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Menkor tried not to smile.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “And High Command? High Command is gone.”
“We’ve adopted the phrase. Confusing, perhaps, but I’m afraid it’s stuck. You, Matron, are High Command. As are Thuliak and Tschenkar.”
“So you told them that you found me, but you’re waiting on me to figure out what the hell to do?”
He nodded.
“Okay,” Midwife said. “I like option two.”
I’d hoped she’d say that, because I agreed, and now it was unanimous.
“Menkor,” I said, “we’re going to stay here. We were safe here before, and we’re likely even safer now with the fighting happening down there. Get in there, find Thuliak, and tell him I’m here.”
He nodded. “Yes, Matron.”
And the moment he was gone and couldn’t see me do it, I all but collapsed. If Midwife hadn’t grabbed hold of me and helped me down, I surely would have just fallen ass-first onto the sled. Midwife lowered me down gently though, and from the way she was grunting and clutching tight to my clothes I could tell I was even heavier.
And hungrier.
She hadn’t said anything, but I was tearing through our rations faster than ever. I’d caught her trying to skip meals so that the food would last longer. Now we had barely anything left. With how fast these little ones were growing, I doubted these four would be able to last even a day without constant food. If Thuliak hadn’t been about to find us, Midwife would have needed to hunt for us. She’d said she was good in the woods, but I doubted she could actually hunt.
“Thanks,” I said, sitting down. “The pirates have no chance against so many well-armed Khetar. We’ll both be safe soon.”
I flashed her a very genuine smile. I knew what she was worrying about: What if Kantus couldn’t find us? What if something happened to him?
I wasn’t just humoring her though, because Tschenkar was even further away and more isolated than Kantus. Midwife knew I wasn’t just trying to make her feel better, because one of my alien men was missing too, but I was feeling optimistic. I knew Tschenkar would find us, and Kantus too.
Something exploded below. The sound of mechanical guns rang out from down the hill. Khetar roared, and weak human male voices screeched.
I didn’t even need to see the battle to know how it was going. The pirates were being slaughtered. The Khetar were finally getting their battle, though it wasn’t exactly the cakewalk they’d thought it would be before the Hivemind disappeared.
Midwife and I sat there, still and quietly, as we waited for Menkor to bring the rest of Thuliak’s squad to us. The sounds of battle surged a few more times, but then they died out entirely.
When I heard a deep Khetar voice booming and calling for me, it caught me by surprise, because it was coming from the wrong direction.
I tried to whip my body around, but I was too heavy to do it elegantly.
“Love! Engineer!” Tschenkar’s voice was clear now, but he was shouting over a long distance.
“Fucktoy!” Another voice boomed. Kantus’s.
Midwife let go of my hand, bit her lip, and looked at me as if she were asking permission.
“Go!” I said, shoving her as best I could. “Go to him!”
She let go of me and ran toward Tschenkar and Kantus, though I only saw his orange body. He must have sent the others out to guard their flanks like he’d done before.
“Airlock!” Another voice boomed, this time from the direction I’d expected. Thuliak. Thuliak was here too!
I could just make out Tschenkar’s face now. He was scowling. He growled across the distance to Thuliak. “I found her first!”
I got my head around to see Thuliak scowling too, a full squad of Khetar behind him. “No. I did.”
“Goddess,” I hissed to myself, “are theyreallygoing to butt heads now?”
Tschenkar grinned, and he broke into a full sprint toward me.
