Because he’s going to hate me.
“Lyra,” ALCOR says. “We need to know.”
I nod my head and let out a long breath of air. “I was trained to deliver the payload. And when whoever I was transporting exploded, it would trigger me at the same time.”
Serpint says, “You were supposed to deliver Nyleena, weren’t you? She’s one of these… things. Isn’t she?”
I nod. “She is.”
“Oh, shit,” says everyone in the room but me.
Because I say, “We have to get her back. We have to get her back, you guys. Because someone could trigger her and then… I mean, I don’t like Bull Station and I really don’t care about what happens to it, but… she’s my best friend in the whole universe and we promised to keep each other safe and now she’s back there, all alone, and—”
Serpint puts his hand over my mouth to stop my rambling. “Stop,” he says. “We don’t need to be convinced. There’s no way we’re not going to get her.”
“Booty is back online,” ALCOR says.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Serpint says, removing his hand from my lips.
“But she’s not one hundred percent yet,” ALCOR adds. “You can see her now though. She’s… mostly herself.”
Serpint takes my hand and pulls me out of the cryopod room.
“Where are we going?”
“To see Booty.” Then he slows down so I can catch up with him and he smiles. A real smile, too. For her. Booty’s return. “You’re going to love her,” he says. “I promise. Don’t worry.”
Which only has me thinking… should I be worried?
But I don’t ask that. I just follow him as he leads me through a series of hallways and elevators. We get out to the main part of the city and we take several people-movers downward.
He’s silent the whole way until we get to the bottom level and go through a series of security doors that lead to the medical bay for ships.
We stop in front of a large, double-wide door with two long windows near the top, and peer inside.
And there she is. The Booty Hunter.
She’s a magnificent ship and takes up two whole bays. She is sleek, and long, and silver. And she looks like… well, not a ship you fuck with.
“Don’t be nervous,” Serpint says.
And again, I have to wonder… should I be nervous?
But before I can ask him, the doors open and we walk inside.
“Boots!” Serpint yells. “Are you back?”
“I’m here, Serpint,” she coos in a very feminine, very sexy voice. “I’m back. Who is thissssss?” she hisses, sounding a little too reptilian for my liking.
“Lyra,” Serpint says. “This is Booty Hunter. Booty, this is Princess Lyra.”
“Ahhhh,” she purrs. “They waaaarned me about you.”
“Oh, shit,” I say, without thinking. Because this ship… this ship is not at all what I was expecting. He talked about her like she’s… nice. Or good. Or at the very least benevolent.
But I’m getting the impression the Booty Hunter is none of those things.
Her body is imposingly big now that I’ve heard her speak. She has torpedoes on her undercarriage and a Gatling turret on her topside. A Gatling turret, I can assume from my past military experience, which holds plasma cannons. The kind of plasma cannons that sterilize organic matter on contact and melt inorganic matter into slag. The kind of plasma cannons the Prime Navy uses to rein in corporate planets who don’t pay their taxes and large populations of uprising people.
The Booty Hunter is… well, the only word that comes to mind is… terrifying.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE – SERPINT
I walk forward towards my ship, climb up the stairs to the hatch, stop at the top, and hug her. “Boots, oh, Boots. I’m so glad you’re back. I’ve missed you. I came last night but—”
“I know. I remember,” she says. “That wasn’t me. I’m so sorry for upsetting you with Draden’s voice. The virus had a hold of my speech centers.”
“God, I’ve missed your voice. I’m lost without you, you know that?”
“Now you have Lyra,” she protests.
“No,” I say. Then look down at Lyra and find her frowning. “I mean, yeah. She’s one of us now. And we have a new bot, too. I had no say in that part though. But you, Booty. Come on.” I laugh. “No one can ever replace you. Ever.”
“I am happy to be back with you, Serpint.”
“Happy, huh?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “They told me you were turned organic. How come you didn’t say anything?”
If a ship could shrug, I’m pretty sure that’s what Booty would be doing right now. Because all I get is a long, awkward silence.
“Boots?” I say. “You gonna answer me?”
“It was for personal reasons.”
“Personal as in…” I prod her.
“No one ever asked me if I wanted to be a ship, Serpint.”
I take a few seconds to let that land. Which adds up to yet another awkward silence. But finally I say, “So… you want to be something else?”