CHAPTER 37
There’s an actual door at the top
of the slope, a solid metal one meant to keep stuff out. I
hope it’s well camouflaged on the other side. We pause here, with
freedom on the other side of the door. We’ll have to navigate the
lock to get out, but one thing at a time. At this point,
preparation is key.
“Is anyone bleeding?”
Jael asks. “Check carefully. I have some liquid skin if you are. We
need to seal you up.”
Everyone conducts an
inspection, and we find minor scrapes here and there. The merc
oversees the application of the liquid skin, making sure we’re
ready to go out in the wind. Dina’s fingers are raw from where she
hit the wall.
I find a scratch on
my elbow. Hell, I’m lucky it’s not worse, the way Jael hurled me
like a javelin. I’m not particularly aerodynamic.
“This might sting a
little,” Jael murmurs.
Why is he smiling? I
hiss as he squirts my elbow, and I feel the sealant bond with my
existing skin. Best bandage in a bottle that credits can
buy.
“Everyone good?”
Lofting the liquid skin, Jael checks us all one last time.
“I’m hungry, and I’m
sick of your face,” Dina bitches beneath her breath. Loud enough
for everyone to hear.
Jael really isn’t the
guy I thought, because he surprises me with a sharp laugh. “I’m
sure that goes for everybody else, too. But let’s break out the
paste. You make a good point. We don’t know just how far we’ll have
to hike to steal a ship.”
“What do you mean you
don’t know?” Hit jabs the merc in the chest with both index
fingers. I wince in sympathy, but he doesn’t seem to feel it. “I
thought you and the professor over here had things planned down to
the last millimeter.”
“I cannot take
topography readings underground,” Vel explains in a deceptively
mild tone. “But we will make for the nearest public hangar. If it
comes to it, we can stay there until the Conglomerate dispatches a
ship. There will be rudimentary amenities available.”
“Hit.” Dina puts a
hand on the other woman’s arm briefly. “Cool down. Shit, if I’m
willing to risk it with a bum leg, you can be sure these guys know
what they’re doing. ’Cause I don’t even like ’em. Especially
her.”
Now that’s the Dina I
know and love. Mary, I’m glad to see a spark. I flash her a broad
grin. “Right back at you, bitch.”
“If you say so.” But
the pilot does step back, looking perceptibly calmer.
Then we enjoy a meal
of nutri-paste. It’s been so long since I had real food that my
teeth feel like they’re getting soft. Maybe you can live forever
off this stuff as the manufacturer claims, but I’m starting to
think I’d rather die.
I daydream about
fresh fruits and vegetables, drizzled with a sweet tangy sauce.
Maybe some strong white cheese, just a bit smoky. Oooh, and hot
bread, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, brushed with
a hint of butter.
“Close your mouth,”
Jael whispers. “You’re drooling. If you’re not careful, people will
realize you’re thinking about me naked.”
“Only if you have a
warm baguette and a crock of butter in your hands,” I return
darkly.
He grins at me. “That
can be arranged.”
“I hate you.” I suck
down the rest of my paste, quietly stewing because he destroyed the
food fantasy that made this goop tolerable.
Vel clears his throat
with a look that manages to be vaguely disapproving. What? I didn’t
do anything.
“Next . . . we need
this.” The bounty hunter tosses me a tube of Thermud, and I eye it
with dislike. Merc grunts swear by this stuff, but surely we
don’t—oh, frag. Of course we do. We’re
about to emerge from a bunker in the middle of two clans at war. I
smear the stuff on without protest.
Hit, on the other
hand, looks at Vel like she thinks he’s crazy. “I’m already dark
enough to blend in, don’t you think?”
“Not for high-tech,”
Jael tells her. “This stuff scrambles your heat signature so it
bleeds off into the ground.”
“Making thermal
goggles useless.” She takes the tube from me and covers all her
exposed skin.
Dina uses it next,
but I can tell by her expression she thinks it’s a waste of time.
Her sled is pretty damn conspicuous. But
we can only do so much to stack the deck in our favor—got to leave
the rest to chance.
Too bad Lady Luck’s so often a bitch.
Watching Jael daub
himself, I can definitely tell he’s used it before. His hands
practically blur in the speed of the motions. “We all set?”
“How come he doesn’t
have to use it?” Hit jerks her head toward Vel.
Who manages an
approximation of a smile. He’s getting better at pretending to be
human. “Because I am special, of course.”
He ignores her
pissed-off exclamation as he goes to work on the electronic lock.
Right now the display shows red. If it requires a ret-scan or a
handprint, we are utterly screwed.
Or not.
Vel slips on a clear
synthetic glove, pulls the tips tight, and lays his palm on the
panel. The AI intones, “Thank you, Dr. Solaith. Clearance
granted.”
The light flashes
green, and the heavy door swings wide. That hint of a breeze we’ve
been feeling for a while turns into a gust. I drink it in without
minding the chill racing over me. It’s still winter, a lot of
darkness and short daylight hours.
“He was kind enough
to let me borrow his fingerprints before we left,” Vel says as he
steps out.
Tentatively, we
follow suit, single file, coming up against what seems to be a
rockslide. We sidle past the narrow gap, and for a moment, I’m
afraid Dina will have to leave the sled. I don’t know how the hell
we’ll carry her.
Without a word, she
straps herself in, lowers the back so she’s fully horizontal. She
tests the strength of her belts and then flips to vertical. Her
fingers seem sure on the buttons.
“I’m fine,” she says,
when Hit tries to help guide the sled. “I got this.”
Now and then she
scrapes the stone, throwing sparks, but she manages. I admire her
so damn much. But her face is taut with tension by the time we step
out onto the hillside.
“You okay?” I step
closer as she switches the sled back to chair
configuration.
“I gotta get out of
this thing,” she tells me, jaw set. “Or I’ll kill
somebody.”
“You will,” I
promise. “Get out of it, I mean. I’ll help. The killing probably
depends on how much they piss you off.”
I want to say more,
but this isn’t the time. We need to move. For just a moment,
though, I tip my head back, glorying in the icy stars.
From this higher
vantage, I see that the clansmen piled those rocks before the
opening to make it look like a natural formation. They did a good
job concealing their escape route; I’ll give them that. But it’s
not as impregnable as they thought. It’s compromised now, full of
dying McCulloughs and hungry monsters.
Mary, I hope March
makes it out of there. I touch the ring on my finger out of
superstition, faith, or some awkward marriage between the two. In
an effort to push back the pain trying to drown me, I suck in
several deep, gulping breaths of cold air.
He’s my pilot, and I have to fly without him
soon.
Jumpers aren’t made
for this.
I expected to emerge
amid the wreckage of the Gunnar-Dahlgren compound, but we’ve
surfaced well away from there. No broken machinery, no rubble. No
signs of bombardment. There are just barren hills, riddled with
signs of the honeycomb caverns that house the Teras.
The open worries me
more than the tunnels. Down there we could control the approach,
limit how many could get at us. Up here we’re free targets, dinner
afoot.
“No running,” Vel
cautions again. “We have no way of knowing how the Teras interpret
rapid footfalls or how far sound travels through the
caverns.”
“Do our best to step
lightly,” I say. “Check.”
The bounty hunter
pauses a moment to check the readings, and then adds, “This way. We
need to get as far from here as we can before daylight.”
“Why?” I ask before
Hit gets the chance, and she acknowledges it with a grin. I really
like her. She’s competent, confident, and doesn’t accept things at
face value.
If it wasn’t for the
fact that I’m missing March like a lost limb—glad I didn’t say that
aloud, or Dina would hurt me—I’d even be glad to have Hit as my new
pilot. I’m just not ready to make her part of me.
But when am I
ever?
“Because there’s a
storm coming.” Vel flashes his handheld.
The merc sighs.
“Looks like a lot of snow. We don’t have nearly enough survival
gear to handle that. We need to find a ship and fast. All right,
people, forced march, double time.”
We fall in behind Vel
in twos, Dina and Hit, then Jael and me. I hate how he won’t leave
my side now, as if trying to make up for his prior lack of
vigilance. I’m too tired to care at this point or work up any
rancor. I just wish he’d leave me alone.
“Damn, it’s cold.” I
don’t realize I’ve spoken aloud until I see his smirk.
“You should really
keep a coat in that pack.”
“You should really
fuck off and die.”
“Then who’ll save
your ass when you panic over a bit of barbecue?”
I give the response
my most withering tone. “The next monkey Tarn hires. See, that’s my
gift. Being the last one standing.”
“If everyone you give
a shit about is gone, sounds more like a curse.”
