Fledge (30 page)

I squint at him. "Well, you're not making a great first impression."

He flicks his fingers and the guys back off. I nod to them and they nod back. It's not their fault he's excitable. I hold on to the arms of the chair as the flyer banks hard to the left and we glide into a parking structure.

"Have you been off Amelia before?"

I shake my head. "No, except to look at the stars with Lucan."

He stares at me for a split second and I catch his surprise before he locks it down. "Well, you are about to leave. We need to transfer to the ship that will take us to Justice. The men will remain on alert but will not target you. If you attempt to–"

I cut him off. "Rache, we're on the same fucking side. I'm not gonna make any attempts to do anything."

He smiles. "You'll excuse me if I'm suspicious. You are the only person that I know of who has successfully lied while under the truth drugs."

I keep my mouth shut for that one.

"Lucan confessed your actions, Junco."

I shrug. "It's always a bitch trying to predict how a drug will react with certain metabolisms. That's pretty basic toxicology and you should really have a handle on the possible side effects if you're gonna give that shit to humans."

"Half human," he corrects me.

"One third actually," I say as I turn my head away.

The door opens and we all exit and transfer to a waiting ship only a few dozen meters across the terminal. The G is light and feels artificial so I figure we're near the center edge of the torus. I enter the ship and buckle myself into the harness. A warrior sits next to me this time, his weapon stowed. He leans over and extends his hand. "Monk."

I smile and shake it. "Junco."

"Don't mind Rache, he's really not bad."

"Yeah, OK. So, is this gonna take long? This is my last day before Fight Seven and I wanted to spend it doing something fun."

"You'll be gone all day, sorry."

I nod and look away. "Not your fault."

I watch out the window as we are propelled out into the blackness of space and jump a little bit when the thrusters rumble alive to push us to wherever we're going. Being out in space in a little transport ship like this isn't as exciting as it sounds. In fact, there is absolutely nothing to look at and you're constantly adjusting yourself in the harness chair because free-G and sitting in one place don't really go together. I sleep the entire way and only wake up when Monk's hand forcibly shakes me back into reality.

I unbuckle my harness and stumble a little in the light G as I make my way to the door. From there the gravity evens out and I get heavier as we move through a series of polished tile hallways until we reach an unobtrusive beige door.

The guards talk on implant coms and we wait until some unknown signal tells us to proceed through the door. Rache goes first and turns left, I am directed to go right, led down another long hallway and through another door that leads out into what I could only describe as a courtroom.

Lucan is already there, but the other 039 aren't. He must have used his little teleportation thing to get there ahead of us. He comes over and dismisses the warriors around me with contempt.

"I apologize, Junco. They did not inform me of this until this morning."

"I figured, obviously."

He leads me over to a chair in the center of the room and motions me to sit. "Any advice?"

He smiles. "Just tell the truth, Junco. And if the AI gets involved, refuse to listen this time. It is important that we build trust with Justice."

I nod and he leaves and takes a seat in the circle of chairs which surround my own. Nothing like being in the hot seat.

"State your name for the record."

I look up at an officiator who stands in a corner of the room with a panel of other people, monitors maybe. "Junco Abigail Coot."

The officiator comes over with a red book and places it in front of me. "Put your left hand on the Bible and hold up your right hand."

I do.

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you or may God strike you down dead?"

I almost laugh, but I hold it in. "I do." He takes the Bible back. "But my God doesn't strike people down dead. Just to be clear, that's not how the oath goes."

"Junco."

I look over at Lucan and shrug. "Sorry."

"State your age and place of residence."

"Nineteen. The Fledge place on Amelia. I don't know what it's called."

"Did you lie in the last testimony?"

"Yes."

"How were you able to lie?"

"I have a program inside me that can counteract the drugs."

"Did you ask the program to counteract the drugs when you were giving testimony?"

"No."

"Why did the program run?"

"I don't know." I hear a lot of murmuring from the back panel and look over, squinting my eyes.

"Are you running any programs now?"

"No."

He looks at me dubiously. "None?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know how to run them."

Lucan stands and speaks like he's bored out of his mind. "Objection. The topic has been exhausted."

"Sustained." The ruling comes from a voice in the ceiling and I figure out the process. The officiator is a prosecutor. Lucan is my defender. The voice is Rache, the judge.

The officiator tries a new tactic. "We've thrown out the treaty charge for Captain Raubtier at any rate, so we will not rehash that issue today. Today I want to know why he didn't kill you as he was instructed."

I frown. "Shouldn't you ask him that?"

"I have asked him that, now I am asking you."

I sigh. Loudly. "He told me that he made the decision to disobey orders when he saw how I reacted after I crashed my Goat into a tree on my way to The Stag."

"Continue."

"He said I was fearless, that I wasn't a quitter, and that he felt I'd have a lot to offer you, the avians, if I was just told the truth once in a while."

"Continue."

"That's it."

"That is all the reason he gave?"

I nod. "Yes. That's it."

"Did he mention the reward for bringing you back?"

My heart skips. "No."

"Did he mention what he might receive if he brought you back?"

"I actually did ask him that, believe it or not. I'm a rather suspicious person by nature. And he said he was looking for redemption."

A lot of murmuring from the back panel now, and I can't help myself, I turn and look over at them.

"From what, specifically, was he seeking redemption for?"

"Killing a lot of people I think."

"Did he tell you who these people were?"

"No, but I was told by someone else who they might be."

"So you knew that he was responsible for killing children?"

"Objection, this is embellishment."

I look over at Lucan but stay silent.

"Overruled, continue, Miss Coot."

"I know he killed mutant children out at The Stag Camp, he said they were monsters."

"Who else did you think he killed?"

"Corporate humans. I don't really know."

"It wasn't worth asking about? To know this for sure before you decided to leave your planet and come to a strange world, uninvited?"

"Well, I've killed a lot of people myself, so you know – typically we just do the old wink and a nod at that stuff, right? Like the code among thieves."

"Junco." I look over at Lucan and he shakes his head at me.

"I absolved him," I say, shrugging.

The officiator looks at me strangely now. "You what?"

"I absolved him. From whatever it was he did."

"Miss Coot, please explain how that works for those of us unfamiliar with the process."

I exhale loudly. "I forgave him, in advance. Before knowing what he did."

He stares at me now, like I'm a wart on his hand. "Why?"

"Because I needed to trust
someone
and I really wanted it to be him. And I didn't want to hear what he did. I tried to prevent him from telling me, in fact."

"Did anyone send you here, Miss Coot?"

"No."

"What do you hope to receive from the avians, if we should allow you to stay?"

I stare at the officiator, then look over at Lucan as my heart begins to race. "You're kicking me out?"

"I didn't say that, Miss Coot. What would you want from the avian people if they should allow you to stay?"

I take a breath and calm myself as the vision screen comes alive.
Tell them: to be accepted and allowed to prove myself.

"To be accepted and allowed to prove myself."

"And how could you prove yourself to the avian people?"

Say: I will bring back the Siblings on Earth and deliver the code you need to survive.

I say it and the room erupts in a gasp. I look over at Lucan and he gives me an ever-so-slight nod.

"I have no further questions."

The voice above erupts. "Miss Coot, you are free to leave with your Archer."

Lucan comes over and takes my hand, leading me towards the door, then touches my shoulder and we are outside Fledge.

"Well done, Junco."

"She told me to say that."

"Well, thank the gods above that she did because it probably just saved your life."

Chapter Thirty-Two

I walk into Fledge and it is so quiet I think that the entire place is empty. But when I look around I see that all fifteen of us are there, just spread out among the many, many extra beds.

"What's going on?"

At first no one answers, then Kush comes up. "There was a pretty big fight earlier, everyone's upset."

"What was it about?"

He shrugs. "Who will live and who will die tomorrow, Junco. Fuck."

He walks away and I go sit down next to Tessen. "Bad day, huh?"

She nods. "Where have you been, Junco?"

I sigh. "I was on trial, I think."

"What?"

"Yeah, at first I thought I was there to testify against Tier, but I think I was on trial myself. To see if they will let me stay or kill me, or whatever."

She looks at me, stunned. "So what happened?"

"I promised to bring the Siblings back from Earth if they let me stay. Who'd have fucking thought that I'd be bummed about being sent back to Earth." I look up at her. "But I am."

"Then why did you volunteer?"

"I had to. I think they were gonna kill me, Tessen."

I leave and go over to my bunk. Isec's bunk hasn't changed from when I woke up, but he's either sleeping or pretending to be asleep and has his back to me. That's OK with me. I can't face him right now anyway. I change into my bed clothes and lie down, thinking about tomorrow until I drift off.

The next morning there is no alarm, but we all wake early. I sit on the side of my bunk moving my almost healed ankle around in circles and looking around at everyone, then get up and take my shower and dress in my uniform. I grab all my junk in my cubbie and take it over to my bed. I don't know what will happen after the battle, but I want to sort through things before we have to leave.

I find a bunch of notes from Lucan and the guys that I never saw. From after the first testimony when I was mad. It seems so long ago, that fight with Ashur. I sort the stuff out into three bags and leave them at the foot of my bed.

And then I sit there. Just like everyone else. And we do absolutely nothing until the call comes to line up for the fight.

The prep room is small and the markings on the floor are back. This time they have a moon shape and they line us up in a crescent, all facing the same direction. I am in the middle somewhere, between Annun and Tessen. Neither Kush nor Isec are talking to me this morning and I don't even note where they are in line.

I feel the silence before start, and swallow as we are shunted upward. We erupt into a large arena that I recognize as the free-G room where Ashur taught me to fly, but the perimeter is filled with people. The mushrooms that I practiced flying and jumping on have been turned on their sides and they flank us, five on one side and five on the other. My feet are stuck to the floor and I jump a little as the observers begin to clap politely.

Annun looks down at me and I shake my head and shrug. I see Ashur and the guys in the center, behind Lucan, and then as I look around I see other Archers, with their personal Aves teams sitting behind them. I even see Rache and his guys. Monk catches my gaze and waves. Behind the Archers are more warriors.