Jorgen POV:
I handed Spensa the torch and nodded to the bundles of wood we'd placed in what was left of Hurl's cockpit. She looked at me, then, placed the torch on top of the wood. We stepped back, and the wood went up in an impressively high column of fire.
"Return to the stars," I said. "Sail them well, warrior."
We saluted the burning hunk of metal and backed up, climbing a boulder not far away from Hurl. We sat together for a while, watching the flames until I realized she was holding back tears. By impulse, I put my arm around her shoulders and she leaned into me. I rubbed her back while we sat there in silence.
"I'm not defiant," I said.
"What?" She looked up at me. "I thought you grew up in the Deep Caverns."
"I mean...I'm Defiant, I'm from the Defiant caverns. But I don't feel defiant. I don't know how to be like you. And Hurl. Since I was little, everything has been scheduled for me. How am I supposed to follow the grand speeches, defying the Krell, defying our doom, when everything I do has seven rules attached to it?"
"At least it got you flight lessons and free entry into the DDF. At least you can fly."
I shrugged. "Six months."
"Excuse me?"
"That's how long I get after graduation, Spin. They put me in Cobb's class because it's supposed to be the safest for cadets. And once I graduate, I'm to fly for six months. At that point, I'll have enough of a record as a pilot to be respected by my peers, so my family will pull me out."
"They can do that?"
"Yeah. They'll probably make it look like a family emergency. A need for me to step into my government position sooner than anticipated. The rest of my life will be spent in meetings, interfacing on behalf of my father with the DDF."
"Will you...ever get to fly?"
"I suppose I could go up for fun. But how could it compare to flying a real starfighter in battle? How could I go out for joyrides, a few calculated and protected moments when I've had something so much greater? My father always worried that I liked flying too much. To be honest, during my practices, before I started official training, I thought a pair of wings might let me escape his legacy. But I'm not defiant. I'll do what's expected of me."
"Huh."
"What?"
"Nobody calls your father a coward. And yet, you do still live in his shadow."
We sat together until the embers died down and the sky grew dark. We shared a few thoughts of Hurl, though we had both missed out on her dinnertime antics.
"She was like me," Spensa said. "More me than I am these days."
I didn't press her. We stoop and saluted the dying embers of the fire.
I went to the car to radio my family and when I finished Spensa was standing by the car looking up at me.
"Jorgen? How much can this car lift?"
"A fair amount, why?"
"Are you willing to do something that sounds a little crazy?"
"Like flying out and giving our own funeral to one of our friends?"
"More crazy," She said. "But I need you to do it, and not ask too many questions. Pretend I'm insane with grief or something."
HI looked at her carefully. "What is it exactly that you want to do?"
Spensa POV:
"You realize," Jorgen said as we sped to my cave. "That I'm starting to get very suspicious." The booster hung from chains attached to the toe ring underneath his car. Its small acclivity ring had been just barely enough to lift the thing.
"First you steal my power matrix. Now, this. What are you doing, building your own poco?" He laughed. When I didn't join in, he looked at me, his deep brown eyes seeming to penetrate into my soul. I found myself staring back. For the first time, I realized his eyes weren't completely brown. They had little flecks of grey at the center, right around the pupils.
"You are," he said. "You're building a starfighter."
"I told you not to ask too many questions."
"And I never agreed. Spin. You're building a ship?"
"Repairing," I said. "I found a wreck."
"All salvage belongs to the DDF. Claiming it is the same as stealing."
"Like you just helped me steal a booster?"
He groaned and leaned back.
"What did you think we were doing?" I asked, amused. "We spent half an hour pulling a chunk of salvage from the ground."
"You told me to assume you were emotionally unstable because of Hurl's death."
"I didn't expect you to believe me!" I said. "Look, I've done this forever without getting in trouble. I used scraps of salvage to make a spear gun for hunting."
"An entire fighter is different from a spear gun. You're insane."
"Admiral Ironsides won't let me fly. She's got a grudge against me because of my father."
"So you built your own ship? What do you think is going to happen? That you'll show up on a battlefield in the nick of time? And everyone else will just forget to ask where you got your own scudding starfighter?"
I didn't have an answer to that.
"Spin. The first time you took the thing up in the air the DDF would pick it up on scanners."
I'd like to see them try...
"Maybe I don't fly it for the DDF," I said. "There are other caverns. Some use ships for trading."
"And you'd abandon the fight. Go run cargo."
"I don't know." I sank back into my seat.
He was right. He was usually right. I was starting to kind of not hate him, but he was still Jerkface.
When Alta came into view, I grabbed Jorgen's arm and pointed a few degrees to the left. "Fly us that direction."
He gave me a suffering look but flew in the direction I had indicated.
I had him stop 40 meters or so from my hole, and he lowered the hovercar to gently set the booster down.
I attached my lightline to the side of the car and prepared to lower myself down.
Jorgen climbed down after me. "Do you want help getting it to your cave?"
I looked at the booster than towards my cave. Then at Jorgen.
"You know what? Come with me."
I lead him to the mouth of my cave and showed him how to lightline down.
"This is where you live?" He grunted as he lowered himself into the cave after me. "What do you eat?"
"Rats," I said, walking over to M-Bot.
"Only rats?" he asked as he righted himself.
"I used to put pepper on the rats, but I ran out."
He finally turned. On cue, M-Bot light up his lights and Jorgen froze.
I smiled, nervous. Anticipating his reaction.
"That's- it's- what- how?" he managed to get out.
"I found him here when I first discovered the cave. Apparently he's been here for about 70 years."
"He?"
"Hello," M-Bot said. "I like your shoes."
Jorgen looked at me startled. "It talks!"
I nodded. "And he is still here."
"W-what? I..."
"It's generally considered bad form to speak about someone who is present as if he is not," M-Bot said.
"I.." He was at a loss.
I smiled. "I know it's a lot to process. Are you still up for helping me?"