SAM

  “God, I’m starved,” Cora said as I slid into the cafe booth across from her.

  I totally agreed, and it didn’t take long for a server to show up with the order we’d placed on stream. Two steaming curries with rice. Just like home, only we were far—

  My thoughts came to a standstill when I saw the metal hands pushing the plates towards us.

  Hands, not hand.

  No one ever got augmented on two body parts. That was impossible to control!

  But there she was right in front of me.

  Reminding myself not to stare at the cybernetics, I lifted my eyes to her face, and it wasn’t something to linger on either. Part of her beautiful forehead was mottled by a burn scar, platinum hair covering what it could.

  Piercing almond eyes met mine with knowing confidence.

  I sucked in a sharp breath. There was recognition in that face, and something in me snapped to attention, mind whirring.

  Cora and I just arrived in the city of Nineton, but we’d placed a dinner order on stream before coming down to the surface. We’d come straight here, and an unusual augment met us, knowing look in her eyes.

  What were the chances?

  I risked it.

  “SassySword?”

  The question was barely a whisper, but her face shifted into a confident smile. I jumped up, squealing and grabbing her in a hug.

  “Uh...” A hand barely patted my back, slowly. Cora chuckled behind me.

  I checked myself, remembering the restaurant. Right, this was a stranger. Who might be an enemy. I stepped back, but the awe was too much to contain. What if she was a friend? My hands went to her cheeks, taking her in.

  Her eyebrows screwed up in horror.

  “Are you gonna kiss me?” she grimaced.

  The laugh rolled outta me, and Cora collapsed in a fit of giggles.

  SassySword smirked as I stepped back. Then she said in an overly casual way, “I get off work in two hours if you wanna hang out.”

  Cora and I stilled.

  “That sounds great,” Cora said in her flat voice, then it was Sassy’s turn to snicker.

  “I’ll be walking home. Join me or don’t,” she said over her shoulder.

  Cora and I finished our curries in silence, neither of us wanting to say a word.

  “Sam,” she whispered, lips close to my ears once we were outside. “Do you think there’s cameras out here? Or is it like Shurwinn? No street surveillance?”

  We should’ve asked before we got here, but I’d had too much on my mind lately.

  Cora and I were nearly to our rental when a handsome couple stopped on the sidewalk in front of us, pausing. The man was tall with dark skin and kinky greying hair, and the woman smiled warmly. She had a lighter complexion and a dark brown braid streaked with grey and seemed friendly.

  There was something familiar about the man, and the two of them looked at us with open smiles.

  Cora asked boldly, “Are there street cameras out here like everywhere else in the 9 Galaxies? We’re not sure since we’re new.”

  Way to be blunt, Cor.

  The man shook his head. “Absolutely no surveillance anywhere in Five Spheres. If you have any questions about the local regulations, there’s a tab on your rental’s stream site that explains the basics. I’m Switch, by the way, and this is Priyaa.”

  My eyebrows flew up. “Oh my god!” It was Bitsy’s brother and his wife!

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  “We’re glad to meet you,” Priyaa smiled. “Bitsy told us all about you, so welcome to our rental cottage. Let us know if you need anything, by the way. We can’t linger since we’ve got a party to get to. Honey, we’re late—"

  “Alright, alright,” Switch told her. “Cora, Sam, ping us if you need anything, anything at all. We won’t bug you, we promise.”

  They hurried on their way, and Cora and I stood there in the middle of the sidewalk waving at their backs.

  My thoughts took a creepy turn. No cameras? Why was everyone we met familiar?

  First SassySword, then Switch. I grabbed Cora’s hand and darted for the door of our cottage, punching in the key code, and taking refuge inside.

  “Sam?”

  My back to the door, I clutched my knees, trying to get my breath under control.

  “Okay, Sam, steady. In. Out. Let’s take a sec to calm down.”

  I heard the cadence of Cora’s words, and everything in me became that flow. In. . . Out.

  Calm surfaced.

  “Sorry, love,” I groaned.

  She pulled me into a hug. “No apologies, babe."

  I sagged against her. I was so tired of being scared and freaked out by every little thing. Would I ever feel normal again?

  “It’s okay, Sam. We’re safe here, and I’m with you. I love you. So, so much.”

  “Are we, Cor? Are we safe?” I whispered.

  “I know it seems like a lot of weird shit is happening,” she said, and the sound of her voice brought me back to myself. “Like there’s too many people coming outta the woodwork at the same time. That was a lot. Meeting Sassy then Switch and Priyaa. None of it feels random, and that is odd. If you wanna leave, I’ll go with you.”

  “Where can we go, Cora?” I whimpered. “Nowhere is safe from the cyber mafia.”

  Cora stepped back, hands on my upper arms, looking me straight in the eyes. “Samantha Mooneyhan, that’s exactly what they want you to think. They eroded your confidence, threatened you, maybe killed your parents, and now you feel like you have no power over anything in your life."

  She lifted my chin with one gentle hand. "But they didn’t win, babe. They didn’t defeat you or knock you down so hard you couldn’t get back up. You’re here standing on your own two feet and seeing them for who they truly are. From what I see, YOU are the most dangerous person in the 9 Galaxies right now because you know the truth of what they are.”

  I smiled at her, and god, I did feel better when she put it that way. I took a steadying breath and nodded, putting away the panic.

  “Right. Okay, Cor, you’re right, and maybe I needed to have a meltdown in order to see it. This is how it works, isn’t it? They get into your head, convince you that you’re crazy and can’t trust your own thoughts.”

  Something in me stirred, and it wasn’t fear.

  “You’re absofuckinglutely right, Cora,” my voice rose, and with it, rage. “You’re right, and I’m gonna use this temporary collapse as fuel. If Sassy is a bad guy—“ Cora smiled at that— “then I’ll find out. And I seriously doubt Switch and Priyaa are out to get us, so that was just a coincidence running into them.”

  I took another deep breath, looking around our pretty little cottage, and deciding to let go. I had my girlfriend with me, and we had a nice place to ourselves after weeks crossing the galaxy.

  “How about a hot chocolate or tea?” Cora suggested, sensing my mood shift.

  “I’d love a cocoa. Want me to start the fire? We have time to chill before Sassy gets off work,” I said, heading towards the brazier.

  “Perfect,” she agreed.

  I took a look at the little fireplace. There were logs already stacked in a grate, but I couldn’t see a lighter or kindling, so it had to be digital. Remembering what Switch had said about the stream site, I found the instructions and got it lit using the electronic control panel.

  The sound of crackling logs was instantly comforting. I let relaxation take over.

  I loved the little cottage we'd rented on Uno. “Cozy” was the perfect word for it. Just like all the buildings in Nineton, it was made of white stone. But the hardwood floors, fluffy rugs, and rounded sofa covered in pastel knitted blankets softened everything.

  It was positively homey.

  “This looks like the perfect reading nook,” Cora said, handing me a mug.

  “'Cuddle corner' is what I was thinking of calling it,” I told her, pulling a blanket over my lap and settling against her. “Mmm. Thanks for the cocoa. Yum.”

  “Hmm, thank the auto,” she snickered, pulling me tight. “This really is an awesome cottage.”

  “I know! I love it. Everything about it screams comfort, right?”

  “Exactly. I could easily sit here and write Moons Dancing. Actually, if we weren’t meeting Sassy, I’d probably start right now. I keep getting ideas for how to finish the book, and I wanna get them down,” she said, sipping her cocoa.

  “See?” I laughed at her. “That’s exactly what happens! You think it’s crazy to write a book. Next thing you know, you’re seeing stories everywhere, and you gotta write, write, write!”

  “I know! But Sam,” her face softened, and she rubbed my arm. “Are you ready to write your next book? Honestly, I think Time Sleuths is your biggest one. If you write it the way it happened, it’ll be a lot of you and me, but the undercurrent is the tech conspiracy. Are you ready for that?”

  I nodded sharply, “I’m not gonna back down, Cor. I think you’re right. We probably are safe here on Uno. Or at least, safer than anywhere else in the Known Cosmos. And that means we can try to find out the truth about my parents and whatever else is going on in the shadows. I’m not gonna assume SassySword's on my side, but either way, I’ll find out everything I can from her.”

  "Oh man, do I have an idea!” I grinned, grabbing Cora’s hand eagerly.

  “You know what, Cor? I’m seeing a pattern. You said the cyber mafia wants me to feel like nowhere is safe—like I’m powerless. But how did you figure that out? Not because it’s written down somewhere, but because of the opposite. We’ve been constantly trying to read between the lines, seeing the story that isn’t there!”

  Cora pinched her lips, thinking.

  “So, if we can’t find out the concrete details, we’ll find out what’s missing! Maybe that’s the clue we need: where are there gaps? Does history have holes? If so, that’s probably where the truth lies.” It sounded like I was an authority, but I barely knew what I was saying.

  Holes in history?

  Cora grinned. “Fucking genius, Sam. You’re right. We won’t trust Sassy, but we’ll listen to everything she says… and everything she doesn’t say. That will tell us what we need to know about Discord, your parents, and everything going on in the shadows.”

  And both of us were exactly right, with a twist.