Big Dicker (Harem Station 3)

“What idea?” I ask. “Leaving?” Oh, please. I’m praying to the sun that he’s not having second thoughts about helping me. He’s pretty much my only chance now because I already told him my plan and there’s no way to kidnap him after that.

“No, spin node travel. Have you ever done that?”

“Travel inside a node?” I shake my head. “No. But—”

“I mean… it can’t be safe. Those things are so weird. Also, the whole time dilation thing, ya know? I hope he doesn’t use a spin node to get here. Is there one close by?”

“Ummm. I don’t know, Jimmy. I’m not really worried about the spin nodes.”

“I’m just saying that if Luck uses a spin node it could take him longer, right? The way time works in those.”

“What?”

“I just hope he’s close.” And he shrugs and goes back to looking at the menu. “I am impressed by this board,” he says. “Yesterday I had to stand in line for those stupid noodles. Now this is what I’m talking about. No lines, just instant ordering.”

“Jimmy,” I say. “If we’re going to be here the whole day then I need to answer Queenie’s messages. She’s not a patient ship and she’ll do something desperate if she thinks I’m ignoring her.”

Jimmy looks down at me again, still smiling. “Look around, Delphi.”

I do. I look around. Take in the resort and the families. All the rides, and the hundreds of Mighty Minion ambassadors milling around as more and more families come out for yet another day of play.

“This place is a fucking fortress,” he continues. “And yeah, the fact that they lock down the docking bays at a certain time each night is super annoying and borderline tyrannical. Not to mention the way they squeeze every credit out of you in every way possible. But honestly, if we’ve got to be on the run from an insane ship and some badass chick called the Loathsome One, we could do a lot worse than Mighty Minions Resort. Your ship has to have some set of cocks on her to think she could do anything here, right?”

I consider that for a moment. “I guess.”

“Trust me, I know a dictator AI when I meet one. And even though the one running this place isn’t as overt as ALCOR and doesn’t make itself known, it’s definitely up there with ALCOR as far as control goes.”

I squint my eyes and take another look around. I don’t know how many levels this place has. It seems to only have this main corridor. Granted, it’s a good thirty stories tall, but there’s no map pointing up or down to other areas. No hiding places, in other words. Everything is out in the open. And high up in the air are small swarms of security bots. Just little dots from where I stand, so they’re probably just a little bigger than Flicka.

“That’s right,” Jimmy says. “The AI running this place has a literal army of security drones up there watching every fucking thing that goes on. Hell, they probably know about your plan. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was no docking bay curfew and that ambassador came to stop us because the AI ordered it to.”

“What?” I say.

“Yeah. I don’t think this station AI is fucking around. When you’ve got half a million people—all of which are families with young children—your main focus, above all else, is safety. I don’t think anyone can touch us here. I think landing on Mighty Minions for repairs was actually a stroke of good luck. The only other place I’d feel safer is back on Harem.”

I blow out a long breath. It’s not relief. More like resignation. I know Queenie. She’s evil and vicious. And her mind scares me. Plus, I have no idea what her stake in this little operation is. Maybe the Loathsome One is holding someone over her head too? And she has to complete this mission to save that someone?

Then I huff. Because no. Queenie isn’t the type to sacrifice for someone else. She’s getting paid though, that’s for sure. So what if her reward is big enough that confronting the Mighty Minions AI is worth the risk?

That’s my fear.

But Jimmy is already talking about what he wants to eat and this whole discussion seems to be over in his mind, so I don’t say any of that out loud.

“What do you want?” Jimmy asks, pointing to the menu. “I’m gonna get the Centurian protein wrap with extra potatoes.”

I crinkle my nose. “Potatoes?”

“My father used to make those when I was a kid.” He smiles wistfully for a moment. Like this is a pleasant memory. “I can’t believe they have them here. He told me they came from a faraway planet where my mother was born. Kinda cool, right?”