CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Family
The kids were in a pretty good mood, except for Asher, and I thought his scowl might be on his face permanently for the next two years. Their presence helped me to not think about the ticking machine keeping my husband alive.
“Diana.” Iris played with my hair. “Where is Mommy?”
That was a very good question, and one I wished I knew the answer to. Where were my mother, father, and uncles? Were they okay? Was it possibly to worry myself to death?
I kissed her cheek. “They are off making us safer. Then they will come back, and we’ll all be together.”
The kids had been told very little about the explosion, and I was just as happy for it. I remembered what it was like to live under the floors on the space station for days while we battled Sandler attacks. I didn’t think my brothers and sisters had quite the same amount of experience with it. Until recently, we’d enjoyed a number of years without anyone boarding the station to attack us.
They’d been relocated before the most recent string of problems. “Who wants to play a game?” I got to my feet, making eye contact with Judge. He’d been quiet but attentive to the children. I was glad for his company, although he might not feel the same after what I was about to do. “It’s called tickle Judge. Who wants to go first?”
Asher rolled his eyes, but the others ran at Judge. He never got to stand before a pile of my brothers and sisters landed on top of him. His laugh made me smile. He wasn’t going to be mad … I didn’t think.
My comm dinged, and I stared down at it. Sterling wanted to know if I wanted him to come with me to talk to the other people here about why they were us. I smiled at the message. He wasn’t really asking. This was Sterling being polite. He was coming, and he was doing me the favor of pretending to ask. If I said no, he’d still show up there.
I typed back a “sure” and wondered when they’d gotten the comms working. Just yesterday they hadn’t been. Internally I shrugged. Maybe the explosion had pushed the set up forward.
I typed back that I’d be there soon and that I would appreciate his company. Judge looked up from where he lay on the floor covered in my brothers and sisters. “What’s going on?”
“Sterling wants to come with me to talk to everyone.”
He lifted his head. “Not surprised. I’m going to stay here. I’m going to teach the kids how to reprogram their devices to get better games on them.”
At least he was being honest about it. I wouldn’t have to wonder later where they’d gotten the games I hadn’t approved for them. “Nothing too bad, please. Use your sense. If it seems too risqué, say no.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” There was a twinkle in his eye. “Go make us safer. Figure out the hard stuff. I am going to play with my in-laws here.”
It was weird to think of the little ones as in-laws, but sure enough, that was what they were. I stepped out of the tent to find Sterling walking toward me. I should have known that he wouldn’t let me travel even between the tents by myself.
He scooped me into his arms. “What you did before with Warren, that was brave. I wanted to tell you. Takes a lot to walk into a room and face a person like that. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you never wanted to see him at all.”
“I’m not a coward. I occasionally freak out but—”
He laughed, before he patted my rear end.
I squealed at the unexpected caress of my butt in public. “Sterling, what are you doing?”
“Distracting you. Cash would sincerely be very unhappy to think of you in utter agony until he opens his eyes.” He patted my ass one more time. “I made you laugh. I feel I accomplished something.”
After he set me down, he added, “Let’s go find out why these people are putting their lives on the line.”
In the end, I must have heard the same story over and over again. Garrison Sandler had so abused his power over his people that I could almost not believe their stories. Except that I could. Death, rape, destruction … they were all commonplace. In Sandler’s desire to take over the universe, he didn’t care whom he hurt.
I thought about his sons, now calling themselves McQueens to disassociate from him and hide when needed, and how he’d systematically tried to destroy each of them. Why should he treat the universe any differently?
And yet he was very charismatic. People like Warren were happy to live and die for him. I was deeply moved by the idea that there were others as devoted to helping us as they were to Sandler.
Sterling sat down next to me outside on a bench. It was cold but less so than earlier. How could it be warmer at night than during the day?
This planet was strange.
“Anyone you don’t like?”
I cleared my throat. “I like all of them. I don’t think I could send any of them to die.”
He raised his eyebrows at this. “If your mom doesn’t come back, it might fall to you.”
I hadn’t considered that possibility. I shivered at the thought. “I’m not that kind of leader. I’d have to rely on you, and I wouldn’t ask that of you. You left that life. Hell, doing this is probably too much to ask.” I needed twelve hours of sleep. I wouldn’t get it even if I tried. Thoughts of Cash would rouse me. But still …
“Hey you two,” Damian called out from behind us. “Grab Judge and come on. Cash is coming out of it. He’s going to make it.”
I cried out, my knees threatening to give. Sterling grabbed me from behind. This was the best news ever.
Cash was in and out of it for a while. He didn’t seem to be coherent yet, which an exhausted Lewis told me was completely normal. Ari returned and sent Lewis back to his tent to go to bed. Judge practically carried him there. Ari was seeing things, but he was better than the couldn’t-see-anything-through-his-blurred-vision Lewis.
Ari took himself out to clean up what he could from the destroyed med bay with a promise to keep checking back in. Sterling and Damian both found things to do. I pretended I didn’t notice they were giving me alone time with Cash.
I stroked some of his hair out of his face, and he opened his eyes a slit. His voice sounded rough when he spoke. “Hey, gorgeous. Guess I’m not dead.”
I kissed his cheek. “You’re not allowed to die.”
“You’d be okay if I did. The guys would take care of you.”
“Hey.” My voice rose, and I forced myself to lower it. He was half asleep and had nearly died. I wasn’t going to yell at him, even if he did make me really upset with that statement. “I need you. I love you. If you died, I’d never be okay.”
He raised a shaky hand and stroked the side of my face. “So beautiful.”
“Sleep and get better, Cash. I love you.”
I was so glad I got to say it again.
The next days passed slowly. Cash went back into the med machine three times, but that was to be expected. He wasn’t going to die, and that was key. He’d been moved back to his tent so he could sleep in a real bed and rest for a bit.
Lewis plugged some information into his tablet. I walked over to him and threw my arms around his waist. “I love you.”
He smiled. “It was touch and go there.”
“You saving Cash is not why I love you. I would have loved you even if he hadn’t made it. I’m beyond glad you did save him. But my love for you is not contingent on you performing miracles.”
He turned to me, kissing me straight on the mouth. “Thanks. I love him too. He’s my brother. I’m not losing any of us.”
Lewis smelled clean and felt warm. “What am I going to do about my family? They’re still missing.”
“We haven’t had a lot of time to worry about them, have we? A million and one problems. What do you want to do?”
I kissed his chin. “I want to go find them.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. When Cash is better, and that should be soon, we’ll get on Artemis, and we won’t come back without them.”
I liked how he thought.
I stroked Cash’s back with my index finger. He lay shirtless on his stomach on top of the covers. The machine had healed his skin to the point where I couldn’t see any scars on him at all. He gave a low moan to my ministrations. “I’m going to get blown up all the time. It’s worth it to have so much attention from you.”
“You stopped my heart from beating, Cash, and you’re making jokes.” I shook my head before I bent over to kiss him gently. “Don’t do that again.”
“Okay.” He rolled over and winked at me. “I’ll do my best not to get blown up again. I’m not usually the one on this side of the conversation.”
“That’s right.” I scooted next to him so we could cuddle. “You’re usually the one telling this to me.”
He sighed, his eyes slightly closing. Cash wasn’t entirely healed. We had to leave to go find my family, and he was coming with us, but I suspected he’d make most of the trip asleep. I kissed him lightly, and his arms came around me.
With his lids still not lifted, he spoke to me. “You have no idea how much I want you right now. If I had an ounce of energy …”
“You’re not dead. You’re safe with me. Don’t worry about it. Soon enough, all will be well.”
I would somehow get things under control for Cash, for all of them. I would find a way for all of us to have a life.
“Asher.” I caught my brother’s attention. He was doing some homework at one of the tables in his living space.
He raised his head and grinned at me. “Diana.” My brother paused. “Are we just saying each other’s names?”
I rolled my eyes. “Smart ass.”
He grinned. “I’m going to tell our family you cursed at me. Except, of course, they’re not here. So … I guess you get to use any words you want.”
I sunk into a chair next to him. “That’s what I’m here to speak to you about.”
His face fell, and he visibly paled. “Di, are they dead? Are you here to tell me they’re gone?”
“No.” I grabbed his hands. “I have as much information as you do. I’m sorry I made you think that.” Or maybe I hadn’t, maybe my little brother had finally reached the point in his life where he had the same worries as the adults around him. “We have to go find them. I think something has happened. I mean, the reality is that the dads would destroy the universe before they let anything happen to mom. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t use some assistance.”
He nodded, suddenly looking so much like his father my heart panged. Cooper was a great help in a crisis. “What do you need?”
“I’m not leaving you here or any of our siblings. We’re all getting on Artemis. I’m going to have Jackson and some of the others shut down this place temporarily. Only leave a skeleton crew here to keep things running. If the family is”—I searched for the right words— “unable to run things, then we need to let someone other than me take over.”
He leaned forward. “Why? Why someone other than you? You’re good at this.”
“Cash got blown up on my watch.” I held up my hand. “I’m only good at this because Mom set it in motion and I’m using her system. I don’t want to do this. I’m not a natural leader. We’re going to get them, and they’re going to go back to doing this. Screw Mars Station. Seriously.”
His face scrunched up. “That’s home.”
I stared at him. He was right. It was his home. But it wasn’t mine anymore …
“I’m going to need you to take care of the kids on the ship when I can’t. I’m not bringing the caretakers with us. Too dangerous. It’s insane I’m bringing the siblings. But I was raised on dangerous ships. A couple of months might be good for them.”
He stood. “You can count on me.”
I knew I could.
Artemis buzzed with activity. We headed toward Mars Station, and it was going to take some time since we wanted to do it unnoticed. I wished we could be faster—every day we were out of contact with my family made the fear creeping up my spine travel faster. We could only do what we could do.
Ari and Jackson had stayed behind with ten others to keep the place alive. We were soon going to need a better description than “Location Three” for where we were. We needed a name. Maybe we should vote …
“Hey,” Lewis pulled me into his lab, shutting the door behind him. “Are you okay?”
I tilted my head to the side. “Any reason I wouldn’t be?” I was on a spaceship, and I never felt more at home than in space. I’d only gotten used to my land legs again. Real gravity gave me nausea. “Something wrong?”
He put his hands on his hips. “I’m worried about leaving Ari.”
I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it either, and when Paloma found out about it, whenever I saw her again, she was going to be even more upset I’d left him. Still, I didn’t think bringing him along was the smartest thing. Ari needed stability of environment.
“There wasn’t a thing you could do for him. He has to handle the hallucinations on his own. He’d rather do it unwatched anyway.”
Lewis ran his hands through his hair. “I know, Doll. I just hate it. He’s my patient, and I haven’t made him well yet.”
I wrapped my arms around him. “You have the biggest heart of anyone I know.”
“I love you.” He kissed my cheek. I smiled. Had Lewis dragged me in here for a fast …?
The comm on my tablet beeped. “I need you, Sweet Baby.” Sterling, he piloted the ship, and his calling me had to take precedence over anything that might be more pleasurable than looking at star maps.
“On my way.”
Lewis pulled me in for a long kiss. “Go. Come back later.”
“Always.” I breathed him in. “Be good.”
He winked at me. “Maybe.”
Artemis was so familiar; flying on her was like coming home. I started at the thought. Asher had said Mars was his home, and I’d not felt that way. Was that because Artemis was mine? I’d lived on her a long time as a child, spent a tremendous amount of time alone on her as a grown up, and now I was back on her again with my guys. Was this my home? When it came down to it, had I ever really been as happy anywhere as I was on Artemis?
Was it location or was it really the people who mattered?
I rubbed my head. Did it matter? We were trying to find my family who might be dead. I didn’t have time to obsess over details that wouldn’t change in any scenario.
I made my way to Sterling, who stood over some readings. He didn’t turn, but the set of his shoulders told me he was tense.
“What’s going on?” I walked over to him and let him draw me against him. “I’m not getting a happy vibe in here right now.”
Sterling shook his head. “I’m getting readings I shouldn’t see.”
“What do you mean?”
He pointed at his tablet. “Do you remember when we first got over here, I asked you to explain some readings from the black hole? It was like something was coming through the hole, but there was nothing coming through it?”
“Ah.” I tried to recall. A lot had happened since then. “I’m sorry. I don’t even vaguely recall it.”
Sterling shrugged. “Not to worry. It was a very brief moment. Here’s the thing. There are readings coming through the hole. Something is coming through, and I can’t see any of it on the screen. So I pressed harder, looking deeper. I scanned the hole itself, as far as my equipment would let me.”
Of course he had. Sterling would never move on without knowing what he was dealing with. “What did you find?”
“Evander.”
I stopped, unable to breathe for a second. Evander Corporation was the entity on the other side of the black hole that had been running Orion station when I stumbled on it. The guys had been stationed there, working on the zombie virus. Orion tech had taken them from me, and I’d assumed I’d never see them again.
I tried to swallow. “How?”
“I don’t know. The fact that they got here—to this time segment—it can’t be by mistake. They must have chased us. One ship I could fathom, but I’m reading hundreds of them. There’s no way the five of us are that important. I suppose we were profitable, but for this kind of venture? They’re losing money. No way do they want us back that badly.”
I touched the back of his neck. “Sterling, could they zap you back? One second you’re here, the next you’re—”
He cut me off with a fast kiss to my mouth. “No, Sweet Baby. Lewis removed them. See? Bigger scar. No more chips in us.”
All right, I might be able to breathe. “What is going on here?”
“I think Evander decided to take over this side of the galaxy. They’re here on ships we can’t see. But make no mistake, they’re here.” He pointed at the screen. “They’re mostly surrounding Mars Station.”
Now that made this all even more complicated. “Do you think they’re in cahoots with the Sandler Cartel?”
“Let’s get the others. I could speculate, but Damian is better versed in the workings of Evander than I am.”
Ten minutes later, with my siblings safely doing homework on the other side of the ship, we sat around the round table in the conference room and stared at each other, equal parts shock and confusion on all of our faces.
“Can I safely say no one saw this coming?” I drummed my fingers on the table.
“Not in a million years.” Damian exhaled loudly. “Only a very specific set of circumstances could have moved them in this direction. And Sterling is right. It’s not about us. We were important, but not this important. I think they somehow lost territory on the other side and saw no advancement except through the hole. Either that or the zombie situation is so bad there they see the best course of action is to let the zombies die off, take over here, and go back there after an acceptable amount of time has let the zombies die off.”
Judge rubbed his eyes. “And they got through to this time stream, how?”
“I don’t have the slightest idea.” Lewis shook his head. “And if you don’t know, Judge, I don’t know who would.”
“Evander. Sandler. All of them circling Mars Station while my family remains missing. Not to mention people trying to blow us up.” My head hurt. “What in the universe is going on?”
Cash touched my hand, gently. “I’m okay.”
“Thank the universe.”
A ding sounded on Sterling’s tablet. “Someone is pinging us. They want to talk.”
“Who is it?” I stood. If we were going to battle, I had to secure the kids.
He slid his tablet to me. “Looks like Nolan.”
I stared down at the device like a foreign object. He was right. The person on the other end identified like my uncle. “Could be a trap.”
Sterling’s face lit up. “That’s my girl, thinking about safety.”
Lewis leaned next to me. “Ask him something only you and he would know. If he answers correctly, then it’s him.”
Something only Nolan and I would know? He wasn’t particularly chatty as far as our family went. I loved him like the big, giant could-be-lethal teddy bear he was. He didn’t tolerate fools and liars. No one was more loyal than he was.
I typed into the pad. If you are who you say you are, then tell me about the trip to Mars.
The first time I’d gone to Mars had been awful. There wasn’t much to do on the red planet except work the mines and trade illegal goods. Mars Station, in orbit above it, was much more interesting. Still, for security’s sake Nolan used to make trips down there to have meetings with illegal types he didn’t want on the station but wanted to do business with for things we needed. Once I stowed away onto his vessel, thinking I could look around on Mars. It had taken him five minutes to find me. But then he’d let me stay.
You were in so much trouble, young lady.
I grinned. “It’s him.”
Are you all okay? Before we went any further, I had to know.
It took a moment to ping back, and the space between felt like a millennium. We’re a little beat up but all okay. Give the tablet to Sterling.
I could think again, although the room felt a bit like it had tilted on its axis. I did as he asked. Maybe we’d all be okay, even though there were hidden ships flying through space. Maybe we wouldn’t all be killed by Sandler.
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
My parents were hidden on the third fake moon in Orion’s belt. I’d been told they’d started building the fake ones as penitentiary places, each one taking on a different kind of prisoner. But these days they were abandoned, floating mechanical nightmares. Nolan, in particular, hated them since he’d spent time on a prison planet and never wanted to go back to one.
I supposed desperate measures called for desperate decisions. They were alive. They knew all about the hidden ships because they’d had a battle with one before having a second battle with Sandler. There was no way to get back to Mars Station now.
We were going to get them and get going.
Standing in the control room, I was getting ready to land Artemis. Sterling was going out onto the moon to collect my family. Damian would accompany them, and unlike the rescue of Ari, no one saw any reason for me to go along.
I was just as happy. I’d really only be in the way.
Judge stood behind me, watching the readings on the gauges. Artemis was running a little bit hot. He wanted to change out some wiring when we got back to our third location. For now, she’d make it.
A face appeared on the screen in front of me, and I darted backwards like the person was in the room. I screamed, and Judge pulled me against him.
“Diana Mallory, I presume.”
“I …” I had no idea who this person was and how they had hacked their way into my ship’s comm system.
“Canyon?”
I turned to Judge, who stared wide-eyed at the screen. “You know him?”
“Man.” Judge laughed. “You’re the last person I ever thought to see again.”
“We are all in big trouble.” Canyon eyed me. He had a device attached to his eye, something mechanical I didn’t recognize, and a severe expression to go with it.
I found my voice, a feat I was proud of. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on?”