When we finally reached our destination, I admit I expected something grander than a ladder to a hatch.

  “You first.” I ordered.

  Mark shrugged, at least acting like he didn’t care.

  As he climbed through, I followed behind, letting him get off the ladder before I put my own weight on it. As I climbed, I had to come to terms with the concept I was ‘surfacing’, that the tunnels were ‘below’ the rest of the world, this sense of up and down was incredibly confusing to wrap my head around, I felt guilty to admit I preferred the interconnected labyrinth of ship corridors.

  The room we entered on the surface was certainly some kind of mechanics shop, only this one was for land vehicles. I suppose that was understandable given its location, but the presence of wheels still caused me to second guess myself, I caught myself looking for thrusters hung from the ceiling to avoid walking under them when I remembered they weren’t ever going to be there. There were at least three different vehicles in three different states of repair, none fully functional, at least to my limited understanding of mechanics. Two of them had wheels, wide and tall, dwarfing me and putting the compartments they carried far above my head. Tools were scattered across the room with no attempt at all to categorise any of them, it would make the mechanic from the Ship cringe, I liked that. The room smelt of oil and ozone though, so at least some aspects were shared with what I was familiar with.

  “Inim?” Mark shouted, I winced as it echoed across the empty room.

  “Priest?” A deep voice quickly replied, I could hear the smile behind it.

  A door on the far end of the room swung open, revealing a giant of a woman. Her skin was the palest I had ever seen, even within the bowels of a ship that rarely saw direct light, sweat glistening from her in a way that made her look like she was covered in glitter. She smiled strongly and widely. her blonde hair was shaven to a buzzcut, her forehead stained with oil and grease. She began a jog towards us, grabbing a dirty cloth to wipe her dirtier hands.

  Her and Mark embraced tightly, somehow the scent of oil became stronger when she came close, now hinted with a salty tang of sweat.

  “Sorry about my smell,” She spoke with a thick accent, it rolled over each word like engine grease. “It has been busy few days!”

  “Oh, right…” Mark trailed off, obviously trying to avoid a topic they both knew of, one they were annoyingly choosing not to inform me of. “Well, I hate to ask, but we’re in a spot of bother,” He gestured to me, “Could you let us stay for a few days as we figure out where we need to go?”

  She raised her arms welcomingly, “Of course! There is room I live out of sometimes in the back, supposed to be a staff room I think.” She shrugged, “I’ve never needed it as one. Who’s after you?”

  “PEAs at least, maybe someone else, not sure.” Mark was being annoyingly open about our enemies, her loyalty surely wasn’t that guaranteed.

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  She scowled, making me doubt her apparent friendliness, “You,” She pointed at me, “were you on pirate ship in orbit?”

  I just stared back, I wasn’t gonna answer her, I had just met her.

  Then she smiled, having come to her own conclusion just by looking at me, it pissed me right off.

  “Oh! Oh, you’re her! Oh man they want you.” She laughed loudly and deeply, her positivity was making me uncomfortable, she seemed far too happy to be harbouring a fugitive.

  Mark also seemed to be out of the loop, “What do you know?” He asked Inim, cutting me out of the loop, removing my ability to keep my secrets to myself.

  “The radio has been very active today, so much begging for information. Your friend here is responsible for death of Governor Yannik! Oh man I am the happiest woman right now!” She continued to laugh under her breath as she roamed the room searching for something. “You really know how to find trouble, Priest!”

  He turned to me with an awkward smile, “Inim had strong opinions on the… ‘late’, governor.” I noticed he didn’t voice his opinions on the issue of his death being the result of a murder that I had apparently committed.

  Hearing I had killed someone important in my escape, I admit, filled me with a sense of pride, as it probably meant it was somebody evil. Another person might be horrified feeling pride at murder, but when it’s the only option you have left, its nice to know you were at least successful. Evil people don’t really like it when you fail to kill them. They also may not like it when you actually succeed, but none of them had let me know yet.

  “What was he like?” I asked her, trying to make sure at least.

  “He was politician, that should about cover it.” Inim answered, still grinning like an idiot. “He’s also the reason I’m here and not home, but that is not important now.

  How did he go out?”

  “I dunno.” I answered, in any other scenario I would’ve made something for appearances sake. Now I was free, I wasn’t going to let other people rule my actions anymore.

  “Oh, come on! Do not hold out on me!” She pushed.

  “How about we move on from this for now, she’s been through a lot recently.” Mark intervened, assumingly for my sake but like Inim, he had interpreted my lack of knowledge to be a ploy to keep it to myself, rather than the actual ignorance for what had occurred.

  Inim raised her hands, “Sorry, I am just very glad that man is no longer among the living. You can both stay here as long as you like, just make sure to let me do the talking if the PEAs come knocking.”

  “Thank you Inim, that’s very kind of you.” Mark clasped his hands together and nodded.

  Inim grinned, “Learnt it from the best!”

  “Well.” She sighed, stretching her arms above her head, “I have some work to do on this mono-mag, think you can hand me tools?”

  I scoffed back at her, “Nope.”

  “Mark?” she asked politely, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Sure.” He turned to me and spoke under his breath, “Why don’t you sit down in the back and calm down a bit, I understand your hesitation but there’s really nothing to be afraid of here.”

  I nodded, not believing him. He might believe himself, but I knew better.

  Entering the room Inim had pointed to earlier, I admit I felt a bit more comfortable. Mark was suffocating to be in the presence of, his performative kindness made me itch. Whenever he looked at me, his mouth was upturned in an aggravating smirk, he was getting something out of this for sure, I just had to figure out what it was before it was too late.

  The room I found myself in served my purposes well enough, there were two other doors to exit through, as well as a small window at the back that sat above a faded and stained sofa. I quickly hopped on top of it to peek out, seeing it led to an empty alleyway. The window was small, but large enough for my frame to squeeze through, if needed.

  Three escape routes, four including where I came in, not bad odds all things considered.

  I fell into the sofa, a small cloud of dust burst from beneath me. I sighed. I could feel the fabric already itching the skin of my legs that were still bare. I needed new clothes, that would be my next step. For now, I just needed to rest for a second.

  Just a second.