Chapter 12
The night sky was full of stars, but the ground around Jayce was as bright as if it were daytime. Salt flats stretched to the horizon, ivory planes shimmered under the phantom light. A dark peak loomed ahead of him.
Jayce spun around, the scrape of his boots against the grit the only sound. The Fulcrum hilt in his hand refused to ignite.
He called out a name, but there was no sound.
A low rumble shook the ground. A salt haze rose up to his knees. He wiped his other hand against his thigh and looked at the residue. It glinted from an internal source, and he realized it wasn’t salt.
It was Veil stone.
The giant shadow shifted, and Jayce froze. The mountain shifted and an enormous man’s face turned up. One side was skeletal, the other decaying flesh. Empty eye sockets lit up with a baleful green light.
Jayce felt ice in his chest as the gaze focused on him.
“You will die . . .” rolled across the plain.
Jayce sat bolt upright. He swiped a hand across his chest in the darkness and whacked fingers against the bulkhead. He yelped in pain and swung his legs over the side of his cot and stuffed his feet into his boots.
The door slid open, and Gunny Dastin burst inside with a large metal can and a rod. He banged the rod against the inside of the can as Eabani reached in behind him and slapped the lights on.
“On your feet, maggot! You think just because you’re—Oh, you’re already up.” Dastin rattled the rod one last time.
Jayce stood up quickly and stumbled in his half-on/half-off boots and fell against his wall locker.
“Do we really have to take him?” Eabani growled. “He can barely wear boots.”
“No, no, I’m good.” Jayce got to his feet. “Where are we? Where are we going?”
“We just came out of FTL. Should be in Illara orbit in the next few hours but this far into the Deep we’re at higher risk of corsair attack and all sorts of otherwise awful encounters.” Dastin grabbed the small backpack hanging from a hook on the wall. “This feels light. Did you follow the packing list?”
“It was too heavy.” Jayce pushed a foot into a boot. “So, I—oof!”
The thrown bag careened off his shoulder.
“How many trips into the Veil have you made?” Dastin’s one flesh eye widened, and a vein pulsed on his forehead.
“None . . .” Jayce picked up his Fulcrum hilt from the sink countertop. “But look what I got!” He squeezed the activation code into the hilt and there was a sputtering sound. He shook the hilt and tried the code again.
“We’re out of Veil space.” Dastin shook his head. “Won’t work until you take it through and do all the Paragon mumbo jumbo Maru knows all about.”
“Oh. Does this mean I get a gun?” Jayce’s face lit up.
“No!” Dastin and Eabani replied as one.
“I have to drop some crap off at the armory. Eabani, instruct him how to pack correctly and find out how much more this cherry knows about Veil expeditions than I do.” Dastin flung the garbage can against the wall and stormed off.
“You have the packing list.” Eabani kicked a plastic bag full of gear Jayce had received earlier at him. “You didn’t even pack your hydralizer?”
The reptilian’s goatee swung as he shook his head.
“You mean this thing?” Jayce picked up a plastic tube. “What does it do?”
“It converts your urine into drinkable water. The Veil’s not the most hospitable place, kid,” Eabani said.
“I have to drink my own pee?” Jayce dropped the hydralizer like it was hot.
“I’m not going to let you drink mine.”
“No, I mean—”
“I doubt anyone will let you drink theirs either.”
“I don’t want to drink anyone else’s pee!”
“Then you’d better pack your hydralizer.” Eabani tapped his foot. “We’ll die for each other in there, but we still have limits.”
“Fine!” Jayce shoved the device into his bag.
“Better put it in the outer pocket. They tend to leak,” Eabani said.
“Thank you, Mr. Lizard Soldier.” Jayce moved the hydralizer. “I’m pretty new at all this and—”
“I’m a Lirsu, not a ‘Mr. Lizard Soldier.’ You’re not a Governance Marine, or Dastin and I would have turned you into paste by now for a long list of failures. But your cluelessness helps our image and our backstop when we hit dirtside. We’ll start fixing you soon as we get back.”
“And what does ‘fixing me’ mean?” Jayce glanced at a printout on his desk, then shoved three pairs of socks into the rucksack.
Eabani cracked his knuckles.
“Governance Marines and the Paragons have fought together since the earliest days of the Restoration. We know your ways and capabilities. You must know ours. This is how we fight, win, and survive.” Eabani said.
“So, once I’m ‘fixed’ I can have a gun?” Jayce shoved a polymer blanket into the sack.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. But let me tell you something: when we get down there, you keep your head down and your mouth shut, you understand? Plenty of Deep crooks and criminals would love to get their hands on an unbound Attuned like you.”
“And do what?” Jayce asked.
“Head down! Mouth shut! Complete your task!” Eabani snapped. “You’re already not listening.”
Jayce opened his mouth to respond, but Eabani pointed a knife hand at his sternum. Jayce drew air in and Eabani raised the knife hand to Jayce’s chest. Jayce exhaled and met the reptilian’s gaze for a moment, then went back to packing.
“There may be hope for you yet.”