“Buy a new training android?”
“I’m being serious, Ardin.”
His eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in suspicion before regaining their normal size. “Sorry, not used to that.” He shrugged again. The adrenaline of combat was slowly leaving his body, and his shoulders began to drop. “I really don’t know, actually. I guess I’ll have to think about it.”
Typical. Avienne hesitated, the words still feeling strange and not her own even as she spoke them. “Did you ever consider going for a trip?” He looked at her curiously, as if she spoke in another tongue. Don’t back down.
“I mean, maybe travel, live somewhere else, like on a planet, for a little bit.” She fought the urge to bite her lower lip. It was a bad habit she had kicked as a young girl, but it still resurfaced the rare times that nerves got the better of her.
“You mean leave the Destiny?” he asked flatly.
She gave a short, nervous laugh. “Unless you intend to park the ship in a backyard, yeah, I guess I mean that.”
“But it’s our home,” Ardin said, as though he had not fully understood what she was saying, or worse, had no idea what she had implied. Was it really such a foreign concept?
I guess no one has ever left before, unless they died, Avienne thought sadly, and suddenly felt sympathy for her brother. She would have had a hard time understanding herself too, if she had as little imagination as he apparently did.
“We could make a home elsewhere. Maybe make new friends? Ones that we don’t kidnap, that is.” The mention brought fire to his eyes, and she felt at once stupid and angry for having brought up what he was trying so hard to forget.
“Home is this ship, Avienne. Living on a planet isn’t that different, you know.” He shrugged and put his sword in its scabbard, obviously deciding that the conversation was over. Avienne snapped.
“I don’t know, Ardin!”
“What?” He seemed surprised to hear her speak again.
“I don’t know what it’s like to live on a planet. I don’t remember!” She fought not to shout as he looked at her sceptically again. “You’re three years older than me, and you barely remember! I don’t remember the planet, I don’t remember a home, I don’t remember our mother and I certainly don’t remember our father!”
She couldn’t stop. Wild grief over what she might never know, mixed with the fear of losing all that she had ever known, forced the words from her mouth. “All I remember is this ship, when it was still warm and beautiful and full of life, Ardin! When it had more than fourteen souls aboard, and when I was too young to care that there was a whole universe out there! All I remember is hearing stories of our home, a home whose name neither of us knows and that’s forever out of our reach! Ardin, this is all I know and I want to know different! I want to know better!”
She paused for breath, her body shaking. Ardin’s eyes, which had slowly widened during her tirade, closed slowly as he exhaled.
“Avienne,” he spoke softly, yet each syllable felt like a ten-pound rocket exploding in her heart. “I am going to be captain of this ship, like our father and Cailan before me. It’s what I’ve always wanted, and what I will become.”
“But Ardin,” she implored him to look at her, but his eyes remained closed. “This ship is doomed. If the hardware doesn’t give up and die, then the people will. We’re the youngest, and by a lot. We’ve already had to bring Lang on board to make up for lack of skilled crew…Ardin, what will you do when there is no more Destiny?”
Ardin opened his eyes and met hers with such intensity that she held her breath. “There will always be a Destiny.” He walked past her, whispering, “My duty is to my own, Avienne. Where your loyalty lies is up to you.”
He was far out of earshot when she managed to whisper between small, hopeless sobs.
“My duty is to my own, too, Ardin. And you’re all I have.”
CHAPTER 12
She’s not doing well.” Layela pointed at the sleeping form of Josmere, her skin yellowing and pasty. She wasn’t sure whether to strike Ardin and Avienne or plead with them. Couldn’t they see that she was wilting?
“She’s not necessary for this,” Avienne said, shrugging. “We could just send her to a nearby colony.” Seeing Layela’s look of horror, she added, “A lush colony.”
“That’s hardly the point! She’s in no condition to take care of herself! She’s barely been conscious in the last day!”
Layela, shaking with rage and guilt, fought against her tears. It was her fault Josmere was involved in this and, after a few days on Collar, a battle and two days on a cold, lifeless ship, the Berganda’s life energies seemed to have taken a bad hit. She needed to rest and heal and, for her to do so, she needed what every other plant needed: earth, water and sun.
“We’re in the middle of a tunnel,” Ardin said. “We can’t exactly open a shutter. All you’ll get is flickering blue light, which can induce seizures in humans, by the way. And we can’t just put her on a shuttle, either,” he added, looking sternly at Avienne. His sister met his look but said nothing. The tension sucked the air out of the room as efficiently as Glotch gas.
“Please,” Layela pleaded.
Avienne sighed and shook her head, as if the weight of this situation was more than she could handle. Layela wondered why her quick smile and crazed actions had vanished. Remembering their first encounter, inspiration struck.
“What about a bargain?”
Avienne’s head tilted sideways with interest. Layela took a deep breath.
“Twice what you are being paid to...transport us.” Avienne took a deep breath and Ardin shook
