Cytonic (Skyward #3)(6)

Soon Vlep pulled some of the silver dust from my pocket. “Ha! A nice haul.” He dug in it, then brought out the pin.



His eyes went wide, which seemed to be an expression of surprise for his species. The burl let out a low growl, which…might also have been surprise?

“A reality icon?” Vlep asked, then looked at me. “You must be someone important.”

My heart leaped as he closed a feathered hand around the pin, but it seemed like a bad idea to show how important that pin was to me, so I forced myself to relax. “I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well, thanks for the treasure,” Vlep said. He tucked the pin into a small pouch.

“Do we shoot her now?” the burl asked. “I don’t like the idea of taking a soldier as a servant. Too dangerous.”

“Could be useful in a fight,” the dione said, “if they join us. Imagine having a human on our side.”

“Broadsiders have one,” Vlep said, “and he’s useless. They don’t live up to their reputations. Trust me. But we’re not going to shoot her—the Superiority sent her in armed. So she’s valuable to them. We’ll ransom her back to the mining base.”

So there were mining stations in here. At least that gave me a good lead on how I might get out, once I accomplished what I needed to in here.

Right now, my best chance at escape was to get the pirates to underestimate me. So I slumped down. “I’m going to get into so much trouble for this…” I moaned.

“Ha!” Vlep said. “Well, good news! Now that we know Gul’zah is valuable, maybe we can ransom him too! Double the haul.” He looked at the pouch. “Triple. Or more. Stand her up. Let’s get moving. Judging from that roar earlier, there’s a grig in here somewhere. I’d rather not run into it.”

He started off through the jungle, and the others pulled me along. I made a few token complaints and struggles, then slumped as I walked, pretending to be defeated.



Secretly I studied them. These pirates clearly weren’t trained soldiers. Vlep didn’t understand muzzle control; he turned and absently swung the weapon toward the others when they spoke to him. I wasn’t surprised. The Superiority denounced what they called “aggression,” and its people were unlikely to have combat training. Winzik and his cronies liked it that way. It made people easier to control.

So maybe this group had formed from exiles? A couple had weapons at their hips—a knife on the burl, and what appeared to be a pistol at Vlep’s side. But they hadn’t used those on me. They’d purposely taken me alive. Though perhaps they’d been surprised by how well I fought, and how well I’d been armed.

I could probably exploit their ignorance. At least, someone more capable could have exploited it. I didn’t have the training for this kind of thing, I…

I couldn’t really use that argument anymore, could I?

I hadn’t been training as a spy, but I’d infiltrated the Superiority. And arguably I’d done a pretty good job. At least until everything had gone wrong at the end.

I’d chosen to come here. It was time to stop complaining about my situation.

“Hey, Vlep,” I said, trying to hurry up and catch him at the front of the group. I stumbled almost immediately, nearly tripping on hidden vines. Running away wasn’t really an option, not while my hands were tied.

I righted myself with some help from the dione, then called again. “Vlep. You all, you’re exiles, aren’t you? Making the best of a bad situation? I can help you. I’m not your enemy.”

“In here,” the heklo said, “everyone’s our enemy.”

“I’m a soldier,” I said. “I can train your people. Help you. I just need a little information. About this place, and about—”

He stopped and turned his gun on me. “No talking unless you’re asked a question. You’re in Cannonade territory now. Keep your head down and hope I don’t decide you’re too much trouble to be worth keeping alive.”



“You know, Vlep,” one of the other heklo said, “I think I might know her. Is that…Winzik’s pet human?”

“Winzik?” Vlep snapped. “Who is that?”

“Sorry,” the heklo said. “I forget how little about the outside gets in here. One of the high officials of the Superiority keeps a human bodyguard. I think that’s her.”

“Curious,” Vlep said, narrowing his eyes at me. “Why would they send you to chase an exile, human? Or did you finally cross the Superiority and earn your inevitable reward?”

They’d mistaken me for Brade? Guess I wasn’t the only one who had trouble distinguishing one alien from another.

As soon as I thought of Brade, I winced. I’d failed so badly in trying to recruit her. She was cytonic, and was the one who had summoned the delver that had gone on to attack Starsight. If I’d been able to get through to her somehow, all of this would—

A terrible monstrous call tore through the jungle. It was so deep and sonorous, it made the trees vibrate. The entire group froze in place and peered outward through the trees and vines. What in the unholy universe could make such a sound?

“It’s getting closer,” Vlep whispered. “Quickly. Back to the ships.”