Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1)(17)

“Don’t I?” She had shark eyes, now that I was looking at her up close. “But I can think of a million reasons, and an . . . interesting offer just came in.”

I could easily imagine her selling me out to Deluca. There would be documentation on my transfer to Barraga, but I wouldn’t end up there. Having Kostlitz’s hand out to Deluca meant that my time was up here at Camp Kuna, no matter what.

Time to make the best of the bad.

Pinning on a smile, I spun and walked back to Marko Dunajski. He seemed slightly amused, which made my knuckles ache with wanting to punch him. I controlled the urge and managed to force something like a smile. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s a shock.”

“I imagine,” he said, and leaned a little forward, like we were friends. “I don’t think they ever sent for anyone from rehab before.”

“Why the hell do they want me?”

Marko’s smile looked genuine. He’d probably practiced it for the cameras. “We all have value, Zara. And we all come from different circumstances. They don’t choose us for what we’ve done, but for what we can do.” When I didn’t answer, because I didn’t know what to say to that bullshit, he lost some of the shine. “Are you really turning down the offer? Because that would be . . .”

“Unprecedented,” said one of the sharply dressed media clones standing nearby. She looked like she’d been turned out in a doll factory. An expensive one. “Nobody’s ever declined. Millions of people would kill for a chance!”

Being chosen was like winning the lottery, but I’d never even bought a ticket. On the other hand, since they were offering, I’d be a fool not to sign on. In a year, this would all be over and I’d be back with a permanent celebrity sheen. Harder for Deluca to get me then.

I looked right into her bio-grafted head-cam, that hungry, beady third eye that never blinked, and gave it my best, brightest smile. “I’m not turning it down,” I said. “That would be foolish.” I turned to Marko and held out my hand. “I’m very pleased to be, uh, Honored.”

He had a firm grip, but his hands had the smooth, pampered feel of a man who’d never picked through garbage or curled up cold in the ruins. He’d had a perfect life in a perfect home with a perfect family, and when he’d gotten picked as an Honor, it had probably just seemed inevitable.

“Congratulations,” Marko said, and this time, his grin was real. I could see it in his eyes. “You won’t be sorry. You’re traveling with Nadim, and I like him very much.”

“Who’s Nadim?”

His eyebrows rose, just a little. “Our ship. Sorry, your ship now. We will move on, Zhang Chao-Xing and I, to a ship traveling farther. We have been accepted for the Journey.”

Sure. “The Journey.” It was a bigger thrill than being an Honor, or so they said. Sounded like a terrible idea. But I nodded and smiled anyway. Ship. My ship. I felt a little sick.

The Camp Kuna inmates were whispering to each other, wide-eyed and lovestruck . . . if not with Marko, then with the whole idea of being plucked from the ashes, like the old Cinderella stories, to go to the stars. Only the Honors and the lucky few chosen for Mars colony ever left Earth. I was giving these people hope.

Marko took my hand, raised it high, and we turned to face the head-cams as they broadcast this out to everybody on Earth. I was the feel-good story of the year. My fellow inmates started clapping and hooting and yelling, some through tears of joy. Like I’d earned something. Accomplished something.

Like I wasn’t a person anymore, just some empty space where they saw themselves, someday.

Marko had brought me a uniform. I guessed I shouldn’t have been too surprised about that; after all, the Honors Committee found me, arranged for all the media coverage. They’d know my size too.

It fit almost too well. The trousers were tailored perfectly in nu-silk, light and warm at once. The dark blue jacket buttoned over a nu-silk white shell, and my name was embossed in gold on the plate just above my left breast. Oh, they’d included new underwear too. Comfortable boots. Nice.

Part of me had to wonder if Deluca was behind this, somehow. To the best of my knowledge, the Honors program was inviolable, but that bastard had a long reach. Maybe Kostlitz had pushed me toward this because of him.

Probably not, though? She wanted the free PR for Camp Kuna. Plus, I had to be tougher to get to, now that all the cameras were aimed at me.

Still, I didn’t relax. As I came out of the changing room, I got another spontaneous round of applause, this time from the guards and Camp Kuna administration, who’d gathered to shake my hand on the way out. The same people who’d stared at me with a cool, assessing air, who’d marked my files and assigned me to menial work, now looked at me with stars in their eyes.

Kostlitz posed for a holo with me. I shook hands because it was the only way to get through them, and beyond the wall of Camp Kuna uniforms, I glimpsed Marko’s blue and white. It felt like a relief when I made it to his side. He shook hands with as many as he could and signed personal H2s on the way out.

The media ate it up.

Since Clarice was on record as my friend, I hugged her. “Stay out of trouble.”

“Here? Not a challenge. Shit, you just made me special.”

I had to laugh as I turned away. I whispered to Marko, “Is it okay if I say good-bye to Dr. Yu?”