The place was strangely quiet without them even though no one had been inclined to talk much since they’d been imprisoned. When the noon meal came and went without any sign of them, Dalia wasn’t alone in her increasing anxiety. Finally, late in the day, the men returned. All of them were tired and filthy, but Dalia was so glad to see that Pierce was among them it took an effort to keep from bursting into tears and throwing her arms around him. The only reason she restrained herself was her certainty that Pierce was right. They were being monitored.
“You’re all right?” she asked anxiously when he dropped down beside her bunk.
He nodded, and then threw her a tired grin. “They had us cleaning out a new section all day. Looks like they mean to take care of the overcrowding problem.”
Camile and Dalia exchanged a look. “You think so?”
“I hope they didn’t have us lugging all that stuff around for nothing.”
He seemed so certain, that Dalia felt her anxiety diminish.
None of them were greatly surprised, therefore, when they’d finished the evening meal and been herded through the particle baths once more to discover that some of them would be moving to new quarters. They were surprised when they learned it would only be the females.
Pierce, Dalia realized feeling a surge of anger, had been right. Everything they’d said the day before had been heard, and everything they’d done observed. Reuel didn’t want her, but he wasn’t about to let her be with anyone else.
Pierce was angry, as well, but not so much because he would be deprived of Dalia’s company as he was because the move prevented him from watching over her. He could complain, of course, but he doubted it would do any good. Instead, after studying Camile speculatively for some moments, he pulled her aside. “I need to ask a favor of you.”
Camile looked him over suspiciously. “What?”
“Look out for my little Dally for me. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t worry about her, but she can’t defend herself right now. I’m a dead man if anything happens to her because I’m going to have to kill somebody, but I’d much rather prevent it.”
Camile nodded, but then shrugged. “I would have anyway,” she said, smiling faintly.
Chapter Sixteen
After nearly three months, Dalia woke to the sensations that told her the cargo ship had arrived at last at its destination. At first, she thought the scarcely noticeable vibration was no more than the shudder of an engine, or the hull of the ship being pelted by micro meteors. The vibration increased steadily, however, quickly becoming a hard rattling that was impossible to interpret as anything but a descent into a gravitational field.
Sitting up, she looked around at the vibrating walls of the bulkheads and then at the faces of the other women who shared the compartment with her. Their fears and uncertainty reflected her own.
They’d arrived. Would they be freed? Or would they find that they were only exchanging one prison for another?
“Do you think they’ll let us out?” Camile asked, voicing her own question.
“Some, at least--I think,” Dalia responded cautiously.
As they had when she’d first been captured, the cyborgs had begun to allow them the run of the ship in small numbers and for short periods after they’d been kept isolated for more than a month.
It was as effective a strategy on most of the hunters as it had been on her. The natural fear of the unknown, coupled with incarceration, had made them cautious of their freedom, and careful not to abuse it. They were openly watched, of course, and certain areas were still off limits, but being allowed even so much after so long was enough to make them grateful. The cyborgs were neither welcoming nor hostile, but that, too, seemed almost calculated, as if they knew the hunters would be suspicious of any overtures of friendship.
Little by little, they had begun to relax their guard, to feel less like prisoners and more like mutual travelers. She’d noticed that some had even begun to form tentative friendships among the cyborgs. There was no reason that she could see that the cyborgs would consider it necessary to continue to imprison them.
Even if they’d wanted to leave, none of them had any idea of where they’d been taken. They had no way to leave short of stealing the ship they’d just spent the past three months on, and she rather thought most of the hunters would prefer almost anything to spending three more months on it.
The truth was that Dalia wasalmostcertain that most of the hunters would find themselves absorbed into the cyborg community immediately. There were others, however, who wouldn’t, some who might never be accepted and that was the part that worried her. What would happen to those who wanted nothing to do with the cyborgs? Would they simply ‘disappear’? Or would the cyborgs, as Reuel had hinted, simply take them elsewhere and leave them?
She couldn’t help but wonder if she fell into the latter category--not because the cyborgs in general didn’t accept her, because they seemed far more welcoming toward her than any of the other hunters, but because Reuel, in particular, didn’t accept her.
Reuel had been most conspicuous by his absence. She didn’t think it was purely coincidence that he was rarely to be seen when she was allowed the freedom of the ship. She thought he was aware of everything that happened on the ship, including the schedules and that he made certain he was occupied elsewhere when she was allowed out.
She wasn’t certain why. It hardly seemed necessary. He’d made his position clear enough the last time he’d spoken to her. It might still hurt. She might still care, but she certainly had no intention of making either of them uncomfortable by forcing any sort of confrontation.
Of course, she supposed, after the incident in the rec room, he might have reason to think a chance meeting could get ugly.
She might have been tempted except that that incident had cost her Pierce’s company and she didn’t particularly relish the thought of giving Reuel any reason for further retaliation. She missed Pierce almost as desperately as she missed Reuel. Having someone for companionship would have made the trip less unbearable. It would have left her less time to dwell on unpleasant memories, to worry about things beyond her control. She’d caught no more than a glimpse of Pierce from time to time after they were separated, and she knew that that was Reuel’s doing, most likely because she’d very nearly created a serious disturbance by her outburst.
As the vibration of descent became a hard rattle and then a gentle bumping and finally a horrendous bucking that threatened whiplash, Dalia clung to her cot and mentally clocked their descent through the atmosphere. As many times as she had made descents, each and every one terrified her as much as the one before. The bucking was a very graphic expression of having reached the absolute peak of danger. From the time the ship began until at last the bucking slowed to the occasional jolt or sudden, weightless drop, she could never manage to do anything but listen intently to every rattling bolt, waiting to see if something would break off and send them spiraling planet-ward at a speed that insured that their grave marker would be a crater.
Sighing in relief when they at last passed through the critical zone, Dalia consciously peeled her fingers loose from the bars of the cot and sat up once more. She was almost immediately sorry she had, for the artificial gravity was disengaged at that moment and a wave of nausea rushed over her. She lay back again, closing her eyes and waiting for the planet’s gravity to right her internal gyro.
