Worlds Long Lost by Christopher Ruocchio & Sean Cw Korsgaard

Author:Christopher Ruocchio & Sean Cw Korsgaard [Ruocchio, Christopher & Korsgaard, Sean Cw]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Collections & Anthologies, Alien Contact, Space Opera
ISBN: 9781982192303
Google: ZfLuzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2022-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

Sarina Bruce clicked her tongue at Leland’s question. “I haven’t slept well since we got here, so why should last night be any different?”

“Just hoping someone was getting better sleep than me,” he said.

“Nobody I know.” She sipped her cocoa. Leland appreciated the way her lips touched the mug. “You ever figure out who sabotaged the comms?”

Leland turned his mug of tea a full rotation, thought about drinking some, then left it on the table and crossed his arms. “Watunge, I suppose. But I can’t figure why she’d do it that way. I’d’ve pulled a circuit board, that’d take a lot longer to fab.” He yawned, then said, “Sorry, I—”

“Don’t worry about starting me yawning,” Sarina said. Her blue-green eyes brightened and her teeth were perfect when she smiled. “I’ve been doing it all day.”

“I can imagine.” Leland smiled, though his stomach tightened as he said, “You have amazing eyes.”

Sarina ducked her head for a second. “Thanks. My parents ordered them special.” She winked, and continued, “They’re optimized for the sun over Phoenixhome, so they start to hurt if I’m outside too long here. Too much IR.”

“Well, your parents did a fine job. And they gave you a beautiful smile, too.”

She sat up a little straighter. “Lee Strickland, are you hitting on me?”

He laughed, though he was not as lighthearted as he wanted to seem. “Maybe,” he said. “It depends.”

The way Sarina scrunched up her forehead was delightful. “On what?”

“On whether you like it. If so, then yes, I’m hitting on you. If not, if it bothers you, then no...you must be mistaken.” He winked at her, and tried to smile casually.

Sarina squinted at him, then they both laughed.

“Okay, then,” she said. “I don’t mind at all, it’s sweet. But...I have a girlfriend back on Phoenixhome.”

Leland took a deep breath and tried not to sound too disappointed. “That’s the way it flies sometimes. To change the subject, what has anyone gotten out of Fitzhugh? Does he know what happened to the others?”

She set her mug down, and fought—only partly successfully—against a yawn of her own. “He hasn’t said much coherent since we found him. The sky-eye didn’t see anyone else at the site, and it would pick them up on imagery unless they’re deep underground.

“Did you see they caged him outside the dispensary? He went wild when they took him inside. He’s better—quieter—if he’s outside, even yesterday when it poured rain.”

“But, not helpful?”

“I don’t know what to think about him.” She finished her cocoa and slid her chair back. “He mostly talks about the hyperprotists, and even then half of what he says doesn’t make sense.”

“Like what?”

“I guess he studied them pretty closely, but when he talks about them he starts getting all mixed up. One minute it’s aphorisms—‘all for one, one for all,’ ‘united we stand, divided we fall,’ that sort of thing—and the next it’s a story of how he tried chasing one, and it turned into another one or something.”

Leland rubbed his eyes. “Kellick said Fitzhugh tagged some of them.

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