Page 126 of Sky Song
“Ren, you know it’s highly illegal,” Zaron chided him.
“Nowyou’re warning me about the dangers of crime? Where were you when I peddled stolen electronics and fake identities?”
Zaron put up a hand. “That’s different. That was trade fraud, punishable by fines and probation. Breaking and entering carries prison time. You can’t go to prison, Ren, not with your… pedigree. You won’t survive doing time with human trash.”
Ren looked exasperated. “With the same trash that frequents Atticus?”
“My customers aren’t trash,” Zaron bristled. “And don’t change topics. I’m surprised they didn’t call peacekeepers on you.”
They all stayed silent, looking everywhere but at Zaron.
“There might have been a couple of peacekeepers,” Ren finally allowed. “We ran away, and that’s the end of the story. I told you, nothing to worry about.”
The door slammed in the hall, and Paloma appeared in the doorframe, pale and tense. “What was that I saw on the news? Seventeen peacekeeper rider-jets shot down in a military-style combat. Overfortycasualties. Thousands of municipal funds in material damages. One of the jets fell down on an assisted living facility, destroyed the veranda and killed the community’s pet parrot. Ren, what happened?”
Zaron looked floored and somehow diminished. Behind Paloma, Rosamma nervously adjusted her shawl.
“Hell,” Ren muttered.
Unable to get a better answer out of him, Paloma rounded on Cricket. “Cricket?”
At a loss for words, Cricket pulled Yanet’s tablet from her lap and held it up. “We got the records?”
Incredulous, Paloma dropped into a chair. “You all are nay-reet-in-the-heed if you think this will blow over. Have you even checked the news?” She puckered her lips and spoke like a news anchor, “Eyewitness reports describe a humanoid alien disguised as a medical technician. There were cameras, stupid!”
“Humanoid?” Lyle expelled a pulse of outrage strong enough to create static in the room.
Paloma glared at him before turning back to Cricket. Her face fell. “They have your picture, Cricket, and your address - they’re asking citizens to come forward with anonymous tips. Same for you, Schirrenth Dyle.”
Silence descended.
“I don’t have a home address,” Ren muttered at random. “This apartment’s in Zaron’s name.”
“Stop being flippant!” Zaron slammed his hand on the table, making Rosamma gasp, and pointed at Lyle. “It’s all your fault!”
“It is?”
“You endangered everybody. You shot at law enforcement.Shotat them! Right over the city where people live.”
“They shot at us first,” Lyle parried calmly. “Right over the city where people live. I simply chose not to let your precious Ren’s charred body fall out of the sky on your elderly and their pets.”
“Charred… You think it’s funny? You’re a… pirate.”
“The rolls are ready,” Rosamma slid a basket of warm golden rolls onto the table.
Cricket took one and bit into it. The heavenly taste registered as if from a distance as the reality of the consequences sank in. She was a wanted person. The peacekeepers were searching for her. Once apprehended, she’d go to prison. She’d never see mama, ever again.
She chewed and swallowed, forcing the tears to go down with the bread.
Lyle stretched next to her. “And was there anything else on the news?” he asked Paloma. “Like, for example, a missing woman Kim being miraculously found?”
Paloma blinked. “What missing woman?”
“And what about a female doctor who brought a rocket launcher with her and tried to kill everyone under the lab, is she still alive?”
“Lyle, what are you talking about?”
“Nothing? Strange. What about a shootout at the hospital?”
