There are countless Kithari children’s stories – fairytales, perhaps, except that their culture has no mythos of faerie magic – about Hailai’s magical cupboard. It’s a horn of plenty, a fount of miracles, a door directly into the Greatest Chef’s domain and the repository of countless culinary delights. Not much is known about their religious beliefs, but Hailai seems to be the closest thing they have to a deity and her name comes up frequently even in casual conversation.

I asked a Kithari once for a recipe of the sort you might find in Hailai’s magical cupboard, and they trilled and whistled in apparent amusement for a full two minutes before calming down enough to tell me that my human tastebuds would never be able to fully appreciate her divine flavors. But I had the last laugh when I offered that same Kithari a slice of this hazelnut chocolate torte topped with elaarian star berry infused caramel, and they admitted that Hailai would be proud to have such a confection in her cupboard.

-the Interstellar Love of Cooking, Volume One

* * *

The final night on the mining ship, cuddled next to Nyrleen on her bunk with Dove sitting in front of us on guard, I dreamed of Evelyn’s broadcast and woke with my heart racing and mouth parched.

I shifted carefully away from my bunkmate and reached for my water bottle. Dove craned her neck around to check on me, then turned her attention back to the corridor that she insisted on keeping watch over each night. I sipped and puzzled over the dream, which was still fresh in my mind but fading fast.

There was my grandmother again, blathering on about family and devils and glory, and behind her that ominous flag rippled. The camera panned as she began to pray, and I saw rows of people in an audience as though in a massive amphitheater. The faces in the audience were blurry and indistinct. All but one.

I choked on my water and muffled my awkward coughing as quietly as possible. Dove twisted about to check on me, but I waved her concern away and lay back down as I got the choking under control. I didn’t want to tell her what I’d realized, because I wasn’t ready to hear the answer I was sure she’d give me.

If anyone could find out what happened to Michael, it would be my grandmother. But if I told her about him, she’d gain a piece of leverage I couldn’t afford to give. Not when I didn’t yet know what the stakes were, when it was likely he’d been dead for years and she’d just make something up long enough to get what she wanted before she let it all come crashing down around me. It wasn’t worth the risk, but I found my fingers going into the pocket that held the club card as I thought of the possibilities.

He could still be alive out there.

It had seemed impossible back on Earth, but now that I was here and experiencing first-hand how easy it would be to get trapped it felt increasingly possible that such a fate could have swallowed my friend. There are countless ways to be forced into slavery in free space, whether it be debt-bondage, outright human trafficking, or two-faced job contracts that lure you into a different job than you expect and make it next to impossible to leave.

This was one of the reasons I’d hired Dove, because she had the experience to recognize red flags and knew how to make us a less tempting target by leaving a trail so obvious we weren’t worth the effort. Michael should have been even safer than I was, with a university research team and the red tape and safety measures to go along with it. But how could I really know that was true?

I gave up on sleep, climbed out of the bunk, and sat down next to Dove on the floor. I’d thought of a different question to ask.

“A research team,” I began softly. “Could an entire team get nabbed for slave labor out here? Does anyone pull that kind of stunt?”

She spared me a brief, unreadable glance before returning her watchful gaze to the dimly lit corridor. The other humans had mostly left us alone since we’d defected to the enemy camp, but a cluster of men that we thought were some of those who bullied Amur had taken to hanging out a few bunks away. Those were the ones she seemed most fixated on. She’d said she was afraid they wanted to steal more chocolate, and I was only half certain she was joking.

“Yes,” she answered quietly. “It’s called brain poaching, used to happen on Earth too. If they pull any tracking devices out quickly enough and send you to a different part of space, no one will know where you end up and it’s easy enough to forge a new labor contract, keep you working through one threat or another. And it’s child’s play to keep people from getting away in space, if you’re careful to put them down in the right spot.”

“Why bother with a labor contract?”

“ISUF is supposed to look out for all ex-Earthen interests – they’re an EEU service, and every Exy station funds them. The membership fees are expensive, but it’s worth it to have someone to call if your ship goes kaput, someone to pick up your people if you have to abandon your station in escape pods. Free space isn’t completely lawless. You can get away with just about anything if you paint the right picture, but anyone playing too far outside the rules will get shut down by ISUF or another corp. So it’s got to at least look legal.”

“Thank you,” I told her, and leaned my head back against the side of the bunk to close my eyes and think about it.

My club card might as well be burning a hole in my pocket for the way I couldn’t stop feeling it there, taunting me. How far could my leverage go? Michael, Dove’s friend, and Alum’s brother ship. I might be able to do a lot of good, if I was willing to make a deal.

But the memory of my grandmother’s false piety on the miner’s lips made me nauseous and afraid. Helping her in any way felt like the worst possible thing to do, but it was tempting – so tempting! To take what I could, then run home to hide behind the Kithari’s broad scaly backs.

Dove surprised me then, reaching over to place a hand on top of my head and push it gently till it rested against her shoulder. She patted my hair, her fingers lingering softly against the tip of my ear in something like a caress, while she continued her vigil.

“Stop thinking so hard,” she murmured, and told me to get some rest.

I couldn’t help but smile and let myself relax, enjoying the cinnamon smell and comforting warmth of her, but the sound of low laughter from the cluster of men down the hallway – Amur’s tormentors, if my guess was right – reminded me that there was something else I wanted to know.

“Repentants,” I whispered. “What are they?”

Dove’s hand on my hair stilled. “A really sad group of people,” she told me. “They say it’s not religious, but it sure looks like another Exy cult to me. I don’t know much about them, but it has something to do with trying to make up for what humans did to the planet… and to each other, during the war. You’re interested in him, aren’t you?”

I made a noncommittal noise. Amur had kept his distance since the evening of the exorcism, but our eyes kept meeting across the crowded corridor and I had to admit there was a strange sort of pull between us.

Only a few hours earlier I’d watched him praying in the middle of the corridor, on his knees and seemingly oblivious to the group of men who sneered and mocked him as he talked to himself. Dove had been asleep, taking the chance to nap while the big alien Grue took his turn as lookout, and I’d watched helplessly until I finally jumped to my feet in a moment of pure rage at the sight of one of the men pulling viciously at Amur’s hair.

His eyes had popped open, but it wasn’t to look at the man who harassed him. He looked right at me, gave me that tiny, almost familiar quirk of the lips, and shook his head until I got the message and sat back down.

He’d kept his eyes on me through the rest of his ritual, and I’d found myself gazing right back at him, unable to look away even though I felt exposed, uncomfortable, and more than a little scared by the whole thing.

“He might want to hook up, if you do,” Dove went on in a stiff little voice, “it’d be difficult, but if that’s what you want I can try to make it happen safely.”

I sat bolt upright and stared at her, wishing the room was better lit so I could see her expression more clearly. “Not him,” I told her, feeling sick at the idea of Dove helping me make it happen. “Not like that. I don’t understand what’s between Amur and I, but it’s not that.”

She relaxed and reached an arm around me, pulling me back against her shoulder. “Didn’t mean to upset you,” she said softly. “I just want you to know I’ll help with whatever you need. I won’t stand in your way.”

I smiled and wondered what she’d say if I told her the truth that had been creeping up on me for hours, days... maybe weeks. “Maybe I’d want you to,” I said instead, my stomach churning at my own daring, but she didn’t say anything in return, just lifted her hand to my hair and resumed her slow stroking as she gazed out at the corridor.

I nestled into her and closed my eyes, and eventually I fell asleep. If my grandmother troubled my dreams again, at least I didn’t remember when I woke up.