He replaced his bulb in the crate, and switched the medical kit’s carrying strap from one shoulder to the other. “I don’t see how we’ve got a lot of choice.”

He went to follow but I put a hand to his upper arm, restraining him. “You don’t know what’s down there,” I said.

The kid threw me a haunted look. “I know what’s up there, though. And I’d rather take my chances with her than get blown to bits by an orbital strike.”

I released him and stepped back. “Fair enough.” I couldn’t argue with that kind of logic.

He followed the sound of Alva Clay’s footfalls. When he was about to similarly vanish around the central pillar, he stopped and looked back up at me. “Aren’t you coming?”

I took a long breath in through my nose. Finding Ona Sudak alive had been a faint, desperate hope. If she was gone, I had lost my only bargaining chip.

How ironic that a heavy cruiser from the Conglomeration Navy should have ended my career with Conglomeration Intelligence. Ironic, and infuriating. What reason could the navy possibly have for shooting down Outward liners, and why were the intelligence services more concerned with rescuing poets than stopping the slaughter? The trouble with operating on a “need to know” basis, I reflected, was that you were rarely told the things you most needed to know, and never allowed to fathom a wider context.

I didn’t know whether this aggression was an attempt to reignite hostilities, or some sort of random hit. The only thing that had become apparent was that my future, such as it was, lay with the House of Reclamation.

I picked up the crate containing our rations, letting the exoskeleton bear the weight.

“Yeah, kid, I’m coming.” I huffed. “It’s not like I’ve got anywhere else to go now, is it?”

Fifty-Two: Ona Sudak

FIFTY-TWO

ONA SUDAK

I lost track of time. Hunger gnawed at me until I imagined I could feel my stomach beginning to digest itself. The corridors down here in the ziggurat were almost as labyrinthine as the canyons on the surface, and lined with the same white stone. Shadows flickered in my peripheral vision, but vanished when I turned my head.