Page 199 of Sky’s Edge

And yes.

That did come out of my mouth.

“Our closet?” he kept at me.

Dear gods.

“Focus, King Tanyn,” I demanded.

His lips twitched, he sorted his sweater then came to sit beside me to put on his shoes.

Fortunately, he did this talking.

Unfortunately, what he had to say was not to my liking.

“We’ve a problem.”

“You mean, another one?” I asked.

Both shoes were on, neither tied, when he turned to fully face me.

“Regardless of the fact we identified the males we captured within an hour of capturing them along with identifying their dead compatriots, and they have known ties to traditionalist groups, which in turn have ties to Arnaud, and that translates to Tatra, even under truth serum, they denied all of this.”

By heaven and hellfire.

“Yes,” I said softly. “That’s a problem.”

And it was.

You couldn’t beat truth serum. It was infallible.

So what in the hells was happening?

“They say they’re members of the Space Junkies,” Tanyn told me.

“That…doesn’t make sense,” I replied.

The Space Junkies were an activist group who wanted beings to stop building in and populating space.

On the one hand, I could see this claim from the perpetrators.

I could, since, if we did what the Space Junkies wanted, not only would all space stations, but also all satellites be dismantled and recycled, which would knock out a lot of tech capabilities, not to mention research and military resources. And this, in turn, would send us back a couple hundred years and we’d be living like it was the 1900s.

And one could say the traditionalists wished to send us spiraling back in time.

On the other hand…

“They’re non-violent,” I told Tanyn something he knew. “And Sigil would not be a target. Yes, there’s modern tech there. But for the most part, it’s a bastion of another age. Not to mention, it’s not in space.”

“They said they’re escalating so they can get more attention for their cause.”

“They’re roundly considered nutjobs, highly averse to tech, so they not only wouldn’t have access to attack craft, but they wouldn’t use it. But no one wants to give up their Palms and holos so we won’t have satellites no one can see, unless they’re in space.”

“No, this does not track.” Tanyn bent to tie his shoes.

But I sensed he was avoiding me.

“Tanyn,” I called.