Brightly Burning(86)

“No,” I answered, attempting fruitlessly to keep the despair from my tone. “He’s not back yet.”

“We have to leave in an hour.”

I nodded, mood grim.

We sat, side by side on the couch, and I stared at the door, willing Orion to appear. When he did, a micro tab stick held aloft between two fingers, I blinked slowly, sure I was imagining it. Then he spoke.

“I’ve done it,” Orion said, stumbling as he came toward us. He was clearly exhausted. “I can’t exactly tell you how, but Lori did as I asked, and she started talking to Rori. Who’s operational, which means the Rochester safely landed and maintains her power source.”

Relief, followed closely by an explosion of hope, flooded my body as I leaped up from the couch. I grabbed the tab stick, clutching it to my chest as if it were a holy relic. “The location is on here?”

“Lori is on there. At least, a piece of her is. You’ll need her to interface with Rori in real time. Just plug that into your ship, and she should take over. She should also enable you to communicate with us once you land, let us know you’re all right.”

“Thanks, Orion,” I said, pulling him into a hug. “We’ll let you know when it’s safe for you to come down and join us.” Orion only shook his head at me.

“I prefer it up here, thank you very much. And, um, I’m kind of seeing someone. His name is Sebastian. I’d like to see where it’s going before I do something drastic like crash-land on a planet.”

His response dimmed my shine just a bit. “Then I’ll never see you again?”

“You’ll hear from me, if Lori Junior works the way I hope she will.” He hugged me again. “Godspeed, Stella, and now I am going to go sleep for the next year.”

I waved him goodbye, though I did not allow myself to expend too much sorrow on his behalf. I would be saying far too many permanent goodbyes in the near future, indeed in the next hour, than I could stand. I had to stay strong, or else I’d be useless on the journey ahead.

“Did he find him?” Xiao appeared, wrapping herself up in a dressing gown. I’d never seen her so casual, though her expression was nothing but serious.

I gave her the happy news, and once more implored her to come with us, to bring Jessa.

“We don’t know if it’s safe down there. And there would be no one left to see to the Fairfax interests,” Xiao said, repeating the excuse she had given earlier in the day. I didn’t press her further; no, I fully intended to work my persuasive powers on Sergei instead. Thus, when it came time to say goodbye, I told myself it was not for all time. It made our parting easier. Nothing about my last moments with Jessa was easy, on the other hand. She cried, pleaded with me to stay. Xiao pulled Jessa back so I could leave, which I did with a heavy heart.

Sergei loaded us eagerly onto his shuttle, which he then flew around to the very bottom of the Lady Liberty, where the Ingram was docked. Using the remote password Captain Ingram had provided, we turned her on, docked Sergei’s vessel inside, then flew her back to the Stalwart. While she was smaller than the Rochester and not half as splendid, the Ingram still ranked high on the list of ships I’d visited. We could fit a decent-sized landing party inside, at least a hundred people, and Sergei affirmed she was in fine working condition to make for a safe reentry. I used that as my opening as we came to a stop alongside the Stalwart. Jon would pilot the Ingram the short distance into the loading dock, while Sergei went off again with his own shuttle.

“Sergei, please come with us. Pilot her down.”

He demurred. “I am trained in basic flight, keeping a ship airborne, not crashing her down.”

“I don’t think anyone on the fleet is actually trained in re-entry,” Jon jumped in. “Our plan was to wing it. For me to wing it, more specifically. You’d know more about captaining a ship than I would.” I was glad to have him on my side.

“You could convince Xiao to come,” I said. “Make a new life down there.”

Sergei narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re bold, Miss Ainsley.”

“That’s what they all tell me.” I threw him a smile. “We need at least two days to prepare the landing party,” I said. As Jon was buckling himself into the captain’s chair, I pulled Sergei close, practically begged. “Please consider it. Talk to Xiao. She no longer has any ship to run, and you’re a man of honor. You’ve seen the state of the fleet and what her government will do as it continues to decline. Make a new start with us.”

“Enough talking now so you can get back to the Stalwart,” he deflected. “But I’ll think about it.” With a half-smile, he headed aft to his shuttle, leaving me with a glimmer of hope.


We came to a stop inside the Stalwart loading bay to find it in complete darkness.

“The power must have gone out again,” I said as we descended the stairs.

“None of her outside lights were out, though.” Jon’s tone was wary. He grabbed my hand as we walked careful steps toward the corridor.

“Stop right there,” a voice rang out as the lights stormed back to life. I threw a hand over my eyes at the brightness, then squinted toward the voice until I could make out the face ten feet in front of us. Mason. Jon gripped my hand tighter, hurting my fingers.

“Thank you for your little trip, Miss Ainsley,” Mason said. “It gave us confirmation that you were alive, and cause to come and get you.”