“Slow it, Peaches.” His tone is conciliatory. “I pledge, I only think it’s worth thinking on requesting another destin. We can have our pick.”
Destin,my mind echoes, turning over furiously. As indestiny? I find myself hoping against hope that they’re about to tell us what they’re all doing here, and what they want with Earth.
“We’re taking Prime-One, okay? I didn’t get us to top roster to take some lixo know-seeking destin.” She sighs. “Have you seen what the world looks like down there? There’s more desert andsmog than blue and green, the whole thing’s gonna be lixo soon … we gotta shift downwards, Dex. The sooner we get rid of them down there, the better.”
“I compren.” Dex’s voice is quiet. “And we will shift. I just—”
Atlanta’s voice sharpens. “What is this, Dex? You scared? You never been scared before.”
“Yeh, and I’m not scared now,” he says calmly. “And I’m not trying to give you hassle. All I’m saying is there’s a lot we don’t compren yet. You and I hold on, the first teams down to the surface are going to send beno data thisways. Give it a little time, and maybe we’ll know Prime-One isn’t as beno as we think. Maybe some more important destin comes ourways, and that’s when you and I step up.”
I can feel Mia’s shallow breaths where she’s pressed against my front. With her head tucked under my chin as we lie on our sides, we can share the view through the vent.
Atlanta huffs, unconvinced. “You can make anything sound beno.”
Dex laughs. “That’s why all the boys look myways,” he agrees.
Atlanta gives a massive sigh and folds her hands behind her head. “I want to shiftnow, Dex. What use is all our training if we only sit up here watching their television stories and reading their internets?”
“There’ll be action,” he says. “I pledge, there’ll be action for every single pair aboard this ship by the time we’re done, and every single person below.”
“Don’t start on about the protos again,” she groans, halfheartedly tossing a piece of dirty laundry at him.
He pushes up to his feet, and his boots approach her bunk. “Let’s get something to eat,” he suggests.
She grumbles a reply. “Wecouldbe eating planetside, if we’d shifted already.” But even though she protests, she’s swinging her legs off the bed, and taking his hand so he can pull her up.
“Regular food will taste like lixo once we’ve eaten planetside,”he replies cheerfully. “So we might as well eat up before we learn what the beno stuff’s like.” He’s already untying the sleeves of his jumpsuit from around his waist as they prepare to leave. “We’ll hit the bridge after, learn what the new data is,” he suggests, as they make their way through the door. “We’ll make clear we’re up for the challenge, okay? Whether we go Prime-One or not—our assignment will be beno.”
She pauses in the doorway, looking into his eyes, searching. “And youdowant a beno destin?” she says quietly.
“I pledge,” he says, herding her out into the hall. “We’ll get this done. They’ve had their chance with this planet.”
The door clangs shut behind them.
Mia and I lie in silence for half a minute, processing what we’ve heard and waiting to make sure they’re good and gone. Then she starts to move, so I sit up to give her room.
“Holyshit.” She flicks on the wrist unit, face pale in the light. “Jules, did you—”
“Yeah.Destin—likedestination? For a mission of some kind?Lixois Portuguese, and in Portuguese it’sdestino. Not to mention it’s similar in French, Italian, Spanish—”
“Jules!” Mia’s voice is urgent, a quick reminder to bring myself back to the point.
“Right.” When the academic fog lifts, I’m left with the same horror that has Mia trembling, horror that makes my heart begin to pound. “They’re sending Undying troops down to Earth with recon assignments—that’s how they’re learning about us. They’re actually down there,right now,hidden in plain sight.”
“That’s why they’ve made themselves look human.” Mia’s voice is shaking.
“And why they speak English and other Earth languages.” A memory strikes me, leaves me cold. “Centuries ago countries would send specially trained spies to other countries to blend in among the population, and they’d only be allowed to speak the enemycountry’s language from the time they were children. That’s why they’re speaking like us now.”
“Do you think they know?” Mia’s voice is shaking. “Down there on Earth—that there are aliens among them, things that look human but aren’t? Do they know we’re being invaded?”
“If they knew,” I reply grimly, “they’d have found a way to attack the ship by now.”
“But the Undying look exactly like us, so no one will try to stop them. They could be setting bombs to go off, or infiltrating various governments, or taking hostages, or … or …”
I know she’s thinking about her sister, Evie. I know, because my first thought was for my father, and for the first time I’m actuallyrelievedhe’s in detention at IA Headquarters in Prague. Maybe he’ll be safe there. But there are other people I care about who have no such protection. My friends, the rest of my family.
I reach out and take her hand, and she wastes no time tangling her fingers in mine and squeezing. We touch each other so much now that there aren’t many moments like this, moments of conscious choice. It should feel like nothing, a common thing. But for me at least, the choice makes it electric.
