Chapter 34

Holden kept the Roci in the new system after the departure of the alien ships, unsure how safe it was to traverse back into the slow zone. Alex had retired to his quarters for a well-deserved rest while Naomi manned the bridge. While they waited, Naomi showed Nik how to use the scanner and together they scanned the new system. Two of the planets had breathable atmospheres and abundant plant life while another had a thick layer full of hydrocarbons that could be converted into an atmosphere with some effort. The third, the largest planet in the Goldilocks zone, had remnants of alien ruins covering most of its surface.

Naomi remarked on how they reminded her of the ruins of Ilus then told Nic about their narrow escape from the planet.

Nik heaved a heavy sigh, "I would love to be part of this crew permanently."

"Yeah, but at least you have family waiting for you. It's not like you're all alone."

"I know," she agreed. "And I won't be a station rat anymore, either."

"Will you miss it?" Naomi asked.

"Will I miss having to scavenge for food? Sleeping on rags? Hiding from station security and brothel owners?" she gave a short laugh. "No, I won't miss that part. But there were good things too. We came and went as we pleased. Weren't accountable to anyone but ourselves. Knew every inch of the station. I think I will miss that."

"I can see that," Naomi agreed. "It's a trade-off, I'm sure."

"Mouse will be able to do things I never had a chance to. She'll get to go to school, maybe even university. She'll have a future she wouldn't had on Tycho."

"Not just her," Naomi turned in her chair to meet Nik's eyes. "You're still young. You can have those things too. You're smart and good with your hands. The belt and the colonies will need more like you."

"You think so?"

"I know so," Naomi told her confidently. "Don't limit yourself. You can still be out here on the leading edge of humanity. If that's what you want."

Nik frowned, "I don't know what I want."

"Not yet but give yourself time. Learn. Explore. Never give up."

Sound advice. "Thanks, sésata."

"We beltas have to stick together."

Shortly after they completed their scans of the system, the effects of the alien's weapon wore off the MCRN ships. One after another, their reactors came back online, and they reestablished comms with one another. Naomi prepared the ship for another high-speed burn to escape them, but they steered directly towards the ring gate, ignoring the Roci, and passed through without incident.

No more than an hour later, a belter ship came through the ring to relay a transmission from Medina. The MCRN ships had departed the slow zone so it was safe for the Roci to return.

Going back through the ring gate, they found the slow zone in a much different state than before they left. Where previously it had been busy with various ships coming and going from the ring colonies, now there were just a few ships hovering around Medina station. Speaking with Drummer, they learned that the five groups of alien vessels that had entered the slow zone had ignored the human ships and all attempts to communicate with them and had immediately left through different rings. One group went through the Sol ring. The Martian ship that had preceded them followed the group into the human's home system and the others had followed when they came through.

Transmissions from the Sol system informed them that the aliens had scanned the system before rapidly leaving for the depths of space beyond. Whatever they were searching for, humanity did not have. Two other groups of alien craft had entered systems with nascent colonies and had repeated the actions. The final two groups had departed through unexplored rings.

Living off the dead carcass of an ancient alien civilization was one thing, but actual aliens? All humanity was stunned by the prospect. Research expeditions into the source system were already being planned. Speculation about the origins of the aliens and their craft abounded. Nik and her picobots were virtually forgotten. Almost.

Drummer had relented and allowed them to dock on Medina while Holden tried to get a read on their situation with Mars. Excited to finally set foot on the behemoth she had spent most of her life watching being built, Nik stayed busy exploring the station. The gravitational force produced by its rotation was slightly more than that of Tycho, so her SSAS went into remission. More importantly, she took the opportunity to distance herself from the crew of the Roci. She reasoned it would make it easier for her to say goodbye to them when it was finally safe for her to travel to Ganymede. Or at least she hoped it would make it easier.

Sitting at a small food counter, happily slurping noodles, Nik started when Amos dropped onto the stool next to her. Catching the vendor's eye, he ordered noodles then sat quietly while he waited for his food to be served. It had been three days since she had seen him, and she took the opportunity to steal sidelong glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking. He looked good. Too good. He had trimmed the scruff of his beard and gotten a haircut since she last saw him, accenting the strong angle of his jaw, the muscles underneath flexing as he ate.

Nik looked up from her scrutiny of his jaw as was captured by his intense blue stare. She flushed hotly and looked back down at her bowl, concentrating on finishing to keep from looking back up at him. He snorted and returned to his own food.

Breaking the silence, she asked, "has Holden heard anything yet?"

"Yep," his answer was short.

"And?"

"You're in the clear. Chrissy worked her political back channels and talked the Martians down. Probably in a way that benefited her, but who cares if they leave you alone."

"And you guys?"

"Yeah, they still hate our guts, but they're not going to shoot us on sight anymore."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "that's fantastic. I hate that I got you guys into this mess in the first place. I'm glad you're good."

"You done?"

She looked down at her bowl, "yeah, I guess."

"No," he turned on his stool to face her, "are you done being a martyr?"

She stiffened at his tone and spat, "pashing fong, dzhemang!"

Some of the belters around her laughed as she angrily pushed away from the counter and stalked off.

"Hey," he grabbed her arm to pull her to a stop.

"Let me go! I don't need you insulting me. In fact, I don't need you at all. Go back to your ship and your crew and leave me the fuck alone, welwela." She kicked him.

"That's better," he smiled at her anger. "I was getting tired of you moping around."

He dropped her arm, "come on."

She planted her hands on her hips, "I'm not going to follow you every time you snap your fingers."

He turned and took several steps before looking back at her with a slight smile, "Are you coming?"

Nik almost stomped her foot like a child but realized there were several sets of eyes on her, so she settled on huffing and rolling her eyes before following him. Her irritation turned to confusion when he didn't head back to the docks and the Roci. Instead he led her to a residential section of the station. Everything was still new and shiny, a marked difference between Medina and her old home. Looking around at the religious art that adorned the walls, she didn't notice a small form hurtling itself at her until it collided with her, nearly knocking her over.

"Nik!" Mouse cried as she wrapped her arms around Nik's thighs.

"Mouse! What are you doing here?" Nik pried the girl's arms away enough to squat down beside her and hug her tightly. "Where is Maggie and Lucky?"

"Right here, Niki girl," Maggie said from behind her.

Picking up Mouse as she stood, Nik turned around. Maggie was standing there with Lucky who was grinning like he'd just gotten away with the biggest prank of his life.

"You're here," she managed to get out before both enveloped her and Mouse in a group hug.

"We came…,"

"It was cool…,"

"I missed you…."

All three started talking at once.

"I missed you, too," she kissed the top of Mouse's head, "but let Maggie talk first."

"We have rooms here," Maggie smiled. "Come. I'll tell you everything."

"Hold on," she said and turned to thank Amos, only to find him gone. "I hate it when you do that," she muttered before following Maggie and Lucky.

Like the rest of the ship, the quarters that her family occupied were clean and spacious, although Nik could see hints that Maggie was settling in already: a small line of items that somehow survived their mad exit from Tycho on a metal shelf, piles of folders on the table, three boxes stacked against a wall.

Sitting down and settling Mouse on her lap, she brushed the girl's hair out of her face and kissed her on the tip of her nose. Then she looked up at Maggie, "Ok, spill it. What are you guys doing here?"

"We came here for you, my girl," Maggie grinned. "There's just as much work needs doing on this station as on Ganymede, and they don't require you digging in the dirt here."

Lucky was nodding his agreement, "yeah, they're training pilots here to ferry goods out to the new colonies." He puffed his thin chest up with pride, "I got accepted as an apprentice."

Nik frowned and looked at Maggie, "he's a little young, isn't he?"

"I'm fourteen!" Lucky protested.

"Going to be fourteen in two months," Maggie corrected. "They start taking apprentices at that age," she told Nik.

Nik considered it, "sounds about right." She grinned and reached over to clasp his arm, "congratulations, Lucky!"

The two women were quiet for a bit and let the boy tell Nik about the program. He was so excited that it was contagious and soon both were grinning just as much as he was.

"Ok," Maggie stopped him when he finally started to slow down, "how about letting someone else talk?"

His face fell, but he agreed, "kay."

"What about you, Maggie?"

"Can you believe there are three medical bays on this station?" Maggie asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I didn't know."

"Well, there are! And I am going to be helping out with them. Guess in what capacity?"

Remembering her crowded rooms on Tycho, Nik didn't have to guess, "record keeping."

Maggie cackled with glee and slapped Nik on the shoulder, "That's my girl!"

For the next hour, they exchanged stories, then they showed her the rooms they were given. They weren't big or fancy but compared to what all of them were used to on Tycho, they felt like the richest people alive.

"You're gonna come live with us, right?" Lucky paused while he was showing her his room.

"Of course, she is!" Maggie told him. "We're family now. We should be together."

A tug on her shirt made her look down at the big dark eyes of Mouse, "you can share my room."

She picked up the girl and gave her a big hug, "that would be perfect!"