Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  It was a rare moment of no rain. Dev took the carrier up into the clear air, and did a circle, scanning the horizon before she settled with the carrier’s nose pointed to the north. She keyed in the coordinates Jess had given her for Quebec City, and checked her consoles one more time. “Ready?”

  “Go go gadget,” Jess said. “Keep your eyes out for bad guys. I may fall asleep here in my comfy chair.”

  Dev smiled, and engaged the main engines, heading them off into this new adventure.

  CAPE QUEBEC WASN’T that far, Dev discovered. She spotted the cliff face full of lights ahead of them as her nav station beeped, and she adjusted her speed lower. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it,” Jess said, putting her hand on the back of Dev’s chair and peering through the sectioned windows. “Okay we can’t valet park this bus, so you’re going to have to land on the plateau there, see the opening?”

  “Yes,” Dev said. “Go down in there?”

  “Yeah.” Jess returned to her seat and locked her restraints. “There’s an old stairway cut into the rock. It’s a hike, but the carrier’ll be hidden and they won’t see what direction we came from.”

  It all sounded quite mysterious. Dev angled the carrier toward the cliff wall, and cut the mains, using the landing jets to gently lower the carrier past the crevice. It was all shadows and gray stone, with water drizzling off the edges and making a constant rattle and thunder past them as she found a bit of higher stone and set the vehicle down onto it. “Okay?”

  “Great.” Jess stood up and hit a set of switches. “We’ll blend in here.” She started getting out of her armored suit. “Now we need to change into civs.”

  Dev finished shutting down the engines and as she did, she could hear the rain falling on the carrier’s roof, and the drum of the water on the ground outside.

  Outside. Aside from her brief movement from the shuttle to the citadel and her visits to the ledge, this would be her first big exposure to outside, and Dev found herself a little unsettled over it. Doctor Dan had talked to her about it. But talking about it and doing it were two very different things.

  “You okay?” Jess was apparently watching her.

  “Yes.” Dev opened her pack and removed the blue jumpsuit, unsnapping the catches on her flight suit. “I was just wondering what it was like to be on the ground outside.”

  Jess paused as she fastened the neck on her civs. They were rust and gold, flashier than the ones Dev was donning. “Oh that’s right. You came from outer space. I forgot.”

  Dev smiled as she finished fastening her suit. She picked up the jacket Bain had sent her and held it, not entirely sure what should happen next. Jess seemed to be sorting through some things so she put the jacket back down and went to the dispenser and took out a small bottle of water.

  “Run an external scan, willya?” Jess asked. “Doesn’t pay to take a chance.”

  Glad of something to do, Dev went back to her station and sat down. She opened the water and took a sip, then put the bottle in its gimbaled holder and activated the scan. She set the routine running, observing the results and glancing outside the carrier window to match the terrain with the scan.

  It was rocky outside, and dark with clouds and rain. The carrier was settled between a half dozen large boulders and she had slid it just under a slight ledge which protected it somewhat. The area around them was clear of any life at all. Only rocks and rubble, with some small patches of moss being the only hint of color.

  “Clear?”

  “Yes,” Dev said. “Nothing for 500 meters at least.”

  “Good.” Jess finished tucking various things in her pockets. She walked over and picked up her own jacket. “Okay. Now we climb up the steps to a path I know, and that will take us to one of the outer entrances of the city. You need to stay close with me, and for now, don’t talk unless you have to. We’re just here to shop. We’re a couple of bored techs on a day holiday from the Rocky Mountain generating center. Got it?”

  “Got it.” Dev rummaged in her memory for details about the generating center, which she’d had some basic programming on. Science and research were done there, she knew, along with its primary responsibility of creating and storing hydro power in massive sealed batteries.

  Was it a target, she wondered. Like the facility they themselves were trying to breach?

  “C’mon.” Jess shrugged into her jacket and fastened a colorful patch on the outside. She waited for Dev to mimic her then attached a similar one on her sleeve. “There. Now you work for Energine.” She patted Dev on the shoulder and went to the door. “I’m keying this so only the two of us can get back in. Anyone else tries it’ll blow a hole the size of the docking cavern.”

  “I see,” Dev said. “This stop here—it’s to obtain supplies?”

  Jess hit the door release and the hatch thumped open, admitting a gust of cold, wet air. “Yeah. Some outside gear I need for the ice fields and to get current gossip. The intel we get in the citadel sometimes isn’t really current, not to mention it could be planted. I like to listen to what’s going on before I do an insertion.” Another mistake on her last mission. She’d let Josh talk her into skipping the recon.

  She pulled her jacket hood up and fastened the neck cover then eased down the unfolded steel steps and got her boots on the wet rock before she motioned Dev forward. Though her head was well covered by the fabric the half frozen rain pelted her face and she blinked a little at the harshness of it. “Ugh.”

  Dev spent a moment absorbing the experience. She could feel the half rain, half ice drops pelting the surface of the fabric encasing her, and she made a mental note to go back and thank Alexander Bain for providing the jacket to her. She lifted a hand and pulled the glove off it, feeling the sting of the rain and the chill before she put it back on. “That’s interesting.”

  Jess eyed her. “Not interesting enough to stay out in it. Let’s go.” She circled the carrier and climbed up a small rise toward the cliff walls, pausing to turn and look back at the vehicle. “Nice,” She complimented Dev. “That new mottled skin really works.”

  Now that the hatch was closed, you’d be hard pressed to identify the carrier against its landscape. The outer shell had taken on the tones of the surrounding rock, blending the metal until it was almost invisible.

  “Yes,” Dev said. “Clint was really happy with how it turned out. It’s a new thing. He said it would help us hide against the clouds, too.”

  “If we want to hide.” Jess turned and started away from the small ledge they’d parked on. “Quebec’s a mix these days. Used to just be a supply depot, since they’ve got a decent harbor, but they finally dug out the cliff and fixed the roofs of all those old buildings, and people drifted in from the outlands.”

  “I see.” Dev was keeping up with her companion’s long strides with a bit of difficulty. The uneven ground was new to her, and she was having some trouble keeping her balance on it. “What do they do there?” She asked, more to keep Jess talking since she’d studied the records in comp on the place when Jess had told her they were going there.

  “Fish mostly,” Jess said. “They’ve got enough coastline to harvest weed, but they’re big on shallow water shellfish too.” She licked her lips thoughtfully. “Be glad to introduce you to those. Since they got enough people around, they’ve got markets and grub too.”

  Shellfish. Shell, and fish? “Do they have anything to do with that gift from Clint?”

  “Well, sort of I guess. They do get tiny crabs out of some of those shells and use ‘em in stews. But the ones he sent, those didn’t have any crabs in em. They just wash up near the base of our cliff.”

  “I see.” Dev had found her balance now, and was beginning to enjoy the tramp across the rocks. Jess was leading the way across a barren stretch of granite toward a wall. She could see, even through the rain, a narrow uneven set of steps cut into the face of it. It angled up the rock wall to an outcropping above and she couldn’t see past that.

 
; It seemed very desolate where they were. She couldn’t hear anything besides the far off sound of the surf and the rumble of thunder over their heads and her face was starting to feel very cold where the rain was hitting it.

  She blinked a little, as she followed Jess up a slope and across a long stretch of loose, crunchy sounding small rocks that led up to the base of the wall. There were big rocks all around them, and she peered upward as a scattering of tiny stones rattled off the cliff and fell around them. “Did those rocks come from up there?”

  “Yeah.” Jess wound her way through them. “That’s why we park here. People with sense stay far the hell away.” She pointed at a long rusted sign tacked to the stone, a pictograph of a crudely drawn slope and what were supposed to be boulders. “It’s a rock fall zone.”

  “I see.” Dev regarded the wall. “So one of those could fall down right now?”

  “Sure.”

  “I see.”

  Jess half turned and grinned at her. “Closer to the cliff you are, safer it is. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried.” Dev kept at her heels, as they got to the base of the cliff and started up the stairs. They had been very crudely cut into the rock, and were in some places more suggestions than footholds. “If something unfortunate happens, at least I will have had lots of new experiences.”

  The steps reminded her of the climbing exercises they’d done in the crèche and she placed her boots with confidence, glad of her gloves as she gripped the rock edge they were climbing up. The coverings were dark gray and made of very tough fabric, thin enough for her to use her fingers well, but thick enough to keep her hands nice and warm.

  It was interesting and exciting being here. She felt all sorts of new sensations, the strain on her legs of climbing, the pelting rain, the roughness of the stone under her gloved fingertips. It was all new, and she focused on Jess’s tall form, careful to step where she did once she’d moved on.

  The rock smelled, she realized. It had a flat, dense scent a little like the walls in the citadel, but different. She could also smell the rain and she experimentally stuck her tongue out, catching some of the icy droplets and tasting them.

  Interesting. She saw Jess slow up and halt ahead of her, and she paused, watching her closely. Jess moved again after a moment, but more slowly and she took one hand off the rock and let it rest against the pocket Dev knew she had her weapon in.

  She decided to remain quiet, figuring Jess didn’t need any distractions if there was something dangerous occurring. They were up near the little ledge, and she watched Jess pause again, one hand resting on the rocks and her head cocked to one side.

  After a moment, Jess untied her hood and pushed it down, exposing her head to the rain but also exposing her ears, which were, interestingly to Dev, twitching visibly.

  Then, after a moment of silence, Jess pulled her hood back up and continued on, climbing up over the edge of the crevice and then turning, offering Dev her hand.

  Dev wasn’t sure what that was about, but she reached up and clasped it, a bit surprised to find herself pulled up onto the ledge to stand next to Jess. “Thank you.”

  “All quiet.” Jess moved across the ledge to an uneven square hold in the side of the mountainside. She slipped inside, then activated a hand light and paused before she continued forward. “Let’s get outta the damn rain at least.”

  Dev hadn’t entirely minded the experience, but she found the cold a lot less inside the tunnel they were now in, and she pushed her hood back and wiped the rain off her face as she followed Jess in. “Very interesting.” She regarded the tunnel, which was as crudely cut as the steps outside, taking off a glove and running her fingertips over the surface.

  She could feel chisel marks on the stone. “Did you cut this wall?”

  “Me?” Jess chuckled low and deep in her throat. “Hell no. They sent a team out here when Quebec started becoming a population center. Ten guys with plasma cutters. You see all that rubble at the base? That was from them. “

  “I see.” Dev activated her own hand light, and examined the wall. It had interesting sparkles in it, not that different from the walls in the citadel. The floor was as uneven as the walls, and she focused the light there, avoiding the unexpected angular cracks and bumps as they walked along.

  It was out of the wind here too, and warmer because of it. Dev ran her hand through her hair and noticed Jess was having to duck a little as she walked. “Is it a long way in here?”

  “No,” Jess said. “Couple more minutes.”

  And in a couple more minutes, in fact, they were moving from the narrow tunnel and squeezing through a crack in the rock so narrow Jess had to take off her coat to fit through, and Dev almost did. Then they were in a more regular hallway, with smooth walls, evenly spaced low lights and a faint look of dusty disuse.

  “Emergency tunnel.” Jess shrugged back into her jacket and fastened it. “Place for them to run to.” She closed her hand light and stuck it in her pocket as she lead the way up a gently sloping floor. “Minute or so, and we’ll be in the lower levels.”

  “Okay.” Dev caught up and walked along at her side.

  “Whatever you see, just keep your mouth shut,” Jess said. “It could be weird for you. There’ll be other bio alts here, but it’s not like in the citadel.”

  Now, what did that mean? “Okay.” She saw Jess raise a hand a little, and she slowed, keeping behind her as the hallway they were in ended in a big, square opening and a murmur of sound reached her. They crossed another wide hallway that led off into dusty silence in both directions and then they were moving through a wide arched opening into a cavern filled with people.

  Jess moderated her pace, turning her purposeful walk into a more casual stroll, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets and letting her head turn from side to side.

  Dev copied her, glad she had a chance to absorb what she was seeing. Unlike the uniformity she was used to in both the crèche and the citadel, the people and the sights were far more random here. There were people who looked like workers, but their overalls were patched and so worn and covered in dirt it was impossible to tell what color they were supposed to be.

  Then there were other people, in skin tight suits carrying boxes with lights, and other people who were covered in strangely mottled garments and heavy boots.

  The smell of the place was past her ability to self describe. It was a mixture of strong scents and musky tones, overlaid with the more familiar intensity of machine oil and salt she was becoming familiar with in her new home. A few people glanced at them, but then moved on, and she followed Jess along the perimeter of the space toward a set of long, shallow stairs.

  They passed a pair of men with scrubbers, removing a layer of oil from the floor and Dev felt a jerk of recognition as she took in their visible collars. Effens, her memory supplied, wearing roughly finished gray coveralls with dark maroon sleeves.

  They didn’t look up as she and Jess went past, their eyes firmly on their task as they patiently scoured the floor. Normal, she thought, having worked with a few of that set in the crèche. They received a lot of programming for cleaning. It’s what they did in the crèche, in fact, specialists in maintenance.

  Did Jess think she would find that strange? Dev pondered the thought.

  They walked up the shallow stairs, moving into a more brightly lit space that suddenly, as they emerged at the top, also became a lot louder. Dev almost stopped walking as they turned a last corner, and she was looking at the inside of a large, high roofed cavern filled with...Well, filled with everything. “Oh.”

  Jess turned and peered at her, slowing and closing the distance between them. “This is the market,” she said. “Remember, we’re just techs on holiday, looking to shop.”

  “Okay.” Dev followed Jess’s lead and unfastened her jacket, which had started to become very warm. She left it hanging open with its hood pushed back, and followed Jess toward the ball of chaos ahead of them. The rock walls echoed back the sou
nds of all the people roaming from area to area, voices raised.

  After a minute, it sorted itself out and her programming kicked in, and she knew what she was looking at much to her relief. This was a center where people came to offer up things they did and products they made for sale. There were dozens of rows of little rooms, made from what looked like stones cemented together. Each room had some people inside it, and ledges on all four sides where they had things displayed.

  And the people. Dev had never seen this many people in one place, not in the crèche, and not in the citadel, including at the party. There seemed an endless sea of them all dressed in widely varied combinations of clothing, strange things on their heads and a mixture of things on their feet that completely escaped any of her programming.

  She really couldn’t process it all. So she stuck at Jess’s side, resisting the urge to latch onto her jacket as they started moving into the market area and into the surge of human traffic. She blinked her eyes a little, finding them watering slightly from the pungent smells.

  “Crazy, huh?” Jess said, as she sidestepped two men arguing loudly.

  “Yes.”

  “Everyone around brings their stuff here to sell.” Jess confirmed Dev’s programming. “You can get some interesting trinkets here, see?” She detoured over to a stone house. She picked up one of the wares, a bit of stone that had been hollowed out to leave a small dish like depression at the bottom. “You put scented oil in here, and light it. Makes a nice smell.”

  Dev regarded it. Then she looked all around them, and back up at Jess, one of her pale eyebrows lifting a little. “Do they make them any larger?”

  Jess grinned, and turned, finding the merchant watching them with wary politeness. “How much?” She indicated the trinket.

  “Quarter credit, citizen,” the man replied promptly. “Third if you buy two.”