Two Titanborn guards stood outside the door, fully armed. They bowed their heads as I approached, then let me inside. Good, loyal warriors, not like the protesters on Phoebe who couldn’t see what Titan needed beyond their own wants.
“Kale!” Aria exclaimed. She lay on a bed with a copious number of scarlet-colored sheets. I was used to the dwelling not looking lived in, but she’d been there since we returned. A few pairs of clothing littered the shiny, tile floor, and dishes sat out in the kitchen. None of that changed the museum quality of the place. Real, wooden moldings edged the ceiling, not the synthetic stuff. Even the furniture was made from it. After the Meteorite wiped out all the natural forests on Earth, the material was as rare as diamond, grown only in contained farms on Earth’s scarred surface.
“Don’t get up,” I said.
She frowned but obeyed. The blankets were down around her ankles, so I could see how more than a month of growth left her bulging belly plainly visible. No loose-fitting dress could hide her condition anymore. I hadn’t come to see her since we returned, not even before going to Phoebe. All I knew was that our baby’s scans remained healthy even after her exposure to radiation, thanks to the Cora’s anti-rads.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Still exhausted.”
I considered removing my armor, getting comfortable, and joining her in bed. Instead, I sat on the end. I didn’t plan on staying long.
“How was Gareth’s funeral?”
“Interrupted by Earthers.”
“I wish you’d let me come...”
“You know I couldn’t.” I stared at her. Lying on her back with tears in her eyes and holding her pregnant stomach, she almost looked harmless. I suppose that’s why I was so quick to trust her. She was similar to Cora that way. For all her beauty, she wasn’t like Mazrah or an Earther ad model. She looked like a worker you might find down at a Lowers factory, hair messy and face stained from a hard day of work. But buried beneath that pretty, unassuming façade, I’d learned there was more mystery than anything.
“You brought Pervenio and Venta to our doorsteps,” I said categorically. “I don’t know what happened when I allowed you down to Old Dome, but that’s what you came back with. Now they’ve merged into something even Earth has never seen before, and Gareth is dead.”
She propped herself up, grimacing. “I hope you know I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. I didn’t even know my dad was alive.” She took my hand. “You have to believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe.”
She slid closer and wrapped her hand around my jaw. Her touch was warmer than usual, but I didn’t recoil. “Believe in me.” She turned my face toward her stomach. “Believe in us.”
I removed her hand and stood. “How many more secrets do you have, Aria? I know who your father is now. He’s the Pervenio Collector who was in New London when you stole medicine for us. The Collector who followed you all the way here. Who seized the Piccolo and Desmond and Cora...” I swallowed hard. I never liked bringing her up around Aria. It was bad enough how much they reminded me of each other. “He’s the same Collector who found our hideout under the Q-zone. For not getting along, he seems to be on your heels quite often.”
“Malcolm follows the credits. He always has. And nothing earns credits like conflict. It just so happens that I’ve been helping a group of terrorists.”
She put on a wry grin. My gaze didn’t soften.
“This isn’t a game,” I said.
“It’s how they view you, Kale. You must know that. But he’s retired, trust me. It pained him enough to tell me. The only reason he came after me on Mars was because he thought he was saving me.”
“From me.”
Her lips twisted, and she hung her head. “He’ll be the first to admit he’s never been very good at it. You don’t have to worry about him, Kale. So long as he knows I’m safe, he’s harmless.”
“I’m not worried about him.”
She didn’t back down. It wasn’t in her nature. She ignored my orders not to get up and made her way in front of me until she was holding me by the arms. She stared right into my eyes until I had no choice but to stare back at hers. They were as bright a green as Luxarn’s garden outside used to be, with specs of brown like soil.
“All I’ve ever tried to do is help your people, Kale,” she whispered. “From the moment Mazrah contacted me at Venta. I grew up hiding because I wasn’t born how Earth wanted me to be. Ignored by my father, spat on by everyone else. This is my home now whether you trust me or not, but I hope more than anything that you can again.”
“You promised to tell me everything,” I replied. “No more secrets.”
“Yes.”
I sat her down on the bed and slid in beside her. “Then tell me now. Tell me how the daughter of a famed Pervenio Collector became my ambassador. And don’t leave anything out.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
MALCOLM GRAVES
My eyes snapped open. I gasped for air and found it hard to come by with my sanitary mask still on tight. I searched from side to side. I was back in the cabin of the Cora. My last memory was a host of Ringers entering my cell. I got a few good punches in, but they overwhelmed me and knocked me out.
“There you are,” someone said. Kale sat across from me, planted one armored finger in the center of my forehead, and pushed. “I never thought you’d wake up. How does it feel to be the one wearing the mask now?”
“You son of a bitch!” I lunged at him, but restraints snapped me back into place. A strong point of pressure on my chest didn’t help either. The Cora was on a hard burn, but where we were going I had no idea. “Where is she?” I growled.
“Your daughter is safe. For now. That all depends on you.”
“If you hurt her.”
“Relax. She’s of no use to me dead. You, on the other hand...that’s an entirely different story.”
“Take off these straps and you’ll see how useful I can be.”
“I plan on it. You see, Malcolm, you’re going to help me with an issue. I need you to remove someone from the equation. That’s what you Collectors do, isn’t it? End conflicts before they begin.”
I laughed. “If you really think I’m going to help you, you’re crazier than I thought.”
“I told you, you’re my Collector now. It’s not up to you.”
“It’s like Aria told you. I’m retired.”
“Aria told me many things. About how you abandoned her so often as a child to get ahead on credits. How after five long years without talking you found her in that cavern on Titan and tried to get her out. You want to know my favorite part, though? It’s when you shot Luxarn Pervenio’s secret, bastard son to keep him from taking her in.”
Kale clapped his hands; I flinched. To me it sounded like that very gunshot that took Zhaff’s life, echoing over and over in my brain.
“Zhaff Pervenio,” he mused. “I wonder what Luxarn will say when I find him and tell him that his prized Collector is the real killer. That Malcolm Graves is the one who made our revolution possible.”
I yanked again at my restraints until I was short on breath. “It takes two, Ringer,” I grated.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed about, Malcolm. My mother would’ve done the same for me. It’s how I know you can be useful here. You’re different than the other Earthers. You chose family over all the riches in Sol.”
“If only you’d been there.”
“I was too busy finding the empty cells of my crewmates on Pervenio Station after your Director spaced them. One at a time. They didn’t know anything, yet he made them each watch as the prisoner in the next cell over was spaced.”
“Sodervall was a rabid dog. But Cora...she was a good kid. I talked with her. She believed with all her heart that you were innocent. Could you imagine if she could see what you’ve become?”
“She can’t.” His armored hand squeezed into a fist. “She can’t because we lived in a world where e
very damn Ringer was guilty the moment they were born. Our word, worthless. And if she were still alive, she’d be at my side fighting the fight we’ve been fighting our whole lives. The only difference is that now we’re on top.”
“Until the moment you fall. Don’t you see, kid; that’s the way things have always been. Earthers, Ringers, the old countries. It’s the people that own the shit worth fighting for that wind up sitting pretty. The only reason anyone gives a damn about what goes on here is because of that gas giant floating out there. Someone comes up with a new engine that doesn’t need the gas it’s got, you’ll be another failed protest. Doesn’t matter how big. Just another blip on the radar while humanity chugs on.”
I thought that would get to him, but all he did was force a grin. That was the best way to deal with rioting workers on offworld colonies. Show them how futile it all was. Crush them under the weight of the world and history so that they doubted their movement enough for it to come down. This was nothing like that.
“Lucky for you then, you get to come along on the ride,” he said.
“I’m not eliminating anything for you, Kale. You may as well kill me now.”
“I don’t think so.” He stood and paced the cabin. “A greedy shipyard manager is slowing the production of ships. We’re desperate. He’s putting everything we’re working toward in jeopardy over credits. Something you understand.”
“So, hang him yourself. I’m sure you have no problem doing it.”
He lunged forward and clasped my jaw so tightly I thought it was going to snap. “No! It has to be you.”
“There’s only one more life I’m willing to take unless you let me and Aria go far away from here.”
He released me. “You’re going to remove Orson, or your daughter will spend the rest of her life in a cage.”
“You expect me to believe that?” I snickered. “The fearsome King Kale Trass. Can’t even say the word kill when you put a hit on a poor old man. I saw you two together. You care about her.”
“I cared about Cora. Your daughter is a tool, nothing more. Someone who understands their language.”
“You’re fooling yourself.”
He pulled out a hand-terminal and showed me a live feed. A woman lay quietly on her back on a plush bed, red hair matching the sheets. Aria.
“Right now, she’s locked in my room,” Kale said. “I can do anything I want to her and my men wouldn’t say a thing.”
“Beating up on girls in your powered armor must make you feel special,” I bristled. “Take it off and I’m sure I taught her enough to break your brittle Ringer bones.”
“It’s simple, Collector. Kill Orson Fring for us, or I’ll tell my men to drag her out into the Uppers to be among my people. An outsider like her? Who knows what they’ll do, and I won’t be there to protect her.”
“You fucking Ringer animal!”
Kale stood and left me there without even a glance back. I pulled on my restraints with all my might, over and over until my wrists were raw. Then the pressure on my chest from the Cora accelerating dissipated, and I felt the ship jerk back. We were docking.
“Where are we?” I asked. “We’re not done here, Drayton!”
“Yes, you are,” Maya said, voice as harsh and unwelcoming as the moon she came from. Her heavy suit clanked as she approached me, then shoved the barrel of my own pulse pistol against the side of my skull. “Up, Earther.”
She switched off my restraints and heaved me to my feet. I tried to whip around and grab her, but the electromag dampener was still around my synthetic leg, and I tripped into an inactive sleep pod like it was my first time walking. She had my gun aimed back at my head before I could make another move.
“Walk,” she said.
“You know, this isn’t really how being a Collector works. They don’t force us on jobs. We can always walk away unpaid.”
“It’s sad you believe that.”
I bit my lip. She’d caught me in a blatant lie there. Luxarn had been irritated enough when I retired. Before Kale’s rebellion he wouldn’t have let it go down so easily. He would’ve roped me in with promises of riches and more. But so much about Sol had changed since I fell into a coma. The only thing that never would was people.
Maya shoved me along down the halls of the Cora. “What did you do to Kale?” I asked. She shoved me harder.
“I let nature run its course.”
“No. I’ve been racking my mind for answers. It’s easy to blame it on what happened to Cora, but before you people took him off the Piccolo, he was just some lowlife pickpocket trying to afford meds for his sick mother in quarantine. What’s more noble than that?”
“Better than the people like you who got her sick and stuffed her in there.”
“Everything comes back to that moment. He was nothing, and then he disappeared with you and emerged the leader of the Children of Titan. That’s the difference right there. The moment Sodervall accuses him, his mother goes missing and he becomes a monster; that’s when he met you.”
She pushed me into the wall of the cargo bay. My synthetic leg dragged and caused me to topple.
“And killing for credits makes you what?” she questioned.
“I know what I am. You know what you are. We understand each other. Kale? He’s just an impressionable kid who got his heart broken. What, did you look in the mirror and decide to mold him in your image?”
She grabbed me by the back of my duster and hurled me down the ramp of the Cora into a dark, empty hangar. My shoulder slammed hard a few times as I rolled.
“You know what you have to do,” she said. She removed a hand-terminal and keyed some commands. The electromag band immobilizing my artificial leg switched off.
I groaned and made my way to my knees. “You keep letting Kale spiral, you’re going to wind up hating what you’ve created. Me and you, we’re set in our ways. Kids like him? They get creative when they go rotten.”
“You’ll find Orson Fring in the shipyard’s managerial office,” she said. “He’s the older man with a white beard. Try not to kill anyone else.”
“You sound an awful lot like Director Sodervall used to when he gave me jobs. What stops me from running?”
“A part of Kale may still care for Aria despite her lies, but I don’t.” She tossed my pistol at my feet. Then she glowered at me the entire time the Cora’s ramp rose to shut me out, tongue licking the gaps in her half-marred face. A few days living with her and I’d probably lose my mind too.
The ramp hissed as it sealed. I wrapped my fingers around the grip of my pistol. It was the only place they ever felt at home. I’d pushed away or run from every woman they’d ever touched. Only two women had ever come close to getting me to hang it up. Mazrah, one of my old informants who was now somewhere working for Kale and had tried to kill me the last time we’d met on Titan. And Aria, who was working for the same man and got me to kill for her last time we were on Titan.
“Damn you, Aria,” I cursed under my breath. Most rebellious daughters brought home a gangbanger, or another girl if you’re into the clan-family-breed-safely-and-efficiently-for-the-good-of-mankind mumbo jumbo the USF spouted. Not her. She decided to shack up with the leader of the worst riot Sol had ever known. I could throw insults at them as much as I wanted, but there was no denying that they’d set a new standard. Rewritten the rules even.
I stood and dusted off my clothing. It took a few bends to get my synthetic leg back in order. The human one felt like its usual shitty self after space travel. Then I checked my clip and headed for the hangar exit.
What choice did I have?
It was one old Ringer shipworker or my daughter. I made that choice with Zhaff, and I’d considered him a friend. Getting Aria out now was going to be the hardest job I’d ever taken on. I had to play along. Make myself useful and bide my time until Kale turned away for just a second and then...I’d end him.
I sidled along the exit and peaked around the corner. Phoebe Station was deathly quiet a
nd dark. What passed for nighttime on a moon of Saturn. The Ringer day-night cycle fell in line with Earth’s. Fight it as they might, it was genetic. Earther days and years were an intersolar standard, at least until Kale inevitably tried to change that too.
I crept along, checking my corners. Every groan from life support sent me ducking into a niche, finger on my trigger. Occasionally, I heard a footstep from someone scurrying toward the station’s rec area, but I was a ghost. Infiltrating offworld workstations happened to be a Collector specialty.
Except usually there was security. I didn’t encounter any in the main passage, and when I reached the factory docks, it was more of the same. Dozens of Ringers slept between unfinished ship bodies, using insulation for blankets. Signs of protest littered the floor. A handful throughout the vast space continued working, but they wore welding masks and were distracted by sparks from fusion torches.
This was a standard Pervenio shipyard layout: a series of tall hangars, with a glass box floating in the back for the development manager. All I had to do was not sneeze, and my path to the manager’s office was clear. I supposed exactly how Kale planned it.
I skirted along the outer walls like a shadow, using scraps for cover. The office was only a breath away when one of Kale’s few loyal workers across the room dropped his fusion cutter. He cursed loudly, then lower as he tried to get control of it. It spun along the floor, melting anything in its path. I got distracted, and my foot banged into a sleeping Ringer.
“What the—?” the man groaned awake.
I was on him in a heartbeat. My hand wrapped around his throat, and my synthetic knee pushed down hard on his chest. I could see his eyes bulge as he saw what I was. Even the sanitary mask I wore couldn’t hide my stout Earther frame and pink skin. He couldn’t do anything about it. I held him there on the precipice of death until his eyes rolled back. Then I let off. I didn’t kill for free unless there was no other choice.
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