Evik beside me released a telling scent. He didn’t trust the human girl’s assessment. Glancing over at me, he gnashed his pincer to reiterate. Alder chuckled.
“Don’t think Evik’s too fond of your flying.” The fae element of our trio nodded over at Evik and Lise frowned.
“I’m a topnotch flyer, learned from my dad. No one’s ever complained.”
“And you’ve had many passengers?” Alder pressed, his mouth quirked up in that almost-disturbing too-wide smile.
Lise’s frown deepened. “Not lately. But that’s hardly my fault.”
Alder and Lise continued to banter, while Evik’s pheromones went full force. An ache began at the back of my skull below the antennae. If I were on my planet, I’d chew on a Das leaf and the pain would be gone in seconds. That wasn’t possible here.
I closed my eyes again, sinking completely into the memory with the backdrop of the circadian hum.
The escape from the lab.
The power had gone out, a lapse in engineering. The only opportunity I might ever have.
The electrified cage was not strong enough to hold me without the painful deterrent coursing over its metal. I gripped the bars with my strange new hands, jointed and scaled, rather than covered in soft hairs that grabbed pollen and dew. I was stronger now, stronger than I’d ever been.
And I’d seen the metal prototype wings they’d built using the structure of my own beautiful wings as a guide.
I’d felt the protrusions of metal and wires in my back.
The space between the bars was wide enough.
I sliced out at the man who ran forward with the electric prod, trying to force me to stay caged. I killed him with a single hit, his body falling to the floor, and blood spurting from his nose and mouth.
No one could stop me as I ran toward the metallic wings.
I turned around, backing against the wall. The height was right, and the prosthetics needed little coaxing. Like a mated pair, they bound together in seconds, and a thrill of power pulsed through my body.
I could feel the wings.
A part of me, though so very different from the ones I was born with.
I fought my way to the escape pods.
Even had I died in the attempt, it would have been better than going back to the cage.
But I did not die.
“Seriously?” Alder’s voice pulled me away from the memory.
“Yeah. Safe as houses.” Lise’s voice answered.
I opened my lids, staring out past the console and through the panoramic, glass-polymer space shield viewscreen.
A giant meteor, perhaps half the size of my home planet, spun slowly through space in front of the ship. We were, from a quick glance at the navigation systems, somewhere near the Alvarius Quadrant.
Which wasn’t exactly good, for me at least.
Not considering I’d conned the Bufo Alvarius Empress herself about a year ago, using her very own excretions against her to make her think we’d had one hell of a passionate night… just so Alder and Evik could skip away with a stockpile of the hallucinogenic drugs her people produced from their own glands. It was the least she deserved from me.
That cocktail was worth more than double our best take before then.
The empress hadn’t known Alder and Evik were involved. I was the sole culprit, as far as she knew.
“Alvarius Quad,” I muttered, “perfect.”
Evik’s scent was unhappy now, the smell acrid and cutting.
“Definitely want to keep off the radar here,” Alder nodded.
“Why?” Lise didn’t turn around, her focus on steering.
“Holy space crimes against the known universe, Batman,” Alder repeated her words from the station, pointing a finger back at me.
“Oh.” Her mouth dropped. “Totally hidden, comms off. Gotcha.”
Lise steered the ship towards the meteor, ducking down into a large crater which revealed a level terrain large enough for landing.
As she settled us in, landing gear hissing and Blue rattling off systems checks, I wondered if it wouldn’t have been better to take my chances with station security.
The empress wasn’t the kind that forgave. Or forgot.
5
Tommelise
Shit. What had I gotten myself into? Hiring these three on as a crew had seemed like a good idea on the station. But now I was beginning to wonder if it had been such an amazing idea after all.
I ran my hand over my forehead. Good idea or no, I was stuck with them, at least for now.
And gods, I was as tired as if I’d just run the Earth-to-Oort route carrying a hot cargo without any backup. I should know, too. I’d done it before, keeping out of the way of local law enforcement the whole way.
Come to think of it, that probably made me no better than these guys. I just hadn’t ever gotten caught for my crimes.
“I need sleep,” I announced. “Blue will lead you to your quarters. We can meet back here to make plans in eight hours. Until then, you’re free to check out any of the public areas. Blue, lock down for the next eight hours. Re-engage on my voice command only.”
“Got it, boss,” the ship said aloud—for the benefit of our new crew, I expected. She could have just as easily acknowledged my command on our private channel.
As I left the bridge, all three of the men I’d hired gave some kind of parting gesture. Alder bowed deeply, the tips of his ever-so-slightly pointed ears peeking out from under his hair. Morpheus gave a kind of lazy, two-fingered salute that looked more disrespectful than anything. And Evik clicked something that Blue translated as May your colony remain at peace. As I walked by the Chilchek, I inhaled a scent that reminded me of strawberries I had once on a station refueling stop. My father had told me they were an Old-Earth fruit grown in the station hothouse. Smelling them now made my mouth water.
I shook off the nostalgia and made my way to the captain’s
