Fatal Boarding (29 page)

RJ turned back to me. “So what about you?
Are you going back up?”

“No way, RJ. I’ve got enough bonus credits
now to last me a good while. That was my plan from the
beginning.”

RJ became distracted. “Perk, that girl just
waved at you.”

“What?”

“Yeah, see the two talking to Nira? The one
in the pink just looked over and waved at you.”

“Really? I better go see if Nira needs a
drink or anything.”

With that Perk climbed up and shuffled
toward the threesome.

RJ looked over at me. “I better go with him.
I’m supposed to keep an eye on him. He’s not supposed to exert
himself.”

I gave a wave, and off he went.

The noon sun beat down on my almost-healed,
still-bruised chest. It felt good. The tide was coming in drawing
lines in the sand in front of me. There was so much to sort out. I
knew it would take a long time. I thought of the Emissary.

In my bag, in a small cotton satchel, I
found the round crystal she had left me. I held it in my hand and
felt the strange power it possessed. I could feel a message within
it, but was having trouble translating. It was something like,
‘unexpected future’. I tried to imagine what ‘unexpected future’
could mean. I opened my hand and looked down at it once more. It
had changed to black, and was full of stars.