“Huh.” Persh’al glanced around the long room and nodded at Cheyenne. “Yeah, maybe the wards were interfering with the controls. Good thinking, kid.” He pointed at her and hurried back to the door of the underground train to try opening it again.
“That wasn’t where I was going with that,” Cheyenne muttered.
He snarled at the unresponsive door and smacked it again. “You sure you know how to dampen the wards the right way?”
Nu’ek folded her arms and scowled at him. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, looks like it.”
Cheyenne turned slightly away from him and slipped the coil behind her ear. The thing pinched her skin and sent a vibrating burst of energy crackling through her head. She clenched her eyes shut tight and bowed her head, gritting her teeth through the discomfort.
“You know what?” Persh’al spread his arms and crossed the room again to the metal door sealing them off. “Get this damn thing open and take us up to the lower levels. If I have to rewire someone’s skiff, fine. It’s breaking about five laws and two different promises, but what the hell? It’s better than getting my head ripped off.”
“Hold on a minute.” Cheyenne took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. She staggered sideways at the barrage of information flooding through not just her vision but her entire mind.
“Cheyenne.” Persh’al stomped toward her. “You good?”
“Oh, yeah.” She blinked, and the second she thought about tuning out all the extra data, the new activator responded. Turning slowly, she met the blue troll’s concerned gaze and grinned. “I’m excellent.”
“You look stoned. Are you…shit.” His shoulders slumped as he looked her up and down. “Did you put that coil behind your ear?”
“Yes, I did.”
Nu’ek chuckled. “Now we’re even.”
Persh’al whirled to face the golra and spread his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We might have forgotten to run a systems check on the stations.” The winged magical chuckled. “But you forgot about the activators.”
“I didn’t forget.” The troll’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly, then he turned and pointed at Cheyenne as she approached the shuttle’s door. “All right, fine. Just be careful with that thing, kid. You hear me? Better yet, take it off and hand it over. That thing could just as easily fry your brain if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Persh’al.” The halfling stopped with her face inches away from the metal door, passing her hand over the surface and watching the streams of data flow around it.
He sighed. “What?”
“Shut up.”
Nu’ek’s rumbling laughter echoed in the transport station’s single room. The troll scratched the back of his head, growling wordlessly as he paced in front of the shuttle.
Unable to wipe away the crazed grin, Cheyenne studied the scrolling data that was translated almost instantly for her convenience. What am I looking for? An on-switch? A command for…oh.
She pressed the blinking dot on the door and lines of information splayed out in different directions, telling her exactly what to do and in which order. By the time she finished following the activator’s command, she’d drawn a four-pointed star on the shuttle’s outer door. With a quick laugh of disbelief, she stepped back and watched the illuminated blue light fade from the rusty metal surface.
As soon as it did, a low hum rose from the other side of the door, followed by pale blue light glowing through the round window from the inside. Some kind of engine powered up and a high whine filled the station.
“Well, shit.” Persh’al snorted and glanced quickly at Nu’ek before staring at the activated shuttle again. “You guys send someone down here to revamp security or what?”
The golra slowly shook her head. “I’m not the one with the long memory.”
“Yeah, throw that one right back in my face, why doncha?”
“This is so cool.” Cheyenne leaned away from the shuttle and scanned the full length of the craft pressed up against the edge of the station’s apparent platform. “You weren’t kidding when you said that first one was basic. That’s like DSL versus wi-fi.”
“Uh-huh. And you’re riding high-speed internet now, kid. Okay. Turn it down a second so we can bid this giant bat on two legs adieu.”
Nu’ek frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Cheyenne turned down the scrolling data with a ghost of a thought and faced the golra, still grinning. “It means goodbye.”
Persh’al scoffed. “I swear, we need some kind of Earthside translator for you guys. If we’re gonna be fighting this war from both sides of the Border, we all need to be on the same page.”
“That’ll never happen.” Nu’ek stepped forward and thumped her chest with a huge, clawed fist. “But you can try.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on it in my spare time. No problem.” With a snort, the troll returned the gesture and nodded curtly at the golra. “I’m glad you found us. Saved me some time trying to remember where the hell you built all those tunnels.”
“Saved him from making a total fake-drunk ass of himself too,” Cheyenne added. She pressed her fist against her chest too and nodded at Nu’ek. The golra’s glowing red eyes widened, but she kept her fist just below her breastbone over the weird-looking vest. Yeah, okay. Maybe I did it wrong, but at least I’m trying.
“I look forward to seeing you again, Aranél. Preferably after you’ve claimed what’s yours and before the rest of us step into battle behind you.”
Persh’al shot Cheyenne a quick glance, then cleared his throat and headed for the shuttle door.
“When I toss a drow coin on the Crown’s altar, yeah.” Cheyenne shrugged. “I get it. I’m kinda hoping that changes the whole imminent-battle thing, but we’ll see.”
“Yes.” Nu’ek glanced at the shuttle when Persh’al finally managed to activate the sliding door. “We shall see.”
“Come on, kid.” Persh’al waved the
