Chapter Nine Part One

Gus jerked her hood up as she stepped out of Natalie’s, rejoining the throng of humanity and letting it carry her along the causeway. In the short time she’d spent talking to Kyle, the flow of foot traffic had increased significantly. A sign of the impending shift change.

The food carts along the edges were stacked three deep with people looking for one last meal before they reported to walk.

The crowded hallway made it difficult to walk, forcing Gus to practice patience as she waited for the clogged corridors to clear enough for her to slip by.

The delay gave her time to think, however.

Her visit to Kyle had been far less helpful than she’d hoped. In fact, except for him stumbling across Baran, it could even be considered a bit of a bust.

Gus would have to deal with the problem of her siblings herself. Not entirely unexpected since she’d figured it would come to that point eventually.

By her reckoning, there were a couple ways she could do that. The best and easiest, and also the one most likely to succeed, would be to lure them into the open by giving them something they desperately wanted.

In this case, Gus herself.

It’d be tricky considering how paranoid her siblings could be. Not to mention dangerous. Still, it wasn’t impossible.

She just needed to be low key enough about it that her intentions weren’t too obvious.

Not here though. This was much too close to where she’d stashed Anandra and Caius. She didn’t want to risk her siblings back tracking and stumbling across her key witnesses for when Kira, Roake, or the emperor’s people inevitably came calling.

With that in mind, Gus stuck to the security blind spots. Thankfully, those were plentiful on a deck like sixteen where crime was plentiful and the residents resented anyone in power being privy to their business.

Eventually, those in charge had given the deck up for a lost cause after constant sabotage blew their equipment budget three years in a row.

Nowadays, the two sides had an agreement. Deck sixteen’s residents would police themselves and not touch any of the remaining cameras, and security wouldn’t crack down on the crime they knew was happening on the level.

Everyone won—including Gus.

Passing the crowd waiting for the elevators that would take them down to the docks where most of those on sixteen worked, Gus noted the tired look most of the men and women had.

It almost made Gus pity them.

The relentless grind of life had worn them down to mere numbs, making it easy to see why so many on Titan found themselves turning to a life of crime. It provided an escape from the endless drudgery that existed on the right side of the law.

If that life also burned out far too quickly, like a candle lit from both ends, it was considered the price of doing business. A worthy trade meant to brighten an otherwise dull and meaningless existence.

Gus had trouble seeing it that way.

But that was because she considered her life precious. In their shoes, she would have probably chosen differently. Survival was what mattered. Not excitement. And definitely not wealth.

Gus meandered, not wanting to be too obvious about slipping back into the tunnel system in case there was anyone following her. Only when she was sure no one was watching did she make her way toward the entrance she and the other two had come through earlier. From there it was a quick journey down several levels.

She emerged on deck twelve. The border of the slums.

This time she didn’t try to avoid attention as she strode down the center of the causeway, moving with a purpose as she headed toward the elevators.

By this time of station day, the crowds had thinned out, leaving Gus’s path unobstructed. She reached the elevators easily. Then almost wished she hadn’t when she noticed the two roughs leaning against the wall opposite.

Lookouts, Gus suspected.

They were making no effort to disguise their interest in those getting on and off the elevator. They’d report back to their bosses if they noticed anything—or anyone—that didn’t belong.

Like Gus.

Inhaling deeply before releasing the breath just as slow, Gus gave herself a quick pep talk. This was good. Attention was what she wanted. What she needed. Even if it felt kind of like wearing a shirt of woven from prickle burrs.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gus saw the moment the smaller of the two men took notice of her. The boredom vanished from his face as he straightened slightly.

Swallowing hard, Gus forced herself to stay the course, heading straight for the elevators and pushing the button to call the lift.

That done, she stepped back and waited as a few others joined her.

Gus counted to ten in her head before letting her gaze wander here and there. Nothing too obvious as she pretended to people watch. Another quick peek out of the corner of her eye showed the roughs had lost interest in her. They’d returned to their study of the crowd, no longer watching to see what she’d do.

Or maybe that was what they wanted her to think?

A hum announced the elevator’s arrival.

Gus stepped on, saying the level she wanted in a low voice before shuffling to the back of the lift as the others waiting stepped on and gave their destination. It wasn’t until the doors were closing that one of the roughs looked at her again, meeting her gaze briefly before glancing away.

Damn.

She hadn’t meant to do that. Her gaff did answer the question of if they were as aware of her as she was of them.

They were.

She was betting as soon as the doors closed they’d taken off to inform their bosses of the stranger who’d just taken the elevator from level twelve.

Every informant on the station would be on the lookout for her now.

At that thought, Gus retreated until her back touched the smooth wall of the elevator behind her, not caring as those on board gave her strange looks.

Calm, Gussy. This was what you wanted, remember?

That’s right. It was. She just hadn’t expect the level of anxiety that would accompany success.

Gus took several more steadying breaths before she forced her back away from the wall. Just in time for the doors to open on her stop. She didn’t meet anyone’s eyes or apologize for her strange behavior as she followed the rest of those getting off on deck nineteen. Better known to most as the Government District.

Security was at its strictest on this level. People may have treated the order of rule and law as more of a suggestion than an imperative elsewhere on Titan but not here.

That was in large part due to the offices that the Consortium and military’s representatives kept on this deck. As well as the presence of those departments responsible for the station’s critical functions. Things like life support. Propulsion and spatial monitoring systems so the station didn’t get hit by a stray asteroid. Or a piece of wreckage from the site of humanity’s largest space battle against the tsavitee. A belt called the Falling. It was where countless ships, both human and tsavitee, found their end.

Every so often a piece of wreckage found its way to Titan’s back yard. Likely as a result of some salvager cutting corners or dumping those items they wanted to slip past screening with the intention of retrieving later.

All kinds of weird things happened and it was that department’s responsibility to make sure nothing threatened Titan as a result.

Since deck nineteen was where Titan hosted important visitors, some effort had been made to turn it into an attractive space. Its layout resembled that of an actual city with buildings constructed along its exterior walls and around the spine. Green areas had been set aside and walkways added. Trees and other plants flourished, brightening up what would have been considered austere otherwise.

Gus bypassed the military and security offices, ducking right and under the low hanging branches of an ornamental whistle tree. A variety renowned for its pretty buds and the sound it made when the wind stirred its limbs. Sticking to the path despite a desire to wander, she headed for the interior of the level. A place called the spine. So named for the mile long shaft spearing through the heart of the station.

It wasn’t long, a matter of minutes, before she caught a glimpse of the mammoth tree she’d come to visit.

The Lord of Titan. The station’s crowning gem.

Seeing one of these in person was an honor few ever encountered. And even fewer appreciated as deeply as they should.

To find one here, a place considered by many to be the armpit of the Consortium, was something of a mystery. The trees were notoriously finicky. Only growing on their home world. A little known planet on the edge of Tuann space that had proven too challenging for even their kind to settle.

Gus would very much have liked to meet the individual who got one of these beauties to root.

On a space station no less.

The things they must know. She could learn so very much.

A pity then that there wasn’t so much as a whisper as to their identity. Gus had checked. Even her special ability had been unable to shed light on who that person was.

It was actually a little surprising given the magnitude of their accomplishment. Humans had always struck her as something of an attention whore, seeking glory and fame when quiet and obscurity were so much safer.

And significantly less work.

The tree’s scientific name was Dominus orbis terrarum. Lord of the world. So named for its large size and the fact that seeing one of these in person was a near transcendent experience.

It was the largest species of tree on record and similar to a Banyan tree in its use of aerial roots that could grow into new trunks. Its canopy was complex with wide branching limbs that someone had seen fit to turn into a beehive of aerial walkways. Every so often visitors got lost while exploring those walkways and security had to be dispatched to retrieve them. When that happened, the tree closed down for a few days until memories faded and people became foolhardy again.

In addition to the Lord of Titan, a grove of trees had been planted in its immediate vicinity. A dozen species filled the area. Including an astonishing number of Tuann trees that Gus had slipped in from her own collection.
She’d worried they would fail to thrive so far from the cargo container and the rest of their kind, but so far they appeared to be doing well.

The trees tugged at Gus’s senses, whispering greetings while imparting snippets of gossip as she passed under their canopies. Gus smiled, relaxing into the warmth of their attention. There was a desire to linger but she suppressed it, heading unerringly for the spine and her destination.

Laughter and loud voices trickled from above, drawing Gus’s attention briefly before she moved on. The sight of tourists visiting Titan’s lord too regular a sight to elicit immediate concern. Soon after, Gus left the path, stepping carefully so as to avoid crushing any flowers that might be growing. Minutes later, she stood at the spine’s edge, the massive interwoven trunk of the Lord of Titan stretching before her. Branches curled above her head. Each one thick enough that she could lay perpendicular on them and not have any part of her hanging over their edge.

From a distance, the tree had already been considered amazing, but this close, with hundreds of interwoven trunks to make up its core, it was a marvel. Standing before its imposing presence, Gus could see why humans of several ancient religions worshiped nature deities.

Ryan may have been the reason she was sent to Titan. But its Lord was why she stayed.