Talk about paying for your mistakes. He was sick to death of it.
Shade lifted Tess’s hand from his thigh. It was burning a hole through his pants. “If you’re feeling better, then it’s time to get you back to your ship.”
Her face fell, and her disappointment crashed straight through him. She didn’t bother trying to hide anything from him anymore, which might have been the worst part of this whole twisted mess.
He’d been clear in his rejection, though, so she pulled it together and got off his bed. Because that was what Tess Bailey did—she dealt.
Chapter 17
It was sheer embarrassing torture, but I forced myself out onto the platform in the morning to bring Shade his usual cup of coffee. He accepted it with thanks but then barely looked at me again. He was always a little off in the mornings, so maybe he was just being his habitual cranky self. Or maybe it was the fact that I’d thrown myself at him the night before, and he’d turned me down. My stomach still dropped at the thought of that.
I climbed back on board theEndeavorwithout trying to make small talk with Shade, but then regretted missing our usual conversation time over coffee. He was interesting and intelligent, and he went down uncommon paths of discussion without looking horrified or making a fuss, which made talking to him one of the highlights of my day.
But not today. His rejection was still too fresh, so I hid out in the kitchen with Miko and Shiori until lunch. Together, the three of us managed to generate the mother of all shopping lists, which I then uploaded to a local food and goods outlet that would deliver later in the day. I added a huge supply of cat food and some of that extra-special litter Susan had given me to the end of the list. We had Bonk to think about now.
When the total came up, I nearly blanched. With everything I still had to pay Shade, that was the end of our money. It was time to start planning a new heist, one that had to be at least somewhat profitable to us as well as useful to our friends. One thing was for sure, though: I wouldn’t be selling my blood. Or a kidney. Or anything else.
Through the internal com system, I sent out a call to lunch. Jax and Fiona arrived, completing our group for the trigrain noodles I’d made with sauce. I didn’t go outside to invite Shade in to eat with us. He could fend for himself.
“Plain red sauce? Again?” Fiona looked at her plate as though I were asking her to eat worms in mud.
“Sorry.” I shoved a fork in her direction. “It was all we had left without dipping into the food for the Outer Zones. New stuff is coming in later today.”
“I cleared a spot for it in Cargo 2,” Jax said, already digging into his lunch.
I nodded my thanks. Cargo Bay 2 had plenty of free space for crates and a huge refrigeration unit that stayed cold even when the ship wasn’t running for days.
“Any news from Mareeka?” Miko asked.
“I haven’t checked in yet today.” Wiping off my fingers, I reached for the tablet I’d used earlier to order the food and supplies. As soon as it powered up again, I shot off a quick note to the director of Starway 8.
A response came back almost immediately.
“Same,” I told the others after reading the message. “Sickness but no quarantine, probably because there haven’t been any deaths yet. High fevers. The kids are weak.” I skimmed the few lines again. “Ships are starting to avoid the Sector as the news spreads, and food is getting scarce.” I glanced back up. “Mareeka says to stay away.”
“What’s your plan?” Jax asked, obviously knowing we weren’t staying away.
Honestly, Mareeka should have known better herself. How many times had she stuck me on ventilation-shaft cleaning duty for not following her directions? A hundred times, at least.
She’d hoped my dislike of closed, still spaces would deter me and turn me into a better listener. It hadn’t. I’d just powered through my mild claustrophobia and cleaned the damn ducts.
“As soon as Fiona gives us the go-ahead on the cure she’s working on, we’ll bring it to Starway 8.” I glanced at our resident scientist. She was doing her best to eat her noodles and sauce, but it looked as though it took a real effort and didn’t make me want to touch my own lunch very much.
There were noises of consent from around the table, but I hadn’t been worried about anyone backing out. I shut down the tablet and picked up my fork. I would power through my meal just like I’d powered through those ventilation ducts.
Eyeing the limp worms in mud, I scooped up a bite and aimed it at my mouth.Bleh. It tasted as bland as it looked.
“Have you concluded that the blood Tess found in the lab is the base ingredient for the super soldier serum?” Miko asked.
“Definitely,” Fiona answered, wiping off her mouth. “But it’s pure. Not only in the sense that it’s undiluted, but also in the sense that nothing potentially dangerous has been added to it.”
“Perfectly safe for kids? Or anyone else?” I wanted to be sure, even though I’d already asked.
“As far as I can tell, it’s simply ahead in terms of immuno-defense.” Fiona started to look excited and set down her fork. “Like an improved version of our own blood. If we’re life-form A, for example, then this is from life-form A1. Only slightly different, and still totally compatible, but a lot better.”
“So life-form A1 will survive over A?” I asked.
“Biologically speaking, it has the better chance,” Fiona confirmed. “Think of it in terms of natural selection and the very slight genetic modifications of evolution that, over time, make a huge difference to an entire species.”
