“What?” Jimmy says.
“Oh.” Veila laughs. “Did you just assume I haven’t been keeping track of you? Your mistake. I knew you were going to that biogenetics lab all these years. I have known we were meant for each other since I was Delphi’s age. I was there with Corla back when she was bred to Crux, don’t you remember me?”
Jimmy is silent for a little while. Then he says, “No. There were no other silver princesses in Corla’s entourage. They were all pink.”
Veila huffs out a laugh dripping with contempt. “That’s because I hadn’t been leveled up back then. But they told me who you were. And if the mating between Crux and Corla was successful, which it was, I was next in line to breed.”
“Gross,” I manage to mumble.
“Oh, good,” Veila exclaims. “For a few minutes I was worried you wouldn’t be responsive enough to participate in what comes next, Delphi.”
“So where the fuck have you been all these years?” Jimmy says, returning to the previous conversation.
“Well,” Veila says, “that AI of yours was a master disrupter. He kept you boys segregated for almost a decade, if I’m counting correctly. Then you were always off with that stupid sexbot of yours. And that ship. So I bided my time. But thanks to ALCOR’s little sacrifice back at Bull Station, my moment has finally arrived. Your sexbot is thousands of light years away and your ship is quite dead. So…” She makes a noise that sounds like she’s rubbing her hands together in eagerness. “Good things come to those who wait.” Then she adds, “And come up with thoughtful, calculated schemes to get what they want.”
“Where’s Tycho?” I growl. “Where the fuck is my brother? If you have him in one of those cells I will kill you, you fucking bitch.”
“Now that’s an unexpected surprise. Delphi has always been clueless and weak,” Veila says. She’s just… not like us.”
“No,” Jimmy says. “She isn’t. She’s so much better than us.”
“Ha.” Veila laughs. “She’s stupid, and naive, and powerless. But beyond that, she has been shown who and what she is many times and each time she refused to see the truth people were telling her. And when I finally got a hold of her, she fell for every one of my lies. I mean… come on.” Veila walks over to me, grabs my chin with her fingertips, and lifts my head up so I can look her in the eyes. “Did you really think I’d hand over your brother? Delphi, that’s the dumbest lie you ever fell for. He is infinitely more important than you are, my dear. We have big, big plans for him.”
“Where is he?” I snarl.
“Not here.” She chuckles. “That’s for sure. He’s much too valuable to be left way out here. But don’t worry,” she says, dropping my chin so my head falls towards my chest. “He’s not alone.” I manage to pick up my head and open my eyes just in time to see Veila look at Jimmy and say, “He’s with your brother, Draden, Jimmy. They have become fast friends.”
“That’s not possible,” Jimmy says. “My brother Draden is dead.”
“Hmmm,” Veila says. “Yet another lie in a long string of lies you’ve been told.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Crux didn’t tell you?” Veila asks. “I’m surprised. I know your brother Tray knows. He was with Crux and ALCOR when they left Harem Station to go searching for answers. But I figured Crux would tell you the moment he got back, seeing as how you two have always been close.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jimmy yells it this time.
“I had this speech all planned out, you know. I practiced it relentlessly for years. What would I say, exactly? When I finally got my chance? How would I break the news to you? I was afraid for a while that ALCOR would tell you himself and ruin all my devious plotting, but then he died and I knew he left his big secret untold when the Prime Navy showed up for his funeral. If he had told you the truth, then—”
She’s interrupted by the opening of her bedroom doors.
I glance over at the borgs entering and my heart flips, and my body heats up, and my stomach drops all in the same instant.
Because they bring in that boy.
“No,” I moan, struggling against my bindings. “No. Keep him away from me!”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen, little niece,” Veila says. “Bring him forward.”
“No!” I say. “No!”
Jimmy rushes forward and is immediately stopped when more than a dozen armed borgs point their rifles at his head.
“Don’t do this!” he pleads. “I’ll do what you ask, just don’t—”
But it’s too late. I can already feel the reaction building and the boy is so close. Veila takes his hand and places it on my breast and… and that’s it.