Page 61 of Reformation
There was the coastline, and the great fuzzy blur of energy his implant was showing him in the distance had to be the city, protected from incursion by its own shields. Originally, the plan had been to drive the hovercycle straight to the edge of the city and enter on foot, but even as he watched, the battery went fromfive percent to four. It wouldn’t recharge until it spent some time in the sun, and there wasn’t going to be any of that on this side of the planet for at least another nine hours.
“We’ve got to set down early.”
“hmsmnggle.”
Cody patted Ten’s arms reassuringly. “It’ll be okay, we’re fine, we’re just low on charge. We’ll make it to the Box tomorrow, once we get a little sunlight.” Ten’s solar-battery design was ten percent more efficient than the kind that was commonly commercially available, and Cody had seen it in action before. “A few more minutes and we’ll be on the ground.”
“mnfsjppser.”
“Yeah, baby.” Cody aimed them for the coast and increased their speed. Thankfully, the sky was pretty clear tonight—hopefully that would last through the morning and a recharge, and they could sleep outside with some of the survival gear he’d packed although it wouldn’t be comfortable …
But wait, no. Weren’t there bunkers set up along the edge of the cliffs? Cody was almost positive that he’d heard Garrett mention them before, fail-safes dating back to the expansion period that had never been decommissioned, just kind of forgotten about. One of those would be perfect. He set his implant to scan for habitable enclosures, and two-point-five seconds later it outlined a squat, round shelter in his head. It was less than a mile away too. Excellent.
Getting there was easy. Getting Ten to let go of him long enough to actually dismount from the bike was significantly harder and involved a lot of petting and promises before Ten could even lift hir head. Cody twisted around in his seat, lifted the front halves of their helmets, and kissed Ten softly on the mouth. “Okay now?”
“Oh … okay, yes, of course, I’m okay.” Ah, that was more like the Ten that Cody knew and loved. “I’d be more okay if my asswasn’t half asleep, and we were inside that bunker instead of out here in the wind and the cold like—” Hir voice broke off for a moment as ze stared quizzically at the bunker. “But this one is already inhabited.”
“What do you mean?”
Ten rolled hir eyes. “I mean the door is cracked open, there’s a glow coming from inside, and this close, I can actually hear voices murmuring. Did you stare at the fire for too long?”
“No,” Cody protested, not about to confess that yeah,maybehe was still seeing a few flashes of light here and there. There was a bit of a glow around the right side of the bunker’s door, but he’d dismissed it as an afterimage. And he didn’t have Ten’s hearing modifications either. “Do you think it’s someone from an Alliance ship?”
“Maybe. The only other option is that it’s someone from a pirate ship.”
Oh, and wouldn’t that just be perfect? To get all this way only to fall victim to a pirate once they wereon the fucking planet.
They didn’t get the chance to debate it any further. A second later, a cylindrical object emerged from the crack in the door and steadied itself in their direction. Cylindrical … it was weird, but Cody was almost sure that was a—
“Gun!” Ten hissed. “Whoever’s in there is pointing a gun at us! Get the shields back up, now!”
“We don’t have enough power to raise them again!”
“Well, we better have enough power to fly away because—”
“Identify yourselves!”
That—wait. Cody shook his head. That voice … but no. It couldn’t be.
“Identify yourselvesnowor face the consequences!”
It had to be. It was impossible, but it had to be. Cody had heard “face the consequences” in almost that exact tone more timesthan he could remember. He cleared his throat, but his voice was still scratchy as he managed to say, “Dad?”
The gun wavered. “Names, now.”
“Dad, it’sme.”
After a whispered, furious conversation inside the bunker, the door opened far enough for Cody to get a good look at who was behind it. All he could see was the man’s silhouette, thanks to the flashes in his vision, but that was all he needed to see. He’d know that person anywhere.
“Dad!”
“Cody? What thehell—” As astonished as Jonah sounded, though, his arms were open and ready for Cody when he practically fell into them a moment later. “Oh my god.” His dad’s hand carded through his hair, pulling him in as close as Cody could get. “Oh my god, kid, what are you doing here? I thought you weren’t with the rest of the fleet!”
“’S a long story.” Cody felt almost drunk with relief. But … “What areyoudoing here? Why aren’t you inside the city?”
His dad laughed weakly and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “That’s a long story too, son. That Ten with you?”
“Yeah.”
