Chapter 35

Sarah tried to lean her head toward the side where the neck clamp hurt less, but she couldn’t decide which side that was. Her mind reeled with the effects of the Green Flame’s strikes. Until today, she’d always thought slapping was a weak way of hitting someone. Apparently not.

The room stayed red in her vision, and the longer the interrogation continued, the more she’d swear the Green Flame had a pointy beard and a narrow chin like the Eater of Blood used to.

The king repeated himself. “What is your mission?”

Vinnet? Nothing from the symbiont made sense. I’m going to tell him.

Was that a sense of concurrence?

“It was…” What was the question again? Oh, right. “It was to kill you.”

“Me?”

Was it really that hard to believe? Sarah knew the plan was more complicated than that, but she didn’t care.

A new servant stepped up to the Kem woman’s side to confer with her.

“What would that gain you?” the Green Flame demanded.

Maybe if she tilted her head back… Nope. Vinnet, help! Useless.

Sarah took a deep breath. “You suck. Your lord took us off Earth for no good reason and killed three people, just because he was mad. You should all die.”

The Green Flame opened his mouth to respond, but the assistant interrupted. “My liege, the Empress has recalled the prisoners.”

“What? My time isn’t up.” He glanced between Sarah and the woman then stormed off toward the door Vinnet’s memories pegged as the route to the control room. He grabbed the messenger by the shirt, grumbling, “Who are you? Why didn’t my steward report this?”

“I’m your Deputy King’s Steward, my lord.”

He carried on until he left the ballroom. Sarah took deeper breaths, ignoring the lieutenant and hoping her head would clear. Vinnet, you’ve got to snap out of this. I need you.

There’s nothing else I can do.

Something clattered in front of her, and two images competed for her attention. In the first, the Eater of Blood showed off a grotesque feast he would share for information. In the second, Maggie held a brass pot over the assistant’s collapsed body. Maggie’s image ran forward and triggered the latches for Sarah’s restraining clamps. With nothing holding her, Sarah staggered away from the backboard and collapsed against Maggie.

“Let’s get out of here.” Maggie turned the direction she’d been taken before and hesitated. “Which way?”

“To the crew quarters through the napery.”

“Where’s that?”

“Door to the right.”

Walking into the napery made Sarah’s skin crawl. The clean linens smelled fresh, but Vinnet’s memories said that on the other side of the wall was the mothership’s control room, where the Green Flame was. Sarah couldn’t remember if it had a back door up ahead, but it seemed like it should.

They had to step over the King’s Steward’s prone body. Wow, had Maggie done that? Remind me not to tick her off.

Vinnet didn’t answer.

The next threshold opened to a Kemtewet-style lavatory, its pots visible to each other and the hall. Some of the faces looked familiar: maids who were servicing the chambers around the ballroom. Others were uniformed crew members or brawny, armored types.

One of the voices rose over the others. “Those are the prisoners!”

“Go!” Sarah pushed Maggie through the far door before the muscle finished pulling up their pants.

The girls burst into one of the ship’s barracks.

Maggie froze, but Sarah jerked her out of the main aisle and ran between the wall and a line of bunks. People shouted behind them, but the crew members were slow to rise.

Sarah juked between two beds and cut across to the opposite wall, where a kaxan hatch stood open. She dove through, trusting Vinnet’s memories and the shift in gravity to drop her on the soft padding instead of the shock walls. Maggie fell in after.

Sarah scrambled to the controls and tried unlocking the screen.

“Enter password or do not touch.”

“They’re coming!” Maggie braced herself and stomped on the intruders.

Sarah tried again. No luck. “Pull the hatch!”

Maggie stomped again then leaned out and closed the hatch.

Sarah reached into the metal web holding the control screen and found the tiny power button.

The lights dimmed.

“What was that?” Maggie looked ready to kick ninjas.

“Power’s off. They can’t get in.” Until they got into another kaxan and teleported in. Those were Kem crew members; they didn’t have a control system language barrier like Benny-J’s crew.

Sarah collapsed on the padding, gasping. Wake up, Vinnet! We’re almost free.

We’ll never be free.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t we going?” Maggie asked.

“PTSD. Hang on.” Sarah took a moment to focus on calming down. Whatever Vinnet felt, her host’s anxiety couldn’t help. The muscle outside could be ready to teleport in at any moment, but Vinnet had only to undock and enter new coordinates. Why hadn’t her symbiont caught on?

Memories trickled into Sarah’s mind. Another Gertewet had saved her from the Eater of Blood, the Ger who had worked on the cleaning robots. At the time, Vinnet had been a sobbing mess, but she’d been trying to hold onto hope in her metaphorical heart—only to have it ground out when her host died after all.

Sarah brushed her bruised cheek, trying not to wince too much. Vinnet, I’m going to be fine. Please help me.

It’s no use. I can’t help.

Fine. Real quick, put some coordinates in the kaxan. Sarah powered it back on.

Listlessly, Vinnet traced through how to set a destination, and Sarah followed along. They entered the simplest coordinates they could:

Earth’s.

Vinnet sat up, shielding her head from the blow to come. When it didn’t land, she checked to see where her assailant had gone.

Gentle swells rocked the gel wall of the kaxan’s symbiont environment.

She spun around, taking in the entire white cabin, where Maggie slept peacefully. No other feet interrupted the clear, padded floor. No shadowy figures clung to the ceiling. No one could hide here. The executioner must have been part of a dream.

Vinnet, I’m tired. Let’s go back to sleep.

But you’ll die. After all the torture, Vinnet could do nothing more for her host.

I’m fine. Let’s sleep.

Something was wrong about the other girl in the kaxan. A Gertewet had rescued her, and the girl wasn’t a host, was she?

She’s human. We got you out.

Then her host died.

Sarah’s groggy, tired mind cleared as she woke up. Vinnet, I’m not going anywhere. Chill out.

Vinnet studied her bare human legs. Despite the abnormally light skin tone, they seemed to have sufficient blood flow. The bones ran straight, unmarred by signs of new or old breaks. Ten fingers moved, and they all felt the texture and oil as she ran them through long, even hair. Her scalp had no sore spots where hair had been ripped out, and her tongue found no tooth-sized gaps. Her face and neck ached, but that would heal.

See? I told you I’m fine.

Fine? How? When the ISC captured them, she’d have sworn they were finished.

Sarah caught her up on the details, and at the end, Vinnet sat stunned, gazing in wonder at the sleeping teenager beside her.

Two human girls had saved her from one of the Kemtewet kings. As a Gertewet, she’d done much in the name of protecting humans, but even she had never thought them so capable.

Well, yeah, but even though you’d checked out, we couldn’t have done it without you. We wouldn’t have known how to leave.

Vinnet nodded absently. She’d failed. Not just her mission. Oh, Miute! Her mission! Anjedet’s rebellion was a lucky break; with significantly more work, they could have started with any of the fealty. Since the Kem had discovered her—and the Empress had to know by now—could they try this with any others, or was the entire plan forfeit?

You took out two queens. That has to count for something.

Insomuch as it will slow Kem population growth temporarily. Vinnet rubbed her burning eyes. With fast medical aid, Serket might be able to be revived. I don’t think they could reattach Faces’ tail. She’s castrated.

Not that it made much difference. Neith would spawn new queens. Maybe the Gertewet could try again, but not for decades, not until the Kem relaxed their guard after this. Not until the Kem wouldn’t expect it, and the Gertewet might die out before then.

She’d still failed her host within their first week together.

What? No, I’m fine.

You needed me at my best, and I did nothing. Worse than nothing. I hindered you. It was irresponsible and unforgivable. Vinnet reclined on the padded floor and stared at the diodes and air vents in the ceiling.

You gave us everything we needed.

You must understand. She balled her fists and pressed them against the floor. I owed you my life the moment you let me in, regardless of the pretenses under which you consented. Even when working toward ending the Kemtewet, my duty is to protect you when I can. I failed.

Any trip to Sais would have been dangerous.

Sarah, I put you in greater danger by not paying attention and not planning an escape, which you proved was possible. I gave up and… Vinnet wiped tears from her host’s eyes, then sat up to turn her back to Maggie. And I would have let you…

A hand rested on Sarah’s back, and Maggie rubbed her shoulders. “What’s wrong? We’re out now.”

Vinnet shook her head. If I’d killed Maggie fast enough, we wouldn’t have landed in this mess.

You don’t really believe that, do you?

Her presence aided our insertion, but she blew our cover. If we’d stopped the queens from using her and stopped her from saying anything, we’d still be there now. It could have worked.

Maggie withdrew her hand. “I thought you were going to kill me.”

How does she know that? Vinnet, she can’t hear us, can she?

Even she could see the logic of it.

“When the queens took me. They wanted a body from Earth, and I thought… I thought you were going to kill me.”

But we wouldn’t, right? We’d never hurt her now.

Vinnet sighed. “Never” never took in all the possible circumstances. “You’re going home. The Kemtewet won’t interfere with you again.”

“What about Sarah?”

Vinnet turned around and found Maggie close. “As my host, she’s an enemy of the Empire, and it is as much her duty as mine to try to end it. We must return to our base, report in, and help the others plan how to continue from here.”

So, we’re not going to stop by my house?

Only briefly. Usually, Vinnet waited longer before visiting her hosts’ families, but as long as they returned soon enough to keep her support operatives from deploying for a failed mission, a short side trip wouldn’t hurt.