but she didn’t deny the accusation. When I continued to stare at her, waiting, she sighed and went to her sled. She pulled off various bags and boxes until the top of a perforated box appeared.
“It’s okay, Imma,” she said. “Open up.”
The click of a lock, then the top of the box swung open. A young boy of four or five with straight black hair and huge, dark eyes peeped over the top of the box. He had on a mask identical to the ones Veronica had procured for us.
On seeing Veronica, he smiled and reached for her. “Momma!” he cried. “I was very quiet for Imma, just like I promised. Wasn’t I, Imma?”
An older woman in a mask stood stiffly and looked around with suspicion. She put herself between a scowling Loch and the kid in an unconscious gesture of protection. “You were very good, baba,” she said.
The little boy beamed. “See, Momma?”
Veronica blinked away tears and reached for her son. “Yes, pumpkin, you were very good. I’ll get your surprise in a little while, okay? We have to unpack first, and I have some friends for you to meet.”
Veronica helped Imma out of the box then led the little boy over to me. I holstered my gun before they reached me. Veronica said, “Lin, this is Lady Ada.”
Lin swept into a respectable bow for a youngster and the suspicion growing in my mind solidified. Veronica and I would be having a very long discussion once the kiddo was asleep.
But the kid wasn’t at fault, so I dropped into my most formal curtsy. It looked a little ridiculous in pants, but Lin smiled shyly at me. I inclined my head. “Lord Lin, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
He giggled and pressed against Veronica’s leg. She turned him toward Loch. “That is Mr. Loch.” Lin slipped from her grasp and darted over to the larger man. Veronica’s jaw clenched but she didn’t call him back. Lin held out his tiny hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Loch,” he said, carefully mimicking my earlier words.
Loch uncrossed his arms and shook Lin’s hand. “Nice to meet you, too, squirt.”
“Will I grow up big as you?” Lin asked in awe.
“You might. If you eat your vegetables and listen to your mother.”
Lin raced back to Veronica. “Can we have vegetables for dinner?”
She smiled and ruffled his hair. “We can have whatever you want, pumpkin. But I don’t want you to bother Mr. Loch, okay? He’s very busy.”
Lin’s face fell. He kicked a toe at the floor. “Yes, Momma.”
Now that I knew Veronica wasn’t planning a mutiny, I needed to get us off-planet stat. “I’ll leave you to unpack and settle in. I’m going to get us out of here before Richard regroups.”
Loch followed me to the flight deck. “The kid is going to be a problem.”
“I know,” I said.
“But you’re not leaving them.”
“No,” I said.
“Didn’t figure you would,” Loch said. “Wouldn’t let you, anyway,” he muttered.
A quick glance confirmed the foxy had finally run its course. Loch wavered on his feet. I pulled him over to an empty chair and he slid bonelessly into it. I needed to grab a med scanner to make sure he didn’t have any hidden injuries, but it would have to wait until I’d plotted our course.
I dropped into the captain’s chair and pulled up the navigation control. The FTL drive was fully charged and would be able to jump as soon as we cleared the atmosphere. Now for the moment of truth—how far could we go?
I pulled up a list of reachable locations. The list included the space station I’d started at, the closest gate, and a few planets up to three thousand light-years away. This ship definitely had House internals, and good ones at that. Richard would be foaming at the mouth to get it back.
The gate was the obvious choice. I had no doubt Richard had an array of tracking devices attached to this ship, and I’d never find them all. But if I could get far enough away, the tracking beacons would take so long to reach him that they would essentially become useless.
I plotted a course to Earth, just to see how long the computer thought we’d have to wait at the gate while the FTL drive reset. I frowned at the estimate and changed the destination. But no matter how many different locations I tried, the estimated wait time was the same: one hour. I plotted a course with