Eyas got to her feet and picked up her pillow, knowing maintenance had a thousand more important things to fix right now. Besides, her stomach was growling louder. She’d never solve anything hungry.

Kip

This was, hands down, the worst night of Kip’s life.

He sat in the living room, opposite his parents at the low table. Grandma Ko was doing whatever in the background. Messing with plants. He didn’t care.

‘We’re not mad, Kip,’ Dad said.

‘I’m mad,’ Mom said. She stirred a steaming mug of tea.

‘Okay, your mom’s mad. I think it’d be a good idea—’

‘No, wait, he needs to understand why he’s in trouble.’ She set down her spoon. ‘It’s not because you went to a club. It’s really important that you understand that.’

‘That’s right.’ Dad did that dorky pointing thing with his index finger that he always did when he thought he was saying something smart. ‘We’re not mad because you wanted to have sex.’

Kip would’ve given anything in that moment – anything – for an oxygen leak, a stray satellite, a wormhole punched in the wrong place. Anything that would swallow him up and bring a merciful end to this conversation.

But instead, Mom kept talking. ‘That part’s okay. That’s normal.’

‘Absolutely,’ Dad said. ‘I remember what it was like to have all those hormones going around, all those urges – I couldn’t stay out of the clubs when I turned twenty.’

‘Me neither,’ Mom said. ‘Twice a day, sometimes.’

Kip buried his face in his hands. ‘Can we . . . maybe . . . not?’

Grandma Ko looked over from her plants and laughed. ‘It’s not like you and your friends invented sex, kiddo,’ she said. She pointed back and forth between his parents with her gardening clippers. ‘You wouldn’t be here otherwise.’

A rogue comet. A Rosk battlecruiser. A face-eating alien plague. Anything.

‘The reason you’re in trouble,’ Dad said, ‘is because you lied and you broke the rules.’

‘He broke the law, Alton,’ Mom said. ‘Not just Fleet law. GC law.’ She looked at Kip with that look that meant the next tenday or so was really going to suck. He could already picture the lengthy list of chores that was going to appear on his scrib after this. ‘The only reason you’re talking with us and not a patroller right now is because that host at the club cut you and Ras a break. Tampering with your patch is not a joke, Kip.’

‘I know,’ Kip mumbled. The faster he agreed with them, the faster this might be over.

‘That hack you boys used could’ve uploaded anything. It could’ve carried a virus that messed with your bots. You know that’s what happened to those people on the Newet, right?’

‘I know, Mom.’

‘One person went to an unlicensed mod vendor, and the next thing you know—’

‘My patch is fine,’ Kip said. ‘You made me scan it, like, five times.’

‘That’s not the point,’ Mom said. ‘The point is, you did something illegal and dangerous. You got lucky.’

‘Not in the way he was hoping,’ Grandma Ko laughed.

‘Grandma,’ Mom said. ‘Please.’

Grandma Ko put up her hands in surrender and kept working.

‘Tika lu, okay?’ Kip said.

The look on Mom’s face somehow got even frostier. ‘In Ensk.’

Oh, stars, was she really going to get on his ass about that? Fine. Fine, whatever it took to get him out of there. ‘I’m sorry. All right? I don’t know how many times you want me to say I’m sorry.’

‘We know you’re sorry,’ Dad said, ‘and we also know you want to get out of here. But you need to know the score, son.’

‘I get it,’ Kip sighed. ‘I do, okay? I get it.’

Mom tapped her fingers against her mug. ‘When do you start your next job trial?’

Ah, shit, Kip thought. He mumbled a response under his breath.

‘What was that?’

‘I haven’t signed up for one yet.’

The look on Mom’s face got worse. Kip could see three more to-dos being added to his list. ‘You were supposed to sign up for another before your last one ended,’ she said.

‘I forgot.’

‘Kip, we talked about this,’ Dad said.

‘Okay, so, first thing tomorrow, you’re signing up for a job trial,’ Mom said. ‘And until it starts, you come straight home after school so you can help your hex. No sims, no cafes, no hanging out wherever it is you hang out. There are a lot of projects in the neighbourhood that need some extra hands right now.’

Kip reeled. ‘But I probably won’t start another trial for a tenday.’

‘Yep,’ Mom said.

No way. No way. ‘That’s not fair!’

‘You’re home instead of in detention. You don’t get to complain about fair right now.’

Dad put his hands flat on the table. ‘All we’re asking is for you to clear your head and get focused,’ he said, his voice irritatingly mellow. He often did this thing where he wanted to sound all reasonable and cool even though he was just agreeing with Mom. It drove Kip nuts.