“Do you want to be mated to a man you don’t like?
“Like that isn’t my fate? Some geneticist has already marked out my perfect match. I don’t have a choice. You could’ve had any woman in the colony. Plenty have offered.”
“They do not want me; they just don’t want a human. They like the idea of someone loyal to them, but I do not trust they will be loyal to me.” I will not be cast aside again. That is the only choice I can make.
Her eyes are hard as she considers me. “I can promise that.”
“I do not want a mate out of duty.” I tap my chest. “Being chosen is something almost sacred to my people. I’m a banished fourth son.”
“Yeah, and? Does that mean you’re never supposed to find love?”
“Yes. We are raised and pushed out of our tribe. Told to raid other tribes for women and wealth with promises of being ableto return.” Lies that give false hope to the banished and soothe the loss for the unfortunate family with four sons.
“They send you on suicide runs, expecting you all to die.”
“It is more of a chance than the fifth-born son gets. He never draws his first breath.”
She folds up the packet of sludge. “You’re not eating.”
“I don’t know how long we’ll be out here, so I’m treating it as emergency rations.”
“There are emergency rations ion the ship.”
“You’re assuming we can get into the ship. Killing two of their warriors is not a great start to diplomatic relations.”
“Who said anything about killing? Can you stun them long enough for us to get into the ship?”
“Possibly…assuming they don’t stun me first.”
“For all we know, Hugh or Erica shot one of them.”
“Then we should assume the warriors now have your weapons. It didn’t take us long to figure them out, so it won’t take them long. They may have already raided the ship for everything useful.”
“And if we’re unlucky, they’ve damaged it, so it won’t fly.” Her face contorts as she yells a silent curse and turns in a full circle.
I understand the frustration she’s feeling, but this is not something that can be solved immediately. “Pull up the camera feed. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
There are three cameras online, which means Charlie’s team was successful in setting one up. None of them shows us anything useful.
“There’s a camera on the rear of the ship that I might be able to access. It’s used for landing in tight spots, so we don’t damage the back end.” She sits on her bag and types on the screen, pulling up new screens. Then we have a lovely view of the groundbeneath what I’m assuming is the ship. “Hang on.” She circles her fingers on the screen, and the image moves. “Oh.”
Hugh is dead from the amount of blood on his clothes and the way he is staring, blank eyed at the ship. His whisperer is still in his ear, and his weapon is on his belt.
I sit next to her. “They never heard them coming.”
“I bet he got cocky with his drone, and someone decided to follow it.”
That was my fear when they first started flying them. But what do I know? I’m a barbarian who doesn’t understand technology. I may not understand how it’s made, but I understand it well enough to use it.
We stare at the screen watching all four camera feeds. And I scan our surrounds with my kam, hoping that no one gets close to our position.
“Charlie hasn’t replied,” she murmurs, her voice little more than a whisper.
“They may be hiking already.” But even on my lips, that sounds like a weak excuse.
“You don’t believe that.”
“I am beginning to think it’s unlikely. They may have been intercepted by the hunting party.”
