Page 42 of The First Spark
Muffled thuds and the synthesized shrieks of animals rang out as the brewchine hissed. A stream of dark brown kaf poured into a chipped red mug, and steam wafted from the cup, carrying the faintest hint of cinnamon. Kalie took a sip and choked on the bitter brew.
It was straight black kaf. No flavoring.
Her eyes stung.
She only knew one other person crazy enough to buy kaf without flavoring, and the similarities struck her in painful clarity. Mira’s swaggering confidence, her authoritative character… She was so much like Ariah that it stung.
Kalie forced the memories down and practiced a smile until she could hold it. Only then did she cross the cabin and sink into a metal chair someone had dragged over from the table.
All three avatars still stood, but Mira’s genapi cub was draining the health of Wells’s horned Dalian pelaros. Cursing, Wells jabbed at his controller. Cybel’s monstrous ranorak sliced at their avatars with its claws, and the aibot cackled as the ranorak ripped off the pelaros’s horn. The health meter above Wells’s pelaros flashed red. With a pop, the avatar vanished.
Wells swore, and Kalie took a sip of her kaf to hide her smirk.
Cybel’s ranorak retreated from its attack and prowled around Mira’s bleeding cub, but as it lunged for her beast again, she flicked an orange switch on the aibot’s chest plate. The light in Cybel’s opticsfizzled out. Mira sidestepped the ranorak’s attack and pummeled the motionless avatar until its life force ran out.
“Is that how the game is played?” Kalie asked, arching an eyebrow at the deactivated aibot.
Wells rolled his eyes. “No. She cheated, again.”
Whistling, Mira flipped a credit chip in the air. “Where I come from, there’s no such thing as cheating.”
“Where do you come from?”
Wells leaned forward, studying Mira. He, too, seemed to want an answer.
She spread an arm around the cabin as if to say,here.
“I mean originally,” Kalie said.
“Honestly?” Mira grinned, but her eyes had lost their gleam. “I have no idea.”
It had to be a lie. Who didn’thave at least an inkling about where they came from? Yet Mira’s loose posture and unwavering eye contact radiated conviction and honesty.
Something beeped in the cockpit, and Mira leapt to her feet. “That’s my cue to dock. Power Cy back on, will you?”
“Where are we docking?” Kalie called, but as she’d expected, Mira didn’t answer.
A shiver trickled down her spine, but despite her considerable arsenal, Mira didn’t seem like a threat. Wells didn’t either. He needed her alive to get his money.
She could trust him.
She couldprobablytrust him.
Maybe.
“I don’t suppose you know where we are?”
Wells shrugged. As he flicked the switch to power Cybel on, a furrow appeared between his brows.
“What is it?”
“Back on Krii’s flagship, when Mira brought me in. You told them I was trying to stop you in the tunnels. Why?”
Kalie studied him for any sign that he intended to mock her, but he wasn’t smirking now, and the arrogance that usually laced his voice was gone.
“I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me,” she mumbled.
He ducked his head. “Thanks.”
