Parting Shadows (Toccata System Book 1) by Kate Sheeran Swed

Author:Kate Sheeran Swed [Swed, Kate Sheeran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spells & Spaceships Press
Published: 2019-07-08T22:00:00+00:00

They went out in one of the mini transports, a silver four-seater that looked more like a bubble than a spaceship. The controls looked too simple, the rockets too small, but the pod moved smoothly through the wall of airlock gel that separated the training bay from space.

“Do you ever fly the racers?” Astra asked.

“What, this old girl’s not exciting enough for you?”

“About as exciting as a cow.”

Henry patted the dash as though to offer comfort. “Cows are livelier than you think.”

He dipped the pod away from Traveler and Landry swelled into view, its coat of satellites dampening the starlight beyond. Even from here, the planet dazzled. Like a diamond set in obsidian.

“Since when are you an ace pilot?” Astra asked.

“I apprenticed with a cargo ship on Trio for a few years after…well, after we last saw each other. I’m logging a lot of sim time to keep up with everyone else here.”

Made sense. From cargo piloting to Star Leaders-level training? It was a wonder they hadn’t tossed him out yet.

SATIS must have made him look important.

“Why did you accept the offer?” she asked. “Why not just stay on Trio?”

Why not stay safe?

Henry shrugged, but she felt the effort it took to keep the motion casual. “How could I stay away, Astra?”

Astra cleared her throat. She couldn’t face the implication that he’d come here to see her, or put words to the way it squeezed her chest. “I hope you’re at least being nice to the simulation bots, making them train such a hopeless pilot.”

“Someone has to keep them from getting bored.”

“Maybe they’d rather take a break to watch soap operas.”

Henry laughed. “They’re bots.”

Astra pressed her lips together, focusing on Landry’s distant light. “I thought you might have changed your mind about them after Hannah saved your uncle.”

“Maybe that wasn’t Hannah. Maybe it was SATIS, letting us get away.”

Astra shook her head, half expecting SATIS to chime in with a quippy remark. She remained silent, eerily so. There was no Conor here, no jammer, no reason for her not to offer her opinions as usual.

Henry sighed. “How many years has it been, and we’re having the same argument?”

“You’re nice to everyone else,” she said. “You can’t be nice to bots?”

“And you’re mean to everyone except bots. How does that make sense?”

It wasn’t entirely untrue.

“Maybe it’s unfair,” he said, “but I grew up watching inmates escape the barges on Trio. All of them guarded by bots.”

“I seem to recall you enjoying the adventure.”

“Sure, before I realized how many murderers were flowing back into the system.”

“Not all bots are the same. Maybe those ones were low budget.”

“Or maybe bots are easily compromised.”

“Do you feel the same way about cyborgs?”

At that, Henry sobered. Prejudice against cyborgs ran rampant in the system. “Of course not. Cyborgs are human. That’s different.”

It was, and it wasn’t. But Astra didn’t want to argue. They had so few nice moments together, and the last thing she wanted was to ruin this one. Once she got hold of the jammer, she’d be gone.

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