Stitching Snow Read Online Free

manage. But it was better than risking recognition with the hair I’d been born with.
    “Sorry,” he said, hesitating. Then, “Nice computer.” My pride and joy had been cobbled together one component at a time when I won enough shares to buy them, stitched together from scratch when I didn’t. I tapped the command to run another test on Zippy’s timing algorithms. In the green—
    supposedly.
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    “The junk-tech here is scrap compared to what you have on Garam, isn’t it?”
    He shrugged. “Looks like it does its job, and that’s what matters. Last night is a little fuzzy. Did you say something about not reporting me to the authorities?”
    “Not yet,” I said, keeping an edge of warning in my voice.
    I’d contacted Petey fi rst thing to fi ll him in, and he’d agreed to my wait-and-see approach. “The miners would say the authorities are more trouble than you’re worth, so just don’t go making enough trouble to change that.”
    “I’m very interested in being trouble-free. You also said we could go check on my shuttle?”
    “It’s a long walk. Sure you’re feeling up to it?” A glare was all the answer he’d give, and he did seem steady enough on his feet.
    “Right, fi ne. Just let me fi nish stitching up this circuit board.”
    “Stitching?”
    “Working microcontacts is the closest I come to needlework.
    It’s a bit of a joke for the men, so that’s what we call all my fi xing and coding and general fi ddling.” I made the last few connections to bring the drone back online and lugged it off the platform. “Right, then, Zippy. That should do you for now. Off to work you go.”
    Zippy whistled an acknowledgment and scuttled out past Dane. Still a little too fast to my eye. Maybe that one was a fi ght I’d have to forfeit.
    “You should eat something. Here.” I tossed Dane a nutri-bar, which he snapped out of the air. Good refl exes. “Your coat’s by the door. Bundle up.” Blazes, now I’m saying it, too. Of course, with Dane being from Garam, maybe it wasn’t stating the obvious.
    While he ate, I loaded a case with an assortment of gadgets 19

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    and gear. Not that I had any real idea what I’d need. Working on the drones was one thing—I’d spent most of my time in Settlement Forty-Two fussing with their inner workings, teaching myself how they ran. Off-planet shuttles, not so much. But Ticktock had enough tools built in to handle most things . . . I hoped.
    Dimwit held an interface cable I wanted, still determined to fi nd the perfect order for the set. When I tried to take it, the drone latched on with a grip I’d never break. I gave two useless tugs, then reached toward its shut-off switch. It let go.
    Dane was ready by then, so I shrugged into my own coat, slung the case over my shoulder, and shoved through the door.
    The pair of drones trailed after me, and Dane took the hint to follow. I let all of them pass so I could lock up. Despite his coat, Dane shivered.
    “It’s so dark,” Dane said. “Storm coming in?”
    “This?” I snorted. “No, cloudy through the day, clear at night . . . just another beautiful day on Thanda. Best way to keep warm is to keep moving.”
    The clouds may have meant no storm, but Dane quickly launched into a blizzard of questions. “What kind of robots are these?”
    “Mining drones.”
    “So why aren’t they in the mine?”
    “Because Ticktock’s loaded with a schematic of your shuttle, and because everyone agrees blowing up the mine is a bad thing.
    Not for nothing I call this one Dimwit.”
    “Dimwit Essie help Essie.”
    “And I can’t seem to correct that ‘loyal puppy’ programming glitch.”
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    We walked on, the faint hum and grind of machinery at the mine fading to nothing, leaving the quieter whirr and scuttle of the drones. Since Dane didn’t know where he was going, I had a ready excuse for keeping in front. As nice as it was to avoid his unsettling