The Queen's Gambit by Jessie Mihalik

Author:Jessie Mihalik
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781641970389
Publisher: NYLA
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

OCCUPYING the former military base’s central parade grounds, the market was the largest communal gathering place in Arx. The panels overhead made it appear like we were under bright blue skies with slowly drifting white clouds, but only the front half were on.

A few solid buildings had sprung up in the open space—the bakery and general store, for example—but mostly small market stalls leaned against one another, built with whatever was handy. In the distance, under the dark half of the ceiling, shadows clung to the walls and narrow pathways.

It reminded me of the back-alley markets on the planet I’d grown up on.

Many of the stalls were empty now, but the market still buzzed with activity. People might not have much money, but that didn’t prevent them from getting together to gossip and barter.

Zita O’Neill caught sight of us first. “Samara, you’re back!” She pulled me into a hug and kissed the air next to my cheek. Then she stepped back and glanced behind me. Her smile turned coy. “And you brought Lieutenant Peters, how lovely.”

A matronly woman in her forties with red ringlets and a ready smile, Zita ran Arx’s main bakery. She’d been a fixture in Arx from the beginning, but these days she made simple bread for rations and none of the fancy little desserts she loved.

I’d been in and out of Arx for the past month tracking down Valentin, so I hadn’t seen Zita for weeks. She, too, had lost more weight. The last of the cherubic roundness had disappeared from her cheeks, and it made her look worn and tired, like she’d aged five years in five weeks.

“Hello, Zita,” I said. “I missed you. Did you keep everyone out of trouble while I was gone?”

She laughed. “You’re the only one who has the power to work that particular miracle, but I did my best.” She paused, then looked surprised. “You’re not accepting neural links?” she asked quietly.

“Not right now,” I said.

She nodded, then leaned in and whispered, “I snuck the Dovers’ girl some extra bread. She’s pregnant but won’t tell her pa, so she can’t get the extra rations.”

I appreciated her discretion, but Ari could hear a person breathing two rooms away thanks to her augments, and she wasn’t the only one with augmented senses. Secrets rarely stayed secret in Arx.

“That’s fine,” I said. “I’ll check on her.” I’d watched Lily Dovers grow up. She was barely eighteen. As far as I knew, she had a good relationship with her father, so she should have no reason to hide her pregnancy.

If Lily had been forced, I’d make her assailant a very public, very gruesome example of why trying that shit in my sector was mortally stupid. The seedier elements of the Coalition tended to self-police, and I let a lot of things slide, but I had a zero tolerance policy on rape, murder, and domestic abuse across the board.

“Do you have time for tea?” Zita asked.

“I wish I did, but I have to show Val here around,” I said.

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