Zora sat in the back seat of the hover cab and clutched her
baby photos tightly to her chest. The data pad was password protected, but she
didn’t trust Murray not to work it out. Murray always cracked her best codes as
if she could read Zora’s mind.
The vehicle dipped and tilted. The toad at the wheel oozed,
and Murray nattered on about something as if the whole world cared. Zora had
problems Murray’s science couldn’t solve. In fact, she kind of blamed it for
them.
“You can wear that new dress you just bought.”
“Huh?” Murray didn’t talk about clothes. Something was up. “Where?”
“We’re all going out tonight.”
“Oh. Right.”
“To celebrate and stuff.”
“And stuff?” Little alarm bells. Stuff was not in Murray’s
ordinary vocabulary.
“Maybe some dancing.”
“Maybe I’ll stay on the ship.” She watched her sister’s
cheek twitch. Something definitely was afoot.
“Oh. Yeah sure. I bet you’re tired.”
Damn. Murray knew she was on to her. She’d pulled out her
reverse psychology. Now what? She could stick to her guns and try to flush her
out, or she could play along and let Mur think she’d won. She’d be way more
likely to slip up if Zora let her get cocky.
“Still, dancing sounds like fun. It’d be nice to relax a
little.”
“They’ve only offloaded two thirds of the eggs. Maybe
someone should stay back and keep an eye on things.”
“What are you planning?” She kept her eyes on Murray’s face
and registered the reaction, the spark of fear, and the wave of guilt. “Spill
it, Mur.”
“It’s nothing, Zora. Jeeze. You think maybe you’re being a little
bit paranoid?”
“No.”
“You know that’s normal at this stage.”
“I don’t—what?”
“You’re bound to be a little bit over-sensitive and
suspicious. It’s a perfectly natural protective instinct.”
“Protective?” She had been feeling a little bit testy. She’d
been so worried, but they hadn’t exactly been strolling safely though her
pregnancy. In fact, since she’d found out, they’d been shuffling from one
dangerous situation to another. “I am
worried about the baby.”
“You have every right to be.”
“And it did feel good to find out she was healthy.”
“It’s a girl?”
“Oh. Yeah.” That much, the gender, Faddle had been certain
of. “Sorry. I forgot to tell you.” Something about the extra limb had
distracted her. She groaned out loud, but Murray swept right over it and didn’t
notice.
“A girl! Oh Zora that is so great. I’ll bet she’ll get your
hair. You have such great hair, Zor. And she’ll be smart as a whip too. She’ll
get into a good school. Zora, you will get her into a good school, won’t you? I
mean as opposed to…well instead of…” Murray paused and rebooted in a different
direction. “Dresses! We can buy the cutest dresses for her, Zor.”
“We can?”
“Yeah.”
“We?” Did they make little baby dresses with the extra
sleeve? God. Murray was going to freak out on her.
“I’m going to be her Auntie.”
“Barf, Mur.”
“Auntie Murray.”
“Where are we going dancing?” She threw herself into the
trap. It was that or confess Auntie Murray was going to have to have the baby
clothes custom made.
“There’s a great club on the waterfront.”
“The whole damn planet is waterfront.”
“You’ll love it.”
“Fine.” How bad could dancing be? Whatever plan the rest of
the Slug One crew had cooked up for her, it couldn’t be worse than listening to
Auntie Murray gush over her soon-to –be freakish niece. Not that the extra limb
bothered her. She could even see the advantage of it, but she’d always been the
pragmatist in the family.
It worked. Murray laid off for the rest of the ride. The cab
pulled through the hangar gates and slowed, weaving its way through the bays
and the market stalls that dotted the walkways and courtyards between the ships.
The whole spaceport was open-aired, barely walled in and full of flashy little
things to buy. The Slug One had a bay to itself, but the security didn’t
measure up. If someone really wanted to get at it, Zora could see at least a
half a dozen ways they could pull it off.
Maybe she should stay with the ship. The Mercur officials
had offered the slug babies safe haven, but had only unloaded what they felt
they could safely manage. Something about ecological disasters and environmental
safeguards—either way it meant they had a vulnerable ship full of eggs until
they could deal with the Zander problem and finish their deliveries.
“Perfect,” Murray startled her out of the security
inspection. “We should have just enough time to change.”
“I don’t know, Mur. Maybe I should keep an eye on the ship.”
“Don’t be silly. You need to get out.”
“Why?” The suspicion flared again. A warning bell chimed as
the cab door slid open and the toad collected his chit from her sister. Murray
had played her, had used the baby to distract her from whatever they had
planned. “What’s the deal, Mur?”
“Nothing. I just think you’re really going to want to go out
tonight.” She climbed out of the cab, and Zora had no choice but to follow her.
She stood at the edge of the hangar, watching her ship. The
Slug One was an impressive beast. It gleamed even through the dents and traces
of rust, maybe because it was hers, because it held such precious cargo. Any
way you sliced it her ship shone like a star.
The grey hulk impressed her almost as much as the man who
appeared at the top of the hatch. He strode like the emperor he was down the
long ramp. She couldn’t begin to guess where he’d gotten those clothes. He looked
like a spacer, like a man she’d have dated—had dated—before she met Ignatius
Superius I. His tight, black pants and loose, white shirt might have suited
Zander, or even her brother-in-law now that he had a body that actually wore
clothing.
On the emperor, they were deadly.
Zora stared at him. Her legs wobbled and her face grew very
warm. She felt drunk, felt like running. Except the flutter in her stomach was
more than nerves, and he was more than just an emperor, more than just the man
who made her knees weak. The kick reminded her exactly what running would cost.
It asked her to stay. Maybe it was time to face the music, to face Ignatius
Superius I.
After all, she had a bun in the oven that was 99.97 percent
his.
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