MILLICENT: “I can think of one (former) Ya’Makasi who’s got his head on straight. Straighter. Straight-ish.”
ALEJO: “I hear that.”
ALEJO: “And a second who’s . . . brilliant, if a pain in the ass.” Alejo smiles briefly at Ryo.
STORY: “You literally owe me three gigantic favors and you’re calling me a pain in the ass right now.”
TUELLER: “I think he’s flirting.”
STORY: “Gross. Not my type.”
TUELLER: “Also a faux pas in front of Doc.”
MILLICENT: “It is very strange timing.”
MILLICENT: Millie smiles at Ryo.
Chapter 95
TUELLER: “I hear you’ve gotten up to some shit.”
STORY: Thasht blinks at you. She releases Alejo and stands, nodding.
STORY: “I have.”
ALEJO: Alejo stands up slowly. “It’s so good to see you, Thasht,” he smiles tearing up a bit.
TUELLER: “Anything good?”
STORY: “We have conquered many.”
TUELLER: Tueller smiles.
MILLICENT: “Atta girl.”
TUELLER: “Thank you for saving the ship, by the way.”
STORY: She nods. “Half.”
TUELLER: “It’s unclear whether this is a visit or the start of your newfound freedom, but we might need to get your word of honor that you won’t kill anyone on this ship.”
STORY: “Absolutely not. It would be a dishonor to myself and my people not to kill my captors.”
STORY: “Now free me.”
MILLICENT: “I’m confused.”
Chapter 94
STORY: Tueller lifts a large rock, but he’s not used to the gravity on this asteroid and fumbles it. Alejo is quick enough to grab on before it crushes Tueller’s foot, but in doing so he creates a small tear in his suit. The rock’s out of the way, but Alejo has to use both hands to hold the hole in his suit closed.
ALEJO: “So, our usual luck seems to be back.”
MILLICENT: Millie comedy wobbles in her suit behind him. “I kind of missed this.”
TUELLER: “Doc, patch that.”
ALEJO: He awkwardly holds his suit together, stumbling a little as he turns around to smile at her.
STORY: Doc, you have no patches on hand. You have to get somewhere with atmo.
TUELLER: “Shit. Doubletime it here.”
ALEJO: Air keeps escaping in little bursts.
TUELLER: Tueller heads towards the security shuttle as fast as he can.
MILLICENT: Millie wobbles behind. “Did you think I wasn’t going to patch it if I had the ability to?”
ALEJO: Alejo limps along, picking up a very funny looking but surprisingly fast rhythm, sort of like someone skipping.
TUELLER: “I don’t know; I don’t count on us having the same responses ever.”
MILLICENT: “Like, I looked at air escaping the spacesuit of the man I love and I’m like, cool, that looks fine. I’m okay with this situation. Gonna just let all that air escape and hey come back here my sarcasm is wasted on your overly toned ass.”
Chapter 93
STORY: “Open her up, please.”
STORY: Jac’s watching the skies and the radar for pursuit, but there’s none coming yet.
MILLICENT: Millie kicks her feet in her chair and whoops. “It’s been a while!”
MILLICENT: “Just good old fashioned crime!”
ALEJO: Alejo nods, impressed. He unstraps and goes towards the crate.
MILLICENT: “What a hard lifestyle to get up, I think I’m beginning to understand the current recidivism rates.”
STORY: The code key from the briefcase works. Tueller, what’s in the crate?
TUELLER: Three orbs in a triad, about the size of large bowling balls, one glowing red, one glowing blue, and one vantablack.
STORY: “They intact?”
TUELLER: Tueller goes and grabs them without hesitation, and shifts them around.
TUELLER: “No cracks. No deformities. They’re glowing, except for the one that’s obviously NOT supposed to glow.”
STORY: “Good. Seat belts, please. Everyone make it out in one piece?”
TUELLER: “I got egg on me.”
STORY: She turns around at that.
STORY: “Huh. Okay.”
TUELLER: “Hollandaise too.”
Chapter 92
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!”