Fortunately, the system was still in chaos, so spoofing the security was easy. That made up for my distraction, the feel of my alien mate looming behind me, ready to pounce. The door slid open, and the sudden chaos beyond dragged my attention back to reality.
We’d emerged into a chaos-filled chamber, which I guessed was a servitor barracks. There were subtle clues, like the cots set into wall niches, and the dozens of screaming, panicking servitors. They each reacted in their own ways, clutching their heads and howling, banging their heads against the walls, curling up and crying. Torn from the Hive, they suffered.
I winced at the sight, knowing their condition was my fault. I hadn’t considered what would happen to them when I crashedthe system. Had I killed them? Was today my graduation from grand theft: art to mass murder?
Behind me, Varok clapped his hands, the sound like a gunshot.
“You are free!” Varok boomed, his voice striking like a hammer, echoing from the crystal walls. Impossible to ignore, he drew the attention of most of the panicking servants. “Listen to me, friends, this is your last chance to escape. Penny has broken the digital chains that bound you—come with us if you want to leave them behind forever.”
I looked around at him, wide-eyed. He gave me a little shrug. “What? We can’tleavethem here.”
28
VAROK
Together, we led the freed slaves out of the Collector hive. Not all; some stayed behind, either too afraid of trying to escape their masters, or too loyal to abandon them. I didn’t question their choice—immortality was a heady prospect, and this was one of the few ways to achieve it.
If you could call surviving in a crystal cocoon ‘life,’ anyway. Not for me. I’d take a handful of days with my human over an eternity of simulated existence in the crystal hell the Collectors had crafted for themselves.
We streamed out into the biting cold of the twilight world, an icy wind stripping the warmth from us. Some freed servitors glanced behind us, tempted by the safety and warmth they were leaving behind, but none turned back. Penny, dressed for the arena as she was, shivered violently but didn’t let that stop her guiding our party onto the largest of the Hive’s skimmers.
“On, get on,” she urged them, organizing them with the ferocity and intensity that made her infuriatingly impressive as a thief, a rival, and a lover. “Cold blooded beings to the middle, everyone huddle in, we’ll conserve warmth.”
Most obeyed without question—wise, there wasn’t time for debate. One, a Prytheen, looked about to object until I caught his gaze and snarled. He backed down.
“My ship will not hold so many,” I whispered to Penny, not taking my eyes off the rebellious Prytheen. “Will yours?”
“No way. Not even close.” She kept guiding our guests into place as she spoke, body language full of confidence. “We’ll have to steal someone else’s.”
“That sounds like a plan I’d propose.”
“No.” She shot me a bright grin. Her lips were a worrying shade of blue. “If it wereyourplan, you’d wait until we were at the spaceport to worry about it. I’ve got something resembling an actual plan.”
I laughed at that, unable to argue the point, and lifted her bodily onto the skimmer, ignoring her struggles as I pushed her into the warmth of the alien crowd. Before she could object, I spoke firmly.
“Penelope, you are freezing. I will not let you die because you’re too busy saving others to take care of yourself.”
“But—” her objection cut off under a chorus of agreement as the freed servants pulled her into their midst. Crowded, the skimmer lurched as I nudged it away from the platform and its systems came to life. The ice wind howled outside, but the environmental shield kept the worst at bay, and I reached for the throttle.
“Wait!” I turned at the shout and glared. Lady Amyral, Scion of the Protectorate, had abandoned her dignity to run, pushing a familiar loader ahead of her. She hadn’t changed out of her party dress, which looked ridiculous as the wind tugged at it. She’d abandoned her fancy shoes at some point, and I wondered if she’d regret bare feet in this climate.
It was the container she had with her that made me pause, lifting my hand from the throttle. I knew that box well, havingcarted it across this Void-damned city—it contained The Night Watch.
“A little help, please?” She smiled, a less polished expression than I’d seen on her before. More sincere? Time would tell. “I can pay, and Idon’tplan to be here when our hosts wake up.”
She patted the hovering loader, then glanced back over her shoulder. Pursuit was coming.
I shared a look with Penny, who had spoken to Amyral and knew her better than I did. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and nodded. Together, we waved the Scion onto the skimmer. As soon as she was aboard, the extra weight making the gravity generator whine, I twisted the throttle, and we soared away from the Hive, toward the spaceport and freedom.
We wastedno time in choosing a ship to steal. The first one that looked large enough to accommodate us all, theTai’var,became our target. Penny, teeth chattering, and fingers frozen numb, somehow still overrode the locks with my brother’s datachip, letting us into the glorious warmth of its bridge. Luxurious carpets lined the floor, soothing melodies played as the ship came alive around us, and hologram projectors gave the impression of dawn breaking. This was, no doubt about it, a fancy yacht, prioritizing aesthetics over practical matters.
Amyral didn’t pause, striding to the command chair and sitting down as though she owned the ship. A control interface blossomed to life under her fingers, and within ten minutes, the ship’s computer agreed, convinced that she was the captain of theTai’var. The benefits of being raised a Protectorate noble, I supposed—her family would be at most two generations removed from actual pirates.
I didn’t object; if it meant we could get off the accursed iceball fast, she’d earned a payday. And it raised some interesting possibilities.
I did point out that if shedidn’ttake us to Earth, I’d tear her limbs off. She laughed at that, lounging in the captain’s seat as though she’d been born to it.
“I wouldn’t mess with my friends, Varok,” she said, one hand dancing through computer code, the other holding a glass of something blue. I didn’t waste time wondering where she’d gotten it.
