Page 26 of Reformation
“Shit,” he groaned. “Don’t scare me like that, kiddo.” Reassured, he left her alone for a moment as he forced himself back up to standing and looked around. He could hear the hum of the generator, years’ worth of useless power now coming to bear. He saw the cot illuminated by the neon light, the cabinets against one wall that probably held food and water, and best of all, the little Regen unit that glowed with life. It wouldn’t fix everything, but it would keep Lacey stable. Thank fuck.
There was a little table in the middle of the floor, with a book on it. Jonah hobbled over to it and picked up the book. It wasn’t an antique—the pages were a durable blend of metamaterialsthat were resistant to staining, tearing, and other sorts of destruction—but it was a real, genuine book. On the cover were the wordsThe Road. On the inside cover was an inscription:Read this and tell yourself that things could be so much worse.
It was Garrett’s handwriting. Of course, it was. Who else would think of stocking an Old Earth survival novel in every bunker?
Jonah laughed until he cried.
Chapter fourteen
Ten
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Ten was a genius. Itmightbe an exaggeration to say that all of hir ideas were good, but when it came to problem-solving in a pinch, Ten was second to almost none. Ze would have been a brilliant tactician, hir instructors at the Academy had lamented, if ze was better at taking into account the human cost of things.
Ship in a bind? Surrounded on all sides by the enemy, no way out? Ten would blow up the ship. Not only would ze blow it up, but ze’d do it in the biggest and most spectacular way possible, to maximize destruction. Yes, it meant ze died, along with all of hir crew, but that was the point, wasn’t it? Win at any cost? Needless to say, it was an attitude that had permanently sidelined hir from any chance at a command track in the Academy, which was exactly what ze’d meant to happen.
Ten was actually very cognizant of the value of life when it suited hir to be. Hir life, of course, was paramount when it cameto preservation because otherwise ze couldn’t do a damn thing to look after anyone else, but the lives of hir loved ones came in a close second. In Cody’s case, that second was so close a space as to be practically nonexistent.
And now here they were, on a Drifter ship that was verging on derelict, puttering through space with a bunch of people who either disliked them because they were outsiders, disliked them because they didn’t fit the mold, or were curious about them but not willing to do anything to help them. Ten didn’t trust Jack as far as ze could throw him, but at least ze knew he’d look after Cody. Jack wasn’t a mechanic, though, and it was inevitable that Ten and Cody would eventually be separated during their work. So, a few safeguards were in order.
Cody’s eyebrows went up the “morning” of their second day on board the ship, when Jack was called to pilot, and they were going to get a handle on everything that needed repairs or upgrades. “Are you serious?”
“What?” Ten asked, still holding out hir “keep Cody alive” emergency kit. “It’s not like any of this stuff is super obvious. No one will know that we think they’re a pile of advantage-seeking, scum-sucking—”
“That’s not fair to say; we don’t even know them yet.”
“We don’t need to. We can infer everything we need to know about them.”
Cody cracked a grin even as he shook his head. “And your inferences have led you to decide they’re … scum-sucking?”
“More like they thinkwe’rescum-sucking lowlifes taking advantage of Jack’s stupid hospitality, but that’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. The point is, a lot of these people aren’t going to like us, and there are a lot of ways that things can go wrong on a ship, especially a ship carrying five hundred people, that looks like a floating tumor.” Ze pressed the kit at Cody again. “Take it. Come on.”
Cody still looked doubtful. Time to break out the big guns. Ten took two steps forward, plopped down in Cody’s lap, and leaned into him, wrapping hir arms around his neck. “For me,” ze whispered and kissed him.
Bad idea. Oh no. It had been so long since they’d had sex,dayseven, and they hadn’t had a quiet moment together in almost as long. Ten was a lot of things, but an exhibitionist wasn’t one of them, especially not with Cody’s creepy dad not two rooms away, and damn it,damn it, ze could grind down on his lap right here and get hirself off in two minutes, ze was sure of it.
They were supposed to be in the engineering section of the ship in ten, and it would be a fast walk as things stood.
“Oh my god, really?” Cody demanded as soon as Ten pulled back. “Now?” He’d sprung up almost instantly, and his expression was pained as he pressed a palm against his groin. “We don’t have time.”
“I know.”
“I hate this.”
“Me too! If you’d just taken my present in the first place, you wouldn’t have had to be reminded about how much you’re missing all of this right now.” Ze indicated hirself with a wave of hir hand as ze stood.
“I don’t need a reminder.” Cody groaned. “I think about you all the time anyway. Shit.” He shut his eyes for a second, then held out a hand. “Give it to me.”
Success!Ten handed the kit over and watched as Cody deftly took the pieces apart, slotting them into place on his body and clothing. Perfect, perfect, perfect. As soon as the booster went over his implant, Ten reached out. [Can you hear me now?]
“Loud and clear.”
[Use your implant.]
[Yes.]Cody winced. “Ugh, I don’t like that.”
“It’s harder without Hermes to help,” Ten agreed. “We should use it in case of emergencies only, but at least it’s a way for us to communicate if they stick us on opposite ends of this crate.”
“It’s not a crate.”
