“I’d rather use my knife. The big one I once thought there was no possible use for. I can cut him apart a piece at a time. No one leaves a Taglioni to die. And after what he did? The Board wouldn’t dare to move against me.”

Kylee gave her a knowing smile. “See? A couple of weeks on Donovan, and you’ve already developed several redeeming features to your personality. Who knows what kind of person you’ll be after you’ve been here for a full month.”

“Assuming we don’t die finding Flute.”

Kylee blew on a hot piece of meat. “There’s always that.”

The voice from the darkness said, “Well, assuming you two itchy trigger fingers won’t shoot us, would you mind if Flute and I came in to share your fire?”

Stunned, Falise looked up to see her brother step out of the darkness, his rifle in hand. He was smiling from beneath a wide Donovanian hat, his beard gleaming in the firelight. And behind him, limping, came the big quetzal, patterns of color broken by the wounds on its hide.

“Wow! Family reunion,” Kylee chimed.

“Won’t this be fun,” Falise muttered to her herself, as she met Derek’s questioning gaze.

Kylee leaped up to hug Flute and then inspect his wounds. “Piss on a rock! They got you, huh? Are you all right?”

The big quetzal’s hide was a riot of color.

Derek’s smile went crooked in his face. “So, Little Sister? Looks like you came out second best after a fight with a lion. Having fun on Donovan, are you?”

Deadpan, she told him, “You know, Brother, despite the changes, you’re still insufferable.”

Chapter 74

  74  

Kalico kept a house down in the residential zone. She’d picked it up in order that she might have a place to stay when she had to lay over in PA. Not that she used it much. Maybe twice a month. She had a contract with Sian Hmong. Once a week Sian would come in, change the sheets, dust, do the dishes, toss any food that had gone bad in the refrigeration, and take out the trash.

The dome wasn’t much, just a living room separated from the kitchen by a four-stool breakfast bar; a bathroom was located opposite the storage room with a bedroom in the back. Water, like everywhere in PA, was collected from the roof, run through a mucilage filter, and stored in a cistern.

The deal Kalico had made with Soukup was that she would spend the night here, the dome guarded by four of Creamer’s marines to ensure that she didn’t flee. As if fleeing—whatever that meant—was really an option. Let alone that she had any intention. Hardly.