Chapter Eighteen

 

“Come on, Bo, we’re leaving.” Mario’s hand lands on my shoulder. Mi hermano glares at the Zantites, then at Frank. Then he drags me away from them.

“What are you doing?” I whisper.

“I came here – brought mi familia here – because I wanted to support my little hermana finally getting her life together. And then I find out people are trying to blow you up. And you are getting yourself in deeper. It’s time to go home, and let all these aliens sort things out for themselves.”

“All these aliens? Kaliel is just as human as we are, no?” I pull away from him. “Earth’s position in the galaxy is still precarious. Back home, HGB’s stockpiling weapons to stave off an invasion they won’t win. Earth survives only if we convince all these aliens that we deserve a place in the galaxy. And Kaliel – if he did it – just killed one of their most popular heroes.”

“How are you going to change that?” He looks like he wants to grab me again, pero doesn’t dare. “You’re a chef, Bo, at best, and a screwup. You think you belong with those guys?” He gestures at the knot of cops, and Frank and Brill, all with their leather jackets and thick pea coats and uniforms and guns and scowls.

“I’ve kept myself breathing this long.” I cross my arms over my chest. Mario still has the power to make me feel like I’m eight years old.

“Some niño told me what that drug you’re addicted to does. And that no human who’s ever taken it has managed to last as long as you have without dosing themselves again and again until they die. Do you know they’re pooling bets on how long it takes you to give in and kill yourself?”

I did not know that. Pero, I’m not about to tell Mario how much that hurts. “I’ve outlasted the expectations. I’m stronger than you think. And you might know that if you hadn’t shut me out.” I’m breathing hard, and the shakes and the need are catching up with me, pero I will not let mi hermano see me cry.

“I shut you out?” Mario, ever the historian, shifts into his teacher voice when he says, “Bad things happen, Bo. You can’t change it. Things never end well for anyone who has something somebody else wants. Look at the Opium Wars. Look at Montezuma.”

“Maybe this time it will be different, no? After all, we’re not the only ones that have chocolate now.”

“The Zantites still don’t have it.”

“If the Krom First Contact had gone right, they would.”

Mario gasps. “Are you defending them?”

There’s a soft noise behind me, a shoe shifting on gravel. I turn. Brill’s standing there. Mario, who spent weeks hanging out with Brill, bonding over bad science fiction flicks and soccer, at least has the good grace to blush and look away.

“There’s been a development. Tyson wants to speak with you.” Brill turns to Mario. “You’re right. Things do often end badly. We Krom know that better than most. Have you ever asked yourself what might have motivated Povika and his children to write the Codex? Why we bother expending so much effort for what amounts to such little monetary gain?”

“Why?” Mario says it, pero I’m suddenly asking myself the same thing.

Brill shakes his cabeza. “Read the Codex. And then we’ll talk.”

While I’ve read parts of the Codex, I never could get through the whole thing.

Brill’s silent as he walks me back over to the knot of cops. Tyson’s gotten taller, uncoiling his spine enough that there’s a gap of several inches between the bottom edge of his leather jacket and the top of his jeans, and his snakelike head is down almost against his chest. I’m frozen at his frío anger, despite the IH residue.

“We underestimated Kaliel, dark want supernova.” Tyson blinks his translucent eyelids, then focuses on me with such predatory intensity that I nearly wet myself. “He killed tree guards and two crew members and stole a government transport to get offplanet.”

“There must be some mistake. Kaliel wouldn’t–”

Tyson moves towards me, like he’s flowing agua and stardust, and his gold slit-pupil eyes are only inches from my face. I can feel the air blowing past his fangs when he says, “Tell me where he’s going.”

At first I can’t get my mouth to move, but then I blurt, “Ni idea.”

“Murder, Bo. Five bodies, not counting te four from te bombing.” He studies my face, looking for signs I’m lying. It’s all I can do not to look at Frank if we’re counting up murders, because I’m not sure what Tyson would make of what had happened to Jimena.

Finally, Tyson turns away.

I manage to speak. “Tyson, please.” He looks back. My stomach turns icy. I almost can’t continue. “Something extraño has been going on ever since I got to this planet. At least consider the possibility that Kaliel’s a victim of it.”

Tyson tilts his cabeza, scrunches up his mouth, then says, “Your judgement’s compromised here. How many more people will he have to kill for you to realize that?”

Frank says, “Kaliel was involved before, in an incident where people got killed. You got him exonerated on the basis that another ship was there, and his testimony that he was framed. I’ve seen the holo. But no one knows what ship that was, or who it belonged to. Given this–” He waves his hand at the still smoking building, “–is it possible that everyone misinterpreted that evidence, and he was actually working with that ship?”

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m a horrible judge of people, and Kaliel scuttlepunched that SeniorLeisure transport on purpose, as the beginning of a loco killing spree.

“No. No y no!” I can’t be that mistaken. “Why would he hurt Kayla? Or any of them? What’s his motive?”

A helicopter passes overhead, and I assume it’s the police. The chopper swings back around, landing in the open quad.

A lithe figure bounds out of it, green eyes glittering in the darkness, long hair swishing. She turns and waves at the pilot before it takes off again.

“Chestla!”

Chestla turns towards me and grins. She looks a little like an ocelot, with those vertical-slit pupils and reflective green irises above a predator’s smile. Pero, she’s humanoid, tall, has smooth beige skin on her freckled cheeks, and long honey-colored hair. I reach out and hug her. As I let her go, her mouth gapes open in shock, revealing fang-length incisors.

“You,” she starts, in Universal Standard. Then she closes her mouth.

“I what?”

Chestla continues in Universal, which she’s never been comfortable with. She, like most non-humans, doesn’t want a sublingual, so the improved language skills are all the more impressive. “You’ve never hugged me before. Aren’t you afraid of me?”

What I’ve termed the Chestla Effect, that natural response of most sane creatures in the presence of an alpha predator, just isn’t hitting me. “I guess not.”

“You shouldn’t have come here.” Brill sounds nervous. “Whatever it is, you could have holocalled without… you know.” He gestures towards the cops, who are giving Chestla sour looks.

“Did you break some law here, chica?” I ask.

“Nah.” Chestla wrinkles her nose. “The war between these people and mine was long and ugly and ended not so long ago. But I have a favor to ask you. And it’s the kind of thing you ask in person.”

“Me first.” Because I have an idea, a gleefully loco idea born of desperation. With Chestla’s tracking skills and Brill’s fast ship, I might have a chance to out-Tyson Tyson. “Would you be willing to help me track somebody?”

Tyson asks, “What are you doing, Bo?” at the same time Chestla says, “Yeah, sure. Who?”

I answer Tyson. “I’m making you a proposition, muchacho. The Kaliel I know wouldn’t have run, and certainly wouldn’t have killed people to do it. I believe he’s sick. Or that there is some kind of mistake, and whoever we’re chasing isn’t him.” I keep my doppelganger theory to myself – for now. “If we find Kaliel before you do, then you make sure he gets checked out by a doctor, and you try your loophole magic to find a legal way to help him. Before he comes back to Zant.”

Tyson’s mouth scrunches in, and it looks like he’s about to explode with frustration or anger. His cabeza moves towards me, and I flinch back. He’s already bit me once, no? But then he bursts out laughing. “Tat’s never going to happen.”

“Pero if it does?”

“Fine. Party happy cupcake frosting.” Tyson opens his mouth, flicks out his tongue. I’m no expert in his language transliteration, pero that sounded patronizing. “But don’t expect me to wait around for Brill’s ship.” He holds out his phone. “I’ll even share te file, to make it fair.”

My handheld dings. I accept the share offer, and data fills the screen, including the trajectory of the stolen ship on takeoff. When I look up, Tyson’s walking away, and Fizzax is trotting after him. The two stop and Fizzax says something that makes Tyson laugh.

I ask Brill, “What’s wrong with your ship?”

Mi vida gives me a sullen look. “You could have at least asked.”

I hesitate. “Are you saying you don’t want to try to find Kaliel?”

I can’t blame him, not after the way Kaliel’s been acting lately.

“Ga. I’m saying you asked Chestla, and I don’t like to feel taken for granted, especially when it’s my ship.”

“So will you help me find Kaliel, mi vida? Por favor?”

“That’s all I needed.” He takes my hand and squeezes it. “We are going to be starting a few hours behind, though. The Fois Gras got damaged by vandals at the spaceport right after the bombing hit the feeds. Go get packed.”

“After she makes a statement,” Tawny says. She’s got one of her camera drones trained on me, gently lighting the area where I’m standing. It may have even caught me issuing that challenge to Tyson. “I need a few words disavowing any knowledge of Kaliel’s actions.”

I force my hands flat and take a deep breath. “You want a statement? Being human is about loyalty and honor, and not bailing on your friends. I’m not giving up on Kaliel until he tells me why all of this happened.”

I turn away and run smack into Mario.

“Nice speech.” He ruffles my hair, like when we were kids. As I smack his hand away, he says, “I guess you have time for that drink after all.”

“Un momento.” I turn to Chestla. “What was that favor you wanted to ask?”

“I’ll understand if you say no.” She won’t look at me. “You probably should say no.”

“Say no, Bo,” Mario says.

I ignore him. “You have to tell me what you want, first.”

“The Council of Elders found out why I went to Earth, and given the popularity of your exploits, they’re willing to re-evaluate my potential as a Guardian – as long as you come in person to provide a reference.”

“Claro está!” Of course. Becoming a Guardian Companion to a royal princess on her home planet was her life-long dream – a dream made impossible when she’d failed, and nearly died, on the obstacle course portion of the aptitude test. “I’ll be happy to tell them how you saved my life.”

Chestla says, “There’s a bit more to it than just giving a testimonial. You are the reference. And you would be putting yourself at risk.”

“Por favor say no,” Mario repeats.

Chestla had never hesitated to put herself at risk for me. “As soon as we find Kaliel, I’ll go with you.”

Claro está, I have no idea how we’re going to do that.

As we walk away, Mario says, “You have any idea how you’re going to do that?”

I give him a sour look. Behind him, Tawny is waving at me.

I grimace. “I guess I’m not quite done here. Meet you there?”

Tawny shuts off the drone, and it settles to the ground. “Can I give you one more piece of advice?”

I look at the drone, frío and silent, and a chill goes through me that is more than just the evening breeze. Why’d she shut it off? “Que?”

“I just talked to a few people back home. Don’t leave this planet on anything other than an HGB ship, not until you’ve fulfilled your obligations. It’s not… prudent.”

“Is HGB making that an order?”

Tawny pats my hand. “No. And I can see you’re not going to listen. But there will be implications just the same. For you, and for the people harboring you.”