Chapter 31
They’d washed in the sea after sex, then found some airbeds and floated, while reminiscing about what had happened and where they were going next. It seemed simple to them. Ember wasn’t so certain.
“The starships out there. Salvage?” Baz had suggested. “We went past one just outside orbit above Omm also. Prime condition. Deserted. Spinning.”
But who could claim salvage without possibly being tainted by rumors of her involvement?
They needed a go-between.
“The money to be made is astronomical.” Again Baz had said that.
They’d bobbed on the aquamarine water, thought about it. They had days to think. Fish nibbled at her fingers.
“I have friends who will be willing to trade knowledge for money,” Baz added. Clearly he had a lot of friends into nefarious activities. “We give them the locations of ships and they will hand over a percentage.”
Done.
Except for the deer things.
None had broken legs. Fish had died but the deer had landed in water when the gravity came back on, or so she assumed,
A friend could be persuaded to transport them away...when they salvaged the world-sphere.
When.
“I can extend the life support long enough. A week enough?” Trailing her hand in the clear water, she’d said that.
Salvage would gift the three of them with a fresh start. Enough money to go where they wanted to go and do what they wanted to do.
The pseudo-night had fallen. It was cooler, dimmer, but not terribly so. To interrupt the cycles might confuse the deer, so she’d left it as it was.
She hoped they’d be content wherever this salvage operator sent them. He’d better be honest.
She must remember to tell him she was tracking the transport.
And that if he failed, bad things would happen.
She’d grown attached to the deer.
Nighttime, and she could never be happier than here, in the middle of a bed, under the stars...okay the fake stars, with her two males. Hoss was purring more than ever. Baz had her in his arms. One was laid over her. A little heavy but she’d take this any day over being alone and lonely.
Love. She had a family.
Ember smiled, and took a deep breath, feeling sleep coming.
Then Ig arrived, thumping onto her chest. She coughed and sat up, carefully shifting Baz’s arm.
Ig!
She’d wondered where he was.
The poor thing looked exhausted, droopy.
“Be back soon,” she signaled to the sleepy Baz when he opened an eye.
She carried Ig a few meters away, pleased that he was here and not lost. After all, she had sent him away. “We’re both alive. It’s all okay.”
He chirruped again, tucked his now slightly golden wings into his body, and then he synched with her.
The way he did when he had data. He appeared to have changed, his scales had a golden outline. He had grown larger and weighed more too.
Find stuff for me. Pretty data.
He had.
Ember raised her head, staring blindly upward, sorting through what he’d brought from the cybermonks library. He’d managed to travel that far and back. No wonder he was tired.
The cybermonks were assholes, she knew that already. And they watched orc-human-cyborg porn.
She laughed.
Ohimigod. Who would’ve thou –
And buried deep was evidence that decades ago they’d ordered CESS to destroy her world, her parents because...
Why?
Why had they done this? The question raged as she sorted deeper.
Nothing. Ig had not found that.
But they had known the Xatar would attack. They’d –
FUCK.
They’d given her a fertility drug.
Which.
Kindof.
Pleased her?
Well...
Well, well...
Thinking, she sauntered along the beach.
They’d forced her to lust after Hoss and Baz, and messed up Baz also. Forgivable maybe since she’d never change that. They obviously thought they were little gods, orchestrators of the universe.
And they’d been the hand in the hand puppet of CESS.
Perhaps not every time CESS had acted, but that one time, they had.
“Come back to bed,” Hoss said quietly, his voice carrying.
“Soon.” She put her finger to her mouth. “You’ll wake Baz.”
Grumbling, Hoss settled.
Moonlight, manufactured moonlight, bathed the bed they’d brought down to the edge of the beach. White sheets and a quilt of stars and two massive males she loved.
She walked back, aware of her nakedness and the beauty of the scene, and she leaned over Hoss and exchanged a kiss with this brutally handsome orc.
“I’ll be in bed soon. Ig told me something and I have a little thing to do.”
A small thing, compared to what had happened.
He nodded, brushing her mouth with his fingertips.
She walked to where the tide washed her toes and sorted through the systems until she achieved what needed to be done.
Then she went back to bed with Ig, Baz, and Hoss, and she dreamed again of revenge.