Page 38 of Reformation
Walking around the way he had, just him and his mapmaking and his small efforts at fixing small things, had been kind of meditative for him. It had helped him tamp down on the storm inside of him, enough that he could at least make a good effortat being okay with the world. That kind of repression wouldn’t fly with Ten for long—ze noticed everything eventually, it was part of what made hir such a good scientist—but as long as he maintained his equanimity around hir, he could probably manage for a while longer.
Of course, going to see his grandmother would probably sorely test him, but he wouldn’t know until he tried.
“Okay.” He kissed Ten one more time, desperate to pull hir back down onto the cot so they could just betogetherfor a while, doing anything other than talking, but now wasn’t the time. “Let’s go.”
The person waiting for them was Livia, a familiar face at least, but as usual, she made no eye contact with Cody. “Let’s go, kiddos,” she said impatiently as they stepped down the shuttle’s ramp. “It’s not good to keep Corva waiting.”
“Ask me how much I care,” Ten replied.
“Ask me how many more kilometers of pipeline there are to be fixed over the next week.” She turned and led them out of the bay, and Cody silently activated his map. If they were going somewhere new, he wanted to document it.
“Not fair, not fair atall, I’ve been doing more work than all the rest of your minions combined for the past week, and you know it. You should let me do somethinginteresting, I’m curious about the state of your oxygenators—are you using algae in conjunction with the sanitation system to emit more for the environmental system, or are you just cruising through space, hoping you don’t run out of the stuff, and that your scrubbers keep working, and that there’s no localized explosion that opens a gap and vents all your precious resources into space before you can refill at whatever planet will have you?”
“You never shut up, do you?”
“You already knew that.” Ten kept up a steady flow of questions as they walked … and walked … and walked. Ittook almost half an hour of winding walkways and some very improbable stairs to finally make it to Corva’s location. Cody was sure they hadn’t gone the easy way. If Livia was trying to make it hard for them to find their way back, well … he smirked quietly as he registered the route and watched the changes integrate into his map. He could get back to Jack’s ship in fewer than ten minutes if he needed to.
The audience chamber wasn’t all that large, but it was definitely the most technologically advanced room that Cody had seen on the ship so far. Holograms projected flight data, ship specs, and a series of personal notes that vanished the moment Cody and Ten walked into the room. In the center of it all was Corva, sitting in a chair that had an old-school direct connection to her ancient implant.
She lifted herself off the metal prong that slotted into the back of her old-school implant and turned to look at them. She might have frowned although it was hard to say—her expression barely changed. She reached for the mug sitting on the armrest of her chair and sipped at the dark, oily liquid within.
“Finally.” She glanced at Livia. “Leave. Take the other one with you.”
“I want Ten to stay,” Cody said.
“You’re in no position to make demands of me,child. Livia.”
Ten was making that face ze made when ze was about to do something spectacularly destructive, so Cody squeezed hir hand. “It’s okay. I’ll be back with you in just a few minutes.”
“Is that true?” Ten demanded of Corva.
“Get out and find out.”
Cody smiled for Ten, grateful that he was still so empty it felt natural. “I’ll be fine.” [We won’t be disconnected] he added via the implant, and Ten nodded reluctantly. Livia pulled hir away, and as soon as the door closed, Cody turned back to his grandmother.
She didn’t waste any time. “There are no communications going in or out of Pandora. None. The people on that planet are either dead or under siege, and this ship has no business putting itself in harm’s way. Not for the likes of you.”
“You were heading there anyway,” Cody reminded her. “Your business there came before me.”
“We can sell our goods elsewhere.”
“Not for as much.”
“Better that we stillhavesomeone to sell them to than risk annihilation at the hands of whoever is attacking that colony. I don’t want to go to Pandora.” She cocked her head. “But I also don’t want you on this ship.” Her voice turned harsh. “You’re a canker, a blemish. You’re a scut child who should never have been made, much less born. I told your father to get rid of you once he realized there were going to be problems, but he wouldn’t. I raised him to be too soft.”
“I’m sure you don’t make that mistake with your children anymore.” Cody was amazed he sounded so calm when he was filled with the urge to scream at this vile woman for speaking badly about his father, but …Patience. You have to hold it in for now.
She sneered at him, the expression distorting her mouth into a cruel slash. “You’ve got them all fooled, don’t you? Fooled into thinking you’re a real person, when you’re just as fake as the womb you were incubated in. You’re a medical mistake, and it doesn’t do to let people start thinking of things like you as real.
“I won’t kill you”—which answered a question he hadn’t let himself wonder at too hard yet—“but I won’t be responsible for keeping you alive. We’re turning toward Pollux. You’ll be on your own when we get there.”
“No.” It was a gut instinct to argue, and Cody knew he had to follow it up with facts,fast. Corva clearly hated him—he had to make it worth her while to stay on course. “You should keepgoing to Pandora. Not because of the trade for your goods that you’ll get there, but because of the trade you’ll get for me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“The Alliance has deployed a fleet to the colony. They’ll be there soon. They’ll take care of the pirates, and they’ll pay for my return.”
“The Alliance doesn’t pay for hostages.”
