Page 74 of Blightfall

“Sometimes I think so,” Nedd said.

“Navigation specialist, actually,” I said.

“Actually!” Naga added.

Dayan looked incredulous. They obviously didn’t know that the taynix was our hyperdrive, which made sense. The Superiority had suppressed that knowledge for centuries.

“Okay,” Dayan said. “So you travel with tiny alien creatures who are your allies.”

They’d taken that news all right, so it was time to divulge the rest.

“And maybe a few who aren’t so tiny.”

Dayan stared at me expectantly.

“Do you want to show them?” I asked Alanik.

Alanik gave Dayan a wary look, but then she turned fully away from the path, and the glamour dropped from her face, revealing her purple skin and the white bone ridges across her cheeks.

Dayan’s hand went to their light-whip. They still hadn’t returned Nedd’s and Sadie’s pistols, so I hoped we weren’t about to get into a firefight in the middle of the park.

“Are you all aliens?” they demanded.

“No,” I said. “Only Alanik and Gilaf.” I indicated to where Gilaf stood watch. “The rest of us are from another colony of humans, I promise.”

Dayan regarded us all with suspicion, but they did take their hand off their light-whip, which I took as a good sign.

“If you don’t want to come with us—” I began.

“No, I do,” Dayan said. “My people need to be freed, and you clearly have more resources than the gladiators.”

They sounded a bit reluctant, and I couldn’t blame them. This was a lot to take in.

“All right,” I said. “Glad to have you on board.”

Alanik restored her disguise and turned her translator pin back on. “Are you ready to call Ivy?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to hyperjump to the ships, in case that allows Ivy to pinpoint our location. We’ll hike back and call her from there. If our call provokes her to attack us again, at least we’ll be ready to return fire. No scrambling to defend ourselves. That also gives Suki ample time to finish her report.”

“Copy, Amphi!” Suki said from Alanik’s pack.

“Where exactly are your ships?” Dayan asked.

“Downriver,” I said. “Hidden in the woods, walking distance from the city.”

“If we’re going downriver, canoes would be faster,” Dayan said. “I know a place we can rent some.”

“What’s a canoe?” Sadie asked.

I was glad she asked, because I didn’t know either.

“Small boats, with paddles,” they said. “Do you not have canoes where you come from?”

“We don’t have rivers where we come from,” I said, which was true for all of us except Suki.

“We get to ride in a boat!” Sadie said.

Alanik looked significantly less thrilled.