SAL KONSTANZ
Okonkwo went aft to help Nod and his offspring print new ammunition. I watched him go, wondering if I’d ever see him again. Next to me on the Trouble Dog’s bridge, Sofia said, “It’s working.”
I pulled my gaze back to the view screen. “You planned this?”
“I’ve been planning it for decades.”
“Care to tell me what happens next?”
The old woman glanced at the now-closed hatch and smiled infuriatingly. “You’re attracted to Okonkwo, aren’t you?”
“What?” The sudden change of topic threw me. Even Lucy, strapped into a couch on the other side of the bridge, looked up startled.
“Don’t be coy. I’ve seen the way you look at him.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Even if that were true.” I waved an arm at the chaos on the screens. “What possible relevance could it have right now?”
Sofia’s eyes seemed to glitter. “You are though, aren’t you?”
Outside, a knife ship exploded in a fireball, destroying itself and the two dragons that had been tearing at its back.
“We could die at any moment,” I reminded her.
“And is there anything you could do to prevent that?”
I thought about it. “The ship’s pretty much flying itself right now.”
“Then indulge me.”
I watched an injured dragon wheel past, its solitary remaining wing beating in a futile attempt to save itself. The Trouble Dog pivoted to starboard and loosed a volley of torpedoes at a cluster of the beasts harrying one of the trailing Plates.
I said, “I think he just reminds me of someone.”
“Someone dear to you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“But you feel you’ve known him a lot longer than the brief time you’ve spent together?”
We were thrown against our harnesses as the ship changed course again, avoiding an incoming shower of stray projectiles.
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I’ve been around a long time.”
“So have I,” Lucy said, kicking her heels against her chair. I chose to ignore her.
“I don’t know what it is,” I said. “At first, he annoyed the hell out of me.”
“And now?”
“Now I feel I’ve known him for years.”
“Maybe you have,” Sofia said. “In another timeline or another life. Perhaps even in a previous iteration of this universe.”
“Are you serious?”
“Stranger things have happened.” Her expression grew serious. “You can trust me on that.”
Nuclear warheads went off like firecrackers. The forward screen darkened to protect our eyes, and chunks of debris rattled off the hull like hail.
“What’s it like?” I asked.
Sofia tilted her head. “On the other side of the Intrusion?”
“Yeah. I don’t think we’re going to get out of this one, so you might as well tell me.”
The old woman put a hand to her chin. Her eyes were unsettlingly bright. “It’s… different.”
“Where does it lead?”
She smiled. “Somewhere else.”