I said. “But they aren’t going to help you, no matter what they say.”
“I can see the assembly considering it though,” FM said. “Believing that trading a couple of lives to end the war would be an acceptable sacrifice. Risking a few to save so many. That’s what we all signed up for, isn’t it? They might see it as no worse than letting their son join the DDF, and the potential for peace…”
I held my breath. I’d told them over and over what I thought about making peace with the Superiority. They already knew what I had to say. As I listened, I picked out another voice over the hypercomm. Jeshua Weight. —assurances that no harm will come to them—
—valuable, the alien voice said. Never be so aggressive as to—
—aggressive enough to exterminate us—
—work with us, you have nothing to fear—turn over your hyperdrives, and—
“The Superiority representatives say they won’t hurt the cytonics,” I said. Which might be true, but sending them away was still a terrible idea. “And Cobb was right. They want you to turn over the taynix too.”
“We can’t do that,” FM said. “Right?”
“Right?” Drape said, and Rig put a hand on his spines.
“They’re trying to imprison you here,” I said. “It’s what they do. Keep you isolated on your planet unless you play by their rules.”
“That’s what they’ve always done to us,” Rig said. “Ever since our fleet crashed here.”
“But this time we have the power to leave,” FM said. “We can’t give that up without risking that they’ll go back to trying to exterminate us. The shield stops them for now—”
“But not forever,” Rig said. “That’s true.”
“And we’re not giving up the taynix,” FM said. “No matter what.”
—negotiate. We would of course need assurances that—if we are to cooperate—
Human or UrDail, politicians were all the same. “It sounds like they’re thinking about it.”
“I meant us,” FM said. “We aren’t giving them up. The politicians will have to come to ReDawn and take them from us.”
I smiled. “I’d climb that tree with you.”
“I imagine Cobb will too,” Rig said. “He can’t be in favor of this.”
—your generous offer— another voice said over the hypercomm. Admiral Cobb, I thought. —need time to collect the taynix—transport them to you and continue our negotiations—
“Um,” I said. “It sounds like he’s also considering it.”
“Seriously?” Rig said.
FM shook her head. “We should get more of the taynix out while we still can.”
“We can’t take them if we aren’t ordered to,” Rig said. “We’d need to talk to Cobb.”
“Cobb says he’s in favor of sending them to the Superiority!” FM said. “If that’s true, he won’t help.”
“He might be saying that for optics,” Rig said. “Maybe he’d be glad to have an opportunity to send them away so they can’t be turned over.”
“He can only do that so many times,” I said, “before your politicians will catch on.”
“That’s true,” FM said. “Maybe we should take them ourselves, without asking.”
Rig looked at FM in alarm, but he didn’t argue with her.
“Where would we find them?” I asked.
“The ones that can hyperjump are all over the platform,” Rig said. “We have most of them partnered with pilots. Some of the hypercomm and mindblade slugs are kept in Engineering, but it’s crawling with people right now.”
So we wouldn’t be able to pull them all out without alerting people to our presence. “I think we should get my ship and get out of here as soon as possible. Is it capable of flight?”
“Not right now,” Rig said. “I’m sorry, I haven’t had time to—”
“Can you fix it on ReDawn?” I asked. If not, we’d need to take another human ship. When it was time for us to make our move, I wanted all the Independence pilots in the air with us.
“Yes,” Rig said. “Given a few hours, I could put it together again.”
“What else is the Superiority saying?” FM asked.
I’d been distracted from the transmission, but I focused on it again.
—meeting to assure you of our intentions—do what is best for your species and the intergalactic interests—
“They’re setting up another meeting,” I said. “Probably to turn over taynix, I’m guessing.”
“What about Gran-Gran?” Rig asked.
“Who?” I said.
“Becca Nightshade. Spensa’s grandmother. If the Superiority is really asking them to turn over the cytonics, she might be in danger.”
“Would you like me to contact her?” I asked.
“We should at least warn her,” FM said. “Maybe we should take her with us.”
I paused, reaching toward the planet below. Into the planet, beneath the surface, through the underground caverns where the humans lived.
A voice reached out to meet me.
Alanik? it said.
So she’d heard of me. I spent so long unconscious on this platform, it made sense.
Yes, I said. Your government is considering a deal to turn their cytonics over to the Superiority. Do you need us to rescue you?
What followed wasn’t words exactly, but a strong sense of reluctance. Detritus is not our home, Gran-Gran said. But these are my people. I won’t abandon them.
Jorgen left to help me, so I felt the need to defend him. Jorgen didn’t abandon them, I said. He’s gone for help. You could come with us.
I didn’t know Gran-Gran, but I wasn’t about to let an old woman to be given over to the Superiority. Besides, we could use another cytonic. The more we had on our side, the more we evened the playing field with Unity.
They are coming for you, Gran-Gran said. You need to go.
Who? I asked. Quilan and the other UrDail cytonics couldn’t hyperjump, but the Superiority cytonics could.
Did they know we were here?
Go, Gran-Gran said. A warrior fights. She does not yield, and she does not abandon her people.
I nodded. “She wants to stay here,” I said. “She knows they might try to use her as a bargaining chip, but she won’t abandon Detritus.”
“Is that a good idea?” FM asked.
“If it’s Gran-Gran’s idea, you won’t talk her out of it,” Rig said.
“I can respect her decision,” I said. “But she says they’re coming for us. I don’t know who, but we need to go.”
“I still think we should try to get more of the slugs out before we go,” FM said. “There are dozens of them here with the other pilots.”
“The entire military isn’t going to desert,” Rig said. “We’d only put ourselves in danger trying to convince them.”
“Jorgen can get them to answer him, right?” I asked. “What if I called them to come to me? Do you think they’d do it?”
“Depends,” Rig said. “They might be attached enough to their pilots to stay. They’d be more likely to come if you promised them something like caviar.”
“I have a little,” FM said. “Not enough to feed them all. If you promise them caviar and we don’t deliver, that’s bad for their training, but not as bad as being given to the Superiority.”
I grabbed a large box of algae strips on the shelf. “We could bring these. The people on Wandering Leaf are going to be getting hungry, so we should probably bring some for them anyway.”
“Good idea,” Rig said, and he picked up a jug of a white substance.
“Custard,” FM said. “Kimmalyn will be happy.”
“If I’m going to try to call the slugs, it’ll draw attention,” I said. “We should do it from the ship, so we can leave immediately afterward.”
Rig looked at FM, as if to ask if we were actually doing this.
“I think you should,” FM said to me. “I don’t feel good about leaving them here, even with their pilots, when we don’t know if the other flights will defend them.”
“They probably won’t,” Rig said. “The assembly has come down pretty hard on you guys for what you did, and Cobb has had to go along with it.”
“All right,” I said. “I can jump us to my ship in the landing bay.”
I pulled us through the negative realm beneath those strangely distracted eyes. We were only going a short distance, but space didn’t work the same in there. If we were dealing in relative distances we should have spent a much shorter time in the negative realm compared to when we jumped from ReDawn, yet we hung there for a moment and then emerged out the other side in the large hangar next to my disassembled ship. Through a large skylight, I could see the platforms above and snatches of the sparkling shield that encased the planet.
“You’re sure you can make it fly again?” I asked Rig quietly.
“It’ll take me a bit,” Rig said, “but yes, I can.”
“It’s got a better chance of working than the one you left with last time,” FM added.
“Last time!” Gill trilled, and FM shushed him.
“Wait, what happened to that one?” Rig whispered.
“They’re here somewhere,” a voice said from the edge of the landing bay. “Find them.”
FM and Rig huddled closer together under the wing, the containers of food tucked up by their knees.
“That’s Cobb,” Rig whispered.
And so it was. Had Spensa’s grandmother alerted him? She hadn’t wanted to abandon her people, but she’d sounded like she wanted us to keep fighting.
No, it was probably the Superiority. One of their cytonics might have warned them of our arrival and then noticed us hyperjumping to the landing pad.
“Alanik,” FM whispered. “The slugs.”
We might be able to count on Cobb to cover for us for a moment, but not for long. Whatever cytonic was watching would be able to feel me calling for the slugs, but if I hyperjumped out fast enough they wouldn’t be able to stop me.
I gave FM a sharp nod, pressed my back to the lower part of my fuselage, and reached out across the base.
There were a lot of those tiny minds. Dozens at least. As I reached toward them, they turned to me as if curious.
I could work with that. I wasn’t sure how much language the slugs understood, but in the negative realm all communication was reduced to thoughts, which anyone could understand. Still, I didn’t want to get too complicated. Friend, I sent to them. They obviously understood that concept, given how attached they were to each other and to their pilots. And this was a concept every living being responded to: Food.
I could feel them answering me, some of them hungrier than others, all of them searching for a social connection like it was the thing they longed for most. These things had relationships with each other long before the humans captured them, I realized, but they saw the humans not as kidnappers but as a joyous addition to their family.
Many of them didn’t want to leave.
Footsteps approached as Cobb’s people spread out across the hangar. It wasn’t going to take them long to find us here. I didn’t have much time.
More family, I told them, sending them images of Rig and FM and Jorgen.
That intrigued them. They knew and liked all three of them, and wanted to see them again.
More boots clicking on the metal surface of the platform. Movement over the edge of the wing, and then…
“We have to go,” Rig whispered.
Come, I called to the taynix.
And then Cobb appeared, several paces away. His eyes fixed on us under the wing.
And half a dozen taynix popped into existence at our feet.
FM and Rig reached forward, grabbing the slugs, while Cobb’s jaw dropped.
“They’re here!” he shouted.
No. Not covering for us. The opposite of that. We probably should have expected that, given that we were stealing his military’s hyperdrives without permission.
More slugs appeared—maybe as many as a dozen now.
Cobb strode toward us, like he was about to yank us out from beneath the wing.
It might have been for show, but he didn’t have to alert them to our presence, did he?
I wasn’t going to stay here and find out. I reached into the negative realm, toward Wandering Leaf and the rest of the humans. With the ship to my back and my shoulder pressed against FM, I pulled, and the landing bay disappeared.
