Lex glanced over his shoulder, down into the chasm below. The shuttle hovered ten, maybe fifteen meters above the ground. He considered jumping—then crawling, if he had to, to the space elevator. At best, he’d break both legs.

"I had your ID checked earlier," Zara Thandros said. "Leru Rey’a? What a joke of a name. You’re Lex Marrow. The convict boy from Limbo Two. I’d recognize your stupid face anywhere."

The boy remained silent. The shuttle was on course for DENOVA-2’s police station, estimated arrival: two minutes. That was all the time he had to come up with an escape plan. But planning wasn’t exactly his strength. His plans always seemed to go wrong.

"Do you know what happens to terrorists up here?" Thandros asked.

He didn’t answer.

He felt her move closer. Her breath brushed his skin; her perfume filled his nostrils. The fine hairs on his arms stood on end.

"Rats like you," she continued, "we dispose of with the trash. We send them into the cold void of space, where the vacuum makes the tears in their eyes boil. Where it foams the blood in their veins and bursts the air in their lungs."

She leaned forward until her face crept into the edge of his vision. He stared straight ahead, his mind racing. Should he take her hostage when they reached the security station?

His dry tongue darted across cracked lips as he considered how to pull it off. The only dangerous thing about him was the dormant strength in his prosthetic. Could he use it as a weapon?

"What’s wrong, Lex Marrow?" she teased. "For such a loudmouth, you’re awfully quiet. I’d expect you to have a lot to say to me. Not only did you make it back from Luvanda—a miracle in itself—but somehow you’ve come back rich. Impressive. It’s almost as if you’re trying to win my trust, to impress me."

Lex shifted uneasily in the soft leather seat.

"But there’s still one thing I don’t understand," Thandros said.

"What’s that?"

"No offense, kid, but the brightest mind of the New World clearly doesn’t rest on your shoulders. And you don’t have the guts to make it out here. So where did all that money come from? Honest work?"

Lex clenched his jaw.

Below, residents passed by, formless figures, formless objects, a shapeless world blurred by his unfocused gaze. His only clarity was within: the question of what to say to her to buy himself a chance.

"From the Crimson Dawn," he said.

Silence followed.

A suffocating pause that electrified the air between them. He knew, instinctively, that no answer could have shocked Zara Thandros more than this one.

But she recovered quickly.

"How many of you are up here?" she asked coldly. There was ice in her voice, but he thought he detected a trace of bitterness too.

"Are you planning to take innocent people down with you on DENOVA-2, just because you’re unhappy with your own lives?"

"My visit has nothing to do with the Crimson Dawn," Lex said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zara Thandros pursed her lips. He caught the movement from the corner of his eye. She didn’t need to voice the question on her mind; he already knew what it was.

"They owed me a favor," he said. "That’s why they gave me the money. I wanted to come here. But the reason I’m here? That’s personal."

"Sure it is," she said, her tone amused. "Well, far be it from me to pry. A secret’s a secret. But would you be so kind as to explain how you managed to get the rats of the Crimson Dawn to owe you a favor?"

He nodded. "Because I brought the Black Orb to Luvanda for them. The magical pearl I found in exile."

Another pause.

Another silence.

But this one struck like the impact of an asteroid—a devastating, soundless blow. For a fraction of a second, Zara Thandros froze.

"I could tell you how much suffering the war brought to the people of that continent," Lex said, "and how guilty I feel because of it. But I doubt you’d care."

"I should kill you myself, you little shit."

"I didn’t know," he said quickly. "If that’s what you’re thinking—I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t know it was for the Crimson Dawn. I didn’t even know I was carrying the Black Orb when I went to Luvanda. They hid it in a charm they gave me. So, it’s your fault that the rebels in Luvanda now have the Black Orb. You forced me to travel there when I wanted to stay here. Without your order to leave, the Black Orb would never have left Vega Prime. Maybe it would even be back in your hands by now."

Zara Thandros let out a sharp laugh. Her features softened almost instantly, and a glint of malicious amusement returned to her icy blue eyes. Eyes that, with a single glance, could freeze the world solid.

Lex had never seen her look so delighted.

"You were their unwitting courier?" she asked. "The Crimson Dawn’s puppet?"

The smile that followed, the laughter bubbling from her lips—it was real. There was a pure, unfiltered joy in her voice, a satisfaction at the thought of the boy being used in his naïveté. That even those Thandros considered the lowest scum of the universe had managed to manipulate him, deceive him, betray him.

On the glider’s console, she entered a sequence of numbers, altering the shuttle’s course. "Shall I?" she asked, hovering her manicured finger over the button labeled Space Elevator.

The boy couldn’t find the words to respond. He had no idea what she was planning. The warm breeze from the glider’s vents stirred his sticky, matted hair, carrying a faint lavender scent. It wasn’t like the air on Cetos V—the mix of gases here on DENOVA-2 felt manufactured, like air blown through a heated fan in a stifling room.

"Should I believe him and let him go? I really don’t know what would be better for the little wretch. The world out there will eat you alive, if it hasn’t already. Wouldn’t it be kinder to end your life here, today? I could spare you so much suffering."

The boy met her gaze. Her icy blue eyes sent winter shivering through him again. His tongue brushed against a molar that had been aching for days. He clenched his teeth slowly, firmly, swallowing hard.

A moment later, Zara Thandros pressed the button.

The glider broke off its route to the security hub, just half a mile ahead, and instead veered sharply toward the next stop. Lex could already see the foyer below. The bored girl who had been slumped behind the sideboard, chin resting sleepily in her palm, was suddenly gone. In her place stood the ever-perfect employee, upright as always, calmly addressing a group of residents. Her hands were placed parallel on the desk, her posture flawless.

"As for the Crimson Dawn," Thandros said, "I believe you. I’m convinced you’re far too stupid to lie." She studied him with serene detachment as the glider descended toward the platform. Only as it neared the ground did the collision of negative gravitation and the artificial gravity field create rippling air currents under the glider. The vibrations emitted a high-pitched sound, like the twang of a taut rubber band.

"I’ll cover the damages you caused on DENOVA-2 out of my own pocket," she said. "No one will stop you from returning to Cetos Five."

The boy leapt from the glider before it even touched down. His boots hit the ground with a resounding thud, far louder than the hovering drone of the glider. "Don’t think for a second I’ll thank you for this."

"I don’t expect your thanks," Thandros replied. "It would be entirely inappropriate. Because, as I said, I’m not doing you any favors. You’ll stumble into far worse misery before your life is over. And every time you fall, I want you to think of me. You’re living a life that was never meant for you, convict boy. That’s your punishment—the one intended for the offspring of scum and filth. You don’t scare me. You’re no one I need to fear. You’re just a dim-witted little boy trapped in a man’s body. A tragic figure. A loudmouth who keeps running headlong into dead ends. And you’ll suffer so much more because you keep blindly stumbling through the future."

"I’m not blind," he said.

"No, worse than that," she replied with a smirk. "You think you can see."