Page 4 of Vicious
Randolph grumbled something about a nightmare breakfast, but I pulled him by the sleeve into the chair next to mine so he’d shut up and chill out. Tensions had been running a bit high lately, fueled by our various addictions and close proximity even on a big ship like theVicious. We needed a short vacation from each other. I glanced at Mase. Some less thanothers.
Captain Glenn speared a strip of volanti with his fork. “I have credits for all of you from the teralingua delivery to Europa, but it’s not much, which leaves even less forfood.”
“You can keep mine,” Ellison said as she unfolded hernapkin.
“You’re a member of my crew,” the captainsaid.
Ellison spread the napkin in her lap. “Then let me help pay for food. With Absidy’s fugitive status, and my and Mase’s so-called turn on the rest of humanity, our futures are a little undecided. After Orin, we don’t know exactly where we’re going or how long it will take to get there. Please. Let mehelp.”
“You’re already paying to hire copies of the three of us,” Mase said, gesturing with his fork to me, him, and Ellison. “Are yousure?”
I sat between him and Randolph and dug into my crisped volanti. The hot sauce from earlier almost completely numbed its salty, overly sweetflavor.
Ellison glanced down at her plate and frowned. “If it means we don’t have to land again for a while, then yes. It’s doubtful the Ring Guild will let us pass through the rings to get back to Mayvel anyway, given that they know Mase is the pilot who made it public that he knows all their secrets when he turned traitor, so we’ll basically beadrift.”
“Lost,” Randolphmurmured.
“No, not lost.” Captain Glenn bit into his volanti with a loud crunch and chewed. “Our pilot is more than capable of knowing exactly where we are. We just don’t have an exact destination after Orin.” His warm chocolate eyes flicked toward me. “But we’ll figure it out. Just like we’ll figure out how to warn the humans about theSaelis.”
I nodded and bit into my volanti, knowing full well the entire ship and its crew had risked their lives to save mine more than once since this ordeal had begun. Both Ellison and Mase had uttered a single word into their ships’ telecoms—sail, an old rebel term soldiers used when they went rogue and backed out of the Black War two hundred years ago. Some people said it meant they’d sided with the Saelis aliens and had turned their backs on humanity. Even today, people took that one word seriously, as they did with everything to do with the war that had wiped Earth fromexistence.
The war, we’d found out, had never ended, at least from the Saelis’ point of view. They wantedallhumans to suffer the same fate as our home planet, the same fate as half their species. Saelis females had been slaughtered due to the parasites that lived under their scales—only females, since the parasite drove males mad with hunger. The parasites fed on iron, a plentiful food source since the metal made up the Saelis diet and the Saelis’ home planet was made of iron. These parasites also powered the Ring Guild’s space-bending iron rings, which created enough energy to travel the distance between solar systems faster than light. The parasites also swam through my veins, rushing a high through my body when I sucked down pieces of iron. The high was an addiction, as well as a lifesaver. I craved iron, which was the only thing that kept the malicious ghosts that had tormented me my whole life away. As I said, my life was not the regularkind.
But despite the captain’s promise that we would figure things out, I knew exactly where we needed to go after Orin. I just needed a few supplies that would help get us there. My sole concern was getting there before the Saelisdid.
Mase glanced at the captain, but spoke to Ellison. “You don’t think the Ringers will ever let us back to Wix andMayvel?”
Ellison sighed. “I mean, I didn’t ask them, but… Would you let us back through the rings knowing what we know? That the Ring Guild caused the Black War despite what our history bookssay?”
Mase stared across the table at Captain Glenn, who gave no indication that he’d overheard, other than ticking his gaze to the black plastic bracelet around his wrist. It was a photo album that held two digital pictures—one of his wife and one of his daughter, both of whom were hospitalized on Wix. If we couldn’t get back through the rings, he’d never see themagain.
Yet another reason why we had to make the Ringers let us through, despite what we knew. The Saelis hadn’t destroyed Earth for no reason, as we were led to believe. The Ringers had brought Saelis wrath down on all humans, and I planned to remind them ofthat.
Captain Glenn picked up his glass of water, the slightest tremor in his hand. “Remember to keep your heads down today. We don’t need to draw any more attention to ourselves. Mase, you put out the call on the telecom for anengineer?”
Mase nodded as he inhaled his volanti. “Already have a fewbites.”
“Make sure they know what they’re getting into,” the captain said. “Ellison and I will find copies of the three of you. I also need to get the ship serviced. Randolph andAbsidy—”
“Captain, I think Absidy should stay on the ship,” Ellison said and patted her mouth with her napkin even though she hadn’t eaten anything. “Her face is plastered everywhere on wanted posters, and even though she doesn’t look like herself now, someone could still recognize her if they get tooclose.”
The hot sauce and volanti simmered with the heat firing through my veins. What in Feozva’s hell was she saying? I slammed a hand down on the gurney, making the dishes and everyone sitting around itjump.
I leaned forward, eyeballing her with a lethal glare. “Don’t talk about me like I’m nothere.”
Even as I spit the words, I realized how stupid it was to let something as trivial as this set me off, but everything Ellison said or did riled me up. Maybe it wasn’t just iron withdrawal I was suffering through. All the painkillers she’d given me after the simultaneous ghost and Saelis attack had made my fresh parasites sluggish. Now, though, they screamed in agony and turned meferal.
Ellison placed her napkin on her plate and leveled me with a big sister stare from across the table. “I’m just trying to protect you, Abs. That’s all I’m ever trying todo.”
Captain Glenn stabbed his fork into the air. “She has a point, though. The fewer faces who are wanted by the police or the Ring Guild or anyone else”—he lifted an eyebrow at Mase—“the fewer chances we have of getting foundout.”
I shook my head, my argument already rolling off my tongue before he’d finished. “Wait, Captain, I told Randolph I would help get the food. I’ll do what you said and keep my headdown.”
“Vitamin D.” Mase straightened his long legs to the side of the gurney and folded his hands across his white thermal. “It’s a thing people need, so I hear. What’s the harm in letting her go for a little freshair?”
I held out my arm toward him under the gurney until he took my hand in his warm grasp, my gaze locked on Captain Glenn, who glared atMase.
“Please,” I said, hoping for a little more faith that I wouldn’t fling myself at the nearest policeofficer.
