by Speer, Flora
“Don’t move yet,” Gaidar cautioned almost soundlessly. “There’s an old Cetan trick.”
For a long time there was no sound but the bubbling of the pit. Then the door opened again.
“Anything?” It was the first voice they had heard.
“Not a sound. No movement.” That was the second man, and Narisa realized he had been standing just above them all the time. “I thought that trick might draw them out, if they believed we had both gone. If they were here, they are dead. We may as well go see what the other search party has found. Remind me to order those hinges fixed.”
The door closed again, and again Gaidar made them wait for what seemed to Narisa an eternity. At last he paddled out from under the stone ledge and looked around.
“They’ve gone,” he whispered, “but be quiet. They might have left a guard outside the door. That’s a Cetan trick - to pretend you’ve gone and then come back again, but Cetans do it twice. These men are lazy.”
“Perhaps it’s the smell that drove them away,” Suria suggested sourly.
Gaidar did not answer. He was heaving himself up onto the ledge. Once there he pulled the two women out.
“Look at me.” Suria held out her slime-covered hands, then tried to wring out her clothing. “I’ll never get clean again. I can’t walk in these clothes.”
“Would you rather be dead?” Gaidar asked rudely.
“She has a point, Gaidar,” Narisa interrupted. “Our clothes are so weighted down with dirt from the pit that it will be hard to move quickly. And they’re dripping, so if you plan to walk along this ledge to the opposite side of the cave, we will leave a clear trail for anyone to follow.”
“What do you suggest? A bath and clean clothes?’1
“I know what I’m going to do.” Suria unfastened the top of her garment and let it drop, then pulled down her trousers. She kicked both into the pit. She was still very dirty, but in her underclothes she could move more easily.
Narisa followed suit, tossing jacket, scarf, and dress into the lake, but like Suria, retaining her boots and undergarments. Gaidar looked at them, his golden eyes lingering a little longer over Suria’s luscious curves than on Narisa’s slimmer figure.
“How are you going to walk through the Capital unnoticed once we get out of here?” he asked.
“I’ll worry about that when we do get out,” Suria told him pertly. “I suggest we hurry. All exits from Leader Tyre’s house must have been covered by now, and it probably won’t be too much longer before someone thinks of the sewer outlets.”
Gaidar nodded approvingly and pulled off the servant’s garments Kalina had sent for him, retaining only his boots and a loincloth that barely covered him.
Even coated with grime, his tall figure with the massive shoulders was impressive. Narisa noticed Suria looking at him. Well, why not? Poor Suria had only had Leader Tyre to look at for a long time. Gaidar was a good deal more manly and attractive, and the way he looked at Suria suggested something more than mere admiration. Narisa shook her head in amazement at her own thoughts. A few weeks ago she would never have dreamed of approving the pairing of a woman of the Jurisdiction with a Cetan.
Narisa left them to follow her and led the way along the ledge, heading toward the far side of the pit. They had to walk carefully because at intervals along the ledge there were gaps in the stone, inlets where more sewage entered the pit.
“I think this cave serves more than one building,” Gaidar said, “so we may be outside the Leader’s house already. It may be that his men are prevented by law from following this system beyond his own house. Let us hope so.”
Just opposite the door where they had entered the cave was another door, this one of smooth, heavy metal, which spanned the outlet channel from the pit.
“There is no way we can open that,” Suria said.
“No, but we can swim under it.” Narisa pointed to the space between the surface of the sewage and the bottom of the door. “I wonder what we will find on the other side?”
Suria shrank back. “I don’t want to go into that vile mess again.”
“Then stay here and rot.” Gaidar was into the pit and edging his way along the side of the outlet channel. “It isn’t very deep. I can stand here. It doesn’t matter what is on the other side, Narisa. I’m going on.”
Narisa did not want to re-enter that lake of sewage any more than Suria did, but she could see no other choice. Sooner or later Leader Tyre’s guards would come back to the cave in search of the fugitives they had not found. She would rather drown in sewage than be caught by them. She got into the outlet channel beside Gaidar. Suria joined them.
“It’s nicer here than in Leader Tyre’s bed,” she explained. “Don’t look at me so scornfully, Gaidar. I never went to him willingly, but if I hadn’t pleased him, I would not have been able to get into your cell and free you. Nor would I have known that he planned to have you killed tonight, and Tarik and his family, too.”
Gaidar did not respond, though Narisa thought the hard expression on his face softened a little. He went to the metal door and felt along its edge with one hand, then ducked under it. A moment later his arm appeared beneath the door, motioning for them to follow him. Narisa and Suria went under the door together.
They came out into a brightly lit, white-walled room. The sewage from the cave flowed through the channel where the three of them stood, then downward into a round pool in the center of the room where gleaming silvery metal machinery poured chemicals into it. A series of open metal walkways crossed the room at several levels. There was a man standing on one of the walkways, apparently checking the processing sequence. His back was to them; they were as yet unseen.
Gaidar pointed to a metal ladder set into the wall of the channel beside them. The ladder extended upward out of the channel and along the chamber wall to meet each of the walkways high above them.
“The only door I can see,” Gaidar said in a low voice, “is that one, just past the man on the walkway. There is no way out at our level. We have to climb up there.”
“We can’t cross on that level without being seen,” Narisa objected. “The man will see us and give an alarm.”
“We could do it,” Suria whispered, “if we climb all the way to the top of the ladder and cross on the walkway above him. Then we could drop down on top of him.”
“Or fall into the vat of chemicals and sewage below. Still,” Gaidar said, considering, “it’s a good idea. We should go up the ladder one at a time. You first, Narisa.”
She began to climb, finding it a slippery business with her hands and feet wet from the pit. She went up slowly and carefully, not daring to look toward the man on the walkway, just setting one hand and one foot at a time on the ladder, up and up and up until she began to think the ladder would never end and she must be spotted soon.
At the top at last, she pulled herself onto the open walkway and crawled behind the railing, trying to make herself smaller. She moved along the metal grid that was the floor of the walkway to let Suria crouch beside her. Gaidar came last, and at his nod, Narisa began to run, still crouching, toward the center of the processing room. It was there that the walkway they were on crossed the lower one. At that spot they would have to drop to the lower walk, overcome the man still standing on it and then get to the door they could see at the far end of that second walkway.
Narisa stopped thinking about whether they could do it or not. She cleared her mind of fear and worry and concentrated on the steps she would need to take to get the job done. Rigorous Service training had taught her to function this way, and she sensed that Suria, directly behind her, was doing the same thing. They came to the middle of the walkway.
“Suria, you find the exit from the plant,” Gaidar whispered. “Narisa, keep the way clear for her.”
He disappeared over the side of the walkway. Narisa went to the other side of the walkway and dropped over the edge, holding on tightly to the metal grid on which she had been standing, her legs da
ngling into empty air. She heard a shout, and glancing downward saw Gaidar wrestling with the man who had been standing below them. She let herself fall to the lower level, landing hard on another metal grid floor. She bruised her knee, and it hurt badly, but she had to get out of Suria’s way so she could jump, too. She pulled herself upright, hanging on to the railing. Suria hit the floor of the walkway beside her and rolled nearly to the edge.
Someone had heard the noise. Another man was coming toward them from the doorway they had to use. Narisa forgot her sore knee.
“I’ll stop him,” she told Suria. “You get past us and find that exit.”
She stood up before the oncoming man, her arms spread wide. He stopped for an instant, shocked at the sight of a filthy, nearly naked woman standing on a walkway high up in the processing room. During that brief hesitation Suria brushed past him and ran for the door at the far end of the walkway.
“Wait!” The man turned, uncertain whether to go after Suria or confront Narisa.
Narisa solved the problem for him. She gave him a hard push that bent him backward over the railing, and she kept on pushing. The man let out a cry and tumbled from the walkway, his fingers grabbing at the grid floor as Narisa herself had done a few minutes before.
“Help me!” he cried, his eyes wide with fear. Below him the processing vat bubbled softly.
“Help yourself,” Narisa told him. “Work your way along the grid a few feet and drop down to the walkway at the next level. You can save your own life if you want.”
“Stamp on his fingers,” Gaidar advised, breathing hard behind her. He had left his own opponent unconscious on the walkway and he bore a few scrapes and bruises.
“I won’t kill him,” Narisa said. “He hasn’t hurt us. It’s not his fault we are here.”
“If that’s what you want, I won’t disagree, but let’s not stand here arguing.” Gaidar gave her a none-too-gentle shove in the direction of the door, and Narisa began to run toward it. They came off the walkway into a small white room just in time to see Suria punch a short, heavy-set woman in the jaw, knocking her unconscious.
“You fight like a Cetan,” Gaidar complimented her.
“I had to do it. She had a weapon and was going to call for help.” Suria rubbed at her sore knuckles. “I found some coats in the next room. We can at least cover ourselves with them.”
The coats must have belonged to the three workers they had met. Suria took the short one, which was much bigger around the body than she was. Gaidar tried to squeeze his bulk into the largest one and split it down the back. Narisa’s wrists stuck well out of the sleeves of her coat.
“We look like the beggars from the outskirts who come into the city each day to find food or work,” Suria said. “And we smell terrible. No one will look at us for more than a glance. It’s a perfect disguise.”
“Have you discovered how to get out of here?” Gaidar asked.
“I have. I checked the computer. The only personnel here were the three workers we met. I have cut off the communicator and rearranged the program for the doors so once we go out and seal one, they will all stay closed until tomorrow morning.”
“Good.” Gaidar beamed at her, then glanced at the woman on the floor. “I’m glad you are not my enemy, Suria.”
After their desperate flight, they expected to be stopped on their way out of the sewage processing plant. Instead they simply walked through the main gate and made their way along the back streets of the Capital.
It was growing dark, and a chill wind blew dust and loose refuse into the air. Narisa, her undergarments still damp, drew the coat more closely across her chest and shivered. No one bothered them. They looked too poor for anyone to rob them, and they stayed well away from the main streets, which were brightly lit. Once or twice they thought they were lost, but Suria’s knowledge of the Capital was extensive, and she had a good sense of direction and soon found their way again. They came without incident to Almaric’s house and walked along the wall to find the garden entrance.
“Did you notice? There are a lot of extra Service guards around the main entrance,” Narisa said. “Perhaps Admiral Halvo has arrived early.”
Gaidar stopped walking.
“Admiral Halvo is here?”
“He is coming to meet with Tarik and his father,” Suria explained.
“And you are taking me to the same house? Halvo is the Cetans’ greatest enemy. He’ll cut me into little pieces on sight. I’ll have no time to tell him about Starthruster. I won’t go in there.”
“Gaidar, if we wanted you dead,” Suria snapped, “we could have left you in Leader Tyre’s prison cell and saved ourselves a lot of trouble, not to mention a most unpleasant bath.”
“Ah, well.” Gaidar heaved a great sigh. “I really haven’t any other place to go, have I? I’ll have to depend on Tarik to protect me.”
“You don’t need protection,” Suria told him. “The people around you do. Narisa, why are you waiting? Have you forgotten the seal numbers?”
“I remember them.” Narisa had found the garden entrance. “I was just wondering again about those extra guards.”
She pushed the correct numbers into the security panel, and the garden door slid silently open. After they had slipped inside, it closed behind them just as silently. The garden lay in evening shadow, deserted and almost completely dark. They made their way along the path between wall and shrubbery until they found the door to the house. Kalina had said she would leave it unsealed, so Narisa pushed on it. It slid back, opening upon an unlighted corridor.
Narisa’s nerves were tense as she sensed something was not right within the house. She jumped at a movement in the darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she recognized Kalina, who stood with her fingers raised to her lips to caution them to silence. Kalina stepped outside onto the path and drew Narisa and Suria close to her so she could speak softly.
“We will be safe here for a little while. We can’t be seen from the house, and there is no one in the garden. I made certain of that. I have been so worried about you. There has been some kind of secret alarm given. Leader Tyre has ordered extra guards posted here, both inside and out. I thought it must have been because you had succeeded in releasing the Cetan. The new guards demanded to see you, Narisa. I told them you were overtired from your recent ordeal and needed a long sleep. I had to invoke all the privilege accorded to the household of an Assembly Member to keep them away from the second floor, but they are everywhere on the first floor, so we must be careful. Are you the Cetan?” Gaidar had pushed between Narisa and Suria to hear what Kalina was saying.
“I am,” he said, “and no enemy to the family of Tarik Gibal.”
“I am Tarik’s mother.”
“I honor you, good mistress.” Gaidar made an odd, formal bow. Narisa saw through the gathering darkness the expression of surprise on Kalina’s face, for Gaidar had just used the particular form of address Demarians reserved for highly ranked dignitaries.
“Tarik has told me your mother was a Demarian,” Kalina responded politely. “I see she taught her son good manners. You are welcome in my house, Gaidar, for her sake and your own.”
Now it was Gaidar’s turn to be surprised.
“My mother often told me she was dead to her own people once she had been raped by her Cetan master, and I, as the child of that rape, would never be accepted by Demarians.”
“I am afraid she spoke the truth, Gaidar. But there are women, on Demaria and elsewhere, who consider that custom too harsh and who understand a helpless captive cannot prevent what is done to her. In any case I would welcome you because you have dealt fairly with my son and have risked your life to warn us of the coming Cetan attack.” Kalina paused, sniffing delicately. “Forgive me the rude question, my friends, but is that smell coming from you? I cannot avoid noticing it.”
“We had to hide in the sewage pit,” Narisa explained, and almost laughed out loud at Kalina’s horrified reaction. “We will tell all of you the entire story late
r. Have Tarik and the others returned yet?”
“No, and I think you three had better be cleaned before they do. Come with me.”
Kalina did not take them to the secure room on the second floor where Narisa had expected they would go, but to Narisa’s chambers. They went by way of the back corridors they had used before. They met no one at all.
“I’m keeping the servants on the first level, and I have sent Chatta to work in the kitchen,” Kalina told them, ushering all three directly from the back corridor into Narisa’s bedroom. “I have managed to deactivate the eavesdropping system here and in the corridor immediately outside your door, so the guards could not detect your absence. I gave them my word you were asleep, and they accepted it. If my lie is discovered, no one will ever believe me again.”
Narisa knew how precious the reliability of a Demarian’s word was and how much it must have cost Kalina to lie while swearing she was speaking the truth. She would have embraced Kalina in thanks for that lie, but she had become uncomfortably conscious of her unkempt state.
“Is the bathing room safe, too?” she asked, and at Kalina’s nod led her companions into that room. “We will need some clothing for Gaidar and Suria.”
“I’ll find something, and some food, too, and try to think of a way to dispose of those disreputable garments you are wearing without creating suspicion. Narisa, your Beltan clothes are on your bed.”
Kalina left them. Without a word or any sense of false modesty all three of them immediately removed every piece of their clothing. At Suria’s suggestion they bundled all of it into a large towel and tied it up so Kalina could take it away more easily.
“First,” Narisa said, producing the razor, “Gaidar must be shaved. Make no objection, Gaidar. If it becomes necessary for you to try to escape again, a clean face and a Service haircut are your best disguise.”
Gaidar did not argue. It took only a few minutes. Afterward they made him sit on the lowest step in the bathing tub while Suria trimmed his hair into a neat style compatible with Service regulations. Lastly, they filled the tub with hot water and cleanser. The women scrubbed Gaidar thoroughly and then washed themselves. There was no time for playfulness while they did this, for they did not know when the door to Narisa’s chambers might burst open and Service guards appear in spite of Kalina’s attempts to keep them away. They worked quickly and efficiently. The tub was drained and filled again for a second scrub before they were satisfied that the last traces of sewage had been removed. By then they all looked like ordinary people instead of fugitives, and they began to relax a little.
