some reason, Cuna thought I already had the secret. So . . . why not play along? I might not have trained for this, but I was the one who was here. And my people needed me to be more than I’d been before.
“We couldn’t be sure that your methods were the same as ours,” I said. “We thought it worth the risk, particularly once we realized I would have a chance to infiltrate Superiority warships and secret projects.”
“You have been playing me all along,” Cuna said. “You now know about the weapon, the location of our training maze . . . the infighting among our departments. I would be impressed if I weren’t so angry.”
The wisest choice on my part seemed to be silence. Outside the window, we passed into a part of town with grand buildings, built with domes and large gardens. The government quarter? I was pretty sure that was where we were.
The shuttle landed beside a large rectangular building—one with few windows. More austere and grim than the others nearby.
Cuna held out their hand again toward my pack. I realized that I didn’t have much choice. I was unarmed and in their power. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that Cuna, remarkably, thought that I knew what I was doing.
I held up the pack. “I don’t need it anymore,” I said. “This conversation was confirmation enough.”
Cuna took it anyway, then fished out the drone and looked it over. “One of our own,” they said. “A modified cleaning drone? These are impressive security devices attached to it. I didn’t know your people had access to this kind of technology.”
Cuna looked toward the place where Vapor hung.
“That looks like figment technology,” Vapor said softly. “The kind that was forbidden us after the war. I’ve . . . seen old ships with those markings on them.”
Figment technology? M-Bot? I said nothing—though my heart skipped a beat when Cuna fished in the shuttle armrest for a cord, then connected the drone’s memory to a monitor on the back of the seat in front of us.
Trying to keep my voice calm, I spoke. “Drone, authorize playback of video starting from the moment I turned you on.”
“Confirmed,” the drone said.
“AI?” Cuna asked, baring their teeth in a look of shock.
“Not self-aware AI,” I said quickly. “Just a basic program that can follow orders.”
“Still! So dangerous.”
The screen turned on, displaying a view of me, wearing Alanik’s face, in the stall of the bathroom.
“Fast forward,” I said, “until two minutes before the hyperjump back to Starsight.”
“Confirmed.”
I waited, hands clenching, as the view changed to what had to be the engine room. It looked surprisingly like an office—no hyperdrive apparatus that I could spot, only chairs and monitors with diones in uniforms working them.
I eyed Cuna. Were they really just going to let this play? My heartbeat increased as audio sounded from the recording.
“All pilots are on board and personnel secured,” Winzik’s voice said over the room’s PA. “Engineering, you may proceed with the hyperjump back to Starsight regional space.”
“Understood,” said one of the diones on the screen. A crimson, somewhat chubby individual. “Preparing for hyperjump.”
They hit a button. Nothing happened. Elsewhere, at that moment, I had been straining to use my cytonic senses to interfere. It was surreal, watching what had been happening a few rooms over from where I’d been waiting.
Several of the diones looked agitated, speaking softly to one another. The chubby one hit the comm button. “Bridge, we have another hyperdrive malfunction. It’s those cytonics on board. They’re creating an unconscious interference with the hyperdrives.”
Another dione got up and walked to the wall. They opened a hatch there and pulled something out. I leaned forward, my breath catching as I saw what they removed.
A metal cage, and inside of it, a bright yellow slug with blue spines.
34
A slug. Scud. SCUD.
It made so much sense. The entry about Doomslug’s species on the datanet . . . it had said they were dangerous. That was a lie—the Superiority just wanted to make certain that if anyone saw one, they’d think it venomous and stay away.
Report any sightings to authorities immediately.
“Try a replacement?” a voice said on the recording.
“Spensa?” M-Bot said in my ear. “What is going on?”
“Loading one now. Can we do something about this? It causes so much paperwork.”
The diones removed the “hyperdrive” from a unit beside the wall. It was another slug, just like Doomslug. They slid the new one in and activated the hyperdrive. This