“I can’t just shut down the entire airport—”
“How long have I been a client of yours?” I said, watching the ship’s thrusters engage and begin to lift off. “How long?”
“Since the very beginning. Maybe ten, fifteen years?” he said.
“Would you consider me an important client?”
“All our clients are important to us,” he said diplomatically.
“Would you say I’m one of the biggest clients you have?”
“Yes.”
“Then if you don’t want to lose my business, I suggest you shut down that ship immediately.”
The president sighed audibly down the line.
“If there’s a problem with our service, I can assure you—”
“There’s no problem. Unless you don’t order the ship to ground itself right now.”
The president was silent on the other end of the phone.
“Give me a minute,” he said.
“The ship’s taking off now. We don’t have a minute.”
The giant ship hovered a dozen yards off the ground, already gaining in height.
I was too late, I thought. The ship was taking off. I would never see her again.
Cleb stood beside me, his face pressed against the glass.
Then, a miracle happened.
The thrusters disengaged as the ship lowered back down to the tarmac.
The spaceport immediately erupted into chaos.
The scheduled flights on the giant noticeboard flipped from DEPARTING to DELAYED. Passengers waiting at the other gates threw up their hands and complained to the helpless stewardesses.
“It’s done,” the president said morosely. “Excuse me. I have to call the airport manager and the police. I’ll be in touch.”
I groaned at the thought of having to explain everything to those people. It would be a few days of agony but it would be worth it if Bianca reconsidered and stayed with us.
Cleb took me by the hand.
“Now what?” he said.
“Now we do the hard part,” I said.
Cleb and I ran through the spaceport, past the angry passengers and desperate airport employees.
Sorry folks!
I was glad no one knew I was responsible for the delays. At least, they didn’t yet. It would only be a matter of time before they did.
We exited the spaceport. I scooped the communicator out of my pocket and was about to stab in Waev’s ID when I spotted him reversing the shuttlecraft into a short-term parking bay. I ran across the road and dived in the back.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Waev said. “There’s talk on the news about a merchant vessel failing to take off on the runway. Please tell me you’re not responsible for this.”
But he could see in my eyes that I was.
“It’s about to get a whole lot worse, my friend,” I said.
He almost looked afraid.
“What are you going to do now?” he said.
“I’m going to fly over the spaceport,” I said.
Waev stared incredulously.
“You can’t be serious!” he said. “When they catch you, they’ll lock you up!”
“They’re a little preoccupied at the moment,” I said.
“That’s your defense?” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t help you with this. I have… priors with the police.”
Another new piece of information.
“Aren’t you just full of surprises?” I said. “It’s okay. I never expected you to take the rap for me.”
I braced him on the shoulder.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” I said. “There’s just one favor I need to ask of you.”
I turned to look at Cleb.
The sweet little boy looked between us.
“What?” he said.
“You can’t come with me this time,” I said. “You might get hurt.”
“I’m going—!”
“No, you’re not,” I said. “Your mom put you in my care and this time, I intend on doing my duty. You’re going with Waev and that’s the end of it.”
Cleb pouted and ground his teeth.
“You’ve done very well, little spymaster,” I said softly. “But I could get into a lot of trouble with the police.”
There was no “could” about it. It was guaranteed.
Cleb’s expression softened.
“Will you bring her back?” he said.
“I’ll try,” I said.
Cleb leaped forward and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek.
“Good luck, Uncle,” he said.
Waev gave me a look of warning before slapping me on the back.
“I’ll put a file in the cake the next time I see you,” he said.
He scooped Cleb up in his arms and carried him outside. The door shut automatically behind him. I jumped in the pilot’s seat and fiddled with the buttons. It’d been a long time since I needed to fly one of these things myself. But it couldn’t be that hard. If Waev could do it…
I took the shuttlecraft directly up and then over the spaceport building. The force shoved me back in the seat. I recalibrated and swung the shuttlecraft around.
The spaceport drifted away from me, far below, and I tilted the ship forward, barreling directly for Bianca’s transport ship. It sat uselessly on the runway, directly behind the merchant ship that had broken down. A hundred mechanics descended on it, plugging into its systems to figure out what was wrong with it. The powerful little tug ships were getting into place to shift the merchant ship aside so the others could take off.
Bianca’s ship would be first in line.
Soon, the spaceport’s security system would kick on. The security teams in their capsules would be launched at me. Fully armed and with near-indestructible hulls, there would be no way for me to mount an effective defense against them.
For now, there was chaos. And it would play to my advantage.
But I didn’t have long.
I hit the brakes hard just yards from the transport ship’s hull and immediately dropped vertically, almost striking the ground. Then I turned the craft around and reversed up to the back of the ship.
“Citizen,” a commanding voice over the shuttlecraft’s radio said. “This is a restricted area. Power down for immediate boarding. This is not a request.”
I checked the scanners. The security capsules had been launched but they hadn’t reached me yet.
But they would within minutes.
I shut the radio off and lowered the ramp. I ran down it and got out. I was an ant compared to the giant passenger ship. The ship would
