aisle. They were so busy dodging beams of a cube in their midst they had lost their usual cohesiveness. Every man was busy trying to stay alive. “Make it quick, though,” Rias added. “The acid will eat away your arrowheads.”
Tikaya waited until the orifice faced her before dipping into his jar. Her shot flew true and made short work of the remaining cubes.
The relieved party met in the open area before the stairs. Tikaya picked up one of the mostly intact cubes so she could work on translating the writing.
Bocrest counted heads and scowled at the loss of two men and injuries of several others. He glowered at Rias. “Why didn’t you tell me you had something to battle them with?”
“ You didn’t give me a chance,” Rias said.
“ We had to act quickly, and you were digging around in your gear. If you want to override my orders, you need to give me a reason for doing so. Fast. You don’t have the right to make decisions and keep the reasons to your…” Bocrest gaped as the youth stepped out of the shadows to join them.
He was smaller than many of the big marines, standing only an inch taller than Tikaya, but, after seeing his grace in evading the beams, she doubted he lost many fights.
His dark-eyed gaze pinned Bocrest. “Admiral Starcrest is giving orders?”
He had short blond hair, a color unusual for a Turgonian, but he did have the olive skin, and he sounded like a native speaker. From the dialect, Tikaya guessed he came from one of the satrapies around the capital. When her gaze fell on the throwing knives on his forearm, she realized he was the one who had killed the creature chasing her earlier. Where had he come from?
“ I…uhm…” Bocrest noticed his men watching him-they seemed as confused by the young man’s appearance as Tikaya-and straightened, lifting his chin. “Given his helpfulness thus far on the mission, and his familiarity with these tunnels, I deemed it wise to listen to him. I am aware of the emperor’s wishes for him, and they will be complied with in the end.”
“ I see,” the young man said, voice cool.
Bocrest shifted uncomfortably under that steady gaze. His men murmured to each other, surprised at their blustery captain’s deference.
“ What are you all looking at?” Bocrest barked. “Let’s get the wounded patched up and set up a camp. And for the emperor’s sake, someone figure out where in this blasted maze a man is supposed to piss and drop cannon balls.”
The marines scurried off to do his bidding. The youth produced a small sealed envelope and handed it to Bocrest, who accepted it and walked away to read the message.
Tikaya edged closer to Rias. “I’m perplexed. Who is this boy?”
“ That is Sicarius, the emperor’s personal assassin.”
Rias’s voice was low, for her only, but the young man looked at them, as if aware of their discussion.
“ Is he as young as he looks?” Tikaya asked even as she wondered why he was there. Why had he not traveled with Bocrest from the beginning if he meant to help the captain accomplish his mission? Her eyes widened. Could he be the one responsible for the tortured men?
“ I believe he was fifteen when I met him two years ago,” Rias said. “He smashed my face into the deck and held a knife to my throat.”
Tikaya stared at Rias. “Did he catch you by surprise?”
“ No. As I recall, I was trying to catch him by surprise.”
“ Why? What happened?” She frowned, wondering why the emperor would send his assassin to harass his star fleet admiral. Something to do with Rias’s reasons for ending up in exile? She tried to read his eyes.
He opened his mouth, but he shut it again and shook his head. “No, I fear you’d suspect my motives if I told you the story.”
“ Suspect your…” She scowled at him. Now what was he hiding? “I suspect your motives in not telling me.”
He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“ Why are you so elusive about these things?” Her throat tightened. Now that she knew who he was and that she could have no future with him, his choice to keep things from her should not hurt, but it did. “Afraid to share imperial secrets with the enemy?”
She clutched the cube to her chest and stalked toward the lab stations, intending to find some nook where she could be alone to study the language.
“ Tikaya…” Rias said.
“ Stuff an apple core up it, Admiral Starcrest.”
She caught the boy assassin watching, and almost snapped at him too, but the dark impassive gaze stole the heat from her ire and left her chilled. She stalked by without comment.
Several marines sniggered behind her back. Cheeks flushed, Tikaya slipped into the aisles, glad for the concealment.
CHAPTER 16
Few runes adorned the cube, and it did not take Tikaya long to translate them. Automatic cleaning machine. She could have laughed if not for the unsettling realization that the people who created this place had considered human beings something to be incinerated to keep the labs tidy.
With that mystery solved, she itched to work on the next. Weariness plagued her body, and probably would for days in the aftermath of the poisoning, but her mind churned, so she could not think of sleep yet. There was so much to study.
She wished she had Lancecrest’s journal, but she would have to return to her gear to grab it, and she did not want to face Rias or the snickering marines. Instead, she explored the back half of the lab. Most of the finds were innocuous-alchemical liquids and powders, equipment and containers-but others were as disturbing as the bones that had scattered when the beast fell. The human organs sealed in jars and slides with blood samples made her wonder if the race who had created this place had come for the distinct purpose of experimenting on people. But, if so, to what end?
She probably should have been horrified by her discoveries, but the labels on the identifiable substances helped her resolve new nouns, and that kept her too busy for squeamishness. A few days wandering this place and she would have an impressive dictionary. If the marines gave her time.
Agarik rounded the corner and approached, his rifle crooked in his arms. He quirked an eyebrow at the rows of open cabinets in her wake.
“ Exploring?”
“ Yes, this place is perfect. If I had a few weeks here, I bet I could decipher the whole language. Or the science aspects, at least. Of course, this entire language seems to revolve around science and mathematics. I keep wondering who these people were, what happened to them. Where could such an advanced civilization-”
He was frowning, so she stopped.
“ Problem?” Tikaya asked.
“ No. Yes. I don’t know. We’ve lost so many men out here. Your enthusiasm for such a deadly place is… Well, I can’t share it.”
“ But don’t you see? Everything here is labeled. If I can learn how to read it all, this place won’t be deadly. We’re bumbling into things. Those cubes, they’re the maids. Not some malicious security system, a cleaning device to take care of messes in the labs.”
“ And the poison rockets,” Agarik said. “Are they also not malicious if only you know the words? And the gas that twisted our minds in Wolfhump? Was that not malicious?”
The sobering words squelched her enthusiasm. He was right. It was very likely this place had been created, at least in part, to build weapons. Weapons far deadlier, and ghastlier, than anything humanity currently knew.
Agarik sighed at the expression on her face. “Forgive me, I don’t mean to judge. Besides you’re not the only one fascinated with the place.”
“ Oh, what’s Rias doing?” Tikaya asked, certain of her guess.
