“I think you need to start from the beginning,” she said before looking at Matt. “And when you say no offense, that usually means you just said something offensive and you’re just looking for a way to not get your teeth knocked in afterward. I strongly recommend against it.”

  Matt flinched, face flushing. “Sorry. I just didn’t expect Ben to throw all of this at you.”

  “What was your plan?” I asked. “Did you have one?”

  “My plan was to give things a day or two to see if we had any movement from outside. Security is still running forensics. Once they link Enigma to the deaths maybe they’ll drop the conviction.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up!” Quasar said, slamming her hand down on the table to quiet us. “Let’s take a breath here.”

  I clamped my mouth shut and nodded, breathing in deeply and exhaling again. Matt folded his arms over his chest and did the same. Shaq returned to my shoulder and started cleaning himself.

  “That’s better,” Quasar said. “Give me a minute to think. A quiet minute.” We waited in silence while she collected herself. “Okay. First things first. Yes, I’m still loyal to the Empress, not that it means much in here. I took an oath to guard her interests with my life. If she is in danger, that’s meaningful to me.”

  “See,” I said, glaring at Matt.

  “Secondly, I’m not going to turn you in or whatever. What would be the point? Even if the guards believed you, there’s no way you’re going to escape. There are only two ways out of here.”

  “Yes, you mentioned that already,” Matt said. “Which is why giving things a couple of days to settle would be the better option.”

  “I disagree,” I replied. “Both with your plan, and with your assessment that we can’t escape. I can’t afford to just blindly accept that.” He turned his attention to Quasar. “Which is why I asked you for your help.”

  “There really isn’t anything I can do for you. I don’t have connections with the guards. I don’t have access to the people I know on the outside. And I’m not just a former Royal Marine, I’m a walking disgrace.”

  “So you can’t help?” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t know how.”

  “Well, what if we came up with a plan and we needed someone with your expertise? Would you be in?”

  “I don’t know. Is there a real threat to the Empress, or did you make all that shit up because you don’t want to die?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know if the threat is real,” I admitted. “My good authority that I mentioned isn’t really that good of an authority. It’s possible he was lying. But it’s also possible he wasn’t. Given a chance, is that a risk you’d be willing to take?”

  She pursed her lips, thinking about it. “No. I wouldn’t take that risk.”

  “So you’d be in?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean? You just said–”

  “I know what I just said, but I still don’t have enough information. What were you saying about Enigma?”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t say anything about Enigma.”

  “You didn’t,” she agreed, glancing at Matt. “He did. Something about forensics, Enigma, and deaths.”

  “You know who Enigma is?” Matt asked.

  “I know what Enigma is,” Quasar answered. “An assassin. One of the best. But she disappeared over twenty years ago. I always assumed she was dead.”

  “She isn’t dead,” I said. “We were working for her.”

  “If you’re going to tell her everything, you might as well tell her the truth,” Matt said. “She was working for us.”

  “What? There’s no way Enigma was working for a pair of wannabe smugglers.”

  “Not exactly working for us,” I said. “We were friends. At least, I thought we were. Right now, I’m not so sure.”

  “You were friends? With Enigma?”

  “Yeah. She’s not what you think she is. It’s a long story.”

  Quasar stood and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, suddenly nervous she had changed her mind about not talking to the guards. Shaq’s grip on my shoulder shifted, ready to chase after her.

  “You said it’s a long story. I need to hit the head before you start talking. If anybody tries to come in and hang out while I’m gone, have your bodyguard chase them out.”

  “My bodyguard?” I asked, glancing at Shaq as Quasar left. “I never thought I would have a blue gastrid for a bodyguard.” Shaq turned to face me, buzzing something in his language before sticking his long tongue out at me. Then we both laughed. “You’re an awesome bodyguard.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” he agreed.

  “That was risky, bro,” Matt said.

  “Yeah, and?” I replied. “It was the right move. Like you said. You’re the muscle; I’m the smarts. We have to do something.”

  “Yeah, I’m with you. We’re all on the same side here, right?”

  I lowered my defenses. “Right. Sorry for barking at you.”

  “Said the chihuahua to the mastiff.”

  “We’re going to find a way out of here.”

  “I know. I just hope we can get out before it’s too late.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Matt and I told Quasar everything, all the way back to playing Star Squadron at VR Awesome!. She was only mildly surprised to find out we were from Earth. Apparently, like I had suspected, we weren’t the only Earthians in the Spiral, but we were pretty rare here. Nobody was quite sure how any of us had arrived, and explaining how Keep had brought us across the galaxy in a limousine had only confused her more. Not that the distance of travel was impossible for their starships, but it should have taken months to years, not minutes to hours or less to get here.

  At least she’d confirmed what Keep had said, that Sedaya could reach Earth if he really wanted to. It still didn’t make sense that he would go through all that trouble just to get back at Matt and me. Then again, as Quasar explained it, Sedaya couldn’t be seen as non-retaliatory, that payback was a certainty when anyone chose to cross him. Besides, he wouldn’t have to devote much of his resources to retaliate. Quasar pointed out that two or three Royal Sentries could probably decimate Earth with little resistance.

  That didn’t mean I was much closer to believing anything else Keep had said, and every day that passed without word from Alter or a sign that she was working on freeing us from prison only served to further convince me that we were on our own. Not that we were sitting around waiting for her to save us. I had decided right away I wasn’t going to do that. I couldn’t afford to be that complacent. I had taken a risk by trusting Quasar, and in the days that followed our initial conversation, my confidence in the decision only increased.

  So did Matt’s. He had backed me up on the decision right away, but I could tell he remained nervous and wary of her, even as she responded positively to our story. According to her, Sedaya was known for his thirst for power, and it made sense to her that he would seek to see his influence grow. Maybe not to the lengths Keep suggested, but she knew he had taken over twenty worlds from other nobles in the last few years, and the pace of his manipulation seemed to be increasing. Even so, the Hegemony didn’t give him much thought. He was one of over sixty remaining Dukes in the Fertile Quadrant. One of hundreds in the Spiral. Even if he captured the entire Quad, his power would pale in comparison to that of the whole galaxy. His military strength would still be lacking compared to the Royal Armed Forces.

  Of course, Keep had said Sedaya didn’t plan to wage a direct war against the Empress. His plans were more sneaky and manipulative, an undermining of the Empress’ strength rather than an all-out confrontation. He had explained some of the Duke’s tactics when he told Matt and me about how he had captured Caprum from the Duchess. Could the Empress’ inner circle be equally corrupted?

  It was all a lot of weighty politics I had never imagined even concerning myself with. I had just wanted to joyride around the galaxy, visit new worlds, see exotic new sights and alien life forms, cure my cancer, and then maybe go home. The last thing I ever desired was to be caught up in any kind of war, whatever form it took.

  Scratch that. The last thing I ever wanted was to die in prison.

  Zero for two in that regard.

  I had every reason to lose hope, especially as my loss of treatment brought my symptoms back worse than they had been before. But every time I thought about Matt being stuck in here for the rest of his life, it brought me out of whatever darkness I started drifting into. Even as the dizzy spells increased, I forced myself to stay focused on finding a way off the satellite.

  I tried not to think about what we would do once we succeeded. Getting out of prison was only the first step. Maybe the hardest, but still only the beginning. Our best case scenario was that Alter had gotten Head Case off the planet before it was impounded, and she would come back once we were able to send a hypercom message. Worst case? Keep and Alter had taken the ship from the planet and were long gone, our electro with them. I hoped for the best, feared the worst, and tried to mentally prepare for other possibilities, like discovering Head Case had been impounded and we would need to steal the ship back to get away.

  Otherwise, Matt and I did our best to blend into the population, following Quasar’s lead in how best to keep to ourselves. Shaq helped a lot in that regard. Apparently, the inmate we had encountered in the library had started spreading the news about him. Knowing he could kill almost instantly with a single bite kept most of the prisoners at a distance, though I often caught them staring at Shaq with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and anger. They didn’t like feeling so powerless in the face of something as small and cute as the Jagger, and Quasar insisted it would only be a matter of time before the SFH Family tried to neutralize him in retaliation for Jango and the guy Shaq had killed. With that in mind, we did our best to stick close to the guard bots, who wouldn’t allow a brawl to turn into a riot.

  We were in the mess, eating a less-than-satisfying brown slop with unrecognizable ingredients when Deck Forty-nine’s guard bot stomped into the block. It paused at the entrance, swiveled its torso as it scanned the room and then walked directly toward us.

  “Oh, shit,” Quasar said. Her red coveralls had been exchanged for the standard yellow, her job as the prison welcoming committee completed. “This is never good.”

  My heart pounded nervously as the bot approached. I forced myself to swallow the stew as I dropped the spoon into the bowl, turning slightly to face the machine. Shaq left my shoulder, hiding behind my back. I could feel his whiskers on my neck as he peered at the bot from behind me.

  A click from the machine indicated an incoming comm.

  “Hondo. Stang. This is Sergeant Grist. You’re to return to the capsule room at once.”

  Matt and I looked at each other. “Are we being released?” he asked.

  “Why would you be released?” Grist replied. “I have some questions. Your willingness to cooperate may affect the length of your stay. Return to the capsule room immediately.”

  “Yes, sir,” Matt said. “We’re on our way.”

  The comm clicked off. The guardbot turned away from us, resuming its patrol of the deck.

  “What do you think this means?” I asked Quasar.

  She shook her head. “Don’t get your hopes up. Security likes to dangle carrots and then hit you with a big stick.” Her eyes shifted around the room before she leaned in close, lowering her voice. “I don’t know if either one of you has ever stolen anything before, but if you get the chance to grab a slab, take it.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “The slabs in the library are cut off from the rest of the station’s controls for obvious reasons. But the same can’t be said of a PPS device.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively. “And you said you were a computer-science major, and that you have some experience hacking assembler code.”

  “That’s pretty basic stuff,” I replied softly. “I’d have to think network security on the satellite is a bit tighter than that.”

  “Is it?” she replied. “I don’t know. I mean, why spend a lot of time on software security when nobody except guards can even touch connected hardware?”

  “You seem to know a lot about it,” Matt said.

  “Maybe I’ve spent more time thinking about ways to get out of here since you told me about this Keep guy and Enigma.”

  While I had told Quasar that Alter was Enigma, I had held back from spoiling her secret alien nature. If she was still on our side, I figured she should be the one to do the reveal whenever she wanted, assuming we ever saw her again. If she wasn’t on our side, or we never got out of here, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

  “Grab a slab,” I repeated in a whisper. “We’ll try.”

  Shaq buzzed quizzically. I interpreted the sound as “Can I come?”

  “You should stay here,” I replied. “Grist doesn’t know about you, and I’d prefer to keep it that way. He might not let you come back.”

  “Okay,” he buzzed.

  “Maybe you can be Zar’s BG while I’m gone.”

  Shaq nodded his head and jumped smoothly from my shoulder to Quasar’s, twisting agilely in midair.

  “Nice move,” she said.

  “Tada!” Shaq replied.

  “Come on,” Matt said. “Before the guardbot thinks we’re stalling.”

  “I’ll take care of your plates,” Quasar said.

  “Thank you,” I said as I got up from the table with Matt.

  We made our way across the deck and out to the elevator, stopping in the passageway to wait for its arrival. It felt weird to not have Shaq on my shoulder. He had been a fixture there for a few weeks now, and I noticed the missing weight.

  The elevator doors slid open. Before Matt and I could enter, we had to wait for a trio of prisoners to exit the cab. I immediately noticed their eyes shift to Shaq’s regular spot, their expressions change, a sudden cold tension forming in the air between us.

  “Where’s your little rat?” the woman with the tattooed arms said. It took me a second to recognize the two guys with her. One, the idiot I had tackled during Quasar’s fight with Jango. He had shaved his head since the fight. The other guy looked familiar, but maybe he had been further back from the action. He had a small tattoo on the back of his hand, SFH written in the shape of a shield.

  Shit.

  “He had to take a piss,” I replied. “He’ll be back in a minute. Why, do you want to pet him?”

  “I always thought he just went in your mouth,” Baldie said.

  “Eww,” I snapped back. “That’s freaking gross. Is that supposed to be a put down or something?”

  “Oh, I’ll put you down alright,” the guy answered as he looked down the passageway, making sure the guardbot wasn’t around.

  “Ben,” Matt said. “We need to go.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere, hon,” the woman said, producing a shiv from under her coveralls. “We have some unfinished business.”

  “Can’t it stay unfinished right now?” I asked. “We really do need to go.” I glanced at Baldie. “And what’s your problem? I helped you up off the floor when the guardbot got antsy.”

  “Jango’s permanently blind, asshole,” Shield said. “His days as a soldier are done.”

  “He’s in prison,” Matt said. “I think they were already done.”

  “What? You son of a—” Shield lunged, barely making it half a step before Matt’s foot was in his jaw, cracking him sideways into Tattoo. I didn’t hesitate, putting a decent right hook into Baldie’s jaw that surprised me when it knocked him on his ass.

  I jumped over him before he could recover, ducking into the elevator with Matt. Tattoo threw herself into the lift with us, slashing at me with the shiv. I sidestepped it and grabbed her arm, twisting it and shoving her into the back of the cab. Matt grabbed her from there, throwing her in the other direction, out of the elevator and into the two guys, knocking all three back before they could recover.

  The elevator doors slid closed and Matt hit the controls, sending us to Deck Eleven and the capsule room.

  “Assholes,” I said, checking my coveralls to make sure I hadn’t been cut.

  “You did good back there,” Matt said. “I’m proud of you.”

  “Quasar taught me a couple of new moves,” I replied. A sudden wave of dizziness hit me, and I had to push myself into the corner of the cab to stay upright as the world spun around me.

  “Ben, you okay?” Matt asked, moving closer.

  I put up my hand. “Just dizzy. It’ll pass.”

  “We need to get you out of here yesterday.”

  “Maybe tomorrow,” I said. “We need to get a slab.”

  “Did I ever tell you about that time I watched that special on television about magicians and how they do their tricks, and then I went into the subway and used the misdirection and sleight of hand stuff I learned from it to pick wallets from unsuspecting passengers?”

  “No. You were a thief?”

  Matt shrugged. “For about thirty minutes. Then a cop spotted me grabbing this guy’s wallet from his back pocket and nabbed me before I got off the platform. Brought me to the precinct, called my dad. I never thought about doing it again.”

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me about that?”

  “Because it was embarrassing.”

  “Come on, man. You’ve told me a lot more embarrassing stuff than that. Like that time your dad caught you—”

  “Yeah. Whatever. But I think every little boy gets caught like that at some point. Not every kid gets arrested.”

  “I think it’s funny and kind of cool, personally.”

  “It was like ten years ago.”

  “Why’d your dad let you run around the subway unattended, anyway?”

  “That’s the other part of the story. He didn’t care.”

  I laughed at that. “You’re lucky you didn’t get kidnapped.”