She looked over his shoulder. “What about them?”
“The transaction was really well hidden, but I discovered that they are sitting in a pretty little private museum on Zeta Volantis.”
She turned her back on him. “We need to keep moving or we’ll run out of time before our radiation exposure is up.”
He watched her as she wandered into the next room. Nothing was ever as it seemed with Nera Darc.
“Sleep quarters?” she said, looking out the waist-high gap that would have been a window.
“Bedroom, yes.” Nik ran a finger over the reinforced wall structure. Who had lived here? What had their life been like? Had they made it off the planet before it was destroyed?
A glint of something buried in the layer of black sand on the floor caught his eye. He grabbed it and gasped, holding the item up.
Nera stepped closer. “Pretty.”
It was a necklace. The chain was broken but the pendant was still shiny. It was a purple color that reminded him of one of the colors in Nera’s eyes.
“It’s small,” he said. “Probably belonged to a child.”
She studied him. “It saddens you?”
“Sure. To think of a child caught in the machinations of governments who were more concerned with power and pride, than with the survival of the young and innocent.”
“You think because the child was young, she was innocent?”
He regarded her carefully. “Yes. Children are innocent, regardless of what they’re forced to do or see. Regardless of what others make them do.”
“There are so many more shades of gray than you see, Niklas.” She turned away. “Let’s move on.”
They scoured the next few buildings. More homes with few artifacts remaining. Nik guessed most things had either been destroyed in the intense blasts that had taken out the city center, or had just deteriorated over time.
In the first shop, they had more luck.
“I think this was a music shop.” He touched the remains of what he guessed was a Terran guitar.
“I think you’re right.” Nera turned, cradling a metal object.
In perfect condition.
“God, it’s beautiful.” He touched the metal, his fingers bumping hers. “A flute, I think.”
They checked the next few shops, most of which were disappointingly bare. He found a few general items—a cup, the twisted remains of a precursor to the Sync communicator, and a shoe—but nothing that would get Avril excited.
They walked out onto the street. Nera consulted the mini-Sync attached to her wrist. “Only twenty more minutes of exposure time left. We need to start heading back.”
He nodded, eyeing a lump of twisted metal on the street.
She followed his gaze. “A transport?”
He nodded. “I think so. A car.”
They moved closer.
“Terran cars are worth a lot of money…but this is barely recognizable as a car. It wouldn’t be worth moving it.”
“Yeah.” He knew a few rusted chassis of old Earth cars had gone for millions of e-creds. No one had ever found a Terran car in pristine condition. If they did, it would be worth a small fortune.
He noticed Nera tense. She was looking down the street, past the remains of the buildings.
