Page 59 of The Garnet Daughter
He reaches out to take my hand but stops. “It changes nothing. We will find the temple without him.”
“99 trusted him as my guard.”
“I wanted to kill the bastard for leaving us so vulnerable. I couldn’t stop him.” He clenches his fist. “Now, please strap in. I will take you wherever we need to go next, but keeping you safe is my priority.”
His expression is so impatient as he waits for me to step aside so he can do his job, one he takes so seriously that I’m certain with all my heart he would never abandon it.
“Alright.” I sit behind him and watch him go into a flurry of button pushing and double-checking screens on his command station.
The expedited version of his normal takeoff protocols complete, he thrusts us into the air faster than I can fully strap in. The ship feels it too. It groans, slower to rise even though the lever he pulls is held upright with white knuckles. Finally, the engine catches up to his commands and the speed increases before he levels us out.
We zip across the desert, far away from the village, as if being pursued. Our jarring pace doesn’t allow for viewing the scenery, so I’m only able to catch a mix of colors as everything zooms by from my seat behind him.
When August is satisfied with the distance put between us and the village, he lands roughly on the sandy ground, sheltered by a small rocky area.
He glances at me over his shoulder. “Doing alright?”
“Yes. Just still so confused about Commander Wesley. He knows the prisoner they moved through the town, the one that started the fire?” It’s a relief to leave this place but odd to be down a crew member, especially when he seemed so focused on our mission until now.
“He thinks he knows the woman, said it was a matter of the three worlds, but I’m not so sure.”
“I did not expect him to leave his post.” I shake my head because I guess I don’t really know him at all beyond his obligations.
“Kind of sounds like somethingIwould do actually.” August looks back again and wiggles his eyebrows in a ridiculous way.
He’s right. He would leave his post to go after someone he cared about, and he did. He snuck onto this ship and made sure he was here to help and protect me. I was so mad at him for forcing his way in and not trusting me, but now I realize how grateful I am that he came.
“We can map the terrain,” August suggests, busy opening lockers and totes in the cargo hull with rambling haste. “I can program the drones to look for specifics, following rocky areas, hoping that will lead us to the formation.”
I’m standing in the blank spot where the hover bike Commander Wesley took stood, the straps that held it down in the cargo hull loose and free on either side.
“Hand it here,” I say.
He looks down at me. “It’s heavy.”
“Hand it over!”
“No, your arm. Just . . . just move,” he argues with a smile.
“My arm is fine now, thank you.” I hold the other side of the tote but barely help in dispersing the heavy load.
He opens it with a smirk when my side drops a little too roughly on the metal floor. “I’m glad your arm is fine,” he says a little more seriously.
I narrow my eyes at him, but he is unfazed, immediately reaching into the tote and removing the soft black padding on the top. Four spheres are tightly nestled into perfectly fitting positions like a snug nest.
“They look like eggs,” I point out.
“Perfect for finding a rock shaped like a bird beak.”
“You think this will work?” I run my finger across the top of one of them.
He nods and retrieves another tote, revealing four more spheres. “I do. If they map this area and find nothing, we will at least know the direction that is more densely bedrock, move the ship, and map the next terrain until we find it. We can watch the drones recording the area on the map in the cockpit.”
“That sounds . . . like a good idea.”
“Good.” He clears his throat, hiding the way his face lit up from my small praise. “I need to program the mother and they will all sync.”
He removes one of the drones from its resting spot in the storage tote and places it on the cargo hull floor. Then proceeds to lay out his tools and other mechanical objects I can’t even guess the names of. Hunched over it on his knees, he uses atwisting tool to open a small panel on the drone’s surface. He tinkers with the wires inside, reminding me of all the time he spent working on the beacon receiver to get us off Frith.
