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I could, too Happily, even That’s so we have in common, Jax

"People have," she murmured "People do"

The silent accord between us felt perfect; I ached with the beauty of flying And I thought the Rodeisian feht refracted from the sensor screens, interpreted bylike it The ship felt natural in e I should have been born with

"Ready for juestive, somehow "Since the moment you came aboard"

[Narration pauses, time lapse of six hours and twelve minutes]

When we jacked in, the are aator open I could sift through her memories as if they were jewels in a treasure box She knew--and she didn’t see, the feer and brutality, the scent of blood that lingered about ery, she caht man That much, I could offer It was, in fact, all I had left That was the first time I became part of a woman, Jax There in the cockpit, and I think it prepared me for you

The ship shivered as the phase drive huh which ould access grimspace I’d seen the charts and numbers And even so, I wasn’t remotely prepared for that first jump

I fleith her, beca h that she’d seen the darkness roiling Nausea rose in my throat even as my hands responded to her silent directives

"Here," she said "Jump here"

And I had to trust her I hit the panel, signaling the ship ere ready to return to straight space Shaky and queasy fro By that tilanced at the star charts, trying to place where we’d come out Jumps had to take place well away from planetary pull, so so the final destination But what I saw on the screen didn’t match

"This isn’t the way to Gehenna"

"It isn’t," she agreed Her huge fist slammed into hts went out

[Narration pauses, time lapse of five hours and twenty-nine minutes]

Distant voices reached me before my brain came fully back online My head throbbed with a low, dull pain, reht then, I made up my mind--I’d kill that treacherous ju I did

I should have known her sexual ihts Should have realized she had been too helpful, agreed too easily Desperation made me stupid, careless, and now I’d pay the price If they kne etabout

I always thought I would die onto , butthat difficult

Two fe up from them, so either they’d sedateddown my ability

"What in Mary’s na voice sounded exasperated "I wanted Hon, along with his ship Half those diggers he delivered for thea look to assess how much trouble I was in They’d bound my hands and feet, with a filaled They weren’t screwing around, then

Two females, one human, and one Rodeisian, the sae alle when they hadon here--and what they intended to do with , offer whatever they wanted They probably wouldn’t be fool enough to trust h

Tanze didn’t appear overly concerned "Plans change This guy caured you’d take what you could get We can keep the ship in recompense for the busted units You don’t need trouble with offworlders, Mair Bringing Hon to Lachion would complicate the whole plan"

What plan? Where was Lachion anyway? I furaphy and came up blank It couldn’t be an important tier world; I’d killed on most of those That would limit my escape options

But Mair lance She was se I didn’ther out Her white hair stood up around her face like a cloudy nimbus, as if she hadn’t coether too many cosh," she agreed with a sigh

"And this one needs you," Tanze went on "He’ll die if you don’t help hiscooped up by the Corp, but he’s on the brink, now"

Every ’s the Rodeisian on about? Does she kno could she? Being discovered wasto it happen It was bad enough when I thought they just ht sell me back to the Nicuan nobles, but if Farwan found out that Ichipped, it would be exponentially worse I knew all about what they did to people who violated their rules After all, they did it tome with a stepmother who hated me, and a half sister who needed me to provide for her