by Chele Cooke
***
She had promised to meet Taye that afternoon in the hopes that they’d be able to find some of the items on Wrench’s list down in the Junkyard. While she had considered ripping out the list and simply giving it to Taye, she was now glad that in their slightly drunk state, she’d completely forgotten.
As she walked, she took the journal from her bag, placing marks next to the items that Beck had said he could find for them. They really were lucky that Beck thought he could get an absorber, as the likelihood of finding one in the Junkyard, or anywhere, was going to be slim.
The small device was Adveni by design and practically impossible to pronounce in Adtvenis, so it had been dubbed “absorber” by the people of Os-Veruh. It was only a small tab, the size of a coin, but when attached to a sheet of metal it absorbed the charge of a copaq weapon, or a less powerful cinystalq collar, rendering the shock administered useless. The Adveni had them attached to their shields when they fought to protect against being hit by their own weapons. Obviously none were offered to the Veniche, so the only way to get one was take down an Adveni in full combat gear. When Taye had asked Wrench, the Belsa explained that it was to do with the charge of an Adveni weapon, neutralising it by sending out an equally powerful counteractive charge.
Wrench had drawn a rough sketch on the back page of Georgianna’s journal of the collar, showing that when the collar was detached, the charge constantly flowing through it, usually administered in small doses to send a jolt of pain through the wearer, escaped and jumped into the nearest compatible substance, the neck of the person it had been fastened around. That amount of charge jumping straight into the body was enough to kill instantly, so the absorber was used to take away at least a portion of the charge. He couldn’t promise that Nyah would be completely unharmed. She might receive a burn from the overflow, but at least it wouldn’t kill her.
It was only as Wrench explained these things, how he would detach the collar and ensure that the charge went into the absorber and not Nyah, that he would need to be very careful to cut the right parts at the right time, that Georgianna fully understood how Wrench had earned his nickname.
Finding Taye in his tent, idly strumming on a guitar that Nyah had scraped money together for months to buy him, Georgianna slumped down onto the thin mattress he used as a bed.
“Beck can’t give us men for a guard,” she explained. “But he got two items off the list, including the absorber.”
Taye looked disappointed about the guard, but he couldn’t exactly be angry when Beck was offering them an absorber to use.
They made their way down to the Junkyard, though this time, instead of leaving Georgianna at the outer fencing, Taye took full responsibility for her with the guard and led her inside through the stacks.
The place was a maze, and an exciting one at that. Every way Georgianna looked there were different things to see. Every few seconds she had to stop herself from squeaking in excitement as she spotted something that she could use, and every thirty seconds or so, had to hold her tongue from asking Taye what the hell something was.
Finally coming to a break in the stacks, Taye turned to her.
“Ok, so what do we still need?”
Georgianna tugged the journal back out of her bag and opened it up. She counted down the list once before she went back to the top, glancing around her as she did.
“Ok, a silver or gold knife, a pair of hide gloves.”
“He doesn’t have gloves?” Taye asked, cocking an eyebrow in amusement.
“Burned out, apparently,” Georgianna explained. “Shows he’s done it enough times, I guess.”
“I guess,” Taye repeated. “What else?”
“Umm,” Georgianna murmured, scanning down the list. “Rubber sheeting.”
Taye nodded, glancing in each direction leading off from the gap in the stacks before he nodded more firmly. Setting off down the gap in front of them, he walked a few metres before stopping, looking at the shelves in front of him. Georgianna had to admit, it was pretty cool that they’d managed to build shelves in here. She could only imagine how it would have been if they hadn’t: piles of objects and supplies, with the thing you wanted down at the bottom. The problem, however, quickly became apparent as Taye looked up, and realised that even he wasn’t tall enough to reach the top shelf.
“Here,” Georgianna suggested, slipping the strap of her bag from her shoulder and dumping it on the floor. “Give me a leg up.”
Taye stepped away from the shelves, interlinking his fingers into a cradle, which he bent down to hold at a decent height for Georgianna to put her foot in.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
“Alright, up!”
Georgianna was pushed into the air. Kicking out, she placed her other foot on one of the mid-level shelves, pressing more weight onto that foot and using Taye to merely keep her steady as she picked up a box and lifted it from the shelf with one hand, peering in. She quickly replaced the box and took the next one, finding that it had the knives they wanted. A little blunter than perhaps would have been useful, Georgianna glanced down at Taye.
“Solid?” she asked.
Taye shook his head, and Georgianna sighed, placing the box back on the shelf and grabbing up the next. The knives in the next box looked much sharper. Thin and small, she had no idea what they were usually used for, but she took one out and placed it on a reachable shelf before putting the box back.
“Ok, I can come down,” she said.
Taye slowly lowered her back to the ground, Georgianna walking her hands down the shelves until she could place a foot on the ground and lift her other from the cradle of Taye’s hands.
“Alright, so that’s the knife,” Georgianna said, picking up the knife from the shelf and collecting her bag from the floor.
Luckily, the gloves and the rubber sheeting were much easier to find, and didn’t involve any more lifting on Taye’s part, as he insisted on making jokes about straining his back from lifting her for that short time. The first time, Georgianna was worried that he was serious, but when he grinned, she smacked him and moved along.
Once out of the Junkyard, Taye noted down what he’d taken, paying with some coins he’d earned from selling down in Rion district. It was tough, the money the guard asked for was easily enough to have cost Taye half a month to scrape together, even without having to feed and clothe himself. Still, Taye barely batted an eyelid and Georgianna realised that it wouldn’t have mattered if it were ten times that amount, he would have figured out a way to pay.
“You should keep those,” Georgianna said, handing over the items. “Seeing as I won’t be there.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Taye said slowly. “And I think I agree with Keiran, surprisingly enough.”
“Surprisingly enough, huh?”
“Well, yeah, alright, he isn’t as bad as I thought,” he admitted. “I really do appreciate him helping.”
“So you’ll stop badgering me about finding someone better?” She raised an eyebrow at him as they made their way down the tunnel.
“Yeah,” he said before smirking. “For a month at least.”
Georgianna laughed, step in step along with Taye.
“Make it three and we have a deal.”
“Deal.”
When they reached the tunnel entrance that led back down to the main line, Georgianna paused, expecting Taye to go back. However, from the way he was looking down the tunnel, Georgianna frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking that I should go see Nyah. Try to talk to her.”
Georgianna’s eyes widened and she reached out, taking hold of Taye’s arm.
“Taye, you can’t! What if you’re caught?”
“I’m smarter than that.”
“Yeah, and Nyah was smarter than attacking an Adveni. Things happen!”
Taye didn’t look convinced, which worried her. What if she left him and
he went over there on his own? As awful as it was to think, she didn’t actually trust Taye to be able to hold himself back.
“We need to tell her, so she can plan,” he insisted.
“We don’t even have a plan on how we’re getting her out of that house! What’s the point?”
“I have to see her!”
“Taye…”
“Come on, Gianna! You know she’ll need to know what we’re planning.”
Georgianna’s brow furrowed as she dug her hands into her pockets. She glanced towards the exit into the main line. Taye did have a point that Nyah would need to know about it sometime, but she still didn’t like the idea of Taye going over there alone. If he actually managed to speak to Nyah, if he saw her, would he be able to convince her to go back inside until they were ready? Would he even want to, or would he think that running that second might be better? Georgianna took a deep breath.
“Alright, but not now!”
Taye opened his mouth to argue but she placed a hand on his chest.
“No!” she insisted. “Not until we know when it’s going down and how we’re getting her out. Just a few days Taye, I promise!”
Taye finally nodded.
“Okay, but if you’ve not agreed in three days, I’m going.”
She didn’t like that ultimatum, but nodded just the same.
“I’ll see you in less than three days then.”
Taye didn’t wait for any long goodbyes. He turned away from her and walked down the tunnel back towards the Carae. Georgianna watched him until he disappeared into the darkness before she sighed and started down the thin tunnel towards the main line, for the first time in what felt like weeks, towards home.
25 The Other One
As it turned out, by the time it was finally decided that they would go out to the Adveni quarters with the hopes of seeing Nyah, Keiran had decided to come along as well. Because Georgianna would be at the compound when they went to get Nyah, Taye would need someone with him as a lookout. Wrench, it had been agreed, would be waiting in the Oprust district, keeping watch to check that no Adveni were on the scene and to set up the things he needed to remove the cinystalq collar.
Walking through the Adveni dwelling quarter, Georgianna looked around her every thirty seconds until Keiran snapped at her to calm down and cut it out. They weren’t doing anything now, they were just taking a look, so she didn’t need to look so worried. Georgianna had taken a trip down to Park Street, a centre of Adveni trade, going into one building after another asking if anyone had any deliveries that she could make in exchange for a few coins. Most had kicked her out pretty quickly, but finally a woman agreed that Georgianna could deliver a new tsentyl to an Adveni out in the dwelling quarter. Of course, Georgianna had been forced to give blood and the code to her own tsentyl to ensure safe delivery, but as she was perfectly happy to make the delivery, and had no intention of trying to steal the device, she happily accepted.
The walk was faster than before, no need to count houses or wonder at every junction whether they were taking the correct turning. The Adveni they were meant to deliver the tsentyl to lived right at the edge of the quarter, but instead of dropping it off when they passed, the device was still safely nestled in her bag, ready to use as an excuse if Nyah’s owner should see them.
It was lucky that Nyah had such bright, fair hair, for they saw her from a couple of hundred yards away, sat on the doorstep, a piece of Adveni armour across her lap and a device Georgianna didn’t recognise in her hand. Taye stepped forward to go to her, but Georgianna stepped in front of him.
“I’ll go,” she said firmly, earning herself surprised looks from both men.
“No, Gianna, come on,” Taye begged. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked, I’ve stayed away. Please, just let me talk to her?”
Georgianna shook her head resolutely. She felt bad, keeping Taye away from Nyah. She knew how much he wanted to see her, but she held her ground.
“George, why not just let him go?” Keiran asked.
“I asked about her in the compound. It would make sense for me to be seen. Plus, it’s for the same reason that I’ll not be here when you actually get her out: because they’d know I was involved. If anyone sees Taye talking to her, they’ll know who to look for.”
Georgianna placed her hands on her hips. She had to say she was rather impressed with her reasoning, especially when neither Keiran nor Taye could think of a reason to argue. Agreeing to wait on the turning to the next street, Georgianna walked with the men to the turning before she peeled off, crossing the street and making her way up towards the house.
She moved slowly, making a point to look at the numbers in Adtvenis written next to each door. Even turning back a few times, she finally approached Nyah.
“Excuse me?” she asked, stepping forward.
Nyah jumped and looked up.
“‘Gia…”
Georgianna gave her a quick glare and shook her head.
“Did the Adveni of this house order a tsentyl?” she asked, keeping her gaze fixed obviously on Nyah.
Nyah stared at her in confusion for a moment and finally smiled a little.
“No, he didn’t,” she answered. “But he’s not here right now. It’s just us.”
Georgianna’s expression split into a wide grin, but while she wanted to fling her arms around Nyah and hug her tightly, she restrained herself to simply reaching out and clasping Nyah’s hand.
“How are you, Nyah?”
Nyah put the armour on the step next to her, resting the device on top before getting to her feet. She gave a small smile and shrugged. Georgianna didn’t need more than that. No words would be able to explain how Nyah was coping with her current situation, certainly not “fine” or “okay”.
“And you?”
“I’m doing well,” she answered. Glancing over her shoulder for a moment, she turned back and smiled at Nyah. “Taye is here. He’s down at the next road.”
Georgianna nodded her head back in the direction where Taye and Keiran were waiting. Nyah glanced towards the house before sidestepping, looking down the street. From the longing that slipped into her expression, Georgianna knew that she had spotted Taye.
“How is he?”
“He’s fine. He misses you.”
Nyah gulped, and darted a glance at Georgianna. She got a worried expression and looked at the house again, taking a step back towards the doorway.
“Ny’,” Georgianna urged, making no move to reach the woman, but the desperation clear all the same. “We’re getting you out.”
The panicked look on Nyah’s face at those words was certainly not what she had expected. Her hand came up, touching the collar around her neck.
“No, it’s okay, we know. We saw you before. We have a plan,” Georgianna explained quickly. “We have someone who can remove that. He’s agreed to it already.”
“Really?” Nyah’s gaze fixed past Georgianna and onto Taye. “When?”
“Eight days,” Georgianna answered. “Sun-high.”
Nyah almost looked like she was lost in a daze as she nodded. Something was bothering her, though Georgianna couldn’t be sure whether it was simply the worry that something would go wrong. Glancing over her own shoulder, she spotted Taye and Keiran at the turning. Keiran looked like he was at least trying to appear natural, standing on the street corner. Taye, on the other hand, was staring in longing, shifting his weight continuously, like he might suddenly break into a sprint towards them. Georgianna quickly turned back to Nyah.
“You need to get outside. They can’t come into the house, but they’ll protect you as you run,” she continued. “Can you do that?”
Fixing her gaze onto Georgianna, Nyah nodded.
“I… I can, but Georgianna… Gianna I’m not the only one here.”
Georgianna frowned. She took a deep breath, ready to tell Nyah that no, they couldn’t get a lot of people out. However, when she opened her mouth, the words she was expecting didn’t come out
.
“How many?”
“Just one other,” Nyah said. “I can’t leave him. He’s been… he’s been all I’ve had to keep me going.”
Georgianna rubbed her hand over her face roughly. She couldn’t agree to this, not without talking to Taye, Keiran and Wrench. If Nyah was wearing a collar, then she could be fairly certain that this other drysta would be as well. She wasn’t even sure whether Wrench would even be able to remove two collars in the time they had. He would probably need more supplies, maybe even another absorber. Getting one had been lucky enough. She had no idea if Beck would be able to get his hands on another.
“Nyah, I…”
Georgianna swallowed back the lump rising in her throat. Under Nyah’s desperate gaze, she frowned and glanced back at Keiran. He met her gaze, a curious expression on his face as he took a step towards them. Holding up her hand, telling him to wait, she turned back to look at the house. The man was probably inside right now. She searched the windows, almost expecting to see him watching them.
“If we can’t find the supplies, if we can’t get help…”
Nyah grabbed her arm, holding on in a vice-tight grip.
“You have to find a way,” she exclaimed in a pleading breath. “He suffers far more than I do.”
Scuffing her foot against the dry grass, Georgianna bit on her lip, trying to think of a solution. Nyah glanced at the doorway, a panicked look on her face.
“Gianna… he’s a Belsa!”
26 One of Their Own
“Absorbers are rare, George. Why under the sun would you need two?”
Georgianna stepped further into the car and perched on the edge of the seat next to Beck.
“We went to see Nyah, the girl we’re trying to help,” she explained. “She says that there is another drysta there with her.”
“That’s risky. Those collars aren’t easy to remove and doing two in one go?”
“I know, but, Beck… He’s a Belsa. I can get you his name. The Adveni is a commander called Maarqyn Guinnyr. Nyah says he’s suffering.”
Beck didn’t meet her gaze as he rubbed his hand through his hair, a heavy furrow in his brow. He shifted in his seat and leaned forward onto his knees, staring at the crate in front of him.
“I’m sorry.”
Georgianna blinked and watched him in confusion. He was sorry? She didn’t understand why he would be saying sorry to her, unless it was an abstract apology to the Belsa under Maarqyn’s control.
“I don’t…”
“I can’t help you.”
“You can’t… You’re saying no?” she spluttered.
He glanced up, disappointed but resolute.
“I have to. It’s too high a risk.”
“But he’s one of yours!”
“You don’t know that,” he sighed. “This man could be lying to seem important to your friend. You know that Belsa are not sold.”
Georgianna turned, leaning across the gap between them. She grasped his arm, looking up at him, pleading.
“Beck, please.”
“Geor…”
“Why?” Georgianna cried. “I don’t understand!”
“Because I’m fighting a war, Georgianna!” he snapped. He shook her from his arm, getting to his feet so fast that he kicked the crate away from them and into the opposite wall. “I can’t risk a dozen good men to save one. You think I want to leave him there? I have no choice.”
She was on her feet right after him.
“You do. You could help us!”
A steely glare met her.
“I need to think of the people I have here. Those absorbers are hard to get hold of, and the time it would take to remove two collars would get all of you killed. I will not lose more men than I would save over this.” His glare, if possible, hardened further. “And you will not drag them in against my orders. Are we understood?”
The silence was bitter. She had always trusted that he was doing the right thing. Not any-more. This was not the man who had snuck them from the camp and taken them to see a mother bear with cubs, even though her father had told her that it was too dangerous. This was not the man who’d sat with her parents long into the night around a campfire.
Georgianna stepped back to the door.
“Not doing everything you can to save one of your own,” she muttered, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “Only thinking of the mission?”
She snorted in derision.
“You fight the Adveni, but you know, Beck… You’re just like them.”
