Page 109 of Tethered

“Well, well, well. Miss me already?”

I had to use tricks from my smuggler days to get the call out without using the ship’s main network, and the sound quality is poor. I can hear her laughter well enough, though, bright against muffled noises in the background.

“Hardly,” I say.

“Why am I letting you interrupt my game of poker, then?”

A familiar discomfort slithers through me, but I push through it.

“I need your help.” My voice comes out raspy, and I clear it before trying again. “I need a ship, ASAP.”

There’s a pause, and I hear the murmur of voices, music and all the sounds that come with card games. Goosebumps rise along my arms. I ignore them.

“I’m still a captain without a ship, Tanisira. I don’t have one that I can lend you—”

“No, that’s not what I mean. Look, it’s complicated, but I’ll give you the authority to buy a standard cargo ship for me and send you the creds. It needs to be ready to go at Red Horizon tomorrow.”

Liz whistles. “You’re serious.”

“Deadly. There are reasons why I can’t do it myself, and I wouldn’t do it like this if it weren’t important. Just make sure the seller knows who to expect and that all the licenses are transferred properly. I’ll send you an identity and a signature you can use.”

“What kind of trouble are you in? This sounds like tax evasion or some shit. Am I gonna regret helping you with this?”

“No,” I say. “But Marlowe and Vee need this, so I need you to be discreet and fast, okay? I’ll send extra so you can take a cut of the sale for brokering.”

Liz sighs, and it’s the most serious I’ve ever heard her. “Of course. You know I owe you, Captain. I’ll reach out to my contacts, and I’ll let you know when it’s done. Iwillaccept the offer of a cut, though.”

“Thank you. I appreciate this.”

“Keep the thanks until you see the piece of junk I get you.” She snorts. “But you be careful, okay?”

“Sure.”

We spend some time discussing the specifics of a sale, and then Liz goes back to her game. I release a long breath and fall back onto the grass in the greenhouse. I’d initially exchanged contact info with Liz in the hopes she might be able to give me advice when I finally got around to buying my ship. I never imagined it would be like this. But aboard theMidas, with its hacked mainframe, amongst all the Gryphon Tech, I can’t risk trying to do this myself. It was hard enough getting a call out.

I wonder, in this moment, if it was divine intervention that we stumbled across that escape pod. Religion holds no water with me, but I can admit this seems too good to be chance. I wouldn’t have been able to trust anyone else with such a task.

Now I have a plan. I stare up at the simulated sunlight as it seeps through the hanging greenery and question my actions. The truth is I don’t want to say goodbye to Marlowe and Vee. Gryphon has no idea what an amazing family he could have had, and it’s unfair he gets to be in their lives when he makes no effort.

I don’t know what a future with Marlowe and Vee could look like, but I think I’m willing to try. Whatever Gryphon has planned, I’ll make sure they have a way off Mars. My heart contorts when I think about leaving my crew behind—I only just found them, and it’s a shame. Hopefully, Gryphon leaves them out of this.

My eyes drift shut, and I’m somewhere between a doze and a daydream when I hear footsteps. I snap upright in time to catch the flash of a blanched eye before I’m pinned to the floor between two powerful thighs. Mae presses my hands to the ground beneath her knees just as I realise what’s happening. She lowers her face until it’s mere inches above mine, and I can pick out the small strokes in her tattoo and the shades of black in her undamaged eye.

“What the—”

“I expected more from the greatMyth,” she purrs over me.

I freeze.

“Don’t worry, I’m just a fan.” Her laughter is as deep as her voice. “But it seems you’ve lost your touch.”

Enough of this. With some easy manoeuvring, I flip us over and force her to the floor instead. Her breath comes out in a whoosh as I put all my weight on her for just a moment, long enough to show her how strong I am and that I’m notto be trifled with. Her eyes widen, but there’s only amusement twinkling in that dark one. And then I rise to my feet, putting distance between us and securing the hair that Mae dislodged from my bun.

She ripples to her feet, holding my gaze the entire time. She’s lithe, I’ll give her that. And fast. She was on me within a second of me hearing her approach, and she took advantage of my hesitation—one I only made because of who else is onboard.

“What do you want?” I ask.

Mae smirks. “To see if I could get the drop on you. I think I did, don’t you?”