“Are you grolacking insane?” Zephyr asks. She’s pacing the mostly empty cargo hold, fuming.
“You could be so rich!” Cynthia observes. “Oh, and Xarrix is going to be pissed if he ever finds out. How did he not kill you for losing them?”
Wil shrugs. “Well I might have implied that they were never in the crate. I heard he maybe killed the guy I picked the crate up from.” When Gabe turns to look at him, he adds, defensively, “The dude was a smuggler, and I heard he trafficked in kids sometimes.”
Gabe says nothing, turning back to look at the smuggler’s hold, which is now open. “I am impressed, I was not familiar with this compartment,” he says, leaning to peer inside.
“I purged all records from the main computer when I had it installed. Hardly use it, to be honest.” Wil gestures to the crystals at the bottom of the space. “These were under my bed until a few days ago, when we got stopped by that Peacekeeper corvette in the Brai system.”
“Seems safe,” Maxim says. “Hope you didn’t want to have children.”
Wil blanches. “Wait, what? Nothing I read said anything—” He spots the grin on his big Palorian friends’ face. “Asshole.” He leans down and hops into the small compartment. “They’re charged, as far as I know, and we can charge any that aren’t from the Ghost’s reactor.”
“That’s why you were acting so weird?” Zephyr asks.
“You got this ship shot to pieces over Harrith, then fought that giant dreadnaught, with charged Trillorium under your bed?” Cynthia asks. She turns, mumbling something about being either brave or stupid.
The small green avatar has been examining the contents of the hold. “These crystals contain tremendous amounts of energy. Your Captain is correct, they could be used to restore some of the injured Children.”
Wil looks at Gabe. “Can you and Kermit inventory these and figure out who needs how many? Work out a distribution plan.”
Gabe nods. “Of course, Captain.” He gestures to the avatar, who comes over to sit at the edge of the hold.
With Gabe and the avatar back aboard Gomtu, discussing the distribution of the Trillorium with the other Children, the rest of the crew assembles in the lounge.
“I can’t believe you kept something like this from us.” Zephyr is still mad. “For one thing, those things could have exploded at any time, especially just rattling around under your bed.” She looks at Wil, who is sitting across from her at the small kitchen table. “How did the Ankarrans or the Harrith not find them?”
“Or Bennie for that matter? He’s always in your quarters snooping around,” Maxim says.
Wil shrugs. “I assume neither group went into my quarters. In fact, if I recall they didn’t have to go in any of our rooms, right? Plus, the crates are shielded against all but a really focused scan, and who would scan my bed?”
“No one that wants to keep their lunch down,” Maxim says, as he grabs a handful of little pouches from the cupboard, tossing one to each member of the crew.
Wil adds, “I only moved them because of that Peacekeeper patrol back in the Brai system.”
Zephyr is thinking now. “You’re right, the lounge and crew berths were still intact—and from what I recall they didn’t need access to them, beyond running some new wire and conduit through here.” She glares at Wil. “Talk about lucking out.”
Bennie takes a bite of the meal bar he’s unwrapped. “Gross, bloo-berry. Trade me.” He thrusts his energy bar across the table at Wil, who sighs and trades his mint-chocolate-chip bar.
Cynthia is sitting off to one side, on the large lounge chair in the entertainment area. “I still can’t believe you didn’t sell those. You could be living on an island on a beautiful water planet with the proceeds.” She looks at Wil seriously. “Xarrix is going to be pissed,” she says again.
Wil tuts. “I’d get bored. Besides, those are worse than blood diamonds, there’s no way I could put them in circulation. Plus, screw Xarrix for one thing. And for another, I think the whole I killed Lorath thing might be more pressing to him.”
“You don’t know him at all.” She shakes her head, then frowns. “What’s a blood diamond?”
“On Earth—back in the day, before we got really good with synthetic diamonds—we had to mine them. Their rarity made them worth a fortune. Some of the biggest mines were in war-torn parts of the world. They were mined with slave labor, and the profits kept the warlords in business.” He glances down, then back to Cynthia. “Almost the entire world got together and said, no more, they wouldn’t buy blood diamonds, and after that any diamond that couldn’t prove its place of origin was assumed to be a blood diamond. It took years to break the back of the warlords and cartels, but in the meantime, science figured out how to make a flawless artificial diamond—so on top of the resistance to blood diamonds, the overall diamond market tanked.” He chuckles. “Diamonds went from a status symbol to lining decorative pots.”
“I see,” Cynthia says. “I see where you get it.”
“Get what?” Wil asks.
“That nobility that Xarrix hates.” She smiles.
Zephyr makes a choking noise, then sits up straighter. “So, what now? We distribute the Trillorium to the wounded, and then?”
Wil looks at his first officer. “Well, I’m hoping the Children will then return us to our neck of the woods. We’re not stocked to fly two thousand light years home.”
“Only Gabe would be around to see us get there,” Bennie says. “Unless you’re hiding stasis pods from us too?”
“Look, I apologized already. What else can I say?”
Zephyr sighs. “Just don’t let it happen again. We’re crew, we’re family,” she gestures to Bennie, “even him. No more secrets.”
Wil nods. “Agreed.”
Bennie leans over and whispers, “You don’t have any right? Stasis pods? They’re worth a fortune in certain markets.”