Rebel Stars 1: Outlaw Page 21

  Webber was about as far as he could get from the front lines of this politico-economical warfare and received most of his news from Rada. He intended to rejoin her soon enough, but for the moment, he had other business.

  It was a long ride from the port. After cruising through an array of neighborhoods, the cab found St. Martin's Street, a quiet neighborhood of single homes. The vehicle whirred to a stop outside a pale blue house. Webber hated himself for caring that its lawn was well-tended, but if the lawn was being seen to, then presumably Dinah was too. He couldn't help smiling: the house was modest, but it was hers.

  He was met at the door by Marcel, the live-in assistant.

  "Mr. Webber?" The man gazed down, apologetic. "Today, she's not feeling so well."

  "Oh." Webber glanced behind him, but he'd let the autocar go. "Maybe tomorrow."

  "She told me to see you inside." Marcel stepped back. "I told her you wouldn't mind coming back, but she insisted."

  "Stubborn. Blame our mom."

  The inside smelled like antiseptic and clean linen. She was in bed, propped up by pillows. She was pale and there was little flesh between her skin and her cheekbones, but the light in her eyes was as lively as the tiny stars that had orbited the machine.

  "Pip!" She laughed, spilling tears. "Even when you called and I saw you on video, I figured it had to be a prank."

  "On myself, maybe." He sat on the bed and embraced her. She felt light and hot but there was some sinew to her. "How've you been?"

  "You don't get to change the subject like that. Why did you do it, Pip? Why did you go away?"

  "You were about to lose the house. I tried to get a loan, but nobody would touch me. Not unless I sold them my life."

  She reached for his hand. "Why? Why give up so much for me? You lost everything, didn't you?"

  "Everything wasn't so much," he laughed. "My life hadn't turned out how I wanted, Dinah. Not at all. I can try to blame Mom, and I'm sure you'll blame yourself, but it was nobody's fault but mine. Keeping you on your feet, and at the same time I get to become someone new…it felt like the only chance I'd ever have."

  "It sounds insane!"

  "The only thing I regretted was I wouldn't be able to see you again."

  "Well, did it work?"

  "I'm here, aren't I?"

  She rolled her eyes. "Your new life. Is it fun? Are you getting to do everything you imagined?"

  He laughed again. "Way more. And it's only getting started."

  "Two scoops of wonderful." Her grin shrank. "Faking your death, though—that's fraud. Will you be in trouble for coming here?"

  "I've made some new friends. One of them is very generous. He's cleared up everything." He grinned at her. "And there's more. How would you like to take a vacation?"

  "Oh yeah? Hawaii? The Sea of Tranquility? The Hotel d'Titan?"

  "Idaho. The cabin. Like when we were kids."

  "I've missed that so much." This time, her smile was the resigned smile of the chronically ill watching life from within the window. "But you know I can't leave here."

  "I don't think you understand," Webber said. "My new friend is Toman Benez. I just got done earning him a second fortune. He's paying for the entire thing."

  Dinah stared at him, eyes clocking between his, searching for signs of a joke. She burst into laughter, then tears, then more laughter. "When can we leave?"

  ~

  She was so wrapped up in the fallout from the fight and the taking of the MA that it was days before the grief hit her. When it did, she stayed in her apartment in the Hive's ring for three days. She left the lights off. Didn't shower. Spent hours staring at the tap of her machine. She held out by imagining Simm seeing her pour and consume the glass. In her mind, he wouldn't leave, but he wouldn't speak to her, either. Not until she was better.

  But willpower was a resource. Finite. She knew she could only hold out so long. For that reason, and because she was as restless as the comets, she rousted herself. Collected his ashes. And walked to Hyrule Castle.

  The automaton lowered the drawbridge and told her to enter as she pleased. Instead, she asked the bot to see if Liam was in. Minutes later, the data hound wandered outside, blinking at the morning light. After their initial greeting and small talk, the conversation dwindled to nothing.

  "Did you hear about Simm?" she blurted.

  His gaze darted across the courtyard. "We sent a card. Didn't you get it?"

  "I did. Thank you." She untucked the box from under her arm. "I have an odd request. His ashes—can he stay here?" She blinked at Liam. "It won't be forever. Soon, I'll take him to the stars. But he wanted to be a part of your team so badly."

  "That's…" Liam shook his head, gazing up at the bubble enclosing the rock. "I was going to say weird. But my whole life's weird. Besides, it's pretty cool, too. Where should he stay? The Tower of Earth? Moon? Mars? Or Meteor?"

  She gazed up at the four high corners of the castle. "He never cared for Earth; too traditional, too crowded. The Moon is fine, but he thought further than that. Meteors would interest him, but they'd frighten him, too—too unpredictable, and they always crash in the end."

  "Please tell me Mars will suffice. We're kind of busy to start work on a fifth tower."

  She laughed a little. "Mars is perfect. It's out there, but it's stable. And there's room to be whoever you please. I think he would have been happy there."

  "Then the Tower of Mars shall be his." Liam held out his hands for the box of ashes. She gave it to him and he gazed down at its brushed metal surface. "The realm has lost one of its finest knights. Yet not in vain: he delivered our grail."

  She wanted to scoff, but if Simm could have heard it, he'd be smiling so hard he'd have to look away. She broke down again. When she finished, however, she felt renewed, as light as hydrogen. She was glad there was a dome overhead in case she started to float away.

  ~

  After a month on Earth, Webber returned to the port. On the flight up, he had a good long look at Founder's Bay and the remains of the mothership that continued to corrode off the coast. Once, it had felt impossibly old, like the last surviving brick of a house that had long ago crumbled into sand. Now, however, the ship looked like the fossil of a prehistoric shark, once believed extinct, discovered to be hiding in deeper waters than humanity could navigate.

  One of Toman's ships awaited him in orbit. It picked up a few other passengers in the Belt, but for most of the ride, he had it to himself. He made the Hive in short order. A cart carried him across the ring to the rock and then to the castle.

  Rada awaited him outside. "How was Dinah?"

  "Good," Webber said. "We went to the mountain. We hiked around, explored. After two weeks, she ran. Only for a few steps. But I haven't seen her run in years."

  "That's incredible. And no trouble with the law?"

  He shook his head. "Toman's a wizard."

  "Sufficiently large quantities of money are indistinguishable from magic, aren't they?"

  "And how've you been?"

  "Getting there." She turned to stare up at the castle's dark, gleaming tower. "Sooner or later, I'll be able to convince my head that it's over."

  "Is it?" Webber said. "We killed the assassin. But he was just a cog in the machine. The people who sent him are still out there."

  "You mean FinnTech. One of the largest arms manufacturers in the system—check that; after their merger with Valiant clears, the largest. Every government on Earth is too busy lining up to buy Finn's newest gizmos to pretend to investigate his company."

  "Toman's no slouch in the arms department. Besides, I know how to get a far more valuable ally than Valiant."

  "Please tell me you haven't stolen a page from their book and struck a secret deal with the aliens."

  "Nope." A slow grin spread across his face. "The Locker."

  "You want to come after Finn with an army of pirates?"

  "Privateers," Webber corrected. "Together, their armada will rival anything FinnTech can mu
ster."

  She laughed, the noise echoing across the courtyard. "Assuming you can get them under one roof. Call them what you want, but at the end of the day, they're pirates. They won't be easy to unite, Admiral."

  "Admiral Webber," he said, testing the words. "I like the sound of that."

  "You can dream when you sleep. Right now, it's time to work."

  He glanced up. The artificial light hid the stars, but he knew they were waiting beyond the thin shield of the dome. Once upon a time, they'd felt forbidding, a wilderness you could get lost in if you took the wrong step.

  Now, though, they looked more like a map—one that would lead him to his destiny among them.

  FROM THE AUTHOR

  OUTLAW is the first book in a series--one that I can't wait to explore further. To make sure the books keep coming, please leave a review. Want to make sure you hear when future books are out? Just sign up for my mailing list.

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