Page 33 of Star Bringer
Ian raises his brow at the question but eventually shrugs. “I’ve been on a few, Princess. How about you?”
“The flight to theCaelestiswas my first.”
Shock flares in his eyes at that. “I somehow thought you royals would be flitting all over the place, having fun.”
“Which just goes to show what you know about the Ruling Families. All space travel is controlled by the Corporation, and we don’t have fun. We do our duty.”
“Of course you do.”
I ignore the sarcasm and look around. We’re in the broadest part of the triangle that makes up the ship, and the room is long and narrow but with sections extending into the ship’s tail. The walls and ceiling are made up of the same dark matte metal as the corridors, and the floor is remarkably dust-free for such an old ship. There are lots of consoles, but all of them are blank right now, and there aren’t even any flashing lights. I trail my finger over the nearest, and a tingle runs through me, almost like static.
“It’s completely dead,” Ian tells me.
I frown as I look around. “What I don’t understand is, what was it even doing on theCaelestis? An obsolete ship like this?”
“I have no fucking clue.” Ian reaches out and thumps it hard with his fist, just like he did with the control panel upstairs. “Fucking start, you bastard.”
“You really think that’s going to—” I break off as a strange whirring noise fills my ears, a sort of soft buzzing.
“See.” He smirks. “Sometimes violence works.”
“And sometimes it doesn’t.” I gesture to the now silent engine. “I don’t see anything actuallyworking. But maybe if I take a closer look, I can—”
“Don’t touch anything.” He cuts me off, but it’s with a quick wink. “Let’s get out of here. Go look at the rest of the ship.”
I follow him, trying to figure out what’s going on. He seems a lot friendlier now than he did on the bridge, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be back to being a jerk three seconds from now. He’s such a contradiction that it’s hard to catch up.
But as we walk silently through the ship, I remember something I’ve been meaning to ask him. I quicken my pace, wanting to see his face when I do.
“Why didn’t you want me to touch the heptosphere?” I ask. “Back in the lab—why did you stop me?”
Ian looks at me, calculation in his eyes. His expression doesn’t change. He pauses, gives a shrug, and for a moment I’m sure he’s not going to answer, but then he says, “That thing is dangerous. I haven’t seen it in action, but I’ve heard rumors of people burned to a crisp by it.”
So he was trying to keep me from getting hurt? It’s not the answer I was expecting, and it makes me feel a little funny inside. Probably just a side effect of the hunger. “But Dr. Veragelen told us it was safe to touch.”
He gives me a look—a sort of are-you-really-that-naive look. “Yeah, well, Doc V isn’t exactly known for her sweet nature. You know what her nickname was among the crew?”
“No idea.”
“Dr. Wicked. Those prisoners being shipped off in theReformer? They were the lucky ones who survived the experiments. There were a lot who didn’t.” He pauses for a second, like he’s trying to decide how much to say. “Though I’m not sure ‘lucky’ is the right word to describe the survivors. We don’t actually know where they were being taken.”
“I agree that Dr. Veragelen seemed problematic, but I still don’t believe she would do something like that. Use people in that way. My mother would never permit such a thing.”
He gives me a look I can’t begin to decipher. But I know it’s not good, and that infuriates me.
“My mom may be a lot of things,” I tell him with a scowl, “but she wouldn’t condone human experiments of the kind you’re talking about. And she definitely wouldn’t condone some prison ship taking people off to be tortured, as you’re implying. She’s tough, but she’s not cruel.”
Yet, even as I say the last, I’m not so sure. Years of being a disappointment to her have proven that my mother has the capacity for cruelty, even if I don’t know how much she actually indulges that capacity. Or in what way, if it doesn’t have to do with me. My stomach churns at the thought.
I expect Ian to argue with me, but all he says is, “Maybe you should have a chat with Beckett about that.”
I don’t want to. Maybe I’m scared of what I’ll hear. I power forward. “I’ll do that. But even if Dr. Veragelen was doing experiments on theCaelestis, it doesn’t mean my mother knew about them or authorized them.”
“Yeah, you cling to that, Princess, if it helps you sleep at night.”
I start to say something, but he’s opening another door and peering inside before I can formulate a thought. “Sleeping cabin,” he tells me before moving on to the next door. “Bathroom.”
He steps inside and does something I can’t see. “No water. What a surprise.”
