Grange is mostly found in the less prosperous wards. It’s the liquor of choice of the miners in D, the factory workers in B, the laborers in K. I’ve only had it once—Uncle Jim couldn’t stand the stuff—and I remember it tasting like a mixture of burnt caramel and sour pine, which I suppose makes sense since it’s a synthetic offshoot of whiskey and gin, a horrible-tasting combination of two much tastier liquors. But it’s cheap to make and costs hardly any Lux credits to buy, so I get why it’s popular. A man in General Redden’s position, however, could afford a lot better.
“I’m serious. The General always kept a bottle in the house,” Xavier insists. “Anyway, we were out in the woods, boozed off our asses, when we suddenly decided to climb what was basically a vertical cliff wall. In the dark.”
“Why?”
“Because we were stupid.” He chuckles, amused by the memory. “Cross gets halfway up the wall, can’t find a foothold, and slips. This asswit plummets fifteen feet and breaks the fall with his left arm. But according to him, he’s just fine. He says,Let’s try again,and we scale the wall and make it all the way to the top this time. And it isn’t until we get back to the Point that he says,Oh, by the way, we should probably stop at the hospital.”
I sigh. “How bad was it?”
“Arm was broken in four places. He climbed a cliff with a broken arm and hiked for two hours afterward without so much as a grunt of pain. He had to spend more than an hour in the regen chamber. Usually it takes ten minutes, tops, to regen a fracture.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t say a word.”
“I can. That’s how Cross is. He doesn’t want anyone to see him as weak. He’ll never ask for help, and he sure as shit won’t let anyone worry about him.”
My heart squeezes. I relate to that, more than anyone can ever know. I don’t want anyone worrying about me, either.
Before I can respond, I feel Kallister poking the back of my mind.
“Time’s up,”he says, and the cell door buzzes open.“I’m waiting for you in the corridor. There’s something I need to show you.”
“I have to go.” As I stand, I reach into my pocket and disable the signal jammer. “I’ll come see you tomorrow, if they’ll let me.”
Xavier pouts. “Get me that tablet if you can. Load some books on it.”
“When did you learn how to read?”
“Fuck off.”
I return to the holding area where I receive another glare from Neema. I don’t bother bidding her goodbye.
In the hall, I find Kallister typing on his comm. His head raises at the sound of my footsteps.
“How’s our prisoner doing?” he asks dryly.
“Bored and demanding something to read.”
“Those arrogant Command fucks never change. Come on. Let’s go.”
He takes off walking. I fall into step with him, curious about where we’re going. When we reach the air lock and I realize we’re leaving the base, wariness climbs up my throat.
Outside the Dagger, the sun has long set, but the moon sits high above us, lighting our path. The topography of this mountain base is truly something else. I follow Kallister up a staircase that’s carved directly into the stone, winding its way upward.
“Where are we going?”
He doesn’t answer, which only heightens my unease. Something doesn’t feel right. And I feel naked without a weapon.
“This way,” he says as the path grows steeper.
I follow without a word. He moves like Uncle Jim. Those sure strides. The impatient set of his shoulders. Anytime Jim moved, it was brisk and decisive, even if he was just rising from his armchair to grab whiskey from the kitchen cupboard. He moved with purpose. Kallister is the same way.
The path ends on a bluff that offers a view of the dark treetops and craggy peaks in the distance. Kallister strides toward a shadowy cavity in the rock.
“In here.”
I hesitate, but my innate curiosity propels me forward until I’m inside a small cave, staring at something from one of those old science-fiction novels in the digital library. Standing out against the pitch black is a jagged glowing slice in the rock, emitting a faint white light.
Although it’s about six feet tall, it’s barely a foot wide. The gap doesn’t look big enough for anyone to walk through, so I’m startled when Kallister suddenly twists his body and steps sideways into the iridescent slit in the rock.
