The Defiant
Chapter Thirty Six

We reached Byth the following afternoon.

I felt an odd sense of deja vu as we descended to the surface, even though our destination was a spaceport on the opposite side of the planet.

We’d taken our shuttle to the surface, and the Sedha took their ship. Their main engines were busted, but Four had worked the day before to create a temporary solution, which gave them just enough juice to make it down to Byth. After this, we’d part ways, us on our way to Sorhna and them to Albahala to seek a better life.

I felt an odd sense of finality as we waved goodbye to the Sedha, separating in the spaceport. Our landing party consisted only of Four and I, with the sole mission of replaceing fuel. We’d been running on fumes for a few days, so a trip to the surface was unavoidable, but Four wanted only two to go down, to keep our heads low. I was sure word had gotten out about the Eranian imposters, but I figured if we didn’t draw attention to ourselves, we’d be fine.

Four marched right over to the fuel vendor. I slouched against the wall close to the wall, trying not to look suspicious. Thankfully, there weren’t as many people in this spaceport as there had been in the last one. I watched our former companions exit the port, the barely-healed Eres’Baqo leaning on Wro’Baqo’s arm.

I waited, pensive, for Four to be done. We had planned just a few days ago to come down all together, to gather information, and now it was just the two of us, standing in this nearly empty, echoey port. What a change two days and four strangers can make.

It had crossed my mind that they might be lying, although their possible motive for doing so evaded me. To be safe, it might have been better to question the Bythians anyway, just to confirm the Sedha’s story, but no one seemed to favor that option. I think we had already decided to go where Three took us, and we just needed an excuse.

‘We’ meaning everyone but Eight. And Five, of course, though I suspected he agreed with us but sided with his girlfriend for moral support. I had a sneaking suspicion Five was actually a nice guy, deep down.

Eight was not nice at all, as far as I could tell. Was she just being belligerent, or did she genuinely believe we should support the Aerzhu’s terrorism efforts? If it was the latter, I should keep an eye on her. I didn’t think she’d betray us, but one can never be too careful.

Eight’s attitude bothered me more than I cared to admit. Why did she hate me so much? Clearly she had some redeeming qualities that Five saw. Maybe I should talk to him; he might know what her problem is. Though he was certainly mad at me now for withholding the information about my memories. The rest of the crew certainly was; they treated me with a cold distance, all except for Seven.

“I’ve got it. Let’s go,” Four said, rousing me from my thoughts and lifting a small container.

I followed her back to our bay, still drifting uncomfortably in a sea of speculation.

“Hey Four?” I asked as we took off, me sitting in the back with the fuel container on my lap and her in the front at the controls like always.

“What?” she asked. I watched out the window as I responded, the odd Bythian vegetation shrinking in my vision until it became a multicolored patchwork carpet rather than individual organisms.

“Do you think you could teach me to pilot?”

“Thinking of murdering me and becoming my replacement?” she said (hopefully) jokingly. It was hard to tell with her sometimes.

“No, I just think we should pass on our technical skills to someone else on the crew. Seven would give someone a working knowledge of the garden and med bay, Six could give cooking lessons… Something like that. Just in case something happens to one of us and the others have to make do without.”

“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Four said grudgingly, like she couldn’t bear the idea of someone other than her being smart. “When’d you come up with that?”

“Just something I’ve been mulling around for a while. If Eight couldn’t pilot when you and Five were stuck on Cebos, we’d’ve been sunk.”

“Yeah, sure, we can totally do that.”

We were quiet for a while before I broke the silence again.

“Do you think we’re doing the right thing here?”

“You mean right now? Getting fuel so we don’t end up dead in space?”

“No, I mean—”

“I know what you meant. It’s called a joke.” Not a funny one. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure there is a right thing to do in this situation. I do think we’re doing the best thing.”

I sighed in relief. I hadn’t realized until now how much I’d been hoping Four wasn’t siding with Eight.

“Worrying about that psycho sister of yours? I would too, if I was you. She’s trouble, all right. All that bunk about it being better to be dead than oppressed.”

“You heard that too?”

“‘Course I did. Right across the hall, wasn’t I, and they weren’t exactly being hush hush about it. Way I see it, oppression sure feels bad, but at least you can feel it when you’re alive. Corpses don’t feel nuthin’ but worms crawling through their eyes.” Four’s accent always got stronger when she was passionate about something.

“Now,” she continued, “I’m not sure what we’ll do after we turn this bum in. I am sure we can’t just sit and do nothing. It burns me up when people think they’re better than they are and hurt other people to enforce it, but there isn’t really much we can do, now is there? We’re just a buncha kids, after all.

“These Aerzhu people are near as bad as that damn government, though they may be a mite easier to shut down, since what they’re doin’ is illegal. What’s so dangerous about a government is that it makes the laws. So if they say they’re the biggest cabbage, they are and there’s nothing you can do about it but replace a new government. If change comes to Sorhna, it’ll be a long time coming.”

“Cabbage?” I snorted, but sobered quickly. That was the most I’d ever heard Four talk at once, and she was right. “I think you’re right. There’s never a good solution to this kind of problem. All we can do is move forward with our current plan. I’m sure Eight will see the wisdom in it soon enough.”

Now if I just believed that.