“Maybe 'stand up against that wall so we can kill you without hitting anyone behind you'.” Clin didn't look like he was making a joke.
“They kill us, they have to explain our deaths. They ignore us, and we ignore them, everyone's happy.”
“Well, not happy,” Rua said. “Because we wouldn't have done what they wanted.”
“How about you give us one of the hovers, let us be on our way, and there can be happiness all round.” Lucy spoke for the first time.
Clin's gaze snapped to her, as if he just remembered she was there. And could understand every word.
“I'd keep quiet while your betters speak,” he said, low and mean. “You're the cause of all this.”
She leaned toward him and Dray could see the incandescence of rage in her eyes.
“You and your asshole leaders are the cause of all this. I would give everything I have to be back home, to have never have heard of you and never have seen this planet. You should have left. Me. Alone.” She drew in an unsteady breath. “But, noooo. Here I am. Do whatever you want, but don't you ever tell me this situation is on me. It's on you. You fucker.”
There was absolute silence.
Dray felt the rise of warmth in his chest. Pride. Absolute respect.
This woman was amazing.
“So, is this mutiny?” Virn obviously decided to pretend the last conversation hadn't happened.
“If they call us tomorrow and ask us to bring her back?” Bly put the question out into the tense silence. “And we say 'sorry, we let them go'?”
The possibility of that scenario played out on their faces. Dray realized he was beginning to be able to read them better.
“I'm in for now. For now.” Clin emphasized the last point. He didn't look at Lucy as he moved back to his hover.
“The rest of you?” Virn looked them each in the eye.
No one looked away that Dray could see. They were still very much in rebel mode, but no one wanted to be the first to test the waters. Yet.
“Then let's find somewhere to camp that won't get us eaten by kol.”
Chapter 24
It was cold.
So, so cold.
Lucy hunched over herself. She was so miserable, she didn't even complain when she was jostled as Dray sat down beside her.
He held something out, and she realized it was a cup of grinabo.
Virn had refused to give her a new cup because he claimed she'd been responsible for her one being broken. She'd simply stared at him and then walked away, shaken at the extent of her anger.
“You don't mind sharing Earth germs?” she asked, taking it with her bound hands before he could answer, and swallowing a mouthful. She made a sound of surprise, because it was actually hot, something she hadn't expected.
“No. Earth germs are fine with me.”
She grinned around another sip. “Thanks.”
The heat of him had started to seep through to her, and unable to help herself, she leaned in to him, snuggling in as close as she could.
He went still for a beat and then adjusted, lifting his bound hands up and over her head, so she was in the circle his arms made. His heat surrounded her.
“Cold?”
“Freezing. Aren't you?”
“My uniform compensates for the temperature. So, no.”
“Huh.” She thought about it. “Is it only for the military, the fabric your uniform is made from?”
“No.” He lifted his chin so she could put her head on his shoulder, and then lowered it to rest just above her ear. “Most clothing is made from something with temperature control capabilities.”
“Obviously not on Tecra.” She was wearing what Dray had found for her in the drawers of the bedroom in the house on the cliffs. They were soft and comfortable, but so thin the wind blew straight through them. Fortunately the cloak was warm. Maybe it was made of thermoregulating fabric.
“I think those clothes are leisure clothes meant only for indoors. I should have looked for others for you, but at the time, I thought we were safe.”
She could hear the regret in his voice.
“It's okay. The cloak and the shoes are warm.”
She wondered how Bane was doing. He was looking for them, she was sure of that. Although there seemed to be little chance he'd find them where they were now, huddled on the top of a low hill, hovers parked in a circle around them, something like a tarpaulin attached to the hovers to give rudimentary shelter.
The hovers cut the wind, but the air was still freezing, and the fog was just as thick as ever. It pressed in on them, claustrophobic and smothering.
“What do you think Bane's doing?” She spoke softly, but the Tecran were talking among themselves and weren't paying any attention to her and Dray.
“Whatever he can do while still staying hidden.”
“Why does he have to hide?” She didn't understand all the politics of this, but it was clearly complex.
“Because the UC Ambassador asked him to. We didn't want to make the Tecran even more nervous and resentful than they already were by having him hover over them in a threatening way.” The puff of his breath on her ear made her shiver, and she hoped he put it down to the cold.
“So, he's big and intimidating?”
Dray went still, then gave a laugh. “I associate Earth women so closely with the Class 5s, I forgot you've never met him, or seen his battleship.”
“I wish I could. I wish I could see him right now.”
She felt his lips quirk.
“Me, too.”
“He's the first person to help me since I was abducted, aside from Dr. Farnn, and she only did it when the tide turned against her. I owe him a lot. Even if he can't find us, I'll always be grateful to him.”
He hesitated. “He won't stop looking until he does find you. And if you're hurt or . . . dead, I think the Tecrans will be a lot more than just nervous and resentful. They'll be annihilated.”
She scoffed. “What makes you think that?”
“There are three other Earth women under United Council protection. Each and every one has helped a thinking system escape their bonds. Rose McKenzie freed Sazo and Bane. Fiona Russell freed Easi and Imogen Peters freed Oris and tried to free Paxe. Bane told me that all four remaining thinking systems have been searching for you since Paxe told them he'd taken you from Earth and the Tecran had whisked you out of his hold.”
“Just because they care what happens to me doesn't mean they are dangerous to anyone else.” She closed her eyes, drank the last of the grinabo.
“They don't like anyone else. Maybe, for strategic reasons, they'd think twice about harming the Grih, but Bane's neutral. He doesn't have any loyalties to anyone, except you and the other Earth women, and his fellow thinking systems.”
“It's a long stretch to go from 'not having loyalties' to worrying they'd cause harm.”
He shook his head, she could feel the movement against her hair. “The thinking system wars indicate otherwise.”
“There was a war?” She didn't open her eyes. She was too comfortable and warm.
“A long time ago. It taught us to be wary of thinking systems. It's why we prefer doors with handles, rather than ones that open electronically, if that's practical. Why we have so few lenses for security. Why we choose stairs over lifts if we can. All things that were used against us in the Thinking System Wars.”