I chuckled unwillingly. “She’ll be so pissed.”
Before we could say more, the door slid open and Allison strode into the maintenance bay, followed by Harmon. He hung back, glowering suspiciously at Karnac and rubbing his bandaged face.
“Allison,” I started, but she didn’t give me time to speak.
“What the fuck, Molly? I don’t know what you were thinking, I really don’t.” Hands on her hips, she projected her voice to fill the room. Not shouting exactly, but as close as I’d ever seen her get. In person it wasn’t funny at all, the little pink whirlwind of rage glaring at me from a pace away. “Why did you attack Harmon, you idiot? We need him, you know how few people we have with any on-camera experience.”
I’m not sure that appearing as a second-string archer in Robin Hood is that much preparation for hosting news shows.
“He attacked me,” I said, answering the more important issue. “I left the party, I was on my way back to my room, when he caught up to me and started threatening me. He laid hands on me first, and if it hadn’t been for Karnac finding us, I don’t know how far Harmon would have gone.”
“Lies,” Harmon said. “Damned lies. You can’t believe this self-serving bullshit, Allison.”
“Accuse her of lying again, sthec, and I will tear out your deceitful tongue,” Karnac growled. “Molly tells the truth.”
Sweet, bless his alien heart, but not smart. Threatening our accuser didn’t exactly look innocent. Still, I had to admit watching Harmon’s face blanch was probably worth the cost.
Allison massaged the bridge of her nose and looked at the three of us. “Okay. Fine. This is what we’re going to do. There’s no evidence for either story, but with Karnac and Molly agreeing, I have to lean their way.”
“Preposterous,” Harmon shouted loud enough to shake the room, or at least that’s what it felt like. “Allison, you know I would never—”
“Harmon, shut up,” Allison glared at him and he fell silent. “I’m not saying they’re right, just that they’re more likely to be. If I was anywhere near certain, I’d ship you back to the Colony for Captain Joyce to deal with.”
This was a side of her I’d not seen before, and I had to suppress a grin. Apparently, there was a limit to what she’d accept from her boyfriends.
On her shoulder, Tulla the pink tarantula hissed at Harmon too before whispering something in his human’s ear. Allison calmed with a visible effort, taking a deep breath, holding it, and letting it out. She turned back to face me.
“Here is what we’ll do. All of you submit statements about what happened to me. I’ll send them down to the Captain’s office and we’ll see what she thinks. In the meantime, you three keep things professional between you.”
“You want me to work with him?” My voice wasn’t as calm and collected as I’d expected, more of an outraged squawk. At the same moment, Karnac growled his defiance of the idea.
“You won’t need to be alone with Harmon. In fact, we’ll make that official. The two of you are not to be in the same place if you can avoid it, and absolutely not anywhere alone.” Allison shook her head, pushed her hands through her hair, and shot Harmon a poisonous glare. “I’d send you back right now, but you’d break your fool neck on the way down. You’ve got until the next resupply flight to convince us to let you stay.”
“Ridiculous,” Harmon boomed back. “You need me, you need my shows. Who else is going to fill that space?”
“Old films?” Allison said. “People have donated plenty of them, it would be a shame not to use that resource.”
“Basic lessons in Prytheen,” Karnac put in. If he was denied the ability to kill Harmon, he could still embarrass him.
Harmon looked ready to hit someone. I almost wanted him to, just to see Karnac destroy him, this time with a witness. Perhaps realizing he couldn’t hope to win if he tried to fight, he turned and stalked away.
“You will regret this,” he boomed as the doors slid shut behind him.
“Now that’s the best joke he’s come up with in a while,” Allison said, turning back to us. Mostly to Karnac, really, and I officially did not like the way her eyes devoured him. Punching her would be easy, satisfying, and very stupid, so I restrained the urge.
“Thank you for listening to our side of the story,” I said, trying to keep the conversation where it belonged. Allison waved it off.
“I know some of you don’t like me, but I’m not a monster. Just because I’m,” she paused, trying out words for size, then continued, “friendly with Harmon doesn’t mean I’m blind to his flaws.”
You could have fooled me was the wrong response. I settled for a smile and a nod, hoping that would pass muster. I needn’t have worried — her attention was back on Karnac, only a little left for me, and that seemed focused on fashion.
“What are you wearing, Molly? That… bronze armband thing?”
“It’s a replacement housing for Glitch’s processor. He needed it after Harmon smashed the last one.”
Hearing his name, Glitch jumped down from the table. Twice, once after the other, as his image stuttered. Allison laughed and shook her head. “I really should insist that you junk that thing and get a new companion. Glitch is, well, it’s obviously not okay.”
After all the work we’d put into keeping Glitch with me, she wanted to recycle him? My jaw dropped and words failed me for an endless ten seconds.
“He’s my friend, not just an ‘it,’” I said, careful of my tone. It wasn’t easy, and anyone looking at me would see the rage in my tensed muscles and wide eyes. “I’m not going to get rid of a friend just because you say so.”
Allison looked ready to argue, her AI tarantula rearing up on her shoulder. Before she got a word in, though, Karnac stepped forward.
“As long as the being functions, it doesn’t matter, does it? Why waste time and expense when you have so many more important things to do?”
She blinked and nodded, caught off guard by his support. “I suppose you’re right. It’ll fail soon enough and then we can replace it. We’d have to wait for the supply run to bring up a spare, anyway.”
“True,” Karnac said, smiling at her. “You can afford to give it a few days.”
I fumed but tried to keep it quiet. Karnac had just saved Glitch again: Allison wouldn’t have listened to me, but the way she gazed at Karnac, of course he could wrap her round his little finger. Still, it hurt… just minutes ago we’d been locked in a passionate embrace, and now he was making eyes at Allison? Men!
I did my best to push it aside. It’s not like I had a claim on him, after all. What he did with anyone else was none of my business. Let the pirate fuck around, I didn’t care, I lied to myself.
He had the decency not to do anything right in front of me. Bidding Allison goodnight, he saw her to the door and slid it shut behind her.
After the fight, anger spread through the station fast. Too small a place for any rumor to stay contained for long, by morning everyone knew at least a version of the story and had picked sides.