Aetherbound - E.K. Johnston Page 0,58

and ducked into Dr. Morunt’s portion of the office. He was sitting at his desk, reading something, and so she coughed politely to get his attention.

“Pendt, a pleasure,” he said. “Please, sit.”

“I’m not here for a medical reason,” Pendt said. “If you have important work to do, I can come back.”

“No, it’s all right,” Morunt said. “I have nothing pressing for a couple of hours, and some conversation would be welcome.”

Pendt hoped he still felt that way after she started talking.

“Dr. Morunt, I know this is a difficult time for a lot of us, and I hate to add pressure to you.” Pendt began as diplomatically as she could. “But if you can, if you’re able, I need to ask you some questions about your sister.”

Morunt stilled in his chair, his face growing several shades paler.

“Foreman Channing has raised concerns about my family’s ship,” Pendt continued. “And since that would impact my safety and the safety of the station, I was hoping you might be able to help. I know it’s not a subject you are comfortable with, and I understand if you kick me out of your office, but please understand: You are the only person who might be able to help me with this. I wouldn’t put you in this position if it wasn’t important.”

Morunt said nothing for a few moments, but he was nodding while he turned her words over in his thoughts.

“All right, Pendt,” he said. “I will tell you what I can. I don’t know very much.”

“Thank you,” Pendt said. She leaned back in the chair and considered her words carefully. It was probably best to be direct. “How did your sister come to be on the Harland?”

Morunt closed his eyes to the memories. A small smile curled his lips, and Pendt was glad that not all of his recollections were bad ones.

“She was a genius, our Sylvie,” he said. “She was the youngest, and my father didn’t want her. We were born on Katla, though, so it wasn’t much of a strain on him to make sure she was educated. If we’d lived anywhere else, things might have been different.”

He paused and took a deep breath.

“Sylvie started following us along to our medical classes when she was about ten,” he continued. “Her connection to the æther was about the same as ours, but she had a gift for healing. Eventually the instructors just . . . accepted her into the class. She graduated when she was seventeen.”

Pendt tried to imagine the Morunt she knew as a seventeen-year-old prodigy, and it was essentially impossible. Whatever spirit she’d had as a child, the Harland had killed off.

“Then the Harland came into Katla Station,” Morunt said.

“What?” Pendt said. “To Katla?”

“From what my father gathered, it was a very special trip,” Morunt said. “They were dropping off something too valuable to trust to another courier. I think that was what drew my father’s attention. He always had an eye for opportunities.

“Anyway,” he pressed on. “My father spoke to the captain, your grandfather, I believe, and the next thing we knew, Sylvie was dragged out of our quarters and through the Harland’s loading bay. Father didn’t let her take anything with her, said she wouldn’t need it in space. The last I saw my sister, she was screaming against the seal of a Katla airlock. My father had already turned away.”

Morunt closed his eyes and two tears ran down his cheeks.

“We couldn’t stay with our father after that,” he said. “He wanted three sons, and instead he got nothing. After Sylvie left, he could afford a nicer place for us to live, but we all refused. We knew where that money had come from. My two brothers headed towards Hoy, and I came here. It was a foolish hope, but I knew that if I ever saw Sylvie again, it would be at Brannick Station.”

“I don’t think it’s foolish to hope,” Pendt said.

“Maybe,” Morunt said. “But if my sister ever comes back here, it’ll mean she’s bringing your family with her, and that’s not going to be good for you.”

“Your father sold Dr. Morunt to my family.” Pendt had to say the words out loud to make it real.

“Yes,” he said. “Somehow, he knew that they were buying.”

The pieces in Pendt’s head began to circle in some semblance of order, the horror of it dawning full.

“It wasn’t just your sister they trafficked,” Pendt said. “I knew they traded in embryos. It’s how all my cousins and siblings and me