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  “Goodbye, Einri. Take care of Squid for me.”

  “Always. Goodbye, Mars.”

  I carry Waren down the far end of the dock to Dehner’s corvette and steal my way inside with a passcode from Dima. Motes of dust drift through a shaft of sunlight, fusty smell thick in my nostrils. It hasn’t been used in a couple of years, Dehner unable to leave even for a week in case anyone realized the truth.

  Well, Dehner, you’re free now. Consider this payment for the job you sent me on.

  I slot Waren in underneath the pilot controls and hit my head on the console getting up, litany of curses echoing through the small ship. While I wait for Waren to initialize, I hit the ignition to test everything is go. The engines chug once then roar to life and idle heavy, bass thick in my guts.

  “Oh, I like this,” Waren says once he’s back online.

  “It’s all yours, Waren. I probably owe you two ships by now, but this will have to do.”

  There’s quiet for a moment. “Would you care to join me?”

  “Whatever debt you owed me is well and truly paid.”

  “Yes, but things do tend to get boring when you’re not around,” Waren says slyly.

  “Alright, I’m in.”

  “But I choose our destinations.”

  “You’re the boss,” I say. “Before we go anywhere too heavily populated I’ll need to get some face work done, get a fresh identity.”

  Waren doesn’t ask, but I already have a name chosen—Sera Jiang. A tribute to my sister and mother that I can take with me anywhere I go.

  “I’m sure I can fit that in somewhere,” Waren says.

  “You’re too good to me, Waren. Do I have time to say my goodbyes?”

  “Of course; I’ve got to finish optimizing things here.”

  * * *

  Pale sits cross-legged on the floor of the classroom, walls decorated with paintings and drawings from the students. He’s smaller than all the other kids his age, but I see him talking and laughing with them. Accepted. Home. He’s better off here in Sommer. The people here will be able to teach him to control his powers, and they’re better suited to teaching him ethics than I could ever be.

  “The people want to elect a new governor.”

  I turn to find Dima marching down the corridor, large shard held across her arm—administrative duties weighing heavy in the bags under her eyes.

  Dehner hasn’t officially stepped down, but the people no longer heed him. He lost whatever power he had the moment I brought Teo back. I guess Dehner expected me to return quietly—or not at all—and give him a chance to shape the narrative. Sorry, asshole. Teo was no saint, and you’re no fucking priest.

  “The job is already yours,” I tell Dima.

  “They want to vote you in,” she says.

  “I’m about to leave.”

  “You keep saying that, but you’re still here.”

  I could tell her I only stayed this long to make sure Pale settled in, but truth is, I like it here.

  “No, I mean it this time. I’m leaving now.”

  “The people need you.”

  “They really don’t. And if I stay, sooner or later there’ll be trouble; trust me.”

  Dima touches my arm and says, “You’ll always be welcome here.”

  She walks away before I need to say anything. Thanks, Dima.

  I open the door to Pale’s classroom and the other students chatter excitedly when they see me.

  “Can I take Pale out of class?” I ask his teacher, and the man nods. Pale launches himself up from the floor and wraps his arms around my waist.

  I lead him outside and we sit on a low, child-sized bench beside the playground, drenched in sunlight.

  “How are you doing?”

  He thinks about this, eyes squinted in deep thought. “Really good.”

  “You’re happy to stay here?”

  He nods.

  “That’s what I was hoping. I’m going to go though; I need to keep moving.”

  Pale puts his arms around my neck and hugs tight, digging his pointy chin into my shoulder.

  “You’re still happy to stay?” I ask.

  “Yes,” he says softly. “You’ll come back.”

  “Maybe. One day.”

  “No. You will.”

  “Okay. No stowing away this time, alright? I’m going to miss you.”

  “You too.”

  “Be good.”

  He walks back to class, stopping once to turn back and wave goodbye. Be good, little man. Be better than me.

  * * *

  Squid finds me in the main town square, grabs my hand, and drags me into the nearest bar.

  “You’ve got to see this.”

  Screens all around the dim-lit space show variations of the same story, going out across every band of imperial media: The Witch Is Dead.

  Mariam Xi, wanted terrorist, found dead on Azken, killed by the heroic soldiers of the Emperor’s Guard.

  I don’t know if they really believe it—if they bought the diorama of death I left for them—or if they’re just taking the propaganda win while they can.

  “What will you do next?” Squid asks.

  “That’s up to Waren,” I say. “We’re about to leave.”

  Squid frowns. “You should come with me; you and Waren. It’s lonely on the Nova.”

  I want to, Squid. “I can’t. If there are any doubts about my death, you’ll be the first person they track down. You and Miguel. Best thing I can do is get as far away from you as possible.”

  “I still talk to Mookie sometimes,” Squid says after a pause.

  “How is he?” I ask, but I don’t know if I want the answer. I can’t even think of him without guilt splitting me in half, like raw nerve endings in my heart and mind. I’m so sorry, Mookie. Sorry that you got caught up in my life. Sorry that Trix had to die.

  It feels like I’m always apologizing. Just another reason why I need to go, need to get away from anyone I might hurt.

  “It sounds like he’s doing well. He tracked down the last few Legionnaires. They live together now, out on the ’Riph, but he won’t tell me where.” They pause, chromatophores fading to gray in hesitation. “In time he’ll forgive you.”

  I sigh. Squid means well, but they weren’t there inside Homan Sphere, they weren’t on the rooftop when Trix died. “I don’t know that he will,” I say. “And maybe he shouldn’t.”

  “But Mars—”

  “I don’t need forgiveness, Squid; I don’t deserve it. I just need to go somewhere quiet, somewhere I can’t hurt anyone I care about.”

  “That’s no way to live.”

  I smile sadly. “It’s the only way I can afford.”

  Squid squeezes me tight. They don’t let go when I start to cry, they only let go once I’ve stopped.

  When they pull away their cheeks shimmer pink and purple. Squid touches my face and I lean in. I lose myself in the warmth of the kiss, skin hypersensitive every place Squid touches me—lips, cheek, and waist.

  They rest their forehead against mine. “We’ll see each other again?”

  “One day. When I know all this is behind me.”

  “I’ll make the coffee.”

  “It’s a date.” Pulling away from Squid is like fighting gravity, but I manage it. Slowly.

  I wander back to the hangar, passing through the distinctive patches of shadow and light that mark the paths of Sommer.

  Waren has shifted the corvette to the middle of the dock, the huge doors opened just wide enough to let us slip through. I climb aboard and quickly check the living quarters and the storage room for Pale—half hoping he stowed away again, but knowing that he wouldn’t.

  I inhale deep, but still my chest aches hollow.

  I sit in the pilot’s seat and blink until the tears have gone. I fold an old shirt on the cockpit’s dash and rest Ocho’s egg in its center. The sac has swollen, its skin thin, nearly see-through. It’s almost time.

  “I’m ready when you are, capt
ain,” I say.

  “Captain Waren,” he says. “Got a nice ring to it.”

  I smile as the ship pulls up fast from the ground. We glide through the hangar doors then shoot up toward the gray-blue sky, burnt trees and a whole hidden city falling away beneath us.

  We hit worm-space on the outer edge of Sanderak’s stratosphere, the planet folding away to a dot, a single pixel that holds everyone I care about.

  We’ll be back, one day; Pale says so. But for now we move on. We disappear.

  Just me, my unborn pet, and an untethered AI, with a galaxy to explore. There’s no one at my back, no one chasing me. For the first time ever, I’m free. I lean my head back against the seat and close my eyes, leaving Waren to fly, and more tears roll down my face.

  I’m free.

  There’s a soft noise like dry leaf crumbling. I open my eyes and watch as Nine breaks through her shell, stretching her paws and yawning, her eyes huge, fur matted with embryonic goo. She stares at me and makes a tiny high-pitched maow.

  “I missed you too, jerkface.”

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks to Bryony Milner, Austin Armatys, and Marlee Jane Ward. I couldn’t have written this book—or the Voidwitch Saga as a whole—without their feedback, support, and friendship. Much love to you all.

  Special thanks also to Carl Engle-Laird for his feedback and support in bringing these books to life. I’ll always be grateful to him for taking Killing Gravity out of slush, championing it, helping me refine it, and letting me see this trilogy through to completion.

  Thanks to the team at Tor.com Publishing—Irene Gallo, Mordicai Knode, Katharine Duckett, Lee Harris, and all the rest. Science fiction and fantasy are richer fields for all the amazing work they do.

  Thanks to my agent, Martha Millard, for her support and for pushing me forward with this and other projects. Thanks to Tommy Arnold for the incredible, eye-catching cover art he’s supplied for all three Voidwitch books.

  Thanks to Warren Ellis for the kind words, and for putting these books in front of a lot of readers who otherwise might never have found them. Thanks to Pulp Fiction Books in Brisbane for being such ardent supporters. Thanks to m1k3y, Sommer Tothill, Chris Bowman, and to my parents, sisters, and other relatives who have supported me on this journey. And lastly, thanks to the readers and reviewers who reached out, and who recommended these books to anyone who’d listen—you know who you are. I cannot properly express how grateful I am.

  About the Author

  Photograph by Marlee Jane Ward

  COREY J. WHITE is a writer of science fiction, horror, and other, harder to define stories. He studied writing at Griffith University, and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of the Voidwitch Saga, which began with Killing Gravity.

  Find him at coreyjwhite.com and on Twitter @cjwhite.

  You can sign up for email updates here.

  Also by Corey J. White

  Killing Gravity

  Void Black Shadow

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  EPILOGUE

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Corey J. White

  Copyright Page

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novella are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  STATIC RUIN

  Copyright © 2018 by Corey J. White

  All rights reserved.

  Cover illustration by Tommy Arnold

  Cover design by Christine Foltzer

  Edited by Carl Engle-Laird

  A Tor.com Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

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  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.

  ISBN 978-1-250-19553-1 (ebook)

  ISBN 978-1-250-19554-8 (trade paperback)

  First Edition: November 2018

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