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“You won’t go too far out?” I say, hating the fear now in my tone. The urgent message has left me uneasy. I need the quiet time to search out and find the source. Is it the empire trying to trap me or is a hacker trying to prove their skills?
Jessica squeezes my arm as she passes by me. “No, I’ll stay close, I promise. Though, I might talk with Nilt to see what he’s dug up around here. He’s almost as interested in rocks as I am.” She winks at me before leaving through the tunnel.
I take a deep breath and release it, grateful to hear she’s promised me. While I can’t count on a promise being as binding to an Earther as it is to a Gharian, she doesn’t seem as vile as a Kostan, shattering promises like they’re spun sugar.
I find a seat at our table, still seeing the habitat through a stranger’s eyes. Our home is reasonably warm, thanks to the distant geothermal activity, but the cold season will arrive sooner rather than later. All of us don’t mind, thanks to the natural heating in here. Nilt wears extra layers and has enough warm blood to make the clothing work.
Jessica won’t have the nanos to regulate her temperature for the deep cold mid-season. I’ll need to order more small clothes for her. I lean back in the chair, picking at the chewy nut simulations from Ghar. She deserves a better home than this. Probably a better mate than me, too, but I can’t allow another man to love her no matter who he is.
All of my mental self-flagellating is a distraction from what I need to examine and I know it. I dread picking apart the empire’s message to me, but get up, leaving the rest of my crunchy snack for anyone else who wants it. The bed will be more comfortable and I can close my eyes while researching. I send a quick message to the others, letting them know my plans and settle in.
The notification wasn’t from Aard. I rule him out first. Not from my family, who’d disowned me during my trial. The imperial time stamp is clear, yet, I covered my tracks. Downloading Earther English and a few books have been my only direct contact to our datalinks since my sentencing. To their knowledge, I don’t have nanos.
Pless it. With them knowing I’m here, I’ve been caught. Turning over to my side, I close my eyes, refusing to accept even to myself that I’ve lost my edge. Or, how the best imperial innovators know I have tech and am using it. My system warns me my heart rate is too high while my body is motionless but I ignore it. Of course, I’m upset.
I stop searching, trying to will my mind into a relaxed state. I wasn’t careless. No trace of my request should have remained. I scan, looking for footprints I might have left, but only on the peripheral. Nothing. Without digging in any deeper, I create a program to run, wiping any tracks I might have left and send the routine to S’Tou.
I’m not this sophisticated, he replies. They’ll know it’s you.
So, add a couple of quirky requests that only you know about. Query an old lover or look up your mother’s favorite rill pie recipe, I reply back. They’ll relax when seeing it.
How can you be sure?
They’re imperial employees, not off worlders, I reply, hoping I’m right about Gharian nature. They care, but only to a point. As long as I’m not harming anyone, they won’t bother. Let me know when it’s done.
A nanosecond later, S’Tou sends, Done.
I sit up. Several full seconds pass with nothing happening and I sigh in relief. The signal was just a probe to see if I’d take the bait. It meant nothing and was likely a prank. I get up to go into the main living area and find Quin chowing down on my snack.
“Hey, you didn’t want these, did you?” Quin asks.
“Not now, not with your grubby paws all over them,” I tease. “It’s close to dinner time anyway.” I run through the options for the evening meal, strolling outside to find Jessica. I need to hug her and talk about the future. I’d like to explore options, see if Aard could help us find a better planet for her and the rest of us to settle on, if the others are willing to go.
I reach the cave’s mouth to see her and Nilt crouching down, examining a thin line of light rock low along the wall. I start to greet them via audio when an internal high priority notification interrupts me.
Innovator VilKrell Cinq, you have been found active on the imperial network. This is a violation of your sentence. Please report your status.
