Big Dicker (Harem Station 3)

“Out? You mean out there?” She cocks her head at the window. The shades are drawn so there’s nothing to see when I look over. But the unmistakable sounds of the Mighty Minions Resort coming to life filter up even through the sound screen and on this high level.

I shrug. “It’ll be fun. We could take that Lava Mountain ride. Or that rollercoaster back near Demon Lake.”

“Flame Lake,” she says. “We don’t have time for this!”

“We have time,” I say. “We have to make time, I mean. Because we need a good plan.”

“Maybe… maybe you could call your ship? And we could just leave Queenie here and go… no.” She frowns. “I don’t even know how to get to the Lair.”

“We can’t go without a water generator, so we have to get that first anyway.”

“Queenie is not going to give over her water generator.”

“Oh, yes, she will. Dicker takes her poker winnings seriously. She won the kitchen too. And some salvage bikes. Maybe even a charging station.”

“It was a setup, Jimmy. She didn’t really win that stuff.”

“Again,” I say, smiling down at her. Because her hair is all kinds of messy and there’s still a few pink streaks running through it from last night, so she’s totally one of those girls who looks amazing in the morning. “You don’t really know Dicker. When I say she’s serious about her poker winnings, I mean she’s very fucking serious. Like it or not, and all secret scheming aside, your Queenie lost and Dicker will collect.”

“And I don’t think you understand, OK? When I said mean and nasty, I meant mean and nasty. She’s evil. And look.” Delphi pauses to tab her wristband on. It starts chiming incoming messages immediately. “See! Seventeen nasty messages from this thing!”

She shoves her wristband at me. And sure enough, there’s a shitload of incoming messages. “What’s this Mighty Minions warning?”

“What?” She turns her wrist so she can see her display. “Oh, my suns. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What happened?”

“Flicka!” she says. “She’s in lockup.”

I laugh, I can’t help it.

“We have to bail her out. I wonder how much that will cost? Because I’ve been using Queenie’s credit account and I’m pretty sure she’s not gonna let me—”

“Don’t worry,” I say. “Send that to me and I’ll take care of it.”

“Are you sure?”

“That’s what soulmates do, Del.”

She closes her eyes and sighs. But she smiles too. “Thank you,” she says, opening them back up to stare into mine. “I really appreciate this.”

“Send it and I’ll pay her fines.”

Delphi tabs her wristband screen with a finger and swipes it in my direction. My wristband chimes an incoming message, and then the alert shows up on my screen. I press the pay fine button, and check the little box that someone agrees to come take the bot into possession when we’re ready to leave the resort. Apparently they have a zero-tolerance policy with bots. Especially dragonbee bots.

“She’s stuck there until we’re ready to leave,” I explain to Delphi. “That’s probably gonna piss her off. But her fine is paid so all you have to do is go down and sign a release form.”

“Serves her right,” Delphi says.

“OK, so we’re set now? We can go get some breakfast and take a spin on the Demon Coaster?”

“No,” Delphi says. “We don’t have a plan yet.”

“Let me take care of that, OK?”

“Jimmy, I’m serious.”

“Me too,” I say. “Just look, we can’t do anything right now. And we don’t really have to because your ship can’t get us while we’re in the resort.”

“I think… maybe… you underestimate her.”

“No,” I say. “And besides, once I tell Dicker that she’s been cheated out of a water generator, a new kitchen, two salvage bikes, and possibly a charging station— she’s gonna lose her shit. OK? I’m talking blow her fucking roof and start plotting revenge. That’s not gonna be pretty. She will leave my ass here and start her own little personal war with that Queenie until she gets everything owed to her. So I’m not gonna tell her any of this just yet. We’re gonna go get some food, enjoy my stupid Mighty Minions family pass, and come up with a new way for me to find a water generator so we can get the hell out of the Vacation Sector and head back to Harem. Once we get there, I’ll get my brothers and the Harem security beacons to rustle up a navy and we’ll go save your brother.”

“We don’t even know where Lair Station is.”

“If this Loathsome One is as dangerous as you describe her, then trust me, someone on Harem will know who she is and where she stays. And if she’s some clandestine Cygnian operative, I have connections with Angel Station. They’ll know for sure.”

“You know about Angel Station?”

I nod. “Princess Lyra is practically my sister-in-law. She told us everything.”