Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1)(29)

He did. I loved the view. I knew Beatriz still hated it, but she stared out like she was facing down a wild animal. Back straight. Okay, then.

“Why do you think the Leviathan saved those astronauts back in the day?” I asked.

She lifted a startled gaze to mine. “You mean, the ones aboard the ISS?”

“Yeah. Seems weird, that timing. Humanity was about to destroy itself, right? And then there’s this space disaster tailor-made for miraculous intervention, and heroes right there, ready to zoom in and save everybody.”

Beatriz stared at me with a focus she hadn’t had before. And a little indignant lift to her chin. “Are you implying there was some kind of conspiracy? That the Leviathan had something to do with the ISS accident?”

I shrugged. “It’s a well-oiled con back where I’m from. Make somebody sick, then sell them the medicine they need to get well.”

“You’re not a Space Truther, are you?”

“Well, some of them have good points.” I was playing. I didn’t believe any of what Space Truthers spewed, but this was doing good things for her mood. Distractions worked.

“The Leviathan had nothing to do with the mess we made of Earth!” Beatriz sounded completely sure about it. “We got ourselves into it, haven’t you read the histories? How we just ignored all our problems until they were too big to be fixed?”

I did remember. How fools in power argued against scientific fact and brought in phony experts to keep doing nothing. I blamed them for it too. But I needed to keep her stirred up, more anger, less fear. It was a kind of emotional-energy exchange.

“Maybe. But sure seems like they caught us right when we couldn’t afford to ask any hard questions, you know?” I grinned at her. “Anyway, I’m Zara, straight out of the Lower Eight in New Detroit. We saw each other at orientation, but I figured I’d make it official.”

She seemed torn between continuing the argument and being polite. Civility won. “Beatriz Teixeira,” she said. “Rio. Although I also lived in S?o Paulo for a while.”

“At least you’re not looking like you might pass out anymore, either. See? Arguing is good for you. Let me make some coffee.”

She gave me a reluctant smile. “I’ll do it. I have a recipe.”

Beatriz had a flair for mixing it with steamed milk and cinnamon, and that was heavenly. We sat at the round white table and drank, and she looked like a different girl. Relaxed, she had an open sweetness about her. We talked about Rio, a place that existed only in stories for me, but was real enough to her, with all its shops and busy streets and white sandy beaches.

When we finished our drinks, and she seemed okay, I said, “So, we’re going to take a short cruise in the shallow end, right?”

I don’t know how he knew I was talking to him, but Nadim answered. “Within this system. Where would you like to go?”

Beatriz appeared to be at a loss; that left it to me to decide. Nobody had ever asked me to pick a destination before, let alone on this scale. It felt like he’d just offered me the Sol system on a silver platter. I gave the first answer that popped into my head.

“Mars. I’d like to see Mars.”

I’d never walked in the domed city where my mother and sister lived, but I’d studied up on it. Now I could admire the view from orbit, where everything was red magic, mountains and valleys blurred into shadows and squiggles. It would be good to see it and imagine my mom and Kiz, going about their lives there. Some of the old pain had softened into a bittersweet sting. Mostly, I was glad I’d managed to leave them smiling this time.

Everything shifted as energy rippled through us, and Beatriz let out a surprised cry and grabbed at the table edge. I pictured a dolphin leaping in the sea, a kind of joyful burst of unleashed motion. I’d expected there would be more ceremony, like I’d have to be at the helm or input coordinates, but for a Leviathan, this jaunt was probably like a trip down the block to buy steamed pork buns.

Beatriz nearly fell over as the forward motion increased, so maybe we should’ve been strapped in. His exuberance clearly scared her.

I went back to Nadim’s skin and reached out. He must have known exactly what I wanted, because this time, he didn’t just open a window, he gave me a huge expanse of transparency. The first glimpse stole my breath. Earth retreated beneath us, along with the last sliver of blue sky. The darkness bloomed with stars. We sling-shotted around the moon, enormous on our left as it whirled past. Then he dove deeper, so that the patch of galaxy in the distance swirled in smoky, sparking colors.

“Can—can you slow down, please?” Beatriz asked. She sounded shaken. I turned away, and the transparency closed. She’d gotten up from the table, but she looked sick again. “I’m sorry. I’m trying.”

She was. I couldn’t bust her for having vertigo problems. Hopefully, she’d learn to kick them. “Maybe you should lie down awhile?”

Nadim didn’t speak to us, but glowing pulses shot across one wall, and following the lights led us back to our quarters. We had separate rooms, though they were next door to each other. The furniture had been built into the walls, probably to keep things from shifting during transit. Beatriz fell onto her bunk and closed her eyes with a soft whimper. “I’ll be all right,” she said. “I trained for this, I swear I did. I just need . . . I need rest.”