21

The Wallach and Xad combined fleet was a flurry of activity after we gave them the news of the Alon ship and what we had found within. Our reconnaissance of the other slip tunnel had been less fruitful, only demonstrating that there had been a mine field around the tunnel opening and that several ships had met their fate there.

I walked the main concourse of the Bright Lance with my mother. She was growing stronger every day and had been busy while I was off playing Reaper. Many of the people we encountered waved and greeted her by name as we passed.

“How is Hannah adapting?” I asked.

“She spends all of her time in the gymnasium or the library. The Elise girl tried to talk to her, but they are very different people. Perhaps it’s the age difference or just how they were raised,” my mother said.

Hannah was ten years younger than me, and I was embarrassed I didn’t remember her birthday with any degree of precision. To me, she’d always been the kid, just like Elise and Bug and lots of other people would always be kids.

My mother seemed to know what I was thinking just by looking at me. She smiled and took my arm. “You’re not that old, Halek. Don’t act like it.”

“I feel pretty old,” I admitted.

“It’s a state of mind,” she said, her expression serious when I expected a smile to soften the message. “Don’t let the challenges in the galaxy break you down.”

“I won’t.” Walking with my mother felt natural. I’d worried that we would have become too estranged.

“I think it’s time to head back. I enjoy these walks, but I’m still building my endurance. The cryo-pods have a rejuvenating effect, or so I tell myself, but that doesn’t mean sleeping four months at a time did my cardiovascular system much good,” she said.

We headed back, frequently stopping to talk to crew members that had all kinds of things to share with my mother. She really had been socializing a lot. That wasn’t something I remembered about her, but now that I thought about it, it made sense. My childhood had been dangerous and that had distorted what I remembered of it.

“Go check on your sister, if you can find her,” my mother said as we parted.

“Right away, mother,” I said, which made her smile.

“I think I like you better as an adult.”

“Ouch!” I held my right hand over my heart, which amused her even more. She hugged me, but when she pulled back, I knew something was wrong.

* * *

We stared at each other until another passersby reached the next intersection and turned into a new hallway.

“Have you figured out why your sister and I were put into the pods?” she asked.

“Nebs was using you as hostages,” I said.

“Think about it, Halek. There’s more to it than that and you know it,” she said.

“Ayers,” I said through clenched teeth. “I have a source who puts most of the blame for what happened on him.”

“Ayers had more influence over the vice admiral than most people suspected, but don’t direct all of your hatred at him. Nebs truly was a monster,” she said.

“We got rid of one, I don’t see why we can’t handle the other one,” I said, thinking back on my discussion with Henshaw, Coronas, and Rejon.”

“I know you’ve already considered this, but you need to jettison Ayers and all of his work into the nearest star as soon as you can make it happen,” she said. There wasn’t anger or resentment in her voice. She was as cold as ice and it frightened me.

“That’s going to be a problem,” I told her.

“Tell me the rest,” she said.

“Henshaw managed to convince them to put him in control of Ayers and all of his projects,” I said. “He used the same argument you are using, but while he claimed he wanted them gone, he really only wanted to take over the project and have power over his rival.”

“James Henshaw? The engineer?” she asked.

“You know him?”

She nodded. “He was one of Neb’s less important technicians, but to hear him talk about all of his advanced education, you would’ve thought he was the galaxy’s gift to science.”

“He’s come a long way since then. Both of his eyes are cybernetic now, and he has a yacht that has a slip tunnel drive,” I said.

“That is a problem,” she said. “I never had much influence on the man, probably because I found him boring and arrogant—while he resented me for not fawning over his so-called brilliance. You have to convince President Coronas and Rejon of Xad to give me control over Ayers and his projects.”

“So you can destroy them?” I didn’t like where this was going. My mother wanted the exact same thing Henshaw wanted.

She hesitated slightly. “Yes.”

“That’s going to be a problem, because despite your low estimation of the man, he outmaneuvered me.”

“Explain,” she demanded.

“It’s a long story, but it involves poker, cigars, and whiskey,” I said, feeling like a kid despite towering over her.

“Never gamble with Henshaw. He might not be as smart as he thinks he is but his skill as a con artist can’t be matched,” she said.

“I figured that out late.” My mind wouldn’t stop working on the problem. Plans and counter plans grew in my imagination and disappeared before they were fully formed.

Before I realized it, my mother was striding down the hallway with renewed purpose.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“There’s no time to waste. If Henshaw has taken control with subtlety and tricks, we have to act directly. Can you fight your way past the guards at the hybrid vault?”

I didn’t move, knowing that if I pursued her, I would have to take her by the arm to stop her and I didn’t want to do that. “No, I can’t. Even if I wanted to. The last time I was there, there were a pair of the Wallach Presidential guards in exoskeleton armor.”

She whirled around to face me, fury in her eyes. “You could take them. You’re a Reaper.”

“Even if I could, think of the repercussions,” I said.

Emotions played on her face—anger, frustration, and an almost sad realization that much had changed between us. “I should be glad that the impulsive young man I remembered has learned to think. But you’re showing your weakness. Sometimes we have to do things that are unpleasant.”

I approached, anger building to a level I’d forgotten years ago. “Don’t talk to me about doing unpleasant things. I am a Reaper. I’m tired of selling my soul for what people tell me is right.”

At that, my mother softened and seemed to grow weaker by the second. I wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed for what she had said or afraid of what would happen if I didn’t take action against the alien hybrids immediately.

“I’ve seen them in action, Halek,” she said. “I’ll put you up against the Presidential Guards, or the Archangels, or a monster like the one they keep showing you fighting on Xad, but the abominations Ayers created will tear your face off.”

“I’ve been working on my face tearing defense for weeks,” I joked.

She laughed until she was almost crying and hugged me for the second time since we’d awakened her. “I’m sorry, Halek. Fear will push anyone to bad decisions and actions they’re ashamed of. I need to sleep. Ridiculous given how much time I’ve spent unconscious in the last year.”

“Get some rest. I actually have a secret weapon I can use to deal with Ayers and Henshaw.”

She pulled back and looked up at me. “Truly? What kind of secret weapon?”

“I call him Bug.”

* * *

Striding away from my mother’s cabin, I asked X-37 to contact the street kid from Dreadmax who had been doing electronic surveillance his entire life.

“I have him on the line. Go for Bug,” X-37 said.

“How’s it going, Bug?” I asked.

“Uh, good, Reaper. Why are you, uh, asking? Nothing going on here. Just checking the cameras, not eating extra rations of cheese crackers,” he answered.

“You sound like you’re crunching on something,” I said. “I know how you like cheese crackers.”

“They’re just so good and cheesy.”

“I get it, but there are rations for a reason. We have food stores now, but we don’t know how long it will be before we get a proper resupply,” I said.

“Uh, huh.” Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

“I could probably turn a blind eye for someone doing extra duty, someone who could solve a problem for me,” I said. “I mean between X-37 and Mavis, I have all the evidence I need to lodge a complaint. And I know people.”

“That’s not fair. You can just go straight to Captain Younger with whatever you want. She’ll put me on some crappy mining ship.”

“Not if she doesn’t know,” I said. “I really need you to watch Henshaw.”

“I thought you wanted me to watch Ayers, which, by the way, is really boring since he’s locked down most of the time,” Bug said.

“Most of the time?”

“He escapes, but your sword saint friend always follows him without being seen. It’s pretty entertaining for about the first fifteen minutes, then I get hungry,” Bug said, chomping on some more crackers.

“He escaped!”

“Never for very long,” Bug replied defensively. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

“You have to tell me things like that. Why didn’t Mavis alert X-37?” I demanded, amazed this could have gone so far without anyone knowing.

“You were already through the slip tunnel finding dead Aliens. I don’t know why Mavis does things. She’s a ship AI,” Bug said.

“I’m looking into it now,” X-37 said.

“I’m sorry, Mister Reaper. He never went far and was always caught by the guards,” Bug said, rustling a bag noisily. “I thought you knew.”

“I need you to keep track of them both—and notify me immediately if Ayers is even acting like he might try an escape,” I ordered.

“Sure, Reaper. I can do that. Anything else in particular you want me to look for?”

“Any time Ayers and Henshaw discuss anything about the alien hybrids, I want to be notified immediately.”

“That’s not so easy,” Bug said. “There aren’t any cameras I can access on that level.”

“But you can do it, right?” If I didn’t have a way to outsource my spying, I was going to be too busy to do much else.

“Oh, yeah, for sure. I just have to figure out which Archangel, or Presidential Guard, or ship guard has the duty, then I can tap into their helmet comms. Took me a while to figure out how to use them while they’re turned off. But it can be done,” Bug said, crumpling up a wrapper and throwing it away by the sound of it.

“You can spy on Archangels?” I asked.

“This should be impossible,” X-37 said. “He would have to have access to their communal limited artificial intelligence.”

“I picked up one of the helmets from the repair room. Checked it out and everything. Told Tom it was a school project. He thinks I need to get a real education and keeps sending me books and self-study courses,” Bug said.

“I guess no good deed goes unpunished.” I started planning my next move but was interrupted by a message from Elise reminding me we were due for a micro-fighter patrol. “I want you on Henshaw and Ayers like they owe me money.”

“Do they?”

“No.”

“Then—”

“Just tell me whenever Henshaw visits Ayers and if they talk about the hybrids. And tell me if Henshaw goes anywhere near the alien hybrid vault or does anything that involves them,” I said.

“Okay.” Bug’s voice was casual, almost bored. “Can you get me some ration vouchers?”

“Sure.”

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