And this time the picture on the screen makes my heart jump.
It’s not Serpint. It’s not ALCOR, it’s not Crux, it’s not Tray.
It’s Booty.
“Lyrrrrraaaa,” she purrs. “I’m so glad you came.”
“Came?” I say. And then I figure it all out.
None of this was Serpint. This was all Booty’s doing.
“What do you want?” I say.
“We have to follow them,” she says.
“Follow who?” I ask, looking around.
“Serpint and the others. We cannot let them go there alone.”
“How do you know where they’re going?”
“I’ve hacked into ALCOR’s copy.”
Oh, shit. This crazy, terrifying beast of a ship is in control here?
“Follow the map, Lyra. And come get me.”
“Get you?”
“We’re leaving.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m not leaving with you.” Because you’re insane, I don’t add. And you scare the shit out of me.
“It’s a setup, Lyra.”
“No,” I say. “I didn’t set them up. That’s where Nyleena is.”
“Not you,” she says. “They.”
I shake my head and sigh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your people. They knew you were there. They know you’re now here. And they can’t come here because of the gate defense system. But if they can get ALCOR there—”
“Why the fuck didn’t you say something sooner, you batshit piece of tin? How could you let Serpint go?”
“Because he would have never agreed to my plan.”
“Which is?”
“We need to start a war,” she says.
The bot and I just stare at each other.
“We need to make the first move,” she continues. “Because if we don’t, they will get the upper hand. Bull Station is part of the outer Cygnian Alliance. We need to destroy it. And Serpint’s mission is to get back this sister princess of yours. We need to add another objective to that mission to maintain dominance or the Cygnian Navy will show up here one day—somehow, someway—and take us all out. I cannot allow them to kill ALCOR. Surely you understand this, Lyra.”
The bot turns his body back and forth. A definitive no, if ever there was one.
“You love him,” Booty says.
I say nothing. I’m not talking to this crazy machine. And I’m not falling for her bullshit, either.
“And he loves you,” she continues.
“And let me guess,” I spit. “You love him. You’re jealous of me, aren’t you? And you think if you can get rid of me then you can have him for yourself.”
She laughs. There’s a picture of her on my air screen. A sleek 3-D rendering of her hull. It rotates against a black background and every time she talks there’s a sound wave animation that is synced up with her speech.
“You think I’m jealous?”
“It’s so obvious,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Even he thinks this body thing you were going on about was insane.”
“Lyra, my dear,” she says, her voice that of a tired, but patient matriarch who is speaking to a small child. “Serpint is my partner, not my lover.”
“Sure,” I say. “Not yet.”
She sighs, then says, “OK. I’m in love—”
“I knew it.”
“—with ALCOR.”
“What?” I say.
“He and I are in love. I’d do anything for him. But I love Serpint as well. He’s been very good to me and I owe him this.”
“You’re going to start a war and get everyone killed!”
“I’m trying to save everyone, don’t you see that?”
“No,” I say, unable to stop my laugh. “I do not see.”
“Either way, Lyra, you have to come to my ship and set me free.”
“ALCOR will never let you leave.”
“He’s busy right now. He’s not watching. That’s why I was able to hack into your screen.”
“No, he left the station,” I say. “He’s not here. He left a copy.”
She’s silent for a half a second too long. And this is how I figure out—she didn’t know that.
“What” she says.
“He left with them, Booty. The station is being run by his copy.”
Silent for three seconds this time. “We have to go. We have to go now. Because I thought… I thought…”
“You thought what?” I yell.
“I thought I was protecting him. I thought he’d be here, safe, with me. But he’s gone with them. They are going to kill him, Lyra. We must go now!”
The bot chirps a warning at me the whole way down to Booty’s medical bay.
Don’t do this, Lyra. Serpint isn’t going to like it. He’s gonna chain you to the magnetic wall for sure when he gets back.
Shit like that.
I mostly ignore him. Not that he’s wrong. Serpint will be pissed if I show up at Bull Station. But Booty seems very certain that something very bad is about to happen. Definitely to ALCOR, but probably Serpint too. And what kind of soulmate would I be if I didn’t at least go check on him?
That’s my rationale. I’m just gonna check on him.
Maybe by the time we get there the whole thing is over and Nyleena is safe in her cryopod on the Big Dicker. That could happen. Then Booty and I could probably get back here before they even notice.