Read The Dark Imbalance for Free Online

Book: Read The Dark Imbalance for Free Online

Tags: Fiction, Science-Fiction, Space Opera

instruments perhaps, but by the ship itself. It seemed... alive to her. And the Phlegethon ’s only identifying mark, a mural of a giant, half-lidded eye on the flattened underbelly of the beast, only enhanced that feeling.
    She suppressed a shudder as the bulk of it passed between her and the distant, yellow sun. This close to the monster craft, she felt intimidated, ineffectual. Worse, she felt vulnerable.
    “The ships following us have broken off,” said Kajic via the scutter’s intercom. “Whatever the IEPC said to them, it’s had the desired effect.”
    She could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn’t saying what was foremost on his mind. “You think I’m doing the wrong thing, don’t you?”
    He didn’t reply immediately. When he did, he sounded almost relieved. “Yes, Morgan.”
    He didn’t need to say anything more than that. Roche could see his reasoning: after Linegar Rufo had captured half her crew by luring them into his station in Palasian System, Kajic had every right to point out that she might be making the same mistake twice—and for similar reasons, too. But those reasons were sound, and they outweighed any risks to her personally.
    She needed information, first and foremost, and she had information others might find useful. She had to take the chance that this Interim Executive Pristine Council—whatever that was— was in the system to help, not hinder.
    And she had Maii with her, as well as the Box, hidden away in her flesh. Haid hadn’t liked being left behind, but he could see that Roche needed the sort of help only a reave might be able to provide. If it was a trap, then she was never going to be able to fight her way out of the Phlegethon by force alone.
    “Trim,” said the traffic controller, guiding her in a perfunctory, almost disinterested manner.
    She concentrated on flying the scutter. It had drifted slightly off course. She corrected easily, following the trajectory she had been given to three decimal places.
    “We don’t have a better option at the moment,” she told Kajic.
    “I know,” he replied. “That’s the main reason I’ve kept silent.”
    The scutter arced gracefully toward an open dock two thirds from the hollow tip of the Phlegethon to its base. A line of docks encircled the ship, one every fifty meters. Roche performed the arithmetic in her head: assuming the ring went right around the ship, that made almost a thousand docks in that band alone, and she could see several more bands in either direction along the hull. She could only wonder why they needed so many. Fighter launchers, perhaps?
    There was no denying the sophistication of the vessel. How far it had come was still unknown, but she had no doubt it belonged to an empire of similarly spectacular proportions.
    “You getting anything from the crew, Maii?” Roche turned unnecessarily to the girl. “Any clues as to where they’re from?”
     said the girl. She sat next to Roche in the copilot’s station, wearing an undersized hazard suit that brought her up to Roche’s height and twice her thickness. Inside she would be safe from Xarodine or any other physical anti-epsense attacks. Roche wore a simple environment suit in Dato colors with a bare minimum of ceramic armor and an energy pistol at her side. She paused for a few seconds.
    “Prayers? To whom?”
     said Maii.
    Roche smiled. “What about the Interim Executive Pristine Council? Anything there?”