Dour Face set down the tool belt, looking as if he was chewing on something sour. “Hurt anyone? Were you ever planning to, hot shot?”
“What? No. The hell kind of question is that?”
“Forgive me. I need to unlock your cell.” He reached out and opened the door, using his thumb print as a key. “Here, take an energy bar. You haven’t eaten for a couple days. I promise it was that limey bastard’s order, not mine. Glad to have him out of the way.”
I snatched the bar from his fingers and sidled out of the cell warily, eyes flicking over to César’s tool belt. Freedom, sweet freedom. “What’s going on? You’re letting me out? Why?”
Liberty was looming in the doorway, eyes focused on a twisting boot tip, arms crossed beneath her breasts. “We are,” she sighed, “because now we’re sure you didn’t do it.”
Fury washed over me in a wave of heat so intense I swore I smelt my hair smoking. I tore a chunk out of the energy bar and swallowed it without chewing. “No shit I didn’t do it. I told you that myself, Liberty. Why didn’t you believe me? I’ve never lied to you.”
“Evidence, David,” she growled, “and there was a lot. Look, I’m sorry for not trusting you, but there’s one person who did. Jane Griffin. She deserves your thanks. She inspected the damaged to the engines, and after seeing how the cuts were made, sent us in search of César’s tools.”
“The broken red handled torch,” I hissed, sliding onto the floor. I finished off the bar and tossed away the wrapper. This was too much. I needed a stiff drink.
“That’s right. She told us you ordered César to fix it but he never did. We searched the ship high and low, and eventually, found it in Officer 2 beneath Graham’s bunk.”
Graham. Lank Hair. That little bastard. It was him.
I massaged my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut, tasting a hint of blood as molars ground the inside of my mouth to pulp. “But why did he do it? He’s a spy, isn’t he?”
“That’s where things get complicated.” She reached out a hand, helping me to stand. Her manner was less confident than last I saw, uniform coat unbuttoned to reveal a dangling necklace with a small charm tucked beneath her under shirt. “We need to get to the bridge. There’s been a change of guard.”
As we left the section two crewmembers, Kelly one of them, drug Lank Hair into the brig.
“When Command hears of this!” Lank Hair shouted, angry spit dribbling down his chin in a sheen of foamy white.
“Yeah, yeah. Mind the gap,” Dour Face said in passing. “I hate that asshole. Cock blockin’ son of a bitch. I’m surprised he didn’t send my right hand to the brig just to separate us.”
“Cock blocking?” Liberty asked. “What the hell are you going on about? Look, the reason Rosaleigh didn’t want to sleep with you is because she likes women, or are you that freaking dense?”
“Are you serious? I just thought…”
“Men can be so single minded.”
“And women can jump to conclusions,” I added, still feeling wounded. I limped between them, putting a hand on the wall to steady myself from time to time. I needed a real meal, not just compressed protein.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked.
Liberty shrugged. “I sure hope so.”
I felt for the rubber gasket on my right ring finger and took a shuttering breath. This felt like a crossroad.
When we entered the bridge everyone was staring. Everyone except the Captain.
“Comm, any response?” Liberty asked.
“No, ma’am. Not yet.”
She nodded, and then invited me to have a seat. XO Stone came over and extended a hand.
“We plan on making things right, Goddard,” he said as I shook it.
I pivoted around to see William Mason Fryatt sitting in the corner. His wrists were cuffed to the arms of his chair. He was wearing only his uniform pants and a plain white t-shirt. No rank of any kind was displayed.
Despite having a promise of murder in his eyes he remained quiet, seething in his anger. My feelings over this turn of events remained unsettled as silt in a churning stream. He may have been cuffed, but he scared the shit out of me nonetheless. Just like day one.
I turned my attention to the main display, taking in the bridge crew. Rosaleigh raised her eyebrows as Dour Face whispered in her ear. She chuckled and patted him on the back. He smiled, for the first time ever, and took a seat beside her.
“Liberty,” I said. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”
She nodded, taking me by the hand and leading me into the privacy of the Captain’s quarters. After closing the door she began to rummage through the bedside table, overlooking the decanter of liquor loitering atop. “Want something to drink?”
“You’re dodging,” I said. “Give it to me straight. What’s going on?”
She produced two reddish silver cans of Coca-cola, handing me one while keeping the other for herself. She plopped down on the queen size bed and patted the spot beside her.
“He lied to me,” she began. “He lied to all of us; I just don’t know how deep it goes.” I kept my mouth shut and took a seat, clutching the cool can of obscenely expensive soda between my palms. “I knew dad would resist you being part of my life. I knew it, but I kept it up. And why? Because there’s something different about you. David, I love you, and he couldn’t allow that. Father had big plans for me, they just didn’t include a dusty person like you. Maybe he wants me to marry a governor, or a rich CEO. I don’t know, but right now I’m so furious I can’t even speak with him.”
I sighed and thought my chest might just collapse. A few days ago I would have thrown my arms around her at this offhand declaration of feelings, but there were more important matters to deal with. Besides which, I was still pissed.
“But why put this ship and the citizens of Mars at risk by taking me out of the picture?” I asked. “That seems a bit excessive. Foolish, actually. And your father is hardly foolish.”
“You should have seen him when we caught Graham and that little shit spilled the beans. Graham said it had nothing to do with our sexual proclivities, but only keeping us safe. He said that a relationship like ours was toxic to the environment of this vessel. It was Graham’s idea to send you after a phantom target just to keep you busy, and Father agreed. They wanted you in a position so that if we got too close, they could pin this on you. Soon as we found out we started to dig deeper. Kelly helped us uncover some video. We now have Father on tape talking to Graham about all of it. Father clammed up immediately and hasn’t said a word since.”
I rolled the can of Coke around in my fingers, first laying it on its side, feeling the bends of cold aluminum, imagining for a moment it had solar panels, ion engines, and rain guns. I pulled back the tab with a hiss, carbonated bubbles popping up through the hole and tickle the base of my nose. It smelled sweet. “Was that all?”
Liberty nodded. “Yeah. That’s all.”
“It can’t be.” I took a sip, allowing the sugary, fizzy drink to wash over my palate. I swallowed and held up the can incredulously. “Hot damn, tastes just like Monarch Cola. Even has that bite.”
She popped hers open and slurped a little off the top. “What did you think it would taste like? They make this crap for hundredths on the credit. It’s sugar, flavor, and sodium bi-carb. What did you think it had in it? Gold dust?”
“Yet they sell it for fifty credits a pop. Those bastards.”
“That’s capitalism for ya.”
“That’s rich assholes,” I amended, raising a finger.
She shrugged. “A product is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Never forget.”
“Alright,” I said, taking another sip and setting down the can. “But after locking me up your father said me he’d taken out two birds with one stone. If taking me out of commission was one, what was the other?”