High Flyer (Verdant String)

by Michelle Diener

  “Especially as they didn't kill Sugotti as planned. He survived the first attack. They eventually caught up with him and his pilot. Had them locked down in Touka.” Fraen spoke matter-of-factly, and Hana wondered how he could talk like that about her and Iver's death, yet take such offense when Tillis had threatened to do exactly the same.

  “I wish you'd led with that.” Bret visibly reeled at the news. “Iver Sugotti is alive?”

  “No.” Fraen shook his head, then shrugged. “Why would they keep him alive? He survived the hit on the Sig, but he and his pilot made it to Touka on foot and Vannie and Si rounded them up before they reached the city itself. They were holding them at Si's warehouse. I left with the supplies before they came round after being tranqed, but the plan was to put them at the bottom of the river.”

  “How the hell did they survive being hit by SD3s?”

  “The pilot was some hotshot in the war, apparently.” Fraen shrugged.

  “And Lancaster? What does he have to say about this?”

  Fraen blinked at him. “I keep forgetting. I keep forgetting you can't get transmissions here. Lancaster is dead. Someone shot his runner down while he was out looking for Sugotti.”

  There was dead silence. Hana looked up to see the man in the doorway who'd given the message about spare parts was visibly shocked.

  “Who did it?” Bret croaked the words out.

  “No one knows. Rumor is the Caruso.”

  Silence descended again.

  “And how would they know anything about this?” Bret's voice was soft.

  Fraen shrugged. “Someone reached out to them, tried to see if they might be interested in buying in, maybe?”

  “I'd like to know who that person is. Teach them the error of their ways.”

  Hana saw Vras swallow hard at Bret's tone.

  “And you? Where do you come in?” Bret rounded on her, jabbing a finger at her.

  She shook her head. “I don't know what's going on. I just want to go home.”

  “And where's that?”

  “Touka City.” She lied without compunction. There was only one reason anyone lived in Bero. The small village was built in the one spot on Faldine where the magnetic fields were buried so deep they were almost undetectable, and everyone who lived there either worked for the head-of-planet, or someone they lived with did.

  Bero was her personal paradise; where her upgrade could be everything it was meant to be. The only other place she felt as free was when she was flying high above the ground.

  “You got into the lander at Touka?”

  “It was a mistake, okay? I didn't know I'd end up here, and I certainly haven't had a good time of it.” She pointed at her foot then looked at Fraen. “I'd be grateful for a lift home when you leave.”

  Bret gave a snort of laughter. “That's not going to happen. Whatever you're doing here, I'm not having anyone telling tales about this place anywhere on Faldine, but certainly not in Touka City. You're stuck here until this is finished, so get your head around your new reality.”

  She clenched her fists, although his answer wasn't exactly a surprise. They'd tried to kill Iver to keep this place secret, they weren't going to let someone they didn't know or trust out of their sight to spread the news.

  “When will it be finished?” She spoke through gritted teeth.

  “Not sure. A while.” Bret looked over at Vras. “Does she need to stay in the medbay tonight?”

  Vras gave a slow nod. “It'd be better.”

  “Then Grimms will have a day to clear out half of her hut, and make space for this one.” He walked toward the door.

  The man who'd come to tell him about the spare parts was still there, Hana realized, blocking the way.

  “Luki, make sure someone has their eye on her at all times.” Bret gave the order as the man stepped out of his way. “She won't get far on that foot so no need to put a guard on her full time, but someone needs to have an idea of where she is throughout the day, and Grimms can have the pleasure of keeping an eye on her at night.”

  Luki winced, as if he didn't like to think about how Grimms was going to take that news, and Hana lay back on the bed and closed her eyes.

  She couldn't do anything right now except get some rest. And she would. If only that steady engine thrum would quieten down.

  “She has a fever.”

  She felt the touch of a med wand on her face.

  “Good. Then she'll be nice and compliant.”

  “What if it turns into something serious? We don't know what was on those metal teeth.” Vras sounded like he was wringing his hands, but Hana didn't have the energy to open her eyes and look.

  “Then she shouldn't have climbed into Fraen's lander. Whatever happens, she'll have to make do with what we've got in camp.”

  “What about her friend?” Fraen called out after Bret as his footsteps moved away, and Hana felt like kicking out at him.

  She'd been hoping they'd forgotten about Iver.

  “The smugglers are looking for him. Brynja's relentless. If she's the same soldier I remember from the war, if anyone can find him, she will. I'll send someone to that ambush spot tomorrow, see what they have for us.”

  He disappeared.

  “Get her what she needs, and then lock her in here for now.” Luki was probably talking to Vras, but Hana didn't open her eyes to look.

  “I'll need to check on her from time to time.”

  “I didn't say you couldn't. Just make sure she's secure in this room while I make arrangements for someone to keep an eye on her.”

  Vras must have nodded, because she heard Luki walk away.

  “Luki seems a little tense.” Fraen lowered his voice.

  “They all are. And now they know Iver Sugotti wasn't killed outright, I'm guessing they'll be even more tense.” Vras began removing her other boot, and Hana let him, keeping her body relaxed.

  “Still having difficulty finding the generator?”

  “It's like the shield has sprung up out of thin air. And the scanners you brought in last time to help look for it don't work in here. Nothing works. We only have power because we set up an energy array outside the perimeter and are bringing it in with an insulated cable. It's lights out by 10pm every night to prevent us draining the system too much.”

  Fraen made a sound of disgust. “Pity someone started shopping this around before they actually had it in hand, then, isn't it?”

  “You know how it is.” Vras put a blanket over her. “They wanted to be ready to go as soon as they had it. They knew the sky lane was coming this way, and even with Sugotti gone, it's eventually going to go ahead.”

  Fraen said nothing.

  “Do you really think someone brought in the Caruso, and they killed Lancaster?” Vras moved away to his workbench.

  “That's what Simon thinks. Who else could it be? The Caruso've been in the VSC's face for months now. They'd love to get shielding tech like this. It's a game changer. Imagine it covering a battle cruiser?”

  Vras sighed. “Well, I'm done here. Let's go.”

  “She unconscious or something?” Fraen's voice was suddenly louder, like he was leaning right over her.

  “Just deeply asleep.” Vras touched a wand to her face again. “Her body's trying to cope with whatever bacteria was on those teeth. Who do you think she is?”

  “No idea. And by the way she keeps her mouth shut, I'm guessing she won't be telling us any time soon.”

  The door closed and Hana heard the click of a lock.

  That was fine.

  She didn't mind a little privacy. A little time to recover and catch up on her sleep.

  Then she would work out how to escape.

  She had to believe that however good Bret thought the smugglers were at tracking, Iver would be one step ahead of them. And she would find him again. Soon.

  Chapter 19

  Night came swiftly in the Spikes.

  Iver knew it, but the reality of it was always a surprise.

&nb
sp; As he watched from the thin line of trees near the camp's entrance, he caught the moment when gloom descended almost between one breath and the next.

  The people who lived in the small villages at the mining sites deep within the Spikes called it the shadow fold, where you could look up at the dark blue, sunlit, sky far above, but be standing in darkness. Darkness folded below, light above.

  “The shadow fold is one of the best things about this place,” one of the guards at the camp's entrance said to her companion, pointing upward. She was stretched out on top of the ramp that sat on the camp side of the wall, one arm folded behind her head. The ramp was set right up against the wall, ready to be swung over and tipped down to allow access from one side of the camp to the other.

  “Speak for yourself.” Her fellow guard's voice was a low rumble. “I miss the lights of Touka City, and the theater. This place is too quiet.”

  “What you miss is your lover,” she answered, her tone amused. “Did he believe your explanation in the end about why he couldn't come for a visit?”

  “He said he did.” The guard's voice lowered even further and Iver finally made out where he was standing. He was leaning against the ramp, his head a little higher than his colleague's prone form.

  “You don't believe him?” She sat up, leaning back with arms extended behind her.

  “He's intelligent enough to have some doubts. A secret mine in a society where secrets are almost always considered illegal or suspicious?” The big man shrugged. “I blamed the need for secrecy on Sugotti, and now he's dead--”

  “Didn't you hear the news from Luki?” The woman swung her legs over the side of the ramp. “Sugotti lived through the first assassination attempt, but Luki said Simon got hold of him before he could make it into Touka City.”

  “Shit.” The guard turned, and Iver could just make out his beard and the bulge of his massive arms as he crossed them over his chest. “He's dead now, though?”

  His colleague shrugged. “So Fraen says, but he wasn't there for it. That was just the plan he heard before he left Touka to come here with the supplies.”

  “Damn.” The second curse was drawn out and soft. “This is not good, Grimms.”

  “I'm sure it'll be--” She stopped talking suddenly, and beside her, the other guard went still, arms dropping and then coming up again, this time with a SAL in hand.

  They were staring over the wall, in the direction the lander had come in from earlier, and eventually Iver heard the sound of two men talking.

  “We've been this way.” The whine in the voice that floated over to him told Iver the speaker was Tillis.

  He shifted from his spot against the tree trunk to get a better look and went still at the sight of two small handlights pointed at the ramp from the outside of the shield. The backwash of light lit up two faces.

  Tillis and Barre.

  They stood on the other side of the wall, looking straight at the guards.

  “There's something about this place.” Barre seemed to lean forward a little, staring straight at the guards as if he was looking right at them, then turned away without another word.

  “Let's go right. We've only looked at the river about a hundred times.” Tillis turned away more slowly, and then started off across the rock-strewn ground. “I'm sure that's not enough.”

  “Fuck you, Tillis.” Barre stood for another moment and then turned to follow him. “All you do is whine.”

  They disappeared into the darkness, and after a minute had passed, the guards blew out a breath in unison.

  “Close,” Grimms said, voice very low.

  “Too close. They'll hit the wall one day soon, just stumble into it. I'm not sure why they haven't already.” The guard shook out his shoulders.

  “Bret thinks it's because there's something in the shield that repels people. Like a vibration or sound wave that's too high or low to hear, but warns you off.”

  The guard glanced at her. “Then how did he find it?”

  “Don't know. Maybe it doesn't work if you're...” She made a gesture with her hand, as if to imply Bret was crazy.

  That was good to know.

  “It's not just us, you know, not talking when they come by, even though Bret says they can't hear us on this side of the wall. Jeera and Luki don't talk, either. I asked them.”

  The man snorted out a laugh, shaking his head. “I'll track them as far as I can on this side of the wall. You keep watch here.”

  She nodded and the guard headed straight toward Iver, then veered off through the trees.

  Iver waited for the sound of him moving through the undergrowth to fade, then took a last look at Grimms, who was standing on the ramp to give herself some height, looking out toward the valley.

  He melted into the darkness created by the trees and headed back to the camp along the rough road the lander had used.

  He wouldn't need to worry about the guards behind him for a while at least, they were too shook up by their near-miss. The fact that there was only two of them also told him Bret was keeping things very tight when it came to his crew.

  Either Bret couldn't find the right people, or he was trying to keep the number of people who knew about this place to a minimum to stop leaks.

  Given what had happened to Lancaster, it looked like someone already had leaked. Iver thought it likely that person was Lancaster himself, though. The double-crosser had had the bad luck of being double-crossed.

  Lights bloomed out of the darkness up ahead, and Iver could make out the three big camp buildings by their lit windows. Small lights lined a path from the middle building to the huts on the other side of the open space, with the ruins sitting dark and forbidding in between.

  Someone laughed, a low chuckle that told Iver whoever it was was relaxed, and from how clear the sound was, they were sitting outside. Someone murmured in response, and the chuckle came again, along with the clink of a glass.

  He eased around the side of the building closest to the low wall and saw what he hadn't noticed earlier that afternoon, that there were tables and chairs set outside the middle building.

  The sky suddenly lit up, and the aurora blazed in an arc over the Spikes.

  There were at least five people sitting outside, and Iver heard some gasp, others cheer.

  Suddenly the lights cut out, and the only illumination was the aurora in the sky, washing the mountains in blues, greens and purples.

  Then, as if in tune with what was happening below, it winked out as well, plunging the world into absolute darkness.

  “It's not ten,” someone grumbled.

  “No, but Baxter and I were trying to make those repairs with the parts Fraen brought in today, so we used up more power than usual.” The person who spoke had a similar depth and rumble to his voice as the guard at the gate.

  Someone sighed. “Then I'm going to bed.”

  Most of them broke up and went their separate ways, but Iver could hear two sets of footsteps coming toward the door of the building he was leaning against.

  “Doing a last check for the night, Vras?” The man with the rumbling voice asked, something slightly mocking in his tone.

  “Yes.” The answer was short and irritated. “You coming to check on her as well, Luki?”

  “Might as well. She still asleep?”

  Iver hadn't realized he'd straightened up and tensed, but when he looked down at his hands, he saw they were clenched.

  “Last time I checked.”

  “Could she be faking it?” Luki's voice was so similar to the guard at the gate that Iver guessed they were related.

  “Maybe,” Vras sounded unworried. “But she's not faking her fever, so I doubt it.”

  Luki didn't answer, and they disappeared into the building.

  Iver waited, heart beating too loudly in his ears.

  Luki came out first, and Iver noted his physical build was similar to the gate guard's as well.

  Vras made his way out a few minutes later. “You waiting for me?” He sou
nded surprised.

  “Just making sure you get out safe and sound. We don't know what she's capable of.” The tone was mocking again.

  “Whatever, Luki.” Vras walked away.

  “You locked her in?” Luki's voice was soft, but Iver heard it clearly enough.

  “Bret told me to, didn't he?” Vras didn't even look back.

  “I'll take the key. I'll need to check on her later tonight.”

  Vras turned at that, the handlight he was using to light his way giving his face a ghoulish cast. His lips were formed in a thin line. “I also have to check on her later. I need the key.”

  “Come ask me for it, then.”

  “No. You ask me.” Vras turned again and Iver caught the bob of his handlight as he walked at a fast clip toward the huts, not quite running away, but close.

  Luki stood staring after him, shoulders hunched a little. Iver heard him swear softly, and then he stalked toward the building on the far end of the row.

  He disappeared into the darkness, and Iver waited until he heard a door open and then close in the distance before trying the door they'd just come out of.

  Whatever fight they'd had over the key to the room Hana was in, they hadn't locked the front entrance.

  Sloppy.

  This whole operation was sloppy.

  He stepped into the building, closing the door silently behind him. The room he stepped into felt big and empty. Iver switched on the handlight he'd had in his pack, pointing it at the ground and shielding it with his hand to lessen the glow.

  He was in what looked like a medbay reception area, but there were desks with papers on them and he wondered why it looked strange until he realized there were no comm units anywhere.

  They didn't work here, obviously.

  To his left was a long conference table, and he guessed this was most likely the administration building as well as the medbay.

  He moved to the far end of the room and found himself in a narrow passageway. There were three doors, the one directly opposite him looked like a private office, a bathroom to the right, and the door to the left was closed.

  He tried the handle but just as Vras had confirmed, it was locked.