Page 129 of Defiant

And the hangar bay was empty. No ships. Only some frightened officials trying to hide behind a stack of bins on the far side of the room.

There was no way for me to chase Brade down.

57

I fell to my knees, suddenly deflated. It felt as though all of my strength, intensity, and even anger had been sucked out of my body. I had been full of so many emotions for so long that coming down from them now felt enervating.

What…what had I expected? That Brade would leave a ship behind? Besides, all of the ships that had been in here had remote control functions that let her take them over, as she’d demonstrated before our “duel” earlier.

Doomslug fluted mournfully.

Spensa?a very quiet voice in my head said.

“I arrived in a small ship,” Hesho said. “Though it fit only a kitsen, my poor ship is not in flying shape any longer. Those manning this station did not make my approach easy. I am sorry.”

Spensa? It’s me. Your ghost.

I nodded dully. I had been so certain it would come down to a duel between me and Brade. One final flight. One final time in the sky. What now? Could anyone else help the slugs of Evensong? Could I reach them through that delver’s influence?

M-Bot,I thought to him.I’m inhibited here, and I can’t leave. Can you reach Jorgen?

I could,he thought.But I’m thinking…everyone else is helping. I want to help too.

Talk to Jorgen,I sent.Tell him that Brade is flying for Evensong, and we need to stop her. Somehow.

We should chase her down,he said.Together.

I’m sorry,I said—mentally, emotionally, physically exhausted.I never finished building your new body.

And I love you for trying,he said.Though to be honest, I don’t think that shell would have worked. I can’t be housed in a black box like that again. I’m so much more now.

He was probably right. I felt sick. Even that was a failure.

No, not a failure,he said.It showed me something. Set me thinking. You know what happens to delvers when they come into the somewhere?

The air warped in front of me. Dust burst from a hole in space, like smoke shrouding something growing out of the nowhere. A delver…

No, M-Bot.

“They form a body for themselves!” I said.

Not just a body,he said.A body in the shape they know. Of what used to house them. Of…

The dust settled onto a shining black ship, vaguely W-shaped. With enormous boosters and a full complement of destructors. His ship. Hisold ship,butmade new.Fitting his growth and what he’d become.

Oh, stars andSaints.

“Hi!” he said through a speaker on the front. “I’ve been resurrected! Do I start a religion now, or do I wait for you to do it for me? That part has always confused me.”

“M-Bot!” I said, climbing to my feet. “You…I can’t believe…”

“I have decided that I like being a spaceship,” he said. “Having a body is nice. Thank you for giving me the idea. Anyway, are we going to…?”

Right. Right!

I leaped up, Doomslug in hand, and climbed into the waitingcockpit. Hesho flew down, and found—with an “ooo”—that M-Bot had made him a battle station with copilot controls. Doomslug had her own cushioned box. I helped her inside, then strapped in, and the canopy closed over me.

Finally, I put my hands on the controls. So familiar. So inviting.Not the ship I’d repaired in that cavern, but somehow still the same. If not better.

---