Cytonic (Skyward #3)(63)

“Give me a moment.” I flicked off the comm.

“Spensa?” M-Bot said. “I’m worried. Are you feeling better?”

Was I? I took a deep breath, sorting through my memories. I…yes, I remembered. Jorgen, Kimmalyn, FM, Arturo, Nedd. Cobb. Gran-Gran. My mother.



I could remember them…but scud, their faces weren’t clear to me anymore. It had been getting worse each day I spent in here. I was losing things. Pieces of who I’d been.

But at least I had recovered most of what I’d lost from flying up so high.

“Miss Nightshade?” Chet asked. “Perhaps my suggestion wasn’t the most…wise.”

“It kind of worked,” I said, glancing back at him. “Kind of didn’t. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been used as a chew toy by a Markivian barrow-wolf,” he said. “Did I miss anything?”

“The Broadsiders want me to return,” I said. “They say they’ll trade me a ship—a good one—and take me to the next step on the Path. But I have to agree to defeat the pirate champion for them.”

“That’s an…odd request,” he said. “I wasn’t aware that their little championship mattered so much. Peg is planning something. I suspect she always has been.”

“She wants to take back the Superiority base,” I said. “She told me that much.”

“Ambitious!” Chet said. “I like it. Well, I doubt we’ll get a better deal. I say we agree. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“They take us prisoner and chain us to the wall.”

“Whereupon we get to escape again!” Chet said, and then he continued, more subdued—losing a bit of the affectation. “I have spent a long time traveling alone, Spensa. Your company is remarkable, truly, but it would be…reassuring to spend a period with a group.”

“M-Bot?” I asked.

“If it lets me get out of this ship into something built in the last century,” he said, “I’m for it.”

I flicked the comm back on. “All right, Peg. You have a deal.”

“Ha! Words.”

“One thing though,” I said. “You’re going to have to clean up another bunk. I’m bringing a friend.”



I turned off the comm and steered us back the way we’d come. The other ships must have landed while we were flying, since as I approached the Broadsider fragment I could see that the pirates were all outside, gathered in front of their hangars. A ragtag group to be certain, but I supposed I’d seen worse. Skyward Flight, for example, when we’d first started training.

I guided my ship over and settled down. With a shared look of determination, Chet and I climbed out of the cockpit. I still half expected the Broadsiders to take us captive, but fortunately nobody pulled a gun. We even got a few cheers.

It was forced, and I saw in Maksim’s eyes a healthy distrust. An emotion I’d certainly earned.

Well, I would deal with that. Because at long last, Operation Ship-Steal had succeeded. And tomorrow I could finally continue the Path of Elders.





The next day, I awoke with renewed determination. Peg assigned me the new ship—a powerful two-seat striker. Fully loaded with formidable destructors and twin boosters, it was larger than most ships I’d flown, but should still be maneuverable.

It was the best ship in Peg’s small fleet. I transferred M-Bot to it—after some careful digging I realized they still didn’t know he was an AI; they thought I had used remote control to make the ship hover the previous day. I made some modifications he said would insulate his core systems from destructor blasts, then installed a lightlance.

After that, Chet and I climbed aboard.

“You sure you don’t want your own ship?” I asked him as we strapped in. “I don’t particularly need a copilot, since, you know…”

M-Bot was humming happily. Apparently he approved of the specs on this new ship.

“I wouldn’t want to try the controls with this wounded arm,” Chet said, fitting on a flight helmet. “And beyond that, it has been…well, centuries since I’ve flown. I think perhaps I should like to take this slowly.”

Fair enough. As we readied ourselves, a small group of Broadsiders prepared to escort us. Peg, the resonants, and Maksim—who unfortunately inherited my weaker ship. In a few short minutes we’d all launched into the air and started on our way. I immediately felt the joy of flying a real starfighter. It banked at a touch, accelerated or decelerated with ease. At high speeds, I could close my eyes and barely make out the whistle of air outside. Not a single rattle.



It felt like forever since I’d had a true top-of-the-line starfighter.

“What’d I tell you?” Peg said through the comm. “Are you growing keefos yet?”

I thought those were the happy ones. “At least seven,” I said, banking again.

“I took that ship out myself a few times,” Peg said. “Never into combat though. It was just too spectacular to risk damaging it with my clunky flying. But you…you’re perfect for it, Spin.”

“Will Guntua forgive me for taking it?”

“She has been wanting to back off from flying anyway,” Peg said. “Take a break, do some ground duty instead.”