Purity Read online

  She docked in slot thirteen and took a few minutes to set a return course into the ship’s autopilot. She didn’t want to waste a minute getting out of here or have to think about navigation if things went wrong. All she would have to do was flip the engage switch and the stolen Purist ship would be up and away—headed for orbit around Colossus the minute the hyperdrive came online.

  Satisfied with her preparations, K forced herself to stand upright. Invisible spikes dug into her lower abdomen but she ignored them and straightened her shoulders. Then she touched the pressure tab behind her right ear. Immediately the cowl of her skinsuit slid down, obscuring her face and hiding the damning evidence of her gold ringed eyes which days in the skinsuit had been unable to change back to black. No one seeing those eyes could mistake her for anything but Erian but K didn’t intend for anyone to see them. She was keeping the cowl in place the entire time, going in hard and fast and leaving the same way.

  She checked herself for hidden weapons—a few sharp blades stashed in various places around her suit—and wished for her plasma gauntlets. They were gone, however—left back on board Boone’s ship. Even if she’d had them, she couldn’t have used them. Her mind was far too chaotic now, she would never be able to control them again. Well, she didn’t intend to blast her way out, anyway. If things went according to plan, she would slip in and then slip back out again with Shayla in tow, completely unnoticed.

  “Time to go,” she muttered under her breath. Sensing her readiness for combat, her skinsuit dug its needles into her arms and K waited for the cool wash of nothingness that always followed. It didn’t come. Either she was too far gone into contamination to ever commune with Purity again or her suit simply couldn’t cope with her body’s changing needs. Whichever it was, it was clear K was on her own.

  Taking a deep breath, she hit the hatch release and stepped out into the frigid Midas atmosphere. The pshalite-rich planetoid was at the far end of the solar system’s temperate zone, ensuring that it was always freezing. In the past, K’s suit would have protected her from the worst of the chill or else injected her with enough blockers and dampers to keep her from caring that she was cold. But now she felt every icy gust of wind as it swirled around her, bring the distinctive spicy tang of pshalite to her nose even through her cowl.

  Keeping her head high, she marched forward, refusing to shiver or wrap her arms around herself. Purity but she wished her suit’s chemicals still worked on her! It was harder than she’d thought, pretending to be what she once was when all she wanted to do was curl on her side and give in to the pain.

  I will not give in, K told herself grimly. I am still a fourth level Paladin—I fear nothing, I feel nothing. Lifting her chin, she strode up to the command center door and waited for it to scan her suit’s internal sensors and let her in.

  There was a long pause as though the door was having trouble reading her suit—long enough for the armed guard to look at her appraisingly. K couldn’t see his eyes—they were hidden by the eyeshades built into his sleek silver helmet. But his finger stroked lightly over the trigger of his blaster as he watched her.

  K had a moment of panic which she repressed sternly. She forced herself to stand steady and still, completely immobile and yet relaxed, seemingly at ease, portraying a Paladin’s infinite patience when faced with adversity. At last, the vast, thick metal panel, which was twice as high as she was tall, slid to one side, granting her entry.

  The guard on duty waved her through with a nod. K ignored the gesture and stalked inside, listening as the door slid shut with a muffled booming clang behind her.

  Inside she paused in the small dark entryway that led to the main corridor and allowed herself a single deep breath. It was warmer in the control center and she was out of the biting wind but this was the most dangerous part of her journey. She had to walk through the large center to the mines, hoping all of the officers and higher ranking officials who lived and worked on Midas wouldn’t notice or question her. Once out in the mines, K was confident she could find Shayla—she’d seen Boone’s holo-picture of her often enough she was certain she could recognize her easily. It was getting through the control center that worried her.

  You’re wasting time. Get on with it!

  Squaring her shoulders, she stepped out into the busy main corridor. Striding confidently, she fell in line behind two minor officials who were speaking some kind of corporate finance jargon. To her left, several higher ranking officials passed by and then a pair of Sage-kind—the priests of Purity—swept past, their long black robes trailing. A squadron of Paladins, all wearing skinsuits jogged by in the opposite direction. K’s heart seemed to catch in her chest but still she kept on walking.

  Everywhere she saw black-on-black eyes and heard the quiet, emotionless speech of those fully devoted to Purity. In the past she would have thought nothing of it. Now her heart ached at the familiar sights and sounds.

  I don’t belong here anymore, she thought as she strode briskly along, head up and shoulders back. Maybe I never did. She remembered waking up in Boone’s arms and falling asleep beside him, remembered hearing his voice in her ear low and soothing saying he loved her, remembered feeling warm and comforted and safe. She had traded all this—the life of a rising Paladin—for those few, brief days, for those tender, forbidden emotions.

  K couldn’t bring herself to regret it.

  Boone, she thought as she marched along, just another faceless, anonymous part of the crowd where she no longer belonged, Boone, I’ll do my best for you. I’ll get Shayla back to you even if it kills me.

  A sharp turn off the main corridor brought her to the entrance of the mines. They were deep underground, reachable only by a pneumatic lift at the end of the short hallway. K pressed the button for the ground floor and stepped aboard. She was relieved to be the only passenger—the moment alone in the lift gave her a brief respite from her façade.

  Slumping in the corner, she put a hand to her abdomen. Purity but it hurt! While she had been out in the crowded corridor, passing as one of the many Purists going back and forth, she’d been able to mostly ignore the pain. Now it came back with a vengeance, reminding her that the war between her suit and her hormones was most likely tearing her body apart from the inside out.

  It doesn’t matter, K told herself, trying to believe it. Doesn’t matter if it hurts—just get the job done. Just finish and then…

  Then she could die.

  The lift landed and the door opened with a muted chime. K straightened up and forced herself to step into the dark subterranean tunnel that greeted her. A gust of chilly, spice-laden air swirled around her. Just a little further—she could make it just a little further, she was sure.

  The tunnels twisted and turned in ways she hadn’t expected. She’d been to Midas before but only to refuel and drop off prisoners. There had never been any reason for her to go down into the mines—there really wasn’t any reason for any Paladin to be down here. K held her breath, hoping none of the black uniformed guards would ask her business. Some of them did look at her—their faces blank and immutable, their eyes hidden behind their black eyeshades—but she wasn’t stopped. K was thankful she outranked them all. The guards knew it might mean trouble to question her so they let her pass.

  K walked confidently, scanning the miserable, dirty faces of the slaves as she went. She was responsible for putting a good number of them down here. She felt a twinge of shame as she remembered all the raids she’d been on, all the captives she and her squad had delivered to the mines. But there was no time for regret—she had to find Shayla and fast. The pain she’d been enduring for days was sapping her strength. She didn’t think she could search all the many winding, twisting miles of tunnels for hours on end—she simply didn’t have the energy reserves to do it.

  She rounded another corner just as a particularly sharp cramp stabbed at her. K winced and was forced to grab a wall for support. Despite all she could do to hold it back, a soft cry of anguish escaped her. Im