Baffled, I release one hand, but hold the creature in place in front of me. “Speak, Frohlt. Tell me why I should help the very person bringing me in for my execution. Your logic isn’t exactly winning me over.” My thoughts spin in chaos. With Aktip’s betrayal and the rest of the crew following her lead, why should I trust any of them? Maybe the Kraagi brainwashed them all.

  The small creature coughs and rubs his throat, looking at me with suspicion. “The frog’s not bringing you in, miss. From what I can tell, she just violated a basic biologically baked-in law so she could get you out of Celos. And I think it’s what’s got her brain all messed up. She’s collapsed in the helmroom.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “I’ve told you over and over: don’t call her a frog. But right now, I have no idea what is going on. Someone needs to tell me what just happened.”

  Frohlt shifts from one foot to another. “I might have miscalculated the dose, miss. It’s okay though. If you can help the fr—Rykkan, she can explain.”

  Shit. A moment ago, I was on death row. I guess I’d better roll with the punches. I glance at Mitch. “Coming?”

  He smiles. “Good to see you too, Indy.” He jumps up and races past me down the passageway, calling over his shoulder. “Come on. It was all Aktip’s idea. But I think her heroics could have fried her synapses.”

  I am more confused than ever. I thought Aktip turned on us and forced the others to agree, or they would never have left Celos. I abandon Frohlt and pursue Mitch, with the doc in tow. I curse the artificial grav—it would have been faster to fly to the helmroom. Shouting over my shoulder to Frohlt, I call, “What makes you think I can help? Isn’t Rita there?”

  “She wasn’t acting real friendly, miss. We had to lock her in her cabin.”

  Still running after Mitch, I raise my brow. Knowing Rita’s feistiness, that couldn’t have been easy. “How’d you do that?” I look back to find Frohlt brandishing a plasmadagger.

  “This helped me persuade her, miss.”

  My life is a string of surprises.

  Miscalculations

  Aktip is slumped across the helmpad. Mitch bends over her. “Do Rykkans have a pulse?” he says, feeling around Aktip’s wide neck.

  “Move away,” I say, bringing my forehead to meet the Rykkan’s protruding brow. It’s the closest I’ve ever been to a Rykkan, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s that I have shared a strong connection with this female, whom I’d rescued many moons ago.

  And who has allegedly rescued me. I’m still struggling to reconcile the intense hatred she broadcasted. I can’t imagine the toll it would take on any Rykkan. Is Frohlt telling the truth, or am I hallucinating all this? Maybe concussion and shame are shielding me from suffering as I’m put to death in a remote, lawless sector and none of this is real.

  Unsteadiness clutches my balance and I reach out to stabilize myself, finding Frohlt’s shoulder. The creature looks up at me. “Please, miss. No one else can reach her.”

  I close my eyes and concentrate on my loyal friend.

  But I cannot sense anything. I straighten and turn to the doc, who is looking at me with concern.

  “What did you mean when you said she violated her most basic values?”

  “The frogs—ah, I mean Rykkans, miss—they have some rule about not lying. About speaking true to each other, whatever that means.”

  “It’s not a rule. It’s their biology. They can only withhold from each other. They can’t deliberately lie to another of their own. As far as I know.” I screw up my face. “Unless what you’re saying is that Aktip—”

  “She lied to the Kraagi, miss. It’s how she got on Celos. When we analyzed comms in and out of Celos, we figured they couldn’t intercept the latest directives from our Sector. So, she suggested a trick. She told them she had a communication from Rykkamon to bring you in and was ordered to obey. The Kraagi probed her and found her truthful. Apparently the Kraagi have some revered status there and overrode the Grand Bench. It’s on account of Aktip that you made it out of Celos alive.” He sniffs. “Though I don’t know why she twisted their thoughts to give us that unpleasant female human back. She hates us, even though we—”

  “Quiet, Frohlt. Let me think. Aktip must have shut herself down so she could lie.” No wonder she looked so expressionless, even for a Rykkan.

  The doc pulls a forlorn face.

  “What?”

  “I gave her some medication, miss. She wanted to suppress her real feelings.”

  “But instead it drove her to a full-on rage attack.”

  The doc’s head jerks up. “How did you know?”

  I take a deep breath. “It was all directed at me.” I pull at my lip and study Mitch. “How did this come about?”

  He shrugs. “The doc here and Aktip dreamed it up. They put me in the brig for effect. Aktip needed to say something that would ring true for those orange-heads.”

  I shake my head. “Why does everyone have a name for people who don’t look”—I glare at Frohlt—“or smell like us?”

  Frohlt sniggers. “You should hear what we call humans, mi—”

  He shuts up when I slap him.

  I place my hand on her wide back and my head to Aktip’s. I think I know what might reach her. I whisper, trying to open my mind, even though it’s spinning and off-balance. “Hey. It worked. You got me out of there. I don’t know if you know, but they were about to execute me. Thanks to you, I’m here. You’ve fulfilled your lifelong debt.”

  But I can’t feel anything. She must have retreated deep into her psyche.

  Trying again, I whisper. “I found out what that ship is. And maybe why Oberon needed Papa. It’s a battlecruiser. With an unfinished drive.”

  A gentle tendril of emotion tickles my consciousness. It feels like someone stroking my brow.

  “Please come back to us. What you did was beyond your duty—beyond your debt. It’s okay to—”

  Another, stronger emotional reaction of sadness washes over me. She’s hurting. Despite my desperation, I can’t stop my own eyes from welling up. I don’t think I could stand being a full-time empath and it deepens my respect for Rykkans.

  I pull away and look at my Rykkan friend, conscious of Mitch and Frohlt’s tension. Do I sense a slight movement in Aktip’s body? I close my eyes again and reach down to where I imagine my empathic connection lives. “You brought me back from the dead, Aktip. To tell a lie just means you’ve discovered for yourself how humans manipulate each other.”

  Aktip stirs. Her eyes flick around and she raises her squat head, then pushes off the helmroom controls. “I am sorry, ma’am. When it is necessary, Rykkans can lie. But not to each other.”

  I frown. “What do you mean, not to each other?”

  “The Kraagi, ma’am. We are related. I had to lie to them to gain their cooperation to take you off Celos. But they are empaths, like Rykkans. We cannot lie to them. Even to contemplate this betrays my people. But if we fail, Rykkamon will be caught up in a war. And my debt to you broken. This was more important to me than our relationship with the Kraagi.”

  “Then how?” I lift my hand.

  Aktip looks exhausted. Her head swivels. “I had this creature”—she lifts her hand with difficulty and points to the doc—“give me a medication. He said it would repress my empathic truth. I think it almost destroyed it, because I could not feel me anymore. Only anger that I could not fulfill my debt.” The Rykkan sits up further and gives me a weak, red-toothed smile. “Lucky he fetched you, ma’am. You reached me to bring me back.”

  I growl and turn. “Frohlt? I thought you were an expert mathematician?”

  But the crafty alien has already gone. I hope Aktip hasn’t suffered irreversible damage.

  Mitch shrugs and holds up both hands. “What now?”

  I feel the old Indy emerge through the fogginess. I smile. “We join the dots and find out who set me up. Once we do that, the plan will be obvious.”

  Mitch makes a face. “You do realize there is a warrant out for your arrest?”

  I wave his question away. “A minor problem.”

  “Did I just miss an entire explanation?” My brother looks puzzled.

  I smile. “It’s simple. They’ll be looking for me.”

  His brow furrows more. “Err, yes.”

  I click my tongue. “Mitch! Think. They’ll be looking for me. Not for you. I want you to take Kreev and find Matlock and Garnek. Tell them you know where I am.”

  “Where will you be?”

  “We’ll find somewhere for me to hide. Not on Slingshot, obviously.” I dare not tell Mitch how I plan to do this. Mainly because I have no idea. Yet. “Then sooner or later, whoever has me in their sights will get hold of that information and track me down.”

  “Right. But how did that go last time?”

  “Last time they caught me unawares. This time I’ll be waiting.”

  “Have you forgotten?” Mitch says as I force two stimpacks into my thigh.

  “Huh?” I look over my shoulder at my brother, scowling.

  “You might be ready to fight, but you have one furious ex-colleague locked up in a cabin. Either we drop her off somewhere, or…”

  I firm my mouth. “Don’t even think about it. We’re not people who throw those we don’t like out of airlocks.”

  He shrugs. “Suit yourself. From what you said, she wouldn’t have hesitated to kick you into the void.” He throws up his hands. “Anyway, just suggesting we don’t need two loose cannons on deck.”

  I frown. “Two…?” I look at him, confused.

  “Yeah. Just saying. In case you didn’t realize who I meant.”

  I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mean Frohlt. Annoyed at my sibling’s needling, I can’t complain after what they risked springing me free. I guess the last thing we need is dealing with an antagonistic crew member. So instead of retorting, I spin on my heel and make my way to confront Rita.

  My brother yells after me. I pretend not to hear his accusations.

  But I’ve soon pushed aside his anger after standing for some time outside Rita’s cabin.

  I slap the door’s commpad again. “Come on, Rita. Other than saving your life—twice—what have I done to you?”

  Her voice filters through the pad’s speaker. “Lost me Celos. Betrayed your colleagues. Killed thousands in one horror suicide mission that you weren’t brave enough to carry out yourself. Sadly.”

  Exhaling my frustration, I persist with my request. For the fourth time.

  “I told you, none of that is my doing.”

  “Tell that to the Kraagi. They know better.”

  I hear the bitterness in Rita’s voice. I know it well, having experienced my fair share of betrayal. But Jordi came around in the end.

  The memory spurs me on. Jordi may have been a reckless, compulsive gambler, but when the chips were down, he gave his life to save me and Mitch.

  Rita’s mentioning of the Kraagi triggers a thought.

  “Did you know the Rykkans and the Kraagi descend from a shared bloodline?”

  Silence. I take it as permission to continue.

  “Neither did I. Aktip can read the same truths—and lies—that they do. She was quick to recognize their presence and exploit a loophole.” A very painful loophole, I think.

  The commPanel crackles. “Sure. And she says you’re all shiny.”

  This time I wait. Two can play that game.

  Rita breaks the silence. “Then why did the Kraagi say you were lying? When you told us you didn’t do it.”

  I jerk away from the commPanel. Until now, that point of view hadn’t been on my radar. Why did the Kraagi think I lied? I knew I hadn’t, so why didn’t they?

  I lean my forehead against the bulkhead, feeling my injured eye twinge, and press the commPanel. “I don’t know, Reets,” I say softly, “but I didn’t do it. Why don’t you let Aktip mind-probe me?”

  Rita’s virtual shrug almost makes it through the commPanel. “She could be lying, too. She’s loyal to you. Not to me.”

  “She’s loyal to truth.” The image of Aktip slumped over the helm controls springs into my mind. I jerk my head up. “She can open a connection between you and her. Right after she’s probed me to find out why the Kraagi came to the wrong conclusion. Then when she opens her mind to you, we’ll all know why they thought I lied. Will you at least grant me that?”

  More silence.

  “Have I ever broken the code with you, Reets?” I wait again.

  “No.” Her voice is small. I grab onto hope.

  “Then let me submit to any way you choose to prove my innocence.”

  All I hear is Rita’s breath. She must be close to the commPanel. “You always were cute, redjack. Bring the Rykkan here. I’ve got nothing to lose any more.”

  I permit myself a small smile. Nothing to lose, maybe. But a lot to gain. I tap the commPanel. “Back soon.”

  As I head off to find Aktip, Rita’s reply sails through the air from the commPanel’s speaker.

  “Heard that before.”

  The hatch opens to reveal Rita sitting slumped on the bunk, a weary expression on her face.

  She looks up at me and I see she, too, has been crying. “Celos was a second home for me and Lauren. Now I have no home.”

  I unclip a chair from the bulkhead and drag it over to sit opposite Rita. “Don’t pull that victim crap on me. You’re like me: brought up to swagger and be independent. You’ll damn well make yourself a home wherever you go.”

  She peers at me. “You think? I still don’t get why you haven’t spaced me.”

  Her words hit home. What the hell am I? I’m not Fassbender, that’s for sure. I won’t kill indiscriminately. Nor do I regard anyone as expendable. But why do I care? It’s never been my job to save the universe. I don’t have the answers, only plans. And something tells me Rita has a part to play. She long ago mentioned in passing hearing something about Jovians and SIMs. But I can’t say anything yet. First, I need to demonstrate my innocence. And now the imminent danger has passed, I’m as curious as anyone to figure out why the Kraagi believed I lied.

  Rita interrupts my thoughts. “Not like you to be lost for words.”

  I shrug, twist around and beckon Aktip into the room. Frohlt follows, as does Mitch. I notice Rita stiffen when she sees Frohlt.

  “He’s a friend. He was only doing what he thought was right.”

  Rita holds up her left arm. It sports a makeshift bandage. “Just a friendly scratch, was it?” She raises her eyes.

  I cast a glance back at the doc, who cringes. “I was gesticulating when I misjudged the distance, miss. And the lady was angry,” he adds.

  I am seriously reconsidering his calculation skills. And his request to be called “the doc.”

  Outcast

  Aktip sits next to Rita, who shifts along the bunk, looking wary. Aktip turns to me. “Do you wish me to begin, ma’am?”

  I nod.

  Aktip’s familiar mental tendrils pry at the crevices in my thoughts. They turn to the attack on the space station. About my sudden and unexpected rise to fame as Constellation’s captain. About the Rykkan Commissar’s accusations.

  The battle with the Jovians and the Scorpion. That one hurts. I should have seen that coming, but the big new world of devious political maneuvering overwhelmed me.

  If I’d just taken everything the same way I’d treated all my underworld dealings, I wouldn’t have caused the death and destruction of—

  “There it is, ma’am.”

  I shake myself back to the present. “What, Aktip?”

  “The reason for the Kraagi’s reaction to you. You are guilty. You told them yourself. Not in words, but in your heart. They believed you were telling them you were admitting guilt. That you were responsible.”

  I look at everyone. “But I was. I am. If not for me, none of this would have happened.”

  Frohlt interjects. “Every such thing is true in a parallel universe worldview, miss. But,” he clears his throat, “it would seem to me that without your presence, our Sector would be oblivious to an imminent invasion by the Blood Empire; we wouldn’t have Constellation, and we still wouldn’t be any closer to unlocking unlimited energy.”

  I’d forgotten about Papa’s research. I’d almost forgotten about the search for Papa. Curse whoever set me up!

  “So, did she do it, or not?” Rita says, impatience edging her voice.

  “No, ma’am,” Aktip says. “Madam Jackson speaks true. Though she carries a heavy guilt for these events, she is as innocent as we are.”

  “You say the Rykkan can prove it to me somehow?” Rita says.

  “It’s Aktip, Rita. Not, ‘the Rykkan.’ Both you and Frohlt have a lot to learn about prejudice. Being from the Minorities, you should know better.”

  Rita holds my gaze. “She’ll continue to be the Rykkan until I know you are speaking the truth.” She shifts on the bunk to face Aktip. A tick in her cheek betrays her nerves.

  “Do not be concerned, ma’am,” Aktip says. “Human emotions do not hurt for long.”

  Understatement of the century, Aktip. But I say nothing.

  Rita closes her eyes, as if requested, and lifts her head a little.

  Mitch, Frohlt, and I exchange glances. If we can’t convince Rita I’m telling the truth, how the heck will we explain ourselves to the powers that be?

  Aktip’s head swivels in small side-to-side motions. Rita’s face flickers through emotional responses and a red flush rises from her neck and into her cheeks. Her head sways as if lost in dreamland.

  A solitary tear rolls down her face.

  Rita’s eyes blink open and she holds up a hand. “Stop. Please stop.”

  Aktip looks to me. “I did not do—”

  Rita interrupts. “It’s fine, Aktip.” She squares me up. “I’m sorry I doubted you, redjack. You and I aren’t so different. Mouthy and proud. Defenders of justice and honor. ‘Cept you actually live it like it’s true.” Tears roll down her scarred cheek. “Lauren. I promised her one last job, then we’d have a life.”

 

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