Page 38 of Vicious
His jaw muscles twitched, and a swatch of hair tumbled over his cloud-laced eye. “Iremember.”
“I told you that I passed him through me, but…that wasn’t true. It wasn’t him. It was the ghost of the old captain on this ship. You saw Parker, but it was that thing, that doppelganger, I think. Which means it was here with us long before we stopped onOrin.”
Mase nodded. “I didn’t see him—it—before we stopped on Mayvel to hire a newchef.”
Could the ship have picked it up around the same time I boarded? Had it been hiding in the air vents this whole time, and we’d been too distracted by ghosts to notice? Yet again, the question of why beat at the back of my head. What did it want? And why did it want usdead?
“I have another gun in my quarters I could give to you if you’d rather have that than two ice picks.” He’d already tucked the one attached to the table rubble into the back of his pants. “For more protection.” He gazed at me while absently trying to open the wrong end of the garbage bag, the hand of his lit armtrembling.
He was always trying to protect me, had been since he’d gifted me iron all those weeks ago, and I loved him even more for it. I pushed up onto my tiptoes and kissed his scarred cheek, distracting him so I could take the bag away fromhim.
“I prefer close-quarter combat,” Isaid.
“Damn.” He grinned, but the corners of his mouth pinched a little, as if he were in pain. “My fugitive ghost magnet ishardcore.”
“To the iron center,” Iagreed.
After a quiet, light lunch of bean and roasted vegetable wraps, everyone appeared lost in their own thoughts. The crew was wrapped in coats or blankets and shivering, except me. I feltnothing.
Poh stopped tinkering with the Mind-I, nodding down at the small plastic computer chip from her stance in front of the hallwaydoor.
Captain Glenn paused his water glass at his mouth and glanced at her. “You haveit?”
“I may have something.” With a deep breath, Poh aimed her arm at the wall behind the captain's head. An outline of theViciousappeared.
“Impressive.” Captain Glenn rose to his feet and turned to look at theprojection.
Poh pointed to a cluster of red dots near one edge. “This is us, six lifeforms, righthere.”
The captain nodded. "As there shouldbe."
Poh indicated another red dot on the opposite side of the ship. “And there’s theseventh.”
The chilled air solidified in my lungs as I stared at the lone blinking dot. It pulsed near the engine room. The same room Red had warned me away from even before we'd landed on Orin. She must’ve known. Why else would she demand I let her in so she could show me Nesbit staring at himself. Only ithadn’tbeen himself. It had been that thing wearing his skin, and Red had been trying to warnme.
Mase stood and hunched over the gurney to get a better look. "Holyshit."
Randolph’s hands worried at his napkin, and the wine-colored hue of his cheeks drained away. "My thoughtsexactly."
Captain Glenn turned around, and the ship's image warped around his mass. The single red dot pulsed at the side of his neck. "It said we know too much and that it wants us dead..." He looked at each of us while he rubbed his jaw. "Now that we know exactly where it is, I intend to ask it why. I won't tell anyone to come with me to track it, because it might not end well for any ofus.”
“Ask questions first. Shoot second.” Mase drew his gun from the back of his waistband and strode around the end of the gurney toward Poh and the door. “I’ve always wanted to trythat.”
I glanced at Ellison across the gurney. “Me too, and don't bother objecting. You know I’ll just do it anyway. You’ll beokay?”
She swallowed the last of her food down with a loud gulp. Some of her color had returned, and her hair was still wet from her shower. I’d accompanied her to the bathroom on the first floor because I refused to leave her alone for too long. She’d patched herself up pretty well except for the swelling and deep gash in her bottomlip.
“Of course,” she said. “Yes.Go.”
The lone red dot crawled across Captain Glenn’s neck, slowly on the move as if it had heard our plans to hunt it. Then the entire ship’s map blipped out when Poh powered off the Mind-I.
“Let’s go.” Poh kept her narrowed gaze trained on me while she pocketed the Mind-I.
“Are you two okay staying in here?” Captain Glenn asked Randolph andEllison.
“All the vents have been blocked off in here, the kitchen, and the stasis pantry,” Ellison said. “We’ll befine.”
“We have the telecom in case something happens,” Randolph added. “Just go and get rid of thatthing.”
