Yvonne and Anya aren’t inside, so I don’t have them to hide behind. Zane grins at me from behind the kitchen counter with his mother and taps the pot of coffee. I try to smile. Not for the first time, I don’t think it comes out particularly correct. There’s some sort of meat cooking. I don’t know much about the cuisine of this planet, but there’s also bread heating in a pan on the stove and a pot of some sort of sauce. It all smells fantastic, even if I’m a little queasy.
Lalia is yawning at the table, and I slide in beside her, not actually wanting to be noticed, but wanting to come inside since I was actually invited. She squeezes my arm under the table.
Eventually, Yvonne filters in. Then Anya with Bat in her arms. Their table is large enough to seat everyone, particularly when Bat makes a break for it under the table and leaps into my lap. The food is good and no one’s really talking to me. A few minutes in, I manage to relax.
“Aaron,” Masyn says, and I nearly jump from my skin. “Lalia was telling me you broke her out of a cyborg ship.”
I take it back, that one might make me look good, particularly if Lalia left out the part where I left here there to begin with. “Er, yeah. Well, I don’t like the particular cyborg, so it was an easy choice.”
Lalia rolls her eyes. But the parents don’t know it very much wasn’t an easy choice, so maybe it’ll be enough to make them both stop staring at me with such intensity.
“Can cyborgs fight one another? I know the two came after you when—” he gestures to Zane’s face. “But I didn’t think you can just break into each other’s ships like that.”
Apparently he’s going to have a conversation with me. I clear my throat. “Unregistered.”
“He annoys other cyborgs at his own discretion,” Yvonne says, and I kick her—lightly—under the table. She kicks back less gently.
Masyn nods, gesturing to his kids. “So I know these two are in trouble, and I’m assuming Yvonne here has done something since no one seems to want to mention who they are. Zane says you have a bounty too, what are you going to do?”
Practical facts are easier to discuss. “Uncharted space, at least for a while. I think the particular cyborg whose ship I broke into is pissed at me more than he is at Zane and La, actually. I’m dropping Yvonne and Anya on their home planet. Long story.”
Yvonne makes a face. I don’t mention my bounty is because I technically kidnapped the youngest princess.
There’s something I’ve been wondering about but hadn’t wanted to engage. I gesture at Zane and Lalia. “Have you ever had any authorities here asking about these two?”
Masyn nods and Kyra says, “Months ago. They told us there was a prison break.”
She gives both her children a disparaging look. Zane grins. Both of them likely blame Zane and Lalia about as much as I do. They were looking for their brother. Not exactly criminal activity at its worst.
“I’m sure they told you that you have to turn them in if they come back,” I say.
Kyra wipes her mouth. “Oh, sure. The pricks.”
Anya bursts into giggles and Yvonne says, “Do not repeat that word.”
“Sorry,” Kyra says.
I try not to laugh, not to allow myself to be part of the kindness of the situation, the familiarity. But my shoulders shake anyway, and I can see Zane grinning from the corner of my eye. These two people are probably going to be the last ones to ever call the authorities. Not just over this, but ever again. I’m sure they have chips on their shoulders not only against Amerov, but against the system that would punish their children for taking matters into their own hands.
“Zane also mentioned you went and broke into am Amerov facility as well,” Masyn says, sending his son a look. “Though he wouldn’t mention why. Runs in the family, I guess.”
Not for the first time it seems this past week or so, my face turns bright red. I grumble something without really knowing what I’m trying to say. Zane absolutely cackles, bending over the table and hugging his middle.
“Don’t re-crack anything,” I elbow him lightly.
He only laughs harder.
When breakfast has long been eaten and I’ve been harassed into explaining how Zane and I broke into a hospital storage room, Lalia rubs her eyes and says, “I’m thinking the longer we stay, the better the chance someone other than our nosey relatives will notice we’re here. If the authorities show up, you better not admit to letting us in the house of your own accord.”
Masyn rolls his eyes.
“I’m serious, Dad. If they ever show up claiming we were here, you say we came in at gunpoint and stocked up on supplies and left and you were too scared to call anyone.”
Masyn mumbles something like he’d rather say something very specific that would make even my ears burn. Kyra pats him on the cheek like she’s been living with that attitude for a while. I see where the sibling’s get their personalities.
“I have to agree,” I put in.
“No one asked you,” Masyn says, but his tone is kidding.
“Listen to the children, dear,” Kyra says. “They’re experienced criminals now.”
“Your daughter thought it was a good idea to punch me in the face when we met,” I say, and at Masyn’s confusion, explain, “My entire bone structure is metal.”
Masyn grimaces, muttering, “This is why I worry. Speaking of which, what’s the plan, now?”
Yeah, I’m sure they’re stressed about the idea of their kids leaving again. They must know it isn’t possible for them to stay, at least not right now, but that can’t make it easier. “Same as before. Go to Zar where someone can test my DNA without reporting me.”
He eyes my hands, the metal showing in them, and I stuff them under the table, scratching Bat’s chin. It isn’t exactly the first time he’s stared—in fact, I got a lot of eyes just when I was handling the silverware—but I don’t want to let go of the gentleness of the situation.
“That’s a dangerous place, isn’t it?”
“Pretty lawless, yeah.”
He squints at Zane. The bandages are mostly gone. I don’t know how much of his strength has returned, but the burns have healed better than I’d anticipated given our lack of professional care. There’s no real distortion to his face. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so concerned about it given how much worse my face looks on a daily basis. But the idea of the big happy doofus with permanent scars from those cyborgs makes me ill.
“We’re been over this, La and I are going with him.” Zane’s tone is gentle, but there’s determination there.
Apparently I’ve missed a few arguments.
“You could stay,” I offer, hoping the parents will at least dislike me less. I don’t know why it matters. At this point, I should be fine pissing them off, it’s not like they’re going to love me because I agree with them a few times.
Slowly, Zane gives me the worst expression I’ve seen on his happy face. “And I could find a solid object to hit you with.”
Yvonne snickers. To my surprise, both parents join in. It makes me feel less like a cornered animal. I expected a bit more annoyance from them, considering they’re heading to a rather dangerous outpost with me, and Zane’s barely recovered. I shrug under the weight his glare.
“I think you two should stay here,” Masyn says, and his own tone brokers no disagreement. I can’t exactly argue with him.
I do not want to be sitting here in the middle of an argument over me. I eyeball the door as if I can materialize next to it. But everyone’s still friendly.
“I’m aware you think that,” Zane says cheerfully.
Anya’s expression says she’s enjoying the adults arguing. Well, at least one of us is having a good time.
“Between Amerov, Clock, and whatever happened on this guy’s friend’s ship I’d think you’d learn your lesson sometime.”
He gestures to me when he says it. Scowling, I can’t help but say, “Not my friend.”
I’m ignored.
“Well, I’m dense,” Zane says, same cheerful tone.
Maybe, if I’m lucky, there’s a blackhole in the area that’ll take this moment to drag Hytha in.
Masyn puts his elbows on the table. “You’ve both already nearly gotten yourselves killed a dozen times, I think you’re done.”
Zane smiles a little sadly, “Where would you like us to go? We can’t stay here. Sure, the other option is to find a mostly abandoned planet and hide out there for a while, but we’d have to be planet hopping back and forth for the rest of our lives one way or another. They keep managing to track us down. Aaron takes great pains to protect us when we’re in trouble. Granted, we have saved his ass a few times—”
I kick him under the table.
“—But part of those times were because we were the ones causing the trouble. Point is, we have nowhere safe to go, and if we’re going to be criminals on the run, might as well be criminals with a cyborg who can drop kick most grown men into the atmosphere.”
“Bit dramatic,” I mutter.
Zane shrugs.
“Zar is still a bit of an exception,” Masyn says, but he’s lost most of the fight to his voice. Zane makes a decent point. Plus, they probably don’t know our next plan after Zar involves two galactic princesses an Neyla Ve, and no one wants to bring it up. I’m certainly not going to.
“I’ll probably just leave them in my ship, to be quite frank,” I say, ignoring Zane’s glare. “I don’t want them wandering around either, that’s why we came here in the first place. I’m perfectly fine getting the information by myself, and it’ll make me feel better if they’re safe. I’ve no intention of letting anyone else take them in. I’ve nearly died too many times already saving their asses.”
Masyn is staring at me. I don’t like meeting his eyes. They’re much more intense than either of is children’s, and I know he’s trying to decide if I’m lying. But I’m not. And I don’t want him to think I am. I’m not certain I can get away with them staying in the ship, but I’m going to try my damndest, and I’m not going to let anything happen to them.
Finally, he nods. I can’t tell if he believes me or just doesn’t have a better option.
“I’m not getting locked in the ship,” Zane mutters.
“I’ll arm wrestle you for it.”
Kyra presses her lips together, staring at the remnants of her coffee and trying not to laugh.
Zane gives me a disparaging look. “You were right, we shouldn’t’ve have come here. I didn’t know you were going to take their side.”
“When you make a good point, I’ll take your side.”
“Didn’t you tackle one of Captain’s elite private security?”
“Yes, but I’m durable.”
Masyn looks like he wants to say something but can’t think of a full thought.
“He also climbed a really tall tree yesterday,” Anya puts in.
I match Zane’s glare. “You’ve mentioned that three times now, it wasn’t that spectacular.”
“I disagree.”
I roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of nose. “I know you probably don’t want to, but I really do think we should head out, especially since some of your relatives seem to be in the area and humans are all nosey and annoying…er, no offense.”
Masyn and Kyra both shrug.
And there’s a knock on the door.
Casually, Zane says, “Speak of the devil.”
Yvonne and Anya aren’t inside, so I don’t have them to hide behind. Zane grins at me from behind the kitchen counter with his mother and taps the pot of coffee. I try to smile. Not for the first time, I don’t think it comes out particularly correct. There’s some sort of meat cooking. I don’t know much about the cuisine of this planet, but there’s also bread heating in a pan on the stove and a pot of some sort of sauce. It all smells fantastic, even if I’m a little queasy.
Lalia is yawning at the table, and I slide in beside her, not actually wanting to be noticed, but wanting to come inside since I was actually invited. She squeezes my arm under the table.
Eventually, Yvonne filters in. Then Anya with Bat in her arms. Their table is large enough to seat everyone, particularly when Bat makes a break for it under the table and leaps into my lap. The food is good and no one’s really talking to me. A few minutes in, I manage to relax.
“Aaron,” Masyn says, and I nearly jump from my skin. “Lalia was telling me you broke her out of a cyborg ship.”
I take it back, that one might make me look good, particularly if Lalia left out the part where I left here there to begin with. “Er, yeah. Well, I don’t like the particular cyborg, so it was an easy choice.”
Lalia rolls her eyes. But the parents don’t know it very much wasn’t an easy choice, so maybe it’ll be enough to make them both stop staring at me with such intensity.
“Can cyborgs fight one another? I know the two came after you when—” he gestures to Zane’s face. “But I didn’t think you can just break into each other’s ships like that.”
Apparently he’s going to have a conversation with me. I clear my throat. “Unregistered.”
“He annoys other cyborgs at his own discretion,” Yvonne says, and I kick her—lightly—under the table. She kicks back less gently.
Masyn nods, gesturing to his kids. “So I know these two are in trouble, and I’m assuming Yvonne here has done something since no one seems to want to mention who they are. Zane says you have a bounty too, what are you going to do?”
Practical facts are easier to discuss. “Uncharted space, at least for a while. I think the particular cyborg whose ship I broke into is pissed at me more than he is at Zane and La, actually. I’m dropping Yvonne and Anya on their home planet. Long story.”
Yvonne makes a face. I don’t mention my bounty is because I technically kidnapped the youngest princess.
There’s something I’ve been wondering about but hadn’t wanted to engage. I gesture at Zane and Lalia. “Have you ever had any authorities here asking about these two?”
Masyn nods and Kyra says, “Months ago. They told us there was a prison break.”
She gives both her children a disparaging look. Zane grins. Both of them likely blame Zane and Lalia about as much as I do. They were looking for their brother. Not exactly criminal activity at its worst.
“I’m sure they told you that you have to turn them in if they come back,” I say.
Kyra wipes her mouth. “Oh, sure. The pricks.”
Anya bursts into giggles and Yvonne says, “Do not repeat that word.”
“Sorry,” Kyra says.
I try not to laugh, not to allow myself to be part of the kindness of the situation, the familiarity. But my shoulders shake anyway, and I can see Zane grinning from the corner of my eye. These two people are probably going to be the last ones to ever call the authorities. Not just over this, but ever again. I’m sure they have chips on their shoulders not only against Amerov, but against the system that would punish their children for taking matters into their own hands.
“Zane also mentioned you went and broke into am Amerov facility as well,” Masyn says, sending his son a look. “Though he wouldn’t mention why. Runs in the family, I guess.”
Not for the first time it seems this past week or so, my face turns bright red. I grumble something without really knowing what I’m trying to say. Zane absolutely cackles, bending over the table and hugging his middle.
“Don’t re-crack anything,” I elbow him lightly.
He only laughs harder.
When breakfast has long been eaten and I’ve been harassed into explaining how Zane and I broke into a hospital storage room, Lalia rubs her eyes and says, “I’m thinking the longer we stay, the better the chance someone other than our nosey relatives will notice we’re here. If the authorities show up, you better not admit to letting us in the house of your own accord.”
Masyn rolls his eyes.
“I’m serious, Dad. If they ever show up claiming we were here, you say we came in at gunpoint and stocked up on supplies and left and you were too scared to call anyone.”
Masyn mumbles something like he’d rather say something very specific that would make even my ears burn. Kyra pats him on the cheek like she’s been living with that attitude for a while. I see where the sibling’s get their personalities.
“I have to agree,” I put in.
“No one asked you,” Masyn says, but his tone is kidding.
“Listen to the children, dear,” Kyra says. “They’re experienced criminals now.”
“Your daughter thought it was a good idea to punch me in the face when we met,” I say, and at Masyn’s confusion, explain, “My entire bone structure is metal.”
Masyn grimaces, muttering, “This is why I worry. Speaking of which, what’s the plan, now?”
Yeah, I’m sure they’re stressed about the idea of their kids leaving again. They must know it isn’t possible for them to stay, at least not right now, but that can’t make it easier. “Same as before. Go to Zar where someone can test my DNA without reporting me.”
He eyes my hands, the metal showing in them, and I stuff them under the table, scratching Bat’s chin. It isn’t exactly the first time he’s stared—in fact, I got a lot of eyes just when I was handling the silverware—but I don’t want to let go of the gentleness of the situation.
“That’s a dangerous place, isn’t it?”
“Pretty lawless, yeah.”
He squints at Zane. The bandages are mostly gone. I don’t know how much of his strength has returned, but the burns have healed better than I’d anticipated given our lack of professional care. There’s no real distortion to his face. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so concerned about it given how much worse my face looks on a daily basis. But the idea of the big happy doofus with permanent scars from those cyborgs makes me ill.
“We’re been over this, La and I are going with him.” Zane’s tone is gentle, but there’s determination there.
Apparently I’ve missed a few arguments.
“You could stay,” I offer, hoping the parents will at least dislike me less. I don’t know why it matters. At this point, I should be fine pissing them off, it’s not like they’re going to love me because I agree with them a few times.
Slowly, Zane gives me the worst expression I’ve seen on his happy face. “And I could find a solid object to hit you with.”
Yvonne snickers. To my surprise, both parents join in. It makes me feel less like a cornered animal. I expected a bit more annoyance from them, considering they’re heading to a rather dangerous outpost with me, and Zane’s barely recovered. I shrug under the weight his glare.
“I think you two should stay here,” Masyn says, and his own tone brokers no disagreement. I can’t exactly argue with him.
I do not want to be sitting here in the middle of an argument over me. I eyeball the door as if I can materialize next to it. But everyone’s still friendly.
“I’m aware you think that,” Zane says cheerfully.
Anya’s expression says she’s enjoying the adults arguing. Well, at least one of us is having a good time.
“Between Amerov, Clock, and whatever happened on this guy’s friend’s ship I’d think you’d learn your lesson sometime.”
He gestures to me when he says it. Scowling, I can’t help but say, “Not my friend.”
I’m ignored.
“Well, I’m dense,” Zane says, same cheerful tone.
Maybe, if I’m lucky, there’s a blackhole in the area that’ll take this moment to drag Hytha in.
Masyn puts his elbows on the table. “You’ve both already nearly gotten yourselves killed a dozen times, I think you’re done.”
Zane smiles a little sadly, “Where would you like us to go? We can’t stay here. Sure, the other option is to find a mostly abandoned planet and hide out there for a while, but we’d have to be planet hopping back and forth for the rest of our lives one way or another. They keep managing to track us down. Aaron takes great pains to protect us when we’re in trouble. Granted, we have saved his ass a few times—”
I kick him under the table.
“—But part of those times were because we were the ones causing the trouble. Point is, we have nowhere safe to go, and if we’re going to be criminals on the run, might as well be criminals with a cyborg who can drop kick most grown men into the atmosphere.”
“Bit dramatic,” I mutter.
Zane shrugs.
“Zar is still a bit of an exception,” Masyn says, but he’s lost most of the fight to his voice. Zane makes a decent point. Plus, they probably don’t know our next plan after Zar involves two galactic princesses an Neyla Ve, and no one wants to bring it up. I’m certainly not going to.
“I’ll probably just leave them in my ship, to be quite frank,” I say, ignoring Zane’s glare. “I don’t want them wandering around either, that’s why we came here in the first place. I’m perfectly fine getting the information by myself, and it’ll make me feel better if they’re safe. I’ve no intention of letting anyone else take them in. I’ve nearly died too many times already saving their asses.”
Masyn is staring at me. I don’t like meeting his eyes. They’re much more intense than either of is children’s, and I know he’s trying to decide if I’m lying. But I’m not. And I don’t want him to think I am. I’m not certain I can get away with them staying in the ship, but I’m going to try my damndest, and I’m not going to let anything happen to them.
Finally, he nods. I can’t tell if he believes me or just doesn’t have a better option.
“I’m not getting locked in the ship,” Zane mutters.
“I’ll arm wrestle you for it.”
Kyra presses her lips together, staring at the remnants of her coffee and trying not to laugh.
Zane gives me a disparaging look. “You were right, we shouldn’t’ve have come here. I didn’t know you were going to take their side.”
“When you make a good point, I’ll take your side.”
“Didn’t you tackle one of Captain’s elite private security?”
“Yes, but I’m durable.”
Masyn looks like he wants to say something but can’t think of a full thought.
“He also climbed a really tall tree yesterday,” Anya puts in.
I match Zane’s glare. “You’ve mentioned that three times now, it wasn’t that spectacular.”
“I disagree.”
I roll my eyes and pinch the bridge of nose. “I know you probably don’t want to, but I really do think we should head out, especially since some of your relatives seem to be in the area and humans are all nosey and annoying…er, no offense.”
Masyn and Kyra both shrug.
And there’s a knock on the door.
Casually, Zane says, “Speak of the devil.”
