Mali gave her a kindly smile. Era sniffed and forced her legs to move, to propel her out of storage.
She’d done it. She’d committed treason and hadn’t gotten caught. They would never know she looked at the cube.
But now that she knew the truth, what would she do with it?
∞
Era followed Mali to the recording station and picked up one of the handhelds, a vidrelay, and a handful of blank comm cubes to record messages on.
The Defect can be fixed.
“Eight is empty.” Mali pointed to a recording cubic at the far end of the wall.
Era waved a waiting colonist over and led him to the compartment. She set up the vidrelay, then activated her handheld and eyepiece. “Where’s this going?”
The man sat down. “The London.”
Three in five infants survive the surgeries.
Era retreated to her own chair across the table from him, tapped the holo between the vidrelay rods, and gestured to start the recording.
My baby might live.
The man began to speak, but his words melded together, became meaningless. He could be making plans for another riot right now, and she wouldn’t have noticed. Or cared.
What would happen when she refused to abort? Because she couldn’t go along with it. Not now.
What would Medic Faust do? Did she know the truth? How could the woman perform abortions if she did?
Era squeezed her hands in her lap.
She’d have to admit she knew an operation could fix her baby. Only she couldn’t admit that, because then they’d know she’d looked at the archives. And then they’d know who added the cube to the order.
How could she save her child without giving away her treason? Some deep part of her had believed everything she’d ever been taught about the Defect. She’d never considered what she’d do if the traitor turned out to be right.
The enormity of the truth settled within her, and she shivered.
The man cleared his throat, finished now, and she shut off the vidrelay. She rose to her feet and walked him to the door. He left the cubic, but Era didn’t call the next person in. She stole a glance around the waiting area. Paige and Helice were engrossed in a conversation, and no one else looked her way.
She closed the door and pressed her back against it, staring at the scuffed metal panels across from her. She’d tell Medic Faust what she knew and ask her to save her child. If the medic refused to save her baby, she’d threaten to tell the fleet the truth about the Defect. It was the only thing she had to bargain with.
But could she really keep this secret in exchange for her own baby’s survival? The rest of the fleet would have to know sometime. Her stomach twisted.
She’d patch that panel when it failed. She had to save her own baby first. If she couldn’t even do that, how could she help anyone else?
But if she gave the medic that ultimatum, threatened to spill their secret, they’d arrest her and airlock her. She needed a back-up plan. She didn’t want to involve Zephyr, but she couldn’t do this alone.
Era clenched her hands into fists and stumbled back to the table. She knew what she had to do.
Technically, she needed a witness to watch her record a message to Dritan. But what was one more law broken after what she’d done today? What she planned to do?
Era sat where the colonist had and dropped his cube next to her. She took a new, blank cube and pushed it into the handheld.
What should she tell Dritan? She couldn’t tell him everything, but she had to tell him something. In case it all went wrong.
She sat up straight, tapped the vidrelay holo and began the recording. Her eyepiece would give away the fact that she had no witness, that she was recording her own message, so she took it off and set it aside.
“Name: Era Corinth. Message for: Dritan Corinth. Destination: Soren.”
She paused and waited a full minute to begin speaking. Whoever sorted cubes down on Soren didn’t need to hear any part of her message.
“I know you’ve been waiting on news from me. Our baby…our baby has the Defect. But I found out something else, something I shouldn’t have. I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t. Not like this.
“I’m sorry I have to do what I’m about to do, and that it might cause trouble for you, but…I have to. Please don’t be worried about me. I miss you every day.”
Era pressed her lips together and tried to look confident. She should tell him he’d hear from her soon, that she was planning to save their baby, but pulling Zephyr into this was bad enough. She wouldn’t drag Dritan into it too. Zephyr’s father might be able to protect her, but who would protect Dritan? He’d end up airlocked, like his crew members. The less he knew, the better.
“I love you,” she said. She put the eyepiece back on and gestured to turn off the vidrelay. For the first time in months, her body felt light. The heavy weight she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying was gone. This plan was crazy, terrifying even, but it was a plan.
Era accessed the holovid she’d recorded and clipped it, deleting the parts where she’d worn her eyepiece.
She took the cube from the handheld, set it off to the side, and inserted a blank one.
Someone’s gonna walk in on me.
But she couldn’t risk locking herself in a cubic twice in one day. Not when she’d already been caught once. She’d have to take her chances.
Era sat up straight, cleared her throat, and hit record. She didn’t bother removing her eyepiece. No need to hide her treason this time.
“My name is Era Corinth…and I’m a traitor. I illegally accessed the archives, but I hope that once I share what I learned, you can forgive my treason.
“What we’ve been told about the Defect is a lie. The truth about the Defect can be found on archive cube CD-1dy34b. Three out of five defective newborns can be saved through surgery. Our children don’t have to be aborted.”
Era paused, letting her truth sink in for her imaginary audience.
“I’m recording this comm as a fail-safe. I intend to ask my medic on the Paragon to save my child. I believe there’s a good chance they’ll charge me with treason once they realize what I’ve done. But I have to try to save my baby.”
The words caught in Era’s throat, and she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath before continuing.
“If they charge me—if they prevent me from sharing what I’ve found—I will ensure my discoveries are shared with the fleet. In fact, if you’re watching this now, I probably failed to save my child. But with this knowledge…you might be able to save yours.”
Era stared into the vidrelay for a moment longer, then shut it off. She pulled out the cube and strode to the far wall. This wasn’t something she could carry around with her. She popped one of the panels off and nestled her fail-safe in a jumble of wires.
A recording cubic had to be near the bottom of any maintenance priority list. And who would ever think she’d hide it in the very room she’d recorded it in? No one would be looking for this here. No one except Zephyr, if the worst came to pass.
She reattached the panel and picked up Dritan’s comm cube in one hand and the colonist’s comm in the other.
A flutter passed through her belly. Whether it was the baby or her own renewed hope, she didn’t know. It didn’t matter. She had a plan. She had a way to save her child and a way to protect herself if things didn’t go well.
This could work. It had to.
Era exited the recording cubic and headed straight for the table where Paige and Helice sat collecting comms.
Paige looked up and scowled. She stood, the outgoing message case in her grasp. “I’m done sorting. Sorry. You’re too late. The chief is here.”
Era’s hand went to her belly. Chief Petroff stood in front of the archivist station’s high counter, gripping the archive cube case. Mali worked behind the station, her eyepiece activated. Zephyr stood by her side, her face drawn and pale. Zephyr?
Era’s scalp pr
ickled, and time seemed to slow. Why was Zephyr here? “I’m taking the case to Mali.”
Helice fidgeted in her chair, looking at Paige.
Paige narrowed her eyes. “Just because you—”
Enough of this glitch. Era wrenched the case from Paige’s grasp and slammed it down on the table. She flipped open the lid and dropped her cube to Dritan into the Soren container and the colonist’s cube in the container for the London.
“Mali will—”
“I’m taking it.” Era closed the case and yanked it away as Paige reached out to grab it.
Era started toward the archivist station and froze. Zephyr was staring at her, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. Mali’s somber attention was directed at something only she could see on the stationary’s holo.
The air around Era seemed to gather a charge, and her legs grew heavy, like someone had dialed up the grav system.
Her body begged her to run the other way, but her legs took her forward, toward a scene that made no sense. Something was very wrong. They knew.
Zephyr took a few steps toward Era, one arm outstretched.
Era gave the message shipment to Chief Petroff without making eye contact and waited. Her muscles tensed, and her pulse thrummed in her ears. He would arrest her. Why else would Mali be looking at her like that?
The chief said something to Mali and strode away, message to Dritan in one case, Era’s treasonous cube order addition in the other. She let her gaze follow him out the doors, and she exhaled when they slid shut behind him. He hadn’t arrested her. They didn’t know what she’d done.
But if they didn’t know…
Zephyr grabbed Era’s hand. Mali removed her eyepiece. She was crying.
Era looked from Mali to Zephyr and back.
A darkness bloomed within her, sucking her in, dragging her down. She took a step back, shaking her head. A moan rose in her throat and stuck there. Her intuition broke through, finally relaying the message it’d been sending since she first caught sight of Zephyr.
“I’m so sorry, child. There’s been an accident on Soren.”
As if a breach had opened, all air was sucked from the repository. Era pressed a fist to her chest, and Zephyr squeezed her other hand tighter.
“The report says there was a cave-in. No survivors.” Mali’s voice sounded far away, muffled like a damaged holovid.
“No,” Era said. “No. Not his crew. I just got a message from him—”
“It was his crew.” Mali’s voice was firm, denying all hope.
“They need to keep looking, then. They have oxygen, ways to survive…” Era took a step toward Mali and tried to shake off Zephyr’s grasp. “What did the message say?” Era’s voice cracked at the end of her words.
Mali moved around the station and touched Era’s arm. “Executive got the message yesterday. The accident happened three days ago.”
“He could still be alive—”
“They’ve scanned the area of the cave-in and have detected no life.”
“Tech can be wrong.”
“It’s been three days. And they don’t report loss of life until they’re certain. I’m sorry.”
Era bent over, clutching her chest, the tiles beneath her blurring in and out of focus.
Three days. No sign of life.
Emergency supplies lasted two.
Punishment. Losing her husband, her baby defective, just like what happened to the traitor.
I’ll never do anything wrong again. I’ll be a model colonist, live quietly, not question things. Please let him be alive.
But who was listening?
The universe didn’t care who lived and died. Soren had no say in it. People just died. They just did, and there was never a reason.
Her eyes burned, and her legs gave out beneath her. She crumpled to the cold floor. I knew what would happen the day he left. I knew. I knew he’d never come back.
A strangled sob made it past the pain in her throat, and hot tears slid down her cheeks. She drew her knees in to her chest and rocked back and forth, barely aware of Zephyr and Mali by her side, rubbing her neck, squeezing her arms, saying things she couldn’t make out.
Era tasted the salt of her tears. She dropped her face onto her knees and wept.
He was never coming back.
“Get up, Era. Come on. Let’s go back to your cubic.” Zephyr pulled on her arm.
Era let Zephyr and Mali drag her to her feet. Mali handed her a suit scrap, and Era wiped uselessly at her nose, at the tears still streaming down her face.
“Take her back. Stay with her,” Mali said.
Zephyr took Era’s arm and led her to the repository doors. Everyone in the waiting area stared, but Era couldn’t stop crying. The blackness had swallowed her. She didn’t care what they thought. Let them see it.
Everyone had lost someone. Why’d they bury it, pretend it was all okay?
Until someone didn’t. Like the traitor. He hadn’t been able to live with what had been taken from him.
Could she?
Era pressed the wet scrap up to her mouth and allowed Zephyr to drag her down the stairs and through the corridors. People stepped out of the way and averted their eyes.
When they got to Era’s cubic, she stood still, numb from the inside out. Zephyr gently removed Era’s shift card from her pocket and opened the cubic. Era would have to move back to the singles sector now, back with Zephyr.
Zephyr activated the helio, illuminating the space, and Era stumbled to the bunk and collapsed onto it, the pain swelling in her again.
Never coming back.
She drew Dritan’s pillow to her like she had every night since he’d gone. The scent of him was faint, but still there. She buried her face in it, and silent sobs wracked her body.
She heard Zephyr fumbling around on the shelf next to the bunk and felt a hand on her back.
“Drink some of this,” Zephyr said.
Era sat up and took the canteen Zephyr offered her, but just cried harder. She bent over, clutching her belly.
Zephyr held up the clear package of pills. “They gave you grimp?”
Era nodded, and Zephyr squeezed one from the pack. “Take it.”
“No.” Era tried to catch her breath. “The president killed him. She killed Dritan. She’s been lying to us about the Defect. They can save my baby.”
She reached out and gripped Zephyr by the arm. “I recorded it all. So when I tell them I won’t abort…if they arrest me for treason, you can get the recording and tell them what I know.” The words came out halting, broken by her sobs.
Zephyr’s brow wrinkled, and she hissed in a breath through her teeth. “I don’t understand. What recording? What does this have to do with…with your abortion?”
“The Defect’s a lie.” Era choked on the words as they came. “I recorded the truth. Hid it. They won’t take my baby.”
“Recorded what? You think…you think the Defect is a lie? I know this is—take this. Take this. So we can talk.” Zephyr held the tablet up to Era’s lips.
Era turned her head. Hysteria was rising in her, a chaotic pulse of fear and panic mingling with her grief. Dritan was dead, and she’d soon follow him if she refused to get an abortion.
“You have to listen. The Defect—”
Zephyr pressed the tablet to Era’s mouth, and Era clamped it shut and shook her head.
“It’s not addicting unless you take it for a long time,” Zephyr said softly. “It’ll help. You need to calm down.”
Era’s whole body ached, and the walls of the cubic seemed to be moving closer, squeezing the air from the room, suffocating her.
The loss, the Dritan-shaped hole inside her felt like something she could never crawl out of. Zephyr pushed the tablet against Era’s lips, more insistent now, and Era opened them. The pain would fade, just for a little while.
The pill dissolved on Era’s tongue, and she took a sip of water to wash the bitter taste away. The drug would make it easier for Era to breathe, to
talk and get Zephyr to listen.
Era sank back onto the bunk, tears still leaking from her eyes, and stared at the ceiling. Her distorted reflection stared back at her, and she watched her face relax as the drug took hold. Her hands unclenched, and a warm calm spread through her.
More of a numbness than calm, really. It all just faded away, leaving her floating in an empty space where nothing mattered.
“I’m so sorry,” Zephyr said.
Era’s gaze shifted to Zephyr. She watched her take her eyepiece and handheld from her pocket and set them on the shelf.
“What do you want to tell me? About the Defect?”
“Play something for me.” Her own voice sounded disembodied to her ears, as if it came from someone else’s mouth.
“Play what?” Zephyr didn’t meet Era’s eyes.
“The song. The song you finally finished.”
Zephyr nodded, and Era stared up at the ceiling again, her hands on her belly. Would the grimp harm her baby? She’d taken it without thinking. What did that say about her? About the grimp? She should feel anxious now, but she didn’t. This drug erased everything. The tiny part of her that wanted to care rose up and floated away.
“I’m not aborting,” Era said.
“Shh. Just relax. I’ll play you the song.”
“No. I’m a traitor.” It sounded casual, like she’d said “I’m tired.”
The music began to play, and Zephyr laid on the bunk. “Shh. Stop talking like that.”
Era stared into Zephyr’s blue eyes. “I love you, Zeph. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.”
“I love you, too.” Zephyr’s voice sounded strained. “I’ll stay with you ‘til curfew, but I need to be back at my cubic for bunk check.”
“I wish you could stay.”
“I’ll take your shift card with me, so I can let myself back in. I’ll be back before first mess. Back before you even wake up.” Tears spilled from Zephyr’s eyes, tracking wet lines down her pale face.
“Don’t cry,” Era said. She smiled and wiped Zephyr’s cheek with her hand. “You’re the strong one.”
Zephyr sniffed and snuggled up to Era, wrapping one pale arm around her. Era’s mind whispered to her to tell Zephyr everything, but she was so tired. She could tell Zephyr the plan after night shift, couldn’t she? There would still be time.
Fractured Era: Legacy Code Bundle (Books 1-3) (Fractured Era Series) Page 16
