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Storeroom Core Six


The door was a little slow, opening. Tolly slipped into the space beyond just as soon as the gap was wide enough for him to manage it.

The reason the door was slow was immediately obvious.

Two sealed cargo crates had fallen off the shelves and across the track.

The boxes were heavier than he’d expected for the size, but he cleared the track, and by the time Haz came through, he’d discovered the reason Jen Sin had been anxious about this particular room.

There was a shadow burned into the wall near the shelves where two more boxes were stored. A thin, small shadow, caught in what looked to be mid-leap.

“He was killed here,” Haz said. Tolly sighed.

“That’s my baseless guess, too.”

“Not baseless. We saw the shadow Mentor Yo’s death left in the core access hall.”

“So we did.”

“Perhaps,” said Haz, bending and picking up the first box like it weighed slightly less than a feather, “he had also studied the schematics.”

“Except he didn’t have any real memory of the room, or what might be inside—only he was kind of unsettled. That’s what I saw.”

He bent, got a grip on the second fallen box, and hoisted it.

“I tell you what, Haz. It’s a wonder Light Keeper Jen Sin isn’t a lot more skittish than he is.”

“Yes,” Haz said. She stepped through the door, and stowed the first box in the jitney’s cargo section. Pivoting, she took the second box from him, sliding it in next to the first.

“If we take all four we’re only gonna have room for one passenger, going back,” Tolly said.

“The Light Keeper will wish to meet the incoming ships,” Haz said.

“And Seignur Veeoni will want her goodies, soonest. Fair enough. I’ll walk back with Cap’n Theo.”

“Yes,” Haz said again, and returned to the storeroom, Tolly a step behind her.

“Mentor!” Tocohl’s voice was too loud, edged with panic. “There is an indie bot in the breach hall. It has a weapon. It’s threatening Jen Sin and Theo. I can’t contact it.”

“On my way.”

He took off running. Not too many steps into it, Haz caught him, and passed him, though she didn’t pull away, which she could’ve done. Right, then, that was the pattern—Haz on point, Tolly on backup. Easy.

Haz slowed enough to let the hatch cycle normally, then leapt forward.


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Framed