by F P Adriani
At first his face twisted and shook; then his expression faded into a frustrated sigh. “I never said that. I’m not saying don’t care. But how much? People are alive here now. That guy could have killed you tonight! Chuck said you just took off after him. You didn’t think first.” He sat up. “And I know all about this stuff too—you’re not the only one who lost a parent as a kid. My dad’s getting killed also killed my family. It pretty much destroyed my life.”
His words really weren’t helping me: I finally realized that he had unnaturally lost his father too young just as Hu had. This was something they had in common. Then again, I’d also lost a father while young. I just had the added misery of losing my mother too….
“Tan, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m changing into my sweatsuit. Then I’m going to try to get some sleep.”
“Well, all right. Me too,” he said, his slim torso falling back hard onto the mattress.
*
For the second time on the transport, I woke up with my heart pounding and my hand on my gun. There was a rustling noise nearby…but it was only Tan.
“I’m sorry, Pia,” he said in a soft voice. “Had to use the bathroom. And I wanted to check on what’s going on. Nothing bad’s up. Chuck’s out there haunting the hallways with his gloominess, keeping the ghouls at bay.”
I laughed, but it was a soft weak sound. I felt so tired now, so drained.
“Come in here with me,” I said.
I felt him slide into my bed. It was a narrow single mattress, but I suddenly didn’t care. I pulled his arm to wrap tighter over me. “I’m so tired….”
“I know,” he replied as his hand slid beneath my sweatshirt. And that was how I fell back asleep—with Tan’s hand on my breast.
*
When I next woke, I felt better. Tan was still squished beside me, but when I moved to get up, he barely noticed; he simply rolled over and took over the whole mattress space.
My mouth was dry and smelly. I had to piss and shit. Holding my little overnight case, I left the room and went to the bathroom, using the toilet first, then showering, then dressing in jeans and a t-shirt, then brushing my teeth, then sipping water from the tap using my cupped right hand.
I looked at myself in the mirror there and suddenly remembered the night before’s events, suddenly remembered the connection: Ronin, my parents, possibly Amy too, and then Julianne.
I left my bag on top of the sink and went in search of more answers. I found a few on the bridge.
Seated in the pilot’s chair beside Gerry, Hu was drinking something from a mug.
She nodded at me as I walked in. “Another two hours to our destination,” she said.
“That’s fine, but I’m worried about Julianne.”
“Don’t be. Between the police and my people, she’s all right. Your friends too. I’ve got someone keeping an eye and ear there.”
What on Diamond should I think about that? After all, the last time she had someone watching people here, that someone was John and, apparently, he had been working for the other side. I also wasn’t so sure I wanted Hu’s friends near my friends. Plus, Hu’s people watching them could actually put my friends in jeopardy. Although…it was really too late for that, as Nell had been with me on Hera and Roberto had been dealing with the Castano place directly. No way for the two of them or any others near me to be totally out of this.
I sighed because I’d long ago lost control of the whole situation, and I now felt pulled about by events rather than like a puller of events.
I looked out the window and noticed that the usual high-speed transport blurriness seemed a damp blurriness today. “Great,” I said. “Rain.”
Hu was frowning at the window now. “Apparently, where we’re going will be raining too. I’m wondering what else can go wrong.”
“Don’t tempt the Universe,” I said.
She did one of her curt snorts. “You shouldn’t worry about the rain. We’ve got tents and slickers.”
“Slickers or not, the rain’ll slow us down through the forest.”
“Chuck’s been looking over the notebooks more and the coordinate location on the navigation controls. It might be more open there…well, he’s not sure. But maybe it won’t be as bad a hike as we think.”
I didn’t respond. Then Hu finally said through a small frown, “I’m trying to come up with something to keep us motivated on the end-goal.”
“Which goal is…? Even if we find something important, then what? I keep asking myself that, and coming up with no answers.”
Her cool brown eyes were on me. “Don’t expect to get any answers from me at this time.” Now her eyes shifted back to the window, very fixedly, as if I were no longer there.
I couldn’t figure out if she meant she wouldn’t give me any answers or she simply didn’t have any to give.
I threw up my hands in a brief surge of frustration. Then I left the bridge.
*
Back in the bunk room, Tan was still asleep, but he stirred as I moved around the beds and gathered my stuff together.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” I said, looking over at him now.
His messy hair was anvil-like tilted up on one side, and one of his eyes was still closed as he stared at me through the other eye. “What time is it?”
“I have no idea.”
“Are we getting close to the mountains?”
“Yeah. You better get moving. And take a shower. It might have to last a while.”
*
We finally landed on the plateau that connected the small Astrals with the rest of the mountain range; this was as close as we could get to the larger interior Astrals.
Fortunately, Chuck’s calculations and equipment indicated we didn’t have to on-foot traverse the largest Astral, just the second-largest. Between those two mountains sat a flatter elevated area, where the exact spot we had to reach lay. However, as Hu had indicated, by law no unauthorized vehicles were supposed to fly over the interior Astrals, and the spot was too forested for safe landing anyway.
So, basically, we’d have to walk to, up and around the second-largest mountain to the other side….
I was sighing as we stepped out of the transport and onto the plateau; we lingered there rechecking our packs while we waited for Chuck to finish calibrating his topographical equipment.
I looked at Tan, whose body was hidden beneath a bunch of stuff about as much as mine was hidden: his camouflage-jacket-and-slicker-covered back bore the weight of a large knapsack, containing water, a change of clothes for him, and some other things; inside my brown backpack sat my case, plus a change of clothing and some first-aid supplies. Unfortunately, I also had to carry a fully collapsible tent inside another pack and strapped to my back. But at least this pack was more an awkward load than a heavy one.
Chuck had a tent attached to his back too, and he was wearing jeans, a sweatshirt and a jacket beneath his camouflage slicker. So was Hu—the first time I’d seen either of them wearing anything other than robes. They now looked like normal Diamond people….
The Joker suddenly stepped out of the transport, followed by that guy with the let’s-fight face. I hadn’t seen him since the Burroughs meet-up.
But now Hu formally introduced him with, “This is Cal,” and The Joker with, “This is Jeremy.” Unlike the rest of us, they had two big guns strapped to their backs beside their packs.
I looked beyond them, up toward the second-largest mountain, which sat behind another smaller mountain. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining badly here; only an annoying misty drizzle fell, which blanketed everything in a wispy haze.
My eyes slowly traveled over the more visible spots on the mountains, over the red sections of palellas, the green of the wire-leave trees, over the tight-looking black brush in some spots, the brown earth in other spots. On this side the mountains looked so dense. How would we cut through….
As if in answer to my question, Jeremy suddenly handed a laser cutter to Chuck.
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“With this,” Chuck said, “we should be able to make it up, no problem. Got everything?” He looked around at everyone, but I never heard if they responded.
I thought back to my childhood. I’d never been on the actual mountains ahead of us, but I’d been on the other side of this plateau. I remembered standing inside the settlements there, I remembered looking up and seeing the dark mountainous shadows lurking beneath the pale purple clouds. The mountains seemed so solid, so eternal…but today I wondered if maybe they weren’t so solid and eternal.
I said now, “But shouldn’t we not cut through the vegetation? I thought this is a nature preserve….”
“We’ll do the best we can and disturb as little as possible,” said Hu.
I sighed. “Well, I guess that might all be irrelevant soon.”
“Don’t think like that,” Hu said sharply, as if admonishing me.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t feel very positive right now.” I hitched my backpack higher and started walking toward the mist-laden mountains.
*
Inside the forest, where the vegetation densely hung over our heads, water accumulated on the branches and leaves, and dripped down onto our slickers from those natural conduits. We were walking not even two hours before the water was stream-like falling off our slicker-visors to in front of our faces, and our boots were caked in mud, which made the going even rougher.
Hu, with her bad leg, slipped a couple of times. After the second time, when Chuck pulled her up from the ground again, she yanked her arm from his grasp and said in a frustrated voice, “I’m all right—I’m all right.”
So far we hadn’t been walking up much of a slope; I wondered what she’d do if we ever reached a really steep part….
We continued on and, thankfully, the rain gradually lessened until it totally stopped. The ground was still wet of course, but at least we didn’t have water attacking us from every direction….
Suddenly I heard a sharp cry from behind me. My head spun around, and I saw Hu bent over clutching at her leg. “Dammit,” she said. “I’ve got to stop. I need another shot.”
“Now?” Chuck asked, frowning.
“Yes, now!” She pushed sideways against a tree’s trunk and used that solidity to slide herself to the ground. Her eyes looked up at me from beneath her lowered red brow. “Pia, I need your help.”
I stood staring down at her for a moment, staring down at her weakened state. Then I sighed, dropped my packs onto the ground, and moved toward her.
“Why don’t we all take a break,” Chuck said.
“Actually, I’m going to take a leak,” said Tan as he disappeared back down the way we’d come.
“I need privacy,” Hu said to Chuck now. And he and the other two men also disappeared.
She looked at me again. “The pocket—on my pack. There’s a medical kit in there….”
I found it, and she looked up at me with a pained expression. “Now for my pants—grab here. I’m going to be even wetter after this….”
Holy christ, here I was helping Arlene “Princess” Hu take off her pants! If only the world could see me now…. Some people would have loved to have her in front of them in such a disadvantaged state.
We finally worked down her pants, mostly on one side, where shorts-like white underwear covered her hip. Her leg beneath looked almost as pale as her underwear, and now she shifted till her white hip was in the air. “Can you do the injection?”
“Me?” I said, sort of cringing backward.
She sighed hard. “Don’t tell me you hate needles. That’s why I didn’t ask Chuck. His passing out is all I need right now.”
I almost laughed. A big tough guy like that afraid of a little pricking….
“No, I’m not scared,” I said. “I just don’t see why you can’t do it….”
“My hands are shaking too much—in too much pain to do it right. Near the joint, between my hip and thigh, here….” Moving her underwear aside, she pointed to the general area on her pale skin, her breaths coming harder now.
I held up the syringe, flicking at it till there were no air bubbles; then I pierced her. It took some mental effort to keep me from jabbing her too hard….
As I slowly released the medicine, her eyes watched me. She began speaking in a low voice. “I got hurt there once, when I was a teenager, had a bad fall. For years it only rarely bothered me. Then I re-injured it months ago and it hasn’t stopped bothering me since. Aging.”
The medicine had finished pumping, so I put the equipment back into its case as she worked up her pants again. At that moment I realized that I, too, had an old leg injury—a knee one. And it wasn’t exactly feeling so swell right now. Still, I had a lot more strength than Hu….
“You don’t look too hot,” I said to her then because, well, she didn’t. Her lips were a bit blue, as was her damp face.
“It’ll pass,” she said, “when the medicine kicks in. In a few minutes, I’ll start feeling better.”
“Is it just a pain-reliever or does it heal too?”
“It’s supposed to do both, but I’m feeling a bit dubious at the moment,” she said on a smirk.
Then she starting talking more, confiding in me, it seemed; maybe the medicine had cut down her psychological defenses, or her common sense….
“I might need an operation—better get it before I make my deal.” Her mouth turned down sourly. “I hope everyone’s happy with what they get. Some people will celebrate seeing me behind bars. But a lot of people will be disappointed. And angry. I’ll have to mitigate that somehow—but from behind bars? I don’t know how. That’ll be up to Chuck.” At her mentioning his name, her face softened, but then an instant later she frowned hard. “We’ve been tight together for five years—we haven’t spent even a day apart. I really don’t know what will happen to him, being without me. I don’t know how he’ll function.”
At first I just looked at her, wondering why I should give a damn about her problems. She had been a menace here for so long…but maybe not as big a menace as I’d thought.
I frowned too now, thinking. “You know, if you got married, you’d probably be allowed conjugal visits. Once a week I think is the usual.”
Her eyes suddenly shot up to me as she said, “You’re lucky.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Never mind.” She shook her head slowly, somewhat sadly, looking at the ground again. Then: “I think…my leg’s feeling better. I’ll try getting up.” She did, but she couldn’t make it at first—until I grabbed her by the elbow and gave her a yank up and a solid footing with that yank up; I stood there while she leaned her weight against my arm.
“Chuck!” she called into the forest. “In about twenty minutes, we’ll get moving again!”
There was no reply. But Jeremy showed up nearby. “He went to piss. We’ve all been doing that.”
“Not all of us,” Hu said, frowning.
Now I realized that, before, she probably had to piss too, but she didn’t want to ask me to help her with that. Good thing she didn’t because I doubted I would have helped her there. I had to draw a line somewhere.
*
Ten-minutes later the medicine seemed to have finally kicked in to-the-max: Hu disappeared into the forest, saying, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Tan showed up again then. “Well? What are we doing?”
“We’re waiting for her,” I said.
“Even when I’ve gone swimming, I’ve never felt this wet,” he said to me now. He was frowning and adjusting his slicker over his matted-to-his-wet-head black hair. My right hand reached out, touched his pale sad face. His head jerked to me and his cold tight lips quickly kissed my palm.
“Maybe we’ll dry off soon,” I said in a soft voice. “Like at night, in the tent.” Which I really hoped was still dry in its supposedly waterproof pack.
*
Night eventually surrounded us, but we still pressed onward.
When he didn’t have to cut t
he way ahead, Chuck remained at the back of the group as he shone a bright floodlight at the rest of us up front. But the forest still seemed so endlessly black beside the beam, as if the immense night would eventually swallow all the light.
“We’re probably the only living things here, but this is still creepy,” I said to Tan as we moved beside each other.
“I’m getting really tired,” he replied then, his voice flat with exhaustion.
“Shouldn’t we stop soon?” I called over my shoulder. “How far have we gone?”
Chuck’s light stopped moving because he had. He was staring down at his digital counter. “Almost half the way. The rain and then the dark slowed us down. We’ll make better time tomorrow. Let’s look for a spot to camp.”
We found a largish slightly open area where the humus was so thick and the natural mulching process so constant that no forbs grew beneath the huge trees. We set up the tents and from his pack Cal pulled out a small gas cooking and heating stove—at least it looked small. But once he’d fired it up, it threw off quite a bit of heat and light.
We laid our slickers over the waterproof tent tops—except for Hu and her slicker. She pretty much collapsed onto the ground, sitting right in front of the stove. Beneath her slicker, her hands rubbed her leg.
“You need another shot?” Chuck asked.
“No. I need to get warm. I feel too stiff there.”
Now he bent over her and began rubbing at her jeans too. He also began giving orders; Cal and Jeremy were to take turns guarding while the rest of us slept. Cal would sleep first for several hours, then Jeremy would wake him up and take Cal’s guarding place.
But for now we all needed to eat and drink.
Chuck quickly laid out some flat rubber cushions for us to sit on; then he passed around complete-meal bars. We drank hot herb tea with them, except for Jeremy who said he’d make coffee to help him stay awake.
“No,” Hu told him then. “You go get some sleep. We’ll be up for a few hours more. We’ll wake you before we head into the tents.”
