"Did you see, Darlena? We've just received permission from the Director. We can open the gate now."
"Already? We shouldn't make contact yet, Simon."
"Why not? That's the whole point of this."
"Please. Not yet. Let's hold off a little longer, watch how things play out. Once they know about us, it changes everything. I don't want to interfere yet."
"We interfere across the galaxy every day, Darlena. Lux is just one more group of colonists."
"You can't be serious. This is where it all started. They've been out here without contact longer than any of the others. Haven't you been watching with me? Don't you admire them?"
"I wouldn't call it admiration."
"Respect, at least. They had the courage to throw off the yoke, even if it meant hurling themselves into the wind. And still, here they are."
"Irresponsible. How many are dead because of them? These people triggered the Interstellar War. Such loss of life can't possibly be justified."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed—"
"Oh, don't start with that again."
***
Bee drifted in space above the asteroid and watched the galaxy turn from inside the safety of her armored nullsuit. Her home was out there somewhere in the star-strewn darkness. Numb with disbelief, Bee searched the scattered ocean of distant lights in front of her and tried to guess where Surface might be. The brightest, closest star she recognized as Lux—but its glow was a fraction of what she saw from Surface. Against the shimmering backdrop of the galactic core, Bee pinched Lux between two fingers and snuffed it out.
"Do you think anyone will find us out here, Myra?"
"The Leith Belt is still largely unexplored and inaccessible via gate travel from the Core," the Myra clone said in her ear. "Chances are low. Would you like me to specify?"
"Not if I'm going to regret asking."
"Understood."
Bee twisted her body around to see the wreck of Starhawk's warship Deep Fog on the pitch-black asteroid below her. Pieces of the craft littered the area near the gate with debris, not that she could see much against the intense black of the asteroid. If she let her eyes lose focus, it just looked like a whole chunk of stars had gone missing. Bee brought the suit's guidance up on her visor and it flagged all the floating scrap between her and the ship.
She missed the real Myra. The stripped-down clone of the AI installed in her suit had been a massive help—but the real Myra was a friend. Maybe her only friend.
"Bring me back inside." Bee let the suit take over completely and it moved for her, using pulses from the gravity nodes to lead her in a swift, sure dance through the chaos of the wreck. The remains of Deep Fog's bow, beheaded on its way through the gate, had a neat, angled slice across the entire width of the ship. Many sections were completely exposed to the vacuum of space. The only sealed area left was the infirmary, a small room nestled in the heart of the ship's ruins. Even then, Deep Fog had long since lost its oxygen supply. The only reason she and Starhawk hadn't suffocated already was because of their suits.
How long had it been, Bee wondered, since they came through the gate? A day? Two? Days didn't mean anything without a night to judge them by. She knew she could ask Myra, but didn't bother. It didn't matter. Her suit had water and emergency rations—the protein paste she'd eaten aboard Wanderlust—but she hadn't eaten any of it. Thinking of Captain Anson and the rest filled her with regret. Bee betrayed them. Myra betrayed them. That was how she'd left things.
Pushing the sour feelings to the back of her mind, Bee approached the airlock door to the infirmary. It was all worth it to get to Starhawk. Her heartbeat picked up as she turned the wheel on the door. She'd actually done it. Finally, after all the years spent searching, she'd taken Mother's revenge. But Bee wasn't finished with him yet.
Each time Starhawk was on the edge of death, Bee had relented. Myra's clone helped her keep him alive, told Bee just when to stop and led her movements with the suit. Death would be a gift for her enemy. She'd make him beg for it. It wasn't the pain Starhawk felt that she enjoyed. It was the fear. That boiling terror in the pit of the stomach which she knew so well. It intoxicated her.
When Bee entered the infirmary, she heard a faint whimper from Starhawk on the operating table, encased inside his own armor. That beautiful sound alone was enough to justify sparing his life. After the oxygen ran out, Bee had to put his helmet back on to keep him breathing. Clumps of dried blood floated freely in the lack of gravity. Red-brown smears of it caked Starhawk's gold armor. Bee tried not to think about how much she had on her own suit.
It wasn't an easy choice to keep him alive. Bee had almost killed him in her blind rage. She broke his jaw, nose, and right eye socket with her fists—but that paled in comparison to what she'd done with the scalpel. Starhawk's mutilated face turned her stomach in a strangely satisfying way. She'd left him one bright blue eye so he could see what she did to him. The other was a dark, gory mess. It wasn't half of what he deserved, but she wanted to make it last. As far as Bee could tell, they'd both die out here eventually and she didn't want to ease his passage.
With the gate disabled and no operable ship, they were stranded. She didn't know anything existed at all out in the Leith Belt. The ring of asteroids at the Luxar System's extreme edge was too far from anything to be colonized the way Styx was. She had little hope of anyone being nearby. But why would a gate lead all the way out there if no one was on the other side? If there was anyone around, it seemed more likely they'd be pirates than anything else.
"How's our patient, Myra?" she asked.
Starhawk's vital signs popped up on her visor. "Fever rising from infections developing on facial and leg wounds. Both legs are being compressed to prevent blood loss. Subject exhibiting signs of shock. Recommend medical treatment to ensure survival."
"Sure, I'll get right on that." Bee blinked away Starhawk's vitals. "And what can I do to ensure my own survival?"
"Recommend rationing intake of water and nutrient paste," the Myra clone said. "Sufficient oxygen crystal reserves for three weeks at current usage rate, but food and water will only last seven to ten days at most."
"Is there anyone else out here?"
"Unknown."
"Where do you think Wanderlust is right now?"
"Unknown," Myra's voice repeated, emotionless.
"Well you're helpful."
Since the Myra clone didn't seem to have any answers for her, Bee had to resign herself to the idea that they were very much alone in the great empty dark. Whatever way she'd expected her encounter with Starhawk to go, this wasn't it. He didn't know who she was. He didn't remember Mother. None of it. Mother was just another victim, another body.
And Hargrove.
The thought of her old mentor barbed her with fresh pangs of guilt. Mother was long since gone, but Hargrove's death still weighed heavily on Bee's heart. She felt more responsible for him. With Mother, there was nothing Bee could have hoped to do, but she knew she could have saved Hargrove. She shouldn't have left him like that, without a true goodbye. She never thanked him, not really. All those years working together and when the time came for Bee to leave she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth about everything.
That was what murdered him—a lie. Not the pirates, not the execution. Bee's lie killed Hargrove. The truth would have saved him, but she didn't give him that. He wouldn't have stopped her. He might have tried to talk her out of it but he would have let her go in the end.
But instead Hargrove got a weak lie to his face because she couldn't say anything close to what she should have and then vanished. Bee could tell by Hargrove's face that he knew she wasn't just going for a walk. Another betrayal. At some point in her life, she'd just accepted that she'd have to hurt people sometimes to get where she needed to be. Now that she'd made it to the end of her journey, she didn't like looking back at how she'd gotten there.
Bee opened the communication link with Starhawk's suit. "You know, deep down, I never really thought I would find you."
The great golden pirate took a sharp, fearful breath and mumbled a delirious reply. "I don't know, I don't remember. I don't know her... I don't know her."
The clone Myra had completely slaved Starhawk's suit, giving Bee full control. An internal helmet camera captured his face and she'd forced the feed to come up on the display contact in Starhawk's remaining eye. Even if he closed it, he still had to stare at his disfigured reflection. "You like your new face?"
A wet, labored breath from Starhawk. "Kill me already. What you... came here for."
"Oh, that's not all I came here for," Bee said with a cruel sneer. "I'm gonna watch you die. But I won't make it easy. I've still got hours left with you."
An angry snarl from Starhawk triggered a coughing fit. Bee heard him fighting for air. The crash alone had nearly killed him, let alone what Bee had done to him. Cracked ribs, a smashed face, some internal bleeding, plus two broken legs. He didn't have long.
Bee stood next to Starhawk, looked him up and down as he lay helpless on the operating table. "You attacked my home. Killed people I loved. Stole my life. You deserve every moment of this. Plus whatever you've got coming to you on the other side."
"Ain't no... other side. Seen it... before."
"I hope you're wrong." Bee grasped his left leg with both hands, one below the knee and one at the ankle. His shinbone had been crushed inward during the crash, causing his lower leg to jut in the wrong direction.
"Some people say you'll burn." When Starhawk dismissed her with a snort, Bee shoved down hard with her right arm and pulled up on his shattered leg with her left. His cry of pain and surprise brought a savage smile to her face. He tried to struggle in the suit, but it held him locked in place, roaring with helpless rage. "But I'm not leaving your punishment up to anyone else."
"Alert!" The clone Myra chirped a warning and a marker popped up at the left side of her visor. "One unidentified spacecraft approaching rapidly."
#
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