"Did I just get shot?" she wondered aloud. Her eyes flew to the holographic image and she saw the damage to the armor on her biomech's back, near its left shoulder. She glanced up and saw herself climbing the ridge; the shot had twisted her robot's path. She clamped her teeth together and worked the pedals to get the biomech back down behind the ridge.

She kept moving once she'd reduced her visibility and sped up a little. "I wish I knew how to fly this thing," she muttered. She'd jump over it and land behind her opponent. Then she'd see how he liked being shot in the back. More dirt peppered her, reminding her that she'd probably found the worst possible time and place to daydream.

"All right," she growled before she let off the right pedal and jammed her left pedal down. The biomech twisted towards the ridge and climbed up the incline. She pushed both pedals to maximum speed and brought her arms up. She had her auto rifle ready and fired as soon as it cleared the ridge. The rounds thundered out, the first clipping the ridge and deflecting off into the distance. The second round went high, a failure of Lily's to take her own upward movement into consideration, but it glanced off the enemy biomech's head. The third missed.

The biomech she faced took a step back to recover its balance from her glancing blow. Lily found herself moving up and forward longer than she expected and realized the strange sensation she felt came from the lack of hearing her feet vibrating as they struck the ground. She landed a moment later and tipped forward, off balance. The biomech's balance system tried to compensate but she was moving over a hundred kilometers an hour. She slammed into the ground and grunted as she saw the dirt close enough she could reach out and touch it.

Lily shook her head, feeling like she should be falling out of her chair. The sounds and display were so real, not to mention the vibrations and rumbling she felt in her chair. She worked the pedals, uncertain if it would help, and then used her hands on the control pads to try to do something that would make her biomech climb back up.

Another crash sounded in her ears before it was abruptly shut off. Alarms sounded in the booth and the damage display flashed until the right leg went completely black. A warning appeared on the display, indicating an environmental breach. It took Lily a moment to remember the muscles in the biomechs were real organic tissue. Exposure to a vacuum was lethal. The biomech's systems were smart enough to seal off the breached area, but in this case she'd lost an entire leg.

The good news was her floundering had picked her up enough she saw the enemy biomech at the top of her display. She centered the yellow reticle on its chest and then realized she probably couldn't punch through the armor there. She lowered it and fired, sending a burst that ripped into the biomech's knee joint and lower thigh. It teetered for a moment and collapsed, venting a puff of atmosphere just as she was sure hers had a few moments ago.

Lily switched to single-fire mode and began rhythmically sending massive bullet after bullet into the fallen biomech. It twisted and tried to roll but a second breach sealed its doom. It lay on the lunar ground, one arm as lifeless as its leg. The working parts flailed but her armor-piercing rounds chewed into the armor on its back and climbed up to hammer against its head. The second round cracked it so that air began to leak out, but the third crushed the battered armor and caused the display to go blank.

Lily gasped and leaned back. The lights in the booth powered up and the pedals and control board slid away from her. She gasped and felt her heart hammering in her chest. She'd won! She'd destroyed the enemy biomech! She grinned and hissed, "Yes!" Lily reached up to rub her forehead and realized she was slick with sweat.

"Report to Colonel Rand, Miss Strain," the voice said as the door behind her popped open with a hiss.

Lily climbed out of her chair and found her body was tight and confused at the same time. She'd been clenching muscles and now she was sore. She kept expecting Palla to greet her but only the lit corridor awaited. She stepped out and turned when she heard her name squealed.

Palla slammed into her and hugged her, nearly sending them both crashing to the ground. "You did it!" Palla shrieked in her ear.

Lily grinned in spite of the awkward situation. She managed to extricate herself and nodded. "It was-I don't even know! Amazing!"

"Come on, the colonel wants to talk to you."

"That's what the computer system said," Lily said. "At least I think it was a computer. It didn't respond to anything I said or did."

Palla shrugged. "Does it matter? You're on your way now, miss! You're really doing it. Keep this up and your future's set."

"Our future," Lily reminded her and then laughed. "I think you're really stuck with me now."

"Wow, you're right," Palla admitted. "You know what? I never thought I'd say it, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather be stuck with!"

Lily felt her face flush and turned to see the colonel and someone else waiting for her down the hallway. She clamped her lips shut and nodded. "Let's go," she said. "Our future awaits!"

Chapter 27.

"Are you sure you're the only one?"

Krys looked up from his plate as the lieutenant entered the small house he'd been assigned. "Only one what?"

"Only person hiding in the woods."

"Um, I'm not hiding in the woods," he said. "I'm sitting right here."

"When we found you. Don't play games with me, Krys. This is important."

Krys sighed. Shelby deserved the truth, or as much of it as he could give her. She'd treated him better than he deserved without asking for much of anything in return. Sure, there was the constant threat of being sent away for reeducation, but as soon as she'd mention it, she'd twist the conversation to something else. "You only found me because I was the only one to be found. Yes, I ran into other people earlier on, but we split apart."

She stared at him and nodded before moving and sitting down. She turned to the display that was showing the broadcast from the exhibition matches of the biomech season. "I thought you didn't like the biomechs?"

Krys shrugged. Up close, they were terrifying. From a distance, in controlled matches, they were kind of cool. "Nothing else on. Why'd you want to know about before? I thought we were past that."

She sat down at the other chair of his small table before saying, "Our supply convoy was attacked on their way back."

Krys set his fork down and stared at her. "You're kidding me!"

She shook her head. "All hands and supplies lost, including Lesk."

The news about the technician being killed stole wind from him. The smile that was on its way to his face faded away. "Everyone?"

She nodded. "Innocent people are dying, Krys. You don't know anything about this, do you?"

Krys felt a flash of heat in his face. His thoughts about owing her were lost in the fire that spread down into his chest and belly. "How would I know anything about innocent people dying? I've been fixing the things your people keep breaking because they don't know how to use them!"

"I thought you were teaching them?"

Krys scowled. "You can't teach a rock to fly."

Shelby's brows knitted together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"They don't care!" he seethed. "None of these people want to be here. They're just doing jobs that they're forced to do. They don't care about Venus, the animals, the crops, or the people. None of you give a damn!"

Shelby jerked her face back as though he'd struck her. Krys glared and wanted to jump on her and put action to his words. He wanted to make her understand how it felt to lose everyone who mattered. Friends, family, everyone!

"That's not fair, I-"

"Yes it is!" He shouted back. "It's as fair as you coming here and killing everyone who mattered. You took away everything. Your people. Your friends. You want to talk about innocent people dying? We weren't hurting anyone-we were just farmers. We would have provided to anyone who needed it. We weren't greedy. We didn't care who needed help; we gave it because that's what we did. Nobody needed to die. Nobody."

She stared at him and nodded. She blinked away a shimmer in her eyes and stood up. She cleared her throat and asked, "As your commanding officer I have to ask you, did you know anything about this?"

Krys continued to glare at her with fire and venom in his eyes. He imagined himself in one of the biomechs while she ran from him.

"Krys?"

"No!" he spat. "I don't know anything."

She watched a moment longer and nodded. "You're my only technician now. There's no telling how long until a replacement is sent for Lesk."

"Lucky me," he growled.

Shelby sighed and turned back to the door. She put her hand on the button to open it but hesitated. She turned and stared back at him and then was distracted by the display.

Krys followed her gaze and saw the biomech match finishing and the display switching to a young girl being interviewed. He was about to turn back when he stopped and gasped. Sitting in a blue and white student uniform was Lily.

"Lily," he whispered.

"You know her?"

Krys clamped his mouth shut but nodded before he realized it. He ignored Shelby and watched Lily as the short interview continued.

"Young Miss Lily Strain, congratulations on being the youngest person to ever qualify for the biomech program in the armored division. On your first try, no less! What were you thinking when you went into that test? Were you scared?"

"I was," she admitted with a reddening of her cheeks. She picked her head up and looked at the camera. "But then I remembered that I wasn't just doing it for me. I was doing it for my friends and my instructors. Really, for everyone else who believed in me. I may be the one person you're talking to, but it's a team effort."

The announcer chuckled and put on an excited expression. "Well, there you have it! So young and so wise already. We've not seen the last of you, young Miss Strain! Or I suppose I should be calling you Cadet Strain."

Lily blushed again and nodded. "Thank you," she said before the display changed to something else.

Krys watched, hoping it would cut back to Lily but the tournament went on now that the combatants had time to leave the field for their thoughts on the match. Krys tuned them out and turned back to Shelby. "Lily was my friend. As far as I know, she and I are the only people from here who are still alive. If Lily's doing that, and I'm doing this, imagine how much was lost when you came in here guns blazing."

Shelby's throat bulged as she swallowed. He saw her nod once, briefly, and then turn back to the door. Without turning back, she said in a soft voice, "You're not right about everything, Krys."

"Oh yeah? Like what? You can't lie to me. I've been here and seen what people are like."

"They like you," Shelby said. "I like you."

"So?"

She turned her head to look at him and he saw the glistening in her eyes that stole some of the heat from his belly. "So maybe we're doing our jobs. Maybe we're following orders. But some of us do care. I can't change what happened, and I can't change what's going to happen. But I do care, Krys."

Krys opened and closed his mouth, at a loss for words. It was ridiculous that she thought she couldn't change anything, but he had a hunch that wasn't what she was trying to tell him. Before he could figure out how to respond, she opened the door and walked through it into the darkness outside. The door slid shut, stealing his last chance to make amends.

He glanced down at the remains of his uneaten dinner and pushed it away. Lesk was gone now, too-another friend taken by the stupid war. At least he knew Lily was still alive.

At the thought of Lily, Krys jerked his head up to the display. He had to find out more about her! He jumped to his feet and went to grab an infopad. He had some searching to do.

Chapter 28.

Lily blinked as the high-powered lights turned off and everyone started moving. Mr. Lindsey, the reporter who had just interviewed her, clapped his hands and stood up. "Good job, kid," he said, dropping from his stage voice to a gruffer and more casual one. "Keep it up and you'll go far."

She watched him turn away and head off the stage where the interview had taken place. She'd suffered under three hours of questions, albeit with breaks here and there to touch up makeup or to give them a chance to have a drink or use the restroom. The interview was going to be broken up into short segments released at key times. Or so she'd been told.

She turned, not certain what to do, and was about to stand up and head over to where Palla was waving to her when she heard Mr. Lindsey's voice. "I don't care about how many bits you can get out of this. Come on! She's a stupid kid. Jenkings gets a chance to talk to the biomech jocks, and I get a kid?"

He kept talking but he moved far enough away she couldn't make out his words. She turned, searching for him, but couldn't see where he'd gone.

"Lily!" Palla called out.

Lily turned and put on a smile that didn't match the empty pit in her belly. If Mr. Lindsey thought she was a stupid kid, what were other people thinking? What was she, really?

"Come on, Lil, we've got to get you back."

Lily stood up automatically. She kept her fake smile on her face out of habit and nodded to the workers in the studio as she moved to join Palla. Did Palla think she was a stupid kid too? Stupid but lucky, maybe.

"You did awesome up there," Palla chattered as they walked past a table loaded with finger foods. Palla snatched something and popped it in her mouth. Lily was so caught up in her worries she didn't even notice what it was her mentor had chosen.

"Mentor?" Lily whispered aloud.

"What's that?" Palla asked, turning to look at her. "Are you okay, Lil? Too much light maybe? Do you need a drink?"

Lily shook her head. "No, I just was thinking out loud."

"About what?"

Lily looked at her. "About you. And me, I mean."

Palla's brow creased. "What about us?"

"Well, your mastery project kind of disappeared, didn't it? And I haven't seen Kami and Trix in a while now."

"I still help them out when I can," Palla said. "I've been refocused on helping you, though."

"So you're not really my mentor anymore-more like my assistant."

"What? No! Of course, I can't help you with the army stuff, but your other classes I can still tutor you in."

Lily fixed her with a raised eyebrow. "Really? Some of my instructors can't even teach me course-relevant material anymore."

Palla frowned. "What are you saying? I'm not dumb, you know."

Lily shook her head. "No, I never meant that. I..." She trailed off in a sigh. Frustrated, Lily blurted out, "Do you think I'm a stupid kid?"

Palla gasped and pulled her to the side of the hallway they were walking down to stop her. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, do you?"

"Of course not!" the older girl snapped. "You're a genius, Lily. Off the charts kind of smart. Why would you think that way at all?"

Palla waited. "Lily?"