Read Online Spear of Light by Brenda Cooper - Free Book Online

come in. Over a hundred people, all muscled and fit, all near-perfect examples of humanity. They had been handpicked from among thousands of applicants to be on the flagship. Most had spent years on the other ships of the Shining Revolution, working their way up-rank to qualify as inner circle.
    Many had augments, since they had come from the bigger stations where hair, eyes, skin, and even gender changed regularly. But none were newly changed.
    They stood up as one, acknowledging Vadim as he entered.
    To her surprise, as she came through the door, they began clapping.
    She had missed this. She wasn’t a tall woman, but the clapping and the adulation made her feel taller. She managed to maintain stoic discipline while she made her way in fourth place through the food line. She took vegetable soup and bread, fresh salad from the ship’s gardens, and real chicken.
    The crew stood up to fill their own plates only after all four were seated at the head table.
    Vadim raised a glass of wine and smiled at the crowd, but Nayli could tell that his smile was not entirely genuine.

    After dinner, Nayli walked beside Vadim. She had drunk far less wine than her husband, and while he didn’t exactly need to lean on her, she found herself acting as a balance point more than once. He smelled of alcohol and sweat and the sweet cake they’d all shared to commemorate coming out of hiding and issuing a challenge to the damned robots.
    She hadn’t been in their shared rooms since the day of the fake Chrystal’s death. Nevertheless, she led him in with confidence and shut the door behind them both.
    He had made changes. The elaborate and colorful wall hangings she had painstakingly created had been replaced with pictures of fast starships and warriors. He’d moved the couch from the wall where she liked it to the other wall, where he would be able to see if anyone came in.
    She bit her tongue; she had left him .
    â€œI want to be angry with you,” he said.
    â€œI’m sorry.” It wasn’t even hard to say. She had expected to choke on it, but it elevated her to say it, lightened her.
    â€œIt’s hard to be angry near the end of the world.”
    â€œWhy do you think that?” she asked.
    â€œThey can’t allow us to exist. It’s one thing to convince humans not to become Next and another thing entirely to convince the Next to act like humans.”
    â€œWe’re still here.”
    â€œIt takes time for missiles to travel through space.”
    This was unlike him. He was fierce and dangerous and convicted.
    â€œWe’ll find a way,” she reminded him. “We always do.”
    He stood so close she felt his heat, even though he wasn’t touching her yet. “Tell me you will not doubt again.”
    â€œWe cannot doubt,” she said. Perhaps her own misplaced doubt had infected him, perhaps he was weak in this one moment of his life because she had been weak and questioned the tenets that held them together. She kissed him deeply, showing him how little room she had left for doubt, how she would never again doubt their shared mission. Heat quivered in her until she thought she might burst.
    He pushed her gently away and looked at her, his face soft. “Are you staying?”
    Not, “Will you stay?” not, “I’d like you to stay,” but “Are you staying?”
    The look in his eyes suggested she couldn’t hesitate. She stood on tiptoe and pulled him down to her. “I’m staying.”
    He picked her up, unsteady on his feet. She stiffened and then relaxed into him, trusting him to make it to their bed. He pushed the door open with his leg, and she noticed the bed had been left unmade. She couldn’t remember ever seeing anything in any space of his that wasn’t orderly.
    He whispered, “Wait.”
    â€œOkay.” She still trembled, afraid and guilty and anticipatory all at once.
    He took the covers off the bed