“Dee?” He'd already heard from Carver, had barely been able to understand from the shouting that Sofie had simply jumped into the hoverway, but he gathered Carver and Zyr were safe.
Dee was still up there, though.
And she had to be all right.
“Yes.” Her answered was so quiet, he had the sense she was trying not to attract attention.
That was fine, he'd do the talking.
“Are you somewhere safe if the enviro and grav fail on the Deck? If not, get yourself there, because Sofie's about to flick the kill switch.”
“That's . . . good.” Her whisper was approving. “I'm in Zyr's pleasure cruiser. Look for me afterward.”
She cut off the link, and Leo slid his set in his pocket. He stood at the window and looked down on Sofie as she rode to the bottom.
He didn't understand how she was the kill switch, but it involved her blood. He fisted his hands in frustration that he hadn't asked her when he had the chance, and he hadn't done as she asked. If he had, she might still be riding the roof of his hover.
It meant he was chasing her again, instead of helping her.
It would only take minutes to the bottom at this speed, although it felt like they were moving slowly through thick, viscous air.
The hover Sofie was riding slowed as it reached the bottom bay, and he kept close watch, expecting her to clamber down the side and make for the exit gate.
Instead she walked to the opposite side, looked down into the big water reservoir, and then jumped.
He punched the speed on the hover as the water closed over her head.
What had she said at Cloud Falls. She wished she'd learned to swim.
Panic held him by the throat.
“Hold it steady when we get to the water,” he managed to choke out to Sam, and they slid past the final bay, down another level until they were above the water, the hover churning up the surface.
He couldn't see Sofie, but he climbed onto the sill of the window he'd had to break, because it wasn't made to be opened, and then lowered himself, hanging onto the sill with one hand.
He searched the water, frantic, knowing just jumping in without an idea of where she might be would be a waste of time.
A dark head rose up, and he heard Sofie choke out a breath before she went under again.
He pushed off the side, into water that was warm on the surface, but he felt the chill deeper down.
He swam to the point he thought she'd surfaced and then let himself go under.
She was a little further away than he'd thought, and he kicked himself in her direction, managing to grab her arm.
He hauled her up and she thrashed, coughing, until he got her in a headlock, head tipped back so they were both looking up the hoverway.
“I tried to bite my tongue.” She heaved in deep breaths while she spoke, turning her head to cough up more water. “I don't think I got any blood, though.”
She lifted a hand and while he was pulling them toward the side, he saw her try to scratch at her wrist.
“Stop, Sofie.” He shook her a little.
“I have to.” The face she turned toward him was all eyes and determination. “There needs to be some of my blood in this reservoir.”
He was holding her with both arms, but he let go with one, fought the water and his clothing, and drew out the small, sharp knife.
She saw it and relaxed against him.
“Thank you.”
“Do it carefully.” They had reached the side, and he hooked an arm around the curved metal bar he'd been making for and held her with both hands.
She ran the tip of the knife along a vein on her wrist, and then dipped her arm into the water.
Nothing happened immediately.
“Do you think it needs more blood?” Her voice was a whisper, although above them people were shouting, and Sam had brought the hover almost directly above them.
“I don't know.” If Fadal was alive, he'd kill him, Leo thought grimly. He would happily feed his blood to the reservoir.
“On the model it looked like it only needed a little, but then, this is a huge amount of water. I don't know how much is enough.”
She had her arm in the water, and Leo lifted it, saw she was still bleeding.
Sofie lifted her uncut arm, swopped the knife into her other hand, and cut again.
Leo tightened his hold and then loosened it a little when he saw her wince.
She thrust both arms into the water, and then tipped her head back so it rested on his shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“I think your father is a shit.”
She laughed. It was weak, and ended on a cough that alarmed him.
“I thought so, too. What a stupid kill switch. He was a little too into Halatian blood sacrifice myths.”
“You aren't going to die.” He would make sure of it.
She opened her eyes, tilting her head to look at him. “If I don't, it's thanks to you.”
He didn't care if there wasn't enough blood in the water. He was about to pull her out and haul her up onto the bar, which he realized was one of several, set as rough steps up to the bottom loading bay, when all the lights in Felicitos went out.
Chapter 36
They climbed out of the reservoir by the faint light coming from above, pouring through the open doors at the entrance.
As Leo helped pull her up the last bit, a body fell from above, hit the hover Sam had parked at the upward dock of the hoverway and slid so that its feet poked over the edge.
It was a Caruson.
She got her feet under her and looked up as she stood, and saw a muddle of hovers all coming down as fast as they could. Some would have to stop on the higher levels and the passengers would have to take the stairs out. They were already stacked three hovers high.
Another body smashed into a hover with the terrible sound of flesh meeting metal, and she felt the burn of nausea in her throat.
She was responsible.
She shivered as her clothes clung to her skin and the air chilled her, and tried to tell herself shutting Felicitos down had surely saved T-Town--maybe even the whole of Garmen--from the Caruso.
“Let's go.” Leo put an arm around her and Sam was suddenly on her other side.
The main platform was full of people, jostling and fighting to get out, and whatever possessions the execs had stopped off to retrieve from their apartments, they were having a hard time keeping hold of them in the push and shove of the crowd.
Leo shielded her as best he could as they were swept up in it, moving through the crush to the big doors that led outside.
They stepped out into rain--the fine, relentless downpour that defined T-Town--and onto ground that was churned-up mud, slippery and treacherous.
In the chaos, people went down, falling beneath trampling feet, although Sofie was pleased to see them being hauled back up by those around them.
She felt Leo's hand on her arm tighten and she looked over and followed his gaze.
Captain Mak Carep of the Arkhor Special Forces stood to one side, and men and women in the same uniforms were spread out beside him.
She looked back across the stampede, and through the crowd she could see more Arkhor troops.
“What do you know,” Leo murmured in her ear. “Looks like the real invasion was happening on the ground.”
Mak gestured to them, and they angled through the crowd to meet him.
High, high above them, hidden from sight by the thick cloud, something exploded, and she hunched her shoulders.
“Do you know who shut the way station down?” Mak asked.
Sofie shivered. She was cold, and although she'd been wet before she'd stepped out into the rain, the wind outside chilled her to the bone. “I did.”
Mak gaped at her. “By yourself?”
“By myself.” If there was any blame for this, she would take full responsibility.
“And can you turn it back on?”
She hesitated.
“Why?”
“The danger is over now. It would be better if the Deck is usable.”
Another boom echoed from above, and she looked up, skeptical.
“Better for whom?” Leo asked. His gaze flicked over the special forces teams who were herding the crowds to one side.
“There is still a bit of fighting going on in nearspace, but it's just the last bit of Caruso resistance. We'd like to land on the Deck, if the enviro and grav can be restored.”
“Why would you like to land on the Deck?” Leo kept his gaze on Mak steady.
“This is a takeover,” Mak admitted. “Garmen will get full vassal status until you're stable, then full-fledged membership of the VSC. And we'll want locals working for us from the start.”
“Why now? Because the Cores made a devil's bargain with Caruso?” Sofie asked.
“Because of that,” Mak agreed. “And then they obliged us by attacking Felicitos. On top of that, your sister's interviews didn't hurt.” Mak rubbed the back of his neck.
“Surely no one's had time to see them?” Sofie didn't bother to keep the suspicion out of her voice.
“I sent the information to my . . . friend, Dr. Nyha Bartoli, straight after I met you last night, and she watched them right away. She put a few up almost immediately after that, and it has made things a great deal easier for the VSC to intervene here--they got full council support.”
So, Rach had been right. Watching real people talk about their lives was the key.
“So.” Mak watched her with a frown. “Can you switch it back on?”
She hugged herself. “I think it will switch on by itself. After my blood works its way through the filtration system.”
Mak stared at her, and she held out her wrists. “My father was very into the Halatian sacrifice myths,” she explained.
“You stopped it with a . . . blood sacrifice?” Carep's voice rose at the end. “Who was your father?”
Sofie winced. “Ronald Fadal, the architect of Felicitos.”
Leo must have given the captain a look or gesture, because his voice softened. “However you did it, it was inspired. It meant the VSC could engage the Caruso warship in Garmen nearspace without worrying about them taking hostages, or controlling Felicitos.”
“How many innocent people died up there?” Sofie asked quietly. “There had to be some.”
And she would have to live with that.
“There were Core guards who died while they were fighting the Caruso,” Mak said. “But someone got a warning out to the crews and the maintenance techs that the enviro field was coming down. We had some spies amongst the crew on the Deck, and they're all safe. I think the Caruso and the Cores were the only big losers.”
“What now?” Leo asked, pulling Sofie to his side. She curled her arm around his waist to get closer and share some body heat.
“Now we wait for the power to come back on so we can check what's left on the Deck, and we deal with what's left of the Cores.” Mak grimaced.
“Will you be dealing with them personally?” Sofie asked, and his lips twitched.
“No.”
He seemed approachable again, his blank, stern face had softened a little.
“Tell me, why did the council react so strongly to my sister's interviews? There couldn't be anything in them the VSC didn't already know.”
“True.” Mak pulled something out of a pocket and shook it out, handed it to her. It was a thin blanket, and she draped it over herself and Leo and felt the instant warmth. “But there was nothing about what was happening to the Halatians they didn't know either, fifteen years ago. It took Darline Xan's images and visual feed to bring the reality home. And it took your sister's thoughtful questions and gritty filming to teach us a lesson in empathy again.”
“What are you going to do to about it? About those stories?” A flash of light came from above, strong enough to pierce the heavy cloud, and Sofie clutched her blanket tighter.
“It's not up to his discretion.” Leo tore his gaze from the clouds. “We're working under the VSC rules now.”
Mak hesitated, then gave a nod. “VSC rules apply.”
That was all she and Rach had ever wanted. Fairness. Equality for everyone. Freedom.
They had won.
Chapter 37
The power did come on by itself.
Sofie went almost weak with relief when the way station hummed to life. She realized in that moment that she'd never noticed the sound of it before, but it was a sweet, sweet melody to her ears.
She was warm and dry, having gone back to Leo's to shower and change.
Leo was edgy and restless, wanting to get to the Deck as quickly as he could, and he seemed to be taken by surprise when she led him and Sam through the backways and to the underground tunnel again.
“We can take the lift to the Lower Reaches. More likely to get a hover from there.”
He gave a grateful nod, but there were no hovers on that level when they got there. They were all still down below.
They took the stairs, and then the secret staircase back up to the Under Deck.
She stepped from the stairwell to the hidden passageway and then stumbled to a halt.
Through the one way wall she saw Cores execs lying dead, strangely positioned up against walls or on the floor.
“When the grav and air went, they're close enough to the top, they would have floated. Been pulled upward.” Sam leaned against the wall and looked at the scene calmly.
“I didn't even think of that.” Sofie couldn't believe she'd forgotten what would happen this high up.
“Are you feeling bad, Sofie-girl?” Zyr asked, and Sofie gave a cry of relief and spun around, leapt into his arms.
He grunted a little, and she eased back, remembering he'd been hit in the arm.
“How are you okay, when they're not?” Sam asked.
“Seems like your father made sure this floor was completely insulated. We didn't lose air.” Carver patted Sofie's shoulder. “They were open to the hoverway on their side, don't forget, and fortunately for us, your father knew how to build a solid door.”
Sofie remembered the sound of him throwing himself against a door her father had built, trying to stop her from running toward the hoverway, and she winced.
“Sorry about shutting you in earlier. I worked out how to flip the kill switch. I had to go.”
He nodded, his gaze going to Leo a little nervously.
“What did she do?” he asked.
Carver sighed. “She held the door while I dragged Zyr into the passageway, then she slammed it shut in my face and I couldn't open it. I had to stand and watch her run straight for the hoverway and jump in.”
“How did you flip the switch?” Zyr asked, his hand going to his upper arm, rubbing it as he spoke.
“I rode the roofs all the way down, jumped into the reservoir, and cut myself so I would bleed into it.”
There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment.
“That is fucked up.” Carver shook his head. “Your father could build a door, but he was nuts.”
“That's what he was trying to do when they poisoned him.” Zyr's words were soft. “He knew he was dying, and he tried to shut it down.”
Sofie nodded. “What's the damage up there?”
“Everything that wasn't tied down is gone, and even some things that were tied down are gone.” Carver looked over at Leo. “I don't know what happened to Dee.”
“She managed to get into the pleasure cruiser from Lassa that Zyr was interested in. She said she was all right, that we must look for her when it was all over.”
“Well then,” Sofie turned away from the death in front of her. “Let's look for her.”
Dee wasn't there.
Leo had hoped they'd secured the pleasure cruiser to the Deck, but he knew few did. The enviro and grav meant it wasn't required, but he'd held out a tiny bit of hope.
But that just meant the ship had floated off into nearspace.
Either
Dee would start it up, if she could, or if she was onboard with other crew, ask for a lift home.
A hint of unease settled over him. Because if she was stuck onboard with others, she would be vulnerable.
They stepped out onto the Deck, which was more or less deserted.
Whatever maintenance and loading crew had been here, they were still below, and most of the goods and ships that had been here were now space junk.
A big transporter came in to land on one of the pads painted onto the deck. Leo stopped to watch the doors open, and more Arkhorans jump out.
It would be useful to use the hidden passageways to spy on the Arkhoran officials and whoever else the VSC sent.
He smiled a little at the thought, but he didn't have serious concerns about the fairness of things.
If the VSC was tempted to circumvent their own rules by the mineral wealth of Garmen, it seemed the interviews Sofie had given Mak had turned the tide in sympathy for the plight of the Garmen inhabitants.
His comm set buzzed.
“Looking for something specific?” Mak asked.
So, their presence had been reported.
“One of my close associates took cover inside a Lassian pleasure cruiser. I want to find it and get her out.”
Mak put him on hold, then came back. “The warships have just started sending out tows to bring the transports and the cruisers back in. Have you tried reaching her comm set?”
“Yes. No response. Too far away in nearspace, probably.” He hoped. “What about Lassa? Have you warned them they're next on the Carusons' list?”
“We contacted Lassa.” Mak paused, as if thinking through whether or not to share the information. “The Lassian Cores claim they're still in control. Maybe they are, but Bodivas is the closest Verdant String planet to Lassa and they'll send a few warships that way immediately. Find out what's going on.”
Leo caught something massive moving out of the corner of his eye and turned to see an Arkhoran warship slide over the Deck.
It couldn't land, it was too big, but smaller craft fell from below it, like a shoal of fish beneath a leviathan.
“Looks like your friends are here,” he said to Mak.
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