for essentials as I squinted against the early-afternoon sunlight, both bothered by and enjoying the rare-for-me sensations of planet-dwelling life.
Big Guy jumped down next to me while I rummaged in my bag, my eyes watering and my skin already feeling baked. I knew from experience that the impression of being shoved into a big, bright oven would pass. Objectively, Albion 5 wasn’t that hot. It was reputed to have a pleasant climate overall, and I’d seen forests and an intriguing large body of water as we’d dropped down from the Dark. It was simply that I’d been a space rat for so long that being on the ground again took some getting used to.
We made occasional stops, usually in big cities, and there was always an adjustment period to get used to the inevitable variances from one place to another. I didn’t long for a planet home, but I did enjoy coming down. Being on the ground reminded me of my mother.
“You got everything you need?” Jax asked.
I nodded, zipping up my pack again on the bottle of water, snacks, a sweater, a few implements for basic hygiene, a fold-up multitool that looked harmless enough but actually contained a very sharp knife, and some universal currency. Everything I needed in case I couldn’t come home tonight.
There wasn’t anything conspicuous about me now that I’d ditched my all-gray, full-length flight suit for more typical civilian clothing. My fitted black pants, ankle boots, and pale-yellow tank top were more weather-appropriate anyway. I figured I’d be fine, despite the Dark Watch’s chilling propensity to arrest people for little or no reason.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Jax asked, crouching in the sawed-open doorway. He rubbed the back of his neck in that way he had when he was torn about something.
“No, thanks,” I answered, meaning it. I was competent in any huge galactic city full of tech and crawling with anonymous faces. It was anywhere natural that freaked me out. “Just work on whatever’s wrong with those electrical circuits, like we said—especially anything leading to the bridge. And guard the ship,” I added.
Jax nodded. He never argued with that last part. It wasn’t so much the ship he’d worry about if he left it unprotected by either me or him; it was the people on it, people he thought of as his own. It left deep, invisible scars when you came back from a battle that had really only been a diversion to find your home burned and your family incinerated inside it. Wife. Kids. Everyone and everything—gone. There had been nothing left, except for a trap. That was when they’d taken Jax and locked him up.
Huge, scarred, been-to-the-other-side-and-back-of-just-about-everything—that was Jax. He wasn’t paranoid. He was vigilant with the people he loved.
“So, Big Guy…” I turned to the not-so-stranger who was more of a big beast of a man than even Jax. “You got a name?”
“I do.” He clapped me on the shoulder so hard I might have shrunk an inch or two. He squeezed, and my shoulder went numb. If it hadn’t been for his friendly smile, I’d have thought he was trying to break my bones. “It’s See-You-Around.”
With that, he sauntered toward the elevator tube that would take him down the many levels of the massive Squirrel Tree to the streets of Albion City.
I stared after him without a blink. A moment later, he was gone.
Shit. A man full of my secrets had just walked away, and short of gunning him down, there wasn’t much I could do about it.
I glanced up at Jax, who now stood leaning against the doorframe. He shrugged, not seeming too worried.
“That was abrupt,” I said, my words making me realize that worry wasn’t my primary feeling, either. I was stung.
I’d gotten used to having Big Guy around. He was clearly no fan of the Dark Watch, and I’d been about to offer him a spot on our crew. He’d stuck with us when the going got more than tough, and that meant something to me. Truly scary and adversarial situations were the sieve through which real friendships were formed, where the watery and weak washed through and away and those left standing beside you were the solid units a person could count on for life.
Or in Big Guy’s case, for a few harrowing days.
“He was weird,” Fiona announced from alongside Jax in the doorway, shoulder to shoulder. Well, more like head to triceps. Fiona was a foot shorter.