He’s avoided saying my name or talking to me entirely.
Even though I don’t trust him, I do feel bad for putting him in this situation, and–should he be captured by the Imperials–if he wants plausible deniability that he helped the rogue Tsarina, I won’t deny him that.
“Okay, we’re at the new altitude,” Tomas says. “And the ship hasn’t been crushed like a tin can, so I guess you’re right. How do we find the jungles? How many of them are there even?”
“Thousands,” I whisper. “Just keep flying until your scanner picks up something.”
“Scanner?” Tomas asks. “You mean my peepers?” He points to his eyes.
“What?” Aegus says, nearly strangling him. “This ship has no sensors of any kind?”
“You might want to steal a better ship next time,” Tomas says. “Look, though, if there’s thousands of these things at this altitude, we just keep flying until we hit one.”
“How is visibility?” Aegus asks. “We will not actually hit it before you can slow down. Correct?”
“As long as someone keeps their peepers wide open, we should be able to stop in time. I’m going to go have a nap though,” Tomas says. “If you see one of the jungles, just holler at me, and I should be able to–”
“Show me which control,” Aegus says, gritting his teeth.
“Oh,” Tomas says. “If you see the jungle, just pull this lever all the way down, and you’ll come to a halt. The jungle will be moving, though, so make sure you wake me up quickly so I can get us onto it.”
“Go take your nap,” Aegus says, side-eyeing Tomas.
As soon as Tomas disappears into his cabin, Aegus shakes his head. “Human males are weak and inept! They can’t be relied on for anything!”
“Oh, come on,” I say. “What about Donovan? He could have escaped with us, but volunteered to stay back in the lion’s den to help me.”
“An exception,” Aegus says, crossing his arms.
“Well,” I say, “human men can’t rely on crazy jerky-powered armor that can do almost anything.”
“I don’t rely on my armor,” Aegus says. “I am a formidable warrior even with no weapons.”
“Yeah,” I say, “because you can turn into a giant purple bear. That took me by surprise, by the way. Why can you turn into a bear, exactly?”
“Evolution across all planets is very similar. We found this ‘bear’ animal on a planet millennia ago, and we incorporated it into our DNA.”
“So that you could transform into a big purple bear?”
“No,” he says, “so that we could hibernate on our trips across the stars.”
“And this is your last trip?” I ask, skeptical.
I’d heard what his faction believes. Marauder DNA in a child has always meant that it was impossible to interbreed among Marauders. The only way–for thousands of years–for Marauders to reproduce was to fly to new solar systems and find untouched DNA. But supposedly, humans are the end of the line. Human-Marauder offspring can reproduce with both Marauders and humans. They no longer need to travel from star to star; they can settle down.
“If things go my way,” Aegus says. “If my plan is executed successfully…”
“I guess this whole thing with Bahamut isn’t getting your plan off to a good start?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “But the solution will now be much easier than before.”
“What’s the solution?”
“I kill him.”
* * *
“ T here !” I shout, pointing.
Aegus has fallen asleep on the couch, and the floating jungle appears from through the clouds just in front of us. We’re suddenly on top of it.
I pull back the lever that Tomas showed me, and the engines cut to a low hum.
“Tomas!” I shout. “Aegus, wake him up!”
Aegus springs to his feet and starts pounding on Tomas's door.
The ship still has momentum, and it floats closer to the jungle even as it slows down.
Aegus is pounding on Tomas’s door like an animal.
The ship finally comes to a halt, and I see that the jungle is
Even though I don’t trust him, I do feel bad for putting him in this situation, and–should he be captured by the Imperials–if he wants plausible deniability that he helped the rogue Tsarina, I won’t deny him that.
“Okay, we’re at the new altitude,” Tomas says. “And the ship hasn’t been crushed like a tin can, so I guess you’re right. How do we find the jungles? How many of them are there even?”
“Thousands,” I whisper. “Just keep flying until your scanner picks up something.”
“Scanner?” Tomas asks. “You mean my peepers?” He points to his eyes.
“What?” Aegus says, nearly strangling him. “This ship has no sensors of any kind?”
“You might want to steal a better ship next time,” Tomas says. “Look, though, if there’s thousands of these things at this altitude, we just keep flying until we hit one.”
“How is visibility?” Aegus asks. “We will not actually hit it before you can slow down. Correct?”
“As long as someone keeps their peepers wide open, we should be able to stop in time. I’m going to go have a nap though,” Tomas says. “If you see one of the jungles, just holler at me, and I should be able to–”
“Show me which control,” Aegus says, gritting his teeth.
“Oh,” Tomas says. “If you see the jungle, just pull this lever all the way down, and you’ll come to a halt. The jungle will be moving, though, so make sure you wake me up quickly so I can get us onto it.”
“Go take your nap,” Aegus says, side-eyeing Tomas.
As soon as Tomas disappears into his cabin, Aegus shakes his head. “Human males are weak and inept! They can’t be relied on for anything!”
“Oh, come on,” I say. “What about Donovan? He could have escaped with us, but volunteered to stay back in the lion’s den to help me.”
“An exception,” Aegus says, crossing his arms.
“Well,” I say, “human men can’t rely on crazy jerky-powered armor that can do almost anything.”
“I don’t rely on my armor,” Aegus says. “I am a formidable warrior even with no weapons.”
“Yeah,” I say, “because you can turn into a giant purple bear. That took me by surprise, by the way. Why can you turn into a bear, exactly?”
“Evolution across all planets is very similar. We found this ‘bear’ animal on a planet millennia ago, and we incorporated it into our DNA.”
“So that you could transform into a big purple bear?”
“No,” he says, “so that we could hibernate on our trips across the stars.”
“And this is your last trip?” I ask, skeptical.
I’d heard what his faction believes. Marauder DNA in a child has always meant that it was impossible to interbreed among Marauders. The only way–for thousands of years–for Marauders to reproduce was to fly to new solar systems and find untouched DNA. But supposedly, humans are the end of the line. Human-Marauder offspring can reproduce with both Marauders and humans. They no longer need to travel from star to star; they can settle down.
“If things go my way,” Aegus says. “If my plan is executed successfully…”
“I guess this whole thing with Bahamut isn’t getting your plan off to a good start?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “But the solution will now be much easier than before.”
“What’s the solution?”
“I kill him.”
* * *
“ T here !” I shout, pointing.
Aegus has fallen asleep on the couch, and the floating jungle appears from through the clouds just in front of us. We’re suddenly on top of it.
I pull back the lever that Tomas showed me, and the engines cut to a low hum.
“Tomas!” I shout. “Aegus, wake him up!”
Aegus springs to his feet and starts pounding on Tomas's door.
The ship still has momentum, and it floats closer to the jungle even as it slows down.
Aegus is pounding on Tomas’s door like an animal.
The ship finally comes to a halt, and I see that the jungle is
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