Morriumur said. “I’d be worried if you didn’t want to know the secret. Just trust me, you don’t want it. Hyperjumps are dangerous. The technology is best entrusted to those who know what they’re doing.”
“Yeah. I suppose.”
We started back, and—from my limited ability to read diones—I felt like Morriumur’s mood was far improved. I should have felt likewise, but each step I took reinforced to me the stark truth I’d finally confronted.
We humans weren’t at war with an all-powerful, terrible, nefarious force of evil. We were at war with a bunch of laughing children and millions, if not billions, of regular people. And scud, I’d just talked one of their pilots into staying on the job.
This place was doing strange things to my emotions and my sense of duty.
“I’m glad you’re in our flight, Alanik,” Morriumur told me as we stepped up to the embassy. “I think you might have the right amount of aggression. I can learn from you.”
“Don’t be so sure,” I said. “I might be more aggressive than you think. I mean, my people did live with the humans for many years.”
“Humans can’t be happy though,” Morriumur said. “They don’t understand the concept—even Brade indicates this is true, if you listen to her. Without proper training, humans are just mindless killing machines. You are so much more. You fight when you need to, but enjoy floating bursts of water when you don’t! If I prove myself to my family, it will be because I show them that I can be like you.”
I suppressed a sigh, opening the door. Doomslug sat on the ledge just inside, impatient for my return. Scud. Hopefully Morriumur wouldn’t—
“What is that?” Morriumur demanded. They were baring their teeth in a strange look of aggression and hatred.
I stepped inside. “Um . . . it’s my pet slug. Nothing to worry about.”
Morriumur pushed into the door in a very forward manner, making me scoop up Doomslug and cradle her, backing away. Morriumur closed the door most of the way, then peeked back out the crack. They spun on me. “Did you get permission to bring a venomous animal into Starsight? Do you have a license?”
“No . . . ,” I said. “I mean, I didn’t ask.”
“You need to destroy the thing!” Morriumur said. “That’s a taynix. They’re deadly.”
I looked down at Doomslug, who fluted questioningly.
“It’s not a taynix,” I promised. “Different species entirely. They just look similar. I hold her all the time, and nothing has happened to me.”
Morriumur grimaced again. Looking at me holding Doomslug protectively, however, they pushed their lips back to a line. “Just . . . just don’t show it to anyone else, all right? You could get into serious trouble. Even if it’s not a taynix.” They stepped back out the door. “Thank you for being a friend, Alanik. If I should end up being born with a different personality . . . well, I like the idea of having known you first.”
I locked the door after they left. “You shouldn’t come down here,” I scolded Doomslug. “Honestly, how did you even get down all those steps?” I carried her back up to my room, where I put her on the bed, then closed that door and locked it too—for no good reason.
“Spensa?” M-Bot said. “You’re back! What happened? What did they want?”
I shook my head and sat down by the window, looking out at all those people. I’d been so determined to see them as my enemies. It had kept me focused. For some reason though, I found the idea that they were indifferent to be even more frightening.
“Spensa?” M-Bot finally said again. “Spensa, you should see this.”
I frowned, turning toward the monitor on the wall. M-Bot switched it to a news station.
It showed an image of Detritus from space, with a caption underneath. Human scourge close to escaping its prison.
29
It was Detritus. The planet’s enormous metal layers spun around it slowly in the void, lit by a sun I’d rarely seen. My breath caught. The screen scrolled news feeds across the bottom, but a dione was doing a voice-over as well. My pin translated their words.
“These stunning shots were smuggled back from an anonymous worker who claims to have been stationed at the human preserve for some time now.”
The image cut to a close-up of Defiant starfighters engaged in a dogfight with Krell drones. Flashing destructors lit up the void near the ever-watchful defense platforms.
“This seems proof,” the reporter said, “that the human problem is not confined to