That didn’t sound like a lot of time, given that Eva had no idea how to even begin looking for the guy, and that it would be two cycles just to get to the nearest Gate. But she wasn’t about to tell them that.
“I have to check with the rest of my crew before I agree to anything,” Eva said.
“So we were told,” Agent Miran said. “I assume you’ll have a response soon?”
Eva nodded. Like Mari had told her, this didn’t sound dangerous compared to the other stuff they’d been doing for the past six months. But she had no idea where Josh might be, and whether he was in the kind of trouble that called for fists and firearms.
“If we take the job, I’ll need half up front and half on delivery,” Eva said. “And my ship could use a refuel before we leave here regardless.”
“Agent Virgo will see to it,” Agent Miran said, gesturing at Mari. “She will also be your contact as the mission proceeds, should you accept our terms. We would expect status updates every three cycles at a minimum.”
“Yes, sir,” Eva said, flicking two fingers away from her forehead in a mock salute. He certainly seemed confident that she would be on board with this job. She wished he had seen Pink’s face earlier; he might not feel so great about his chances. “Anything else I need to know before I go?”
Agent Elus waved the holo image away, returning the room to its reddish darkness, and linked her hands together in front of her. “As Agent Miran indicated, we cannot give you information that might compromise our mission here. I can say this, however: what we are doing is of the utmost importance, and may help us to preserve the lives of every sentient creature in the universe. We cannot, we must not, fail.” Her shadowy expression was tense, a nearly perfect mimicry of human somberness on her kloshian features.
Eva blinked hard to keep from rolling her eyes. That was exactly the kind of self-importance she wished she could go after with a flamethrower.
“It was a pleasure to meet you at last, Captain Innocente,” Agent Miran said, returning to his relaxed cross-legged position. “And you, Mx. Zafone. Whatever your decision, we appreciate your work against The Fridge.”
Even when it fucks you over? Eva wanted to ask, but she offered him a polite smile instead. “It’s nice to be appreciated,” she said. “It’s nicer to get paid. Adiós, hasta luego.”
Mari led them out of the room, and Eva prepared for a lecture as soon as the door slid closed behind them. To her surprise, Mari didn’t say a damn thing, leading them back the way they came in the same silence as before, her own face a mask of solemnity with occasional flickers of an emotion Eva couldn’t place.
More than Agent Elus and her stirring speech about universe-saving, Mari’s silence spoke volumes. She really believed in their cause, didn’t she? But could Eva trust these people, after what they’d done? Would they happily throw her out the airlock again if it suited their purpose? And what would it mean for them to have their own private Gate, not to mention the ability to build more of them wherever they wanted? Should anyone have that power, no matter how noble their motives?
Better them than The Fridge, Eva supposed. And if she didn’t find Josh first, they might.
Eva leaned on her cane and wondered what exactly these people were getting themselves into, and whether it would be supremely unwise to get involved.
When Eva and the rest of the crew tried to discuss whether they would take the offer, Sue grew so heated that Pink sent her off to cool down. Eva understood: it was Sue’s brother on the line, and given his previous disappearance, there were painful questions to be answered. It meant coming to a decision without Sue, though, and it fell to Eva to deliver the news.
Sue sat in the cargo bay, welding gloves and mask in place, tinkering with her latest robotic creation. She had already built a mech she called Gustavo out of scraps, and had upgraded it little by little over the past six months, but she was also working on a present for Min: the kind of battle bot Min used to fight with back when Eva first met her. It took up an unreasonable amount of space, especially when it was in pieces like now, its torso open in the center of the room while its legs were over by the passenger cabin and its arms were dangling by cables from the catwalk like a creepy puppet.
The rest of the cargo bay was the domain of the cats, who ostensibly belonged to Min but actually belonged to themselves, as cats do. These cats more than most, since they were psychic and eerily intelligent. Their climate-controlled shipping container was shoved up against the plating next to the passenger cabin, but the cats themselves were napping or playing or bathing wherever the hell they wanted. Mala, their unofficial leader, stepped out of the enclosed litter box and, with a very dignified air, flopped down and began to lick her butthole profusely.
“Hey,” Eva said to Sue, prodding the bot’s helmeted head with her cane while Sue turned off the welding torch and flipped her mask back.
“Sorry I yelled,” Sue said, her pale cheeks ruddy—from the heat, or from embarrassment, or por qué no los dos?
“It’s okay. No one is mad at you.”
“Are we—”
“We’re going to find your brother, yes.”
Sue’s eyes filled with tears, which she wiped with her shoulders as soon as they fell. “Thank you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
“I wish people would stop preemptively thanking me for shit.” Eva sighed, swatting idly at one of the dangling arms with her cane. Candy would certainly not fall out if she hit it hard enough. Mala paused in her butt-licking to glare at Eva as if offended by the noise.
“So what now?” Sue asked.
“Now the hard part: figuring out how to track him.”
Sue shoved some wiring back into the robot’s torso, brushing away one of her little yellow bots as it tried to help. “What did Agent Virgo say?”
Eva collected her thoughts. “His last known whereabouts were Medoral, a big transit hub in a two-Gate system.”
“I know that place,” Sue said. “My family has shipped stuff through there a bunch.”
“Apparently he did a very good job with his identity switch, because he disappeared from there almost immediately.”
Sue’s expression hardened. “She knew where Josh was the whole time I was here, didn’t she? Agent Virgo, I mean.”
“I don’t know,” Eva said. “She never mentioned anything about your brother. She might not have found him until the facility raid.”
“I guess.” Sue brightened. “Well, now that we know he got away from The Fridge, we can stop looking for him there.”
“Right.”
“It’s strange that he didn’t contact me, or my parents.” Sue’s mask fell over her face, and she shoved it back up, frowning. “Maybe he thought he was protecting us. But we’ve been making ransom payments this whole time, so I guess The Fridge assumed we didn’t know where he was.”
“Fair assumption, clearly.” One of the cats rubbed against Eva’s leg, and she reached down to scratch its head. “So if you were Josh, and you were trying to run away without anyone knowing what you were up to, what would you do?”
“Hmm.” Sue tapped the end of her welding torch against the bot’s metal torso. “I’m not sure. Steal some credit chits to buy a ticket on a transport?”