Dragon Pearl(66)

“We can handle that,” said Haneul. “We’re coming with you.”

My heart expanded in gratitude, and I flashed them a grin. “I hope you know what you’re getting into.” I clambered inside, taking the farthest seat, and began strapping myself in. Haneul was next. Then Sujin, who pulled off their invisibility cap and appeared piecemeal, like a jigsaw assembling itself out of the air.

“This is going to buy you a lot of trouble,” I said to the other two, seriously this time. “You could face court-martial, maybe even . . .” I couldn’t say the word execution.

I hadn’t thought Haneul’s face could get any paler. “Sujin managed to sneak in and listen in on what the captain said to you,” she said. “I swore loyalty to the Space Forces and the Thousand Worlds, but what Hwan did, coercing you by threatening your brother, isn’t right. We have to get you out of here.”

“But you don’t have to desert as well,” I said, as much as I hated the thought of being alone.

“What, you want to leave us behind to be tiger snack food?” Sujin said.

“Don’t joke about it,” Haneul said sharply. To me, she said, “We only have one chance to get this right. We’re hoping the captain will want you alive and he won’t shoot down the pod.”

I gulped. “What about the EMP mines?”

“I thought of that,” Sujin said smugly. “I downloaded a map of the mine locations on the sly. We’ll be able to navigate around them.”

“Then we’d better hurry down to the planet so we can look for the Pearl before the captain reaches it,” I said.

I briefly wondered if I should remind them about the probability of our encountering angry ghosts there, but I decided against it. I needed my friends’ help if I wanted to save Jun. I just hoped my Charm would be enough to get us by.

“I was thinking of just hiding there until we could signal another ship to come rescue us,” Sujin said. “Are you saying you know where the Pearl is?”

I nodded without going into detail. I still remembered the landing coordinates and site’s location from the captain’s private log.

“Then there’s really no reason to stay here,” Haneul said. “Er, Jang”—she faltered, then nodded at me—“Min, whatever you call yourself, you’d better program in the landing coordinates and then we’ll launch.”

Luckily, there was a control panel within reach. Sujin input the map they’d smuggled out. Then it was my turn. The pod’s system plotted an arcing trajectory that would skirt the mines and take us down to the Fourth Colony’s surface, near one of the ancient settlements, a city named Jeonbok. The communities had been spread out over the planet’s largest continent, but the location I wanted was near a forest. I hoped the trees wouldn’t prove too much of an obstacle when it came to landing.

I double-checked the coordinates, wishing I had the captain’s logbook in front of me. Using the wrong numbers could send us into an expanse of ocean, or half a continent away from where the Dragon Pearl was supposedly hidden.

“Everyone strapped in?” Haneul asked.

“It’s now or never,” I said, and hit the commands to start the launch sequence. The doors to the escape pod’s launch chute slid closed. Then the lights blinked red three times and a bell-like tone sounded.

Meanwhile, gel cushions came out of the walls. As the cushions inflated, surrounding every part of us except our faces, I fought the panicky desire to claw at them. I knew that in a few moments I’d be grateful for the padding.

The lights flashed again, and the launch indicator lit up. For a second I thought there had been a malfunction, and my heart sank. Then the escape pod rocketed out the chute and I was slammed back against the couch.

Something nagged at me. Didn’t we need to get clearance from the ship before launching? Or had Haneul and Sujin somehow overridden the system before springing me? As tears streamed from my eyes, due to the sudden acceleration, it was difficult to think clearly. I couldn’t reach up to wipe my face because of the cushions, but that didn’t matter. At this speed, I wouldn’t have been able to move my arms anyway. I closed my eyes against the unpleasant pressure and lost consciousness.


“Min! Min, wake up!”

I groaned and started to thrash, but I was trapped. There was something important I had to figure out, but I resisted opening my eyes and facing it. Just give me a few more moments of rest. . . .

“Come on, Min, you need to be awake for this.”

Eventually I recognized Sujin’s voice. I peeled my eyes open. The goblin was unstrapped from the crash couch and their hair floated around their face like they’d been zapped by Haneul’s lightning. Belatedly, I realized this meant we weren’t accelerating anymore—we were back in free fall.

“What’s going on?” I asked, hating how weak my voice sounded. “How’s Haneul?”

“I’m right here,” she called from the next couch.

“If we’re alive,” I said, “that means Captain Hwan hasn’t shot us down yet. So what’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is down there,” Sujin said. “Haneul, show her.”

Haneul brought up the scan display. Or rather, failed to. The scanner was blank, refusing to tell us anything about the Fourth Colony. We couldn’t even determine whether we were headed toward the correct coordinates.