Page 60 of Spark Transform

A laugh escaped Arco. “Sure, as the bad example who encourages them to talk in class.”

Soleil nodded. “Indeed.”

The woman’s serene certainty made Arco laugh again. “Jumpers are all crazy.”

Josh’s gaze landed on Soleil with a fond smile. “Indeed.”

Arco turned to raise her eyebrow at Josh, who towered above her. “You’re fractured, too. Don’t forget to tell Renner to read his farking pings.”

With that, she re-slung her bag and exited the office. Rising fame and influence drew rising threats. She couldn’t protect the friends she’d made. Leaving them was going to hurt like acid rain. But better that than attending mass memorials for the newly dead.

As soon as Arco stepped foot on the roof pad, she saw the hulk of the flitter. The doors opened. She flipped up her hood and tried not to lose her footing as she dove in. Overnight, the rain had turned to sleet and snow. According to the weather AI, shifting ocean-stream winds and a wet cold front were shaping up to be one mad mother of a storm.

N’Dwama took off immediately. “I’m using Brenner’s trick of logging a training flight, so we’ll be fast but bumpy. Strap in.”

Arco complied with alacrity. In her experience, race pilots were as warped as Jumpers.

“Minan sent Tōn Ko to Novo G and told him to be seen a lot.” N’Dwama chuckled. “Right up his starlane, shaking his extra-fine ass for any and all admirers. That man should have been a vid star.”

Arco smiled. “Where is Minan?”

“She parked Nilsson in one of the interview rooms under your name and set the ‘in use’ flag. We’ll tell Tōn Ko to accidentally lose his clothes or something and slip you in during the ensuing riot.”

It took Arco a second to remember that Nilsson was her newest team member. “Good work. Thank you.”

Unfolding her tablet, which had miraculously survived the night, she checked in with her personal universe.

Her digital fortress security AIs reported intrusion attempts had increased twentyfold within fifteen minutes of the spider mech’s demise and were still rising. So far, her expensive perimeter held firm, but a court order could change that. Ridderth judges were cheap.

The public net had multiple premium reward offers for images and vids of the spider mech’s destruction. Area businesses hoping to cash in would be scanning their security recordings for even a glimpse of the spider as it stomped its way through the neighborhood.

With luck, Brenner’s unleashed talent destroyed any camera eyes at the construction site before they could upload their contents. Yet another reason for her to be the glittery distraction to draw eyes away from him.

Inspired by Josh’s theory, she spent a few minutes creating ephemeral accounts to seed and amplify rumors that the CPS elite squad caused the spider mech to go rogue as their own distraction ploy. Her finder sense said it could even be true. Spiking article sales would help spread the rumors even faster. And Arco Charrascos’s rising fame quotient might make them think twice about making another kill attempt so soon. They couldn’t afford months of investigation and repercussions.

Still, the sooner she pulled up gravity hooks and went interstellar transit, the safer everyone would be without her.

She shoved the aching loneliness of that thought into a box and sealed it shut.

Chapter 21

Planet: Mabingion • GDAT 3242.227

Soleil stood in a pool of light, her breath creating fleeting clouds. She missed her coat already.

With every howl of wind from the late-morning snow squall outside, dust fell from the ceiling beams, sparkling in the floating lights.

Josh hovered in the shadows near the door. He’d found the abandoned factory in the Canals for their impromptu meeting and secured it. Not too close to the studio, but not too far to walk, either, except in freak weather. Warmth from the portable envirobots made being inside better than outside, but not by much.

The nineteen adults and children from her classes sat on makeshift benches or stood. They’d now fallen silent, all eyes on her.

“Thank you for coming. This room is too cold for long speeches, so I’ll cut to the core.” Her words echoed off the bare walls. “I believe a tsunami of trouble is on its way. Maybe not this ten-day, but soon. When it does, Ridderth will burn again. Maybe even the whole planet this time. I’m a Jumper, so I don’t know how to be anything but blunt. I don’t want to be here when the tsunami gets here, and I don’t want you to be, either.”

Soleil let the silence settle for a long moment.

“What kind of trouble?” asked Haseem. He hovered toward the back near the door as if he might bolt in a nanosecond. It has been hard to pry him out of the studio, even though Brenner’s autodoc said it had at least four more hours. This couldn’t wait.

Grateful that his tone held concern, not skepticism, she met his gaze. “I don’t know how the trouble will start. My information comes from independent forecasts, too many coincidences, and Jumper’s instinct.” She shrugged one shoulder. “And if you believe in it, signs and portents from Ayorinn Legacy.”