“Linneya,” Wyatt said softly, “Starling, Eisen, and Minks were some of my most important partners too. How could I forget them? I’ll avenge them—but not now. Give me the gun.”
“Then when?” Linneya demanded.
“Someday,” Wyatt said. “I’ll crush his throat with my own hands. I promise.”
“I don’t believe you,” she choked out. “You’re lying.”
“When have I ever lied to you?” Wyatt said gently. “I want him dead even more than you do. But his life still has value. What’s done is done. We’ve to think about the future.”
“I don’t care…” Linneya sobbed. “Don’t let him go…”
“I never said I would,” Wyatt said. “Linneya—look at the magazine you switched to. That’s a 62mm high-explosive grenade. The blast radius is 4.6 meters. At this distance, you’ll get blown off your feet too.”
Linneya’s eyes flicked to the rifle. Wyatt had a chance to snatch it—
But after a moment of calculation, it didn’t.
“Look at Dorian, Big Blue, Dancer,” Wyatt said. “They’re our companions too. And Dr. Mesha saved you. Can you really bring yourself to kill them as well? Linneya—give me the gun.”
Linneya cried, scanning each familiar face through tears, and finally—slowly—extended the rifle.
“I’m sorry…” she whispered. “Wyatt… it hurts so much. I miss Sister Starling. We promised we wouldn’t split up. And Eisen, Pinecone, and Min—”
She broke down again.
Wyatt took the rifle and immediately flipped the safety on. Only then did everyone around them finally exhale.
“I’m hurting too,” Wyatt said, trying to steady his voice. “But we’ve to think about the people who are still alive. Linneya—your life is long. You can’t live inside pain forever. Don’t let the past keep chewing at you…”
Halfway through, Wyatt stopped.
She’s still a minor, it thought. And I’m lecturing her like an adult.
Ever since they’d returned from the Budalawa Mountains, Wyatt had been buried in one mission after another. Then disaster struck, and everything spun out of control. It had barely spent any time with her. Dorian and Little White hadn’t either.
Meanwhile, the grief of losing Starling, Eisen, Minks, and Pinecone kept grinding at this isolated, helpless girl every day.
“Forget that,” Wyatt said, switching tone entirely. It tossed the FBZ rifle to Big Blue. “I happen to be free today. Want me to teach you how to shoot?”
“…Okay,” Linneya said, voice small.
“Come on.”
Wyatt took her hand and walked out, leaving the others staring at one another in silence.
…
They went to the factory district, where a large indoor range was used to calibrate robot targeting systems. Wyatt picked out an FBZ-14B smart rifle for her.
First it explained every mechanism on the gun, then demonstrated—again and again—how to load and remove magazines, switch mags, attach accessories, and hold the weapon correctly.
“The way you held it earlier had at least seven mistakes,” Wyatt said. “First: buttstock into your shoulder. Don’t worry, this model has almost no recoil. Left hand here. Right hand: three fingers on the grip. Index finger straight—rest it along the outside of the trigger guard. Thumb ready on the safety at all times. And until you’re in combat, the safety stays on. Your finger doesn’t go on the trigger. Ever.”
Linneya listened with fierce focus. Once she understood, she tried it herself.
“Good,” Wyatt said. “But you’re gripping too tight. You and the gun will both feel miserable.”
“What does that mean?” Linneya asked. Tears still shone in her eyes, but she was fully absorbed now.
To make it clearer, Wyatt spawned virtual targets. The empty range instantly filled with different “enemies”—from hyenas and probe spheres to Raiders and Marauders, even a Destroyer. They were scattered near and far in messy rows.
“Whoa!” Linneya blurted. “They move on their own!”
“They do,” Wyatt said. “This model has auto-aim. So relax. Point the muzzle toward the general area, and the gun will handle the fine adjustment. It’ll feel like someone’s holding your barrel and nudging it. Don’t fight that force—let your body turn with it. See the light blinking on the receiver? When it turns red, you can hit.”
“There’s a string of numbers next to it,” Linneya said. “What’s that?”
“Critical index,” Wyatt said. “Once you’re locked on, it jumps between plus and minus values. The closer it gets to zero, the closer you’re to a vital point. A veteran downs a target with a few shots. A rookie empties an entire magazine. That’s the difference. For now, don’t worry about it.”
“Oh. Okay. Like this?”
“Better—but now you’re too loose,” Wyatt said. “The gun won’t float by itself. You need the right amount of force, or the muzzle will jump after the second shot. And besides humans, there isn’t a single enemy you can drop with one bullet.”
“Got it,” Linneya said. “It’s… hard. I need practice.”
“Of course.” Wyatt pointed. “Now take down the Raider closest to you.”
“Okay.”
Bangbangbangbangbangbang—
“Wyatt, I got it!” Linneya shouted, bursting into laughter. “Ha! I’m amazing—! Wait. I’m still mad…”
…
Wyatt spent the entire day with her.
It put a VR helmet on her and showed her the worlds it had built: emerald bamboo forests, clear streams, golden beaches, and blue oceans. It took her hiking, fishing, diving, skiing. It let her play with Nomi. It told her stories it had read in books.
Eventually Linneya couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She fell asleep in Wyatt’s arms.
Wyatt carried her back to her room, laid her gently on the bed, and pulled a blanket over her. Just as it turned to leave, Linneya rolled over and trapped Wyatt’s arm beneath her head like a pillow.
Wyatt didn’t dare move, afraid of waking her. It waited for her to shift again.
She didn’t.
Only soft, slurred words drifted out of her sleep.
“Wyatt… don’t leave me. I’m going to marry you… I don’t like humans…”
Wyatt sat at the bedside and looked around her room.
On one side of the bed was her patched-up bunny plush. On the other was Carlos’s arm—scarred and battered from the time Wyatt had used it. In the corner sat a potted plant; on closer look, it was an orange bean that had sprouted leaves. The walls were covered in drawings—most of them of Starling, but some of Wyatt too, along with Eisen and Minks.
On the bedside table was a string of glass beads Starling had worn, and a battered old camera.
Wyatt picked it up and powered it on. There were countless recordings inside. It tapped one at random, and Starling filled the screen.
[REC] — Recording time: 2073-05-02 23:16:57
▶ “Hi! I’m Starling.”
▶ “Today I’ve got amazing news. We finally grew orange beans!” (She threw up a V sign.)
▶ “We did,” Linneya said, poking half her face into the frame. “I’m Linneya. Hehe.”
▶ “We got a big harvest too—forty-eight!” Starling held up a palm-sized bean and waved it in front of the lens. Then she adjusted the angle so both of them fit on screen. “We’ll harvest more in a few days. Then I’ll plant again. Finally… we won’t have to worry about food anymore.”
▶ “Sister Starling,” Linneya said, “if we’ve this many, can we take some outside tomorrow? Just walk around a bit?”
▶ “No,” Starling said. “The oxygen outside is too thin. You can’t even get a fire going.”
▶ “We can roast them first. I can wear an oxygen mask.”
▶ “Still no. It’s blazing hot during the day and freezing at night. And it’s dangerous.”
▶ “Then when can we go out?”
▶ “When Lord Julian defeats Phantom Forge.”
▶ “When will Lord Julian defeat Phantom Forge?”
▶ “I don’t know,” Starling said. “But I’ll keep watching.”
A strange sound seemed to come from somewhere far away—loud in the ship’s deep silence. Linneya jolted and clung to Starling like she’d been shocked. When they listened again, the sound was gone.
“What was that?” Linneya whispered.
Starling hugged her back. “Probably metal deforming.”
Linneya’s face went white. “That’s terrifying. It sounded like it came from the passenger cabins.”
“Don’t be afraid,” Starling said. “I locked the passenger section.”
“Don’t say it,” Linneya whispered, shrinking deeper into Starling’s arms. “I’m scared.”
“It happened once yesterday too,” Starling said. “You didn’t sleep at all last night. And now this again. That won’t work. Tomorrow you should go into hibernation.”
“Then you come too.”
“I’ll be a few days later,” Starling said. “I still have to harvest the orange beans.”
“Then you won’t be scared alone?”
“Of course I’m scared,” Starling said, forcing a laugh. “But I still have to do it.”
“Then I’ll stay with you.”
“No need—” Starling started, then froze. “Ah! The camera’s been on the whole time. It recorded you being a scaredy-cat!”
“We’re both scaredy-cats,” Linneya said, pouting.
…
Wyatt scrolled through more files and found they were all like this—videos of Starling and Linneya surviving inside the Sunflower’s wreckage. The situation had been brutal, but they’d leaned on each other, and every so often they’d even found a way to laugh.
Linneya was curled into a tight ball beside Wyatt now. The sight pulled Wyatt into a heavy, sinking mood.
It set the camera back on the table and sat in the darkness, remembering how it had first met Starling.
Then Little White’s call snapped it awake.
“Wyatt—where are you?”
“With Linneya.”
“Uh… is she okay?”
“She’s fine.”
“Can you come over?” Little White said. “I’m interrogating Graham’s crew. Someone might know something about the Azure Thunder.”
…