STORY: The voice on the comms sighs. “You know what, fine. They don’t pay me enough for this. Don’t cause trouble and don’t get in trouble. You’ve got a 24 hour visa.”
STORY: An onscreen access code pops up, ringed in green. You’re cleared to dock.
ALEJO: Alejo’s eyes widen. “Ahh, yeah. Great! Thank you. That’s . . . great.” He turns off the coms. Then spins in his chair, big smile.
ALEJO: “Huh.”
ALEJO: He’s still smiling a big, dopey smile.
ALEJO: “I think they might mean to kill us all.”
Chapter 49
TUELLER: “Sure this is a good idea, Doc?”
STORY: Alejo, two of the ships have started moving towards you. They’re maybe ten minutes from intercept at slow burn, faster if they hustle.
MILLICENT: “Of course, now I’ll just send these off and they’ll be goose chasing for”
TUELLER: Tueller checks on the status of the guns.
MILLICENT: “You know, it’s possible I left the subspace metadata in the message.”
TUELLER: “That’s good, right?”
MILLICENT: “Not in this case, no.”
STORY: “That’s bad.” Loll stands behind the three of you, in the doorway to the bridge.
ALEJO: “Someone’s taken an interest in us,” Alejo says, angling away from the two ships and increasing speed, flying casual, but in a hurry.
MILLICENT: “In this case I think it may have been a bit like jumping into the room screaming our name.”
Chapter 47
ALEJO: Alejo leans in towards the fire, warming his hands. “Anyone else feeling like us just patching up and leaving doesn’t sit right?”
MILLICENT: Millie exhales loudly and leans forward. “Oh thank goodness.”
TUELLER: Tueller shrugs wordlessly.
MILLICENT: “We’re the madcap damn the consequences crew and here we were, _minding the consequences_.”
MILLICENT: “I say we get back to damning them.”
TUELLER: “People die.”
TUELLER: “Sometimes people we care about, even.”
ALEJO: Alejo looks at Tueller for a long moment. Then nods once in solidarity.
ALEJO: “We should make the loss mean something, no?”