Shadow by Cara Bristol

Author:Cara Bristol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cara Bristol

Chapter Ten

“I expected a much smaller ship.” Shadow peered up at the vessel in the hangar at Mysk Industries. The Star Crossed resembled a huge winged bullet. He’d been expecting a one-to-two seater space pod.

“It has sleeping capacity for twenty and comes equipped with an artificial gravity simulator, an organic matter scanner, and an AI which will be updated with a personality chip,” Mysk explained. “Are there any other features you’d like me to include?”

“I can’t think of anything,” he said, stunned by the attention to detail.

“The Star Crossed is more advanced than the Castaway,” exclaimed Tigre, who’d captained their ship during the escape from ’Topia.

“Definitely,” Chameleon agreed.

Concerned about him traveling the 300-plus miles from Argent to Seattle, his brothers had insisted on accompanying him. The fact he hadn’t sublimated in four days meant another episode was imminent. Fearing he could have one on the highway, Chameleon had driven them in the Lavender Bliss Farm van.

“The Star Crossed is one of our newer prototypes,” Mysk said.

“Are you sure you can spare it?” he asked.

“We’re rooting for you. We want to ensure you succeed,” the Verital tech magnate replied. “You might have to hit quite a few planets, and you need a ship that can go the distance. I intend to give you every advantage. When you find your genmate, we hope you’ll bring her to Earth—and who knows? Maybe some ’Topians will choose to return with you.”

He noticed how Mysk said when. In reality, he faced a whole bunch of ifs: if he managed to locate any ’Topians, if one of them turned out to be a match, if he didn’t die before getting to one of the haven planets.

No matter how much advanced tech the Star Crossed carried, his chance for survival was infinitesimally slim, and he would be flying blind with no idea where to search, but he was moved by the effort the Verital had gone to on his behalf.

“Come aboard. I’ll give you a tour.” Mysk started up the gangway.

“As you can see, the cockpit seats three,” Mysk pointed out as the four of them stood on the bridge, peering through the wide-view windows at the factory floor. Dozens of other ships were in various stages of construction.

“Star Crossed flies itself, but you can switch to manual. However, I recommend you plot the coordinates and use the autopilot. While you’re in orbit, the ship will scan the planet’s surface for ’Topian life-forms, and the AI will alert you if any are found.”

After the bridge, Mysk took him to inspect the sleeping cabins: five port side, five starboard, each one with two berths. “Cleansing unit is here.” The Verital gestured to the midship head before leading them to the stern. “The Star Crossed has a full galley, and the food replicator will be stocked to provide meals for an entire year.”

He hadn’t thought about food. “That’s way more than I’m going to need.” From the frequency of the sublimation and the increasing difficulty solidifying, Shadow guessed he had a few months left at best, maybe only weeks.

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