Stealing was easy. Jane learned how to move around stores without being noticed. And on the rare occasion she did get caught, she could outrun just about anyone.
The ground level streets of Kronos weren’t nearly as well-regulated in terms of temperature as the palace was, so she got her hands on a lot of layers. Even so, even on the warmest days of summer, there was a chill in her blood that never left.
Sometimes, people recognized her. People sent to hunt her down. The attacks didn’t come often enough for Jane to think her pursuers had a way to track her, but they kept her on edge.
She hardly remembered most of her fights. What she did remember was standing over people she’d left on the ground, badly injured. Sometimes dead.
Kronos finished circling the far side of Myni and moved away from the star. Gemma returned to the sky, a distant second sunrise. The world grew colder. Jane couldn’t take the streets anymore.
She found a carrier ship that made runs across Kronos’s oceans. It was a lot of work, a lot of time on the sea, and very dangerous. They would take nearly anyone willing to sign up, with no questions asked.
So, she gave them the name Juliet Stark and took to the seas.
When the icy water sprayed her face, when ropes burned her hands, when strange things in the water rocked the ship, she closed her eyes and reminded herself she just needed to save enough money to get off Kronos. She just needed passage to Earth.
If it all went according to plan, it wouldn’t take more than a few years. And hopefully, as more time passed, less people would be looking for her.
Another human showed up on the ship in what would have been early January of 1972. Her name was Naomi. She had long pale hair, freckles scattered across her tan skin, and she came from a long line of humans who’d been born and raised on Kronos. She followed Juliet around even after Juliet had finished training her.
Juliet was twenty, but she didn’t feel like it.
Throughout February, they worked on most of their tasks together. Juliet couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a genuine conversation with someone before Naomi showed up.
In March, Juliet nervously told Naomi that she had a cybernetic leg. Naomi didn’t care. Juliet mentioned the arm. When Naomi still didn’t care, she told her about the stuff in her brain and that she had no idea what any of it did.
Naomi didn’t ask Juliet for the full story. Instead, she got out her tablet.
“If they could transfer data to you remotely, I’m sure there’s a way for me to—oh, I think this is you.” Naomi pointed at the screen. “See? You’re showing up as a printer.”
“I don’t want to be a printer,” Juliet replied with a frown.
“Aw, being a printer’s not so bad. I hear the job market’s booming.”
Juliet laughed and adjusted her position on Naomi’s bed. “Okay, okay. Are you sure that’s me?”
“Yes, because this device only shows up in my menu when you’re nearby.”
“Why didn’t you ask me about it sooner?”
“My first thought wasn’t exactly, ‘hey, maybe my friend has a computer in her brain.’”
“Fair enough.” Juliet took a sip from the Nova Cora can she’d liberated from Naomi’s cooler.
“I’m going to see if I can open you up as a file folder—ah, here we go. Oh, yikes, it’s a mess in here.”
“Well, I already knew my brain was a mess.”
“Ha, ha.” Naomi scrolled through the list of programs and files and documents. “Would it have killed whoever did this to give things names other than random strings of numbers and letters?”
“Can you tell me what any of it does?” Juliet asked.
“I’m afraid not. Most of the files are locked, anyway. Which might be a good thing, because trying to mess with them could screw up your brain.” Naomi continued scrolling. “Wait, you said there was a clock in your vision?”
“Yeah, with the Kronos time and date. I can make it disappear and reappear, but I have no idea what else I’m supposed to be able to do.”
“Hmm.” Naomi tapped on something and brought up a box filled with code. “I’m going to try something. Tell me if anything happens.”
Juliet raised an eyebrow. “Promise you won’t screw up my brain?”
“Pinky promise,” Naomi replied. She held up her hand. “That is how it goes, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.” Juliet locked her pinky with Naomi’s. “What are you doing?”
“Hang on.” Naomi pasted a bunch of code in at the bottom of the box, added a few more lines, and closed it out.
Juliet blinked, and the numbers and names in the corner of her vision changed. “Whoa, what did—is that the Earth date?”
“Yep. I know you like to keep track.”
Juliet willed the time to disappear and reappear. She grinned. “Well, I’m glad I befriended a tech genius.”
“I’m literally not. I just know how to use a search engine.”
Juliet flipped the clock on and off again. Earth time. No math needed. Despite the strange mix of emotions in her chest, she couldn’t help but start laughing. After a moment, Naomi joined in.
In early April, the captain announced his retirement. He assured the crew that his replacement would be great.
He was wrong.
Shifts became longer. Work became more brutal. The ship’s routes changed entirely, only adding to the confusion. Juliet tried not to let it get to her. As long as she was getting paid, she couldn’t care less.
Naomi had a different view.
“The people running the ship now are up to something. I’m pretty sure they’re involved with one of the gangs,” she told Juliet one afternoon on their too-short break.
Juliet didn’t move her gaze from the sun setting over the ocean. “Maybe. But what are we supposed to do if they are?”
“If we could get proof that they’re smuggling drugs and weapons—”
“Sounds like a great way to get killed.” Juliet leaned against the railing in front of them. “If I can just make it a few more months, I can afford to go home.” She finally looked at Naomi. “What are you doing here? Where are you going after this?”
“I want to go to school, eventually.” Naomi sighed. “But that doesn’t matter right now. I grew up in the Tide District. I’ve seen the kinds of things these imports—and the gangs bringing them—do to the lower districts.”
Juliet grimaced. “I understand. I just don’t see what we’re supposed to do about it.”
“I guess.”
A long moment passed. Juliet held up her right hand and studied it. “Do I look twenty to you?”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
A few nights after that, Juliet went to Naomi’s room to find her gone. Her first thought was that maybe Naomi had been given an extra shift and simply forgot to mention it.
But no, she’d told Juliet she would be in her room just an hour earlier. She’d have at least stopped by to give Juliet a heads-up if she had an unexpected shift, right? Juliet turned away and began to wander the hallways. Where else would Naomi have gone?
Something felt off.
Numbers flashed in Juliet’s vision, numbers she wasn’t controlling. One warned her heart rate was speeding up. She broke into a run toward the deck. “Naomi?” She’d meant to call louder, but her voice came out as a whisper.
A new message popped up. Distant audio detected. Increase audio input?
Juliet still didn’t understand how she was meant to control the screen, but the clock thing seemed to be tied to her mental commands. Yes, she tried.
Nothing happened.
Juliet paused next to a door to the deck, hands trembling. Yes, she tried again.
Distant voices became audible. “—should we do with her?” a man was asking.
A second man answered. “We can’t have people thinking they can snoop around and get away with it.”
Juliet rested a hand on the door handle. Maybe they were talking about someone else. Maybe this had nothing to do with Naomi.
“You won’t get away with this forever,” Naomi said. “What gang are you involved with, anyway? Coasters? Red Blades?”
No. No, no, no. How could someone so smart do something so stupid? More numbers flashed in Juliet’s vision. The next thing she knew, she was watching the heat patterns of six people on the other side of the door. She had heat vision?
A woman laughed. “We aren’t involved with the gang. We are the gang. Ever heard of the Thunder Serpents?”
One of the figures was being held by two others. Naomi. Juliet’s mind raced. She could take down the five gang members, but what would they do to Naomi before she could get to them?
“Just kill her and throw her overboard,” the second man who’d spoken said. “She’s not worth any more effort.”
Juliet turned the door handle. Her heat vision switched off, and the world moved slow. She ran onto the deck, aware of everything around her, soaring with each step. She set her sights on the Thunder Serpent holding Naomi’s right arm.
No sooner had Juliet struck the man in the face than two more were on her, grabbing her arms. She kicked the one to her right. Pain reverberated through her leg. She ripped herself free and punched the guy at her left.
Behind her, Naomi screamed.
Juliet whirled around as the fourth Serpent pulled the trigger on his gun.
The fifth Serpent crashed into Juliet, taking her by surprise, knocking her to the ground.
Juliet clawed and kicked until she forced the woman off her. When she climbed to her feet, the shooter was throwing Naomi’s body over the railing.
In her blind rage, all Juliet could think to do was push him over after.
“Everyone on patrol, get to the lower starboard deck,” the woman behind her said into a communicator. “We have a situation.”
Juliet lunged, but the woman was backing away and the other Serpents were getting up and footsteps and voices signaled more were coming. How many could Juliet to fend off before she joined Naomi in the ocean?
She ran. Serpents charged her, but she jumped and pulled herself up the wall onto the upper deck. From there, her getaway became a blur of leaping over equipment and sliding down ropes and poles and sprinting as fast as she could.
At the front of the ship, the colorful Kronos skyline glittered in the night. Juliet slammed into the railing and paused to catch her breath. She stared out at the dark ocean, at the port they were supposed to dock at within the hour. How far to shore? Could she swim? Did she have any other choice if she wanted to live?
People were coming. She kept running, headed for the side of the ship. She could steal one of the motorized lifeboats. She’d be an easy target, but she could at least get a head start.
Juliet pushed crew members aside, not caring if they were Serpents or not. She stole a knife from one of their belts and went over the railing. Her stomach dropped. Wind whipped past her. She slammed into a lifeboat and landed on her side.
With a groan, she climbed to her feet and started slashing at the ropes around her. As she cut the last one, Serpents appeared at the edge of the deck.
“Too late!” Juliet screamed into the wind as she fell. The boat hit the sea. A spray of frigid water washed over her, making her shriek. Shivering, she slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
They had another boat in the water behind her within minutes. As soon as guns started firing, Juliet scrambled to the side of her boat and jumped.
She stayed under the water as long as she could manage, swimming in what she hoped was away from her pursuers and toward the shore. When she finally broke the surface for air, she heard an approaching engine.
Her head snapped to the right. The Serpents’ boat was coming her way, but if they didn’t see her, they were going to miss by about ten feet. Instead of waiting around to find out if they’d noticed her, she went back under.
The next time she came up for air, the boat was far ahead of her, moving in circles. Treading water, she lowered herself as far as she could manage while keeping her nose up.
The boat turned and drove back toward the ship.
Juliet breathed a sigh of relief and sank under to keep swimming. After coming up a few more times, she dared to stay at the surface.
The city approached at a painfully slow rate. Juliet swore every stroke, every kick, every breath would be her last before her aching body succumbed to the darkness. But then she told herself she could manage one more, and then another, and then another, and then a lady with tentacles in place of arms passed by in a small boat and honked at her and asked if she needed a ride.
Juliet didn’t trust her, but she could always jump back into the ocean.
The woman gave her a blanket and a ride to the docks. When they arrived, Juliet thanked her and jumped out and ran off before the woman had a chance to fully stop.
She’d barely left the pier when trouble caught up with her. A passing man grabbed her and tossed her to the ground with unexpected force. Pavement scraped Juliet’s skin. The taste of blood hit her mouth. She rolled onto her back.
A woman appeared at the man’s side and stepped on her chest. “What, did you think our friends on the ship wouldn’t send a warning ahead to shore?”
“Serpents?” Juliet gasped.
The man smirked. “You’re strong. And fast. And since you won’t do us any good on the ship anymore, we’re sending you off to the Lion’s Den. I’m sure they’ll pay us a decent amount for you.”
Juliet braced herself for a fight, but more people gathered around. Two, four, six—she counted ten in total. If she could get her hands on something she could hit them with, maybe she could—
A pulse gun was jammed into her forehead, and she was out.