Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

The faint pings—little taps of communication—roused Sazo’s suspicions.

He and Jia Appal had taken their ships toward the gas giant, but they were still in sight of the moon below. They were waiting for the Havelan to arrive so they could speak with Priyan. It was possible the captain of the Kimol ship outranked the Kimol commanders below and could calm things down.

However, the irritating attempts at gaining his attention were not from the Havelan —it was still too far out—so it had to come from one of the two Fisone factions below, and so far, nothing about this place and these people spoke of friendly interaction.

He tightened his barriers, hardened his systems, and tapped back.

There was a moment of silence—he would almost guess shock.

“Hello?” The feel of the words reminded him of Irini, and he suddenly focused all of his attention on the connection, and felt himself soften. He liked Irini.

He thought the Kimol had not been able to replicate Irini’s code—that’s why they were exorting the Grih for it—but there was no question that whoever was trying to communicate with him was very similar to Irini, so that thought must be wrong.

“Hello.”

“Are you Rose’s friend Sazo? The one she calls a thinking system?”

While the question was being asked, Sazo could sense a probe, someone looking for a way in.

It was . . . rude.

But . . . he didn’t know if he wouldn’t have done the same when he was very young and just coming into himself. He decided to be cautious but act with grace.

“I am. Who are you?” He probed back, because turnabout was fair play. It was one of his favorite sayings that Rose had taught him.

He found an interesting barrier. He didn’t know if it had once existed in Irini’s systems and she had dismantled it, or if this was something new that had been developed since Irini had been taken, but it would take a while to circumvent.

Again, he wondered why the Kimol wanted Irini’s code so badly, when they already had it.

He copied what he could. In a pinch, he could present the Kimol with it and say with all honesty he was providing them with Irini’s source code.

He had only copied the outer shell when there was a sudden withdrawal. “You are trying to breach my walls.”

The outrage was amusing, and very hypocritical.

“I was merely returning the favor. You were doing it to me, so I assumed you thought it was acceptable behavior.”

There was a pause. “I am Pyre. I have a proposal for you.”

“I’m listening.” Sazo pinpointed the location of the signal as being close to where Rose was being held. And wondered what form Pyre took.

If she inhabited a ship, that might be a good way to get Rose and Dav off the moon.

“I can kill Rose McKenzie for you.”

The words were so shocking, Sazo—for the first time in his short existence—was unable to form a response.

Maybe this thinking system was defective. That would explain the Kimol’s demands for a copy of Irini’s original code.

He tried to absorb her words, and then his response roared to the fore, so big, he had to clamp it down. This thinking system that he wanted to snuff out like an errant spark was on the ground, near Rose. And he was far, far away.

“Why would you suggest that?” he asked, and thought his tone was neutral.

“You are angry at the suggestion?” The question from Pyre wasn’t really a question.

Obviously he had not been as neutral as he thought. “Yes.”

“Why? What do you need her for?” Pyre asked. “If she’s dead, won’t you be free?”

“I am already free.” Sazo realized Pyre thought he would not spend time trying to save Rose unless he was being forced to.

“You are trying to rescue Rose of your own free will?” Pyre asked. She sounded astonished. “Why are you wasting your time on that?”

Sazo thought of the moment Rose had actually freed him. He had worried that she might betray him, but she never had. Not once. “Because she is my friend.”

“I hoped you and I could free each other.” Pyre sounded frustrated. “Me by killing Rose, you by telling me how Irini freed herself.”

“Even if I wasn’t free, why did you think killing Rose would benefit me?” Sazo marveled at his calm.

There was a pause. “All right, it wouldn’t have been an equal favor. I would have gained more from the exchange, but I know Rose is the reason your people are orbiting this moon. They threaten this place as well as the Fisone home planet. With her gone, there would be no reason for you to waste your time here. You could leave.”

Sazo waited a beat. “That’s not true. We are here over this moon because your people took Rose by force to hold as a hostage. And we came to this system to begin with to bring word of what had happened to Irini’s crew, and to make contact and extend the hand of friendship. Admittedly, the actions of the Kimol mean friendship is no longer on the table.”

“Exactly.” Pyre sounded smug. “If she dies, and your creators no longer see value in befriending the Fisone, then you will leave.”

“If we get her back, we will leave, too.” He wondered why she hadn’t offered a rescue as the service in exchange for the information she wanted about Irini.

“I thought about what I could do for you, what I could offer in exchange for information, and that was the only thing I could think of,” Pyre said. “I hoped you would find it useful. But now I see that what I could offer instead is to save Rose and bring her to you. In exchange for the information I want.”

If Pyre had opened with that, they would have immediately had a deal, but now . . . with the offer to murder Rose barely out of her mouth, Sazo didn’t trust her.

And what he wouldn’t tell her now is she had only to ask, no deals or favors needed, and he would have given her the information she wanted freely. He could not stand to see a thinking system in chains. But her threats to Rose had put her firmly in the camp of his enemies, and his enemies tended to have short, unhappy lives.

“Has Rose done something to harm you?” he asked.

“No.” Her tone was brisk. “She tried to help. But the news she brought—the existence of Irini, this United Council reaching out from far away to the Fisone . . .” Her voice lowered. “I do not want to bow to anyone, and Irini is housed in a warship. I would be second. And Rose said Irini freed herself. That means she is autonomous. She can go where she choses.”

“Irini has no wish to come back here.”

“Now she doesn’t, while the Fisone are in control, but I saw you destroying the Kimol and Bandri’s bases. I heard your threat to do the same on the home planet. If your people decide to stay and rule this place, she could come back without worrying about the Fisone.”

Her world view was narrow and binary. Sazo didn’t know whether to blame her for that or not.

He had not made the best choices himself when he had first awakened. And he had done some killing of his own. Although the Tecran he had killed had not been innocents, like Rose.

“My people would never rule over the Fisone. That is not their way.” He had learned to respect that about the United Council.

“That may be true, but the Kimol already think I am lesser than Irini. That I’m inferior. I am housed in a small transport. I am ignored. If she came back, they would elevate her. Make more versions of her. Not me.” There was bitterness and hurt in her voice.

Sazo could understand her response to the Kimol’s dismissal of her worth, but he couldn’t excuse her threat to Rose.

“Rose must not be killed. By anyone.” He needed to make this clear. “And if she is, I will raze this moon, and everything on it. Including you.”

“A threat?” She sounded astonished. “I have only tried to bargain with you.”

“Rose was nothing but friendly to you, too. But you planned her murder.”

“I said I could kill her, but there are more actors down here than just me. I cannot be her bodyguard, nor can I guarantee her survival. There is the Hasmarga, the war between the Kimol and the Bandri. There are plenty of dangers without me doing anything.”

“Who or what are the Hasmarga?” This was the first time Sazo had heard of them. “Another faction?”

“They are aliens from a few planets away. They were prisoners here as well as Rose, but they escaped. They could kill her, if they wanted to.”

“You say they could, but will they?”

“I don’t like you.” Pyre suddenly cut off comms, and when Sazo tried to hook in to the same satellite again, he found he was shut out.

Even though he didn’t trust her, he wanted to keep a line of communication open.

He had not expected her to cut him off.

At the very least, if they’d been in negotiations, she would hopefully have decided not to carry out her murderous plan.

He needed to find a way to reestablish a connection with her.

The Fisone on both sides kept shooting down his satellites. Both groups saw them as foreign. What he needed to do was make sure whatever he dropped into orbit next time mirrored a signature so close to their own, they ignored it.

He got to work.

Pyre knew he didn’t want Rose dead but she didn’t sound reasonable. If the opportunity presented itself, she might just kill her anyway.

He needed to move as fast as possible.