Page 13 of Solomon's Ransom
“Almost,” Nerri repeated. “Well. We’ll see how strong theattachmentis, I guess. Assuming you can convince boss to bring him on board.”
Sol was never going to forgive him and that was a fact. Remma kept his expression neutral. “Where’s the shuttle, then?”
“Half a day’s walk. Think your human can keep up?”
“He’ll keep up.”
“Then tell him no trouble or he gets shot. He evenlookslike he’s thinking about escaping and we’ll shoot him. You say he’s worth more alive than dead but I’m not convinced. I’d be just as happy to dump him in the woods.”
“You’ve made that very clear, thanks,” Remma said. “Let’s get going, then. Or you want to keep running your mouth?”
Nerri snorted and turned away to start calling orders. Remma had always hated him, and felt justified now in hating him even more strenuously than before. What a self-important prick.
He turned to Sol, who was staring at him with an expression of cold distaste. Nothing Remma could do about that. Conscious that everyone in earshot was listening, he said, “Our ship’s up in orbit. We’re going there. I told them Loden will pay to get you back in one piece, so they’re willing to keep you alive for now. Don’t cause any trouble.”
“It’s a good thing my colony is so large, wealthy, and influential,” Sol said, in the driest tone imaginable.
Remma didn’t wince, but it was a near thing. “Yep, very fortunate. Come on, we’re heading back to the shuttle now. They expect you to keep up.”
“Noted,” Sol said. “I guess I have to trust you.”You treacherous asshole, his burning eyes added.
Remma couldn’t say he was wrong.
They set off, walking at a fast pace for a Tozren, which required Sol to trot to keep up. But he did keep up; Remma hadn’t doubted that he would. Sol was fit and healthy and used to hard travel in the barrens. He was equal to anything these shipbound Tozren were, aside from hard combat. Which hopefully wasn’t in the cards.
As he walked, Remma gnawed on his lip and tried to think. He had no real plan; Loden definitely didn’t have the cash on hand to pay a ransom that Denna would accept. All he could do was keep lying and hope a better idea came to him in time.
He wasn’t going to let Sol die. That was all he knew for certain, a glowing white-hot star at the core of him. Somehow he would get Sol home again.
* * *
The pirates’shuttle was scratched and dented but punched through the atmosphere with barely a shudder. Sol closed his eyes as he felt the shuttle’s artificial gravity take over. He’d never left the moon before, and this definitely wasn’t how he’d thought it might happen.
The shuttle had no windows. It smelled like engine grease and what he recognized as Tozren body odor. He was strapped in like cargo in the very back, wedged between two storage containers. He wondered what you could see from the cockpit. The planet, blue and green. The curved surface of the moon growing more and more distant.
The sledge had an emergency beacon on it. After twenty-four hours without moving, it would start sending out a signal. So at least the colony would get the drop they’d found.
Loden might never know what had happened to him. She would think he had died. Well, he probably was going to die. If these goons were going to try ransoming him back to the colony, they would be sorely disappointed. Remma was an idiot to even attempt that lie. Better to have slit his throat like they did to that poor scrapper and leave him to rot in the forest. At least then someone from the colony might have found his corpse.
The shuttle whirred and clanked. They were docking, presumably. Sol tried to decide how he felt. Doomed. Furious.
He should have tried harder when Remma first showed up at the colony and Loden decided to take him in. He’d argued against it at the time; he’d thought Remma’s story was really flimsy and didn’t trust him. But Loden, despite her cautious nature, had a soft heart and didn’t seem to think anything all that bad could come of it. Well, little had she known.
He blamed himself, mostly. He’d let his guard down. All the months of going out scavenging with Remma, hanging out with him at home, fucking him—he’d let himself start tolikeRemma. That was a mistake. He should have held on to his caution, and maybe then he wouldn’t be trapped in this situation. He would have turned back to the colony at the first sign that something was wrong—that first day when Remma thought they were being followed. He would be safe at home right now, not trapped on a pirate shuttle, probably destined to be shoved out an airlock once the pirates figured out Loden had no money and no ability to get any.
Fuck. Sol wasnothaving a good day.
The shuttle vibrated for a moment, and then the engine turned off. The Tozren unbuckled themselves from their seats. As they filed off the shuttle, one stopped to unstrap Sol and haul him roughly to his feet. “Get going,” the man said, gesturing with the gun he was holding.
Sol looked around for Remma but didn’t see him anywhere. At his delay, the Tozren shoved the muzzle against Sol’s ribs and snapped, “Move.”
Okay. Not like he had a choice.
He followed the Tozren’s impatient nudges off the shuttle and through a hangar. The hangar wasn’t at all like the ones Sol had seen in vids. It was dimly lit by strips of blue lights running vertically along the walls, which bulged and turned in strange organic shapes. A deep, erratic thrumming noise seemed to emanate from the floor, traveling up through Sol’s feet and making his bones quiver. The air was uncomfortably warm and humid.
“Through that door,” the Tozren said, and Sol quit gawking and went through the door that slid aside to let him pass.
The corridor they came out into had the same blue light and damp air. As the Tozren guided him along a winding route, a headache began to throb behind Sol’s eyeballs. This day wasn’t turning out the way he’d expected.