An Ancient Peace Read Free Page B

“You?”
    â€œMe?”
    â€œYou telling me you didn’t enjoy yourself?”
    She could see the concern, knew where it came from. He’d seen the way war twisted the survivors, seen the way
surviving
twisted the survivors. He’d seen what happened when someone got twisted all the way around until they broke. This time, though, he was seeing something that wasn’t there. “Maybe I enjoyed myself a little,” Torin admitted, licking blood off her lip. “These guys were just so straight line, fukking easy to beat. It’s refreshing.” When he looked dubious, she flicked her gaze past him to the board. “Should that light be red?”
    â€œNo, it should not.” Facing the board again, he dragged the red light left until it shifted to green. “Okay. If Ressk’s patch worked, and I’m reading this right, everything’s locked down. Ships and shuttles both are nailed in until I release them. And, yeah, I can’t believe they handed over their codes when the sysop asked,” he added as the communications panel lit up. “I suppose mockery would be out of order?”
    â€œThey’re spelling
Human’s
with an apostrophe,” Torin sighed. “They’ve gone past mockery and straight into derision.”
    â€œMaybe it’s not a declaration. Maybe it’s descriptive.” The control chair screeched a protest as Craig spun it around. “Like baby’s first solid food.”
    â€œHuman’s first post-Confederation revolution,” Binti offered.
    â€œWell, we’re millennia late for it to be Human’s first dumbass idea.” Torin put her boot on the chair between Craig’s legs and stopped both spin and screech.
    Binti dropped into the other chair and nodded toward the speaker on the wall. “We should probably make sure they haven’t gone anywhere.”
    They hadn’t.
    â€œWhat are they using against the doors?” she wondered over the clang of intermittent percussion.
    â€œEach other?” Torin offered.
    â€œSounds like they’ve broken up the dais,” Craig said thoughtfully. “They’re using the structural pipes. Morons.”
    â€œDi’Taykan lovers!”
    All three turned to look at their prisoners. “Well, duh,” Binti responded.
    Craig wrapped his hand around Torin’s ankle, thumbnail flicking at the fasteners of the boot not sticky with blood. “So what do we do now?”
    â€œWe wait for the Navy.”
    The second chair screeched as Binti rocked back, propped her heels on the edge of the control panel, and sighed. “Who’d have thought going freelance would be so much like being in the Corps . . .”

    â€œThe boss wants to see you.”
    Jamers a Tur fenYenstrakin hunched her shoulders and kept her eyes on the cargo bay doors. “I are being busy . . .”
    â€œYou are being seen if she wants you to be seen. Come on.”
    She flinched as one of the Krai unloading water from the pen snickered, but fell in behind the big Human as he are leading the way down the cliff and into the structure. The light are being dim enough her lenses are lightening until they are being nearly clear.
    â€œGiven the speed we clocked you at, I’m impressed you got down without getting your ass kicked by the satellites.”
    He didn’t expect her to answer and that was good, because at half his height she had to run to keep up and she was needing what air she had for breathing. She wasn’t being young—as the graying skin on her hands and feet kept reminding her. Maybe that are being all it was. Maybe the boss are wanting to be giving her a bonus for landing the supplies in one piece. Maybe the boss are realizing she are having negotiated a better price for supplies so are having added an extra tenday before she are having to go out again.
    Maybe.
    She was panting by the time they are having reached the