Pax Novis

Chapter One

Even if the government wasn't beginning to turn their all-seeing eyes inward, they still logged the IDs of every visitor to their pristine city. Riston was glad the ID chip Cira had given zem when ze'd boarded Pax Novis three cycles ago was good enough to hold up against any routine scrutiny.

But that didn't erase the uncomfortable tingling sensation of being watched. It was distinct from the uncomfortable sensation of being pulled down toward the planet's surface with every step—that ze knew well after three Terra-Sol cycles spent in artificial and not-quite-planetary-weight gravity. Ze'd learned how to shrug off the weight and pressure of a true gravitational force, strolling as though ze didn't feel it any more than the natives. The niggling conviction someone was watching zem, though...

Ze passed another intersection, and the peacekeeper's head turned to track zir progress. Heart jumping, Riston forced zirself to keep zir pace, to look directly into the pale eyes of the gray-clad peacekeeper, and to nod a greeting. After a beat, ze got a curt nod in response.

No alarms rang. No force appeared to apprehend zem. However, the moment made zem hyperaware, and ze wasn't the only one on edge. There was an air of disquiet today, almost like the city's atmo-filters had malfunctioned and pumped in a hint of the lower atmosphere's sulfur dioxide, just enough to leave everyone on the verge of panic and unable to explain why. Riston hadn't been in a place that felt like this since the weeks before Ladadhi was destroyed. Given how that had ended, Riston was glad ze wouldn't be around to see what—if anything—was coming for Ahngi-te.

And ze still didn't have a present for Cira.

Riston really was more worried about Ahngi-te's hidden panic than zir failed shopping trip, but one problem was solvable. The other wasn't. Ze couldn't fix what was wrong here. Getting Cira a gift to say thank you for...well, for everything? That should've been within zir power. Ze was out of time, though. If ze didn't head for the docks now, ze'd miss the last shuttle to the space station. It looked like ze'd be leaving Nea-gi with exactly the same number of credits ze'd arrived with.

After scanning the ID chip implanted in zir wrist at five different checkpoints, ze was finally allowed to board the shuttle. Ze was just early enough to get the seat in the far rear corner, and ze quickly stowed zir pack underneath the seat. The position wasn't out of sight of anyone on board the shuttle by any means, but it was easily overlooked. That's what ze needed to be—easily overlooked.

Riston was one of the many war orphans who'd gone missing somewhere along the convoluted route to "safety." Zir new ID was good, but nothing was perfect, and if some perceptive security tech monitoring the shuttle's passengers tagged zem as questionable, ze'd be grabbed as ze exited, arrested, and likely never seen again. A few cycles ago, ze might've been sent to work in the mines or the factories scattered across the barren planet's surface. Now, ze was practically eighteen. There would be no slow death in the mines; ze'd be shoved straight into military service to die quickly. It didn't even matter which army ze was shoved into because, when stripped down to the core and weighted on an even scale, all the systems came out looking just as guilty and just as innocent as any other. The only way ze'd ever see the stars again was in the hold of some warship on zir way to invade some other underfed, beleaguered colony. The only time ze'd ever see Pax Novis again would be in video archives.

And Cira? Getting caught would mean never seeing her again. After, of course, getting hauled in front of Captain Erryla Antares and her officers and being forced to watch confusion cross their faces as they told the guards they had no idea who this imposter was, but ze certainly wasn't a member of their crew. Captain Antares would be telling the truth when she said she didn't recognize Riston; Cira wouldn't be. Cira would lie about Riston to protect the other stowaways, to protect her mother, and to protect Pax Novis, the ship so many people called home. Ze wouldn't even blame her. The ship and its crew were far more important than zem.