Page 25 of Full Speed to a Crash Landing

You ever work for the Jarra?It takes him longer to finger-spell that name, each letter carefully formed by his gloved hands.

My answer is swift and clear.No. Never.I make a sharp gesture with my hand, a slash through the dead air, to emphasize my words.

I may chase coins, but even I have standards. I’ve crossed paths with the Jarra before, enough to know that if I ever shake my hands with someone from that organization, my palms will come away bloody. They’re freedom fighters, emphasis on thefighterpart. They want Earth separated from all the colonial planets, from tourism to intergalactic governmental aid, and they don’t care who they hurt in the process. I don’t have the bank account to give me morals, but I’ve never been low enough to cross that line.

Magnusson still doesn’t trust me. That much is clear. But at least my rebuttal of the Jarra has met with his approval.

Is that what this is?I ask, gesturing toward the broken bridge, but I mean more than just the crashed ship; I mean the missing items they’ve all crossed the galaxy to get.Something the Jarra want?

He hesitates before answering. He still doesn’t trust me. In the end, he just shrugs. I’m not sure if that means he doesn’t know if the Jarra did this, or if he doesn’t know if he can trust me enough to tell me.

“This is where the box was supposed to be,” Magnusson says over the comms, pointing to a security wall that’s been blown apart by the impact. I guess my silent interrogation is over, and now it’s time to get to work. He turns, indicating the broken, twisted frame that once held the viewport. “That’s where it is.”

I step closer, moving carefully. From here, I get a view of just how wide the rift is. How deep.

And how precariously small and close to the edge the box is.

The port view window smashed on impact, contents spewing through the opening. When theRoundaboutvomited up whatever wasn’t strapped down in the bridge, a good chunk of it probably fell straight down into the lava. Smaller items are scattered along the broken edges of the rift.

The box is made of white, reflective material, and from here I can see the silvery reinforcements around the edge.

“Yousurewhatever’s inside isn’t melted or broken?” I ask. No point risking my life for something that’s already gone.

“There’s some pretty heavy padding and insulation.” Rian answers from the comm unit, not Magnusson. “Theactual object inside is no bigger than your palm. I’ve not been able to get a proper scan in, but the chances are legitimately good.”

“For now,” Saraswati says. “Eyes up. Incoming level three.”

Magnusson and I brace against whatever we can reach that’s bolted to the floor of the bridge. I grab the nav console; he hangs on to the captain’s seat, legs spread wide. This was a slightly more violent quake, and the fact that I’m deeply aware of being on a ship hanging halfway over a high rift that ends in lava makes it worse, but thankfully, it ends quickly.

The whole time, Magnusson’s eyes are on the box.

“Still think you can get it?” Magnusson asks. He’s not being snide; he sounds truly curious.

I nod silently.

He moves closer, his voice dropping. “Listen, you don’t have to prove anything. You’re a scavenger, and you’ve got experience, but there’s no point risking your life for something just to prove a point.”

We’re on a public comm channel, and even if Rian’s in the ship and Saraswati’s outside, they can still hear him. Can still hear my reply. Kind of wish he’d signed all that rather than voiced it.

“That’s not what this is,” I say.

“But—”

I turn back to look at the box. This is going to be complicated; no point pretending otherwise. I can’t even lie to myself on this one.

“How?” Magnusson says in a whisper, like he barely dares to ask the question.

“Here’s how,” I say. “One goal. Full speed until you get it. It’s the only way.”

10

Before Magnusson and I leave the broken remains of the bridge, Rian’s voice fills the comm unit. “Yadav, Magnusson, carry on with your mission. And if you find the recorder box, grab that, too.”

The recorder box transcribes all the data of a flight mission, a digital record of everything that happens. It could tell them why the ship crashed in the first place. If they find it, and if it’s not too damaged. The box is supposed to be on the bridge, near the captain’s console, but it’s not there now, so it may already be burned up by now.Anythingcould have happened to it.

“I’m switching Lamarr to a private channel so your chatter doesn’t distract her,” Rian continues.

“Before you go private,” Magnusson starts, but I can’t hear him because Saraswati speaks at the same time, their voices clattering together.

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