Nemesis Games (Expanse 5)

“Hey,” she said, lifting her chin in a sharp nod.

“Hey. Couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d see what you were doing.”

“Just got done sparring. The lieutenant’s going to let me drill some.”

“They know you just got shot a little while ago, right?”

“You think a few bullet holes gets you out of training?” she said with a ferocity that left him wondering whether she was joking. “They’re even loaning me a suit.”

“You been in powered armor since Io?”

“Nope. So that’ll be… I don’t know. Either really cool or nightmare inducing.”

Alex chuckled, and she grinned. Her smile was like pouring water on a burn. “You heading straight for your bunk, or are you stopping by the mess first?”

“I could stand something to eat probably. Meet you there?”

It was an off-time for the mess. The alpha shift’s dinner was done, the beta shift’s lunch still an hour away. Bobbie was sitting alone at a table by the far wall, her hand terminal open before her. A group of three men and a woman sat not far from her, casting glances at her back and talking among themselves. Alex felt an instant protective surge, like he was back in lower university and one of his friends was being laughed at by another clique.

He grabbed a cheese sandwich and bulb of water, then came and sat across from her. The remains of meatloaf and gravy she’d wolfed down were on her plate and a familiar voice was coming from her terminal.

“— going to be monitoring anything we fucking say. If you wanted to discuss menstruation at great length and detail, this is probably our best chance. He’s always been squeamish about women, and no one likes a Peeping Tom, even if he is prime minister.”

“How is she?” Alex asked, nodding toward the hand terminal. Bobbie turned the recording off and frowned at the newly blank screen.

“Heartsick, I think. Devastated. But she’ll never let it show. This is what she always feared the most. And now it’s happened, and she can’t even look away, because she’s the one who has to… fix it. Only it can’t be fixed, can it?”

“Naw, I guess not.”

“They’re taking us to Luna.”

“I figured as much,” Alex said. Something in his voice caught Bobbie’s attention.

“You don’t want to?”

“Honestly? I want to go home. Get back on the Roci with my crew, and after that, I care a whole lot less where we go. Be nice if it was somewhere they weren’t shooting at us.”

“That would be a plus,” Bobbie said. “Don’t know where that is.”

“Lot of planets out there. My experience with colonies is, ah, a little checkered, but I can see the appeal of a new start.”

“There aren’t any new starts,” Bobbie said. “All the new ones pack the old ones along with them. If we ever really started fresh, it’d mean not having a history anymore. I don’t know how to do that.”

“Still, I can dream.”

“Right there with you.”

At the other table, two of the men rose, carrying their trays to the recycler. The man and woman who stayed glanced over at Alex and Bobbie, and then pretended they hadn’t. Alex took a bite of his sandwich. The greasy cheese and fake butter were like being young again. Or else like remembering how long it had been since he was young.

“Any word on the assholes who shot at us?”

“They’re still fighting with the escort ships. Withdrawing, but not retreating. The escort isn’t looking to engage as long as they can keep the bastards from getting close to us.”

“Yeah, all right.”

“Seem weird to you too?”

“Little bit,” Alex said. “Seems like a pretty piss-poor ambush if you don’t actually ambush anyone.”