Ari grabbed a fistful of her hair and tugged.
“Okay, okay. Food first, then philosophy.” She carried her to the common area, where the replicator hummed to life at her approach. “Let’s see what we can make for breakfast.”
The common area of theVagabondwas her favorite space on the ship, eclectic and cluttered and thoroughly charming. She settled Ari into the cushioned seat Doren had rigged up for her—another makeshift solution that worked surprisingly well—and programmed the replicator for Ari’s formula and her own breakfast. The machine hummed, lights flickering as it assembled molecules into food.
While she waited, she picked up one of her data pads. Galactic Standard lessons, courtesy of the ship’s educational database. She’d started studying on their first day in hyperspace, determined to understand the world she now inhabited.
The written language was nothing like English. It used symbols instead of letters, and meaning was conveyed through arrangement and context rather than phonetics. But she was making progress—slowly, painstakingly, the way she’d learned to read as a child. Sound out the symbols, figure out the pattern, and commit it to memory.
The replicator chimed, and she retrieved their food—a bottle for Ari, toast and something that looked like eggs for herself. She’d learned not to ask exactly what the replicator used as base material. Some questions were better left unasked.
“Alright, little miss.” She lifted Ari and settled into the cushioned bench, positioning the baby for feeding. “Let’s see how hungry you are.”
Very hungry, as it turned out. Ari attacked the bottle with enthusiasm, her silver cheeks working as she sucked down the formula. Her dark eyes never left Emma’s face, watching with that uncanny intelligence that was both endearing and slightly unnerving.
“You’re going to be brilliant, you know that?” she murmured. “I can tell. All those little wheels turning in your head.”
Ari released the bottle long enough to chirp, then went back to eating.
“I’ll take that as agreement.”
She was halfway through her own breakfast when Doren’s voice came over the ship’s intercom.
“Emma? Can you come to the cockpit when you’re finished?”
His tone was casual enough, but something underneath it made her pulse quicken.
“We’ll be right there.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Doren was in the pilot’s seat when Emma carried Ari into the cockpit, his eyes on the swirling lights of hyperspace visible through the viewport. He glanced up as she entered, his expression thoughtful.
“Everything okay?”
“Fine. Just running the final checks before we drop out.” He nodded towards the co-pilot’s seat. “Sit. We’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”
She settled into the seat, Ari secure in her arms. “You seem... tense.”
“Do I?” His tail flicked. “I’m just... thinking.”
“About?”
“This location. Something about it doesn’t feel right.” He pulled up a display, showing a star system she didn’t recognize. “Veth-12 is an industrial world, like I said. Mining, refineries, that sort of thing. A busy place, with lots of traffic. But the coordinates Faith identified don’t point to the planet itself.”
He zoomed in, highlighting a point in the outer reaches of the system. “They point here, to an asteroid in the debris field at the system’s edge.”
She studied the display, trying to make sense of the symbols and numbers. “Is that unusual?”
“It could mean anything. Maybe the Key was moved there for protection. Maybe there’s something hidden that we don’t know about.” His jaw tightened. “Or maybe it’s a trap.”
“You think the Grorn found this location?”
“I think we can’t rule it out.” He turned to face her, his blue eyes serious. “I want you to stay on the ship when we arrive. Keep Ari safe. If anything goes wrong, theVagabondis programmed with emergency coordinates—a bolt-hole I’ve used before. She’ll take you somewhere safe.”
“And leave you behind?” Emma’s voice came out sharper than she intended. “No.”
“Emma—”
