“And you escaped?” Pendt asked.
Dr. Morunt successfully got an IV line into Ned’s arm, and began the flow of nutrients.
“Sort of,” Ned said. His face darkened. “We were held in a massive prison in deep space. The only way in or out is by sublight ship. But Choria learned from eavesdropping on the guards that the Hegemony had a wild Well nearby. It takes forever for ships to get there, but once they arrive at the Well, they can aim for any Net they like.”
“They still need someone to turn on the Net,” Pendt said.
“Well, yes,” Ned said. “That’s where I came in.”
He shifted uncomfortably, trying not to pull at the needle in his arm.
“Choria figured out that I could escape,” he said. “You know she’s a whiz with calculations. She determined exactly how I’d need to hit the Well to get here, and she knew that the Brannick Station Net would activate for me when I did. It wasn’t quite that easy. We had to get a ship for me to go in, but eventually we managed it.”
“Well, your timing is impeccable,” Pendt said. “We just learned my family is coming back.”
Dr. Morunt dropped the equipment he was sterilizing, and an entire tray of medical tools crashed to the floor.
“Doctor?” Fisher asked.
“My apologies,” he said. “I’m still a bit in shock.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Ned said. “I heard about the Harland while I was at the prison. They’ve been on the Hegemony’s payroll the whole time. Pendt, this might be hard to hear, but they traffic in human beings.”
“We know,” Pendt said. “We figured it out on our end too.”
Ned exhaled so hard the mask shifted on his nose.
“I’m glad you know,” he said. “But I’m sorry you had to find out.”
“All right, we know they’re coming, and we know they’re bad news,” Fisher said. “I’m glad to have you back, but if that’s all the news, then you might have wasted the trip.”
He was trying to keep it light, Pendt knew, to fight back the hysteria they were all feeling at seeing Ned, alive, again.
“They know what Pendt can do,” Ned said. “They have a Hegemonic order annulling the marriage, and they are going to take her. The Hegemony is going to give them enough money that they’ll be able to settle on a planet if they want to, and Pendt will belong to the Stavengers.”
Fisher felt his legs buckle, and suddenly he was sitting on the floor. Pendt was pale, but kept her feet.
“How?” she said. “How do they know?”
“I told them,” said Dr. Morunt. “Your family knows because I told them.”
If Fisher could have stood, he might have done murder. Ned bolted upright on the table only to immediately collapse again as Fisher struggled to his knees. By then Pendt was already facing off against the doctor, and it was her fight.
“Why?” she said.
“They told me I could have my sister back,” he said. “They let me buy Sylvie, and I answered all of the questions they asked.”
“I hope you didn’t pay too much,” Pendt said, her voice dead as the void. “She’s not worth anything to them anymore. You’ve been fleeced.”
Ned was sitting up now, tearing at his IV, but Pendt stopped him. Fisher hauled himself up and turned to the doctor.
“Tell us everything you know,” he said.
“They wanted to know how powerful Pendt was,” Morunt said. “They asked how she was operating the station, and I told them about the foetus. That’s when they got really interested. They asked if you had designed the baby, and I said no, but that you probably could if you had enough calories. That’s when they decided to buy you. I said the station would never give you up, that you were married of all things, and they couldn’t take you. I guess the Hegemony decided to work around its own laws for you.”
“I’m flattered,” Pendt said. “They want a baby, I suppose? A very specific one?”
“Yes,” Morunt said. “I had assumed they wanted a fleet of captains with good star-sense, but Ned’s report of a wild Well makes me think the Hegemony is aiming a bit farther.”
“They can’t,” Fisher said as understanding dawned.
“They can,” Pendt whispered. “They can give me all the calories I need and hold me down while they do the implantation. I’ve seen my aunt do it before—his sister helped. She’d definitely do it again. They’ll show me the pattern I’m meant to mimic, and give me a time frame, and then they’ll launch me. And either I’ll die—”
“Or the Maritech Net will catch you,” Fisher finished. “And the Stavengers will have a foothold in that solar system again.”
One of the sensors affixed to Ned’s chest beeped, and Dr. Morunt moved to take it off him.
“Don’t touch me,” Ned said, tearing it off himself.
“Dr. Morunt, you have my sympathy,” Fisher said. “I don’t know what I would have done if the Hegemony had offered me my parents. You will take your sister and you will go to Katla. I don’t care where you go after that, but neither of you will be welcome on Brannick Station ever again.”
“Thank you,” Morunt said. He turned. “Pendt, I—”
She looked at him as cold as the void.
“I understand the difference between survival and cruelty,” she said. He bowed his head. “Get out.”
Morunt fled, leaving the three of them in the medical bay. Pendt put her hands over her face and took a deep breath. She blew it out hard.
“I need to process this, so try to control yourself even if I say something you don’t like,” she said to Fisher.
He nodded. Ned did too.
“Worst-case scenario,” Pendt said, “they take me. The station is fine, because Ned is here.”
“Unacceptable,” said Fisher. He caught himself. “Sorry, keep going.”
“Brannick becomes the jump point for Maritech, just like the old empire wanted,” Pendt continued. “You probably make a good amount of money. Human trafficking definitely increases—”
“Over my dead body,” Ned burst out. “I mean, again, I guess. Please, continue.”
“You can’t hide me,” Pendt said. “There’s nowhere I can go. My aunt won’t care if taking me off the station endangers it. They think Ned’s in prison, so they’re probably counting on Brannick dying, and then they’ll just . . . repopulate it. Probably with soldiers.”