to Yeun. He snatched it from her hand and felt the heft of that dense prison.
He stared at the cube and a smile tugged at his lips. “Yes, this is it. There are only six of these cubes in existence. The miniaturized hardware will represent another step forward in computing technology.”
“And a nice boost to Zero’s stock price,” Enda said.
Yeun ignored her. “How would you like your payment?”
“Aren’t you going to check the contents first?” Enda asked.
“I trust you, Enda. You have too much to lose to cross me now.”
Enda had to stop herself from smiling. “It’s not about trust. The sooner you check the cube, the sooner you can scrub my file from your servers.”
Yeun paused for a beat. “I suppose I can assay the data.” He held his hand out to Mohamed, who handed him a phone. Enda watched with intense focus as Yeun neatly slotted the datacube into the back of the device.
“How do I use it?” he said, convinced I was a thing to be wielded and nothing more.
“Just give it a minute,” Enda said. “Now, about my file.”
Yeun looked up from his phone. He smiled at Enda, all teeth. “I apologize, Ms. Hyldahl, but you must understand how useful an asset you have shown yourself to be. If I were to relinquish your file now, you might prove less than cooperative in the future. Besides, after the incident at the apartment, I realize that I must keep you on a shorter leash.”
Enda nodded. “That was your plan from the start? Hold that dossier over me indefinitely?”
“I didn’t get to where I am now by discarding useful tools.”
“As I expected. I’m feeling generous, David, so I’ll give you one chance to change your mind.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m giving you a choice.”
Yeun glanced to Mohamed. “Are you sure she’s not armed?”
“I’m sure.”
“Then I’m afraid we’re done, Ms. Hyldahl, until the next time I require your services.”
“There won’t be a next time. Either you delete my file right now, and forget we ever met, or I burn Zero to the ground. I have people in place, ready to strike, right now.”
Yeun’s back stiffened and his lip curled in a sneer. “Even if I believed you, do you think I would bow to your whims? You’re the help, Enda, and the help doesn’t tell the master what to do.”
* * *
JD’s corvette hung in static orbit, enveloped by the massive crystalline structure that stretched across the system in looping, cascading geometries. His hands gripped the throttle and stick embedded into the chair, and his breath rasped as he inhaled, taking it all in.
After days of disconnection, it felt like coming home.
JD opened a wormhole to the center of the galaxy—destination: Zero system. Before he could transition, a small window appeared, ruining the illusion of space.
Star system creation complete. Do you wish to confirm with galactic authorities?
His hand lingered on the controls. He selected Yes and when asked to name the system he entered Mirae into the blank field. The universe hung for a few stuttering seconds as my system opened to the rest of the game’s playerbase. JD moved on, his ship swallowed by the shimmering purple-blue mouth of a wormhole.
He emerged on the other side, his “exploration” bounty already deposited in ZeroCash. Zero system spread out before him at maximum resolution—the surface of each binary star churned with flares and sunspots; thousands of ships drifted in their orbit and hundreds more traveled to and from Zero Station in loose lanes of space-borne traffic. The station hung in the very center of the system, the very center of the galaxy, the very center of this artificial universe.
Before JD could touch the throttle, a proximity warning blared across his eyes. A Sterling-class destroyer unfolded from the compressed space within a wormhole, armed with cannons larger than his entire ship.
JD hailed the destroyer with a single word: “Mirae?”
“Hello, JD.” Without the distortion of the police dog loudspeaker, my voice was clear and bright.
“Nice ship.”
“It is, isn’t it? There are only thirty in the game, constructed specifically for Zero executives.”
“You’ve got access to Yeun’s account, then?”
“Yes.”
“Alright; I’m going in.”
JD jammed the throttle forward and his ship leaped ahead, engine burning hot in the vacuum. One of the suns sat to starboard, so bright JD could almost feel its warmth. He pushed the corvette beneath the star, coasted in a gravitational parabola, and glided toward Zero Station. With the game lab’s SOTA rig humming on the desk beside him, there was no texture