Page 21 of Full Speed to a Crash Landing

Rian takes mercy on me, as if he can guess how my mind went spinning sideways. “I’m the brains,” he says.

“Oh.”

“You sound surprised.”

I smile beatifically up at him. That’s what he gets for having good arms. And for saying my problems were “user error.” And for probably being from Rigel-Earth, despite my best attempts to pretend otherwise. I mean, I definitely get smug when I’m right, but the difference is IknowI’m right, and so the fact that he’s smug when I don’t know if he’s actually right is infuriating.

He stops outside a door with a bioscanner lock, and he leans forward, letting his eye be scanned. He’s put his body in front of the door, but I notice he slides his finger over a print-scanner bar. Double security, all linked to him. The door zings open.

This isn’t a bunk room, but it’s got the homey feel of one. There’s tea with a little steam wafting off it on the table, next to several data pads, scanners, and one actual papernotebook that’s firmly closed. I long to touch it—real paper? I’ve not felt that thin, smooth stuff in...years, I think. Not since I left home.

Rian activates a holo projector in the center of the room. A scan of theRoundaboutilluminates, twirling slowly around.As I watch, it breaks apart into two pieces, small blocks representing the debris scattering around. The holo settles onto a projection of the crash site on the planet surface, the tail end near me, the nose pointing straight down in a rift.

I shift closer to Rian, watching the projection. High-tech scans. It all matches what I saw on the surface. They used drones, I suppose, just like they did onGlory.

But there’s some detail missing, especially in the smaller items, especially near the bottom of the rift.

“Heat kept your drones from scanning,” I comment, pointing near the bottom of the projection. It’s nothing but fuzzy light.

“There are lava flows,” Rian says. “Hot enough to disrupt imagery.”

“If it’s hot enough to mess up digital images, it’s too hot to get anything down there,” I say. “Hope the thing you want isn’t on one of those ledges.” I point to the projection of boxes that have settled along the outcroppings of rock above the lava river.

“It is,” Rian says grimly. “Yadav confirmed.”

“Thermal protection at least?” That would be the onlyway the item inside isn’t melted from the radiant heat of the lava. Rian confirms, detailing not just the box’s material but also its dimensions.

Not the contents, though.

That’s okay. I already know. Not that he knows I know, but...you know.

“Right, so, whatever’s inside the box is safe,” I start.

“For now,” Rian adds grimly.

And there’s the rub. See, before, when the only thing spurring them to action was my distress signal and their paranoia thinking I was laying a trap rather than dying, they thought the biggest threat to retrieving the box’s contents would be someone like me.

They forgot about the planet itself.

Constant earthquakes, volcanos rumbling, tectonic plates shifting about, rivers made of literal molten rock, violent geysers spraying out debris...not exactly a safe place to store something valuable.

This thermal- and impact-protected case is fine for now, resting on a ledge a few meters above a lava flow. But one violent shrug of the protoplanet’s shoulders, and that box is going on a river ride made of fire and not even its thermal protections will help.

I lean back, looking at the holographic projection. “You’re going to hire me,” I say confidently. I turn to him. “We should call the captain, negotiate terms.”

“The captain doesn’t make those decisions.”

How hot is he when he says that? Just all casual, like it’s not a big deal.

“You do?” I say, already knowing the answer from the way he stands there, feet rooted, body relaxed. Eyes sharp as splintered glass.

“She’s in charge of the ship. I’m in charge of the mission.”

Explains the room, then. This is a war room, and it’s just for him. A delicious shiver tickles my spine. I wonder if the rest of the crew have been in here. Probably. A little pang of disappointment at that.

But Rian knows what it means to show me this,I think.And he’s too smart not to have an angle.

I’ve got to be careful now. Which is a problem, because the idea that Rian’s playing me just as much as I’m playing him?

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