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 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!”
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 90
TUELLER: “Meet a copy of Alejo who didn’t die.”
STORY: Ryo stands, tilting his head. After a long beat. “Huh.”
ALEJO: Alejo waves.
STORY: He extends his nonbroken hand.
TUELLER: “He’s the original, as original as any of us are. We’ll all copies, if we’ve gone through a relay.”
TUELLER: “I think I’m probably Tueller 23.”
ALEJO: Alejo shakes it. “I’m still Alejo. So, we’ve met.”
STORY: “That’s incredibly upsetting. Sorry about your, uh. Nose.”
Chapter 79
MILLICENT: “We need a supercomputer. Well, we need a network of supercomputers. And they must be in the Sol system.”
RYO: Ryo nods and tilts his head thoughtfully, listening for the rest of the details.
MILLICENT: “And I doubt anyone who owns such an array in the Sol system will be amenable to the idea of Noma and myself commandeering their use so we can peer under the hood of the most advanced and crucial tech in the system.”
STORY: Calixta moves over to a console. “You mind?”
RYO: “Please.”
STORY: She pulls up a star chart.
STORY: Pointing at the current locations of the planets in the system, she explains. “Got a couple options. We can all become priests and use the Exodus supercomputer on Enceladus. We can break into Chandra’s base on Titan, good luck with that one, or, well, there’s Io.”
STORY: “But I suspect Esinam Ya’Makasi isn’t interested in letting us borrow some time on her rig.”
STORY: “So basically we’re fucked three ways.”
MILLICENT: “One of three ways.”
MILLICENT: “Now we must simply choose the manner of our fucking.”
RYO: Ryo nods in agreement. “Spoiled for choice.”
Chapter 78
STORY: “You and Tueller are known enemies. Why should we believe your testimony for a moment?”
STORY: Sergio smiles again, looking Tueller in the eye. “What have I got to lose? I’m receiving nothing for my testimony today, no deals made. I simply wish to see justice done.“
STORY: Becker shakes his head, looks back at Tueller.
STORY: “No further questions, your honors.” He sits next to Tueller, puts a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
TUELLER: “You’re worth every penny I spent on you.”
TUELLER: “And not one more.”
Chapter 77
STORY: You find the room relatively quickly. You can see a smallish man inside the machine, prone, not moving. It’s on.
STORY: A large glass window and a locked door bar your entry to this room.
RYO: Ryo is with Millie.
RYO: He looks for something to break through the glass.
STORY: Ryo, there’s a cart with some equipment on it nearby, about hip height, looks liftable.
MILLICENT: Millie points.
MILLICENT: At the room they need to get into.
RYO: Ryo dumps the equipment and heaves it through the glass.
STORY: The cart bounces off the glass and rattles on the floor, its contents scattering everywhere.
RYO: Ryo looks at it for a long moment. Then adjusts his glasses. He looks a Millie and shrugs. “Other ideas?”
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 73
TUELLER: “Thank you Ryo. Your plan got us here. You got us in a room with her. My name couldn’t have done that without you.”
MILLICENT: Millie nods. “You’ve been far more capable than I’ve given you credit for.”
RYO: “Kind of you to say, Mr.,” he catches himself, “Tueller.” He nods, genuinely appreciatively. “But I don’t think that my part did all that much. I’m . . . so impressed by you.” He then looks at Millie. “Both.”
TUELLER: “Epaphus will also do, if you must call me Mr. Something.”
RYO: “Mr. Epaphus dem lo bin Sol.” He nods again.
TUELLER: “I prefer nicknames, though.”
TUELLER: “No need to go the full mouthful.”
RYO: “It’s actually growing on me.”
MILLICENT: Millie shakes her head. “I don’t know. It’s too long.”
MILLICENT: “Grandiose.”
RYO: “Precisely!”
RYO: Ryo beams.