Wait. Did he say… fall in love?
“But, you know.” He shrugs. “You can’t fight fate, right?”
“No,” I say, dreamily agreeing. “You can’t.”
He reaches across the table and takes both my hands. There’s a little chill. A little shiver that runs up my spine at his touch.
There, I think. That’s the feeling. I think that’s the feeling. Instantaneous attraction when your genetically engineered soulmate makes contact.
Honestly, I figured it’d be a little more powerful, but we’re new. This is probably just stage one devotion. I’m sure it only gets better from here.
“So what do you say? Wanna forget about all this shit and have some fun? I’ve been told that this bot gives me jump-the-line privileges. We could ride everything, Delphi. Make the most of our unexpected Mighty Minions vacay.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Sounds fun.” And it really does, I’m not even lying. Hell, who am I kidding? He could say, “Wanna steal a Prime Navy ship and be wanted outlaws for the next hundred years?” and I’d probably agree to that too.
I just have an undeniable urge to be near him.
More proof, I decide. Just more proof that this is the real deal. I’m destined to be with Jimmy. He and I were, literally, made for each other.
“OK, so rides? You like slow, enjoy-the-view rides? Or fast, puke-your-guts-out rides?”
“All of them,” I say. Because I totally just got a vision of us riding the gondola all around this station as we hold hands and kiss. But if we do the scary-fast coaster rides I could cling to him like I was afraid.
God, I’m stupid. I’m a stupid lovesick outlaw princess who just found her outlaw prince.
And I don’t even care. Because when Jimmy stands up and takes my hand, leading me into the crowd of people to go searching for fun, I forget about Flicka being in lockup, Queenie planning my inevitable demise, and the Loathsome One waiting back at her lair, ready to do terrible things to me when she figures out I betrayed her, and yes, I might even almost forget about Tycho.
And the fact that I’m supposed to be saving him.
Jimmy’s wristband chirps an incoming message. “Oh, good,” he says. “Just got a return receipt for the neutrino call. Apparently this is a featured perk of my new Palladium Rewards status.”
“Hell,” I scoff. “For that price you should get Mighty Minions citizenship or something.”
“Right?” He laughs. “So… have you made up your mind about what we should do first today?”
But just as he finishes that sentence his wristband chirps another incoming message. “Hmm,” he says.
“What now? Don’t tell me they’ve slapped you with some service charge for the return receipt?”
“No,” he says. “Apparently we’ve been gifted a complimentary Mighty Boss Steed Tour of the interior forest.”
“What the hell is that?” I ask.
“No clue.”
The bot hovering over our heads suddenly flashes a hologram down into the space in front of us. Jimmy and I both step back in surprise when the Mighty Boss Steed appears in front of us, pawing the ground and snorting through flared nostrils in all his shining stallion glory as an advert for the Steed Tour begins to play.
“Get the most out of your stay on the Mighty Minions Resort by taking a once-in-a-lifetime adults-only steed tour,” an animated announcer-voice says. “Two hours of private, unlimited access to the gorgeous, well-groomed interior meadows in the Mighty Minion Forest on the back of the one-of-a-kind Boss Steed. The most realistic cyborg animal in the galaxy! Enjoy a private lunch in our secluded woodland cabin, swim in the secret Mighty Boss lagoon, find Mighty Boss’s hidden treasure in the secret grotto behind the waterfall, and complete your trip with a couples’ massage before returning to the park!”
“Well,” I say, looking at Jimmy across the hologram of the impressive steed.
“He had me at ‘adults only.’” Jimmy laughs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – JIMMY
Now this what I’m talking about.
The Boss Steed is an impressive cyborg animal. Standing more than two meters at the shoulder, its glossy coat some color combination I can only describe as blood-rust, and its black mane and tail long and flowing—it is quite simply, spectacular.
Also, maybe a little bit intimidating.
“I don’t know,” Delphi says, taking a step back from the animal. “We have to ride that thing?”
“Oh, let me be clear,” the ambassador woman checking us in says. “This borg is perfectly safe. He has been doing two tours a day for the past two decades and we’ve never had a safety issue. His core processor is equipped with a semi-sentient AI that will anticipate your every need. Trust me, he’s tame.”
He doesn’t look tame. In fact, he looks the opposite of tame. He looks like he’s about to ride into battle with Mighty Boss himself on his back.
“Is that smoke coming out of his nostrils?” Delphi asks.
“Just effects,” the ambassador says. Then she snaps her fingers and two more ambassadors appear with a rolling stairwell, presumably so we can climb up onto his back.