Desert World Allegiances

by Lyn Gala

  As they walked down the carved stone corridor, Shan noticed that they passed more people he knew. He’d see a woman who he’d taken confession from or a man he’d counseled, and their eyes would go large before their gaze would skitter off in some other direction.

  The guards took them to a door and opened it. The shorter one gave Shan a good solid shove, making him stumble forward into a room large enough for a family to live in it. Whatever this place was, it had been built for a significant number of people. One of the walls was thick glass, and through it, Shan could see long lines of artificial lights illuminate a tall cylindrical rocket—the type used to jump off planet.

  He sucked in a breath and turned in time to see the taller guard push the door closed. “This is wrong!” Shan called out as he lost his one chance to work on someone who seemed to have retained a small shred of integrity. A heavy click answered. Grabbing the door handle, Shan tested the door, but the lock seemed heavy enough to stop anything short of heavy machinery. Shan certainly wasn’t going to move it by hand.

  Defeat dragged at him, making Shan want to just lie down and sleep until the worst of this was over. Instead, he paced the room. Two walls were metal, one stone, and the last the impact glass that separated them from the rocket. When the group took off, he and Temar would have a good view.

  “Did you know Ben’s great, great grandfather mined here before the terraforming started? He told me when we were waiting for you.” Temar sounded as bone weary as Shan did.

  “Which is how he knew about this place.”

  “He said our grandparents voted to not use the rocket because not everyone would fit in. They voted to wait for the war to end.”

  “And sixty years later, the established worlds are still fighting.” Shan walked over and leaned against the heavy glass as he studied the rocket. It might be old, but frontier equipment lasted for generations. It had to. On rough, half terraformed worlds, people couldn’t afford to throw away a piece of worn-out technology. On the other hand, this rocket was so old that there was a chance it might fail and send all the traitors burning to death in the atmosphere. As a priest, Shan should have prayed for God to spare people from such destruction, even if it was well deserved, but he couldn’t bring himself to pray at all.

  Behind him, Temar said in a voice that was little more than a whisper, “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Shan said firmly. He didn’t need Temar blaming himself, because Shan’s own conscience couldn’t handle any more guilt. This had been his plan.

  “I got caught.”

  “I made the plan.”

  “And I should have run and kept on running when someone first spotted me.”

  Turning around, Shan frowned. “I am not blaming you, because this is entirely Ben’s fault, but why didn’t you run?”

  With a sigh, Temar sank down onto one of the metal benches bolted to the wall. “I was trying to give you more time. I didn’t do very well.”

  Shan moved closer, sitting down next to him. “You gave me enough time to do some damage. We did our best, and I guess now that we’ve done what we could, we have to trust the Lord.”

  “And if I don’t have any faith that God will send help?” Temar gave Shan a look that begged him for easy answers and reassurances, but Shan didn’t have it in him to lie to this man, who had done so much to try and fight the evil.

  “I don’t know. Honestly, Div was always better at faith than I was. I trust God, but I like to fix things myself.”

  “Are we back to how you’re a bad priest?” Temar almost sounded like he was joking, but he’d closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, so it was hard for Shan to tell.

  “Yes.”

  For a time, they sat next to each other in silence. There weren’t any more words. They’d done their best, and they’d failed. Shan wondered how long it would take for them to find the valves he’d broken and check the rest of the lines. There wasn’t a toilet in the room, and Shan’s desert-born instincts made him loath to pee on the floor, where the water would go to waste.

  “I’m sorry you had to hit that man,” Temar finally offered in the silence. “You’re a priest. I should have done that.”

  “You did your part distracting them,” Shan said. “And I don’t feel bad about hitting Devin.” That was a slight exaggeration, because Shan could still feel the way the warm pipe thudded against Devin’s head. Shan couldn’t regret trying to save people, but he did wish he could have done it without hitting someone. At the same time, he’d do it again. “The Bible says we should break the arm of the wicked man and call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out. I think the Lord understands.”

  Temar opened his eyes. “Really? I thought the Bible was more about forgiveness.”

  “It says that in Psalms, but Div says I always remember the least appropriate quotes,” Shan admitted with a smile.

  “I would have said that Livre didn’t have evildoers. Actually,” Temar added after a second, “I think I would have said that my father, with his drunken neglect, was as bad as people got on Livre.”

  “People always bring selfishness and evil to every world they settle,” Shan said as he thought back to his own father. He wondered if Yan Polli had that same unshakable belief in himself that Ben possessed. Had his own father believed that abuse was love? Shan’s memories came distorted though the lens of a desperately unhappy childhood, so he couldn’t know. Maybe Naite did, but that was one subject Shan intended to never discuss with his brother. After that, they both fell silent.

  Time crawled by. A mechanical thump and whine made the room rumble, and for a second, Shan thought the rocket was launching. Temar sucked in a breath, so he probably thought the same. However, the only thing that happened was a door in the roof of the rocket rooms slid to one side, and the sky, still gray with settling dust, appeared.

  They still didn’t speak, and Shan finally had to pee in the corner. The sour of it made the room stink. Temar followed not long after that, and they sat in silence, watching the rocket as the sun came out and bathed it in light, so it looked like some historical vid.

  Chapter 24

  SOMETHING was going on. Shan moved closer to the door and pressed his ear to the metal. In the corridor, someone shouted, but the thick metal distorted the words.

  “What’s going on?” Temar asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Shan?” Temar’s voice was tight with emotion, and Shan looked over his shoulder. “If they take off, are they going to bother letting us out of here?”

  The same thought had occurred to Shan. If Ben’s group took off without unlocking the door, he and Temar would slowly die of thirst. After nearly dying that way once, Shan had already decided that he’d rather find another way to die. Thirst drove a man insane. Shan could feel the tightness in his lips where the new skin was only now covering the splits that had formed during his long walk off the desert. “I don’t know, “he finally admitted.

  Temar turned his back and stared out toward the rocket. In the hall, someone else shouted, and this time the sound was followed by something striking the door with enough force that the metal rang out and the vibrations rattled Shan’s head. “Whoa,” he said, stepping away from the door and rubbing the spot over his ear.

  “What was that?”

  “Something really heavy,” Shan answered. “Something’s going on.”

  Temar moved to Shan’s side, and they exchanged a confused look.

  “Take the right, and I’ll take left. If someone comes through the door, maybe we can take them.”

  Temar gave Shan a look that made it clear he didn’t think the plan would work, but he did move to the right of the door. For a second time, the whole door shook as something hit it from the other side, and Shan frowned. If Ben’s group were just blocking the door, burying him and Temar alive rather than risk that they’d escape, it didn’t make sense to hit the door twic
e. But if they were going to come in, unlocking the door would be step one.

  Voices shouted, and Shan could feel his whole body tighten, ready to fight. Temar had his fists drawn up, but they couldn’t do anything until the door came open. About the same time Shan thought that, the lock clicked, and the knob started to turn. Temar would be behind the door, so Shan stepped forward, determined to distract whoever came in the room until Temar could get them from behind.

  Temar rolled forward onto his toes, looking like a bird about to swoop down, but then Shan focused on the slowly opening door. A hand appeared, pushing at the door.

  “Shan, you in here?”

  Shan’s mouth fell open, even though it took his brain three more seconds to actually process the fact that Naite’s voice was attached to the person pushing the door open. “Shan?” Naite called again as he pushed the door the rest of the way open. He stood in the doorway, his wide shoulders blocking it. “Are you okay?” Naite gave him a strange look before glancing over at Temar.

  “Did you find them?” someone asked from behind.

  “Yeah, but Shan looks like a couple of brain cells got knocked loose.”

  “What are you doing here?” Shan demanded, the insult finally making him believe that this was Naite and not another hallucination.

  “What? I should have left you to handle this on your own?” Naite demanded, crossing his arms. “Maybe you should start by thanking me for hauling your ass out of this mess.”

  “Thank you,” Temar said quickly, before Shan could come up with a response of his own. “We definitely needed the help.”

  Naite snorted. “This time, no thanking God. I’m the one who showed up,” Naite said, poking a finger toward Shan.

  “I never said you weren’t. And I can thank both of you at the same time,” Shan defended himself. “But Naite, seriously, how did you get here?”

  “I just followed your trail of pathstones,” he said casually. “Aila, did you get the rocket secured?”

  A woman’s voice answered. “Songwind tried to override the computer controls, but let’s see her override the big damn chunk of steel we dropped on the door.”

  “Any clue how many rats are in that pipe plant?”

  “Nope,” Aila answered.

  Shan stepped forward. “You… did you stop the rocket?”

  “That was the easy part,” Naite admitted. “It may take a skilled worker to put this tech together, but even unskilled workers like us can take the crap apart.” Naite gave a predatory smile. “I think the rocket’s going to just sit there for a while. I hope they have food and water in there, because I don’t plan to open that door until we have a whole lot more people here. When you decide to step into a sandrat nest, you step in a big one, don’t you?” Naite walked into the room, his eyes going to the glass wall. The woman he’d been speaking to stepped forward and gave Shan and Temar a smile. She was a heavily muscled woman with short hair and dark skin that suggested she worked outside in the sun most of the time.

  “The others have about a dozen of these idiots, including Ben Gratu, trapped in one of the offices,” she offered.

  “Great,” Naite said sarcastically. “We’re going to have to send someone back to Landing for more help.”

  “Maybe we should send someone over to Blue Hope. I’m pretty sure most of the unskilled laborers from Landing are already here,” she pointed out.

  “What in the name of God have you been doing?” Shan demanded.

  Naite smiled. “Tom told me you’d run off to the relay to see where the water was going, so I followed. And since we knew that at least some of the landowners and skilled workers were involved, I decided to invite a few unskilled workers along for the ride. If there was a conspiracy, I knew that no one trusted us enough to let us in on the schemes.”

  “That’s no joke,” the woman said. “Besides, anyone who tried to get an unskilled worker to fall for this idiotic plan would have gotten a foot, right up their ass.”

  Temar had been standing with his arms hanging at his sides, utterly still. He finally seemed to find his voice, though. “You have Ben? You’re holding him?”

  Naite looked at Temar with an expression that Shan couldn’t understand, and for one second, he felt the same jealousy he’d felt as a child, when their father had chosen Naite. He didn’t understand the emotion passing between them, but Shan still felt irrationally annoyed at being left out. Now that he was an adult, he could recognize that his emotions were both illogical and ridiculous, but he still felt those wisps of jealousy, clinging to him.

  “You don’t need to deal with that. The council will,” Naite said firmly. Temar nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

  Ignoring the fear that he was doing the wrong thing, Shan walked over and put his hand on Temar’s shoulder. Temar looked up at him and gave him a small smile. “I’ll be okay,” Temar said.

  “You will,” Shan promised, and he believed that.

  “All the councils are going to have to come. We have people from all five towns.”

  “What a mess,” Shan said softly. This would rip their society apart. This many people turning against friends and neighbors and apprentices… leaving them to die. It was inconceivable.

  “It would have been a bigger mess if you hadn’t left a sign for us to follow,” Naite pointed out. “If they’d taken off, it would have done more damage to our morale than our water systems, and I doubt either would have recovered.”

  Shan frowned. “Sign?” he asked. “What sign?”

  Naite looked at them with a confused expression. “The computers. You left them on, with a big old map leading right to this place.” Shan didn’t remember that at all.

  “That was an accident. We just didn’t bother turning them off,” Temar said.

  “You….” Naite looked from Shan to Temar, his mouth coming open. “You didn’t leave that on purpose? But…. What exactly was your grand plan?” Naite demanded in a near shout.

  “To stop Ben,” Shan said coldly.

  “Good job with that. I’m sure you were about to spring your big trap, right?” Naite moved toward Shan. “I mean, I know you aren’t stupid enough to come after Ben with no plan at all before getting locked in a little room. That would be pathetic.”

  “We didn’t have time to get help, not with them getting ready to leave.” Shan gestured toward the window.

  “Yeah, and getting yourself killed is going to do a whole lot of good. And what the hell were you thinking, bringing Temar?” The vein at the side of Naite’s neck started to throb.

  “He didn’t bring me! I chose to come,” Temar said, stepping forward and shoving at Naite with both hands. Temar’s gesture shocked Shan out of his anger toward his brother’s attitude. Even Naite seemed a little surprised as he stepped away from Temar’s attack. “And he slowed the launch down by sabotaging the machines.”

  “And what was his plan after that? To pray?” Naite demanded, and now his angry glare took in both Shan and Temar.

  “No hitting a priest, Naite. It’s bad luck,” Aila said, but she stayed near the door.

  “I’m hitting my idiot brother, whose brains clearly got cooked out on the desert.”

  “And I did what I thought was right. Should I point out that it worked?”

  “Because I showed up,” Naite about yelled. “And now you’re telling me that was dumb luck rather than any actual plan on your part. I mean, when I found the computers, I cursed you to the stars for having irresponsible plans, but now you’re telling me you didn’t have any plan at all. Are you a moron?”

  “The Lord works in mysterious ways,” Shan offered smugly, even though a little voice in the back of his head agreed that it was stupid to assume that no one would follow. Tom and Naite both knew about the water theft and Shan’s suspicions, and neither of them were the type to sit back and wait for someone else to fix problems. Shan should have left a note or waited for them to come, but on the other hand, if they had waited, Ben and the water m
ight have gotten off the planet.

  Naite threw both his hands up. “God? If you don’t stop counting on God to haul your ass out of trouble, you’re going to end up dead.” Turning his back, Naite headed for the door. “Temar, you can do better than that idiot; I’ll tell you that.”

  Aila fell back, letting Naite pass. She had a smirk on her face, but then her eyes slid over the glass wall where the rocket stood with sunlight falling down over it, and the smile faltered. Raw pain flashed, and then she turned her back on the rocket and the people who thought so little of her life that they’d steal her water. Shan found himself wondering if she had children. It would be the parents who had the hardest time with this, since it was the children who would have to survive when the water ran out.

  Shan shook his head, but then he froze as Naite’s last words sank into his awareness. “What do you mean by that?” Shan yelled after his brother. Naite was gone though, and Aila offered a quick nod of respect and followed him. The shouts from the corridor had vanished, and Shan could hear muffled voices—whispers that echoed as they followed the stone walls down the halls. Shan looked over at Temar, and for a moment, he teetered on the verge of asking Temar that same question. However, fear and his own confusion kept his mouth closed so long that Temar started heading for the door.

  “They took so much water. If we put it back in the system, how many more years do you think we can buy?” he asked as he stopped by the open door.

  “I don’t know,” Shan admitted. If he had a computer, he might be able to figure out a few crude numbers, but irrigation and water systems had never been his specialty. “I do know that our systems are already a lot more efficient than the settlers ever expected. Men like George Young have developed some incredibly efficient crops.”

  A soft sigh slipped out of Temar.

  Shan moved to his side, and Temar gave a little shudder, but then he actually shifted back toward Shan, so that their shoulders brushed. “What are you thinking?” Shan asked when he couldn’t understand Temar’s expression.