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  Detective Indius raised her hand. “It’s okay. Chillax, Dr. Eugene. You can keep the toxin here. As long as I get a full spec report on it for submitting to the DA.”

  Eugene looked embarrassed about his outburst. He nodded, grunting something in agreement, and sat back down. Pieter backed off a little, too.

  Joel turned to leave the lab. “Okay, let me go get it. Then you’ll probably want to know what we know.”

  Indius smiled. “That sounds like an excellent idea, Mr. Dunham.”

  ***

  It took a few hours of chatting and debriefing before all parties were satisfied they had the intel they needed. Joel strategically left out all the details about Sean. If he was using servers for them to communicate, and potentially double-crossing his employer - The Syndicate, and his ancestors knew whom else - he wouldn’t take kindly to being revealed to the police.

  Fortunately, Pieter and Eugene had also been discreet, so it was easy to omit his part in it… although there had been a tense moment when Sean appeared on Pieter’s cameras just outside of Indius’s eyeline. He was still at the scene, but was signaling to them he was taking off. Joel had managed to keep Detective Indius’s attention on him by telling her the tale of how they had originally gotten off-world… semi-legally.

  Thankfully, she wasn’t too caught up by the Air Traffic Control violation, mostly because that wasn’t her department, and there was nothing she could do. She did, however, urge him to get the penalty paid.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure it’s in-hand with the pilot in order for him to come through the port again,” Joel waved, agreeing that they would ‘fess up either way.

  Finally she got up to leave.

  “Thank you all,” she said, casting her eyes around the little team in the lab. “And please pass my thanks on to Ms. Bates, as well.”

  Joel nodded. “Of course.”

  He got up and walked her out of the building and into a waiting police car, with her new prisoner.

  When he returned to the lab, the boys were chattering and laughing, relieved that their hard work had paid off.

  “We saved the fucking world!!” Pieter hollered at the top of his voice.

  Eugene laughed and high-fived him. “Yeah. Who’d have thought that a couple of geeks-”

  He stopped mid-sentence, seeing Joel, the muscle of the op, walk back in, and take a seat next to him. Joel folded his arms, revealing his rippling muscles, and looked pointedly at Eugene’s biceps.

  Eugene went quiet and put his attention back on his holo, pretending to work.

  Pieter regained his decorum too. “Want me to message Sean and let him know we wrapped up?”

  “Sure,” Joel responded. “Then contact Gaitune, and let them know we’re ready for extraction. It will take them a day or two to get here.

  Pieter swiveled back to his temporary workstation. “You got it, boss!” he chirped.

  Joel leaned back in his chair, and moved over to give Eugene some more space. “Then we go eat,” he said, finally allowing himself to relax.

  “Something with a fuck ton of dead animal on it,” he added.

  Hotel Erwin, downtown Spire

  Joel woke up in the hotel room. Pieter was already up, working at the table in the main room. Natural sarklight spilled through the windows and cast patterns on the floor.

  Rolling off the bed and putting his feet on the floor, Joel stretched out his calves, bringing himself around slowly.

  He turned, looking for his water bottle. It was on the nightstand, empty. He picked it up and padded through to the living area, and over to the sink in the very basic kitchenette.

  “Ummm,” he grunted to Pieter.

  Pieter glanced up from his work. “Greetings of the morning,” he said, trying not to let his focus be broken.

  Joel sat down at the table and drank from his bottle.

  Eventually Pieter looked up again. “Sleep okay?” he asked.

  Joel nodded, still trying to come to. Speaking was an effort he wasn’t prepared to make at this point.

  Pieter started updating Joel anyway. “Okay, so I think I’ve got this device working as we need it to. I’ve tested it a few times, and I can’t break it…” he picked up the little pod device off the table, and waved it in the air in front of Joel’s eyes.

  Joel reached out and took it from him, like a bear would swipe at a honeybee. He blinked his eyes again and gave up. Holding the device, he closed his eyes and put his head on his arms on the table.

  He stayed like that for a few minutes.

  Pieter continued working.

  Eventually Joel revived and peeled his head up, eyes still closed. Then one eye opened. Followed a moment later by the other.

  Joel tried again, holding the device up in front of his now-functioning eyes.

  “Looks like a normal storage device,” he commented, forcing his mouth to work. His whole face was still crumpled up.

  Pieter looked at him. “Yeah, that’s what it’s meant to look like.”

  Joel’s eyes widened a little, as he mouthed an “Ohhh,” expression. “And it’s fully tested.”

  Pieter nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Joel looked over at him, serious and awake now. “You’d stake your life on it?” He still held the device up at eye level between them.

  Pieter swallowed. His eyes focused on the device for a moment, and then back on Joel. He paused. Then nodded. “I would.”

  “Good enough for me,” smiled Joel. He put it back down on the table. “Leave a message for Sean. If he wants to avoid contact, we can leave it at a drop-off for him.”

  That way I don’t have to see him.

  Shit, stop Joel. He’s just a dude.

  Yeah, that happens to be into Molly.

  Pieter was back on his holo. “On it.”

  Joel heaved himself out of the chair and walked over to the mocha machine. He shook his head, trying to shake the feelings he had about Sean.

  Hitting the “on” switch, he remembered to ask about their pick up. “Hey, any word from Crash yet?”

  Pieter looked up. “Yeah, about half hour ago he sent a download estimating an ETA of about 6 hours. That gives us five and a half to get packed up and over there.

  Joel grunted again, and traipsed back through to the bedroom to hit the shower.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Spaceport, Hangar 08771A, Outskirts of Uptarlung

  Exhausted, her blue skin now dull from fatigue, Maya rolled up to the security checkpoint with her badge. It had been a long drive between Spire and Uptarlung, and sleep dep was already kicking in.

  “Maya Johnstone, Newstainment, Investigative Division,” she told the young Estarian at the security post. He leaned out of his window to see the ID projection more closely on her holo.

  He looked at the ID, then at her, and then back at the ID.

  He pulled his mouth to one side, thinking. Or confused. “What does a journalist want with a spaceport?” he asked.

  Maya sensed that this was an opportunity. After all, once she was in, she didn’t know where to start looking. She held up a finger telling him to hang on a second, and then turned off the engine and hopped out of the car. As she approached the window, he stepped out of the door on the other side of his little office, and came around to meet her.

  “Don’t get many people interested in this place,” he said. His accent was slow and drawn. He was likely from one of the more southern towns on the planet.

  Maya smiled at him. “Well, there’s someone I’m trying to trace. He’s been helping my friend, and I think he’s in trouble.” She bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “I know he’ll be leaving to go off-world soon, and I just wanted to speak to him before he goes.”

  She looked down and fiddled with her holo. Pulling up his picture from before he had pulled his weapon, and before he had the scientist in shot; she showed him a zoomed in image of Joel.

  “You seen him?” she asked.

  The Estarian shook his head. �
��We get a lot of guys like him through this way: ex-military types, with commercial gigs, importing and exporting on these birds. Hard to tell them apart.”

  Maya smiled. “Yeah, bet they all look the same.” She paused. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a sign-in would you… for people when they come on-site? The guy’s name is Joel Dunham. At least, that’s his real name.”

  The security guard looked upward for a second, thinking. “Yeah… hang on.” He stepped out behind the security hut again. She followed him around to the doorway. He had pulled up the lodge holo device and was scrolling through sign-ins.

  “No sign of your boy today,” he told her.

  Maya frowned a little, and thought for a moment. “What about any other day?”

  The security guard pulled up the search function and keyed in Joel’s name. “Yeah, he checked in one landing a few days ago.”

  Maya put her finger to her bottom lip, thinking. “Okay. So if that was the last entry… if he’s still using his real name, he’s still here.”

  The guard straightened up, suddenly looking more competent and confident. “Tell you what,” he said, “bump me that image and his name, and if anyone comes in looking like that, I’ll drop you a message.”

  Maya beamed. Some of the effervescence came back to the skin around her cheeks as she pulled the picture again to bump it to his holo.

  “Thank you!” she gushed. “I’m Maya, by the way.” She held out her hand to shake his. He took it straight away. “Ned,” he told her.

  “Ned, thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.”

  Ned smiled goofily, blushing a little. When she released his hand, he used it to ruffle his dark Estarian hair. “Don’t mention it.” His voice caught for a second in his throat. “Happy to help.”

  She turned to the door, and then turned back. “Hey, I don’t suppose…” she hesitated, not wanting to push her luck.

  Ned looked at her, expectantly.

  She continued. “I don’t suppose that maybe you know which ship he came in on? And if that ship is still here?”

  Ned flicked back to his screen, and swiped a few times.

  “Yeah, I’ve got the tail number here. XC-094B.” He glanced up at her again. “It’s not here, though. Want me to let you know when it lands?”

  Maya beamed again. “Would you?”

  “Of course! For a smile like that…” He suddenly blushed deep red under his blue skin, embarrassed by his own cheesy boldness.

  Maya grinned at him and waved. “Thank you Ned, so much!” She trotted off away from the security lodge and back around to her car, blushing somewhat herself.

  Maya got back into her car and started the engine. Window still down, she waved at him before reversing back out of the driveway to a point where she could turn around.

  As she drove off to the strato highway, she glanced in her rearview mirror. Ned was still standing outside his hut, watching her leave.

  Press conference outside Memorial Hall, Spire

  Garet Beaufort stepped away from the podium, allowing the mayor to take over the press conference taking place in front of the memorial building, where the Ministry of Health Care met for their annual meeting.

  He looked out at the assembled reporters, brandishing holo recorders, monitoring and capturing his every word and movement. He had toed the line in his statement, and yet, something made him feel on edge. He tried to shake the feeling from his body, pretending to just be warming up against the cold morning air.

  Scanning the crowd, something made him look for familiar faces. Maybe it was the loneliness. Every now and again, he thought he might see Paige. But he knew that wasn’t right; she wouldn’t come back here. Not after everything that happened.

  Not after he didn’t choose her.

  “…and that is why the mayor’s office is also proud to support the motion.” Mayor Gains finished his statement, and the press erupted into a clamor of questions.

  Garet glazed over.

  It had quickly all become quite routine. He took a breath, looking for an escape route away from the onslaught of questions and brashness, but his eyes fell to a figure at the back of the crowd.

  He looked more closely, recognizing the body shape before the face.

  It was Sean Royale.

  As soon as it was appropriate to leave the platform, he shook hands with the mayor, and made his way down to the street. His team fussed around him and he waved them off.

  “Gimme ten minutes,” he told Nancy, the newest blonde addition to his entourage. She nodded obediently, and watched as he moved off around the crowd, striding purposefully across the road into the memorial park on the other side.

  She didn’t notice the heavy-set super soldier follow him shortly after.

  Sean casually caught up to Garet. Hands in pockets, each just looked like a guy taking a walk.

  Hidden by hedging and greenery from the road, Garet didn’t look at Sean as they walked more slowly now. “How did it go?” he asked.

  Sean spoke in a low, but very clear voice. “Well. There are still some loose ends - which I will handle - but they built a device. I checked it. It will do the job.”

  Garet stopped walking.

  Sean pulled the little storage pod out of his pocket. “You can put data on it, and then upload it using any public XtraNET port. Just don’t use it at home or in the office. Or anywhere they can trace you.”

  Garet nodded.

  He looked at the device, and then slipped it quickly into his pants pocket. Then he looked up, knowing he shouldn’t be asking. “How are they all?”

  Sean reported as professionally as he could on the question. “They all seem in good health. Good spirits. They’re building a new team together. They’ve just taken on a new tech guy.

  Garet’s eyes narrowed. “Did he check out okay?”

  Sean nodded briefly once. “Affirmative. Although one thing is suspicious.”

  Garet looked concerned.

  Sean continued, his eyes dancing a little. “His dress sense is way too good for a nerd.”

  Garet laughed out loud. He turned and continued walking, ambling along with Sean now in tow.

  “And Paige?”

  Sean bobbed his head slightly. “The hybrid?”

  Garet looked up at him. “Yes,” he smiled at the term. “The hybrid.”

  Sean smiled a little again, and looked back at Garet. “She looked in excellent health and humor.”

  Garet bobbed his head, wondering if he should ask more. He decided against it. He looked straight ahead and continued walking.

  He was silent for a moment.

  “And did you meet Joel?” he asked.

  “I did.”

  Garet was now watching Sean’s reaction, even as they walked. “Impressive guy, no?” he prodded.