Kaiden wanted to argue more – losing Zelda would be a major blow. Could they afford having her on a seven-day respawn timer? – but Odditor cut into the conversation.
“Kids these days, just so horribly… rude,” Odditor was saying to Whenstone. “Really, I should feed them all to the menagerie. Do you think, do you think they’d like that? The menagerie, I mean. They can be picky eaters on occasion.”
Zelda cleared her throat and Odditor and Whenstone turned to look at her.
“Oh, oh, so you’re done conspiring now? Ready... uh, to talk to me?” He waved his hand. “It’s okay if you need more time. You all just continue your little pow-wow. I’m fine. I’ll find my own entertainment.” The tone of his voice said the exact opposite was true. “Be real entertaining just to feed you lot to the menagerie,” he grumbled, then looked shocked. “Oh, oops. Sorry. That just slipped right out.”
“If I complete your labyrinth, you’ll talk with us about what Bernstein wanted? About fixing what’s wrong with the world?” Zelda asked.
“Well, I don’t, I don’t know about all that.” He chuckled toward Whenstone and lowered his voice a bit. “There’s far too much wrong with the world for me to fix. Rude children among it.”
“Of course, sir.”
Odditor turned back to Zelda.
“But... I might be convinced to help you bring down the Party. If, uh, if you have a viable way of doing it, that is. I don’t throw my support behind just anyone, you know.”
And there it is, Kaiden thought, feeling his breath catch in his throat at the words. Bring down the Party. Was there really a chance they could convince Odditor to help them do it? If not, why else had they come here?
“We want you as an ally,” Zelda said.
“I think you mean you need me as an ally,” Odditor corrected.
Zelda hesitated, then relented with a nod.
“Yes.”
“Well, all right then!” Odditor near shouted, clapping his hands together and smiling wide. “Let’s ante up! Tell you what,” he said, leaning in close and whispering. “I’m feeling particularly generous today. Maybe I like you, kid. So in addition to my potential support of your... ambitions, I’ll offer up this fragment of the database Bernstein loaned me. Now that, that’s a good deal.” He smiled. “And what will be your ante?”
Zelda frowned at that.
“Bernstein put up his dreadnought,” Odditor continued, “then, when he wanted another crack at it, part of his... special... little... database.” He emphasized the last three words. “So, then. What can you offer as ante?”
Zelda hesitated and Kaiden didn’t blame her.
What do we have as ante? Some credits? But that won’t work. The dude’s filthy rich. Our ship? I guess he could complete his Veritas collection, but what’s a light cruiser to someone who already has a dreadnought? So... what, then?
Kaiden was at a complete loss, and judging by everyone’s expressions as he looked around, they were too.
“The best ante I have is—”
“No, that will never do,” Odditor said, cutting Zelda off. “I’ll accept one thing and one, uh, thing only,” he said, sounding as casual as could be. “The rest of the database. And not encrypted this time.”
Zelda hesitated a long moment. Long enough that Kaiden almost thought she was crazy enough to accept. He was just opening his mouth to protest when she finally responded.
Her shoulders slumped. She sighed.
“I can’t make that deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“We’ll find another way,” Thorne said. “You did the right thing.”
She reached out for Zelda’s shoulder but was brushed off as the blast warden hurried up the ramp into the Veritas II.
She doesn’t want consolation. She wants progress, Kaiden knew.
She hadn’t accepted Odditor’s demands, because of course she hadn’t. How could she? How could any of them? The database was their only leverage. Without it they had nothing, or would have to waste a year trying to upload an offline copy in whatever clever, careful way Bernstein had. Like that was actually an option. There was one copy of the database in Nova and they were going to use it in the All-Frequencies Broadcast. That was the plan, and if Odditor wasn’t willing to help, then screw him.
We’ll find another way.
Zelda wasn’t speaking to anyone, but Kaiden knew how she felt. Could imagine the weight bearing down on her, because he was feeling the same himself. But she wasn’t one to mope.
She gets angry and then she channels that into a redoubled effort to make the plan work. It was the right attitude to have. That driven, unbeatable spirit that viewed setbacks only as reasons to work even harder. Which is exactly what I’m going to do.
He hurried past the others and into the Veritas II, then pulled a hard turn toward the cockpit. The weight of their failure, and, more specifically, his, drove him forward. His boots thunked against the bulkhead harder than they normally would and the sound echoed out around him.
We’ve come up short at everything we’ve tried so far, but I’m not accepting that. That’s not good enough.
“Captain,” Acton said with a small nod, then grimaced. “It would appear things went less than satisfactorily.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kaiden said. “Set a course for Boyd City.”
“Sir?”
“We’re going to pay a visit to an old friend.”
“Very good, sir.” Acton turned to speak with the pilot, then strapped himself into his seat. Moments later, the Veritas II’s engines fired up.
“Care to tell the rest of us where we’re going?” Thorne asked, waiting for Kaiden in the main compartment with hands on her
