Loot looked at her and shook his head. “You can’t keep me safe forever.”
Tiff wanted him tucked safely away forever, so she’d never have to be alone. That wasn’t reason enough. The boy had to grow up. “Go.” Her voice sounded ragged.
Loot smiled. “I’ll be careful, ’kay?”
“Okay.”
It was their own personal exchange, stemming from the time she’d found him sleeping in the air vent. Tiff had told him she wasn’t going to hurt him, and the first thing he’d said to her was “’kay.” She’d said “okay” back, and they’d done it ever since.
Loot left, and Drifter walked over to her and leaned down to place a kiss on her lips, but Tiff pulled away.
“What? All of a sudden you’re not my girlfriend anymore?”
Another crash sounded, this time toward the front of the ship, the weakest spot by the glass sight panel. “Shit, Drifter. Get to that turret. Hurry.”
Drifter left in the opposite direction Loot had gone. Tiff stood alone in the control room, with all of their lives resting in her hands.
Panic crashed through her, but she tried to compose herself as she sat in front of the multiple screens. If she could get them past the largest asteroid, the ship could reach a corridor of free space and fly fast enough to break free of the gravitational pull.
She charted a course. The giant asteroids were much easier to navigate around than the fragments that were being pulled into the gravitational fields of the larger ones. A path would open up between the large asteroids, but she had to predict the current projection of the smaller rocks crossing the space at the same time. It was the most complicated puzzle she’d ever had to figure out.
Tiff rubbed her temples and forced herself to concentrate. If she adjusted the velocity to reach this point in time, that put her at odds with another coordinate later on. She’d have to drive the ship manually to engage the frequent changes in speed.
Tiff gripped the control stick with both hands. “Computer, turn off autopilot.”
Warning signals sounded in her ear. A message ran along the screen: Unadvised in maneuvering through unpredictable space. Tiff flicked off the message and brought up the main screen. She trusted herself more than a rickety computer has-been, built a hundred years before she’d been born. Two green lights blinked on her right, signaling the turrets were occupied on both the top and bottom of the ship. Shafts of white light shot through the air. Drifter was already firing.
Clutching the controls, Tiff led the ship through the first conglomeration, tilting the ship left and then right. She couldn’t avoid every asteroid, so she chose which ones would do the least damage to the ship, leaving the rest of it up to Loot and Drifter. They blasted most of the smaller rocks before they reached the hull, but every few minutes she heard a crash and cringed, wondering how much damage the hits were causing. They needed this ship to get to Refuge. It would do them no good to crash on Sahara 354 and never be able to take off again.
As they grew closer to the largest asteroid in the middle, Tiff recalculated her coordinates. The bulk of the rock loomed on the main sight panel like a small planet. Two other large asteroids half its size flanked it, moving slowly in its gravitational pull. On either side were thousands of small rocks flying at them like cracked mugs hurtled during an Omega cafeteria brawl. She would have to fly between the bigger ones to make it out.
The force of the gravitational pull strengthened, and she engaged the backward thrusters to slow down. It wasn’t enough. The Morphic Marauder hurtled toward the monstrous asteroid, destined to collide with one of the huge rocks in its orbit. Tiff turned the ship on its side, trying to make it as skinny as possible. The asteroids hovered seconds away, and she realized the ship wouldn’t make it through without grazing one side or the other. Drifter perched in the turret at the top and Loot sat in the module at the bottom. She had only a second to decide.
Tiff pulsed the bottom engines, sending the top of the ship toward the jagged edge. Tears welled in her eyes. The warning beeps flashed, and she saw Drifter’s lasers shoot in a steady stream, trying to break off a piece of the rock before it hit. The chances were slim, but if she were trapped in that small bubble of glass, she’d have the trigger down hard, too.
Guilt sickened her stomach. It was her fault they’d gotten into this asteroid field, her impatience and impulsiveness. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact to the top turret.
No sound came. Tiff opened her eyes and looked out the main sight panel. A chunk of rock sailed through the space in front of them before Loot blasted it into dust. Drifter had managed to break it apart. The particles hit the glass and bounced off, careening though open space.
Both men had made it. Tiff swallowed acid in her throat and leaned back in her chair. Drifter had survived. How would she explain why she’d chosen Loot over him?
Chapter Twelve
Sea of Bones
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
The sound of someone running on plastic mixed with the gush of falling water.
Aries sat on the plush, purple carpet of her parents’ living room on the New Dawn, her fingers digging into the thick fibers. A waterfall plunged into a forest on a screen to her right and her brother ran, smooth as a gazelle, on a treadmill behind her.
He shot her an annoyed look. “Aren’t you going to get that?”
“Get what?” Aries straightened up. A feeling of displacement shot through her and she swerved with dizziness. The carpet underneath her fingers felt fake and, for some strange reason, she expected it to be sand instead. A persistent beep sounded in front of her, bringing her thoughts back to the room.
Her brother pressed a panel on the console treadmill, upping the speed. “The door.”
“Oh.” Aries scrambled up and pressed the hailing panel.
Tria’s blue-eyed face stared up at her from the identification screen.
“Hey, Aries. You won’t believe it, but I have our future life assignments in my hands.”
“Really?” Aries pressed the panel to dissolve the door and the chrome fizzled away like the foam on top of an opened vitamin soda can. A warm, comforting feeling spread through her at the sight of her childhood friend. Her eyes burned on the brink of tears. “Tria.”
“You look as though you haven’t seen me in years.” Tria wore her uniform, her shiny, blue New Dawn badge over her right breast. She’d tied her hair up in a bun, but stray wisps of gold poked out, catching the fluorescent light. “Don’t you want to see your life assignments?”
“You bet.”
She handed Aries a slim piece of paper cut from a fancy, thick stock. Aries knew this had to be important to use any paper at all, never mind premium white stock. “I was walking by the main deck when the orders were issued. It took a lot of convincing to let me bring yours to you. Go on. Tear the seal.”
Aries studied the fancy golden sticker with the New Dawn symbol and her fingers slid under the envelope flap. In one second she’d know the exact course of her predestined life: her job, her husband, and her future on the New Dawn. She swayed back, overwhelmed, her stomach churning. “We should do it together.”
“Of course.” Tria held hers up.
Aries’ fingers slid forward, tearing the seal as the white paper cut a slit in her skin. A thin red line appeared, so she put her finger in her mouth and sucked while opening the folded document one-handed. She wanted biology and gardening so badly, when the words stared her in the face, she hardly believed them.
Engineering: Life-Support Systems Diagnostics and Management.
A list of the procedures and operations followed and she flipped through it, trailing drops of blood to get to the next life-changing assignment. The words lay there, blunt and fat in black ink. They might as well have been carved in stone.
Life Partner: Lieutenant Astor Barliss.
“What is it?” Tria stared at her as if she’d turned into a ghost. “What did you get?”
“Engineering: Life S
upport Systems and—”
“I got that, too.”
Aries’ brother chimed in from behind them, “A most important and honorable job, indeed.”
Tria rolled her eyes at him. “Always the diplomat, aren’t we, Trent?”
“Don’t start that again.” Aries put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Let’s not fight. At least we’ll be together.”
“I know you wanted—”
“Shh.” Aries shot a glance over at her brother. “Not now, okay?”
“Okay. Sheesh! You act as though they have microphones in the walls. Who’s your life partner?”
His name felt stale on her tongue. “Astor Barliss.”
“Oh.” Tria looked away. “Isn’t he too old for you?”
Aries’ brother jumped off the treadmill. “Hey, Lieutenant Barliss is a respectable man and a highly trained official. It’s not every day a maintenance engineer gets paired with an elite officer. You should be honored.”
Aries’ throat tightened and she couldn’t suck in enough air. The room pressed in on her, the waterfall gushing in her ears, an unstoppable force.
Her brother moved by her and put a heavy hand on her shoulder. He pressed down, his tone hard and edged with warning. “You are honored, aren’t you?”
Aries gasped in a small breath. “Of course.” She swallowed and focused on Tria, as if ignoring it would make it go away. “Tria, who’d you get?”
Tria flipped her paper over. Her eyes widened as she read.
“Tria?”
She crumpled the paper in her hand and turned to leave. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why?” Aries grabbed her arm as she ran to the door. Her life partner couldn’t be any worse than a controlling superior officer with a penchant for power. Tria wriggled out of her grasp and pressed the panel. The door fizzled away.
“I’m going for a walk.”
Aries grasped her friend’s arm. “Wait, Tria. Tell me who.”
Tria sighed. “Adam Stenzer.”
An image of a man lying eternally in a sleep pod flashed in her mind. Tria would be bound to a sperm donor, not a husband. Aries didn’t know what to say.
“You can appeal it.” Aries spoke out of hope, not only for her friend but for herself.
“We all know what happens to appeals, don’t we?” Tria kicked her boot against the chrome, unable to make a dent.
Tria moved, but Aries still held onto her arm. “Where are you going to go?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be on this ship somewhere. We’ll always be on this ship somewhere, won’t we?”
Aries loosened her grip as the reality of Tria’s words hit her. When she didn’t answer, Tria took off down the hall. Before she could follow her, Aries’ brother pulled her back inside, pressing the door-seal panel. The chrome coalesced into a barrier between her and her friend.
“Hey, it’s not Adam’s fault he’s comatose. It was a freak accident, and he’s lucky to be alive. Don’t feel bad for her, Aries. Even though odds are he won’t wake up, the man’s got perfect genes and that’s what matters. Her children will be smart and healthy.”
Aries turned around and stared into her brother’s eyes, wondering if he’d ever questioned the policies of the Guide. Knowing Trent, he’d eaten every word of it up, just like he gulped down spinach because they’d told him it would make him strong. But was this really the best pairing for Tria? Was Lieutenant Barliss the best man for her? Could computers ever calculate wrong?
Trent sauntered into the kitchen and opened a bottle of vitamin water. “With an attitude like that, she’s going to get herself into trouble. I’m glad you took the news well.” He gulped the beverage down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’re a true Lifer, and Tria, she’s bad news. I’d stay away from her as much as possible, even if you two are assigned to the same job.”
Aries never questioned Trent, but to separate her from Tria stirred up so much resentment, she had no choice but to speak her mind. “Why?”
“People talk. Tria’s attracted the wrong type of attention from the upper command.” He leaned in close, so close his eyes bored into hers. “You don’t want to be associated with her, Aries, especially if you’re now tied to the lieutenant.”
Aries looked back at the door, wanting to be with Tria and not Trent. She took in a deep breath and forced herself to meet her brother’s gaze. “Gotcha.”
“Good.” Trent disappeared into his bedroom and closed the door.
Aries’ body loosened in relief. She’d played the game well today, giving the appearance of compliance. But inside, she hurt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She worried about Tria, who didn’t want to play the game at all. If her rebellious attitude continued, she’d be contained in the emergency bay and given meds to keep her under control. Aries would rather die than be kept in a prison, and she knew Tria well enough to assume her friend would do the same.
The screen on the wall flickered, the rushing waterfall morphing into desolate wasteland. Misty water and verdant shrubbery became gray, pockmarked rock. A single figure in a space suit stood by a broken escape pod. The spaceman stared back at her and beckoned her to come closer with a curling index finger.
Aries stepped toward the screen, the static from the light making the room seem like she’d walked into an old black and white movie. Her bare feet pressed into the carpet, her toes clenching. The suit’s visor clicked open and Tria stared out.
“No, don’t do it!” Aries collapsed beside the screen, putting her hands up to the wall. “You didn’t test the air!”
Tria’s face shrank as the atmosphere sucked the air from her lungs. Her voice was faint as her last breath flew away. “You aren’t free yet. Barliss is close and his search is relentless.” Her voice turned to a rasp. “Be careful. You’re walking right into his slimy hands.”
“Tria, put your visor back up. The New Dawn will come back for you. I know it.”
The whites of Tria’s eyes filled with red as the veins burst, spilling blood. Her eyes glazed over, staring at the space above her. Her voice sounded in Aries’ head, because her lips no longer moved. “I know, Aries. That’s not what I want.”
As she fell to the barren rock, the screen faded to static. Aries beat her fists upon the wall. “No!” She didn’t care if her brother heard her or if the New Dawn officials marked her as insane. Everything felt like it was too late. Sinking to the carpet, she wept.
…
A snarly reptile face, two inches long, hissed at Aries as she woke, flashing its headdress of scaly skin and dancing from side to side.
Aries screamed and scrambled away, pushing sand at it with her heels.
“What is it?” Striker peeked his head under the tarp.
“A lizard! Over there.” Aries backed up toward his feet.
Striker grabbed it and held it down with his knee. He pulled out a knife and cut its head off in front of her. “That’s what I call breakfast.”
The haziness of a disturbing dream kept her from thinking clearly, and she rubbed her eyes, trying to shake the feeling of uneasiness. Although she could blame it on the reptile, she knew the uneasiness ran deeper than a snarly wake-up call.
“You were supposed to be keeping lookout.”
“For raiders, yes. For critters, no.” He grinned and offered her his canteen. “You slept like you were in hyper-sleep.”
“I guess trekking across the desert can make a person tired.”
“Understandable.” Striker examined the lizard’s body as if deciding how to eat it.
Aries sat up and stretched. Her skin felt sore and itchy from sunburn and every move made it worse. “Any more raiders?”
“None since the last caravan.”
She watched as he gutted the animal and fried it on a rock with his laser gun. “Good. That last caravan was enough for me. What about those awful sandworms?”
Striker shook his head and scanned the horizon. “The sand is too thickly packed in th
is region for them to dig through. That’s one reason the raiders have made this their home.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about them coming up from the ground. You’re not really going to eat that, are you?”
“You bet. You should try it, too. Our supplies are only going to go so far, and you never know when another meal will walk right into camp.”
Aries wondered if it would be anything like the scorpion he’d cooked for her earlier. Small reptiles were the least of her worries. She searched the distance, expecting the New Dawn to emerge from the horizon like a flying beast, but nothing came. The dunes were an endless sea of hazy, golden light.
“You seem on edge this morning,” Striker said. “Bad dreams?”
“You could say that.”
Striker’s voice was soft. “Afraid of raiders?”
“No. I’m more afraid of being found by the man who’s searching for me.”
Striker picked at the lizard’s hide. “You never told me what he’s like.” Although his tone was nonchalant, Aries could see the muscles in his jaw tighten.
She’d never voiced her thoughts, not all of them. Not even to Tria. “His name’s Barliss. He’s controlling.”
Striker tested a piece of meat. “Don’t worry. I won’t let him find you.”
“No, you don’t understand. He’s bent on ambition. Closed minded, insecure, and self-centered.”
Striker stabbed another piece of lizard meat and handed it to her. “Wow, that bad, huh?”
Aries shook her head. She’d lost her appetite. “Yeah. And he’ll go to every extreme to find me, even if it means sacrificing some of the crew. His concern for humanity’s DNA isn’t going to outweigh his desire to pass on his own. If he doesn’t have me, the computer may not let him have anyone.”
“Listen, he’s going to have to get through me to get to you. I won’t let him get you, okay?”
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