Hyejin felt exposed in her hospital gown in a room full of men wearing fluffy white robes. She honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead. Stupid! Why didn’t I find real clothes first? It was not a particularly flattering garment, and she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. Please, no one notice.

Dion and the snack-hoarding driver were both leaning over the dining table, working on something electronic. Small tools, screws and other pieces of junk were spread out over the table in disorganised piles. They didn’t even look up to greet her; they were so focused on whatever it was they were building or taking apart. It took a moment to register that it was Dion’s ancient DataCuff.

Atticus grimaced. “Your arm looks bad! Can you use it?”

That remark made Dion look up from his project. His eyes immediately widened. “What happened? Are you okay?” He rushed to pull a chair out for her to sit on.

“Don’t stop!” The other man objected desperately. It was too late. Whatever Dion was holding down sprang out of place and flew across the room so fast that Hyejin couldn’t see what it was. “I was so close. Why didn’t you let me finish?” He put his tools down hard on the table and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms— until he looked at Hyejin. He was on his feet faster than the little piece had disappeared.

“You’re from a core planet, right?” the tall man asked. 

Hyejin instinctively squeezed Atticus’ hand, trying to lean away from the overly enthusiastic man.

“Ember, you’re scaring her. She’s a delicate lady. You’ll probably make her cry,” Echo scolded, sliding off the bunk to slink over to them as well.

It didn’t sound malicious, but Hyejin still shot a glare at the masked man. She was far from delicate. There was a dead trigby with a chair embedded in its head to prove it. Hyejin angrily crossed her… arm… Well, that’s embarrassing. 

Ember bit his lip before he asked quietly, “Can I see? Pretty please?”

“Huh?” Hyejin was lost. As far as Hyejin knew, all she had done so far was exist. It wasn’t their first time meeting, she had no idea what he was so excited about.

The more he spoke, the more excited Ember seemed to get. “Your prosthetics. I’ve never seen anything like them before. Do all the prosthetics on the core planets look like this? How do they work? Can you really feel it when someone touches them? What does—” 

“Enough,” Dion interjected, putting both hands on each of the tall man’s shoulders and pushing him back down into the chair. The big man didn’t resist. 

“I’m so glad you’re alive. They wouldn’t tell me anything.” Atticus motioned for her to sit.

Hyejin took a seat, but still felt unsure. None of these people were trustworthy. Why they bothered to save her was beyond reason. She shouldn’t have looked for them again, either. But I need answers. Whatever it takes. “It was the same with me. They only told me Dion had survived,” she replied with a weak smile.

Dion sighed. “Turns out Tollindo’s Mayor is pretty relaxed about bending the rules. He only needed one name to secure a room.”

“But why are we sharing a room with them?” The nod to Echo and Ember was intentionally exaggerated with disapproval. If they were like everyone else on this Earth-forsaken planet, she wanted even less to do with them.

Echo glared at her. Hyejin glared back. Echo leaned across the table to say something, but Atticus beat him to it. “Echo and Ember saved your life. None of us would be here without them. I promise they won’t take up too much space.”

“Actually,” Ember said, “I think I take up a lot of space. I won’t fit on those bunks.” He stretched his legs out straight from his chair. He was right. Even the robe he was wearing was too short, very nearly showing off his— Hyejin blushed and looked somewhere else before she could finish the thought. What is wrong with me today?

“Fine. They can stay, but we have things to discuss,” Hyejin stated, glaring at them. “I don’t need people listening to private conversations. Get rid of them.”

“You could try asking, Princess,” Echo snapped, stepping forward aggressively. This time Atticus stepped between them.

Dion ran his hand through his hair. It was still wet from a recent shower. “Do you mind leaving the room for a bit?” he asked the twins.

“Why?” Ember asked, apparently not getting the hint.

“Mum and Dad want to make out alone,” Echo sneered, marching away. Apparently, that was all the reason Ember needed. He mimed a silent ‘oh’ and followed Echo to the door. 

When Hyejin, Atticus and Dion were the only ones in the room, Hyejin relaxed and slumped over the dining table. She felt a little better knowing that her chest was hidden. “We need to get off this planet.”

“Of course we do, but how?” Dion’s eyes were focused on her arm again. Feeling self-conscious, Hyejin tried to hide it with her other hand. It didn’t work very well.

“Do you know how to steal a shuttle?”

“I’m sorry?” Dion was so taken aback that his chair scooted backward with him.

“Do you know how to steal a shuttle?”

“I heard you, but why?”

Hyejin pursed her lips and took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. “Someone is onto our plan already. They’re on their way as we speak. If we don’t leave before they get here, there will be no job.”

Dion and Atticus were both quiet as they studied Hyejin’s face. 

“Not a shuttle. They’re too big. They need two pilots for takeoff and landings,” Dion finally said, shaking his head. Hyejin hadn’t expected so much detail in his rejection.

“What can you steal?” 

Dion shrugged and leaned on the table. “A smaller vessel could get us to a different Starport, but this one is probably shut down. I heard a rumour that an army of Sentinels is on the way to deal with the outbreak.”

The door opened with no warning, followed by intense yelling in Linguaborda; a common language on the border worlds with roots in Paleoportuguese. Hyejin only remembered a few words here and there from secondary school. 

A young man pushed Echo into the room, then dragged Ember in behind him by a fistful of hair.

“Ow-ow-ow-ow!”

“I told you not to make trouble. Especially not right now. We are neck-deep in the sewer right now, I can’t deal with you two as well.” The blonde man glanced at the table before he locked eyes with Hyejin. He pointed his free hand at her, “You’re supposed to be resting. Who told you you could go wherever you wanted?”

Hyejin was at a loss for words. She’d never seen this man in her life and now he was screaming at her like she’d stepped on his garden.

“Of all border worlds, why did you have to come to this planet? Tsoukalas is going to have my head if I can’t keep NexTech contained,” the man continued, face going red with rage. 

The man let go of Ember’s hair and stormed toward her. “I don’t care how. I want you gone. Whatever your business is here, it’s finished. Leave,” he growled, leaning into her face. 

Hyejin nodded quietly. She wasn’t sure what else to do.

The stranger turned back to Echo and Ember. “You leave, too. Tsoukalas is working on erasing traces of the trials. If you can’t lay low — I know you can’t — then you need to be off-world while NexTech investigates Yesterday’s Children.” Ember opened his mouth to say something, but the man held up his hand to stop him. He stormed back out of the room, shouting a colourful variety of profanities in both languages.

A moment of tense silence passed. 

“Who was that?” Hyejin finally asked. She felt like she was missing a very large piece of the puzzle.

“Trev,” Echo answered. It was clear he had no intention of elaborating.

“The Mayor of Tollindo,” Atticus added, trying to subdue a smirk. Hyejin didn’t think there was anything remotely funny about their situation.

“You know Tsoukalas, personally?” Dion asked. His mood seemed to lift, but Hyejin didn’t recognise the name at all.

“He sponsors all the trial racers. We all know him,” Echo explained while Ember nodded along, chewing on a piece of jerky.

“Can you introduce us to him?”

Atticus slammed his hand on the table, startling everyone. “You already have Yoshida on your case!”

“This time it will be different!”

“How?”

Dion gestured to Hyejin with the most sinister grin she had ever seen. “This time, we have money.”

Hyejin scowled and stood up. “You’re not even going to ask me? Who’s Tsoukalas?” She tried to sound angry, but even she didn’t find it convincing.

“Just trust me. If we want to get out of here fast, it’s the best method.” Dion insisted.

“What’s in it for us?” Echo asked, studying Dion with a sceptical glare.

“We’ll take you with us to Oryxs,” Atticus chimed in. He seemed on board with whatever plan Dion was cooking up now. Hyejin wished she could have so much blind faith, but every part of this conversation was giving her red flags.

At least the twins seemed to be interested in the offer. “You can get us to a core planet?” Ember asked, almost bouncing with excitement. It was kind of cute.

“Even though we’re unregistered?” Echo sounded less convinced, but even he had an excited undertone in his distorted voice as well.

Dion nodded his head. “As long as you get us a meeting.”

The twins spoke to each other in Linguaborda; something about ‘going nowhere’ or maybe ‘not going backward’. 

Hyejin wanted to object. The idea of spending the next few hours with these people was bad enough, but to travel home with them would be a nightmare. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any better ideas. Her whole investigation hinged on her getting off Tollindo before her father’s people arrived. 

“We’ll do it,” Echo announced, returning to the bunk bed. “But we can’t promise he’ll help you. He’s a little angry at us right now.”

Ember offered some jerky to Atticus, clarifying, “This race he only let us have rifles. It’s the same as telling us to die. He might just shoot us instead.”

“What did you do to make him so angry?” Atticus asked, taking some of the jerky.

“I laughed at his tie,” Echo chuckled, slipping under the covers.