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8
It is not hard to select a ship and steal it. All the keys, all the codes, all the supplies are where they were before Kai’s rampage began. I have to move among the bodies of my kind in order to recover what we will need. It is a solemn and sombre experience and I know it is writing itself on my soul.
I choose a ship halfway between a freighter and a fighter. It is large enough to have two berths, cargo space, and a rations generator. It is also fast enough to outrun most of the Colony ships.
Kail has prepared by washing off the blood and stacking what he considers to be valuable in the cargo hold. I am not so concerned with physical supplies because I have taken all the Colony credit tokens I could find, both from the bodies and from the offices. These are all loaded with crypto-credit currency stored on remote blockchains across the universe. They cannot be deactivated or tracked. I estimate we have several million credits to spend, more than enough to disappear with.
We are rich beyond my wildest dreams, in fact, but that does not feel like something to celebrate, given how we came into these riches. I am a traitor to everyone, and I am running away with a savage murderer.
“We will need to trade this ship as soon as we can at the nearest illicit docking station, and then we need to trade that ship out again,” I tell Kail. I am thinking out loud, knowing that the ship will be the biggest liability, and the easiest thing to track. “Or perhaps we should head to the badlands, scrap it ourselves, sell that scrap for…”
I meet his eyes and see bewilderment. He has no fucking clue what the hell I am talking about. He has never been off his world. He knows about the forests, and the prey, and the predators of his world. He knows absolutely nothing about the universe outside the big blue borders of his sky. It is going to be my responsibility to take care of us now. I am going to guide him through this strange new territory the same way he guided me through his.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “We’ve got this. Sit down and belt yourself in. The acceleration will knock you off your feet.”
“I prefer to stand.”
“I prefer you don’t crack your skull on the ship’s interior and bleed out before we get off the planet. Please, Kail. You saved my life. Let me save yours.”
I don’t think I have ever told him what to do before. There is a moment where we both realize that fact. I wonder if he is going to refuse just because of that. We have had no time to talk, no time to ascertain the other’s mental state or point of view. We are both acting on blind trust.
“I am losing track of who has saved who,” Kail rumbles, forcing his large form into the seat beside me. It will not be comfortable, but it will function. When we build our new ship, it will have to be constructed to hold his much larger frame.
“Alright. You’re going to feel a lot of force and acceleration,” I say. “The ship is going to rumble a lot and it’s going to feel strange. It is all perfectly normal. Once we hit outer space, the ride will be smooth. Ready?”
He nods curtly. I hit the ignition.
The acceleration jolts us both back into our seats. I hear a sound from Kain, a growl of fear. I wish I could reach out to console him, but I do not know if my touch would be consoling, and I cannot move my arms anyway. We are on autopilot until we leave the atmosphere, no more able to move than a pair of rocks.
It only lasts a few minutes, then comes the weightlessness of space. I switch on the gravity field, just in time. Kail leaps out of his chair and begins to pace. He is uncomfortable and contained. I am managing the flight controls and selecting a destination, but I hear him stalking back and forth behind me, going from the window on the port side to the window on the bow side.
“Are you okay?”
“These stars. I saw them from the ground. Now I stand among them, like the gods.” He turns to me. “This is no place for me.”
“You do get used to it,” I assure him. “It’s odd and disorienting at first, but over time it starts to feel peaceful.”
“It doesn’t seem peaceful. It seems empty and cold. I miss the forests of my home.”
“Yeah. You get used to missing home too.” I stand up from the console and controls. “I should teach you how to fly a ship, so you can make your way.”
He tilts his head to the side, golden eyes considering me. “Where do you think you will be?”
“I assume you’ll be getting rid of me. I betrayed you, Kail. I almost got you killed. And I was allied with the people that killed everybody you knew. I know you don’t want me, and I accept that. If you let me live, I’ll be grateful.”
There is a weight to the silence that follows. It’s a solemn, grave moment. The danger has passed and now we are floating in the void of space. Nothing to fight against, and nowhere for either of us to hide.
I wait for Kail to speak, knowing that what he says will set the stage for the rest of my life.
There is a slight shrug as his fanged mouth opens. “You intended to get me killed. I intended to kill you. We both changed our minds. You saved my life when you freed me. I returned the favor. We are even.”
“Even.” I repeat the word. It is not frightening, but it is also not encouraging.
“Even,” he repeats.
That is not a word lovers use with one another. That is the language of co-conspirators and criminals. We are now both those things.
I want to ask if we are romantically over, but I also do not want to ask that question. If I ask it, he might say yes, and then I would lose all hope. So I don’t ask. I take the coward’s way out and change the subject.
