Legacy Code by Autumn Kalquist Page B

He wasn’t a traitor. No mention of the attack on Tesmee. The guards didn’t save her. Dritan did.
    Chief Petroff took the amplifier from the president’s trembling grip. She clasped her hands together over her abdomen and said something to the chief.
    He spoke into his comcuff, activated his eyepiece, and held the amplifier to his mouth.
    “The penalty for treason against the fleet is death.” The chief stood straighter. “The following colonists have been found guilty of treason—”
    The crowd erupted, and hands raised in the air. Era’s gaze traveled along an invisible line from pointing fingers to a location beyond the glass. She pressed her fist hard into her chest.
    They’d already airlocked the traitors.
    Three objects drifted through the bright stream of light that originated from outside the main airlock. Two pale objects, a third, darker—all of them too far away to see in any detail. Then they were gone, beyond the reach of the lights.
    Unbearable pressure expanded in Era’s chest, and tears sprung into her eyes.
    “Samuel Smith, Meso transfer, planned the attacks. His co-conspirators were Tatiana Carizo and Jonas Keen, also of the Meso .”
    Tears flooded Era’s vision, blurring the scene. Not Dritan.
    Zephyr pulled on Era’s arm, and they joined the subdued crowd moving toward the exit.
    “I told you Dritan would be okay,” Zephyr whispered.
    “Come to my level with me?”
    “I will.”
    ∞ ∞
    Dritan was pacing the entrance to their cubic when Era and Zephyr arrived. The heavy pressure in Era’s ribcage dissolved, and her limbs turned the consistency of tech adhesive gel. She rushed to him, shaky with relief, and he drew her close.
    Era held a hand up to Zephyr. “Thanks.”
    “I’m sorry about those…about your crew members,” Zephyr said.
    Dritan didn’t answer, and after a long pause, Zephyr turned and left.
    “When they said three…” Era tightened her grip on Dritan, willing the shaking to subside.
    “You should go to mess. You need to eat.” Dritan’s voice was gruff, pained.
    How could she eat after what had just happened? She needed sleep. It would take this all away. She shook her head, and Dritan swiped his card across the scanner. Era followed him into their cubic.
    He activated their helio and began to unlace his boots. He gave up before he had them off and sat down hard on the bunk, hands clenched on his thighs. Era sat next to him, but he didn’t look at her. She took off her boots, dropped them to the floor, and rested a gentle hand on his arm. “If you don’t want to talk about it right now…”
    “From the questions they asked, I think they found sabotaged panels. I think—the rivets were purposely damaged before they were installed. I’d never install a rivet that looked like that.” Dritan’s voice cracked. “Tati and Jonas covered for Sam while he did it. I never thought…”
    Era laid a hand on his shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”
    “No. I should’ve,” he said. “The way the three of them talked…I could’ve stopped them.”
    “How did they talk?”
    Dritan shrugged off her hand and crossed to the wall. He slumped against it and stared down at the crumbling black rubber tiles. “They’d all lost people on Soren. Said the kind of kak lots of people say.”
    “Like what?”
    “They called the traitors from the riots martyrs, said they died for ‘the cause.’”
    “Martyrs?”
    Dritan chewed his lower lip and didn't answer.
    “They risked all of our lives, just to get to the president.” Era hugged her knees to her chest. She hesitated, then asked the question that had been lurking at the back of her mind since helio sector. “Dritan…what’d you say to Sam to get him to give you that pulse gun?”
    “I knew he was ready to kill Tesmee. So I told him what I thought he needed to hear.”
    “And what was that?”
    Dritan took a deep breath. “I asked him if he wanted to be remembered as a martyr. Or a murderer.”
    Era