Nib brought out a fresh pot of mek to his houseguests and siblings, all of whom were situated around the pixel projector. Bear sat on the floor with his back against a couch. Kizzy sat behind him, putting tiny braids in his thick mane of hair. Jenks lounged nearby, smoking redreed and looking content. Ember sat at the workbench, frowning as she fussed with a circuit panel.
“You know,” the girl said as her brother entered the room. “There’s a way for this project to go way faster.”
“Really,” said Nib, his voice flat. He looked to Rosemary, raising the pot and his eyebrows in tandem. “Mek?”
“Yes, please,” Rosemary said. A soothing cup of mek on a full stomach sounded perfect. It was almost enough to make her forget about the muffled droning coming through the outer walls.
“Seriously,” said Ember. “These junction pins are so hard to see. If I had—”
Bear glanced up. “If it starts with ‘O’ and ends with ‘cular implant,’ the answer is no.”
“Stop moving, Teddy,” Kizzy said. “You’re gonna end up with messy braids.”
Ember sighed with the long-suffering weariness of a teenager. “Hypocrites.”
“When you’ve stopped growing and your brain chemistry has evened out, you can get all the implants you want,” said Nib. His tone was parental. It seemed to irritate Ember all the more.
“Hate to be the bad guy, but your brother’s right,” Jenks said. “Put implants in too early and you’ll wind up a mess. I knew a dude who got a headjack when he was fifteen. As he grew, his spine stretched, and the interface got all fucked up. Had to go back and get it done all over again. The hackjob idiot working on him didn’t know what he was doing, and the poor kid wound up with an infection in his spinal cord. Almost killed him. Had to get all four limbs replaced just so he could move again.”
“Who the fuck puts a headjack in a kid that age?” Bear said.
“Stop moving,” Kizzy said.
Bear grumbled. “Ember, seriously, if you ever meet a modder who will implant teenagers, run like hell. Modding isn’t just about getting sewn up with cool tech, it’s about orchestrating a balance between the synthetic and the organic. If you don’t care about the well-being of the organic, then—ow!” He yelped as Kizzy pulled his hair.
“Stop. Moving.”
“I know,” Ember said to Bear. “Spare me the platitudes.”
“You are too young for a word like ‘platitudes,’ ” Jenks said. Ember stuck her tongue out at him. He returned the gesture.
“Besides, sweetie,” Kizzy said. “You’ve got such pretty eyes. Why get a full implant when you could just wear a hud?”
“He’s got a full implant,” Ember said, pointing at Nib.
“He also had an ‘incident,’ ” Jenks said. He pantomimed firing a gun at his own face, and made an explosion gesture over his eye. Redreed smoke burst from his nose as he laughed.
“I’m so glad you’re staying over,” Nib said.
Jenks raised his mug in a jaunty salute.
Nib glanced at the clock on the wall. “News should be uploaded by now. Anyone mind if I put it on?” he said.
There was a general shaking of heads. “Nib is something of a junkie when it comes to current events,” Bear said to Rosemary. “Or past events. Or just events in general, really.”
“He’s a reference file archivist,” Kizzy said.
“No kidding?” said Rosemary. “Volunteer?”
Nib nodded. “Some people knit, some people play music, I dig through dusty old facts and make sure they’re accurate.” He flopped back into a chair as the pixels in the central projector flickered to life. “I like knowing things.”
Rosemary was impressed. Archivists were passionate people, some of whom dedicated their whole lives to the pursuit of unbiased truth. Given the wealth of information that needed sorting through, professional archivists relied heavily upon volunteers to help keep public files current. Rosemary had always imagined them like guardians from some fantasy vid, defending the galaxy from inaccuracies and questionable data.
“What are you working on, if I may ask?” Rosemary said.
“I belong to one of the interspecies history teams. It’s fascinating work, but it can be a real pain in the ass. You would not believe the amount of bogus, speciest submissions we have to deal with.”
“Examples,” Kizzy said.
Nib sighed and scratched his beard. “The best one I’ve seen in a while claimed that the Exodus Fleet could never have sustained that many people for so long, ergo the Human race did not originate on Earth at all.”
Jenks raised his head. “So where are we from, then?”
Nib grinned. “We’re a genetweaked species the Harmagians cooked up.”
Jenks hooted with laughter. “Oh, my mom would have a coronary if she read that.”
“That’s so dumb,” said Ember. “What about all the Earthen ruins and stuff? All those old cities?”
“I know, I know,” Nib said with a shrug. “But we still have to go through the process of objectively disproving the claim. That’s our job.”
“Why would people go to all the trouble of trying to prove something like that?” Kizzy asked.
“Because they’re idiots,” said Bear. “And speaking of, the news has started.”
Nib gestured to the pixels, bringing the volume up. A pixelated Quinn Stephens spoke from his desk, as always. Rosemary had never followed Exodan news feeds before coming aboard the Wayfarer, but she’d picked up the habit from Ashby. It was a comfort knowing that no matter what system you were in, Quinn was there to bring you the news. The pixels flickered with signal decay. They were a long way from the Fleet.
The newsman’s voice came through. “– news from Mars, the trial that has been dubbed the scandal of the century finally came to a close today with the sentencing of former Phobos Fuel CEO Quentin Harris the Third.”
Rosemary’s warm, comfortable feeling disappeared with a thud. Oh, no. She dug her fingers into the folds of her pants, trying to keep her face as emotionless as the newsman.
“Harris was found guilty of all charges, including extortion, fraud, smuggling, and crimes against sapient kind.”
Breathe. Don’t think about it. Think about the bugs outside. Think about anything.
“Damn right he was found guilty,” said Jenks. “What an asshole.”
“Who?” asked Bear, raising his chin.
“Head down,” mumbled Kizzy, holding several hair ties between her teeth.