“It’s none of our business.”
Well, looking around me, I’m beginning to think it should be.
“Help who? Those in the forest? With what? Don’t be ridiculous.” He waves his hand. “We’ve already gone over this. If we head over there before we’re prepared, we could be putting ourselves and our ship at risk. Our job is to transport or procure, nothing more, nothing less.”
“I wonder what Blat would say to that,” I mumble, unable to stop myself from poking the fire.
“Don’t start, Sabs,” Weston snaps. “I’m going to check and see if there’s a way into this building. You go down the street and search through the piles. Another word about going to the forest now and risking everything—don’t expect a spot to remain open for you on my ship. Don’t push me, not right now.” He storms away and ducks under a large slab of stone, out of sight.
I run my tongue along my teeth and watch him flee from me.
The problem with me? I like my freedom a little too much. And I might have a small problem with authority. Weston was already threatening to fire me before this. He threatens to fire me monthly; he’s just never actually donethe deed.
He’s not wrong.
I know I have a rebellious nature. It’s why I’ve never been able to hold down any other gig. Weston is more patient with me than most captains I’ve met, and I’ve met many. He understands my inability to always take directions, and I also understand, deep down, how important it is to listen to those directions. But I think he’s wrong about ignoring what’s happening to other people because he thinks we’re separated from it. How many years have to go by for him to feel a part of something?
And unlike me, he didn’t see the naga with his own eyes.
For as long as I live, I’ll never forget it. I was fighting my way through the crowd to catch up to Tata when the naga slid right past me. He didn’t see me, had no clue I was there. He didn’t seem to care at all about the people gasping and gaping at him. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Sirens in my ears, smoke blurring my vision, I was surrounded by people running everywhere, trying to reach their ships, whenheappeared from under a nearby vessel to chase down a woman in a blood-splattered lab coat and brutally kill her. Powerful, breathtaking, terrifying.
I don’t know why he went after her in particular and no one else, but once she was dead, he slipped back the way he came. I watched as he joined a different bloody woman, one holding a baby in her arms, and carried them away. I don’t know what happened to them, but… I hope they made it out alive.
As far as I know, only I saw it.
Weston and the crew hadn’t cared when I told them. They were too focused on getting offThe Dreadnautbefore the ports were retaken again. Which was fair, honestly. We barely escaped, flying with a few dozenothers to an outer port meant for incoming shipments. Already, hundreds of ships had gathered with the same idea, and the port was beyond full. If we’d been any later…
I don’t know. Maybe Weston’s right. Maybe it’s better we take it one day at a time and stay out of the chaos.
Kicking the dirt to the broken glass beneath, I look down the path and at the buildings on either side of me, noting the strange difference in their appearance. One was built from a small reddish stone; the other a larger gray kind.
I roll my palm over the butts of my knives, scoping for something,anythingamong the rubble that might be worth something.
It’s not like any of us even knew Earth was safe to begin with.The leadership ofThe Dreadnauthad kept that fact from everybody.Of course they did. Everyone would want a piece of it.
Walking along, I rake my eyes over the broken piles, having to climb over and around a few. I pick up and wipe off a few colorful but dirty objects, though find nothing of immediate, substantial value.
Yes, anything from Earth is valuable, considering the rarity. It’s been practically impossible to get down here since the Lurkers destroyed it. But no one is looking for ancient plastic plates right now.
Something flies by my head, and I swat at it, catching a glimpse of a small bug with shiny wings. When it flies off without attacking me, I continue with more caution, glancing over my shoulder at the path I’ve taken, making sure I can still glimpseThe Wreckin the distance.
Coming upon a broken staircase that leads into the ground, I peer into the large shadowy entrance. Partwaydown, there’s a landing covered with dirt and debris. From there, the staircase turns a corner and I can see no farther.
I walk to the side to peer deeper in, fishing out a small flashlight from my pack and turning it on. Beaming the light down the wide set of stairs, I notice a row of rounded metal bars and several spread-out piles of human bones and remains.
Suddenly I hear a rumbling noise, coming from far off. I pause, listening.
As the sound gets closer, I can tell it’s coming from above, and I look up to see a large ship fly overhead, heading toward the forest. It doesn’t seem to noticeThe Wreck, thankfully. Once it’s gone, I turn back to the stairs.
Testing the first step with my boot, I carefully descend into the subterranean tunnel, hoping there will be more that’s survived down here than above. At the bottom of the staircase, I slowly swing my flashlight, and various piles of debris appear. Along the walls on either side, I can make out several other entrances, tunnels that lead who knows where.
I gather some dirty jewelry and metal baubles left around the bones and put them in my hip pack, nudging through the dust for anything I might have missed. Human remains—especially bones—don’t scare me. Seeing a dead body is one of my first memories.
When I hear the incoming sounds of another spaceship, I sigh and turn for the stairs, figuring I should make my way back to the others. Though as I pivot, my light catches something fuzzy and greenish on the walls of the deep tracks below. Pausing my beam, I take a few hesitant steps nearer, curious. A crack in the ceiling shines sunlight down in the middle of the wall fuzz, seeming to deepen the shadows of the tunnel on either side even as it illuminatesthe immediate vicinity. Jumping down onto the tracks, I walk down the tunnel to my left, slowly realizing what I’m looking at as I get closer.
Lichen. It’s all over the walls, ceiling, and ground.
