Free Legacy Code by Autumn Kalquist

her.”
    “I will. Don’t worry,” Zephyr said.
    He nodded, and Era reached up on tiptoes to kiss him once more. He stood straight, threw his shoulders back, and boarded the transport.
    Era wiped the tears from her eyes as the transport door closed. The alarm sounded again, and the hangar bay workers ordered everyone to leave.
    “Come on. We have to go,” Zephyr said quietly.
    Era followed the rest of the family members out of the hangar bay and turned to watch the doors slide closed behind them. The transport started up on the other side, and the metal doors vibrated in response.
    He’s going to be fine. He’ll come back. He always comes back. But the tears came anyway, spilling down her cheeks. None of her thoughts could erase the dread that had taken root in her stomach. Because some primal part of her knew.
    She was never going to see Dritan again.

 
    Era gripped the edge of the archivist station, the holo interface blurring before her. Six days. Dritan had been on Soren for six days. One hundred forty-four days left to go. Her limbs ached, and her mind felt dull from exhaustion. Each night she’d woken, gasping for breath. The empty womb, blood on the landing, being sucked into space…her nightmare made her fear sleep.
    She tried to focus on what Mali was showing her on the stationary, but her eyes drifted to the colonists waiting to record messages for loved ones. Several couples, one little girl. Quiet, not engaged in conversation like they usually were. The change she’d sensed in the ship since the traitors were airlocked lingered everywhere.
    In every sector, there were fewer words spoken, cut-off conversations, and more suspicious glances. Or maybe she was just seeing tension because of how she felt every minute of every day.
    “Did you hear what I said?” Mali asked.
    She stepped in front of Era. The holo shimmered, and the long list of commands merged with Mali’s clothing and skin.
    Era twisted a wrist, and her eyepiece shut off, removing the nausea-inducing image.
    “Do you need some time, child?”
    “No. Sorry.”
    Mali raised her eyebrows. “Dritan’s doing his job, and we’re doing ours. Being an archivist is important. I need to know you’re ready for this.”
    “I am. I’m ready.”
    Mali shifted her gaze to some point beyond Era. Era turned, half-expecting to see Zephyr. But it was only Chief Petroff, making his way to the station.
    Mali had moved Zephyr to first shift, said she needed to train with other techs since Era would be too busy now. But someone else on second shift could’ve trained Zephyr. It seemed more about keeping Era from distraction than about training Zephyr. Era only got to see her during mess and midbreak now.
    Chief Petroff reached the station and set down a large metal case and an archive case. “Comms and an order from the board.”
    Comms. Was it too soon for there to be one from Dritan?
    Mali opened the archive case. Inside were the archive cubes from the last order, plus an additional cube, set off to the side. The new cube order.
    Mali took the guard’s shift card, scanned it into the stationary, and handed it back. She popped the cube order into the slot on the stationary. “Is this urgent? I’m training her. It’ll take me a little longer to get everything today.”
    Chief Petroff grunted. “I’ll be back by shift’s end for the order,” he said and walked off.
    “I expect you’ll be granted access to the archives any day now. But until then, we’ll work on the stationary,” Mali said.
    Era reactivated her eyepiece and tried to concentrate on the gestures Mali made as she moved through the system, but she couldn’t pull her eyes from the comm case.
    “As soon as I show you this, you can sort through those cubes. But right now, I need you to pay attention.”
    “Sorry.” Focus, Era.
    The cube order appeared on the holo. It contained a short list of numbers and letters, followed by descriptions.
    “The numbers and letters on each line