Pixie Hazard, Archibald Bradford [100 best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

the word for it. When you began using your accounts again they knew right where to find you. And given what they just did, I think it’s safe to say they have no interest in retrieving their project alive, if that was ever their intent. Lucky for you, if not us, we stumbled into the middle of their op and ruined everything. I very strongly suspect that Jonathan Demarco was part of it actually. He’s much more likely to work with a ‘civilized’ corp than a Junker clan.”

“I don’t understand.” Bryan said breathlessly.

Donnie clicked her tongue as she continued to lay it out for him.

“Never mind their investment in the research the turned you into... whatever: to Outerlight you are breathing proof of their attempts at facilitating corporate espionage, however unintentionally. Billy wasn’t kidding about the stakes there. They would kill us all to keep this shit quiet. As it is, they lost the team they sent for cleanup, so if you don’t want them to send another...”

She trailed off, waiting on him to make the tiny leap of logic.

His eyes closed and his head bowed when he made the connection.

“I need to be dead.”

“That’s the short of it.” Donnie said with some sympathy: “At least you already have a leg up on that, because as far as anyone knows you didn’t make it off of the Stardust, which by the way is a terrible name for a spaceship.”

Despite the trouble he had brought into her lap, she didn’t fault him for it: he was as much a victim of circumstance as they were.

He drew in a deep breath to steady his nerve, surprising her somewhat with his direct gaze.

“Okay, I’m dead. But what do I do now?”

She pursed her lips and held his gaze for a few seconds.

“You disappear. For real. Safest play for you.”

“My family-”

“Safer for them too kid. Regardless of the survivor list from the Stardust, Outerlight isn’t going to just wipe their hands and call it done. You need to keep away for now.”

He closed his eyes as a single tear escaped to trickle down his cheek.

“It will break my mother’s heart to think I died.”

Despite the complicated feelings he had regarding her complicity in Professor Calvin’s experiments, she was still his mom.

Donnie made it easy for him though, if only a little.

“It will break it harder to know it.” She said bluntly; “And I’m sure it would break yours even worse if you show up at home for Christmas only for a kill-team to come in right after you. They’re very thorough kid, trust me.”

Despite the death of Christianity on Old Earth, Christmas was still a widely celebrated holiday.

It was way too profitable an event for the corporations to ever let it die.

Once again he drew in a steadying breath, then wiped away his tears.

“Thank you, Captain. For everything you’ve done for me.”

She grunted a reply, not overly comfortable in the face of his youthful sincerity.

It was way sexier when Bunny did it.

“Yeah, well here’s the thing. Maria has been sulking pretty ruthlessly since she got hit. And Bunny won’t leave me alone about those vegetables you promised her.”

He didn’t interrupt her, far too taken aback by what she was saying.

She was pretty surprised herself given that she had made the decision barely three seconds previous.

“If you agree to stay out of the way, to set up your grow-op and to help out how and where you can on the Pixie, than you can stay with us for a spell. At least until the heat dies down on you. Beyond that, we’ll see.”

He blinked rapidly as hope returned to him; he had sense enough to know that he wasn’t going to last long away from the veteran marines and their guns.

He had all but consigned himself to an early grave.

“I... I won’t let you down.”

“Just to be clear. I’m not paying you anything. You’re paying me for passage on my boat.”

“Right.”

She crossed her arms over her breasts, still feeling uncomfortable with the whole conversation.

“And speaking of passage, we need to keep the passenger bunks open to those not paying in produce so you’ll have to bunk with Maria, if she’s okay with it. That might seem like a good thing now, but it’ll get old. Trust me. Women can be grosser than men. All it will take is for you to walk in on her while she’s changing her tampon and your dick will shrivel up forever.”

“I’ll be careful.”

His stupid grateful smile remained and it flustered her all the more.

“Okay, I got work to do, go and... help Bunny or something. Just go and not be here anymore.” She finished with an impatient gesture of her hand towards the door.

He finally left, but his smile remained as he did.

Eniella’s busted nose aside, the Pixie Hazard and her crew weathered the precipitous plunge onto Lewanna fairly well all things considered.

While her carapace armour was battered and had a nasty crack along the keel from the enemy railguns, the worst of the damage was from the impact of the lifeboat, but even that hadn’t been enough to break her back.

With a bit of help from some grateful locals Kyle and Eniella had the aging dropship space-worthy inside of two days, though all they could really do was patch her up, both mechanics now desperately wanting time in dry-dock in a proper facility somewhere.

Meanwhile the crew took the addition of their newest member in characteristic fashion.

Maria was predictably over the moon, though she tried her best not to show it for fear that Donnie might change her mind.

Billy likewise approved, happy for the chance to keep her former patient alive.

Not really having a stake in the kid beyond what he could