High Flyer (Verdant String)

by Michelle Diener

  There was no one here.

  A soft grunt and then low, sustained cursing from the loading bay had her inching forward face down until she could see over the edge of the roof.

  Linnel was dragging a limp Oniba toward a small, brightly colored dru-dru. An enclosed trailer was attached to the back of the colorful scooter with a tow hitch.

  Linnel dumped Oniba's body beside the dru-dru and opened the lid of the trailer.

  He looked around, laz in hand, and then bent down and pulled Oniba up by the arms to stuff him in the trailer. By the sound of the grunts and swearing, it wasn't an easy task.

  Hana tried to work out how Oniba had come to be dead or unconscious.

  Her only guess was Linnel had shot him with the laz, either deliberately or by mistake. But it was very difficult to shoot someone on purpose with a laz on Faldine.

  Maybe he'd been aiming at Iver and had gotten Oniba instead.

  Hana was fine with that. Very fine with that.

  As soon as he'd gotten Oniba inside the trailer and had closed the lid, Linnel moved out of sight, disappearing into a small structure next to the loading bay. The security booth, Hana guessed.

  The dru-dru looked cute, sitting there. They were ubiquitous in Touka City, and like everything on Faldine, they had wheels. They'd become the symbol of Verdant String courage and empathy in the face of adversity during the Faldine War. Civilians had rescued people from bombing raids in dru-drus and dru-drus had been used to transport the wounded to medbays.

  Their appeal was more than the strangeness of having wheels in a culture used to hovers, though. They were small and colorful, coming in a range of colors too many to count.

  The one Linnel was using was a strange green-yellow, and he strode out from the small hut, swung into the seat, and rode away.

  What to do?

  Had Vannie and Simon had already taken Iver away? It seemed likely.

  Which meant she was too late, had taken too long to get back.

  Iver wasn't just gone. He was likely dead. At the bottom of the river, just as Simon promised.

  She felt hollowed out, disoriented, as if she had lost her grip on the roof and was tumbling through the air.

  "He's gone."

  The voice came from just beneath her, and she went very still.

  Vannie.

  Fury swept through her. This woman had killed--

  "We're going to have to go after Sugotti." Simon stepped into view, out from under the roof's eaves on the far side of the loading bay.

  Go after him? Hana had to make herself listen over the roaring in her ears.

  "Linnel just took out Oniba with a laz, and all you have to say is we have to go after Sugotti?" Vannie's voice sounded thin and brittle.

  Simon sighed. “I don't think Oniba's dead. I'm guessing Linnel is taking him to a medbay. Linnel may be behaving strangely, but he's not suicidal. He wouldn't have risked himself with that laz. He probably had it on the lowest setting.”

  Hope began to bloom inside Hana's chest. She'd come here to rescue Iver, but it looked like he'd rescued himself.

  Vannie was shaking her head. “Even so, it can kill in the right--”

  “I know, Van. What do you think this is? People are getting killed all the time. Lancaster is dead. We've killed others indirectly. Just because we haven't pulled the trigger ourselves yet doesn't mean we weren't involved. And what were we going to do to Sugotti and his pilot? We were going to kill them."

  She was silent. "I don't like this anymore. It sounded like such a great idea in the beginning. But now--"

  "Bit too real for you?" Simon's voice was derisive.

  "Yes." She stepped out to join him. "And now we've got our own people turning on us. We've lost the advantage. Sugotti isn't just not dead. He's on the loose. I don't think he saw Banyon's face, but the pilot did, and Sugotti has certainly seen ours. We have to go underground now. No more hiding in plain sight."

  "That was always going to happen. It just came up a bit sooner on the schedule."

  “But Linnel--”

  “At least it wasn't the Protection Unit. I can deal with Linnel.” He lifted a comm device. "It's me. Sugotti got away." He held the device away from his head for a beat or two, a dark look on his face. "Blame Linnel. He had a fucking laz, and he tried to shoot Sugotti with it. Took out Oniba instead, and Sugotti got away. Sugotti's still in restraints, and he's on foot. Vannie and I are going after him now."

  He widened his stance, looked down at the ground as he listened. "Linnel got away on a dru-dru, not sure where he's going, but he's got Oniba with him. He's probably taking him for medical help. Get one of those people you were going to call to stop the pilot and have them grab him. They'll have enough to lock him away, what with the unconscious body in his trailer and the laz in his possession, and all."

  He paused, then lifted the comms device away from his ear and looked at it. “Fuck you, too, Banyon.”

  The sound of a vehicle coming up the street had Hana turning her head, but instead of looking nervous, Vannie moved past Simon toward the sound.

  “Cribo's got a lander for us.” She didn't check to see if Simon was following her.

  He stared after her for a beat, then headed for the lander himself.

  Hana waited for them to disappear and then wriggled down the side of the building and stood in the darkening alley between Simon's warehouse and the one next to it, thinking about where to go next.

  Where would Iver go?

  Her heart caught a little just thinking about the question, because he was alive and she had been so sure he was dead.

  Relief washed over her, not in one big wave, but smaller, choppy slaps of emotion.

  She leaned against the wall to collect herself.

  Vannie and Simon didn't know where he was any more than she did, so following them would be a waste of time. She needed to use what she knew of him to work out his next move.

  The council offices were a good guess, but Vannie and Simon would probably think so, too. And if Banyon had come through with his promise to have people in place to stop them both, Iver would need her help if he went there.

  It was as good a starting point as any.

  She'd already started moving through the shadows before she noticed the man blocking the end of the alleyway.

  She couldn't see his face, but his shape was outlined in the fading light, and she felt a prickle of awareness down her spine.

  Iver.

  He took a step toward her and something too big for her body unfurled in her chest as she ran, full-tilt, toward him.

  His hands were behind his back, so it was she who gathered him in her arms, her hands running over his wrists so the restraints fell away.

  Then his arms were around her, his mouth on hers, and she felt the tears she hadn't cried at the thought of his death earlier run down her cheeks.

  "Shh." He nuzzled her neck. "What's wrong?"

  "I thought they'd killed you. That I was too late."

  "No. And I knew you'd come back for me. I realized a few minutes into my escape that I was running away from where I needed to be."

  She tried to laugh, but it came out garbled. "Good thinking."

  He pulled back a little, brushing the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. "I'm full of good ideas."

  She leaned on his chest and his hands came up to tangle in the hair at her nape.

  He tugged a little. "So are you going to tell me how you can release restraints with just a touch of your hands?"

  She went still, then gave a sigh.

  "And can come out of a SAL sedative well before anyone else? Or hear a runner from miles away? Or find a tracker under someone's skin also with just a touch of your hands?"

  She buried her face deeper in his chest. "I'd rather not."

  He gave a chuckle. "Linnel says you're the product of an illegal army experiment. That they conducted banned genetic engineering on you."

  "Did he?" She lifted her head, surprised. "Th
at's actually not a bad guess."

  She saw his face and shook her head. "It's wrong, but it's not as strange as I thought he would get."

  "And what is the truth?"

  "Do we have to do it here, in an alleyway next to our enemies' headquarters?"

  He narrowed his eyes at her. "You keep putting this off."

  "People keep trying to kill me." She shrugged, unrepentant.

  He shook his head. "You have me there." He let her go, and she suddenly wondered if she should tell him, just to keep his arms around her a little longer.

  "Coming?" he asked, putting out his hand.

  She put her hand in his and followed him through the shadows.

  The sun had sunk down behind the Spikes, and the lights of Touka City were coming on in their usual kaleidoscope of colors.

  The bridges lit up first, the warm colors playing across the water, and then the buildings began their nightly display, images and patterns swirling from one high rise to the other, jumping streets and climbing towers to end in a spectacular finale, only to start again elsewhere.

  Iver moved a little closer to the edge of the ledge that gave them a view of the council building at the heart of the city. It was Iver's favorite design in Touka. He had personally overseen the plans and he knew the building inside and out.

  Hana was pressed against his side, her head resting against his shoulder. She seemed reluctant to be out of touching distance, and he was fine with that.

  They still hadn't had their talk, but even he knew now wasn't the time. She'd need time and safety to talk about whatever secret she seemed to carry like a load around with her.

  He would make sure there was time later, though. They would not sleep tonight until she shared that burden.

  “Looks like the whole city is down there.” Her voice was weary, and he realized he felt the same.

  They had been on the run for nearly three days straight.

  The lights in the city suddenly stopped moving, dribbling down to the ground as if a sprinkler had been turned off and then they winked out.

  A projection of the head administrator of Touka City, Moiri Tanek, standing on the council building's steps, blossomed on the front of the building.

  The crowd standing in the street at the foot of the stairs stepped closer.

  “I can confirm the runner bringing Iver Sugotti to Touka City was shot down. I can also confirm a second runner, potentially containing Sam Lancaster--Sugotti's head of security--was also destroyed. We do not know if anyone perished in the blasts. We are waiting for the VSC fleet to send down specialist forensic investigators, and we are doing everything we can to look for survivors, although the strength of the magnetic fields beneath both points of impact mean our runners are forced to fly high to scan for life. We're sending wheel-based vehicles to any thermal signatures they see. We will update citizens as soon as we know anything more.” Moiri sounded rattled, Iver noticed. She was usually a little cool with him, a little withdrawn, but she sounded as if she were genuinely upset he was missing.

  “Who's behind this?” Someone called. “The rebels?”

  “We don't know who's behind it. It would be premature to say this is the rebels, or some new start to the war.” Moiri's lips firmed and she leaned forward. “Former rebels live peacefully in Touka City right now. They are your friends and neighbors. One thing I will promise, though. Whoever is behind this, we will find them, and hand them over to the VSC fleet commander to deal with.”

  There was a beat of silence at that.

  “This isn't considered an in-planet matter?” A member of the media asked.

  “Considering it involves the head-of-planet, no.” Moiri drew herself up. “Now, I'm sure you will understand how much I have to do right now. I'll make an announcement as soon as we learn something substantial that will shed light on what's happening.” She turned on her heel and walked back up the stairs, an assistant on either side of her. One leaned closer to whisper in her ear, and she gave a nod and sped up, disappearing through the front entrance.

  “We need to talk to her,” Hana said.

  Iver grunted in agreement. The crowd was slowly dispersing, some standing in groups to talk, others drifting away in small huddles, heads together.

  There was a nervous tension in the air.

  A worry.

  “They're scared the war is about to start again,” Hana said. “I'm scared the war is about to start again.”

  Iver didn't like the bleakness he heard in her voice. Because she was thinking she would have to go back to flying runners, and he didn't like that thought. Not at all.

  “It's not going to start again.” He would make sure of it. No matter what he had to do.

  Chapter 12

  “That's the dru-dru Linnel escaped in.” Hana crouched against the council building wall and stared at the bright green-yellow of the scooter parked near the back door in the fine, misty rain. She wiped rain drops off her forehead and rubbed her cheek against a sleeve.

  "You’re right." The rain had caught in Iver's dark hair, forming tiny droplets that gleamed like crystals in the diffuse up-lights set in the flowerbeds. “Looks like he just rode up and parked in the most convenient spot.”

  Iver leaned against her, shoulder and thigh against her own. She liked the solid feel of him. Liked the way the fabric of his clothes stretched over his muscles.

  "Simon told Banyon to point whoever is cooperating with him in the Protection Unit at Linnel, that it would be easy to arrest him because Oniba was in the trailer." A trailer, she noted, that was no longer attached to the scooter. "Would the Protection officers bring the dru-dru here if they had arrested him?"

  Iver shook his head. "It would have been taken to Protection Central. It looks like he ditched the trailer somewhere."

  "So either he escaped the net Banyon threw out, or he has contacts of his own." As she said that, Hana rejected the idea. Linnel was too obsessed, too focused on his own agenda to make contacts and connections outside the army. He was almost incapable of doing even that. She'd noticed how appalled his colleagues were with his obsession with her, and she didn't think he would be accepted back into the group now that he'd shot Oniba.

  "So he's got a friend in the building?" Iver said.

  Hana shrugged. "Or he thinks he does. Or more likely he has someone he has some leverage over. I don't think Linnel has friends. Not any more."

  Iver gave a nod. "Well, this doesn't change our plan to sneak in quietly and talk to Moiri when she's alone."

  "But if Linnel sees me . . . " Hana thought it through. What would he do? He wanted her for something--she wasn't sure what--but attention of any kind probably wouldn't suit him.

  "He'll slink away and wait for another opportunity to get you," Iver said.

  She nodded.

  They approached the door, and Iver put his fingers into the gene sniffer to get in. The laz locks more commonly used through the VSC were another piece of tech that didn't work here. Unless you were fine with being accidentally shocked every time you opened a door.

  "You're coded in here, too," he told her.

  She hadn't known that. "Why?"

  "Just in case you needed to come in to fetch me. Lancaster set it up."

  "He never told me. I'm surprised he thought it was necessary."

  "I told him to do it."

  She grinned. "Bet he didn't like that."

  "But couldn't find a good enough reason to disagree." Iver grinned back.

  They stepped into a cool, double-height atrium that gave the impression of space and light, even in the early evening gloom.

  The sound of the rain on the high windows made Hana think of cozy evenings and comfortable chairs, and she was suddenly bone tired.

  At least there was no one around, which made sense for this time of day, although clearly Moiri and some of her staff had remained at work to deal with Iver's disappearance.

  Iver moved confidently toward the spiral lift, old tech that had found a new li
fe here on Faldine, where newer innovations didn't do as well.

  “They had one of these spirals on Kalastoni's moon, Cepi, you know,” he said, as he grabbed a handhold.

  She took the next one, enjoying the sensation of being spun around as the spiral twirled her around and up.

  “Is that where the tech originated?”

  “Maybe. They've worked out the Cepi ruins are too old to have been built by our own ancestors, but our ancestors might have stopped at Cepi on their way to populate the Verdant String and studied the tech. One group obviously settled on Kalastoni and the rest carried on, taking the idea of the spiral lift with them.”

  It was a fascinating idea. Hana hadn't spent much time thinking about the origins of the Verdant String until her upgrade. She was very interested in it now, though.

  Iver stepped smoothly off the spiral many floors up, and Hana followed him.

  She'd never been in the council building, although she'd walked past it many times while walking the streets on the days she was here waiting for Iver, shopping or attending the live theater that flourished on Faldine.

  Touka City had at least four theaters, running shows every night, despite it's relatively tiny size from a Verdant String perspective.

  Comms screens didn't always work that well here, so live theater came into its own.

  She went to a play every night she'd ever spent in Touka.

  Had the war done that, she wondered? Did it make the soul hunger for fun, laughter and stories, in a way that made you truly part of the emotion, as live theater did?

  Iver slowed in front of her, and she realized the low murmur of voices she'd heard since she'd stepped off the spiral was coming from behind a door at the far end of a walkway.

  The walkway was flush against the wall on one side, open to an atrium on the other, with a view to the right of the council building's entrance, where Moiri Tanek had given her speech only half an hour earlier.

  They stopped in front on an office and Iver leaned against the door, listening.

  “There's no one in there,” Hana told him.

  He accepted her word with a nod and opened the door, holding it for her. She slipped inside and he followed her, closing the door behind him.