Children of Scarabaeus (24 page)

“Come with me.” Now he sounded like he knew she would refuse. When she shook her head, he lifted her chin with one finger and his intense gaze searched her face. “What are you not telling me?”

Words lodged in her throat, a plea for understanding that she couldn’t voice. Once she said it, it would become true and she couldn’t bear it being true.

He turned his head away with an impatient noise and stepped back, touching his temple reflexively. She realized he was listening to his Saeth chip.

“Corinth wants to meet. He’s on his way here.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Don’t know. Come on.” He took her hand and led her back into the main lab. “They’ll know you’ve been here,” he observed.

“Yes.” That was something she hadn’t considered. If she stayed, she’d have to explain herself to Security. And that reminded her of why she
had
come here. “Wait—the stock biocyph modules. I was thinking we could take a couple of them.” She’d said
we
, not
you
. Her indecision was a fist squeezing her heart. How could she let him go, the only person who was on her side? How could she leave here, when she was the only person in the children’s lives who was on their side?

Finn glanced back. “Risky. If anyone sees us carrying something—”

Corinth appeared at the hatch. “We’ve moved up the schedule. The
Molly Mei
has been ordered to leave immediately. We have twenty minutes at the most.”

“Are they suspicious?” Finn asked.

“We don’t know.” He sounded urgent, breathless. “But there’s nothing we can do to delay the ship’s departure. We need to get to the infirmary for the neuroxin.”

They ran to the lift, the modules forgotten. As they waited for the car, Corinth outlined the plan in low tones.

“There’s just one dockmaster on duty. The
Molly Mei
’s navpilot Gutala will keep her busy in the control room while we sneak on board.”

Edie was barely listening. Every time Corinth paused for breath, she drew in her breath—to tell them…
I’m not coming with you
. When the lift car arrived and they stepped inside, she noticed Finn looking at her. Something flickered in his eyes that made her think he knew what she was about to say.

“We have a clear path through the tool room on Deck F to the hangar,” Corinth went on. “Valari’s there now, keeping watch.”

“Finn—” Edie began just as the car stopped its descent and the door opened at Deck C.

Cornith exited. Edie held back, and Finn stayed with her, frowning deeply. She wanted to tell them to forget the neuroxin, get to the hangar now, leave her here…

Corinth made a gesture toward the infirmary. “Hurry. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Go with him,” Finn said, guiding Edie out of the car. Then he glanced down the corridor in the opposite direction. Toward the children’s dorm. “I’ll get the kids.”

Corinth froze. “What?”

“No, Finn, don’t risk it,” Edie said. “You two, get to the hangar. I’ll stay with them.” Her throat closed over. “I’ll stay behind.”

Finn ignored her. “They can get to the hangar unseen via the access tubes. I’ll meet them there and bring them on board.”

“Will they go with you?” Corinth asked. The question surprised Edie. Shouldn’t Corinth be protesting this change in plans?

“The boy will. Maybe he can persuade the others, if I turn it into a game.”

“It won’t work,” Edie said, terrified he was ruining his chance for escape because of his determination to do what
she
wanted. “The dorm will be guarded.”

“I’ll handle it.”

He took off in the direction of the dorm, while Corinth went the other way. Edie clenched her fists and followed Corinth.

“This is crazy,” she hissed. “Valari will refuse to take the children.”

“If he shows up with them, she’ll take them.”

“Why are you letting him do this?”

“
Letting
him? He outranks me.”

“There must be more to it than that. Valari outranks Finn. Shouldn’t you be obeying her?”

“Truth is, I agree with you about the children. I did all along. This is what the Saeth do—we fight for what’s right, regardless of a person’s citizenship.”

As they approached the infirmary, they slowed to a walk to avoid arousing suspicion. A couple of medics exited the foyer, finishing up a conversation. One of them walked off and the other went back inside.

“This way.” Corinth turned abruptly left, down a narrow corridor leading directly to the offices of the infirmary. He used his crew key to open Dr Sternhagen’s door. As a utility teck, he was permitted access to the room for cleaning and repairs.

“Valari’s signaling us to move faster,” he said. “Must be trouble in the hangar.”

And Finn’s decision to take the children would surely cause delays. Edie couldn’t think about that. She had to do her part while he did his. She pointed to the cabinet where she’d seen the boxes of neuroxin implants a few days earlier, during her medical exam. Corinth examined the cabinet quickly.

“Locked, but no alarm,” he said.

He pulled a device off his tool belt and stuck it over the plaz door lock. It whirred softly for a minute, rotating and
clicking. Corinth tapped it sharply, then pulled on it, and the door popped open. He grabbed a box and stuck it in his inside jacket pocket, along with the device.

“Is Finn okay?” Edie said, feeling left out of the communication loop.

“He hasn’t reported.” That didn’t sound good. “Wait…
shit
.” He listened to his chip for a moment. “Valari says there are milits heading our way.”

“Did we trigger an alarm?”

He thrust the box of implants at her. “Take this. Use the service lift and get to the hangar. I’ll hold them off.”

Edie stared at the box. This wasn’t going to work. She couldn’t let Corinth sacrifice himself.

“No. I’ll talk my way out of it. You get out.” Before he could protest, she added, “I was going to stay behind, anyway. I was going to tell Finn that I’d stay here with the children. I didn’t know he’d go back for them at the last minute.”

“You were going to stay? But I thought the two of you…?” He left the rest unspoken.

“Yes.” One word that said everything—and she was saying it to the wrong man. “Corinth, get out of here.” She pushed him into the corridor.

“I won’t make it to the hangar in time.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe Finn and Valari can still get away. Just…go back to your quarters or to the party. Give me your crew key—I’ll say I stole it.” She grabbed it off him. “And tell Finn to leave. Tell him not to wait for the children. He should just leave.”

Footsteps and voices approached. Edie backed into the office again. When she glanced over her shoulder, Corinth was gone.

Edie replaced the box and shut the cabinet door. The lock clicked back in place. Her mind whirred with possible excuses she could give for breaking into the office. Nothing seemed plausible. She was going to get into trouble for this.

As long as Finn got away, safe on a Saeth ship where Natesa couldn’t touch him, it was worth it.

CHAPTER 20

“I wanted to find out what you did to Finn,” Edie said. It was tough making up an excuse when she had no idea yet what had happened to Finn, the children, or Valari and her ship and crew. But this was the best she’d come up with. “He told me he was rendered unconscious during his medical exam. That’s not usual. I came here looking for his records.”

Natesa paced the doctor’s office, regal in her green dress. She’d been seething with anger when she’d first been called to the room. Now she seemed taken aback by Edie’s explanation, as if it was the last thing she’d expected to hear.

“You could have asked me or Dr Sternhagen, if you had any concerns.”

“Okay, I’m asking you.”

“To my knowledge his exam was entirely routine. What makes you think I’d take any interest at all in some meckie’s medical exam?”

“He’s not
some meckie
. He’s the man you’ve threatened to kill if I don’t behave.”

“I’ve done no such thing. This is ridiculous, and beside the point. You were supposed to be wooing my guests. You’re going dirtside early in the morning. You have serious work to do. Instead, you’re using someone else’s crew key to sneak
about the ship.” Natesa glared at the milit who flanked Edie. He’d been the one to find her in the office a few minutes earlier. “Have you arrested the worker to whom that key belongs?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the milit replied. “He’s a utility tech who recently transferred to the project. His use of the key outside his shift hours alerted Security.”

“But I stole the key from him,” Edie said. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

Natesa was unmoved. “He’s still at fault for being careless. Now, is there anything else you want to tell me? I don’t like surprises, least of all from you. If not, I’d like to get back to my guests—”

Her commlink beeped with an incoming call. She extracted the device from under her sleeve and jabbed the switch.

“What is it?”

“Administrator, there’s a report of a disturbance in the hangar.”

“Why are you bothering me with this?”

“It’s the children, ma’am. We found the children in an access tube leading to the loading dock, and they seem to think they’re supposed to board that merchant ship, the one that docked for repairs.”

Natesa’s glare snapped to Edie, her face hardening with suspicion. Edie maintained a neutral expression but found it hard to breathe. Their entire escape plan was in ruins. And where was Finn?

“Impound that ship. Detain the crew. And take the children back to their dorm. I’ll meet you there.” Natesa eyed Edie a moment longer, as if unable to decide what to do with her. “If you’re not going to make yourself useful at the function, return to your quarters and get some sleep. You leave at oh-seven-hundred.” She walked toward the door, then pulled up beside Edie, standing a little too close for comfort. “If I find out this has anything to do with you…” She let the statement hang in the air, apparently unable to think of a suitably dire way to finish it. Then she stalked out.

Edie was given an unwelcome escort to Deck D. Once back in her room, she debated whether to try and contact Finn. She had, with luck, saved Corinth from serious charges. But if Finn had been caught near the hangar, there was no story convincing enough to save him. If he’d got away, and if Cat on board the
Molly Mei
could successfully play innocent, maybe the damage could be confined to Valari alone. If the children kept their mouths shut, no one would associate Finn with Valari or with the children’s odd excursion.

One thing was certain—if Edie and Finn were going to escape, they’d have to start from scratch with a new plan.

An hour later, Edie could stand it no more. She had to find out what was going on. She took the lift down one deck and wandered through the meckies’ quarters, hoping to find Finn. Many of the doors were open and the party seemed to have spread to this deck. It wasn’t often that the Crib doled out free alcohol, and the workers were making the most of it. Conflicting music blared from two different sources. The deck swarmed with people in various stages of inebriation. A few of them were playing a raucous game of handball down the length of one narrow corridor.

Edie asked a series of random people where she could find Finn. Eventually she was told he shared a room with someone called Slake. Someone else told her Slake’s room number, and she buzzed the door.

Finn snapped open the hatch. He looked relieved to see her—neither of them had been caught…yet. He moved aside to let her enter the room. The first thing she noticed was a semiconscious man on one of the bunks. He had apparently dressed for the party, with lime-green boots, a lopsided velvet top hat, and a matching jacket that lay open to reveal a bare chest carved with a variety of tattoos.

“Hey, Slake,” Finn said. “Give us some privacy, will you?”

Slake moaned, his limbs twitching, but showed no other signs of life.

Finn prodded his leg. “We had a deal, buddy.”

One bleary eye opened to give Edie the once-over. Then
he rolled off the bunk and staggered around for a while, hiccupping violently, before finally finding the door. Finn snapped it shut behind him. He sat on the other bunk and ran his hands through his hair. Edie took a quick look around at the mess, the piles of dirty clothes and scattered belongings. It really didn’t seem fair that Finn had been sent down here, but he was probably used to far worse.

“They found the children,” Edie said. “What happened?”

“I sent a service tom into Galeon’s room with a message to take the kids to the loading dock. I could’ve snuck them on board from there, into the cargo hold, without being seen from the hangar. By the time I got down there, the dockmaster was getting suspicious of the
Molly Mei
’s delaying tactics. Then Corinth told us the two of you weren’t going to make it.”

“I told him to tell you to leave anyway, without the children.”

He gave her a sideways look. “You mean, to leave without
you
?”

“That was your chance, Finn. That ship was the safest place for you.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway. The ship never left.”

Edie bit her lip. “I know. I was with Natesa when she ordered it impounded.” She couldn’t shake the thought that Valari and Finn might have made it out if Valari hadn’t waited for the children and for her and Corinth.

“So—what’s the damage? Corinth is in the brig, that’s all he told me.” His voice was oddly flat. It wasn’t like Finn to be discouraged. The soldier in him always had a contingency plan.

“I don’t think he’s in too much trouble. There’s no reason for them to link me or Corinth to any of this. What about Galeon?”

“He knows I sent that tom, but the other kids don’t. I don’t think he’ll tell.”

“How can we find out what happened to Valari?”

Finn hesitated, taking in a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
“Her chip winked out a few minutes ago. Corinth can’t reach her, either.”

“What does that mean? Is she dead?”

“Not necessarily. If they’ve arrested her, she’d have switched it off to prevent them from tapping into it.”