Unravel by Imogen Howson Page B

about the abduction attempts?”
    Abduction attempts? For a second the world stopped turning. There was nothing except those words hanging in the air.
    â€œWhat?” Elissa said.
    What might have been a glimmer of satisfaction showed in the commander’s eyes. “Not all the citizens of your planet want Spares to be relocated or wiped out. Some of them appear to feel that Sekoia’s space force was the only thing standing between Sekoia and chaos. So, declared-legal humans or not, Spares are a resource they can’t afford not to”—a tiny hesitation before she said the word—“use.”
    A blaze of shock and fury like fire shook Elissa from her knees to the top of her head. “ Use? What the hell does that mean? What do they mean, use ?”
    The commander met her eyes. “You’ve lost your space force. What do you think they mean?”
    â€œIt’s been ruled illegal ! Doing that—what SFI did—it’s what’s made IPL take over the government! They can’t be trying to do it all over again!”
    â€œIt has been ruled illegal, yes. But according to our sources, there’sat least one group who’d like to challenge that ruling.”
    Cold swept over Elissa, as swift as the fire. Her knees went weak, and she took a step back as if the ground had given way beneath her. “No,” she said, and all the strength was gone from her voice. “No. They said it was illegal . They said she’d be safe. We have compensation money .”
    Next to her, Lin had gone rigid. “No,” Elissa said again, speaking this time to her sister. “They can’t change it, Lin. They gave you refugee status. They said you were human. They can’t —”
    â€œLissa.” Cadan’s voice was steady, and it seemed to hold her, as if it were keeping her from falling apart. “People challenge rulings all the time. It doesn’t mean anything. It won’t get them anywhere.”
    She looked up at him, aware she was having to force herself to move, as if every cell in her body had frozen with shock. “But how can they? How can anyone know what SFI did to the Spares and think it’s okay? How can they think about doing it again? And if they’re abducting them . . .” If they’re trying to do that now, and I brought Lin back here . . . She reached out without looking, without needing to look, and her hand met Lin’s, cold fingers against cold fingers.
    â€œ Trying to abduct them,” said Cadan. “Abduction attempts , that’s all. They haven’t succeeded. And people who’ve formed a pressure group are very different from people who are willing to act so far outside the law that they’re making abduction attempts. It doesn’t mean they’re all working with the same agenda, Lis.”
    His eyes were as steady as his voice.
    â€œYou’re making a bit of an assumption there, Captain,” said Commander Dacre.
    Cadan turned his head to meet her eyes. “So, it seems, is IPL.”
    For a second, silence hung between them, then the commander moved away, back toward her ship. “You’ll need to come to the nearest IPL command center so we can do what we can to sort this out.”
    â€œLook, Commander”—although Cadan’s voice remained steady, Elissa could hear an undercurrent that meant he was having to make an effort to keep it so—“this base, it’s full of refugees. It’s been attacked seven times already. I know IPL has a list of priorities, but these people are still in danger—”
    The commander gave him the briefest of looks over her shoulder. “Thank you, Captain, I’m well aware of the situation. How fast can you prepare one of your shuttlecraft to follow us to the city?”
    For a moment Elissa thought Cadan would try arguing further, but he said only, “It can be ready in ten