“Always knew he had potential,” said Desmond. He took a long sip of his drink, his face scrunching as he forced it down his throat.
“And look.” Lester leaned over me and pointed to Cora, his drinks spilling onto my lap. His breath reeked. “He’s even won over our dear Cora!”
Cora glared past him, right at me. It was obvious by her expression that she thought I’d spent the entire working shift boasting to the crew. She looked appalled.
“I didn’t…” I whispered, shaking my head at her.
She turned away, got up, and headed off to her bed. A narrow hall with bunks stacked on either side was adjacent to the rec room, but that wasn’t where she slept. Her bed was in a nook on the other side of the room, where an unused kitchen was located. A makeshift door latched to the wall separated her from the rest of us.
Suddenly, I felt silly for telling her that she was one of us when the divide was so clear. I used to like to pretend she had her own area because she was a different gender and rank, but that was just naïve. Of all the times I’d seen her disappear behind the curtain, it was only then that I finally understood why she was so quiet. It wasn’t because of what had happened with her parents, but because she must’ve known she was destined to be alone. Earthers were skeptical of her, Ringers accepted her as a person, but neither would want her by their side. She was in a quarantine of her very own.
“Never any fun with her,” Lester groaned. He leaned back and took a sip from one drink and then the other.
“Leave her alone, Lester,” I said.
“C’mon, then. Prove me wrong. Get in there and let us know for once what hybrid tastes like.”
“I said leave her alone!” I slapped one of the glasses from his hand. It hit the wall and synthahol splashed everywhere. Before I knew what was happening, I had him by the collar, my fist clenched.
Desmond moseyed over and wrenched himself in between us. “He’s just messing around,” he said to me. He peeled my hand off Lester and lifted him from the couch. Then he told him, “Let Kale have his day.”
“You two deserve each other,” Lester growled. He downed the rest of his remaining drink and then cackled all the way back to the bar. Yavik dumped a small pile of foundry salts he’d somehow smuggled through security onto the countertop.
I stormed out of the room to my bed and took a seat without another word. I was too tired to waste any. The work, my mom, the crew, Cora—I was more exhausted than I could ever remember. I zoned out the racket of the people enjoying their time off and lay down. Doing so helped ease my sore muscles, even though the mattress was so flimsy I could feel the frame beneath, and my pillow barely had any fluff left to it. It was like sleeping on a cloth bag filled with Titanian sand.
I burrowed the back of my head into the bed and stared forward. I had a straight view of Cora’s door, and I couldn’t help but notice her pale feet through the open bottom. Her clothing dropped to the floor around them. It felt wrong looking, even though I couldn’t see anything more than her lower calves, but as I began to avert my eyes, I noticed something hanging out of her crumpled pocket: her ID card. The same card that was able to get us into the command deck at any time.
Soon, everybody would be drunk or high and sleeping for what passed as a night on the Piccolo. It was time for me to do what I did best. I could grab Cora’s card, sneak to the command deck, and be done with it. Whatever happened afterward, I’d take the blame. She’d probably help me if I explained the situation, but I didn’t want her involved. Maybe we could never have anything real, but I owed her.
I turned my head toward the wall and kept my eyes open. My first task was managing to stay awake until nobody else was.
Not falling asleep wasn’t overly challenging. My body was drained and my eyelids heavy, but at a certain point, the Piccolo entered the storm Culver warned us about. Had it been worse, Cora would’ve been roused to take control and divert us from the course she’d plotted into the autopilot, and my whole plan would’ve been ruined. But that was why the ship ascended to shallow atmosphere during off-times.
Still, this storm was still enough to have the ship’s hull shaking, and in the Ringer dorm, that meant all the exposed pipes rattling. Drunken Ringers also had a penchant for snoring. Together, there was enough noise to keep me awake and then to cover my movements.
I slowly flipped my body over. What little light remained emanated from the corridor outside, so it was difficult to see. I slid my legs off the bed and lowered my feet without a sound. My head was groggy, but lying down had rejuvenated my limbs.
I shuffled along, weaving through a forest of lanky arms and legs hanging from the upper level of bunks. A tremor from the storm caused a hand to land on my shoulder. I think it belonged to Lester, but he was so far gone that I was able to remove it while he kept on snoring.
I reached Cora’s divider and knelt. The other side was silent as she slept, and her clothes were right where I’d seen them earlier.
I took a deep breath, started to reach under the door, and stopped. I was clearly one of the few people on the Piccolo in which Cora had even a fraction of trust, and I was about to break it. I was betraying my mom’s trust too. I told myself that they’d both understand. A lie, probably, but unless I planned on including Cora in R’s mission, or sneaking into the captain’s quarters to get his ID, it was the only way.
I shoved my hand in farther before I could second-guess myself. My stringy arms may have helped with cleaning, but my long fingers were built to dig into pockets. They brushed against her clothes, where I fished around for a few seconds before I found the card and slowly drew it out. When I pulled back my hand, it sat in the center of my palm.
I took another deep breath to steady myself. When I was sure Cora hadn’t been roused, I stood and made my way to the dorm’s sealed exit. I remained extremely cautious: Lurking around the ship when shifts were all done was forbidden for Ringer maintenance crew.
A swipe of Cora’s card over the control panel got it open in a hurry and bypassed the decon-chamber. I peered around the corner. The lights were dimmed, but I spotted one of John’s security team patrolling the central corridor about thirty meters up ahead. He faced the opposite direction.
I slipped out of the room. The door closed behind me, but the storm covered its whoosh. I stayed low as I crept toward the guard. I had to stay beneath the viewport on the door to the Earther dorms. As I got closer, I heard the guard chuckling. He was watching something on his hand-terminal.
Again, I wasn’t surprised by his lack of vigilance. There was nothing to steal on the Piccolo, especially since we still had months left with each other. No reason for anybody to purposely damage any equipment either. We were each paid off a percentage of the gas we harvested, after all.
A left at the central corridor would take me straight to the command deck, but the guard stood directly in the middle of it. Knocking out an Earther without a baton and a running start wasn’t going to happen, so I searched the walls for something to throw. I spotted a cluster of pipes, and one of the joints was filled with rusty screws.
I located the loosest nut that could be removed without a wrench. The pipe wouldn’t miss it; ship parts often came loose during storms. I took the nut and flung it into the central corridor so that it bounced off the wall and deflected in the direction opposite where I needed to go. The clank was loud enough to draw the guard’s attention.
He turned to check it out. I slipped behind him like a ghost and moved as quickly as possible, not bothering to look back. No other branches or nooks lay in my path to hide in, just a short, straight shot to the command deck. If he saw me, he saw me, and there would be nothing I could do but outrun him. He didn’t.
I reached the locked entrance, breathing heavier now, and leaned against the side wall. Another swipe of Cora’s card and I was through. The Piccolo was presently on Saturn’s dark side, so all I could see through the transparent dome were pale lines of gusting wind. The command console bathed
the room in a greenish aura. Controls flickered and beeped.
I took a seat at the console and fetched my hand-terminal from my pocket. The orange circle glared up at me, judging me with its silent fury. I would be as glad to get rid of it as I would be to complete my end of the deal.
With my free hand, I located the slot beneath the front panel to insert the device. I closed my eyes, not sure of why I was so nervous. I inhaled slowly to keep my fingers steady, and placed it in. A soft chime indicated that the connection was established. After all the irritation, I half-expected there to be fireworks, or at least a message thanking me, but there wasn’t. A field of text popped up on a tiny screen above the port.
UPLOAD IN PROGRESS... PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE DEVICE...
That was it. I would’ve cheered myself if the result wasn’t so anticlimactic. I leaned back in the chair and waited. R wasn’t clear on what to do next.
The metal structure of the dome whined and stole my attention from the console. The storm outside strengthened, or at least it seemed that way to me. If it got bad enough, Cora would be forced back on duty. I had no idea how long the update would take but knew that if I got caught up here, I’d have some serious explaining to do. As it was, I doubted anybody would realize the device was inserted unless they were trying to connect one of their own into the same port.
I had to get Cora’s ID back to her. I was fully prepared to take responsibility if I got caught, but that wasn’t the plan I preferred. Everything I’d done was to save my mother, and I planned on actually getting to see her again, without glass in the way. Maybe, after all the progress we’d made, I could even convince Cora to come with me next time.
I eyed the screen for a few more seconds and then left the command deck behind. I hoped I wouldn’t be back soon.
The guard in the hall had returned to watching his hand-terminal without bothering to move from the spot where the nut landed. I snuck back past him easily and was in the Ringer dorm in less than a minute. The door resealed behind me like I’d never left. With Cora’s card in my hand, I approached her door. I was just about to return it, when I heard her.
“Kale, is that you?” she whispered softly like she’d just woken.
I suppressed a shriek as I slipped and fell onto my rear. Somehow, I was able to keep the card in my grasp and return to a crouch so that I could hide it behind my back.
“Kale?” she said.
“It’s... it’s me,” I stuttered.
She unlatched her door and cracked it open just enough for me to peek inside. She sat on the end of her bed, a thin sheet drawn across her body. She didn’t appear angry, just tired.
“Cora, I didn’t mean to wake you. I just...” I sighed. I had no idea what to say.
“It’s okay.” She waved me closer so that we could whisper more easily. I found moving far more difficult than connecting the hand-terminal had been. My legs felt like they were submerged in wet concrete. Somehow, I managed to drag them forward a few steps before I remembered her card was still in my possession. I rotated my hand to face away from her.
“I’m sorry I reacted that way earlier,” she said. “I know you wouldn’t have told them.”
I exhaled so loudly I sounded like a leaky gas pipe. She didn’t see. “Don’t worry about it,” I said as I got closer, keeping the card out of sight. “They just don’t know when to stop.”
“If anyone else found out—”
“They won’t.” I kneeled beside her bed, slipping her card back into her pocket unseen as I did. “None of them would say a word to an Earther.”
“I’d defend you if they did. All the captain cares about is the Piccolo running smoothly.”
“I don’t deserve that.” A sinking sensation in my stomach over what I’d just done made me feel nauseous. I went to stand. Her cold fingers gripped my arm to stop me.
“Yes, you do,” she said.
I regarded her, confused. With her other hand, she reached for my sanitary mask and pulled it down just enough to reveal my lips. She leaned toward me, stopping a few centimeters away. Her silvery hair tickled my face and caused goosebumps to cover my entire body.
My breathing stopped. My eyelids were probably drawn so wide that it looked like I’d stumbled upon a dead body.
“I’m clean, Kale,” she whispered. “I promise. You’ll be okay. I… I want this. I have for a long time.”
I couldn’t manage words. Only a nod so subtle she wouldn’t have been able to see it if we weren’t so close. Her lips pressed against mine, and before I could control it, my arms were wrapped around her. I longed to remove my gloves so I could feel the smooth camber of her bare back.
We didn’t make sense. It wasn’t safe. But in that moment, everything else in the world, all my problems, faded away.
ELEVEN
A violent tremor startled me awake. My eyes snapped open, and I searched the darkness. I wasn’t sure what was a dream and what wasn’t, but when I felt my arm draped over another body, I remembered. Cora and I were squeezed onto her bed. Neither of us wore anything. Not even a mask or gloves.
I touched her arm just to ensure she was real. She was still fast asleep, her head resting on my chest. I never wanted to move.
Another tremor, this one more intense than the last.
“What’s that?” Cora yawned.
As I started to answer, the Piccolo lurched to the side. We were tossed out of the bed. Cups and other equipment slid across the rec room floor, clamoring against the walls like cymbals. The groans and confused shouts of the stirred crew filled the room.
Cora and I peeled our tangled bodies from each other. My shoulder stung from crashing against the floor. She’d landed on me, so she was fine.
“Storm?” I groaned. If it was, it was the worst I’d ever felt. Usually, short-range scanners picked up a bad one before the Piccolo wound up too deep and Cora was woken to alter our heading.
“Must be,” she said.
She grabbed her clothes and stood, fully naked. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I felt like I was seeing the stars for the first time again. She caught me staring and giggled.
“Are you going to sit there, or are you going to help?” she asked.
I don’t even want to imagine how much I blushed. I jumped to my feet and fumbled around with her boiler suit’s loose sleeve as I tried to get it on her. Once I did, she zipped up the outfit and faced me.
“Cora, I—” I said before she placed one of her slender fingers over my mouth.
She smiled. “Find somewhere to sit in case this gets worse,” she said. “We can talk after.”
The smile I returned grew wider. It was beyond my control, like I was intoxicated. When I didn’t say anything, she just giggled again, planted a kiss on my cheek, and hurried through the curtain.
I stood with a goofy grin on my face for a few moments before deciding to get dressed myself. I had to sit down on the bunk to do it, and not because the ship was shaking. After the worst tremor, it’d almost entirely stopped. But my legs were wobbly, in no small part due to the best night of my life.
I finished dressing and sat up. The weight of my boiler suit felt off without the compromised hand-terminal in my pocket. I wondered if it’d finished uploading the program, which I assumed was going to somehow tap into the captain’s credit account and rob him. Something like that at least. I didn’t care. If someone found it, I decided I’d say I left it up there by accident while I was with Cora. Everything had gone perfectly, and my mom would have no choice but to forgive me for what I’d done after it got her out of that hellhole.
On the other side of the divider, the Ringer crew ran amok trying to figure out what was going on. The standard protocol for a storm was for Cora or the captain to announce over the ship’s main com-system whether or not we needed to strap down. The speakers remained silent. I could manage to think of only one thing other than a powerful storm that could knock a ship the size of the Piccolo around like it was a pool ball—one of the dual engines b
lowing out. Of course, that would also have involved us taking a nosedive straight into the heart of the gas giant to join the Sunfire, and the force of gravity tugging on my body hadn’t gotten any stronger to indicate that had happened. The ship seemed to be flying as steady as it was when there was no storm at all.
I slid forward and rested my feet flat against the floor. It vibrated gently, like it always did from the ship’s engines. I placed my hand against the wall, and it felt the same there. The worst storm I’d ever experienced on the Piccolo also seemed to have been the shortest.
I stood and took a step toward the curtain. I stopped when I realized that I was about to walk into a crowded rec room directly from Cora’s bed. I’d never hear the end of it from Desmond and the others. It was better to stay put and wait it out...
A crack rang out, so loud it resonated in the pipes. It sounded like a piece of the Piccolo’s wing snapping off. The ship dipped again, throwing me forward through the curtain and onto my chest. Red disaster lights along the edges of the ceiling and floors flashed on. Shrill emergency alarms began wailing.
I sprang to my feet and bolted toward the dorm’s exit. It should’ve been sealed, but it was wide open, decon-chamber and all. Desmond managed to get to his feet swiftly enough to catch up with me.
“What was that?” he shouted over the alarm.
“I’m not sure,” I said.
We emerged into the hallway. A crowd of Earthers gathered outside of their dorm. Culver lay in the center of them, howling in pain.
“What happened?” I asked one of the security guards. When he looked at me, I realized he was the one I’d snuck past earlier.
“Whatever that was tossed Culver into the wall,” he replied. I leaned in to get a closer look. Culver’s leg was twisted, a sharp piece of his tibia poking through a bloody gash just below his knee.
“Step aside, Ringer!” the guard growled.
“Screw them,” Desmond hissed.
Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set) Page 35
