Defy the Worlds (Defy the Stars #2)(40)
“No, you’re my friend, and I’d rather not put any more of my friends in danger.” Even knowing what Harriet and Zayan are attempting makes him feel uneasy. The risk to Virginia would be far more immediate.
She is unconvinced. “If you go out to investigate something, you’re just going to leave the Persephone abandoned? You might as well put up a huge glowing holosign that says ‘Free ship to good home.’”
Abel considers that, but only briefly. “You’ve raised a valid tactical point, but it’s still not worth endangering you.”
“Worth it to who?” Virginia demands. “I’m interested in this, too, you know. Scientific mysteries are my lifeblood. If I stay here, I’m just going to be running more data for Professor Fernandez, who can deal with a couple weeks’ delay. And Fon and Ludwig can handle the Cobweb project here.”
“None of this changes the risk to you. I’m sorry, but—”
“Listen to me, dammit!” Her smile has vanished; she’s not joking any longer. “The people aboard that ship, the Osiris—they may have traveled through a hidden Gate. That means Earth is possibly hiding an entire habitable world. They’re doing that while people around the galaxy starve. More than five months ago, right after I left you and Noemi, I went home to see my parents. We’ve always talked via comms every few weeks, but—you never know who’s listening to those, right? The signals are programmed to catch words that sound disloyal to Earth. Maybe I could get away with some of it because they’ve invested so much in educating me, but my parents? I hadn’t really been able to talk to them, to hear everything they had to say, since I was six years old.”
Abel remembers what it felt like to be separated from Mansfield for a long time, back when he still thought of him as “Father.” The ache is both indescribable and undeniable.
She continues, the words spilling out of her in a rush. “I’ve always felt like being chosen for Cray made me special. I love it here, but I never asked myself how it felt for my mom and dad. Not really. The teachers tell you here what an honor it is, that your parents brag about you—and they do—but to Mom and Dad, Abel, it’s like I was stolen.” Virginia stops, hand to her lips like she can’t believe she dared to speak the words. But she doesn’t hold herself back for long. “Historically, this is not a new issue for my people. Same crap, different package. I couldn’t see it for myself before, but now I do, and it makes me mad as hell. Why couldn’t they have taught these classes on Earth instead of here on Cray? Why is it so ‘impossible’ for my parents to ever visit, when game traders can get landing clearance any time they want?”
These are rhetorical questions, but when humans ask them, it’s often because they want to hear the answer repeated by another. “They bring top students here to weaken the bonds between family members and to ensure that your strongest loyalty is to Earth rather than to any individual.”
Virginia blinks. “Okay, wow. I knew that, but—I hadn’t put it in those words. But that’s it. That’s it exactly.”
“Your anger at Earth is understandable, but that doesn’t require you to come with me,” Abel points out. “Unless you mean to join Remedy? I should warn you, they’re unlikely to accept a new recruit in the middle of an operation on this scale.” Given the number of ships he saw attacking the Osiris, Abel considers it likely that this is Remedy’s most ambitious strike yet.
“Join Remedy? Are you having some kind of system meltdown?” Virginia mock-punches him on the shoulder, then winces and shakes her hand. “Ow. You’re way more solid than a human.”
“My skeleton contains—”
“Yeah, okay, I know about your skeleton, that was stupid of me, skip it. My whole point is, no, I’m not joining a bunch of terrorists. But that doesn’t mean I want to go back to the way I was before either. Growing up here, you’re always taught to look for new solutions, new ways of doing things. To search for new truth, you know? Instead they’ve been lying to us the whole time. After what I’ve learned, and what I’ve realized about how I grew up, I’m done being lied to. Whatever’s going on out there behind that distortion field—it’s real. It’s true. And it’s something the people in power don’t want us to know about. That means I need to know all about it, right now.” She pauses and catches her breath. “Did that make sense?”
“Yes, it did.” Abel could point out that her reasons for wanting to join him are almost entirely emotional, no matter how understandable those emotions might be. But so are his own reasons. Besides, she’s correct on one strategic point: Having a second person along will improve his odds of a successful resolution. “If you’re sure it won’t raise suspicion—”
“It won’t.” Virginia lights up. “I’m an amazing liar.”
“Don’t admit this to too many people.”
She laughs out loud as she jogs off to prepare, and calls over one shoulder, “You’re developing a sense of humor, you know that?”
It wasn’t a joke; it was a sound tactical suggestion. Nonetheless, Abel smiles.
15
NO SOONER HAS THE OSIRIS APPEARED IN THIS NEW system—whatever and wherever it is—than the comms crackle. “As your new commander, I should introduce myself.” He has an accent Noemi recognizes from Stronghold. “You may address me as Captain Fouda. The final actions of the bridge crew were to inform us that many main shareholders of the Columbian Corporation are on board. Is one of them perhaps brave enough to speak to me?”