They reached a door, and Caj stood to the side. “Here you go. Have fun. Chankoowashtay, try not to let your mother confiscate your balls,” Caj suggested as he opened the door.
“One of these days you’re going to be old and need help, and I’m going to put cayenne pepper in your adult diapers,” Shank threatened.
Caj laughed and slapped him on the arm.
“Get in here, you idiots,” Anpaytoo called from inside the dimly lit room. The woman did love her unimaginative insults.
Allie passed Shank and walked into the office. Anpaytoo sat behind a large desk, data pads spread out around her and a static display on one wall. While it looked like a ship’s schedule, Anpaytoo had clearly coded it, because it was full of unfamiliar symbols and random words that didn’t actually make sense when they were put together.
“So what sort of trouble have you found this time?” she demanded.
“We found an exit strategy,” Allie said cheerfully. She refused to apologize for taking the best option on the table.
Anpaytoo gave her a long look. “Involving SC?”
“They’re offering a good deal,” Shank said. He walked around Anpaytoo’s desk and kissed her on the cheek. “You locked me out of the ship.”
She sighed. “I was under the impression you were on a suicide mission, but then you always did have a lot of your father in you, so I shouldn’t be surprised that you decided to survive the effort.” Her words might have been a little harsh, but then she stood and grabbed Shank by his upper arms and held him close. “You idiot,” she said softly as she stared at him. The raw emotion made Allie feel like an intruder.
“I’m okay, Mom.”
“You idiot,” she repeated, and then she let him go and seemed to shake free of the emotion. “Okay, talk to me about this horrible deal you made.”
Allie watched Shank, but he turned to look at her.Great. Allie focused on the fact that Shank seemed to believe his mother wouldn’t space her. “The SC is offering us a way out of this mess, some very nice perks, including a chance to fix some genetic damage done when we got caught in a nuclear blast, and a job trying to deal with some of the police problems on the stations.”
“You’re going to become law enforcement?” Her lips twitched.
Now Shank jumped in. “I would say we’re more the sort to gather information and pass it on to someone who could do the arresting.”
Anpaytoo narrowed her eyes. Maybe she’d just realized they were being serious.
“We wouldn’t report on the family. I already made that very clear,” Shank quickly added. “In fact, I told Commander Jasper I would share information with you. I am not about to forget where I grew up.”
“You want to become an SC officer? Have you been in some accident where your brain was damaged?” Anpaytoo’s voice steadily rose to a near shout. For all the uncomfortable conversations Allie had suffered with the woman, she’d never heard Anpaytoo raise her voice.
“This would be a chance to do some good,” Allie said as she stepped to Shank’s side. This was definitely a united front sort of moment.
Anpaytoo looked from one of them to the other and back again. It took her a good minute to even come up with any words. “Maybe you believe that officers of the law do some good. I am old enough and wise enough to know better.”
“But you do know the SC has stopped a lot of human trafficking,” Shank said.
“And they let other scum of the universe live.”
Shank grimaced. “I am not saying they’re perfect.”
“Oh, well, that makes it all okay then.” Anpaytoo pressed a hand to her eyes and dropped into her chair. “Chankoowashtay,” she said, but after that one word, she fell silent.
“We’ve all committed crimes,” Allie said, “and Shank and me and the others from theCandiruare all going to either be in prison or working for the SC. Well, Jacqs and Zeke will be stuck as slaves, but it’s pretty much the same deal. However, the SC has been trying to get us out of trouble ever since the rest of us jumped ship. They’re the ones who put that ship where Claire would steal it... Although they were actually hoping you would steal it.”
“Me?” Anpaytoo gave a little laugh that sounded far too brittle for actual humor. “Did they really think I couldn’t smell the bait from a trap?”
“Wait. You knew it was a trap?”
She gave Allie a look filled with pity. “Of course. I just thought Claire had managed to either set it off and escape, or avoid it altogether. So that ship was bait for you?”
Allie shrugged. “The SC always expected us to take her. TheUnktomiis our ship, confiscated from a politician who did some pretty awful things to kids.”
Now Anpaytoo started rubbing her left temple. “At least the SC is good at that—bringing down people who think they’re too high for any law to touch.”
