Falk was stripped of insignia, rank, or anything else that might give a clue as to his identity. He stood next to Jane on the other side of the window, looking into the room at the young man. The room had once served someone as a lab, but it had been stripped of everything but the table and chair the young man sat at. He was surrounded by four bots armed with e-pistols. He was visibly nervous, but he watched his audience through the glass without comment.
Reyer and Vas were also in the outer room, but since the captain had brusquely reminded her that the xeno had probably been sent specifically to find her, they were careful to stay out of sight.
“Have you gotten anything from him yet?” Vas asked.
“From him? No,” Falk said. “He hasn’t been answering any questions, but we got the woman who brought him in—a recruiter named Meier.” The general folded his arms. His face was distorted by irritation. “She’d been with us for years. She was the one who brought in Bray. We went to talk to her, but she decided she’d rather fight. She took out one person before she died.”
“Are you sure she’s dead?” Jane asked.
Falk looked at her. “I’m no biologist, Dr. Jane, but I’m good at identifying dead bodies.”
“If she was a xeno, she could have taken over the body you presumed she had killed. Did anyone see what happened?”
“No.”
Jane shook her head and looked back into the room.
“At least you know who to be looking for,” Reyer said from off to the side. “A clone of the person she killed.”
“Sorry, Alix,” Jane said, “but I don’t know if that’s true.”
“Why not?” Vas asked.
“Because in the interviews with the most lucid human-xenos, they seemed to be learning about how to survive. They were hiding the dead bodies of the forms they took and making strategic choices about where to get clothes to cover their new bodies. By now they’re probably pretty good at knowing when they have to switch bodies to stay safe.”
“You think she knew we’d figure it out?” Falk asked.
“I think these creatures are as intelligent as us, because they are us. We have to give them credit.”
“You said they were bad at being humans at first,” Vas said. “How far have they come, Doctor?”
“That’s what I want to find out.”
The door behind them opened.
“Wonder Boy!” Jane smiled. “It’s about damn time. Howdy, Lynx.”
The bot nodded to her. “Good day, Dr. Jane.”
“Did you miss me or my bot?” Ciro asked.
“Is everything set up?” Falk said.
“Yes—” Ciro remembered barely in time not to call him General. He handed over a small com to Jane. Her hands were cuffed. She saw the flicker of a frown on his face, but he didn’t say anything.
“All right.” Jane nodded to Lynx. “Go on in.”
When Lynx entered the room, the prisoner looked at him.
“Another one of you,” he grumbled. The microphones in the room picked up even those quiet words and sent them out through the speakers to the room where his observers were watching. He turned back to the window. “Aren’t you going to come in?”
In the other room, Jane asked, “Are we recording?”
“Absolutely, Doctor,” Ciro assured her.
“What’s it calling itself?”
“Jonathan Peak,” Falk said.
“Are you willing to tell me anything about who he was supposed to be?”
“Why?” The suspicion in his voice was obvious.
Jane grit her teeth and reminded herself that she had been warned. “So I can try and gauge how much he should or shouldn’t know.”
“He came here with recommendations as a computer expert.”
The doctor looked over her shoulder. “Competition for you, Wonder Boy.”
“They’ve figured out computer knowledge is power.” Ciro came up to her side. “They are getting smarter.”
He’d meant it as a joke, but once it was said, everyone in the room realized by their discomfort the possible import of the statement.
Jane held the com up to her mouth with her cuffed hands. “Lynx, sit down across from him.”
Lynx obeyed the order.
The xeno, Jonathan Peak, was still watching the windows. “Who are you?”
“I’m going to ask you some questions,” Lynx said, relaying Jane’s statement.
“Why are you in security cuffs?”
Lynx’s voice was as even as always, but the xeno saw glimpses of Jane’s face as he glanced between her and her robotic mouthpiece. He had a feeling he knew how she would sound. “That’s not your concern. I said I was going to ask you the questions.”
Peak said, “Why don’t you come in here and face me?”
“We know what you are.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re an alien entity known to us as a xeno.”
His eyes widened.
“You haven’t heard that one before, have you?” Lynx relayed. “Yes, we know you’re an alien.”
Jonathan still didn’t speak.
“We know that you transform from one body into another after taking their memories. We know that you have personally probably gone through a minimum of five human transformations. We know that you can’t take over inorganic forms, and we know how to find you, which is why you’re surrounded by bots. If we’re willing to tell you that much, how much more do you think we know about how you live and how you can die?”
In the outside room, Falk was gazing at Dr. Jane with surprised respect as Lynx repeated everything she said. The petite woman had a cold streak of ruthlessness you had to admire.
In the room, the boy’s trembling grew worse. “How did you find us?”
Lynx echoed, “That, you don’t get to know.”
“And why should I answer your questions?” Jonathan Peak said. “What will you give me in return?”
Lynx couldn’t copy Jane’s smile, but he faithful repeated, “There are things we want to know. If you cooperate, you’re a valuable asset. If you don’t, you’re nothing but a danger to us. If you answer our questions and let us run our tests, we’ll let you live.”
Beside him, Vas heard Reyer take a sudden deep in-breath. He and Falk looked at her. She put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.
Adan took her elbow and leaned down to whisper. Falk could barely make out the words. “Are you all right?”
Reyer tried to nod but only managed to dip her head once. It was easy to see how tight her body was. She was trembling almost as much as the xeno in the other room.
Vas turned to Falk. “I need to get her out of here.”
“Go,” Falk said. “I’ll keep an eye on the doctor.”
“What is it?” Jane asked, keeping the com away from her face.
“Memories,” Vas said, pulling Reyer toward the door.
Once he had her out in the hall, he had her sit down on the floor. He squatted down beside her. “Are you all right? Are you with me?”
Alix took a few slow breaths. Then she swore and wiped her pale cheek with a still shaking hand. “Where else would I be?” she said. “It’s not like I have a lot of choice since you won’t leave my side.”
Vas smiled. As weak as her voice was, he could still hear she was trying to tease him. “Just checking.”
“No, it’s not a flashback. It’s only a memory. Like you said.” Reyer drew in another lungful of air before letting it out in a loud sigh. “I’ll be all right. I only need a minute.”
Vas sat down beside her with his back against the wall. “Take all the time you need. I’m in no hurry.”
After Alix’s breathing had calmed and her shaking had stopped, the captain quietly said, “What happened in there?”
Reyer shook her head. “Jane said something. It was almost, word for word, what they said to me. Rurik—or Harlan. Whatever he was. The memory’s still strong.”
“But you should be completely over it by now, Miss Reyer. It must have happened a whole month ago. Are the cuts on your back even healed yet?”
“Nag, nag, nag. I’d say you’re an old woman, but Ito never talks like that.” Reyer thought about it for a moment. “Falk does.”
The captain leaned his head back against the wall.
“Distract me,” Alix said.
“What?”
“I said distract me.”
Vas blinked.
“I need to get out of my own head,” Reyer explained. “It’s loud, and I don’t want to be there.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“Where’s the chess board?”
“Back at ou—your quarters.”
“No, that’s too far.”
Vas thought for a moment. Then he held up his hand as a vertical closed fist.
“What’s this?” Reyer asked.
“Paper, rock, scissors.”
Alix laughed. “Are you serious?”
Vas smiled. “Why not? You need something to distract you.”
“What are we? Ten years old?”
Vas put his hand down. “You’re right. It’s childish.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. “We’ll bet on it.” He looked at the coin he was holding up. “A fiver. Are you in or out?”
Reyer was up by fifteen and Vas was bartering for credit when they heard the crash behind them.
Vas had his sword out and Reyer was holding up her e-pistol when they burst into the room. Ciro was standing in the open doorway between them and what remained of the xeno. There wasn’t much left.
All four factory bots were lowering their weapons. Lynx was standing up from his crouch. When he lifted his metal hand out of the mess that had once been Jonathan Peak’s head, it was coated in gore: blood, fluid, brain matter, and flecks of bone.
Falk was in the corner of the inner room with Dr. Jane, asking repeatedly if she was okay.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
After Reyer was able to calm Jane down, Ciro took them back to his makeshift computer lab to review the video. Because Jane was in the room, every monitor and spare tablet was blacked out or turned off—except for one.
Vas leaned over the back of his brother’s chair, watching as the sped-up images flowed by on the monitor.
“It agreed to cooperate.” Ciro’s voice was subdued. “It answered some questions, and then Jane explained she was coming in to look at him.”
He stopped the rushing feed, then pressed play.
On the video: “You understand what will happen to you if you try anything?”
It was Lynx, relaying Jane’s words.
“Yes,” Peak answered.
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“If you transform into me, it’ll do you no good. The bots will kill you instantly.”
“Yes.”
There was a pause, presumably when Falk took off Jane’s security cuffs. When she entered the room, she was carrying a camera and a small tray of medical supplies in her unbound hands.
The moment she was in the door, the xeno reacted.
He pushed his chair back with a violent wrench. “Who are you? What the hell are you?”
Jane stopped only a few feet in.
“Who are you?” He stood up from his chair. “What have you done?”
Jane was motionless, but Lynx stood up. “Jonathan Peak, I advise you to calm down.”
The xeno hadn’t listened. “What are you going to do to me?” he shouted.
Jane slowly walked forward and put the tray and camera down on the table. “I want to look at your body and take some pic—”
“Stay away from me!”
He yelled something inarticulate, then launched himself at the doctor.
Lynx had been a second faster than the other bots. He knocked Peak aside, picked up Dr. Jane, and threw her behind him. As Peak tensed his body to charge, Lynx matched the stance. When the xeno vaulted toward where Jane was lying, Lynx leaped with calculated exactness and all his power. The majority of the bot’s considerable weight had been balanced forward. The xeno’s skull barely impeded Lynx’s hand as it slammed into to the ground. At almost the same time, the rest of Peak’s body had been torn apart by blasts from the other four bots.
Ciro stopped the video.
Jane was looking anywhere other than the screen. When Ciro noticed that, he reached forward and turned it off. It made the already dark room even darker.
“What happened?” Vas asked.
Jane knew no one else could be expected to have an answer. If it had only been Adan, Ciro, and Reyer in the room, she might have given vent to her nerves and frustration, but the older man was watching her, his face stern. He seemed to be waiting.
The doctor pulled the edge of her thumbnail out from between her teeth where she had been unconsciously twisting it.
“Did any other human ever go into the room with it?” she asked.
“A few,” Falk answered. “We brought it food and water regularly.”
“And it never reacted that way before?”
“Never.”
“What’s different about me?” Jane asked herself.
“Lynx,” Falk said, “take this woman’s blood sample and run it through the test to determine if she’s a xeno.”
“That will not be necessary, sir. Dr. Jane has never been outside of my custody since the last test I ran on her.”
“I don’t care, bot. It asked what she was, and now I want to know, with my own eyes, here and now.”
Jane held out her arm, unconcerned.
“What did it sense about you?” Alix asked.
Jane shook her head with quick little jerks. “No. No. Think it through straight.”
Lynx stepped aside to spin the blood where he wouldn’t be in anyone’s way.
Jane had her thumbnail back at her teeth and started pacing the only three steps she could in the crowded room. She moved her hand. “It was fine with other humans. It was fine with being asked questions. It was nervous under threat, but not unusually so. Then I walked in the room—”
“And it went ballistic,” Ciro said. “That is quite an effect you have on people, Doctor.”
Vas slapped the back of his brother’s head.
“Thank you, Captain,” Jane said. “But he’s right. I didn’t even say anything to it. I walked into the room and it freaked out. It saw me—”
Lynx returned from his corner. “Sir, I have analyzed Dr. Jane’s blood. Her DNA profile matches all known records of her, and there is no evidence of a xeno pattern. She is human.”
“Have you ever worked xenos before?” Falk asked.
Jane shook her head. “Not a human-xeno. The only xenos I ever worked with were…” Her eyes widened and her voice trailed away. “Oh my god,” she whispered. She turned to the bot. “Lynx, how do xenos know when another body is already a xeno?” she demanded.
“We don’t know, Doctor. We were never able to isolate enough variables to determine the method.”
“I know! Theorize! It can’t be sight because they don’t have eyes in their untransformed state.”
“It’s a xeno thing,” the bot said.
The sentence was impossibly and bafflingly simple—more so, considering its source.
“What?” Jane hissed.
“Lynx, explain,” Ciro commanded.
“It is a xeno thing,” he repeated. “Xenos just know. Isn’t that the phrase, Captain?”
Vas’s chest was shaking and Reyer gazed at the floor to hide her smile.
Adan explained to the room, “I was trying to help Lynx understand human behavior, and how we could sense things about other humans.”
“Pheromones,” Lynx helpfully provided.
Jane said to the captain, “And your explanation was ‘it’s a human thing?’”
Vas shrugged.
To Ciro, she said, “You let this man work with Lynx on a daily basis?”
Lynx said, “If humans are equipped to perceive and give information that only other humans can understand, it makes sense that xenos could also have subtle methods and senses to identify other xenos.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “Lynx, first of all, that’s stupid. Humans don’t have some magical sense that you don’t know about. We’re running off the basic senses you’re well aware of. Second of all, there’s no compelling evidence that human pheromones are a real thing. We can smell the body chemistry of other humans, but whether or not that qualifies as pheromones is debatable.”
“Then how did Miss Reyer and the captain know that you and Master Ciro—”
“Shut up, Lynx,” the Vas brothers said in unison.
Jane, red as a brick, still managed to speak in her usual clipped and abrupt voice. “That’s not a special sense. It’s our brains interacting with all the complex information our normal senses are providing. We learn, socially, what a particular combination of information indicates through years of constant trial and error. Facial expression, body language, social cues about proximity, the sound of their voice, how they pitch it when they speak, what they say, sometimes how they smell—like if they put on perfume…”
Once again, Jane’s voice trailed off as she became absorbed in her thoughts. Ciro and Vas exchanged a glance. Jane’s head was already bowed so low her long pony tail dropped over her shoulder, but she still closed her eyes, as if willing the world’s distractions away.
“How do I smell?” she said.
The men had learned through years of social training via trial and error that you didn’t volunteer to answer a personal question like that from a woman unless you were very certain how she’d respond. It was left to Alix to answer her.
“Fine, Jane. You smell normal.”
“No. It wouldn’t be smell, but it would be something like it. I washed my hands. I wore gloves. They were in containers…but most of those containers had air holes. I was wearing these clothes, and it might have stuck to my hair. Or the paper. I touched the paper without gloves.” She looked up. “What if the xenos do have a subtle sense? Some ability to perceive another xeno? Something like our sense of smell, but developed specifically to respond to the presence of others of their kind? It would have to be built into the part of their genetic code that makes them xenos even when they’re in the body of another species.” She snapped her fingers and pointed at Ciro. “What did he say about Harlan?”
“Harlan?” Reyer asked.
“We asked who had sent him,” Falk said, “and he mentioned two names. Harlan was one of them.”
“Harlan, the xeno,” Vas said to remind the general.
“The one who took over Rurik’s body,” Reyer added.
Falk nodded.
“I asked him about why he followed his orders even though they sent him into a dangerous place,” Jane said.
“He said ‘he just did,’” Ciro said. “He said that Harlan was the leader.”
“Then you asked what made him the leader—” Falk said.
“And he said, ‘he just was.’” Jane looked at Vas. “But what if he was only as articulate as you? You couldn’t explain to Lynx what you knew by intuition. Peak couldn’t explain what he knew by intuition. They cannot only identify other xenos, but they’re exchanging a wealth of information at such an understated level, they might not even know how they know.”
“You think he smelled xeno on you?” Reyer asked.
Jane turned to her. “Untransformed xeno, transforming xeno matter, dead xeno. But he would’ve been able to tell that I wasn’t one of them.”
The room went quiet.
“No wonder he freaked out,” Ciro noted.
Jane nodded. “He was already in a nervous state, which put his senses and responses on high alert. I threatened his survival. Then I came into the room smelling like all my experiments and dead xenos.” She rapped her hand on the edge of a nearby table. “This is huge. I have to get a lab. I have to get some equipment. If I can figure out what they’re sensing, I might be able to find a faster way to identify them than a blood test.”
Lynx said to Ciro, “So I was right, sir? It was a xeno thing?”
“You weren’t wrong, Lynx,” Jane said. “But I expect better from you.”
“Master Ciro?” Lynx said.
“No, Lynx. You did a good job recognizing and adopting the new phrase, but it was…inexact slang. Doctor Jane is a sub-breed of human known as a scientist. They’re delicate creatures, often offended by inexactness. Keep that in mind when you’re communicating with them.”
Jane was about to retort, but Falk interrupted.
“Doctor, we don’t have a lab or any kind of equipment except what serves the most basic medical needs. Whatever experiments you have in mind, you had better find a new place to do them.”
He walked forward, picked up her wrist, and put it into half of the security cuffs he’d been holding.
“But—wha—” she sputtered as he closed the second half over her other wrist. “Were you listening? This is huge! This could save you! Don’t you want to know what I’d find?”
Falk looked right at her, his eyes baring down into her own. “More than you would believe. But I can’t compel you to share with us without making my baby-girl angry at me. Maybe you will share your findings. Maybe we’re human enough to you, you’d help us even though you’re Supremacy—”
“I’m not Supremacy!”
“You’re not one of us!” Falk took a breath. “Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones that doesn’t have to choose a side, but everyone else in this room did. Everyone on this base did. And I’m going to protect them.”
He turned Jane around and pulled the blindfold out of his pocket. As he tied it, he said, “You were allowed to stay and study the human-xeno so long as the risk to this base wasn’t too great. Your specimen is dead—”
“Then you have to let me dissect it! Please!”
“I told you we don’t have a lab, Dr. Jane. No equipment.”
“You have tables. Your medical supplies should include scalpels. If not, I’ll use a kitchen knife! God dammit!” She blindly turned in Reyer’s direction. “Alix, let me borrow your tactical knife!”
“I am not going to arm one of my prisoners!” Falk yelled.
“Then give it to Lynx. I’ll tell him what to do. You can leave me in cuffs.” She took a breath. “Look. It’s starting to decompose as we speak. This is knowledge being lost—knowledge that could help you.”
Falk hesitated.
“The moment you’re done, you’re off planet,” he barked. “Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll honor the agreement you made with Captain Vas and Reyer, so long as you agree to abide by our security measures until you’re gone.”
“The video?”
“The video, yes. And a copy of the xeno’s DNA profile and anything you get from the dissection.”
“When I have to leave, where are you going to take me?”
“That’s up to you, Dr. Jane.”
“Who—can…can Captain Vas and Alix take me?”
Falk glared at Vas over the top of Jane’s head. “Lynx, stay here and watch Dr. Jane.”
“Yes, sir.”
Falk jerked his head toward the door. Reyer and Vas followed him out into the hall. When he turned around, all he did was fold his arms. He must have known Alix would have something to say.
“It’s a good solution, sir.”
“How so?”
“Vas is already under orders to protect me, so he can’t be sent out on another mission. You could retract the order—”
Falk grunted “Ha!” with the most disdain possible.
“Then why not have us drop her off? I have to leave anyway.”
“Why?”
Reyer looked at the older man with a slight smile and shake of her head. “Don’t be that way, Grandpa.” Falk scowled at the floor. “You know good and well that I’m at least as much of a security risk as Dr. Jane. They’re hunting the galaxy for me.”
“Stay here then. Let us protect you.”
“You’ve already had to give up a good captain. How much more should I take from you? How many people for this one assignment? And if I did stay, what happens when they learn I’m here? They’ll bomb this place like they did the last one—before it’s even built.”
“Then what happens to you?”
Reyer sighed. “I don’t know. But now that we know why they’re looking for me, there’s no reason for me to stay. I’ll borrow Ciro for a while. I’ll have him make me a new identity and find somewhere to hide.”
“They’ll find you,” Vas said. “They know your face. They have your DNA profile. Not even Ciro can change that.”
“Then I’ll hide until they find me. I’ll send Vas back to you once I’ve found a place where I’ll be safe for a while. I’ll make my own way after that.”
Falk reached out with one arm and pulled Alix’s shoulders to him until he could kiss her head. “I’ll let you find a place for your friend. You will take Ciro with you because I want that boy hunting and sending pings the entire time. I’ll talk to Jordan and Ito. Alix, we’re going to figure out how to fix this. You’re not going to spend the rest of your life running and hiding.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
Falk kissed her head one more time before letting her go. He was already staring at Vas when he said to Reyer, “Go with Dr. Jane and Lynx for now. Have them start the dissection, and tell Ciro to set up video. Use whatever you need to get it done. The captain and I have to talk.”
Reyer went back in the computer lab. Vas fell in by Falk’s side as the General walked down the hall.
“Your orders, sir?” Vas said.
“Prepare your ship and get ready to take the doctor off-base. Get her somewhere safe. She’s been a big help to us. If we don’t make her an enemy, maybe she’ll help us later. See if Ciro can set up a worm, or whatever the hell he’d call it, in her computers.”
“You want us to spy on her work, General?”
“Yes, Captain. Is that a problem?”
Vas saw the hard reality of the situation and pressed his lips together. “No, sir. But I should warn you, she might not allow it.”
“I wasn’t aware that you were taking orders from her, Captain Vas.”
“No, sir. But she’s almost as good with computers as Ciro is. She would probably find it and destroy it.”
Falk threw up his hands. “Then you can try asking really nicely! No, better yet, have Alix ask. That girl can get a star to spin backwards by smiling right.”
Vas decided to keep his wholehearted agreement to himself.
Falk added, “But if the doctor doesn’t seem inclined to cooperate, have Ciro try to set something up. Especially if she’s only almost as good as him.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Have Ciro scan the skies while you’re out. We’ll be in touch. Tell us if anything happens. Keep Ser—Miss Reyer,” he reminded himself, “safe. I don’t have to tell you how important she is to me, do I, Captain?”
“No, sir.”
“Take care of her.” The finger he had pointed at Vas to emphasize his order wavered and dropped. “And…keep an eye on her.”
“Sir?”
“She’s smart, Captain. She sees the writing on the wall. I hope that we can figure something out, but we’ll need time. Keep an eye on her until we find a solution.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re dismissed, Captain.”
“Sir.”
Vas halted where he was as Falk continued down the hall. After a moment the captain turned and headed back the way he’d come.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
After Vas had finished what he needed to do, he tracked down his brother. It didn’t take a lot of effort. He was right where Adan thought he’d be: in the room with Dr. Jane as she instructed Lynx on how to cut up what was left of the body. Ciro tried to stay as unaffected as Jane or his robot, but he looked queasy.
Reyer was sitting down in a chair nearby. A baffled medical officer had been pressed into acting as a guard and assistant after Falk had confirmed the order was genuine.
Jane sighed as Vas entered the room. “All right, Lynx,” she said, sparing the captain only a glance, “the next intact body part is the right hand.”
“That’s correct, Dr. Jane.”
“Please hold it up so I can see it.”
Vas motioned to his brother. Ciro followed him out into the hall.
“I’m reluctant to do so, Dr. Jane,” Lynx said.
“Why?”
“I sense an electrical charge coming from the limb, but I can’t identify why such a thing should exist.”
“What?”
Both she and the medical officer, Lombardi, moved around the table. He laid his e-pistol aside, all guarding duties momentarily forgotten.
“Lynx,” Jane said, “how much of a charge do you sense?”
“Extremely small, Dr. Jane.”
“Would it hurt you to touch it?”
“It would be extremely unlikely to harm any of my systems, but it’s not impossible.”
“Are you fully backed-up?”
“Yes, Doctor.”
Jane nodded. “Pick up the hand.”
There was a soft noise and spark they would have missed if they hadn’t been watching for it.
“Lynx, hold up his other hand,” Jane said. “I want to compare them.”
The bot did as instructed.
As Reyer came up behind them, Jane announced clearly and deliberately, “Peak’s right-hand fingers are approximately three centimeters longer than the same digits on the left hand. The ends are noticeably more pale—almost white—and pointed. Like…”
“Like a pencil. Or an ice pick,” Lombardi said.
Jane cleared her throat. “Yes. Elongated cylinders where all sides come to a point.”
“Is that how—is that what they bury into your head?” Alix said, her voice hushed.
“I think so,” Jane said.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Out in the hall, Vas had finished explaining Falk’s orders. Ciro’s joy over being assigned to go with them was short lived.
“He wants me to what?”
“Ciro, you hijack people’s files all the time,” Vas hissed. “And you laugh about it! You personally hacked into Dr. Jane’s files only a few weeks ago in order to steal all her information. Don’t you think it’s a little late to discover you have a moral objection to this kind of thing?”
“That was before I knew her!”
“Why would that make any difference?”
Ciro struggled to figure it out. “Because—because she—because I like her! It would feel like I’m betraying a friend!”
“Ciro, you do realize that we’re going to need that information, don’t you? We can’t allow her to keep it to herself. We have to have access to it.”
“We could ask her for it!”
“We will! But we have to be prepared for the fact she might say no. Or change her mind. Our lives could depend on what she learns.”
“Does Reyer know about this order?”
“No. But don’t think for two seconds she wouldn’t have suggested it herself if it came down to it.”
Ciro grumbled, “It won’t come to that. I can’t see Jane not telling us.”
“Not even to save herself? Or if she wanted to go back to her life under the Supremacy?”
Ciro’s face twisted up in a scowl. He turned his head away from his brother.
“Ciro, can you handle this mission or not?” Adan asked. “I have to know.”
“Oh, I can handle it. I just don’t like it.”
“It doesn’t matter if we like it. It’s important.”
Ciro shoved himself away from the wall. “I’ll go get packed,” he said as he pushed past his brother.
Adan stopped him by calling his name. When Ciro turned to look back, Vas said, “Thank you for your help.”
Ciro gave him a half smile. “I know you couldn’t do a thing without me.”
Vas didn’t argue.