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“How do we find it?” Zoey asks.
“I will give you directions. You simply go inside and turn it on. With full power restored, I will be able to open a portal and transport us somewhere safe, far from the Malquarans’ reach.”
I shake my head. “We need to discuss this.”
Arty smiles and nods. “Of course. I will turn myself off while you discuss your next course of action.”
And with that, Arty winks out of existence.
Zoey turns to me. “What is it? If we help him—”
I raise a finger for her to be quiet before ducking under the Save Point table and pressing the activation button. It stops blinking. It’s off. Only now do I feel comfortable talking to Zoey.
“What are you doing?” Zoey asks.
“We’re not doing this mission. No matter what the AI promises.”
Zoey is incredulous. “Don’t you see? This is the Quest you told me about! The pull I felt in my chest before, it wasn’t to this Save Point. It was to this mission.Thisis how we get out of here.”
I shake my head. “We can’t trust the Malquarans. If this AI was put here, it was put here for a reason.”
“Yes. For us to complete the mission.”
I shake my head. “Or to make us go on a dangerous mission out there in the maze where the other alien males are.”I place my hands on her slender shoulders. “We’re safer here. We can mate and this whole thing will be over.”
I speak slowly, carefully, letting her understand the full ramifications of what I’m telling her.
Zoey thinks deeply for a moment before raising her chin. “What if what Arty says is true and it is a part of the Malquarans’ twisted games the same way we are?”
“Then it will have to solve its own problems,” I say. “My only purpose is to keep you safe. We don’t need to head out there. We can achieve our own freedom right here. Together.”
I take her hands in mine and gently kiss them. But Zoey is clearly torn.
She is silent a long moment before saying: “Do you trust the Malquarans?”
“Of course not.”
“Then how do you know they will keep their word and let us go?”
I open my mouth to say it’s part of the Mating Games rules, that although they have no honor, they do follow their own guidelines — no matter how sinister and twisted they are.
I had seen evidence of the victors returning to their homeworlds, of the victor Claiming his female Prize… but that could all be fake. There was no telling what was true and what was false in the modern galaxy.
I frown and shake my head. “I don’t know they will let us go,” I admit.
“Then there’s a chance that Arty isn’t a part of the plans, that we stumbled upon him. He’s a mistake that shouldn’t be here. And if the Malquarans don’t keep their word and release us, we still have Arty to rely on. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather have two plans than one. Even if it turns out we can’t trust either of them, at least we did our best.”
I don’t like it — in fact, I don’t likeanythingabout theMalquarans or the Mating Games — but Zoey’s logic was undeniable.
I sigh and shake my head. “Then you want to try to complete this mission?”
She nods. “Yes,” she says before taking my hand. “But only with you by my side. And if Arty turns out to be full of shit, we can still mate and hope the Malquarans keep their word.”
I shiver at the thought.Hopewas never a good strategy in warfare. And there was no doubt in my mind that this whole setup was a war.
A war of survival.
I nod. “Fine. I’ll turn Arty back on. But know this; I trust no one and nothing in this place.” I kiss the tips of her fingers. “Except you.”
