Tavia flinches.
“Sorry. I need some air.”
I’m moving toward the door before anyone can stop me.
“Captain,” Pickles says softly. “Your respiratory rate suggests acute stress response.”
I pause at the doorway, forcing myself to breathe. Tavia’s watching me with those big yellow eyes, her markings dim with worry. Cetus has that controlled stillness that suggests he’s fighting every instinct to follow me.
“I’m okay. I need a minute. Keep working on the sensor array—you’re almost there. I’ll be back.”
It’s probably a lie.
But they let me go.
I make it to the observation deck before my hands start shaking.
The storm is magnificent from inside the station’s shielding—great arcs of lightning that turn the atmosphere purple and gold, wind that rattles the reinforced windows, electromagnetic pulses that make my hair stand on end through the protective systems.
Beautiful. Deadly. And the Blackstar Collective knows exactly where I am.
5
Systems of Attachment
Dove
Myscannershowsthetracking signal embedded in that message. The Blackstar Collective knows exactly where I am. They’ll wait until the storm clears, then send a retrieval team.
My forehead rests against the cool window. Think, Dove.
“Captain.” Pickles’s voice is gentle through my comm. “I have been monitoring your biometrics. Your cortisol levels are approaching critical thresholds.”
“I’m aware.”
“I have also been monitoring communications traffic. The tracking signal from the Blackstar Collective message was sophisticated but not unbreakable. I could potentially mask your location if given access to the station’s communication arrays.”
I straighten. “You could mask it? Completely?”
“I am a military-grade AI core with extensive experience in signal manipulation. I neither confirm nor deny having been involved in covert operations that required similar electronic countermeasures. However, I calculate an eighty-seven percent probability of success if the Terraforming Specialist grants me the necessary access.”
“Which would require explaining why I need a debt collector’s tracking beacon hidden.”
“Affirmative. Deception becomes increasingly difficult with individuals who demonstrate the Terraforming Specialist’s level of observational acuity.”
Lightning arcs across alien skies. “I can’t drag them into my mess, Pickles.”
“Captain.” Pickles pauses, which is unusual enough to get my attention. “In eight hundred forty-eight days of monitoring your behavioral patterns, I have never observed you accept help from others. However, I must note that optimal outcomes rarely result from facing complex problems in isolation.”
“Did you psychoanalyze me?”
“I merely provided relevant observational data. However, I feel compelled to mention that the small person has asked me seventeen times if you are upset with her. I have run out of reassuring responses.”
“I’m not upset with Tavia.”
“I recommend informing her of this directly. She is currently in the hydroponics bay, ostensibly checking on the plants but primarily exhibiting signs of distress.”
He’s right.
