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show. I can’t afford the weakness, especially where this guy is concerned. He’s sharper than the others. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t miss a trick. “Fine. You can get off at our next stop. No harm done.” I turn to go.
    “I do like being here,” he says at my back, his slightly pleading tone the only sign I’ve received so far that he has any kind of vulnerability to him.
    “And we do love having you here.” I pause before leaving the area. “But like I said, I don’t like secrets. I need to know who I’m with, especially when I’m about to give them my blood oath.”
    “You’re willing to share your past with everyone here?”
    I look over my shoulder. “I already have. Now it’s your turn.” I leave him to mull that over, since I know pushing him will get me nowhere in a hurry and probably build the walls between us that much higher. He needs to understand that I’m serious, and even though he’s an old soul, it doesn’t mean those years have earned him an exception to my rules. I will do whatever I need to in order to survive out here, and that starts with building a family around me in whose hands I can place my safety. My life, even. There is no room for secrets in a family like the one I’m creating.

Chapter Seven

    THE ANTECHAMBER TO THE BIOGRID is quiet. The stench is still going strong, though, making me smile at Lucinda’s ingenuity. She’s a real asset I’d hate to lose, not only for her horticultural knowledge and creative engineering smarts, but also because without her, I’d be the sole female on board. In my experience, life is a lot more interesting when there are more of us around to curtail the things men are bound to get up to when no female is around to hear it or see it. Or smell it.
    The last ship I hitched a ride on had an all-male crew, and the stench on that thing rivaled a goatherd’s biodome, even though there wasn’t a single goat in sight. In fairness, the ride I’d hopped before that one was with an all-female crew, and I wasn’t able to get the odor of faux flowers out of my hair for a week.
    After hitching rides around the galaxy for the last three years, I’ve found I’m more a happy medium kind of person. One might even say I crave balance in all things, which would explain why the uneven power share enjoyed by the OSG rankles so much. Just the thought of it gets me all fired up again. Frigging Overshine. Coming onto my ship and demanding to see my water levels. Who does he think he is?
    As I reach the portal that leads into the actual biogrid, I do my best to erase that ‘troid from my mind, preparing myself for the confrontation I’m sure to find ahead. Following the sounds of voices, I locate Lucinda and her apprentice, Rollo. They’re standing in between some towers of green tomatoes, looking up.
    “That would be a lot of work for Rollo, too,” he finishes saying when Lucinda notices me standing behind him and turns to face me.
    “Right on time,” she says, annoyed, if her tone is anything to judge by.
    “Right on time for what?”
    She jerks a thumb in Rollo’s direction. “Your stowaway has informed me that everything that needs to be done in the biogrid is too much work for him.”
    I lift a brow. “Is that so?”
    Rollo spins around. “No, Rollo didn’t say that.” He looks at her with desperation in his eyes. “Don’t put words in Rollo’s mouth. Rollo was just saying that it’s a lot of work. Like, more work than other biogrids. More than on a biodome, even. You can’t expect Rollo to handle this himself. Rollo is a businessman, not a brownshins. Rollo has soft, supple hands. They’re no good for digging.”
    “You wouldn’t be by yourself,” I say, ignoring his ridiculous excuse. I noticed his hands earlier, and they look just as calloused as mine do. “Lucinda is here. Jeffers helps from time to time, too.”
    “It’s still not enough!” He points at Lucinda. “Have you seen what she does in here? No wonder she never