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“LET’S TRADE JOBS, QUINN.” Nat plopped down at her desk, her official Sister’s robe of a plain square of dark brown homespun flapping to her chest in the breeze she created with her dramatic collapse.
Q snorted. “Not a chance. I’m terrible at negotiations, you know that. I have a hard enough time teaching.” More than a year later and she couldn’t even teach Nat to use “Q” instead of Quinn. By the Mother, she was tired of everything here. Scrabbling for life, the completely inadequate net, trying to use that net to watch over the world authorities and beyond for Familia or other problems, the constant noise of construction as they widened their compound, the arguments between groups with conflicting beliefs, the constant heat and humidity—it was wearing her down. Being suspicious of everyone and everything didn’t help either. But she had to be strong for Nat and Brin.
Nat grimaced. “Not sure I care right now. I’m so tired of dancing around everything, telling everyone half-truths, and asking for twice what I want, just so I can get what we really need at a price we can afford.” She pulled the robe off over her head and tossed it onto the small cabinet behind her, wiping her forehead.
Those robes were just too warm for Secundus. Q was glad, again, that she’d refused to wear them from the start, since she wasn’t a Sister. But she had good news for the Sisters and Nat. “A message came in today that might make everything a whole lot simpler, Nat.”
“Really?” It hurt to watch the rise and fall of hope on Nat’s face.
“Really.” Q swept the message from Deneb over to her.
“Deneb make things easier? Since when? Our rich, environmentally conscious, adventure travel neighbors aren’t interested in anything except their bottom line. Usually at the expense of everyone else.”
“Ah, but we have something they don’t. Available land and lots of people, all organized to a fault. A non-profit organization with a proven track record. One that’s attracting more and more talented people and other non-profit organizations. And, most importantly, a medico school with an emphasis on trauma medicine.” Q smirked. “In a secure compound with the firepower to protect itself and a net they can’t break. These days, when Gov Human can’t be trusted and the military is distracted by internal leadership struggles, that’s a lot.”
“Wait a minute. If I’m reading this right, it says they want to fund our medico school.” Nat’s face could be the model for astonishment. “Full funding for ten standard years and partial for at least another ten?!” She sobered abruptly. “What’s the catch?”
“They get priority. No matter what’s going on here—flood, fire, pandemic—Deneb’s patients get priority.”
“Hmm. That’s a big ask for medicos. Doesn’t really fit their oaths, now does it?” Nat frowned at the desk.
“No. But, if you talk to them about the benefits versus the low potential? After all, what’s the max number of patients that will fold here? Ten, twenty? It can’t be big. And we’re not going to empty the school of medicos to respond to their emergency. They’ll never know if the school leaves a few behind. Or we tell them, correctly, that the specialists have to stay here with the specialized equipment. Head trauma will heal faster here with all the right equipment, treatment, and supportive environment.”
Q shrugged. “Besides, you’re a great negotiator. Do that thing. Get them to put a few limits on it, even if it means a little less funding.” Q laughed. “You have to bring Medico Administrator Ed’Whte into this negotiation, so tell him to bring Medicos Schmitt and Doering too. Between Schmitt’s ethics lectures and Doering’s ‘results at all costs,’ you’ll get to a middle ground.”
“Well, look who’s been thinking about this problem.” Nat raised her brows. “Bored again?”
Q shrugged again. “A little. You know there’s not much challenge here for me. Especially when you won’t let me steal from Familia anymore.” Along with stealing Enzo’s credits and some from the other enforcer accounts she’d found, Q donated most of Kathe’s credits, since there was no telling how they’d been earned. It felt cleaner to contribute most of them to the cause. She’d kept enough to jump on a folder to the other side of the universe and live frugally for a year, just in case Familia tracked her down.
Nat frowned at her. “We don’t need Familia’s dirty money. Besides, a bigger, nicer medico school will mean plenty of work for you.”
“Sure. But how I feel doesn’t matter, you know that.” Q lifted her hands helplessly. “I can’t go anywhere without attracting Familia’s attention. General Kerr’s gift, enlisting ‘me’ in the Gov Human military, only works if I stay here, mostly hidden, so my decoys in the Laniakea Fleet can show up and be ‘me’ on a regular basis. I’m grateful, I really am. I’ve learned a lot of new things here from all of you.”
Nat snorted. “Mostly that you’re too blunt and terrible at negotiations.”
Q shrugged a single shoulder. “Lizard can’t change its scales. At least not this lizard.”
“But you could. You could do a big body mod. Especially if we bring a bigger medico school here.”
“Well, that will take some time, won’t it?”
Nat wagged her head from side to side. “Maybe, maybe not. We can get the buildings done fast.”
“The Travelers again?” Q raised her eyes to the overhead. Nat was right, the Traveler building clans did good, fast work, but Q didn’t want to put up with everything else the Travelers brought with them. Parties, selling of pretty but useless items, accusations of cheating and theft from petty, jealous, and stupid Secundus people, and for her, constant, unending flirting and entreaties for her to fly away with them. “You’re so pretty, Q! Join us, Q! You’ll love living with us, Q!” It came from both sexes and all ages. The younger Travelers flirted with some of the other orphan girls but not to the extent Q got. She wished she knew why.
“Yes. You know they’re perfect for this kind of building and they won’t overcharge, not for this. Especially if we let them use the medico facilities too. You know they have a hard time getting accepted in some systems.” Nat gazed into the distance for a moment, then back at Q. “We could encourage them to send students!”
“Now, that might work. They definitely would play fair if we’re willing to take their people as students. Great idea, Nat.” And she’d put up with the constant flirting for that. Why were the Travelers so intent on seducing her? It made no sense.
“I have one every now and then.”
Q smirked at Nat. “Shall I send notice of Circle tonight, then?”
“Yes, absolutely. Never hide anything, that’s our motto. But I’m going to tell Lashtar about this right now!” Nat practically danced out of their shared office.
Q smiled at Nat’s joy. This was the opportunity they needed. After successfully rescuing their girls and helping with Gov Human’s cleansing of Secundus’s corrupt authorities, the Sisters developed a reputation for doing the right thing, even when it was hard. When they advertised their willingness to welcome other organizations working to better the lives of Secundus’s citizens, they made a lot of great connections. When they opened up land and buildings, they had more applicants than they could handle. And when wealthy benefactors sent them credits for more buildings, they attracted the very best, not only in Cygnus but in this quadrant of the universe. Unexpectedly, they also attracted almost twenty different religious orders, all wanting to settle in a cooperative, safe environment. With the turmoil in Gov Human, safety meant a lot. The Sisters sent a lot of business to the construction Traveler clans.
It was exciting at first, but after a while, Q found all the organizations were the same. They needed lots of help to get settled, spent the majority of their time fundraising, and none of them really needed her talents. Secundus was just too remote to attract the worst of the net predators. But she couldn’t leave, or Familia would find her. She was stuck, teaching basic net to kids and remedial net security to adults. But it could be worse. She put a hand on her stomach where the tattoo used to be. It could be so much worse.
Her e-torc pinged. Time for an Atlas Challenge session. Q grinned despite herself. Training again and practicing the full range of y’ga were true blessings. Even if she had to build her own course. But the advantage was she could change it whenever and however she wanted. Or her training partner wanted. Over the last year, they’d built three different courses—from beginner to expert. They left the beginner and mid-level courses alone but changed the expert often, trying to surprise each other.
Q left the office, changed from her shipsuit into athletic clothes, and jogged to the far corner of the compound with the course and other miscellaneous homemade athletic and training equipment. The high ropes course was quite popular with a wide variety of clergy and medicos, and everyone used the obstacle course. It was great for running the energy out of kids.
Ruth was already warming up. Q joined her, and they swung into a jog around the courses, then a run through the obstacle course at half-speed. One of the reasons Q enjoyed training with Ruth was the silence. Ruth rarely said anything unless it was relevant to their training. Q knew little about her background, other than she had associated with Lightwave’s crew as a young woman, and she’d endured terrible abuse since then.
When Ruth had expressed an interest in the Atlas Challenge course, one of the psych medicos immediately talked to Q because they thought the training would be good for Ruth. But the medico warned Q that Ruth could be unpredictable—she had experienced horrific violence, and she had military-style training, so if something went wrong, Q could find herself in a very difficult situation. But Q knew what it was like to need a physical outlet for emotional issues. She was happy to train Ruth and leave the talking to the medicos. Sometimes, quiet was better, and pushing your body hard could blow all the circling emotions right out of your head. Ruth had responded well, and Q considered her a full training partner—and a friend.
Q set up the timers for the dual beginner course. This was the only one that was side-by-side; the others were only against a clock, as they would be in competition. They’d run through this one together, and whoever won went last on the mid-level course, then they’d swap for the expert course after a short rest.
The timer counted down and Q sprinted. Up and over the wall, across the spring-loaded stepping stones, the pull-up ladder, ropes, jump bars, and all the rest. She won by a hair and frowned speculatively at Ruth. She was holding back, so Q was sure she’d made changes to the expert course.
Without saying anything or responding to Q’s look, Ruth started the timer and swung into action on the mid-level course, finishing within five seconds of her normal warm-up time. Q started as soon as Ruth finished, also finishing within the same margin. She bent over, breathing hard for the first few seconds, then made herself straighten, surveying the expert course. By design, the first obstacle, the high-ramped wall, blocked a lot of the course from view, so she walked to the far corner of the starting box and peered around the wall. No changes she could see. This was one of the places her lack of height didn’t help. It also didn’t help her get up the walls. She had to compensate with jumping height and there was only so much she could do to develop that.
The rest timer counted down, and Q enabled the vids. At zero, she sprinted for the ramp wall, running up it without issue. She danced the length of the rolling log, jumping the sweep arms, then launched herself to the curved monkey bars. Across and up the pull-up ladder, and her shoulders were screaming surrender. She flung herself onto the platform at the top—ah! Her body flattened to the platform, shins banging painfully on the edge. Struggling to breathe, Q slowly pulled her body fully onto the platform and over to the pole fastened to the end. Tricky Ruth—she added a grav generator!
Q pushed with her toes and pulled with her arms, making it to the long slide pole where, rather than sliding down, she hung in near zero-g. “Argh!” Pulling herself down the pole hand over hand, she finished the course without other surprises. After a few seconds of lying flat, Q rolled and sat, watching Ruth power through the course, beating Q’s time soundly, mostly because she pushed off hard at the end of the double-grav platform, sailing down through the zero-g without bothering to grab the pole and bounced off at the bottom into the next exercise. Q noted her technique. Would it be even faster if she kept pushing off against the pole with her toes on the way down?
“Great job. Tricky change.”
Ruth nodded once, breathing too hard to speak.
“I thought grav generators weren’t used in the Atlas Challenge?”
“They aren’t, but neither of us is going to any big competitions, are we?” Ruth asked in her gravelly voice. At some point, her voice box had been damaged. Q noticed Ruth’s visible scars were gradually disappearing, but that characteristic remained. “But we needed a new challenge, and I didn’t feel like building anything by myself. I didn’t try it out—this was my first time through.”
Q wasn’t surprised. Ruth was fanatical about fairness. “Well, let’s watch the vid and see where we can do better.” They discussed their mistakes and tried different techniques on the grav portion, cutting tenths of seconds off. After a final run-through with an audience—they always drew one these days—they swung into a y’ga-based cooldown. Then, they coached others on the first two courses, laughing and helping the littlest children on the taller obstacles. When they walked away, a small group of older medico students was running the expert course, but they were experienced and had enough safety watchers to work on their own.
“What’s next for you?” Ruth asked.
Q shrugged. “I can always do more admin work, but I don’t want to.”
“Yeah, there’s always more rads to blast around. I’m thinking about a quick escape to the jungle. Maybe do some hunting. Want to come?”
“Yes! Let me grab my gear.” These trips were all that kept Q—and Ruth—sane. They’d go mountain climbing or sea kayaking or, if they had to stay close, jungle bashing. Anything to get away from the stifling confines of the Sisters’ compound.
Q was slowly coming to realize she wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Ruth certainly did, but she wasn’t ready to face the wider universe. Even going to the larger towns on Secundus was a trial for her. But that wasn’t surprising. Q knew little about Ruth’s official history, but she occasionally let some tidbit slip while they sat around camp at night. Those tidbits usually gave Q nightmares and reminded her why she had to stay in the Sisters’ compound. If Familia caught her, the captivity might be more outwardly civilized, luxurious even, but the personal degradation would be the same.
The person who continued to surprise her was Lashtar. She kept stepping back, more and more, letting Nat and Brin make the decisions and lead the Sisters’ worship. Lashtar’s scowls were growing more and more obvious when the other leaders in the compound insisted on getting a final decision from her, rather than accepting it from Nat. Most of them were Lashtar’s age and saw Nat as a child, which she definitely wasn’t. Q saw how it chafed both Nat and Lashtar, but she didn’t think most people noticed. Nat was trying not to notice; she didn’t want to push Lashtar out, even if the constant need for Lashtar’s approval annoyed her too. Besides, none of them had Lashtar’s experience with physical security, and they still needed lots of that. They had too many people to protect.
Even so, Lashtar had taken to disappearing for days in a row too; they weren’t sure where she was going but probably just to one of the jungle outposts. Q had caught speculative glances from Lashtar; they’d both silently acknowledged a growing feeling of entrapment and agreed not to discuss it. But someday soon, something would break loose. The question was what, and who first?
#
AS Q CHECKED THE SAFETY on her rifle, an alert pinged. “Blast. Sister Lashtar needs me. Something related to that big remote attack in Sirius, killing all those beings and stations.” Q bit her lip, unwilling to go, even though they had no choice but to return anyway or waste a lot of meat. She’d planned to lure Ruth into the medicos’ gathering room, let the fancy soothing stones and meditation work on her, but that wouldn’t happen now.
“She doesn’t need me for intel work.” Ruth turned away, still breathing hard from the close call with the giant lizard. “I’ll take the kill for processing, then I’m going home.”
Q watched her go, towing the carcass behind her with a hand-tractor. Ruth had to reintegrate into society sometime, but not today. At least she was willing to spend a few hours in the compound now and then, rather than sneaking in and out like a ghost after their Atlas Challenge sessions. Deneb’s credits not only made the medico school bigger, but it brought more talented instructors and better equipment and treatments. And those pricey soothing stones. Q still wasn’t sure how they’d managed to get those, and she didn’t want to pry too hard in case she didn’t like the answer. She hoped they were donated.
But with or without the soothing stones, Ruth was making progress, if not quite as quickly as many of them hoped. She still wouldn’t speak directly to Lashtar, even though Lashtar wasn’t involved in the tragedy that led to her trauma.
But enough speculation—she had a job to do. Q slung her rifle across her back and trotted past Ruth, back to the compound. Sister Lashtar put a high priority on the message but didn’t make a call, so it wasn’t a true emergency, like an imminent attack. She shivered a little at the thought of an attack like Sirius happening to an unprotected world like Secundus.
Just like every other human world, suns, most sentient worlds, Secundus was still on high alert. It wasn’t long ago when the worlds and stations of Sirius were attacked by a huge, anonymous army of remotes. No one took responsibility for the attack, and Gov Human had been unable—or unwilling—to identify the attacker. The latest theory was an artificial intelligence, because not a single living being of any species had been found in the attacker’s debris—no compartments with breathable atmosphere either. Also, no unknowns folded out of Sirius—the attackers stayed and kept firing until they were destroyed.
But Lashtar wouldn’t call her back to the compound if they were under attack by something like that—they’d be told to hide. They didn’t have enough firepower to hold off more than a couple of shuttles. Q bounded up the stairs and into Lashtar’s office.
“Close the door. We need privacy.” Nat and Brin sat at Lashtar’s small conference table.
Q shut the door and set her comm interference script running. Anyone snooping would hear white noise. “What’s going on?”
“Lightwave’s coming in.”
Q couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn’t something horrible after all.
Lashtar scowled. “Maybe. Someone, most likely Saree, sent a message about needing medico help due to a head injury sustained in the De Ferra tunnel. Or it’s a fake, meant to lull us into complacency. Ferra’s name wouldn’t be hard to come up with, and everyone’s seen vid of the Cygnus Gliese tunnels, including the markings on the walls.”
Q brought up the fold hold orbit status. “Lightwave’s not in orbit. No folders of Lightwave’s model either.” She checked the incoming shuttles. “But a shuttle has filed a flight plan coming here. It launched from a folder that’s already gone. It’s the same model as Lightwave’s Beta shuttle, but that’s a common model. I say extreme caution is required; assume hostile intent. Meet them with full defenses. They’re due in twenty-nine hours, thirty-two minutes.”
“Agreed,” Lashtar said, Brin echoing.
“Agreed,” Nat said. “Full defense. Let’s keep it quiet, though, just in case it is Lightwave. They’ll arrive after hours, so we should be able to run a drill with the security personnel already scheduled, plus a few more. Have them land at the hot pad—if we have to use the big weapons, it will be safest there. I’ll let our more martial organization leaders know about this but not the purely religious. Brin, you decide who to add to the security roster.”
Q told them, “One other thing. When Ruhger, Saree, and I were escaping Familia, Saree used Ferra as her fake name. That increases the possibility it really is Saree.”
Lashtar nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe. Either way, Q, make sure Ruth’s involved. It’s been more than two years; she can’t run away anymore.”
“Yes, Sister, I’ll tell her.” Q wasn’t sure she agreed but she wasn’t in charge. She sent the message to Ruth at the highest priority and got an acknowledgment immediately. Hmm. Maybe Lashtar was right. She was still happy it wasn’t her decision to make.
#
FROM THE SHIELDED WEAPON control center, Q watched the shuttle land, shut down, and cool off. The hatch opened, and a too-pale Saree appeared, Captain Ruhger hovering close behind her, his hands poised at her waist. “Identity visually confirmed. Sending remote DNA test.” The little remote floated out, stopping Saree before she left the shuttle.
Ruhger said, in a commanding tone, “Saree’s injured. Get me a medfloat, now!”
Brin told the medicos, “Send the medfloat. You stay here until we get confirmation.”
Q tuned out the medicos’ complaints and sent the medfloat herself. Ruhger lowered Saree gently onto it. The movements and care for Saree sure looked like Ruhger. Once Saree was strapped down, Ruhger turned to the DNA remote and let it prick his palm, then he put Saree’s on it. The results, which Q made sure came only to her, were positive. “Identity confirmed.”
“Medicos cleared to approach,” Nat said.
“Finally. Paranoid idiots,” Medico Doering muttered as he and his team trotted away. Nat, Lashtar, and Q followed them.
Ruhger stayed right next to the medfloat, answering the medicos’ questions about the injury, but from his constant survey of the area, he was aware of and approved of the Sisters’ security. Ruhger’s description of the injury, a localized grav generator error, didn’t seem likely. Doering didn’t think so either, from the skeptical look he shot Ruhger, but that was his story and he was sticking to it. It didn’t matter anyway. What mattered was the amount and type of force and location of the injury. Q had listened to enough medico lectures to pick up that much.
Lashtar stopped at the medico emergency department entrance. “Captain, when you get her settled, come see me,” Lashtar said.
“Understood,” Ruhger replied over his shoulder. “Thank you, Sister. Q, come.”
Huh. Q shrugged at Brin’s surprise and followed Ruhger into treatment room four. It wasn’t her first trip here; both she and Ruth had banged their heads more than once, fortunately, not severely. The medfloat slotted into the treatment room, and appendages appeared, applying sensors.
Doering asked something as Q entered the compartment.
Ruhger said, “Yes, as I said, she got some treatment. But it wasn’t specialized treatment, just what you’d get from a military-style shuttle-based medico suite.”
“Who did the treatment?” Doering asked.
“Classified,” Ruhger snapped. “I’ve sent you the report the medico wrote.”
Doering matched Ruhger’s glare. “This is for her health.”
“I’ve told you all you need to know, Medico. You can figure it out from here.”
“Idiots,” Doering muttered. “You’re all idiots.”
“Likely,” Ruhger agreed. “Still can’t tell you.” He turned away with a huff and stepped back so the medico staff could treat Saree. The corners of his lips turned up, and he held out his arms. “Q!”
Q stepped into him happily. Ruhger gave the best hugs.
“We missed you, but we’re both glad you were here, not with us.” Ruhger’s rumbling voice was a comfort Q hadn’t realized she needed.
“Rough year?”
“Very. And this last bit was nearly fatal.” Ruhger pulled away from her. “You look good, healthy.” He surveyed her closely. “Strong. You’ve been doing something intense.”
“Yes. I’ll show you later if you want. But, overall, I’m good. Bored, but good.”
“Well, this is encouraging,” Medico Doering said. “Whoever treated her was a somewhat knowledgeable medico, not a completely inadequate emergency technician. You were wise to bring her here, though. This medico obviously doesn’t have our equipment or head trauma experience.” He sniffed derisively. “Of course, no one does. I’m the best.”
Ruhger tilted his head toward Doering, with a quizzical look.
“Yes, he’s for real,” Q told Ruhger without bothering to lower her voice. Doering glared at her, and the other medicos smothered snickers. “But he really is the best, if also the most arrogant.”
“Out!” Doering snapped. “Don’t come back until you’re called. Her treatment will take weeks. At least two, probably three.”
Ruhger pushed him and the others aside. “You’re in good hands now. Let me know if you need anything.” He bent and kissed Saree gently.
“I will. Don’t worry.”
“Get out!” Doering said.
Ruhger stepped into him and gripped his shoulders, glaring. “If she gets worse, you will not like the results.”
“Don’t threaten me, you Neanderthal,” Doering said, twisting out of Ruhger’s hold, his tone cold. “My reputation means more than your threats, by far. She will get the very best treatment.”
Ruhger glowered at him and stepped away.
Q shook her head at him, with a mock-glare of her own. “Come on, let’s go. Sister Lashtar wants to see you, remember?”
Ruhger stomped out of the treatment facility. Q glanced back, catching Doering wipe his forehead. He might have stood up to Ruhger in the heat of the moment, but Doering wasn’t going to match Ruhger for long.
On the way, Q punched Ruhger on the arm. “What was that for?” He didn’t even have the grace to say ouch.
“You were blasting rads at the guy who’s saving your lover. Does that seem smart to you?”
A brow raised and one massive shoulder shrugged. “Maybe.”
“You’re lucky. Doering’s reputation means everything to him. If it didn’t, he might have sabotaged Sar—her treatment!”
“That guy isn’t going to do that. There’s no way.” He slashed a hand. “But I’ll be nicer next time. I guess. You can use Saree’s name. We’ve given up trying to hide her.”
“With the medicos, okay. But not a good idea in the compound. Call her Sarah.”
“Agreed.”
They climbed the stairs to Lashtar’s office, Ruhger examining the security improvements with an approving nod. “You or Ruth?”
“Both of us, with Lashtar.”
“Good. I’m glad Ruth is talking to someone.”
“She’s getting there. Don’t expect to see her, though.”
“No, I suppose not.” Ruhger’s mouth twisted, and he shook his head.
Since the door was open, Q entered Lashtar’s office, Ruhger on her heels. She activated the privacy script.
“It’s good to see you, Ruhger, but where’s Lightwave?” Lashtar asked. She’d already removed her robes.
“I wish I knew.” Ruhger sighed. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen them. It’s been...interesting. We’re secure here?”
“Yes,” Q answered him.
“We were...” Ruhger glanced at Q, then returned to Lashtar “...in Octans, and a Gov Human military ship folded in and fired on Lightwave without warning. Lightwave folded out. They had no choice—it was fold or be destroyed. Saree and I were off Lightwave, flying Beta shuttle. We escaped the system with the help of some autonomous artificial intelligences.” His mouth twisted.
What in all the suns? First, Ruhger won’t say what they’re doing out there, and now, they’re consorting with artificial intelligences? Were they the same ones that attacked Sirius? Suddenly, the boredom of the Sisters’ compound didn’t seem so bad to Q.
Ruhger continued, “They call themselves The Consensus, which isn’t an accurate name. They were fooled by one of their members named Westly; we think he engineered the attack on Sirius. But before that, Westly captured us, along with one of the Consensus members named Maxine. Westly’s actions injured Saree. When she didn’t get better, Westly captured a Gov Human military pararescue team we worked with previously. Doc patched her up, and all of us working together managed to get away from Westly, and eventually, we folded here. The Gov Human team is on their way back to the Laniakea Fleet; we don’t know what happened to Maxine.” Ruhger huffed. “That’s the short version.”
Wow. Q blinked at Ruhger. Boredom was looking really good.
Lashtar snorted. “I’m sure you’re leaving out a lot. But that’s okay, we don’t need to know. For now, we’ll keep your identities quiet. I’m sending a directive to the medicos now. Do you mind doing a little manual labor, Ruhger?”
“Of course not. Especially when it looks like we’re going to be here for weeks.” Ruhger’s shoulders slumped momentarily. “Sorry, Lashtar, we didn’t mean to bring trouble your way.”
Lashtar waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it. Besides, do you really think I don’t know who sent us all those so-called grants? I had Q look into it.”
Q smirked at Ruhger.
Ruhger held up both hands with a return smirk. “That was all Saree.”
Some of the grants were Kathe’s credits but Lashtar didn’t need to know that.
“Sure, it was. Anyway, what shall we call you while you’re here?”
“Sarah and Rufus?”
“Good enough. What do you need to contact Lightwave?”
“We’ve done all we can there. Messages were sent and dropped. It’s a wait and see.” Ruhger shrugged. “It could take weeks.”
“Well, let’s talk later.” Lashtar turned to Q. “Get him settled in one of the visitor’s cabins, and put him to work with the grounds crew, then get back to work. No off-compound trips with Ruth until Saree and Ruhger are gone. Understood?”
Q bowed her head. “Yes, Sister. I understand.” She hoped Saree and Ruhger didn’t bring trouble with them. While it was too quiet, and she was bored, she wasn’t bored enough to want a Sirius-style attack on Secundus.
Lashtar nodded and turned to Nat. “Sorry, Nat, I should have let you take this. But this connection is mine.”
Q led Ruhger out of the Sister’s office before Nat replied. She didn’t need to get in the middle of the ongoing leadership discussion. Ruhger followed her downstairs and outside. On the walk, she found an empty guest cabin close to the medicos and assigned it to him, sending the door codes to his e-torc. She didn’t want any of Ruhger’s identifying information in their public-facing security net. “This is you.”
Ruhger stepped up and opened the door. The cabins were all similar; just big enough to fit a bed, basic sani-mod, and an auto-bev. They were designed to provide a refuge but encourage people to socialize. “This is great. Thanks, Q.”
“I’ll send you a schedule and an introduction to your new boss.” She grinned at him. “Hope you’re ready to work hard. We always need strong people repairing the fences.”
Ruhger snorted. “Fine by me. But what’s wrong with hand-tractors?”
“Physical accomplishments bring a sense of joy,” Q parroted one of the psych-medicos.
“Well, that’s true. But before I do any of that, I need to go button-up Beta shuttle. Want to come?”
“Sure.”
They walked down the path, past the medico campus, and to the shuttle pad. Q checked her compound security status and the incoming shuttle schedule. Nothing for a while, but they needed to keep that emergency pad clear. “You should move Beta shuttle off the emergency pad. I’ve assigned you to pad Echo.”
“Copy that. Come on, fly with me.” He shot a tiny smile at her. “It will be like old times.”
“Copy that,” Q mimicked. But she was pretty sure getting in a shuttle was a mistake. All she’d want to do was fly away, far and fast. And she couldn’t. Not with Ruhger and Saree. Lightwave had enough trouble—they didn’t need more.