Free Polaris by Mindee Arnett Page B

either.” A few seconds of silence passed between them. “What do you think the ITA will do when they learn we’ve sold the project?”
    Sierra sighed. “They won’t stop pursuing us, if that’s what you’re hoping.”
    â€œI wasn’t.” He knew better. The ITA still knew Cora existed, and would want her back with or without the Aether Project.
    â€œI imagine they’ll increase the security around the Harvesters for one thing.”
    Jeth considered the idea, supposing it made sense. The Aether Project contained the location of all the Harvesters, those places in metaspace where the Pyreans’ dimension intersected with the one humans could perceive. Jeth struggled to wrap his mind around the strangeness of their state of being. The way Sierra described it to him, the Pyreans were like a giant tree that existed primarily within the dimension of metaspace—except for the Harvest sites. At those places, the very tips of the hidden tree branched out of metaspaceinto the human dimension. For years the ITA had drawn the material for their metadrives from these hidden places, and the Pyreans had continued to “grow back,” so to speak. Until recently.
    â€œSure they will,” Jeth said. “If they haven’t already. With their impending extinction, what Pyreans they can still harvest are more valuable than ever.” His stomach twisted at the thought.
    â€œSo the world turns,” Sierra said, her tone bitter.
    An idea sprouted in Jeth’s mind, one that made his stomach twist even harder. What if they didn’t sell the Aether Project to the Enanti alone? There was nothing to stop them from making dozens of copies of the data. Hundreds even. Once they rescued Marian from the ITA, they could sell the copies to all the ITA’s enemies, or maybe just upload the data to the net. The Enanti alone stood no chance of using the data to dismantle the ITA, but if all the Independent Planets had access to the truth about the Pyreans and metatechnology that would be a different story.
    War, he thought. Intergalactic war . War on a scale so large that the ITA would be too busy defending itself and its precious Harvest sites to worry about chasing Jeth. It could be the solution to everything, the ultimate play to get him all he’d ever wanted: freedom for him and his family. They could fly away and disappear among the chaos.
    But then the images he’d recalled earlier from the Emet Insurgence came back to him. Did he really want to be responsible for something like that? For so much death and destruction?
    â€œAnyway,” Sierra said, derailing his thoughts. “Tiglath is as good a place to land as Benfold Minor. Sectors of Tiglath are safe enough that whoever wants to leave can do so without too much trouble.”
    Jeth slowly nodded, trying to ignore the sting of her words. For a few moments he’d almost forgotten about Shady’s discontent. “Good point. I’ll send out a feeler to my Enanti contact as soon as Flynn finishes the repair on the engines. Then we can figure out how to tell everyone.”
    Sierra’s breath tickled his neck. “Okay.” She fell silent again, and he almost let it go at that, but doubt refused to release its grip on him.
    â€œDo you think letting them go is the right thing to do?”
    She answered at once, her certainty absolute. “Yes. Everyone should get to choose to live how they want to live.”
    â€œDo you think they’ll actually leave?”
    Now she hesitated, and he could hear his heart beating in the intervening seconds. “I don’t know, Jeth. But I’m staying. No matter what happens.”
    Feeling childish and stupid, and yet better, Jeth ran his hand down her arm once more, then went still. This time sleep came upon him at once.

CHAPTER 07
    HALF A DAY LATER, FLYNN FINISHED HIS REPAIRS ON THE engines. Jeth joined him in the engine room, wanting to see