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He swallowed down his bitter memories of how that had made him feel. “Now I know differently. I still don’t think Figures should have used that money. We’ll learn more once we reach home.”
“Where is that? Do you live on a planet?”
It was tempting to change the subject. Clone World was a beautiful place despite the horrors of so many enslaved clones living there. The weather was always pleasant. The vegetation was plentiful and appealing to the eye. Marisol had grown up there. Now, all he could offer her was a station built inside a moon that used to belong to a mining company.
“Do you not want to tell me? Is it a surprise?”
He inhaled deeply. “I’m worried that you might hate it. It’s not what you’re used to.”
“It’s not Clone World. I’m sure I’ll love it.”
He glanced at Marisol, finding her staring at him with a small smile on her lips. He caved. “You deserve a beautiful planet, real sunshine, and fresh air. Unfortunately, that’s not where our home base is located.”
“You’ll be there. That’s all I need. Tell me.”
“We thought about finding a planet after we escaped, but all research pointed to how difficult it would be to survive on any within range of us who still have access to plasma transports.”
“You were stealing from the ones that got destroyed, right?”
“Yes.” He adjusted course, keeping in formation with the other two shuttles. “We discovered a damaged and abandoned transport that was owned by a mining company. It might have contained food and water, so we boarded it. That’s when we hacked into the mainframe computer, discovering it had originally come from a mining station that had been decommissioned. We went to check it out.”
“And made it your home?”
“Yes. Our expectations were low that it would be salvageable for our needs, but it was so remote that the company didn’t strip it. It was intact and just shut down.”
“They probably didn’t want to spend the money to have it torn apart and shipped anywhere.”
He smiled. Marisol had always been quick with her mind. “That was our assumption, too. It was a large operation. There’s even a shopping district. The stores had been looted a bit, but the storage rooms were full of merchandise. None of the humans tasked with closing the station down bothered to check them, or they didn’t have the spare cargo room to empty them when they left.”
“What kind of merchandise? I’m just curious.”
“Everything you can imagine. Families lived there. One was a toy shop. That one wasn’t looted. Dolls, trains, and everything a child could want are still displayed through the front windows.”
“Really?” Marisol sounded amazed.
“Yes. I found it unsettling.”
“Well, neither of us has been around children. Some come to Clone World with their parents, but most of them stay on whatever shuttles they arrive on with their nannies. It’s not like the activities Gramps offers are geared toward underaged people.”
“It reminds me that we’ll never have children,” he admitted.
Marisol didn’t respond. Free turned his head, seeing her staring out the front window of the cockpit. She had a sad look on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
She met his gaze. “I’m sorry that it was never an option for you. It’s not fair. Gramps tried to talk me into having a baby right after my twenty-fifth birthday. I flat-out refused.”
The emotion that filled him was one Free identified. Jealousy. “I didn’t realize you were in love with someone before me.”
“I wasn’t. I mean, there wasn’t someone special in my life. Do you really think I could be attracted to anyone who worked for my gramps? Or any of the guests who thought Clone World was a great place?” She shook her head. “The other men I met were at conferences. They were the competition or, worse, prospective clients.”
“I worked for your grandfather.”
“Not by choice. You know how the human staff treated you. All of them seemed to go out of their way to be rude and hateful toward clones, knowing there would be no reprisals. They relished that power.”
“Why did you refuse? Did he pick a male to be the father that you couldn’t stand?” He was curious.
“Growing up on Clone World was lonely and horrible for me. I wouldn’t do that to someone else, especially my own baby. I had no friends, and I knew my gramps would manipulate and control them the way he always did with me. Employees have the option to quit and go live somewhere else if they hate him or being there. I literally had to escape to get out from under his thumb.”
