There’s a collective chorus of groans.
“—everyone has a weakness. Something they cherish that could be stolen, loved ones to hurt, a shady past to reveal.” Avi’s ponytail swings as she emphasizes, “Everyone.”
Vera flings out her arms. “So let’s say you’re right, and there’s more going on with the mist—gas—whatever, than meets the eye. If the sergeant can’t help us, and Morton might try tostopus, what do we do?”
Everyone looks between Lament and me. I half expect Lament to close up again, tell us we’re wasting our breath, but apparently he’s warmed up to this conversation, because he says, “I think it’s time we hunt Ran Doc Min down once and for all. We’ll do it off the record. No Legion red tape, no mission briefings or media attention. Just us, the Determinist, and some answers.”
There’s a pause.
Avi rounds on Illiviamona. “I thought you healed him.”
“I did,” the Lorian replies.
“So why is he talking like he’s got some sort of brain fever?”
“I don’t have brain fever,” Lament argues.
“We can’t justtalkto Ran Doc Min,” Youvu Hum says. “If it was that easy, the Legion would have done it ages ago. He refuses to meet with us, and no one knows where to find him.”
“That’s not true.” Lament frowns at his feet, running fingers through his hair. The button of his cuff has come undone at his wrist, revealing the edge of a scar. “We know Doc Min lives on a ship called The Parallax.We know it’s within hologram range of Venthros. Jester, is there a way to reverse engineer his hologram signal?”
I told you already, Jester says,the signal is encrypted.
“Not to mention,” Vera argues, “even if we somehow uncovered The Parallax’s location, how would we get there? You and Keller are both tied up with red cards, to say nothing of the additional measures the sergeant put in place after our fiasco on Purvuva. She DNA-grounded the two of you.”
“We could wait until the red cards are overturned,” Toph suggests.
“That could take months,” Youvu Hum returns. “Mount Kilmon is set to erupt in—what? A few weeks?”
“Midsummer,” I say, doing the math. “So yeah, seven weeks.”
“We could ask the sergeant to reconsider,” the other Youvu Hum says. “DNA blocking is immoral anyway. It’s basically imprisonment.”
“I don’t think now is the time to start debating morality with the sergeant,” Toph puts in.
“We’re not going to wait on our red cards,” Lament says, “and we’re not going to involve the sergeant.”
Vera crosses her arms. “What’s your solution, then?”
“We’ll use Moon Dancer.”
There’s another, longer pause.
But, Jester says,she’s destroyed.
Lament shakes his head. “What do you think I’ve been doing every night in the workshop?”
“We know you’ve been attempting repairs,” Vera hedges, “but we just thought… I mean, Lament. You’re not a mechanic. And Moon Dancer—I don’t mean to sound harsh, but we all saw the damage. I’m not sureanyonecould fix her.”
“Ask Hartman.” Lament turns toward me. “He’ll tell you.”
My earlier anger—temporarily halted in the face of all these revelations—chooses this moment to reemerge. “Tell them what?”
Lament drops back a fraction. He looks suddenly uncertain. “About Moon Dancer. About the repairs I’ve been doing.”
I arch a brow. It’s mean-spirited, I know that, but I’m tired of Lament letting me in only when he wants, of opening up and showing me hisvulnerability only to shut me out again, over and over. I’m tired ofpiningover him, how he has so much of my loyalty and all my attention, which he apparently thinks he can summon on command.
Like he’s doing now. He wants me to back him up about Moon Dancer—he just assumes Iwill—and it makes me feel stupid and used. And I know I’m being petty, that I’m probably acting like an asshole, but today has been shit, and I’m still pissed at him, and exhausted, and just fuckingover it.
