Page 136 of Sky Song
“Twisted my ankle. Nothing serious.”
She digested that and decided he wasn’t lying.
“You were gone so long. All day.”
“Yes, and most of that time I spent at the spaceship depot, watching and plotting our escape plan. This is one of my talents, you know. Working out heists that succeed.”
“Did you find us a ship?”
He sat down on the bed at her feet. “I already had a ship in mind. I had it picked out the first time I went to the depot, when I was supposed to leave after the symposium. Habit, I guess. It was docked for repairs, and they just finished. Right on time.” He grinned, all boyish charm and mischief.
Cricket sat up. “It can’t be that easy, taking off from the spaceship depot with all the security and warning systems.”
She felt more than saw him shrug. “Busting out into space from the depot won’t be too hard. Getting everybody on board will require careful maneuvering. They do guard that place well.” He stood up and started pacing as if he couldn't hold still. “Ren and Rosamma have an agreement with a group of females who want to go with us.”
Those were the people Paloma had mentioned. Rosamma was one of them, a motley crew, a mix of humans and aliens, with different stories and a common reason for wanting to leave this paradise of a planet: their life on Meeus was untenable.
“This type of passenger can make the escape mission tricky,” Lyle continued.
“Tricky as in troublesome?”
“As in helpless, easily scared, and very unpredictable.”
She smiled. “I’m sorry, I guess. On behalf of us, women.”
He slowed down his pacing. “You misunderstand, my hearts. I like women, but there are times when I can’t afford being distracted by their needs. There are a couple of children with them, which makes it doubly dangerous.” He must bedrawing parallels with his own mother and the disastrous end of her attempt at escaping.
But Meeus wasn’t some pirate den, and she wanted to think that they wouldn’t get killed if caught, but Paloma’s recent experience with attempting to steal a freighter resonated loudly. Meeus liked its citizens fully committed… or dead.
“Did Paloma give you the files?” she asked casually.
He nodded.
She took a deep breath. “When did you know about Subject Zeta?”
His pacing slowed down until he finally stopped. She knew he was looking at her. “You’re being too specific. Delta, Zeta - I had no way to know there was a code name of any sort.”
“But you suspected, right? What was your first cue?”
“You’re making it into a dark mystery. It wasn’t, if you knew to look.”
“And you knew to look,” Cricket laughed bitterly. “That’s why you came to Meeus, right? To find the subjects.”
He declined to engage. “I started suspecting when you told me about Dr. Ragberg’s special treatments.”
“You knew then? You’ve known all this time?” It was devastating, to hear him admit that he’d known almost from the start when she continued ignorant until the last minute.
“There were other signs,” he said. “You run faster than an average human female. You’re very strong - too strong. And you have a sharpness to your moves when spooked that is eerily familiar. I grew up among females who moved like that.”
“Rix females,” Cricket affirmed in a low voice.
“Yes, Rix females.”
“Do I smell like a Rix woman now?”
“No.” He chuckled and came back to sit on the bed with her. “You smell like you. Lovely and arousing, and human.”
Still, her heart skipped a beat. “Am I part Rix now?”
