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Cora pointed more emphatically, at two lights moving in tandem. “They’ve sent—others. Other pilots. Other rorquals. They’ve sent them, but—”
“But what?”
“But they won’t—they won’t let them go this fast—they don’t stop when they go this fast—”
“Is she going to turn back?”
“I—” Cora’s struggle to pay attention was obvious. Beads of sweat were growing on her brow. “Where else is there to go?”
“The Quarries?” Signy repeated. “Would she go there?”
Cora leaned forward, trying to gauge the readouts in front of her. “No. No. Wrong way.”
Signy swallowed that information. It did not go down easily. “Does she understand we can’t stay alive out here?”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
“Would she hurt us?” Signy demanded. “Does she want to hurt us?”
“No,” Cora insisted. “No, she—no. Of her love. Logical. To her, it’s logical.”
Signy did not follow the logic of any of this, but for the moment, it was enough to understand a firm dismissal of bad intentions. “Do you still trust her?”
“Yes.” Cora looked at Signy, pleadingly. “Do you still trust me?”
Signy didn’t need to consider her answer. “Always.”
“Please don’t hurt her,” Cora whispered. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, but please don’t hurt her.” She looked again at the pair of traveling lights on the control panel. “They’ll hurt her.”
Signy shut her eyes. The feeling of unshakable safety had long vanished, but with a clarity she could not name, she was no longer afraid—of now, of later, of anything. Maybe she’d lost her mind, but god help her, she didn’t care what happened next.
She buried her face in the crook of Cora’s neck, and she held on as tight as she could.
Main Engine Cutoff
Chapters 796 & 52 Signy, Cypsela / Cora, In Between
Something grazed Signy’s cheek, waking her. It wasn’t Cora, who remained asleep beside her. It was a leaf—a heartleaf, vining past the rim of the planter, down to the heap of cushions. Signy reached up with a fingertip, brushing the leaf’s curved edges. Cora had once asked her, a long time ago, if she ever talked to her plants. Signy had answered no, which was as true then as it was now. She sometimes spoke aloud while working—what’s wrong with you, why won’t you flower, that kind of thing—but that was just the sound of her own mind working. She didn’t speak to her plants as though they were listening.
She would’ve loved it, though, if they could.
* * *
Cora’s implants were hot. Not just to the touch, as she’d confirmed by tearing off her gloves and running shaking fingers over her neck. Her implants were hot beneath her skin, where metal touched nerves. Buried heat, like a scalding bite of food you wolfed down rather than spat out.
Food. A bite of food. A set of protruding bones evolved for grinding, tearing, mashing—
She stabbed the map screen with a fingertip, trying to focus. Her nostrils were crusting. Her mouth tasted like copper. Signy had done right to get the helmet off before her brain hemorrhaged, but yanking her mind away from Colibri unprepared would make for a bitch of a comedown at the best of times, and this was sure as fuck not that.
She blinked, gulped air, shook her head with gritted teeth. Where are we going? she thought desperately, as she tried to read the map. Where are you going?
* * *
Signy watched Cora as she slept. She wanted to touch her hair, touch her face—but more importantly, she wanted to let her sleep. She reached a hand stealthily down and found the edge of the throw blanket that had been kicked away along with their clothes. The warmth they’d made together was dissipating, and so she pulled the blanket over them both.
She lay there, looking up through the leaves and thinking.
* * *
