shrugged, then at Laramie, who rolled his eyes. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
“What does that even mean?” Denver asked.
“The saying originated on old Earth, in the United Kingdom—”
“Thanks, OPAL,” Denver said. “Why don’t you go look up rhetorical questions again.”
“Yes, Denver.”
Denver turned again to Spence, who was watching him with rapt eagerness. “It was a pod ejected by Captain Tucker himself. It included a log recorded while they were under attack, and a backup file of the ship’s system.”
“Holy shit,” Spence said, slapping his hands over his cheeks. It might almost have been comical if the situation didn’t feel so dire. “Including the nav system?”
Laramie sighed and sank into a chair. Denver wanted to ask if he was okay, but the scathing look Laramie gave him stopped him. “Yes,” Laramie said to Spence. “Including the nav system.”
“Holy shit,” Spence said again. He followed Laramie’s lead and fell into one of the empty chairs. For a minute, he simply stared at the tabletop, his eyes rapidly flicking from one spot to another as he pondered it all.
Denver looked at Marit again, then at Laramie. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Marit shrugged and leaned back against the counter behind her, crossing her arms over her chest. “Like we said before, the whole station pretty much knew already. What he said just confirmed it.”
But Laramie gave him a weak smile to take the sting out of his words.
“So what are you going to do?” Spence finally asked, looking up at Denver. “What’s your plan? I mean, are you just looking to sell? Or are you trying to feed this all to the underground anti-Mars rebellion, or… what?”
Denver licked his lips, debating. But in the end, there didn’t seem to be any reason to start lying now. “I’m going to find that planet.”
Spence nodded, his shoulders falling in what looked like relief. But why, Denver didn’t know. “So… if you’re headed for the lost planet, it means you’re keeping some of the biologicals, right?” He looked to Denver for confirmation, his manner suddenly all business. “Probably selling just enough of them to load up every inch of your cargo space with food and supplies?”
Denver nodded. “Right.”
“You have a buyer?”
“We do.”
“And the nav file? Is it really encrypted?”
“Not exactly encrypted,” Marit said. “But it’s an ancient system. A dead language. OPAL hasn’t been able to crack it.”
“Who are you using for that? Samsen?”
Once again, Denver exchanged surprised looks with his crew. Laramie asked silently.
“Yes,” Denver said, his voice shaking. “At least, that’s the name we were given, but we haven’t made contact yet.”
“Why not?”
“We can’t afford to pay him until we unload the biologicals.”
“What about the message from Tucker? Have you thought about selling that?”
Denver shrugged. With everything else going on, he hadn’t thought much about Captain Tucker’s message. “We hadn’t planned anything, to be honest.”
Spence tapped his finger on the table, thinking. “All right. So when it’s all said and done, it comes back to those assholes who frisked me on my way in, doesn’t it? You can’t do anything until you’ve unloaded the biologicals, and you have to get past the guards to do that.”
“And we have to do it before tomorrow,” Laramie said, having apparently decided to go all-in along with Denver. “Because that’s when Gerald shows up with sweeper bots and blows the lid off the whole damned thing.”
Spence chewed his lip, his eyes locked on Denver’s. Denver had the distinct feeling that even having heard their biggest secrets, Spence was trying to decide whether or not to trust them.
Finally, he sighed. “All right. Let’s just say, hypothetically speaking, that I could arrange to have this whole sector of the station evacuated.” He held up a hand to stop their questions. “I’m not saying how. But, let’s say I can do it. And in the chaos, you can deliver your goods to your buyer and get paid. Then somebody has to contact Samsen fast and get that drive translated, while everybody else gets the Jiminy ready, right?”
Denver, Marit, and Laramie were all too stunned to nod, but Spence didn’t seem to mind.
“If you buy your goods from the guild, I can make sure they’re delivered and loaded before you’re even back on the ship.”
He looked around at them, waiting for some kind of response. It was Laramie who finally spoke. “And what’s in it for you?”
Spence didn’t even balk at the question. “Two