had feelings for a human. A very important one. She’s related to the owner of Clone World. They were holding hands, and he hugged her.”
“That’s a death offense? Was he harassing her? Did she not like him back?”
“It was obvious their feelings were mutual. That was the problem. It’s one thing for a human working there to have consensual sex with a clone maybe once, but anything more is considered dangerous. It’s against the law there for a human and a clone to form emotional bonds to each other.”
He wanted to tell her that was the very human who’d helped them escape, but he’d already shared too much.
“Anyway, we’d keep watch to give them some stolen moments.”
“That was sweet of you.”
“Free desperately wanted to escape so he could be with her. He pulled in a friend of his who he trusted, to help plot our getaway. Figures worked with him, and they were as tight as brothers. He goes by Fig now. That still left us needing two more clones.”
“Why?”
“It’s better if you don’t know all the details…but suffice to say, we had to have six clones to make the plan work. We instantly thought of Ram. Months before, something happened with him that we were able to cover up. He owed us for saving his life.”
“Can I ask?”
“It’s not a good story.”
“I’d like to hear it anyway.”
He nodded and settled more comfortably in the pilot’s seat. “Ram was a maintenance worker. They’re highly skilled at fixing anything from mechanical engines to replacing a leaking pipe under a guest sink. He was called to one of the cottages because the trash compactor stopped functioning. He got there, but before he entered, he heard a woman sobbing and pleading to be let go. He overrode the lock with his access key and rushed inside. The human guest had scheduled a massage, and he had a female clone pinned on the floor. He was tearing at her clothing to sexually assault her. The man pulled a knife and said he’d slit her throat if Ram didn’t leave.”
Blade paused, watching Hailey’s face. She stared up at him in shock.
He sighed. “I told you it’s not a good story. Ram refused to leave, so the idiot released her and tried to kill him. Ram looks like you’d imagine someone with that title might. He tackled the human to take him down and ripped the knife out of his hand. Unfortunately, the human struck his head on a table on the way down. The masseuse ran to get help. It was Big and I who’d responded… Are you certain you want to hear the rest? You might not like me much afterward.”
“Tell me.”
“We staged it to look like an accident. The guest spilled oil from the massage table, slipped on it, and unfortunately hit his head. They would have killed Ram for defending another clone and for accidentally killing a human intent on stabbing him to death.”
He closed his mouth, waiting to see how she’d react, hoping she didn’t hate him. In his experience, humans tended to stick together.
“Good.”
He couldn’t help but frown. “That’s all you have to say?”
She nodded. “That man sounded like a horrible person. We get some of them on Prospect too, you know. We call it neighbor justice.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“You’ve told me some of your secrets about Clone World. So, I’ll share one of the biggest ones about Prospect. An off-worlder moved in with a local widow about eight years ago. He liked to beat her. I’m talking broken bones. She tried to have him arrested and demanded he move out. But he was a commander at the port, so port authority wouldn’t do anything. We’re just considered a bunch of nobodies on a crappy mining world. My parents and the others hid her from him, to keep her safe, but he sent out port guards to search for her. It’s a small place, so of course they eventually found her. He had her arrested and taken back to her house…where he beat her again.”
“She’s human?”
Hailey nodded. “Of course. We all are on Prospect. Anyway, we all realized there was no way to legally keep her safe from him. He was an authority figure, and he was using his position in the worst way.” She hesitated, suddenly unable to meet his eyes.
“What happened? I won’t judge.”
She nodded and met his gaze again. “They held a secret meeting. My parents let me attend, even though I was only sixteen at the