The change hurt him, somewhere deep, past the tough exterior of his orc hide.
He’d done that to her, he knew. Made her feel bad. He shouldn’t have tried to make her feel anything at all.
Frustration and guilt were an ugly tremor inside him, cracking through and shattering the pleasure they’d taken together. He’d told her he couldn’t do this.
As he strode toward the bedroom door, some part of him hoped that she would reach out—that gentle, arousing hand or a word, even just his name. But she didn’t, and he deserved to be crushed. And maybe that pain would bury the agony of walking away from her.
***
He couldn’t believe how the touch of one soft, five-fingered hand had knocked him so deftly off his course. But he had even more pressing problems. His review of Kinsley’s break-in showed that the bayhadn’tbeen properly secured; someone had basically left the door unlocked. But who? And why? As dire as the answers might be, he didn’t have time to pursue the problem because the orcs had moved from the ore processing bay to the gather-hall, and they were still arguing over the fate of the rock and the Omega Reclamation Crew.
“We can’t withdraw from the Luster,” Dorn was saying as Teq joined the advisors crowding around their apex. “No one would ever believe us again. We’ll never get another contract.”
Teq glanced at Mag, wondering if their apex would admit that he’d staked theDeepWanderon this brash claim. The other male stood still and silent, from his unwavering antennae to his widespread stance. And although Mag glowered at the other male for presuming to say what they could or could not do, neither did he contradict Dorn.
Sil, however, despite being smaller than the assay team leader, squared off to the other male. “If the rock is alive and aware, we can no more sell it than we can sell you. However much we’d get for you.”
There were a few murmurs of amusement but more of disapproval. The assay had an important role in the Omega Reclamation Crew, determining how much the orcs’ haul was worth—and by extension, how muchtheywere worth. While Sil was basically worth nothing himself, hatched with his scrawny limbs and pale eyes.
“Do we trade for extinction instead?” Dorn gazed at them all. “That is what we may be facing—if we lose the ship.”
A low, horrified murmur swept the group, and Teq stifled a wince. While the apex ruled the orcs, it was only as a crew united that they’d been able to survive. For Mag to have gambled their home from underneath them… Apexes had lost faith for less—lost lives too, their own and others’. And Dorn had strong backing among the crew should he seek to make a play for apex.
Teq angled his stance to make sure he was behind Sil, lest any of the orcs think a moment or two of violence could replace more talk.
“We may have no options,” Mag said.
Sil spread all his hands. “In the void of space, the creature has been nearly dormant for a long time. But it had some awareness, and already it has revealed through Kinsley’s dreams that it can share deep mysteries of space that no mining or salvage crew has ever dreamed of.”
“Such mysteries mean nothing if we have no way to pursue them,” Dorn pointed out, not unreasonably. “And how can we trust this Kinsley who broke into the processing bay and wasn’t even listed on the IDA transport manifest. And even if, as you say, the rock could aim us toward other opportunities, that too will be worth something to someone, so if we sell it, we will at least survive another day.”
There’d been a time Teq would’ve agreed with the assay. Better to keep a tenacious grip on what they had than risk it all on impossible dreams.
I didn’t even care that it sounded impossible.
So Adeline had said when she, a desperate mother alone on a closed world, had brought her hatchling to the stars.
“Crusher Teq,” Dorn called. “A simple question for you. You have scanned and inspected the rock. How many pieces could you break it into? Then I can estimate exactly how much we are leaving behind.”
The other orcs pivoted to face Teq. He’d always considered himself more at home with silent rocks than even his own crew, but maybe just this little time with Adeline and her hatchling had given him more awareness of troublesome emotions. And the sentiments seething through the gather-hall rippled through his antennae like a delicate breeze.
In a mining shaft on an airless asteroid, a delicate breeze was always prelude to an explosion.
“A simple question, but one I cannot answer,” he said after a tense moment. “I’ve never encountered a rock like this, but it seems to me its greatest value is in its wholeness.” He looked around at the other orcs. “Just as our greatest strength is our unity.”
“So we will die together when we lose theDeepWander?” The other assay, Reji, flanked by Pars and Iffo, moved to stand near Dorn.
All the orcs were subtly shifting around the gather-hall, choosing sides or middle ground. And Teq did not like the way the numbers were stacking.
“Enough,” Mag growled. “I am apex. I point our way. We will continue on to the Luster. And theDeepWanderwill always be ours.” He cracked the halves of his carapace together, sending a thunderous retort through the hall.
At the warning, the orcs retreated into the deepest shadows of the gather-hall nooks and disappeared.
But Teq knew better now. No matter what Mag said, their course was changing. And where it would take them, not even a wandering space rock could say.
***
Teq worked all the way through the next uroondu, not even breaking for the rest cycle in between, trying to find something—anything—in the main ore processing bay that would stand in as surety for the Luster. There was enough water to be extracted to top off theDeepWander’s supplies, plus a good haul of iron and nickel, as well as significant gold, osmium, and mimeticphyre. He also set aside some chunks of corundum. Aluminum atoms compressed with oxygen might not be particularly rare or valuable but they were sparkly. Not a bad yield, really.