by Rachel Caine
Suncross activated something and a screen popped up and uncurled, different from the type we used aboard Nadim. It was delicate, almost like fabric. His claws moved, activating this and that, and then the constellations swirled into focus, dots of light taking shape as we passed through those certain stars. Yet it seemed strange that Suncross had to do that manually. He couldn’t just ask the ship to display it for him?
“You don’t have an AI on board?”
“Aiii? What is this?”
“Artificial intelligence. Like Jury here.” I indicated the robot standing calmly near the door, observing us both. “Applies to our med bot also.”
Lizard eyes stared at me, his nictitating membrane fluttering. “That would be unwise, Zeerakull. My people have an unfortunate history with such.”
“Did they rise up in a robot revolution or something?”
“Yes. There are many volumes about the struggle if you care to read them.”
“Do you have audio versions? I can’t read in Bruqvisz,” I reminded him. “And I only understand you because of the translation matrix.”
“Sorry, only text. Your loss. Should learn Bruqvisz, the only civilized tongue.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that,” I mumbled. “So your ship is just . . . silent, then. That’s so weird to me.”
“Strange to me that you live inside a Deep Singer,” Suncross shot back.
Fair enough.
Time to refocus the convo. “You brought up the star chart for a reason, I guess?”
He slapped two palms against his chest. “Yes! Thank you for reminding, Zeerakull. I am showing you how we will track the treacherous Singers.”
I never thought of that. Since Nadim and Typhon could hear the cousins across distance—and so could the Phage—it never occurred to me to wonder how mech ships would find Leviathan. Though I didn’t have a plan for this part, I’d just imagined we could go back the way we’d come, but that was overly basic. I’d never seen Derry’s ship, but Quell was badly injured after our fight, so they must have detoured to let her heal near a compatible star. If Derry was in charge, he would have abandoned her right away, but if these Leviathan knew about the Phage, they would realize it was smart to travel in pairs. Derry might’ve been overridden and forced to wait. If that was the case, they weren’t that close behind us, and we needed to be precise to locate them in the vastness of the black.
“Okay, I’m interested.”
“All Singers radiate the energy of the stars that nourish them. We logged the fight with the traitorous Singer, now I find their _____.”
“Didn’t quite catch that. Come again?”
“Emission?” Suncross tried again.
“I think I get it. We’re scanning for the energy signature.”
“Yes. Only have record of one, but if we find that Singer, the other should be close.”
Hell, I hoped so. If we only tracked down Jon Anderson, I’d be so pissed. For this to end like all the rehearsals I’d run in my head, Jury had to take me to Derry McKinnon.
Suncross got to work toggling various icons, and soon a faint golden thread appeared on the screen. I couldn’t interpret the symbols at the bottom, and we didn’t share a numeric system, so I couldn’t gauge how far it was either.
“How long will it take for us to intercept?” I asked.
“Twenty-three hours.”
Sometimes I wondered about our differing concepts of time and what Suncross might be saying, as opposed to how the translation matrix put it. The gilded path remained lit on the screen and an oblong icon flashed. That must be Quell.
Less than a day.
Ghostwalk escorted Chao-Xing in around that time. “Suncross, let me tell you. We are Vikings!”
That sounded about right. I didn’t stick around to hear the explanation, instead wandering the hall with Jury as my shadow. Eventually I turned around to say, “You’re not saying as much as you did before.”
“I have entered judiciary mode, per your request to be taken into custody. From this point on, my task is to observe and evaluate. I am an impartial witness, not your comrade.”
“But . . . you were programmed to kill me, not arrest me.”
“My protocols were corrupt. EMITU has freed me of such errors and limitations. I have chosen a new role. I am the law.”
That sounded like a quote from a classic science fiction vid, but I couldn’t remember which one. “Okay, I won’t ask you for casual chats. Do you plan to keep following me?”
“Affirmative.”
“This should be fun.”
Soon I’d seen everything on offer in the lizard ship. I was starting to understand why they drank. They lacked most of the amenities Bea and I took for granted. It was no surprise they didn’t have a pool, but there was no holo room either. If they wanted to train, they had to fight each other. Which explained a lot, actually.
I circled back to the central hub, where Suncross was running out of patience with Ghostwalk’s obsession with Vikings. Suncross slammed a palm into the other lizard’s shoulder, nearly knocking him down. “Enough!” He turned to me. “Zeerakull, we will teach you traditional Bruqvisz drinking game to fill the hours.”
Chao-Xing shook her head. “That’s a terrible idea. We need to arrive at the rendezvous sharp, not staggering drunk. Find some other way to pass the time.”
The lizard crew let out a collective growl of disappointment, interspersed with hisses that I took as heckling.
“Game without drinking is all right?” Suncross asked.
Wariness brightened Chao-Xing’s brown eyes. “Why does this worry me even more?”
As it turned out, she was right to be concerned. The game Suncross was referring to translated as “forfeit-or-pain,” and it was exactly how it sounded. They had these stones, like dice, with symbols etched into them. You tossed the stones, and depending on your rune combination, you either won or lost the roll. If you lost, you had to choose between forfeiting some possession—which went into the pot to be claimed by the champion later—or endure some physical discomfort. If you had nothing left to bet, you could only pick pain, and if you were too hurt to continue playing, you were eliminated. The last lizard—or human—standing got to keep all the stuff that was wagered.
Brutal.
“You understand the basics?” Ghostwalk asked.
Generally speaking, yes. It was a badass game of craps. What I didn’t understand were all the sigil combinations since I didn’t read Bruqvisz. I was putting it on the to-do list, along with Mandarin. I’d be the coolest if I could cuss in lizard and Chinese.
Suncross broke down all the combos for us and Chao-Xing wrote them down, as studious about gaming as I might have expected. She was already busy memorizing “rock and tree beats ocean and wind . . .”
Really, I felt like hugging Suncross. He had to know I could use a distraction, and learning how to play forfeit-or-pain was the perfect way to suppress my fear about where I was headed. Otherwise I’d be obsessing over how likely my plan was to succeed. Jury was the wild card, and I had no idea if this would break in my favor. If it went bad, I might end up in Deluca’s hands.
No. Focus. Don’t let physiological reactions clue the bot in. You’re playing a game, resigned to your fate. That’s the truth.
“You know,” I said to Ghostwalk. “These game pieces?” I held up the hefty, etched piece that looked like obsidian. “Very Viking.”
Ghostwalk showed me all his teeth, mouth open, as he made a sound that didn’t translate, but it felt like amusement. “Bruqvisz who die in glorious battle cannot be set on fire. Should see if we can send them into a nearby sun?”
“You should not encourage this,” Chao-Xing said.
“Why not? Cross-cultural exchanges pave the way for greater understanding.” That sounded good, anyway.
She made a skeptical noise as Suncross thumped the floor for attention. The rest of the lizards sat in a circle, and I guessed that was the setup, so I squeezed in next to t
he one I vaguely recalled as Followshome. I’d forgotten the rest of their names, and it seemed like a jerk move to ask for a refresher at this point.
“We play!” Suncross shouted. He threw his stones and the crew roared. “Twin fires, beat that!”
I glanced at Chao-Xing, who had her game face on. We all took turns and I got the low roll. “Forfeit or pain?” asked Ghostwalk.
Since I only had my clothes and a few weapons, I wasn’t about to start playing strip whatever with a bunch of damn lizards. “Pain,” I said grimly.
Followshome wound up to clock me with two arms, but before he could deliver, an alarm went off, red lights strobing. “The hell is that?” Chao-Xing demanded.
Suncross got to his feet, growling in earnest. “Proximity alert. Is not an auspicious day to fight, but fight we must. Want to shoot some guns, Zeerakull?”
I was literally sitting in a gun pit, like in some science fiction vid, spinning wildly with physical controls to master. This wasn’t like on board Nadim, aiming from the console or letting him take the lead. No, I was up close and personal, and the lizards were fighting a bunch of smaller ships, the like of which I’d never seen.
“Who are these assholes?” I called
“Oborub. You call them Jellies. According to the lights on their ships, they have been ordered to punish us for failing to comply with Bacia’s request for aid.”
“If they had ships to spare, why didn’t they use them to defend the station?” I asked, indignant.
“Probably sent message,” Ghostwalk predicted. “To enforcers away from base on other business.”
That didn’t explain why Bacia wanted to punish us. “Ghostwalk, how exactly did you respond to that request for aid?” I’d given him verbiage, but now I had a bad feeling.
“Told them what you said. And . . . other stuff.”
“When I’m not fighting a bunch of jellyfish in rocket-boosted tins, we’ll talk about this again,” I muttered. “Wait, do Jellies have collective ancestral memory like the blo—I mean the Elaszi?”
“You won’t shoot if they do? Fire weapons!” Suncross ordered.
Since he made a good point, I figured I could learn more about their species after we defeated the ones doing Bacia’s dirty work. It was unnerving the way this seat oscillated, and the controls were optimized for four arms, so I was busy as hell, pulling levers and adjusting toggles, trying to get the sights to lock. Since I only had two arms, it took me a bit to work out how to do it. Followshome was in another gun pit, firing away. He took out two of the little chasers while I was learning the system.
“Victory!” he shouted.
Too soon, there were six more to shoot, and we had laser fire coming in hot. Suncross was piloting, jerking the ship around so I spun even when I wasn’t trying to. My stomach jumped into my throat as I got my seat under control and lined up my shot. Bingo. I tapped twice and launched a volley that went true and the little Jelly ship went up in a silent shower of sparks. The metal pieces charred and drifted apart, showing me the dying Jelly inside. The alien floated out into the black, tendrils drifting, and it wouldn’t be the airless part that killed them; I watched as the drifting fronds went stiff and the jelly core iced over.
“That was grim,” I mumbled.
“Keep shooting. Five left!” Chao-Xing reminded me.
As she said that, Followshome took out a couple more. Four arms made him fast as hell on these guns. I wished I could match his speed, but there was no way. I scowled at C-X. “You want to give it a shot?”
“I’d rather boss you,” she said.
I didn’t think she was joking. Using all my coordination, I spun into position and locked on, took out a second as it was aiming a different weapon at us. Ghostwalk hissed and showed me his palms. “Good one. You save us from certain death!”
My brows shot up because I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. If that was true, how could he be so calm about it? Only two left, but they split up and dropped at the same time. “Flanking!” Ghostwalk called. “Under-hull maneuver.”
In response, Suncross practically pitched me in the floor, swooping so that Followshome and I could take another shot. “I think they’re trying to plant something on us,” I said, judging by the way they were buzzing and not using weapons.
“Don’t let it happen,” Suncross said. Suddenly he sounded tense.
I didn’t want to find out what happened to those who said “screw you” to Bacia’s orders. I wheeled, strapped in and upside down to get the angle I needed, and my hands moved as fast as they ever had in order to activate the lasers one last time. Followshome hit his button at the same time, and the last two ships exploded in a pretty little chain reaction of destruction.
The lizards shouted and growled, did that victory dance I had only seen on the comm. Chao-Xing nudged me with her shoulder as I unstrapped and fell out of the gun pit, dizzy as hell but proud of myself too. “Good work.”
“Thanks.” I gave her a sidelong look. “You gonna learn the dance?”
Chao-Xing stared back. Then she surprised me by nodding. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Let’s do this.”
That was how I ended up in a line with Suncross teaching us the steps and hand motions. We couldn’t do it entirely right since we were missing two arms, but we gave it our best shot. I couldn’t get the sounds right for the chant either, but the translation matrix helped me out so I could yell along in English. “Victory! Victory! Guts and glory! Fortune favors the bold!” Stomp stomp, clap clap—four claps for lizards, two for humans—throw arms up, spin, stomp, tail wiggle for lizards, shake the human booty, drop down low, jump up, and repeat. Both Chao-Xing and I caught on fast and then we just had to do it on rhythm.
I felt like hugging all the lizards because I’d forgotten how dire my situation was for a bit—until I caught sight of Jury standing silently nearby, watching us. Then it dropped on me like the curtain of night, all heavy anticipation laced with fear.
Right, this still sucks.
“Can I ask about the Jellies now? You were going to tell me—”
“No ancestral memory,” said Suncross. “Not to worry about bloodfeud. Oborub make loyal, excellent helpers. They bond to one person and reproduce quickly, so if one falls in battle, another can replace them.”
“So Bacia has their own Jelly army? Damn.”
Ghostwalk nodded. “Good comparison.”
“Did Bacia really put a bounty on our heads? Will Typhon and Nadim be all right?” This was another worry I did not need.
“Unwise to send little Jellies after giant Singers,” said Suncross. “We are little fish in comparison. Could maybe get lucky and destroy ship or claim it.”
“Continue playing?” Ghostwalk asked.
Sighing, I took the hit that I’d dodged before, and the game went on. Pretty soon I had bruises all over because the lizards didn’t hold back for humans or girls, and I couldn’t take another smack, so I started betting my clothes. Which was how I ended up half naked with all my weapons showing.
“You know I’m not letting you assholes keep my pants, right?”
Jury was logging this whole thing too. In the annals of Zara Cole, she played a game with lizards and lost her trousers. Is that a crime? No, but it is dumb as hell.
“You have to buy them back,” Suncross told me.
“I’m not—” I stopped and went in again for another angle. “How’s that going to work? I don’t have any currency.”
Chao-Xing solved the problem by being the high roller for the night. She swept the pot and was nice enough to give me back my clothes. Thank God. I wasn’t looking forward to meeting Derry in my underwear. He’d probably take it as some bold strategy to get him back when I’d rather go out like that Jelly, as my feeling on a repeat of history went about like what they say about hell freezing over.
The party wound down, and though I didn’t think I’d sleep with so much on my mind, I eventually passed out like a little kid, leaning up against
the wall. I woke when Suncross laid a surprisingly gentle hand on my shoulder, then pulled me up with two others.
“Zeerakull.” He spoke softer than I’d ever heard him. “Have found the traitorous cousins and spoken to the one called Derry. He agrees to collect you.”
“Wow. Okay. So this is happening.” I mean, it had to go down like this. It was the best call, but still, my stomach fluttered. I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure it would go down like I hoped. “Is it okay if I hug you?”
“What is hug?” Suncross asked.
In answer, I showed him. Never thought I’d wrap my arms around a giant, rowdy sentient lizard, but here I was. I patted his back, feeling the bumps of his skin and the ridges on his back. Slowly all four of his arms came around me, gentle as could be, and he thumped me, so it only rocked me a little.
“This is hug? Am doing it right?”
“Yeah, good job,” I said, pulling back to smile.
He showed me his teeth too, probably not as comforting as he intended, but hey, it was the thought that counted. “Live with honor or die with glory, Zeerakull. We wait to hear from you or JongShowJing.”
“Thanks.” Damn, I was getting choked up; time to wrap this up. “How have you arranged for us to be taken aboard?” I wasn’t sure how much cargo their Leviathan had in the docking bay. There probably wouldn’t be room for the mech ship, and I didn’t want them to take the risk anyway.
Suncross said, “As usual. Suit up, go out. They will collect you in their Hopper.”
I wondered if we’d get pulled in, like we did to Yusuf and Starcurrent. At least Jury could help guide us since he had booster boots. Turning to Chao-Xing, I said, “Are you ready?”
She didn’t say, I was born ready, which disappointed me; she just nodded and led the way to the docking bay, where our skinsuits were waiting. “Let’s do this.”