When I check on Evo, he’s still hanging onto the rail like he’s completely comfortable with the body jolts. His eyes abandon the stars to look at me. When he sees me watching him, he looks down and away again, like he’s ashamed he was caught staring.
“There are a few that were one-offs,” Brodin says. “Or so your mother told me.”
“Mine?” Steele asks.
“She was a Cybertech, worked for Aera’s mother near the very end.”
“Shit. I thought she was just a pilot.” Steele slumps back in his seat.
For several long minutes, we sit in exhausted but semi-warm silence. And I am grateful.
Poppy jumps us again. Brodin breathes out.
I watch the blue light swallow us this time. The distant stars blur, and we’re dumped into new space again.
“Ugh, I wish we could do this in one go,” Daken mutters. Racer agrees with him.
Evo glances back at them, eyes flashing like he’s communicating with other Titans. Eon’s voice comes over the speakers. I only know it’s his because I can see him talking from the copilot’s seat. “I am sorry for the turbulent ride. But we do not have generators big enough to hold a jump across the whole span. Deep breaths. Breathe out when we jump.”
Brodin sighs beside me like he’s familiar with it even if he hates it.
“You’ve been through portal jumps before?” I ask.
“It is ancient human technology that was supposed to be lost.Intentionallylost. I only remember hearing rumors of it when I was young. Then some of it was recovered when I was a teen. We had it on special fighters in Omega Force. We tried to protect it, but we were desperate. Then CSP took it for themselves.”
Brodin breathes out with the next jump. “Solcrue left some of their kind behind when they ventured into the stars and left us to rot on the planet their kind destroyed. The self-centered breed of humans desperate to save themselves weaseled their way into CSP. Now, back to Evo. How does he make you feel?”
I check on the Titan. “Safe. He is careful, attentive, defensive, but hesitant like he’s holding thoughts back.”
Brodin hums a quiet note. “They have all been through a lot, just like us. Evo...”
“His brother says it’s short for Evolution.”
Brodin’s eyes snap to mine. He points at Evo.
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” He covers his mouth and zones out for a long breath. “I remember your mother talking about him with someone else, back when your father and I had to report for a mission briefing, and Omega Force and Titan command were operating out of CyberGuard Star Base. They wanted to decommission him for being a hazard risk. Guess your mother convinced them to push him through.”
We endure another jump.
“Why would he be a hazard?” I ask.
“He adapts like humans. So what do we get that machines don’t?”
“Self-doubt?”
He chews his lip. “He can adapt beyond his programming. If I heard your mother correctly, she said he could write programs with a simple touch.”
Steele leans toward me. “So he can what, turn into anything?”
“In theory.” Brodin pats my knee. “What matters is he’s here, and he saved your life. That’s all I need to know to trust him.”
I pull the chip out of my pocket and run my thumb over the honeycomb, watching it light up. “Why does this activate for him?”
Brodin and Steele look between the chip and Evo.
“It does? For that guy?” Steele asks.
