Then, helplessly, I stared in horror as I realized what he intended. He drove toward the edge of the roof. Dr. Roop believed in his cause, in his rebellion, so much that he would embrace death rather than be captured. Unable to turn away, I saw him leap over the wall to the commercial side of the building. I caught a brief glimpse of his form, arms and legs waving wildly, as he plummeted toward the ground, and then, mercifully, he fell out of sight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
* * *
I gathered everyone together in an open part of the lawn. I’d managed to stop crying at that point, and something else was taking its place.
Dr. Roop was right. Junup was not going to let us live. He was going to kill us all, unless we fought back, unless we became rebels. Dr. Roop was dead, and I would mourn him properly later, but now I didn’t have time to be sad. I only had time for anger.
As soon as everyone was there, I tried to begin speaking, but my throat caught.
“What’s wrong, Zeke?” Alice asked. “You look like you’ve been crying.”
There was nothing to do but launch into it. I took a deep breath in the hopes of steadying my voice. I needed to sound calm and rational. I had to convince them that I was right.
“Dr. Roop is dead,” I told them. “He was trying to get away from the peace officers, but there was nowhere for him to go. He threw himself off the roof of that building rather than be captured.”
Charles called up his keyboard and began typing furiously. “You must be mistaken. I’ve been monitoring the news outputs, and I have not seen anything about this. It is a busy street over there. If someone had fallen, it would cause quite a sensation.”
“I saw it myself,” I said. “They’re covering it up.”
“Did you speak with him?” Mi Sun asked quietly.
“Yeah. He came to warn me. Junup’s plan is a trap. If we try to get off the station, on his ship or any other, he plans to kill us.”
“If we refuse to go,” Colonel Rage said, “then Junup will believe we’ve thrown down the gauntlet, and he’ll come down on us legally or find some other way for us to have a convincing accident.”
“If we do what he wants, we’re going to end up dead or in prison,” I insisted. “It’s time to stop trying to work with him. We have to work against him.”
“It is only the ones from Earth he wants, not us,” said Villainic, gesturing toward himself and Tamret. “And also that reptilian fellow over there. We’re not part of your spaceship mishap. He shall likely let us return to our home worlds.”
“Not being from Earth didn’t help us much yesterday,” Steve said. “By now, he’ll figure we know what they know, which means he won’t be too keen on us. I wouldn’t count on any transportation that Junup arranges getting to where it is supposed to go in a safe and orderly fashion. Besides which,” he added, “we don’t run out on our mates.”
I watched Villainic, now supposedly my brother, and without a doubt he looked agitated. If Junup knew we intended to switch spaceships, it meant someone had told him about our plans. My list of suspects was exactly one Rarel long. Maybe after he’d blown the meeting with the chief justice, Villainic had thought he needed to do something to assure that he would be able to get off the station alive. I didn’t care about Villainic’s reasons, even if he had turned on the rest of us because he wanted to save Tamret. We were all supposed to look after one another, not pick and choose.
“If we can’t go through with the plan, then what’s our move?” Alice asked.
“The Forbidden Zone.” I told them about Dr. Roop’s proposal: how finding the hidden skill tree would also lead us to ships we could use to escape.
“I don’t see why Tamret and I should have to risk ourselves for this civilization that means nothing to us,” Villainic said. “I came here to provide an escort to my betrothed, not to run about and solve problems for aliens. Your plan, Zeke, involves far too many unknowns.”
“What’s not unknown is what will happen to us if we do what Junup wants us to do. If we walk into his trap, we’re finished.”
“That is hardly certain,” Villainic said. “We just have your friend’s word for that.”
“I do not doubt Dr. Roop,” Charles said, folding his arms.
“Dr. Roop wouldn’t lie about something like this,” Mi Sun agreed. “He just died so he could warn us that we’re in danger.”
“There’s no debate,” Steve added. “If he said it was the only way, and he gave his life to tell us that, then it seems to me that we do things his way.”
“I have never met him,” Villainic said. “I cannot offer my opinion.”
“Looks like you’re doing plenty of that, mate,” Steve said.
Colonel Rage had been silent until now, taking all of this in. I’d been wondering which way he was leaning. Now he finally spoke up. “I’ve never met this Dr. Roop either, but I know all of you, and it carries a lot of weight that those of you who know him trust him completely. I’ll be honest with you: His fight is not mine. My responsibility is to get you kids home and bring whatever alien tech I can find with me. If there’s no other way to do that, and it’s looking like there isn’t, I’m prepared to follow Zeke’s advice and find this skill tree.” He looked directly at me. “You have a plan, son?”
“We still have to take that ship in about three hours,” I said, “and we have to go somewhere. We can’t leave the station, or they’ll have us. On the other hand, they can’t catch us if we can get to the Forbidden Zone.”
“Once we get there,” the colonel said, “finding these ships is our priority. If we see a chance to get away, that takes precedence over finding this lost software.”
“No,” I answered, hearing the anger in my voice. “We came back here to help Ghli Wixxix protect the Confederation. Because we were willing to listen to her request, Junup has killed a lot of people, three of whom were close friends. I don’t want them to have died for nothing, and I don’t want Junup to win. He wants to keep us from completing Ghli Wixxix’s mission so badly; I say that’s reason enough to make sure we get the job done.”
“That’s the anger talking,” Colonel Rage said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “It is.”
“Anyone else want to offer an opinion?” Colonel Rage asked, and when Villainic started to speak, he snapped, “Anyone but you.”
“I’m not really one of you,” Alice said, “so I’m sorry if this is ignorant, but it seems to me that Junup is pretty good at rigging the game. If we try to go somewhere other than the spaceport with this stolen shuttle, how do we know he won’t apprehend us or shoot us down?”
“That’s a good point,” Mi Sun said.
I nodded. “Yeah, it is. I think I have a work-around, but it’s ugly and messy.”
“I like it so far,” Steve said. “Let’s hear it.”
“I think I should sit on it until the time is right,” I told him with what I hope was a pointed glance. “Dr. Roop thinks Junup learned about the plan to steal two ships. Maybe it’s best not to take any chances.”
Both Steve and the colonel seemed to understand my point. They looked over at Villainic.
“Understood,” the colonel said. “Let’s establish shifts to make sure no one gets too lonely.”
And just like that it was decided. One of us would keep an eye on Villainic at all times until we left.
• • •
As soon as we stood up, Villainic came over to me, with Tamret standing a deferential distance behind him. “I want you to know that while I respect your desire to honor your friend’s memory, we will not be departing with you. I have decided that we will stay and take our chances with Junup.”
I couldn’t allow that. I’d already promised Tamret that I’d help her escape Rarel, and there was no way I was going to abandon her again. Besides, the minute we were gone, there would be nothing to stop Villainic from telling Junup everything he’d found out.
“That’s not possible,” I said to him. “We all go.”
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“I state my firm position as your brother, so you must honor my wishes.”
“No,” I said, meeting his gaze. “I mustn’t.”
“Have you forgotten that you performed the rite of brotherhood?”
“I didn’t perform anything. One minute we were talking, the next you were shoving your fingers up my nose.”
Tamret stepped forward. “If he didn’t understand the nature of the ritual, then it doesn’t count.”
Villainic turned to her. “Be reasonable, Tamret. You know I didn’t give you permission to speak.”
“Surely there is no harm in my talking to my future brother-in-law.”
“Well, Zeke will qualify as extended family after we’re married, but until then, conversation is still at my discretion. I have been forgiving so far, but if this continues, I’m going to have to get stern with you.”
I moved closer to Villainic. “You touch her, you’re going to spend the rest of your life eating out of a straw.”
Villainic held up his hands. “Zeke, my brother. Where is this hostility coming from?”
“It’s coming from me refusing to let you hurt Tamret.”
“Hurt her?” he asked, genuinely incredulous. “I was speaking of punishments, not inflicting harm. Do you forget that I have agreed to marry her? I don’t think you understand what I’ve done to help her.”
“I understand that she’s not allowed to speak to her friends, and now you’re threatening her.”
“I want her to be respected and successful in our social circles,” Villainic said. “I don’t think that’s wishing her ill.”
“I get that you have your traditions,” I said, “but maybe for the rest of the time we’re here on Confederation Central, it would be easier if you were a little more relaxed about the rules.”
“Of course,” he said, waving his hands wildly. “That’s a wonderful idea. I say, let’s take off all our clothes and start eating Rarel flesh. Who’s with me?”
“What’s this about eating flesh?” Steve asked, walking up to us.
“Zeke wants us to be naked cannibals,” Villainic said.
“I really, really don’t want that,” I said. “What I want is for Tamret to be able to talk to me without you butting in.”
“I speak for both of us. I can’t understand why Tamret’s silence is so troubling to you.”
“Because the last time Tamret and I spent any time together, we did a lot of crazy, impossible stuff, and we survived. A big part of that was our ability to talk to each other without you sticking your snout between us.”
“Snout?” Tamret repeated, folding her arms.
Steve touched the side of his mouth. “What’s wrong with having a snout, flat face?”
“There is nothing wrong with a snout, as long as it’s not in the middle of my business!” I just about shouted.
“Though you are my brother,” Villainic said, “it almost seems that you don’t understand some very basic things. Tamret doesn’t have any business that is not also mine.”
“She does if we want to avoid getting killed,” I told him. “And I don’t care how many times you mash my face with your palm, you are not my brother.”
Villainic took a step back. “Not your brother? But we performed the ritual.”
“I don’t care about your ritual, but that’s the least of the reasons why you are not my brother. Topping the list is the fact that I don’t like you and I don’t trust you. You’re a domineering jerk who doesn’t understand that trying to micromanage Tamret’s every conversation is not only cruel, but is going to get us all killed—just like Urch and Dr. Roop and Nayana. Nayana, by the way, who Tamret made her sister. She did it without any weird face grabbing, and it actually meant something. They looked after each other. You didn’t know the people we lost, and it’s clear you don’t care, but they were my friends, and Nayana was Tamret’s family. Now they’re dead because we have some real enemies with real power coming for us, so you need to stop getting in our way.”
“It seems to me that they’re all dead because you have some real enemies,” Villainic said, folding his arms and raising his chin in triumph. “Not us. You. And knowing that everything bad that has happened is your fault, I still chose to show my gratitude by making you my brother, and this is how you thank me?”
I stepped forward and jabbed him in the chest with a finger. He’d crossed a line. “Your pal Junup is responsible for their deaths. Him, and anyone who works with him. You try to say it’s my fault again, you’ll regret it.”
Villainic took a step back. “I’m sorry if my perspective is so distasteful to you. I thought that, perhaps, after all we’ve been through, you would be interested in my opinion.”
“I’m interested in your doing what I tell you. Otherwise we’re going to leave you behind. Not you and Tamret. Just you. Do you understand me?”
Villainic stared at me, and I swear he looked like he was going to cry.
“He wants to know if you understand him, mate,” Steve said, his voice surprisingly quiet and all the more imposing for it.
Villainic gave a single nod and turned away. His shoulders were hunched, and he seemed to be shaking. I didn’t like the guy—in fact, I kind of hated his guts—but I hadn’t meant to break him.
I started to walk away, to give Villainic some privacy while he picked up the pieces of his broken dignity, but Tamret came after me. I thought maybe she wanted to thank me, but it turned out I’d misread yet another situation.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Tamret said, her voice hard.
That pretty much took care of my regret. “Are you serious? The guy treats you like you’re his property.”
“Because I am, according to our law,” she said. “You may not like it, and nether do I, but he’s a lot nicer to me than he has to be. He’s no one’s idea of a hero, but in his own way he wants what’s best for me. There’s no need to humiliate him.”
“I can’t believe you’re defending him. He’s so . . . bossy.”
“He saved me from a whole lot worse than being bossed around when there was no one else standing up for me. The way I remember it, you promised to be there for me, but you were nowhere to be found. I guess you were too busy with your new friend over there.” She flicked her hand toward Alice and walked off to go speak to Villainic.
I stood there, stunned. The last thing I wanted was to fight with Tamret, and if I was going to fight with her about something, I sure didn’t want it to be about Villainic. I knew I should say something to smooth things over, but she’d stung me about as hard as she could have. I had not been there for her. Villainic had been. Maybe I had no right to judge him.
I was furious with her and with myself. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry and let someone else make the hard decisions for once. Why couldn’t Colonel Rage take charge? Tamret had already walked away from me and was now talking quietly to Villainic. I felt the breaths coming hot into my nose, and I snorted them out again like a dragon.
Somehow, impossibly, I shoved my feelings down. I buried them for another time. I stepped forward and gently put my fingers on her arm.
“Listen,” I said, “I wish things could have been different.”
She shrugged me off. “I’m having a private conversation right now. Can you give us some space?”
So much for burying feelings. I bit back a thousand rejoinders. There was just too much at stake right now. “Fine,” I said. “Just play your emotional games on your own time. I need you to bring your A game when things get serious.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said, but she wouldn’t meet my eye.
I turned away from them. Steve came up to me. “One of us will be on Villainic until go time. He won’t be sending any secret messages to anyone.”
I let out a breath. The last thing I wanted to do now was shadow them around. “Thanks, Steve. That helps.”
“That’s what mates are for,” he said.
He moved off to sta
nd near Villainic and Tamret, and he looked about as natural as a necktie on a platypus, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter if Villainic suspected we were onto him as long as he didn’t communicate with Junup.
I looked away and saw a bush waving at me from across the lawn. I rushed over to talk to it.
“You heard, bro?” it asked sadly.
I nodded. “Yeah. I can’t believe it.”
“He was, like, amazing,” the bush said sadly. “But he knew the risks. He did what was right because he had to. I hope you’ll do the same.” It reached out with one of its branches and touched my data bracelet. A string of numbers flashed and then vanished into an unnamed file. The screen prompted me to give it a name.
“Nothing too obvious, in case you’re captured.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“The map Dr. Roop told you about. You’ll need to decrypt it, but don’t even try until you’re where, you know, you won’t be followed. Good luck to you, Zeke. We’re all counting on you.”
I named the file MATH PROBLEMS and closed it and nodded at the bush, but it was already walking away.
• • •
I was sitting on my bed, waiting for it to be time to leave, when Steve came into the room, followed by Mi Sun, Charles, and Alice. Our rooms had come stocked with a wide variety of clothes, and we all wore heavy pants, long-sleeved shirts, and sturdy boots, which I hoped would be comfortable for wilderness trekking. Our bags were already packed, and Steve told me he had stuffed his with packages of nutritional paste and condensed moisture from one of the compound stores. Smart move, I thought. They probably didn’t have restaurants in the Forbidden Zone.
“I’m glad you thought of that,” I told him.
“It was Alice’s idea,” he said. “She’s the only one who hasn’t gotten used to being handed everything we need while we’re here.”
Alice shrugged. “Back before things got bad for him, my dad used to take me camping all the time.”
I nodded, trying to tamp down the panic as I realized we’d almost traveled into the unknown without basic provisions. We were rushing into this. What else hadn’t we thought of? Everything was happening too quickly.