“I like the sound of that,” Amina said.
“Where is Ineeko?” Jinna asked.
Helmen explained the basic layout of the Ilgorian Federation and Ineeko’s location within it. She gave Amina the time she needed to get her emotions back under control. She wasn’t being abandoned. Helmen wasn’t leaving her behind, only giving her the break she needed. Even though she was the one who’d first indicated she wanted to stay on Ineeko for a while, she’d still needed this reassurance.
Nalia asked Helmen a question, and they began walking again as her captain answered it. Jinna moved slower because she was fiddling with a small information square. Amina looked over to see what she was doing and saw a writing system she was unfamiliar with.
“It’s Talin glyphs,” Jinna said without looking up. “If you can read Hoquin, these aren’t too hard to learn.”
“I don’t know either,” Amina said. “I was raised using Universal.”
“Same,” Jinna said. “But I love written languages, so it wasn’t hard to learn Hoquin when I was working on a station in their space and then Talin glyphs.”
“You weren’t born a slave?” Amina asked.
“I wasn’t born in the Talin Empire,” Jinna said, tapping her information square one last time and tucking it away in a hidden pocket inside her wrap dress.
“I got drunk one day on the station where I was working, and the next thing I knew, I was being sold to a Talin.”
“I can get you out of here,” Amina said, speaking quietly in case there were any vid captures hidden in the hallway. “Can you and Nalia sneak off the ship? If you can make it onto the docks, then it’ll be easy.”
“There’s no need for that,” Jinna said. “I’m right where I want to be.”
Amina couldn’t understand that. “As a slave?”
“I’m not a slave,” Jinna said. By now Helmen, Gis, and Nalia had noticed the two of them had fallen behind. They doubled back.
“Yes, I know they call you pets, but you’re wearing a collar,” Amina said. “That makes you a slave.”
“Oh, you don’t know?” Nalia asked, looking amused.
“Know what?” Amina said.
“We’re free,” Jinna said. “I’m Holian’s scent-bonded partner. Derani is scent-bonded to Nalia. They couldn’t live without us.”
Amina’s temper sparked. “Is that why it’s okay to force a collar on you? I bet they even have locators in them.”
“They do have trackers,” Jinna said, reaching up to press her thumbs to her collar. It popped open, and she pulled it off to present to Amina. “But the trackers are for our safety. If we’re ever stolen, it makes us easier to find.”
Amina’s anger evaporated, replaced by excitement. “That will make it so much easier to get you out of here.” She looked at Nalia. “I have some tools on me, will you let me see if I can deactivate the locator in your collar?”
Nalia did the same move as Jinna and unlatched her collar and pulled it off. “Honestly, I’ve gotten so used to wearing this that I forget it’s there.”
“I see that you’ve already figured out how to get those off,” Amina said with approval. “If you let me help, you’ll never have to put them on again.”
“We could adopt you and get you Ilgorian citizenship, like the Ossisos and Myrum,” Helmen said.
Gis gave an encouraging sound. “You can trust Amina. She’d never betray you.”
“We aren’t pets or slaves,” Nalia said, sounding a little exasperated. “We’re partners. The collars are part of our costume.”
Amina remembered Myrum saying the humans on Kalor were free, but she’d assumed it meant they didn’t have to work. It never occurred to her that they were considered equals to the Talins around them.
When Amina didn’t respond right away, Nalia put her collar back on so both hands were free. She unclipped her Ident and tapped it until a holo appeared in the air over it.
“This is my ship too,” she said, showing a diagram of Bountiful. She tapped on the holo and the lights in the hall went out. They were only illuminated by the Ident. She tapped again and turned the lights back on.
“I can control the whole ship from here, although it’s awkward and I wouldn’t want to do it if we had to perform some difficult maneuvers," she continued. “The crew knows, and I’m in command too. They look to me as often as Derani when there is a question.”
