Page 71 of Spark Transform

“Gaia, I hope so.” She appreciated Nilsson’s kind reassurance, though it didn’t alleviate Arco’s worries.

Nilsson lowered her voice. “You don’t have to answer, but are you a Naturalist?”

Arco had trained herself to deflect all personal questions, since enemies would be happy to deep-dive her past to look for vulnerabilities or leverage. But it felt rude to shut out someone who was protecting her. She twitched a smile. “Raised that way, at least.”

“Me, too. Original Orthodox. Gaia is life, tech is death, all that.” She shoved Arco’s scarf in the pocket of her long coat and stuffed her opalescent hair under Tōn Ko’s visored cap. “My late-blooming healer talent caused a crisis of faith in the enclave. I was invited to seek Gaia’s blessings anywhere but there.”

From her bleak look and the loneliness lurking behind the words, Arco suspected Nilsson didn’t often tell that story. Arco knew the feeling.

“That had to tank. My parents were New Worlds Reformed. They had to choose between the community covenants or getting life-saving medical treatment for me.” And that had been just the stinking top layer of the whole sordid sinkhole.

Nilsson’s expression warmed with sympathy. “How old—”

Arco’s earwire sounded with Minan’s tone. “Skytrain AI says our ride is one minute out. Nilsson, stick with Arco. The rest of us are strangers.”

Arco shoved her butt off the wall and turned the hood inside out, then pulled it on over her head, making sure to poke any stray locks of hair up and under it. She’d corralled the rest in a sloppy braid that made an itchy lump down her neck and back.

Nilsson’s demeanor was back to professional mode, stance loose, eyes scanning for trouble.

Moments later, the skytrain’s car glided to a halt and opened its doors.

It took her a moment to realize the car was empty except for the five of them.

At Arco’s questioning look, Minan smiled rakishly. “I took a chance that Ridderth hasn’t purged its TCS hypercube in decades and tried an old military code sequence. The AI now thinks this is a nonstop car for military echelon security. Unless someone manually overrides it, we should be at the spaceport in forty minutes.”

Arco flashed a brief grateful smile at Minan, then went back to her tablet. She needed to corral every scrap of information she could glean on Wutala’s enemies if she was going to pull this off.

Chapter 25

Planet: Mabingion • GDAT 3242.227

Renner woke to a jolt. His head felt like it was made of denscrete.

“Ram my ankles one more time,” snarled a female’s voice, “and I’ll shoot you and put you in the capsule, too.”

Strobing lights hurt his eyes, but he couldn’t seem to open his eyelids. Was he back in the medical center?

“I know your hand hurts, but don’t take it out on me. And don’t walk in front of me.” The Slavic-accented male voice sounded closer. “This fucking sled needs two people. Where is Dimud?”

Tingling began in his fingers and toes, spreading up his limbs and into his core. He hadn’t felt it in several years, but he knew the sensation. The rage monster rattled its cage. Who the fuck had stunned him?

“Checking if the launch window is — look out!”

A jarring crash sent Renner rolling sideways and downward into a padded surface. The smell of dust assaulted his nose. His legs and arms flopped uncontrollably, but at least he could feel it happening.

“Oh, we’re very sorry, sir.” The female’s voice rose to high-pitched, breathless distress. “Darling, help her re-stack her bags.”

“Freight sleds,” said a sharp, condescending mid-range voice, “are not allowed in the passenger section.”

“Yes, sir, we know, sir,” said the male’s voice. “All the gravcarts were taken, and the snow made us late.”

Renner heard a thump. “Be careful with that!” snapped the sharp voice.

Snow? Memories tumbled in. On his way to the spaceport to meet Arco, he’d been ambushed after leaving the soup kitchen. Zapped two with his talent and exploded a hand weapon. Took two stunner shots in the back, then oblivion.

Cautiously, he snaked out a tendril of talent, but he could barely sense anything electrical. He chafed at the unavoidable need for more time to recover.

Pick your battles, reminded the sly voice in his head.