“We shall see.” Renford motioned to the guards standing a short distance away. “Strip him down and put him on the table.”

Jeth reacted at once, leaping up and swinging with both hands at the first person within reach. It was no good. The soldiers overpowered him in seconds. They unbound his wrists, then pulled off his shirt, pants, boots, and socks, leaving only his underwear. Then they forced him onto the metal table. He continued to struggle as they strapped him down by his wrists and ankles. Finally, they tightened the shackles until he couldn’t move at all.

The cold metal bit at Jeth’s naked flesh even as sweat broke out over his body.

“Don’t forget, Renford,” Hammer said as he stood watching nearby, “no permanent damage. This one belongs to me.”

“No need to worry,” Renford said, stepping into Jeth’s view. He carried some kind of metal rod in his hand. “The effects won’t be lingering. Not physically, anyways.”

Jeth braced for pain as Renford lowered the rod toward him. The end of it buzzed and hissed with electricity. But nothing could’ve prepared him for the searing agony that shot through the left side of his body as the rod touched his shoulder. It was like being hit by a hundred stunners all at once.

He clamped his mouth shut, fighting with all his will not to scream.

The pain vanished as quickly as it had come, but Renford wasn’t finished. He lowered the rod to Jeth’s stomach and this time held it there longer. Jeth jerked against the shackles, his body desperate to curl into a fetal position, evading the pain. The shackles cut into his skin, preventing him. Blood dampened his arms and feet.

On and on Renford went, prodding him everywhere, varying the length of time he let Jeth suffer so that his mind was in as much torment as his body.

“You can stop this, Sierra,” Renford called out over the crackle. “Just say the word. I’m sure you can remember what it feels like to have this much electricity running through you.”

Jeth wanted to shout at her that he was all right, but he couldn’t open his mouth. If he did, he would cry out.

Renford lowered the rod again, but this time he touched the table itself. The sensation was like being burned alive. Every part of Jeth’s body, every nerve and hair follicle, was on fire. He gritted his teeth, his mind frantic for some way to endure this, some way to escape. It’ll pass . . . it’ll pass . . . it’ll pass.

Yet on and on it went. Tears leaked from Jeth’s eyes as he squeezed them shut. All his hair stood on end. He felt on the verge of breaking, his entire body wrenching apart. Until at last he couldn’t take it anymore.

The fight went out of him. His mouth opened, and the scream broke free.

It went on forever.

Until finally Sierra’s frantic voice blended with his. “Stop it!”

Renford lowered the rod, and the last crackle of electricity vanished. But the pain lingered. Jeth’s body hummed with it. His bones felt as fragile as needles. He stared at the ceiling above him, unable to move or think.

“What did you say, Sierra?” Renford asked, his tone smug.

“I’ll help you. With Cora.”

Through blurred vision, Jeth saw Renford beam down at him. “You see. I was right. She does care about you.”

Jeth didn’t reply. He hadn’t the will for it. It had been sucked out of him. Summoning what little energy remained, he turned his head and spat blood from where he’d bitten his tongue and the sides of his cheeks.

“But only on one condition,” Sierra said.

Renford turned away from Jeth to look at Sierra, a frown in his voice. “What condition?”

“Let Jeth and his crew go. Vince as well. Give them Avalon and let them leave unharmed.”

Renford laughed. “This isn’t a negotiation, Sierra.”

“Oh, but it is. Sooner or later you will have to wake Cora up. She’s no good to you unconscious or dead, and there’s no drug she won’t build a resistance to sooner or later. But give me what I ask, and I’ll do everything you want me to do, no questions, no deception. If you don’t, you better kill me now, because otherwise I’ll do whatever I can to teach her how to use her power against you. She will tear this ship apart. And everyone in it.”

From where he lay, Jeth saw a dark look cross Renford’s face. Jeth watched him through the slits of his eyelids, fighting off the blackout now threatening to overtake him.

“What do you think, Hammer?” Renford said, shifting his gaze off Sierra. “Shall we let Jeth and the others go?”

Hammer took a long time to reply. “I suppose I’m willing to part with the crew and the ship. Avalon’s little more than a junk heap at this point. But not Jeth. I have plans for him.”

“What plans?” Sierra said.

“That’s not for you to worry about, little girl. But I promise that’ll he be alive and in far less pain and stress than he is right now.”

Jeth closed his eyes, understanding exactly what Hammer had in store. He heard Sierra exhale, the sound full of something like pity or maybe sorrow. He blocked it out as best he could, willing his mind to go as numb as his body.

“That’s the best offer you’re going to get,” said Renford. “And you should consider yourself extremely lucky that I’m willing to let Vince leave here alive after what he’s done to me. So do we have an agreement?”

Silence descended in the room as all of them waited for Sierra to answer.