by M. D. Cooper
“I’m sorry it was tough. I’m sorry I put you in that position, but at least you saved Lana.”
“It’s true, I did.” Kylie hadn’t wanted to tell Nadine right away they were fugitives. That was a lot to lay on a person, especially someone as special as Nadine. “Why don’t I whip you something up to eat?”
“Do we still have some bacon? I would love one of your special BLTs.”
“I had to give away my special stash, but Rogers recently came into some more fresh meat. The bacon’s not quite as good, but I can still make a mean BLT with it,” Kylie said as she watched Nadine’s face droop in shock.
“You had to win ten consecutive games of Snark to get that stuff.”
“Yeah, it was the good stuff. We traded it for a good cause, though.”
Nadine’s eyebrows reached for the stars. “What could possibly make you part with bacon? I mean, it is bacon, after all.”
“I’ll…. It’s a long story. I’ll get you a cup of coffee and a bowl of pasta. Come on,” Kylie hooked her arm through Nadine’s and led her to the galley.
Marge responded by sending Kylie a picture of a glowing sun—with a smiley face on it.
Kylie smiled.
“Are you all right?” Nadine asked. “You look so far away.”
Kylie opened her mouth to answer when Rogers broke through on the ship-wide net.
But, he wasn’t done yet.
Nadine said to Rogers as her eyes locked with Kylie’s. “What’s going on? What are we testifying about?”
As much as she wanted to avoid telling Nadine everything, she was going to have to spill the beans. “You’d better sit down. I’ll get the bacon cooking.”
* * * * *
Nadine sat with a dumbfounded expression on her face, an untouched BLT in front of her. “I can’t believe it. We’re on the run from the Silstrand Space Force, Harken and some even-shadier-than-usual part of the GFF, and the Black Crow? Plus, you got a….”
“An AI. In my head.”
Nadine snorted and picked up her coffee. “I think this isn’t going to be strong enough to get me through the day.”
“I know it’s a lot to digest, but you were kidnapped. Things started going so fast. I just did what I needed to rescue Lana so I could get to you.”
Nadine took a long pull from her coffee mug and it was clear to Kylie how shocked Nadine was by how she held it for a minute before slowly putting it down.
“I thought you’d understand,” Kylie whispered. “Lots of people have AI, and you don’t make a big deal about them.”
“Of course, I understand, darling.” Nadine said softly. “I just hate to see you go back on your principals, even for me.”
“Maybe you’re more important than my principals. And maybe I was wrong. Maybe my parents have been wrong all their lives.”
“Well,” Nadine said breathlessly, but didn’t elaborate on what the utterance meant. “But now…will you get it removed?” Nadine seemed to be waiting on pins and needles as Kylie thought about it.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I kind of like her.”
Marge sent across a feeling of relief and Kylie was relieved too—she liked having Marge exactly where she was.
“Her?” Nadine’s eyes widened. “You really have changed if you identify an AI as something other than an ‘it’. And you shouldn’t, either. They don’t have a real gender identity.”
Kylie didn’t think that was really the issue, and she wasn’t sure why Nadine was acting so defensive about it. It wasn’t like the AI was inside Nadine’s head.
Marge joined in.
“You’re talking to her right now, aren’t you?” Nadine asked.
Kylie nodded. “Is that a problem?”
“No, of course not. I just have grown accustomed that when we’re alone, we’re alone.”
Marge broadcasted to both of them.
“Great,” Nadine said with a hard swallow.
“You seem really tense,” Kylie said. “Is this all that’s going on? Are you all right?”
Nadine’s mouth opened and she laughed. “It’s a lot to take in. I knew things would change, yes, but…Lana? This advanced nanotech has bonded to her? It sounds dangerous and you just let her roam the ship?”
“We keep an eye on her,” Kylie said.
“Maybe you should do more than that. Maybe you should have her on lock down. She can be dangerous.”
Kylie scowled and shook her head. “What are you saying?”
“Jason,” Nadine hissed. “He believed the nano was weaponized and dangerous. He told me himself that it was programmed with a lot of advanced capabilities. Without the information on how to use it, or what those are…it’s impossible to say what she could do. Who knows where that will lead her?”
“I don’t know, but she’s with us for now. We have to find a way to end this so we can all live normal lives.”
“Normal lives?” Nadine laughed. “Everything’s changed. Nothing will ever be the way it was. When this all comes to light—or even if it doesn’t—the Silstrand Alliance will throw everything they have at us.”
“Then we’ll run. We’ll go further out. I hear there are new alliances terraforming worlds out past the Orion Nebula.”
“Will we just show up on their doorstep asking if they want to trade bacon? You’re not a quitter, or someone who hides, Kylie. I’ve always known this about you. I always knew, one day the SSF would call, I just didn’t know it’d be like this.”
Kylie didn’t follow what Nadine was getting at but she wanted—she needed—to know. “What are you trying to say?”
Nadine opened her mouth to respond but never voiced the worlds as Winter entered the room, clapping. “Ha ha, my girl Nadine! It’s so good to see you again! Sorry I took so long to get here, had to check on a flow regulator in the engines. Still shaking things out after the upgrades.”
Nadine rose reluctantly to greet Winter and was crushed in an enthusiastic hug. “Winter! Wow! Yes, it’s so good to be back!”
“I knew we’d get you back. We’d do anything to get you, you know that?”
“Y-yes,” Nadine stammered, “I’m beginning to understand that.”
Kylie didn’t understand Nadine’s reticence, or the wall that was going up between them. She had imagined how it would be when Nadine was rescued; everything was supposed to have gone back to the way it used to be. Good times, happy times. Had Kylie been delusional? She was supposed to be happy when Nadine came back. Instead everything was wrong; the whole thing was making her disappointed and sad.
>
Kylie stood from the table and poured her still-full cup of coffee in the sink. “I’m going to go check on Lana. We have a few things to talk about. See you guys a little later?”
Nadine gave her puppy dog eyes as Winter droned about their adventures over the past few weeks, but Kylie continued on as if sadness wasn’t eating away at her heart.
* * * * *
Kylie knocked on the door to Lana’s quarters and waited a minute before the door slid open. Inside, Lana was sitting up on the bed, playing with the hem of her pants. The way her head bopped up and down, Kylie thought she must be listening to music. “Can I come in?”
Lana shrugged. “You have super nano just like me. I’m guessing you can come and go as you please when you please.”
“True, but it’d be rude to just come in if you didn’t want me to.”
“I want you to. I just don’t want you to be mad at me.” Lana shifted on the bed and dangled her feet off the edge. Her shoulders were rounded up around her ears and Kylie’s heart melted for her.
She slid onto the bed beside her and put her arm around her lean frame. “I wanted to get Jason back here so we could question him. Find out who hired him to track you down.”
“I know that. I know you’re mad, but I didn’t mean for anything to happen when we were out there. I just…it’s like my brain shut off. My brain shut off and I couldn’t think. I just reacted and my body responded. I didn’t have time to stop. Maybe I just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t come after me again.”
Kylie held back an exasperated sigh. She had feared it had been something like that but needed to know for sure. “I’m not mad at you, Lana. I’m disappointed we didn’t get to talk to Jason, but I know you didn’t set off to kill him.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know you and Abby. You’re kind. You wouldn’t have gone out to murder Jason in cold blood.”
“Not like he’s Harken, right?” Lana laughed.
Kylie forced a smile. “Right, but even then, you leave that to us. Promise me.”
Lana nodded. “I promise.”
“Good,” Kylie hopped off the bed.
“Going so soon?”
“I have a lot to check on but why don’t you join me in the galley in an hour or so? You can help me with dinner. Grayson’s on rotation, but something tells me he’s not going to be in the mood for a few days.”
“Sure, I’d like that. Thanks, Kylie.” Lana pivoted on her bed and lay down, staring up at the ceiling.
Kylie gave Lana a long look before she left the girl’s quarters.
ESCAPADES
STELLAR DATE: 09.23.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Dauntless, en route to Freemont
REGION: Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Prepping dinner with Kylie was an enjoyable way to pass the time. Lana liked hanging out with Kylie and talking with the captain was always fun. Lana didn’t know why she liked Kylie quite so much, but maybe it was because she had saved Lana’s life.
Kylie sprinkled a little water in Lana’s face from the spinach leaves she had just washed. Lana squealed and recoiled. “You’re asking for trouble!”
Laughing, Kylie held her hands up. “I couldn’t help myself. You were concentrating so hard on kneading that bread!”
“Well, someone has to do the hard work here and since I have the muscles for it now…” Sure, Kylie was super-charged now too, but it was a fun joke; one that Kylie didn’t seem to mind, either.
Kylie turned to get some other ingredients from the fridge, and Lana thought about what would happen after they got to Freemont and the testimonies were done. What would happen then?
Lana agreed that Kylie was nice, but she didn’t want to wear out her welcome. After a minute, she screwed up the courage to ask. “After everything is done with the GFF…am I still welcome here?”
“If you want to stay, yes. If you keep kneading dough like that, hell yes, please!” Kylie’s smile faded and she grew more serious. Lana saw her expression change and prepared herself for whatever Kylie might say.
“Eventually we’ll need to deal with the SSF. If they need this nano to hold Scipio back and keep Silstrand safe…I won’t ask you to volunteer, but I will.”
Lana blinked, not trusting her ears. “You’d do that for me? I mean, what if you die?”
“Grayson says I won’t. Grayson says they’ll find a way.”
“You trust him even after all that stuff he said? And did?”
Kylie shrugged. “You transferred the nano to me and didn’t die. We just have to figure out how to do that without shooting me in the head. Either way, I think Grayson’s right. Your father is very narrow-minded, but I think once he has what he needs he’ll behave…more humanely.” Kylie turned her back to Lana and finished up the salad. “Get that dough covered and clean the counter when you have a second, okay?”
Lana nodded. “Sure thing, boss.” She glanced over her shoulder at Kylie, a smile teasing his lips. She liked belonging somewhere, having something to do other than parties and schools. Life on the Dauntless was hard, dangerous, but maybe Lana had a future here. Maybe she could learn something about being useful.
* * * * *
Eating the meal wasn’t as fun as making it.
Lana had expected the mood to be joyous after Nadine’s rescue, but there were a thousand klicks of distance between Kylie and Nadine, and it was filled with ice, even though they were sitting beside one another.
Add Grayson to the mix, sitting across the table, pointedly silent as he nibbled on a roll, and you had the definition of uncomfortable.
“Can someone pass the butter?” Nadine asked.
Both Grayson and Kylie reached for it at the same time and both pulled their hands away. “You go ahead,” Kylie said.
“You reached first,” Grayson argued. “Go right ahead.
“I insist.”
“Guys,” Nadine said quietly, “it’s only butter. It doesn’t matter who passes it to me.”
Lana sighed stood up, grabbed the butter, and walked it over to Nadine. “There you go.”
“Thank you, Lana,” Nadine offered her a small smile. “It’s nice to have another girl on the ship. Even out all the testosterone always flowing around here.”
“I resent that,” Rogers said.
“You should,” Winter tilted his beer back to drain the rest before reaching for a new one. “You don’t have any testosterone.”
Kylie gave him a pointed look. “Winter.”
“Since we’re all here maybe we can go over the plan for when we arrive at Freemont?” Grayson asked without looking at anyone specific.
“Man loves a good plan,” Winter said.
Grayson met Winter’s eyes. “And why shouldn’t we plan?”
“I kinda like winging it,” Rogers added.
Kylie held up her hand and everyone fell silent. Lana was impressed with how well Kylie just did that, and how everyone just listened to her. Maybe someday Lana could be like that. “Nadine and I will give our testimony. While we do that, Winter will set up in a sniper nest. When Harken comes out of hiding….”
“So, we’re really going to kill her?” Lana asked.
Kylie paused and Grayson spoke up in her place. “Finally, someone other than me is the voice of reason at this table.”
“Oh Lana…” Nadine whispered.
Kylie shook her head, but Winter nodded with approval.
“Why shouldn’t she want to be there?” he asked. “Harken kidnapped her, kept her strapped down, tortured her. Tell you what, kid, you come with me and I’ll let you pull the damn trigger yourself.”
Grayson jumped up, banging the table with his knees as he rose. “She’s just a child and she’s not your responsibility.”
“She’s her own damn responsibility, Gray.” Winter stood and matched Grayson’s glare. “Maybe you’re just upset because she leveled you with one punch.”
“That wasn’t me,” Grayson said, his voice taking on a dangerous tone.
Winter snorted and shook his head. “Offer stands,” he said to Lana as he gazed down at her, reaching out to stroke her chin.
Lana’s heart pattered with excitement at his touch and she resisted the urge to lean into him.
“You’re old enough to make your own decisions,” Winter continued, “so you decide what you want, and I’ll show you everything you need to know.”
“Winter!” Kylie glared at him. “Enough!”
“Life is hard.” Winter retorted. “She wants to ride with us, you want to keep her safe, but that’s not how it works out here. If we hadn’t taught her how to shoot she would have died on that platform with Jason. This is just more of the same.”
Lana didn’t know if she was scared or excited as Winter grabbed his beer and stormed out of the galley. She wondered where he was going and how much longer she’d have to sit here before she went to find him.
“And hurricane Winter passes through yet again,” Rogers said as he leaned forward to stab another piece of chicken and pull it off the platter.
“Winter…” Kylie seemed at a loss for words.
“He did have a point,” Nadine whispered. “Life is hard out here. Lana will need to learn to protect herself if everyone is going to continue to hunt her.”