Page 19 of Written in the Stars

That’s as good as a confession,I told myself. If he’d planned to spare Drask, he’d have told me. Which meant I needed to get a message to him, to warn him.

My alien warrior wasn’t naïve. He probably knew he was walking into a trap. But the more details he had about the trap, the better he’d be able to deal with it. The question was, how would I get the information out of the shop and into Drask’s hands? I couldn’t leave, A’Lun had taken my comm, and the Black Hole Gang had sealed the entrance.

I had an idea, but I didn’t like it. Even a terrible idea was better than nothing, though.

Standing up, I stretched and winced. “I need to use the bathroom.”

A’Lun frowned and looked at me as though he could see into my heart. A tense moment passed before he nodded. “K’Dri, keep an eye on her.”

A four-armed, gray-skinned member of the gang dropped the copy of Humans and Their Habitat he’d been reading and strode over, gesturing for me to lead on and following me into my storage area-slash-bedroom. He stopped just inside the door and whistled low, spotting Nebula curled up on a pile of books. She’d retreated here as soon as the gang had taken over the shop.

The winged cat looked at him, eyes narrow and ears back. She did not like this intrusion on her territory any more than I did.

“Hey, t’chr, don’t be frightened.” He crouched down and pulled a lump of something sticky from a pouch at his belt. Nebula hissed, opening her wings wide and staying far back.

I picked up a book and stuck it down the back of my pants, counting on K’Dri’s distraction to get away with it. Either he didn’t notice, or he didn’t care—he kept clucking at Nebula. I warmed to him a little for that.

“Pick anything you like to read. I won’t be long,” I said, walking toward the bathroom. K’Dri put up a hand to stop me and went ahead, though I don’t know what he expected to find. The gang had already searched every room, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

His distraction gave Nebula the chance to hurry to my side, rubbing against my legs and meowing plaintively.

“You’ll be okay,” I whispered to her, scratching behind her ears. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

I didn’t know how much she understood, but she stuck close when K’Dri waved me into the tiny bathroom. There was nowhere to hide anything in here, and only the one way out. Nothing for the Black Hole to worry about—I wouldn’t be escaping from here.

The door slid shut behind me and I leaned back against it, letting out a sigh of relief. Nebula looked up at me, confused, but lost interest in a second, as though she’d filed this adventure under ‘crazy stupid human things’ and decided to ignore it.

I turned on the taps to drown out any noise that might travel through the door, then crouched down beside the winged cat. “You’re going to have to be brave for me, okay? This is important.”

“Nebula Brave. Treat?”

I stifled a laugh and nodded. “Big treat when you get back.”

“Big Big Treat?”

“The biggest,” I promised.

Nebula licked my finger, which I took as a sign of agreement. I pulled out the book I’d grabbed and paused, not liking what I was about to do.

I have several copies of ‘Emperor Danfir’s Guide to Astronavigation.’ And no one has ever bought one. It’s a terrible book, at least this way it will contribute something other than awful advice for student pilots.

With a wince, I tore out a page. I hated damaging books, but Drask was more important.

Without a pen, I had to write in eyeliner. Not ideal, but it sufficed for scribbling down a message. I folded it up and tucked it into Nebula’s collar as securely as I could manage.

“You take that to Drask, okay? As fast as you can.”

She looked at me, flicking her ears back. “Big Blue. Treat.”

I sighed with relief. Nebula understood what I wanted, and that had been the second biggest problem with my plan. Now I could move on to the biggest problem—getting her out of here.

The Black Holes had checked and double-checked the bathroom, and they hadn’t missed any escape routes. But they also didn’t know Written in the Stars. Whoever had installed the bathroom had done a quick and dirty job, and the ventilation system was a complete mess. Rather than sending air into the station’s air circulation systems, an extractor fan simply pumped it into the corridor for someone else to deal with.

That wasn’t really a vulnerability. Even with the fan removed, it was far too small for me to fit through. But Nebula? There was only one way to find out.

It took me slamming my shoulder into the fan several times, but finally it fell into the corridor with a clatter loud enough to wake the dead. Without needing to be prompted, Nebula leaped up to the resulting hole and, folding her ears and her wings all the way back, slipped out.

K’Dri thumped on the door, and I cursed the noise I’d made. Hurrying to the door, I almost ran into him as it slid open. He peered past me suspiciously, then shrugged. I was still here, and his job was making sure I didn’t run away, not investigating strange sounds. None of the gangsters struck me as the types to go looking for extra work, and K’Dri didn’t give me reason to change that impression.

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