Garek leaned against the window and looked out for another five minutes, just in case someone had forgotten something, or another shift was scheduled to arrive, but the place remained quiet and still.
He walked to the panel Falk had shown him in Gara where he'd changed the mix of air in the sky craft. He studied the light gauges, trying to commit where the lights stopped on each of the three light circles to memory.
Then he turned and gestured to the door in the sky craft's floor. “When I'm ready to come back in, you'll need to press down on the button when I knock from below.” His gaze lifted to Aidan while he spoke. There was probably a button on the outside, too, otherwise how had the sky raider come in? But just in case he couldn't find it, Aidan needed to be ready.
Aidan nodded, crouching beside the slightly raised circle to study it.
Garek kept his gaze on Aidan's face. If the princeling wanted to kill him, now would be the best opportunity for him.
“Don't.” Aidan looked up, holding his gaze.
“Don't what?”
“Don't start wondering if I'm going to lock you out.” He balanced back on his heels.
“Are you?” Garek kept his face calm.
“No.” The answer was short, exasperated, and Garek believed him. Nodded.
“Good.” He jerked his head to the wall of the craft. “Stand back 'til I'm out, and then take a breath and hold it before you run over and press the button to close this up.”
Aidan stood and walked to the wall, leaning back against it like he was simply passing the time of day.
Garek couldn't help the upward quirk of his lips at his cockiness.
He glanced at the body of the sky raider, but he wouldn't take it with him until he'd found a good place to hide it. And if the idea forming in his head worked out, he wouldn't have to move it at all.
He drew the air to him, surrounding himself with a dense bubble of it from his feet all the way up to his head, ballooning it up above him. He crouched and pressed the button, dropping down onto the ladder as quickly as he could as soon as the door slid open.
He saw a corresponding light under the belly of the ship, directly below the one inside, and dropped a few more steps to jab at it with his finger.
Like the first time when the sky raider had entered the craft, it took three tries before the button worked.
A delay of some sort, perhaps? To stop it closing on someone by mistake?
He caught a final glimpse of Aidan, leaning down to look at him as the door closed, and then he concentrated on keeping the air around him together.
He moved quickly across the floor, grateful that the sky raiders had left the massive door of the people-stealer they were loading open. The lights flickered back on as he moved, and he stilled, turned slowly, but there was no one there. The lights had seen him in some way, and switched back on to help him see.
The idea was as intriguing as it was frightening, and when nothing else happened, he forced himself to focus on the people-stealer again.
Its design reminded him of a cart with a levered back that acted as a ramp when lowered.
The sky raiders weren't that different from the people of Barit, they just used things in ways his people hadn't thought of yet.
He walked cautiously up into the ship, aware that every breath he took shortened the time he had to explore.
He ignored the stolen items stacked on the right and went to the three strange humanoid vehicles on the left.
They were closed up, but Garek had watched the sky raider closely as he'd moved them one by one. He focused on the chest of the first one in the row.
He pressed his hand to the raised circle he found in the center, and with a hiss, the bubble head opened up.
He swung up, using the foothold built into the side of the mechanical torso, and sat down in the comfortable chair built inside.
The moment he did, lights came on and he felt the gentle flow of air from vents on either side of the chair.
It swirled around the air from the sky craft he was holding around him, eating away at the edges. He focused on the panel before him, looking for dials like the ones in the sky craft.
They were hidden from sight in the sky craft, and he guessed the same would be true here. It would be dangerous if someone could alter them by mistake.
He looked lower, crouching in front of the seat awkwardly, poison air blowing directly into his face. He found two panels and ripped the covers off both with no compunction. He could feel each breath was getting harder.
And there they were. Three dials of golden light in a row, all lit up. He needed to close the lid before he changed the air mix, or he might still suffocate.
He reached up and pressed the central button on the main panel at his eye-level, hoping it was the right one, and when nothing happened, he used his fist from right to left, smacking them all, hard.
The vehicle lurched, took a half step forward and toppled, but as it did, the bubble top closed quickly and smoothly.
Garek flung out his hands to brace himself as the vehicle hit the floor, his forehead hitting the panel in front of him hard. He ignored the pain, moving his fingers over the gauges. The bang the vehicle made as it landed had sounded massive, seemed to reverberate, and Garek forced himself to concentrate on the dials in from of him and not check to see if the noise had attracted any attention.
Bad air still blew at him. That he could taste it, feel it, meant his own bubble was almost gone, but as he moved his finger around the dials, it changed, getting better and better until he drew in a deep, shuddering breath.
He was folded into a strange position on the floor of the vehicle, and he let his head drop back against the seat of the chair in relief.
He'd done it.
He lifted himself slowly, angling himself so he could study the panel.
He started on the far right, lightly moving his finger over the smooth resin-like surface, and lights lit up under his touch, the right arm of the machine shuddering, trying to move while trapped under the bulk of its own weight. He moved on, using an down-up motion, and the bubble started opening again, and he pulled down with his finger to close it.
He worked out most of the functions, but he couldn't find a way to get the vehicle back on its feet.
He took another deep breath, pulled the air to him, changed the dials that controlled the air mix back to what it had been and opened the bubble again, slid out, and touched the chest of the next vehicle in the line.
He had the bubble open and was inside, with the lid closed and the panel removed in a quarter of the time it had taken him before. He got the air working, and then carefully moved the legs, shuffling the vehicle past the one he'd tipped over and very slowly moving it down the ramp.
There were ways of moving it that he hadn't worked out yet, because the sky raider who'd parked them had gotten the legs to bend, whereas he was only able to get a straight-legged shuffle and he was too afraid of tipping this one over to experiment.
He wobbled all the way to the sky craft, getting it as close to the ladder as he could, and then pulled the air to him again. He had the glass dome open and was on the ladder as fast as he could go. The door of the sky craft slid open before he could knock or press the button and he scrambled inside.
Aidan said nothing for a moment, his gaze on Garek's face. Then he blew out a breath.
“You're bleeding,” he said at last.
Garek frowned and put his hand up to his forehead, and his fingers came away dark with blood. “Must have happened when the thing fell over.”
Aidan gave a curt nod. “Lucky no one came to investigate.”
“Yes. I can't say I wasn't worried about that.”
“Why did you bring one of the other ones over here?” Aidan's gaze was fixed on the fallen machine.
“I've got it to blow Barit air. I brought it to get you over to the people-stealer. You can stay inside it and I'll climb into the other one.”
“We're going in the people-
stealer?”
Garek nodded. “You can stay here if you like, but I thought you'd prefer to come with me. They have to be loading that people-stealer with things meant for the prisoners, which means I need to be on it. If we're in the mechanical vehicles, then we'll be hidden and we can breathe our own air.”
Aidan looked out at where the one metal marionette lay on its side. “What about that?”
“I'll see if I can lift it up.” He started gathering up his supplies, putting the food into two piles.
Aidan worked out what he was doing and helped, stuffing things into one of the bags Garek had brought and slinging it over his shoulder. “What about him?” His gaze went to the dead sky raider.
“We leave him where he is.”
Aidan opened his mouth to object, and then closed it again. “That will probably work,” he murmured.
Garek moved to the door, all his gear dangling from his shoulders. “You'll have to hold your breath, but I've parked quite close to the ladder. Ready?”
Aidan narrowed his eyes. “No. But let's do it anyway.”
Chapter 21
It had been a hard night.
In the early hours of the morning a wind had come up, forcing Taya and Min back inside the cave to escape the chill and the sting of the grit.
Taya had just dozed after that, lying on a bed of moss close to Min to share body heat. They had both been awake before the Star broke over the cliff, casting long shadows in front of them.
They drank what they could, and then Taya picked her way through the rocks and pebbles on the underground shore, piling the stones with the most shadow ore in them to one side.
When she had enough, she got Min to lift the sides of her tunic up to form a basket, and did the same, dividing the rocks between them.
“Why are we doing this again?” Min tested the weight of them.
“Shadow ore makes the sky raiders' systems malfunction.” Taya shrugged. “It might be worth having a stash nearby for any escape plan we come up with.”
She and Min would have to hide the stones when they got close to the mine, but it would save having to try and sneak shadow ore out of the mine itself.
They were ready to go before the Star's light had even crested the top of the cliff.
They headed around the side of the hill, edging around soaring slabs of rock. They wanted to walk directly into the dawn's light. They both glowed a little in the shadows of the cliffs while they made their way to where they could see the Star, their arms and legs slightly luminescent in the darkness, which made Taya smile. The moss they slept on had rubbed off on them, and they lit their own way on the path they forged through the dense, low brush.
As they made their way around, the hill revealed itself to be a massive plug of hard rock, sticking up like a finger into the sky. Taya would have liked to climb it, to see if she could see the mine or the camp from the top, but there were no footholds and she was too afraid of getting stuck or falling.
Instead, they'd agreed their underground journey had taken them roughly west and so they would need to travel due east, directly toward the rising Star.
“We probably didn't even go that far,” Min said.
“It felt far to me.” Taya knew her sense of time and distance had been compromised, though. The darkness, the pain, the panic. She wasn't even sure they were headed in the right direction, but they could see for a long distance westward from the mouth of the cave, and there was nothing but bush that way. If the mine did lie west, then last night they would surely have seen the lights around its entrance on the wide, flat plain, lit up for the night shift, but there had been nothing.
East was as good an option as any.
She reveled in the heat as the Star rose higher and warmed the air, lifting her face upward and closing her eyes to receive a Star's kiss. After hours in the pitch dark, she would never take the Star's light for granted again.
They stopped to rest around midday, and Taya scrambled up on top of the rock they'd chosen to lean against, looking in all directions for any sign of the mine.
“Anything?” Min looked up from her spot below.
Taya shook her head. “I'm getting worried. It feels like we should have found it by now.”
She did another slow, full turn, listening as well as looking. To the northeast, the land rose up to form a small hill. Something glinted in the sunlight right at the top, and she focused on it, but it was impossible to make out.
“You find something?”
Taya jumped down. “Something shining. Metal, maybe? It's on that hill, which might be a good idea to head toward, anyway. Maybe we can see a bit better up there?”
Min shaded her eyes, looked over at the hill. “I'd rather not wander around completely lost, so yes. Let's climb the hill.”
Taya nodded. She forced herself to sit still and tried to ignore the nerves and fear she felt for Kas's safety. He might do something truly rash if he thought she was dead or buried alive. He'd lost Sara, his wife, along with their parents, when Luca had been only four. Now Luca was down on Barit, alone, and Taya was all Kas had left.
She prayed Quardi had the sense to take his knife away. Hoped the others could reason with him.
She stood, agitated, even though she knew Min was still tired. But Min said nothing, she just nodded and got to her feet.
Her calm acceptance helped settle Taya as she led the way. They would find their way back, and Kas would be all right. Anything else was unacceptable.
It took them two more hours to reach the hilltop.
They left their shadow ore at the bottom when they saw how steep the climb would be, and Taya was gasping for breath, had sweat dripping between her shoulder blades and stinging her eyes when she pulled herself up the last steep slope and found herself at the top.
She stood quietly until Min joined her, and they both took in the tall, rusting pole with a shallow bowl attached to it. The bowl faced upward, but while they watched, it moved a little to the left.
“Sky raider equipment,” Min breathed.
The structure had obviously been built with the metal from the sky raiders planet--it was badly degraded. Only the dish on the top, coated with some type of gray paint or coating, looked like it wasn't about to fall to pieces.
Taya nodded. “We could break it. That would bring them running.” And breaking it wouldn't take much.
“We won't have to.” Min's voice was fill of suppressed excitement.
Taya turned to her, frowning, and then followed the line of the finger she was pointing.
The mine.
It felt as if a ton of shadow ore flew up off her shoulders at the sight of it.
It was far in the distance, but Taya could just make out the flash of white as the two guards patrolled in their two-legged walking machines, could see the top of the large screen where they kept track of everyone down in the shafts.
She turned blindly and hugged Min. “We did it.”
“Yes.” Min squeezed her back. “Let's go. It'll be dark too soon.”
Taya nodded. But she didn't start down the hill immediately. She walked right up to the strange pole and dish, saw there was a little box attached near the bottom. She crouched down next to it, and peered at the lights blinking and flashing under a glass casing. “I still think if we broke this, they'd come,” she said.
“Don't.” Min sounded panicked. “They won't be happy with us if we deliberately destroy something. We know the way without them.”
Taya nodded. “I'm not talking about now.” She took a last look at the box and then straightened back up. “I'm talking about when we want to escape.”
“Why would you want them to come get you if you wanted to escape?”
“Because there's usually only two guards at the mine, two at the camp, except for when the people-stealers come. If we wanted to split them up, we could take them one at a time.”
Min stared at her. “How would we even do that? They shoot out rays of light, and we can't get to them
in their machines.”
Taya tapped at the glass, to see how thick it was. “Maybe Quardi can make more of those shadow spikes for me. I could shoot right back. It might make the vehicles they hide in stop or go crazy, like the diggers in the mine did.”
“Maybe. Might.” Min held her gaze and then looked down at the ground. “Sorry, I sound like a coward, don't I?”
“No. You sound like someone who doesn't want to foolishly throw her life away. I don't want that either. I'm just thinking things through, Min. We'll put our heads together with the others, and we'll come up with a plan that works. But I don't think anything we do will be without a lot of risk.”
And it was worth it, especially for her. If Garek was here instead of her, she'd trust that he'd do whatever it took to escape and get back to her.
“When we get back, Kas and I need to find out who's prepared to take the risks. Those who don't want to, we can plan without them. I don't want to bring anyone down with me if I fail.”
“No one knows better than I do that everything's a risk. I wasn't exactly safe back in Kardai.” Min turned and started down the hill. “Even though I'm afraid, I'm in.”
Chapter 22
The ring of metal on metal woke Garek with a jerk.
He lay on the floor in the bubble 'head' of the metal machine, curled around the seat, and he lifted himself up carefully, keeping low and moving to a crouch, so he was just able to look out of the window.
At least, like in the sky craft, it was easy to see out of, but impossible to see in. He and Aidan couldn't have hidden here otherwise.
The lights were on in the cargo bay, and Garek noticed loading crew were carrying large boxes up the ramp. There was smoke or mist billowing off them and the sky raiders hauling them were wearing gloves.
Almost out of sight, to the far left of what he could see out of the hold, a section of another craft was visible. It hadn't been there last night, so Garek guessed a new ship had just arrived. Perhaps they'd been waiting for it, to load the final supplies before leaving.
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