Dragon Pearl(85)

I lifted my chin. “You can’t have it.”

Seok showed no sign of intimidation as he stepped past me into the room. He calmly sat down at the desk, opened his briefcase, and pulled out a slate, as if we were in his office. He invited me to sit down across from him, but I chose to remain standing.

“By all rights it belongs to the Thousand Worlds as a whole,” he said. “And not as a weapon, as the unfortunate Captain Hwan planned. Yes, I’ve read the reports.” He held up the slate.

I didn’t relish the prospect of bargaining with someone I’d once knocked out with a saucepan. Served me right for panicking. But I was a different person now. I lifted my chin and said, “Considering I helped bring the Pearl back, I want the Dragon Society to offer their terraforming services to my homeworld—to all the worlds—at a price that our governments can afford.”

Seok shook his head. “The Dragon Society is unlikely to agree to that.” He grabbed at the Pearl with his free hand, so quickly that I was caught off guard.

I instinctively snatched up the orb, grazing the top of his head as I pulled it away from him. It flared with a piercing bluish glare, like lightning. Then it went completely dark.

For a horrible moment, I thought I had destroyed the Dragon Pearl forever. But it still felt warm in my hands.

Seok groaned and backed away. Smoke rose from his hair where the Pearl had singed it all the way down to the scalp. It made him resemble a badly shorn sheep. “I take it,” he said, breathing raggedly, “that the Pearl has opinions of its own.”

Trying not to laugh, I pressed the advantage while I could. “That’s right,” I said. “Don’t mess with me again or I’ll do more than ruin your haircut.” I stroked the orb, and its colors began to glow.

“You may hold the Pearl—for now,” Seok acquiesced. “At least until we’ve consulted with the Dragon Society.” He looked down his nose at me. “But then there’s the matter of what we’re going to do with you.”

I braced myself, gritting my teeth.

“You impersonated a Space Forces cadet. That offense carries a serious penalty.”

I knew all about it from reading the code of conduct. I stood up straighter and puffed out my chest in a military posture. “I don’t care what you do with me,” I said. “The only thing that matters is using the Dragon Pearl for good. Agree to my proposal, and then I’ll take my punishment.”

I felt a chill as Jun manifested next to Seok. He gave me a smile and a thumbs-up.

When Seok spotted Jun, he drew back in alarm and muttered some impolite words under his breath. He took a moment to collect himself, then said, “Maybe I can offer you an alternative.”

“Yes?” I asked warily.

“You’ve been very busy, Min,” Seok said. “Over the last two months or so, you’ve run away from home, deceived spaceport security, gotten involved with a gambling den, been in a shoot-out with mercenaries, impersonated a dead cadet and an active captain, released prisoners without authorization, stolen an escape pod, and broken the Fourth Colony’s quarantine.”

It was a good thing I couldn’t see my own face.

“But you have also showed a remarkable combination of abilities and resourcefulness. And you’re still only thirteen. The Domestic Security Ministry could use someone of your talents—if you learned some self-control, that is.”

I had never imagined myself in such a role.

I gestured at Jun. “Could my brother come, too?”

Seok raised his eyebrows. “You’re asking me to hire a ghost? What good would he be to us?”

Jun vanished for a couple moments, then reappeared. “You might want to get a new stylus,” he said. “It looks like someone chewed on the one in your briefcase. I can read the documents you have in there, too, even though it’s dark. . . .”

Seok huffed in exasperation. “The two of you might make a good team,” he conceded. “And, Min, I should point out that the Domestic Security Ministry is one of the branches of the Thousand Worlds government that can shield you from the wrath of the Dragon Society and the Space Forces.”

“You mean I wouldn’t get punished after all?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

Put that way, I had to agree.

“This way we can visit the stars, Min,” Jun said.

“Yes,” I said softly. “But first, Mom.”





Seok and I reached Jinju by civilian transport. It was dizzying to see that familiar reddish sky beneath me, and to imagine it becoming less dust-choked, more vibrant. I patted the Pearl, snug in its pouch, which by that time I had embroidered (not particularly well) with a fox. Eventually I planned to add a goblin, a dragon, and maybe even a white tiger. Seok had assured me that the Dragon Council would take my petition seriously. But even if they agreed to it, nothing was going to happen overnight. Jinju wasn’t like the Fourth Colony. It was a fully inhabited planet, and I couldn’t terraform the whole place willy-nilly without first figuring out how to keep people out of harm’s way.

My scooter was long gone. Seok rented us a hover-car. I was disappointed but not exactly surprised that he wouldn’t let me drive it, considering all the illegal things I’d already gotten away with. At least I didn’t have to give him directions to the house, because he’d been there once before.