Brightly Burning
Page 26
“If she’s anything like Rori, it’ll be fine.”
He didn’t look convinced, but nonetheless he nodded. “I’ll do my best. One question, though. Why eighteen hours?”
“Because she’s wanted for treason and is here on a false visa,” Jon said before I could, breaking the illusion that Orion and I were talking privately.
“We need to leave the bridge immediately,” Xiao said.
One look at Xiao’s expression, and I didn’t have to be told twice. I hugged Orion one last time, wishing him “Godspeed” before heading back to the elevators. Xiao held her tongue until one arrived, but then the gloves came off.
“How could you not have told me? You’ve taken an enormous risk coming here, Stella!”
“I had to come. Hugo had Sergei deliver a letter. He was saying goodbye.” I swallowed hard and balled my hands into fists, digging my nails into the palms to stop tears from welling up. Xiao shot me a look full of pity, her anger having receded.
As we stepped into Ward K’s hub, I was immediately accosted by a high-pitched squeal.
“Is that Stella Ainsley? It is!”
It was Bianca Ingram. Of course.
“Give me strength,” I heard Xiao mutter under her breath, reminding me why I liked her so much. Any tension between us dissipated as we united in annoyance against Bianca. She flitted toward us, hands full of parcels, in a dress as exquisite as ever—blue with creamy chiffon accoutrements and needlessly impractical shoes, as always. Preity trailed behind her, barely suppressing a smile—her, I was genuinely pleased to see, and I threw her a small wave. Bianca handed off her packages and pulled me into an awkward hug.
“Good to see you.” I put on my best smile, hoping to please her so that she wouldn’t say my true name again, or loudly.
“What brings you here? I saw you weren’t part of the Rochester party that moved here. I was told you went back to the Stalwart.”
“I’m just visiting. With my friend, Jon.”
Seeing only her beauty and knowing nothing of her personality, Jon enthusiastically offered his hand in introduction, along with his most flirtatious grin. To my surprise, Bianca did not sneer or look down her nose at him, despite his being from the Stalwart and being my friend clearly telegraphing his status. She blushed and gladly received his attentions.
“You must have dinner with us this evening, then. We can catch up. Xiao, you’re welcome as well, though we’ve just seen you the other night. The more, the merrier.”
Xiao politely declined, citing paperwork she needed to do, though I suspected her real entertainment for the evening would involve Sergei. I wasn’t so lucky. Bianca wouldn’t take no for an answer, and Jon was no help, enthusiastically receiving the invitation. I just had to keep up the charade for a couple of hours until Orion cracked Lori.
We reported to the Ingrams’ quarters at five p.m.
“See that you don’t get taken in,” I warned Jon as we stood before their door, my finger poised over the tab screen to ring the bell. “They can be very charming, showy, but I assure you, they are all snakes.”
Jon shrugged me off. “Bianca seems perfectly fine.”
“Don’t mistake beauty for goodness,” I said, then pressed the tab button, and we waited. Lizzy opened the door, greeting me enthusiastically, then led us to the dining room. I introduced Jon as the nephew of the Stalwart captain, hoping to elevate his status enough that he might be treated with some respect, and it certainly seemed to impress Captain Ingram, who monopolized him in conversation for the first quarter of dinner.
This left me to Bianca and Lucy, who grilled me on my movements since we’d last seen one another. Then, thankfully, I was able to deflect the spotlight over to them with one well-asked question about their migration to the Lady Liberty and their feelings about their new home, which set the whole party off, enthusiastically comparing their old life to their new. The Ingram children seemed to have adjusted better than their parents; Bianca and Lucy loved the amenities—the endless parade of parties to attend, goods to procure—while Braxton didn’t have to say a word for it to be clear that he enjoyed the unfettered access to both young women and booze. Justine was as sullen as ever, likely given the happiness of her husband. The captain disliked his lack of power on board, going on at length about how misguided it was for the Lady Liberty to discount his lifetime of experience. I bit my tongue, not pointing out to any of them how privileged they were to have been granted passage aboard this ship with no expectation that any of them would have to work.
Most pointedly, despite the reason for our acquaintance, no one mentioned the Rochester, or Hugo, or the monumental events that had happened on the fleet since we last saw one another. It was the elephant in the room. Once we’d eaten, I mentally prepared my excuses to leave. I didn’t want to get pulled into any poker games, or worse, a musical evening, courtesy of the Ingram sisters. Bianca caught me off-guard with other plans.
“Now, Jon, you must stay and play games with Lucy, Braxton, and Justine—they love playing their settler game, but it bores me to tears. And Stella, I must steal you away for a walk.”
She’d grabbed me by the arm and whisked me out into the corridor before I could protest. We headed in the direction of the hub, Bianca’s arm linked in mine, uncomfortable given our height difference, but her grip was iron.
“Your friend Jon is lovely. Are you sweet on him?” she asked, drawing a snort of laughter from me.
“Definitely not,” I said. “Though for some reason, he’s, uh, sweet on me.”
We took a turn left before the hub, down a narrow corridor, forcing our arms apart so we could walk single file.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Why do you think it weird that he would like you?” Bianca’s voice drifted back to me. Maybe it was because I couldn’t see her face that I could dissociate from the fact that I was having a heart-to-heart with Bianca Ingram, but I gave her an honest reply.
“Because I am ordinary. My face is, at least. There is a beauty standard that I do not fit. My shape, my features, my behavior. No one was ever interested before. Not until—” I stopped myself before I could say his name. But Bianca was not stupid. We came to the end of the corridor and were met with the stars. It was a promenade with windows all along one side so we could see out into space. Now I could not escape the knowing quirk of her lips.
“Until Hugo,” she completed my statement for me. Then she grabbed my arm again and pulled me back into formation. We began to stroll, the stars to our left side. “I was seethingly jealous of you, you know. I didn’t get it at all. You’re not as plain as you think, Stella; you’re honestly quite pretty, but that wasn’t it. I mean, you’re a governess.” Her tone dripped derisively, like always. “But I realized that that wasn’t the point. Your status was irrelevant, and apparently mine was too. Hugo likes bold, and your flavor of it far more than mine. Give yourself more credit.”
I was left speechless, unsure if I was being paid a compliment or an insult. Bianca didn’t wait for my response anyhow.
“You know, if I’m honest, it all worked out for the better. I’m happy here. I’m no longer being trotted around the fleet like I’m some prize cow. It doesn’t really matter who I marry at this point. It’s nice.”
“Did you love Hugo?” I dared to ask. She seemed to think about it a minute.
“Like a brother, I think,” she finally said. “Though I like him more than I like Braxton, so there’s that. I would have been happy married to him. But not as a consolation prize, so ultimately he made the right choice. I’m just surprised that you gave him up.”
Ah, now we were getting to it. Bianca was fishing for gossip. I halted our stroll, wresting my arm from hers so I could face her. I needed to be able to read her expression, determine whether she meant to manipulate me. But I found her inquisitive eyes free of scheming, and I’d played enough poker with her to call her bluff. She wanted to know why I’d left him.
“At the tim
e, I thought I had to,” I said.
Bianca’s expression darkened. She could hardly have missed the news. “I’m worried about him,” she said. “He didn’t come here with the rest of the crew, and no one will tell me where he’s gone.”
“That’s why I came here,” I admitted. “To find him.”
“And did you?”
“No,” I said. “He deorbited. By himself.”
“That stupid idiot,” Bianca said, leaning against one of the windows, suddenly weary. “He was always prone to dramatics.” She let out a sigh. “So, what are we going to do?”
“We?”
“Yes, I imagine you have some sort of plan brewing, and I’m not going to sit idly by while my oldest friend dies. He saved my family. I owe him.” Bianca obviously meant business. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me, clearly awaiting a full appraisal of my plans.
“Well, if I can find out where he landed, the plan is to go after him. The Stalwart is already planning a mission, but we don’t have a ship.”
She grabbed hold of my arm, this time to drag me back in the direction we’d come. “You can take the Ingram. She’s just sitting in storage, of no use to anyone.”
“No offense intended, but wasn’t the whole point of your marrying Hugo that your ship was no longer in good working condition?”
“She had her issues, but should manage reentry perfectly well.” We’d entered the narrow corridor again, her nonchalance echoing behind her, as if to reinforce her resolve. “I’ll settle it with Father tonight, and you can take her in the morning. I’m assuming you have a pilot?”
I had Sergei, but no idea if he’d agree to pilot someone else’s ship away from the Lady Liberty. Down to Earth. I’d figure it out later.
“Hey, Bianca, wait.” We stopped outside the door to her quarters. I wanted to say something before we went inside and everything exploded in a flurry. “Thank you. You’re unexpectedly . . . I don’t know.”
“Do go on,” she said, eyebrow artfully quirked. “I have a feeling you might be heading toward a compliment.”
“Just, thank you.” I pulled her into a hug, a genuinely felt one this time. “You’re more decent than I thought.” She snorted into my hair, and we both laughed.
We had a ship, someone to pilot it back to the Stalwart (Xiao could be persuasive; Sergei stood no chance otherwise); we needed only Orion to come through with the coordinates for the Rochester. It was late in the night, my time allowed aboard the Lady Liberty rapidly counting down. Jon dozed on the couch, oblivious. Well, at least for the moment. I’d bent his ear for hours, obsessing over the possibilities of the day’s outcomes, plans for our next steps, and on and on, before he gave up and drifted off. I couldn’t sleep; I paced restlessly in the living room, waiting for Orion to come back with good news.
I checked the time. One in the morning. Ticktock.
At some point, against my better wishes, I fell asleep. I awoke to a pinging in my ears; one hour to our deadline. I shook Jon awake, even as he pawed at his ears to turn off the alarm.
“Jon, wake up,” I ordered.
“Did he find it?” he mumbled, sitting up, rubbing at his eyes.
“No,” I answered, attempting fruitlessly to keep the despair from my tone. “He’s not back yet.”
“We have to leave in an hour.”
I nodded, mood grim.
We sat, side by side on the couch, and I stared at the door, willing Orion to appear. When he did, a micro tab stick held aloft between two fingers, I blinked slowly, sure I was imagining it. Then he spoke.
“I’ve done it,” Orion said, stumbling as he came toward us. He was clearly exhausted. “I can’t exactly tell you how, but Lori did as I asked, and she started talking to Rori. Who’s operational, which means the Rochester safely landed and maintains her power source.”
Relief, followed closely by an explosion of hope, flooded my body as I leaped up from the couch. I grabbed the tab stick, clutching it to my chest as if it were a holy relic. “The location is on here?”
“Lori is on there. At least, a piece of her is. You’ll need her to interface with Rori in real time. Just plug that into your ship, and she should take over. She should also enable you to communicate with us once you land, let us know you’re all right.”
“Thanks, Orion,” I said, pulling him into a hug. “We’ll let you know when it’s safe for you to come down and join us.” Orion only shook his head at me.
“I prefer it up here, thank you very much. And, um, I’m kind of seeing someone. His name is Sebastian. I’d like to see where it’s going before I do something drastic like crash-land on a planet.”
His response dimmed my shine just a bit. “Then I’ll never see you again?”
“You’ll hear from me, if Lori Junior works the way I hope she will.” He hugged me again. “Godspeed, Stella, and now I am going to go sleep for the next year.”
I waved him goodbye, though I did not allow myself to expend too much sorrow on his behalf. I would be saying far too many permanent goodbyes in the near future, indeed in the next hour, than I could stand. I had to stay strong, or else I’d be useless on the journey ahead.
“Did he find him?” Xiao appeared, wrapping herself up in a dressing gown. I’d never seen her so casual, though her expression was nothing but serious.
I gave her the happy news, and once more implored her to come with us, to bring Jessa.
“We don’t know if it’s safe down there. And there would be no one left to see to the Fairfax interests,” Xiao said, repeating the excuse she had given earlier in the day. I didn’t press her further; no, I fully intended to work my persuasive powers on Sergei instead. Thus, when it came time to say goodbye, I told myself it was not for all time. It made our parting easier. Nothing about my last moments with Jessa was easy, on the other hand. She cried, pleaded with me to stay. Xiao pulled Jessa back so I could leave, which I did with a heavy heart.
Sergei loaded us eagerly onto his shuttle, which he then flew around to the very bottom of the Lady Liberty, where the Ingram was docked. Using the remote password Captain Ingram had provided, we turned her on, docked Sergei’s vessel inside, then flew her back to the Stalwart. While she was smaller than the Rochester and not half as splendid, the Ingram still ranked high on the list of ships I’d visited. We could fit a decent-sized landing party inside, at least a hundred people, and Sergei affirmed she was in fine working condition to make for a safe reentry. I used that as my opening as we came to a stop alongside the Stalwart. Jon would pilot the Ingram the short distance into the loading dock, while Sergei went off again with his own shuttle.
“Sergei, please come with us. Pilot her down.”
He demurred. “I am trained in basic flight, keeping a ship airborne, not crashing her down.”
“I don’t think anyone on the fleet is actually trained in reentry,” Jon jumped in. “Our plan was to wing it. For me to wing it, more specifically. You’d know more about captaining a ship than I would.” I was glad to have him on my side.
“You could convince Xiao to come,” I said. “Make a new life down there.”
Sergei narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re bold, Miss Ainsley.”
“That’s what they all tell me.” I threw him a smile. “We need at least two days to prepare the landing party,” I said. As Jon was buckling himself into the captain’s chair, I pulled Sergei close, practically begged. “Please consider it. Talk to Xiao. She no longer has any ship to run, and you’re a man of honor. You’ve seen the state of the fleet and what her government will do as it continues to decline. Make a new start with us.”
“Enough talking now so you can get back to the Stalwart,” he deflected. “But I’ll think about it.” With a half-smile, he headed aft to his shuttle, leaving me with a glimmer of hope.
We came to a stop inside the Stalwart loading bay to find it in complete darkness.
“The power must have gone out again,” I said as we descended the stairs.
“Stop right there,” a voice rang out as the lights stormed back to life. I threw a hand over my eyes at the brightness, then squinted toward the voice until I could make out the face ten feet in front of us. Mason. Jon gripped my hand tighter, hurting my fingers.
“Thank you for your little trip, Miss Ainsley,” Mason said. “It gave us confirmation that you were alive, and cause to come and get you.”
My eyes flicked to Captain Karlson, standing behind him, expression grim. Behind them were two massive figures wearing security jackets, one holding a pair of handcuffs.
“You can’t take her!” Jon shouted, breaking away from me and going for Mason. His uncle intervened before he could do any damage.
“Indeed I can. She’s been charged with treason for betraying government secrets and inducing panic.”
“You’re the one who should be charged with treason. You’re a murderer,” Jon spat.
“Yes, well, as I’m the one controlling the narrative, it will be Miss Ainsley who will serve as an example.”
Their exchange became nothing but a roaring in my ears, noise filling the space between my thoughts. The sentence for treason was death. My vision went white at the edges, and the world tilted on its axis.
I was going to die.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jon caught me before I hit the ground. As he helped me back to my feet, I caught sight of Mason’s smug expression, and suddenly I felt the full-body flush of embarrassment. Nearly fainting when I should be strong. Defiant. I would go bravely to my death—
A sob broke from my chest, tears springing to my eyes. Or not.
Jon crushed me in a hug, and I heard the captain’s gruff voice behind me.