“It was kind of like a lie,” he said. “I can do it, as you said. Under the right circumstances.”
As we prepared to take off, I felt something against my mind again. I glanced to where the sensation seemed to be coming from, and noticed a set of partially opened hangar doors. I could see a shadow standing inside. Brade—watching my ship.
“I don’t like the idea of you going off on your own tomorrow,” M-Bot said. “Flying another ship.”
“Jealous?”
“Maybe! It would be cool if I could feel that. But more, I think it’s dangerous. We’ll need to double-check your bracelet’s holographic projector. Its CPU should be able to manage your hologram without my aid, but we’ll want to observe it first. It would be better if I could go with you.”
“I don’t really see that we have a choice,” I said as I lifted us up and away from the platform. “We need to get our hands on a Superiority ship.”
“It’s possible they won’t give you one that can hyperjump,” M-Bot said. “At least not at first.”
“I considered that,” I said. “But if I can gain their trust, there’s a good chance they’ll relax their security around me. I might not be given a starfighter that can hyperjump, but I’ll likely be near one. If I can’t steal a hyperdrive, perhaps I can at least get some photos of one.”
“Photos won’t get us home.”
“I know. I’m still working on that.”
As we flew toward Starsight and I thought it through, I realized that I’d inadvertently been given a backup plan. Winzik and the others had just assigned me to the same flight as their pet human. Did Brade know there was an entire planet full of humans like her, only free? Might she be willing to escape there, if I gave her the right opportunity?
If I couldn’t steal a hyperdrive from the Superiority, maybe I could instead steal away one of their cytonics.
18
I settled M-Bot into place on the top of our embassy on Starsight, then sat back in my seat, suddenly exhausted.
Being Alanik was taxing. I was accustomed to just going with my gut and doing what seemed natural for me. It had gotten me through life well so far. I’d admittedly earned the occasional bump or scrape, but I’d never had to worry about pretending to be someone other than myself.
I sighed, finally hitting the canopy release and standing up to stretch. The embassy didn’t have a ground crew to pull over steps for me, so I climbed out onto the wing, then hopped down.
“Overall,” M-Bot said to me, “I think that went well. We’re not dead, and you actually managed to get into their military.”
“By the skin of my teeth,” I said, grimacing as I remembered the burl gorilla alien who had thrown the tantrum and been kicked out. That would have been me if I’d gotten to Winzik a tad earlier.
“Do your teeth have skin?” M-Bot asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said, walking over and hooking up M-Bot’s charging cords and network link. “Not sure where the saying comes from, actually.”
“Hmmm. Oh! Well, it’s from an English version of the Bible. That’s a really antiquated version of the Book of Saints, from Old Earth.”
I got the last cord hooked up, then traipsed down the steps. Doomslug trilled at me excitedly from the bedroom when I checked on her. I’d set up a litter box for her and some chopped mushrooms, which, judging by the crumbs left, she’d found acceptable as a meal. I gave her a scratch, then noted a little light on the wall. It was blinking, indicating that I had a delivery, so I tromped down to the bottom floor and checked the delivery box. Before flying out this morning, I’d made a few orders to test my requisition abilities.
Inside the box, I found a bundle of new clothing in my size, along with some toiletries. I grabbed everything and headed up to the kitchen, where I fried a small algae patty and ate it in a bun. Then I walked back to my bathroom. It was still a little strange that I had one all to myself. Scud, I had this entire building all to myself—well, myself and my pet slug, who insisted I give her another head scratch as I passed her in the hall.
In the bathroom’s mirror, I looked at myself. Or, the illusion of Alanik that I wore. Doomslug doesn’t notice I’m not wearing my real face, I thought. She obviously