“Don’t move,” I suggested to Matt, now that it was looking right at us.

  “Yeah, because it can’t see us with those softball eyes,” he replied. “What the hell is it?”

  “Well, based on its coloring and the size of its teeth,” I said sarcastically, “how the hell should I know? It bit that thing in the eye, and now that thing is dead.”

  “But wasn’t that bigger thing about to bite you?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “So it saved your life.”

  “I guess. Probably so it could devour us instead.”

  “Why would something that tiny want to eat something our size?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it only eats brains or something.”

  Before I knew what it intended, the tarsier squirrel leaped away from the catlike creature, lunging right at me. With only a second to react, I closed my eyes and turned my head away, expecting to feel the fangs sink into my cheek.

  I didn’t feel anything. Keeping my eyes closed, I started counting the seconds, still waiting for the killer bite.

  “Huh,” Matt said when I got to five. “I think he likes you.”

  I turned my head back and opened my right eye, finding myself staring into one of the alien squirrel’s huge orbs. The sight almost made me laugh out loud with nervous tension, but I was afraid any sudden noises or movements would spur it into action.

  The creature perched on my shoulder, its hind claws dug into my jacket. I watched it watching me until it bent its head down, a long, narrow tongue flicking out and sliding across its underbelly as it began cleaning itself.

  Matt moved away from the tree, drawing the thing’s attention.

  “Stop moving!” I hissed.

  Matt froze, both of us watching until it started cleaning itself again.

  “There you are,” Alter said, coming around the side of the tree and practically scaring me to death. I froze stiff in surprise, while the creature on me made a high pitched buzz and launched itself at Alter.

  Somehow, she caught it in mid-air, her reaction time ridiculously fast. Its head stuck out past her fist, trying to bite her finger with its long fangs. She almost as quickly opened her hand, letting the alien rodent rest in her palm.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “But you shouldn’t be so quick to go on the offensive.”

  The tarsier squirrel turned on her hand and jumped back to my shoulder, perching there again.

  Alter stared at me. “Where did you get the Jagger?”

  “You know what this thing is?” I asked.

  “It’s good to see you, by the way,” Matt added.

  Her eyes shifted to the catlike creature. “He killed the Aslink for you?”

  “That thing almost bit my head off, until this thing bit it in the eye.”

  “I don’t think he appreciates being called a thing.”

  “You mean it speaks English?”

  Alter laughed. “Look at it, Ben. Of course he doesn’t speak English, he doesn’t have the proper vocal structure. But he understands it well enough, I’m sure. Isn’t that right?”

  The Jagger’s buzz sounded almost as if he said “Mmm-hmm.”

  “Wait,” Matt said. “You’re saying the blue squirrel is an ilf?”

  “Very,” Alter said. “Though I have no idea how he got here.”

  “Why is he sitting on my shoulder?” I asked.

  “If I had to guess, he saw you running through the jungle, noticed the Aslink hunting you, and decided to intervene. He probably needs a ride off Cestus. Is that right?”

  The Jagger buzzed again, in the same way he did the last time.

  “How do you know he’s a he?” I asked, glancing at him.

  “Females are yellow and twice his size,” Alter replied. “And you really should stop talking about him as if he’s a wild animal.”

  I froze, turning beet red. “Oh. Shit. Yeah. I’m sorry. I’ve never seen a Jagger before. I’ve never seen much of anything that isn’t human before. Thank you for saving my life.”

  When the Jagger buzzed again, it sounded to me like he said “No problem.”

  “You need a ride?” I asked.

  He buzzed in affirmation.

  “You’ve got it.”

  “Speaking of a ride,” Alter said. “Where’s Head Case?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I thought you would have brought the ship over by now. I slipped the guards, but the island isn’t that big.”

  “How am I supposed to fly the ship without being in the ship?” I asked.

  “Stang, phone.”

  Matt pulled it from his pocket and handed it to Alter. She tapped on it a few times before handing it to me. The view on the screen mimicked what I would expect to see in the pilot’s seat, looking through the augmented reality of the helmet. It was just like a video game.

  “You’re telling me we have remote control?”

  “Yes,” Alter said impatiently.

  “Why don’t you fly the ship over?” I suggested, holding the phone out to her.

  “One, I don’t know how to fly the ship,” she said, confusing the hell out of me.

  “Since when?”

  She ignored me. “Two, I need to go back and slow down the guards. You should have taken care of this already. Stang, you’re with me.”

  “I lost my gun,” Matt said.

  She passed him one of hers before looking at the Jagger. “Are you in?”

  The Jagger buzzed noncommittally for a moment before changing its tone to an affirmation. I flinched when he licked the side of my face before leaping to Alter’s shoulder.

  “I think you’ve made a new friend,” she said. “Get the ship up here. The faster the better. We’ll hold them back.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  I looked down at the screen, a little nervous about trying to fly Head Case remotely. Sure, I had played plenty of games on my phone before, and this wasn’t really all that different except that this time a real starship would respond to my commands. In better circumstances, that would be very, very cool. With half the island hunting us, the pressure was on.

  I dragged the throttle open just a little, easing my way into things. Pulling back on the stick, the view shifted as Head Case began shifting up and forward. Tilting the phone allowed me to look down, and I cursed when I spotted a team of Niflin mercenaries about to do something drastic to crack open the shields, and a second ship I was about to collide with.

  “Here goes nothing,” I said, dragging the throttle all the way open and pulling hard on the stick. Without anyone inside, there was no limit to the inertia that made it through the counter-systems. The only question was whether or not the superstructure could take the heavy flex.

  My view through the phone shuddered as the ship made the maneuver, rocketing away from the mercenaries on the ground. That didn’t mean the ship was going to get away. The mercs fired a large projectile, a net erupting from it and opening up to clip the bottom of Head Case as the ship rose over it. Like a spiderweb, the net clung to the hull, but as beginner’s luck would have it, I was able to successfully scrape the web off on the the irregular superstructure of a merc ship. Tilting the phone more to look down as the ship rose, I saw the web turn red with heat and energy, beginning to sink into the second ship’s currently unshielded hull.

  Too close for comfort.

  Flipping the phone to landscape so I could see a greater area around the ship, I couldn’t hold back my smile. Free and clear. At least for the moment.

  I turned Head Case and slowed down. I also took a second to glance up from where I stood, looking for the ship out over the ocean. I didn’t see it. I also didn’t see myself from the flight deck, but we had to be on the western side of the island. I added back some thrust and sent Head Case zooming along the shoreline, listening for the sound of the thrusters from my spot at the edge of the cliff.

  What I heard instead was gunfire echoing out of the jungle some distance away. A heavy barrage, followed by a short burst. When the next barrage came, it sounded a little lighter. And closer.

  Go Alter!

  Returning my attention to flying the ship, I finished the course correction and focused on gaining altitude while circling the island to the west. At the same time, I walked backward to the tree Matt and I had hid behind. Forgetting about the dead Aslink, I tripped over it and nearly fell on my face. But my luck held. The tree trunk was there to break my fall.

  I kept my back pressed against the tree. Although it lowered my ability to see the sky overhead, it also improved my level of security. Besides, Head Case was big enough that it would be hard to miss once it flew into the range of my vision.

  I continued steering the ship around the island, gaining enough height to see nearly the entire island. The settlement at the center was hard to spot through the overgrowth, but the flashes of light from the guards’ rifles stood out on the western side, helping me direct the ship that way. Descending again, I nearly brushed the treetops on my pass.

  The swooshing roar of the thrusters hit my ears, bringing a smile to my face as I looked up past the branches of the tree. The ship came into view a moment later, sending an excited chill through my body. We were going to make it! Looking through the phone, I cut the thrust and twisted the stick while holding the ship level. I rotated Head Case as it drifted forward, clearing the edge of the jungle and the cliff. I cut the thrust to almost nothing and let it slowly descend.

  Behind me, the gunfire increased in volume and intensity, indicating the guards were closer than I thought they would get before I brought Head Case in level with the top of the cliff, letting her hover there as the ramp slid down onto solid ground.

  Huffing and puffing, Matt stumbled through the brush and fell on his belly behind the tree, literally at my feet. I glanced down at him and then at the phone, spotting a pair of guards following Matt’s obvious trail through the brush. I didn’t even think about what I was doing when I tapped on the upper half of the phone, activating the HUD and selecting the fire control system. I deactivated the starboard side cannon before exiting the menu, and then quickly tapped on the two incoming guards. I could only see them through my connection to Head Case, but that was more than enough.

  They reached Matt as he finally rolled over. Fortunately, they couldn’t see me standing behind the tree.

  “Duke Sedaya sends his regards,” one of them said, leveling his rifle at Matt.

  “And I send mine,” I shouted, loudly enough for them to hear me. They froze as I hit the trigger button on the screen. The port side cannons opened up, the heavy blasts ripping through the two guards with such force they simply vanished beneath the assault.

  I eased off the trigger, exhaling sharply.

  “Shit,” Matt said, looking up at me. “Nice save.”

  “Come on,” I said, helping him up just as another guard rounded the tree behind us.

  “Gotcha!” the man growled.

  I glanced down at Matt. He had his pistol in hand, aimed between my legs.

  “Don’t miss,” I whispered, wincing as he fired. I felt the heat of the bolt sizzle past my delicates and into the guard, taking him by surprise. I jumped out of the way as Matt fired another half-dozen rounds, desperately trying to punch through the man’s armor.

  The guard stumbled but didn’t fall as he recovered his aim. A high-pitched buzz preceded the Jagger as he slammed into the guard’s neck and dug his head under the man’s helmet. Like the Aslink, the guard went stiff as a board before toppling over backward.

  The Jagger leaped from the body like an arrow, catching my jacket with his hind legs and neatly spinning around.

  “Thanks, buddy,” I said.

  “No problem,” he buzzed.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Alter shouted, breaking out of the foliage and sprinting toward Head Case.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  I didn’t hesitate, turning and running after Alter as Matt jumped to his feet, following us. A loud thud and crashing brush behind us threatened to steal my attention. I glanced down at the phone instead, catching a brief glimpse of a large metal foot amidst the greenery.

  “Open the hatch!” Alter shouted.

  “Levi, open the hangar door hatch!” I said, hoping the command would reach through the phone. It did. The hatch slid open, the ramp extending a few feet from the cliff’s edge.

  Alter reached it first, leaping the gap easily. She whirled around, eyes widening as whatever was coming through the jungle smashed past the foliage. Looking down at the phone while I ran, I saw a large, bipedal robot striding toward us. A huge cannon was slung under its bullet-shaped upper torso, and racks of missiles rested on a pair of racks on top.

  Still running, I quickly tapped on the HUD and hit the trigger button. The cannons spewed energy at the mech. It sidestepped the initial barrage as Matt jumped onto the ramp and ran up into the ship.

  The Jagger buzzed in my ear, warning me of the approaching gap. I had to stop shooting at the mech to look up. “Alter,” I said, tossing the phone at her without warning.

  She had to jump to catch it, leaping like a ballerina and grabbing it, doing a neat pirouette in the sky before landing and again hitting the trigger. I made the mistake of looking down when I jumped, watching the sea crash against the shore below while flailing across the gap. I hit the ramp hard, falling and clutching at the grated deck to keep from sliding off. The rough landing knocked the Jagger from his perch, sending him flying into the ship.

  “Get to the flight deck!” Alter said, still firing on the mech.

  “No time; pass me the remote.”

  She didn’t so much hand it to me as grab my shoulder and throw me into the hangar before tossing the remote at my chest as she ran past where I sat on the hangar deck. The hangar hatch slid closed, the first batch of shells striking it without punching through. My hands shook as I turned on the shields, deflecting the assault.

  I opened the throttle and pulled back on the stick, sending Head Case blasting off and away with such immediate force that I was thrown backward, rolling and flipping chaotically until I hit the starfighter pinned to the deck. I dropped the phone, and it rattled away, leaving me out of control of the ship as it accelerated and climbed, keeping me pinned to the deck.

  “Shit!” I shouted, looking to where the phone had settled against the rear bulkhead. There was only one way to get back there.

  Growling the entire time, I gritted my teeth and pulled myself free of the starfighter, the G’s rolling me sideways. I flew backward again and slammed into the back wall hard enough to knock the wind out of my lungs. Gasping for air, I picked up the phone, leveling the stick and lowering the thrust enough that the dampeners were able to keep up. Still breathing hard, I got to my feet and rushed to the stairs, climbing them quickly to meet Alter at the elevator. We jumped into the cab together, headed for the flight deck.

  In that fleeting moment of forced pause, I noticed the wound she had taken earlier was gone. In fact, not only had her skin healed, but her ninja suit had healed, too.

  “Special fabric,” she said, noticing me.

  “And special skin?” I asked, our eyes meeting.

  “Yes,” she replied, clearly uncomfortable with my discovery.

  The elevator doors opened on Deck Three. I ran out, but she didn’t follow. I knew why. She had to go do whatever she did to change personas. I still didn’t understand it, and her earlier claim she couldn’t fly Head Case left me less willing to accept that lack of clarity. Even so, it was something for another less chaotic time. Of course, once things settled down I probably wouldn’t care anymore.

  “Levi, open the flight deck hatch,” I said. My voice was programmed into the security system now, and the doors slid open on my command.

  I vaulted the sofa, catching myself with my hands on the center console between the two pilot seats before face-planting into it. I threw myself into my seat and strapped in. Grabbing my helmet off the headrest, I yanked it on and reached for the controls, my eyes immediately drifting to the sensor map in the corner of the HUD. We were well away from the island, shooting across the planet at twenty thousand feet. The collision alert sounded in my ears, startling me. One of the space elevator cables appeared suddenly, dead ahead.

  “Shit,” I cried again, twisting the stick as I pulled it hard left. The force threw me against my right-shoulder restraints as Head Case swung away from the cable, just barely slipping past without losing one of its ears.

  Again, too close.

  I angled the ship upward and slowly regained thrust, climbing steadily away.

  The forces on the ground didn’t give chase. I hadn’t seen any ships in orbit that I thought would give us trouble, but if Sedaya had already gotten to Yi, who knew how many mercenaries he might have hired. It seemed we were still a step behind the noble when we needed more than anything to get a step ahead.

  The flight deck hatch opened. Pilot Alter hurried in, the Jagger on her shoulder.

  “Where’s Matt?” I asked.

  “I sent him to sickbay,” she replied as she sat. “His shoulder was wounded during the fighting.”

  The Jagger leaped from her to the headrest of my seat, perching there.

  “Will he be okay?”

  “Yes. It’s a minor injury, easy to heal.”

  “Easier than your injuries?” I asked suggestively.

  “Ben, I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “Why not?”

  “I…” She paused. I had never seen her look so unsure of herself. “Can we please drop it for now?”

  “One of the guards said Sedaya sends his regards. How did he know we would go to Cestus? You said it would be safe.”

  “What are you insinuating?”

  “You’ve been so helpful to Matt and me. So valuable. But your mercenary pseudonym is too accurate. You’re an enigma to me, and normally that might be okay but whether it’s all circumstantial or not, I’m having a hard time trusting you right now.”