I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything. Reaching the end of the corridor, we turned right at the intersection. An elevator waited a short distance away.

  “Yeah, so the satellite has eighty-one decks in all,” Quasar explained. “Top seventy-two are cell blocks. Each block has its own assembler. It’s always kept fully stocked but the menu is programmatically limited so we eat reconstituted shit every day, and I only mean that partially in jest. Nothing goes to waste, so our waste is all recycled. Bottom four decks belong to the guards. They’ve got about thirty real people down there who maintain the bots and the basics. Rest of the satellite is composed of common areas. Organized sports, a gym, a movie theater. You can only watch a vid if you’ve been on good behavior. You two are on Deck Forty-nine with me. The empty cell is probably why I got stuck with initiation.”

  “But you can move freely across the decks?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah. The only thing you have to do here is any job the guards assign you. Other than that?’ She shrugged, motioning to Matt again. “You look like you can take care of yourself a bit.” She looked at me. “You, I’m not so sure.”

  “What about the guardbots?”

  “They keep an eye on things, but they won’t intervene unless their algorithms think we’re planning a jailbreak or a coup or something. Those lights on their tops start flashing, get out of the line of fire asap and hope to whatever you believe in that you aren’t unlucky enough to be on janitorial that week.”

  “That sounds awful,” I said.

  “You get used to it. Honestly, most individuals here fall into one clique or another, so what you end up with is a bunch of different gangs all kind of wary about starting shit with any of the other gangs. The end result is relative peace and a bunch of unspoken, self-enforced rules. Once you’ve been here a month or two, you’ll adjust and it won’t seem so bad.”

  “I don’t plan to be here for a month or two,” I said.

  She laughed. “You figure you’re going to escape? The only way in or out is either in the capsule or security’s ship on Deck One. It’s never happened before, and anyone who’s tried has wound up very, very messy.” She tilted her head back toward the guardbot and then stepped into the waiting elevator. “Just get used to it, Hondo. Because nobody gets out of here before their sentence is up. How long are you scheduled for, anyway?”

  “Nobody told us specifically,” Matt said, a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

  Quasar shook her head. “Sorry if I’m the one to break it to you, but if they don’t give you a definitive sentence it always means life.”

  CHAPTER 6

  I glanced at Matt as we boarded the elevator behind Quasar. We both knew life meant two completely different things for him and for me. The idea of dying in this place, no matter how hard or soft the existence turned out to be, made me want to bounce off the walls of the cab, rip out my hair, and scream in frustration. Not that any of that would help anything. Instead, I spent a few seconds focusing on all of the things I had already gotten to do that I never would have even imagined possible. I had flown a starship! I had made friends with aliens! I had smuggled illegal cargo, just like Han Solo!

  The elevator doors closed and we began the ascent to Deck Forty-Nine.

  “Before we left the ground station, Sergeant Grist threatened us with mining deployment,” Matt said. “Do you know anything about that?”

  Quasar made a face that suggested the threat was as bad as it had sounded. “I know you don’t want to end up getting sent out to the asteroid mines. It’s dirty, dangerous work, all of it in low-gravity. If you’re there too long, your whole body composition changes to the point you can’t live anywhere else. Instead of dying here, you die on some rock in the middle of nowhere and your body is fed to the assemblers.”

  “Is that a common practice?” I asked. “Putting human bodies in the assemblers to turn them into food for other humans? You don’t consider that cannibalism?”

  “It depends on the situation. When you don’t have much, wasting is a lot worse than recycling. Most good spacers consider it an honor to provide nutrients to their fellows. Come to think of it, aren’t you two a little young to be smugglers?”

  “We have a ship,” Matt said. “What else do you need?”

  “Had a ship,” she corrected. “It’s probably being pulled off the tarmac and sent to the auction warehouse as we speak. Star cred, for one. A reputation. A good one to move information like you claim. How old are you two?”

  “Twenty-one,” I replied, along with Matt’s exaggerated “twenty-seven.”

  Quasar smirked. “You’re just babies. Honestly, it’s a shame you’re here. Why do I have the impression there’s nothing simple about your story?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Matt said. “We’re here.”

  “That’s the right attitude. The quicker you accept your present truth, the faster you can adapt, the happier you’ll be.”

  The elevator stopped. The doors slid open. I jumped back, reflexively putting my hands in front of my head in response to the guardbot positioned just outside the cab, its four cannons pointed directly toward us.

  Quasar laughed. “These things all run on algorithms, Hondo. They aren’t smart or creative enough to call them artificial intelligence. Their instructions are all IFTT.”

  “If this then that?” I said, straightening up as heat rushed to my cheeks.

  “You know the acronym?”

  “I majored in computer science at…” I trailed off before finishing with community college.

  “I see,” she replied.

  “Does that matter?”

  “Not really.” She waved at the guardbot like she was shooing away an unruly child. “Get out of the way, you piece of shit.”

  The guardbot backed up from the elevator, but it wasn’t clear to me if it was because she had told it to or because it had programmatically realized it was in the way. Regardless, she shoved past it without worry, so we followed behind her.

  A short passageway followed, another blast door at the end. I could hear the guardbot’s heavy feet trailing us as we approached. The door opened automatically, revealing a large open floor beyond, ringed with small, barred cells. An open doorway at the far end and to the right suggested two more similar rooms.

  Dozens of inmates, not only of different genders but apparently different species occupied the cells and moved freely around the space. I spotted at least one Illfan among a small group huddled near the center, along with a Jiba-ki—a humanoid with a lean, catlike appearance that Alter had told them about—in the process of mopping the floor. The smell of food wafted from the open doorway on the right, and I spotted a few tables there, occupied by even more prisoners. A few of them looked in our direction, but most ignored us, probably accustomed to newcomers.

  “Welcome to Deck Forty-nine,” Quasar said. “There are nine blocks per deck, three rows of three blocks. Your cell’s in Block C, at the end of the deck through that door.”

  “How many inmates are on this station?” I asked.

  “About ten thousand in total.”

  “All from Kasper?”

  “Nah. We get most of the incarcerations from across the Duke’s territories. It cuts down on costs, and helps Baron Nivan run a budget surplus, which he uses to pay for his gambling addiction.”

  “I thought you said you killed Baron Nivan?” I asked.

  “Good to see you’re paying attention. I’m talking about Nivan the elder. I killed his son, who was second in line to the barony at the time. Now he’s not.” She laughed.

  “I’m surprised he didn’t put you on mining detail for killing his son,” Matt said.

  “Who says he didn’t?” Quasar answered. “They set quotas at the mines. You meet the quota, you get to go home. Or rather, back here. I hit the quota in six weeks. Royal Marines are tougher than anything these weak–ass nobles can dish out.”

  We started across the block, drawing a little more attention as we drew nearer to the other inmates or crossed their paths. I could feel their eyes on us, sizing us up for a later time when the guardbot wasn’t so close. It remained behind us, tracking Quasar to ensure she delivered us to our cells and gave us the full tour.

  We passed into Block B, which was more of the same though it seemed less occupied than A, and then emerged into Block C. Quasar led us about halfway down before stopping at the open door to one of the cells. Two small bunks were stacked in one rear corner, a small divider with a sliding door in the other, behind which I assumed a toilet was hiding. A sink was on the wall in front of the divider, with a simple switch on the opposite wall.

  “This one’s yours.” She tapped the etched metal plate on the front of the cell. Ninety-six.

  “What’s that switch in there for?” I asked.

  “That’ll seal the cell from the inside, so you can sleep without having to worry about getting jumped.”

  “So we’ll only need to worry about it while we’re awake,” Matt said.

  “Like I told you, the risk is low but it isn’t zero. Especially if you look weak.” She fixed her eyes on me when she said it.

  “I’m not weak,” I said.

  “Uh-huh,” she replied. “We’ll circle back to the cell. Let me show you the head and the mess so I can go back to enjoying the rest of my day.”

  “Enjoy your day doing what?” Matt asked.

  “Me? I’m going to grab a bite to eat. Then I’ll head to the lower decks to work out. After that, I’ll pick up a slab at the library to do some reading. That’s pretty much my routine. It’s a hell of a lot better than having to explain all of this shit to you two.”

  “You have books here?” I asked.

  “You can check out a slab. It’s connected to the station’s public datastore which has about ten million volumes. There’s also a smaller assortment of music and movies, but I can’t get into that stuff.”

  “Can you show us the library?”

  “No. You can find that yourself. My job is to get you set up here, that’s it.”

  “What about doing it because you’re a warm and welcoming individual?”

  “Because I’m not. Those four ion cannons pointed in our general direction are the only reason I’m talking to you at all.”

  “There’s no reason to be so salty,” I pressed. “You–”

  “You don’t know shit about how things work in here, but I would think at least part of the unwritten rules would be pretty obvious to anyone with a partially functional cortex. I’m a former Royal Marine. What do you think that means to the other inmates?”

  “I’m not sure that’s the reason you don’t have any friends,” I replied defensively, her outburst drawing too much attention our way. Even the guardbot took a few rapid steps forward in response.

  She cooled off a little, lowering her voice. “When the tour is done, the best thing you can do for your health is stay away from me. Now, the head is this way, in Block D. Let’s go.”

  She stormed away, leaving Matt and me in her dust. We hurried to catch up, reaching her as she entered the next Block. The open space was noticeably smaller here, and the cells only occupied three of the four walls. An unlabeled door stood at either end of the fourth bulkhead.

  “The important thing to remember is that you always go in the far door and out the near door,” Quasar explained without looking back to make sure we were behind her. “If you go in the wrong way, I can guarantee you will get beat up.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Because nobody likes a dumbass,” she replied. “That’s the rule. Follow it.”

  We crossed to the far door, pausing as a large, heavily muscled inmate reached it just ahead of us. He looked at Quasar, scowled, glanced at the guardbot, and then spit on her.

  CHAPTER 7

  Quasar took the load of phlegm on her cheek, hands curling into fists while she stared down the big man, the generated gravity pulling the spittle toward her chin. Slowly, she raised a balled hand and wiped the spit away, still keeping eye contact as she flung it back in the hulk’s face.

  As soon as the saliva hit his eye, he lunged forward, throwing a hard punch at the former Royal Marine. Matt and I backed up as she used her forearm to blunt the punch and turn it aside, at the same time she retaliated, driving her other fist into his abdomen. He took the hit like he was made of stone, momentum still carrying him forward. A shove with his other hand sent Quasar stumbling toward us, and we scrambled out of the way.

  She slid to a stop, setting herself as the big guy charged again. A quick jab and right cross from the hulk left her on the defensive as she backed up between Matt and me, though I didn’t get the impression she was all that worried about her situation. Glancing back at the guardbot, I thought it might show some inclination to stop the fight despite what she had told us about the machines. Instead, it hunkered in place, oblivious to the conflict.

  Quasar continued to back up, the hulk ignoring us as he moved beside me.

  “Don’t get involved,” I warned Shaq when his weight shifted slightly on my shoulder. He settled back down as I turned to follow the fight.

  The other inmates in the block had noticed the assault, and they too stopped what they were doing, beginning to converge on the attack. I noticed Quaser saw them too, the first hint of panic reaching her eyes. She was a former Royal Marine. An enemy to most of the individuals locked up here. She hadn’t answered my question about belonging to a Family, but now I knew for certain she didn’t have one. It was her against almost everyone else. She had told us how she normally kept to herself, head down and out of trouble, but for some reason, today the brute wouldn’t let her be.

  “We have to do something,” Matt said, moving beside me.

  “What can we do?”

  “I don’t know. But we can’t let them gang up on her?”

  “Will the guardbot stop this?”

  “It doesn’t look like it.”

  Quasar’s back reached the wall. The hulk let out a victorious growl, reaching out to grab her. She pulled the device she had used to scan our branded identifiers from her hip, ducking away from the big guy’s ham hands and thrusting it upward, digging the metal clip into the asshole’s eye. He cried out in pain as she slipped away on his sudden blind side.

  “You bitch!” he hollered, turning to track her.

  I didn’t see the guy who moved to block her from maneuvering further, but Matt did. He shot behind me, driving a hard elbow into the man’s jaw and sending his head into the wall, where he hit hard and collapsed.

  “You asshole,” someone grunted, going for Matt. I shoved my foot out as he tried to pass in front of me, tripping him up and sending him sprawling on the floor.

  Meanwhile, Quasar made it to the hulk’s flank, staying out of his newly limited line of sight and shoving into him, knocking him against the wall. He threw a wild punch at her. She ducked under it, coming up again and jabbing the clip into his other eye.

  He howled again as she pulled it out, using his inability to see at all to begin driving punch after punch into his ribs. He fell back against the wall as she pummeled him.

  Four other inmates rushed her from behind.

  “Shaq, go,” I said, releasing the Jagger as I dove to tackle the first guy.

  He leaped from my shoulder, landing on the second and digging his teeth into the man’s neck. Falling to the floor with my target, I struggled on the ground with him as the con Shaq bit dropped like a rock. Shaq jumped from him toward his next target, an athletic woman with tattoos running the length of her arms. Seeing the inmate beside her collapse, she screamed and threw herself away from Shaq’s leap. He changed course mid-air, coming down on the next guy just as he pulled a shiv and raised it to slice the back of Quasar’s neck.

  A siren blared from the guardbot before he could bite the con, who responded immediately by dropping the shiv and backing away from Quasar. Shaq planted his feet on the guy’s back and jumped to the floor, scurrying back to me.

  “Get off me, man,” the guy I had tackled said. “It’ll kill us all.”

  Quasar backed away from the blinded hulk, who slumped to his knees. All of the other inmates quickly dispersed, needing only the single short warning to break up the fight. I scrambled off the guy, offering him my hand to help him get up. He took it, nodding gratefully before retreating to the center of the block floor.

  All eyes turned to the guardbot, waiting to see if its lights would flash. I could sense the relief from the inmates when they didn’t.

  “My eyes,” the hulk whined, pressing his hands against them. “I can’t see.”

  “Someone take Jango down to sickbay,” Quasar barked, turning her back on the brute.

  The man I had tackled and the woman with the tattoos hurried to him, each taking an arm to help guide him to his feet and away.

  “Geez,” Matt said as Quasar approached us. “That was—”

  “The absolute stupidest thing you could have done,” she hissed. “I’m not your friend. I’m nobody’s friend here. Your Family is the only thing here that can protect you. Do you want to get kicked out for aiding the enemy?”

  “There’s only one problem with that,” Matt said. “We don’t belong to a Family. We don’t belong anywhere. We’re unaffiliated.”

  “What do you mean?” Quasar said.

  “Independent,” I said. “Free agents.”

  She laughed bitterly. “You both need to stop talking now. You’re only making things worse for yourselves.”

  “We just saved your life, and this is the thanks we get?”

  “I didn’t ask you to help me. You would have been smarter staying out of it.”

  “Well, maybe I’m just not that smart.”