Read Online The Recollection by Gareth L. Powell - Free Book Online Page B

speed, they’ll get in three hours after us.
    “Good. Keep an eye on them and let me know if they do anything unexpected.”
    She disconnected and found Drake watching her. He had heard only her side of the exchange.
    “So, what’s the deal with this guy?”
    “What guy?”
    “I’m talking about the captain of that other ship. I take it there’s some history between the two of you?”
    Kat looked away.
    “You could say that.”
    “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “No.”
    She reached out with her implant, telling the ship to locate and magnify the Dho Ark.
    “Look at this,” she said. She pulled it up on the main screen: the image of a gigantic crystal spinning in a majestic orbit around the system’s solitary gas giant. Drake glanced at the measurements displayed at the bottom of the screen and gaped. The Ark was an impressive way to change the subject. At more than a hundred kilometres in length, it dwarfed the Quay. It was larger than some of the gas giant’s moons and its sides were plated with smooth sheets of artificial diamond. Human ships fussed around it like gnats around an elephant. As it emerged from the planet’s shadow, the light of the sun caught one of its facets, sending rainbow refractions skittering up and down its diamond flanks.
    “It’s beautiful.”
    As Drake leaned forward, Kat studied his profile. He was younger than she was, and skinny, and his ears stuck out; but he also had kind, dark eyes and a shy, goofy smile.
    “Have you ever seen it up close?” he said.
    She shook her head. “As far as I know this is the first time they’ve let anyone, aside from the Acolytes, get near it.”
    He turned to her. His eyes flickered up and down her wrapped body.
    “Then why don’t you come with me when I take the shuttle over there? They won’t let you inside, but you’d still get a good look, and we wouldn’t have to say goodbye so soon.”
    Kat opened and closed her mouth. There was a question in his eyes, and she wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t know what to say. Suddenly flustered, she cut the picture feed, resetting the screen to an unenhanced view of the approaching docks.
    “It’s past midnight on the Quay,” she said brusquely. “And the days are longer here than on Tiers Cross. If you’re going to adjust before we dock, you should try and get some sleep.”
    She stood, and he rose to follow her. In the confined space, his hand touched hers and she turned to find him looking down at her, head bent slightly by the low ceiling, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.
    “I’m a lot older than you,” she said.
    He laughed.
    “I’m twenty-five years old,” he said. “What are you, twenty-four?”
    “I’m twenty-six. Physically, I’m twenty-six.”
    “That’s nothing.” He reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. He was, she realised, trying to be charming.
    She said, “Yes, but objectively, I’m old enough to be your grandmother.”
    His smile broadened, dimpling his cheeks. He moved closer. Behind the leather, she smelled soap and sweat, and musty old books.
    “It doesn’t matter,” he said.
    Kat shivered. His closeness made her skin prickle. She felt the warmth of his breath on her cheek. It had been a long time since she’d had a man. It had taken months for her to get over Victor. Then there’d been Napoleon, but that hadn’t lasted; and that random guy in that bar on Icefall, the one who was gone by the time she woke the next morning... All of them older than her, and all of them in their own way rejecting her. She’d never been with anyone her own age.
    She looked into Toby Drake’s wide eyes. He was young and willing, and this time, she’d be the one doing the leaving. She had a mission to complete. This kid couldn’t hurt her.
    Ah, to hell with it , she thought.
    She grabbed the front of his shirt and, closing her eyes, pulled his lips down to meet hers.

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