Moss replied, “Some wormholes are shorter than others, despite actual distance. Most wormholes leading to the maintenance base are swift. That is why Auto-Nav enacted this response.”
“Great.” Torian groaned, moving swiftly back to the flight deck. She sat in the pilot’s seat just in time to see the stars sparkle back into existence—but she’d almost missed them through themassive wall of dustlooming before theDestitute.
The Kialoa Nebula.
It was bubblegum pink, which made it seem almost whimsical and welcoming. Inside were some of the richest asteroid clusters in the system, heavy in valuable metals waiting to be mined. Discovering that had prompted a rush of ships into the nebula millennia ago, and only a few ever limped back out.
The rest remained inside the pink dust, drifting.
Dead.
“What—” Torian cleared her throat, sinking into the pilot’s seat. She was grateful for the cup of ravla, because Heavens knew she needed liquid courage right about now. If she’d had coffee, her heart would be thrumming in panic, but right now she felt coolly attentive. “Ah, do you know what kills ships inside the nebula?”
Moss was silent for a long moment. “I do not compute.”
Torian almost said,Come on, like Moss was joking with her. But Moss was a closed system, and it was impossible to tell what it had been exposed to—and what slid past its database. She drew a short breath. “The nebula. To humans, it’s a known ship graveyard.”
“A ship… graveyard.” Moss sounded unimpressed. “What is a graveyard?”
Most people on the space station colonies—at least the human ones—didn’t mention graveyards, considering standard practicewas to incinerate any bodies and release the dust into space. It wasn’t surprising Moss hadn’t heard the term.
Torian fumbled through a way to phrase it. “It’s a planetary thing from Earth, before humans settled in this solar system. When humans on Rhymarra die, their bodies are buried, and become sustenance for the plants above. They call it a graveyard.”
“And this nebula, to humans, is where ships are buried.” A pause. “In soil.”
For something so smart, it sure missed the point. “It’s a place where starships go todie. Something happens to them when they enter the nebula, and they drift forever. It’s a death sentence for the crew.”
TheDestitutefast approached the nebula. Torian braced herself, but they slid seamlessly into the dust. At first, pink surrounded the ship, like bubblegum clouds that washed over the windows. The farther into the cloud they got, though, the more it diffused, until it was nearly impossible to tell they were inside a nebula at all.
Unconcerned by this development, Moss replied, “A nebula is merely a collection of dust and gas. It will not affect our ship.”
That wasn’t right. “Then why did youagreewith me when I said it was a dead zone?”
“Once, the nylarians lived here. Now, they are gone. I reasoned that was a human equivalent to ‘dead.’”
Torian was still tense, but they continued flying through the nebula at top speed. In the distance, wreckages littered the space around them, drifting. Husks of derelict ships, some broken by the asteroids. Torian pointed at one of them on the radar. “Those. Those arehumanships…” Something caught her sight and she trailed off, squinting through the flight deck’s massive window.
A sliver of darkness seemed to glimmer, but the moment she focused on it, it vanished.
A chill swept up her spine. What the hell was that?
“They are human ships, yes.” Moss didn’t seem to understand.
It took a moment to drag her focus back to this conversation. “I know. What made them break down?”
“Human engineering is subpar.” Moss was clearly trying to be patient, but with the exasperated tinge of a parent walking a child through an exceedingly simple concept for the sixth time. “We are not utilizing a ship with human engineering.”
Poor construction didn’t explain why hundreds of ships from hundreds of centuries juststopped flyingin this exact spot. Torian clenched her jaw. Before she could reply, something else flashed high above them—but the second she turned to look, it was empty space and distant stars.
A nervous laugh crawled from her chest. “Are you… um, are you registering anything outside?”
“Outside is a vacuum,” Moss replied.
Torian nearly groaned in exasperation. “Yes, I know.” She opened her mouth to clarify, but then a large asteroid shifted, and afucking planetappeared before them.
But that was impossible; if there was a planet in the Kialoa Nebula, she’d have known.
Right?
