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“I guess so,” said Jini.
“One of them has the key,” I said. “Otherwise, how did they get in?” I went down on my knees and began hunting all over the donen for the key. But he was naked, and there was nowhere to keep a key. They weren’t huge things—just scannable pieces of thin plastic, but if he had it on him, I’d see it.
“Maybe someone let them in and then kept it?” said Jini. She licked her lips. “Location of Grilin Hollek’s key.”
The AI answered. “Grilin Hollek’s key is not aboard this ship.”
“So, they have it, then,” said Jini. “They still have it, and they can get onboard whenever they want.”
“You’re going to have to fly the ship,” said Holston.
Jini rubbed her forehead. She smeared blood over where her fingers had been. “I think you’re right.”
“You need to get cleaned up, first,” I said. “And we need to check you out on the sick bay.” I turned to Holston. “You deal with the bodies?”
He nodded. “I got that, yeah.”
“Let’s go, Jini,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
holston
I took the bodies outside and buried them next to the rest of the bodies.
So many dead.
The truth was, I’d be happy to get out of here.
I looked out into the darkness, the trees hanging with dripping shadowy leaves, wondering if they were out there looking at us.
I made a rude gesture with one hand and swung it around, just in case they were.
Then I climbed back on the ship and stalked through it, following her scent, until I found Cypra. She was on the bridge with Jini. I went directly to her and pressed my body into the back of hers, winding an arm around her possessively. I stuck my nose down into the place where her shoulder met her neck and inhaled.
It was better being near her.
When we were apart, I felt a low level of panic.
Mine,I thought.
She sighed, tilting her head back, melding into me like we belonged together.
“We have a problem,” said Jini.
I let go of Cypra. “Of course we do,” I said. “Of course it would be too easy to just blast off into space and leave this nightmare behind.” And when I flipped them all off out there, that… yeah, that had probably been a bad idea.
Jini got up. “It’s, um, it’s just that there’s a tether.”
“Oh, of course he tethered the ship,” I said, letting out a little laugh.
“But how?” said Cypra. “What did he tether it to?”
Tethers were typically engaged in parking areas, a measure of security that meant that a ship couldn’t take off unless it was disengaged. It usually had to be done manually, outside a ship. For a tether to work, there had to be a tether grid.
“He used the pole’s magnetic pull,” said Jini. “I’ll just go out there and undo it.”
“I’ll undo it,” I said. “There’s no reason for you to go out there, either of you.”
“I can do it,” said Jini.
