Tipped over boxes and odd looking furniture were stacked in the main room. If he had to guess, he'd suspect that someone had lived here. To him, it seemed odd to live in such a square environment. His exposure to furniture on Nannandry was what could be hewn from the trees of the great forests. Everything in this apartment was tidy, clean beyond anything he had experienced.
He secured the room by piling as many boxes as he could move in front of the door. The minimal light that was provided by small glowing panels in the walls was more than enough for his excellent night vision.
"Are we safe?" Milenette asked.
"For now, Mouse."
Strange Gifts
In exploring the apartment, Priloe discovered the head. He'd only seen a few of them in his life but knew their purpose. Both he and Milenette were terribly thirsty after their ordeal and lapped up water from the tap. It did much to sate their thirst. He rifled through the boxes hoping to find food, but there was nothing. The unadorned mattress in the adjoining room looked too good to pass up and with the long day behind him, he slumped onto it. His sister joined him and they fell asleep within moments of lying down.
With no sense of time, Priloe awoke in the strange, dry room with a start. Something had caught his attention, but he had no idea what it could have been. He sat up and scanned the room. It was just as empty as before. He padded out into the main room. The carpet under his feet was foreign and luxurious, but the pit in his stomach was back - an instinct he'd learned to trust.
To his best recollection, nothing had changed. The rooms seemed exactly as they had the night before. He knew better. Something had happened and mysteries were dangerous.
Slowly and as quietly as he could manage, he moved the boxes and furniture away from the front door, ready to grab his weapon at the slightest provocation. Figuratively, he was in a corner and would come out fighting if necessary.
He cracked open the door, peering carefully into the hallway. It was still unlit, which he hoped meant no one was skulking about. And then he saw it. Something lay at his feet directly in front of the door. It hadn't been there when they'd entered. The coincidence was too great. He opened the door a little more and swung his head back and forth, looking up and down the dark hallway. If he needed to get Milenette and make a run for it, he wasn't in a very good position.
Whatever meaning the package held, at the moment it was giving away his position and putting him in danger. He grabbed it and pulled it into the room. Shutting the door, he restacked the furniture and boxes. It was time to wake Milenette and get moving. Someone had found them and no good could come from that.
Curiosity won out before they went any further, though. He pulled the package open and discovered a small, rectangular item sitting on the top. He believed it to be a meal bar. It wasn't the sort of thing regularly seen on Nannandry, but once in a while they would show up. He tore it open and pulled the weighty bar out. As he did, its wrapper disintegrated into a light dust and then disappeared all-together. While it didn't look like food, it couldn't be ignored. They were down to nothing and Milenette was dangerously thin. His first bite confirmed his suspicion. It was food and it was delicious.
After eating half of the bar, he set it aside and looked at the remaining items. There were two sets of shirts and pants. The smaller of the two had pictures of tiny brown cartoon animals with pink ribbons wrapped around their necks. It seemed an odd thing to have on clothing. The larger items were more practical in Priloe's eyes - dark blue pants and a light grey long sleeved shirt.
A piece of paper lay on top of the clothes. Priloe had never learned to read. It wasn't the sort of thing offered on Nannandry to orphans. His mind jumped back to the chance encounter with the black haired girl and the red haired boy. Somehow they must have followed him. He woke Milenette.
"Mouse. We need to go now," he said.
"Are the bad men here?" she asked.
"No. But something strange happened and we can't take any chances."
"Okay." She held her arms up to him, in the universal pick-me-up signal. He obliged and lifted her from the bed. He shifted her around on his hip, still amazed at how light she felt and handed her the other half of the meal bar he'd eaten. "Where did you get this?" she asked.
"I'll tell you once we're safe again," he said.
After gathering the new clothing, they snuck out of the apartment and slunk down the hallway, once again finding the stair treads along the outside wall that would take them away from whoever had discovered them. Floor by floor Priloe used the shadows to carefully explore, looking for any signs of occupancy or recent activity. After four levels, the stairs ran out and he began his search for a safe nest.
This top floor was dark and smelled stale and dusty, which tickled Priloe's nose, making him want to sneeze. The conditions were to his liking though, as far as isolation went. Everything was narrower up here and the hallways and open spaces took less time to explore. It confirmed his suspicion that the walls had been tapering in with each level they had climbed.
Priloe's search for an open door to take them further away from the stairs was fruitless. He finally sat down with Milenette. They'd been on high alert for a couple of hours and were tired.
"Who gave you the food?" she asked.
Priloe thought about it for a minute. He had no reason not to tell her what he thought. "I'm not sure. It might have been that girl with the long dark hair."
"Or the boy with the red hair? They looked strange, Priloe. Are they mean?" Milenette asked.
"I don't know, Mouse, but we can't trust anyone. We need a nest to hide in."
"What about up there?"
Priloe had chosen to sit near the central support column where he still had a view of the stairs. The ceiling soared above them and he could see that she was pointing to an access hatch that he hadn't previously noticed, its paint being the same color as the wall. Simple metal rungs started two meters off the ground and stopped just beneath the simple metal door.
"You have sharp eyes, little one. Let me check it out," he said.
Priloe had to jump to reach the bottom rung, but from there he was able to pull himself up. He could hear his back joints popping as the weight of his body hung from his arms. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but he found it somewhat unnerving. The lower gravity made what would have been a difficult climb on Nannandry, easy. He grabbed a conveniently located handhold next to the otherwise featureless hatch. It wasn't obvious how to open it, so he tried the only thing he could think of, which was to push on the center. He was rewarded, as the spring-loaded panel popped out a few centimeters. He swung it open and saw the start of a long tunnel.
After climbing back down, he dropped to the floor. "You found a good nest, Mouse."
She held her arms up to him and he loaded her onto his back where she clung like he'd taught her to. The climb was a little more difficult with her on his back, but he managed. Once inside the tunnel, he pulled the panel closed, shutting out what limited light they'd had. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw a dim glow further down the shaft.
"Follow me, Mouse. Let's see where this goes."
Who's Really in Charge?
Priloe felt Milenette's small hand wrap around his ankle and tug. They'd been exploring the expansive tunnel system for a couple of hours. For some reason her little eyes picked out small details that he missed. He stopped moving forward and pulled back into a seated position. She'd already saved him from falling head first down into a vertical shaft. He couldn't afford to ignore her requests.
"What do you see?" he whispered as quietly as he could manage. They'd already discovered sound traveled long distances in the metal tunnels.
She was tired and he needed to find a more permanent hideaway. They might be safe in the tunnels, but the dusty metal walls didn't provide even the smallest amount of comfort. She crawled into his lap and pointed up.
He wasn't sure how he'd missed it. A vertical shaft led upward and at the top there was a small amount
of light bleeding in. The only other shaft that went up had been blocked by a solid grill that allowed only air to pass. Even more important was the presence of evenly spaced rungs, which formed a ladder.
"Stay here," he said and pulled himself into the opening.
He momentarily enjoyed the sensation of standing up and stretching his muscles. They'd been crawling for too long. He climbed up ten meters. Even with the lower gravity, his arms were tired by the time he made it to the top. When he finally arrived, a small alcove sat off to the side. Bright light bled through a door which had been left slightly ajar.
He crawled into the alcove and rested, but the curiosity of what lay on the other side of the door eventually got the better of him. For a moment, he sat quietly next to it and listened intently. He heard a repetitive thumping sound and the whine of a motor. The deep thrumming they'd heard since entering the metal tunnels was louder on the other side of the door. Most importantly, however, he didn't hear anything that sounded like people.
Slowly he swung the panel open and sat for a few moments while his eyes adjusted to the bright light. He tentatively stepped out onto slotted metal decking. A gust of wind buffeted him, although not so strongly as to cause him to stumble. Rays of a sun he'd never seen, warmed his face and he turned toward it and looked out at the blue sky. Unable to resist, Priloe ran across the decking, grabbed the railing and looked over the edge. He was at the top of the giant, white, floating city which rested on the rolling clouds that covered the planet.
"You shouldn't stand so close to the edge."
Adrenaline coursed through his body and the knot in his stomach tightened. He'd exposed himself and now he was separated from Milenette. He spun around and saw the same dark haired girl and red haired boy sitting on the edge of a deck a meter above where he stood and adjacent to where he'd exited the metal tunnel. His eyes darted back to the open panel. They could easily cut him off.
His fingers closed around the familiar shaft of his weapon. He flicked it outward and noticed with satisfaction that the narrow blade extended on his first try.
"What do you want?" he asked, menacingly.
"I told you before. We're not going to hurt you."
Priloe looked at the two older kids. While the girl didn't look concerned, the tall, red-haired boy had backed away from the edge of the porch.
"Put that away. If someone sees you with it, you'll be locked up," she said sternly. The red-haired boy was pulling at her sleeve trying to get her to move away with him. She gave him a slightly annoyed glance and returned her attention to Priloe.
"You need to leave me alone," he said.
"Don't you mean us?"
"How did you find me?"
"You need our help and you're being stubborn. That little girl, is she your sister?"
Priloe sighed, exasperated. Whoever this girl was, she knew entirely too much about him already. "No one helps for free. What do you want? And how did you find us?"
"Have you never helped someone because they needed it? Someone helped me once and I owe them everything. But do you know what?"
He shook his head, the conversation had taken an odd turn and he was having trouble following. His arm sagged. He could tell that she wasn't an immediate threat. He needed to end the conversation as quickly as possible and get away from the strange girl.
"What?"
"She didn't want anything back from me. She helped because I was in need and she could do it. I think it made her feel good. So, maybe that's what I want. You didn't answer my question. Is she your sister?"
"If I answer your question will you leave us alone?"
"Maybe."
"Yes. She's my sister."
"You're not from here. Are you?"
"I thought you were going to leave me alone if I answered your question. And how do you know we're not from here?" he asked.
"First, I said maybe. Second, you must be from the surface. Your clothing is filthy and you have dirt on your face and in your hair. Spacers don't ever get that dirty. There's no place to find that much dirt. Why didn't you put the clothing on I made for you?"
Priloe knew he'd lost. He was out of his element and this girl wouldn't be giving up on anything.
"I need to get back to Milenette."
"That's a pretty name. Are you going to run away again?"
"Not until I figure out how you keep finding us."
"Good. It's safe up here. No one but Jack and I come up here as far as we know."
Priloe momentarily set his weapon down and allowed it to turn off. He walked past the girl and just before he leaned down to crawl through the panel, she said, "My name's Jenny."
He shook his head, mostly to himself, wondering how he'd gotten into such a mess.
"Priloe," he said and crawled into the tunnel.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark. Once they had, he climbed down the ladder and was glad to see Milenette hadn't moved far. They hadn't gotten much rest and she'd taken advantage of the quiet moment and fallen asleep. He wondered if he'd improved their lot or put them in even more danger.
It was much harder to climb the ladder the second time with her clinging to his front. It was a long enough climb that he couldn't afford to have her hanging onto his back. If she slipped, he wouldn't be able to save her.
The nosy, dark-haired girl was standing outside the tunnel when they emerged.
"Are they safe, Reelo?" Milenette asked softly, pulling closer to him.
"I hope so, Mouse."
"What an awful thing to call her. She's too pretty to be called something so icky," Jenny scolded. "Please, let me hold her." She held her arms out.
Priloe couldn't imagine a worse idea. He wasn't about to give away his sister. Unfortunately for him, Milenette gave him up and reached for the girl named Jenny. "No, Milenette, we don't know her well enough."
Milenette arched her back and leaned over further. The girl caught her as she overbalanced Priloe's hold.
"I've got you, Millie," she said and pulled the little girl to her hip. Milenette gave him a coy grin and rested her head on the girl's chest.
Priloe looked to Jack for support, but all he got back was a friendly wave.
"So what now?" Jenny asked.
"We need a safe place to sleep," Priloe said. He'd given up arguing with her.
Jenny grinned at Jack who returned her smile. "Oh… do we have something for you to see. We've been calling it our fort, but it would be perfect for you. Wanna see?"
Of course she didn't wait for a response. Priloe was several years her junior and she'd appointed herself in charge. Priloe knew he would have to deal with it sooner or later, but for now, he'd go along. He followed as Jack gracefully leapt over the railing that separated the viewing deck from the roof maintenance deck where they had all been standing.
Jenny handed Milenette up to Priloe and then climbed over the railing and reclaimed her. In single file they followed Jack through an abandoned restaurant, wound through a serpentine route and finally ended up at a single doorway at the end of a long hallway.
"And this," Jenny said as she opened the door, "is The Fort."
The Fort
An open room twenty meters long and ten meters wide soared above them. Half open crates, tables and chairs littered the wall, like they were sitting on the floor. Priloe's head swam as he tried to make sense of it.
"Gravity's oriented a little differently in here. What, not used to living on a station?" Jenny asked. "Just close your eyes, hold my hand and step onto the wall, the grav generator will do the rest."
Priloe did as she said and his stomach flip-flopped as his brain tried to make sense of the change.
"We've set up over here," Jenny said, carrying Milenette, who seemed to have no problem with the change. She stopped in front of a bank of tall windows that spanned the length of the room. Instead of the gorgeous blue of the horizon or the bright yellow of the sun, the window looked out into the darkness of space.
"How is t
hat possible?" Priloe asked.
"What? The window?"
"No. What is that?" He was pointing out at the stars.
"Oh. Yeah. This is an old pod-ball court. We're actually pointing straight up, away from the planet. You're just looking at the stars. Well, I suppose that's actually a nebula." Jenny corrected herself, gesturing to a purplish clump at her feet.
Priloe had to take a knee. He knew about stars, but in his entire life he'd never seen or imagined them to be so beautiful. The scale of what he was looking at caused his head to swoon.
If Jenny noticed his lapse she didn't say anything and pressed forward. "So, like I was saying before. You're going to stand out on the station if you look like that. The first order of business is to get cleaned up. We can use the locker rooms. Are you used to helping Millie get dressed or does she do it by herself?"
"I don't know what you mean," Priloe didn't have the energy to continue fighting the girl.
"After her bath or shower - however you get clean - does she dress herself?"
Priloe looked away, embarrassed. Bathing wasn't something he had any experience with. He'd kept Milenette clean when she was a baby, but since then, they'd just been surviving.
Jenny saw shame in his face and stepped toward him, still holding Milenette but speaking a little quieter and with less excitement. "Look, Pri. I know I'm making you uncomfortable. I also know you aren't sure if you can trust us. I'll tell you a secret, though. I've been where you are now and if it weren't for my sister and her friends, I'd be in a much worse place."
"You've been beaten and hunted by a psychotic troglodyte?" He was thinking about Agaric's last words. He had no doubt that Sephre would come looking for him.
Cutpurse (Privateer Tales Book 6) Page 3
