SAL KONSTANZ
The Plates were gone. The Intrusion had shrunk back to its default size and appearance, and the Trouble Dog was hanging in space, surrounded by an expanding cloud of broken ships and mangled dragons. Having been reactivated by their Druff engineers, the surviving members of the Fleet had taken up a defensive formation around us, happy to take direction from the Trouble Dog again, now that Sudak had been deposed.
A shuttle brought her and the physicist, Bochnak, over from her flagship, and Okonkwo and I met them as they disembarked.
“Welcome back.”
Hostile eyes regarded me from a haggard face. All trace of Sudak’s former military bearing had vanished, to be replaced by the cowed-shoulder stoop of the utterly defeated.
Beside her, Alexi Bochnak seemed positively overjoyed. Beneath his wild mop of white hair, his eyes sparkled behind his antique, thick-lensed spectacles.
“Thank you, Captain,” he said effusively, dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. “A million times, thank you!”
I held out my hand to him. “Thank you for the information you sent us. We couldn’t have done any of this without it. We wouldn’t have known where to start.”
His smile broadened. “But you did the deed, you shouldered the task. You saved me—and not only me, but the entire Generality. They’ll build statues of you! Compose songs! You’ll be heroes!”
I extracted my hand from his clammy grip and surreptitiously wiped it on the leg of my overalls. Then I led them both to sick bay, where Preston was waiting to check them for injuries and any alien microbes they might have picked up aboard the Fleet. After that, Sudak would be transferred back to one of the white ships for fast transport to Camrose, and any authority still surviving there.
As I left them in Preston’s care, she said one last thing to me. In a tired, hopeless voice, she said, “I did what I thought was best.”
I paused in the doorway and shook my head.
“You’re a fucking idiot.”
And with that, I walked away. What else could I have said? We both knew she’d done wrong, but it was up to the courts on Camrose to ascertain the level of her culpability and assign a suitable punishment. As far as I was concerned, I was done with her, and had no desire to either see or speak to her again.
Okonkwo followed me along the corridor.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked him.
He put a finger to his chin. “I hadn’t really thought.”
“Because there’s a place here for you, if you want it?”
He smiled, and I suddenly realised how much I needed him to stay. How much I needed someone to keep me company and hold me in their arms during the empty hours of the night.
“I’ll always be grateful to you,” he said. “To you and the Trouble Dog, for all you’ve done for me. But I’ve got family back on New Kasama; I need to find them, and make sure they’re all right.” His smile widened. “And besides, I’ve got a navy to help rebuild.”
“Fair enough.” I swallowed down my disappointment. “We’ll assign you one of the knife ships. You can be home in a few days.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Permission to disembark?”
I blinked away the prickling sensation in my eyes and returned his salute. “Permission granted.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He turned and walked away, and I simply stood there and watched. I could have said something, but I didn’t. Instead, I waited until he’d vanished around the curve of the corridor, and then let out a sigh. What else had I been expecting? We barely knew each other.
“Hey, kid, are you okay?” The voice was Sofia’s. I turned to see her standing in the doorway of her cabin, arms crossed, watching me.
“I will be.”
“You sure?”
I forced a smile. “I’m used to it. Every time I let my guard down and start caring for someone, the universe snatches them away.”
Sofia nodded in sympathy. “It seems you and I are very much alike.”
“We are?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. Sucks, doesn’t it?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll live.”
“Good girl. Now, what are you going to do? There’s a whole Generality to help rebuild.”
“I don’t know. I need to talk it over with the Trouble Dog.”
“Well, I’m sure she’s listening.” She raised her face to the ceiling. “You there, ship?”
“I am.”
A portion of the corridor wall became a screen, on which the Trouble Dog’s avatar appeared. For some reason, she’d elected to appear wearing a glittery silver jumpsuit, pink lipstick and heavy black eyeliner. She’d even rearranged her hair into a neat black bob.
“What do you think?” Sofia asked. “Are you ready to help rebuild civilisation?”
Trouble Dog wrinkled her nose. “Building things isn’t really my style. I’m more a blowing-things-up kind of girl.”
“So, what would you like to do?”
The avatar looked questioningly at me. I said, “Go ahead. Whatever it is, you’ve earned it.”
She grinned, then lowered her eyelashes, appearing almost coy. “I’d like to keep going further out,” she said. “I’ve got limitless fuel now. I could fly forever. Go further than anyone else has ever been.”
Sofia chuckled. “You want to see what’s on the other side of the Intrusion, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“I could tell you.”
“And ruin the surprise?”
Sofia turned her attention back to me. “What do you say, Captain? Shall we go back through and join the Plates? There’s a whole new universe right next door, just waiting…”
I pushed back the brim of my cap. To be honest, the idea of spending the rest of my life piecing interstellar civilisation back together filled me with nothing but boredom. I’d spent my life fixing people and rescuing stranded ships. I’d done my stint, and what did I have to show for it? What happiness had it ever brought me? I’d saved so many people, but I’d never been able to save the ones that mattered most.
My parents.
Sedge.
George.
Alva.
All I wanted now was to get away—from conflict, strife and loss. I had enough grief of my own; I didn’t think I could bear the outpouring of bereavement that would come from the rest of the Generality as they came to terms with the people and planets that had been lost during Sudak’s reign of terror.
And besides, I could feel the Trouble Dog’s beseeching gaze.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.” I raised a hand, cutting off their responses. “But there’s one condition.”
“What’s that?” Sofia asked.
“You stay here,” I told her. “Stay here and rebuild the House of Reclamation.”
She looked surprised, then thoughtful. “Rebuild the House?”
“The Generality needs it more than ever. And you can start with the white ships. They’ll follow you if the Trouble Dog tells them to, and you can put them to work delivering aid and evacuating failing outposts.”
Sofia bit her bottom lip. She stared into the middle distance, lost in contemplation, and I fancied I could see the cogs and gears turning in her mind as she started to lay plans for the re-establishment of her organisation. “You know,” she said, “I think you might be onto something there.”
“You’ll do it?”
“I’ll certainly try.”
We smiled at each other, my great-great-grandmother and me. Then she stepped forward and caught me in a bear-like hug.
“You’re a good kid, Sally,” she said. “Look after yourself.”
“I will.”
“And you,” she turned and wagged a wrinkled finger at the Trouble Dog’s avatar. “You keep her in one piece, you hear me?”
The Dog grinned mischievously. “I’ll certainly try.”