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“Does he now?” Atlas flips through the book.
33
EROS
I watch Atlas tumble over internal ideas about my sister. This keeps expanding.
“I will contact them.” He nods, but he doesn’t move, and we all stare. “Now?”
“That’s perfect.” Sunshine smiles at Atlas. I don’t want her to, but he clamps his eyes shut and nods.
“Do you have a terminal? I don’t have my block. I’ve been using an older?—”
“Is this yours?” Forrest pulls a block out of the bag.
Atlas frowns. “Yes.” His eyes flick up and down over the Stele governor. He doesn’t ask him if it was scanned. The Stele governor didn’t do it, but I did. It was the first one we did, so I could show them how to use the equipment. I didn’t think we would find anything on it, and we didn’t. He might not be much of a king, but he’s also not hiding anything.
His fingers fly over his block. “There. I’ve sent a message to the Kraken king that I would like to talk to him. I haven’t dispatched the sub yet anyway. We’ve been busy with other things.”
“Thank you,” Michio says, walking beside the curtained window. “And now, about bringing in the Braesen governor...”
“Yes, well, that’s not something we can do quickly, is it? Nothing in government is the same as battle. It’s slow and plodding.”
Holter stands. “Yet it is still a battle and must be fought and planned out, line by line, with speed.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Atlas gestures to Michio and Forrest. “I’ll remove the two of you from the missing list. It’s up to you to say where you were.” He moves to the door when it opens. “And Nico is where?”
I tighten my core. We have to tell Atlas. One, it is illegal to lie to the king. Not that I haven’t done it before. But he’s going to help Marina. And two, if we are going to bring down the Braesen, he’s going to need all the information. “Nico’s gone to Braesen to talk to someone, a former crewmate.”
“He went to Braesen during the lockdown. Using one of these?” He pulls the missing disc from his pocket. I’m off my game. I hadn’t noticed he had taken it.
“Yes,” I answer.
“And who is this crewmate?”
“Teneric Course,” Holter answers. “We talked about Teneric the other night, when you were asleep,” he tells Annabelle.
“The governor’s brother or cousin? I don’t know his family very well,” Atlas says.
“Brother, the oldest one,” says Holter. “Lifetime military male. He served with us on board the Centauri. Nico presented him with his thirty-year pin before he left the service.”
Atlas focuses on Holter. “A real old timer, then.”
“He was a good soldier. He had a fluke injury retire him from service in the Viking Battle.” Holter stares at the king.
“Not even calling it by name anymore, Hero of Hestertåtten?”
Holter’s eyes widen. If I’ve learned anything about my pod mate in the short time we’ve been together, it’s that if he never heard that title again in his lifetime, it would be too soon. “He was a good warrior. A noble male of few words.”
“So nothing like his brother, then.”
“Correct,” Holter grunts.
“All right then. I’ll wait. I’ve got something I can do now that I have my block back.” His eyes drop to the bag on the floor next to Forrest. “And I’ll be taking that, thank you very much.” He takes the bag and carefully empties it onto the table. “Damn, how many are in here?”
“Forty-five. There were fifty-three before we removed ours and yours.”
I cock my head. “Have you done the calculations on how many were in the chamber that day?”
