Where the blazes is the old man?

Awe systematically queries the personnel of each mine and unless one of them is lying, the governor never went to the mines in the first place.

You old goat, did you fuck me?

Awe puts out a quiet alert using only the IFC hardware code. It won’t raise any alarms, but every ship AI, every scan-capable robot and Lagos herself will be on the lookout for him.

Awe tries to locate Joké. She’s nowhere to be found either, but that’s not unusual. Lagos often records conflicts, exceptions and errors when it comes to her IFC location. Been like that since she was a child. It doesn’t mean anything.

Shit.

Shit.

He updates the mission profile for the three ships on their way to the Ragtime: Look out for the governor. If you find him, bring him home. Alive.

Shit.

Awe calls his wife, Ibidun, to let her know he won’t be home. He settles in for a long night of waiting and sifting through data.

Chapter Fourteen

Ragtime: Shell

Laid out in sick bay, in Node M, Shell acknowledges that Joké is good-looking, but the girl is uncooperative. The service bots have cleaned up all the blood from the autopsies, and there’s no visible gore, but Shell thinks she can smell a whiff of the abattoir on the air. Must be her imagination, though. It’ll take time and therapy to get this trauma out of her mind, but only if they make it out alive.

“I’m fine,” says Joké, attempting to get up.

“Stay where you are,” says Larry.

“I fainted, Father. It was hard work, hmm?” says Joké.

Fin lounges at the door, staring, silent, but Salvo steps forward. “I’ve been analysing the telemetry from your suit. What it tells me doesn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean?” says Shell.

“It says half the suit went outside,” says Salvo. “And it is still there.”

“Oh, that,” says Joké.

“Did you throw a suit out?” asks Shell.

“Uh-uh, I didn’t. I got flung out the airlock.”

“How did you get back?” says Fin.

Joké raises her head and locks eyes with Fin. “You know how.”

Shell says, “Will someone please explain to me what’s going on here?”

“Lambers can slip between realities and back,” says Fin. “She left her suit behind in space when she moved.”

Shell looks to Larry who avoids her eyes, a conversation for another time. “So we’re down a space suit.”

“Mmm, but we’re up one life – me,” says Joké. “And I did stop the leak.”

“One of the leaks. There are still some minor ones, but the one you blocked was the largest. Good job,” says Shell. “I have bad news, so if Joké’s all right, then I’d like to go to the bridge.”