Page 16 of Escape from Nova Nine
Taking a chance that Lhap Cho wasn’t shielding tightly, Zade sent a slender thread of hisbekorentalent. “Any news from Admin?”
Lhap Cho shook his head. “They’re still checking the damage. And looking for signals again.”
Zade assumed an earnest, innocent look. “Signals?” He pushed again with his talent.
Lhap Cho rolled his eyes. “Like the static feedback we just heard. Security has had a bug up their butt for weeks about phantom outside comms signals. They’ve been sending bots rigged with scanners to all the old work areas looking for it, then making us personally check out any anomalies.” His tone said he didn’t think much of the task.
Zade gave him a crooked smile. “In your abundant free time, of course.”
“Of course.” Lhap Cho chuckled. “Let me know if you come across any exploration comms beacons when you’re digging chofi.”
Unexpectedly, he felt a sharp taste of interest from Julke, quickly contained. He coughed to disguise his surprise.
After Lhap Cho stepped away toward the next group, Sutrio sat up and stretched. “I wouldn’t put it past them to blame the griffins.”
Julke stifled a laugh. “Right. Couldn’t possibly be that the mine’s tech was old when the CGC toppled the Central League two hundred years ago, or their maps are full of holes.”
Nodding, Sutrio added, “Or that because the staff drove griffins out of their areas, the rats and insects have free rein. Probably chewed through something vital, and now the paranoid top asshole has his whole operation chasing stellar reflection echoes.” She took a quick sip of water from her suit’s tube. They’d be needing refills soon. Perspiration and humidity from their breath were leaking into the dry refinery air instead of recycled by their suits.
Zade caught Sutrio’s eye. “Do the griffins talk to each other?”
“Sure,” she said. “They’re socially cooperative, like birds. I think some of them are telepathic among themselves, and maybe with humans. If so, they’re probably more valuable than the fucking rocks.”
Julke nodded. “I believe it.” She tilted her head. “Long-timer tales said the prisoners used to have them carry messages. Of course, the guards’ literal-minded solution was to take away anything for prisoners to write with or on.”
“Hmph,” said Zade. “Mix chofi dust with saliva or sweat and you could write on any surface. Look at the indelible spots in the decontamination zone.” He smiled. “It'd make a great colorant for printing parts, except for its unfortunate tendency to explode.”
Lantham shook his head. “It’s more stable than organic substrates, especially once it’s shaped. Makes the strongest incalloy, but it’s rare and expensive.” He patted the floor. “It’s so plentiful here, they use it to make gravity plates. I bet we’re sitting on enough chofirium-based incalloy to armor a fleet of military ships. Good engineering, though. If a blowout happens here, the energy will radiate out into space, not downward where the valuables are.”
Zade thought about it for a moment. “Makes sense. They probably did the same for the ship hangars and the landing field.” Which reminded him of a question he’d been saving for a relatively private moment like this. “Where in the galaxy are we, anyway?”
Sutrio looked down. Lantham rolled over and turned his back to Zade. Belatedly, his talent tasted the acid of their ire.
“Shut it.” Julke’s mouth tightened. “Unless you want to be worse than dead, don’t eventhinkabout that. The warden has telepaths. I’m not telling you again. He’d kill everyone on this asteroid to keep the location secret.”
Her hissed words stung. “What’s worse than dead?”
“Leashed with a lethal analog collar, like the warden’s personal protectors.” She pointed a trigger finger at her temple. “Brain-wiped and sealed in a red-armored mech suit so you can become a warden’s guardian. Or maybe they’ll give us to the pharma researchers for vivisection.”
He hadn’t expected their reaction. “Sorry.”
“You’re not.” He felt Julke’s acidic anger turn to milky resignation as she sighed and rested her chin on her forearm. “We’re screwed.”
Sutrio grunted. “The warden eats glitterball noobs for breakfast. We’ll just be collateral damage for whatever they do to you.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “If you won’t learn from the smartest prisoner in the mine” — she tilted her chin toward Julke — “learn from the griffins.” She stood to stretch, then lay down on the floor even farther from him than before.
Conflict spiked his stress level to the stratosphere, but it was his own farking fault. He made himself sit and think instead of moving to another group that wasn’t mad at him.
Julke was right. He wasn’t sorry he’d asked the question, but he’d forgotten to be discreet. Considering that’s what betrayed him to his former crew, he’d have thought he’d learned that lesson.
Sutrio was right, too. They didn’t know he was telepath immune, but if he got caught, the warden wouldn’t believe he’d acted alone. Griffins didn’t stomp in and steal in broad daylight they waited and snuck in when no one was looking. And they cooperated with each other and with humans.
He had to admit he tanked at that. All he’d wanted was acceptance and a challenge or two, but he’d made increasingly dubious choices in outfits to work for. It made him good at escaping trouble, but he always ended up alone, starting over. He’d hoped his new course would have changed that. Then Nova Nine happened.
Pushing past his hurt, he mirrored Julke’s position, which put his head closer to hers. “I really am sorry.” He kept his voice as low as he could, and relaxed his containment so she could feel his sincerity. “I want all of us free, not just me.”
She tilted her head to look at him but said nothing.
“My former captain is an obsessed, vengeful asshole, but she’s galaxy class at tracking hidden treasure and people she wants to kill. Nova Nine now has both.” He dragged a finger through the dust on the floor, sketching the official symbol for the Central Galactic Concordance’s galactic communication system. “If she received a traceable comm, she could bring a fleet.”
