After the announcement, she hunkered down and held onto Aevi for dear life. She had seen holos of people who enjoyed provoking their adrenal responses, and the rapid spiral whirled her center of gravity until she nearly tumbled headlong. She and the little one were too far from the center of the ship to change locations, so the best she could do was keep them from getting injured. Her forelimbs burned from holding on while Aevi dug her claws into the wall, leaving deep runnels in the metal.

Part of her wished she could see their pursuers, but that was idle curiosity. What could she do if she saw the ship anyway? Everyone else had a role to play, valuable work to do. Me? I’m useless here.

That was a painful realization. She hadn’t wanted to abandon Helix when things got difficult, but now that she’d left her life behind, she intuited how ill-suited she was for such a venture, how she lacked valuable skills outside the lab. Countless moments passed with evasive maneuvers while Qalu tried not to get permanently damaged. At last, the ship put on a burst of speed, popping to hyperspeed if the drag she felt was any indication. Shaken, she stumbled to the hub, still holding Aevi.

As she arrived, Carow was asking, “Who was that? How could Krag have found our trail so fast? It doesn’t even make sense.”

“I believe it’s my fault,” an unfamiliar voice said, an unmistakably synthetic tone.

This must be Nita, the AI that Helix mentioned. The one who helped him fix the issue with his connectivity. And that fast, the hurt pushed to the front of Qalu’s mind. Before they left, she was the most important person to him. He told me everything, scarcely filtering a thought. Back then, he would have told her first. I was also the only friend he had. With effort, she reminded herself that everything was unfolding as she’d hoped. Walking away from his declaration had been for the best. She shouldn’t encourage him to limit his options. He was expanding his social network, just as she had predicted. And she shouldn’t want to change that either. Inatol’s voice murmured in the back of her mind:

Love is not selfish. Love gives us room to grow. When our greedy aspect presents, we must shut it down. Only then can we love others with our whole being.

“Can you clarify?” Praxys asked.

“The identification number on the vessel matches one that has been hunting us for some time, ever since my liberation. It is a coincidence that our paths intersected near Tiralan. Though I have screened considerable correspondence, I have seen no sign that anyone has connected our departure to Toth Krag’s current bounty. We have some time before that occurs.”