Page 73 of Nova Academy

I barely looked at the food. I didn’t want to eat any for fear he had spiked it with some sort of substance. His connection to The Program would have afforded him access to certain drugs that were not mainstream such as Veritium. It blocked a chemical in an individual’s brain that lowered their inhibitions, and it was largely used to ensure whoever was affected spoke only the truth.

I didn’t want to think about the repercussions if such as substance – and others – found its way into the wrong hands. Even though I supposed it already had.

When the silence between us continued, I attempted to break the ice. ‘It looks delicious.’

I didn’t know if it did or not, but I needed to stay on his good side.

‘Give it a taste first, then you can praise my cooking skills all you like,’ he joked, but there was an undercurrent that had my spine straightening. It was a challenge, but for what? Had he actually drugged the food?

If he were trying to drug me it wouldn’t do any good. The nanites coursing through my body would eat through it in mere ticks, and I would never feel a thing. It would be like a giant neon sign pointing directly at me, flashing with the wordsHERE IS THE ESCAPED SUBJECT.

But I didn’t see any way out of it. He was staring at me, waiting for me to take that first bite. So I did.

I chewed slowly, pretending to savour the flavours when in reality I was trying to discern any tastes that should not have been there. It was difficult when I had never eaten this specific food before. I didn’t know what it was beyond meat wrapped in some sort of vegetable casing, and itwasdelicious. The flavours exploded over my tongue. Sharp and spicy, earthy and herby, with a little sweetness to it to counteract the bitterness from the vegetable which was crispy at first bite and then soft like potatoesunderneath. And the meat was cooked toperfection, practically melting in my mouth. I didn’t know what animal it came from, but I didn’t care. I wanted more of it.

I took another bite.

‘This isfantastic,’ I complimented around a mouthful.

His responding smile, for the first time, was genuine. It reached his eyes and made them crinkle at the corners, and he seemed truly pleased with my reaction. He must have really made him happy to see people enjoying his food.

The meals in the mess hall were worth it as well, but since they were made on a larger scale to provide for an entire ship’s worth of people it didn’t quite reach the same level of as whatever I was currently eating. This was prepared with care.

He was buttering me up.

‘So how long have you and Adara known one another?’ he asked, taking a bite from his own plate.

I didn’t understand his fixation on Adara but saw no need to hide this information from him. ‘We met on my first day on the ship. My team was assigned to her command for the first week.’

‘Ah. And you’re one of her chosen ones,’ he stated, a bitterness to his tone I also failed to understand.

‘Chosen ones?’ I asked.

He gave me a self-deprecating smile, his lips thinning into a straight line. ‘Adara Brin is infamous for her elitist behaviours. She picks very few people to join her inner circle, and most people don’t make the cut.’

That didn’t add up to the Adara I knew, but I gathered he was just put out by her blatant dislike and distrust of him. She wasn’t wrong, either, or the way she saw right through him was probably a hard pill for him to swallow.

‘And she didn’t choose you?’ I phrased it as a question, even though I already knew the answer.

‘No. Apparently I didn’t meet her impossibly high standards,’ hesnarked.

I wanted to stand up for Adara, but that was not the right move here. Instead, I took a shot in the dark, throwing her, the captainandmyself into the line of fire. ‘I think she just likes to take in strays. People that make her feel important because she gets tohelp.’

He barked out a single staccato laugh. ‘Yes, that’s exactly it. She just wants to build herself up by helping those she views asless fortunate. So why did she choose you?’

He was trying to insinuate that her interest in me was a mistake, like I was worthy of so much more than being underneath Adara Brin’s thumb. If I hadn’t already made my own conclusions about her then I might have believed him.

I played along, frowning as if the concept had struck a chord. ‘I don’t need anyone’s pity,’ I told him, using the negative emotions this man was triggering within me and aiming them at Addy.

‘You’re right, Arthur. You don’t need anyone’s pity. You’re much more valuable than these people see, and that’s what stood out to me. You’ve been saddled with a pathetic team filled with wannabe heroes, and even arapist,’ he spat the word out as if he hated it, but there was an odd gleam in his eyes that verged on amusement. The bad vibes he gave off grew the more I spent time with him. The more he spoke, the clearer it was that he was truly evil, just like the scientists in The Program.

It was no mystery why they picked him for recruitment, but that begged the question of what other roles he claimed within their ranks.

How high up their ladder of authority did this man preside?

‘You think I’m a good fit for this position, but what exactly is it?’ I asked, getting down to business. I didn’t want to talk about Adara anymore. I felt dirty sullying her like that.

He studied me silently, and I knew then that even though he had approached me and set up this meeting and was trying to kiss myfeet in the process, that I was still going to have to sell myself.

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