Page 35 of Last of Her Name

I stare at the navigation unit, frowning. “Granitas System. What’s that? It’s not a part of the Belt.”

“It’s a dead system,” says Riyan hollowly. “No habitable planets. A dwarf star that can’t support life. Nothing but rocks out here.”

“And plenty of them,” says Pol.

The asteroids seem to come out of nowhere: irregular, unwieldy lumps that look small until they’re right on us, and then seem ten times the size of the clipper. One hit and we’d be obliterated.

The eerie emptiness of this system seeps through the ship’s walls; it feels unreal, like we’ve passed into some nightmare. I’ve never been in a place that felt so utterly devoid of life. The asteroids seem to go on forever, and I wonder how long they’ve been here, drifting in the vacuum of space on their strange, ancient journey. My skin prickles, as if the asteroids have hidden eyes and are watching us, waking from their billion-year sleep.

“Look at that,” murmurs Pol. He points at an approaching rock, which at first looks no different from the others. But then I realize how slowly it’s approaching, and how large it already is.

“It’smassive,” says Riyan.

So that’s our destination. I know at once it must be. The ship isn’t changing course, and we’ve passed the window to avoid collision. Either that rock has a secret, or we’re going to smash full into it.

I notice Pol gripping the edges of his seat. So maybe he’s not as confident in this plan as he makes out.

“Could you shift that?” I ask Riyan.

He shakes his head. “Far too big. With ten other tensors, maybe. Not alone.”

The rock grows bigger and bigger. Soon it fills the whole width of the diamantglass window. Its shadow closes over us, the monster’s breath before it bites. I lean back in my seat, licking sweat from my upper lip.

“There’s a door,” Riyan says.

Pol and I lean forward, peering ahead.

“There!” I shout. “Lower left, you see?”

Pol nods. “Here we go.”

My stomach rises as the clipper angles for the rectangular hole carved into the underside of the asteroid. In moments, we’re sliding through rough-cut walls into total darkness. Only the clipper’s lights are visible, reflecting off the stone walls. But ahead—inky blackness.

I feel a slight bump and realize the ship has set itself down. For a moment, we sit in silence, listening to the hum of the engines.

We’re here.

I can’t see anything except a few patches of rock, lit by the clipper. No sign of people, no sign this hole in this asteroid is anything other than just that—a hole in an asteroid. I picture someone collapsing the tunnel behind us, shutting us inside the belly of this rock forever, in darkness and stone with no way out—

“That’s it, I’m going to investigate,” announces Pol. “Wait here till I know it’s safe.”

I jump up to follow him down the stairs. “As if!”

Riyan is on my heels, clipping on his cloak and picking up his staff.

Pol hurries down the steps to the main hatch and the exit ramp, which slowly lowers to the ground. It hits the rock floor with a thunk, and Pol slides down into the darkness.

“Gravity!” he says. “Either this rock’s big enough to generate its own, or—”

He cuts short as lights blast on from every direction.

Blinded, I throw up a hand and stumble backward into Riyan. For a few seconds, I can’t see anything. My eyes fill with spots of white. But I can hear well enough—hums as machines power up, the pounding of boots on stone, and voices.

“Freeze! Hands out! Drop the staff!”

I blink furiously, trying to see what’s going on. Slowly my surroundings blur into focus. The large gray blobs in the distance become ships of various classes and sizes. The nearer, moving blobs become people. They wear white uniforms, emblazoned with a red bird on the breast. I recognize it, vaguely, as the symbol of the old Empire. More and more of them appear, surrounding the ship with guns ready.

They close in on us, and before I know it, they grab me and press my face into the ground while my hands are pinned against my back. The barrel of a gun is inches from my face.