Reading the Wind (Silver Ship)

by Brenda Cooper

  The captain reached a hand out to touch the rock. “It’s rough.”

  “If you climb a field of those without protecting your hands, they’ll get bloody.” We were about halfway up the valley. A telltale plume of steam wafted through the low vegetation lining a streambed ahead of us. “Come on, there’s at least one more thing to see before we hit the waterfalls.” If there were waterfalls. We’d avoided this valley because of the dogs.

  It was up to me to judge these people, to say if we showed our fist. How was I going to tell? So far, no one seemed much moved by my stories. But I wasn’t telling them well; I had to be so careful not to say anything they could use against us later. The captain was the only one who appeared engaged at all, and although she at least asked questions, she didn’t have the same light in her eyes that the roamers got when they learned new things.

  Politeness didn’t mean her fist was open; I was being polite.

  I started toward the steam. “There are volcanoes on Jini, too, but only one active one, Rage. We named the big one here Blaze, but we’ve seen two other eruptions since we got here.” I needed to connect to these people, to touch them. I wasn’t doing it yet. “We have a science guild. They keep track of everything we learn, and pass it on. Paloma, one of the women in town, picks herbs and makes teas and salves—so if you fall down and get hurt she can help you. Her workroom always smells wonderful.”

  The captain looked at me curiously. “We were told there was a ship here. The New Making. How long ago did it leave?”

  I wished she’d asked about Paloma or Gianna or Artistes. New Making had probably reached Silver’s Home about the time Kayleen brought us here. I frowned. “Five years or so.” How much did they know? “The New Making went back to Silver’s Home.”

  The captain didn’t miss a beat. “Who flew it?”

  There didn’t seem to be any reason to lie. “My brother.”

  For just a second I saw surprise flash through her eyes. “Why didn’t you go, too?”

  “I wanted to stay here.”

  She stopped then, and after a few steps I stopped, too, looking back to see that the whole line of them had stopped. Everyone did what the captain did. Their obedience made my skin crawl. But then, I had stopped, too. Perversely, I turned around and kept going, scanning the prickly bushes and low trees around us. A hushed conversation went on behind me, and then the captain jogged up to my side, and Ghita caught up a few steps later. “Why live here instead of going home?” Ghita asked.

  I smiled. She couldn’t have given me a better lead-in. “These people need us. We’re stronger and faster; we help them. We’ve helped build barns and fix”—better not say the nets; I hid my hesitation with a small stumble—“fences and hunt. There are things only we can do. There’s a tree with good fruit, but we’re the only people in town who can climb it without ropes.”

  Captain Groll pursed her lips, looking at me. “These are not your people—both you and Liam have much more advanced genomes than they can have.” She narrowed her eyes, searching my face. “Sometimes people become attracted to others who capture them and keep them.”

  I bristled. “We weren’t captured. We were raised there.” I wasn’t going to tell her any of them ever treated us badly. I turned to look her in the eyes. “The war is over. Like Liam said, it’s history.”

  She didn’t blink, or react. Just watched me, her emotions invisible. If she had any. “How many of you are there from Silver’s Home?”

  I sighed. “By how many of us, do you mean how many altered?”

  “What do you mean when you say altered?” she countered.

  “You know. Like us. Genetically engineered.” I wanted to tell her there were more of us, give her pause. But they were already reading Artistos’ data. “Three.”

  “Aren’t you lonely?” the captain asked.

  I winced at the close cut.

  Ghita spoke up. “They let two of you come over here—when there are only three? That does not sound like they need you.”

  Lies compounded lies. I hated the web I was building. “We asked to. For …for time alone.” Let them chew on that. I put my hand over my slightly swelling belly, emphasizing my pregnancy.

  Captain Groll raised a hand to her mouth and a pleasant laugh escaped through her fingers. Ghita took a second more to understand, then nodded. She didn’t smile. “Whatever. But this is a backward place. You don’t know what you’re missing. The Five Planets are full of wonders, and rich beyond your dreams. No one starves. Everyone has valuable work. Art and beauty surround us since we don’t have to spend all of our time surviving.”

  Art and beauty for killing machines. Her tone sounded like Nava lecturing the five-year-olds in the Science Guild hall, confident past reason. I fought becoming one of those five-year-olds. I couldn’t afford weakness. They were dangerous—I could feel it. Casually dangerous.

  They probably wouldn’t care if they did kill us.

  Really finding out what they wanted seemed impossible now that I was trying to do it. Ghita hadn’t smiled all morning. The captain had some warmth in her voice, but there was no connection except curiosity between us. We weren’t sharing anything real.

  Ahead of us, the steam plume twisted into the air, blown long and flat at the top by a warm breeze. Shortly afterward, at least if I was following Liam’s directions properly, the path narrowed and headed toward the dog’s dens. They’d be sleeping at this time of day. But like us, demon dogs posted watches. Kayleen had her fist-sized disruptor, even if she didn’t exactly know how to use it. The one that made the animals on Jini react to sound only they could hear.

  I was going to have to signal Kayleen and Liam soon, one way or the other. If I signaled them to show our fist by leading the group much further, then some of the people I led on this walk might die. I’d start a fight. And if I turned around soon, I’d leave the Dawnforce free to attack Artistos with all of her strength.

  As we neared the steam plume, I struggled to breathe out the fears that curled up my spine. My mouth tasted like ash and sulfur.

  A hot spring bubbled and steamed to the right of the path. A wispy evaporation cloud faded to whitish mist just above the surface of the water, obscuring the cooled lava lining the edges of the pool. On the far side, hot water leaked slowly out, tumbling down a crevasse and disappearing underground for a few meters, then popping up and joining a snow-melt stream a few meters from the hot spring. Like a miniature version of the Fire River and the sea, a steady plume of steam issued from the meeting.

  The eight of us gathered near the steam plume, tiny droplets clinging to everyone’s eyelashes and hair. I watched the others instead of the steam. The captain looked curious. The strongs mostly watched the captain. The four that had joined us seemed to have most of their attention elsewhere. Which was probably right—I would bet they were Wind Readers. Ghita watched me, her brow furrowed. Her eyes were hard and dark and cold. Water from the steam dripped down her face.

  I had to decide. It was time. And there wasn’t a clear answer. Why didn’t these people just jump up and down and declare themselves evil or good? I laughed inwardly at the thought, watching Ghita back, trying to read her face, her body language. No good. Time to be braver, risk telling these people I knew more than I should. “Why are you really here? You’re not recording the things I’m showing you; you’re not really interested.” I turned my gaze to the captain, wanting my answer from her.

  The captain returned my gaze, her eyes as hard and unyielding as Ghita’s. After a moment they softened a little, and I thought it might be pity that flashed through them before she turned a little away. “We have work to do here.”

  “What work?”

  She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.” She sounded so sure of herself, so condescending. And worse, unyielding. There was no warmth in the way she looked at me. “We have a mission that matters more than anything on this planet.”

  I swallowed hard.

  I had to bet for A
rtistos.

  I gestured up-trail and took the next step, the one that I knew in my heart committed me to start a fight, that meant I had taken the choice away from Artistos and made it for them. I glanced at my chrono. It was a few moments after thirteen hundred. Liam and Kayleen would see that we were still moving up.

  I began to listen for the dogs, for the sound of rustling brush or of padded feet stalking us. Let them come for us soon. Would they succeed? Would the dogs attack no matter what any of us did? Would I live through it?

  If the dogs didn’t come, the captain and Ghita were away from the ship. That, too, was good for our fist.

  The valley narrowed, and I picked a path between two thin trees. Ghita glanced up the two ridges that came together to make the neck of the valley. She leaned toward the captain, and I heard her whisper, although I couldn’t make out her words.

  I called to them, loudly, hoping Kayleen and Liam could hear. “Come on! We’ll be near a waterfall soon.”

  Ghita glanced at me, then back up at the ridges. Something creased her brow. Distrust? The captain put a hand on her arm and said something soothing. The others noticed, and looked around.

  One of the big dogs bayed.

  The sound came from in front of us, not too near. But I knew how fast they moved. I sniffed the air, felt the cold heart of prey as the predators neared us.

  Ghita stopped. “What is that?”

  I smiled at her, trying to look as if the deep wail didn’t turn my knees to water. “It’s just a wild dog. It’s okay.”

  Ghita looked at the captain. “We should leave. Now.”

  “They won’t hurt you,” I said, my voice a bit too high, the hair on the back of my neck standing up. I had no particular protection that they didn’t—just foreknowledge. And two people out there who would be trying to protect me.

  The dogs could kill me, too.

  A dog bayed again, a little closer. Then another. Ghita and the captain stood together, the strongs next to them. Kaal looked over at me, accusation in her eyes. And danger. She was strong enough to break my back with her bare hands. I stepped back, looking around.

  A jumble of rocks, two small stands of low windswept trees; slight cover at best. One of the men, Moran, glanced at me. He and his team began to move—he and the woman, Kuipul, stopping a few meters on either side of the captain, Ghita, and the strongs. The other two jogged slowly outward, scanning the area, suddenly engaged in the moment. They hadn’t spoken before the move in unison—so they were Wind Readers, using the data web to relay information. Were they tuning a piece of their web to the dogs now? Was Kayleen there, waiting for them? Or had she used the little boxes that disrupted data?

  Thankfully, the dogs remained silent.

  The captain gestured for me to come stand with them. Her eyes were wide, rimmed a little in fear, but insistent. Ghita reached for her belt and unclipped a small black box.

  A dog glided between two small trees, the reddish-brown hair on its back sticking up straight. It smelled like raw meat and anger.

  A streak of brown movement gave away another dog’s position.

  Ghita stayed at Lushia’s side, glaring at me. Her hand went to her belt and came away full of something small and black.

  The pack circled us, the first movement in the dance between demon dog and prey. I bolted. I needed to be outside their circle, to appear faster and stronger and harder to catch than the people still inside. Tree branches whipped my right leg and a rock snatched skin from my knee. I ran up, toward their den, getting above the dogs, and circled them myself from the ridge, looking down.

  I ducked and moved slowly, keeping rocks and trees between me and the mercenaries. I prayed they’d stay grouped for safety and leave me for later.

  A human scream rose from the ridges, bouncing back and forth between them, echoing from rock to tree to rock. The voice of a stranger, not Kayleen or Liam. One of their Wind Readers.

  I didn’t look back. I couldn’t stop the humans from shooting me, but I could keep from getting killed by the dogs. Further away now, I straightened and raced uphill, rocks sliding under my feet, heading up one of the ridges for a bit and turning, keeping to high ground.

  Nothing seemed to be following me. Luck, or skill, or something Liam or Kayleen did. Maybe the strangers let me go. I didn’t care.

  My heart pounded. Because of my choice, at least one person was probably dead. I couldn’t think about it, couldn’t think about others maybe dying, too.

  Another dog bayed behind me. Not close, with the group. Its natural sound cut off, switching to a scream of pain. Well, the mercenaries were fighters. Maybe they’d kill the dogs.

  I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything. I hadn’t stopped them from attacking Artistos. I knew that. Maybe I’d slowed them down. My breath came so sharp that my chest hurt.

  A skimmer whined overhead, heading toward the captain, her First, and the dogs.

  I slowed a little, heading downhill, running almost in the open but off the path we’d come up.

  Where were Liam and Kayleen?

  33

  THE FIGHT

  As I neared the Dawnforce, a skimmer took off, engines straining, arrowing in the same direction as the one that had just flown over me, toward the Captain and the dogs. I ducked down behind a rock, hoping the occupants wouldn’t see me.

  A sharp crack split the air. The skimmer shuddered. Something big fell to the ground, shiny as it flipped. Maybe a stubby wing? Then the whole machine fell out of the sky, a large dead bird. It smashed nose-down just past me, flipping over on its back. Oily black smoke billowed up from its broken body. The grass around it burst into flames.

  I stood up and kept going. Three people came toward me up the path and I knelt under a scraggly bush, poised to run if they saw me.

  They didn’t. Two men and a woman, moving at least as fast as we three could run. Maybe faster. Each of them carried something small in their hands. Probably a weapon.

  A second skimmer flew in from the sea. It circled the Dawnforce, and the carnage of its wrecked brethren, and the fire beginning to spread out across the dry grasses in the direction of the Dawnforce. It headed off the way the downed skimmer had been going.

  As soon as it was out of sight I stood again, racing toward Dawnforce, heart pounding. Acrid smoke seared my lungs and stung my eyes, turning the air a muddy brown.

  A loud bang sounded from near the Dawnforce, followed by screams of pain.

  Please let it not be Liam or Kayleen.

  Near the bottom of the path I spotted a rock with three smaller rocks piled on top of it. A sign for me. I pulled a pack from behind the rock, heavy with two crazy-balls. I took one out, setting it down carefully while I shrugged the pack with the other one still inside it onto my back. I picked up the one I had set down, a silver sphere just big enough to cradle in my two hands, heavier than it looked like it should be. I held it in front of me gingerly, slowing my pace now that I was closer, looking for a target.

  The area around the ship was a chaos of smoke and running figures. Here and there I heard voices, but most of the crew were like the three who had passed me, silent and intent. Wind Readers, or using some quiet communication.

  I stopped behind one of the buildings near the Burning Void, searching for Kayleen or Liam.

  Nothing.

  The Dawnforce’s main door had opened. More crew members jogged toward the fire near the downed skimmer, this time carrying large cylinders. A man raced by me, glancing my way, his lips moving. Probably telling someone where I was. Just as I twisted away to head in the other direction, I glimpsed Liam racing toward the Burning Void, his hands empty. Kayleen followed behind him, looking around, probably trying to spot me.

  I was afraid to call out.

  The loud engines of incoming skimmers preparing to land filled the sky. The captain, coming back. I lobbed the crazy-ball toward the open place I figured they wanted to land and ran toward the Burning Void.

  Kayleen and L
iam must already be there. Our ship stood alone behind the two buildings, the ramp down. It had been closed when I saw it on my way in. I bolted up the ramp. It closed halfway behind me as I tumbled inside.

  Liam, leaning over me, a huge grin on his face, his eyes alight with adrenaline. “Do you have any more crazy-balls?”

  I peeled off my pack. “One.”

  He dug it out of the backpack, calling over his shoulder. “Kayleen. Take off.”

  The skimmer’s engines came to life, humming. Liam leaned out the partly-open door, holding the crazy-ball. Burning Void lifted. Kayleen banked us in a tight circle, flying toward the looming Dawnforce. Just before the door came into view, Liam threw the ball, then slapped the controls, shutting the ship tightly before we heard the muffled bang of the explosion. “Did you get it inside?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. We can’t stay around to find out.”

  The Burning Void rose, tilting first one way and then the other, gathering speed.

  “I don’t believe we’re all alive,” I said.

  He touched my cheek. “Me either. They won’t underestimate us again.”

  We joined Kayleen in the main cabin. She sat in the back seat, eyes closed, communing with the little ship. “I can’t believe they got her free for us.”

  “They didn’t,” he said. “Kayleen had to break a code to get in.” The screen showed Islandia’s seacoast rushing by beneath us.

  “Are we going home?” I asked.

  “Home?” He shook his head. “She’s going to get Windy.”

  I bit my tongue. This would be our only chance, and Windy had kept us alive with her warnings more than once. We owed it to her. She was family

  34

  THE FIRST PRICE

  Kayleen kept us flying low and fast, turning up the valley. We landed in the last possible spot before the path into West Home, turned for take off. The Burning Void lay in the open, completely unprotected. We had to depend on speed.