Page 12 of Written in the Stars

8

MEGAN

Dietary requirements: humans subsist primarily on chocolate and the beverage they callcoffee,a mild hallucinogen with great ritual significance.

HUMANS AND THEIR HABITAT,BY LONDRA TSOL

We planned while we ate breakfast, of which the coffee was the only part worth mentioning. Not that the ‘porridge’ wasbad,exactly. Just so bland that I craved any flavor at all. It was the cheapest food available, and this was the first time I’d had someone to share it with.

“I add fruit when I can afford it,” I said apologetically. “But it’s been hard to get lately.”

My alien lover—and what a weird, wonderful thing that was—shrugged without looking up from his bowl. “It’s as good as basic rations.”

He set his bowl aside, having eaten it in record time. “I think we must embrace the fact that we have allies of convenience. The Stellar Kings must hate the Black Hole Gang as much as we do.”

“If we go to them for help, they’ll charge us a hell of a fee.” I shook my head. “They won’t help for free.”

“Of course they won’t, but I don’t think they want this war. They can offer information on the Black Hole Gang, like where they nest. And once I know where they are, I can deal with them. Everyone wins.”

“Unless you get killed, going up against them alone.” I didn’t like the risk, nor did I care if he knew it.

Drask’s snarl told me what he thought of the odds. It didn’t ease my worries, but I couldn’t argue without a better plan to offer instead.

“Okay, fine,” I said, “if that’s the best we’ve got, then let’s go.”

* * *

The Stellar Kingsruled their pocket of the station from a couple of levels up. In theory, there were many routes up. In practice, only the central conveyor still worked reliably. Between the lack of maintenance and the incessant gang wars, everything else had broken down long ago.

There was always the option of going outside. Stuff ourselves into space suits and find our way to an airlock on the level we were looking for. That was a gamble on the suits’ atmosphere holding, and all the other complex systems a suit needed to keep someone alive in vacuum.

Not a prospect I relished, so we went toward the center of the station, where a pair of moving walkways spiraled around the core, one going up and the other down. We stepped onto the upward track, and immediately, advertising bombarded us. Fortunately, Drask knew exactly how to ignore that intrusion.

He kissed me, hard and passionate, as we spiraled upward, and I nearly missed our level. Reluctantly disengaging from his kiss, I rushed us off the conveyor and out.

I hadn’t been this way often, and a lot of things had changed. None of them for the better.

The corridors were quieter than I remembered, and several shops had been shuttered. Signs of fire damage, scorch marks and soot, showed why. I shuddered, imagining Written in the Stars being firebombed, all those books going up in flames.

Instinctively leaning in to Drask to take comfort from the aura of safety he projected, I kept my eyes open for other signs of trouble. They weren’t hard to spot.

Members of the Stellar Kings were usually visible on this level, but there were more of them than I remembered. And they didn’t look as casual as they’d once been, either.

“I think this conflict might be more important than it seemed,” Drask said as a half-dozen gang members stared at us.

“Hey, that makes this more likely to work, right? The bigger a problem the new guys are, the more likely the Kings are to go for your deal.”

Drask’s chuckle was dark and humorless. “True. But it also means the mission carries more danger than we’d hoped.”

That thought sat in my stomach like a lead weight and I squeezed Drask’s arm tighter.

“Do not worry, I will still succeed. I’m more likely to get injured, that’s all.”

“Is that you trying to bereassuring?Because if so, you really need to work on that.”

If he had a reply for me, he didn’t have time to say it. We’d arrived at the Starshine Lounge, the Stellar Kings’ base of operations.

Two of them stood guard at the doors, watching us closely. Well, watching mostly Drask. As a known quality, I didn’t warrant the same caution as the alien super soldier at my side.

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