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“We’ll have to find another way out,” she said.
They set off in the dark. Altair had lost his laser somewhere but Nova still held on to hers just in case.
This section of the prison had been closed off for a long time, and it took them a while to find a staircase.
The stairs came up into a narrow hallway with only one door.
Altair stepped through to an empty room. It smelled better than the basement but hadn’t been aired out in just as long. The room had a door leading to the outside.
Altair went to the door.
“It’s locked.”
Nova tried opening the window, but it was just a pane of glass, it was never meant to open. They were in a prison after all.
“We could break the window,” Altair said.
But Nova suddenly felt exhausted. They were safe for the moment, that was all that mattered. The shock from the explosion must have worn off, leaving her feeling like she really needed a break. She sat down on the floor with her back against the wall.
“If we could find something heavy to break it,” Altair said.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Where’s the flintoid statue when you need it?”
Altair looked back at her sitting on the floor and extended his hand out to her. She shook her head. She needed more rest.
He sat down on the floor next to her instead, reminding her of the time they’d drunk together.
“What’s a flintoid statue?” he asked.
Really?Did no one know the value of the objects they owned? But that also meant that Altair didn’tknow.
“A statue made out of flintoid,” she said. “Like the one in your office.”
“I thought flintoid was the fuel used in the engines of fast traveling spaceships.”
“Yes,” she said. “When it’s heated to liquid form. But in its original form, it looks more like marble, perfect for making statues. Though of course, it’s so valuable that very few people can afford to have statues made from it.”
“How do you know this?”
“I had to learn it for my previous job.”
He nodded.
“Well, you saw wrong, I don’t have any such thing in my office.”
“You do,” she said. “I hit a guy in the face with it.”
“You wha—You’re the one who broke into my office?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry to the guy I hit too.”
“He’s fine. And so is myMudden marblestatue.”
“Flintoid.”
He looked at her like he wasn’t understanding.
“You see Altair, the reason your family doesn’t want to make the lack-of-women problem public isn’t because they’re worried that IPAC will come and ‘change the Mudden way of life.’ It’s because they’re worried that IPAC will come and figure out that Mudden marble is actually solid flintoid.”
