Page 25 of Solomon's Ransom

He waited. His suit floated away from the joined ships, still moving from the force of the thrusters he’d had going until the moment his suit went dead. Surely any minute now the shuttle would come. Slow breaths, calm.

Then, at last, he saw the shuttle emerge from the side of the ship above him, turn, and head in his direction.

To hell with saving oxygen. He took a deep, relieved breath and huffed it out again, the exhalation gusting in the closed space of his helmet. He was safe.

He would see Sol again.

TEN

Sol woke from a doze when the door to his room opened. It was either food or Remma, always, and this time it was Remma—more welcome even than food, although Sol hated to think that, because he was still mad at Remma. Remma who had landed him here, trapped in this room to contemplate his eventual demise, which seemed inevitable. Remma who was his only connection to home.

Remma looked wild-eyed. “Is everything okay?” Sol asked.

“Fine. Have you ever been in space in a hardsuit? There’s nothing like it to make you confront your own mortality.”

“I’ve never left the moon,” Sol said. “So no.”

“Count yourself lucky. Anyway, that’s over now.” Remma sat on the edge of the bed and set his hand on Sol’s hip through the blanket. “Sorry to wake you.”

“It’s not like I need the sleep. I just don’t have anything better to do.” Sol sat up and rubbed at his eyes. “Was that the job you mentioned?”

“Yeah. It’s done now. Successfully. We’re off to a nearby system to sell what we got. And then—” Remma hesitated. “Well, I’m hoping back to Mirolasor after that.”

“You’re hoping,” Sol repeated. “Okay. So have you talked to Denna about it or not?”

Remma winced. “Not—precisely. I will. I’m just—afraid, I guess, that I’ll say the wrong thing and put him off the idea altogether. This kind of scheming isn’t in my skillset.”

“Well, if you don’t try, then he’s definitely going to get sick of feeding me and put me out an airlock. So those are your choices.” Sol knew he was being blunt, but he didn’t have a lot of sympathy for Remma’s equivocating. This whole situation was Remma’s fault, and Remma was the only person who could fix it. That was just the way it was.

Remma winced harder. “I know. Okay, I know.” He rubbed his big hands over his face. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Today he’s too busy gloating about his success.”

“I feel sorry for whoever you robbed,” Sol said. “Unless they’re also bad people. But I think that’s probably not the case.”

“You’re classifying us as ‘bad people’? Isn’t that a little juvenile? It’s not like scavenging is morally pure. After all, the owners could always come looking for what they’ve lost.”

Sol glared at him, annoyed to be having this debate again. “It isn’t the same at all, and you know it. We aren’trobbingpeople. How many of them did you kill?”

“Zero, thank you. They’re all fine and on their way to the nearest station now to cry to system security about the mean Tozren whorobbedthem.”

“You don’t have any remorse, do you.” Sol drew away from Remma, feeling disgusted and annoyed. “They’re just targets to you. Suckers with goods you can steal.”

Remma heaved a sigh. “I’m being flippant about it because I’m done with it, okay? When I get you off the ship, I’m leaving, too. Because you’re right. It’s terrible work, and I’m done with it.”

“Oh.” Sol eyed him. “So what are you going to do next? Go back to Tozra?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe. I haven’t been home in a long time. It would be good to see my family again. Visit my mother.”

“Your mother,” Sol said. “Are all the—I thought every Tozren I’ve seen on this ship is male, but maybe I’m wrong about that.”

“No, you aren’t wrong. You’ve only seen Tozren males. Our females are aquatic. They’re much larger and they never leave the ocean.”

“Wow, okay.” Sol tried to imagine this. “So they’re like—just like you, but bigger? Then why don’t they leave the water?”

Remma smiled. “No, they’re nothing like males at all. Think of—what are they called, those animals from your Earth, the really big ones that live in the seas?—”

“Whales?” Sol guessed. Earth was far away and largely uninhabited these days, but every human child still learned about their ancestral home. He was pretty sure Remma was talking about whales.

“I think so. That sounds right. Anyway, that’s what our females are like.”