In Every Eden (The Heroes We Can Afford)

Chapter 7: Captain's Interlude

Morgan crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, fixing her with a pair of raised eyebrows.

“Hey, nice to see you too, Suze. How you been? I'm good. How about you?” 

“I'm barely sober enough to be hung over and I'm down here at the bottom of the gravity well trading evil eyes with that overgrown traffic cop in there is how I am, so you'll excuse me I don't feel much in the mood for niceties at the moment.”

“Hey, we don't know anything, Captain, all were doing down here was...”

“I know what you've been doing, Rukh. I already talked to Vasca.”

“Oh.” Hector's mouth snapped shut.

“And we're going to have words about that later, you can bank on that. But I don't care about it now. Right now, the only thing on my mind is what is really going on down here. What do you know? How much of this backwash is true?”

“We don't know anything more than you do, Captain, we just dropped off the...”

“Hector, no offense, but seal it up, I'm asking Morgan right now. You may know everything there is to know about drives and shipbuilding, but you don't know shit about planets.”

“Be surprised what I know, Captain.” Hector muttered it under his breath.

“Doubt it.” She snorted and turned towards Morgan. 

“Alright, Morgan, tell me true, how deep in the shit are we?”

“Deep.” He pursed his lips and shook his head. “The sabotage was real, that's for certain. I've worked with Khadi before and she's a top shelf terraformer. She says it's sabotage, it's sabotage. Trust me, nobody is more thorough than Khadi and her people. If I know her, they checked and double-checked what they had for breakfast this morning, much less any strange parts they were putting into a girl like Mount Safa.”

“And there's no chance they just forgot this time? No chance this really is an accident?”

“Suze, understand me, Khadi and most of her people might be Great Hajj Muslims, but Terraforming is their religion. I know how they feel. It's hard not to get swept up in the scale and grandeur of what they're doing here. This is genesis for a whole new world, a new chance for humanity, and they're the ones turning on the light. Terraformers who don't care that much don't stay terraformers. They checked. Bank on it.”

“Shit.” She hissed obscenely through clenched teeth. “Then we're breached well and good. Unless... unless...”

She wasn't looking at Morgan or Hector anymore. She lost all her posture at once, yielding to the unfamiliar pull of gravity as she slumped back against the wall. She was chewing on her lip, worrying at it as she worked the problem through in her mind.

“Hey, hey, Captain, you're looking at this all wrong.” Hector flew up, filling the space between their faces with gestures. “Nothing's breached. This isn't a problem, this is an opportunity. We're in the high orbit over this. You saw how they were in there, Sufawa's got the badge, but Vasca pays the bills and we've got a deal brewing with Vasca. It's in his interests as well as ours to see we get out of here, and he's the one with the power. He's the one really calls the shots around here. Now all we've got to do is...”

Hector paused of his own accord and blinked a couple of times.

“Aren't you going to tell me to 'seal it up'?”

“Not when you're spouting sense. I might be less angry with you than I thought, Hector. But only if this works!” She unfolded from the wall, draped a hand across his shoulder and pulled him along towards her.

“We need to find someplace to sit down and work out some details. You coming, shortpants?"

“Nah, you go on, highpockets, I'll catch up later. I've got something I've got to see to.” Morgan forced a grin and stepped up to slap Susan lightly on the shoulder.

She looked over at the closed door and back to Morgan with a raised eyebrow. He just smiled and shrugged. She shook her head and kept walking.

“Come on, Rukh, let's get some drinks down us and you can tell me your side of this whole scam with Vasca, alright?”

The two of them disappeared down the hallway.