I helped her up the ramp, into the shuttle’s passenger compartment, and settled her into one of the scuffed and threadbare chairs. I stashed her crutches in the overhead compartment, and then crouched in the aisle beside her. “You’ll know how to find me,” I said.

She gave a nod. “I’ll contact the House.”

“I’m sure they’ll get a message to me, wherever I am.”

We clasped hands again.

“Seriously,” I reassured her, “don’t worry. Nobody’s going to kill me while I’m under the protection of the House. Especially not now they’ve got a million new ships on their side.”

Her smile was brave. “I hope so.”

She gave my fingers a final squeeze, then let go and placed her hands in her lap. “You’d better go,” she said.

I got to my feet and gave her a final wink. Then I turned and left.

As I clumped back down the ramp in my exoskeleton, back into the now familiar sounds and smells of the Trouble Dog’s interior, I experienced something I can only describe as the exact opposite of homesickness. This wasn’t where I was from or where I had expected to end up, but it was exactly where I now felt I belonged. And from where I stood, there on the deck plates of that repurposed heavy cruiser, the future looked about a billion times brighter than I had ever thought it might.

Seventy-Two: Trouble Dog

SEVENTY-TWO

TROUBLE DOG

When they scanned me, the ships of the Marble Armada read my soul.

They scanned me and saw the horrors I had committed, and the lengths to which I had gone in order to make amends. They knew the efforts I would be prepared to make in order to prevent anything like Pelapatarn from ever happening again. Thanks to my bedtime stories for the captain, they also learned the history of the House of Reclamation, and understood how Sofia Nikitas had drawn her inspiration from their example. In their eyes, this made the House the natural heir and beneficiary of their resources, and an organisation they felt they could trust to put those resources to good use.