Page 198 of The Space Between Stars

he signaled.

Dex shook his head. “Please tell me I’m just bad at reading signals.”

Calver repeated. He spared another glance at the empty horizon. Palmed the only tampered Aetech lamp he had in his pocket. Worked his jaw.

“What does that make us?”

Dex’s hands gripped his mane of dark hair. He muttered something unintelligible, pacing the confines of the space.

Calver pooled air into his chest and let it out slow. Cul’Mon wanted him backed into a corner? Fine then. It was time to announce his arrival.

FANKALO

Into the depths they went. The cove was littered with underwater caves and coral where octopuses would hide. Fankalo let Mitek take his turn first. The cephalopods were intelligent and wily, but, despite nocturnal tendencies, drawn to Aetech lights. She floated to the surface and watched through the water as he dove into a rocky trench. One of the tentacled creatures, larger than a dinner plate, approached and he speared it between the eyes.

Mitek swam back, prize in hand. His head broke into the evening air with a cackle of triumph.

His joy was contagious. “Guess I’m cooking. I hope you enjoy your food charred beyond recognition.” She found the shallows and began treading towards the rocky shore.

Mitek swam to her and handed her the octopus. Then he laced a hand around her waist, pulling her arm over his shoulders. “I’ll help get you out.”

She needed it.

They grilled their dinner over an improvised spit. He told a joke about a farmer who didn’t have any legs. She explained the sensory systems of cephalopods. He told her a story about Cam hooking himself with his own line. She recited a passage from her favorite Nelfinden theologian, Toronoff.

Everything was perfect.

Time slipped by, casting gold over the pebble beach until the sun hit the horizon. Fankalo relished the crimson claws tearing through the clear, clashing blue above them. A sting blossomed behind her eyes. Preservation, Mitek. Don’t you dare betray me. It was the closest she’d gotten to prayer in a long time.

“Hey, Bratty,” Mitek muttered, “I’ve missed you.”

The sky shone red on the ocean, its corrugated mirror: eternal companions, the two. She scooted closer to him. Her head tilted onto his shoulder.

“I’ve missed you too.”

CALVEROUS

Dex kept the fear from his voice, but it shone through his eyes. “What do we do?”

Below, splintering wood cracked like thunder in the tower’s entryway. It would break any moment, and Cul’Mon’s numbers would come pouring in. Calver slid his thumb over the activator, tensed to press it. He moved for the trap door, ready to throw it down.

“Don’t!” Dex shouted.

They looked at one another, the air heavy around them. And Calver risked it. He poured himself over the mask of the Survivor, if only for this last moment.

Dex’s lips rolled over his teeth. “She did her best,” he croaked out. “And I’ll do mine. Funny the way that doesn’t always look the way we expect it to.”

Death is a little bit funny. Leave it to Raimee to be right about everything. He thought about her, waiting for his signal, only for it to never come. He thought about her, realizing he’d failed, that their plan would never have a chance to play out. He imagined her weary smile, just before the encampment went up in flames.

They had both known it was a gamble. But the hope that it might be more had been the best thing he’d ever known.