Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1)(45)

“Marko,” I said. “Hey. You’re early.”

He snapped, “Get up. Now.”

I sat upright. Before I could think better of it, I blurted, “What happened to you?”

His unnerving eyes just stared at me, through me. Like people on the streets in the Zone, I thought. High as satellites. Except this didn’t feel like chem.

“Stand to attention!” Marko ordered.

Bea and I both made a good attempt. A chill bit my skin, and for a moment I was back at that damn camp, trying not to show my fear. In less than a week, Typhon had transformed Nadim’s former Honors from human beings into automatons. Per various science fiction holos, I should check them over for neural implants or possibly a parasite that might be controlling the host. I’d never thought of those scary vids as instructional before.

“We will review your records.” Chao-Xing stepped to the console and began calling up data with efficient, mechanical, nearly inhuman precision. Even her body language seemed totally different. This was way off. They’d told us we had a week to complete our second training phase, so why were they changing the timetable? Her dead eyes kept me from demanding answers.

Funny thing. Chao-Xing was processing our info, but Marko was the one who stepped closer to me and said, “Honor Cole. You are dismissed.”

“Wait a second! What did I do wrong? Come on, I checked off all your damn boxes, didn’t I?”

You didn’t finish the work, a little voice said.

They can’t fail me, they don’t know that.

Before all this had started, before Derry’s betrayal, I might have felt a thrill at the idea of running wild back to the Zone. Now that I had some distance, that old relationship didn’t seem so much fated as sad. The Zone’s desperate freedom paled against the backdrop of red giants and white dwarves, of black holes, pulsars, and binary stars.

“You are dismissed because you passed,” Marko said, and for a second there was a flicker of . . . something . . . in his expression. A ghost of personality. “Leave, Zara. We’re done with you.”

To cover the enervating rush of relief, I crossed my arms and glared. It was tough, but I managed. “Yeah? Well, maybe I’m not done. I’ll wait.”

Beside me, Bea stepped closer, pressing her arm against mine. Already she felt like somebody I needed to protect. As he registered our closeness, Marko’s aspect warmed further . . . and then that hint of the old Marko melted like ice in an oven as his dead stare locked on to Bea. Who flinched, but held her ground. She raised her chin a bit, in fact.

Silence, as Chao-Xing scanned Bea’s records. Nadim kept quiet, though I could feel his anxiety running through me like a raw, twitching current. There was nothing he could do. If you don’t want anything, they can’t take it away, I considered telling him; it was wisdom I’d earned in a lot of hard places. But I was a hypocrite, because I couldn’t stop wanting, either.

The silence stretched an unbearably long time, with Nadim’s distress coiling inside me. It seemed like her review took twice as long as mine.

Marko finally said, “Honor Beatriz Teixeira. Your performance is unacceptable. You will be dismissed and returned to Earth. A replacement will be selected.”

She let out a breath that was as clear as a cry. Her lips were parted, her eyes wide, and I braced her as she staggered. That expression . . . like a child watching her house burn. Or more accurately, her future.

But she rallied. “If you’ll just tell me where I need to improve, I will make every effort—”

“Waste of time,” Chao-Xing cut in. “Not fast enough. Not bright enough. Unmotivated.”

I found that hard to believe. What the hell were they testing for? Bea had aced the modules that gave me the most trouble; she’d been able to plot courses in record time, when I’d labored over that for half a day before narrowing in on it. She had a grasp of math that I never would. Sure, she’d been nervous at first, but she’d adapted just fine.

“That’s some bullshit,” I said. “Bea’s as clever as they come. And Nadim likes her. Don’t you?”

“Yes,” he answered. I sensed how much it cost for him to say it. “I like Beatriz very much. I see no evidence she is unfit.”

“I didn’t ask for your input.” Chao-Xing appeared to listen to something I couldn’t hear. Her voice changed too, like I was hearing her through electronic distortion . . . or like Elder Typhon was using her vocal cords. “Nadim has no discipline. He is weak and emotional. Therefore, his preferences are insignificant. Honor Teixeira, you are officially—”

“Wait.”

That wasn’t me or Nadim. It was Marko, and it shocked Chao-Xing enough to cock her head. It was the most human gesture I’d seen from her since she’d stepped in the room.

“What?” she demanded.

“Wait,” he repeated, and again, I saw the old Marko in there, fighting to make himself heard. “We came early. A full two days early.”

“And?”

“Give her another solar day to finish her training,” he said. “She isn’t far off. If we had kept the schedule, she might have passed.”

Chao-Xing was suddenly her old self again too; I recognized that annoyed glare, even with the weird eyes. “Honor Cole didn’t need such coddling.”