Page 104 of Black Mamba

“You have!?” She claps her hands again and turns on Vagan. “I told you people would be listening to them. I knew it! There’re so many people here now with the loss of The Dreadnaut and there is so much information they need to know. Nothing should be kept secret, not when it could save lives and prevent misunderstandings.”

Vagan crosses his arms.

“You helped me understand Lukys better,” I quip.

Shelby’s smile grows. “I’m glad! Come, sit, rest. We’ll get a fire going and fish cooking on it shortly. Sorry, fish is plenty around here but not much else and I’m afraid I haven’t been out hunting berries and apples lately. Lukys, you coil up too. Vagan, stop hovering over me—both of you, give us women space—but join us, geez,” she shouts at them as they try to wrap their tails around our legs.

It doesn’t stop them, and before Shelby can unwind herself from her mate, he hisses and slips toward a netted bracket with fresh fish hanging off of it.

Meanwhile, Lukys places fresh wood from their pile onto the firepit. Shelby pulls out her cooking utensils as I join Lukys. I unzip my pack and grab the firestarter, using it to get the fire going.

It’s not long before we’re all settled around it, eating fish in various formats. I try not to watch Lukys and Vagan devour theirs mostly whole, and raw, only discarding the biggest of the bones within. I set a pot of water to boil and pull out my strainer. “My gift to you.” I give Shelby a handled cup from my ship, filled to the brim with wild mint berry tea when it’s done. As we finish our meals more delicately than our mates, we talk about small things, dancing around the heavier subjects that constantly want to arise.

The Dreadnaut. Its explosion.

The war.

The refugees and the countless many that are still missing.

The people that we’ve lost…

We skirt around all those subjects and I’m grateful, easing into an evening of leisure. But as twilight arrives, and the firelight’s crackles blend into the hum of the waterfall, those heavier subjects return regardless.

Shelby sets down her plate and faces Lukys and me. “So, you guys saw what’s powering that blue dome? Vagan said you were there. That you saw how it was made, how it happened.”

I shuffle forward to speak more directly to her. “It happened at the east encampment⁠—”

“It’s still there?”

“I… Yes, it was still there when we left.” I swallow. “No one died or anything, thank god, though there was panic.” I recall Greg helping me through the gate and the people being blown forward by the wind. Me being thrown by it. Then there was the shouting…

Shelby sits back with a breath. “That’s good to know.”

“Why? Why did you think everyone died?” Lukys asks.

“The dust,” she says, like that’s the obvious answer. “We heard a loud noise and spaceships taking off. When Vagan and I got to a place where we could see past the mountains, there was that… veil covering part of the sky. But the sweet smelling dust that drifted off of it… that was something else…”

I haven’t thought much about the dust in weeks. I frown. “What do you think it was?”

“It issss one of the reasons we came to you.” Lukys leans forward, coiling his tail behind him. “To know your thoughts. I trust them.”

Shelby shakes her head. “It’s only a guess. I don’t know for sure. Vagan and I didn’t have any nasty effects after breathing some of it in, but you guys were there… You would have been much more exposed.” Her eyes narrow as she scans both of us. “But you both look fine.” She glances at her mate. “I don’t know…”

“What?” I ask. “What do you think it is?” I’m beginning to feel nervous.

“Another form of Genesis-8, a solid format, released into the environment at a large scale… For what reason, I have no clue. The powercell is at its own, separate site to the research base Vagan and I were at. I was able to download and steal all of their encrypted files. The one we were at also had more to do with the creation of Genesis-8 rather than the application. Maybe since you’ve already been exposed,” she faces me and gives me a once over, “and you have it within you,” she looks at Lukys next, “neither of you were affected. But we can’t know for sure.” She waves her hand. “It’s all speculation.”

Genesis-8. I remember her speaking about it over the broadcasts…

I rub my arms. “Now that I’m exposed, through Lukys or this dust, what will come of it? You’re exposed too, right?”

Her frown fades into a laugh. “Yes. I’ve been very exposed.”

My face goes red as my eyes slide to Vagan’s bulge then to Lukys’s. I shake my head and pick up my tea.

She lifts her hands to the fire. “I didn’t mean to scare you earlier, if you guys are fine, then it’s probably nothing.”

“Greg, a human male we were briefly with, thinks it’s resin.”