Page 50 of Scars & Starlight
“Likely not,” Kai says, sounding amused. “Perhaps someone else had visited this planet and brought the imagery with them.”
“I bet they built the pyramids. Oh, and the monoliths!” I sigh wistfully. “One of my sisters was always into all these conspiracy theories. Bet she’d love to learn about the history of the universe.”
“I will be happy to relay any information to her,” the little mechsays, either not noticing that my mood turned maudlin or ignoring it in an attempt to cheer me up.
I smile at him and pick him up from the ground. “I think you would have liked Seoul before the Ghorvek,” I tell him. “It looked like a place where having an assistive unit following you around wouldn’t be unusual.”
Kiko’s lenses whir, and I see a rapid-fire slideshow of Seoul in its former glory play out in them. Before either of us can comment, though, the Talon’s alarms begin to beep rapidly.
“What’s happening?” I ask Kairen, the displays of this fighter ship still a bit of a mystery to me.
“Incoming,” he replies through gritted teeth.
Something whizzes past our ship, and I’m stunned to see a bright projectile disappearing into the distance.
“Are they shooting at us?” I ask unnecessarily, just as the alarms go wild and the tail end of the Talon shudders. “What was that?”
Kairen doesn’t look at me as he pushes this button and that. “You need to breathe, Princess.” He examines a console to his left, the light flickering with warning. “Kiko, a power surge in the fifth rear ID coupling.”
The little robot must understand the succinct command, because he immediately jumps down from my lap and disappears into a shaft opening under the cockpit.
“Guess there’s no need for living engineers when they can’t fit into tiny walkways,” I jest nervously.
“I’ll take you over a mech any time, love. But I don’t think we have time for you to learn the Talon’s internal systems right now.”
I laugh at Kairen’s dry statement and clench my hands around my seat in reflex to the ship doing a spin, even though we don’t feel the shift. “I’ll never get used to that,” I mutter to myself.
Kai hums, looking at scrolling readings. “Hm.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Goodhmor badhm?”
“The automated targeting system is good, but whoever ispiloting that destroyer is better,” he explains. “I’m going to have to go man a turret station.”
My jaw drops at his statement. “You’re going to leave me here alone?” I squeak. “What if the autopilot fails?”
He throws me a wink. “Then make sure to pull the control stick up. Fewer things to crash into in outer space.”
With that, he gets to his feet and disappears up a ladder by the cockpit entrance.
“I can’t believe you just left me here,” I mutter after him, glaring at the ceiling.
Would you like to join me up here, Princess? It might be a tight squeeze, but I do so enjoy being in close quarters with you.
“Ah! How the hell did you do that?” I shriek up the shaft.
I did nothing. You contacted me through the nanites.
“I did? I didn’t mean to!” I yell back.
There’s no need to shout, I hear you as easily as you hear me.
I cringe, picturing deafening his inner ear, or whatever we use to listen to our inner voice. Probablynotthe actual inner ear.
At that moment, the Talon shudders, another of the Ghorvek’s missiles hitting us.
“Did you shoot them down yet?” I ask Kairen, the ultimate backseat shooter. I can hear the whoosh of the Talon’s weapons discharging.
Almost, my love.
