“I’d rather you didn’t,” Dek told her, backing away. “Come on, little sis, let’s you and me go check on how Talina’s doing with the rest of these idiots.”

As they backed to the door, Falise—shaking in anger—snapped, “This isn’t over, you pathetic fool.”

“Nope,” Dek agreed amiably. “Probably because you’re not smart enough to know when you’re ahead.”

Dek closed the door behind him, as Kylee went skipping down the steps.

Through the duraplast, he heard Falise order, “If I ever see that genetically aborted horror of a human being again, I will leave him gutted in the street!”

“Little sister?” Kylee asked as she took the handles of Fred Han Chow’s cart.

“Gotta love the irony, don’t you think . . . sis?”

Chapter 29

  29  

With Capella’s morning light streaming through the high window, Talina set two plates of beans, smoked poblanos, and red sauce on the breakfast bar. Dek was halfway through his cup of coffee. The beverage was still a rare treat, the first bean-bearing trees having been grafted. An entire grove was now maturing down at Mundo Base. There, conditions were the closest to terrestrial regions where coffee flourished.

Dek set aside his coffee. “You should have seen their faces. Ednund was frozen, having never had a menial threaten him. But Falise, I swear, it was like she could have chewed uranium into fission.”

“It worries me that Kylee had a pistol on Clarice,” Talina said, taking her seat beside him. “The kid’s not always what you’d call rock stable.”

“She might be just what Falise’s people needed. Tal, they’ve been top dogs, untouchable and privileged to the point of idiocy. One second, Ednund was going to do me severe harm before heaving me out the door. The next, before he and Clarice could comprehend, they were staring at pistols. To them, it’s incomprehensible that mere gutter trash would dare. If we’re lucky, that little demonstration has given my darling sister enough of a shock to cause her to reflect on some of the things we’ve all been trying to tell her.”

“Cinque gets it.” She lifted a forkful and chewed thoughtfully. “He accompanied me on my rounds last night. The guy listens, learns. He’s still too damned cock-sure of himself, but he’s taking Port Authority seriously. Spent time talking to the guards on the gates. Made me give him a complete tour of the town.”

“Then he’s a heap smarter than my idiot sister.”

“He also asked about you. Wanted to know if it was true that I had a more than passing acquaintance. As soon as I told him I did, the inquisition began. I told him he’d be better off asking you in person. He wants to meet you.”

“Aw, the perils of celebrity.” Dek arched an eyebrow.