Sylvester’s lips tightened at that, but he inclined his head. “My daughter tells me Ritter used you for his experiments.”
“And others,” Velda said. “I gather most of the runner’s crew were drafted in to participate, but they got annoyed with it and refused after a while.”
“Yes, but they’re not here, and you are.” Sylvester’s gaze swept from Velda to Ethan, but Ethan had known it was coming, and he let his body hunch just that little bit more, and he could feel the silver balls drain the color from his face.
“What is it?” Linao asked, her voice sharp as she watched her father.
“Ethan Hyt seems a little worse for wear. What’s wrong with him?” Sylvester didn’t sound worried so much as bored.
“He was hit with laz fire while they were escaping. And it’s not the first time he’s taken a hit since Ridgeman and his team found the two of them at the mine.” Linao shrugged.
“And it looks like there’s been no benefit to him from the experimentation.” Sylvester’s tone was disappointed. “Where is the box? I was told the Caruso took it with them.”
“It was in the runner that took us from the ship,” Linao said. “The teams are searching through what’s left of it now.”
“So we could have damaged it ourselves in the attack?” Sylvester straightened.
“Yes. You could have damaged me, too,” Linao said. “You obviously thought it was worth the risk.” She gave a cynical smile. “Just like on Fjern.”
There was a beat of silence.
Sylvester shifted, leaning back against the desk. “I already told you, Vanburren made it sound as if your vessel was about to be taken by the Fjerna. And he told me he gave you five minutes to get out before he destroyed your ship. He also made your return the main part of his negotiations afterward.”
“Of course.” Linao’s tone spoke volumes. “He was just following protocol.”
After an uncomfortable pause, Sylvester waved a hand toward the door. “Why don’t we go have a look at the progress they’re making in finding the box?”
Linao said nothing, but she turned on her heel and stalked out.
She was a strange one, Ethan thought. She over-shared, then she said nothing, she made the cruelest threats, and then chatted normally. He wondered if she had been living a lie for so long, she didn’t know how to react any more.
When they had been discussing the new planet they’d found, she’d told Ritter her ship had been destroyed and she’d spent a week as a prisoner there. When Ethan had heard that, he’d assumed the planet’s inhabitants had been responsible, but now it sounded as if it had been her father who had ordered her ship destroyed.
And she still hadn’t forgiven him for it.
Sylvester watched her go, face blank, and then followed her out, and the Cores guards went with him, leaving him and Velda alone in the room with the Caruso soldiers.
“What experiments was Sylvester asking you about?” The Caruson standing beside them waited until the room had cleared before he spoke.
“They were trying to understand how some tech they found in a space wreck works,” Velda said.
“What wreck?” The Caruson’s attention focused on her.
“I don’t know the details,” Velda said. “We were their prisoners and their experimental subjects. They didn’t tell us much.”
“But you were part of the experiment. What was it?” The Caruson stepped closer to her.
“A box with some silver balls inside. They absorb into the skin, but there’s a device that draws them back out again.” She shrugged. “The scientist was disappointed with the results.”
“Sylvester seems interested.” The Caruson glanced back at the door.
“They were bringing the tech to him when your fellow Caruso hijacked the ship,” Velda said. “When the Caruso crew realized where it was going, they made sure to take it when they tried to get back to this ship.”
Another soldier in the group said something in Caruson, and the soldier who’d been speaking to Velda responded, eyeing them both thoughtfully.
Ethan was pretty sure he was as surprised as Ethan was that Sylvester and Linao had more or less lost interest in them after making such a production about taking them out of their cell.
Either the father and daughter were locked in some strange back and forth with each other, something that took preference over everything else, or they were playing a long game that wasn’t quite clear yet.
