ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)

FM ran a hand down its spines, and it hummed quietly, as if nervous.

“I guess that answers the question about how they do it,” Jorgen said. “And now we have one. Maybe we could figure out how to use it to inhibit the platform.”

“Can’t you just ask it nicely?” I asked.

“We can try,” FM said. “But it might need a little more instruction. Working with the others took time.”

“Time,” the slug trilled softly.

“Still,” Jorgen said. “If we can harness the platform’s capabilities, we could buy ourselves some. That would also give us some time to determine Rinakin’s location.”

FM continued to hold the new slug, and she didn’t seem eager to let it go. Technically this slug should belong to my people, because it was recovered on our turf, but I didn’t know what to do with it, so for now it was probably better off in her hands. “I expect they’ll be keeping Rinakin on or near the Council tree. That’s where the Unity cytonics live.”

    “More trees,” Nedd said. “Do you really live on those? Not down on the surface of the planet?”

“ReDawn is a gas giant,” I said. “There is no surface, except the core. And the atmosphere down there isn’t breathable. We only go down there for mining.”

“This is your home planet?” Sadie asked. “Like, your people lived in trees even before you had starfighters?”

“Yes,” I said. “We’ve always made the trees of ReDawn our home.”

Sadie made a little squealing noise. “That is so cool.”

“And kind of terrifying,” FM said. “What if you fall?”

“Do you often fall off your platforms?” I asked.

“No,” FM said. “But we don’t really live on those. It’s a military base. The civilians on Detritus all live underground. There are no children on Platform Prime.”

“We learn young how to be careful,” I said. “We don’t walk on the edges of the branches without safety equipment. We have walls and railings and nets. A few people fall every year, but those deaths are mostly due to equipment failures, like having a cord break when rubber-jumping.”

They all stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

“All right,” Jorgen said. “Let’s do some poking around and see what we can find on this platform.”

I nodded. I wasn’t sure what there would be to work with, but at least the humans weren’t talking about fleeing anymore.

    “Alanik,” Jorgen said. “Why don’t you try the radio while we look around? See if you can find any more broadcasts that might give us a clue what the people who took Rinakin are planning.”

The humans probably wanted to conference without me, but I couldn’t stop them from talking to each other. Trying would make me look desperate. “Okay,” I said.

FM carried the blue slug out of the ship, and the humans moved toward the doorway that led deeper into the platform. I climbed out of the Superiority ship and moved to Jorgen’s cockpit to fiddle with the radio. There was a box bolted beneath his dash, similar to the one that had held the inhibitor slug. I popped the door open, and Boomslug peered out at me expectantly, like I might provide more algae strips.

He was about to be sorely disappointed.

The humans hadn’t been gone for more than a few minutes when someone approached the open canopy. Arturo walked toward me with his yellow and blue slug in a sling across his chest. He must have come back to retrieve it from his ship.

I moved to stand, but Arturo held up a hand. “Alanik,” he said. “Can we talk?”

“Yes,” I said.

Arturo looked over his shoulder, like he was afraid we’d be overheard. The slug in the sling regarded me quizzically. “I was thinking about what you said on Detritus, about the Superiority wanting you to turn over the humans you were working with.”

I hadn’t said that to him, so I guessed Jorgen must have told him. “We weren’t working with any humans,” I said.

    “Right,” Arturo said, his face grim. “But you are now.”

Oh. I’d been so focused on getting help that I hadn’t thought of how that would look. Clearly I shouldn’t have told Jorgen about that particular demand.

“We were just fighting the people who want to turn you over to the Superiority together,” I said.

“Sure,” Arturo said. “But shooting at a few ships doesn’t mean you aren’t planning to betray us in some other way.”

That was true, and nothing I could say would prove otherwise. “So you believe I’m lying to you.”

“I don’t know,” Arturo said. “I’m not sure what your motivations are. Jorgen believes you do want to make an alliance with Detritus, that you’re going to teach him how to use his powers.”

“Use his powers!” his taynix added, as if for emphasis.

“Easy, Naga,” Arturo said, petting its spines.

“I will,” I said. “I would be happy to, because we’re working together. You all risked a lot to be here.”

“We did,” Arturo said. “So I hope you didn’t come to Detritus looking for humans you could use to appease the Superiority.”

I bristled. “I would never work with them. Their wood is rotted all the way through.”

“I want to believe you,” Arturo said. “So does Jorgen. That’s why he didn’t tell Cobb about what you said.”

He should have, obviously. Their commander had made a decision without all the information. “Jorgen suspects me of deceiving you,” I said.

    “No,” Arturo said. “Jorgen is too busy worrying about whether he disobeyed orders. I’m worried you might have deceived us.” He looked me straight in the eyes. His were dark and deep, not clear and bright like most UrDail. “Can we trust you?”

“You already have. You did it when you left your planet with me.” I’d fled when I’d first met them, not willing to offer them my trust, yet they’d come to help me anyway. I wouldn’t have done the same, but I was glad that in this way they weren’t like me.