“Don’t get too headstrong.” She paused. “I realized a few weeks ago how foolish it was for me to pretend to be part of a group I didn’t belong in.”
Took you long enough. “I think it looks good. Reminds me of when we first started talking.”
“Yeah.” She spiked the front up a little more. “I guess it does.”
“So what happened two weeks ago to cause this realization?”
“I was typing a plaintiff’s testimony. A nineteen-year-old girl named Kim, accused of B and E at someone’s apartment at Teppo Tower. She pleaded not guilty, representing herself, on the grounds of her belief that everyone, scraper or hermit, survives on the backs of others. So if she was able to break in and take food, clothes, and a means for a better life, then that was her right.”
The reasoning was not far from what Rush had gone through in accepting Warren’s offer.
“The court was silent except for the chain-yanked fans, her words, and my typing. She looked me in the eye and said, ‘Even your court reporter goes to extremes to live like those better off. How much of your salary goes toward that outfit and hairstyling? Half? More?’” Star cut herself short, gazed off in thought. More may have happened after that, but she mulled to speak it.
“Stone called contempt at that point, I hope?”
“Something like that, but she went on.” Again, hesitation.
“What happened, Star? What’d she say?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” She tried smiling through the glisten in her eye.
“I’m sorry. I think I know and I’m sorry. I have been very selfish. I can’t imagine—”
“It’s...yes, it’s been tough, but you’re here now, so let’s not worry about the past.” She cuffed off a tear from her cheek. “The point of the story was the girl was partly right. I thought I was dressing like a scraper, first to fit in with Oya, then to bring esteem to my job with Justice Stone...but her words...I immediately felt like a hermit in a borrowed shell.”
“Hon, you can dress however you like. You’re beautiful regardless.”
She smiled. “I can, but it made me think. You weren’t the only stubborn one. Fish wasn’t our only problem. His...passing only made it easier to stop trying to work them out.” She scratched at her bandage. “After Oya left, or was taken—whichever—her friends made it known in subtle ways that I wasn’t welcome up at their high-rise events. But I couldn’t admit that you were right about life being better in Shantytown. Between Fish, and you, and all that, I got really lonely, and I was hiding in a scraper’s shell. I cut my hair and simplified my wardrobe, then put my old clothes on Tina’s doorstep with a note that said, ‘For your next charity event.’”
Rush laughed. “Good one. And what did Stone think?”
“Never saw it. I did it my first day of vacation. He’s been gone since.” A thought struck her. “Shouldn’t we have left him a note or something, tell him to come find us?”
“I didn’t think about that. Not everyone came with, I’m sure someone will tell him what happened.”
“Okay.”
“I’m thirsty.” Rush forced himself out of his slouch against the side of the boat and over to the compartment where Avery stored his canteen and jerky. He lingered in view of the one with the strange radio.
The ship absorbed weight on the starboard side. Footsteps rose up the ladder. Viky’s head popped up above the edge, a mischievous smile smeared across her face. He knew exactly what she came to talk to him about.
“You going for your new toy again while Avery’s not looking?”
Rush tried to hide his angry look from Star.
“What? You didn’t tell your wife either?”
“Shut—would you keep your voice down?” He looked to Star and her concerned glare. “I was going to bring it up. Just not yet, Viky.”
“Why’s that?” She swung her legs over and leapt onto the deck. “You wanted more play time first? Looked to me like that cast of yours gave you greasy fingers. Maybe I should hold it for you.”
“Rush, what’s she talking about?”
He ducked down to eye level over the edge of the ship, back to the dash, and checked on Avery, who faced east and the crowd of refugees. One of the older men of their group lifted a thread as he stitched Avery’s shoulder. Viky’s approach threatened not to stop before forcing him aside. He’d seen her left hook knock more than a few guys out at the Honey Hole, but he held his ground. “I really don’t think we should mess around with whatever it is.”
“Why’s that? Afraid you’ll break it?”
“A person the size of my hand spoke from inside its screen.”
Viky stopped, put her hands on her toned hips, then bursted out laughing. “The little man made me do it!” she mocked. “He told me Colorado’s secrets.”
“He asked me who I was, then disappeared.”
“How’s he fit in there?” She reached for the compartment. “Let me see if I can free him.”
Rush swatted her hand with his cast, then recoiled at the surge of pain from wrist to elbow.
“Oh, that’ll teach you, D.M.” She patted around the panel until pushing the top opened the compartment. Rush moved to grab her off his arm, but she held him back, reaching in with her other hand and retrieved the thin radio.
“Get down, Viky. What if he sees you?”
“What are you so afraid of?” She looked over her shoulder at the crowd but remained standing, the radio blocked from view on her west side. “I thought you and Avery were friends.”
“We are.”
“Then who dropped a snake in your skivvies?”
“The man I saw in the screen.”
She turned the radio over, slid off a cover and peeled out a small, flat, silver rectangle. “I don’t see any scary men in here.”
She put the rectangle back in and turned it back to the screen side. Her thumb slid up the side and pressed something. The screen lit up to a clock and a small circle with a lock inside. She pushed on it. The white circle lit brighter and moved a bit from her touch.
She stroked her thumb up the screen. The lock followed her finger, but returned to center when she let go. The clock and lock screen remained.
“Huh.” She tried again, adjusting her stroke to a leftward slant. Same result. “How'd you get the man to come out and talk?”
“I don't know. My finger moved across the screen and he appeared, but when I picked it up, it was making a noise, like an electronic song.”
“From what angle did you touch the screen?” She glanced back at the crowd then handed the radio to Rush. “Show me.”
He turned it sideways, Star watching from his left, and tried mimicking his awkward swipe with the cast hand holding it.
The same chime as last time sounded from the device. Rush jerked and almost dropped it. Viky took it from him, checked the screen, and slid her finger over it. Rush and Star stole a glance. A blue star ignited under her pupil and faded. When Rush broke eye contact and looked at the phone, the same man as before glared at him. Same desk, but the sky behind him was black, with an odd white reflection on the window behind him, like a box trapped inside the glass. Tiny words moved in a line from right to left. A brown box with green spots of trees on the right and tan desert on the left formed at the top left corner of what could have been a map of their position, the blinking green pyramid reminding Rush of what he’d seen on Avery’s map device.
“If Avery is alive,” the man said, “your lasting health depends on you giving him the phone immediately.”
“Phone?” Viky asked.
“What you’re holding, rat.” The young man wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Is Avery aware that you’re touching his property?”
“If you’d like to speak to Avery, I’ve got some questions first,” Rush said, moving into a better view. The map on the window cleared up to a close view of a mountain on the right side and a small party of sarfers. Their sarfers. Small dots moved around and stood around just l
ike the crowd by the tree stumps.
“What’s your name?” The man in the screen asked.
Rush’s dad had taught him early on not to tell strangers his name. “I won’t insult your intelligence and lie to you. Besides, I’m the one asking questions if you want us to hand the phone to Avery.”
The man shook his head. “Tell Avery that he has one minute to call me back or I send locals and their bobcats to feast on your party.” His left hand formed a mock gun pointed at Rush. He squeezed the trigger and the screen turned black.
Viky looked up at Rush. “What was that, tough guy?”
“Relax. I was just...”
Star was still staring at the phone.
Rush put his arm around her. “You okay, love?”
She slowly shook her head. “I don’t...no, I don’t think so. Maybe just thirsty.”
Rush got the canteen for her. “This has gone on long enough. Avery’s going to give me some answers.” He took the phone toward the ladder.
“Going in your underwear?” Star asked.
“We’ve got one minute,” Viky told her. “He doesn’t have time to change.”
Rush stopped at the ladder, unsure how he’d climb down with one hand and hold the phone. Maybe I don’t have to.
“Hey Av!”
Avery turned around from two men he spoke with, his shirt back on and a white bandage sticking out a little under his collar.
Rush wagged the phone beside his head. “Come quick.”
Shocked, and more than a bit angry, he did. It was a good thing they had a history, because the borderline rage on his face said he was burning up most of their good graces.
He shook his head all the way to the bottom of the ladder. “Toss it here.”
“I think you should come on up. I have a few questions. Some guy told us to have you call him back in less than a minute or the locals and their bobcats would have us for dinner. Maybe you want to tell us how you know him.”
Avery climbed in a hurry and took the phone. His thumb formed a half circle around the lock image, slanted down right, and then up to the left corner. He noticed Rush watching and scowled. He tapped the screen a couple times and then lifted it to his ear. “You don’t know what you’re sniffing around in, Rush—yeah, it’s me.” He turned away from them. The phone vibrated with the man’s raised voice. “He’s an old friend. I didn’t think I had anything to—”
The man’s voice rose through his. Then it went silent and Avery lowered the phone from his ear. He lifted it at Rush. “This isn’t for anyone to see but me. Got that?” He stuffed it in his pocket. “You know better than to dig around in a diver’s things.”
“It was making noise, I didn’t know what it was. Coulda been a bomb or something.”
“A bomb?” Avery shook his head. “Don’t piss on my face and tell me it’s rainin’, Rush.”
“How’m I supposed to know what bombs sound like from your side of the world?”
Side of the world. That's it! The mystery behind the man in the suit, the sky change behind him, and Avery’s knowledge of the eastern coast made it all make sense.
“My side of the world?” Avery asked. “What’s—”
“The man in the phone, he’s on the East Coast isn’t he?”
“What makes you think that?”
Rush felt quite smart and dignified, standing up to Avery in his skivvies. “When I first talked to him, the sky was blue. Two minutes ago it was black as night. The lack of much delay when we talked means he isn’t that far, but he is behind the sun. So, east.”
Avery glanced at Viky and Star. “I went east after Oya.” To Rush, he said, “Slavers captured me. One day The Gov came down to my cell. They told him about my suit, he asked for a demonstration, then gave me a job.”
“The Gov…as in governor, Warren’s dad?” Rush asked.
“Yep.”
“He was the guy on the phone? But he’s like twenty years younger than Warren. How is that possible?”
Avery shrugged. “I don’t know. But that’s him. And he has Oya.”
Star gripped Rush’s arm. “Oh, Avery. What can we do?”
“I wasn’t lying in Springston when I said I have the keys to living in the luxury of the Old World. First, we need to get him access to Denver and all of our problems are taken care of.”
“What problems?” Viky asked.
“Whatever. For me, he delivers Oya before I let anyone in. Oya and I decide if I stay with Rush and help run the most exciting colony since the Old World had colonies.”
“How are you going to do that?” Rush asked.
Av scratched sand from his shrub-spotted jaw. “I’m afraid I can’t know until we get inside Fort Pope, but I aim to find out more than he expects me to.”
“So you don’t trust him either?”
“No, are you kidding? I saw firsthand what he did to his miners.”
“You said he’d take care of our problems,” Viky said.
“He will, but not intentionally. I need your help convincing our group to follow us into Denver because we’re going to need all the hands we can get to stand up to The Gov when he comes to claim his prize.”
Avery put the phone back in the compartment to charge, then stood straight, looking up into the few inches Rush had on him. “When he comes, I plan to take my wife, and then bury him under my feet.”
SCAVENGER: Blue Dawn
Chapter 7
“You don’t think he’s going to assume that’s your plan?” Rush asked.
“Oh, I know it. That’s part of how I’ll lure him in.”
“How does The Gov know so much about Fort Pope and Denver?” Star asked.
“Research. Torture. Tyranny. I don’t know. Whatever he knows, though, he only gave me the dust of a dune’s peak.”
“And you plan to lay a trap for him?” Rush had seen Avery outsmart some of the most talented divers and traders, but The Gov sounded like a president.
Rush lacked the courage to mention the eyes.
Avery took a breath. “It won’t be easy. I know. The guy is weird. I served in his court for a week while proving that sand diving isn’t something anyone can just learn overnight. I saw uncanny things. Like he’s a step above human.”
“Is he an alien, like Superman?”
Avery shook his head and grinned as he knelt beside a side compartment. “I don’t have any idea. But I’m not exactly hoping for Superman to come save us.”
He opened the compartment and retrieved a stack of clothes. “The pants’ll be a little short, but better that than me having to keep from looking away the whole time your suit’s charging.”
Rush took the pants and hiked them up a little past his ankles. Star helped with the button. They hung loose around his waist, but stayed up without a belt. “They’ll be fine, thanks. Not like we haven’t spent months of time hanging out in our skivvies waiting for our suits to recharge.”
Avery patted his shoulder. “Poke, it coulda been years and I’d still ask you to put pants on if you had 'em. Putting mine on when you never had yours just seemed to make your half nakedness that much more obvious.”
“Okay, you two.” Star pushed them toward the ladder. “I’m hungry. Go catch me some food. You, too, Viky, if you want. They might need someone to keep them focused on the catch and not on each other’s wardrobe.”
Viky unsheathed a knife from her belt. “I’m all over that.” She turned and beat the men to the ladder and stuck the knife between her teeth as she descended.
In the race to the side of the mountain and their search for snake or vermin holes, new energy helped Rush forget the pain from earlier in the day. From the past two years. Star’s laugh followed them as though he’d never left its reach.
Avery set up a fire pit inside a cave he claimed to have used many times because of the way the air flowed inside, concealing his smoke from anyone on his path. Rush, Star and Viky sat with him beside the fire. In front of them sat Dixon, Carroll, Jeff, Cool, their mo
ther, and the whole of their party, cross-legged and chatting over their portion of roasted snake or squirrel. Even River enjoyed her food in silence, seated between two men not so subtly eying her chest as they ate. Rush had been that pathetic not long ago.
“Okay everyone.” Avery stood, chewing the last of the snake off his stick. “One might argue that I shouldn’t tell you this before bed because it is frankly that exciting, but I don’t want to take up the time in the morning.”
He held out his map device. A dotted line traced their position to a yellow dot north east. “I brought us here on purpose. Danvar’s popularity has created a frenzy of overzealous brigands with newly sharpened knives. If I took us direct, we’d never be able to fend them off, especially not after I used my bolter to make the tunnel for us—which couldn’t be done all at once anyway...
“Before I returned to Springston I spent about two months carving the path we’re going to take tomorrow. Fort Pope has a connection to a tunnel network that spreads into and around the city.”
“Is that the only one you have?” Rush asked. “After it shorted on me, I’d hate to rely on it and...”
“Fort Pope should have more. Hopefully enough for as many as can be trusted to wield them.”
Excited faces filled the group, made up mostly of teenagers and a scattering of parents—who were less thrilled. One raised her voice, “What exactly do you plan on asking my children to use them for?”
“What’s your name, miss?”
“Irene.”
“Okay, Irene. That will be up to you. As exciting as my announcement is tonight, it is also a fair warning in case some of you would like to stay here or go off on your own. If you follow the sun west and choose your caves carefully, you can make it beyond the mountains. Watch out for cliff dwellers, though. I don’t know whom I’d rather battle, them or brigands.”
“Fair warning for what?”
“As my old friend here found out through a bit of snoopin’ into my things, I’ve actually been sent here by someone about as dangerous as they come. The Gov they call him, because he’s the last of the governors from the cities along the east coast. You all think the sandscrapers that our ancestors built were big. Try imagining buildings four times that size. Well, Rush has a comic book with pictures of the world before the bombs and machines went crazy. Did you bring that, Rush?”
Scavenger: Evolution: (Sand Divers, Book One) Page 8
