Sherrilyn Kenyon

“Hi, Mom…Yes, I know my heart rate’s dangerously elevated. That sound? I’m being shot at, Ma. Gotta go now. Love you much. Hugs and kisses. (Devyn)”

“Little late for that now. I don’t think an ‘Oops, my bad, my weapon accidentally misfired two dozen rounds’ will work to get me out of this. (Devyn)”

“Hey, Dad, you’ve got to taste what we just did. It’s actually good. (Omari)That is good. What did you two do? (Devyn)No idea. We just added spices until it didn’t suck anymore. (Omari)”

“The only person on this ship who gets paid for what they do is you, Alix. The rest of us live off our trust funds and we use those funds for our humanitarian missions. I do what I do because I can’t stand to see innocent people bullied by a corrupt government. I don’t want to see a baby starve and die because some fat politician wants to work its parents into the ground for a mineral most of them can’t even pronounce. (Devyn)”

“What if there is no dirt on Merjack?Oh, I can answer this one. (Omari raised his hand like he was in a classroom, then dropped it to his side.) We all die. (Omari)I just love teenage angst. By the way, chip, there are worse things in life than dying. (Nero)Like what? (Omari)Living as a slave. (Alix)”

“I’m telling you right now I could make him pop an aneurysm and no one would know. (Nero)Doesn’t that kind of murder bother you at all? (Alix)Given everything people have done to me in my life, little girl, especially in my childhood when I was helpless against them, humanity is lucky I’m not on a perpetual killing spree. As for the Merjacks…I owe them a debt that no amount of violence on my part will settle. So, no. Nothing about killing him would bother me. (Nero)”

“I’m not dead yet. It’s all good. (Omari)Good. That whole spontaneous combustion thing can be a real buzzkill. Ruins your clothes, too. (Nero)”

“Your dad called and sent me in with a replacement part. He doesn’t want you down for even a second. I’m also here to, and I quote your father, ‘Fuck up anyone who comes at you.’ (Nero)”

“I think we should kill her…What? She’s ruined my entire day. Made me fight with my wife and now you tell me she’s a spy sent to put us all under the jail. What part of ‘kill your enemies before they kill you’ did you sleep through? Your dad was an assassin, same as my mom. Don’t puss on me now, boy. You know what they’d do if they were here. Hell, your own mother would tear her up, spit her out in pieces, and not blink. (Sway)He’s right. None of you have any reason to help me. Why should you care? (She clicked the vid wall and a picture of a teenage girl was there.) That’s my baby sister, Tempest Elanari Gerran. Her birthday was day before yesterday. She turned sixteen in jail with my mother. I may be out of line, but I’ll bet when you guys turned sixteen, you had a celebration for it with presents and friends wishing you well. You won’t just be killing me. You’ll be killing them, too. Tempest is a prime sexual age and a virgin. Any idea what’s the first thing her new owner will do to her when she’s sold? I don’t want her to ever know the horror that was my sixteenth birthday. (Alix)”

“Let me tell you a story, Alix. This ship…the Talia? It’s named after my father’s older sister. She killed herself when she was fourteen because she couldn’t stand living the horror of her life for another day. With her death she both condemned and freed my father from his monster of a father. I never knew the pain of her life or his. But I named this ship after her to remind me of all the children out there like her and Omari…the children out there like your sister who are silent in their pain. They have no voice and no hope. But I hear them. Every time I think of my parents. Every time I see Omari, I hear the sobs that are kept inside for fear of it making their lives worse, and I will not stand by and see your sister torn apart by an animal. You help me nail him and I swear to you, I will lay Merjack down at your feet and hold him there while you take your revenge. (Devyn)”

“Because I took an oath to help people. To protect them from The League and any corrupt government. (Devyn)Yeah, and I know people better than to believe that for even an instant. Altruism is dead. People use and they take until you’re nothing but a bleeding corpse on the ground at their feet. (Alix)”

“In fact, my mother always says that emotions are what the gods gave us to distract us from the pain of life. They are what make life bearable and what keeps us going no matter how hard it gets. (Alix)”

“You know, Vik, you’re amazingly human at times. (Alix)I know. But I wonder if the feelings I have are real or just electrical stimulations in my cortex that simulate human emotion. I wish I knew if they were real or imagined. (Vik)And that makes you completely human, sweetie. We all have those doubts. (Alix)”

“But don’t you find the concept of love unusual? (Alix)Not at all. Love I understand completely. It’s hatred that puzzles me. I don’t comprehend finding pleasure in cruelty. (Vik)”

“Hi, Mom. (Devyn)It’s the other parental unit. Not as pretty or as fierce as your mother, but loving nonetheless. (Syn)”

“No one can make you feel low unless you allow them to. You’re not stupid, Alix. And you’re very beautiful. I just thought you should know that. (Devyn)”

“What hostile parasite is tunneling through her sphincter? (Zarina)”

“What are you doing here? (Devyn)I love you, too, Pookie Bear. (Zarina)”

“You want to start some shit, boy? Let’s go outside. (Devyn)Oh, good. I’m just in time for another round of Grand Testosterone Overdose. Ooooh, Alix, Claira…anyone got popcorn? Or maybe I should get Taryn? Then we could insult his manhood and watch him pop a gasket, too. (Zarina)”

“Happiest day of my life when my dad made him human. (Devyn)Happy for you, bonebag…It cost me my girlfriend. (Vik)It was a lamp, Vik, not a girlfriend. (Devyn)I really loved that lamp. She lit up my entire world. (Vik)”

“Sway says you’ve been taking really good care of him for me. (Claria)Well, his mom did a great job housebreaking him, so he doesn’t require too much work. Not to mention Vik doesn’t mind walking him once a day. It’s all good. (Devyn)You’re such a smartass. (Claria)”

“You know, Alix, men suck. Really. They are the worst. Come with me. I need an estrogen fix before their chromosomal defects contaminate me any further. (Zarina)”

“Fine. Sit around being inconsiderate asses…and you wonder why none of you are married. (Zarina)(Sway cleared his throat meaningfully.)Oh, shush. You don’t count. You had an arranged marriage. These losers can’t get a girl for more than three and half minutes it takes them to embarrass themselves with their feeble gropings that always disappoint. (Zarina)”

“Can’t you nudge her into submission? (Taryn)Are you kidding? As stubborn as she is? I’d fry my brain trying. (Sphinx)”

“I agree, Dad. I was just explaining to the woman why we don’t look anything alike and why you would have been younger than me when I was born. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you ‘cause you know I do. Make one snotty comment in anger when you’re twelve years old going through puberty and getting grounded, and you pay for it for the rest of your life. Parents ain’t got no sense of humor. (Omari)”

“I love you, man. You rule! Thanks for the food. It touches me deep in my tender place. (Sway)I don’t want to know nothing about your tender place, you freak. (Devyn)”

“After that, anytime she caught me near a kitchen she’d start in on me. So I have an automatic sphincter clench any time I reach for a pan. (Devyn)”

“They’re lucky I didn’t rip their arms off for touching her. (Devyn)”

“I ain’t apologize to no whore. (Irn)You don’t ever treat a woman like that. You apologize to her or so help me I’ll gouge out your eyes and shove them down your throat. (Devyn)”

“Sway’s an idiot who didn’t order them when we used up the last bunch. (Vik)Isn’t that your job? (Devyn)No. I’m the sub-idiot. Sway’s head idiot because the company refuses to deal with mechas. Since I’m not organic, they think I can’t pay. (Vik)Thanks, Vik. (Devyn)Ever my pleasure to irritate you, sir. (Vik)”

“And I’ve been your monkey ever since. (Vik)Nah. You’re not my monkey, Vik. You’re my bitch. (Devyn)Of course I am. And I’ll remember that the next time your shower door is stuck and you want me to open it…Wait. That does make me your bitch, doesn’t it? Damn, I’m whipped. (Vik)”

“Believe me, if I start getting sick, you’ll be the first to know since I’m sure it’ll be all over you. (Alix)”

“It’ll probably be brutal, too. They might even feed you to the dog. He doesn’t have a dog. Yeah, well, he might get one just to feed you to it.She’d never been the kind of person to let something as ridiculous as rational logic interfere with her fear.’ (Alix)”

“Any more bitching from the geriatric crew? What a bunch of old women. Should I hire another crewmate to change your bed diapers while I’m at it? Next time I’ll let The League have you. Vik, I’m relinquishing control back to you. (Devyn)It’s what I live for. By the way, ye organic life forms aren’t the only ones who’ve soiled themselves. Can I have a minute to attend my needs, Captain Asshole? (Vik)”

“Vik? You ready? (Devyn)Your stupidity is what I live for, Captain. (Vik)”

“No worries. They don’t scare me. (Devyn)All right, but if my brain matter ends up smeared against a wall, I’ll never forgive you. (Alix)”

“See, Sway, that’s what you get for flunking your pilot’s test six times…which I’m pretty sure is a record of some sort. If not for the actual flunking, definitely for the persistence in pursuing that which you obviously have no talent for. Personally, I wouldn’t let you fly a remote-control kid’s plane. (Vik)Shut up before I find a can opener. (Sway)”

“I swear you’re a woman. (Devyn)I would respond to that, but I don’t want to distract you while you’re attempting to drive and I’m dependent on you for my life. (Sway)”

“Hope you don’t mind my taste in music. I like a little backbeat when I launch. (Devyn)Just wait until you’re in battle with him. That shit’ll make your ears bleed. (Sway)”

“While there was a playfulness to their caustic bards, there was also an aura of “I’ll kick your ass back to the Steel Age if you so much as breathe my air the wrong way.”’ (Alix)”

“I’m enchanted by your beauty, my lady. Welcome aboard. You make a most welcome addition to our acerbic company…a lovely-smelling one, too. (Vik)”

“Vik is our– (Devyn)Man-bitch. (Sway)”

“Excuse me, scary people. (Alix)”

“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not a plethora of engineers here. (Devyn)Plethora? What kind of girl word is that? (Sway)”

“I suggested we hire a new engineer, but someone ignored me. (Vik)And what was I supposed to do? Shit one out? (Devyn)”

“Are we just going to stand here taking pot shots at each other? Or can we focus our collective ADD on getting us off this shit hole? (Devyn)”

“Dammit, Vik. How can you not know what’s wrong with this thing? Can’t you commune with it or something? (Devyn)My name is not ‘Dammit, Vik’ and I find it ironic that you think I can commune with all metal beings when you can barely communicate your point of view to your own parents. And they birthed you. I did not give birth to this ship. Last time I checked, I was male and that would be impossible on a multitude of levels. (Vik)”

“Move or die. (Quills)Never give someone a choice that doesn’t leave them with any way out except to hurt you. (Devyn)”

“In all the universe, your mother is the only thing that truly scares me, especially where you’re concerned. I don’t ever want to be on her dark side. (Adron)Ha ha. And need I remind you my mother wasn’t the one screaming at the pool when you got shoved in. (Devyn)Yeah, all right, so we both have screwed-up, irrational mothers. (Adron)”

“So what brings you here? (Devyn)People needed killing. (Adron)”