“Were you locked up too?” Falconi asked.
She jerked her chin. “You know it.”
“Don’t suppose you got free without being noticed?”
“Not a chance.”
He bared his teeth. “Shit. We gotta move fast.”
“How did you manage to escape?” she asked.
Veera laughed, a quick, high sound, full of tension. “Always they take the robes and think—”
“—that is enough. We are more than our many-colored garments, Prisoner.”
Falconi grunted. “Lucky for us.” To Kira he said, “Any idea who’s hitting the station?”
She was about to say no, but then she stopped to think for a moment. No hint existed of the compulsion she always felt when the Jelly ships were near. Which meant … “Pretty sure it’s the nightmares,” she said.
“Great. Even more reason to move fast. There’ll be plenty of confusion to cover our departure.”
“Are you sure?” Kira said.
Falconi caught her meaning at once. If he and the rest of the crew broke out, their pardons would be null and void, and unlike the local government at Ruslan, the UMC wouldn’t stop pursuing them at the system border. The Wallfish crew would be fugitives throughout the entirety of known space, with the possible exception of Shin-Zar and various tiny freeholdings out on the fringes.
“You’re damn right I am,” he said, and Kira felt an immediate glow of comradery. At least she wouldn’t be alone. “Veera. Jorrus. Have you managed to get a line open to Gregorovich yet?”
The Entropists shook their heads. They were still fiddling with the wiring in the wall alongside the next pressure door. “Access to the station’s system is restricted and—”
“—we do not have transmitters powerful enough to reach the Wallfish through all these walls.”
“Shit,” said Falconi.
“Where’s security?” said Kira. She’d expected to find a whole squad of Marines stationed by the holding cells.
Falconi jerked his chin toward the Entropists. “Not sure. Those two hacked the cameras to buy us time. We’ve got about five minutes before the station control gets eyes on us again.”
Veera held up a finger without taking her attention from the inside of the hatch. “We may be able to spoof the—”
“—station’s sensors and buy us some more time,” said Jorrus.
Falconi grunted again. “See what you can do.… Can’t you get that blasted door open?”
“Trying, Captain,” they said.
“Let me,” Kira said. She raised her right hand, letting the Soft Blade fuse its replica of her fingers into blades and spikes.
“Careful,” said Falconi. “There could be pressure lines or high-voltage wires in the wall.”
“It should not be—”
“—a concern,” said the Entropists, and moved aside.
Kira moved forward, glad to finally be doing something. She slammed her fist into the metal and willed the Soft Blade outward. It spread across the surface of the wall, sending seeking tendrils deep within the mechanism holding the door closed. Then she pulled, and with a screech, the bolts snapped and the door slid back on its greased track.
Inside was a small holding cell. Sparrow stood half-crouched in front of the bunk, as if ready to fight. “Thule,” she said as she saw Kira. “Glad you’re on our side.”
Falconi snapped his fingers. “Perimeter watch, now.”
“Roger,” said the woman, hurrying out of the cell. She trotted down the corridor and peeked around the corner.
“Over there!” Falconi said to Kira, pointing at another pressure door. Kira went to the second door and, like the first, ripped it open. Inside, Hwa-jung rose from where she’d been sitting. “Fighting!” the machine boss said, and smiled.
“Fighting,” said Kira.
“This one!” said Falconi.
Another door and another screech revealed Nielsen. She gave Kira a quick nod and went to stand with Falconi.
Last of all, Kira broke into the cell containing Vishal. He appeared somewhat haggard, but he smiled at her and said, “How delightful.” Further relief broke across his face as he came out and saw Nielsen and the others.
Falconi returned to the Entropists. “Have you found him yet?”
There was a silence that made Kira want to scream with impatience.
Jorrus said, “Uncertain, but it seems that—”
“—they’ve left Trig in stasis on the Wallfish.”
“Falconi,” said Kira, lowering her voice. “We have to rescue the Jelly. If we can’t get it out of here, there’s a chance none of this will matter.”
He stared at her, his glacial eyes focused, searching, nearly devoid of emotion, though she could tell that he—like her—was concerned. So concerned that no room for panic existed.
“You sure?” he said, deadly quiet.
“I’m sure.”
With that, she saw the switch flip inside him. His expression hardened, and a deadly gleam appeared in his eyes. “Sparrow,” he said.
“Yessir.”
“We need to jailbreak a Jelly and then somehow get off this hunk of metal. Give me options.”
For a moment, Sparrow looked as if she were going to argue. Then, like Falconi, she seemed to put aside her objections and concentrate only on the problem at hand.
“We could try cutting the power to biocontainment,” said Nielsen, coming over.
Sparrow shook her head. “Won’t work. It has its own backup power sources.” While she spoke, she knelt and pulled up the right leg of her pants. Then she dug her fingers into the skin over her shin, and to Kira’s puzzlement, lifted it off to reveal a small compartment underneath, embedded within the bone. “Pays to be prepared,” said Sparrow in response to Kira’s look.
From the compartment Sparrow produced a narrow, thin-bladed knife of some glassy, non-metallic material, a black wire mesh that she pulled over her hands like a set of gloves, and three small marbles that appeared soft, almost fleshy.
“Someday you’re going to have to explain that,” said Falconi, gesturing toward Sparrow’s shin.
“Someday,” the short-haired woman agreed, covering up the compartment and standing. “But not today.” To Kira she said, “What did you see over at biocontainment?” Kira described the security checkpoint and the two Marines stationed outside. A faint smile crossed Sparrow’s face. “Right, here’s what we do.” She snapped her fingers and beckoned for Veera to come over. “You, Entropist, when I give the signal, I want you to walk over to where the Marines can see you.”
“Is that—”
“Just do it. Kira—”
“I can hide myself,” Kira quickly said. She explained.
Sparrow jerked her sharp chin. “That makes it easier. I’ll take care of the two standing guard. You be ready to jump anyone who comes out. Get it?”
“Got it.”
“Good. Let’s hustle.”
4.
Kira willed herself back to invisibility while she hid with Sparrow in the hall that opened on the central corridor.
“Nice trick, that,” Sparrow said under her breath.
Ahead of them, Veera walked out across the intersection, heading toward biocontainment. The Entropist was more voluptuous than she had appeared when garbed in her gradient robes, and the tattoos across her pale skin only enhanced the impression. The sight was rather distracting, which—Kira had to admit—was the point.
“Go,” said Sparrow. She darted out and to the side, avoiding the Marines’ line of sight.
Kira broke in the opposite direction, and the two of them flanked Veera and took up positions on opposite sides of the passageway that led to biocontainment.
Just as Veera reached the doorway, the Marines spotted her. Kira heard the heavy treads as their armor turned, and a man said with a tone of obvious confusion, “Hey, you! What the—”