High Flyer (Verdant String)

by Michelle Diener

  Jeera made a sound of dismay.

  “The others aren't in good shape, Jeer. They shouldn't be moved. Especially Luki. And even in the lander, the going'll be rough. Besides, this is our engine.” Grimms put a hand on Jeera's shoulder.

  Jeera looked over at the lander, then back at the ruin. Gave a reluctant nod.

  They broke apart, running towards their huts, and Fraen and Vars emerged from the hut as well, running after them.

  “What now? We could take the lander ourselves.” Hana glanced over at the river, looking for any sign of Jake and whoever had gone to help him. A cool breeze, with a faint hint of smoke on it, lifted her hair, and she took a deep breath.

  It felt like the first good breath she'd managed in a long time.

  “I don't want the shield tech stolen.” Iver put hands on her shoulders. “I can go into the ruin, see what's really going on in there, what we're dealing with, and you can wait near the lander for me.”

  Hana worried her bottom lip.

  There was some sense in that. If Iver was hurt or caught by Barre and Craven, she could get him out, but she had the feeling in this situation, two were better than one.

  “I'll come with you.”

  Iver's hands tightened their hold, and then he gave a nod, releasing her as he stepped back.

  “We'll make it quick. If we can't stop them, we take the lander and go for help. With the Dynastra down, they aren't going anywhere right now.”

  Hana nodded and ran toward the ruin with him.

  At last they would see what was really going on.

  Chapter 25

  Iver could see the change in Hana. She moved differently.

  It wouldn't be obvious enough for the casual observer to notice, but she seemed to glide, in full harmony with her body.

  She wasn't favoring her foot at all, and he could only assume it was healed.

  There was a shout behind them as they ran for the ruin, and he turned to see that Bret had noticed where they were headed and seemed to be objecting.

  He ignored the camp leader and stepped through the arched entrance, into the dappled gloom.

  “They'll be right behind us,” Hana warned.

  He nodded in agreement, but kept going. The holes in the roof let in enough light to see by, but there were big pools of shadows, too, and he tread carefully.

  He could hear talking up ahead, and slowed his pace even more, keeping close to the wall.

  Hana was right beside him, head cocked in the direction of the noise. A beam of light from a break in the roof overhead lit her face, and he felt something rise up in him that was almost too big to contain.

  “What are they saying?” he forced himself to ask, his voice rough.

  “They're trying to work out how to carry the engine out. Sounds like it's too heavy.” Hana's voice was barely a whisper.

  The conversation was coming from up ahead, echoing and bouncing through the building as if the acoustics of the room they were in were unusual.

  Hana reached out and touched the oddly angled protrusions on the wall in the passageway, the oblongs and rectangles sticking out in uneven, asymmetrical patterns.

  They reminded Iver of something, but he couldn't quite remember what.

  “The problem is the two minute limit.” Craven's voice was suddenly clear, as if he'd moved closer.

  “I know that.” Barre sounded impatient. “We can't get the engine in place, though. Not with the equipment we have. Nothing works here. The magfields are too strong.”

  “The crew who were hired to take the environmental generator off Cepi were considering dismantling it when they encountered this problem. Better to have it in bits, and get someone to try put it back together, than not have it at all.”

  “Sugotti knows about it now, so we have to destroy it or take it with us, nothing in between.” Barre audibly spat after he spoke.

  “Sugotti can't live to see another day, whatever Jake thinks his value as a hostage is, so it doesn't matter what he knows.”

  Craven's response didn't surprise Iver at all. He expected it. What he hadn't expected was mention of Cepi. He'd told Hana the day before that the shield engine in the camp reminded him of Cepi's mysterious generator, but it sounded as if Craven had inside knowledge.

  And the strange protrusions on the wall . . . he suddenly remembered where he recognized them from. The ruins of Cepi had looked very similar.

  Craven and Barre must have been told what to look for in these ruins to get to the engine. And they could only have been told by whoever had funded the attempted theft of Cepi's environmental generator.

  “Problem is, Sugotti is a way out if we're stopped by the VSC when we try to leave. He does have value as a hostage, Jake's right about that. We can't get rid of him yet.” Barre's voice went softer as if he had turned. “Not that it matters now. We're not going anywhere until we solve this problem.”

  “We're not going anywhere anyway, with the Dynastra down.” Craven sounded bitter. “What the hell were they doing, buzzing the valley like a VSC strike-team in the war?”

  “Probably that asshole, Linnel.” The sound of a stone skittering over the floor made Iver think Barre had kicked it.

  He looked over at Hana, saw her eyes were a little wider, her mouth open in shock at the mention of Linnel's name.

  “Damn,” she mouthed. “Thought we'd gotten rid of him.”

  Iver nodded. He had, too.

  The head administrator of Touka City had obviously not managed to hang on to the lieutenant after she'd arrested him. Most likely the mysterious Banyon had something to do with getting him free.

  It also looked like Linnel had been playing Bret and his team, just the same as Lancaster had been. Because until right now, Iver thought he was in Bret's camp, but here he was, helping Jake and Craven. Either he was in with Lancaster from the beginning, or he knew what Lancaster was up to, and decided to throw in with the other side when things blew up for him in Touka City.

  Iver motioned Hana to leave, and she gave a nod.

  The engine wasn't going anywhere.

  It sounded as though they didn't have a way to get the engine out, and as Craven said, even if they did, until the Dynastra was running again, they were stuck here.

  Hana led the way back down the passage.

  She stopped just before the arched door and pressed up against the wall. Iver followed her lead.

  Bret and Baxter stepped through, Baxter with a SAL, Bret holding a long piece of pipe.

  Bret jerked back and swung the pipe wildly as he caught sight of them.

  Hana dropped, easily sliding into a crouch, and the pipe struck the wall above her head.

  Iver stepped away from the wall, ready to hit him, when Hana rose up, arm coming out so fast he barely saw it move before she had the pipe in her grasp.

  She yanked it, and Bret let it go, stumbling forward.

  “You!” He narrowed his eyes. “Get out of here, Sugotti. The engine is mine.”

  “We're getting out.” Iver kept his voice low, fury forcing him to breathe slowly, fight for control. “But what do you think you can do with it, Bret?”

  “Sell the tech for big money to one of the Beyond planets, be that the Caruso or someone else, and use the money to set up another Haven, with the shielding tech to keep us safe.”

  “Safe from what?” Hana asked.

  “From the VSC and its interference.” Bret held out his hand for the pipe. “Get out of here, Sugotti, and be grateful I don't have the capacity to keep you a prisoner as well as fight Craven and Jake. I don't want to see you again.”

  Hana did not hand the pipe over, she stared him down, and for a moment Bret stared back, flummoxed, before leaning forward and yanking it from her grasp.

  He and Baxter tried to move past them, but Iver stepped in front of them, blocking the way.

  “Iver.” Hana gave a tiny shake of her head.

  Iver stared at Bret, then Baxter, the urge to strike holding him in its grip, but at
last he forced himself to move and the two men edged around him and disappeared into the gloom of the passageway.

  Hana took his arm and pulled him out into the sunlight. “The Dynastra next?” she asked.

  He hesitated. They needed to know how badly the runner was damaged, but he'd prefer to get in the lander and just get out of here.

  “If it's not too damaged, and Linnel doesn't get in my way, I could try to fly it out.” Hana jogged toward the wall.

  “That would be a good solution to a lot of problems.” Iver didn't have high hopes, though. And he didn't want Hana anywhere near Linnel.

  The runner lay at an angle, nose down in the water.

  The back was propped up on the bank, and two of the air blades were dug into the turf.

  “Well, that's not going anywhere.” Iver sounded strangely pleased.

  “Not necessarily.” She glanced at him in surprise. “It doesn't actually look like its taken much structural damage. It's wedged into the river, but if they can push it off the bank into the water, and get it to float down to that wider section of the river, it might be able to take off.”

  “How likely is that?” Iver moved ahead of her, keeping parallel with the path below them. She followed, her gaze on the runner.

  “There's Jake.” Iver pointed and she saw him come around the side of the Dynastra with Lia on his heels.

  Roj scrambled up the bank to the side of them, his face streaked with dirt, and then, much slower, Linnel clambered up behind him.

  They conferred together, and then leaned back down the bank, to help what turned out to be Brynja and Tillis carrying a stretcher with another person on it.

  They set the stretcher down, and then Jake made gestures toward the camp.

  Brynja and Tillis jogged back toward it at a fast clip, and after a moment, Lia followed them.

  Roj, Jake and Linnel stood around for a few more minutes, and then eventually Jake and Roj picked up the stretcher and walked to the camp as well, Linnel trailing behind them.

  Hana moved as soon as they disappeared, running down the slope with Iver right behind her.

  The engines were still ticking, cooling down, and Hana crouched beside them.

  “Is that sand in there?” Iver spoke over her shoulder.

  “Yes.” She rose up, with hands on her hips. “This isn't flying without some very careful cleaning.”

  “How careful?”

  She shook her head. “Very careful. I wouldn't fly it unless it was taken to a workshop, pulled apart, cleaned and put back together. The Sig has a better design. If they'd been flying one, they'd probably be okay, but this isn't a Sig . . .” She shrugged. The runners used on the VSC planets just didn't work on Faldine, and the solution engineers had come up with as a quick fix had been the Dynastra. They worked, but there were issues. The Sig was a massive step up, but there were only a few of them.

  “So you wouldn't fly it; would Linnel?”

  She shook her head. “He was one of the workshop engineers for most of my time in the military. I didn't realize he could fly at all. Unless the person on the stretcher was the pilot.” She backed away from the runner. “I wouldn't have thought he would risk it.”

  “Except he's not behaving logically right now.” Iver looked toward the camp.

  “So, the lander becomes our only way out.” Hana wished the Dynastra was good to fly. They could already be on their way.

  “Looks like it.”

  She joined Iver, and he pulled her close, so they stood together on the path, entwined in each other's arms.

  He kissed her, bending his head and cupping her face with his hands, his body blocking the crisp wind that blew down from the high peaks of the Spikes.

  She shivered, pressed closer into him. If they didn't need to go for help, didn't need to get the VSC here to stop Jake and his friends, she'd suggest they grab their packs and walk into the Spikes.

  “Maybe they're killing each other in the camp. Maybe when we get there, they'll all be dead.”

  Iver nuzzled her temple. “That would suit me. We could just jump in the lander and take off.”

  Hana rubbed her cheek against his chin. “Jake's definitely going to get a surprise when he gets back to camp.”

  Iver gave a hum of agreement, and she reluctantly stepped back from him.

  “Do you think he didn't understand about the doors?” She faced the camp, listening for any sign of carnage.

  “What do you mean?” Iver got into step with her as she started up the path.

  “I noticed no one told Jake the doors didn't lock at the beginning. Do you think he didn't know?”

  Iver stopped. “You think he ordered Brynja and Tillis to come and help down here because he thought the door was locked?”

  She nodded. “And they either forgot he didn't know that, or were too afraid of him to tell him.”

  “That means he doesn't know a lot about Faldine.”

  “And yet, he knew about the camp, and was working with Lancaster and some of the former Faldine rebels.”

  Iver waved at the ruin as the top of it came into sight now the shield was down. “Did you pick up on what Barre and Craven were talking about in the ruin? About Cepi?”

  Hana slowed as they got closer to the wall. “You think this has something to do with what happened to Cepi's enviro generator?”

  “This ruin seemed similar to the one on Cepi to me from the start,” Iver said. “And then there's the hidden generator, creating an encasing shield, just like there was on Cepi.”

  “You think the same people built both structures?”

  “We never worked out what was powering the Cepi generator, and if this shield is as old as the ruin, I'm willing to bet it's been here thousands of years, humming away.”

  “So Craven and Barre knew where to find the shield engine because the team that tried to steal Cepi's generator told them what to look for?” Hana shook her head. “I thought they were all killed.”

  “The team that went onto Cepi was killed, but the people who were paying them, who silenced them when they realized the crew they'd sent in wouldn't be able to get off the moon with the generator--they were never caught.”

  “You think Jake is working for those people.” Hana spoke slowly.

  “I do,” he agreed. “I was told by Admiral Valerian that the VSC thought the Core Companies of Garmen were behind the attempted theft.”

  “But the Cores are dismantled now.” They were certainly living through exciting times, Hana reflected. The last year seemed to have been a series of crises. The VSC regaining control of Garmen, a former breakaway planet, was just one of them.

  “The Cores are gone,” Iver said. “But not everyone involved with the Cores is accounted for. Some of them scattered before they could be scooped up.”

  “Theoretically, what they were doing on Garmen was legal, wasn't it?” Hana wondered what the Cores executives had been involved in that they thought it better to run than stay and face whatever sanction the VSC decided to dish out.

  “Not according to the footage Sofie Erdo smuggled off the planet. The owners of the Cores knew they'd be facing prosecution if they walked back into the VSC openly, so most have gone to ground.”

  “And you think some of them, the same people behind the attempted theft on Cepi, heard about this ruin and its shield, put two and two together, and sent Jake here to get it?”

  “I do.” Iver put a finger to his lips as the camp wall came into view.

  Hana ducked down with him and they ran up the slope together, crouching behind the wall at a point where they had the best view of the lander.

  The camp was strangely quiet, and Hana wondered what had happened when Jake had returned to find the power balance had shifted back toward Bret.

  If he even knew it yet.

  “Looks like everyone is hunkered down.” Iver gripped the top of the wall. “Let's move now.”

  He glanced at her to see if she was ready and she nodded.

  He
stood and vaulted the wall in a fluid motion, one hand propelling him over.

  Hana was right behind him and she ran for the lander, fast as she could, making for the driver's side out of habit.

  Iver kept his focus on the camp rather than the vehicle, watching her back, and she jumped in and started the engine before he'd even reached the passenger door.

  A shout went up as soon as the engine roared to life, and she glanced to the right, saw Jake running out of the medbay building.

  As Iver jumped in, she swung the lander around and Bret came flying out of the ruin, face contorted.

  He and Jake seemed to start at the sight of each other, and then Hana had no more time to watch them. She pointed the vehicle at the faint track out of the camp, and hit the accelerator.

  Chapter 26

  Iver saw no sign of anyone as Hana raced toward the far end of the camp.

  The ramp was up, the way it had been a few nights ago when he had watched the guards. “Stop. I'll get the ramp into place.”

  Hana nodded, stopping right next to it, and jumping out herself.

  He was going to protest, but then saw it required two people to maneuver it.

  They worked quickly together, wheeling it to the wall and fixing it in place, then lowering the other side down.

  By the time they were done, even he could hear the shouts as people ran from the camp toward them.

  Hana pulled off as soon as they got back inside.

  Iver leaned out the window and saw Grimms and Baxter running after them.

  He hung on as the lander tilted upward then bounced down the other side of the ramp.

  Hana accelerated as soon as they were on the other side and he watched their followers disappear in a cloud of dust.

  Hana gave a laugh--a whoop of relief--and he grinned.

  “Out the way we came in?” Hana focused her gaze on the path in front of them.

  “Yes. We at least know we can get back to Touka City if we retrace the route.”

  She nodded and the lander slid a little on the loose pebbles at the bottom of the slope before she turned a sharp left. The engine roared as it struggled up the steep incline, and then they reached the top, emerging into the shallower valley.