by Audrey Grey
Leo lifted his arms in defeat. “Please, Lux—”
“How could you be so stupid? We’re supposed to be your family.” Her chest was heaving, her eyes wild in a way Talia couldn’t predict. She inhaled sharply as Lux slipped her pointer finger over the blaster’s trigger. “What happened to metal over flesh? To loyalty, you big-headed idiot?”
Talia’s heart slammed against her ribs as Leo slowly shook his head. What she wouldn’t give for a weapon.
“I’m sorry, Lux.” Guilt riddled his voice, and he shoved his hands into his pockets as if he wanted to give in and let Lux take him in. But Talia read his body language for what it was: feigning defeat. While Leo might feel guilt, he’d just told a story of how he spent years searching for hope. No way would he let that go without a fight. “It was the right thing to do.”
Where was Will? A quick search caught him leaned against the steel wall of the building, his jaw set and eyes shining with an emotion she couldn’t quite name. Words like betrayal and hurt weren’t enough. This was something more, like the way someone might stare at the gravesite of a loved one who’d died unexpectedly.
Whereas Lux’s emotions brimmed the surface, a raging fire of fury, Will’s smoldered deep down inside, buried in a place she assumed no one ever gained access to.
Talia was too frozen with shock to move. Three warring emotions hit her all at once. Wanting to protect Leo. Wanting to soothe the hurt on Will’s face. And wanting to escape for her own sake.
Will stepped away from the wall, silently, his face an unreadable mask.
Then he raised his blaster and shot Leo in the chest.
Chapter 27
Will
Will couldn’t scrub the image from his mind. The surprise on Leo’s face as he glanced down at his chest and then crumpled to the ground. Granted, the shot was only a stunning charge, meant to incapacitate the idiot. Otherwise, Leo would have died fighting. They left him locked in a cargo hold, dead to the world. When he woke up, he’d be pissed off and raging.
Good. Let him. Will had a few words to say to his former friend—if they’d ever really been friends. Will massaged his temples and sank deeper into the old couch in his viewing room. Thank the stars Lux had the forethought to add a viewing program to Tandy right before they left for Palatine. Will thought her suspicious feeling was crazy, right up until the moment it wasn’t.
The first surprise had been Leo’s boyfriend. Didn’t see that one coming. Not that Will cared about Leo’s sexual preferences, but Will couldn’t stop going over all those times Leo was caught in the undocumented brothels.
All those times Will bailed him out, for star’s sake.
Had everything been a lie? A ruse to trick the crew somehow?
As much as Will tried not to care, the thought made him sick. Why did Leo betray the Odysseus? That’s what bothered Will more than anything else, and he couldn’t seem to find a plausible explanation. Putting himself on the line for humans just didn’t make sense.
The door to Will’s viewing room creaked open, and Lux entered, padding silently across the floor and disrupting the projector screen. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was playing, as it had been all night, an endless loop of Holly Golightly. Jane sat at the broken piano, watching with vague interest in the only movie Will had ever seen. Every so often, her eyebrows rose at something the waifish actress did. No doubt she thought Holly was silly.
Couldn’t blame Jane for that. Her programming lacked a sequence to appreciate nuance or metaphors. In a few hours, after they landed at Calisto and presented Talia to the queen, that would all change. Jane would get her body, all their jump statuses would be renewed, and they’d be a few billion credits richer.
And the Athena . . . his heart skipped just thinking about her back in his control, and the hope was almost too much to bear. Soon his life would be exactly where it was supposed to be.
The couch jostled as Lux plopped down beside him, her purple twists wilder than usual. She cut a sour look his way. “You didn’t have to shoot him.”
“Oh, did you see his face? I did. Leo would have fought to the death to protect Tal—” He paused. Calling her by her name made her more real. “The flesher princess.” Remembering the betrayal sent his adrenaline pounding into overdrive, and he reached for the bottle of crème de menthe, the cloyingly sweet green alcohol inside sloshing. The syrupy liquid slid down his throat, and he leaned his head back, hoping that would make the alcohol go down easier. “I always assumed that loyalty was for us, but I was wrong.”
“We both were.” Lux frowned at the bottle he offered, shooing it away. Likely she was upset over more than just Leo’s affiliation with the Alliance. Will had seen the way she looked at Leo when she thought no one was watching. Learning the man you love couldn’t ever return the favor had to be hard. “He’s an idiot,” she continued. “A bloody, big-headed idiot.”
Will took another pull, focusing on the cool wave that followed the minty liqueur instead of the pain clenching his heart. “Don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Crossing her legs, she settled back into the faded gold cushions, eyeing Holly Golightly with distrust. “Why do you like this movie anyway?”
Will could have told her that it was his mother’s favorite movie from the selection inside General Crayburn’s holo-theatre. That she used to stare at it enraptured, hardly blinking, this weird blank look on her face. That the sadness she drowned in day and night was momentarily forgotten as she lost herself inside that screen.
Or he could try to explain that watching this movie made him feel connected to something bigger than him, something he didn’t quite understand. Like floating through space amongst the stars, alone, inconsequential, yet somehow feeling an inexplicable sense of belonging.
“I think she’s hot,” he said instead, eliciting an eye roll from Lux. “And different than most mock girls.”
Scoffing, Lux ripped the bottle from his hand and swilled. When she was done, her face crinkled, her pert nose lifting at the minty taste. “Will—I mean, Captain—she’s basically a flesher escort, just with less brains. You can’t tell me she’s your dream girl.”
Her minty breath rolled over him, and he shook his head. “You’re missing the point. She’s irrational, constantly making these horrible decisions and torn between being practical and letting her emotions ruin her.”
Like his mother. Except Holly Golightly had a much happier ending than she ever did.
“And you like that?”
He shrugged. “I find it strangely . . . comforting.”
Silence stretched over the room, broken by Holly’s laughter coming from the speakers in the ceiling. This was the first time Will had ever really opened up to Lux about anything. Judging by the way Lux picked at the frayed hem on her jumpsuit and he couldn’t meet her eyes, they both sucked at dealing with their newfound honesty.
“Whatever,” Lux muttered, wiping her mouth on her sleeve and forcing her gaze on the screen. “This movie’s weird.” An uncertain look transformed Lux’s normally confident face, and she scraped her teeth over her bottom lip, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. “What’s going to happen to Leo?”
His gut clenched, and he blew out a sharp breath. Facing the firing squad would serve the idiot right . . . but it wouldn’t be by Will’s hand. If Leo was in the Alliance, the queen and her soldiers would root him out eventually. “The queen doesn’t have to know anything about him being a traitor. After we turn in the princess and get his jump status renewed, he can do whatever the hell he wants. I just don’t ever want to see his face again.”
Lux opened her mouth like she was going to say something but then closed it. They sat in silence for a moment before she uncoiled to a rigid stand. “That’s fair.”
Frowning, he watched her leave. Alone with his thoughts, the movie lost its appeal, so did the liqueur. He got up to leave, his body disrupting the screen and drawing Jane’s attention. As he clapped her on the shoulder, she rested her hand over
his. Startled, he froze. She rarely ever touched him, and for a moment he thought she was glitching. But her face was calm, almost serene as she dropped something into his hand.
His lucky penny. He’d nearly forgotten about it.
“Figured you’d want this back now.”
Will nodded. “Could really use the luck.”
“So could a lot of us.” Her lips flicked into a smile. “Remember, a good captain always says goodbye to his crew.”
His shoulder sagged, and he shook his head. “No, Jane. If I see Leo and he gives me one of his arrogant grins, I’ll end up killing him.”
“A good captain never inflicts more punishment than—”
“Punishment?” Will interrupted, his gut clenching. “The law states I execute him. Is that what you want?”
She blinked once, twice. Slow, deliberate movements. Hell, maybe she was glitching.
Her hand tightened over his, the skin over her knuckles split and worn. The glint of dull metal beneath hinted at her body’s eventual disintegration. She was running out of time. “Humans had their laws,” she said. “When we took over, we made our own. And someday, someone else will make even more laws. Laws change, it’s what’s inside your heart that should guide you.”
“Enough, Jane. That’s flesher talk.” He pulled his hand away before she could continue spouting nonsense, pocketing his penny. “I’ll go see him, okay? But I can’t promise I won’t murder him, so that falls on you.”
The floor creaked beneath his heavy boots as he stalked out, his pulse drumming in his skull. He took the stairs three at a time, rushing even as his body screamed at him to stop. He’d do what Jane asked and share face-to-face what he thought of Leo. Besides, why was Will afraid of losing his temper? He was a mock, not a flesher.
By the time he reached the hallway of the crew’s quarters, Will was panting . . . What was he doing here? He’d meant to go the other way, to where Leo was being held in the cargo bay.
Instead, somehow Will had ended up where the flesher princess was kept. He flicked a quick glance at the metal door separating them, his heart beating wild inside his chest. Despite urging himself to turn around, he found himself approaching the door, the knowledge she was nearby sending his emotions into a tailspin.
What if she was hurt? Scared? He remembered what it was to be human and terrified all the time. The fear eating away at you—
Stop. But his personal plea sounded distant, like a voice from the far end of a tunnel.
His hand was on the knob, and before he could talk himself out of it, he unlocked it from the outside and entered, clicking the door shut behind him. Shadows soaked the room. The air was thick with the scent of jasmine, intermingled with Leo’s overpowering cologne.
Will’s eyes adjusted quickly, his vision sharpening on the princess perched on the corner of the bed, her knees drawn to her chest, hair mussed and wild. As soon as she lifted her eyes to him, he expected another tantrum like last time. Curses, perhaps. Bared teeth and looks of disgust.
Instead, she just stared at him with this lost expression that caught him off guard and, before he could chase away the feeling, his chest tightened. A near-infinitesimal movement he ignored.
“Do you need something?” Her voice was raspy but stronger than expected given her circumstances. “Or . . . is it time?”
A pang of pity lanced through him, and he gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached. Conjuring his willpower, he tried to force himself back, but he was frozen in place. Why was he even here? She was a flesher, a cruel one. He’d seen the evidence. Maybe if he’d stayed a flesher, he’d have become mean and twisted too. Maybe they just couldn’t help it.
And yet nothing cruel or even pitiful rested inside her eyes tonight. Only the faraway stare he recognized immediately: loss. The same look that drenched his mother’s expression every day of her life.
He found himself sitting on the bed beside the princess. He needed to walk away, to leave this room. But he couldn’t.
She exhaled, relaxing a little. “Leo’s okay?”
“It was a stunning blow. He’ll wake up sore and pissed, but otherwise fine.”
“After that?”
Despite himself, the worried tone of her voice sent a twinge of jealousy lodging below his sternum, and his lips twisted to the side. “He goes free. I won’t turn him in.”
Relief washed over her, the worried lines in her forehead melting away. “I’m glad. He doesn’t deserve to be punished for trying to help me.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
“Why are you turning me in, anyway? What do you get out of it? Besides being able to jump.”
The way she said it made his reasons sound sleazy, and he shifted on the bed. “I get my life back. We all do. Leo, Dorian, Lux, and Jane. I won’t feel guilty for doing the inevitable. There’s no place for you in this world, Princess, and if it’s not me presenting you to the queen, it will be someone else.”
Her eyes flashed anger at him. “That’s a cop out, Captain, and you know it!” She balled her fists so tightly that her knuckles bulged, the white bones jutting sharply and reminding him how different they were from each other. “We can find a way to coexist, mocks and humans. But what I saw on Palatine, that’s nothing better than what we were doing to the mocks a hundred years ago. How can you call that progress?”
He bit his lip, appraising her from the corner of his eye. “So you admit humans mistreated mocks? That the world was a savage place when they—your family ruled?”
Her hair rustled as she shook her head, almost violently. “We didn’t want mocks to suffer or—”
“No?” Bitterness tainted his voice. “Because the video I saw of you on your eighteenth birthday, hurting your junior mock, says otherwise. You were smiling—smiling, Princess—and she was terrified.”
Her gaze collapsed to her hands, still fisted in her lap. “You don’t understand what you saw.”
“Maybe not. All I know is mocks will never be enslaved again.”
He thought she would argue, or make some snide remark, but she was still and quiet, the silence filling the room like water until breathing became too hard.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said, lurching to his feet. “I wish things were different.”
As soon as his hand touched the door, she spoke. “If you give me to the queen, they will kill me and extinguish the last hope for my people to live free. How long until this queen grows tired of human slaves and decides to exterminate us forever? You know she will, because that’s what logic prescribes. We’re weaker, less intelligent. We get sick and require more food, more resources. Compared to mocks, we’re inferior in every way. But does that mean we are deserving of death?” Her words hit him squarely in the chest the same as a punch would have, and he clenched the door’s handle. “You’ve been both mock and human,” she continued. “Surely you can remember when you were a human. Did you think yourself so terrible?”
His throat felt like paper as he tried to swallow. He certainly didn’t feel like a mock, with his adrenaline surging, sending his heart racing and pasting his hands and chest with sweat. “Why do you cling to this idea that there’s any chance left for humans, when you just listed all the reasons why you’re obsolete?”
From the corner of his eye, he caught her lips pulled into a tragic smile. “What’s your name, Will? Your full flesher name?”
A pause. “Will Perrault.”
“Well, Will Perrault. That’s what we humans do. We hope, despite all the odds. You may see it as a flaw, but I think it’s what makes us so special.”
It wasn’t until the door was shut and locked behind him that he could finally breathe again, and he marched down the hall, forcing the princess and Leo from his thoughts. The bridge was brightly lit, the lights chasing away the shadows darkening the ship’s interior. Jane sat in the co-pilot’s chair, and she nodded toward the starscreen as he took his seat beside her. Long lines of freighter vessels and starliners hovered just above, w
aiting to dock.
“Air-traffic around the waystation is light this morning, Captain,” Jane said. “We’ll be docked within the hour.”
Planet Calisto was a grayish sphere below, shrouded in clouds. But he didn’t need to see the land below to imagine it, every square inch covered in grand cities of steel. Once they broke cloud cover to land, the cities would appear to be moving, but that was only the millions of vessels caught in an endless array of traffic to and from the buildings. Bridges arced mid-air, the meshwork of arteries that supplied the cities with its people clogged and churning.
Once, he and his mother trekked along one of those swollen steel tubes to Crayburn’s building, a massive skyscraper that had seemed like a castle straight out of a flesher fairy tale. As commander of the battalion that helped stamp out the flesher rebellion, and head of the queen’s security, the general resided close to the queen’s palace. Will had never been there, only seen the monstrosity rising from the waters surrounding it, a blight of ragged metal and glass surrounded by a thick, clear wall that allowed everyone to see what they couldn’t touch. The queen was notoriously careful about who she allowed past those crystalline gates and within the palace walls—and so far, Will hadn’t been one of them.
At the thought of being back, a shudder wracked his chest, and he tamped down the uneasy emotion as he nodded at Jane to begin landing procedures, keeping his face devoid of anything but boredom. Coming here always had this effect on him, which was why he rarely visited.
Jane worked the switches with deft fingers, despite their worn appearance. When the checklist was complete, she paused and glanced his way. “Welcome home, Captain.”
As they broke through the clouds and the shimmering city of Palesia came into view, a spasm of dread wound its way around his heart, and no amount of forced smiles could dislodge the useless human emotion.
