Page 90 of Veiled Vixen

CHAPTER NINETEEN - BOOTY

Booty was frustrated too. It bothered her that the one clue to where they should be heading was the one time she hadn’t been in charge of the gate map.

And this whole plan was starting to feel like a very bad idea because all of the important, missing information was locked up inside the heads of people who were not here.

ALCOR knew all of this, of course. He knew where that gate went and how to get there. Serpint had gotten through the gate somehow. Through past knowledge, or perhaps, when he’d called home to let everyone know what happened and to tell them he was on his way back, ALCOR was the one who had given him the route he traveled.

Regardless of who knew what and how people got where, it was making Booty nervous. Some of this went back to her own muddled beginnings, but she didn’t like Draden’s body language, either.

He was sitting in a stool, bent over the navigation table, just staring down at the route, his hair forever tousled and just a little bit too long, his bright violet eyes squinting as he studied the navigation screen with intent, his shoulders slightly rounded, like he was tired or wasn’t feeling well.

Draden was sad. And this made her sad too.

He looked exactly as she remembered with a few small differences.

His artificial body made different noises now. Not loud ones. But there was a hum to his movement. A constant reminder that his flesh was not flesh, but mechanical components. And she knew he noticed this. Maybe, if he were human, he would not really hear that small hum. But he wasn’t human anymore. He was a mind. And that small hum was evidence that this change he had gone through was real and permanent.

Booty wanted to tell him no. This trip was not a good idea. That they should go back to Mighty Minions, ask ALCOR and Tray for more information, then make a decision together on what to do next.

She had hinted at that a few gates ago and Draden was having none of it. He felt certain this was the way forward. He was anxious to see Serpint again. And he had a bad feeling too. If they wasted any more time Serpint might not even be on Harem when they arrived.

Booty pushed him a little for an explanation. Was he afraid Serpint would be dead?

Because that thought hurt her nonexistent heart.

Draden didn’t really answer. Just told her to keep going.

And Draden was her responsible party. His orders were something she took seriously. But aside from that, she didn’t want to be the reason they never saw Serpint again if he was right and she was wrong.

So she kept going. All the way back to Cetus Station so they could begin to retrace Serpint’s route home after the incident with Corla.

They came out of the gate closest to Cetus Station and were surprised to find the station… gone.

Nothing left but a debris field.

“What the hell?” Draden asked.

“I don’t know,” Booty said. She could do some analysis and probably figure out some of what had happened to Cetus Station, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to get out of there. “Let’s just get started.”

Draden said nothing. Just sat in the co-pilot’s chair and looked out the front window at the spiraling mess in front of them.

That was his chair. The other chair next to him, Serpint’s chair, was empty.

Yet another reminder for Booty that this was no ordinary mission.

“OK,” Draden finally agreed. “Let’s go.”

The Cetus System had two gates in it. Why? Who knew? There was nothing much out there. It was on an outer arm of Galaxy Prime. Basically in its own rural neighborhood with no planets or suns nearby. And the gate that Serpint had taken was not the closest one to where Cetus Station used to be.

That alone made no sense. If he were escaping, and Booty was corrupted, wouldn’t he go through the first gate he could see?

“Maybe there was a line of ships waiting to go through?” Draden asked, as if reading her mind as they coasted towards the farther gate.

“Maybe,” Booty agreed. But it didn’t seem likely. So as she passed the nearest gate she took a sample of the space around it to analyze later.

And then they were through the gate. Headed towards their first destination.

They came out in a sector that had no planets or sun. Its name wasn’t important. They wouldn’t stay long. There were two gates there and again, Serpint had taken the one furthest away.