you understand. Gru’s loss could be my gain, if we can both be sensible people.”
Denver could be sensible, so sensible. But they had other hurdles. “There’s an issue with transport right now.”
“I know. Security’s on your ass.”
“They haven’t found anything.”
“But they will, won’t they?” Doc asked shrewdly. “I’m not interested in tangling with the governor’s men, not for any reason. If this can’t be done quietly, then I won’t do it at all. You’ll have to figure out transport on your own. That’s nonnegotiable.” His tone was apologetic but firm. It was the first time Denver had ever heard anything other than pure business in the man’s voice, though. “If you can find a way around your guards, then I’ll take whatever you have.”
It was part of a solution. Not the part that they needed most, but it was more than Denver had expected. “Fine. I’ll be in touch with you once we’re out of public scrutiny.”
“Good.” Doc offered a rare smile. “Here.” He passed a familiar pressurized bottle over to Denver. “As a token of good faith.”
That, more than anything, convinced Denver that Doc wasn’t just interested, he was downright desperate for biologicals. He never gave away anything for free, especially not Laramie’s expensive medicine. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure. I hope you can come through.”
Me too.
A few hours later, the phrase “well and truly fucked” was once again making the rounds at the tiny kitchen table on board the Jiminy. There were just too many hurdles to clear. Somehow, they needed to get their biologicals past the guards and into Doc’s hands. They needed the money from Doc in order to buy enough food and supplies to get them all the way to some distant mythical planet, all without attracting unwanted attention from Titan X officials.
And they still needed to get the damn nav file translated.
Denver, Laramie, and Marit spent the evening brainstorming ideas while finishing off the last few drops of their moonshine. They’d come up with some outrageous possibilities—extravagant bribes to the guards, shooting their way clear of Titan X, even a full-on grassroots revolution of the masses against the Titan X bureaucracy and the entire Mars government—but by midnight, they hadn’t managed to come up with a single realistic possibility.
“Forget the Legacy and the planet,” Laramie said at last. “It’s a pipe dream. At this point, I’d settle for a halfway decent payoff and another bottle of booze.”
Denver didn’t need to tell his brother that he’d never give up on the one thing that promised Laramie a normal life. They didn’t need to have that argument again. Besides, Denver’s head was spinning, partly from the moonshine, partly from lack of sleep. And although Laramie would never admit it, Denver could tell by looking at him he was exhausted. The bit of rest he’d had while Denver was dealing with Doc hadn’t been enough. Denver was about to suggest they call it a night and tackle the problem again in the morning when a buzzer sounded, indicating somebody was at the cargo bay door.
“Who the hell could that be?” Denver asked, too tired to be truly alarmed. “Gerald here with his scanners?”
But Laramie was already checking the view from the Jiminy’s exterior camera. “Nope. It’s your little boy toy from last night.” Denver’s irritation at the term “boy toy” was rivaled only by the deep sense of amusement he sensed from Laramie. “Guess he just couldn’t stay away. Go ahead and let him in, OPAL.”
Ideally, Denver would have gone to the cargo bay to greet Spence without an audience, but he was trapped on the wrong side of the way-too-cramped kitchen, with both Laramie and Marit smirkingly refusing to let him out, and it just didn’t take that long for anybody to walk the short distance to the kitchen, and so he was forced to greet Spence across the table, with both his brother and Marit looking on.
And oddly enough, Spence’s first words were, “You guys too, huh?”
Denver exchanged a glance with Laramie. Shockingly, Laramie didn’t seem to have a smart-assed answer to give him.
“Us guys too what?” Marit asked.
“Station security. They have such a bug up their ass today, what with all the rumors and everything. Those guys outside wouldn’t even let me in the bay without frisking me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and gave Denver a sheepish grin. “Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t try to bring you some Rave.”
Laramie scowled. “Never bring Denver Rave. I’ll frisk you myself if I think—”
“Wait!” Denver