Salvaged Destiny

by Lynn Rae

  Feeling on the spot, Del tried to smile at an oblivious Lazlo and a suddenly unhappy Trixie. She had a feeling the tech officer wasn’t going to offer to synch her datpad ever again. “We’ll see.”

  “Trixie, Del and I can take one of these drones out tomorrow and make some test runs,” Lazlo chattered, trying to convince the tech officer to let him get his hands on one of the things. Looking heartbroken, Trixie shrugged and agreed reluctantly, muttering about needing a receipt and insisting Lazlo read all the operating instructions before trying anything. He agreed to everything and cradled the plastic-encased drone in his arms like a baby as she handed it over. Trixie looked at Del, taking in her worn boots, loose and dusty clothes, and looked completely confused. Del was confused as well.

  “Don’t break it, Lazlo!” Trixie warned as they left the lab. “Come back and tell me how it went. Please! I’ll be here all day tomorrow!”

  Lazlo was excited as he and Del left security, waving goodbye to some of his coworkers by lifting the gorgeous little drone as they passed clusters of patrol officers and a few supervisors. He couldn’t wait to send the flyer up into the air. Once they were out on the Boulevard, Del stopped walking, little puffs of dust lifting from her clothes when she put her hands on her hips, turning to frown at him.

  “Lieutenant Casta, how could you?”

  “How could I what and you’re supposed to call me Lazlo, remember?” he reminded her, distracted by the drone and wondering how long it would take for the two of them to reconvene for dinner. He wanted to spend a lot of time this evening studying the pretty little thing.

  “Oh I remember, I’m just not going to now. That poor woman. I’m so mad I could spit,” Del huffed.

  “Why are you mad? What poor woman?” He was confused. Del gave him an impatient look and started walking again and he followed, careful not to jostle the drone.

  “Trixie is the poor woman.”

  “What’s wrong with her?” The tech officer hadn’t looked sick, but he could have missed some sign, since he’d been far too distracted by the lovely robotics littering the workbenches in the lab.

  “She was trying to ask you out and you completely ignored her,” Del said over her shoulder as she continued to walk.

  Lazlo shook his head. Trixie wasn’t like that. She lived in the lab. Why was everyone pushing him at Trixie? First Detective Chin and now Del. He doubted Trixie ever went anywhere other than her home. She wasn’t someone he could imagine dancing with or flirting with or getting naked with. Unlike Del Browen, who was beginning to figure prominently in his daydreams. “No she wasn’t.”

  “Yes she was. It was painful to see. Good night, Lieutenant Casta.”

  “So does this mean we aren’t going to have dinner together?”

  “That’s correct.” She kept walking away from him, waving her hand at him dismissively. “Tomorrow morning, same place, same time.”

  Lazlo slowed and then stopped, watching her disappear in the crowd. He’d really been looking forward to dinner.

  *

  “Still angry with me?”

  Del didn’t reply to Lazlo’s question. She just drove the cart a little faster and exhaled. He had been quiet that morning, carefully stowing the drone in the back of the cart and taking a seat after handing her some coffee. He’d also brought a small box of pastries as a peace offering. Del wasn’t ready to be mollified yet, but one look at the lovely lemon éclairs was making her mouth water and her irritation fade.

  “I’m not angry with you,” Del admitted. “I just felt bad for Trixie.”

  Lazlo shifted in the seat next to her, or maybe he was merely jounced around by the rough driving. “Why do you feel bad for her? She’s fine.”

  “She’s not fine. She likes you and I think it really hurt her when you asked me to go to that audionook she was asking you to.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt her, Del.”

  Shooting him a frustrated glance, Del decided she had made her point. Of course Lazlo hadn’t meant to hurt Trixie. He just hadn’t noticed what he was doing. “She’s just trying to find someone, as everyone is.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Lazlo sounded doubtful and Del shook her head as she concentrated on her driving. There were lots of loose rocks along this stretch and she didn’t want to jounce the cart and spill her coffee. Or, stars forbid, lose the éclairs.

  “Are you?”

  “Am I what?” Del stopped thinking about food and attended to Lazlo’s question. He peered at her through the reflective lenses of his specs and she wished she could see his eyes to determine if he was serious or trying to tease her.

  “Trying to find someone?” Lazlo sounded serious.

  “I’m not the topic. Trixie Rupti likes you. That’s the topic,” Del shot back, certain she absolutely did not want to discuss that sort of thing with him. Ever.

  “I’m not sure why that’s the topic,” Lazlo grumbled.

  “Because I don’t like being used as camouflage,” Del reminded him of her initial cause for offense in case it had slipped his mind.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did you drag me along yesterday to divert her from you?” There, she’d asked the question that had bothered her all evening. Del didn’t want to think Lazlo would use her like that.

  “No. I don’t think I did.” He shifted in his seat. “I’m not that devious. Are you still angry?”

  “No, not angry. Maybe peeved, but not angry,” Del admitted. Lazlo really was getting uncomfortable over this. She had apparently discovered a weakness in his niceness armor.

  “I’m not going out to an audionook with Trixie to make you happy,” he muttered.

  “I don’t expect you to.” Del glanced over at him and he was scowling, an expression she’d never seen on his usually affable face. Lazlo adjusted his shades and hat.

  “Could we drop this?” Lazlo folded his arms across his chest, took a deep breath, shook his head and gave all sorts of body signals he wanted the subject closed.

  Del smiled and kept her eyes on the terrain in front of the cart. She’d pestered the man enough. Three hundred bumpy meters later, Del decided to be merciful and introduce another topic. “What would you like to talk about?”

  “Our drone is interesting. Did you know it has a new fission-cell drive? It has power for twelve years—well, three years for full-use power—and if we can work out the guidance system issues, we’ll be able to patrol twenty-five percent of this continent’s land mass.” Lazlo was back to his usual sunny self, smiling and gesturing with enthusiasm.

  “Does it carry any sensors or is it solely video feed?” Sensors could potentially pick up hollows in the rocks and help narrow their search area.

  “They come to us set for video, but we can probably add a few modules to scan for basic things like heat or geologic displacement. This one is programmed for beaconing, fresh from the factory.” Lazlo shrugged. “You know, this is our last set of coordinates.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you have that feeling yet?” Lazlo opened the box of éclairs and handed her one.

  “What feeling?” Right now, Del was only feeling satisfaction as she breathed in the fresh air and sniffed in the scent of lemon pastry.

  “That feeling you told me about, the one you get before you find something wonderful.” Lazlo took a huge bite of his own éclair after his question. He licked a smear of cream filling from the corner of his mouth and Del wrenched her head back to face forward, her stomach tightening with dreadful excitement. Something wonderful indeed.

  “Oh that feeling. No, I don’t have it yet,” Del managed to say and then tried her own pastry so she had something to do with her mouth.

  “Will you let me know when you do?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant, I will,” Del needled. It was past time for her to put a little distance between them if just seeing his tongue had distracted her so severely.

  “Lazlo,” he reminded her with a near growl.

  “Yes, I
know your name. Lieutenant Lazlo.”

  *

  After finding another good hiding place for the cart and concealing it, Lazlo and Del set off at a moderate hiking pace. She assured him they had at least a kilometer to go in rough territory before they could actually start to search. Del was quiet as they walked and Lazlo kept his eye on her. His guide was constantly scanning the ground ahead of them and the horizon before them, not often checking the map on her datpad. Since he didn’t need to use much of his brain for hiking, Lazlo wondered about Del—what was her favorite food, did she like to read, had she had a broken heart? She was so reserved, he wondered what she was like on an actual date. Was she flirty? Shy? Aggressive? The thought of an aggressive Del was mighty intriguing and he contemplated that for several hundred entertaining meters.

  Del slowed and stopped at the start of a narrow ravine, the rock here shaded from rusty burgundy to near purple, bands of different shades making the scenery look like an artist’s brush rag. Fungal life was sparse. Lazlo had seen only a few tough-looking gray patches of domed caps and a few tattered lichen blankets. Otherwise everything was silent and hot.

  “This is where it’s going to get tough.” Del pointed down and he took a look. The ground sank away in front of them into a narrow, shadowy gorge. “Let’s fly your drone now. I don’t think we should try it from down there.”

  Lazlo took off his pack and removed the drone’s case, opening it and activating the engine. All indicators were go within seconds and he cautiously switched on the jet intake. The little drone sputtered and sighed in his hand, straining to take off. “Del, come here.” He beckoned to her and when she reached his side, he took her hand and placed it on the drone. “I want you to launch it.”

  She shook her head and tried to draw back. “No, I’m all dusty. I’ll make a smudge on it.”

  Lazlo shook his head, pulling her back to him. “You’ll be fine. Come on, just hold it up and give it a little push as you let it go.”

  Giving him a skeptical look, Del gingerly picked up the shuddering drone. “It’s moving!”

  “Hold on to it.” Lazlo laughed at her shocked expression. “It has a tiny engine—the intakes are right there.” He pointed to the small opening under the nose of the drone. “Solar skin runs along all of the wings.” The little device glittered and shone in her hands and she nodded, lifting it overhead.

  “I’m going to break it. I’m sure it’s really expensive,” Del warned him. “I’ll let go and it will just fall and break into a bunch of pieces.

  “No you aren’t going to break it. Just let it fly.” Shooting a worried look his way, Del swung the drone into the air and it raced away, quickly spiraling up as it calibrated its location, the orbiting circles widening the higher it got until it swung out of sight. Del turned back to him after it disappeared and grinned, enthusiastically grabbing his hand and arm as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Lazlo held on to her without a thought.

  “That was so fantastic! Thank you for letting me do that.” Del glowed with excitement and Lazlo felt something catch in his gut. He wanted to do something to make her that happy. Lazlo wanted to draw her closer and touch her cheek or her hair, feel her press against him. He’d just decided to lean closer when Del broke the spell by stepping back, pulling her hand from his, and he was disappointed. Stars, he was liking her. More and more, too much, too fast. That wasn’t part of his plans while living on Sayre or his intentions for her. She was right—he wasn’t going to stay and Del was the type of person who needed permanence. No more touching, Lazlo promised himself. Touching meant she was too close.

  Looking up into the lavender sky, she shaded her eyes and peered around, thankfully not noticing his disrupted thinking. “Where is it going? How will you get it back?”

  Clearing his throat, Lazlo spoke up. “I set the pattern to survey the area we’re going to be in, a few square kilometers. It should take about three hours and then it will just circle until I signal for it to return.”

  “Good, that gives us some time.” She picked up his pack and handed it to him, back to business as she took a few steps away from him and concentrated on the path ahead.

  “Let’s go, big guy.” Turning on her heel, Del hopped down in the ravine and disappeared into the gloom, boots crunching in the loose pink gravel. Feeling unaccountably irritated, whether with his inappropriate urges or Del’s hasty retreat, Lazlo followed several paces behind.

  Del felt like running, dashing into the narrow canyon and not stopping until she could find a cave to crawl in. What an idiot she was, grabbing the man’s hand and arm like that. It was so inappropriate. What was wrong with her? Lazlo was objectively attractive of course, but she was hardly the sort of person to simply fling herself at a handsome man. It was likely due to how nice and kind he was. He brought her coffee for stars’ sake. How could she not be impressed?

  Walking quickly and very much not looking back to see if he was following, Del kept on, looking at the rock walls enclosing the small canyon. Nothing caught her attention. Something had to soon, since this was their last set of coordinates. Without success, she wasn’t going to be paid and she needed to improve her bank account. What she didn’t need was another useless infatuation, fawning after Lazlo like poor Trixie.

  Locking her muddled feelings down, Del paused, taking a good look at the topography on her paper map, feeling like an ancient explorer for a moment, then evaluating her surroundings. These formations were old and solid. Good for construction and concealment. And since she was where she should be, it was time to start looking carefully now.

  Lazlo arrived silently, standing several meters away and frowning at a fractured igneous intrusion as if it were a pickpocket on the Boulevard.

  “Come on,” Del urged. “This is where we start.”

  They started to walk along the valley floor, cliff walls rising overhead, lavender sky visible as a narrow glowing strip above their heads. Fine gravel crunched underfoot as they walked and the air around them was humid and still, smelling of sulfur from a nearby thermal vent and the mustiness of growing fungus—the signature aroma of Sayre.

  “How do you think the drone is doing up there?”

  “Probably still circling and gaining altitude,” Lazlo answered tersely.

  “Can it detect us down here?” Del looked up at the little sliver of sky visible between walls of stone.

  “It’s not set for any of our readings, so no.” Lazlo kicked at a blackish rock. “Do you see anything likely?”

  “No.”

  “Do you have that feeling yet?” He sounded distracted or annoyed and Del wondered why as she shook her head. It was hard to listen to her intuition when Lazlo was radiating such ill humor.

  Del kept walking, noting the location of a few interesting specimens as she passed them—red umbarlite, reticulated obsidian and a nest of geodes. Too heavy to pick up now, but she could return and get them at another time. Lazlo kicked at another rock as they walked around a large chunk of fallen cliff embedded in the sand and split into several sections.

  “Why are you kicking at the rocks?”

  “They’re in my way,” Lazlo responded grumpily.

  “I’ll be sure to stay out of range then,” Del shot back, irritated by his attitude.

  “Stars, Del, I’m not going to kick you.” Lazlo sounded aggrieved at her suggestion.

  “You have long legs, Casta.”

  Lazlo stopped walking and stood looking at her, frustration radiating out of his tensed shoulders and tight expression. “You think I’d do that?”

  Del paused in comparing her map with the terrain and looked at him. “You seem annoyed. You’re kicking at things. I’m standing right here. Seems like a natural progression.”

  “I am irritated. I’m irritated that you think I would hurt you, like I’m some temperamental thug who lashes out. Solves problems with brute force.” He took a breath and stared at her. “All my life, people have treated me like I was dangerous just because I ha
ppen to be big.”

  Del blinked, not sure how to approach this issue. “Casta, I don’t think you’re going to hurt me.”

  “Good, because I’m not.”

  “That’s good. I don’t want to be hurt.” Del took a calming breath, wanting to make things better between them. The episode with Trixie and their subsequent disagreement seemed to have bothered him as much as her. “How about I stop calling you big?”

  “I understand why you do. It’s all right.” He swallowed and looked marginally calmer. “I’ll stop kicking rocks.”

  “Good. I might be able to sell some of them if they don’t have boot prints all over them,” Del tried to joke.

  Lazlo gave her a tiny smile. “I’m not strong enough to kick rocks apart.”

  Del smiled back and took a step toward him, glad he was returning to affability. “I can’t be sure. You have some muscles on you.”

  Lazlo shook his head and looked calmer. Leaning down, he picked up a hand-sized chunk of fused crystals and handed it to her. “So what is this?”

  “Gravenolure.”

  “Is it worth much?”

  “No.”

  Placing the gravenolure back where he found it, Lazlo took a few steps and retrieved another sample, this one a little smaller, pale gray with charcoal threads running through it. “What about this one?”

  “Midated borlonium inclusion in granite.”

  “Worth much?”

  Del held it up and inspected it more closely. “It’s a fair specimen. If the brolonium crystals were larger, a collector would be interested, but this one would be good for a teaching lab. I’d sell it for twelve or thirteen hundred marks.”

  Lazlo looked impressed. “So why aren’t you picking up this stuff as we go along?”

  “My job is to guide you, not wander around looking for my own salvage. Besides, these things get heavy once you start carrying them.” Del grinned. “I’m making notes on where the good stuff is so I can come back later with a loaderbot to carry it.”

  With an understanding nod, Lazlo smiled back and took the mineral sample from her. “I want you to have this today. I’ll carry it.” He pulled off his pack and shoved the rock inside, then pulled out a water bottle. Del shrugged and unclamped hers from her belt.