‘Serves you right for trying on that terrible act,’ Falco retorts. ‘Now, both of you. Explain.’

‘It was an ambush,’ I say. ‘Those soldiers had orders for my termination. I knew the General was likely in danger.’

‘So you went in?’ Falco is incredulous. ‘You just… drove into the base? For her?’

The General makes an affronted noise.

‘A life is a life.’

Falco shakes her head, hostility turning into pity and disbelief. ‘Look, you can’t stay here, Doc. I can keep them off for a time, but not forever.’

‘I know, Mala.’ I rub at my scalp. ‘We need to get out of Landfall.’

‘And go where?’

My brain feels scrambled. In the past, I would have run for the Barrens. A person alone can get by alright there. But going with the General would be like painting a target upon my back.

‘What about Otroville?’ I say, trying to think.

Falco scoffs. ‘The capital is crawling with snitches. I should know, half of them are mine.’

‘The Dhu Tran rest stop, then.’

‘Seekers took it. On orders from Hel, people are saying. Nothing left.’

‘If we could make it to the U Zone, if you had some contacts there—’

‘No,’ she dismisses, fast. ‘Too many Peacekeepers. You wouldn’t last a day.’

‘Where then?’

The General watches the exchange between us, her eyes narrowed.

‘Even if the Accord try to keep this quiet, once they give an order for her apprehension every bounty hunter from here to Prosper is going to be down on this moon.’ Falco pauses, worrying the paint from her lips. ‘Reckon your only choice is the Pit.’

I laugh. ‘You may as well shoot us here.’

She shrugs. ‘Word is power changed hands recently. Whoever’s running the place has it cleaned up. Course it might just be hearsay. But a fact’s a fact, it’s the one place on this rock where the Accord won’t follow. Except for the Edge, which I hear is lovely at this time of year.’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ the General demands.

I hesitate, wondering just how far we can trust Falco. ‘The Pit’s a crater, a few days north of here. Deep enough to hide lights, signals. The land around it is mined and trapped for miles so the Accord won’t go near, without proper support.’

The General’s jaw twitches as she looks at Falco. ‘I need to get off this stinking moon and make contact with my peers. I could buy passage in this… Pit?’

‘You can buy anything in the Pit.’

‘And how would I get there? On one of those godforsaken mules, I suppose.’

‘A mule? You’d never make it alive. You’d need a better vehicle than that. And an escort. And they don’t come cheap.’

‘I can pay.’

‘With what, ma’am? Don’t the Accord seize the assets of their dead?’