my head now. As if I was a passenger in my own body, watching through the screens of my eyes. I remember killing the ultrasaur. I remember after Zila shot me, I remember shattering the Trigger, the words I spoke as the star map glittered in the Longbow’s bridge, the word I’ve been hearing in my dreams since I woke up two centuries too late.
Eshvaren.
The word draws me in, calls to me, in exactly the same way this planet repulses me. The need to find out more about that ancient species is at the forefront of my mind, the only thing that keeps returning to shove my fears and questions aside.
Well, not the only thing.
Kal is prowling beside me, his disruptor rifle raised, moving with that strange, ethereal grace. His every motion is sharp, fluid. The warrior he was born to be is so close to the surface now, it’s almost all I can see. I can’t forget how he threw himself at the chimp when it turned on me. Heedless of his own safety. Fearless and fierce and braver than anyone I’ve ever known.
He looks at me. Looks away again just as quick.
He’s not like anything or anyone I’ve ever known. I mean, I’ve dated before, but there’s a world of difference—a galaxy of difference—between a movie and popcorn on a Friday night and a guy telling you he’s bonded to you for life.
But when he spoke to me in the sickbay, it was like he switched on the lights, and I found myself somewhere so completely unexpected that I had no idea what to say. After all that time he spent ignoring me, trying to keep me away from anything resembling action or responsibility, I was so sure he really did think I was a burden. That if he defended me, it was out of a sense of duty to Tyler’s orders.
Except that now I know that all the times he kept me at arm’s length, that was his duty showing. The times he defended me, they were something else entirely.
Now he walks alongside me, his gaze ahead, every line of him alert and ready. And even with all the chaos and insanity around us, it’s so much better just being beside him.
He makes me feel safe.
The three of us arrive at the spaceport, easing past the vines that cover the open gates, and my heart sinks at the sight before us. The docking bays and control tower and ships are overrun with the same plant growth that seems to have infected everything else in the colony. The skiffs, the freighters, the orbitals, everything. Their hulls crawl with long snarls of creepers and strange flowers, coated in a blanket of this sticky blue pollen that’s falling about us like rain.
This place is huge. How are we supposed to find what we need to restore the Longbow’s power in all this?
“Mothercustard,” I mutter.
“I don’t know what that is,” Finian says. “It sounds awful. But we’re not lost yet, Stowaway. The elements we’re after have a half-life of a few million years. If they’re here, a little bit of weed won’t hurt them.”
“The reactors in these ships have what we need?” Kal asks.
“Dunno,” Fin says. “These ships are older than my fourth grandpa, and I’m not sure what kind of drives they ran on. But those GIA goons are still on our tails, so we should split up. We’ll work quicker, cover more ground. If you find a ship with an active core, shoot me an image on my uni.”
“Very well.” Kal nods. “Stay on communications.”
“Don’t worry,” Fin replies. “If I see another one of those choomps, you’ll hear me screaming without my uniglass.”
Kal raises an eyebrow. “You are not much of a warrior, are you, Finian?”
“Well, you’re not …” Fin makes a face and sighs. “Ah, forget it. …”
He limps off toward the biggest freighter, struggling with the containment unit. Kal and I head toward the skiffs, him in front with his rifle raised, me close behind. He offers me his hand to help me over a tangle of vines, even as he looks back to check on Fin. I’m realizing now he’s always attuned to where I am, always looking out for me.
“Kal, I … ,” I begin softly, not sure what to say.
I’m not sure what to say. I’m just sure that I want to talk about this. He’s instantly attentive, though he doesn’t take those intense purple eyes off the buildings and ships around us.