by Caryn Lix
The seals parted, and three uniformed security guards strode inside, looking so official that for a moment I almost could have been on a corporate station. Three more stood in the docking ring, weapons drawn. They all stared at Liam’s unmoving body. The man at the front of the group scowled. “We ordered him to open the doors some time ago.”
Alexei shrugged. “He fell.”
The guard didn’t seem amused. “You will follow us.”
We exchanged unhappy glances, but there wasn’t much choice. We followed them.
I craned my neck, desperate for my first glimpse of a rogue prison station. Was this what Cage had in mind when he took over Sanctuary? Another Obsidian? Or did he only mean to escape, to secure passage off the station for himself and his friends, maybe even get them to Obsidian itself? Had he known a station like this existed? Aside from Earth, Obsidian must be the only place in the solar system a criminal could disappear. Everywhere else was too small, too rigid. On Earth, you still had government-run territories, places the cunning and ruthless remained hidden.
And apparently on Obsidian, you had what was essentially a mafia-run space station. My head swam. I’d heard rumors of the place, of course, but Omnistellar had quickly dismissed them. They described Obsidian as a run-down first-generation prison. Nothing more, and nothing less. With better technology, better orbital prisons, and better security on planetside facilities, Omnistellar had made the decision to abandon Obsidian almost ten years ago, and it had sat empty ever since.
Well, that much I could declare categorically false. Sure, the station looked a bit old-fashioned, with less shiny chrome and more exposed pipework than Sanctuary. But Omnistellar’s unique brand of architecture was everywhere. We emerged into a large docking ring and ascended a lift, exiting into what should have been the crew quarters. I suspected if I made a break for my right, I’d find the entrance to the prison spiraling below the domed station proper. Except who the hell knew what was down there now? I wished I’d had more time to question Alexei. I hated walking into a situation blind. If there was one thing Omnistellar had drilled into me, it was preparation. We had the Cub Scouts trounced in that area. And yet here I was, with almost no information, marching into a situation I’d considered fantasy until fifteen minutes before.
Three security guards in front, three behind, they led us through seemingly deserted halls. I scrutinized the others. Cage stared straight ahead, his dark eyes working frantically as they always did when he planned. I hoped he was coming up with something good, because right now I had nothing. Rune was on his other side, chewing her bottom lip, her hands clenched into fists. Alexei and Mia walked in front of us, their arms almost touching, both seemingly relaxed aside from the tension in their shoulders. I glanced behind me and caught Reed whispering to Jasper. He winked at me. I exchanged worried looks with Imani. Sometimes Reed’s easygoing nature bordered on denial. Jasper at least seemed appropriately concerned.
The guards led us inside what should have been the commander’s rooms. The quarters resembled my own back on Sanctuary so closely my heart gave a sickening lurch. The decor was different, and it was a bit bigger. But Omnistellar had clearly kept the same room model when they designed their newer stations. For a moment I pictured my parents lounging on the couch, Mom going over work schedules, Dad reading the old historical novels he loved. It even smelled the same.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. This wasn’t home. My bed wasn’t through that door. That room was gone forever.
And so was my mother.
The security guards withdrew, leaving us alone. Before anyone could speak, a massive, broad-shouldered man strode into the room. He was the spitting image of Alexei in thirty years, but with a mean edge Alexei lacked. Even dressed in a button-down shirt and casual pants, even without weapons, even lounging casually against the wall, he made my heart catch. Cage’s arm tensed against mine and I knew he sensed danger too.
“Uncle Grigori,” Alexei said coldly. He shifted subtly, pressing Mia behind him and placing himself between all of us and his uncle.
Grigori broke into a broad grin. “Lyosha,” he said, stepping forward to embrace his nephew. Alexei returned the hug one-armed, his right hand remaining deceptively loose at his side, ready for action. Grigori withdrew and held Alexei at arm’s length, examining his face. “Prison has been kind to you, my boy. Perhaps kinder than you deserved, huh?”
He chuckled. Alexei did not. “It seems we find ourselves in need of your assistance,” he said through clenched teeth, as if every word pained him.
“Of course. Of course!” Grigori spread his arms wide, encompassing all of us in a suddenly beatific smile. I drew a step closer to Cage, who slid his hand against the small of my back, and we both moved to shield Rune from his view. “Let me see if I understand the situation. You have all escaped from prison and have Omnistellar on your tails. You staged a second prison break on Mars, then proceeded to blow up a valuable piece of alien technology. And now you have incapacitated the man sent to help you and left him bleeding on the deck of his own ship. Have I summarized the situation?”
“Well, when you put it that way,” Jasper said dryly, “it does sound kind of bad.”
“Sent to help us?” I broke in sharply. “He said he came to destroy the alien ship.”
Grigori brushed that aside. “Of course, of course. I misspoke.” Had he, though? Grigori didn’t strike me as someone who made mistakes. Who the hell was Liam? I believed his story, as far as it went. But that lingering sense of mistrust warned me he hadn’t told us everything.
Cage and I exchanged nervous glances. Grigori’s genial act was somehow almost painful in its duplicitousness. You could read through every friendly glance. He was a man of pure danger, and every muscle in my body sensed it.
All at once, the mask slid away, leaving only malice in its place. Grigori switched to Russian, presumably not aware I understood him. I kept my face carefully blank as he said, “I am happy to help you, Lyosha, on two conditions. One, that you run a small errand, nothing of importance, for me. And two . . .” He nodded in Mia’s direction. “She does not draw another breath on my station.”
The signal is found. The signal alerts.
Awakens.
Unfurling.
Not one. Not the harvesters.
All.
The hunters.
Awake now, they progress.
They proceed.
Awakened.
EIGHTEEN
ALEXEI’S SHOULDERS DREW TOGETHER SO tightly they almost swallowed his spine. He, too, switched to Russian, but Mia clearly sensed trouble: her right hand rested casually on the pistol at the small of her back. “That is not negotiable,” Alexei snarled.
“Your loyalty to the woman who murdered your family is commendable,” Grigori replied coldly.
“She no more murdered them than I did.”
“You admit your role?”
“I said no such thing.”
“The courts were very clear.”
“The man who murdered my parents, my brother, he is dead.” Alexei clipped every word cleanly. “Whether by my hand or hers, I don’t even know. Nor do I care. We both shot him, and he died. Honor is maintained. Vengeance is satisfied. If you trust me so much as you claim, Uncle, you will take my word for it.”
“What are they saying?” Cage murmured in Mandarin, so softly I barely heard him.
I shook my head, in warning, not negation. I was already scouting the room for means of escape. If Grigori insisted on killing Mia, he’d have a war on his hands. Funny to think how I’d seen Mia as my enemy. Now, in spite of the fact that Alexei had just confirmed that he and Mia had shot a man, I thought of her as family.
The realization jolted through me. These anomalies, these criminals, they were my family. In such a short time they’d become the most important people in my life. I’d hated my mother for choosing the corporation over me. But if I had a choice between saving Dad’s life and Cage’s or Rune’s? I swa
llowed hard.
No point dwelling on imaginary what-ifs. I had a real problem on my hands, and no doubt as to where everyone in the room stood in terms of loyalty.
But what could we do? This was Grigori’s station. If it had Omnistellar security, even of an obsolete variety, we’d never make it far on our own. And God help us if we killed the station commander, a criminal lord in his own territory.
Would anyone’s powers help? Probably, if they knew what was going on. I nudged Alexei’s ankle with my foot, hoping he’d take the hint and switch to English. He didn’t.
“We have no need of your assistance.” Alexei spoke in a crisp, clear voice, enunciating every syllable. The others tensed at his tone. “Simply let us go, and we’ll be on our way.”
Grigori threw his head back and laughed. “Go where, my boy? You have no ship. No credits. You have nothing but an Omnistellar team on your tails and warrants for your arrest. Without my help, you won’t make it ten steps.”
“Leave that to us.”
Amusement sparkled in Grigori’s blue eyes, highlighting the family resemblance. “Very well,” he said, spreading his hands. “I give you free passage on my station, for as long as it lasts. For the sake of your father, I won’t kill you outright. But once Omnistellar arrives, they have the same access as you. If you change your mind between now and then, my offer stands. Remove the girl, and I’ll help you and your friends.”
Alexei barely inclined his head in acknowledgment, pushing Mia behind him with the same movement. “Go,” he muttered, backing away, never breaking eye contact with his uncle. “Now.”
No one argued, not even Mia. We retreated from the room, stumbling over one another in an undignified mess until we reached the corridor and the door closed in front of us. Before it even shut, Mia spun on Alexei. “What the hell was that?”
“We’re on our own,” he replied shortly. Mia’s eyes narrowed. I wasn’t surprised. Alexei never withheld information from her, and he was clearly doing so now. But he shook his head. “Trust me, Mia mine. This is a best-case scenario. We aren’t bleeding, and he’s letting us walk away—for now.”
“He won’t do anything to protect us from Omnistellar, though,” I pointed out, wanting to make sure everyone had caught that essential fact.
Alexei snorted. “That’s if he doesn’t change his mind and have us hunted down in the next . . . what are we looking at?”
I glanced at my comm device, thumbing it so the time appeared in an offset area above my wrist. I did some mental calculation between Mars time and interstellar standard. “About eight hours.”
“More to the point,” Jasper interjected, “did anyone else think his comment about Liam being sent to help us was no slip?”
Rune and I nodded rapidly, although the others seemed less concerned. “I think we should watch out for Liam,” I said darkly.
Imani shrugged. “He did help us.”
“He also pulled a gun on us.” Mia gnawed on her bottom lip in a stunningly unsexy display. “Kenzie’s got a point. I don’t trust him.”
“Great.” Reed blinked. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. We have no money. No ship. No way off this station. Its owners may decide to murder us at any moment, and the one person on board who tried to help us, we don’t trust. That about sum it up?”
“Let’s continue this conversation elsewhere.” Alexei cast a nervous glance at the closed door. I nodded in agreement. The others hadn’t understood Grigori’s words, but you couldn’t miss the gleeful malice in his tone; no one argued.
“Where are we going, though?” I demanded as we hurried down a corridor. At any moment I expected someone to grab us, but although we saw a few uniformed officers, they ignored us completely.
This could almost have been Sanctuary—again, not as new and polished as the station I’d called home, but with the same quirks of design, the same layout. I even caught a few Omnistellar logos remaining in obscure areas. I almost expected my parents to walk around the corner, a tablet held between them, arguing over the latest command schedule.
My heart gave a sickening lurch at the thought, almost toppling me in its intensity. I had to stop remembering my mom, her limp, cold body on the alien ship.
Cage glanced at me, worry in his expression. I shook my head. In some ways I wanted his reassurance, his support. But in others I remained confused, unsure of where we stood. And more to the point, I had to return to my professional skin. It was the only way to keep my wits about me until we found a way to safety.
He did me the courtesy of accepting my rejection without question or comment. It only increased my confusion.
As we reached the gateway to what should have been the prison, Rune spoke. “There might be a way off the station if we can find a ship,” she said. “Cage? Do you think there’s still a Lóng presence on Obsidian?”
Cage hesitated, his eyes sliding from left to right. We clustered around the prison entrance in a loose circle. “Almost certainly,” he said at last. “But . . . do we really want to risk getting involved with them again?”
“A long presence?” Reed asked doubtfully. “Like . . . ?”
“Lóng.” Cage corrected his pronunciation. “Not the English word. The name of the gang Rune and I worked with in Taipei. They might help us get back to Earth. But they’ll want something in return.”
We exchanged glances. “Like what?” asked Imani at last, wariness lacing her tone.
Jasper shook his head. “Does it really matter?” I blinked at him, surprised, and he shrugged. “Look. We’re trapped on this station. Omnistellar’s on their way. I have no idea what Mars Mining is doing to my family for sheltering us.” His voice rose on the last few words, and he closed his eyes, visibly struggling for control. “I can’t help them from here. I might be able to help them from Mars, or from Earth. If there’s a way off Obsidian, we have to take it. We can deal with the consequences later.”
“Yeah, you say that,” Cage replied dryly, but when I looked at him, he sighed. “I don’t see another option. I’ll go to Géxià. But none of you are coming with me.”
“Who’s Géxià?” Jasper and I demanded at the same time.
Cage waved us off. “A contact. Someone I met long ago. Obsidian’s her home.”
Mia snorted. “You’re not going alone.”
“I have no idea what she’s going to do when she sees me. She may shoot me in the face. She may serve me tea. Whatever happens, it’ll be better if I don’t bring guests. The rest of you can head to the lower market and look for an alternative. Maybe we can work our way off this station if Géxià won’t deal.”
A babble of argument rose, and I cut it off. “I’ll go with him.” Cage opened his mouth, but I silenced him with a glare. “I’m not leaving you to navigate this place by yourself. Rune, I’ll keep him safe,” I promised, noticing the tension in her posture. “We’ll meet again in the . . . lower market?”
Cage sighed. “I couldn’t get rid of you on Sanctuary, so I guess I’m not getting rid of you here,” he said, and I punched him in the arm, making him grin. “The rest of you, find us another escape.”
Alexei frowned but nodded. “If you’re not there in an hour, I’m coming after you.”
“If I’m not there in an hour, I’m probably dead.”
“Reassuring,” snapped Rune, about as angry as I’d ever heard her. Cage caught her by the arm and pulled her aside, talking quickly and softly in Mandarin. I deliberately tuned it out.
“One more thing,” Imani said quietly. “The shift in our powers. I want to know what’s causing it. And I want to know if it’s going to continue. What if Alexei starts bursting into flames unpredictably?” She glanced at him, taking in his impassive demeanor. “No offense. But if our powers start raging out of control, you clearly represent the biggest danger.”
Alexei never changed expression, but I nodded, resisting the urge to hold my head. “One thing at a time.” There was only so much I could handle at the moment, and standing
on Obsidian was messing with my brain. The station bore only a superficial resemblance to Sanctuary, but my last moments on the orbital prison refused to leave me. Facing the aliens there had been bad. Facing them here, with the worn-out security and the rusted grating . . . I choked on my own fear. No. We were safe now. We’d destroyed the signal, stopped the aliens. Sure, we had Omnistellar to deal with, but I could handle them. Even if I couldn’t, the worst-case scenario beat a lungful of alien slime and an eternity as a mindless stalker killing and slaughtering to express my reproductive drive.
Bile touched the back of my throat, and I stared at my shoes until the sensation subsided. Every time I thought of the aliens, it left me hollowed inside. I forced myself to consider Imani’s words instead. My power was useful at times, but it left me defenseless in a lot of situations. Diplomacy had never been my strong suit. What if a more useful power lurked inside me? Definitely worth exploring.
And more than a little concerning, given the destructive nature of someone like Jasper or Alexei.
So far, everyone’s powers seemed to be extensions or adaptations of the original. I probably wouldn’t find myself firing force missiles or bursting into flames. But if I could do something more, I wanted to know about it. Maybe something lingered inside me that could give us an edge against Omnistellar—or the other, darker threat constantly lurking in the corners of my mind.
I just had to figure out how to trigger it.
While I considered, Alexei worked the switch that would have opened the prison on Sanctuary. It did the same here and seemed to respond to his thumbprint. “I’m keyed to all security,” he said in a monotone. Something rumbled through the room, and I realized with a wince it was Mia grinding her teeth. Jasper and Reed took a casual step away from her.
We proceeded through the door, and I stopped in horror. In the decade since the criminal element had taken over the station, they’d done some substantial remodeling. Jagged edges in front of me marked a rough door, forcibly torn into the wall. The corridor was dim, illuminated by flickering fluorescents with every second bulb missing—smashed, or maybe burned out and never replaced. Rust marred exposed metal. A staircase sank ahead of me. Assuming Obsidian, like most prisons, was built on the same ice cream cone model as Sanctuary, that meant the gaping area ahead used to be prison sector 1.
