Dekies laughed, “I’d say I’m more a... connoisseur of opportunity.”

Aptat crossed their arms, shook their head. “They warned me about doing so much business with Vortu, and especially their infamous princesses. ‘A time will come when their greed will outstrip their sense’, ‘they will take advantage of your good will’, ‘they are no more than marauders and thieves’. But being so magnanimous as I am, I announced that I don’t pass up business, nor do I judge based on hearsay. I told them that the Vortu are plentiful across the Dasma Arm and were always buying – a reliable influx of guush even in times of depressed markets. I lectured them, arrogantly announcing that until somebody crosses me personally, I will always give the benefit of the doubt. Something about it being my gift to the Universe in return for it unburdening me from my own chains.”

“That’s a lie,” said Dekies. “You had no such conversations.”

“No, I did not,” answered Aptat, giving me a cheeky wink. “But if I had, that’s definitely what I would have said.”

Aptat turned to face me directly, mere feet away. I sucked in a breath. Behind, Dekies and the other two squared themselves to the bounty hunter. Aptat’s helmet closed over their face. “My fictional colleagues were right,” said the metallic voice. “And now I have to take a loss for my show of good faith.”

The Vortu drew down.

“Guns,” I muttered.

Before I could flinch, Aptat’s articulated arm had spun once around, producing three short hisses in quick succession. A crown went flying, and the Vortu delegation collapsed, their weapons firing aimlessly. Somewhere, Patton hooted.

Aptat came within inches of my face, which I had anxiously wedged into the gap in the glass. The seams of their shining helmet came apart, exposing a friendly version of the stringhunter’s piscine visage. “Did I get them?”

I glanced again over their shoulder and nodded stupidly.

“Hmm, good,” they grunted. “But this will shit my reputation.”

50 Also known as a “sympathy reaction”, experiments in rats have found this empathy behavior to center within the cingulate cortex with the firing of mirror neurons – Yeah, we get it.

51 Which humans share with dogs, cats, and horses.

52 Piloerection – You said erection.

53 Gesundheit.

54 Sounds like Nay-shuh High-rope – Yeah, I heard. We use the same set of ears.

55 The forward movement of the pinna, or outer part of the ears, being a dead giveaway, or tell, for genuine interest. At least in horses – Thanks for that. I’ll let you know when we meet some space horses.

56 Yeah, can you find out what that is?

57 You hear that? – I sure did.

58 I’d say shit just got real.

CHAPTER TEN

I exchanged a distressed glance with Patton as Aptat skipped between the chambers spitting colorful curses. Two prisoners, Ke’xatt and Ghuxch-hexer-chchch, were no longer standing. Aptat opened the shattered glass of their chambers and dragged them out, checked vital signs, then let loose another round of expletives. The Vortu’s stray rounds had found soft targets.