MILLICENT: “Captain Forsythe, can we assume that we’ve all made the necessary threats?”
TUELLER: “I don’t say this threateningly, but if she dies, a whole lot of other people do as well.”
TUELLER: “Including me, I suppose.”
ALEJO: “Please take care of her.”
MILLICENT: “Oh well, I suppose some of us will feel inclined to spell it out.”
TUELLER: “That’s the gist, yes.”
MILLICENT: “Fine, then. The threats are handled.”
TUELLER: “Yeah, I’m good.”
MILLICENT: “And you knew my name, so you should know that we’re quite capable of following up on them.”
MILLICENT: “Now then.”
STORY: “My friends, as much as I understand your stress reaction, you must understand it’s rather ridiculous to threaten me here.”
TUELLER: “We know that, and yet.”
STORY: “Do you know how many crew we have onboard?”
ALEJO: “We’re still finding our rhythm again. Sorry for the confusing banter.”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles. “Our specialty.”
MILLICENT: She turns to her crew, “Guys, we have to tighten this up. We’re all throwing off each other’s quite threatening vibes.”
TUELLER: “I said it wasn’t a threat!”
Chapter 91
CIRCE: “Mr. Hanaka, they’re guards.”
ERWIN: Erwin’s eyebrows shoot up as he passes the guards. He mouths “Wowsers”
RYO: Ryo frowns. “How very astute of you, Circe.”
CIRCE: “They don’t deal with the appeals.”
RYO: “Again. Can’t pull one past you. But they do have keys to the cell.”
ERWIN: “Oh, I thought he meant if they wanted a bribe they would let Loll out so they wouldn’t have to deal with an appeal.”
CIRCE: “So just offer them the bribe, rather than pretend you’re saving them work.”
CIRCE: “Is…is this your first bribe?”
RYO: Ryo laughs at both of them. “I’d rather not wind up in a cell myself.”
RYO: “And if they’re too dense to understand that I was offering one, then they aren’t going to take one.”
ERWIN: “It’s my first bribe.”
ERWIN: “But you probably knew that.”
RYO: “I guessed.”
Chapter 75
STORY: The Ryo lookalike throws himself against the real Ryo and they tussle on the floor for a moment.
STORY: Rolling, one flipping the other over.
RYO: The real Ryo tires to use his ring to knock the thing out!
TUELLER: Tueller tries to separate them, but, you know, I like a good doppelganger dividing set up.
STORY: Ryo, you get a good shot on him, and it really rings his bell, but before you know what’s happening you’re both standing up, both a little hazy from the combat, both ready to convince your friends you’re the real one.
RIGHT RYO: Ryo looks at you, Ryo.
LEFT RYO: Ryo looks back, adjusting his glasses.
RIGHT RYO: “That was bracing.”
MILLICENT: “Hmmm.”
LEFT RYO: The Ryo on the left dusts off his jacket, adjusts his glasses, and looks unhappily at his doppelganger. “Oh, come on.”
MILLICENT: Millie leans over to Tueller and stage whispers. “You know, it occurs to me that we don’t really have to make a choice here. We could just space them both.”
TUELLER: “That works for me.”
MILLICENT: Millie shrugs.
Chapter 74
TUELLER: “I’ve reset our course for Io, by the way.”
TUELLER: “Esi’s there so we might as well go right there.”
RYO: Ryo just looks at him.
STORY: Figgan’s standing behind Tueller, just shaking her head disapprovingly. “I tried to stop him.”
STORY: “He’s so much bigger than me.”
TUELLER: “I am.”
STORY: “This is suicide, though.”
RYO: “He’s bigger than us all put together.”
TUELLER: “No, we’ll be fine.”
RYO: “But I agree that this isn’t a prudent path.”
MILLICENT: “Oh good, you have a plan?”
TUELLER: “No.’
MILLICENT: “I’m very interested to hear your-oh.”
MILLICENT: “I see.”
TUELLER: “We’ll figure something out.”
MILLICENT: “I’d like to address some concerns I have.”
Chapter 71
TUELLER: “Huh. No madmen in your family, I guess.”
RYO: “Oh, plenty. Just didn’t pass on to me.”
TUELLER: “No one studies Nixon anymore either, I guess.”
TUELLER: “Or Machiavelli.”
STORY: “Didn’t they lose?”
TUELLER: “Well, sure. That time.”
MILLICENT: “Was. Was there another time?”
RYO: “Unless you think that The Prince sheds some light on this situation, I don’t see what Machiavelli has to offer us right now.”
TUELLER: “Discourses on Livy, technically.”
MILLICENT: “Hey! Book club!” Millie snaps her fingers.
STORY: “Hey. Brain geniuses.”
STORY: Calixta smiles at Millie.
RYO: Ryo frowns.
STORY: “I have an idea.”
MILLICENT: “I don’t like not being the one who is getting lost in an academic aside.” Millie smiles back at Calixta.
Chapter 68
STORY: “You see that?”
STORY: Calixta points at the screen.
MILLICENT: “It’s a bathroom.”
STORY: “Jump relays aren’t crewed.”
STORY: “What’s a bathroom doing inside one?”
MILLICENT: “It’s kind of a nice bathroom.”
MILLICENT: “What’s living on the jump relays?”
Chapter 67
STORY: You watch dozens of employees converge on the cargo bay, taking up positions around the Augusta King, some armed, some just there to see what they can offer.
STORY: They don’t see you, since you’re on the other side of an air vent, but you’re about 20 meters from the ramp into the belly of Chandra’s ship. It’ll be a quick and dangerous run.
STORY: And as you wait for whatever distraction Calixta’s arranging, you realize you’re not likely to all make it out of this. Tueller, you assume, is onboard. But three people running through a firing squad?
STORY: Your luck is going to run out.
MILLICENT: Millie reaches her hand out, still staring out at the troops.
ALEJO: Alejo gets them both into place, ready to make the run when that distraction comes. “Doc, when the moment comes, you run. You run and don’t look back, alright. That’s a gods damned order. You have to make it. I can’t do this without you. You can without me.” He takes her hand.
MILLICENT: Millie stifles a laugh. “Yes, captain.”
MILLICENT: “Mr. Soto?”
ALEJO: He smiles and shakes his head. “Cap to you.”
ALEJO: He squeezes her hand. And then gets serious again.
MILLICENT: “Cap. I’m so very glad you chose my ship to steal.”
Chapter 64
RYO: “Chandra wants Doctor Breedlove’s help. Needs it, actually. The only way to get that is to give her something that doesn’t matter. I’m giving her an ally. And information that is unimportant.”
RYO: “If you make me make this pitch to Chandra, I will. But that’s not the position you want. You want something over me. You know I’ll win the battle. You want the war.”
SIOBHAN: “That’s your play here? The triple cross?” Siobhan scoffs.
RYO: He shrugs. “Quadruple. But yeah. It’s what I do.”
RYO: “You have your skills. Which I grudgingly respect. I have mine. And you know it.”
SIOBHAN: “You’re freelancing, but you think Tormod will agree with you once you tell him?”
RYO: “You know he will. I have far too much political capital to burn. Will he be pissed? Sure. But if you play this card now, you lose your leverage. You let this play out, it gets me in deeper . . . you might have enough to move me out of second position.”
SIOBHAN: “I’m not political, and I’m not going to go any higher than CTO, so I’m mostly just curious to see how he’ll respond when he sees this. Thanks for talking into the camera.” Siobhan taps the side of her UberGoogle Glass. She turns, and her computer interface spike comes out as she walks to a terminal.
SIOBHAN: “I hope we both see how this goes.”