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I looked to Clara, and her face was no longer neutral. She had unshed tears in her eyes, and she shook. It hit me like a blaster shot to the chest and I stumbled back. When I approached her, she did not shy from me. I knelt at her feet, not caring how it looked to the colony representative. The other humans might as well not exist at this moment.
“Just remember my words to you,” she repeated, this time meeting my eyes. She looked in pain, as if forced by some invisible hand to make her choice.
I didn’t understand.
Her words to me. They were not the same as the ones she spoke now. What did I believe? She claimed she wanted to stay here more than anything else, but now that she was given the choice, she was leaving.
I considered picking her up and carrying her back to our nest and keeping her there until the colony shuttle left, but that would be considered a breach of the treaty. I wasn’t worried about the weapons they had aimed in our direction destroying us; we had shields they couldn’t penetrate. We wouldn’t come to harm, but the same couldn’t be said about the life around us. We would also lose access to more females for our next rut.
Then, tearfully, Clara stepped around me, and my heart sank as I watched her disappear into the shuttle.
Chapter 22: Clara
I was surprised when I found out the Kadrixans had paid for all of my debts in the form of extra ore. There was enough money in my account to live well for the entire year.
Krxare. Krxare had done this for me, even while believing I had left him. I hated what I’d done to him. Seeing him so distraught made me absolutely miserable. My only hope now was that he would find the note I’d left for him in his quarters soon.
Moments before we lifted off, one of the guards had shown up with my backpack. He’d grabbed my arm roughly and held my identity chip over some kind of lock holding my pack closed. He pulled hard at the fastening, but it didn’t budge.
“Stupid fucking lock,” he swore. He held a lie detector in front of me. “Do you know how to open this?”
“No,” I said softly.
He swore again when the detector didn’t beep and tossed the locked backpack at me angrily. I eyed the new lock, though I didn’t dare try to open it until I was alone.
The flight went by faster than I’d expected, and they processed me and Priya, the only other woman who’d decided to come back, out of the facility hastily. We soon found ourselves standing alone on the curb.
“I thought they’d give us back our phones, at least.” Priya looked ready to cry. “How am I supposed to call my mom or go home? I have nothing left.” Her mother must be the reason why she’d chosen to come back.
“I have some money in my account. Let me transfer you enough to get home,” I offered.
We took a seat on the bench as we waited for the public rail to arrive. It was the middle of the night, and we’d just missed the last one, which meant it would be a long wait.
We held our wrists close together, and soon, she had enough to get to her mom’s place and pick up some groceries if she needed. Then, I held up my pack to figure out how to get inside. It was Priya who suggested pressing my thumb to a separate patch on the bag that I hadn’t noticed before. It didn’t look like a sensor, at least not the ones we had here at the colony, but the lock popped open when I did.
Inside were my clothes—my ridiculously soft Vokiren-made clothes—a few portable food bars, a bottle of water, and—
We both gasped at what we saw lining the bottom of the bag. Gems from our nest. There were several smaller ones, but one was at least an inch across. I closed my bag hastily and looked around to make sure no one else but Priya and I saw. There was no one around.
I angled my body to block the nearby camera. I reached into my bag and brought out several of the precious gems, and shoved the large one into Priya’s hand.
“For you and your mom.”
“How would we even use it?”
“In the colony? I don’t know. But I heard the Vokiren valued these highly.”
Anyone in the colony who would trade for something so precious would just as likely rob us, though, if I really needed, I could try to use them to fund my search for Chris.
The rail shuttle arrived, and I locked up my pack again before boarding. We didn’t dare speak any more of the gems we carried.
My stop came first, and I gave Priya a hug before stepping out into the street outside Mark’s place. Perhaps one day I’d see her again, hopefully at the stronghold and not at Utopia. I walked up the four flights of stairs to Mark’s place, hating that I wasn't able to give him advance notice.
“Who the fuck is knocking at one in the fucking morning? I have work in the morning.” Mark pulled open the door angrily.
“Me?” I sent him an apologetic look.
“Shit, Clara.” He pulled me into the tiny apartment and closed the door behind me. “I didn't know you were coming, brat. You should have called. I could’ve had some food or something ready for you.” He held me out at arm’s length. “At least they fed you.”
