Legacy Code (13 page)

“Mali will—”

“I’m taking it.” Era closed the case and yanked it away as Paige reached out to grab it.

Era started toward the archivist station and froze. Zephyr was staring at her, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. Mali’s somber attention was directed at something only she could see on the stationary’s holo.

The air around Era seemed to gather a charge, and her legs grew heavy, like someone had dialed up the grav system.

Her body begged her to run the other way, but her legs took her forward, toward a scene that made no sense. Something was very wrong.
They knew.

Zephyr took a few steps toward Era, one arm outstretched.

Era gave the message shipment to Chief Petroff without making eye contact and waited. Her muscles tensed, and her pulse thrummed in her ears. He would arrest her. Why else would Mali be looking at her like that?

The chief said something to Mali and strode away, message to Dritan in one case, Era’s treasonous cube order addition in the other. She let her gaze follow him out the doors, and she exhaled when they slid shut behind him. He hadn’t arrested her. They didn’t know what she’d done.

But if they didn’t know…

Zephyr grabbed Era’s hand. Mali removed her eyepiece. She was crying.

Era looked from Mali to Zephyr and back.

A darkness bloomed within her, sucking her in, dragging her down. She took a step back, shaking her head. A moan rose in her throat and stuck there. Her intuition broke through, finally relaying the message it’d been sending since she first caught sight of Zephyr.

“I’m so sorry, child. There’s been an accident on Soren.”

As if a breach had opened, all air was sucked from the repository. Era pressed a fist to her chest, and Zephyr squeezed her other hand tighter.

“The report says there was a cave-in. No survivors.” Mali’s voice sounded far away, muffled like a damaged holovid.

“No,” Era said. “No. Not his crew. I just got a message from him—”

“It was his crew.” Mali’s voice was firm, denying all hope.

“They need to keep looking, then. They have oxygen, ways to survive…” Era took a step toward Mali and tried to shake off Zephyr’s grasp. “What did the message say?” Era’s voice cracked at the end of her words.

Mali moved around the station and touched Era’s arm. “Executive got the message yesterday. The accident happened three days ago.”

“He could still be alive—”

“They’ve scanned the area of the cave-in and have detected no life.”

“Tech can be wrong.”

“It’s been three days. And they don’t report loss of life until they’re certain. I’m sorry.”

Era bent over, clutching her chest, the tiles beneath her blurring in and out of focus.

Three days. No sign of life.

Emergency supplies lasted two.

Punishment
. Losing her husband, her baby defective, just like what happened to the traitor.

I’ll never do anything wrong again. I’ll be a model colonist, live quietly, not question things. Please let him be alive.

But who was listening?

The universe didn’t care who lived and died. Soren had no say in it. People just died. They just did, and there was never a reason.

Her eyes burned, and her legs gave out beneath her. She crumpled to the cold floor.
I knew what would happen the day he left. I knew. I knew he’d never come back.

A strangled sob made it past the pain in her throat, and hot tears slid down her cheeks. She drew her knees in to her chest and rocked back and forth, barely aware of Zephyr and Mali by her side, rubbing her neck, squeezing her arms, saying things she couldn’t make out.

Era tasted the salt of her tears. She dropped her face onto her knees and wept.

He was never coming back.

“Get up, Era. Come on. Let’s go back to your cubic.” Zephyr pulled on her arm.

Era let Zephyr and Mali drag her to her feet. Mali handed her a suit scrap, and Era wiped uselessly at her nose, at the tears still streaming down her face.

“Take her back. Stay with her,” Mali said.

Zephyr took Era’s arm and led her to the repository doors. Everyone in the waiting area stared, but Era couldn’t stop crying. The blackness had swallowed her. She didn’t care what they thought. Let them see it.

Everyone had lost someone. Why’d they bury it, pretend it was all okay?

Until someone didn’t. Like the traitor. He hadn’t been able to live with what had been taken from him.

Could she?

Era pressed the wet scrap up to her mouth and allowed Zephyr to drag her down the stairs and through the corridors. People stepped out of the way and averted their eyes.

When they got to Era’s cubic, she stood still, numb from the inside out. Zephyr gently removed Era’s shift card from her pocket and opened the cubic. Era would have to move back to the singles sector now, back with Zephyr.

Zephyr activated the helio, illuminating the space, and Era stumbled to the bunk and collapsed onto it, the pain swelling in her again.

Never coming back.

She drew Dritan’s pillow to her like she had every night since he’d gone. The scent of him was faint, but still there. She buried her face in it, and silent sobs wracked her body.

She heard Zephyr fumbling around on the shelf next to the bunk and felt a hand on her back.

“Drink some of this,” Zephyr said.

Era sat up and took the canteen Zephyr offered her, but just cried harder. She bent over, clutching her belly.

Zephyr held up the clear package of pills. “They gave you grimp?”

Era nodded, and Zephyr squeezed one from the pack. “Take it.”

“No.” Era tried to catch her breath. “The president killed him. She killed Dritan. She’s been lying to us about the Defect. They can save my baby.”

She reached out and gripped Zephyr by the arm. “I recorded it all. So when I tell them I won’t abort…if they arrest me for treason, you can get the recording and tell them what I know.” The words came out halting, broken by her sobs.

Zephyr’s brow wrinkled, and she hissed in a breath through her teeth. “I don’t understand. What recording? What does this have to do with…with your abortion?”

“The Defect’s a lie.” Era choked on the words as they came. “I recorded the truth. Hid it. They won’t take my baby.”

“Recorded what? You think…you think the Defect is a lie? I know this is—take this. Take this. So we can talk.” Zephyr held the tablet up to Era’s lips.

Era turned her head. Hysteria was rising in her, a chaotic pulse of fear and panic mingling with her grief. Dritan was dead, and she’d soon follow him if she refused to get an abortion.

“You have to listen. The Defect—”

Zephyr pressed the tablet to Era’s mouth, and Era clamped it shut and shook her head.

“It’s not addicting unless you take it for a long time,” Zephyr said softly. “It’ll help. You need to calm down.”

Era’s whole body ached, and the walls of the cubic seemed to be moving closer, squeezing the air from the room, suffocating her.

The loss, the Dritan-shaped hole inside her felt like something she could never crawl out of. Zephyr pushed the tablet against Era’s lips, more insistent now, and Era opened them. The pain would fade, just for a little while.

The pill dissolved on Era’s tongue, and she took a sip of water to wash the bitter taste away. The drug would make it easier for Era to breathe, to talk and get Zephyr to listen.

Era sank back onto the bunk, tears still leaking from her eyes, and stared at the ceiling. Her distorted reflection stared back at her, and she watched her face relax as the drug took hold. Her hands unclenched, and a warm calm spread through her.

More of a numbness than calm, really. It all just faded away, leaving her floating in an empty space where nothing mattered.

“I’m so sorry,” Zephyr said.

Era’s gaze shifted to Zephyr. She watched her take her eyepiece and handheld from her pocket and set them on the shelf.

“What do you want to tell me? About the Defect?”

“Play something for me.” Her own voice sounded disembodied to her ears, as if it came from someone else’s mouth.

“Play what?” Zephyr didn’t meet Era’s eyes.

“The song. The song you finally finished.”

Zephyr nodded, and Era stared up at the ceiling again, her hands on her belly. Would the grimp harm her baby? She’d taken it without thinking. What did that say about her? About the grimp? She should feel anxious now, but she didn’t. This drug erased everything. The tiny part of her that wanted to care rose up and floated away.

“I’m not aborting,” Era said.

“Shh. Just relax. I’ll play you the song.”

“No. I’m a traitor.” It sounded casual, like she’d said
“I’m tired.”

The music began to play, and Zephyr laid on the bunk. “Shh. Stop talking like that.”

Era stared into Zephyr’s blue eyes. “I love you, Zeph. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.”

“I love you, too.” Zephyr’s voice sounded strained. “I’ll stay with you ‘til curfew, but I need to be back at my cubic for bunk check.”

“I wish you could stay.”

“I’ll take your shift card with me, so I can let myself back in. I’ll be back before first mess. Back before you even wake up.” Tears spilled from Zephyr’s eyes, tracking wet lines down her pale face.

“Don’t cry,” Era said. She smiled and wiped Zephyr’s cheek with her hand. “You’re the strong one.”

Zephyr sniffed and snuggled up to Era, wrapping one pale arm around her. Era’s mind whispered to her to tell Zephyr everything, but she was so tired. She could tell Zephyr the plan after night shift, couldn’t she? There would still be time.

Era closed her eyes, and Zephyr’s recorded voice rang out in the small space, enveloping them in the melody.

Hope’s a dying star.

We need a supernova.

To wipe space clean,

And just start over.

There’s more than this; I feel it.

Drifting through this useless existence,

Held down

Held down

Held down

By artificial gravity.

Era closed her eyes, the music pulsing within her, and let the beat carry her away.

Dark red liquid. Sticky, half-dry. The thick metallic scent of it fills my lungs, and my stomach heaves.

Blood coats the doors, drips down the number six. I’m on all fours, in a pool of it.

I scream and try to stand, but I’m sealed to the landing.

The doors to level six slide open, and I can’t scream, can’t even breathe. A hull breach.

But the doors shut. Air is restored to my lungs.

I pull against the floor again, and my hands come free. I run.

Up.

To Observation.

The deck is empty. Zephyr’s not here.

It’s just me.

Me and Soren.

Era opened her eyes. She’d never escaped the breach before in the nightmare.

A helio hovered in the air above, and she sat up, glancing around, disoriented. She was in her cubic. In her bunk, the blanket thrown off, her suit stuck to her sweat-covered body, her boots still tied on.

Her gaze landed on Dritan’s shift card, hanging from its hook on the wall.

He’s dead
.

Her throat tightened, and she reached for the grimp packet and canteen on her shelf. She squeezed another pill onto her tongue and washed it down.

Her muscles relaxed, and a numb calm flowed through her, settling into her bones. She leaned against the wall, staring into nothing.

The sound of gears grinding brought her out of it. She straightened, eyes riveted to the door.

It slid open, revealing a sole helio hovering in the corridor and darkness beyond.

Two men stepped into her cubic.

The silver infinity symbols on their sleeves glinted in the light.
Guards.

Era stumbled to her feet.

The helio moved, illuminating their faces. Chief Petroff stood closest to her. Tadeo Raines, his face downturned, was behind him.

Chief Petroff stepped forward and grasped Era’s arm. Her mind registered pain at his tight grip, but the pain felt dull, and so very far away.

“Era Corinth. You’re under arrest for treason.”