He dared a hand on Jun’s arm with a squeeze of his own. “Alright, Captain. I’ll be at my station if you need me.”
Theo’s station had been what Boom liked to call “idiot-proofed,” all panels shut, and access to buttons limited. Apparently, it was an unused communications station, which, really, was quite within Theo’s wheelhouse.
He had once been told he could have a full conversation with a brick wall.
It hadn’t been intended as a compliment, but Theo liked to look on the bright side of things and decided to take it as a recommendation of his communication skills.
The crew started trickling onto the bridge, first Boom with her determined stride, then Marco, fiddling with something Theo couldn’t identify comprised of parts which he also couldn’t identify.
Marco offered a small smile at Theo’s cheery wave, waving back with his mechanical thing, and then cursing loudly when he dropped it, narrowly missing the tip of Boom’s boot.
It was something of a surprise to see Boom stoop to pick it up without complaint and hold it out to Marco with a gentle, amused expression on her face.
Theo wouldn’t have called it a soft look on anyone else, but coming from Boom, it was practically a pile of meringue served upon a feather pillow.
It made Theo ache for his brother, for the even softer look on Ari’s face when Theo made a mess of things, and he’d swoop in to help clean up. He hoped Ari wasn’t too terribly sad over his disappearance. If Theo had known it would go on this long, he would have made more of an effort to reassure Ari of his wellbeing.
Ari tended to fuss when Theo got a cold. He feared his reaction to this situation might be a trifle more overblown. But at least he knew Ari was safe at home, working in his laboratory even as he worried for Theo.
It would be such fun to regale Ari with stories of his adventures when he got back home. Tucked up, side by side on that awful brocade couch Ari had insisted upon purchasing, cuddled beneath the lopsided throw Theo had crocheted during one of his fits of obsessing over a hobby for a week before dropping it flat.
He thought Ari still used the misshapen mug he’d made out of clay, as well. Ari was and had always been Theo’s greatest supporter. Missing him was like a scoop had been taken out from between Theo’s ribs, leaving nothing but a hollow ache behind.
Watching Boom and Marco, he thought he saw a glimmer of much the same in their own sibling relationship.
“What the hell? I was taking a well-deserved nap, Captain!”
The way Jun’s face scrunched up with irritation at the sound of Axel’s voice reminded Theo of Ari as well.
Jun turned to stand at parade rest, surveying his crew with a lift of his firm jaw, and suddenly there was nothing resembling Theo’s brother about him. “Alright, listen up. Dr. Campbell has discovered something that will alter our course.”
Axel snorted, leaning back in his chair as he pulled up two vid screens and started watching cats trying to jump onto things and failing. “What, did he run out of—tea?”
Marco slammed his contraption down on Boom’s station and ignored her hiss of disapproval. “Be nice, Ax.”
The lazy smile Axel aimed Theo’s way showed too many teeth to be entirely friendly. “What? That’s what they like down in the Core, right, doctor? Tea and repression?”
It wasn’t as if he was wrong, is the thing. Those were certainly Theo’s parents’ main interests. Theo just lifted one hand to wave it back and forth in a “more or less” gesture.
Jun ignored the exchange; instead, he snapped out with command, “Dr. Campbell has made a discovery. We need to acquire holozite. In significant quantities. Quantities Axel might categorize as something like an ‘assload.’”
Boom’s rounded jaw actually dropped in surprise, Marco echoing her expression about a foot above her head. She was finally able to gather herself to speak. “Where are we going to find something like that, Park? They don’t exactly sell that shit at the multimart. It has a tendency to, you know, explode and destroy everything it touches?”
Shoulders slumping, Jun let out a sigh, then leaned back against his console as though he’d been deflated. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“Good news!” Theo chimed just as Boom said “Bad news,” followed with a quelling glare at Theo.
Jun addressed his answer to the ceiling, scowling up at it like he’d found a leak and expected it to come down on all of their heads any minute. “I know where to find it.”
No one said anything for long enough that the words burst out of Theo like a highly pressurized cannon. “Wait, is that the good news or the bad news?”
Jun grimaced, finally looking back at his crew and locking on Boom’s severe face.
“It’s both.”
Chapter Sixteen
“No, Park. You can’t go back.”
Theo sat up straight in his seat at the thin thread of fear in Boom’s voice.
Jun had turned to his console to pull up a map, expanding it out to cover the main screen. The sparse, scattered planets of the outer zones of the Restricted Sector dotted the chart, interspersed with clustered stations and asteroid belts. It was so different from the tightly packed Core maps Theo was used to that he was momentarily distracted by it.
“I don’t have a choice,” Jun said. “He holds the main cache—of everything. Hoards it all in his rusted Dome compound. You know there isn’t a better way.”
Boom kicked her console, heavy boot giving a dull clang against the metal. “I know there isn’t a better way for you to get yourself killed.”
Neither she nor Jun reacted to the light sound of Axel’s laughter, their faces remaining dour when he said, “Sure, there is. I can think of, like, four, off the top of my
