Hotbloods 6: Allies

I frowned. “The Stargazers?”

“Ancients. The heart and soul of the universe. Ye could live a million lifetimes and never end up seeing one, but I was lucky—or unlucky, dependin’ how you look at it. They stopped me endin’ it all, told me I had a different path to walk on now. I couldn’t look back, only forward. I could see my new life as a gift, not a curse.”

“Are they powerful? Do you think they’d help us, and be our allies?”

Stone cackled, his laughter going off like a gunshot. “You’d have a job finding ‘em. Mysterious, weird buggers. Don’t like to involve themselves if they can help it. Too many bad experiences, I reckon.”

I glanced at Lauren, wondering if she knew any more information about these Stargazers, but her face had gone dreamy, as though she’d heard this story several times before. Perhaps this was the reason she seemed to respect him the way she did. After all, it was clear he’d been through a lot, regardless of the life of crime he’d turned to.

“Okay, so maybe they won’t help us, but surely you will?” I insisted. “From what you’ve just told me, you’re the perfect person to help us take revenge on the rebel coldbloods. They killed everyone on your planet—doesn’t that deserve retribution?” I found Stone hard to gauge. Even for someone as laid-back as him, I couldn’t understand why he would strike up deals with coldbloods like Ezra, after what they’d done to his planet. Hell, the coldblood rebels hadn’t done half of that to my people and I wanted revenge so badly I could feel it bristling inside me, every time I thought about them infiltrating Earth.

The laughter died in his throat. “My people didn’t believe in revenge. It’s a code o’ conduct I still honor. I’ve never put out a revenge bounty, and I don’t plan to change me ways now.”

“I mean, come on, at least help us stop history from repeating itself?” I was practically begging now. Even if he’d managed to let go of what had been done to his people, enough to see coldbloods now as mere business associates, surely he’d have some empathy for a species in similarly dire straits?

“You about to resort to fibs to get me on board? It won’t work. I’ve heard it all before.”

Lauren stepped in, her voice firm but gentle. “Stone, nobody is lying here. Earth and its inhabitants are at risk of being destroyed, in the same way as your home planet, if we don’t do something to change things soon. It’s like I tried to tell you before: the rebels will colonize it and use my people for blood like they’re cattle on a farm if they succeed in taking over Vysanthe and manage to complete the immortality elixir. They will be unstoppable, and they will move through the universe, taking no prisoners. It will be a massacre wherever they go. You’ve seen it with your own eyes, and these guys have even less of a moral code than the ones back on Vysanthe.”

Coming from Lauren’s mouth, the facts seemed to hold more sway over Stone’s thoughts. He appeared to be chewing it over, swinging more vigorously in his hammock. All the while, I expected him to close his eyes and say no, but there was always a slim chance he might not.

With a sigh, he shrugged his shoulders. “Ren, ye make another fine argument. I never realized things’d gotten so bad over in your neck o’ the woods. If there’s global threat, no matter which globe it might be, who am I to run away like a coward?”

I stared at him. “Are you saying you’ll help?”

“I’ve got me terms, but you’ve got me help if you agree to ‘em,” he replied.

“Stone, not everything has to be a trade-off!” Lauren chided, prompting him to grin.

“They’re fair terms!” he protested, chuckling softly.

“What terms?” I asked, bracing for the worst.

“We need to meet up with the rest of our crew. They’ll want a slice o’ the action if things are going down. Plus, and here’s a life lesson for ye, you never wanna go into battle without a Rexombra at your side.”

Lauren laughed. “Very true! Do you remember us getting into that scrap on Miramis, when those thugs were getting all cocky, trying to take those gems from us? They didn’t know what hit them! Alfa just appeared out of nowhere and knocked them all out. I bet they’re still trying to figure out what the hell happened.”

“Man, Alfa was on fire. That was a good day,” Stone agreed, flashing Lauren a surprisingly tender smile.

For a moment, I felt completely left out. So much had happened to Lauren that we hadn’t been around for, and it was weird to hear Stone refer to his crew as “our” crew, evidently meaning his and Lauren’s. She was one of them, and she was one of us—I just hoped she didn’t end up feeling torn in two different directions.

“Where have you guys agreed to meet?” I asked, determined to bring the conversation back around.

“Glossa,” Stone replied. “Safest planet in the universe, ‘less you count the hidden one the Stargazers live on. Only folks who’ve been there can find their way back. Pretty good security measure if ye ask me.”

“Maybe we could go to the Stargazers’ planet after we’ve picked up your crew,” I said. “I know you said they were hard to pin down, but we could really use all the help we can get.”

Stone shook his head. “You’ll never find it, and you’ll not get a soul to breathe a word of it neither. I mean, if you could even find anyone who’s been there—there ain’t many.”

It made me wonder if he was one of those people who’d been there, and knew the Stargazers’ location, but he just didn’t want to tell us. Maybe he was afraid of them? Or, more likely, he felt honor-bound to keep their secret. I thought about pressing the matter, wanting to seize any opportunity we could to find new allies, but I had a feeling Stone would stay tight-lipped about it.

“Fine, then we’ll set a course for Glossa, in exchange for your assistance on Earth,” I said, offering my hand for him to shake.

He stared at it. “What d’you want me to do with that?”

“Shake my hand. It’s what we do on Earth, to seal a deal.”

He chuckled. “What a weird thing to do,” he murmured, shaking my hand. “Where I’m from, we stare into someone’s eyes for ten seconds. If ye want a deal with me, ye gotta do it my way too.”

Reluctantly, I looked into his eyes, feeling desperately uncomfortable as the seconds wore on. Still, I was glad I didn’t have to stare into his third eye, experiencing that horrible sense of immobilization again.

“Glad to have your help,” I said, once the ten seconds were up.

“So, can I get out of this ‘ere box now?” he asked brightly. “You trust me, I trust you. Time to stretch me legs!”

Lauren smiled at him, shaking her head apologetically. “Not just yet, Stone. You’ve still got to be given the others’ seal of approval before you can go roaming around the ship.”

“How long’s that gonna take?”

“I’ll come back and let you out once everyone else has agreed. Shouldn’t be too much longer, if they all follow Riley’s lead,” Lauren promised, pushing the hammock to make it swing violently from side to side.

“Hey, you want me to fall outta this thing?” He laughed, gripping the canvas sides.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, smiling. With that, she turned toward the open door of the storage closet and paused in the corridor, waiting for me to follow.

“Actually, do you mind if I have a quick word with Stone on my own?” I asked.