Then she was gone, climbing up the steps and being swallowed by the gunship’s interior. Zidarov stumbled out of the range of the intakes, steeling himself against the blast of take-off. He reached the sanctuary of the Luxer, bundled himself inside and turned the environment controls on. It was only once the console had warmed up that he spotted the message, sent over a personal channel. He immediately thought it was Milija, but it turned out to be Vipa.

‘She’s waking up,’ was the terse content. ‘Get here quick, you’ll be the first.’

Before the audex cut out, he’d already started both engines.

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

She looked, as expected, terrible. The tubes were mostly gone, leaving heavy bruising around her mouth and cheeks. Her skin tone, which had been a pale brown, was now a pale grey. Intravenous lines still ran in clusters from her arms and chest, and a nasty-looking monitor in the shape of an iron skull was clamped to her forehead.

It took her a moment to recognise him, it seemed. The lumens in the chamber were set low, and Zidarov hunched on the room’s only chair, pulled up to the cot’s edge. The rain drummed against the windows, leaving black streaks across the armourglass panes.

When her eyes finally focused on him, she managed a smile that was more like a grimace. ‘Zido,’ she said.

Zidarov didn’t really think their friendship had been that close. ‘Borodina,’ he replied, softly. It felt like an intrusion, suddenly.

She croaked something, and he reached out for a plastek cup, which he filled at the sink and handed to her.

‘So, how’s it going?’ she asked, and cracked another lopsided smile.

He smiled back. ‘Ah, well, you know,’ he said. ‘You feeling better?’

‘I feel like death.’

‘You looked worse when I visited last.’

‘Imagine I did.’

Zidarov reached out for a drink of his own. He could still taste chems at the back of his mouth, and felt vaguely light-headed. He might have to ask Vipa for something before leaving, just to get the sludge out of his system.

‘Are you good to talk?’ he asked. ‘If not, we can do–’

‘I don’t know who did it,’ Borodina croaked. ‘Sorry. Didn’t see them.’

‘What happened?’

She thought back, her brow wrinkling. The monitor flashed a red light, and she winced. ‘I was following a lead. The Vidora were getting active. Something to do with off-world shipments. You know that’s been getting harder? It made everything ­difficult.’ She took another sip. ‘I was closing in on something. That feeling you get – things in your sights. I was getting near.’

Zidarov let her talk. He deactivated all but critical-level comms from his iris intake. He didn’t activate a recording, just let her get her thoughts in order.