Starhold Vesta

Chapter 5.2

We land at the small 3-dock harbor. The planet's rusty, rocky surface makes this meeting more poignant. No one visits this place. The people who pass through are rougher than the stony structures scattered randomly along the open terrain, and they're usually drunker than they should be—a selling feature of a planet so unapologetically boring.

The planet is small and dense. I perceive the curve of its landscape as we traverse the open topography. This place has been a semi-frequent haunt of Moon's, so I know the journey well. The doorway we normally darken is ahead and to the left near the enormous stone sculpture acting as shade and memorial to the previous watering hole landlord. In this land, he was king.

Instead, we find a much less frequented shelter in an empty home made of two rock slabs leaning against each other. The structure is there as Moyra described it in her attachment, but my missing sister is nowhere in sight.

"Are you sure you have the time right?" Moon takes a turn around the shelter and joins me at the front.

"This is exactly it," I say. I force my scales down farther as I feel an emotion encroaching on the quiet. Anxiousness starts in the dark recesses and crawls forward, tugging at the hairs on the back of my neck until goosebumps rise under my travel suit. It wouldn't be appropriate for the degenerates of this planet to see me skulking around in my Valediction blues. Not that it matters. Moon is recognizable on every habitable rock for the surrounding five galaxies.

I focus on my breathing so Moon doesn't see how rattled I am.

This will be the first time seeing Moyra in person after I turned my back, but I'm more concerned about whatever news she has about Black Labs. My anxiousness waxes and wanes as our wait extends. Moon leans against the structure, his arms crossed over his chest like he's been entombed.

I scan the darkness for movement. Light from passing ships crawl across the sky, and in the vast smattering of blinking lights, I find the familiar twinkle that is the far-away HMS Valediction and focus on its sparkling rhythm. Nuna is in there probably wondering where I am. We haven't been gone too long, but it's probably nearing the beginning of a sleep cycle by now. Maybe she's already gotten Huxley to dinner and they're reading by the starry window. My heart aches to be there.

"We're leaving," I say, kicking off the structure and heading toward the Foot.

"That was an incredible waste of time."

"I shouldn't have done this to begin with—"

A shadow shifting in my peripherals catches my attention. I spin around and hover my hand over the glucker holstered at my hip.

Nothing there.

"Show yourself," I command the darkness.

The shadow reappears in the other direction within the stone structure. The ground cracks and falls away as if someone had opened a trap door. A cloaked figure emerges.

"It's me," Moyra says. Her voice is raspier than in the last message. Her face is blindfolded like in the video, but I can see the flickering and dimming glow of her irises. She enters the light but stays mostly hidden in the black cast of the stones. "Sorry about the weird blindfold. I know they can tap into my eyes when they're activated like this, so I keep them covered."

I don't say anything. I stare at her and try to remind myself why I'm here.

"I didn't think you'd come," she says to end the stifling pause.

"You're late," Moon says.

Moyra jerks her attention toward him then rounds on me. "Why is he here? I told you to come alone."