The Aurora Borealis Keeps Its Lament novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: No Rules

The pilot ate in the mess hall with his boots on, because he wanted to leave by dawn.

He was a broad, tired man who had flown two days around a storm, and he did not care about our trouble.

"Fuel and a passenger," he said to the chief. "That's what I was told. Fuel and one passenger."

Everyone knew who the passenger was.

Iker sat at the end of the bench with his hands around a cup.

He had said nothing since the lights came down on the ice.

"The order stands until the Institute changes it," said the chief, and he looked at his plate.

Paloma kicked me under the table.

I stood up.

"Then I'll say it plainly, so nobody can say later that they didn't hear," I said. "Doctor Montalvo is not getting on that plane without a fight, and the fight starts tonight."

"Alba," said the chief.

"I have the logs, I have the tapes, and I have a folder with a date on it." I did not look toward Sabina. "I'll tell you the rest in the morning. But tonight, I'm going to go and kiss him, and nobody here is going to stop me."

The pilot stopped chewing.

Paloma gave a shriek into her napkin.

Somewhere down the bench, the cook began to clap, slowly, and then the radio operator joined him.

Iker's cup rattled in its saucer.

His ears had gone dark red.

I walked out before I could think about it, and I heard his chair scrape back behind me.

The generator hut was the one warm place nobody ever wanted to sit in.

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